Midnight Aether in the Way of Kings?

[MraizeofRoshar]

Hey guys,

I just finished  a reread of The Way of Kings and noticed that the black creatures in Dalinar's vision are the same as the creatures in the Midnight Sea in Tress. How did a being who could create midnight Aether get to Roshar? Is it a piece of the overall Midnight Aether? Maybe a Sliver? Does Aether function like a shard and can it create Splinters? Would the Aetherbound count as a splinter? (Capt. Crow) There's not a whole lot on it in the Coppermind so I thought I'd ask here. 

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Edited April 18 by MraizeofRoshar

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips. 

On 4/18/2026 at 4:33 PM, MraizeofRoshar said:

Hey guys,

I just finished  a reread of The Way of Kings and noticed that the black creatures in Dalinar's vision are the same as the creatures in the Midnight Sea in Tress. How did a being who could create midnight Aether get to Roshar? Is it a piece of the overall Midnight Aether? Maybe a Sliver? Does Aether function like a shard and can it create Splinters? Would the Aetherbound count as a splinter? (Capt. Crow) There's not a whole lot on it in the Coppermind so I thought I'd ask here. 

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Not quite the same - Midnight Essence is one of those realmatic constants that can occur from multiple magic systems - Midnight Spores are only one way to create/manifest midnight essence. WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

dvoraen

In the Midnight Essence vision Dalinar has in The Way of Kings, the female Radiant was wondering "who released it". Shouldn't the Radiants have known then that it was <spoiler redacted> that was the general source of Midnight Essence?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but Midnight Essence can be extracted and used independently.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 22, 2018)

Quote

asmodeus

The <spoiler redacted> seem a lot like Midnight Essence, and there's a lot of focus on art and transformation in both those magics. Is it relevant that the <spoiler redacted> are reminiscent of the colors of Lightweavers and Elsecallers (the orders with Transformation)?

Brandon Sanderson

That was not done intentionally. The fact that they act like Midnight Essence was done intentionally. You will see me playing with similar things just like Lightweaving works on different planets with things like this. For instance, Midnight Essence... you're going to see pop up now and then. But I did not specifically choose <spoiler redacted> because they are similar to the Lightweaving orders of Knights Radiant.

Secret Project #3 Reveal and Livestream (March 22, 2022)

Quote

asmodeus

You've said before that a lot of the magics we see across the cosmere come from an interaction of Shards and their Investiture with the planets they Invest in. What does this mean practically? If Scadrial explodes tomorrow, will Hemalurgy stop working across the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Hemalurgy wouldn't stop working, most likely, but it could. There are ways that you could make it stop working. I kind of mean that the Shards are an innate part of physics in the cosmere, and the magics that arise are an innate part of physics because of that. Like atium seeped out into the Pits of Hathsin, in the same way, these magics are just gonna leak out, and different places are going to affect them. You'll see Lightweaving happening in different places, and the way the Shard is interacting with the local... The way the Shard is is going to affect how Lightweaving is administrated in the various magics, but it's still gonna be there. Hemalurgy is kind of a similar thing to that. You will see Midnight Essence, you will see some of these recurring ideas popping up, and these are like natural parts of the physics, but they're influenced by the Shards on the local planets.

 

YouTube Spoiler Stream 4 (June 16, 2022)

 

Hope that helps

Edited May 25 by Treamayne
SPAG

[MraizeofRoshar]

5 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips. 

Not quite the same - Midnight Essence is one of those realmatic constants that can occur from multiple magic systems - Midnight Spores are only one way to create.manifest midnight essence. WoBs:

  Hide contents

 

Hope that helps

Interesting... Does that mean that there can also be different versions of the other Aethers on different planets that are also naturally occuring?

[Treamayne]

2 minutes ago, MraizeofRoshar said:

Interesting... Does that mean that there can also be different versions of the other Aethers on different planets that are also naturally occuring?

Are you including the Aether homeworld? Dhatri

Generally, It would depend on if the specific Aether is a form of Realmatic Constant - e. .g Sunlight Spores are likely, Verdant spores are tangential (see Words of Radiance), Zephyr spores are unlikey. 

For much of this, it is information not-yet-answered so it can be reserved for future books.