Blightsong

Hmm, I thought you said someone. I even double checked, my bad.

Ok, so I'm revising what I said earlier. After taking consideration and looking through WoBs I think that not all magic systems create Savantism. I think that Savantism is actually breaking off pieces of your soul to be refilled by the worlds magic, while holding a lot of investiture expands one's soul. Relevant WoB below. INTERVIEW: Mar 20th, 2014 WOR Signing Report - IronCaf (Paraphrased) OUTIS What other magic systems in the Cosmere have that same kind of, "If you use it a lot it gets better?" BRANDON SANDERSON It is a little bit more like wedging open cracks in the soul by letting the Investiture come in, and it can open the cracks more. OUTIS Are there other magic systems like that? BRANDON SANDERSON Yes. OUTIS Will we see those any time soon? BRANDON SANDERSON Maybe...RAFO. TAGS cosmere, investiture,

If this is the case then why is this same effect seen when someone holds a shard, which is basicly the same this a holding breath but at a larger scale

In your post I quoted you said 'someone' in every description as opposed to 'something'. I'm not claiming that you can't be autonomous if you are under somethings influence, but that you can influence other things while still being autonomous.

Savantism is a natural effect of holding investiture. Having any amount of investiture rubs off on the soul and makes the spirit web used to that extra power. That permanently affects the soul, damaging it in a way. Brandon told me that this is what happened to the wood and stone in Elantris, taking away the investiture damaged them (same thing happened to TLR). I wonder what kind of effects this would have with holding breath.

Dominion means to simply means to have control, not necessarily forcing others under your rule. Devotion is simply being dedicated, it doesn't have to involve others. Autonomy is simply being self functioning, it doesn't involve non intervention.

I asked Brandon if Hemalurgy could hold a shard and he told me it would be too much investiture, so this couldn't happen.

I think captivity spren is the best guess. He seemed less bored and more like a caged animal.

Amaram gets told off by Talenalat for bringing the voidbringers back (or trying to). Talenalat

I actually asked Brandon if what Hoid had tried to do to become an Elantrian was what Kelsier did to pick up preservation, and he said it was and that that kind of thing didn't work. You can check out the exact wording on the Oddesey Con theoryland report. So yes, it was this method.

Presumably, these books still existed before the splintering of those two shards. I wonder if this means that the diffrent religions on Sel are actually based on these mega spren, and if these splinters are active in the goings on on Sel.

Susebron struggling with having to rule, similar to Elend. Mraize

I have updated this thread to include all of the new WoB I have received, as well as my thought on them and some new theories, check it out in the OP.

Recently I read a WoB that stated that a Zombie Elantrian is similar Realmatically to a dead Spren. This got some gears turning, so I posted a theory to the Cosmere Theories forum which basicly stated that Elantrians share a bond similar to that of a Knight Radiant and its Spren, but i stead of a Spren they are bonded to their country. Some discussion involving the Cognitive realm and the nature of bonds insued, you can check that out over in the OP. After some discussion I decided to message Brandon through Reddit to see if I could get an answer out of him. I asked "Is a bond between an Elantrian and Arelon similar to that of a Knight Radiant and its Spren?" He responded with "Yes, that is a similar relationship." This is EXTREMELY interesting, I'm following this answer up with the question "Is there a similar ideal system? Are Elantrians transformed because of their character? Maybe their closeness to the culture of Arelon?" Hopefully he responds, but even if he doesn't we now know that people are intiated into AonDor by forming a bond with their country of origin. I'm very exited to have figured this out, let me know what you guys think. Edit: I got RAFOed basicly, here is his reponse. "from mistborn sent 26 minutes ago Ah, now you're getting into RAFO territory. Let's just say that you don't have to have a Seon to be made an Elantrian, but in the vast majority of cases, you need a spren to be a Knight Radiant. So there are some differences." Edit 2: So I asked the follow up question "Does any of this have to do with the personification of culture, similar to how Spren are a personification of natural forces and emotions?" He responded with "To an extent, yes." Think of that as you will.

I'm double posting, but it's for a good reason. I decided to message Brandon on Reddit, because I might as well try to get an answer out of this. I asked "Is the bond between Arelon and an Elantrian similar to that of a Knight Radiant and its Spren?" He responded "Yes, that is a similar relationship". I guess this means that people are initiated into AonDor by forming a bond with their country. Looking back that makes a lot of sense. I'm following up with "Is there a similar ideal system? Are Elantrians transformed because of their character? Maybe their closeness to the culture of Arelon?". Hopefully he will get back to me, I'm super exited to have figured it out. Let me know what you guys think.

Devotion and Dominion aren't opposites...

I agree with pretty much all of that, Moridin. I wonder if the investiture is personified, as spren are. Shoveled should ask Brandon about this.

That's a possibility, but I don't think it is exactly like that. I think that while investiture in the spiritual realm can connect to people, it might not be able to achieve the same effects.

This is where AonDor comes in. It's just a huge mass of Devotion and Dominion's power sitting in the Cognitive Realm, just like a spren. Maybe that mass of investiture is tied to the land itself and different portions of it are tied to places that are seen as different and grant abilities to each of these places.

I'm still not convinced that those items have a large significance. Just think of the items there, is there anything useful about them in tandem? Many of them can be used but it doesn't seem like they are collecting these pices to be used together. Most of those items seem hard to obtain, like the gemheart, but there doesn't seem to be any grand motive behind them. On a different note, how do we know those are Mraize's items? He is Iyatil's student right?

They aren't like the heralds at all. While Heralds are human, the Unmade are splinters; beings of pure investiture. What do you mean by 'intents'? Are you saying that each Unmade may correlate to a facet of Odium's mandate?

Hoid is collecting magic systems, not neccesarily investiture. If I travelled to different planets I sure as hell would probably collect cool and unique trinkets along the way.

This WoB also supports the theory. (Accidentaly hit quote instead of edit, woops.) INTERVIEW: Oct 9th, 2015 Shadows of Self - San Francisco QUESTION Does the spren have to be present for a Surgebinder to have their abilities? Because with Dalinar, the Stormfather won’t be around all the time... BRANDON SANDERSON Good Question! Fortunately, the Stormfather is a little more omnipresent. Normally you’re gonna have to have your spren close, but the Stormfather absorbed... is basically Honor’s cognitive shadow, which means he’s got a connection to a lot of different things, so he’s not bound by a lot of the rules that others are. TAGS Dalinar, Stormfather, surgebinding,

During a recent signing a question was asked about dead Shardblades and their relation to the Shaod. Brandon responded by saying that there are a large similarity between non transformed Elantrians and dead Spren. This sparked some ideas in my mind and I've come to the conclusion that Elantrians form a Bond with the land themselves, and that is what endows them with powers. I think that by having an enhanced or strong connection to Arelon (or possibly the culture and its ideals) they 'bond' the country and are granted their powers. When Elantris was broken, their bonds were also damaged which left the Elantrians in the state they were in at the beginning of the story. Let me know what you guys think. Relevant WoB below. KARSEN Is there a similarity between fallen Elantrians caught in transformation and dead shardblades? BRANDON SANDERSON (exact)- "Yes, there is a distinct similarity." TAGS shaod, Elantrians, shardblades Mega Edit: After the below discussion I decided to message Brandon through Reddit about this theory. My first question was "Is the bond between Arelon and an Elantrian similar to that of a Knight Radiant and its Spren?" He responded with "Yes, that is a similar relationship" My follow up question was "Is there a similar ideal system? Are Elantrians transformed because of their character? Maybe their closeness to the culture of Arelon?" To which his reply was "Ah, now you're getting into RAFO territory. Let's just say that you don't have to have a Seon to be made an Elantrian, but in the vast majority of cases, you need a spren to be a Knight Radiant. So there are some differences." Having been RAFOed, I decided to take a new approached, and asked "Does any of this have to do with the personification of culture, as Spren are personifications of forces and emotions?" He responded with "To an extent, yes." I am beyond exited to have cracked this code, my follow up theory is that AonDor is made up of what are basicly mega Spren that represent the various cultures inherent in the different countries of Sel, and that these Spren are somehow invested within the land itself, or are a manifestation of it made up of investiture. When someone begins to show devotion to their culture (or maybe when their spirit web begins to show similarities to a kind of ideal representation of the culture) they are bonded to this mega Spren and transform into Elantrians. Let me know what you guys think!