The One Who Connects

The epigraphs say that others call them a monster. Nobody knows what Taravangian is doing yet, so nobody's calling him a monster yet. Same for Eshonai(there were the Parshendi that escaped, but Eshonai doesn't know if they're still alive or what they are calling her) Also, seeing the Stormfather pulls you into the CR a little bit(when Kaladin saw him in the Storm), so Eshonai has technically been between Realms. Taravangian is up for debate for what actually happened on the Day of Brilliance and the Day of Interpretation. Depends on how many Forms of Power there are. Several of the Listener Songs have dozens of Stanzas, and having only nine of those stanzas be forms of power seems a little low to me. Because they are so similar. Midnight essence and the imitations created by Re-Shephir are both smoky forms, that "bleed" smoke and seem to deflate. Midnight Essence imitate things around them, which Re-Shephir's creations do as well. The correlations are pretty extensive when you actually did into them. The number of Unmade is Fixed. I don't know how that will mess with your idea Stark, but it should mess with yours quite a bit Steel. Don't think it being lower elevation is enough. There are still walls blocking the Investiture. Futuresight? Perhaps Lightweaving has the inherent ability to see the future a little bit, and Renarin - for whatever reason - is simply better. Curses, woman, don't tell us about the two spren we've seen so much from! Tell us about the others! For the first, I've been entertaining the thought that one of Re-Shephir's imitations drew it. Shallan didn't remember drawing it, and Re-Shephir is interested in imitation. One of the imitations sat in the audience of the play Shallan put on, which isn't simply imitating murder. As for the second, Bondsmith Spren don't seem the type to have a "type" to draw, making me doubly curious about the tenth Spren image. I have. Others probably have too, but this thread shows that the bigger names are still more popular fan picks. Makes me wonder if Shallan is the "Mother of Lies" that the Chapter is named after. Following Sja-Anat being brought up in the "Taker of Secrets" chapter, I originally suspected the chapter was named after Re-Shephir. Now, however... I'm pretty sure Nazh has made a few drawings in addition to stealing some of Shallan's. There's also Navani's Notebook, just to pad some image-space. Both of you have been responded to on this subject quite a bit already, but nobody brought up another key point. The "how you do it is as important as what you do" is Teft's, and subsequently Kaladin's, interpretation of the First Oath. That is not the absolute interpretation of the Oath, not for every Order, nor even for every Windrunner. It is entirely possible to interpret the oath in a different way and still be eligible for Radiant-hood. I felt that the mass stockpile of gemstones was powering Re-Shephir's prison, preventing her from getting out. Stormlight drains eventually, and even though gems in Urithiru seem to drain slower, the Recreance was at least 2200 years ago, with Re-Shephir's imprisonment either at that time or even earlier. It seems reasonable that as the gems finally emptied, she was able to roam more freely. Re-Shephir has curiosity and an interest in imitation. I wouldn't be surprised if that was not intentionally "trying to bond" so much as trying to learn/understand. Shallan noted her "prodding" at the bond with Pattern. Trying to rip it away isn't so different from taking something apart to learn how it works, after all. I think the Unmade were around before the KR were, so I'm not a fan of them corresponding to the Orders. Corresponding to a Surge that an order primarily uses, maybe. Happy to see I'm not the only one who thought that was the Stormfather and Nightwatcher. Stormlight Archives Prelude is 6K years after the Shattering.[2] That "middle" line isn't really worded all that clearly, thus leading to this debate. All Three of you can check out my first attempted timeline construction if you want. Have a quote that what you're saying reminded me of: There is a Thread for those, and anyone can post in there. The Link is also in my Sig, in case you are perusing elsewhere and find another good one. As far as we know, the Heralds did not bond Spren at any point. And then there was this: Roshar has Fishbowls then. Is this new information that stuck out, or have we already known this and I'm just forgetful?

Callbacks to 2010 of all things. It wouldn't be too big a stretch to go from secret project to mystery project though.

Have a WoB: Since Chromium is the base metal, they'd have a heck of a time making Nicrosil without it.

Miles doesn't have to open his mouth at all. He can just hold his breath and let the gold heal damage from lack of oxygen(something I believe he did at one point.)

The Past has several.

We were saying that even if Adonalsium created Yolen, he did not specifically create Hoid and the Vessels. They were most likely born several generations after Adonalsium created the people of Yolen(as we assume he did) Whether he created the actual first forms of life is up for debate, but that wasn't the question you were asking.

Endowment interrupts their trek towards the Beyond to give them the choice to Return. I don't see any reason why she can't just stop them again. Now whether there would be enough of them left to accept her offer is another debate. Endowment. (But I know what you meant.) And I'd have to say it depends on a few factors, all of which stem from Endowment's Judgement: If Endowment can see the visions she shows the Returned, then it's up to her on how important that that future comes to pass. If she wants/needs that future to occur, then it's up to her judgement on whether another being could accomplish it or if it must be that person.

Divine Breath are splinters of Endowment, who is not dead. The Unmade are splinters of Odium, who is not dead. As for the actual full-on splintering, um.. ish? As mentioned by DroughtBringer, not all of the vessels are/were human. Additionally, consider that Spren are Investiture that has gained sentience of its own(no vessel), and there is nothing preventing a Shard from doing the same. It's less likely, but still possible for a Shard to be sentient without a vessel. Of note, a Shard without a vessel can splinter on its own, without any outside influence. So as for how splintering happens, I think the lack of a mind holding it together is the big deal. A Shard attacking it might be able to disrupt it faster by putting extra strain on it, but I'm not sure if attacking it is the actual cause of splintering. A Shard attacking another Shard might prevent it from attaining sentience/new vessel, but what I think really kills it is the lack of a mind holding the pieces together.

near as I can tell, there aren't any. Kurkistan and Argent got too interested with Bendalloy Allomancy(Speed Bubbles), so we never actually asked any Feruchemical questions about it

I could provide the "no longer human" WoB, but that one isn't as definitive as we once thought. On second thought, have it anyway, for completeness.

Information Gathering. Possibly even the same reason we wanted them(Harakeke's translation guide). Consider her actions: She had Nazh recover Shallan's notebook from the bottom of the ocean, and we got the page with drawings of Pattern. She made him nick a scroll on some of the Alethi Combat Stances. Nazh grabbed the Everstorm-Highstorm artwork and Ketek from Navani's notebook. He's done a few maps, Sel, Elantris specifically and possibly also Elendel. Khriss writes the Ars Arcanum, and asks Wax about his powers relating to physics. She wants information of all kinds, without any specific overarching themes, probably for an overall compendium. I present to you: Khrissalla, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Cosmere.

It's a good thing we have character viewpoints who deal with both sides of the change. Makes it a little more understandable to the general audience. The book provides a couple opportunities to have that comparison in quick succession as well. (Vivenna and Parlin exploring Hallandren, Lightsong and Llarimar looking at the painting)

Adonalsium may have created Yolen and all the people on it, but I don't think he directly created Hoid's generation of people. Adonalsium created several planets, including but not limited to Roshar. Yolen and Nalthis had humans on them pre-shattering. While Adonalsium was doing that, I think Yolen and the people on it existed for quite a while before Hoid and the Vessels were actually born. So I guess it would be a question of semantics: Ruin and Preservation created the first people on Scadrial, but does that mean that they "created" the current generation? The same applies here. In Books 1 and 2.. I don't believe so. We have a WoB that we will know what the Sphere is by the end of Book 3, so there's that. Nohadon mentions Surgebinders. Surgebinders came into existence because Spren tried to imitate the Heralds. At the absolute earliest, Nohadon was alive for the Second Desolation. The Heralds fought off the First Desolation, which would've been a minimum of about 350 years prior(by my estimates). So the Heralds predate Nohadon by at least 3 centuries, possibly more if he was in a later Desolation. Nope. The only things that are canon about him are written on that page of the book. Brandon has given us nothing more, nothing less.

Wax and Wayne was originally going to be 1.5, but Brandon changed it to era 2 since the books have a lot of cosmere relevant stuff in them. Confusion and Consistency are behind this one. And from State of the Sanderson 2016

Take care with what you assume. I see no reason why their extraterrestrial origins would prevent them from being displayed. Take Shallan's account of the items. She expresses curiosity, and in some cases confusion, but not suspicion. I think it's perfectly reasonable for Mraize to display trophies from other worlds because of the concept of significance. We as normal humans hold random items as dear to us(a lover's letter, an ancestor's jewelry, random nick-knacks, etc..), but unless you know why the item is significant, it means nothing. This applies to nearly all of Mraize's collector's edition items. The knife could easily be an family heirloom or a trophy of combat. The lock of hair could be what's left of a lost love, or a trophy of combat(like an animal pelt). The flower is rare(as nobody recognizes it) and will be assumed to have value in the difficulty of acquiring it(or it could be a lover's favorite, like the Marewill flowers were for Kelsier.) The "hairpins" are more likely to have an assumed sentimental value. The crystal will be more difficult to explain, but Roshar is a big place, full of strange items. (And for what it's worth, we don't actually know for sure what it is either) The tree branch is probably the hardest to explain, but a simple twig will also raise the least interest from those not in the know.

It's Ambition(the trait, not the Shard). People who gain power fear only two things: losing that power, and someone gaining more power. Strength alone will only take you so far. Cleverness can take you further, but both cases require you to want to go far. Without the ambition to achieve, that clever mind and strong body waste away. Most likely, Eshonai understands this, and decides to give great power to those who would serve, rather than lead. We already have a few examples in the Cosmere: Hrathen was worried about Dilaf because of his ambition and instability. Odium was worried about Ambition itself in the past. Odium also fears Harmony(more power), but Harmony doesn't have the ambition to act on that power advantage. You have probably described it better than I would have been able to.

Could you provide a link to that discussion? I'd love to hear compelling arguments, especially since I'm in the Sentient Investiture Camp. Have two WoBs. Taken together, I think the two highlighted portions make my case for me.

Have this and speculate.

Opposed, but not necessarily opposites.

That's been clarified(more than once, to my knowledge) that it was simply a shortening(in the same vein as us calling Taravangian "Mr. T" or Adonalsium "Andy"). It's faster to say and to write. As for the usage of "he," bad habits and grammar combine. People like to use "he" as a semi-gender neutral term to refer to somebody, even though it isn't one. "They," while actually gender neutral, would have been grammatically incorrect, so Brandon used "he." Adonalsium's gender, or possible lack thereof, is still up for debate.

The Wiki says "Nutrition and Calories," but with the only source link being the AoL Ars Arcanum, we don't have enough information. That also pertains to your question @Dunkum. We just don't know if that's how it works or not.

Ask, and you shall receive. One. Two. Three. Four.

Oh right, FAQFriday. Forgot about those. Have a Supplementary WoB: The fact that he says it will be answered "in the books" is probably important. I threw that into the Ultimate List a while back. We'll have to wait and see if someone actually asks Brandon about it in the future.

I'm looking for the WoB, and I'll edit it in if I find it, but we do know that a Vessel can step down from Shardhood.

Per the WoB, Hoid was offered a Shard that we have yet to see. This technically doesn't rule out your suggestion, unless you hold Brandon's usage of singular(non-plural) to mean that there was only one instance where Hoid was offered a Shard.