teknopathetic he/him Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) Do not read if you have not finished the Mistborn Trilogy! This discussion involves the final reveal of the Mistborn series. EVERYTHING HERE IS A MISTBORN SPOILER. I AM APPLYING THE FINAL MISTBORN SPOILER TO CULTIVATION! My theory is that The shardpool of Cultivation is the Pure Lake. AND, that Cultivation weakened herself, giving up part of her body, to create the second Shardpool in the Horneater Mountains. Why I Think This: We know from Mistborn 3 that Shards tend to create a pool of physical power. These are called Shard-Pools. In Mistborn, Ruin had the Pitts (or the metal there-in), and Preservation had the Well of Ascension (or the metal there-in). The Horneaters claim some Gods allowed them to cultivate the land on the mountain. This god(s) moved trees, water, and heat in order to let them cultivate the terrain. As well, Horn Eaters seem to worship a female deity. In The Well of Ascension, Preservation weakens her body and turned it into the Mists in order to help PRESERVE her people. It makes sense that Cultivation would do the same. She might weaken her Pure-Lake and split her essence into the Horneater Mountains. Many people comment on the ridiculousness of the Purelake's shallowness. This is very odd. When you look at the Purelake in the Shadesmar Map, the Purelake is a massive mountain range. Something is off between the two maps. Something has changed. This seems like an obvious clue that the Pure-Lake is a weakened Shard-Pool. Her magic system is the 'Fish Ingestion' magic we see briefly mentioned in the interlude. Obviously it is probably more in depth than what we are briefly shown. We know Pure-lakers can eat a fish to mitigate arthritis, or use another fish to track the location of an individual. We also have some musings on the tides being able to predict the future, which is something essential for good cultivation (predicting rain, drought, etc). The lake may also function like Elantris in some regard (Geographical Magic based on a specific region). We never get an explanation of how that magic system works (or even if it does work). But ingesting fish species has a shocking similarity to the Mistborn investiture of consuming metals. The ideal of Cultivation seems to easily mesh with the idea of cultivation animals or plants to gain powers. We also see some similar healing and regenerative powers coming from the Horn Eater's Lake. We also see That the pool can be used for world hopping in some fashion. A Horn Eater talks about how a God walked out of it one time! I think the two lakes split Cultivation's power. This is why no strong magic system has been associated with her as of yet. Half of it is in the mountains, and half of it is in the shallow Pure Lake. Brandon has said that all shards started out with the same power, but some grow weaker or stronger. It is the selfless ones that weaken themselves in this manner. This is why Odium is so powerful. He would never give up an aspect of himself for others. On the plus side, Honour said that Cultivation is good at predicting the future. Maybe her investiture will save the day for Roshar! ______________________________________________ Extra Bits of Speculation: Brandon is also very forceful with his "women eat different food from men" custom in this book. Could this be some vestigial rule left over from the days when Cultivation held more influence in Roshar? Thoughts? Also, could the Highstorm be similar to The Mists in nature? Or, could the Everstorm be Honour's Shard Pool. Or perhaps a weakening of Honours power n order to protect the human race? The Mists were destructive, but they were trying to help. Edited July 11, 2014 by teknopathetic 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teknopathetic he/him Posted July 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) Also, when you compare the map of Shadesmar with Roshar: "Shadesmar has mountains where the Purelake is, like the bead-ocean was superimposed on a pre-existing landscape". It is very suspicious that a shallow lake would be superimposed with MASSIVE mountains. Edited July 10, 2014 by teknopathetic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left he/him Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 Not a bad theory. I like the idea that a shardpool can be split up intentionally like that. I think that mostly this is random speculation though. It could happen though. I dislike the magic fish ingestion system though. I think the magic fish are partly superstition, and partly some side affects of cultivations powers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly he/him Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 Probably partly actual medicine as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShyGuy Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 I would say that if the Purelake is a partially charged shardpool then the fish are merely carriers, They are living in it so they can carry investiture from the lake itself and it is transferred to the people that eat them. I would venture a guess that plants grown in the lake also have magical properties. That is to say that the same fish in different water wouldn't be magical. It is more than viable for a Shard to split it's power. Although Preservation's power loss came from the pact with Ruin. It took both of them to create the humans on Scadrial, and that was where the power loss occurred initially. Preservation becoming mist happened after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teknopathetic he/him Posted July 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 Yes, Preservation lost power do to helping the human races on Sel. Cultivation seems to have done the same for the Horn Eaters in some sense. The Fact everyone calls it The Old Magic makes me think it was something that was once strong and disappeared. Well, the only major massive event we can pin to Cultivation is the creation of the Horn Eater homeland (the legend about the items for cultivation being brought into the mountains). _______ Side note. Can anyone tell me where the Horn Eaters live? I forget what their mountain range is called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly he/him Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I believe it's just called the Horneater Peaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter he/him Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Friendly reminder that magic fish are magic because of symbiotic bonds with spren, that are fairly common on Roshar. I doubt the Everstorm is Honor's shardpool, because it is almost certainly of Odium. But I think you meant highstorm in which case maybe? I don't *think* it is but we don't really know enough about shardpools to say definitively whether or not they have to be "pools" (but I think they do). Also Brandon has said that the Mists are like the highstorms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShyGuy Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Ah lovely. Thank you for that. I'm relatively new here and had not seen that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teknopathetic he/him Posted July 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Friendly reminder that magic fish are magic because of symbiotic bonds with spren, that are fairly common on Roshar. I doubt the Everstorm is Honor's shardpool, because it is almost certainly of Odium. But I think you meant highstorm in which case maybe? I don't *think* it is but we don't really know enough about shardpools to say definitively whether or not they have to be "pools" (but I think they do). Also Brandon has said that the Mists are like the highstorms. I don't see evidence that these fish have bonded with Spren. All we know is that some of the more complex animals can bond (Casmfiends, Greatshells). But tiny fish, unintelligent fish? They don't seem cognitive enough to form a bond. And i did mean highstorm. Ooops. The highstorm could be Honours attempt at helping the people (which is why he was so much weaker and easier to kill). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter he/him Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I don't see evidence that these fish have bonded with Spren. All we know is that some of the more complex animals can bond (Casmfiends, Greatshells). But tiny fish, unintelligent fish? They don't seem cognitive enough to form a bond. I take it you didn't click the link? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I don't see evidence that these fish have bonded with Spren. All we know is that some of the more complex animals can bond (Casmfiends, Greatshells). But tiny fish, unintelligent fish? They don't seem cognitive enough to form a bond. Skyeels bond with spren, which are part of what allows it to fly despite being a snake. I don't think you need to be intelligent to form a bond with a spren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShyGuy Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 What about the Riverspren? Isn't there a big spren in the lake? Maybe all of the fish are bonded to it in some way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navi Posted July 15, 2014 Report Share Posted July 15, 2014 I think only fauna who originated on roshar will have naturally occurring symbiosis with spren. Bonding may be a derived trait for humans & (that One horse species) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirscott13 he/him Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 My question is if the shard pools, and the other two physical states of a shard, disappear when the shard is killed. What if you are assuming there is two cultivation shard pools, when one might be the left over body of Honor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperity he/him Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 I wonder how significant Shardpools are in the greater Cosmere. Do we know if every Shard has a Shardpool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) I wonder how significant Shardpools are in the greater Cosmere. Do we know if every Shard has a Shardpool? Going by Brandon's explanation of the three physical states of a Shard being "Spiritual humidity", it seems near-certain that all Shards have a liquid form of themselves somewhere. Who knows if that's all that is required for something to be considered a "Shardpool", though? We don't know enough. Confirmed as having Shardpools: Preservation Ruin (black lake, later puddles in the Pits of Hathsin) Endowment (leaks from it cause the Tears of Edgli) Devotion Strong evidence of having Shardpools: Cultivation (the "emerald pools" of the Horneater peaks which Hoid may or may not have used to worldhop)SA3 spoilers: "Honor's Perpendicularity", a junction to return to the real world from Shadesmar, sounds like a Shardpool. It is a long way away from the Kharbranth -> Shattered Plains route that Jasnah and Shallan were taking, which would fit in with it being near to the Purelake or being in Urithiru. Certainly it seems likely if one Shard on a planet has a Shardpool the rest will, so we should expect Dominion, Honor, and Odium to all have Shardpools as well. So... every known Shard should have a Shardpool, but we don't know for sure. Edited August 8, 2014 by Moogle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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