Brag about your confirmed theories here, and use the cred that earns you to share Stormlight 5 theories!

[Vin(Diesel)]

Please brag about your past theories about Sanderson novels that were eventually proven correct. Did you guess during Mistborn Era 1 that

Spoiler

the Hero of ages would be Sazed?

Or while reading the Reckoners that Tia would

Spoiler

die in the third book?

If you guessed something would happen, and then it did, tell us about it in this thread.

And since your ability to read Brandon’s mind has been proven, then tell us your theories about Stormlight 5! 

Spoilers for all of Brandon’s works, obviously.

[alder24]

38 minutes ago, Vin(Diesel) said:

Please brag about your past theories about Sanderson novels that were eventually proven correct. Did you guess during Mistborn Era 1 that

  Hide contents

the Hero of ages would be Sazed?

Or while reading the Reckoners that Tia would

  Reveal hidden contents

die in the third book?

If you guessed something would happen, and then it did, tell us about it in this thread.

And since your ability to read Brandon’s mind has been proven, then tell us your theories about Stormlight 5! 

Spoilers for all of Brandon’s works, obviously.

I think that's a wrong section for this kind of topic, I will ask mods to move it somewhere better. 

Edited July 24, 2024 by alder24

[Vin(Diesel)]

46 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I think that's a wrong section for this kind of topic, I will ask mods to move it somewhere better. 

Where do you think would be a better place for it?

[LewsTherinTelescope]

I've moved this to the general Cosmere forum, since it's focused on more than just Stormlight.

[Quantus he/him]

Old Theory:  I posted the Quadrant theory of Shards years ago before I started participating here, and Dawnshard seems to have confirmed a lot of it.

Current Theory:  The Stormfaker is the Everstorm's spren, who was trying to steal the Stormfather's Bondsmith Candidate.  

Current Theory:  The Deadeye spren did what they did because they wanted to put control of the Surges in the hands of Bonded Spren instead of Bonded Humans; Maya and Adolin are the first to start down that Path, which his role being to Metabolize Lifelight and give it to Maya to power her own LifeBinder Radiant power package. (Inspired by the Mage & Source relationship of Fionavar skymagic).

 

Edited July 25, 2024 by Quantus

[Ookla she/her]

6 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Old Theory:  I posted the Quadrant theory of Shards years ago before I started participating here, and Dawnshard seems to have confirmed a lot of it.

Current Theory:  The Stormfaker is the Everstorm's spren, who was trying to steal the Stormfather's Bondsmith Candidate.  

Current Theory:  The Deadeye spren did what they did because they wanted to put control of the Surges in the hands of Bonded Spren instead of Bonded Humans; Maya and Adolin are the first to start down that Path, which his role being to Metabolize Lifelight and give it to Maya to power her own LifeBinder Radiant power package. (Inspired by the Mage & Source relationship of Fionavar skymagic).

 

Wait... so it would be the spren being the Knoghts Radiant and not the humans? Sort of like 

Spoiler

Aux and Nomad seem to be in TSM?

 

[teknopathetic he/him]

Old Theory Confirmed:
Taln Didn't break (I suspected it was Chana). People thought I was nuts, but I was vindicated! I knew it couldnt have just been the Everstorm.

---

Current Theory Kind Confirmed:
Shallan's mother is Chana. Guessed this years ago before Taln didn't break was revealed. Pretty sure the glowing safe is important too. 

---
Current Theory:
Ba-Ado-Mishram is the original 10th herald that Taln replaced. 

Current Theory:
Shallan has her mother's Shardblade [edit: honorblade]. Potentially, Radiant is the blade in some sense. I think that was the "soul" that Lyn put in the safe. The blade was Chana's honorblade. For some reason, the Davars didnt want the blade going back to Braize. Perhaps the safe holding the blade stopped Chana from returning 100% until the safe was opened. We do have a newish wob that honorblades are self aware, so this tracks. 

Current Theory:
Named the Stormfaker; think the Stormfaker is Ishar or Ba-Ado-Mishram. Both make sense to me. 
 

 

Edited November 13, 2024 by teknopathetic

[Blightsong he/him]

I guessed that Thaidakar was Kelsier pre-Oathbringer.

My current theory is that a Bondsmith enhanced sound shockwave in a Pure Tone or its opposite broke the plains. Also possibly harmed Honor or helped trap BAM.

[ZenBossanova]

Current theories: 

Cultivation is the real enemy. This realization is what caused the Radiants to abandon their bonds and blades. 

TOdium will help Humanity in the end. Taravangian is an End Justifies the Means kind of guy, but his real goal never has changed. 

Ishar/Stormfaker either wanted replacement Heralds or a Champion to just lose and end it all. It wasn't benevolent. 

Book 5 will end with Dalinar/Champion defeated and everyone slowly, slowly growing into servants of TOdium (with Cultivation as puppet master). Each step will feel logical and irrefutable, but the overall arc will be to make Roshar an army to attack other worlds. Books 6-10 will be stopping Cultivation and this progress. 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

Past Theory:

What we know as "atium" in the original trilogy is actually an alloy of pure atium and electrum.

Current Theory 1:

Taravangian will bring the full barrier storm over from Braize and settle it across Roshar as the true Everstorm, allowing the Fused to be reborn instantly and in any location with a willing singer, spurring a very temporary reset of the Oathpact to stop Odium from conquering the entire planet before the contest locks the borders. Ishar's plan is to use spren for this as they are believed to be incapable of breaking their word the way the human Heralds did, hence his experiments. However, only Syl is human enough to survive the process due to her deepened bond and nature as honorspren, so she will have to hold the entire Oathpact herself and fulfill the "burdens of nine" Death Rattle.

Also Ba-Ado-Mishram might take over the storm or something, I haven't decided on the details yet but I think her ability to provide Voidlight will be crucial after the death of the Stormfather. Interestingly the Death Rattles speak of the Everstorm having a stormwall and the eternal storm Rattles often reference rain, so perhaps it will take on some properties of the highstorm because of...

Current Theory 2:

Taravangian will maneuver Dalinar into breaking his oath and attack him to take the Shard of Honor, combining it with Odium. This was Cultivation's intent behind "bear this power with honor" all along, with his boon and curse being designed such that he will oscillate between the equivalent of Harmony and Discord in a controlled way rather than Sazed's current mad spiral (Navani and Eshonai each note that the Rhythm of War contains the duality of both intense war and quiet peace).

[+Child of Hodor]

Old Theory: I guessed that the "we" in "we killed you" in OB meant the Shard and the Vessel because they aren't on the same page. Which was basically confirmed in RoW with Rayse and Odium having different reactions to Sja-Anat's disagreeing with them in her interlude, Rayse having a golden light trying to break out of him during RoW as well as the Shard "speaking" to Taravangian after Rayse was killed.  Plus, Sazed's comments on the Shard not being controlled well and Cultivation telling Taravangian she hoped to develop someone who could control the Shard better.  

Current Theory 1: The current Stormfather contains both the old spren and the ghost (cognitive shadow) of Tanavast which is the source of the different tone in the SA5 prologue. 

Quote

I feel… you are not the champion I need. Maybe… I’ve been wrong all this time.

“You said that you were charged with this task of finding a champion,” Gavilar said. “By Honor.”

That is true. I do not speak in human ways. But still, if you become a Herald, you will be tortured between Returns. Why is it this doesn’t bother you?

The current entity is the merger of two other entities the mind of the Vessel that gave the command and the spren that received the command.  That's why feels he needs a champion and that he was ordered to seek one. 

Quote

He… he saw storms, endless storms, and the world was so frail. A tiny speck of blue against an infinite canvas of black.

Looking into the eyes of the entity Gavilar sees Roshar from outer space. A view the spren formerly known as the rider of storms would not have seen, but Tanavast would have. This is very similar to the view Dalinar when he "sees" Odium in OB. Dalinar is standing on a little speck that is Roshar and looking out into the Cosmere.  

Current Theory 2: Dalinar will have a conversation with Gavilar in book 5. Kaladin got to speak to his dead brother in RoW why not Dalinar?

[IcaroRibeiro he/him]

I'm sure Chana is Shallans mother

The omission of Gavilar the mentioning her red hair in the Prologue sounds fishy for me. I think Sanderson stepped back to not spoil much in the Prologue, he wants this to be a big twist in Shallans plot line

[Keats.The.Listener He, Him]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:47 PM, Ookla said:

Wait... so it would be the spren being the Knoghts Radiant and not the humans? Sort of like 

  Hide contents

Aux and Nomad seem to be in TSM?

 

Would this be a 

Spoiler

Luhel style bond like in Tress with spore eaters

 

[Quantus he/him]

On 7/25/2024 at 2:47 PM, Ookla said:

Wait... so it would be the spren being the Knoghts Radiant and not the humans? Sort of like 

  Hide contents

Aux and Nomad seem to be in TSM?

 

The TSM example has many other special circumstances going on that I dont want to speculate, but we already know the state of that spren & Bond is uniquely abnormal.

On 7/31/2024 at 8:14 PM, Keats.The.Listener said:

Would this be a 

  Hide contents

Luhel style bond like in Tress with spore eaters

 

 

I think it would still qualify as a Nahel Bond since it would still be providing a realmic Anchor for the Spren to maintain their Sapience in the Physical Realm.  The Lifelight metabolism probably wouldnt qualify as a Luhel Bond anymore than Lift's current Lifelight trick, since they arent trading Matter for Investiture to an Outside entity the way Aethers do, the human is more directly converting Matter to Investiture internally.  Closer to Feruchemy than Allomancy, in that sense.  

 

[Isilel]

Let me see:

I guessed that Gavilar had been getting the same visions as Dalinar  did... after WoK, I think. Also, that Ehlokar was seeing Cryptics.

I theorised that Nale set up Gavilar's assassination, since he couldn't do it personally due to his legal code, after WoR, IIRC.

I maintained that  Navani would become a Bondsmith after OB, due to her tendency to bring people together and attract glory spren.

I was one of the early adopters of the idea that Taravangian and Lift also met Cultivation.

Ditto about Adolin reviving Maya.

Ditto WaT reading spoiler

 

Spoiler

That Iriali refused Dalinar because their leaders knew that their time of exodus was at hand, so there was no point in fighting Odium and the Singers. Also that their next Land is going to be Scadrial, which was hinted at in TLM.

 

For some reason my clairvoyance-fu only worked with Stormlight Archive.

 

Anyway, theories for book 5:

Kaladin will become a Bondsmith or Ascend to Honor. Not original, I know.

Dalinar will become a Fused or die for good.

Nale was setting up Szeth and Nightblood as his "suicide by cop" escape hatch, since he couldn't see a way to resolve the conflict between what his twisted moral code and madness are compelling him towards and what he can bear to do. It is going to happen.

Taln is great, but he didn't hold out for 4.5 millenia due to his will alone - Ishar changed the Oathpact in a way that made it impossible for him to give in, as well as allowed him to lock down the Fused alone. That's why Ishar and Jezrien went ahead with abandoning the Oathpact despite not knowing whether Kalak also died or not. It wouldn't have mattered if he did, despite not being remotely as steadfast as Taln. Unregulated powers of the Radiants might have somehow interfered, though, hence Ishar setting Nale to suppress all other Radiant Orders after the Recreance, when Honor was in the process of dying.

Ishar is a Dawnsliver. That's how he played a prominent role in destruction of Ashyn and created the Oathpact _before_ receiving a Bondsmith honorblade. Possibly also how he founded the Radiant Orders and later changed the Oathpact, so it could rest on a single person.  I wonder about how he managed to keep the Dawnshard out of Odium's clutches while on Braize, though. Maybe he hid it on Roshar and only took it up again briefly to achieve the latter 2 things? I am not sure that it is the same one that Rysn currently bears, but it is the one from the poem of Ista, IMHO, said "to bind all creatures voidish or mortal", IIRC.

Lady Davar (whether Chana or not) was a Ghostblood and was training Shallan to be an undercover agent for them. Which is why many of Veil's skills were actually real. Her memories of a happy childhood pre-bonding are another lie, as was strongly hinted at in the scene in OB where she performed "The Girl Who Looked Up" for Pattern. At some point Shallan refused to play along and particularly to use her Radiant abilities for them. The tragedy was a result of her mother trying to scare Shallan into demonstrating her surge-binding for an associate. As Pattern pointed out, Mraize's letter contained lies, yet it is often treated as solid evidence. And the rest of information in it seems true, as far as we know.

I also think that there is some particular connection between the Davars and BAM. Maybe they are descendants of Melishi?

[Vin(Diesel)]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:48 PM, teknopathetic said:

 

On 7/25/2024 at 1:48 PM, teknopathetic said:

Old Theory Confirmed:
Taln Didn't break (I suspected it was Chana). People thought I was nuts, but I was vindicated! I knew it couldnt have just been the Everstorm.

---

Current Theory Kind Confirmed:
Shallan's mother is Chana. Guessed this years ago before Taln didn't break was revealed. Pretty sure the glowing safe is important too. 

---
Current Theory:
Ba-Ado-Mishram is the original 10th herald that Taln replaced. 

Current Theory:
Shallan has her mother's Shardblade. Potentially, Radiant is the blade in some sense. I think that was the "soul" that Lyn put in the safe. The blade was Chana's honorblade. For some reason, the Davars didnt want the blade going back to Braize. Perhaps the safe holding the blade stopped Chana from returning 100% until the safe was opened. We do have a newish wob that honorblades are self aware, so this tracks. 

Current Theory:
Named the Stormfaker; think the Stormfaker is Ishar or Ba-Ado-Mishram. Both make sense to me.

Teknopathetic, it’s very impressive that you guessed that Taln didn’t break. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the glowing safe now! For some reason I thought that Hoid was the Herald that Taln replaced. I think I read someone’s theory and found it persuasive, but I don’t remember the argument, except for something about topaz.

[bmcclure7]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:47 PM, Ookla said:

Wait... so it would be the spren being the Knoghts Radiant and not the humans? Sort of like 

  Reveal hidden contents

Aux and Nomad seem to be in TSM?

 

Did you not read slm? That theory has been disproven 

[Ookla she/her]

36 minutes ago, bmcclure7 said:

Did you not read slm? That theory has been disproven 

I did, but I've only read it once and can only remember so much at a time.  Also, I was a bit busy having my breath taken away by the artwork...

[Isilel]

Forgot to mention that I have been long  convinced that Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow exists independently, hidden within the Stormfather and was behind utterances, dreams and visions of Dalinar's that the Stormfather denied  responsibility for. And that now it is up to the same tricks with other people in the new WaT chapters. 

Oh, and I have a brand-new theory about the Herald who died in the book 5 prologue. It wasn't Chana, it was Ishar. He saw what he "mustn't" have seen, according to the Stormfaker, and made himself a god-king as a result.

IMHO the Stormfather's assurance that no Herald has died and went to Braize in the intervening millennia is only true "from a certain point of view" - due to Ishar's changes to the Oathpact after Aharietam, the apostate Heralds no longer go all the way when they die. Let's remember how nonchalant Jezrien initially was when Moash was murdering him. He wasn't at all afraid, was he? He didn't even try to defend himself. He knew that he wasn't in danger of Braize, methinks. 

Anyway, it has always bothered me about the Chana theory that nobody in the Davar family mentioned how Lady Davar died on the same day as when this other very important assassination happened. And that Chana didn't do anything of note between the end of WoK and the end of RoW. So what's the point of it being her beyond heaping even more trauma on poor Shallan?

Odium's forces have already found a way to bypass Taln, the Final Desolation was imminent either way.

Let my theories be recorded.

[bmcclure7]

OK, here are my predictions
 

1. Syl and Kal will form a romantic relationship.

2. Queen Jasna Will die.

3. The contest of champions will end in a draw..

4. Kal will become , a avatar of honor

 

5. Kal will take the 10th Harold spot. 
 

6. Shallan and Kelsier we have a conversation at some point.

7. We will get some more information about void binding. (this one is more of a hope than a prediction.)

[Tstew21]

Prediction:

Brandon stated that burning Atium and Duralumin at the same time will allow you to peer into the spiritual realm. Thus if Dalinar powers Shallan as she is doing one of her Fortune drawings, which she can do due to her double Lightweave bond, and focusing on where BAM prison is, she could see and draw its location in the spiritual realm. Dalinar could then open a perpendicularity at that location and just reach in and grab the gem, thus not needing to travel in the spiritual realm at all.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/196/#e4185

[ZenBossanova]

New Theories: 

TOdium will get all three Shards by the end of book 5, but will find himself even more hogtied and limited than Harmony. He may want to destroy immediately, but just can't do it that way. 

Kaladin will find a way to return TOdium and his minions to Braize. They will return for Books 6-10.

The people who took Honor (Tanavast) and Cultivation, took them because they were opposite of their personalities. Tanavast was a back-stabbing rogue/thief/career criminal. Not a nice honorable guy. Nice parallelism with Gavilar. 

[Sedside she/her]

I'll be brief  My theory is that Helaran is alive. I really want to see that guy in the story, lol

Added (sorry, not brief enough): Not much of a theory, just another hope - Rysn will heal and Kaladin will marry her

Edited November 6, 2024 by Sedside

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

I feel obligated to brag that none of my theories survive more than about 2 weeks before I find or am presented with evidence that completely discredits them and makes them totally unfeasible.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:48 PM, teknopathetic said:

Shallan has her mother's Shardblade.

Her mother's Shardblade or her mother's Honorblade?