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Hoid was there when Taln showed up at the end of TWoK. He must have had something to do with hiding the blade before someone took advantage of Taln's madness and stole it. Where the other shardblade came from is anyone's guess, but it's definitely not an honorblade. I do think Hoid probably had something to do with that, too.

I never thought of that! Those stamps would probably hold really, really well. Then again, maybe there would be dissonance between the metalminds and the host, since you didn't actually spend any time filling them, and that would make them not sync up with you properly. Personally I'd want to be Mistborn. If I had to just be a Misting, I think I'd want to be a coinshot. If I was Twinborn, I'd be really tempted go with double gold, even though there are probably other combinations that would be cooler.

A question related to this one is whether whoever shattered Adonalsium knew specifically what the shattering would do. Like, did they know what the shards would be--Honor, Ruin, Endowment, etc? I would guess that they did not, and it wasn't clear to them what the parts of Adonalsium's whole would be before the shattering. If my guess is accurate, then I would say that at least some of the original Shardholders were drawn to the Shard that most matched their personality (or soul or whatever) but didn't choose in the sense that they said, "Oo! I want Odium!" It could be that this happened with all of them, or maybe one faction shattered Adonalsium, taking the Shards they felt drawn to, and the rest were snatched up by an opposing faction trying to limit their opponents' power. The latter possibility would explain why a nice guy like Ati would end up with Ruin, if he was on the other side from those who shattered Adonalsium. Of course, the former is still a possibility. Sanderson has said that Ruin is more like Cultivation than Odium. Ruin could have matched Ati's disposition quite well, but millenia on the same planet with a Shard directly opposing his will twisted his personality. So, basically, I'm saying that while we don't have nearly enough information, my guess is that they sort of chose them but weren't fully aware of what they were choosing. And maybe some of them were grabbed blindly by people panicking about Adonalsium being shattered.

Well, I think we have to consider whether or not the Tranquiline Halls actually exist. While much of the mythology in the Cosmere has some basis in the truth, some of it does not or has at least been grossly misinterpreted. Assuming that the TH myth is one that is rooted in fact, Yolen is a reasonable basis for the story. If so, the original truth has probably been distorted almost beyond recognition. Surely, the Rosharan afterlife isn't really a bunch of warriors gathering to take back the Tranquiline Halls. Now, it is possible that Yolen has nothing to do with the legend. Odium is based in the Greater Roshar system, but he's not on the planet Roshar. There's a chance that he wasn't able to influence Roshar for some time, or that Honor was not originally based on Roshar. If that is the case, I think it's most likely that Braize is the original home of Honor, and that is where the TH mythology originates. Personally, I think that's probably what happened: Odium chased Honor from Braize to Roshar, taking over the planet and subsequently getting trapped there during the course of their conflict. That idea actually explains a number of things nicely. For one thing, when it is mentioned that Rayse is trapped in the system he is in, I at first thought it meant something like a magic system. It's a lot simpler if the author just meant the solar system. It also explains why there seem to be two different ecosystems on Roshar if one of them is extraterrestrial. And it explains why Odium was off on Sel, killing Aona and Skai. It seems odd, with his homeworld right next to another two Shards. But if Braize wasn't his homeworld, and he only got stuck there after he attacked Honor, everything makes more sense.

I think the Shardpools only are going to be involved in worldhopping if the Shard can bestow transportation powers. One of the ones on Sel can, and Transportation is one of the surges on Roshar. On Scadrial, there is no such power in their magic system, so the Shardpool wouldn't be any help with worldhopping. It seems most likely that Shardpools can help facilitate worldhopping, but they are not necessary.

Maybe there's no Ars Arcanum for Elantris because there was no need for one. The book tells us that there is plenty of written material about Aons on Sel; whereas, on the other worlds, people are either very secretive about magic or just don't understand it very well. Also, the author of the Ars Arcanum may be from Sel. (S)he definitely knows a lot about the magic there. The Alloy of Law AA mentions that hemallurgy could be useful on Sel (I guess because you could put a spike through an Elantrian without killing them). A less interesting reason that Elantris lacks an AA could be that Sanderson just hadn't gotten the idea to include them in his books yet. It was his first published novel, after all.

I'm sure that Rock's story was accurate, but I think he just happened to be there when Hoid showed up on Roshar (presumably for the first time, since he apparently had yet to find out that he would need to dye his hair in order to fit in). I don't know that he has any special knowledge, beyond what he knows from his ability to see spren that others cannot. But maybe. I think his idea that Hoid would not hurt him comes from legends of their Lunu'anaki, not necessarily from anything he knows. Does anyone remember if he mentions that Hoid's appearance matched his legends? I got the idea that he just assumed that someone with an unnatural hair color showing up from what is likely a Shardpool had to be one of his gods. Then again, maybe their legends are based on previous visits from world hoppers. I don't have the book in front of me, and I'd have to re-read that section to be sure that Lunu'anaki is the name of a particular god in their mythology. If so, Rock probably does know something, but I imagine that it's not that Hoid can't hurt people; he just isn't supposed to.

Well, if my hypothesis is correct, and Baxil's mistress is both Shalash and Khriss, then White Sand happens a LONG time before most of the other books. She would have to have since learned a ton about the Cosmere, been roped into the Oathpact, and been running around Roshar (or maybe some other Shardworlds) for a number of centuries.

Oh, man! I think she's Baxil's mistress! He says she looks Makabaki but has Shen-like eyes, and I don't think . I know everyone thinks she's Shalash, but could she be both? Her full name is Khrissalla, which could easily be corrupted to Shalash, especially by a culture that wants symmetry in their names.