The One Who Connects

We know for a fact that this happened, but a Vessel can step down from Shardhood. This means that it is entirely possible for a Vessel to have felt like taking a rest and offered the Shard to Hoid whenever he showed up on their Shardworld. Per Peter, the "workshop" line was more metaphorical. As an aside, I don't think we actually know if Hoid was present at the Shattering. He almost certainly was, but I'm not sure if we have anything outright stating it, which is a fun bit of trivia.

We still have contradictory WoB's on Spiking Breath. The second is more recent, but they are only 6 months apart, from April and October of 2015.

While I imagine she'll have something important to do in Oathbringer/Book 4, remember that Fabrial-Tech is an industry still in the early R&D stages. Given enough time(say, the 15 year gap between book 5 and 6..) she could come up with some rather useful "trinkets." She could find out something new and important now, and we could have the payoff a few books down the line. Gives her character a realistic amount of time to experiment(a big problem in book/movie/game plots) and gives us a while to theorize about the potential implications of her discovery.

Rysn. She's a personal favorite of mine.

Potentially Relevant Information from the Coppermind. (Color Coded) They are one of the Ten Deaths. They are often pack animals(so this one may not be alone). The exact quote provided by kari-no-sugata mentions "who released it." Who, not what. Depending on the exact nature of "release," it could have spawned inside Urithiru(probably protected against) or it could have been brought in after summoning.(I highly doubt Urithiru will be like HP7 Hogwarts with a magical shield preventing the bad guys from even walking in. Not the nicest of plot devices to work with.) Either way, the fact is that it showed up.

Your first statement didn't really imply "artistic license" to me, so that's probably why I was taking it literal. This does make sense though, even if I feel like there should be a better way to convey that than literally "out of this world." (not that I can think of how)

That seems reasonable eough. Bit of an odd "timing" for a painting, but religious imagery never really enjoyed consistency or logic anyway, so why not? This, on the other hand, feels off. It's a painting by an in-world artist. It just seems... too strange for the depiction to be set on the moon. Your idea makes sense based on the size of the celestial body behind her in the picture, but that then makes the picture not make sense. I can't wrap my head around why it would be drawn like that. Battar has the Transportation Surge to go to fantastic places, so it'd make sense for her, but Shalash? As a side note, her sleeve almost looks like it's not connected to the rest of her dress. No real deeper meaning here, it's just a detail that I noticed.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got the crystal vibe from it. It's probably of note that the shattered pieces of the masks are falling upwards. As for Shalash's hair color... it's black. Jezrien's hair color is black as well(his beard at least), so I'm inclined to believe that black is his daughter's natural hair color. The "Shin eyes" discrepancy I can potentially see as an Alethi painter's Artistic License, but a diametrically different hair color? Could easily be artistic license on the part on the Oilsworn. Out of curiosity, where do we know the "only one moon is visible at a time" thing from? I'm only asking because I can't seem to find it. Bear in mind that those "lamps" appear to be held by the people in the room, similar to how a spear/pike would be held in ye olde honor guard. The Oathgate lamps were mounted on the walls. Kholinar & Stormseat (Emphasis added)

You did misunderstand, but not for the reason you think. The Biochromatic Aura is on by default. It takes skill in perception to suppress it, not to activate it. Vasher showcases this quite well, as he begins to grow towards his larger Returned proportions when he isn't concentrating. From the Annotations: We posted at the same time, so edited in my response @Shuffel: It's not just your perception influencing what is what. fixed broken link

That's a theory that has some merit, but no actual proof. Per Brandon, each book will center around an Order, but the main character doesn't have to be of that Order. The wording of the WoB is open-ended enough that the PoV character doesn't even have to be in a KR Order.

Practice. I listened to my music almost non-stop from when I got on the school bus in the morning until I got back home in the afternoon, pretty much every day of all 4 years of High School. Having a headphone out or [mostly] listening to music quietly was enough to pay attention to the teacher/conversations. It's an acquired skill, but one that I consider to be pretty useful. Also, first thing I'll do when I get Oathbringer is probably to read it.

Well, there was this second day of intelligence... On the Day of Brilliance(Diagram Day, if you will), he created the Diagram, made up a language and scrawled it on any surface he could reach. because he had no memory of Diagram Day, he could not translate it, and neither could his more normal associates/handlers. It took another day, which I refer to as the Day of Interpretation, for him to be able to translate what he had written. The exact wording might not be precise in terms of them, but in terms of what Brandon is giving us? I'm inclined to think the odd word choices were deliberate

Oh I don't think so either. I'm just saying that humanity is more willing to overlook some things as "making the tough calls." Sometimes they might be reprehensible actions, but the easier it is for people to see them as "necessary in the moment," the easier it is to accept them. The big points with that is a matter of scale, and a matter of time: Scale: The "greater good" principle. If you nuke someplace to protect a city, that's way too far. If you nuke somebody to protect a country, that's still a bit much. If you nuke someplace to protect an entire continent, a case could be made. If you nuke somebody to protect humanity from extinction, that's probably justifiable. [Granted, all of these require that action to have actually saved lives, but that's pretty obvious at this point] Time: Hindsight vs Heat of the Moment. People who are merely thankful to still be alive will overlook practically anything. In a few months(or years), they might see it differently. Their (grand)children won't see it the same way because they hadn't lived through it. Centuries later, and the histories might be tinted a different shade. In a warzone, commanders have to make the tough calls, and sometimes that means not everybody comes home alive. The person who made the call because it was "the best/only choice at the time" might come to regret his actions when he looks back, seeing other options that he hadn't come up with back then, realizing that one of the discarded options would actually have been better, etc.. The path to saving the world(in any movie/tv show) is littered with tough choices and bad decisions. Humanity overlooks some of those because of how easy it is to put yourself in the character's shoes. Good storytellers/filmmakers can put you into that situation, letting you feel the sense of urgency, the emotions, the hectic atmosphere, etc... A history book can't replicate that, so we see it differently. I'm not quite sure if Taravangian qualifies as a "tyrant" just yet... but I get what you're saying. Depends on your level of conviction. You are raised to regard some actions as "evil." We all are. Sometimes, one of those actions becomes "necessary." (those types of situations wont happen to everybody, but we're not really dealing with "just anybody" type of characters). Now that you've done it once, you realize that there's a time and place where "evil" actions can be justified, which makes it a little easier to continue committing those actions. It changes your view on restraint. However, you can still restrain yourself. You restrained yourself from committing those actions for most of your life, so the only thing preventing you from continuing is your personal views on the concept of restraint. Some people think that the restraint is no longer necessary because they've seen that such actions can be justified, while others change their definition of restraint to something similar to the "great power, great responsibility" superhero mantra. The former usually become tyrants or criminals, while the latter can become heroes and leaders. Are the former simply more common? Maybe, maybe not. But the former are more likely to show up in the history books because of their disreputable actions and their mark on society.

'Twas this one from Peter that sealed the deal on Chana: The one you're thinking of implied.. multiple things, but not what you think it did. Yellow: A Dustbringer PoV Character is a Herald, who has not had a PoV in the books yet. (Not Kalak or Taln) Green: We've met a member of every KR Order, if you count the Heralds as parts of their Order. (Doesn't specify which Order) Purple: The Dustbringer that we've met is.. complicated and weird. (Doesn't really tell us much) Even taken together, they don't directly or indirectly imply that much. We've met a Dustbringer, but it's complicated. I wouldn't consider the Dustbringer Herald as "complicated," would you? The Unmade are separate entities from the Heralds.

Taravangian mentioned that "I am the monster who will save this world." That makes it pretty clear how he views his actions. He sees them as monstrous. Humanity, on the other hand.. if he's right, all humanity will care about is that he "saved this world." Sure he did absolutely terrible things while doing so, but the concept of "necessary evil" carries far more weight than you think it does(more weight than it really should, for that matter). 3) Though I'm leaning towards Cultivation's guiding hands, I still see the possibility that the "Day of Brilliance" was actually a day of unrivaled compassion/empathy. I'd enjoy the symmetry of the Diagram having been made from both sides of his affliction, and since the "Day of Interpretation" pretty much has to have been when he was super-smart, I am left with the beginning. This question applies to the good guys too(at least in well-written literature) If Kaladin had truly believed that killing Elhokar was the right choice for his "protect the kingdom" oath, then his bond with Syl wouldn't have broken. If that actually was the best thing for the kingdom, then we're all fine and dandy. But what if that had thrown Alethkar into even more chaos? Would his bond have broken after he realized he actually broke his Oath? To commit the assassination without breaking his bond means he would have to have very clearly thought it was the correct decision. When it turns out to have been the wrong decision, what happens then? [At it's base, this is only different from Taravangian's situation on a matter of scale, nothing more] I disagree. It may be more difficult and/or you'll achieve evil at the same time, but good can be achieved through unjust means. Achieving only good, almost certainly not, but that's not what you said. Good can be achieved through unjust means, just as evil can be achieved through just means. It's.. thought-provoking to debate which of those two is more difficult to achieve, if anyone is up for thinking outside the box.

So if we take this WoB at face value... ...does that mean that TLR can sleep while using his Metalminds?

How fortunate that planets are already in a physical form. (wow that's condescending.. didn't particularly mean it to sound rude)

Dead is dead. I'd like the talk to you about the viability of Spiking Spren. It's not a direct refutation, but the use of the words "any Investiture," combined with the fact that planets have a soul... Considering synthetic gemstones are viable, I'm gonna say no. Spren ≠ Color/Chemical Structure. 3. RAFO. 6. "A touch from a shade withers flesh, and ultimately will turn a person to dust, and eventually into a shade themselves unless treated by applying silver powder to affected body parts." Shardblade wounds don't wither flesh, nor do they turn the wounded limb into dust, nor do they turn the victim into a Shade. So I'm gonna say no. 7. Not having read the story, I cannot say for sure, but the wiki text(italics above) implies that it stops the wound. Stopping the spread is not the same as healing it. 8. Annotations exist for Way of Kings(even if they are only for a few chapters) 9. Unless there is a physical rule in the magic, I believe the "in the hand" thing to be largely cultural perception. A weapon is more useful when it can be wielded, and it despawns if it hits the ground, so why spawn it anywhere other than in your hand? Also, this: 10. The Shattering was all at once. Also, not all of them have numbers associated with them. 11. Speculation abounds on what Dragonsteel actually is, but I imagine this one will be a RAFO. Probably worth revising to ask if Adonalsium actually had a physical God Metal and/or if it was ever used, and then follow up with your question about us seeing it "on-screen." 12. Most of the Spren are of Adonalsium. Nahel Spren specifically might be solely of the Shards, or they could have been co-opted(the way Honor co-opted Highstorms). 13. Gold Healing allowed Miles to heal brain damage from lack of oxygen, so I'd imagine Stormlight should work too. And considering number 14(below).. 14. They've calculated how long it would take for a Windrunner to fly to Roshar's moons, so... Also, the planet's gravity goes way beyond the atmosphere, so I'm not sure what you were on about. 16. "This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea." 20. Don't forget that Vivienna can change a lot of stuff too, and she's no Cognitive Shadow. And given the next WoB, I'd say self-image. 21. Roshar naturally evolved that way after Adonalsium grew the planet. 23. Bear in mind that your Identity is comprised of connections(lower c) between "nodes." On a Spiritual Level, everything is comprised of connections(which is a disconcerting rabbit-hole to be wandering down.) Things are quite literally the sum of their parts, which are the sum of their parts, etc.. A person would be an SR node, but that node is comprised of connections between nodes for organs and skin, which are comprised of nodes for cells, molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, etc... on downwards. All of which is contained within a plane of existence that may as well be both extra-dimensional and non-dimensional at the same time. Attempting to visualize the SR is literal devilry. 24. I imagine Brandon's exact words are going to be "That's an.. interesting way to put it," followed by either "No." or "I suppose you could look at it that way." Source this. I'd like a more definitive no than "it's not his style," and since the WoB I provided above contains the words "um, yea," I'm curious why you think the answer is officially no.

He then elaborated that "Roshar predates the shattering" (which we knew) and that "There are many things that are unique about Roshar, but it wasn't the only world created in this way." Life on Yolen and Nalthis predate the Shattering.

Given the usage of "apricity"(which my computer's spellcheck doesn't consider as a word, for the record), I'm not exactly surprised there's more obsolete things being used. A little unhappy, but not surprised.

Speaking of Lift, have we ever tried explaining Food into Investiture under the "Cognitive Concept" we've ascribed to the Old Magic?

We had no conclusive answers because Brandon gave us nothing to go off of other than "there is a fourth law." They can. Ooh, I missed the purple and white on my first however-many reads. Investiture is one of the additional building blocks beyond matter and energy. "One of" should mean that there are more. Semi-Relevant WoB. Other entries for the sake of completeness: And my personal favorite:

Source this. To my knowledge, Brandon has not said anything of the sort yet. Well dang I just always assumed this to be fact. I checked Coppermind and it states he is was the leader of heralds. The evidence though is pretty circumstantial and up for interpretation. Having just traipsed through the entire edit history of Jezrien's Coppermind Article, here's what I found: March 2, 2012: Past/Present Tense Updates November 22, 2012: His association with the Stormfather was Added October 8, 2013: His association with the Stormfather was.. Rewritten (Note what's gone) November 13, 2015: Several things were added, much of which in the form it bears to this day. Whatever evidence we had for him being Leader of the Heralds existed back in 2010.

Dominion ≠ Domination. At least, not necessarily. It's all about context and connotations. Dominion is mostly used in the context of land/territory, and generally has positive/neutral connotations associated with it. Domination generally has negative connotations, and is also largely used in the context of people(world domination included, even though that's a case by case). I'd consider it similar to that of Rule and Control. They both mean something along the lines of being "in charge," but there's an implied level of strictness to Control that Rule doesn't have. And until we get more information from Brandon, we don't know where he drew the line on that level of strictness for Dominion. That's fair. We already have Hoid. What more do you need?

But, the grammar... Ok fine, there's no defending this one. (Of all the things to have a Wikipedia Page....) And to me, that doesn't look grammatically correct. It probably is technically correct, but it looks wrong to me.