Blightsong

When ever people bring up focuses I want to point this out. Brandon has said that focuses are an in universe method of an attempt at understanding the mechanics of magic systems, their may not be similar parallels in all magic systems.

You are making several different assumptions that we don't know are correct. Also, I doubt Dalinar's vision is what will actually happen, that isn't exactly a widely agreed upon theory.

There is a pretty set definition of the law, and it is a social institution, not a personal one. Do you remember how Nalan did it? He worked within the law of the country he was operating within.

Their second ideal is "I will hold the law above all else" (confirmed via WoB), so Skybreakers up to the second ideal do.

You make some good points, but we really don't know if it was unanimous amongst any order.

The most recent WoB on Gavilar is just that he was on the path to becoming a Bondsmith, not that he was further along then Dalinar. Easy mistake to make. It makes sense that Gavilar would have at least fpund out what was happening to him.

I dont think we know if Gavilar was further along or not. Based on how wrong some of his beliefs were, and the fact that the stormfather was hesitant even to bond Dalinar, i would guess that he wasnt as far along.

It wasnt unanimous we know via epigraphs that one of the orders didnt abandon their bond.

I dont know, the Skybreakers dont seem corrupted. Nalan is crazy and is murdering people, but hes following the law. Radiants dont necessarily have to be good people.

The radiants are generally good, sacrificing people but they are still people. Them keeping the bond wasnt necessary to humanity, they believed they had been successful in keeping bacl Odium. Yes they had to kill their spren, but in the face of literally an eternity of endless and unrelenting torture, I dont think its too outlandish to think that this could be the case. Just look at the heralds. They decided to abandon humanity, and they had reason to believe that doing so could end in the end of humanity. I think the thought of endless torture is more of a motivator than you think.

Being tortured for millennia sounds pretty terrible.

Are you talking about how there would be a lot of Spren, and that is why this would happen? It's kind of unclear from the op.

Yeah, the spark of life seems to be the investiture that inhabits the complex, distinct, system that is a person's soul. Presumably it takes investiture to maintain that complexity. My guess is that this is why younger Nalthians have stronger breaths than older ones.

What does that WoB have to do with entropy. As long as Nightblood dilutes or spreads around investiture then entropy is happening. Entropy has nothing to do with investiture being 'gone forever'. Entropy just means that systems move from a state of order to a state of disorder. Brandon has said that matter and energy are also, at their core, made of investiture, and they are entropic. It would make no sense for base investiture to not do so.

Szeth goes about commiting horrible and numerous crimes, but Nalan believed him to be a perfect candidate. Brandon has said that Nale looks for people that can follow a personal code extremely well, and that code becoming the law seems to be a later developmwnt of the bond.

Yeah, based on how the royal locks function, it would make sense that someone who thinks that they cannot use them would not be able to. I like the idea that everyone in the royal line has the locks, but because of the theoretical myth that they don't prevents them from manifesting it.

Wax would definitely be a Skybreaker.

Spren are not cognitive shadows, but both have their souls made of investiture. They are a similar state of being, but they are kind of like different species. My idea is that the bond imitates what ever the happens to the Heralds in forcing them to go to Braize. Arcanum Unbounded.

Had this same thing pop into my head a few days ago. It doesnt really account for emotion or nature spren so i qrote it off, but i think the theory does have merit. Another thought i had that i liked more was that becoming a radiant requires a similar connection to what the Heralds have, and that upon death they become a cognitive shadow and are imprisoned on Braize to be tortured. We know that there are cognitive shadows on Braize, but no humans, and this explaination is one im proud of.

I think we should be careful assuming things (that are pretty likely) are not the case simply because they haven't been mentioned.

The vibe I got was that he was ok with his Skybreakers because he can control them, and make sure they don't do whatever it is that would bring another desolation.

Do we know that Skyeels and Ryshadium don't have gemhearts?

I think that's what he meant. As for possible things Hoid could've hypothetically been doing while on Braize; in one of the letters he mentions 'the element' and that he is keeping it close to him. Maybe this is some artifact from Braize in this scenario.

As far as we know, they play a role in how Rosharan life forms symbiosis with Spren. Think of them as biological fabrials.