Post your theories here for your own gloryspren

[Djerf]

I don't know if I posted this somewhere before but I think the endgame of SA will be a new status quo with a new host of heralds at the helm.

The new heralds will become that with the help of sprenbonds powered by the honorblades and with more Cultivation and some Odium in the mix. Basically ten new superspren will emerge, maybe by "recycling" dead blades and the honorblades and with the gift from sja-anat.

The new heralds will be sixt-oath radiants that will temporarily get powers approaching shardic levels. Similar to how Dalinar works but more dynamic. By stealing Odius investure and threatening to steal more the new heralds and cultivation will drive Odium away from Roshar. 

The new Heralds will together be less powerful that any shard but they will be able to influence any confrontation between shards based on the orders authority. As a trade-off for mixed, shared a weaker power the new heralds will be more free I'm their actions and less changed by its intent. It is possible that full on herald power is only available at the sixth oath and that the sixth oath is temporary and specific " I will lead protect Roshar against odium" and once the specific clause of the oath is fulfilled (Odium leaves) the herald reverts back to a lvl5+ radiant.

[Harbour]

Quote

Urithiru was the connection to all nations,” she read from the Shin writer’s work. “And, at times, our only path to the outside world, with its stones unhallowed.” She looked up at Pattern. “What does that mean to you?

I have a wild theory that when humanity came from Ashyn to Roshar, Roshar was literally reflection of Shadesmar - what is the continent now was the bottom of the ocean back then.

Because of huge storms human decided to hide beneath the surface of the ocean.

Urithiru and some other cities were protected by sort of energetic/fabrial shields.

To provide the connection between cities were created the Oathgates. They allowed to travel without going through the water.

Shardplates were sort of underwater equapment that allowed people to go outside the cities and hunt down chasmfiends who inhabited the bottom of the oceans.

Then Desolation happened, destroying almost everything and imprinted the Roshar real look into form of Shadesmar, with land turned into glass under highest temperatures and water turned into obsidian.

Spren in Shadesmar look like they they looked on Roshar before Desolation. Now there are just their leftovers floating around. Some of them slowly gain the long lost identity.

I know, there are many things that may contradict this, yet i think Oathgates were created not just to make ancient people travel faster, but because they had no other way to travel between their cities at all.

[Ailvara]

Maybe one and a half of these are fully mine, some I've discussed with friends, others have been around for a while but I stand by them. Anyway, if I were to put my money on anything, it would be these:

1. Kaladin is going to save the day during the attack on Urithiru and unwittingly claim a bigger leadership role without Dalinar or Jasnah around. Lirin will then finally see the bigger picture as well and help him come to terms with that. Kaladin will eventually play a vital role in bringing the humans and (some of) the singers together in the fight against Odium. The moment of him swearing the 4th oath will be parallel to Shallan's moment of revelation, similarly to how their low moments were interwoven in the first chapters.
2. Venli thinks she's going to kidnap a Radiant, but in fact, she is going to be stuck in Urithiru after the assault, get to know everyone better, and eventually help with figuring out how to avoid genocide or enslavement of either side.
3. Shallan is going to realize she's been a persona since she split in childhood. Her last truth will require facing something terrible Helaran did to her and it will encompass her whole self, and her admitting to truly being each and all of her four alters. After reintegration, she and Adolin will need to face that only 1/4 of her (or less - as "Shallan" is mostly made up of coping mechanisms) is, in the eyes of both of them, truly married to and/or in love with Adolin. Between that and her involvement with the Ghostbloods it's not going to progress well. [Extensive reasoning for this and the next point as usual here; yep, I also still believe Shalladin will be the endgame, but possibly in back five]
4. Adolin will either snap again and do something reckless that will put him on a path of no return, or he'll decide the human side isn't really the "right" side, especially after the ongoing conflict with his father (and possibly under the influence of e.g. Taravangian). He'll end up being Odium's champion.
5. Dalinar will face Adolin in the final showdown and will have a chance to kill him, but won't be emotionally capable of doing so. As a result, the protagonists are going to suffer a crippling defeat in the finale of book 5. Up to and including destroying Roshar Ashyn-style in an attempt to keep Odium confined. [The ground for this theory are some of the death rattles + mirroring characteristic to SA].
6. We're going to get our main characters as the 10 new Heralds, but the Oathpact won't be recreated in the same form (or even any form - they'll just guide humanity through the back five).
7. As a surprise to no one, Gavilar is alive and Navani will bond Sibling.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Ailvara

[IntentAwesome]

I haven’t read all the theories posted, but I’m adding some of mine. They are probably not original, but here they are:

1. Nothing new here: Adolin will revive Maya, which will allow Team Dalinar to revive more shardblades and reassure spren to continue bonding, possibly changing the momentum of the war. 

2. From the Spanish blurb posted awhile ago,

Spoiler

I now believe Kaladin will bond the Sibling and revive the tower. This makes sense as Navani is too prone to think of the tower as a machine instead of something more alive (is the Sibling somehow the tower itself?). And must-save-everyone-Kal seems ideal to bond a tower specifically built for defense. This leads me to believe that Kaladin may not swear the fourth oath. A little sad about that.

3. I disagree with theories that the Mink is a traitor. For plot purposes, it seems awfully convenient that another skilled general has entered the story at a time when Dalinar will be away from the tower during an attack. As much as I love Kal and Navani, neither are military tacticians. Team Radiant is going to need a general to get them out of this mess. 

4. From Dawnshard,

Spoiler

I believe Rushu is the Ghostblood spy. She seemed much less absent-minded in Dawnshard (when away from those who could potentially discover her secret and blow her cover). Also, a moment in Dawnshard mentioned her drawing skills, and we know the GB is a light weaver.

5. I have a hard time believing that they will fail to revive the tower after 2 whole books, which means they will likely save Urithiru from the enemy. But Team Radiant probably needs a major loss somewhere in the penultimate book. That likely means that Dalinar will fail in his offensive. 
 

6. The common cold has become a pandemic on Roshar, or Raboniel is going to release some new biological weapon, because 2020.

oh! And, Navani’s opponent is probably someone from the Vriztl Guild in Thaylenah because that name drop wasn’t coincidence. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by IntentAwesome
More thoughts

[One_Armed]

I have that crazy idea that i saw no one saying. So I'm not thinking this has much of a chance to occur but it is a fun idea:

One of the fused will want to take venli's body (might be revenge might be just a whim). Whene it will happen timbre will lock the fused in venli's gemheart and venly wil the body and power of a fused along side with the willshaper radiant power.

What do you think? Could timbre and venli do that? 

[Ciridae]

It would be really great if my theory about the apothecary from WoK being one of the Lightweavers that have been mentioned ends up correct. I'm not holding out too much hope, but nothing has disproven this theory yet, so maybe.

I also want to call Lazian being the first of the fused to be imprisoned in a gem. It would fit with him having been the first to be killed by a human so long ago. 

[Karger]

4 hours ago, Debarra said:

1. Ishar is working with Odium and Nale swore and oath to follow him. The same way Szeth did with Dalinar. As such all the Skybreakers are sided with Emul.

Nale swore to follow the law if I understand correctly.  That is why he let Lift go in WoR.

Since we only have a few days left I am going to state that I think Leshwi will willingly allow herself to go to the beyond.

[+Wax]

I think it is Szeth who will have the critical role again in helping save Urithiru.

While Kaladin might have a command type role. Szeth is likely to use Nightblood a lot in the end, setting him up for Book 5.

[Kuram]

The synopsis referencing the 'secrets of the tower' hint to me that it will be reactivated somehow this book.  As for what the sibling is, and it's not quite a deadeye, I think it's just in hiding in Shadesmar, which is why it's disconnected from the tower.  Maybe in Lasting Integrity?  I don't think it's Restares, I don't know why a spren would have as their goal the return of the singers.  Unlike some others, I don't think the tower is the spren.  I do think many of the oddities of the tower are because they take advantage of surge fabrials and with the tower dormant they don't work... stuff like cohesion/tension for opening doorways, or gravitation surge on the open shafts (kind of a gravity elevator, so to speak).

I think Navani is on the path to figuring out how to make 'ancient' style fabrials.  Like soulcasters or the regrowth fabrial.  By the way, with the knowledge that either of those surges are possible with fabrials, I don't see why all the others wouldn't be possible too.  I foresee stuff like gravitation fabrials and so on, allowing non-windrunners to fly or regular field officers to use division on the battlefield, for example.

Kaladin 4th oath, obviously.  He was close at the end of OB, and the feeling I get from his current arc so far in the pre-release chapters is that it's completely aiming towards this resolution.  I've always held the impression that adhesion is a particularly weak and useless surge, so I am interested to see if his power-up or his introspection is going to lead towards more creative or useful applications of the surge...  I can imagine, at least with surgery, adhesion might be useful... for example to clamp an artery shut or something, but I am interested to really see that surge explored more.

I think Cultivation giving Mr. T the intelligence/compassion curse is going to end up benefiting the radiant team in the long run, similar to how Dalinar's curse eventually led to his growth and ability to resist the thrill and Odium.  I think Cultivation is living up to her name here, and we just can't see it yet.

[Ailvara]

On 11.11.2020 at 0:54 AM, Ailvara said:

Adolin will either snap again and do something reckless that will put him on a path of no return, or he'll decide the human side isn't really the "right" side, especially after the ongoing conflict with his father (and possibly under the influence of e.g. Taravangian). He'll end up being Odium's champion.

I had one more theory that adds to that today. 

If Maya revival happens, I expect that she won't exactly be chill about humanity. We've seen so many spren hate on humans because of what Recreance did to their kin, what will do one that actually lived through it herself? I believe Maya won't be ready to give humanity another chance and won't necessarily want to fight on the side of our protagonists. And Adolin will follow her.

I also expect the mission sent to the Honorspren to fail one way or another, and this is an interesting way this may happen, to have Maya contribute to them not trusting humans, tipping the scales.

[Zelly]

1) Let's jumpstart our organic fabrial machine that is Urithiru:

Quote

Somehow, the mixture of spren, music, and Light created a kind of organic machine that sustained plants via Stormlight.

Spren - The Sibling

Music - The Rhythm of War

Light - Infused pillar in the basement

Honestly I feel pretty good about the first two as plausible (though we know next to nothing about the Sibling).  The Light I'm the most "meh" about.

 

2) Totally different tangent, but the idea is that the basement pillar should NOT be activated and doing so will have catastrophic events for our heroes.

 

3) And crazy theory, that Urithiru is a giant musical instrument.  Like a church pipe organ the size of a city. 

[Master Silver]

I theorize that my work productivity will be going down substantially starting on Tuesday Nov. 17, 2020

[the_archduke]

On 8/25/2020 at 4:03 PM, the_archduke said:

* Won't happen until the back 5 books, but Kaladin ends up with Lift.  He will have had time to heal mentally and she will be grown up.  They are what, 13 and 21 right now?  20 and 28 wouldn't be too weird.  

* Shallan and Adolin will have a child before the end of Book 5.  That child will have the most amazing hair.  I am guessing a daughter, as all of the other very young children are male so far.

* Kelek will be the next Herald to die, and will die in Book 4.  He has had more screen time than anyone other than Nale, Shallash and Taln.  Killing Vedel or Paliah would have no emotional punch as we don't know where they are and haven't had anything from them. 

* Ishar will be a major antagonist before the end of Book 5

* Kaladin swears the 4th ideal in Book 4 and the 5th in book 5.  4th ideal is acknowledging that you can't protect everyone.

* A major faction of Singers breaks off of Odium's forces and declares neutrality in the conflict before the end of Book 5

* Urithiru is activated by the end of Book 4

* Someone we don't expect (i.e. not Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Renarin or Jasnah) will manifest plate by the end of Book 4

* The Diagram will be revealed as Cultivation's tool to kill Odium.  All other goals will lead up to that.

* We will have a surprise cosmere crossover by the end of Book 5 on par with Nightblood showing up at the end of Words of Radiance.  Perhaps Kelsier revealed as the leader of the Ghostbloods.

 

 

I'm storming amazing. 

First two are still possible. 

I feel like I get half credit for 3 as it could still be true and it was a major plot point.

4 seems certain.

5 is on track and I predicted the oath.

6 nailed it.

7 was probably a gimme.

I did miss on 8. 

9 not only was correct but was fulfilled in this book.

10. What else can I say. Kelsier as thaidaikar was literally my prediction. 

[Kingsdaughter613]

28 minutes ago, the_archduke said:

I'm storming amazing. 

First two are still possible. 

I feel like I get half credit for 3 as it could still be true and it was a major plot point.

4 seems certain.

5 is on track and I predicted the oath.

6 nailed it.

7 was probably a gimme.

I did miss on 8. 

9 not only was correct but was fulfilled in this book.

10. What else can I say. Kelsier as thaidaikar was literally my prediction. 

You are awesome! 
 

The funny thing about 10 is that a lot of us seem to have felt that Thaidakar/Ghostbloods FELT like Kell, but couldn’t quite believe that Brandon would actually have a SA antagonist be a protagonist of another series. And then he did.