Chaos

I very nearly did a spit-take from this.

I believe you are right. Many animals' Cognitive aspects are probably fairly effective, and if you give them a tool, they will use it.

Been searching the Hero of Ages spoiler thread, and found the reference. It appears it is not in the book or annotations themselves, but simply because of a cryptic comment Peter posted. To wit: http://twg.17thshard.com/index.php?topic=6655.msg163027#msg163027 I mean, in the reading of Well of Ascension's ending, it doesn't say there isn't more lerasium, but I find it suspicious Sazed didn't mention it in the Hero of Ages epigraphs. He references the one Elend ate, but you'd think if there was a second bead, someone would have mentioned it. Kind of important. But I guess Peter is essentially Word of God

Can you super-Soothe an Inquisitor? Did the Lord Ruler control the Inquisitors in this way?

I vaguely recall talk somewhere on TWG about another extra bead of lerasium, in addition to the one Elend gets. I remember being confused where people got the idea there was an additional one, and today I couldn't find a reference to a second bead. Can anyone illuminate this?

Sure thing. It was part of the 17th Shard interview with Brandon. The full interview is here: And if you didn't know there's the massive Brandonothology which has everything: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ipqNXbkWKALSs8-O5m2XRLW5gxPDKFaI72l9imF-DWs/edit?hl=en_US But you probably knew that already.

Well, see, MindCanaries, each order of Knights Radiant get two Surges. Windrunners (Kaladin) gets Gravity and Atmospheric Pressure. I think there's evidence of some variation with Shallan and Jasnah. Shallan has the Memories, which seem like they could be magical, and Jasnah had that bolt of lightning, and it was said that Soulcasting requires touch. Those could be related to their other Surges.

http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/1012/THE-WAY-OF-KINGS-interior-illustrations-now-uploaded This is really cool, you guys should all check it out. A couple things I've noticed. The Alethi War Camps picture has the list of the Highprinces. Yay wiki stuff! More interesting for theorizing is the fact that the map of Kharbranth has the "evil" symbols from the rear bookend at its corners. I wonder what that's implying?

I'm pretty the steel alphabet symbols are the actual writing symbols they use on Scadrial, too.

Thucydides, you reference a major issue with the main theory. In my mind it's the "regeneration problem." I don't agree with your alternative explanation, probably because I don't agree with the Power of Creation paradigm. However, that theory does have the benefit of dealing with the regeneration problem more intuitively than anything I am saying. It's a deep concern to me, absolutely. However, that comment about it in the original topic was sort of a random musing, rather than a firm sentiment, so hopefully I can persuade for you to come back I intend to treat the regeneration problem in more detail once I mull it over a lot. So! Aside from that major issue, I've wanted to try and do things to verify the Principle of Intent, because it's becoming more and more important to a lot of theorizing. So I asked this: (Note, you already know what I think about this incongruity: this theory was designed to explain that. This was just the way of phrasing the question in a consistent manner) He sort of split the answer, but here it is: Here are a couple of things that can expand our understanding of the Shards, but the bolded part is especially useful for the Principle of Intent, because I essentially said that on the first page. Brandon's words solidify the Principle more soundly. The method which magic is obtained is directly related with a Shard's (or Shards') intent. Which really sounds a lot like how Surgebinding works, since you need that honorable "bond" to make Surgebinding work. That fits with this idea exactly, which I had said on the original post, essentially. Okay. I didn't mean to brag there, though I am pretty dang excited about this. The Principle of Intent topic needs to be revised and streamlined, but with this quote, I think we can say that its basic idea--the core of the theory--is fact. That quote does have other interesting things about Shards' intents, which are very useful clarifications for greater cosmere theories. I'd rant about it, but I'll mull it over for a little while.

We don't know much of Realmatics, so it's hard to say, but I'll try to explain. Saying that an animal has a soul is imprecise, and too strong of a word. But a bear would have a Spiritual aspect, just like humans, and just like goblets. In fact, the predominant idea is that everything has a Physical, Cognitive, and a Spiritual aspect. Some are just weaker than others. I think Kerry said it best here, though she didn't know it: Exactly. You can give someone the Hemalurgic "hack" which gives yourself the Spiritual DNA to use Allomancy. Now a bear has the correct Spiritual aspect to enable Allomancy (or Feruchemy), and in the cool Physical aspect of a bear. But you need that last component of a Cognitive aspect to activate the powers. Sometimes it is instinctual, so I'm sure a bear can use some of the powers, but it wouldn't be so effective. In fact, I asked Brandon if an Allomancer was turned into a koloss, would it retain his powers, and this is what he said (note, this is actually a different Joe from the U.K. than Joe_ST): Whether they know how to use it. In this case, the Hemalurgy is distorting both the Physical and Cognitive aspects. I think, if you worked really hard, you may be able to enhance an animal's Cognitive aspect to use the Metallic Arts more extensively--I don't know if you could use Human Mental Fortitude to manipulate this, but maybe if you worked really hard... That Cognitive aspect is important. In the case of koloss, it's that their minds have been twisted, and in the case of animals, they didn't have enough of a Cognitive aspect to begin with.

So, I'm horribly late, and I don't have time to submit. Someone else can take my spot, but it's kind of Thursday already...

I fully support the idea that Sazed is involved with the Seventeenth Shard, but I'm not certain he is the recipient of the letter. Well Kerry, of course it has to do with Adonalsium What doesn't? I think it's interesting that Brandon said "time dilation" techniques, rather than what I had thought, which was Hoid actually jumping through time. This seems more reasonable. I mean, we have cadmium and bendalloy, after all.

Zas, you should recache. I think we've fixed that padding problem.

Yeah, as I reread, I was definitely too harsh. But I think my issue with the theory, darniil, is that if the Shard intents are not merging, I don't understand exactly what you are implying. It's like you're saying that Adonalsium is coming back together, but in a vague sort of way. As such, I don't think it does anything more than the canonical description of Sazed: two distinct Shards, connected by one mind (Sazed).

This excites me that we have a confirmation. I was not expecting that.

I got an account and I'm trying to delve through a couple. Trying to keep it succinct, though.

Well, ctrl+C and ctrl+V are actually hotkeys on my mouse, so I use the keystrokes a ton.

Like, if their intents are not changing, what exactly is happening with Ruin and Preservation? That's my thing. Because if their intents are separate, under my conceptions and theoretical understanding, the powers are totally separate and not really "merged." EDIT: I like Kerry's idea, the semantics are derailing us. No more using the word "merge."

I have to agree with Kerry, I'm not entirely sure what we're even talking about. Arguing yes, and we're surely contributing. But I don't understand what your original point was. Sazed is reforming Adonalsium... kind of? But Ruin and Preservation still hold their separate intents? There has certainly been some miscommunication. How are they being "merged." I'd like this to be a lot more concrete, because I'm getting conflicting signals to what precisely you are saying. What do you mean by that they "merged"? (And on a personal note, I do know Kerry is studying linguistics... so I would say that language is her area of expertise. She probably knows what she is talking about regarding that...)

Yes, but we know a lot of the rules. The Shards are joined to Sazed, but the Shards are not themselves joined. And since the Shards are not themselves joined, you can describe everything here not as "merging." It's rather sloppy language, because the two intents would remain separate. The question of the two separate intents on Sazed's mind is a more interesting question, but I think it is more intuitive to characterize the composite as having two components, Ruin and Preservation, because those are the things that actually exist. EDIT: And as I've said before, I don't think it is going to be so easy to fix Adonalsium.

I read the blog. I don't care for the ribbon, but you don't have to use the ribbon if you don't want to, it seems. I know I probably won't. But let's look at some of the non-ribbon things they are doing: more customization, and being able to see more files (even with the ribbon, so imagine if it was off!). Not the end of the world, especially if they give you options to remove or collapse the ribbon. This isn't a big deal.

That is an unfortunate typographical issue regarding the hardback. It was supposed to be Adonalsium.

That's not what I am saying at all. I am suggesting that no matter what becomes of Sazed, the Shards of Ruin and Preservation--their base intents--have not changed at all. Calling the whole entity Harmony does not change the fact that those intents are there. Calling the whole system Harmony, at that point, is purely a matter of semantics. You can call it whatever you want, and it does not matter. The two Shards are separated by that intent, always. Sazed can hold two Shards just fine. That deals with Sazed's Cognitive aspect, and how it relates to a Shard's power (presumably, Spiritual power). Just because he holds two Shards does not change the fact that there are two opposing intents there. And that's the thing. Intents are what distinguish a Shard, in my mind, so any implication that the Shards have "merged" suggests, in my mind, that the two separate powers have become one power. If they are of one power, they will be of one intent. But Ruin and Preservation's power has not merged in this way. Does that make sense?

Yes. They are distinct. Very distinct. Nor do I find a reason why that should change. Am I misinterpreting what this is saying? Because if they do not merge at all, ever, this theory does nothing.