Shallan and World-Hopping Groups

[Humble_Knight]

I recently was thinking about the secret societies of the Cosmere: the Ghostbloods, The Ire, The 17th Shard. They all have representatives from one of the important worlds in the Cosmere: Scadrial, Sel, Yolen. They also are all paying attention to Roshar during the events of Stormlight. So the natural question is what is Roshar's society going forward? And if there is more than one, which one will Shallan be a part of or run?

There are 3 choices as I see it: The Diagram, the Skybreakers and the Sons of Honor.

The Diagram seems like a likely choice given that it was run by a man who Ascended, and he has greater designs beyond Roshar. I actually think this will happen. But as the title suggests, I want to talk about Shallan, and of all the secret societies, she has the least connection to the Diagram. This could be a theory in its own right, but I haven't given it enough thought to do so.

The Skybreakers are actually in a weird place. Shallan has a connection to them through her brother and

  in the Sixth of the Dusk sequel there is a SkyBreaker

. I think they will be a force in the greater Cosmere. Plus in order for them to travel the Cosmere, they run into the same problem as Shallan and the Ghostbloods: how do you get Cognitive Beings offworld? However, Shallan is not a SkyBreaker and doesn't seem to like following laws much, so I can't see her working with them. An interesting thought is that they may actually be a part of the Diagram, given their current oath to Odium.

But I wanted to talk about Shallan, and so we come to the Sons of Honor. Hear me out. I know that the Alethi group was more or less wiped out. But Restares, the person who we are pretty sure is the head of the group, is friends with Shallan and Adolin. He doesn't really seem to care about the organization beyond its goal to get Shards offworld. So I can see him agreeing to cede the title of Restares to Shallan if she solves that problem. It gets deeper though. If we assume that Shallan and Adolin travel together, similarly to Felt and his wife, we get a pretty cool bit of foreshadowing. If Dalinar Ascends, then Shallan and Adolin could be considered "Sons" of Honor. This is a direct parallel to the Ghostbloods being representatives of a Cognitive Shadow. They already have the former contacts of the organization, and could pretty easily take control of the organization, and restore some of the honor to the Sons of Honor. 

I am aware of the big problem that people seem convinced that Adolin is doomed in the next book. I don't think that really hurts this theory too bad, other than the cool Son of Honor connection. 

This is my first post, so please give me some feedback and let me know what you think

 

[mathiau]

The Diagram has been dissolved

[Humble_Knight]

 

11 hours ago, mathiau said:

The Diagram has been dissolved

Yes it has, but a god who wants to make strides in manipulating the Cosmere, has good reason to have a secret society. He mostly dissolved it to protect the members who remained and because he expected to die. But a resurgent Diagram ran by Fused Blackthorn sounds like a really cool antagonist for the back half. 

That said, I haven't spent enough time thinking about the Diagram and I wanted to share my idea of a new Sons of Honor

[+Oltux72]

I am afraid I don't see the basic premise. The queen of Alethkar knows about worldhopping, the heads of most orders of Knights Radiant know about worldhopping, a high prince knows about worldhopping. Why would there be a relation between secret societies and worldhopping? As far as Roshar is concerned the secret is no longer secret. Granted it is not something the average peasant knows about, but the knowledge is spread too far among the educated and people of power to contain it.

For now they have other problems, but unless something truly catastrophic will happen in the very near future on Roshar, I cannot see how they would not try to officially make contact with other worlds, trade and gather intelligence in the medium term future. In fact I guess Jasnah will, if she survives the war build something like a diplomatic and exploratory corps. She now knows about Thaidakar. She is not one to ignore such threats. Neither would Navani or Adolin or Queen Fen.

Many ardents have been in Shadesmar. Some of those Radiants and people on the expedition to the Honorspren have seen a lot. They will talk to worldhoppers. House Sadeas had bureaucrats and officers. They all know something. All the monarchs know about the expedition. And the other Rosharans know how to run spy networks. This milk is spilled. There will be official research into other worlds and worldhopping. For the Knights Radiant Shallan is the obvious option for leading such a project.

[Honorless]

I think it won't just be a Shallan thing. That secretive part of her character will eventually be overcome by her, RoW already seems like a big step. I think there will be a more united approach to the broader Cosmere from the Coalition, things seem to be setting up that way.

Also, somebody please just explain it all to Kaladin straight. My man has all the pieces and he still goes "Shinovar?", it makes me weep!