[All Series Spoilers] Interlinked theories - White Sand

[Ixthos he/him]

Link to main topic: [OB][All Series Spoilers][Unpublished works] Interlinked theories - Cosmere

This is a brief summary of my theories and observations and questions for White Sand. This is one of three subtopics of a larger post in the subforum Cosmere Theories (as of this it has not yet been posted)

Also, please note that the main topic will contain Oathbringer spoilers, so please don't visit it unless you have already read Oathbringer or want to have certain parts spoiled. This topic will not contain any Oathbringer spoilers. Due to this, some parts of the topic will be contained in the main topic, but in a tangential manner.

 

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Taldain / White Sand

Spoiler

Taldain

Spoiler

The planet is tidally locked and held between two stars at their L1 Lagrange point.

 

Theories

1. Bavadin had multiple personalities, and taking the shard allowed them to express themselves independently - to be autonomous. This would be the same thing as if several people tried to take a shard, assuming they didn't interfere with one another doing so.
2. The name Trell, which is both a proper name and part of the titles of high ranking users of Sand Mastery, is related to Trell on Scadrial and the Cosmere on the whole, but is not the actual individual mentioned in the prose - that is an artefact of the language.
3. Taldain's moon indicates that it has a shard - see Main topic

 

Observations

1. Tidally locked planets do exist, but I don't know of any at the L1 point, directly between two bodies. This is an unstable location, so either the planet was placed there by a shard - and would be unstable if something were to happen to the shard - or is was naturally there before it was settled, and some other factor is keeping it in place.
2. On the Cosmere map Taldain is part of a dry tree, or at least a tree that seems dry. There is probably a relationship between the tree and Sand Mastery, as some combination of plants (Lichen), light (plant life requires light) and water (the dry tree needs water).

 

Questions

1. What does the Cognitive realm look like on Taldain? It seems to be accessed by the Expanse of the Broken Sky - does it have two separate Cognitive areas, or is it a single area which has two opposite skies next to one another?

 

Sand mastery and Skycolour

Spoiler

Sand Mastery allows a Sand Master to expend some water to control the lichen on the sand for a short time. Skycolour is a property or passive effect that Darksiders have, and it appears that it corresponds to different colours.

Theories

1. Sand Mastery is related strongly to Skycolour, and might be another facet of the same system - i.e. each colour in Skycolour appears to have a certain property, such as the implied villain on Darkside having violet Skycolour and having mysterious powers. Sand Mastery might be white, then. And Brandon has said that colour is important in the Cosmere.
2. Sand Masters can use their abilities to form cognitive bonds with things other than the lichen on the sand - possibly this is related to [Redacted] from Yolan, which, according to the Bridge Four chapters Brandon has posted, would allow one to see and interact with microbes. It might also interact with the infection magic on Ashyn.

 

Observations

1. Sand Mastery doesn't appear as versatile as other systems, but this may be because its full range hasn't been shown. If Sand Mastery and Skycolour are linked, then perhaps their relation to colour would cause them to interact with the Cosmere or other systems in unexpected ways.
2. Water is strange in the Cognitive realm, appearing as a solid mass due to how people perceive it, and large bodies connect one to other planets through space, itself sometimes seen as an ocean. There is probably a link between perceiving water, and most importantly, that plants grow on it in the Cognitive realm. The lichen are plants. 

 

Questions

1. Can someone have access to more than one type of Skycolour?
2. If a Sand Master was in the Cognitive realm, what would happen if they tried to control sand, and how would the nearby solid water behave, especially if unmastered sand touched it?

 

A developed Minor World

Spoiler

The series, despite being Brandon's first novel and major rewrite being part of the Cosmere, is still a secondary story to the Cosmere. As a trilogy, it posses an interesting question as to its role, and how much of what happens will affect other stories and characters.

 

Theories

1. Taldain's technological development fed back into the Cosmere through those members at Silverlight, but the planet itself will remain isolated until visited in the Mistborn space opera. An example of this would be guns on Scadrial being patterned after something a certain cognitive shadow saw when first learning about the Cosmere.
2. Kenton's Darksider mother means he might be able to either use Skycolour on Darkside, or combine it with Sand Mastery, whether they are the same system or not. This will give him an advantage on Darkside.
3. Scythe is either an [Redacted] of Autonomy, or trying to become one.

 

Observations

1. At some point either during or after the stories Autonomy isolates Taldain. This could be because of Kenton or Khriss's actions, and Khriss finds out about the shards at some point.

 

Questions

1. Will the remaining stories cover the events leading up to Khriss's exile?
2. What will happen to Kenton and his relationship with Khriss?
3. Is the main purpose of these stories to introduce Autonomy, or is there some other reason?

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Ixthos
Added link to main topic

[RShara she/her]

58 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

Tidally locked planets do exist, but I don't know of any at the L1 point, directly between two bodies. This is an unstable location, so either the planet was placed there by a shard - and would be unstable if something were to happen to the shard - or is was naturally there before it was settled, and some other factor is keeping it in place.

Quote

Questioner

Will we ever get an explanation about the cosmological feasibility of the world [Taldain]?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, the cosmological feasibility of a tidally locked planet between two stars?

Questioner

We have one of those in our solar system, and it's not very habitable.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, *crowd laughs* the nice thing about the cosmere is I can do planets that would not work in a large scale way because I can hang something and say, "This orbit will degrade in two million years, but it was created and placed there," right? Which allows me to create planets that on a geologic timescale are not stable, but are stable on a rise and fall of human civilizations scale. And that's one of the advantages of being in fantasy, is I can go back to that. Like I try to be rule based when I can, but I also have magic and things that can interfere. So the answer is that. *crowd laughs* We know it's-- I mean, I don't think Roshar's moons are stable on a geologic timescale either. I think they're too close. There's a bunch of stuff in the cosmere that is not stable if you look at tens of millions of years, but it's just fine for a million or two years.

source

 

And

 

58 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

On the Cosmere map Taldain is part of a dry tree, or at least a tree that seems dry. There is probably a relationship between the tree and Sand Mastery, as some combination of plants (Lichen), light (plant life requires light) and water (the dry tree needs water).

Quote

Argent

Taldain - a tree? Because of the importance of water on the world?

Isaac Stewart

A one tree. This is a symbolic reference to the Shard that resides on that world. The Coppermind says this: "Khriss writes that Bavadin supports a policy of strict isolationism for Taldain."

Footnote: This is from a private email exchange between Argent and Isaac Stewart.
source

 

[Ixthos he/him]

@RShara So ... does that mean maybe yes to those points? :-)

[RShara she/her]

They aren't yes or no questions!

 

Taldain is in an unstable orbit, but it only needs to last a few thousand years.  And Bavadin is likely helping to keep it in place.  Its moon, at least, is in an impossible orbit without magic.

 

The tree symbology, we don't really know anything about.  It just has some significance to the Shard, and seems to be related to its isolationism.

[Ixthos he/him]

@RShara Maybe they aren't yes or no questions, but they are possibilities that are either "yes, that is plausable", or "no, that wouldn't work." :-P

It does beg the question though, of why would the planet be placed there? Is it a case of

1. develop to the point you can leave before you die, become autonomous of this planet, or
2. you will remain here, and be dependent on my keeping this planet in its state

Did the planet get moved there before or after humans settled?

Also, with the tree, it is isolationism, being in one place, but branching out to other areas, and maybe cutting off the light or growth off others

Edited April 19, 2018 by Ixthos
of -> off, correcting sentence

[RShara she/her]

My guess is that Bavadin wanted her people on a planet that was very difficult to get to or even find.  We know she also locked the planet down for something like a thousand years, so that even Cognitive Realm travel was impossible.

[Ixthos he/him]

That makes sense, though it is interesting that the planet was locked down after it was placed where it currently is located, so even before restricting travel it was tidally locked and placed between the two stars