Fifth of Daybreak

I found another one. Chapter 1 Santhid, Yalb: EDIT: Changed "gian" to "giant."

So in Jasnah's prologue, I found an interesting little tidbit that Brandon did his sneaky "I'll mention this is passing to make it seem like it's not important" trick on. It's right after her shadows are playing with her the first time on screen. Jasnah's other experiences? So what kind of experiences would Jasnah have had? The closest we know to other supernatural happenings around Jasnah is Dalinar visiting the Nightwatcher. This theory is pure conjecture, but I would have to assume that the statement here references that event. Otherwise I have no idea what experiences this would be pointing to. Then again, there's the book Shallan is reading in Chapter 3: Pattern. So this snippet leaves me with a few questions. First off, I'm making it a rule to pay attention to every question Shallan asks. They always seem to be important and insightful (and usually aren't answered.) If it was one of the earliest works Jasnah published, then I would have to assume that she wrote and published it before her foray into Shadesmar, so what made her want to study it and the KR? If that's the case, did she not want Shallan to read it because she had learned some information is false? Does it maybe hold the information about Jasnah's "other experiences?" The other in universe book we know of Jasnah writing is about gender roles in the modern Rosharian society, which seems much more to Jasnah's character considering her thoughts on marriage and the subject. This book was read by Shallan a year and a half ago (Chapter 65 The One Who Deserves It.) Now granted, we don't know when this book was published, but considering that her experience in Shadesmar was 6 years ago, and this was available to read, most likely widely available, I assume that it has been released for quite some time, but not overly old. So if the book on Shadesmar is one of the first published pieces, why the sudden topic change either from gender roles to superstitions, or superstition to gender roles? These other experiences that Jasnah had seem very important to me, maybe they are the base that allowed Ivory to bond with her? What else does anyone supposed it could be, it not Dalinar's run in with the Nightwatcher. Jasnah seems like she'd be astute enough to recognize Dalinar's discrepancies relating to his wife, and the superstitions surrounding the old magic seem to be the ones that are the most verifiable, especially for Jasnah. Later on in Chapter three during Jasnah's discussion with Shallan, they are talking about the Stormfather and the Almighty: So Jasnah admits that the Almighty and the Stormfather might be real, might be a powerful spren. Might be a powerful spren such as the Nightwatcher. Jasnah all but admits that the Nightwatcher is proven to be real. For a skeptic like Jasnah, I wouldn't expect this idea to be presented without Jasnah being completely sure. Anyone else have any theories on what Jasnah could have experienced before that confirmed some superstitions were based on fact? EDIT: Added third quote.

There has been so many sticknanigans on the other threads. I'm so proud of you guys.

I really think this is the key here, and personally, I think it leads to a Dalinar/Kaladin showdown, with Kaladin as Odium's champion. The problem with Kaladin, is that he already almost killed Syl, and it was even because of his biggest problem. He was already killing her with his thoughts of Amaram, and those haven't been resolved in any way. Kaladin's not going to just accept an apology. So Kaladin goes to attack Amaram, and in doing so, Syl dies. This cracks Kaladin, and instead of hating Amaram, he hates himself. Amaram at this point has also been corrupted, and is working for Odium. There's no way the Sons of Honor will end up serving Honor. "All is withdrawn for me." Syl is gone. He was probably violating direct orders to go after Amaram, he can't return to Urithiru. Kaladin's hate for himself is immense at this point. He already had killed Syl once, and doing it a second time, losing the last perspren (pun) he hadn't betrayed or let down, he loathes himself. He doesn't revert back to the chasm Kaladin, he goes full the other direction, and fills himself with hate. He's lost his connection to Honor, and he holds the corpse of his last friend. Odium then corrupts him through Amaram. He's standing against Dalinar, which even could be referencing him as their leader, and not the champion, who saved his life from Sadeas. "I protect the one who killed my promises." Amaram literally killed his promises. He promised to keep his men alive, to keep Tien alive. Amaram gave Tien over to be sacrificed, he killed his men for the shards. Each one of those deaths is a promise Kaladin made, that Amaram killed, and now Kaladin is fighting for Amaram's side. Kaladin owns the sky. I think he will own the Everstorm too.

It could be a Highspren. When Jasnah returns to the physical realm, she seems battered and battle hardened, and we know she had contact with them, and asked them for information. I think it stands to reason that the Highspren would most likely be the warriors of the cognitive realm. Maybe Ivory was in crowd of spren, and finalized the decision to bond with her based on how the encounter went. Ivory could have been anonymously bonded, without the other spren knowing, or perhaps, the Highspren found out and forced the encounter. Afterwards, Ivory escapes into the physical realm, and begins to bond with Jasnah in full. This could explain the encounter, with Ivory being present in the background, and satisfy the sliver of information we get about Ivory.

What if the Honorblade didn't just kill the soul, but drained the innate spark of life investiture, sort of like Breath. The blades weren't originally intended to be used to massacre hundreds of men, and the combination of the stormlight cracking Szeth to let itself in, also made way for the souls of the ones he killed. That's why ordinary shardbearers don't hear the screams of the ones they've killed (not spren screams,) because they don't have cracks in their souls to absorb them as the soul is severed. I've thought that maybe that could be used to power Nightblood, but WoB seem to point towards Stormlight being the fuel for it. It does seem like Szeth would have a rather large amount of Breath equivalent to spare if that were the case though. He's killed a lot of people.

I remember. I was in Medic School at the time, on my last semester. I was on the last 300 of 1000 hours of clinical work I was paying to do, and my program was less than stellar to put things mildly, so after a year of that, I was on my last legs. Thankfully the last semester was only ambulance time, and no classroom, and I found a great fire department that didn't care if I read books all day. So I read through Name of the Wind on a friends suggestion, then bought A Wise Man's Fear and finished that up as well. So I bought and reread the Redemption of Althalus, and then I was stumped. So 6:00 in the morning, I'm up, ready to leave, and moping about not having a book to write, and being bored of my kindle games. So I looked through the kindle bookstore, and front and center was Mistborn. I stopped, and just stared at the cover. I bought it, on a whim. Now at the time, I was pretty destitute, so every dollar counted. I was working two jobs immediately before that, but I had to cut down to working once every two weeks so I could do about 70 hours a week in ambulance ride time for 3 months. I didn't usually just whimsy away money like that, but, I could just tell. The cover was just so striking, especially with the title. The mistcloak is really what sold me on it, but it was also like the book was trying to talk to me. So I read it. No...I devoured it. And Well of Ascension, and Hero of Ages. I remember driving out to Mcdonald's to use the WiFi after I had cancelled my T.V. and internet, that way I could buy the other two. My mind exploded. In one trilogy, suddenly, Brandon Sanderson had jumped to the top of my favorite author list. Above Tolkien, above Rowling, above Orson Scott Card. Done. So I coasted out the rest of the semester reading his books, buying as many as I could, and getting the rest from the library. I had to pull myself away to study for my upcoming certification exam, but really, after the toughest year and a half in my life, being able to read for pleasure again, and then discovering Brandon Sanderson on my own, not a recommendation, but just listening to my intuition, I found an escape, a hideaway from the horror that was that particular program. That's how I found Brandon Sanderson. Like Hoid finds novel worthy plot lines, Mistborn found me right when I needed it.

The color metaphors, he can sense life around him, he plays the sphere game, he used to hear a voice in his head, he's cosmwre aware (talking about storms being invested,) and a lot of the training he does witg Kaladin he uses tricks to get the advantage. All these signs and probably more point to him being Vasher in WoR. We have WoB to confirm.

Maybe the same intelligence compassion mismatch that applies to King T applies to the Listeners. They get the ambition to want forms of power, but lack the compassion to keep it in check.

I think that there is definitely some sort of Odium Godspren, but I doubt that it is bondable. In Chapter 32 The One Who Hates: Kaladin is having a vision at this point, so can we assume that communication from/with the Stormfather is based in the Cognitive realm? If this is the case, the my theory is that the Everstorm is actually the Odium Godspren, but he had been trapped in the cognitive realm until the end of the events of WoR. From this quip we know that the storm is following Szeth and watching him, because that is what's coming. It would also make sense that he'd be closely following Szeth, as he was the most hateful being on Roshar at that point. Was the everstorm maybe trying to bond with Szeth? We know that it's difficult to impossible to bond to them, so that would explain why it couldn't bond, or even reach out to Szeth, and why it could with the Listeners since they are more closely attuned to the cognitive realm. So at the end of WoR, the Gospren has been plucked from the cognitive realm and moved into the physical, and now is forcing bonds with the Listeners because of the power of the spren. But I definitely can't agree with a Bondsmith being able to bond with an Odium Godspren. Edit: Added second quote.

Yalb-To flirt

I....why.....but....all the feels...

you make a good argument, I'll keep all this in mind during my next reread. I'm definitely not sure of where Nightblood's creation falls in the cosmere timeline.Edit: He only visibly invests the one time, so he doesn't seem to reliant on his powers, instead doong good old fashioned police work, whereas Szeth has been practicing non-stop for months. I definitely see Nalan being someone wise enough to give a weapon to someone under him who could better utilize it, so long as it helps serve his cause.

Unless Nightblood is the Skybreaker Honorblade, and grants access to the surges, which is what I'm getting at. I think we have WoB that says he would act like a spren on Roshar, and therefore would give access to the surges. I'm not saying Nightblood is invested or being used, I'm saying the bond would act like it does with Szeth's blade, and he would then have the ability to surgebind. Do you have any other theories on how he was investing if not with Nightblood?

How do you suppose he was investing the stormlight? He was glowing in the Lift interlude, and he was carrying Nightblood, most likely since Vasher no longer carried it, and he had a shardblade to kill Ym. Nightblood is too dangerous to leave anywhere without proper supervision, and he wouldn't have entrusted it to any of his underlings. Really, do we have any reason to believe he wouldn't use Nightblood? Agree to disagree then on the second point.

That still doesn't account for Wyndle's statement. I also don't believe that we have any reason to believe that his emotions would be a symptom of his regression, it doesn't fit with his ideals. He mighy manipulate his emotions to serve that purpose, but I don't buy the theory that it just happened over time. None of the other heralds lost emotion. As for why he would use nightblood, he's a herald so he needs a shard to invest, which he did in Lift's chapter. He's also facing foes who can invest, so it makes sense to use a blade that feeds on investiture.

I think it's obvious the diagram means Hoid, but adding in the thought that it could be Mraize is what hints at him being a worldhopper.

I definitely agree with the Herald's becoming perversions of themselves theory, but I'm not sure that would be the reason he no longer has emotions. His defining attributes are Just/Confident. In fact, using our cultural ideas surrounding justice, being emotionless would actually only help him to achieve that goal (Justice is blind.) I also found a few snippets in Lift's section that can help support my cause: When Brandon repeats himself, I take care to listen. Especially in a world where eyes are incredibly important, having dead eyes really seems to be an important clue, especially with the old sentiment "the eyes are the windows into the soul." Along with Wyndle recognizing that something isn't right about him. If it was merely his ability to invest, I think Wyndle would have understood what that implicated, but I think Wyndle was sensing something more about him. I know that spren exist mostly in the cognitive realm, but I think it's safe to assume that they have some connection to the spiritual realm, and could sense that he is missing his soul.

I've had the same thought.

If there was anything that could make me more obsessed with the stick, this was it. The stick needs a perspective and a book!

Are we sure that without a soul there is no life. The way I interpreted the scene the fabrial revived Szeth after his soul had died, and was not reattached. So I guess I'm disagreeing with everyone on here. My conjecture is that Nalan had his soul removed by Nightblood, and the fabrial was used to revive him without a soul. He then waited until Szeth had a similar fate, not a physical death, but a spiritual death, and used the fabrial to revive him and possibly destroy Szeth's emotions as well. (In the scene, it never explicitly states that he is experiencing emotion, even if he is acting like he has them-possibly out of habit.) This would basically work as a vaccine for anyone who wants to hold Nightblood, as there is no longer anything for him to draw out of the person. Those are my thoughts. Any sources for this?

http://brandonsanderson.com/words-of-radiance-deleted-interlude-stick/ Rejoice fellow stickbinders! We have more words from the mouth of the Stick.

Time to throw in two more cents! I've enjoyed all the references to the hoed for Taln, and I really like that line of thinking. There's quite a few parallels here. Firstly, there's the repeating Hoed mantra, as been mentioned. After tthat, there's the possible option that the mantras were both caused by huge amounts of pain. Finally, the part that's been touched on briefly is how the hoed reacted to the aeons in the same way Taln reacted to Shallan's lightweaving. So let's get past me summing up everyone who agrees with me on the thread so far, and onto the meat of my theory. There's a WoB that states the spren's "death" is similar to the seon's madness. (I think the exact wording is something like "imagine it as a disease that is similar but caused by different bacteria.") Well, I think Taln might be affected by another "similar disease." The epigraph mentioned earlier referenced that could be Taln about the burden's of nine becoming his, which could be inferred to say that he is not only enduring the pain for himself, but the pain of all ten! That could certainly cause him to become hoed, but I think that's a little too simple. Take a look at this quote from WoK So that could mean that the Oathpact wasn't broken...yet. My thoery is that because he was still bonded to the Oathpact, when he finally left, that broke the Oathpact. I also assume that because he had to bear the burdens of all nine, that he could've had also assumed the bond of all nine as well. This would make his bond to the Oathpact nine times as powerful (I'll admit I don't know that much about the Oathpact, if I'm mussing up the facts, if someone could point me to a thread to learn more I'd appreciate it.) So after the other 9 had abondoned the Oathpact, he was left the only one bonded to it, and when he left from damnation, that shattered the Oathpact. This could be the event that helped shatter his mind, combined with all the torture. We assume that he's no longer bonded to the Honorblade, and from Szeth's last WoR appearance, we know that the spiritual bond to his blade needed to be broken for that to be the case. The shattering of the Oathpact severed his spiritual connection, and his mind, like how the spren lost their minds after their bonds with the bonded humans were broken. Reborn. With all of the ties severed, that could be interpreted as Szeth, and by association according to my theory, Taln, as being new people. They refer to themselves as their former lives, but they aren't the same. Especially Taln, whose spiritual and cognitive aspects have been shattered.

Hoid is the other person using Lightweaving, but it's not Rosharian Lightweaving. Hoid has a Lightweaving ability from his homeworld Yolen.

There are several clues that point towards Mraize being a worldhopper. The biggest one comes from Mr. T's diagram The trophies have been mentioned already. He also mentions learning to use "local" weapons, which I assume to mean Roharian weapons, especially after this snippet Shallan overhears from Mraize in chapter 55