The Thread of Minor Theories

[Straw]

This is the thread for all the tiny little theories you have. Without further ado,

3rd Yolen species = Kandra and Amians? I once read a WoB saying that the third Yolen species are shape changers.

Elantrians are very advanced. Looking at the timeline you can see that the period between Elantris and Sixth of the dusk is almost 1000 years.

 

 

 

[Oversleep]

10 minutes ago, Straw said:

3rd Yolen species = Kandra and Amians?

Kandra and mistwraiths were created by Lord Ruler, so I doubt it.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Oversleep

[Straw]

Amians are more likely to be the third race. They are referred to by Brandon as having not come from Roshar.

[Argel]

 

4 hours ago, Straw said:

3rd Yolen species = Kandra and Amians? I once read a WoB saying that the third Yolen species are shape changers.

Kandra are native to Scadrial, which was created by Ruin and Preservation, so they cannot be the third race native to Yolen.

3 hours ago, Straw said:

Amians are more likely to be the third race. They are referred to by Brandon as having not come from Roshar.

Do you have a source for that? I have seen it speculated on before but never confirmation. 

 

Quote

Elantrians are very advanced. Looking at the timeline you can see that the period between Elantris and Sixth of the dusk is almost 1000 years.

Are you trying to imply they are the ones from above? Some speculate that, but we also know Mistborn Era4 will be Sci-Fi/FTL, so that is considered the stronger candidate (also, the magic systems from Scadrial are very portable, moreso than every other one we have seen so far, which gives them another advantage).

Edited July 18, 2016 by Argel

[Eki]

What if the Stormform Listeners were stopped by having their connection to the Cognitive Realm severed? In this scenario, that would mean they couldn't have any form at all.

But on the other hand, we know that the reason Radiantspren bond with humans and not Listeners is that humans are closer to the physical realm.

So these formless former Stormformers who can no longer hear any Rythm, can't enter any form, would be able to become Knights.

[Sam Script]

I don't really think the third species on Yolen is Aimian, I suggest that they are worldhopping ethnics to Roshar, but might not come from Yolen.

The settings on Yolen might be pretty "stereotypical" as other high fantasies like TLoR. The third race would probably be the creatures that anyone on street could name, like Elf or Orcs.

[StormyQueen]

On 29 July 2016 at 7:49 PM, Sam Script said:

The settings on Yolen might be pretty "stereotypical" as other high fantasies like TLoR. The third race would probably be the creatures that anyone on street could name, like Elf or Orcs.

Eh, I feel that elves and orcs don't quite fit with the rest of the cosmere, where you have got all of these new species, and then there's just one of the 'classic fantasy races', I just don't think it really fits. I imagine it will be a species closely tied in with specific magic systems or conditions, as if you look at other sentient races, both kandra and koloss (if they count as different races, as they were originally human) they are both very much imbedded with the magic system. 

[Djarskublar]

On 8/2/2016 at 6:47 PM, CalypsoDreaming said:

Eh, I feel that elves and orcs don't quite fit with the rest of the cosmere, where you have got all of these new species, and then there's just one of the 'classic fantasy races', I just don't think it really fits. I imagine it will be a species closely tied in with specific magic systems or conditions, as if you look at other sentient races, both kandra and koloss (if they count as different races, as they were originally human) they are both very much imbedded with the magic system. 

Dragons. They are a thing. Hence Dragonsteel. I would bet they differ greatly from the stereotype, though.

[Spoolofwhool]

On 7/28/2016 at 5:35 AM, Eki said:

What if the Stormform Listeners were stopped by having their connection to the Cognitive Realm severed? In this scenario, that would mean they couldn't have any form at all.

But on the other hand, we know that the reason Radiantspren bond with humans and not Listeners is that humans are closer to the physical realm.

So these formless former Stormformers who can no longer hear any Rythm, can't enter any form, would be able to become Knights.

It has been stated that Parshmen are Listeners who are not bonded to a spren to grant them a more conscious form. The original Voidbringers who were Listeners were likely stopped in the method you described, which is what breaking the spren bond does. Parshmen cannot become Radiants however, they can only bond with spren to become rhythm-aware Listeners.

Edit: Thanks to @PallonianFire for correcting me. I retract my earlier statement that parshman cannot become Radiants since Brandon certainly has implied it strongly. However, the theory that only parshmen, sprenless Listeners, can be Radiants is one that I doubt. Since the original questions were regarding Listeners becoming Radiants. In any case, I think that if a parshman bonded with a spren to become a Radiant, he would become a Listener as well as a result of the bond. 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Spoolofwhool

[StormyQueen]

6 hours ago, Djarskublar said:

Dragons. They are a thing. Hence Dragonsteel. I would bet they differ greatly from the stereotype, though.

Yeah, but it seems that they would be very different from normal dragons, though we know very little. I think that if we did see elves or other creatures closely related, they would be vastly different. It's one thing calling something an elf compared with having a stereotypical elf (or other creature) of which I was referring to.

Personally, I would prefer to have something less typical, but each to their own. 

[Djarskublar]

8 minutes ago, CalypsoDreaming said:

Yeah, but it seems that they would be very different from normal dragons, though we know very little. I think that if we did see elves or other creatures closely related, they would be vastly different. It's one thing calling something an elf compared with having a stereotypical elf (or other creature) of which I was referring to.

Personally, I would prefer to have something less typical, but each to their own. 

Agreed... those horses have been ground into dust. Sanderson is too good to go to the norms. There are things called dragons though. Hopefully they are something really nifty that will give us lots of cool hacks.

[Argel]

Brandon started off reading about dragons -- that's what made him want to write fantasy-- so I doubt he's going to make them too different.

[PallonianFire]

11 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Parshmen cannot become Radiants however, they can only bond with spren to become rhythm-aware Listeners.

There are multiple WoBs that it's not impossible for Parshendi to become Radiants. The historical restriction against them seems to have been more cultural, not mechanical/spiritual:
 

Quote

QUESTION

Is it possible for a Parshendi to become a Knight Radiant?

BRANDON SANDERSON

In the past, no. Let's say this, in-world everybody would tell you no.

Quote

OUTIS

Is Eshonai going to be a Radiant?

BRANDON SANDERSON

In the past, parshmen/Parshendi were not allowed to become Knights Radiant. However, what I said might imply that that could change. But no promises.

 

[happyman]

10 hours ago, Argel said:

Brandon started off reading about dragons -- that's what made him want to write fantasy-- so I doubt he's going to make them too different.

This.  Dragons are awesome more or less as-is.  I don't see any particular reasons to change them too much.  Some things benefit from being modified, and others are just great.

That said, I doubt they're going to be a perfect carbon-copy of Smaug.  There's gotta be some kind of twist.  Just---let them be honking big, really impressive flying, fire-breathing reptiles as well, please?

[Argel]

19 hours ago, happyman said:

That said, I doubt they're going to be a perfect carbon-copy of Smaug.

It has been confirmed they can take human form. I'm expecting something along the lines of DragonLance, though maybe without humans riding them. Particularly the silver dragons which more interest in humans. And probably not the good=metallic and evil=chromatic from D&D. But Brandon has read several books and series about dragons I have not, so I could be wrong. But that's what comes to mind for me.

[Djarskublar]

It would be funny if dragons are hard to kill, not because they have tough scales, but because they or their hide is so heavily Invested that it is hard to affect. And then their breath weapons would be similar in concept to AonDor. I can totally see this being how it works. I'm NOT saying dragons would use AonDor. Just forestalling misunderstandings. The timeline and mechanics for that don't work. No dragons that we know of that could become Elantrians. Though I bet that would be REALLY cool.

[Patar]

Now all I want is a Dragon Mistborn.

[Dani]

45 minutes ago, Patar said:

Now all I want is a Dragon Mistborn.

google search..

[Patar]

4 hours ago, Daniyah said:

google search..

Thank you so much for this! I really needed a new wallpaper.

[Dani]

5 hours ago, Patar said:

Thank you so much for this! I really needed a new wallpaper.

You're welcome 

[Ciridae]

Different theory about Aimians, unless someone can confirm that they aren't originally from Roshar. 

We have WoB that some races on Roshar are Parshendi-Human hybrids, e. g. Horneaters (explaining why they can see spren when others can not), so I think it could be plausible that Aimians also have some Parshendi mixed in there somewhere. All the weird stuff they can do with their body (plus the shadow thing) seems pretty Voidbringer-y to me. This would also explain why so many people immediately think Voidbringer when they see an Aimian (although anything that people can't really explain or frightens them is conected to Voidbringers in the minds of people).

Still, what if people still associate Aimians with Voidbringers because their ancestors really were Voidbringers and even if that was forgotten myths or rumors developped connecting the two?

Could the scouring of Aimia have something to do with this?

Could it be possible for a Smoke- or Light/Nightform (not sure if these exist) Parshendi to have descendants with similar powers? I assume that when a new Parshendi is born that he or she is in Dullform but could a residue of a form carry onto a human-parshendi descendant? We know that some investiture like Allomancy is hereditary, so I think it's not too far fetched.

I do have to admit I dont see a Voidbringer and a Human having some kids during a war and thus creating an entirely new race, but I thought its a nice theory. 

Thoughts? 

Edited August 18, 2016 by Ciridae

[Djarskublar]

2 hours ago, Ciridae said:

Different theory about Aimians, unless someone can confirm that they aren't originally from Roshar. 

We have WoB that some races on Roshar are Parshendi-Human hybrids, e. g. Horneaters (explaining why they can see spren when others can not), so I think it could be plausible that Aimians also have some Parshendi mixed in there somewhere. All the weird stuff they can do with their body (plus the shadow thing) seems pretty Voidbringer-y to me. This would also explain why so many people immediately think Voidbringer when they see an Aimian (although anything that people can't really explain or frightens them is conected to Voidbringers in the minds of people).

Still, what if people still associate Aimians with Voidbringers because their ancestors really were Voidbringers and even if that was forgotten myths or rumors developped connecting the two?

Could the scouring of Aimia have something to do with this?

Could it be possible for a Smoke- or Light/Nightform (not sure if these exist) Parshendi to have descendants with similar powers? I assume that when a new Parshendi is born that he or she is in Dullform but could a residue of a form carry onto a human-parshendi descendant? We know that some investiture like Allomancy is hereditary, so I think it's not too far fetched.

I do have to admit I dont see a Voidbringer and a Human having some kids during a war and thus creating an entirely new race, but I thought its a nice theory. 

Thoughts? 

It's called rob RAPE and pillage for a reason. I can see mixed blood kids being born. Whether it's even possible, dunno. I bet they can have kids in void forms, but whether the kids are fertile is another question. If horneaters are a thing, no reason a couple physiology changes HAVE to make void forms impotent with humans.

[Ciridae]

True, I handn't thought of sterility in that situation.

And I just remembered that there is a Mateform, which threw me off a little, to be honest. 

The existence of Mateform doesn't mean that they cannot also reproduce in other forms. Regular Parshmen/Dullform also reproduce. Which makes me wonder why there is a need for Mateform at all. If I remember correctly, Eshonai thinks it's a very unproductive and somewhat annoying form, but that's beside the point. 

 

[Oversleep]

@Ciridae (nice nick BTW), look here for discussion on reproduction of Listeners:

 

[Ciridae]

@Oversleep Thank you, this cleared things up!