Erinzard

KELL = TRELL!!!! You heard it first here folks... Just kidding guys, I joke. But I agree that there is something ominous feeling about Kelsier's devotion to surviving. I've read in other theories that there is "excess" power of Ruin laying around and that maybe some of it is tied to Kelsier. I thought Harmony in Bands of Mourning says that death severs existing connections between the physical and spiritual realms, so I'm not sure why he'd be more tied to Ruin even in death because of his actions in the physical realm. But I can see how during his life Ruin could have manipulated Kelsier's desire to survive as a way to bring ruin and death to others. A "kill anyone trying to oppress me or who I suspect MIGHT try to oppress me in the future" type attitude could serve Ruin's intent pretty well. 

Edit: I think I found the spot I was talking about. BoM p. 392 (Hardcover) Harmony says, "Your body, mind, and soul have separated." Maybe this is what I was thinking about when I thought of Kel no longer being tied to Ruin but now that I read it it doesn't seem quite so conclusive. 

I thought the fact that Axies' shadow points toward the sun is because Aimians are more connected to the cognitive realm. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought Aimians and Parshendi are both non human races and for whatever reason non human races on Roshar are more connected with the cognitive realm. This would explain why he can make writing appear on his body just by thinking about it or why frame of mind is important for Parshendi when they transform. Still, I could still see either of them becoming a KR. I would think a closer connection to shadesmar would be helpful as a radiant.

It's fascinating to watch people, often grown adults, get so in-depth into the transformation of stone into grain.

Not to say I haven't had similar discussions. It's simply interesting to watch.

Sometimes you just gotta go full nerd

You know, this brings up a couple of interesting questions:

 

1) Why are the Ten Essences easier to soulcast?  The idea that the spren just naturally have an understanding exactly those ten things seems kind of strange.  Like, did the Shards just say "Hear ye, hear ye, all ye spren!  Ye shall have an innate understanding of these ten things!  For everything else...eh, do what you can, I guess?"

 

2) Why are the Ten Essences those particular things?  Why foil, say, and not metal?  Why spark and not heat or flame?  If you're going for the foundation -- the essence, if you will -- it seems like more fundamental, the better.  Foil, for instance, is simply a metal, beaten flat.  But the basic material is metal; foil is merely one thing you can make from it.  One would think the essence of the idea would be the metal, not the product derived from it.

Maybe this is getting off topic, but I think just like the number 16 has special significance on Scadrial (and for the cosmere at large), the number 10 keeps coming up on Roshar. 10 silver kingdoms, 10 heralds, surges, orders of the KR, 10 evil mega-spren, the list goes on. It might be a chicken and egg type scenario, but it's definitely significant (do we know if there are only 10 groups of highspren for the 10 orders?). So maybe the 10 essences and the other 10s reflect something about the creation of Roshar or it's place in the cosmere. 

As for foil, maybe they understood "metal" as a whole to be made of layers of foil when they saw how it was formed while mining?

Ahh, the essences! Jasnah's bread example makes sense. So if you have really thorough grasp of lavis, maybe you could soulcast something identical to the real thing, but since they're mass producing this stuff to feed the armies no one is really worried about it. Thanks for the responses guys!

Not much of a theory really, just a question. Soulcasting is about transformation, you change one thing into another. Wine became blood for Shallan, Jasnah turned bad guys into crystal or smoke, etc. Kaladin mentions it and I think we see it in one or two other character viewpoints that soulcast lavis grain doesn't taste the same as the real stuff. 

Why would it be different? Maybe there's no real in text proof, but my guess is that when Shallan accidentally soulcast the wine into blood, the blood was real and completely indistinguishable from blood in a person. So if Shallan could soulcast something into lavis grain, would it have the same taste issue? If not, does that mean the soulcasting performed by the ardents is not only different in method but in result? 

I thought maybe it depends on what substance you're originally working with, but the only thing I could see that affecting is the input power. For example turning air into lavis grain might take a lot more stormlight than using lavis sized gravel or pebbles.

I'm curious to see if this is a hint given to us by Brandon about the difference between soulcasting methods on Roshar or if it's just a harmless bit of worldbuilding casually thrown out there. 

Thoughts?

In chapter 89 of WoR Dalinar realizes that the Oathgate plateau he sees in Urithiru is the same as the one that the palace and royal temple are built on. That means that either the Oathgate is useless because they built over the top of it or in ages past stormlight was so plentiful that they could just transport the entire palace and temple to Urithiru everytime the gate was activated (obviously this is pretty unlikely). 

The Coppermind lists the Circle of Memories as Kholinar's Oathgate activation chamber, but I'm not so sure. I think it more likely the Circle was built by people sometime after the Recreance who remembered the Oathgates OR it's a fabrial that is activated similarly to the Oathgates but with a different function - maybe like the Rosharan version of a coppermind? I'm imagining Radiant scholars coming to deposit or view memories that Lightweavers have created. I'm probably waaaay into tinfoil hat territory, but what the hay. As for the 11th lamp...who knows. If the Circle really is the Oathgate chamber then it must be the lock, but if not, the Tranquiline Halls comment describing it is too juicy to ignore. Leave it to Brandon to dangle some deeper secret right in front of our faces. 

Instead of trying to find a balance in life, Kaladin would spend 8.5 books wondering if he will lose himself by using his powers. 

Kaladin - How can I be a leader?

Everyone else - isn't it a little late for that? You're leading thousands and you are awesome.

Kaladin - But am I a surgeon or am I a warrior? Do I heal or do I kill? WHO AM I??? *angsty hair covers scars

Everyone else - Is this really the time? The world may be ending...a bit...as we speak...

Can I just say that going into Words of Radiance I was so afraid that all the characters would pull a WoT and never communicate (especially about crucial information). I am terribly thankful that Brandon has people tell each other stuff like normal human beings. None of this ridiculous rom-com level withholding of earth shattering knowledge. 

Two asides here - 

1) Just read through Way of Kings again and there are so many subtle foreshadowings about the Bondsmith thing!

2) Thank you for making this thread, it is fantastic. 

I could see Creative/Wise as being a good combo. A wise person often overcomes obstacles or works within constraints by doing creative or unconventional things. Maybe it's a stretch but I could see that.