Cusicesh

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

So I'm just gunna spitball here.  We know that Cusicesh, the giant spren from an interlude in Way of Kings, appears every morning at the same time, faces the same direction, and flashed the faces of people.  We don't know if it's the same people every morning, so I'm going to speculate that it is not.  There's also the theory (that I learned on Shardcast from @Argent) that something is wrong with the afterlife on Roshar, which is why Dalinar and others hear screams.  

So here's my theory.  What if there IS something wrong with the afterlife on Roshar, and rather than going to the beyond, the souls of the dead are being absorbed or sent somewhere or stored or something by Cusicesh, and the faces that flash every morning are the faces of everyone who died the day before.  I don't know if something is wrong with the afterlife because of Cusicesh, or if Cusicesh is somehow interfering in reaction to something being wrong, or what, but what if Cusicesh is somehow connected to something being wrong with the afterlife on Roshar?  And the reason that people feel drained is that they are feeling their souls being pulled due to close proximity.

[Frustration]

people still go to the beyond

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

48 minutes ago, Frustration said:

people still go to the beyond

Prove it. 

[Honorless]

A lot of the stuff you're talking about is a bit out of date, we now know that the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation refer to other planets. As for the screams, they are related to the Spiritual Realm. When a person in the Cosmere dies, their Physical body decomposes, their Cognitive self goes to the Beyond (afterlife? non existence? Who knows), their Spiritweb lingers for a while before dissolving. These lingering Spiritwebs are what Dalinar & Szeth hear, via their Connections to their victims.

The afterlife of some other planets, like Threnody and potentially Sel, are messed up. We don't have any indication of the same for Roshar. Well, barring certain groups of Cognitive Shadows, like the Fused and the Heralds. Also possibly the Unmade Moelach might do something to the newly dead to get the Death Rattles.

The chances of Cusicesh consuming Cognitive Shadows is... as likely as anything else really, we know nothing about the entity aside from what we saw with Axies and the little we heard from Shallan

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, Mistborn Surgebinder said:

Prove it. 

Overlord Jebus

Has Eshonai left for the Beyond?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. I'll canonize this. I'm sorry. 

Overlord Jebus

*sounds of horror and shock* Noooo, nooooo, RAFO it!

Brandon Sanderson

You wanted-- That was a RAFO-bait but, so I never intended that-- If you want to leave this one out there-- But I never intended Timbre to be Eshonai's soul. When people said that in the beta, I'm like, "Oh, I guess you could see that, but I mean that's not how spren work, right?"

Overlord Jebus

I was going to say, so you're saying Timbre is not Eshonai's soul.

Brandon Sanderson

No. I never even thought they would make that connection. Because we saw Timbre in the previous book... I mean, I don't want to kill people's fan theories. But that one kind of blindsided me in the beta. I'm like, "Well I guess we'll go ahead and let people think that but no." No.

You can leave that one off if you want to tease people and things. Some people really want to believe that.

Overlord Jebus

I made a bet that Eshonai was not only still be alive after Words of Radiance, but would also become Radiant. And then the bet was if not I had to eat a shoe.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh no!

Overlord Jebus

So I've been trying to get out of it for like--

Brandon Sanderson

Well you could eat a gummy shoe or something like that...

But no, I didn't intend this. No. There are-- Yeah.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

Just because Singers and Parshendi are going to the beyond doesn't mean humans are.

[Frustration]

7 minutes ago, Mistborn Surgebinder said:

Just because Singers and Parshendi are going to the beyond doesn't mean humans are.

Why would humans be different?

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

16 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Why would humans be different?

I don't know.  That's why it's a theeeeooooorrrrrryyyyy.  When the old radiants trapped Ba-Ado-Mishram, it affected everyone and everything on Roshar.  It turned all the Parshendi attached to her into mindless Parshmen, it did other things... we don't know what it did to humans.  

Edited May 24, 2021 by Mistborn Surgebinder

[Frustration]

Just now, Mistborn Surgebinder said:

I don't know.  That's why it's a theeeeooooorrrrrryyyyy.  When the old radiants trapped Ba-Ado-Mishram, it affected everyone and everything on Roshar.  It turned all the Parshendi attached to her into mindless Parshmen, ******... we don't know what it did to humans.  

RoW Spoilers aren't allowed here

 

A theory is based on evidence, Why Does Cusicesh have the Connections to the humans? How does it have enough investiture to overcome the pull of the Beyond? How is it only gathering humans? Why does Cusicesh rise at that specific time? These are the questions that need to be answered.

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

It's my theory, I can base it on anything I want until proven otherwise. Just because you're a robotic killjoy doesn't mean other people can't spitball. 

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

1 hour ago, Honorless said:

A lot of the stuff you're talking about is a bit out of date, we now know that the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation refer to other planets. As for the screams, they are related to the Spiritual Realm. When a person in the Cosmere dies, their Physical body decomposes, their Cognitive self goes to the Beyond (afterlife? non existence? Who knows), their Spiritweb lingers for a while before dissolving. These lingering Spiritwebs are what Dalinar & Szeth hear, via their Connections to their victims.

The afterlife of some other planets, like Threnody and potentially Sel, are messed up. We don't have any indication of the same for Roshar. Well, barring certain groups of Cognitive Shadows, like the Fused and the Heralds. Also possibly the Unmade Moelach might do something to the newly dead to get the Death Rattles.

The chances of Cusicesh consuming Cognitive Shadows is... as likely as anything else really, we know nothing about the entity aside from what we saw with Axies and the little we heard from Shallan

Again, that's why it's called spitballing. I'm throwing an idea out there. Don't act as if Brandon doesn't have a habit of throwing curveballs into his stories. 

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

With people like this, no wonder these forums seem dead lately. 

[Nellac]

14 minutes ago, Mistborn Surgebinder said:

With people like this, no wonder these forums seem dead lately. 

I think the problem is that different people have different ideas of what they want when they put out a theory. Personally, I like when other people point out the flaws in my theories. It leads me to either find more evidence and refine the theory, or to start over and come up with a new theory. I enjoy the back and forth with people as we explain and debate our ideas of what's going on in the cosmere. 

I think there was a post a while back about a tag that you can add onto your post to let people know if you want to debate your theory or if you just want to throw it out there for everyone to see.

[Frustration]

19 minutes ago, Mistborn Surgebinder said:

It's my theory, I can base it on anything I want until proven otherwise. Just because you're a robotic killjoy doesn't mean other people can't spitball. 

You're wecome to spitball but that doesn't mean I can't poke holes, that's the beauty of theorising, constant improvement based on new information.

I like that you're reinvestigating Cusicesh its been largely overlooked, but you came to a conclusion and are now trying to work your way backward.

[Honorless]

Okay, first of all, please be nicer

Theorizing means you'll have to put forward some credible claim that other people can examine. By all means, base your theories on whatever you want, proving it otherwise is... exactly how the process works.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Honorless

[Mistborn Surgebinder]

Fair points all.  

[Iarwainiel I]

This is an interesting theory - not saying I agree, but interesting to tumble around in one's brain, for sure.

I'm wondering if they are really people's faces (human faces), or are they spren faces that look like human ones (like Syl can do - she doesn't do that all the time, but based on the illustrations in RoW, we can guess at some things about Honorspren and the other True Spren types, maybe).

I've also always wondered if Cusicesh is facing east for the same reason that Puuli looks east every day in that interlude in Oathbringer.

So many mysteries yet in store for us Sander-fans!