My Take on Surges and Orders

[cem]

Hey guys. I've been a lurker for sometime here. I've been thinking about the surges and how they correspond to the orders of KR. The attached table (what is that table called anyway?) is what I've come up with and I wanted to see what you guys make of it.

 

I also have my own categorization system. It's a very simple one. Surges on the right side of the x-axis are physical and the left are cognitive. Seems the best to me since you can have either two or five categories because there are ten surges. Assuming, of course, there is no intersection and all categories have equal number of surges in them, which I do.

 

You'll also see Honor and Cultivation there. The idea behind that is they made the Oathpact to defend against Odium. Each selected five men and women, respectively, to be the Heralds. Seems to be a fine historical basis for the Alethi tradition of masculine/feminine arts. I haven't actually figured out how the Orders tie into that, but I suspect they do, in some way. Though, I have to say I haven't put much thought behinds this and there is a lot of wild-guessery. Feel free to ignore this division.

 

 

So, the surges and their orders. As you can see I used several colors designate the surges and the orders. Here's their meanings and why I placed what I placed where I placed:

 

White: Things we know for certain.

• Orders
  • Skybreakers: Their place is Word of Brandon, as many of you probably know.

Blue: Things I'm pretty certain of.

• Orders
  • Jasnah's and Shallan's Orders: They are 5 and 6, respectively, because of the Divine Attributes. Learned and Creative fit just too damnation well.
  • Lightweavers: Light = Lucentia. That's it really.
  • Stonewards:The coloring. In Dalinar's vision, the armors of the Stonewards glow amber. The color of the 9th symbol is amber.
• Surges
  • Light: I feel strongly about this. It's a pretty good bet Lightweavers create illusions. Typically, there are two ways of doing it: a) you project it into your subject's mind, you manipulate light to create an image. I highly doubt it's the former.

Yellow: Things I feel are likely

• Orders
  • Dustbringers: Needless to say I think they are an Order, yes. They burn stuff so to Spark, they go. They have Heat and Light as their surges so in my mind they shoot beams of fire and the like.
• Surges
  • Heat: Well, if the Dustbringers ignite things, it seems to me they would need Heat as their surge. Somewhat tenuous, yeah. But I like it.
  • Perception: This is obviously Shallan's Memory. Another obvious things is that her ability is more than a nice aid for an artist who paints portraits since using her ability, Shallan is able to "see" spren that are normally invisible. "Perception" is the name I like for this surge.
  • Regrowth: This is somewhat tricky as we don't know whether the Stormward in Dalinar's vision used a fabrial or a KR ability. I think it's the latter because Dalinar doesn't think those people were pretty primitive and likely had no fabrials. I'd like to note, however, I think Regrowth is the name of the ability rather than the surge, like Basic Lashing and Gravity.

Green: My wild-chull guesses.

• Surges
  • Travel: The surge exists according to Brandon. But why does it get the 9th spot? Honestly, simply because in Dalinar's vision Stormwards and Windrunners arrived together. The Windrunner simply fell out of the sky but the Stormward female Knight just seemed to appear out of nowhere. That's pretty much it.
  • Time: Well, Travel and Time, time-space. I have no idea what that Order would be able to do.
  • Sound: I dunno. Seems like the thing. It's what I'm least confident of.

 

Well, that's it. I apologize for the poor presentation. My excuse is that it's 3 am local time and I'm kinda sleepy. I'll fix the text up a bit if need be but I hope everything is clear enough.

Edited June 15, 2013 by cem

[Kurkistan]

Quite an interesting breakdown.

 

One slight problem is that we will almost certainly be seeing the Lightweavers at some point during WoR, so we'll need to find someone to fit the bill toot sweet if Shallan/Jasnah can't get the proper surge.

[cem]

Navani, perhaps? Loving fits her well enough, Healing not so much though. She's a viewpoint character and will get her backstory book in the future. It's not much of a stretch for her to become a KR.

 

Problem with fitting people into orders is pretty much all we have to go on is the Divine Attributes and it's really, really not much. I mean I can put Dalinar in at least 5 Orders (though I think he'll go to the 8th Order).

Edited June 15, 2013 by cem

[Isomere]

I like your theory, and you clearly put a good deal of thought into organizing it. Enjoy an upvote.

[hoser]

Is there word of Brandon that Lightweavers are order 4? I could easily see that order associated with Shallan.  Creative fits much better for me than either loving or healing. 

The secondary attribute of order 4 is Healing.  I have trouble putting regrowth under any other non-adjacent order.  From Dalinar's POV, the Stoneward seems to be using a fabrial (non-modern radiant-type fabrial) to perform the Regrowth.  So I question the placement of the Regrowth surge.  It seems to me that both the divine attributes are relevant. 

 

Have you reviewed this thread? I think this one is also relevant.  You've done some good work and I love to see the best thinking consolidated. 

 

It has been speculated that Dustbringers affect molecular bonds, rather than using fire.  Brandon has mentioned using elemental forces and there is the quote from Teft about melting stone. 

 

Edited: added thread references, Lightweaver order 6 and Dustbringer speculation

Edited June 15, 2013 by hoser

[Isomere]

@Hoser:

• I haven't seen a WOB about Lightweavers being order 4, but most people lump it there since the Ars Arcanum symbolism seems to match up.
• I personally don't think regrowth is a surge since the Stoneward used a fabrial to heal. The gems in the healing fabrial were Heliodor and Topaz, so IF it is a surge I think it should go right where Cem has it. We also know Heliodor is the soulcasting gem for Flesh so it would make sense for that to be associated with healing. 

 

@OP:

• Dustbringer and voidbringer seem like deliberately similar words and both probably represent servants of Odium. I'm personally hoping for Fireheart or Embersoul for order 3
• My grouping has light and warmth as the same surge since that glyph kinda looks like wavy flames and they are both related (light creates warmth, warmth makes things glow). Separating them seems to work just fine though. 

 

 

 

 

[skaa]

Hi, cem! Thanks for creating this thread. It could be a nice place for future discussion about the Surges used by each Order of the Knights Radiant. Allow me to give my comments on your take.

 

Jasnah's and Shallan's Orders: They are 5 and 6, respectively, because of the Divine Attributes. Wise and Creative fit just too damnation well.

 

Assuming this table is correct, Wise would be number 7 (Battar's Order). I do agree that Creative=Shallan and Wise=Jasnah. I'd speculate that the Surge shared by Shalash and Battar's Orders is the Surge of Transformation, while the Surge shared by Shalash and Palah's Orders is the Surge of Perception.

 

 

Travel: The surge exists according to Brandon. But why does it get the 9th spot? Honestly, simply because in Dalinar's vision Stormwards and Windrunners arrived together. The Windrunner simply fell out of the sky but the Stormward female Knight just seemed to appear out of nowhere. That's pretty much it.

 

Awesome find! Yes, that does make sense. I wonder if Stonewards need to be stepping on stone in order to Travel. That could be a nice limitation.

 

 

Time: Well, Travel and Time, time-space. I have no idea what that Order would be able to do.

 

It's interesting that you connected the Surge of Time to Kalak's Order. Kalak is associated with the Essence of Foil, or metal. We know that there are Temporal powers in the Metallic Arts of Scadrial, and we know that Roshar already shares one magic system with another planet (Lightweaving, with Yolen). This is probably just coincidence, though... just a random connection I found.

 

Well, that's it. I apologize for the poor presentation. My excuse is that it's 3 am local time and I'm kinda sleepy. I'll fix the text up a bit if need be but I hope everything is clear enough.

 

That's also a problem of mine, writing huge posts way into the night when my brain is no longer functioning properly. Sometimes the results can be pretty special, if you know what I mean.

Edited June 15, 2013 by skaa

[cem]

Is there word of Brandon that Lightweavers are order 4? I could easily see that order associated with Shallan.  Creative fits much better for me than either loving or healing. 

The secondary attribute of order 4 is Healing.  I have trouble putting regrowth under any other non-adjacent order.  From Dalinar's POV, the Stoneward seems to be using a fabrial (non-modern radiant-type fabrial) to perform the Regrowth.  So I question the placement of the Regrowth surge.  It seems to me that both the divine attributes are relevant. 

 

Have you reviewed this thread? I think this one is also relevant.  You've done some good work and I love to see the best thinking consolidated. 

 

It has been speculated that Dustbringers affect molecular bonds, rather than using fire.  Brandon has mentioned using elemental forces and there is the quote from Teft about melting stone. 

 

Edited: added thread references, Lightweaver order 6 and Dustbringer speculation

Okay, first whether or not Regrowth is a fabrial:

Honestly, one is as likely as the other. We have what 3 sentences about the thing to speculate.

That said, Soulcasters obviously don't fit with this little argument since modern fabrial makers don't seem to know anything about them. So I acknowledge the possibilitiy Regrowth could be a fabrial but I like Radiant ability better.

 

For Lightweavers, illusion-creating fits with Loving-Healing just as well as altering gravity and binding things together with magical-superglue fit with Protecting-Leading. I don't think the Divine Attributes have anything to do with surges. I think they determine what kind of people attract the respective spren to form a Nahel bond and the Ideals of the Order.

On the other hand Lucentia and Lightweaving fit like a glove. So.

 

Yes, I read both threads plus two others including Isomere's Tanavallah. The reason I made this is because none of them were exactly the way I liked.

 

Teft saying they melted stones is probably hyperbole. They didn't melt the stone in the Prelude, they just scorched it. He also says they could command the sunlight which, I think, is another hyperbole for Lightweaving.

[cem]

@OP:

• Dustbringer and voidbringer seem like deliberately similar words and both probably represent servants of Odium. I'm personally hoping for Fireheart or Embersoul for order 3
• My grouping has light and warmth as the same surge since that glyph kinda looks like wavy flames and they are both related (light creates warmth, warmth makes things glow). Separating them seems to work just fine though.

• You've probably heard the arguments against that so I'm not going to repeat them. I'll just say from the way Kalak speaks it seems more likely to me that they were allies, thus Radiants.
• Looking at the glyphs make me think like I am taking an inkblot test I didn't pay much attention to them. Though, I thought about making light-heat the same surge, but I think it works better this way.

[cem]

Assuming this table is correct, Wise would be number 7 (Battar's Order). I do agree that Creative=Shallan and Wise=Jasnah. I'd speculate that the Surge shared by Shalash and Battar's Orders is the Surge of Transformation, while the Surge shared by Shalash and Palah's Orders is the Surge of Perception.

Sorry, I meant to say Learned=Jasnah. Still Jasnah being Battar's Order works just as well. It may even make more sense. I think Jasnah says somewhere she's bad with Soulcasting organics which is Pulp. You'd think she'd be good at her own Order's Essence.

 

Awesome find! Yes, that does make sense. I wonder if Stonewards need to be stepping on stone in order to Travel. That could be a nice limitation.

Thank you. Yeah, knowing Brandon's magic systems they won't be able to jump around as they will. But since everywhere outside Shinovar is pretty much rocky ground, I have to disagree that standing on stone would be enough. Something else to do with stones maybe.

 

This also means there are six Orders who can travel from one place to another with great speed. Windfinders and Skybreakers with Basic Lashing, Jasnah's and Shallan's Orders by entering Shadesmar and making their way there and Stonewards and Kalak's Order by using the Travel surge.

 

It's interesting that you connected the Surge of Time to Kalak's Order. Kalak is associated with the Essence of Foil, or metal. We know that there are Temporal powers in the Metallic Arts of Scadrial, and we know that Roshar already shares one magic system with another planet (Lightweaving, with Yolen). This is probably just coincidence, though... just a random connection I found.

Heh. Interesting. I guess we'll see what we see.

 

That's also a problem of mine, writing huge posts way into the night when my brain is no longer functioning properly. Sometimes the results can be pretty special, if you know what I mean.

I know what you mean.

[hoser]

Okay, first whether or not Regrowth is a fabrial:

Honestly, one is as likely as the other. We have what 3 sentences about the thing to speculate.

That said, Soulcasters obviously don't fit with this little argument since modern fabrial makers don't seem to know anything about them. So I acknowledge the possibilitiy Regrowth could be a fabrial but I like Radiant ability better.

 

I agree with the Regrowth as a radiant ability.  Actually I like it as an application of the surge Life or Health, like a lashing is an application of Gravity or Pressure.  While some have argued that the stoneward is using the gem as an stormlight source, it doesn't explain why there is more than a gem, unless you believe that Brandon is into pointless elaboration. 

 

It was a topaz entwined with a heliodor, both set into a fine metal framework ...

I think it is an example of Radiant era fabrials, of which Jasnah says (chapter 72):

Two orders of the Knights Radiant possessed inherent Soulcasting ability; it was based on their powers that the original fabrials were designed, I believe. 

So I believe that Regrowth is a surge or an application of a surge, but that surge doesn't belong to the Stonewards, which is why the woman carries a fabrial that mimics the ability of another order.

 

For Lightweavers, illusion-creating fits with Loving-Healing just as well as altering gravity and binding things together with magical-superglue fit with Protecting-Leading. I don't think the Divine Attributes have anything to do with surges. I think they determine what kind of people attract the respective spren to form a Nahel bond and the Ideals of the Order.

On the other hand Lucentia and Lightweaving fit like a glove. So.

Well, you make a good point about the Windrunner abilities with regard to the attributes.  Brandon makes an entirely contrary one with regard to how useful they are for protecting and leading during the entire book.  Combat abilities could fit for the divine attributes of protection and leadership.

I can see lucentia and the eyes corresponding with Lightweaving.  I can also see Rock teleporting around a battlefield healing people as a Radiant of order 4.  I think Shallan having the ability to transform things and cast illusions could be amazing together. 

 

Yes, I read both threads plus two others including Isomere's Tanavallah. The reason I made this is because none of them were exactly the way I liked.

 

Teft saying they melted stones is probably hyperbole. They didn't melt the stone in the Prelude, they just scorched it. He also says they could command the sunlight which, I think, is another hyperbole for Lightweaving.

I initially thought of Dustbringers and fire because of the smoke in the Prelude, but I can't see calling people who do fire "Dustbringers".  Smokebringers, maybe, but really something like flamethrowers or firebringers would be a better description.   I think they must be doing something different. 

I agree with commanding the sunlight as hyperbole for Lightweaving. Melting stones could be hyperbole for whatever Dustbringers do, but it would be really distorted hyperbole for burning things. 

In the prelude it refers to sections of rock smoldering, but that could be the aftermath of melting, burning or exploding.  I find no reference to scorching in the text. 

[Isomere]

So I believe that Regrowth is a surge or an application of a surge, but that surge doesn't belong to the Stonewards, which is why the woman carries a fabrial that mimics the ability of another order. 

I can see this interpretation working, but it would have a lot more strength if the regrowth fabrial didn't use Heliodor and Topaz. To me that links regrowth with orders 9 and 10. 

 

I'll just say from the way Kalak speaks it seems more likely to me that [dustbringers] were allies, thus Radiants.

 

Your interpretation of Kalak in the prelude is quite sound. To me however, he seems to be mourning the wanton destruction and terrible loss of life. That is the work of the Dustbringers, and Kalak's comment echoes his sorrow as he takes in the scene. 

[11thorderknight]

My take on Regrowth, as we see it in Dalinar's vision:

 

1. In this scene, it's clearly a fabrial. The Radiant, who we know at this point is capable of holding stormlight either in herself or in her Plate, takes a big heavy piece of jewelry into combat with her, that just happens to use the two gemstones that correspond to Flesh and Bone? And then mentions that she should "save" Regrowth for those who might need it? No. She's clearly not doing this spontaneously through her Radiant abilities, but rather using the fabrial. I don't even see how this can be up for discussion.

 

2. I don't think the topaz and heliodor are a coincidence. Therefore, the color of Stormlight is important not only for Soulcasting, but for Regrowth as well, and I'll bet for some other abilities that we haven't yet seen. Why? We have no idea. My guess is that it may be related to needing to enter Shadesmar to use the ability, but that's just a wild guess. 

 

3. The original fabrials were all based on inherent Radiant abilities. Therefore, there is an order that could use Regrowth spontaneously. Which one would that be? You could make an argument for Order 10, associated with Sinew, but that would be problematic, because we already know that Order 10 shares Gravity with Order 1. That means that whatever its other Surge is, it has to be shared with Order 9, and if that Surge involves healing, then the Stoneward in the vision SHOULD have had spontaneous healing ability, and since she didn't (see point #1)....I DON'T think Order 10 has Regrowth. Also, assuming that Jasnah is in Order 5 (learned/giving, and adjacent with Shallan's Order 6), I DON'T think Order 5 has healing either. Otherwise, why would Jasnah have needed to "hack" the system and repeatedly Soulcast Shallan's blood to clear the poison, instead of simply healing her? We know Jasnah's become quite proficient with Soulcasting, so she's been doing it for some time - why wouldn't she have access to her other Surge?

 

Discuss.

[cem]

1. In this scene, it's clearly a fabrial. The Radiant, who we know at this point is capable of holding stormlight either in herself or in her Plate, takes a big heavy piece of jewelry into combat with her, that just happens to use the two gemstones that correspond to Flesh and Bone? And then mentions that she should "save" Regrowth for those who might need it? No. She's clearly not doing this spontaneously through her Radiant abilities, but rather using the fabrial. I don't even see how this can be up for discussion.

See the scene where Jasnah Soulcasts stone into smoke to free Taravangian's granddaughter. She uses the stormlight stored in the gems on her fake Soulcast fabrial. For all we know, the gizmo that Lady Knight carries is the Heraldic Ephoc Roshar equivalent of a fancy purse for gems (I don't think that's the case, I'm just mentioning the possibility.) Whatever it is, it is certainly up for discussion.

 

2. I don't think the topaz and heliodor are a coincidence. Therefore, the color of Stormlight is important not only for Soulcasting, but for Regrowth as well, and I'll bet for some other abilities that we haven't yet seen. Why? We have no idea. My guess is that it may be related to needing to enter Shadesmar to use the ability, but that's just a wild guess.

 

I don't think it's a coincidence either. The body focuses (foci?) of topaz and heliodor are respectively the bone and the flesh. Perfectly consistent with a healing ability.

[Isomere]

@13: The original Fabrials were based on powers that KRs could use. That doesn't mean the Radiants didn't keep experimenting and develop Fabrials with unique powers. I interpret the dilemma in your third section to mean that there is no KR surge for Regrowth and they were required to access it via Fabrial.

[Windrunner]

@13: The original Fabrials were based on powers that KRs could use.

Could you remind me where that was confirmed? I can only think of Soulcasters as confirmed to be an ability of the Radiants, but so far as I knew, it was just a commonly held theory.

[Isomere]

Jasnah said, “Two orders of the Knights Radiant possessed inherent Soulcasting ability; it was based on their powers that the original fabrials were designed, I believe." From WOK 72.

[Windrunner]

Mmmhmm, if you'll read my post again, I mentioned the Soulcasters. But you said fabrials, not specifically Soulcasters, so I thought you were saying that all ancient fabrials were based off of Radiant abilities, which to the best of my knowledge has not been confirmed.

[The Count]

What other Ancient Fabrials exist other than Soulcasters?

 

There is no mention IIRC of other Fabrials from the KR days. Just Plate, Blade and Soulcasters.

 

I know it is early days in the books, but I think something would have been mentioned, somewhere. The only current evidence seems to be the Regrowth scene. However, the 'fabrial' could've been just a fancy battery.

 

In world, people seem to talk about Soulcasters quite freely but nobody talks about any other kind of Ancient Fabrial. Although I suppose the Artifabrians or Ardents could be hoarding them / covering them up... They are quite protecctive of soulcasters after all.

 

Also, I think people would talk about the amazing healing powers of the Ardentia if they had a working 'Regrowth Fabrial' but this is not the case, it seems.

 

EDIT: I am not arguing either for or against anyhting here, As always we have so little knowledge about the KR that it is impossible to really argue either way.  

Edited July 11, 2013 by MadRand

[hoser]

Oathgates and near instantaneous travel are mentioned in several places.  The Radiants apparently left only certain things where the non-Radiants could get them.  They seem to have chosen to leave blades, plate and Soulcasters behind.  They could have stashed all manner of fabrials where no-one can get to, like maybe Urithiru. 

What other Ancient Fabrials exist other than Soulcasters?

 

There is no mention IIRC of other Fabrials from the KR days. Just Plate, Blade and Soulcasters.

 

I know it is early days in the books, but I think something would have been mentioned, somewhere. The only current evidence seems to be the Regrowth scene. However, the 'fabrial' could've been just a fancy battery.

 

In world, people seem to talk about Soulcasters quite freely but nobody talks about any other kind of Ancient Fabrial. Although I suppose the Artifabrians or Ardents could be hoarding them / covering them up... They are quite protecctive of soulcasters after all.

 

Also, I think people would talk about the amazing healing powers of the Ardentia if they had a working 'Regrowth Fabrial' but this is not the case, it seems.

 

EDIT: I am not arguing either for or against anyhting here, As always we have so little knowledge about the KR that it is impossible to really argue either way.  

[11thorderknight]

The reason I feel pretty strongly that the Stoneward's gizmo was a fabrial, and not just "a fancy purse for gems", is because it's very strongly emphasized in that same vision that the Knight's Plate has inherent Stormlight in it; the glyphs glow with the color of the Knight's order, and they can make parts of it appear/disappear at will, like with Blades. Also, the Windrunner isn't carrying a sapphire "purse" to do his thing. 

 

The difference with Jasnah is, she deliberately pretends to use her fake fabrial, to deflect from the fact that she doesn't need it. Her performance with the boulder, therefore, should be taken as an example of how someone who DOES require a fabrial would do it, since her act has had everyone fooled for years. 

See the scene where Jasnah Soulcasts stone into smoke to free Taravangian's granddaughter. She uses the stormlight stored in the gems on her fake Soulcast fabrial. For all we know, the gizmo that Lady Knight carries is the Heraldic Ephoc Roshar equivalent of a fancy purse for gems (I don't think that's the case, I'm just mentioning the possibility.) Whatever it is, it is certainly up for discussion.

EDIT:

Also, another wild guess that just came to me:

 

I've posted previously that I don't think Order 9 has inherent Regrowth, and therefore it's very unlikely for it to be Order 10 (see my previous post). It's also very unlikely that Jasnah, who is most likely Order 5, has it. That eliminates the Essences of Sinew, Talus (bone), and Pulp from having Regrowth. Who's left then? We know it's not going to be Order 1 (Kaladin/Szeth), and somehow I don't see Orders 2, 3 or 4 (Vapor, Heat, Light). Metal (order 8) also doesn't fit.

 

And that leaves us with Order 6 (blood). But wait....that's Shallan! And here's where it gets interesting. Apart from the potentially very strong connection between Blood and Regrowth, we have some hints about Shallan's Memories. What does that have to do with healing, you ask? Well - her description of using Memory is "When she collected a Memory of a person, she was snipping free a bud of their soul, and she cultivated and grew it on the page." Most people have speculated on the use of the word "cultivate" in this sentence, and I agree, it's very striking. But I think "grew" deserves some speculation as well. Maybe this is foreshadowing - when Shallan learns to use her abilities, she'll be able to cultivate and grow parts of people in the flesh, not just on paper!

Edited July 12, 2013 by Windrunner
Please don't double post, simply edit your original post. Thanks! :)

[Windrunner]

I think that's an excellent idea, but I personally am really really reluctant to label anything having to do with Shallan's memories as Surgebinding. I've never seen any indication that she uses Stormlight at all when using her memories, which doesn't make sense to me, as all other Surgebinding we've seen requires Stormlight.

[11thorderknight]

That's sort of my point - the Memory thing is just how she thinks of her ability with drawing; a fantastic, but mundane, talent. Maybe its how her personality, and affinity for the visual arts, interprets her not-yet-realized surgebinding ability. But the way its described seems to foreshadow that, if she were to pick up a spren and put some Stormlight into it, she's be able to apply it in a supernatural way.

[11thorderknight]

Also - There's a fair bit of circumstantial evidence for Shallan being order 6, but the evidence for Jasnah being order 5 isn't quite as strong. And the more I've been thinking about Regrowth, the more it seemed odd for a Surge with the word growth in it to NOT be associated with the order whose essence is plant life. So - what if Jasnah was in order 7? She would still share Change/Soulcasting with Shallan, it would make much more sense for her to not have access to Regrowth, and her divine attributes would be Wise/Careful. In general, I think we have to be careful to not put too much stock in the attributes, because almost any good person will exhibit all of those qualities to some degree. That being said, Jasnah can definitely be described as wise, and she's EXTREMELY careful, having hidden her Soulcasting ability for years, as well as evading assassins. Knowing what she did with Kabsal's bread and jam, I wouldn't be surprised if she's been Soulcasting ALL her food and drink for years. And the way she handled the robbers - yes, she took matters into her own hands and all confrontation could potentially be dangerous - but she set up the situation such that she led them into a trap where she knew she'd be able to take them. That definitely shows her being careful in a dangerous situation. And at the same time, she used the episode to teach Shallan, not only about philosophy, but about Shallan's limitations of thought and prejudices. Seems pretty wise to me.

[Windrunner]

That's sort of my point - the Memory thing is just how she thinks of her ability with drawing; a fantastic, but mundane, talent. Maybe its how her personality, and affinity for the visual arts, interprets her not-yet-realized surgebinding ability. But the way its described seems to foreshadow that, if she were to pick up a spren and put some Stormlight into it, she's be able to apply it in a supernatural way.

I honestly don't think that there is any sort of innate predisposition to Surgebinding apart from the obvious behaviors that attract a spren. I believe the way it works is that the spren itself acts as a sort of non-invasive Hemalurgic spike, grafting an ability onto someone's Spiritweb when they never had any abilities before.