Chaos

I think the back symbols are related to Voidbinding, but we don't know enough (anything at all, really) to say what they mean.

Wouldn't the power of creation, more generally speaking, be the power of Adonalsium itself? Also, I completely didn't know the Skaze were mentioned in an annotation. That makes me feel better about talking about it.

The Seventeenth Shard--in the novels--is a group of world-hoppers. They are mentioned in the Way of Kings, but we don't know much about them, really. Brandon suggested to us that we name the site after them instead of Hoid, and I think it fits much better. ((I'd write a comprehensive article on the cosmere, but I don't have time to do so yet))

Well, I know why I think that is Tee hee. But come on. Some reviews of Way of Kings complain that the characters are too noble all the time. I can't seriously consider anything about Hoid otherwise without significant evidence on that side. Are you sure Alavanta is a name? Could just be the first word of the sentence, and does not need to be a name.

Cultivation is the name of the Shard. We don't know the name of the person holding it, however. The second Shard is Odium. It is held by Rayse. The third Shard, we don't know the name of, nor of who holds it, but its pretty obvious that the Almighty that Dalinar talks to is a Shard, which was killed in the same manner as Skai and Aona in Elantris.

Session Verification Error. Log yourself in permanently and you'll run into it like a day.

Okay, are you all fed up with the Session Verification Errors? I know I am! As such, I'm going to do some stuff this weekend and see if it's the skin's fault. At the very least that main_below() template should be back (Maybe). You'll be able to use the forums just like normal, but they may look ugly for a while. Rest assured, by next Monday, everything will be back to normal, and quite possibly error free! Maybe. It's good that I sound so confident, right?

Yeah, the hardback is too pretty to deface. The staff is Rubix (Josh), firstRainbowRose (Mi'chelle), Shivertongue (Will), Ryan, and I. [Note to Josh, has Chris even registered here yet? What a slacker ] Our getting of ARCs is independent of being on the staff of this site. No i know, I just want to know how one persues staffdom. If you'll fix the session timeout bug in this here forum, I'd take you. (Seriously. I had to delete cookies twice just to make this post. Frickin' Eric. ;D) Joking aside, I'm afraid staffdom is by invitation only. You have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is what happened to me. V_V Yeah... One solution is to not have it logged in permanently. I've just been logged in at 60 minutes intervals and it's worked well. But, enough rationalization: it's totally my fault. I must have done something wonky with the skin. I need to post soon that I will do forum maintenance this weekend to see if I can fix it. The forums should work fine, but I'll need to switch to an ugly skin to run a few tests. Fracking forums. Invisionfree was never this problematic On the subject of staff members, I'm pretty sure the next staff we'll need would be helpers/moderators on the Wiki, so look for that. I break forums. It's like my Talent. Or, I just theorize a lot This way I can pretend it's a job, right? "Cultivating community" counts as work.

Holy crap, you're right. I thought it was a strong case, but a case with the precise word like that... it's indisputable. That settles it. There is no more questioning. Members of the Seventeenth Shard are from Sel, and have come to Roshar. I also want to believe they are Raoden and Galladon, but that might be wrong. My fingers are crossed. But are they from Sel? Absolutely.

The letter recipient isn't necessarily the leader of the Seventeenth Shard. He could simply be an ally to them. If these are in fact people from Sel, which I find likely, then they probably found evidence of Odium's influence on Sel and decided to do something about it. The letter recipient's policy is nonintervention, not necessarily the Seventeenth Shard's.

((I moved this topic to General Theories because of both Stormlight Archive and Mistborn spoilers. Sorry, it's kind of vague what forums things should go. Basically, multi-world stuff should probably go here)) You kind of just blew my mind there. I'm not totally sure. There needs to be meditation on the subject. At the very least, if Shardblades were of Odium, it would fit with the idea that humanity enslaves things. I'm uncertain whether the Shardblades are in fact of Odium. Why would the Almighty want so badly for Dalinar to "return to men the Shards they once bore" if they were tools of the enemy? I like to think that Dalinar's visions come from a reliable source. If they were Odium in disguise, I really don't see any way that Odium could ever be defeated. He would just be too powerful. Let's suggest for a second that the spren are of Cultivation. I think this is reasonable--spren are "cultivated" where there are strong emotions, etc. around. Syl might just be reacting that the Shardblades are not of the same Shard as spren. The Shardblades, while destructive, don't have to be of Odium. If they were of Odium, and the Voidbringers and whatever monsters lived during the Desolations, why would the Almighty give the Heralds Dawnblades and the Knights Radiant Shardblades? Unless the Dawnblades are of the Almighty, and the Shardblades are of Odium. I'm not convinced yet.

Excellent The more theorizers, the better! Good to have you here.

The word splintered here evokes an important image. The Elantrians and their use of AonDor have always seemed like WAY more powerful then any of the other magic systems ie. an Awakener or a Mistborn. Is it possible that the Elantrians don't just tap into the Dor but are infused with splinters themselves of the Shard? Certainly, we don't know the Shaod works. This is quite possible.

This is a valid point. Now that I posted my theory about how the Seventeenth Shard are separate from the letter writer and its recipient, I believe you are right. The members of the Seventeenth Shard are not required to be immortal. The missive-writer and its recipient, however, are definitely immortal in some manner.

As for the name being "Theory", yeah, I know, it's not scientifically accurate. Alas. I think we'll live. Yet, as for the theory itself, I, um... I can't comment. Not because I have all the answers, because I sure as heck don't. But I did read one of his unpublished novels which goes into detail about Realmatic Theory, certainly a lot more than we've seen before. And I don't feel right divulging such things. Just know that I don't really know very much. This guess is as good as any. I can, however, comment on Adonalsium, because that wasn't mentioned in the aforementioned unpublished thing I referred to. I'm just as in the dark as you all. Okay. The real question is, does primordial Adonalsium pre-Shattering have a Cognitive aspect? It would be certainly logical for it to. Unless, of course, Adonalsium as a whole is just a manifestation of power, without a mind. I don't know. I'm just rambling now. (I do that a lot, for future notice)

Okay, let's assume two things here, that haven't been falsified yet: 1. Hoid wrote the letter in Way of Kings 2. Elantrians or someone from Sel is on Roshar looking for Hoid Given those two hypotheses, this has a curious consequence. Follow me here. If Elantrians are on Roshar, looking for Hoid, this means that some Elantrians make up the Seventeenth Shard. Perhaps exclusively populated by Elantrians; doesn't really matter. Either way, this means the Seventeenth Shard's members are much, much younger than Hoid and whoever he is talking to. After all, Hoid was there when Adonalsium was shattered. People like Raoden, obviously, weren't. So, this means that Hoid and some other person, separate from the Seventeenth Shard, but friends of them, know who Ati, Rayse, Bavadin, and these other Shardholders are. But the Seventeenth Shard might not have this knowledge. Certainly, this would makes sense. If the Seventeenth Shard don't have this knowledge (probably because of the letter's addressee's policy of nonintervention), then they can't help but be misguided. Thoughts? The real question, perhaps, is who Hoid's letter is addressed to.

LOL. That's a very valid point. The argument continues on TWG, which now I'm just blatantly copying. I'm citing sources, that makes that okay, right? By the way, the link is http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=7788.60 Happyman's awesome response:

That's an interesting way to put it. For certain, Aona is responsible for creating Aons as a focus for that power. Perhaps it just became the Dor after Odium Splintered Aona and Skai, and what we are seeing as one unifying force has many different aspects.

Indeed. And, analyzing the writing style, I don't know if it sounds Hoid enough. Remember how important writing style was to discovering who the Hero of Ages was? Brandon sure pays attention to it. This doesn't scream like it was written by Hoid to me. But, I still think it's written by Hoid, since the logic makes sense too much. If I'm in a rationalizing mood (like most days), I'd say that he simply sounds dire because he's in dire straights. That rationalization does sound a little weak, however.

Yes, Skai is directly mentioned in the epigraphs, in relation to Sel. So, Aona and Skai are both on Sel. I certainly think Aona is related to AonDor, like you do, because that's way too coincidental, like atium and Ati. I don't see how anyone could say that she's not

I, for one, have always believed Hoid to be the one who wrote the letter (the epigraphs in Part Two of Way of Kings). Happyman, over at TWG, rigorously described his rationale on the subject, so I thought I'd share it with you to analyze. It was made as response to this comment, from Munin: Thoughts? I think the logic is fairly sound.

I'd imagine that whoever he is talking to was never a Shard. At first, I thought the letter's recipient was perhaps a 17th Shard member, but now I'm not sure. But yeah, I'd put money on it that neither the letter writer or the recipient are Shardholders.

It's pretty clear, if you look at all the epigraphs of Way of Kings, that there are sixteen Shards overall. "Three of the sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns" being the most pertinent.

Yeah, the hardback is too pretty to deface. The staff is Rubix (Josh), firstRainbowRose (Mi'chelle), Shivertongue (Will), Ryan, and I. [Note to Josh, has Chris even registered here yet? What a slacker ] Our getting of ARCs is independent of being on the staff of this site.

Hum, maybe? Certainly, it doesn't need to be something which binds Odium. The epigraphs do not suggest that. It is also possible that Hoid (I'm assuming he wrote those epigraphs) stole something else, and the 17th Shard are trying to get it back. Lerasium could fit the bill.