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Hidden Things in Map of Roshar?


RShara

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Has anyone looked into whether the spiral-ish pattern we see is related to a Fibonacci curve?

 

That would be really interesting!  It sort of kind of overlays?  Maybe the focal point of the curve is where Urthiru is on the map?  I think I butchered that spelling.

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Sorry that I lack the patience and skill of observation to check to see if this has been already posted - but has anyone made references to Hoid's quote to Dalinar in The Way of Kings? I'll try and find the quote (I just found it now listening to the audiobook) when I have free time if anyone wants it or it hasn't been posted yet. Hoid makes reference to the world 'being a storm, spinning and turning, but us being too close to see it' or of some variation. I immediately paused and came here.

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Sorry that I lack the patience and skill of observation to check to see if this has been already posted - but has anyone made references to Hoid's quote to Dalinar in The Way of Kings? I'll try and find the quote (I just found it now listening to the audiobook) when I have free time if anyone wants it or it hasn't been posted yet. Hoid makes reference to the world 'being a storm, spinning and turning, but us being too close to see it' or of some variation. I immediately paused and came here.

Not that I'm aware of. I'm not certain it has any relation to the discussion at hand, but it may have a great impact on the worldview at a slightly more removed perspective. I'm in no position to espouse my own opinions (let alone others'), but great find. It may just be a excellent metaphor.

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Map is basically a hurricane symbol from the weather channel. Perhaps created by two high storms colliding. In the center, at urithiru. Also, the fact that in shadesmar has the sea where the land is in the physical realm jives with the fact that shallan always seems to sink when entering shadesmar over land but not on the ship out at sea.

The colored map appears to be on a concave canvas, like its rolled up on the inside of a pipe based on the patterns on the side.

Then again, I may be too busy not espousing others' theories to be right.

*hoping for someone to end this madness

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I did a quick search, but found no reference to it in this Thread. Anyway, here's the quote, though he doesn't seem to be talking about Roshar itself other than in a figurative way:

 

     "Winds are changing," Wit whispered.

     Dalinar glanced at him.

     Wit's eyes narrowed, and he scanned the night sky. "It's been happening for months now. A whirlwind. Shifting and churning, blowing us round and around. Like a world spinning, but we can't see it because we are too much a part of it.

- From the Way of Kings, chapter 54: "Gibletish", page 751 of the Tor hard-cover.

IMO, It sounds more like he is talking about the events going around on Roshar, much of it being manipulated on a global scale by the different secret factions, such as the Ghostbloods, the Sons of Honour, the Diagram etc.

Edited by Aether
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Just as a mention, the land mass on Roshar seems to show a clockwise rotational residue. If the effect were natural, it would indicate that (since storms in the Southern hemisphere spin CW) the Highstorm would have to be continent-sized to make a CW looking geological effect, but little else.  But no… the Highstorm only blows East to West, even in the northern parts of the continent, which still shows land residue West to East, or there is something else causing the geological rotation pattern beyond Highstorms or tectonics (ruled out by Brandon). Just a tidbit.

 

Following the 'draining into purelake/something' idea, this does actually mimic a spiral-galaxy-spinning-into-black-hole pattern. Also Aimia doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the continent, as has been pointed out, but the trail it leaves suggests that it is fairly ancient… perhaps even as old as the main continent. Who knows, maybe Aimia was the plug that got taken out of the purelake and set down off the west coast, making all the Shadesmar water drain out into Roshar's purelake, tugging along Roshar's land in a CW spiral? Probably not.

 

However, it is pretty likely that the shape did not just occur naturally. That would suggest it is by design (humor me). Roshar's landmass may have been designed (by Adonalsium?) to reflect the shape of the Cosmere galaxy, to serve as a travel hub between worlds (like the similarity of shape powered Aon use in Elantris). The gateways were built (at locations correlating to the positions of planets in the Cosmere) on Roshar to facilitate movement on the continent between 'planetary hubs', and then people were placed on Roshar to tend the planet (humans aren't native to Roshar). Adonalsium's shattering and Odium's coming messed all that up, but eventually everyone will be able to travel around the Cosmere via Roshar! Yay!

 

Also, I found the Shadesmar : Roshar equivalents rather interesting, but inconsequential:

Nexus of Truth : Endless Ocean (sounds like something the Cryptics would say [insert pun about 'depth' here])

Nexus of Transition : Reshi Isles

Expanse of the Broken Sky : Steamwater Ocean

Expanse of the Vapors : Ocean of Origins

Nexus of Imagination : Southern Depths

 

Again inconsequential: the colored endpaper of Roshar has a border of 10-pronged starbursts organized into groups of either 10 or 5.

Finally, has anyone translated the Glyphs around the compass and on the bordering of the black/white map of Roshar?

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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?

I doubt crem would be able to make up for the damage caused by the first impact of a highstorm.
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It's not to ignore erosion, it's to give him a means to explain how the continent still exists at all.  Also Peter said the information needed to find Easter egg isn't cosmere-related.
 

Q:  How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?
A:  The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that.  Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents.  So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent.  So the contienent does drift.  They don't have plate tectonics.  The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

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Could the spiral shape be due to the two different storms?  One from east to west and one from west to east.  Maybe the shape of the continent is hinting that for most of history both storms have been in effect, causing a swirling pattern in the continent's drift rather than just having the continent drift in one direction from the one storm?  

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Also, the book clearly says that the Everstorm is something "new, but of old design", implying that it has never been used before. Jasnah is rather frustrated that all her knowledge from the past might prove useless.

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I've noticed two things that seem important:

1) Brandon has said that Roshar moves slowly westward due the high storms;

2) He has commented that Roshar's similarity to a highstorm is important.

My theory is that in addition to moving west Roshar also slowly spins, causing the spiral shape. This is supported by fact that the continent is more circular when on a globe.

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Chapter 3 WoK. "A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The water surged beneath so far beneath and he heard a child crying, they were his own tears."

My theory has been that Roshar is a lot of greatshells. We have the interlude about the Reshi islands being greatshells and the "land" of Roshar is increasing the number of islands, which you can see when comparing old maps with the newer ones. More greatshells are gathering. The land floats and takes the shape of a storm. -(I have a couple other posts on this thread about it)

I would like to add the death rattle above to this theory. It sounds like the land began to move and destroy everything. It appears to acknowledge the water deep below as if the land was floating.

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Q:  Can you give me a hint in the easter egg in the map of Roshar? What particular skill do you need for it?  Is it a different language or math related?

A:  It's not linguistics.  It is math related.  Let me remind you this is not going to be a mind blowing revelation.  It is going to be a nifty thing.  Someone actually got close at one of my signings.  They noticed something.  But it is a fun easter egg that will tell you more about the history of the world.

 

If it's math related it might be something about the numbers on the latitude and longitude marks on the map.  Does the map reveal the entire planet or just one continent?

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I did a quick search, but found no reference to it in this Thread. Anyway, here's the quote, though he doesn't seem to be talking about Roshar itself other than in a figurative way:

 

IMO, It sounds more like he is talking about the events going around on Roshar, much of it being manipulated on a global scale by the different secret factions, such as the Ghostbloods, the Sons of Honour, the Diagram etc.

Just going to point out that apparently "everything Wit says is significant". Which could potentially help, or could also send people further into madness than they otherwise should be. :) That being said, if it's maths and not Cosmere-related, I am inclined to think Wit's comment doesn't mean anything. But I'm not sure of that either.

 

(Sorry if this is a useless post. After writing that out I can't work out if I'm actually saying anything worthwhile or not. So I'm going to post it anyway just in case).

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If it's math related it might be something about the numbers on the latitude and longitude marks on the map.  Does the map reveal the entire planet or just one continent?

 

The map reveals just the continent, but the continent is the only major one on the planet.

 

What latitude and longitude marks are you referring to?

 

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Crazy theory, most definitely wrong (hopefully)

 

Roshar is a giant Thunderclast. The planet is doomed. Odium has already won.

At some point, we need to bring all the Breaths together to Awaken Nalthis. That's right, Awaken the entirety of Nalthis. We will give the planet a Command worthy of such a masterpiece, a Command capable of bringing the world through the troubled times ahead.

 

"Kill everything."

Edited by Kobold King
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At some point, we need to bring all the Breaths together to Awaken Nalthis. That's right, Awaken the entirety of Nalthis. We will give the planet a Command worthy of such a masterpiece, a Command capable of bringing the world through the troubled times ahead.

 

"Kill everything."

Better Command: "Be evil". Then return Nightblood to Nalthis and watch what happens.
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