The One Who Connects

Join the club. I jotted down most of the interesting details for my own reasons last August. As an update on searching for the Word of Inkthinker, none of his posts on the Forums that contain the word(s) "spike," "spikes," or "marsh" are the WoI in question, so that's out.

The actual source, no. The first time it was brought up on the Shard, yes. @TheArcanist hasn't been on since February, so it might be a while before getting any further answer about where they found it.

Here's Word of Inkthinker regarding both Marsh and the Spike Diagram Image in the OP(this is the 5th time I've brought this one up. You people really like discussing the Spikes) It's not much detail on shape, but it's got a bit on size. And since he's the one who made the illustration in the OP, I'd consider it canon enough to call them round spikes, and that they don't have a head like nails do. I'm curious about the "first four steel ones" again, given the rail spike comparison

Well, we know that Sazed hasn't been consumed by his Intent yet(I believe), so asking Brandon if he would consider Sazed "human" still(or Terris, I guess) should clear up that distinction. I don't know why I hadn't considered your interpretation at all when I first saw the WoB...

Well, there is one thing. A WoB that makes me think that Rayse has been consumed by his Intent as well. Source (1st spoiler tag, 3rd question) Considering Brandon still refers to Odium as Rayse, I think it's safe to assume that this WoB applies to Rayse. Per The Letter, Frost and Hoid both know who this "Rayse" is, meaning that it should be one of the 16, as I don't think Frost(non-Worldhopper) would know some random new Vessel, or that Hoid would be in the same system as Odium to see it happen in the early days. I think the only logical conclusion is that Rayse has been consumed by Odium, much like Ati was consumed by Ruin. What this means for the theory, I'm not sure, but it does make some other things quite curious..

You've worded it better than I could, but yes. This is kinda where I was going in that the power affects them when they "filter" it. The power changes them when they are using that power to do something. But without a body, doing anything beyond just thinking pretty much requires using the Shard's power in some way. Well, then I guess I'll have to find a way to explain Leras' actions against Ruin in a way that fits within Preservation's Intent before I go any further, as that was the catalyst behind the discussion that led to this thread.

I know a couple of Dalinar's flashback chapters have been, but for the life of me I cannot remember where. Bonus content released in some other book for one of them I think? @maxal You've read them, so maybe you remember.

I consider Intent as the driving force of the Shard, kinda like the Shard's "personality." The Intent guides what they do, and leaves subtle effects on things it influences. Preservation's Intent would be to preserve, to make things static. So anything it meddles with would be harder to change, more preserved. Anything/anyone Odium meddled with would become more hateful, angrier, because his Intent is hate and/or that which inspires hate. I could also use the Skaze being of Dominion and their interests with being in control as an example, but that's more tenuous. If you are talking about this line: "as that autonomous force might allow Bavadin to act against her Intent," that's more than likely me wording it badly. if it's the other bit, let me try and explain better. My theory is that the force of will behind a Shardic Intent does more than just try and overwrite the Vessel's personality, it also tries to affect/change that personality in a way that follows it's intent. With Bavadin and Autonomy, Bavadin's personality will be eventually consumed entirely because it can't resist a Shard forever, but in the meantime, that force starts to alter the Vessel's personality too. Brandon has said that the Vessel can "filter" the Shard's Intent, and I feel that the Intent will start to affect the Vessel's personality as they filter it, making their personality more in-line with the Intent. - Rayse's personality would be changed to be even more hateful(or odious I guess) than is used to be because of holding Odium. - Leras' personality would be preserved and unchanging because of holding Preservation. The power would change the personality, but since preservation is like the anti-change, the "change" to the personality is not allowing it to change. - Bavadin's personality would start to be more autonomous than it used to be from holding Autonomy, maybe even have some of it become autonomous from the rest(her multiple personas, her say 1 thing, do another actions, etc..) It's not as easy to describe how a personality becomes more autonomous as I'd like it to be. - Aona's personality would become more devoted then before from holding Devotion. Google defines devotion as "love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause." Whatever she cared about before, she would care about even more now. Rather bad theoretical example, but if Aona really enjoyed swimming before, then she'd be absolutely obsessed with it now. I think the biggest issue with explaining it is that I don't really see making Bavadin's personality more autonomous as that different from the others. The Shardic Intent overwrites the personality of the vessel, and the Shardic Intent should start to change the Vessel's personality. Maybe changing that personality to be more in line with the Intent is how they overwrite it... Once the personality stops being different from the Intent, the personality stops fighting against the intent and essentially lets itself get overwritten.

It's incomplete because I'm having issues with some of the more abstract shards we have less details about, but here you go:

For the longest time, we've operated under the assumption that the Intent of a Shard would overwrite the Personality of it's Vessel. We have WoB proof, so it's not a big surprise. However, we have also made assumptions that the particular flavor of the Intent also affects that overwriting change. Autonomy has been our flagship example, as that autonomous force might allow Bavadin to act against her Intent. However, as we have never brought that logic past Autonomy to any of the other Shards, I think there is more to it than just that. We know that the Vessels have a limited ability to filter the Intent of their Shard when they are using its power, and it is my belief that while they affect the power, it affects them, subtly changing their personality to be more in tune with the Intent. So without further ado, here is my preliminary list about the effects Intent has on the Vessels. Ambition - Strengthens urge to act, Lessens self-doubt Autonomy - Cultivation - "Cultivates" the personality of the Vessel, trimming undesirable qualities while nurturing desirable ones Devotion - Strengthens commitment and empathy, Lessens apathy Dominion - Strengthens desire for structure and authority, Lessens desire for chaos/lawlessness Endowment - Strengthens generosity, Lessens selfishness Honor - Influences the vessel's moral compass, making actions into black & white judgements Odium - Heightens anger and enmity, Lessens empathy Preservation - Ruin - "Ruins" the personality, decaying desirable and undesirable qualities alike As for how that affects the Vessel's ability to resist the Shard, I believe that (contrary to popular belief) the Shard gains greater control as the Vessel's personality gets closer to matching the Shardic Intent. When the Vessel uses the power, they become affected by it, and that change eventually reaches a point where the Shardic Intent and the Vessel's personality are no longer different, allowing the Shard to assume full control over it's "host." Ambition - Removes all trace of doubt and inhibition(is there a more proper term for 'what makes you hold back'?), turning the vessel's personality into pure Ambition to act. Autonomy - Cultivation - Prunes away all undesired qualities and aspects of the vessel's personality, making it indistinguishable from Cultivation itself. Devotion - Removes all trace of apathy and indifference, morphing the vessel's personality into pure Devotion. Dominion - Hems in concepts of rebellion/dissent, melding the vessel's personality into one of control and Dominion. Endowment - Removes all trace of selfishness and greed, warping the vessel's personality into one of Endowing(giving) and charity. Honor - Odium - Removes all compassionate tendencies, consuming the vessel's personality with pure Odium. Preservation - Ruin - Removes all trace of constructive tendencies, and then decaying the rest of the personality, leaving only Ruin. Edit v1 (7/1/17): Reformatting, Included several suggestions from Calderis's post here.

Well, it felt believable to me. She did have those qualities in spades, on account of her background. I'd have to go through the story again to see if I'm right, but I believe her reasons for not giving up was how she coped. She went through hell in her childhood, and it broke her, and she used that as an incentive to move on. Giving up would mean surrendering to that pain and madness, and that was the one thing she would never willingly do. I suppose I worded it badly when I said "accepted that she was evil." I meant it as she understood how messed up she was, and what that madness had made her do. She didn't think she was worth saving because she accepted that "broken-ness" as a part of her that couldn't be changed. Perhaps that's part of why I like Taravangian's character. He doesn't think he will be redeemed, which changes the character dynamic. Actually, bringing up Taravangian, I think my original spiel conflated two issues together, as characters who don't want/expect redemption don't necessarily also have to not have that "greater good/because I can" motivations. I've said my piece on how redemption arcs seem overused, but regarding character motivations, I just want some variance. People who aren't evil because it's evil, and who aren't a villain for the sake of the greater good. Most relatable or not, there are so many other reasons out there. To quote another video game character; "There are as many reasons to kill as there are people on Earth." The same should hold true for reasons to be a good or evil character. The most relatable reasons end up being the most common reasons used in media, and eventually it starts to get repetitive, hence my disdain for them. But holding evil at bay makes one a Hero does it not? /thejoke Minor Mistborn Spoilers(this is the SA Forum after all) It's from the mmo Star Wars The Old Republic. The two most recent big expansions took the story in a new direction, and she was a character in those, particularly in the second one. You can find several video playlists of the story on youtube if you want to check it out. The names of the expansions were.. "Fallen Empire" and "Eternal Throne" I believe.

We know that the Intent eventually overrules the personality of the Vessel, yes? We've made the assumption that Autonomy has more leeway because that's what the Intent of Autonomy kinda is. It doesn't control Bavadin's personality as much because it is trying to make it an autonomous personality, the same way Odium makes Rayse's personality hateful. Why can't Preservation try and preserve the personality of the Vessel? Under this logic, Leras' personality wasn't changed because it wasn't allowed to change. Autonomy - force vessel's personality to be autonomous (may be the cause of multiple personality stuff) Preservation - forcibly preserves vessel's personality (may be why Leras could do what he did to Ruin) Domin... I should make a separate thread for this shouldn't I?

It's the Ten Essences page on the Coppermind. It's got the whole chart from the Ars Arcanum. Wasn't a bad joke, I could totally see Sebarial becoming important later, but I just wondered why you picked Dustbringer as opposed to something like say.. Willshaper. As for Moash, it's just personal preference. One of the better written characters I've seen recently was Vaylin, whose tragic backstory and rough life had twisted her to the point of not wanting to be redeemed. She accepted that she was evil, felt that she didn't deserve to be saved. Didn't stop her from being an antagonist, but for the protagonist, it sure hammered home the harsh reality that not everybody can be redeemed, even if they were forced into being evil. She was the character most deserving of redemption, and she never got it. That dynamic gets overlooked a lot in fantasy, where all too often villains are either evil for the sake of being evil or all get redeemed at the end. Even TLR got the "misunderstood hero" treatment after his death, where he was revealed to be a villain with good intentions. The Sons of Honor and the Diagrammists appear to be set up for that end too, as both of them can justify what they're doing as necessary to saving the world. I want to see more antagonist characters like Vaylin, where misunderstood or not, they can accept that they weren't really the good guy. Characters who can see that they've gone down the dark path too far to be redeemed, rather than expecting forgiveness or sympathy. They have reasons for being evil that aren't "the greater good" or "because I can," which makes their motivations much more interesting to learn about. It's a refreshing change of pace to see villains whose redeeming qualities don't matter in the end, because for some reason they couldn't be redeemed. Tragic villains made all the more tragic by not getting a happy ending. This might just be because I grew up on Disney films, where happy endings were a dime a dozen, but I don't like those "all-uphill from here" kinda moments/endings. Have your victory, but have it come at a cost. Make the hard choices, get the bittersweet happy ending. Stuff like that puts things in perspective, makes the ending have meaning.

Afraid not. However, his terraforming of the world during his ascension could have collapsed whatever tunnels the Atium was previously growing in, forcing them to grow in a different open crevice. Also, the pits may/may not have moved with the crust when TLR shifted all of it. That's 2 possibilities that could lead to TLR indirectly "creating" the new Pits as we knew them. I'd be interested in seeing this, as I haven't seen this one. I've seen the one that says splintering a shard is something he has to rest/recover from, but nothing more specific. I don't know if any of them "know," but I can make a convincing case for 9 of the 10 being able to do it within their Intents, which is why Preservation doing it was so unexpected.

Given the information we currently have, Calderis is correct. Ok, this was a bit more detail than I probably needed, but oh well. Anyway, your mass and volume are unchanged whether you are on Roshar, or Scadrial, or in Space. Your weight changes depending on gravity, but in all 3 WoB's posted by Extesian, Brandon mentions messing with mass. As your mass remains constant in all 3 places, the amount that you store remains constant as well. Regarding the physics of the situation, a quote from the topic Cloak was so kind as to link to at the start: F-Iron messes with your interaction to the Higgs Field, which is what gives your particles mass. As Seonid says, you can decrease your mass without messing with the amount of matter in you, which I think is where Brandon starts to cheat physics.(Oh, so I read further down that thread, his physics breaking is troublesome..)

I didn't really see him as a good fit either, but this site requires skill with loopholes. And the more entries I can loophole out of, the more likely I feel that I could be right, because 1 is coincidence or Brandon being too vague, but 3? 5? Sometimes things fit too perfectly I did say I was stretching the rules quite a bit. I haven't really seem him clarify what constitutes as a "main character" in a long time, so I made assumptions. Main being the focus character(Kal in book 1, Shallan in 2, etc..), big characters in those books like Adolin would be secondary(supporting?) characters, while someone with few viewpoints like Taravangian or Szeth(so far they've each got about 5 I think) would be a minor viewpoint character for those books. I look at it that way because I haven't seen what way he looks at it to compare to.

From the Epilogue Annotations that Extesian quoted above: And yes, the scraggly miscreant is how Vasher sees himself. Not noble and Returned, which is part of how he suppresses his divine Breath. I think he has reason enough right there: personal self-image.

So I found an interesting tidbit today that relates to this. Preservation is the last one I would have expected to be on the list of Shard Splinterers, but...

Now I know this is gonna make you rather unhappy, but there actually is a way to make Adolin a Dustbringer and not defy any of the 3 WoB's. Bear in mind that I am in the camp of "not wanting him to be a Radiant" and that this interpretation would be stretching the odds of likelihood to the breaking point. 1. Wait til a Dustbringer is a main character to see their oaths. I doubt we'll see every proto-Radiant say every oath, so Adolin could become one later(gap b/w books 8, 9 or 10?) and never really become a main character. That'll be the primary Dustbringer(Kaladin is primary Windrunner, but we'll have secondary ones later) whom we learn about the Order with. 2. Would Dustbringers accept him? Smile and half-nod. I'd consider that open enough for him to maybe be able to join, if he improves over the years. The idea never states he has to be a "good" Dustbringer 3. One of the Dustbringers is eventually a PoV character. Here's where I stretch the rules. Brandon is referring to the primary Dustbringer whom we haven't seen yet, because they are the important one. All he says is that "one of them" hasn't been a viewpoint yet, not that none of them have. Disclaimer: I do not support this theory, but loopholes are becoming a bit of a speciality with me again.

Here's the rundown. Pagerunner's database is great, Theoryland only does exact word, and the search function on the forums is both better and worse than Theoryland. Pagerunner's Database: search "word", get anything with "word" in it, word, words, wording, etc.. you can set various filters(contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, etc..) supports "ctrl+f" search within a search functionality Theoryland: they have to be separate searches for "word," "words," and "wording." Tags doesn't count in the word search results, so you'd have to search specifically for the tag "word" too, since some entries have tags but not the specific word(those vague Allomancy entries for example) Absolutely no idea how they organize your search results, its not alphabetical, its not chronological, its not even alpha by event name supports "ctrl+f" search within a search functionality 17thShard Search Engine: words separated by a "+" are a phrase: so it searches for "word+of+Brandon" specifically, and adds "relevant" results that don't contain any of it sometimes. Separate by a space to find the specific words: "word of Brandon" will find entries containing "word," "of," and/or "Brandon." Near as I can tell, there is absolutely no difference between "contain any of my search terms" and "contain all of my search terms," it seems defaulted to any, with preference to the first term you write: "word of Brandon" will give you results with any of them, but the most "relevant" ones will be those will 2+ of them, then those with "word" specifically, then "of," then "Brandon." You can search specific subforums and other areas, you can search for stuff in content titles only or title and body, and you can search within a specific timeframe for date created and/or last updated You can search by author(specific member on here) but you can only have one author specified at a time, you can search by tags(some people don't put tags when making topics, some have weird tags, not recommended) And that's all there is to it.

Little of both, where you start to associate this random tidbit with "Annotation" and that random tidbit with "Theoryland" or "Reddit WoB." I suppose I should actually explain how that works. As Striker said, Returned can have normal breath on them too. When not suppressing their Divine Breath, they are automatically at the 5th Height. and any extra breath starts working towards the 6th. When suppressing, it's as though that Divine Breath isn't there, or is like "half a breath," so what little normal breath they have on them starts from the beginning like any normal person. So when Vasher is at the 2nd Height like Vivienna is, they both have around 200+ normal breath on them. If a Returned suppresses their Divine Breath, they could gauge how many normal breath they have on them by seeing which Heightening they are at, which is what Vasher seemed to do at the end there. He's got a similar aura to Vivienna, and hers is about 2nd Height, so he must also be at 2nd Height.

We don't know. Oversleep brings this up about 7 posts above yours, near the top of the page. Edit, Speaking of that: I found what you were talking about in the Annotations.

Maybe that's why we remember them

Your answer is good too. I just provided the answer to the question, you provided more detail into the situation involving that answer. As for the WoB, the annotations are something that I have a penchant for remembering

No problem. I've had those same situations of "did I just imagine that?" and it's not fun. But what this does mean is that we are down to only Chana being unaccounted for in WoK. Both popular theories about who she is(Liss and Palona) only appear in WoR, so that's an issue.