[Theory] Non-Surge "Fundamental Forces" Will Defeat Odium

[Confused]

Theory in brief: There are “fundamental forces” on Roshar that are not surges. I believe the KR will be able to use these forces to defeat Odium. The following quote got me thinking:

 

“[syl] nodded, alighting in the air and settling down, her legs crossed at the knees as if she was primly seating herself in an invisible chair. She continued to hover there, moving exactly in step with him.

 

“’Giving up all pretense of obeying natural laws again, I see,’ [Kaladin] said.

 

“’Natural laws?’ Syl said, finding the concept amusing. “Laws are of men, Kaladin. Nature doesn’t have them! [...] It’s more like…more like an agreement among friends.’”

 

WoR, p. 130 (hardcover).

 

Syl makes this last statement as Kaladin begins his surgebinding education. I immediately thought of Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix. Syl’s teasing tone masks the truth of Roshar: that even the surges themselves are contrivances – “an agreement among friends.”

 

The Ars Arcanum author states in WoR that the “Ten Surges…thought to be the fundamental forces by which the world operates – are more accurately a representation of the ten basic abilities offered to the Heralds, and then the Knights Radiant, by their bonds.” This definition of the surges suggests that Roshar “operates” by fundamental forces in addition to or other than the ten surges. Syl’s light-hearted comment about natural law turns out to be accurate – it IS an “agreement among friends” – the Oathpact itself!

 

The epigraph to WoR Chapter 35 (from the in-world Words of Radiance, chapter 8, page 6) describes that “agreement” as applied to the KR through the Nahel bond:

 

“They also, when they had settled their rulings in the nature of each bond’s placement, called the name of it the Nahel bond, with regard to its effect upon the souls of those caught in its grip; in this description, each was related to the bonds that drive Roshar itself, ten Surges, named in turn and two for each order; in this light, it can be seen that each order would by necessity share one Surge with each of its neighbors.”

 

Note that this agreement limits the surges that any order of KR can bind, but not other forces. Moreover, the statement that each surge “was related to the bonds that drive Roshar itself” suggests that when Adonalsium and/or some or all of the three Shards invested on Roshar, they bound Roshar’s physical phenomenon within certain constraints.

 

[Speculation: Because the Everstorm moves west to east, will it somehow undo “the bonds that drive Roshar”? Will it thus also undo whatever it is that binds Odium to the Rosharian system? Is this what the Everstorm is intended to do, rather than to simply wipe out humanity? And has Odium used the pretext of a Listener triumph over humans as the motivation for them to create the Everstorm? The epigraph to WoR Chapter 89 (emphasis added and reformatted), from the Diagram, says "destroy [the Parshendi] ​outright ​before [​one of them] ​obtains ​their ​power. ​It ​will ​form ​a bridge."]

 

The Ars Arcanum author believes “there should be another series of abilities that is even more esoteric than the Voidbindings. Perhaps the Old Magic fits into those, though I am beginning to suspect that is something entirely different.”

 

What are the implications for Roshar and the war against Odium if there are other fundamental forces than the surges and another “series of abilities” than surge- and voidbinding? Some observations:

 

• Nothing in the Nahel bond version of the Oathpact precludes the KR from using non-surge forces.
• The other “series of abilities” predicted by the Ars Arcanum author may involve these non-surge forces.
• We don’t yet know either the mechanism or the means or medium of Investiture necessary to access the non-surge forces.

 

Prediction: By Book 10, our SA heroes will discover and find a way to utilize these non-surge forces to win the war against Odium.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Confused

[RShara]

Quite interesting!  We also have these WoB:

 

Q:  Do you have an advisor for the science?
A:  I usually run things by my editor who's very big into science, but mostly we go find an expert and have him read.  The thing about it is, I have to hand wave a lot of things.  Like the laws of thermodynamics, I can't, you know..  There are quantum physics in here.  I'm trying to handwave as little as possible but we are breaking fundamental laws of physics, but even in terms of things like the laws of conservation.  Energy is being conserved, but there's a supernatural source.

Q:  Is the fundamental force of gravity the same as it is on Earth.  Is the constant the same?
A:  Yes, the constant would be the same.  The big difference is when I'm tweaking the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces.  There are more than four.  I've broken them up according to what their scientists have decided.

[GreyPilgrim]

I like the theory. I have a few things to add and comment on, and I just wrote up a pretty comprehensive post to respond and lost it.  I may retype it later, but for the moment I am too annoyed to do so. Sorry.