Syldaras he/him Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 I think you're on to something here, but I have a few notes: I think that there's something that connects all investiture in the Cosmere, and that Music is a part of it. However I think the story in which music features most heavily is Stormlight. Right before Oathbringer came out, I wrote a brief theory on the SA subreddit espousing that Rhythm or Music is the unifying theme of Rosharan investiture, just as metal is to Scadrial, shapes are to Sel, and color is to Nalthis. Here's the theory if you're curious: [WoR] - A theory as to the nature of Rosharan investiture. I plan to update it soon with all the additional evidence from Oathbringer, but suffice it to say, I feel vindicated after reading book 3. But beyond that, knowing Brandon's love of physics, and knowing physics' affinity to patterns, rhythms, and that confounding wave/particle duality of the EM spectrum, I think there's significant fuel for a broader Cosmere rhythmatic theory. Keep digging!
Bernem he/him Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) Here are some relevant WoBs. It seems to me that all the rhythms and music are connected, but that it's something inherent to investiture. Allomantic bronze allows someone to sense the rhythm of a type of investiture, and Allomantic copper makes some static/noise that makes it harder to "hear" investiture. The first WoB mentions the listeners' ability to hear rhythm comes from the spiritual realm, not tied to the cognitive realm or the beads there. Unfortunately, we don't have the recording for the first part of the answer; it's transcribed from memory. Quote Questioner (paraphrased) Could a Soother prevent a listener from attuning a given rhythm? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) No. A coppercloud could, but I hadn't thought about emotional allomancy interacting. See, the rhythm isn't your emotion and doesn't determine your mood. It is a direct connection to the spiritual realm. So I guess soothing could make it harder just like it makes anything harder, in the same way that driving a car would be harder. [recording starts here] And so, for the same reasons that you can, um, it is possible that a coppercloud can play with it. Not a normal power of a coppercloud, but you’ve seen them do stuff similar. Footnote: Question was cut off in recording, first bit reproduced from memory source ^^ Quote LazarusRises Can a Seeker burning bronze detect a Surgebinder using Stormlight? Do different Surges have different pulses? Brandon Sanderson Yes, and yes. Good questions. source ^^ Quote Brandon Sanderson If you were really good at burning bronze, you could use bronze to distinguish between different types of Investiture from different planets even. And that sort of skill does exist in other magic systems. Argent Is it like a wavelength kind of thing? Brandon Sanderson Yea, that's exactly what it is. Footnote: It looks like Brandon misinterpreted the original question but eventually answered it, after a clarification. source ^^ Quote Aethenoth Can an Allomantic bronze burner hear the Rhythms on Roshar? Brandon Sanderson Yes, this is possible. source ^^ This last WoB makes an explicit connection between Allomancy and Ropsharan Rhythms. Once we know this, it's enlightening to read about all the other connections Brandon makes of bronze detecting uses of investiture and copper preventing it. Quote CealdishOrbLender Can a Smoker block an Awakener's lifesense? Brandon Sanderson That will work, yes. source ^^ Quote Oudeis16 Bronze has always been my favorite allomantic metal. Could a Seeker learn to sense familiar pulses? Could Marsh, for example, have felt the bronzepulses of pewter, and been able to tell the difference between some Thug he'd never met and his friend Ham? Or is pewter is pewter is pewter? Brandon Sanderson If he recognized something about the burning, it would have to be in the personal way someone was burning the metal. However, Bronze is capable of sensing other types of investiture. Expand from that as you wish. source ^^ Edited January 30, 2018 by Bernem Just realized this post was from almost four years ago, brought back to life by someone last week. Oops.
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