Crackpot Theory About the Iriali and The One

[JT_Boiiis]

So we know that Brandon Sanderson confirmed:

- The Iriali will be important in the Cosmere's space age

- There is a shard with an intent similar to Wisdom/Prudence who has so far been hiding

We also know:

- The Iriali religion believes there was a god, The One, who split into the Iriali, and after 7 lands, they will become One again 

- The Iriali's 5th land was Roshar, and by the time of Tress, the Iriali have been to and left Lumar

- Tress happens after Stormlight

So my proposal is that "The One" is the unknown 16th shard, who knew all (was wise) but experienced little. They then split into the Iriali, who went to 4 lands before Roshar, then left Roshar and went to Lumar. They then left Lumar to go somewhere, and will be, by then, on at least the 7th. With the 7th land obtained, they will once again become The One, who was hiding due to being almost completely splintered into an entire race of people and too weak to protect themselves. The idea is stupid, but I maybe, just maybe, could be correct here.

[The flying spider he/him]

Just a few corrections:

Roshar is the 4th land not the 5th.

There are mentions to Golden haired people in lost metal which hints at iriali being in scadrial too.

Also for more information you can read the SA5 interlude reading that brandon read at dargonsteel.

[Forts Board]

I think that "The One" is actually just the stick. 

He is content in his form but he wishes for his people to gather experiences for him.

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Forts Board

[alder24]

6 hours ago, JT_Boiiis said:

The Iriali religion believes there was a god, The One, who split into the Iriali, and after 7 lands, they will become One again 

Correction, they believe the One split into all people, not only Iriali, not only humans. Or at least the One split into the Many, and Iriali sometimes debate who is part of the One as well, most think all are. 

6 hours ago, JT_Boiiis said:

So my proposal is that "The One" is the unknown 16th shard, who knew all (was wise) but experienced little. They then split into the Iriali, who went to 4 lands before Roshar, then left Roshar and went to Lumar. They then left Lumar to go somewhere, and will be, by then, on at least the 7th. With the 7th land obtained, they will once again become The One, who was hiding due to being almost completely splintered into an entire race of people and too weak to protect themselves. The idea is stupid, but I maybe, just maybe, could be correct here.

I give you credits, Wisdom Shard fits with the One who "knew all but experienced nothing."

But here is my problem with this idea. Shard's power is infinite. If one were to Splinter itself into so many people fully, then those people would be ridiculously invested, so much it would be very recognisable (just look at Returned, Splinters of Endowment). That's basically impossible for a Shard to Splinter itself fully into Iriali people like that. 

If the Shard were to Splinter only a part of itself into Iriali, then they wouldn't be so invested, they wouldn't be that recognisable. But this Shard would still exist, be strong and still have practically infinite power. That's Preservation and Endowment for you. This is precisely what these two did. Odium, Cultivation and Honor did the same with Splinters on Roshar - Spren. Thus the religious core of Iriali, that there was the One but it's no longer, doesn't fit. This Shard would still exist with no problems. 

We already have examples of Shards splitting their essence into people, creating humanity and Splintering themselves into millions, and yet they are still well, functioning and powerful, with almost infinite power. This doesn't fit with the One. 

Spoiler

Questioner

With Shards, are there any... limits? What can't they do? Besides being opposed by another Shard and their own intent?

Brandon Sanderson

It varies a lot. It varies based on experience and situation. They are not omnipotent, though the power is infinite. So that is the weird part that you get into. So, they are limited partially by their own limitations, and also the limitations imposed upon them by the situations they're in.

Questioner

Is there anything universal about all of them?

Brandon Sanderson

They all have bits of them in all of the cosmere, so that's universal. They all are bounded more by themselves than by the power itself.

Skyward Chicago signing (Nov. 16, 2018)  

 

Spoiler

emailanimal

From a very recent signing, we have this new Word of Brandon...

chasmfriend's son: Is there a finite amount of Investiture?

Brandon: Yes.

chasmfriend's son: So is Nightblood consuming it?

Brandon: Yes. Very, very slowly.

This worries me somewhat because of the following observation.

Nightblood consumes Breath (and other Investiture, but let's limit ourselves to Breath for a second).

Every person on Nalthis is born with one Breath.

Populations tend to grow. Which means that under normal rules of demographics, population of Nalthis should keep increasing.

This in turn means that under normal circumstances the number of people with Breath on Nalthis should be growing.

I can see the following possible explanations to this:

1. Endowment can give Breath to many more people than are currently living on Nalthis. So, the exponential population growth has not yet reached the level at which Endowment's ability to award a Breath to each Nalthis-born human is seriously challenged. When it happens though, things will not go well.

2. There is some built-in mechanism controlling population growth on Nalthis, making certain that the population stays within the limits. Nightblood's consumption of Breath makes these limits smaller, and overall may lead to Endowment's inability to grant Breath to Nalthis-born, but not for a while (essentially, Endowment controls population trends at she sees fit).

Thoughts?

Brandon Sanderson

Just as a point you should understand, the amount of MATTER in the cosmere is finite too. As is the amount of energy.

Worrying that Endowment will run out of Breaths to give is a little like worrying that the amount of carbon on Earth will run out because people keep being born.

uchoo786

So just for clarification, once Nightblood consumes investiture, that investiture gets recycled? That's what I've always assumed. That it enters the cognitive/spiritual realm?

Brandon Sanderson

The investiture he consumes is not gone forever--it's not leaving the system, so to speak.

General Reddit 2015 (Dec. 14, 2015)

 

Spoiler

Skyler

If a Returned gives away his/her Breath they die right? So why doesn't Vasher die after he gives his to Denth?

Brandon Sanderson

They will die the moment they run out of Breath to harvest. Once a week their body needs a Breath in order to survive. Each Returned has one single superpowered Breath. Imagine it as one breath that propels them up through the Heightenings, but it is only a single Breath. It's what we speak of in Shard world terminology as a Splinter. And when the seventh day comes, if a Returned does not have another breath for his body to consume to keep him alive, his body will actually eat his divine Breath and kill him. So they don't die immediately after they get rid of the Breath, they're sort of put into a state of limbo where if they don't find more Breath by the time that their feast day comes, then they will die. (Vasher did not give his Returned Breath to Denth, just a number of normal Breaths.)

Goodreads Fantasy Book Discussion Warbreaker Q&A (Jan. 18, 2010)