Theory: The Focus On Roshar Are The Essences

[skaa]

As some of you might know, I previously espoused the "The Focus on Roshar is Waveforms" theory. I liked that theory because a number of magical things on Roshar have wave/wavefunction/quantum dynamic properties (Stormlight, spren, Shardblades, Parshendi song, etc.). Recently I discovered that the theory's leader, Isomere, has changed his mind, preferring the Sound theory instead. On my part, after thinking a lot about Investiture while writing my own Realmatic theory, I found that I've changed my mind as well.
 
My reason is different from Isomere's, though. He says that Stormlight is like the Mists on Scadrial, a way to bypass the actual Focus, which he theorizes is Sound. It's a valid theory, and I agree that Stormlight is probably a manifestation of a Shard. But my own understanding of what a Focus is leads me to a different conclusion: I think the Focus on Roshar are the Essences. Let me try to explain why.
 
What is a Focus? From what we've seen so far in previous Cosmere books, I believe that a Focus is a thing with certain properties that narrow down the specifics (what I call the Intent) of Investiture. Basically, a Focus focuses the Investiture's Intent. A Focus does not need to be magical in itself. As far as I can tell, metals (The Metallic Arts), words (Awakening), body movements (ChayShan), and symbols on stamps (Forgery) are all pretty non-magical things. Even Aons can be written on the ground, something everyone can do. What makes these non-magical things special is that they dictate what kind of magic happens.
 

Part I: Roshar's Focus
 
So, what about Roshar magic? Well, here are some manifestations of Investiture that have been explained to some extent so far (in Spoiler tags due to length):

• Fabrials and Soulcasting depend on gemstones, which are forms of crystal (Lucentia). The type of gemstone dictates the effect of a fabrial and the type of Soulcasting transformation. Gemstones give Stormlight a (temporary) solid form.
   
• As I noted in another theory post, each type of spren seems to be connected to one or more Essences. The spren are central to Rosharian Investiture as they are required both in Fabrial Science and in Surgebinding.
   
• Inhalation triggers Stormlight to enter the body.
   
• Szeth blinks his eyes at the target of Basic Lashing. Shallan blinks her eyes at the target of her "photographic" ability.

  "What am I?" Szeth whispered, a bit of Light leaking from his lips as he looked past the man down the long hallway. "I'm...sorry."
  Szeth blinked, Lashing himself to that distant point down the hallway. Stormlight raged from him in a flash, chilling his skin, and the ground immediately stopped pulling him downward. Instead, he was pulled toward that distant point--it was as if, to him, that direction had suddenly become down.

  She shivered again--daunted yet excited--then blinked pointedly, fixing the image of the city in her memory.

   
   
• When a Surgebinder's flesh comes in contact with an object, Stormlight is transferred into it (Edit: by "it" I meant the object touched).
   
• Jasnah seems able to send Stormlight to faraway objects by giving it a lightning form. This ability seems connected to inhalation (perhaps coupled with another Body Focus).

  The other two men fled in opposite directions. Jasnah took a deep breath, closing her eyes, lifting her hand above her head. Shallan held her safehand to her breast, stunned, confused. Terrified.
  Stormlight shot from Jasnah's hand like twin bolts of lightning, symmetrical. One struck each of the footpads and they popped, puffing into smoke.

• Szeth seems able to give Stormlight a liquid form (Blood), allowing it to be sprayed on a target.

  Preparing for a Full Lashing, he raised his arm and commanded the Stormlight to pool there, causing the skin to burst alight with radiance. Then he flung his hand out toward the doorframe, spraying white luminescence across it like paint. He slammed the door just as the guards arrived.

  I thought of this idea because that quote reminded me of blood spatters, especially with luminol applied.
   
• The "wave function" of a Shardblade collapses after ten heartbeats (Blood), after which it appears as a magical metallic object, and the owner's eyes start to turn bright-colored. It is also possible that Aimians like Axies can modify their attributes by counting heartbeats.

  A few heartbeats of mental focus finally banished the headache. He opened his eyes, and this time found the sunlight quite pleasant.

 

As you can see, when I talk of Essences as the Focus, I'm including the Gemstones and the Body Focuses associated with the Essences.
 
In short, this is my argument: All Investitures on Roshar have Intents determined by various forms of the Essences. Therefore, the Essences are the Focus on Roshar.
 

 

Part II: Parshendi Song
 
Let's talk about Parshendi songs. I think they may have something to do with exhalation (Vapor) and blood-flow (Blood). We know from Dalinar that Shardbearers can distinctly hear the ten heartbeats that summon a Shardblade:
 

The tenth heartbeat sounded in Dalinar's chest; he could always hear the beats when he was summoning his Blade, no matter how loud the world around him was.

 
I will speculate that the Parshendi who are bonded to spren can hear various kinds of rhythms in their heartbeats depending on the situation and the type of spren they are bonded to. (Edit: This was confirmed in WoR.) I further theorize that groups of Parshendi can synchronize their blood-flow, allowing them to chant in harmony. In this way, the Parshendi's hearts basically act as synchronized metronomes, producing beats that the whole group can hear. This could explain why they like using drums when performing music for non-Parshendi people: it is their way of showing to non-Parshendi the sounds that their blood makes.
 
As for Vapor, I believe that as the Parshendi learn more about their own magic system, they will one day discover chants that actually have magical effects. (Edit: This was confirmed in WoR.) The Focus of those magical effects would be the Exhalation of air produced by their singing. Each chant would correspond to a different Intent.

 

I suppose Dawnsingers could have a similar capability, though we don't really know much about them at this point. But this does tie in with my other theory about Dawnshards being musical instruments. If Dawnshards are wind instruments, then the Focus of their Investiture's Intent would, again, be Exhalation.

 
 
Part III: The Knights Radiant and the Essences

 

(2015-03-07 Note: I have abandoned this part of the theory. You may still read it for the lulz if you want. I've spoilered it so it would no longer clutter the post.)

 
I've already discussed a connection between the Orders chart and the Essences in a previous theory. I believe I may have discovered another connection.
 
One conundrum about the chart is that some Orders are connected to three other Orders, while some are connected to four. I discovered that you can interpret these connections to associate each Order to exactly four Essences each.
 
Jez:     Sinew.     Zephyr,     Vapor,     Lucentia
Nan:    Zephyr,     Vapor,     Spark,     Tallow
Chach: Vapor,     Spark,     Lucentia,     Foil
Vev:     Spark,     Lucentia,     Pulp,     Talus
Palah: Lucentia,     Pulp,     Blood,     Sinew
Shash: Pulp,     Blood,     Tallow,     Zephyr
Betab: Blood,     Tallow,     Foil,     Vapor
Kak:    Tallow,     Foil,     Talus,         Spark
Tanat:     Foil,     Talus,     Sinew,     Blood
Ishi:     Talus,     Sinew,     Zephyr,     Pulp
 
(Sorry for the awful formatting.)
 

Here's my analysis (in Spoiler tags due to length):

 

The Essences in bold are the Essences associated to an Order, represented here by a Vorin number (e.g. Jez=Zephyr, Nan=Vapor, etc.). Immediately to the left and right of the main Essence are the Essences adjacent to it in the table of Essences, representing the Orders that it shares Surges with (e.g. the Chach Order (Spark) shares Surges with the Nan Order and the Vev Order).

 

I am theorizing that the remaining Essence (italicized) is an extra Essence that represents an additional power given to each Knight Radiant.

 

For example, The Jez Order (Windrunners like Kaladin) are Zephyr users with Surges shared with the Ishi Order and the Nan Order. But as we know, Kaladin can also heal himself, an attribute associated with Lucentia, his Order's extra Essence.

 

Another example: Shallan's special ability. She likes calling the images she captures "memories", but I don't think they're actual memories stored in her brain. Otherwise, she'd be able to recall them without drawing them on paper. I believe it's her own flesh (Sinew) that remembers, like a sort of muscle-memory, and that it guides her drawings (Guiding is an attribute associated with Sinew). This is why she can draw things, even those she can't see, instinctively. This ability uses the eyes (Lucentia) as the Focus, just like Basic Lashing. Given all this, I theorize that Shallan is a member of the Palah Order (Pulp), whose extra Essence is Sinew.

 

I place Jasnah in the Shash Order (Blood), making Palah and Shash the Soulcasting Orders. I still do not know how Jasnah can make Stormlight act like lightning bolts, but I'm hoping that it is part of the Transformation Surge so that Shallan can learn it as well. If so, then we have yet to see Jasnah's extra ability (probably not related to Soulcasting), something connected to the Essence of Zephyr.

 

Edit: I now doubt that Shash is Jasnah's Order. I'll make a separate thread about it after I've collected my thoughts.

 

 

***

 

Edit: Other related speculations:

• I believe that each Surgebinder can choose to join one of two Orders, either the Order associated with his major ability, or the one associated with his extra ability. In Kaladin's case, it's possible that he could have been part of the Vev Order if he actually went to train as a surgeon instead of becoming a soldier. At this point, it appears he is now bound to the Jez Order of Windrunners, although he still has healing abilities.
   
• In connection to the speculation above, I think the female healer in Dalinar's vision was a natural Vev Order member, but chose the Tanat Order (Stonewards) instead. That would explain her having the Stonewards color as well as the ability to heal.

​

Now for some really wacky ones that even I don't really believe in:

• Szeth is a natural Shash Order member, but has chosen to hone his Windrunning (Zephyr) abilities instead, probably because Truthspren do not want to bond with him for some reason... making him Truthless. This still doesn't explain how he activated his Windrunning abilities, though.
   
• Based on the previous speculation, Jasnah can potentially learn Windrunning as well. That would be her extra Zephyr ability. I don't think she's the "run on walls, sticking stuff together" kind of woman, though.
   
• The (theoretical) muscle memory ability of the Ishi Order (which I believe is Shallan's extra ability) can be used to learn a physical skill just by watching someone perform that skill. Kind of like the Narutoverse's Sharingan ability. We'll have to see if Shallan shows some awesome swordfighting abilities after watching a few duels in the warcamps.

 

 

 

***

 

So, what about the waveforms that I've been almost obsessed about before? I still think that they are important. I believe that the Shards on Roshar manifest their power through special waveforms (e.g. Stormlight), just like how Harmony's power manifests as the Mists, and how Endowment's power manifests as pigments. But the point is that Shardic power is separate from the Focus, which may not even be magical at all.

 

(Edit: After WoR, we now know that the Illumination Surge manipulates both light, sound, and various waveforms.)

 

Well, that's all for now. Tell me what you guys think!

Edited March 7, 2015 by skaa

[Senor Feesh]

Well thought out theory, don't know how much I agree yet. One hole I'll try and poke though; I don't believe Surgebinders need to touch an object to transfer Stormlight. IIRC Szeth just breathes it in from the lamps in the prologue (which allows for it to be governed by Inhalation instead, so not much of a hole to be fair).

[skaa]

Well thought out theory, don't know how much I agree yet. One hole I'll try and poke though; I don't believe Surgebinders need to touch an object to transfer Stormlight. IIRC Szeth just breathes it in from the lamps in the prologue (which allows for it to be governed by Inhalation instead, so not much of a hole to be fair).

 

Ah, my wording might not have been clear. I believe that Inhalation is used to transfer Stormlight into the user's body, but touching an object transfers Stormlight into that target object. It's not the only way to transfer Stormlight into a target. I also noted Szeth's and Jasnah's alternative methods.

 

Edit: Thanks for the compliment, by the way, Senor Feesh!

Edited June 30, 2013 by skaa

[Morsk]

Szeth blinking! I never noticed that, and it opens up the body focuses to be so much more than I thought. We had Kaladin inhale to infuse, so I figured #2s exhale to infuse, #3s focus on their soul to infuse, etc.

Now, how can I use this to prove that Shallan is #3 Brave/Obedient?  (Because I love everyone's theories, but I love exploiting them for my own purpose more.) It gets her a line to #4, and explains her use of blinking as a focus, just like Windrunners having a line to #4 explains Szeth blinking. The #6 Blood order doesn't have a line to #4 and can't explain it. As for storing the memory, not just blinking, I'd say it's Soul. #3 is right on that, and #6 doesn't link to it at all.

Can I get Jasnah as #2 with this? All we've seen her do is inhale. It fits, but it's too little to draw conclusions from. I'm happy enough with Shallan though. (edit: At first I thought we'd seen Jasnah exhale, but I can't find it in the text and must've been confused.)

So, after having corrupted your theory to a purpose you didn't intend, I find I support it wholly!

Edited June 30, 2013 by Morsk

[skaa]

Szeth blinking! I never noticed that, and it opens up the body focuses to be so much more than I thought. We had Kaladin inhale to infuse, so I figured #2s exhale to infuse, #3s focus on their soul to infuse, etc.

Now, how can I use this to prove that Shallan is #3 Brave/Obedient?  (Because I love everyone's theories, but I love exploiting them for my own purpose more.) It gets her a line to #4, and explains her use of blinking as a focus, just like Windrunners having a line to #4 explains Szeth blinking. The #6 Blood order doesn't have a line to #4 and can't explain it. As for storing the memory, not just blinking, I'd say it's Soul. #3 is right on that, and #6 doesn't link to it at all.

Can I get Jasnah as #2 with this? Well, it lets her inhale and exhale, which we see her do. (She exhales when she transmutes the boulder to smoke.) #5 has no lines to either.

So, after having corrupted your theory to a purpose you didn't intend, I find I support it wholly!

 

LOL, well, that's okay. I also want to read other people's guesses as to which Orders can Soulcast, and what Shallan's "memory" ability actually does. Heck, I'm not even confident about Jasnah's Order, myself.

 

I'm not convinced that Exhalation is required for Soulcasting, though. I mean, yeah, Jasnah would have had to exhale at some point, of course. But that doesn't necessarily make it a Focus.

 

Jasnah closed her eyes, pressing her hand against the fallen boulder. She raised her head, inhaling slowly. The stones on the back of her hand began to glow more fiercely, the smokestone in particular growing so bright it was difficult to look at.

Shallan held her breath. The only thing she dared do was blink, committing the scene to memory. For a long, extended moment, nothing happened.

And then, briefly, Shallan heard a sound. A low thrumming, like a distant group of voices, humming together a single, pure note.

Jasnah's hand sank into the rock.

The stone vanished.

A burst of dense black smoke exploded into the hallway.

 

According to that scene, two of the actions Jasnah performed were directly connected to the Soulcasting Investiture: (1) the pressing of her hand on the rock (Sinew), and her inhalation (Zephyr). Remember that Jasnah can use "Stormlightning" (my term ) to Soulcast as well, but the Inhalation requirement still remains even in that case.

 

Just a thought: If Jasnah isn't in the Shash Order, wouldn't it be just so ironic if her Order turned out to be Ishi? Pious Jasnah?! LOL!

 

But really, I have a feeling we'll be able to pinpoint her actual Order once we get to read Words of Radiance.

Edited June 30, 2013 by skaa

[Morsk]

Yeah, I was wrong about Jasnah exhaling. It must've been something I'd guessed at months ago, figuring that her inhaling was a red herring, and whenever we saw her inhale, it was only because she was exhaling before or after. Somewhere between then and now, I forgot that it was only a guess...

I really have no ideas on Jasnah. I went and looked over the times she Soulcasts jam and bread, and then Shallan's blood, but there are no clues about focus in any of it.

[Crysanja]

maybe the knowledge of the knightradiant is not as compleate as it sounds.

i think they had allways an orientation towards warfare. so there might be lots of abilities, which are useless for warfare.

there are löts of different spreen, maybe all can be bound.

ok they knew much more then the ppl today, but that does not mean they knew everything.

[WeiryWriter]

Hmm, it's a very well thought out theory.  That said I firmly believe that the focus on Roshar will end up being Spiritual in nature.

 

Also, not to be nitpicky, but the focus for Awakening isn't "words" it's Commands.  The distinction might be subtle but it is important to remember that speaking isn't strictly necessary to Awaken something.

[Meg]

This is an interesting theory and I'm really curious whether you're right, as for the question about the Ten Essences being the focus on Roshar was RAFO'd: 

Chaos

In the Ars Arcanum of the Way of Kings, next to the Essences are listed ten Body Focuses. Are these Body Focuses the focus (in cosmere terms) of Surgebinding?
Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

source

 

 

[skaa]

Hmm, it's a very well thought out theory.  That said I firmly believe that the focus on Roshar will end up being Spiritual in nature.

 

Thanks! According to my understanding of Realmatics, the Essences do exist in the Spiritual realm, because they are abstract ideals that have to be actualized through their concrete manifestations (e.g. the gemstones, the body focuses, the people exhibiting Divine attributes, etc.) before they are perceived.

 

 

Also, not to be nitpicky, but the focus for Awakening isn't "words" it's Commands.  The distinction might be subtle but it is important to remember that speaking isn't strictly necessary to Awaken something.

 

You're right. I apologize for the imprecise wording. I should have used "commands" for that.

[skaa]

I'm the thread starter, so I'll just go ahead and exhume this thread of mine. Let's just say I want to do an autopsy of sorts, an analysis of all my predictions above in light of Words of Radiance.

 

Obviously, there will be Words of Radiance spoilers:

First, the wrong predictions:

• I was totally wrong about Jasnah and Shallan's Orders. This was before we learned where the Transformation Surge was, and before we knew about the Order of Lightweavers and their association with the Essence of Blood. At some point, I was about to assign Jasnah to Sinew and Shallan to Talus for a reason I won't get into here. I'm glad I didn't bother to post that.
   
• I have been assuming that Kaladin's Stormlight healing meant that he somehow had access to Lucentia (his "extra Essence" as I called it). Now we know that Stormlight can heal normal wounds of any Surgebinder who inhales it.
  
  On the other hand, it's weird that Taravangian thought specifically of the Regrowth ability (a power of the Progression Surge) when he was looking for an excuse for Kaladin's Shardblade-healing, and we have WoP that there is a specific reason behind this, so there might still be hope for my "extra Essence" theory.
   
• No, Szeth's Truthless nature had nothing to do with the inability to bond with Cryptics. Silly skaa.

 

Now for my correct predictions:

• The Parshendi do in fact hear internal "Rhythms", and this is what's behind Parshendi songs. It didn't say outright in Words of Radiance that these Rhythms had anything to do with their heartbeats, but at least I was able to predict that the Rhythms are decided by the situation (e.g. the current temperament of the Parshendi, or the temperament he desires to project) or by the spren bond (Voidbringers have a whole new set of Rhythms).
   
• You can imagine the strange mixture of dread and delight I experienced when I got to the part where the Stormform Parshendi were using a new chant to summon the Everstorm. I had correctly predicted that they will eventually learn magic-producing songs. I just didn't expect it to involve the storming Desolation! *shudders*

 

There are a number of things in my original post that might still be confirmed/debunked in future books/WoB. For one, we still don't know the actual focus of Investiture on Roshar. So yeah, I'll probably resurrect this thread again when the next Stormlight book comes out.

Edited April 20, 2014 by skaa

[Tempus]

New Theory: The Focus on Roshar is being Emo

 

Proof - surgebinders are always depressed or moping about. =D

[Kobold King]

New Theory: The Focus on Roshar is being Emo

Proof - surgebinders are always depressed or moping about. =D

So Emo is one of the Essences? I wonder what Soulcasting Emo is like.

"I am a stick. Not that it matters."

EDIT: I should note that I mean no disrespect. I simply find the concept of a depressive nihilistic Stick hilarious.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Kobold King

[Moogle]

Despite how old this thread is, I would like to chip in and say that it's an interesting theory. I'm in no way convinced, but we'll see how things end up. I've always figured the focus was the spren or gemstones.

 

When we're looking for a focus, we should be looking for a place where Investiture is funneled. Symbols provide a gateway for the AonDor, metals provide a gateway for Allomancy/Feruchemy, and Commands provide a gateway for Awakening (since you sort of 'shove' the Investiture through the Command).

 

Given that fabrials literally work by forcing Investiture through gemstones with captured spren, I lean towards it being the spren. Really, Nalthis and Roshar are incredibly similar with Stormlight vs. Breath, so spren (which are ideas given life) seem a very close match to Nalthis' Commands (which are very strongly visualized ideas). You could make a case for the gemstones though, and get by the fact that Surgebinders can Surgebind without gemstones because they have gemhearts. I really like the theory that Surgebinders have gemhearts. It explains their perfect Stormlight retention too well.

 

If we accept it as spren, we run into the problem of why the gemstone type matters for a lot of things. Mistborn implies that this means the gemstones are the focus of Roshar, and that spren exist as the equivalent of the link to Preservation that comes about when you Snap, except they link directly to the Surges. When used in gemstones, they act in a way akin to Hemalurgic spikes. (In fact, based on the fact we know that there are mist-powered fabrials which may or may not require Hemalurgy, I'd guess that this is the case.) WoR spoilers:

As well, Soulcasting ardents who use Soulcasters change physically. There's a definite link to Hemalurgy in this case. I'll go make a thread on it.

 

As to the Parshendi (WoR spoilers):

It seems more or less likely that singing their songs doesn't actually do anything on its own. It's the fact that they're singing it and have such a high cultural belief in what it can do that it summons a spren, or uses the spren inside of them, and this spren provides the focus by which the Everstorm could be summoned. Eshonai's ability to summon a mini-storm suggests that it's the spren bonded to them that causes them to take on stormform that acts as the focus.

 

The singing probably just provides them with a way to tune into the same 'instructions' and combine their power. The Soulcasting ardents similarly sing when they're working together with Soulcasters. By singing together and tapping into the same 'thing', all the Parshendi just worked together to summon the Everstorm. Where each one would have individually summoned a mini-storm, by singing they were able to view themselves as one Cognitive entity and thus move larger amounts of Investiture. Rlain's worries about what would happen when they finish their song still make sense; the Everstorm is a massive amount of Investiture, and so it needed time to be gathered from wherever it was (Braize?), so it makes sense for him to say "kill them before the song is completed".

Edited April 20, 2014 by Moogle

[PorridgeBrick]

Is there anything that says there can't be two Focuses in a system? Spren, as a 'primary' focus, and gems as a 'secondary' focus for Soulcasting and fabrials.

[Moogle]

Is there anything that says there can't be two Focuses in a system? Spren, as a 'primary' focus, and gems as a 'secondary' focus for Soulcasting and fabrials.

 

I don't think there's anything that says this, but I think it would be very weird. The 'transformative Cognitive entities' of Sel are the Seons, and they are based around Aons. At the heart of each Seon is an Aon, so we'd expect that whatever is at the heart of each spren would be the focus of Roshar.

 

We also know that Seons can 'actualize' their Aon, and that is basically what fabrials with captured spren do.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Moogle

[skaa]

The 'transformative Cognitive entities' of Sel are the Seons, and they are based around Aons. At the heart of each Seon is an Aon, so we'd expect that whatever is at the heart of each spren would be the focus of Roshar.

And at the heart of each spren is...

Sorry, that's another one of my own theories from last year (back when I thought Lucentia was the "Light" Essence; oh how innocent we all were back then!), so I guess it shouldn't really count. Pardon the shameless plug.

I admit that the "Surgebinders have gemhearts" theory might be a viable (if weird) alternative to my Essences theory, but it will have to explain why Honorblades work. Does a person sprout a gemheart upon getting an Honorblade, and then lose the gemheart upon relinquishing the Honorblade?

Also, won't it make more sense (in the context of the gemheart theory) if the Surgebinder had a gemheart before bonding a Nahel spren, so that the spren would be attracted to it? I don't know. I think it would be more believable if Surgebinders instead had a sort of "gemsoul", a Spiritual, abstract form of the Polestones, something that can be shaped by the Divine Attributes.

In other words, the soul itself would act as the "gemstone", with the Attributes acting as the "cut" required to attract a Nahel spren. But then, the Attributes are just another column of the Essences table, separate from the gemstones column, isn't it? So in the end, as I said, it all boils down to the Essences.

Is there anything that says there can't be two Focuses in a system? Spren, as a 'primary' focus, and gems as a 'secondary' focus for Soulcasting and fabrials.

Weeell... my theory says they're both focuses, being manifestations of the Essences. But I understand how that might sound too abstract for some people. That really is the one weakness of my theory.

New Theory: The Focus on Roshar is being Emo

Proof - surgebinders are always depressed or moping about. =D

The Lopen would like to have a word with you.

Edited April 21, 2014 by skaa

[DarkSong]

So I read this post the other day, and found this quote from WoR lie the day after. Supports the claim that the focus of surgebinging is the essences, though if heart beats are important then blood (or maybe the sound of the heartbeat that Dalinar heard so loudly) may be more important?

 

Syl and Kal are talking about Spren..

 

 

Chapter 87: The Riddens

 

“Dead,” Syl agreed. “Then they live again a little when someone summons them, syncing a heartbeat to their essence.”

 

 

[skaa]

So I read this post the other day, and found this quote from WoR lie the day after. Supports the claim that the focus of surgebinging is the essences, though if heart beats are important then blood (or maybe the sound of the heartbeat that Dalinar heard so loudly) may be more important?

 

Syl and Kal are talking about Spren..

 

Hi DarkSong! First of all, welcome to the forums, and congrats on your first post.

 

I'm positive that Syl's words in that scene will turn out to be really important in the future. Unfortunately we don't yet know exactly what "syncing a heartbeat to their essence" means, nor even if "essence" in this case refers to the in-world term or just the plain ol' English word. Still, reading the quote you gave did make me realize another Blood connection that I missed:

 

The Essence of Blood is associated with the Order of Lightweavers, who aside from being able to manipulate light, can also manipulate any waveform, including sound. So even if the heartbeat is more important to Shardblade-summoning than the actual blood being pumped by the heart, that still points to the Essence of Blood as the focus.

Edited May 16, 2014 by skaa

[Moogle]

Rereading the original post, I'm curious: why do Windrunners not get any associations with Blood, even though they're connected to the Lightweavers on the chart? You mentioned that you found out how to take the Orders with connections to four other Orders and somehow extract only four Essences, but didn't explain the process.

 

Also: minor part of the theory that was debunked in WoR:

Kaladin's healing is shared by anyone who can use Stormlight, it seems. It can't just be a connection to Lucentia.

[skaa]

Rereading the original post, I'm curious: why do Windrunners not get any associations with Blood, even though they're connected to the Lightweavers on the chart? You mentioned that you found out how to take the Orders with connections to four other Orders and somehow extract only four Essences, but didn't explain the process.

 

Yeah, I didn't really explain it, did I? Sorry about that. Here's the process: For each Essence X, find the first Essence Y that is connected to X in the chart but is not adjacent to X in the table of Essences. If X was previously set as the extra Essence for the Order of Y, try to look for another Y if any exists. Otherwise, set Y as the extra Essence of the Order of X.

 

If you're a programmer, here's a very abstract pseudo-code representing the algorithm (in case this makes things clearer):

 

For each Essence X,

        For each Essence Y,

                If Y is connected to X and Y is not adjacent to X,

                            If extra Essence of Order(Y) is X,

                                            Y' := Y.

                            Else,

                                            Set extra Essence of Order(X) to Y.

                                            Continue to next X.

                            End If.

                End If.

        End For.

        Set extra Essence of Order(X) to Y'.

End For.

 

At the time I thought this was the simplest, most elegant system where all the Orders have the same number of associated Essences (X, Y, and the two Essences adjacent to X) and where all the lines on the KR chart are accounted for. But perhaps someone has a better idea.

 

 

Also: minor part of the theory that was debunked in WoR:

Kaladin's healing is shared by anyone who can use Stormlight, it seems. It can't just be a connection to Lucentia.

 

I already acknowledged that in my post-WOR analysis. Yes, other KR Orders can heal via Stormlight, but the scene where Taravangian basically implies that only Windrunners, Edgedancers, and Truthwatchers can heal Shardblade wounds gives me hope that Windrunners might still be connected to Lucentia somehow.

Edited April 25, 2014 by skaa

[Tempus]

 

I already acknowledged that in my post-WOR analysis. Yes, other KR Orders can heal via Stormlight, but the scene where Taravangian basically implies that only Windrunners, Edgedancers, and Truthwatchers can heal Shardblade wounds gives me hope that Windrunners might still be connected to Lucentia somehow.

 

This is big, I didn't notice this, my search terms are not turning it up for some reason. Can you direct me to the section?

[Moogle]

At the time I thought this was the simplest, most elegant system where all the Orders have the same number of associated Essences (X, Y, and the two Essences adjacent to X) and where all the lines on the KR chart are accounted for. But perhaps someone has a better idea.

 

Your algorithm makes sense, but you haven't justified why you are arbitrarily deciding to have four essences and want to cut the fifth one (for those orders that are connected to four other orders). It seems like you just decided you wanted to have the same number of essences for every order (four), thought the connections between Orders were linked somehow, and then decided to ignore one connection when the Order had more connections than you wanted. It makes me leery and feels like you're stretching things.

 

Rest of this post is WoR spoilers.

I already acknowledged that in my post-WOR analysis. Yes, other KR Orders can heal via Stormlight, but the scene where Taravangian basically implies that only Windrunners, Edgedancers, and Truthwatchers can heal Shardblade wounds gives me hope that Windrunners might still be connected to Lucentia somehow.

 

Taravangian does not imply this; he implies that only the Edgedancers and Truthwatchers (or rather, their patron Heralds' Honorblades) can heal Shardblades wounds. This is likely because they have Regrowth (which Nalan shows can heal Shardblade wounds with a Regrowth fabrial):

 

“You fought a Surgebinder?” Adrotagia said, glancing at Taravangian.

“Yes,” Szeth said. “An Alethi man who fed upon Stormlight. He healed a Blade-severed arm. He is . . . Radiant . . .”

That strain in his voice did not sound safe. Taravangian glanced at Szeth’s hands. They were clenching into fists time and time again, like hearts beating.

“No, no,” Taravangian said. “I have learned this only recently. Yes, it makes sense now. One of the Honorblades has vanished.”

Szeth blinked, and he focused on Taravangian, as if returning from a distant place. “One of the other seven?”

“Yes,” Taravangian said. “I have heard only hints. Your people are secretive. But yes . . . I see, it is one of the two that allow Regrowth. Kholin must have it.”

 

That Kaladin was able to heal a Shardblade wound is a sign that all Radiants can do it, according to Szeth ("He is... Radiant..."). Honorblades are not capable of it, as implied by this WoB:

 

Q:  What about Kaladin getting sliced with the Shardblade and then being able to rejuvenate.

A:  That is a clue for what is going on with Szeth and his understanding of Shardblades and the Shardblade he has.

Q:  Which is an Honorblade, right?

A:  I can't say, but Szeth says in book one you can't heal a Shardblade wound with Stormlight. There are other very big but subtle discrepancies between what Szeth does and what Kaladin does.

 

 

Here's another thing from WoR that might support the "extra Essence" theory. Ym's Interlude seems to suggest that Nalan, Herald of Skybreakers (Vapor), can use some form of teleportation, an ability that's supposed to belong only to the Transportation Orders, namely the Elsecallers (Tallow) and the Willshapers (Foil). Tallow is the extra Essence for Skybreakers under my theoretical system.

 

Nalan has a Regrowth fabrial, since he used something glowing to resurrect Szeth. I see no reason why this wouldn't be more easily explained by him having another fabrial. And I would argue he uses a Lightweaving fabrial to become darkness, like Shallan did went meeting Taln. Ym's spren says "he's here", which implies that the spren noticed the "invisible" Darkness approaching.

 

If he teleported in, the spren would not have noticed him coming and there would have been a glowing circle that Ym or his urchin friend should have seen. Plus, Elsecalling is 'imprecise', so I'm not even sure you could teleport into a building like that.

 

As well, there was no need to teleport in, because Ym notes that he had previously met Darkness (he speaks of a man in a military coat watching him in the previous days).

Edited April 25, 2014 by Moogle

[Tempus]

 

 

“You fought a Surgebinder?” Adrotagia said, glancing at Taravangian.

“Yes,” Szeth said. “An Alethi man who fed upon Stormlight. He healed a Blade-severed arm. He is . . . Radiant . . .”

That strain in his voice did not sound safe. Taravangian glanced at Szeth’s hands. They were clenching into fists time and time again, like hearts beating.

“No, no,” Taravangian said. “I have learned this only recently. Yes, it makes sense now. One of the Honorblades has vanished.”

Szeth blinked, and he focused on Taravangian, as if returning from a distant place. “One of the other seven?”

“Yes,” Taravangian said. “I have heard only hints. Your people are secretive. But yes . . . I see, it is one of the two that allow Regrowth. Kholin must have it.”

 

Oh, this quote. This one is actually suggesting that Dalinar has a Regrowth enabled honorblade and is using it to Regrow Kaladin's wound. Honorblade wielders do not seem to gain the same sort of benefits of holding stormlight that surgebinders seem to.

[skaa]

Uh, you guys are forgetting that Szeth healed his own Shardblade wounds during his last battle with Kaladin.

@Moogle: Yes, the four Essences thing was just me trying to make the KR connections more... neat... I guess you could say. I won't be shocked if it got debunked later on. I just enjoy doing these kinds of things.

Oh, I deleted the Nalan part hoping that nobody will see it. Apparently I was too late. You're right, teleportation wasn't the only possible explanation for that scene.

Edited April 25, 2014 by skaa