Hoid's home base

[Kurkistan he/him]

I made a point of paying attention to the chapter-headings when reading WoR, and so was quite surprised to see Hoid's symbol (the masked man) in the arch above a decidedly Witless chapter.

 

The chapter in question (WoR Ch. 43) is the one where Shallan meets with the Ghostbloods in a the Creepy Cellar of Doom. In that cellar, she finds, among other things, an odd flower and some sand. I'm not up on my unpublished works (and don't wish to be) but doesn't sand come into play in one of the magic systems? The flower hints at Hallandren. Some of the other items tickle at my mind, but I can't place them.

 

 

The right wall had the greater number of trophies, including several enormous gemhearts. Those were, together, likely worth more than her father’s estates. Fortunately, they weren’t infused. Even uncut as they were, they’d probably glow enough to blind. There were also shells that Shallan vaguely recognized. That tusk was probably from a whitespine. And that eye socket, that looked frighteningly close to the structure of a santhid’s skull.

 

Other curiosities baffled her. A vial of pale sand. A couple of thick hairpins. A lock of golden hair. The branch of a tree with writing on it she couldn’t read. A silver knife. An odd flower preserved in some kind of solution. There were no plaques to explain these mementos. That chunk of pale pink crystal looked like it might be some kind of gemstone, but why was it so delicate? Bits of it had flaked off in its case, as if simply setting it down had almost crushed it.

 

 

Is it possible, then, that The CCD was Hoid's base (or at least one of them)? If so, we must ask if he gave the Ghostbloods the key and if so why.

 

EDIT: That'll teach me to post before looking. Havoc already has a nice little cosmere-connections thread, though he didn't go down this path. He hazards a few guesses at the items, though.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Kurkistan

[HydrogenAlpha he/him]

Vial of Sand : Probably referring to the novel White Sand ( only read Liar of Partinel so I don't know for sure )
Hairpins : Could be hemalurgic spikes, thanks Asha'man Logain.
Golden lock : A royal lock from Warbreaker, I guess.
The branch : Maybe a forgery form The Emperor's Soul ? 
Silver knife: Sounds oddly familiar but can't place it right now
Flower: As you said, Tears of Edgli
Gemstone: Probably a dead Aether form LoP. Could be Soulstone from The Emperor's Soul, too. Thanks Leonardus.

Edit: I will edit the best guesses in here to get a complete list. I'm gonna upvote everyone I steal from, of course

Edited March 6, 2014 by HydrogenAlpha

[Asha'man Logain]

I did not think of that. I was surprised by the many factions, and who ended up being in which. I would suspect Hoid is involved in at least one. We have the Envisagers, Diagramist (which Gavilar appears to have been), ghostbloods and seventeeth Sharders. Hoid is of course not involved with the sharders as they are chasing him, likely at the request of the 2nd letter writer

 

EDIT: Large hair pins? Or small hemalurgic spikes?

Edited March 5, 2014 by Asha'man Logain

[Luke.spence]

What about the "Men of Honor" that Amaram mentioned? Do we think that's a group, or just a generalized phrase used for himself because he believes he's right?

[Aminar]

I can see the Ghostbloods being allied with Hoid, but I wonder why they'd want to kill Jasnah then... Unless she's actually allied with the Ghostbloods and needed a push to get to the Highspren... Jasnah and Hoid seem pretty allied to me. It's strange... Like there's a single tangle in a knot that makes sense otherwise. Hmmmm.

[Leonardus he/him]

Couldn't the silver knife be from shadows of silence in the forests of hell? Didn't silence have a silver knife from her grandmother? that's what it sounds to me, after all I cant think of another use for silver apart from killing shades.Also how old was the woman with the mask because for the life of me I cant remember.

as for the pink gemstone couldnt that be soulstone or something from Sel ? I checked the coppermind and I got the following

 

Soulstone is a white fine grained rock with flecks of red mixed in.

Soulstone in its natural state is about as soft as chalk.

Now I know it said pink but who knows, it might still strike true.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Leonardus

[Cortez he/him]

Amaram's Men of Honour appear to be a group that wants to restore the Vorin Heirocracy by using a desolation to bring back the heralds and restore the churches power. Gavilar was probably part of this group (not the Diagramists) which is why the Parshendi killed him.

 

The Ghostbloods might have assumed that Jasnah was part of her Father's group, which is why they tried to eliminate her and steal her notes.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Cortez

[Azul he/him]

Holy crap!  I didnt even think of this.  I just thought maybe Hoid was the guard at the door in disguise...

[marianmi]

* It's strange that Gavilar wanted the return of the Heralds and Church, when the visions are clear: Restore the Radiants. Did he get the same visions as Dalinar, or different (more like the visions the ardents got at the Hierocracy?)?

 

* Can Mraize be the Dragon? He is, at least, the one exchanging letters with Hoid in WoR, telling him not to interfere....

Edited March 6, 2014 by marianmi

[Kurkistan he/him]

* Can Mraize be the Dragon? He is, at least, the one exchanging letters with Hoid in WoR, telling him not to interfere....

 

What makes you think that? The Recipient is almost certainly a Shard (we may even have direct WoB on this, actually...), and Mraize certainly isn't following any non-intervention policy on Roshar.

[Natans he/him]

Talking about cross-over And where they got the new Szeth sword ? Nightblood cousin or something ?

[junior]

The Ghostbloods might have assumed that Jasnah was part of her Father's group, which is why they tried to eliminate her and steal her notes.

 

If there are assumptions, they might be the other way around.  It's possible that Jasnah caught the Ghostbloods sniffing around the palace and killed enough of them to realize that something was going on.  This might have then caused her to be a bit more proactive in going after them, which caused the Ghostbloods to decide that the only reasonable way of dealing with her was to have her killed.

 

On the other hand, the rather...  extreme...  reaction to Shallan that involved her coach and unfortunate driver suggests that the Ghostbloods are hiding some sinister secrets of their own.

[royishere]

Talking about cross-over And where they got the new Szeth sword ? Nightblood cousin or something ?

 

Nightblood's cousin? Nightblood itself!

[junior]

* It's strange that Gavilar wanted the return of the Heralds and Church, when the visions are clear: Restore the Radiants. Did he get the same visions as Dalinar, or different (more like the visions the ardents got at the Hierocracy?)?

 

The recipient's worldview likely colors their understanding of the visions.  Remember, Dalinar himself gets a lot of things wrong about the visions - as demonstrated so ably by Shallan when she points out that the visions probably aren't telling Dalinar to recreate the Knights Radiant.  Instead, they're probably telling him to gather the Knights.

[Strife]

What makes you think that? The Recipient is almost certainly a Shard (we may even have direct WoB on this, actually...), and Mraize certainly isn't following any non-intervention policy on Roshar.

 

General cosmere spoiler (Not sure if worthy of a spoiler tag but anyways)

 

It's actually been confirmed that the Recipient is a dragon. Link 

 

[Kurkistan he/him]

 General cosmere spoiler (Not sure if worthy of a spoiler tag but anyways)

 

It's actually been confirmed that the Recipient is a dragon. Link 

 

 

Yes.

 

Why can't a dragon (note: I have no idea what that actually means and have no intention of learning about unpublished works) be a Shard too? And there's still the non-intervention point to consider.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Swimmingly he/him]

Makes me wonder, how the heck are these letters delivered?

[Vortaan he/him]

Makes me wonder, how the heck are these letters delivered?

 

Well, Kelsier's got to do -something- while he's hanging around Shadesmar...

[marianmi]

What makes you think that? The Recipient is almost certainly a Shard (we may even have direct WoB on this, actually...), and Mraize certainly isn't following any non-intervention policy on Roshar.

 

 

* It's WoB that the recipient of Hoid's letter in TwoK is a dragon, and this looks like the reply to that letter.

* Mraize is Hoid-level worldhopper, which is something very difficult to be. Maybe he's 17Shard? If that, he would be really really high-level member. But then, 17Shard work for the dragon.

* "He bears the weight of God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context. He is what we made him to be, old friend." looks to me Hoid and the Dragon shattered Adonalsium. Maybe Hoid feels guilty of the destruction after the shattering?

Edited March 6, 2014 by marianmi

[Kurkistan he/him]

I agree Mraize is likely a wordlhopper (though I've not yet, to my knowledge, seen the absolute proof if we're to think that the base is really Hoid's), but I really must get back to the "non-intervention policy" that both sides of the letter-dialogue claim the Dragon follows. Assassinating people and orchestrating grand schemes to topple/control society don't fall under that definition, I don't think.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Kurkistan

[taveren he/him]

the new letter mentions a dead gemstone also might be referring to an Aether