ROSHtaFARian2.0 Posted August 17, 2016 Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) Despite having word that Cultivation is still around, we haven't seen much evidence of her hand at work in a long time on Roshar, other than the Nightwatcher, which is said to be connected to her. A lot of people have theorized that its due to Honor's Shattering, that she withdrew because of that, but what if her seeming inactivity has been due to weakness rather than intent? My theory is that Connection is a two way street. It seems as though using a Shard's Investiture requires at least some kind of Connection to them. Allomancers must 'snap' in Preservation of themselves or others before they can access their power. Hemalurgy requires the conscious choice to Ruin something. The Shaod only seems to take someone who expresses great Devotion to some cause, ideal or person to become an Elantrian. The monks of Dakhor exert Dominion over their lower ranks to empower themselves. Awakening requires an Endowment of Breath to an object before you can command it. The Listeners give in to their Hatred before finding stormform. We know Surgebinding is of both Honor and Cultivation. I think that's less about some Surges like Adhesion being specifically of Honor and others like Progression are of Cultivation. It seems there's a tendency to view Cultivation as more nature-related, like you cultivate crops....but her actual Intent is a bit more broad than that if you think about it. All Surgebinding requires both Honor and Cultivation to truly master it. A Surgebinder acts with Honor and forms a bond with a spren initially...but they only grow in power when they Cultivate that bond, when they learn more oaths as their Nahel bond strengthens and deepens, the more and more honorably they act. But in my estimation, Connection is a two way street. When a connection or pathway is formed between two points, it rarely, if ever only goes one way. There's very few connections that even if normally predisposed to go in one direction, can't be reversed or cause feedback if there's enough interference or an external force or variable redirects things. I feel Connection in the cosmere is no different. In fact, we know its not, because we've seen it happen on a micro-scale. Kaladin's Nahel bond with Syl empowers him and fuels his Surgebinding....but the Connection goes both ways. When he acts dishonorably, in opposition to the source of their bond in WoR....it affects Syl. It hurts her. And if its true on a micro-scale, in just the bond between Surgebinder and spren, I think its true on a macro-scale, with Cultivation and everyone wielding her Investiture. And I think that's what happened with the Recreance. It seems likely (if not confirmed, I can't remember right now) that Honor was already Splintered when the Recreance happened. I don't think it had anything to do with weakening him (IMO, the Heralds breaking the Oathpact probably had far more of an effect on him). But if Surgebinding is equally of Cultivation....it wasn't just Honor the Knights Radiant collectively turned their backs on that day. They abandoned the Cultivation of their oaths, of their Honor, every bit as much as they abandoned the oaths themselves. And I think that such a singular act, on such a massive scale....it caused feedback in the Connection between them and the Shard that was so Invested in them. It hurt her, weakened her. All of her Investiture that was expressed in the spren and the Nahel bonds and Surgebinding...Investiture that was meant to be used in accordance with her Intent, bonds cemented and grown and strengthened, seeds of Honor that were intended to be nourished and cultivated and built into something bigger and better and more useful.....instead, ever since the Recreance, all of that Investiture has just lain fallow, untouched. No bonds being cultivated, just a lot of spren-seeds strewn all around Roshar with no one growing anything from them. However, the flip side of this theory means if I'm right, the rebirth of the Knights Radiant throughout the series, the renewal of Nahel bonds and the resurgence in Cultivating them, growing in Honor, learning new oaths, deepening the bonds and connection between Surgebinders and spren....as time (and the series) goes on, this will lead to re-empowering Cultivation as her Investiture is taken up and used again in accordance to her Intent, restoring her to whatever she was pre-Recreance and possibly leading to her showing more of an overt influence in matters. Edited August 17, 2016 by ROSHtaFARian2.0 7
Jondesu he/him Posted August 18, 2016 Posted August 18, 2016 That's very well thought out and explained! I definitely agree in principle, though I'd have to think through the details a bit more to grasp them fully. I think it ties well into my theory on Cusicesh, even if I'm wrong about Cusicesh actually being Cultivation's spren in some way. You might have seen it already, but here's a link in case: jW
DrakeMarshall he/him Posted August 18, 2016 Posted August 18, 2016 (edited) This theory is fascinating. And probably true. The implications of a weakened cultivation are very hard to guess, because we don't know much anything about her agenda... (Although on the subject of knowing cultivation's agenda, I have a certain crazy suspicion that Taravangian is influenced by cultivation...) Nevertheless, the recreance probably did significantly weaken cultivation. Surgebinding seems like it does involve partially cultivation. I wonder if it is actually fifty fifty though. Well, "weaken" is maybe a difficult term in this case. I suspect that Cultivation didn't actually lose any of her investiture, but it stopped being used as much. Like in the balance between Ruin and Preservation on Scadrial, I imagine that indirect use of power through things like the radiants is crucial in shaping events on Roshar. So the loss of this instrument made things very difficult (much like if Ruin had suddenly lost every single hemalurgic construct, which is in fact what the kandra more or less accomplished... this doesn't really take away from Ruin's power per se, but at the same time it renders him much less effective). Like the fallow seeds you talked about. Also another thing of note... You predict that the return of radiants will start to rebuild cultivation's power. This is a very astute guess. This also means that Honor's power will increase with the return of the radiants. Of coarse, being dead, he won't be able to consciously use it I suspect. But I would hazard a guess and say that if one wanted to reforge honor, refounding the knights radiant would probably be the first of many steps. Edited August 18, 2016 by Drake Marshall
Blightsong he/him Posted August 18, 2016 Posted August 18, 2016 The main issue I see with this theory is that Honor was alive during the recreance, and Brandon has said that the recreance didn't directly affect the shattering, which it pretty would have had to do for this theory to be correct. Relevant WoB: INTERVIEW: Oct 12th, 2015 Shadows of Self-Oak Brook, IL QUESTION Was Honor Shattered before or after the Recreance? BRANDON SANDERSON I believe after. I'm pretty sure. I mean, he has memories of the Recreance. TAGS Honor, recreance, His hesitance to be 100% sure also makes me certain that the recreance as an event didn't greatly affect the shards themselves. If it had that big of an impact I'm pretty sure Brandon would have been entirely certain of when it happened in relation to the shattering.
Jondesu he/him Posted August 18, 2016 Posted August 18, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, Blightsong said: The main issue I see with this theory is that Honor was alive during the recreance, and Brandon has said that the recreance didn't directly affect the shattering, which it pretty would have had to do for this theory to be correct. Relevant WoB: INTERVIEW: Oct 12th, 2015 Shadows of Self-Oak Brook, IL QUESTION Was Honor Shattered before or after the Recreance? BRANDON SANDERSON I believe after. I'm pretty sure. I mean, he has memories of the Recreance. TAGS Honor, recreance, His hesitance to be 100% sure also makes me certain that the recreance as an event didn't greatly affect the shards themselves. If it had that big of an impact I'm pretty sure Brandon would have been entirely certain of when it happened in relation to the shattering. What I garner from that is that the shattering of Honor wasn't a single event, but probably a process. The Recreance could even have been a side-effect of the process of shattering him, rather than the other way around. jW Edited August 18, 2016 by Jondesu
Blightsong he/him Posted August 18, 2016 Posted August 18, 2016 57 minutes ago, Jondesu said: What I garner from that is that the shattering of Honor wasn't a single event, but probably a process. The Recreance could even have been a side-effect of the process of shattering him, rather than the other way around. jW Quote from secret History Spoiler "So what happens when one of these things... dies" "I'm very curious to see," Khriss said. "I've never viewed it in person and the past deaths were different. They were each a single, stunning event, the god's power shattered and dispersed. This is more like strangulation, while those were like a beheading. This should be very instructive." This sheds some light on the Odium's process of splintering, and is in all likely-hood, said after Honor had been destroyed. 1
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