Hidden Things in Map of Roshar?

[Sabrina Stormshard]

That would tie in with the shardpools being the entry/exit theory

[darkanimereal1]

So that begs the fun question: how do shardpools manifest themselves in Shadesmar?

[zandi]

Do we know if there is any land in the Northern hemisphere? (excuse my ignorance if this has been discussed). 

[Sarevok]

Did anyone notice that the glyph that surrounds the compass symbol on the WoR black-and-white map is the letter R (according to the translation thread)? This would the R for Roshar (imo).

 

The Elantris WoB-hint gave me an idea that's going to warrant it's own thread in the Cosmere forum (unless someone beat me to it).

[Argent]

Did anyone notice that the glyph that surrounds the compass symbol on the WoR black-and-white map is the letter R (according to the translation thread)? This would the R for Roshar (imo).

 

It can't be R, it has too many lines.

[trevorwilliam]

Has anyone taken note to the sides of the map of Shadesmar? Not sure if this has been discussed. It appears to be mountainous in the same way it appears to be mountainous in the areas of where Purelake/Reshi Sea are on the Roshar map.

 

Has anyone thought of the Shadesmar map as flat, and Roshar's cognitive realm like a pit or depression? One you are looking down into, bordered by vertical heights? Maybe the other planets are 'pits' separated by these 'mountainous' regions? When I look at the Shadesmar map I get the sensation of looking down into something. Just a thought.

 

Additionally they sort of look like 'steps' in a way. Look at the Nexus of Imagination. Resembles a staircase leading up and out of Roshar's section of Shadesmar.

 

edit:

 

Also, has anyone came up as to a reason why the Roshar map border would be skewed? It looks like we're looking out the window of a ship.

Edited March 28, 2014 by trevorwilliam

[Sarevok]

It can't be R, it has too many lines.

 

I don't mean the symbol itself, but the edge of it between, for instance the S and the inner symbol on the black-and-white map. Therre's no way that's not a thaylen R.

http://imgur.com/V1FBQtT

 

[Ren]

Heavy Elantris spoilers. Please don't read, if you haven't read Elantris, I'll just ruin your fun. Sorry!


THEORY ONE. Hoid is traveling to Roshar via AonDor or something that works very similar to it.

Aon Tia is used to transport an Elantrian from one direction to another. None said that it should be only restricted to Sel. As we all know already, Investiture is universal, Nightblood can work with Stormlight, Vasher can live with presumably Stormlight. An investiture from one planet can infuse magic from another, although not without some changes, but we have WoB that the final effect would be pretty much the same.

Aon Ene is also one of the major constellations that can be observed in the night sky above Arelon.It includes Sel's pole star

We know that once you draw the initial Aon, you can keep drawing and make adjustments, various effects and stuff. So...

Maybe Hoid is worldhopping by using Aons and drawing constellations and making adjustments. You might ask how Hoid used that sort of traveling the first time? He didn't. WoB said Hoid traveled before through Shadesmar! That means that Hoid needs to go at least once through Shadesmar, so that he can gather intel on how to travel without getting himself in the middle of a burning Sun.


THEORY TWO is I think far better. 

Follow me on this, please, I'll try to explain.

1. We know that AonDor uses landscape as a engine? The first two lines (now three with the Chasm) and the dot are what makes the landscape around Elantris.
3. But that is not enough! You need fuel! And as you go away from Elantris, your AonDor is getting weaker. That's what Raoden restored. The fuel.
2. We know that you can use foreign magic system as long as you have Investiture. That means you can use AonDor on Roshar with Stormlight.
3. But Stormlight is not enough. Stormlight is only half of what you need. Stormlight is the fuel.
4. Hoid has to draw the engine.

So imagine Hoid is on Sel. To go to Roshar, he needs to draw Rosharian standard of lines and dots, them draw  the calculations and HOP.
Imagine Hoid is on Roshar. To go to Sel, he needs to draw the current Sel lines and dots and HOP.

If you don't draw the engine right, you don't get anything and that's why Hoid has to visit each planet through Shadesmar first, so he can get his information.

My two cents.

If you have improvements, all are welcome. Excuse me for my bad English, I don't have much experience writing, just reading... a lot.

(Also, I don't have time to try and match Roshar Map with different Aon styles and stuff. But I'm sure I might find something!)

Edited March 29, 2014 by Ren

[Delightful]

I'd presumed the hint for Hoid travelling using the Shadesmar would be where he appeared when he first came out - ie. Rock's god of mischief.

Those pools are almost definitely a gateway to Shadesmar. A couple lines before speaking of his "god of mischief", Rock says 

 

Is water of life. Is connection to gods. If Unkalaki swim in it, sometimes they see place of gods.

So it seems the Horneaters can see Shadesmar even not knowing how to worldhop themselves.

[b4dave]

I noticed today a small difference in the maps of WoK and WoR…in WoK the mountain range that borders Shinovar to the east has no name, but in WoR, they are labeled as The Misted Mountains…

 

WoB was that it was a small something, not really a big deal, and not earth shattering, but that in each book the maps will be slightly different…perhaps more locations will be labeled on each map or something like that...

Edited March 29, 2014 by b4dave

[Peterwinkle]

I just asked Brandon for a hint at the book signing. He was a little reluctant to answer a vague question, so my brother asked if the skill needed to find the easter egg is language related, or if we need to know another language to find it. He said no. I asked if it was math related (thinking that the book talks about the storm wardens use math to predict the storms), he said yes. He also said that one person just about figured it out at one signing, just looking at the map. He restated that its not anything real big, just something we might find interesting.

[Clowd]

Completely baseless, but serious, theory here.

 

I think one of the hidden things is that Roshar is a distorted map of the US with many liberties used in various areas.  At the very least, the progression of its geography from east to west on the mainland is extremely similar.

 

For example, the unclaimed hills appear to be analogous to the Appalachians, then we have a massive set of plains (broken up by some mountains, the Horneater Peaks are apparently unique). 

 

To the south of these mountains, we have a large set of plains, and a sea separating the Frostlands from several other locations.  Perhaps the Tarat Sea is supposed to be analogous to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Next, we hit the largest set of Mountains in Roshar, right about where the Rocky Mountains would have started.  Azir and surrounding lands are analogous to Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

 

The northern Rockies, then, were broken up into the Reshi Sea, however this could be the only area that's out of the ordinary. If true, then maybe the PureLake is supposed to be analogous to Utah's Great Salt Lake?  If so, then I'm going to guess that Fu Namir is basically Salt Lake City.

 

That puts Shinovar in California's Great Valley.

 

Thoughts?

[Swimmingly]

No, I don't think he'd do that. The Cosmere is in a different universe than Earth. There wouldn't be a parallel like that unless it was accidental.

[Zenith]

No, I don't think he'd do that. The Cosmere is in a different universe than Earth. There wouldn't be a parallel like that unless it was accidental.

I think this is correct. IIRC, Scadrial is the closest to Earth we get in the Cosmere.

[Clowd]

I didn't mean to imply that Roshar WAS Earth, I was trying to show that the progression of the geography and relative locations of a few places was similar to the US's.  The locations were merely where these similarities would be at.

 

However, I posted that without reading Peterwinkle's comment.  If it's math related, then the hidden thing probably isn't what I was thinking.

[trendkill]

I wonder if the spiral shape follows the Golden Ratio?

[RShara]

i wonder if it's a fractal pattern.

 

Something like this

Edited March 31, 2014 by RShara

[cosmosofclay]

That image of a fractal is making my eyes freak out, I love it.

 

Fractals are math based, but nothing on the map of Roshar looks like it would continue inward in the ways that fractals do. HOwever, a part of me feels like it has to do with the spiral pattern that Roshar has going on. The Purelake is almost like the eye of a hurricane.

[Veil]

So I was watching last week's Cosmos with my sister, and I had a minor freak-out when this happened:

 

(Image from this article. May not be exactly what was on the Cosmos, but close enough.)

 

That's a simulation of the projected collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Is it just me, or do those galaxies look like Roshar? (More like Roshar than the Milky Way or Andromeda normally do, that is. I know we've already had encouraging, if vague, WoB on spiral galaxy being a good comparison.) Maybe this progression shows it better--the shift from ordinary spiral to Roshar-spiral. Or this one (I especially like the second, third, and fifth images.)

 

 

Now, I'm not saying the secret of the Roshar map is that it shows how the Cosmere is about to collide with another galaxy, or is the result of a recent merger between two smaller galaxies. (Weeelllllll.... No. No, I'm not saying that. Not at all. Maybe a little. Think of the extra-Cosmere worldhopping! But no.)

 

I just want to point out that, like, 10 pages ago Peter said something about seeing connections where we weren't looking for them, and a relaxing night of Hooke-bashing and discussing Newton's possible Asperger's was definitely not where I was expecting to see a Roshar connection. The Cosmere is taking over my life. (Not that I mind...)

[skaa]

i wonder if it's a fractal pattern.

 

Something like this

 

 

I think some Julia sets look a tiny bit like Roshar, like this one (except it's pointed differently):

 

Edited March 31, 2014 by skaa

[FlatLine]

Well the shape of the continent is definitely caused by the high storms. Brandon said that the plant doesn't have plate tectonics, but that the storm weathers away on side, while adding crem to the other. That's how it moves, so the shape doesn't surprise me.

[Aiken Frost]

I sharpened, upped the contrast, and enlarged the pattern/stamp/cymatic? on the Shadesmar map.  I have no idea what it is

 

Also...is there script very very faintly on the physical realm landmasses?  It's most "clear" on the plains near the Valley on the map.

 

Actually, that patern is all over the place. Take a good look at the maps in Way of Kings, I remember that I and some other people here finding about 10 of them in those maps. I remember one over Karbranth and one in the edge of the map near the Stormfather's face.

 

 

EDIT: Seems like someone have already pointed that out.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Aiken Frost

[RShara]

So we've got these hints from Brandon.  He says:

 

Q:  Can you give me a hint in the easter egg in the map of Roshar? What particular skill do you need for it?  Is it a different language or math related?
A:  It's not linguistics.  It is math related.  Let me remind you this is not going to be a mind blowing revelation.  It is going to be a nifty thing.  Someone actually got close at one of my signings.  They noticed something.  But it is a fun easter egg that will tell you more about the history of the world.

 

 

Looking through my quotes file, I can only find these two mentions.

Q:  I was looking at the map of Roshar and it kinda looked like a spiral galaxy to me like it was flipping a certain way.
A:  That was intentional.  You are on to something that no one's figured out yet.  
Q:  I was thinking it could be connected to people being able to manipulate gravity.
A:  It's not exactly what you think you're on to, but you're getting close to something that they've all wanted to know for a while.

 

Now, the one [hint] about the map, that one I don't think is obvious. I know people have been trying to figure it out. It's going to be fun once you figure it out, but it's not something huge and obvious.

 

Plus this one with general information:

 

 

Q:  How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?
A:  The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that.  Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents.  So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent.  So the contienent does drift.  They don't have plate tectonics.  The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

 

 

I'm not sure where I'm going with this

 

Is the continent shaped the way it is due to the Coriolis effect and the highstorms weathering the east and depositing in the west?  If so, I think Roshar might rotate a different way than Earth does.  It might be "upside down" too?  I don't know, my brain is kinda fried

 

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by RShara

[Thought]

Well the shape of the continent is definitely caused by the high storms. Brandon said that the plant doesn't have plate tectonics, but that the storm weathers away on side, while adding crem to the other. That's how it moves, so the shape doesn't surprise me.

 

What's befuddled me a lot is how in the world does Roshar have mountains if it has no plate tectonics. All natural ways of forming mountains require tectonics (with the exception of craters). Thus, either two very large meteors hit far in the past, or the continent is crem buildup on something else (with the mountains being related to that something else). But neither of those seem to be what Brandon was hinting at.

[RShara]

Certainly all the non-Greatshell islands should have been worn away.