How is BAM communicating with people while trapped in a gem in the spiritual realm?

[CognitiveShadow he/him]

I've been having some thoughts here, and there's a process here that I am starting to think I lean towards. 

So, BAM is trapped in a gemstone and is in the Spiritual Realm... whatever that actually means lol. We don't know much about the Spiritual Realm, but we do know that Shallan is accessing it when she draws on fortune for her inspirational drawings that nudge/encourage people to improve and be better, etc.

We are seeing some weird fortune shenanigans. Especially with Shallan. The way she grabs for beads and just keeps happening to get the right ones, and things like that. She even points out that she has no idea what is going on. 

So my thought is this: what if BAM is using Fortune almost like a radio frequency, trying to ride that out of the Spiritual Realm and thereby connect with whoever she can that happens to be drawing on Fortune in that moment. Of course that makes me think about Hoid and how he has a Fortune thingy that makes him go to where he needs to be without knowing why. So maybe there is something specific about Shallan and her connection to BAM. But she does seem to either be having a lot of lucky things happening around her or be in the process of drawing on Fortune for a drawing when BAM's face shows up. 

So that face in the beads screaming about destroying the humans could just be an angry radio wave blast that she is sending out into 'nowhere' while she is trapped in a gem floating through space or whatever it looks like there.

ALSO - could Odium be corrupting the intended message coming from BAM? Could it be like Ruin corrupting messages from Leras as the mist spirit? Maybe BAM sent out a really hearfelt message with all the answers that the 'good guys' need to save the day, but Odium is making it look like she is dangerous and they should not go looking for her?

[Wanguu He/Him]

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ALSO - could Odium be corrupting the intended message coming from BAM? Could it be like Ruin corrupting messages from Leras as the mist spirit? Maybe BAM sent out a really hearfelt message with all the answers that the 'good guys' need to save the day, but Odium is making it look like she is dangerous and they should not go looking for her?

Mechanically? I have no clue. Thematically? It does make sense, especially with TOdium, he seems to be more crafty and such. 

[dvoraen]

My thoughts on this are that Shallan's drawing upon Fortune did two things:

• She came across (Connected to?) the scenario of Ba-Ado-Mishram's release and the Unmade being Quite Upset about it.
• In doing so, she began to experience certain effects (the increasing darkness of her vision) that would have originated with the Unmade. In essence, experiencing that potential scenario as if she were there, and it kind of bled out from her. I've been rather suspicious that Ba-Ado-Mishram is able to Connect to Radiants, much as she can singers, which would explain a lot I think.

[Michael Portz he/him]

On 9/3/2024 at 11:10 PM, CognitiveShadow said:

I've been having some thoughts here, and there's a process here that I am starting to think I lean towards. 

So, BAM is trapped in a gemstone and is in the Spiritual Realm... whatever that actually means lol. We don't know much about the Spiritual Realm, but we do know that Shallan is accessing it when she draws on fortune for her inspirational drawings that nudge/encourage people to improve and be better, etc.

I do not think Shallan accesses BAM's location in the Spiritual Realm or BAM herself but she accesses other knowledge about BAM. BAM is cut-off, there is neither a connection nor Connection to entities in the other realms.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

On the plus side, from what BAM has said, I think there's a strong chance that she will be quite upset about the change in management.

Voidbringer civil war anyone?

[+Bzhydack he/him]

My theory is, that it is not Ba-Ado Mishram doing anything. She is trapped, isolated, cant do anything. But she is "warping" Realm around her.

Rest is Shallan's ability. She is looking into Spiritual Realm, and is drawing Fortune to see something what requires her attention. Point is, Shallan doesnt comunicate with Re-Sephir when she sees her with her art. Also, She was drawing Sia-Anat even before she was able to comunicate with her.

So I think Shallan is detecting "Warping" of Spiritual Realm and she sees Ba-Ado-Mishram as she was in the moment of imprisonment.

[Michael Portz he/him]

10 hours ago, Bzhydack said:

My theory is, that it is not Ba-Ado Mishram doing anything. She is trapped, isolated, cant do anything. But she is "warping" Realm around her.

Rest is Shallan's ability. She is looking into Spiritual Realm, and is drawing Fortune to see something what requires her attention. Point is, Shallan doesnt comunicate with Re-Sephir when she sees her with her art. Also, She was drawing Sia-Anat even before she was able to comunicate with her.

So I think Shallan is detecting "Warping" of Spiritual Realm and she sees Ba-Ado-Mishram as she was in the moment of imprisonment.

Yepp, that's what I meant 

[Malim he/him]

We have seen something similar in the Cosmere before.

Mistborn spoilers:

Spoiler

When Ruin was trapped in Preservation's prison, he was able to send out waves of consciousness into the larger world.  Kelsier actually cognitively rides them on more than one occasion, and is able to get glimpses of people and places that have Ruin's attention.  Perhaps BAM is aware enough to do the same thing.  She certainly, at least to my mind, has enough Investiture to do so.

Shallan is atunning Fortune, which seems tied to BAM in some way.  That is probably drawing BAM's attention, and it could be leaving Shallan open to picking up the "radio waves" that are being sent out.  BAM might even be aware enough to sense that her thoughts are being picked up, and is directly communicating, to what purpose and Intent remains to be seen.  It could also be as others have suggested just a wide broadcast that Shallan is able to tune into.

It is possible that BAM has been sending wide broadcasts ever since her imprisonment, but no one was listening until now.  Shallan, through either her double bond or through Fortune, is now receiving.  It could be that this is a result of her Intent to at least locate BAM, if not free her.  It's possible that people with similar Intents in the past have also received these broadcasts, it just hasn't been story revelant until now, so hasn't come up.