Sooo...Shadesmar?

[Truthless]

Hey guys, Truthless here. There have been two things on my mind lately -

First, Shadesmar. I was about 1/4 of the way through the book, first time through, when I idly marked my place and flipped to the back cover. And then I was all WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN?

Then it was mentioned. Twice.

What we know for sure: Shadesmar is intertwined with Roshar. Soulcasters enter into Shadesmar in order to change matter from one thing into another. What most intrigues me is that this is not a change of state (liquid to gas) but of element. Soulcasters are changing matter at the atomic level. To do this, an 'exchange' of sorts has to be made - first, with the maze-headed beings (Cognition-spren, hm?) - and then with the object itself.

Shadesmar is also, apparently, the exact inverse of Roshar. It has a giant sea of marbley-things where Roshar has land, and land where Roshar has ocean. Each marbley-thing, it can be safely presumed, represents an object on the surface of Roshar. One bead for a vase, one bead for a stone, etc. This presents problems as to determining when something gets its own bead (consider making a sandwich, or knitting), but it's all I've got. These beads are subject to the will of a Soulcaster, and will form objects for them in order to navigate.

It is also apparent that you don't enter Shadesmar physically, as Jasnah was herself Soulcasting, with everyone watching, as she turned a rock into smoke.

So what IS Shadesmar? How does it figure into the bigger picture? And what about that scientist and mathematician with the adorable relationship? Here's a quote I just looked up for ya'll:

"I wonder if they eat in the Cognitive Realm. Is a food there what it sees itself as being? I'll have to read and see if anyone has ever eaten while visiting Shadesmar."

That's the only other time it's mentioned in the book, apart from the end with Shallan and Jasnah.

I'm hopelessly intrigued

Seems like I'm forgetting something - oh, yes, I mentioned I had two things on my mind.

The other is the nature of the power of Stormlight and how it interacts with Roshar as a whole and people individually. But I suppose I'll save that for another time 

[Andrew the Great]

Cosmere Spoilers Follow. You have been warned. (Though to be fair, it's only really a spoiler if you haven't read Way of Kings or don't know what the deal is with Hoid. In which case you'll just be confused anyway) Mistborn 3 Spoilers also follow, though I added them on the edit and was to lazy to change everything else around..... so there.

We also know that Hoid is very proficient at using Shadesmar, and Brandon implied that it was the means by which he planet-hops. This has led to the theory that the 17th Shard might use it for planet hopping as well, though we have nothing really to go on there.

Shadesmar is also not only limited to Roshar, though the portion of it that's mapped in the back of Way of Kings is an inverse of Roshar.

Brandon uses a lot of Realmatic theory - there's a physical realm (Where all of the stories take place so far, with the exception of the few brief jaunts to Shadesmar), a Cognitive Realm (Shadesmar), and a Spiritual Realm (not yet seen, though we know that Sazed was able to contact the Spiritual Realm once he took Ruin and Preservation).

As to Stormlight, your guess is as good as mine. Probably better.

[Kykeon]

I'm almost certain that Shallan didn't actually vanish in the physical realm while in Shadesmar.

More likely she used the Cosmere equivalent of Astral projection to perceive reality on another level.

Doesn't mean you won't be just as dead if your mind gets torn into billions of tiny little pieces.

See also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism

The other is the nature of the power of Stormlight and how it interacts with Roshar as a whole and people individually. But I suppose I'll save that for another time

The remainder of the Almighty's power.

Highstorms send out his visions, so it makes sense.

Of course, it could also be that cultivation sent them out to receptive humans to fulfil his dying wish... :/

Edited October 16, 2012 by Kykeon

[Truthless]

How do we know all of that about Hoid? Is it just info that Brandon has given out to us? Anyway, very interesting.

Also notable - the three Nexi (Nexuses?) mentioned on the map are of Transition, Imagination and Truth. All of which appear to be things spren are attracted to. Coincidence? Possibly. At this point we know too little about spren and Shadesmar itself to make a firm connection. It could be coincidental - it could be that the spren and Shadesmar have some sort of guiding principle in common, but are not themselves related.

On the topic of Stormlight, my thoughts are a bit disjointed. I'm going to keep mulling them over, for now.

[Emeralis00]

Since it was theorized that 17th shard uses shadesmar like HOID I tried to make a shadesmar version of Sel.

Unfortunately I am not much of an artist...nor do I know how to post images.

could someone tell me how to post an image?

Then I put up my version of shadesmar Sel.

[Andrew the Great]

How do we know all of that about Hoid? Is it just info that Brandon has given out to us? Anyway, very interesting.

If you're talking about the stuff I mentioned, it's almost a direct quote from a Q & A. I think the online one with Barnes and Noble.

Since it was theorized that 17th shard uses shadesmar like HOID I tried to make a shadesmar version of Sel.

Unfortunately I am not much of an artist...nor do I know how to post images.

could someone tell me how to post an image?

Then I put up my version of shadesmar Sel.

That could be interesting. The easiest way is to upload somewhere on the internet, then either link it or use the img tag (If you push the little button with a picture on it when you're posting, it'll give you the tag. Alternatively you could just type [.img] and [./img] (without the dots - they're there so you can see that particular example) Then you just enter the link. I think. I've only ever posted a picture like once, so this is all pretty hazy to me. But honestly, if you just give us a link, that should be good enough for everyone here, methinks. Yey for putting tons of stuff in parentheses!).

[Emeralis00]

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/3851/shadesmarelantris.jpg

its rough, but like I said, not an artist.

[blad3mast3r]

coolness.

[AerionBFII]

Good theories