So in the future Cosmere all types of magic works anywhere?

[christianrapper]

Full Cosmere spoilers: so according to Sunlit Man in the future magic just works anywhere despite which type of investiture it is? Also, how did Sigzel get Shard Plate with no spren? It really seemed like Aux(sp?) was the spren that made the Shard Plate also. Did Sanderson retcon the way that shard plates are formed in between books? Sigzel definitely doesn’t have any shard plate spren in Sunlit Man. After reading book 5, I am really confused how Aux died. Is he truly dead or is he just a dead eye back in Shadesmar?

Edited January 3, 2025 by christianrapper

[Qianweilian He/him]

Magic already worked everywhere. It was just hard to get it offworld. Before Retribution, Axindweth used Feruchemy. It was just hard to get offworld. I think shardplate is just different now than it was. Aux is probably not dead in WaT, but dies later, offscreen, probably related to the Dawnshard.

[alder24]

1 hour ago, christianrapper said:

so according to Sunlit Man in the future magic just works anywhere despite which type of investiture it is?

This is Sigzil's exclusive skill. He held a Dawnshard, this changed his soul and allowed him to draw in any investiture to power his skills. Others can't do it unless they get unkeyed investiture (like what we saw in TLM). A lot of what's happening to Sigzil is unique to him because he held a Dawnshard. 

But all Invested Arts, except Selish ones, can easily work anywhere in Cosmere. You need just metal for Allomancy, Stormlight for Surgebinding, White Sand for Sand Mastering, Breaths, for Awakening (or in the future any investiture can be used to Awaken) etc. The hardest part for Radiants was to have light outside of Roshar (well, the hardest was to leave the system, now they can), but they can also fuel their abilities with any kind of unkeyed investiture (like pure Dor). This always was the case, we saw Vasher Awaken in RoW, we saw Hoid doing Allomancy throughout SA (plus some other Invested Arts), we saw Feruchemy in RoW performed by Axindweth and we saw Shai hacking Selish magics to work on Scadrial. No retcon, it was all in books for a very long time now. 

1 hour ago, christianrapper said:

Also, how did Sigzel get Shard Plate with no spren?

Looks like they were mostly consumed by the Dawnshard, just like Aux was. However, because Sig started to fight for right causes again and he aligned himself to his former, broken Oaths, he was able to summon them to the Physical Realm once more. If they were consumed like Aux, they had no body, no form, only some remnants of soul in the Spiritual Realm, where distance doesn't matter anymore. There were also Windspren leaving Roshar at the end of WaT and because he broke his bonds, his platespren would have been deadeyed, just like his Radiant spren was, so his spren were likely sticking close to him as Unoathed, until they were consumed by his Dawnshard and were no longer able to manifest in the Physical Realm. 

TSM ch 20:

Quote

They’d spent years together with the potential lurking there, unseen. Then, in a moment of need, he’d unconsciously reached out for any energy source he could access. The Dawnshard had found Auxiliary, a being of Investiture.
It had turned Aux’s very substance into power to fuel Nomad’s abilities.
The Dawnshard—the weapon—protected itself. No matter what. No matter who it killed. Nomad had barely been able to stop himself before burning the entirety of Auxiliary’s soul away in a moment of supercharged power.

TSM ch 39:

Quote

He trailed off as he saw it in the air beside him. A small fracture, a misalignment—like how a broken mirror might reflect a disjointed image. It floated beside his head, the size of a fingernail. There was something familiar about it.
“It’s one of my fragments,” he whispered. “A piece of my armor. You said those were dead!”
I thought they were gone, consumed.
Why was it back now? What had happened?
Was it because he fought again?
Was it because of why he had fought again?

TSM ch 40:

Quote

How to explain this next part? A part he didn’t fully understand himself. “I was given charge over an extremely dangerous item. Capable of killing gods. Laying waste to planets. I carried that burden, found new bonds, but the weapon consumed important parts of me. Shredded the soul of one of my dearest friends. Stole my armor. I was left a husk of what I’d once been. Not just because of what the weapon had done to me—but because of the things I’d done.”

TSM ch 41:

Quote

Zellion glanced to the side. More fragments hung in the air around him in an arch. Three others glowed on his arms, remnants of a different kind of spren. All were reflections of light in the air, making it seem distorted. Maybe ten of them? Almost like old times. The remnants of two orders, and the oaths he’d left behind.

TSM ch 45:

Quote

The air broke around him—the fragments of his ancient armor trying to push into reality again. Some from his first oaths, some from his second.

 

1 hour ago, christianrapper said:

Sigzel definitely doesn’t have any shard plate spren in Sunlit Man.

He had them, in the same way he had Aux, but they did start to manifest a little bit at some moments. Quotes above.

1 hour ago, christianrapper said:

After reading book 5, I am really confused how Aux died. Is he truly dead or is he just a dead eye back in Shadesmar?

Consumed by the Dawnshard, as quoted above. Only his soul remained, but he became a half-living spiritual corpse of his former self. He was worse than a Deadeye, with no body in Shadesmar or the Physical Realm as that was also consumed by the Dawnshard. Then at the very end of TSM, Aux gave up his Identity, mind and whatever was left of who he was to grant Surges to Sig one last time (he could use his own soul to power them because of the Dawnshard aftereffects) and now Aux is really gone as a person. He's not even a Deadeye anymore, just a Spiritual corpse that Sig can summon as a Shardblade. At least that's how I understand it. TSM ch 46:

Quote

I will make you what you were. For a short time. I am the leftover strength of oaths sworn. I am the truth you once knew. Take it again, for the briefest time, and soar.
He felt warmth begin to spread through him. It was a different kind of Investiture drawn from the remnant of Auxiliary’s soul.
I will burn away only myself, Auxiliary said. My personality. That should leave you with my body, the weapon, to still use. This is my destination, but not yours.
“You can’t do this, Aux. Please.”
You don’t get to decide. I know about consequences. I understand that you betrayed your oaths.
But here’s the thing, Zellion. Here’s what you never have understood. I also swore to be better than I was. I became a Knight Radiant. I spoke the words.
And whatever you did, I never betrayed my oaths

 

[+robardin he/him]

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

Looks like they were mostly consumed by the Dawnshard, just like Aux was. However, because Sig started to fight for right causes again and he aligned himself to his former, broken Oaths, he was able to summon them to the Physical Realm once more. If they were consumed like Aux, they had no body, no form, only some remnants of soul in the Spiritual Realm, where distance doesn't matter anymore. There were also Windspren leaving Roshar at the end of WaT and because he broke his bonds, his platespren would have been deadeyed, just like his Radiant spren was, so his spren were likely sticking close to him as Unoathed, until they were consumed by his Dawnshard and were no longer able to manifest in the Physical Realm. 

... He had them, in the same way he had Aux, but they did start to manifest a little bit at some moments. Quotes above.

Consumed by the Dawnshard, as quoted above. Only his soul remained, but he became a half-living spiritual corpse of his former self. He was worse than a Deadeye, with no body in Shadesmar or the Physical Realm as that was also consumed by the Dawnshard. Then at the very end of TSM, Aux gave up his Identity, mind and whatever was left of who he was to grant Surges to Sig one last time (he could use his own soul to power them because of the Dawnshard aftereffects) and now Aux is really gone as a person. He's not even a Deadeye anymore, just a Spiritual corpse that Sig can summon as a Shardblade. At least that's how I understand it. 

So I was thinking about TSM again recently, and re-read all those scenes.

Yes, something with the Dawnshard (and probably the reason the Aimians warned that Rysn must never bond a spren when letting her walk off alive with one) "consumed" or mostly destroyed Auxiliary prior to TSM.

But, when we see Aux talking to Nomad about what it would take for him "to fly again" while running ahead of the sun, Nomad says he can use the sunheart for power, but Aux points out that it's not Investiture he lacks (the BEUs, as he needs for hopping), but something else that is preventing him from using his Surges and fully summoning his Plate.

And that something, is something that Aux can provide/re-create for him, at the cost of using up what remains of his "self" as a highspren (already partly or even mostly gone, as he can no longer communicate except in monotone).

What I take that to mean is something about the Nahel bond itself. "I am the leftover strength of oaths sworn" -- well, Nomad hadn't forsworn his bond to Auxiliary the way he had done with Vienta, because he still has a bond to Aux: summoning him as a tool all the time, talking to him, etc., such that Aux can even do Connection tricks for him.

And clearly Nomad hadn't really forsworn or broken his past Ideals either, as seen by his Plate spren pushing through at times, when he's particularly agitated about them.

No, it's something that somehow, Aux and Nomad both know he could sacrifice of his own "soul" for Nomad to once again fully access his suppressed but not broken Nahel bond, to allow him Surgebinding and Plate again.

[alder24]

12 hours ago, robardin said:

Nomad hadn't forsworn his bond to Auxiliary the way he had done with Vienta, because he still has a bond to Aux: summoning him as a tool all the time, talking to him, etc., such that Aux can even do Connection tricks for him.

And clearly Nomad hadn't really forsworn or broken his past Ideals either, as seen by his Plate spren pushing through at times, when he's particularly agitated about them.

He did. It was said all throughout the book sine the very first chapter. TSM ch 1:

Quote

“I thought,” Nomad shouted, “that my oaths overrode that aspect of the Torment!”
I’m sorry, Nomad. But what oaths?

TSM ch 46:

Quote

“Consequences,” he whispered. “I walked away from my oaths. I made the decision. And now now there are consequences.”
Why, though? You’ve never told me why you walked away after leaving Roshar. After all we’d been through together. You abandoned all you’d followed. Why would you do that?
Was it time? Time for the deepest, hardest truth—the answer that felt like teeth on pavement to acknowledge?
“I don’t know,” he said.
Liar.
“Not this time,” Nomad whispered. “I don’t know, Auxiliary. I just did it. I can’t explain my mindset. I can’t justify it. I disavowed my oaths. It’s the choice I made. But I didn’t have a reason.”
[...]
I understand that you betrayed your oaths.
[...]
And whatever you did, I never betrayed my oaths.

Aux probably became Unoathed after Sig broke his Oaths.