Jenet Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 I am very fascinated by Cultivation and what kind of strategic opportunities she may be adding to Dalinar's plans. So far I have mostly seen theories on what Honor and his shards and spren may contribute to the "good" side, and we know very little about Cultivation. But I wonder: Is it possible to theorize and have fun imagining what kind of weapons and powers a God of cultivation and Nature must be able to bring forth? It is easy to think that Cultivation is only about weak and "boring" stuff as gardening and pruning, as we have only seen Wyndle, who is constantly talking of gardening and being afraid of action. We have obviously also seen Cultivation herself, and she looks like a very powerful being indeed, both with her roots in the ground and controlling Nature, but she is able to intervene directly inside Dalinar's mind and body, and change him. Knowing a little of Nature, I think Cultivation may turn out to be a very powerful, alive and strong strategic ally in a war. As stated several places in OB, shardbearers cannot hold ground. You need boots on the ground to hold an area. I somehow imagine Honor as the one conquering ground and Cultivation as the one holding the ground. Are there things that we know about Cultivation from the books and from WOB, that we may combine with things that we know regarding Nature in general, and everything culture and cultivation that may be combined, that will give us a better basis for understanding how Cultivation may be a very powerful strategic ally in this war? A power that it seems very few actually are valuing enough, both in-world and as readers? Let me add a short list of what springs to my mind when thinking of Cultivation as a power: - Boots on the ground. Or roots in the ground. Every plant and every creature may be influenced by her. - Resistance. Imagine the kind of resistance and land holding capacity possible by such a force - Balance. Never any change without a balancing change in the other direction. Boon/ bane? - Diversity. Nature insists on diversity. That is why it is so difficult to grow monocultures. The more you try to eradicate weeds, the more they fight back. Balance comes only when there are many different species competing and ending up in a balanced diversity. - Slow but powerful changes and growth that happens without anyone noticing. - Can she cultivate Honor? Make it grow? Cultivation is already a very powerful and alive shard that has influenced Rohar for millennia. All this power is already holding ground all over the continent. In addition we know that an even share of the surgebinding powers are of Cultivation, probably meaning that she is able to influence more actively through surges. I guess we have only seen Lift using pure cultivation power, or is there more that has been described? Anyway? Any other ideas and knowledge to add to this? Perhaps a discussion will help us find our more about this shard and the possible advantages of such a force? - 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmithki Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 I think that most of what we see of her help are going to be things like Dalinar being changed so he can claim his pain from Odium, or tricks similar to the Kandra from HoA (I suspect the diagram will turn out to be like this) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perestein Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 The Stormfather seems to be flustered about what Cultivation has done to Lift. I suspect it must be connected to how Lift gets her investiture- she does not need Stormlight... which makes me think her investiture comes straight from cultivation. That could be a major tactical/strategical influence... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmithki Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 9 minutes ago, Perestein said: The Stormfather seems to be flustered about what Cultivation has done to Lift. I suspect it must be connected to how Lift gets her investiture- she does not need Stormlight... which makes me think her investiture comes straight from cultivation. That could be a major tactical/strategical influence... She is capable of turning food into stormlight, there is a thread discussing this whole thing, it's title is along the lines of "lift can't breathe in stormlight", I'd try to link but I'm on mobile. (On this same board, it should be pretty high up on the list) She's also partly in the cognitive realm (shadesmar) because of her boon/curse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leyrann Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 She is very much suspected to be behind the Diagram and maybe even 'choosing' the days Taravangian gets to be smart and dumb. Additionally, we've already seen her ruin Odium's plan to make Dalinar his champion, and she's done something to Lift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis he/him Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 From an OB thread in Cosmere Theories on the future of Taravangian, I wrote this. Quote Taravangian has capitulated. Apparently, that was his goal from the start. Create a position of power and negotiate a deal with Odium. Obviously this didn't go as planned. OR DID IT!?! The Diagram has, inadvertently, aided Dalinar every step of the way. The chaos created by Taravangian's use of Szeth directly set up the grounds for Dalinar to create his coalition. The release of information to undermine him led to the events in Thaylen Field. Since the beginning, I have believed that the Diagram is the work of Cultivation. It's methods reek of her intent. After seeing what she did with Dalinar's boon, I'm sure that Taravangian is being manipulated in a similar manner, for a different reason. Dalinar was manipulated to be able to resist Odium and possibly reform the Shard of Honor. Taravangian... Is being set up to undermine Odium from the inside. In Taravangian's meeting with Odium, the Diagram is laid large, and yet Odium is blind to certain aspects of it. There is nothing that can convince me a Shard can be blinded to the written word without either another shards involvement, or circumstances such as seen with metal in Mistborn, which to our knowledge do not exist on Roshar. So as I see it, Cultivation now has a pawn placed inside Odium's circle. Odium believes that Taravangian will be working for him, and he has no reason to doubt this as Taravangian believes it himself. I will be completely unsurprised though, if in short order, the Diagram gets an update. It's new direction will seem to work towards helping Odium achieve his goals. It will, unfortunately, slightly diverge from its apparent goals, and as with the previous outcomes, work in The Radiants favor. Cultivation is subtle. She is the web weaver, all about the long con. Taravangian is her trump card, and his role as Odium's human servant has given him the "capacity" to save the world. Exactly like he asked for. Cultivation is probably my favorite Shard. "Cultivation" has meaning beyond just the manipulation of natural forces, and to discount its other meanings is to overlook major aspects of what can make her so formidable. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhargreaves he/him Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 (edited) I had some similar thoughts shortly before OB came out: Edited November 23, 2017 by shawnhargreaves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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