Unresolved questions for the second half

[+Oltux72 he/him]

1. Why don't Voidspren lose their mind when the enter the PR?
2. Where is this colony of Terris people Axindweth came from? Is she dead?
3. Where do forms of power come from?
4. What is Voidbinding?
5. Is Canticle a protoype of Braize? Or a more advanced form?
6. Why did Hoid bring a Dawnshard to Roshar?
7. What does Retribution mean for the Knights Radiant? Can oaths stil be sworn?
8. Is the Nightwatcher dead?
9. What does this mean for the economy of the Cognitive Realm? I doubt that Nalthis can compete against Spren.
10. Roshar has just lost Soulcasters. How much of the population will starve?

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

41 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Why don't Voidspren lose their mind when the enter the PR?

47 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Where do forms of power come from?

This might be me reaching or misunderstanding but I thought that the first was because Odium directly helped the Spren (during the books with the Everstorm) while the Radiant Spren crossed over with their own power. The second would be that it was the form of investiture that Odium chose to impart after the deal with Honor.

 

48 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

What is Voidbinding?

I understood it as "The form of surge-binding that takes it's power from Odium", AKA the magic that the Fused/Forms of Power use.

 

54 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Why did Hoid bring a Dawnshard to Roshar?

I think it wasn't so much Hoid thinking "I will bring this to Roshar", rather he takes it everywhere because if everyone thinks he let it go they won't find it anywhere if he actually has it. The fact that he brought it to Roshar is just him being overconfident.

 

53 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

What does Retribution mean for the Knights Radiant? Can oaths stil be sworn?

I would say yes, given that we know that Sigzil manages to swear some to Aux.

[Shosh]

3 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

1. Why did Hoid bring a Dawnshard to Roshar?

This just strikes me as Hoid thinking/acting like he's more clever than he is. He used to have the Dawnshard, gave it up at some point, and then reacquired it, so he seemed to think "oh, no one would suspect me of having it now!". Which, fair, worked, but still.

I don't think it's anything more than that. Although, maybe he had some backup plan involving it and what he could do with it once he fully bonded Design.

[Ewery1]

Mine right now:

1. Why did Taln try to kill Cultivation and what weapon did Kalak make for him to do it with?

2. What’s up with that 4th moon? Is there a 4th shard in the system? (Valor?)

3. Why is Braize like it is? Why did Adonalsium make this system in this way? It seems too well suited to their purposes to be a full coincidence.

4. WHAT IS UP with Nohadon?

[Frogs he/him]

Big ups on what’s up with Nohadon.

My big questions is, what’s the deal with Dova? It was her being broken (greedy for money) that led her to make a deal with Odium. Will that be healed as the Heralds wait to Return? Or will she still serve him after? Are they separated/protected from Retribution in such a way that she couldn’t reveal them to him even if she wanted to? Will she bide her time and pretend to be better? Will she actually be healed and not betray them? Or will she think she’s healed but later betray them anyway?

Edited December 8, 2024 by Frogs

[Lizzardborn]

4 hours ago, Ewery1 said:

Mine right now:

1. Why did Taln try to kill Cultivation and what weapon did Kalak make for him to do it with?

2. What’s up with that 4th moon? Is there a 4th shard in the system? (Valor?)

3. Why is Braize like it is? Why did Adonalsium make this system in this way? It seems too well suited to their purposes to be a full coincidence.

4. WHAT IS UP with Nohadon?

3. Adonalsium - honestly it is quite simple. There is mention that it didn't fight it's splintering at the end. It also had the prescience  of knowing it will be splintered. It makes sense that the sum is greater than the parts and it's abilities vastly outstrip even Cultivations's. We have now the shard of retribution - what is the biggest crime in the cosmere that we know of? The splintering. Why did Adonalsium allowed it's splintering - if you are THE CREATOR, you have to move away for some time to allow the creation to develop. The opposite is way too boring - the temptation to intervene and the capacity to shape will be too great. Braize is a planet that attract souls. It will eventually attract all the Vessels - it already attracted 3. Where Retribution awaits for them. TOdium don't mind absorbing new shards. So they will come, be absorbed and of course the last one absorbed will be Harmony that will bring back balance to the force. Then Adonalsium be restored enriched with the experience of all the vessels, shards, spren and every other invested thing. Couple of thousands/millions/trillions of years later it will either repeat the splitting trick or dump a shitload of investiture to keep the universe going, open the door to Beyond, go trough it and start the cycle anew by creating a new cosmere. So Braize is just the plan for reassembly. 

1. Yeah, you can't just drop such a bomb as a passing remark and everyone just shrugs. 

[who_slew_aicirtap she/they]

So... did I miss something or did it never explain what the rock in Kaladins's pack was?

[+Oltux72 he/him]

1 hour ago, who_slew_aicirtap said:

So... did I miss something or did it never explain what the rock in Kaladins's pack was?

The rock changing its color when wet, that Tien showed Kaladin.

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

Who had a claim on Dalinar's Cognitive Shadow? I feel like I missed something cause I couldn't think of anyone.

[Ewery1]

8 minutes ago, Matt Snow said:

Who had a claim on Dalinar's Cognitive Shadow? I feel like I missed something cause I couldn't think of anyone.

Cultivation was my thought! They were HIGHLY Connected. If not Cultivation it could be Valor, as I would say his actions were very valorous.

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

32 minutes ago, Ewery1 said:

Cultivation was my thought! They were HIGHLY Connected. If not Cultivation it could be Valor, as I would say his actions were very valorous.

I thought it could be considering how much she interfered with Dalinar, and if someone gets a WoB saying this I'll take it, but it seems a bit weird to me that Cultivation would have more claim than Honor or even Odium. Something about it seems too flimsy(?) idk really know how to put it.

Like if it turns out to be Cultivation, in my mind it would have to be something like "Oh Dalinar is split between all three/four shards, so even though Retribution can claim a big part he can't claim all of it therefore he can't claim it at all".

 

My real thought is that somehow he was claimed by whatever Nohadon is, though I still have no idea what Nohadon is hahahaha.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

5 minutes ago, Matt Snow said:

I thought it could be considering how much she interfered with Dalinar, and if someone gets a WoB saying this I'll take it, but it seems a bit weird to me that Cultivation would have more claim than Honor or even Odium. Something about it seems too flimsy(?) idk really know how to put it.

Hers is the deepest. He asked her to mess with his mind.

[Ewery1]

11 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Hers is the deepest. He asked her to mess with his mind.

This and also what he was advocating for Honor to see at the end of the- that it is Honorable to grow & change? That’s not Honor, that’s Cultivation.

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

5 minutes ago, Ewery1 said:

This and also what he was advocating for Honor to see at the end of the- that it is Honorable to grow & change? That’s not Honor, that’s Cultivation.

17 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Hers is the deepest. He asked her to mess with his mind.

These two have convinced me.

[Moirne she/her]

Re: Dalinar - there’s a WoB somewhere where Brandon says he’s trying to come up with a way to signify to readers that a character is really, truly, no-tricks dead, and I think that’s what we are supposed to gather from him warping and passing into the Beyond. It’s the same visual we got for Vin and Elend. I don’t think he was claimed by any other shard, but by the Beyond itself (whatever may happen to be there).

[Shosh]

13 hours ago, Ewery1 said:

1. Why did Taln try to kill Cultivation and what weapon did Kalak make for him to do it with?

Who knows why, but as to the what...

First thought is that clearly whatever it was didn't actually accomplish anything - Cultivation isn't even wounded, to our knowledge. Second thought is that a Dawnshard (or Dawnshard derived item) is one of the few things able to hurt a Shard (aside from another Shard and, maybe, Nightblood... who wasn't around and, hey, might've been created with a Dawnshard's influence anyways). Third thought is that Honor, at least, knew or implied earlier in the series that he was aware of a Dawnshard on Roshar (and based off no Shard noticing Rysn/Hoid having one, clearly they can't simply sense there's one on their planet). So how did he know? Because someone used it once. Or tried to.

In my eyes, that all points to it being the Change Dawnshard which 1) we know is/was on Roshar, 2) probably wouldn't effect Cultivation (way too similar to her intent), and 3) it fits some of the missing pieces. 

[+Oltux72 he/him]

4 hours ago, Moirne said:

Re: Dalinar - there’s a WoB somewhere where Brandon says he’s trying to come up with a way to signify to readers that a character is really, truly, no-tricks dead, and I think that’s what we are supposed to gather from him warping and passing into the Beyond.

Dalinar Kholin was a sliver at the time of his death. He would have persisted. Showing him passing into the Beyond hence was necessary.

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

So I just remembered that Kaladin gets called Child of Tanavast. Did anyone manage to piece together why Stormfather calls him that based on his memory chapters? Or did they explain it and I just missed it?

[dbulick]

On 12/8/2024 at 3:45 AM, Ewery1 said:

Mine right now:

4. WHAT IS UP with Nohadon?

Is Nohadon Valor?  Hiding within his own vision in the spiritual realm?

[Nef]

1 hour ago, Kardenal_13 said:

So I just remembered that Kaladin gets called Child of Tanavast. Did anyone manage to piece together why Stormfather calls him that based on his memory chapters? Or did they explain it and I just missed it?

There was also the chapter 132 epigraph, which I think hints that this is a question still to be answered.

[+robardin he/him]

On 12/7/2024 at 8:09 PM, Oltux72 said:

1. Why don't Voidspren lose their mind when the enter the PR?
2. Where is this colony of Terris people Axindweth came from? Is she dead?
3. Where do forms of power come from?
4. What is Voidbinding?
5. Is Canticle a protoype of Braize? Or a more advanced form?
6. Why did Hoid bring a Dawnshard to Roshar?
7. What does Retribution mean for the Knights Radiant? Can oaths stil be sworn?
8. Is the Nightwatcher dead?
9. What does this mean for the economy of the Cognitive Realm? I doubt that Nalthis can compete against Spren.
10. Roshar has just lost Soulcasters. How much of the population will starve?

Axindweth: I found it interesting that Axindweth was called a "full Feruchemist" by Zahel, which term means he knows that most Feruchemists of that time in the Cosmere would be Ferrings. So how that is, is the real mystery indeed!

As for her being dead, she was captured after knocking herself unconscious while trying to capture Lift in the aluminum-lined room inside Urithiru by unexpectedly hitting a Slick patch and crashing into the wall while having tapped a steelmind for speed. I guess that happened too quickly even for her to tap gold to recover, which is something we somehow never saw in Mistborn, LOL.

Which means she's alive, but trapped in Urithiru with the rest of its occupants as without any functioning Oathgate, their only way out is to physically climb down the mountain.

I suppose a full Feruchemist could fill an ironmind as much as possible and basically float like a leaf down to the ground, but then what? She'd also be stuck on Roshar, until such time as the listeners reveal (and possibly monetize) their access to Retribution's Shardpool to reach Shadesmar, or unless the Ghostbloods have a non-Perpendicularity way of extracting her.

Radiant Oaths post-Retribution: Well, all the spren were saved from being inhaled by Retribution by the New Oathpact, and we can see from TSM that Sigzil will eventually bond 12124 "Aux" and reach at least the Fourth Ideal to gain Plate (which he had not done as a Windrunner), so yeah Radiant oaths will still happen. But Surgebinding  and Radiant healing abilities would need some other way to power them than easily accessed and inhaled Stormlight.

Nightwatcher: dead? Nah, she's also a spren protected by the New Oathpact, no reason she wouldn't be. And that's interesting because she is kind of a Splinter of Cultivation left on Roshar. I'm sure that's going to play into the back five of Stormlight Archives.

Cognitive Realm economy? Not sure what you mean about "Nalthis can't compete against spren". Rosharan spren now able to leave the system (their having been bound to the Rosharan system having been a side effect of the original Oathpact), and yes that means some of them could end up on Nalthis, but what's the economic impact of that? Maybe some spren could gain Breaths and do something interesting? Or if an Awakener discovers how to fuel Surgebinding with Breath?

Roshar food crisis sans Soulcasters? Well, Soulcast food was mainly a critical resource not for civilian populations, but for armies to be able to mobilize without worrying about supply lines. The large number of Soulcasters possessed by Alethkar versus other Rosharan nations was a huge reason their armies were so successful, and how their campaign on the Shattered Plains in the middle of nowhere was possible to run indefinitely.

And the people in Urithiru can still grow food with Towerlight warmed/fueled farms, as the tower is still alive.

Edited December 9, 2024 by robardin

[+robardin he/him]

Here's my biggest question after finishing WaT:

So at the end, the ten New Heralds (nine "classic" plus the newly inducted Kaladin, with Nale and him having "+1"s in their bonded spren) are now ... on Braize, the planet with a raysium (?) core that attracts Investiture? But their minds are in the SR in a "vision" of a beach house resort or something (pulled from a memory of Ishar's old timeshare back on good ol' Alaswha before its burning, I guess).

Until such time as they Return again... which would be triggered how?

There are going to be Fused souls on Braize, like Abidi's, who hadn't yet had time to get back to Roshar via the Everstorm. Are they motivated to torture them any more, other than for fun? They don't need to "break" Heralds to Return themselves.

Besides, in contrast to the original Oathpact, which formed a cage or lock around the Fused on returning from Braize (no longer meaningful with the Everstorm), the New Oathpact forms a protective mesh cage around the spren of Roshar from being "inhaled" (unmade, for their Investiture) by Retribution.

In which case, what is it that would cause, or to pull, the New Heralds to Return to Roshar? Would it be something spren related?

And, my sneaky observation: Battah, while "corrupted" and having become a materialistic ardent in Kharbranth, had discovered a way to create crystal spikes that function very similarly to Inquisitor eye-spikes in Mistborn (particularly interesting, as hemalurgy has always been called a Metallic Art). In giving Vyre such spikes, she extracted a promise from Odium of "a planet -- a small one, at least" in return for her service to Him.

And then while taking her place in the New Oathpact while reclaiming her old Honorblade, she is the last to arrive: The very last was a woman with a shaved head, a curious expression on her face.

Curious and hard to pin down indeed, because how often would Kaladin have seen the face of someone reminded on her way to the Oathening that they are still on retainer in exchange for a small planet?

Edited December 9, 2024 by robardin

[who_slew_aicirtap she/they]

Quote

And someone at the end of Wind and Truth made the opposite decision. It's not magical where I'm like "oh the character is alive", no, it's just that who I wrote them to be and how the themes of the plot progressed I realized that at that point they can't make this decision. And so I rewrote their part and revised it to have the opposite decision get made. Once Wind and Truth is out I can tell you what that is. But you will have to read it and see if you can guess who, in the outline, was making a very different decision.

More of a meta question, but who do we think he's referencing in this WOB?

[+robardin he/him]

Just now, who_slew_aicirtap said:

More of a meta question, but who do we think he's referencing in this WOB?

I agree with another poster that he probably "cancelled" Taravangian actually being able to destroy his family and Adrotagia along with Kharbranth, and him putting them into a vision bubble in the Spiritual Realm as living humans in the semi-epilogue represents that "character's takeback" from the original plotline.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

8 hours ago, robardin said:

Cognitive Realm economy? Not sure what you mean about "Nalthis can't compete against spren". Rosharan spren now able to leave the system (their having been bound to the Rosharan system having been a side effect of the original Oathpact), and yes that means some of them could end up on Nalthis, but what's the economic impact of that? Maybe some spren could gain Breaths and do something interesting? Or if an Awakener discovers how to fuel Surgebinding with Breath?

They should be able to run caravans more efficiently than Nalthians. They don't need to carry victuals, don't sleep and can use cognitive beasts of burden.