Stormlight Archive 5 Theories (spoilers for all)

Stockman · May 4, 2023

Hello friends!

I am starting to get real convinced of a few of my new theories, and was hoping for some feedback. That's half the fun sometimes . Here they are!!

1. Lift is already a bondsmith for cultivation
-She can enter dalinar's visions, which is only something that shards and thier bondsmiths have shown to be able to do
-She creates lifelight. She's def different from previous bondsmiths it seems like, since Raboniel and others did not recognize her as a cultivation bondsmith

2. BAM is a bondsmith spren
-she was able to make voidlight during the false recreance
-she was able to manipulate singer bonds, and bonded them to her

HERE'S MY BIG ONE THAT EXPLAINS A TON:
3. Ishar is already bonded to BAM as a bondsmith spren!
-he was able to open a perpendicularity that the stormfather was not able to sense, meaning it was not of honor or cultivation (since that's what he's made of). if he made the perpendicularity with the honorblade he recovered, it would have been honor's perpendicularity. It may be Odiums perpendicularity!
-Ishar was able to see the future in the fight with the windrunners, and any kind of future sight is of Odium!
-Voidlight also tends to be contained within the body and not leak. this explains why it wasn't seen during his encounter with Dalinar.
-being able to bring spren into the physical world is some bondsmith level voodoo

Less consequential theory:
4. I'm pretty sure Oathbringer Chapter 103, with Dalinar's vision wherein Nohadon was acting off, that Nohadon was Cultivation
-Cultivation can lie, per WOB
-Immediately after the dream, Dalinar starts to remember things- Cultivation's "boon" stopped working or started working differently
-Nohadon clearly knew more than he should have
-only shards have been able to create visions, or enter and change them (see my previous post on SA prolouge. I think cultivation is in it and able to affect stormfather's visions https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/111397-sa5-prologue-theory/#comment-1391000)

Love ya'll
Stockman

Edited May 4, 2023 by Stockman

alder24 · May 4, 2023

8 hours ago, Stockman said:

I am starting to get real convinced of a few of my new theories, and was hoping for some feedback. That's half the fun sometimes . Here they are!!

Hey, thanks for sharing. I hope my response won't be too critical.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

HERE'S MY BIG ONE THAT EXPLAINS A TON:
3. Ishar is already bonded to BAM as a bondsmith spren!

That can't be true. BAM is captured and hidden in a gemstone, confirmed by Kalak, Mraize and Ulim. Plus If BAM was freed deadeye and the Sibling would not be hurt that much, and might even feel it.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

-he was able to open a perpendicularity that the stormfather was not able to sense, meaning it was not of honor or cultivation (since that's what he's made of). if he made the perpendicularity with the honorblade he recovered, it would have been honor's perpendicularity. It may be Odiums perpendicularity!

It was Honor's perpendicularity, but he circumvented the need for Stormfather, that's why SF couldn't feel it being opened. He did it with his Honorblade.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

-Ishar was able to see the future in the fight with the windrunners, and any kind of future sight is of Odium!

Dalinar said it looked like that. Well, this might be just the fact that he was fighting for thousands of years in Desolations and became an excellent fighter, able to predict opponents moves. If he was able to see the future, he would have seen Honorblade getting harmed by Nightblood and would avoid crossing his blade with him. He didn't do that, because he was overconfident in his skills.

The same was with Nale, who quickly defeated Szeth in a battle in RoW. Heralds are just excellent fighters, and Stormfather didn't see anything unusual in his moves (and he would be able to tell if Ishar is moving too fast).

RoW ch 111

Quote

He is a duelist, Dalinar thought. Storms, and a good one.
What did you expect? the Stormfather rumbled in his mind. He defended mankind for millennia. The Heralds were not all warriors when they began, but all were by the end. Existing for three thousand years in a state of near-constant war changes men. Among the Heralds, Ishar was average in skill.
[...]

He is average among them? Dalinar asked. Then ... who was the best?

Taln.

The one who sits in my camp? Dalinar thought. Unable to do more than mumble?

Yes, the Stormfather said. There was no dispute. But take care; Ishar’s skill as a duelist is a lesser danger. He has recovered his Honorblade. He is a Bondsmith unchained.

[...]

The powers of a Bondsmith are the powers of creation, the Stormfather said. The powers of gods, including the ability to link souls. Always before, Honor was here to guard this power, to limit it. It seems that Ishar knows how to make full use of his new freedom

And because Ishar is Bondsmith unchained and is trained in manipulation of connections, he would be able to create a perpendicularity that circumvents Stormfather.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

-Voidlight also tends to be contained within the body and not leak. this explains why it wasn't seen during his encounter with Dalinar.

That's the case only for Singers, because they kept their light inside their gemstones. Humans however are imperfect vessels, they leak light. If Ishar had Voidlight, it would be visible as it leaks from his skin.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

-being able to bring spren into the physical world is some bondsmith level voodoo

Unchained Bondsmith things, He has the Honorblade. Bonding with BAM would chained him with Oaths and I think BAM would be very against what he is doing with spren.

7 hours ago, Stockman said:

Less consequential theory:
4. I'm pretty sure Oathbringer Chapter 103, with Dalinar's vision wherein Nohadon was acting off, that Nohadon was Cultivation
-Cultivation can lie, per WOB
-Immediately after the dream, Dalinar starts to remember things- Cultivation's "boon" stopped working or started working differently
-Nohadon clearly knew more than he should have
-only shards have been able to create visions, or enter and change them (see my previous post on SA prolouge. I think cultivation is in it and able to affect stormfather's visions https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/111397-sa5-prologue-theory/#comment-1391000)

That's an interesting look at it. That's possible. However I personally believe that Nohodon used to hold a Dawnshard and gave it up, which made him immortal. He's still alive, somewhere and Dalinar unintentionally (or intentionally Nohodon) created the vision, because of the strong connection they share together. But it all being a Cultivation's doing is certainly very likely. But if that's true, the vision Dalinar saw was fully created by Cultivation, without the need of Stormfather, otherwise he would be able to sense her, like he sensed Odium.

Nogo · May 4, 2023

9 hours ago, Stockman said:

Hello friends!

I am starting to get real convinced of a few of my new theories, and was hoping for some feedback. That's half the fun sometimes . Here they are!!

I love your thinking. I think, like @alder24 says above that your BAM theory is fun but I don't buy it. I'm down with your Cultivation/dream theory. That's a distinct possibility. So is Nohadan having had a Dawnshard. Hopefully we will find out the real answer soon (like book 5 not book 9). I like your thinking about Lift, I just don't agree. She's an Edgedancer. Just an extra weird one. I mean, I guess maybe she could be somehow Cultivation (aka nightwatcher's) Bondsmith and made a connection to her Cultivation Spren so that she looks like a Edgedancer... but I personally don't think so. Could be, tho. Who knows.

As for BAM... I was thinking that he could be the Herald that Taln took over for. Taln wasn't supposed to be a Herald so there's some sort of story behind that. Maybe BAM defected to the Singer side during the OG desolation which left an opening that Taln took. I'm not sure what the process would be for him to become unmade, but Odium obviously was well versed in that since he did it to 9 different beings/entities/things....

Jn819 · May 4, 2023

10 hours ago, Stockman said:

Less consequential theory:

4. I'm pretty sure Oathbringer Chapter 103, with Dalinar's vision wherein Nohadon was acting off, that Nohadon was Cultivation
-Cultivation can lie, per WOB
-Immediately after the dream, Dalinar starts to remember things- Cultivation's "boon" stopped working or started working differently
-Nohadon clearly knew more than he should have
-only shards have been able to create visions, or enter and change them (see my previous post on SA prolouge. I think cultivation is in it and able to affect stormfather's visions https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/111397-sa5-prologue-theory/#comment-1391000)

Actually, I think Dalinar Connected to Nohadon through the Spiritual Realm. The SR is timeless, and people's Spiritual aspect goes on to "the beyond" after physical aspect is destroyed and cognitive aspect fades. In other words, that's just how Nohadon looks and acts in the afterlife, and Dalinar Connected to him in his afterlife.

I suppose it could just be Dalinar's dream, but given how differently Nohadon acts from anything Dalinar would expect, I'm pretty sure about that Connection. Whether Nohadon showed up in Dalinar's dream or Dalinar showed up in Nohadon's afterlife, I'm pretty confident both of them were "there." If nothing else, the fact that Dalinar thought it was like a Highstorm vision suggests something supernatural (or extra-natural, as Sylphrena put it IIRC) happened, and the Stormfather said he didn't do it, so it was probably Dalinar's Bondsmith abilities (which he seems to use instinctively in such states of consciousness, like how the SF says his ability to speak the languages of those in his visions comes from Connecting to the people in the vision).

Nogo · May 4, 2023

2 hours ago, Jn819 said:

Actually, I think Dalinar Connected to Nohadon through the Spiritual Realm. The SR is timeless, and people's Spiritual aspect goes on to "the beyond" after physical aspect is destroyed and cognitive aspect fades. In other words, that's just how Nohadon looks and acts in the afterlife, and Dalinar Connected to him in his afterlife.

I like this theory too!!! Though thinking about Kelsier watching people leaving in the CR and comments made by Preservation about not knowing where they go after... makes me think that the spiritual realm connection isn't the case. But I still don't rule it out. That's just my "hmmmm, maybe not" possible reasoning. Like you say, there's no time there. Which, again, makes my head hurt.

Kendelian · May 4, 2023

13 hours ago, Stockman said:

1. Lift is already a bondsmith for cultivation
-She can enter dalinar's visions, which is only something that shards and thier bondsmiths have shown to be able to do
-She creates lifelight. She's def different from previous bondsmiths it seems like, since Raboniel and others did not recognize her as a cultivation bondsmith.

I think Lift’s ability to synthesize Lifelight and her ability to interact with Dalinar’s visions are both an intentional or unintentional result of her interactions with Cultivation. Also, I don’t think that Radiants can bond several spren.

alder24 · May 4, 2023

3 hours ago, Jn819 said:

Actually, I think Dalinar Connected to Nohadon through the Spiritual Realm. The SR is timeless, and people's Spiritual aspect goes on to "the beyond" after physical aspect is destroyed and cognitive aspect fades. In other words, that's just how Nohadon looks and acts in the afterlife, and Dalinar Connected to him in his afterlife.

1 hour ago, Nogo said:

I like this theory too!!! Though thinking about Kelsier watching people leaving in the CR and comments made by Preservation about not knowing where they go after... makes me think that the spiritual realm connection isn't the case. But I still don't rule it out. That's just my "hmmmm, maybe not" possible reasoning. Like you say, there's no time there. Which, again, makes my head hurt.

It's a possibility that we will never know if it's true. The Beyond is different from the Spiritual Realm - the Spiritual Realm holds spirit webs, which is investiture and connections forming a person (not a soul really), the Beyond is the afterlife, where souls go (do souls exist in Cosmere that's another unanswerable question). Brandon doesn't want to ever answer the question if afterlife in Cosmere exists. But the spirit web of a person after death does fade into "somewhere", where even Shards can't reach it.

That's why there are two interpretations of that (which also matter in case of Kaladin's Tien vision): either Dalinar reached into the timeless Spiritual Realm and connected to one of the possibilities existing there, or he reached into the Beyond and connected to the real soul of the dead person. Both are valid explanations and we will never know which one is true. WoBs:

Yes, that would be the same sort of weirdness that's happening with Tien. Yes, so you have basically multiple different ways of interpreting this. One is just--what Dalinar wants is directly... he is starting to change the visions specifically, and some might argue he is pulling from the Beyond. Others would argue that what Dalinar wants, feels things in his past, he is actually enforcing upon the vision, and is changing and altering the visions. And that is absolutely going on. It's whether the other thing is happening or not, depends on your personal religious beliefs. But Dalinar is starting, the Bondsmithing is starting to shape the visions.

JordanCon 2021 (July 16, 2021)

57 minutes ago, Kendelian said:

I think Lift’s ability to synthesize Lifelight and her ability to interact with Dalinar’s visions are both an intentional or unintentional result of her interactions with Cultivation. Also, I don’t think that Radiants can bond several spren.

Yes, a Radiant can bond several spren. This only depends on Radiant's worthiness and spren willingness to share a bond.

Spoiler

Questioner

Could someone bond with two spren and wield two swords?

Brandon Sanderson

It is theoretically possible, but the spren aren't going to like it. So you are not going to see it very often.

Firefight Seattle Public Library signing (Jan. 7, 2015)

Nogo · May 5, 2023

19 hours ago, alder24 said:

Yes, a Radiant can bond several spren. This only depends on Radiant's worthiness and spren willingness to share a bond.

I see this happening with Shallan more than anyone. Maybe Pattern and Testament will get married! "No Mating!"

The way I see it with Lift is she just has a non-standard way of procuring investiture. Her method is more like an allomancer than a radiant. Maybe that's the norm for lifelight though.

alder24 · May 5, 2023

18 minutes ago, Nogo said:

The way I see it with Lift is she just has a non-standard way of procuring investiture. Her method is more like an allomancer than a radiant. Maybe that's the norm for lifelight though.

I doubt it's the norm for Lifelight, Navani can just make Towerlight without eating anything. The comparison to Allomancy is spot on. Cultivation changed Lift, she messed something up with her spirit web, and I believe this is a Cultivation's way to grant Lift's wish (not change/not grow up).

I personally believe that Lift's wish was against Cultivation's intent, as Cultivation is all about changing and growing, and because of that She didn't know how to do that. She changed the way Lift interacts with her spiritual ideal (to which healing is done) to be very susceptible to Lift's perception (that's why Lift is able to touch Cognitive Realm and Wyndle), more than normally (healing is done by using investiture to match body with spiritual ideal filtered by cognitive ideal - perception of oneself). Then She gave Lift a way to metabolize food into Lifelight, to make sure that Lift could constantly heal herself back to her ideal self, and remain unchanging. But that's a way around Lift's wish, Cultivation can't Preserve, she's not Preservation. That's why Lift's unchanging nature relies heavily on her self-perception, which can change and is changing - in RoW Lift is taller, bigger and more grown up, that's all because she percives herself that way.

So why does Lift have to eat food instead of sucking in Stormlight. So Lift is a really weird one, she visited the Old Magic and asked something very strange. And the Old Magic didn't know how to treat that and answered with something equally strange. So you will eventually see what happened with Lift and things like that but suffice it to say some really weird things are going on with Lift.

Calamity Seattle signing (Feb. 17, 2016)

And likely like she has done with Dalinar and Taravangian, she saw potential in Lift and nudged her in the right direction. She then sent Wyndle to bond her as Her way of Cultivating Lift. Preparing her for something (maybe bonding Nightwatcher in the future? Ascending to Cultivation in the far future?).

Edited May 5, 2023 by alder24

Nogo · May 5, 2023

48 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I personally believe that Lift's wish was against Cultivation's intent, as Cultivation is all about changing and growing, and because of that She didn't know how to do that.

OMG! I can't believe I never made that connection before. It's so obvious, duh.

And yeah, I agree that Lift is special and being groomed for something more. Maybe like you say Cultivation doesn't want the burden of the Shard anymore and wants to pass it off to someone.

Stockman · May 6, 2023

Sweet. Im on my phone and still in the middle of reading the responses. Can someone explain the evidence for Nohadon having a dawnshard? I never considered that.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Stockman

alder24 · May 6, 2023

6 minutes ago, Stockman said:

Sweet. Im on my phone and still in the middle of reading the responses. Can someone explain the evidence for Nohadon having a dawnshard? I never considered that!

It's better if you read it yourself:

Edited May 6, 2023 by alder24

Stockman · May 6, 2023

34 minutes ago, alder24 said:

It's better if you read it yourself:

Awesome thank you. Seems like the points are:

-nohadon is likely alive

-and Dawnshards grant immortality of a kind

I'm not 100% convinced yet. There could be more than one way to get immortality... Now I've got to reread everything with this new context aha

Edit:

On 5/4/2023 at 7:28 AM, alder24 said:

Hey, thanks for sharing. I hope my response won't be too critical.

That can't be true. BAM is captured and hidden in a gemstone, confirmed by Kalak, Mraize and Ulim. Plus If BAM was freed deadeye and the Sibling would not be hurt that much, and might even feel it.

It was Honor's perpendicularity, but he circumvented the need for Stormfather, that's why SF couldn't feel it being opened. He did it with his Honorblade.

Dalinar said it looked like that. Well, this might be just the fact that he was fighting for thousands of years in Desolations and became an excellent fighter, able to predict opponents moves. If he was able to see the future, he would have seen Honorblade getting harmed by Nightblood and would avoid crossing his blade with him. He didn't do that, because he was overconfident in his skills.

The same was with Nale, who quickly defeated Szeth in a battle in RoW. Heralds are just excellent fighters, and Stormfather didn't see anything unusual in his moves (and he would be able to tell if Ishar is moving too fast).

RoW ch 111

And because Ishar is Bondsmith unchained and is trained in manipulation of connections, he would be able to create a perpendicularity that circumvents Stormfather.

That's the case only for Singers, because they kept their light inside their gemstones. Humans however are imperfect vessels, they leak light. If Ishar had Voidlight, it would be visible as it leaks from his skin.

Unchained Bondsmith things, He has the Honorblade. Bonding with BAM would chained him with Oaths and I think BAM would be very against what he is doing with spren.

That's an interesting look at it. That's possible. However I personally believe that Nohodon used to hold a Dawnshard and gave it up, which made him immortal. He's still alive, somewhere and Dalinar unintentionally (or intentionally Nohodon) created the vision, because of the strong connection they share together. But it all being a Cultivation's doing is certainly very likely. But if that's true, the vision Dalinar saw was fully created by Cultivation, without the need of Stormfather, otherwise he would be able to sense her, like he sensed Odium.

Yeah, vision being from cultivation makes sense, because stormfather wasn't aware of the vision, so it prob came from somewhere else. Those visions seem the main form of communication between shards are mortals (per odium and honor). So it makes sense that a not-Honor shard made the vision.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Stockman

alder24 · May 6, 2023

11 minutes ago, Stockman said:

Awesome thank you. Seems like the points are:

-nohadon is likely alive

-and Dawnshards grant immortality of a kind

I'm not 100% convinced yet. There could be more than one way to get immortality... Now I've got to reread everything with this new context aha

Yes, there is more than one way to become immortal. Becoming a Dawnshard is one of the hardest way, as there are only 4 Dawnshards, hidden, guarded and being searched for by some people mentioned by Sleepless. Other ways are easier. But in this case, if Nohodon was a Dawnshard, and the WoBs suggest this, he would be immortal now, like Hoid:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid was a Dawnshard at some point in the deep past, and the reason he (even still) cannot physically harm people, or even eat meat, is related to the changes this made to his spirit. (Consider this the same fundamental principle as savanthood.) The few of you who have read Dragonsteel know that him being a Dawnshard was also the source of his immortality in that book, though the terms were different back then. (The word Dawnshard was never mentioned, for example--though the primary story of Dragonsteel (which is no longer canon) was about several people who unwittingly become Dawnshards.)

And a preemptive RAFO to all questions on this point.

Dawnshard Annotations (Nov. 6, 2020)

Cosmere wide spoilers, WoB about ways to achieve immortality:

Spoiler

Iceblade44

So White Sand [then Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Khriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flippin' immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

There is some time-dilation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.

Faera

Implying that some are actually immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on which definition of immortal you mean.

Doesn't age, but can be killed by conventional means. (You've seen some of these in the cosmere, but I'll leave you to discuss who.)

Heals from wounds, but still ages. (Knights Radiant with Stormlight are like this.)

Reborn when killed. (The Heralds.)

Doesn't age and can heal, but dependent upon magic to stay this way, and so have distinct weakness to be exploited. (The Lord Ruler, among others.)

Hive beings who are constantly losing individual members, but maintaining a persistent personality spread across all of them, immortal in that as long as too much of the hive isn't wiped out, the personality can persist. (The Sleepless.)

Bits of sapient magic, eternal and endless, though the personality can be "destroyed" in specific ways. (Seons. Spren. Nightblood. Cognitive Shadows, like a certain character from Scadrial.)

Shards (Really just a supercharged version of the previous category.)

And then, of course, there's Hoid. I'm not going to say which category, if any, he's in.

Some of these blend together--the Heralds, for example, are technically a variety of Cognitive Shadow. I'm not saying each of these categories above are distinct, intended to be the end-all definitions. They're off the cuff groupings I made to explain a point: immortality is a theme of the cosmere works--which, at their core, are experiments on what happens when men are given the power of deity.

Shagomir

Heals from wounds, but still ages.

Would Bloodmaker Ferrings exist in this category as well? If not, what about someone Compounding Gold?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you are correct.

Shagomir

As a Bloodmaker ages, what keeps them from healing the damage and carrying on as a very old, but very healthy person? Do they come to a point where they can't store enough health to stave off the aches, pains, diseases, and other things that come with old age?

This makes sense for traditional Feruchemy as it is end-neutral, so storing health becomes a zero sum game - eventually, you're going to get sick and you're not going to be able to overcome it with your natural healing ability no matter how much you manipulate it with a goldmind.

...Unless you've got a supply of Identity-less goldminds lying around. Would a Bloodmaker with a sufficient source of Identity-less goldminds (or the ability to compound, thus bypassing the end-neutral part of Feruchemy) eventually just die from being too old?

Brandon Sanderson

Basically, yes. They can heal their body to match their spiritual ideal, but some things (like some genetic diseases, and age-related illnesses) are seen as part of the ideal. Depends on several factors.

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 29, 2016)

Jn819 · May 20, 2023

On 5/5/2023 at 0:23 PM, alder24 said:

I doubt it's the norm for Lifelight, Navani can just make Towerlight without eating anything. The comparison to Allomancy is spot on. Cultivation changed Lift, she messed something up with her spirit web, and I believe this is a Cultivation's way to grant Lift's wish (not change/not grow up).

I personally believe that Lift's wish was against Cultivation's intent, as Cultivation is all about changing and growing, and because of that She didn't know how to do that. She changed the way Lift interacts with her spiritual ideal (to which healing is done) to be very susceptible to Lift's perception (that's why Lift is able to touch Cognitive Realm and Wyndle), more than normally (healing is done by using investiture to match body with spiritual ideal filtered by cognitive ideal - perception of oneself). Then She gave Lift a way to metabolize food into Lifelight, to make sure that Lift could constantly heal herself back to her ideal self, and remain unchanging. But that's a way around Lift's wish, Cultivation can't Preserve, she's not Preservation. That's why Lift's unchanging nature relies heavily on her self-perception, which can change and is changing - in RoW Lift is taller, bigger and more grown up, that's all because she percives herself that way.

Reveal hidden contents

Questioner

So in The Stormlight Archive series--

Brandon Sanderson

The Stormlight Archive? How old are you? *laughter* How old are you?

Questioner

Nine.

Brandon Sanderson

Nine?! You're reading The Stormlight Archive? You are awesome! *cheers*

Questioner

So the character Lift, for her powers, why does she have to eat food instead of sucking in--

Brandon Sanderson

So why does Lift have to eat food instead of sucking in Stormlight. So Lift is a really weird one, she visited the Old Magic and asked something very strange. And the Old Magic didn't know how to treat that and answered with something equally strange. So you will eventually see what happened with Lift and things like that but suffice it to say some really weird things are going on with Lift.

Calamity Seattle signing (Feb. 17, 2016)

And likely like she has done with Dalinar and Taravangian, she saw potential in Lift and nudged her in the right direction. She then sent Wyndle to bond her as Her way of Cultivating Lift. Preparing her for something (maybe bonding Nightwatcher in the future? Ascending to Cultivation in the far future?).

I think you're very close, but not dead on. Consider RoW I-5.

Quote

"I asked not to change," Lift whispered, opening her eyes. "I said, when everything else is going wrong I want to be the same. I want to stay me. Not become someone else."

"Those are the exact words?" Wyndle asked.

"Best I can remember."

"Hmm..." Wyndle said, snuggling down into his vines. "I believe that is too vague."

"I wasn't! I told her. Make me so I don't grow up."

"That is not what you said, mistress. And if I might be so bold--having spent a great deal of time around you--you are not an easy person to understand."

"I asked not to change! So why am I changing?"

"You're still you. Merely a bigger version."

She squeezed her eyes shut again.

"Mistress," Wyndle said. "Lift. Will you tell me why this bothers you so much? Everyone grows. Everyone changes."

"But I'm...I'm her little girl."

"Whose little girl?" he asked gently. "Your mother's?"

Lift nodded.

...

The last time things felt right, Lift thought, I was with her. Before she got sick. And I was her little girl.

If she saw me now, she wouldn't recognize me.

Lift probably asked to stay her mother's little girl forever (or at least, the conversation was long enough that Cultivation realized that's what she wanted), not understanding that to a mother, her daughter will always be her little girl, no matter how much she grows up. Cultivation Connected her more strongly to her own Cognitive aspect to achieve this, and that's why she's partly in the Cognitive Realm. I'm not sure if this is why she can metabolize food into Lifelight (since "mother's little girl" is alive, lively, and everything that draws Lifespren) or if that is something separate Cultivation did. Whichever it is though, Mraize is convinced it was intentional.

Quote

"This is no slave," the man said. "But if your master does happen to ever locate Cultivation, suggest that he ask her precisely why she made an Edgedancer who is fueled by Lifelight and not Stormlight."

RoW chapter 60

Edited May 20, 2023 by Jn819
adding source for second quote

Stockman · May 21, 2023

Oh snap. You know what else supports BAM being freed, is that Maya was able to return to consciousness. BAM being locked up is the reason deadeyes exist.

Do we have any good reason that Maya was able to come back after being a deadeyes? BAM being released is in line with the lore!

Edited May 21, 2023 by Stockman

alder24 · May 21, 2023

8 hours ago, Stockman said:

Oh snap. You know what else supports BAM being freed, is that Maya was able to return to consciousness. BAM being locked up is the reason deadeyes exist.

Do we have any good reason that Maya was able to come back after being a deadeyes? BAM being released is in line with the lore!

That's not it. It is possible for a person who broke the bond to re-swear it and resurrect their Deadeye - if a Radiant during Recreance were to reswear their oath, their spren would be back - even when BAM was imprisoned.

Maya and Adolin are forming a bond, not Nahel Bond which was said in RoW by Blended, but some different bond. Maya is taking strength from Adolin by this bond. And even though Maya is now able to speak (she was able to do that in OB as well, she spoke to his mind revealing her name), she is still a Deadeye, BAM is still imprisoned. Adolin is able to sense her emotions and her thoughts through their new forming bond, which is something new that is happening with Deadeyes. Shallan and Testament's case confirms this, if BAM was free, Shallan breaking her Oath would likely not result in turning Testament into Deadeye, and yet it happened. BAM is still imprisoned, which is said by Ulim, Kalak, Mraize and the Sibling too.

This also means that unlike Adolin and Maya, Shallan can just re-swear her Ideals and Truths and fully bring the Testament back to life. She already started doing that (WoK - I'm terrified said during her first successful Soulcast).

No.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 1 (Dec. 17, 2020)

Jn819 · May 21, 2023

9 hours ago, Stockman said:

Oh snap. You know what else supports BAM being freed, is that Maya was able to return to consciousness. BAM being locked up is the reason deadeyes exist.

Do we have any good reason that Maya was able to come back after being a deadeyes? BAM being released is in line with the lore!

I'm not saying BAM has already been freed, I'm saying I expect Kalak to convince Shallan and Adolin that it must be done.

Shard_Blades · June 7, 2023

On 5/4/2023 at 4:12 PM, Stockman said:

Hello friends!

I am starting to get real convinced of a few of my new theories, and was hoping for some feedback. That's half the fun sometimes . Here they are!!

1. Lift is already a bondsmith for cultivation
-She can enter dalinar's visions, which is only something that shards and thier bondsmiths have shown to be able to do
-She creates lifelight. She's def different from previous bondsmiths it seems like, since Raboniel and others did not recognize her as a cultivation bondsmith

2. BAM is a bondsmith spren
-she was able to make voidlight during the false recreance
-she was able to manipulate singer bonds, and bonded them to her

HERE'S MY BIG ONE THAT EXPLAINS A TON:
3. Ishar is already bonded to BAM as a bondsmith spren!
-he was able to open a perpendicularity that the stormfather was not able to sense, meaning it was not of honor or cultivation (since that's what he's made of). if he made the perpendicularity with the honorblade he recovered, it would have been honor's perpendicularity. It may be Odiums perpendicularity!
-Ishar was able to see the future in the fight with the windrunners, and any kind of future sight is of Odium!
-Voidlight also tends to be contained within the body and not leak. this explains why it wasn't seen during his encounter with Dalinar.
-being able to bring spren into the physical world is some bondsmith level voodoo

Less consequential theory:
4. I'm pretty sure Oathbringer Chapter 103, with Dalinar's vision wherein Nohadon was acting off, that Nohadon was Cultivation
-Cultivation can lie, per WOB
-Immediately after the dream, Dalinar starts to remember things- Cultivation's "boon" stopped working or started working differently
-Nohadon clearly knew more than he should have
-only shards have been able to create visions, or enter and change them (see my previous post on SA prolouge. I think cultivation is in it and able to affect stormfather's visions https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/111397-sa5-prologue-theory/#comment-1391000)

You have some very great ideas. I agree with a lot of them, but as some people have said, it specifically says that BAM is captured inside of the gemstone.

As for Lift, I couldn't agree more. She is very special, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that is why she stayed awake during the capture of Urithiru.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us

Stormlight Archive 5 Theories (spoilers for all)

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