A crazy theory that may predict (at least some of) the end game for Stormlight Archive

[animalia]

I am going to start with my conclusion and then give you the evidence I have to support this crazy theory. My conclusion is this Shalash, despite being the Herald of the Lighweavers will become a Dustbringer and die at the conclusion in book 10.

Here there are two pieces of evidence that eventually led me to this conclusion, although it took a bit my mind to wrap around and bring the pieces together.

The first is the different flashback viewpoints we have been confirmed to get throughout Stormlight. In the front half we have Kalladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Eshonai, and Sezth. For the back half are, in no  confirmed flashback order, Jasnah, Lift, Taln, Shalash, and Renarin. Does anyone else notice the problem with the pattern? The Lightweavers seem to be represented twice and the dustbringers aren't represented at all. One reason I think Shalash COULD become a Dustbringer is because she has spent so much time tearing down her own self-image. Dust bringers ARE supposed to take things apart to see whats inside them. But that's not the only thing.

Brandon Sanderson has said that just like the end to Mistborn was hinted at within the epigraphs of the first book he also said the somewhere within the epigraphs of the first two Stormlight books we find a hint to how the Stormlight Archive would end. The following is a Death rattle from the middle of The Way Of Kings.

“The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.”

It's basically the Knights Raidant oath turned on it head. But it also seems to call how the Dustbringers seemed so weird. Yet hear me out. It may also Work for the herald of Lightweaving who has now reached the fifth ideal of Dustbrining in order to take down a major threat with her. They say dustbringers cause a lot of Death. "The death is my life." Dustbringing is (to be fair this IS just a guess) in someways the polar opposite of Lightweaving. Lightweving takes lies and makes them true, but in turn relies on self-realaztion to stay grounded. We don't know much about dustbringing but we DO know that they like to take things apart to see how they work. Just a theory but maybe that applies to  both their opponents AND themselves. If  true then "the strength becomes my weakness" would refer to how Shalash's strength as a light weaver would be a weakness as a Dustbringer. Finally "the Journey has ended" I am just guessing but I think it works best if it has multiple meanings. So it works best if it has refers to both the end  end Of fer journey as a Knight radiant reaching the final ideal, the end of her journey referring to life and the end of the journey that is the story that is the Stormlight Archive.

 

So tell me what you think. I feel confident about this. that being said even if I did get it right, we all know this is only PART of the big thing that will happen and as always with Brandon it's about the journey not the destination.

 

[The Harlem Worldhoppers]

1 hour ago, animalia said:

Shalash, despite being the Herald of the Lighweavers will become a Dustbringer and die at the conclusion in book 10.

I agree that she will become a dustbringer at least. Another piece of evidence for this is that Shallash is also called Ash and the dustbringer spren are called Ashspren. 

Something interesting to consider is that Cultivation and Ruin have complementary Shardic intents according to Brandon. We know that the Knights radiant are a mixture of Honor and Cultivation, giving access to two surges while the Fused seem to only access one as only Odium provides their surges. I posit that the surge of division comes from the more destructive side of Cultivation. 

The attributes of dustbringers are brave/obedient. If Shallash dies as you think she might then she will probably die in a sacrificial manner, maybe to save Taln. 'The strength becomes my weakness' could have to do with her romantic involvement with Taln and how his determination gives her strength. Her feelings for Taln are both a strength in driving her forward and a weakness for obvious reasons. Mraize is aware of this so who is to tell that a near omniscient being such as Odium couldn't use this to his advantage.

[Journey Before Pancakes]

I don't think the ending to SA has to come from the epigraphs; just the early books.  AFAIK that's all the WoB on it says.

[animalia]

@The Harlem WorldhoppersI think it’s important to point that Honor and Cultivation work better together then Ruin and Preservation. They are more yin and yang, in that they are more balance but interconnected opposites, then in direct opposition, but other than that you have a point.

Edited June 27, 2018 by animalia

[animalia]

15 minutes ago, Journey Before Pancakes said:

I don't think the ending to SA has to come from the epigraphs; just the early books.  AFAIK that's all the WoB on it says.

Hey I could EASILY be wrong. It’s Brandon here. I am usually wrong when I try to speculate on his plot twists, but I am NEVER disappointed. In any case it’s still fun to speculate.

EDIT: Speaking of the only time I can remember EVER correctly guessing a plot twist of his, was (I believe) in Elantris when after all the talk about how the Dor was tied to the land I correctly guessed that because of the earthquake that had caused the chasm it had changed the land so I think I figured out that the basic Aon was the shape of the land as well as the need to add a chasm line on my own. Even then the Idea that Elantris itself and the cities that surrounded it were a gigantic Aon ampifier that had to have a chasm line added caught me COMPLETELY off guard.

Edited June 27, 2018 by animalia

[animalia]

For the record I am beginning to have my doubts about my theory. (Big parts of it anyways.) Mainly because I came up with a new crazy theory.

[Scion of the Mists]

@animalia I believe the general (but by no means unanimous) consensus around here is that Ash will indeed swap Orders to become a Dustbringer.  However, I don't think that anyone's gone further beyond that and tied it to the ending of Stormlight - good theory!  

P.s. Double posting is discouraged on this site.  See the Site Rules.  

[teknopathetic]

It always seemed pretty obvious to me that the end we've seen in Honour's vision of Roshar being destroyed. Do we really expect Brandon to have the good guys defeat a god right at the last moment? What we need to see as an audience is to see a shardworld go down. But what about the characters? Well Nalthis is right there with a Customs Agency in the Cognitive realm ready and able to process those refugee papers (and what is Stormlight without refugees?)

Edited July 3, 2018 by teknopathetic

[Scion of the Mists]

On 7/3/2018 at 6:14 PM, teknopathetic said:

Nalthis is right there with a Customs Agency in the Cognitive realm

Is this from Warbreaker?  I don't remember anything like this.  

[teknopathetic]

2 hours ago, Scion of the Mists said:

Is this from Warbreaker?  I don't remember anything like this.  

We recently got a  WOB that Nalthis has a customs agency in the cognitive realm. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by teknopathetic

[Wander89]

I'd like to see a culmination of the story lines in the last few books. Brandon has always said that the stories can be read separately for each world but I'm just curious as to how this ill take effect for the bigger picture in the cosmere. Will a separate series cover this or will SA, Mistborn etc all lead to one large epic? Looking at the finer details and realising that everything is connected is fantastic and once this starts coming to an end I'm sure everyone, including myself, will be absolutely distraught!

[Scion of the Mists]

38 minutes ago, teknopathetic said:

We recently got a  WOB that Nalthis has a customs agency in the cognitive realm. 

Thanks.  I had read that WOB, but must have skipped past the customs part.  

Here's the WOB, if anyone else is interested: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332-jordancon-2018/#e9501

Edited July 5, 2018 by Scion of the Mists

[vikorr]

On 28/06/2018 at 2:19 AM, animalia said:

“The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.”

 

Wouldn't this refer to Taln, or Shallash's view of Taln and Jezrien?

It doesn't say 'my strength becomes my weakness', nor 'my death is my life', nor even 'death is my life'. It says THE death, and THE strength. That means something specifically understood to be THE death, and THE strength.

If it is from Shallash's perspective, then THE death is likely Jezrien's, and THE strength is likely Taln's. 

[animalia]

Speaking of Yin-Yang I wonder if a fractal pattern could change into one. More specifically could the shape of the land change?

[Ulthwithian]

On 7/7/2018 at 11:42 PM, vikorr said:

Wouldn't this refer to Taln, or Shallash's view of Taln and Jezrien?

It doesn't say 'my strength becomes my weakness', nor 'my death is my life', nor even 'death is my life'. It says THE death, and THE strength. That means something specifically understood to be THE death, and THE strength.

If it is from Shallash's perspective, then THE death is likely Jezrien's, and THE strength is likely Taln's. 

I always assumed that this Death Rattle gives the 'oath' that the Radiants used to break the Nahel bond; i.e., the Recreance.

[Wyndlerunner]

I definitely agree about the Ash=Dustbringer. But not the Nalthis bit. I don't think Brandon would go that far with crossovers, at least not until Era 4. Although I think we could see the restoration of the Tranquiline Halls/Ashyn, but that's just a cool idea with no proof to back it up...

[Scion of the Mists]

On 7/31/2018 at 11:24 AM, Wyndlerunner said:

I definitely agree about the Ash=Dustbringer. But not the Nalthis bit. I don't think Brandon would go that far with crossovers, at least not until Era 4. Although I think we could see the restoration of the Tranquiline Halls/Ashyn, but that's just a cool idea with no proof to back it up...

I doubt the Stormlight is going to involve Ashyn in a meaningful way.  There are still people there - Brandon's planning an entire book set on Ashyn that he's calling Silence Divine.  

[Wyndlerunner]

3 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

I doubt the Stormlight is going to involve Ashyn in a meaningful way.  There are still people there - Brandon's planning an entire book set on Ashyn that he's calling Silence Divine.  

True, Silence Divine is a thing. Honestly I doubt Stormlight will involve any other planets except Braize with any significance. That's Mistborn era 4's job

[tmnsquirtle]

22 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

True, Silence Divine is a thing. Honestly I doubt Stormlight will involve any other planets except Braize with any significance. That's Mistborn era 4's job

I really hope you're wrong, honestly. The appeal of the cosmere for me is the possible interactions down the line.

 

Plus, if they've already been to the cognitive realm by the third book, I would honestly be surprised if they didn't spend some more time there, maybe, I don't know, exploring towards the limits of their planet, no?

[DogslapKong]

If Shalash switches orders, will there need to be a new Herald of light weavers.  If so that would help to explain Shallan and how she seems to not know who she really is.  There is obviously way more to Shallan and how she gets lost in her many personas'.  She says in OB that Vale and Shallan are equally false, also when fighting Re-Shaphir she seems to have partial memories possibly from Shalash whe  she bound her the 1st time.  And it could explain why she was able to have bonded pattern and get shard blade as a child before she spoke any oaths that we were aware of.  Just thinking out loud probably wrong never can know with Brandon, but man do I love it!!