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Hidden Things in Map of Roshar?


RShara

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Isn't there a quote about the landmass being on the back of a giant thing? Like, it goes something like "they could not live on the forbearance of his stillness forever" or something along those lines. I'll edit it in when I find it! 

 

EDIT: Ha! The wiki is the greatest thing man has invented since indoor plumbing and the firearm.

 

"Obviously they are fools The Desolation needs no usher It can and will sit where it wishes and the signs are obvious that the spren anticipate it doing so soon The Ancient of Stones must finally begin to crack It is a wonder that upon his will rested the prosperity and peace of a world for over four millennia"

 

-From the diagram. Emphasis mine to prove my point and ignore everything that doesn't go along with my theory, as is proper of a scientist. 

Edited by Islington
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May have been posted already, since I didn't go through all 28 pages of posts, but I noticed on the map of Alethkar in WoK that the pattern of the Shattered Plains is clearly visible. Thought this was a fun "easter egg" that I would have never thought twice about until after WoR.

Edit: Going back through the other maps in WoK, the pattern is also in the Kharbranth map and forms the compass in the black and white map of Roshar. There's also multiple patterns in the Frostlands map connected together with "travel" lines (maybe?).

Edited by andheiswitty
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I just searched this topic and didn't see that anyone has theorized this yet -

 

What if Roshar was assembled from pieces of other worlds, to serve as an arena where good and evil fight it out? So many different kinds of plants and animals, not to mention sentient humanoids.

 

IIRC, there are a total of 10 planets in the cosmere, and there are 10 areas on the map of Roshar in the Silver Kingdoms.

 

I also like the theories re: fractals above - there are just too many 10's, and too many instances of symmetry, for it not to be something like that. And I thought about it all being a greatshell too, though I agree that's not "math-related."

 

(My initial theory was that Roshar was actually a plane, not a planet at all, and that Shadesmar would be the back side of the plane. But that theory got shot down by Brandon at the WoR signing - shucks, I thought I really had it figured out...)

Edited by old aggie
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IIRC, there are a total of 10 planets in the cosmere, and there are 10 areas on the map of Roshar in the Silver Kingdoms.

No, there are definitely more than 10 planets in the cosmere.  There *are* ten core shardworlds, but then there are numerous minor shardworlds as well (of which we know two).

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I just searched this topic and didn't see that anyone has theorized this yet -

 

What if Roshar was assembled from pieces of other worlds, to serve as an arena where good and evil fight it out? So many different kinds of plants and animals, not to mention sentient humanoids.

 

IIRC, there are a total of 10 planets in the cosmere, and there are 10 areas on the map of Roshar in the Silver Kingdoms.

 

I also like the theories re: fractals above - there are just too many 10's, and too many instances of symmetry, for it not to be something like that. And I thought about it all being a greatshell too, though I agree that's not "math-related."

 

(My initial theory was that Roshar was actually a plane, not a planet at all, and that Shadesmar would be the back side of the plane. But that theory got shot down by Brandon at the WoR signing - shucks, I thought I really had it figured out...)

10 is the holy number of Honor, or something like that. Kind of like 16 and Preservation. The tens and the symmetry are probably related to the influences of Honor.

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Looking back through this thread, Peter had to be referring to Shaggai's Dragon curve post.

More specifically, a twindragon fractal with the eastern shore weathered away and Shinovar (the Alien landmass) dropped in the middle of the Misted Mountains.

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I was just browsing through here, and something struck me as kind of odd right off of the bat (for several reasons...). This may not be pertinent, so feel free to shame me if needed.

 

We know that there is no tectonic activity on Roshar, soooooo: where exactly did the continent come from? How are there mountains? Not only mountains, but mountain ranges (that appear to have no correlation to prevailing wind direction via highstorms.)

 

Geologically, this map makes no sense. 

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I was just browsing through here, and something struck me as kind of odd right off of the bat (for several reasons...). This may not be pertinent, so feel free to shame me if needed.

 

We know that there is no tectonic activity on Roshar, soooooo: where exactly did the continent come from? How are there mountains? Not only mountains, but mountain ranges (that appear to have no correlation to prevailing wind direction via highstorms.)

 

Geologically, this map makes no sense.

The mountains were presumably created by whatever made the weird stuff with the shape.

Incidentally, I looked over a dragon curve again, and Roshar would only look like it if part of the curve was removed.

Edited by Shaggai
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post-10587-0-09724300-1397515892_thumb.j

It sure looks a lot like this to me. Mountains at the overlaps, north and south sides (Edit: also the east side) eroded due to high storms, and the Aimian Sea sunken due to the added weight of Shinovar. I'm assuming that Shinovar is at a higher elevation and was not part of the original world-building.

Whether Shinovar is the seat (do Shards need a physical home?) of Cultivation and The Unclaimed Hills the former (now unclaimed) seat of Honor I'll leave to you to judge, but that is surely fodder for a different discussion.

Edited by potato
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attachicon.gif440px-Lévy's_dragon_curve_(IFS)~2.jpg

It sure looks a lot like this to me. Mountains at the overlaps, north and south sides (Edit: also the east side) eroded due to high storms, and the Aimian Sea sunken due to the added weight of Shinovar. I'm assuming that Shinovar is at a higher elevation and was not part of the original world-building.

Whether Shinovar is the seat (do Shards need a physical home?) of Cultivation and The Unclaimed Hills the former (now unclaimed) seat of Honor I'll leave to you to judge, but that is surely fodder for a different discussion.

That's a lot of erosion on the east, though.

Image1.gif

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First time poster, and I just want to say that I've been following the forum for awhile with regards to the Cosmere, and the map bit has really intrigued me.

 

I know others have raised questions about how the mountains/continent itself was formed if there are not plate tectonic forces occurring, but what's up with the archipelagos?  I don't understand what could possibly create islands could be created without plate tectonics and through that volcanoes, especially ones that look very similar to say... the Hawaiian Archipelago.  I guess you could "magic" and answer up, like a God of some sort just threw down islands in a line in addition to the continent, but for some reason the islands have really bothered me.

 

The shape of the continent is symmetrical (mostly) about the diagonal, but the islands are really a wild card to me.  They aren't symmetrical really at all.

 

Side note: In the Shadesmar map, there is a "mountain range" in the very center at the bottom.  Are we to assume that the ocean is very shallow there? As shallow as the Purelake?  Pretty random to me as well, but it may just be an artistic liberty.

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@ Odical, That Nagel::Nahel discussion is interesting in its own right. I suggest you start a dedicated thread to the nature and creative influences of the Nahel bond. As far as it relates to the map, I'm not sure about the fractal connections (in particular I don't understand the definition of fractal as relates to psychology), but there may be something there.

 

@potato, thanks for posting that picture. I've been skimming most of the recent posts, and dismissed the "dragon curve" references as the supposed resemblance of the landmass to a dragon (which some insist on but I don't see). Your pic prompted me to look up various tilings of the dragon curve, and I'm definitely seeing a resemblance.

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That's a lot of erosion on the east, though.

 

No doubt. I've no geology background and no knowledge of what sort of rock the continent is formed of, but even on a condensed schedule of thousands of years, a weekly tsunami/storm surge is bound to cause massive erosion. I'm almost completely convinced that the whole landmass is lighter than water but somehow anchored in place, thus explaining the northern islands- they were blown off of the northeastern shore and arced back along the northern edge, becoming barrier islands.

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No doubt. I've no geology background and no knowledge of what sort of rock the continent is formed of, but even on a condensed schedule of thousands of years, a weekly tsunami/storm surge is bound to cause massive erosion. I'm almost completely convinced that the whole landmass is lighter than water but somehow anchored in place, thus explaining the northern islands- they were blown off of the northeastern shore and arced back along the northern edge, becoming barrier islands.

 

I think Sanderson said that the crem was his way of "scientifically/magically" ignoring erosion.  Things don't erode in Roshar, they just get crem piled up.  Remember how everything in the Parshendi city was covered in layers and layers of crem?

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