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All I meant is that they are chemically perfect, meaning that they have no impurities like the mined ones do (here or on Roshar); they have Flaws, but no Impurities. They are not necessarily perfect in terms of Crystalline structure, which along with Cut determines how well they hold Stormlight, as you say. My understanding of Nightbloods smoke is that is the one instance where he actually looses Investiture, being the Corrupted and consumed Breaths he eats out of people. It cam e up recently when talking about how the limits of he absorbs Investiture, Id previously thought he didnt actually ever loose any, just sucked it in like a black hole. Excellent point about how the Crystal is actively replacing organs, I feel like there should be more implication there, with the host still mostly functioning while becoming this Crystal Golem, but Im not sure what it would be yet. Check out This WOB about the thematic intent of Nightblood as a Chained Monster rather than a Weapon, I feel like it supports your general line of thinking:

I like it, there's a certain symmetry to the Overload image. That being said I'd like it better if we could find a way to reconcile a few other aspects of Yelig-nar and his whole Gem thing, so lets see if we can come up with something that fits this. The Gem swallowing mechanic always seemed to most directly mirror two other things: Singer (or any rosharan creature's) Gemhearts and Allomancy. Gems on Roshar are described by WOB as Lightbulbs screwed directly into the Spiritual Realm, which is why Perfect Gems still Glow even if they arent loosing Stormlight. The Creatures on Roshar grow their gemhearts as a sort of of Crystallized bleed-through from the Spiritual Realm, which is why they are all chemically perfect (if not always perfect crystals). And the Gemhearts are the reason Singer can perceive the Rhythms and facilitates the change in Forms, which (and this plays into your observation) they can only do it during a Storm when there is a ready supply of Stormlight. In light of that, it seemed to be to resemble Allomancy in that you Swallow something and that bonds/Connects you to it enough that, given the right "key" object (metal for Scadrial, Gems for Roshar) it can form a Conduit to a particular Shard's power. The Gem Growths on Yelig-nar's host might then be more along the lines of excess and/or inefficient use of the Power being Channeled through them, that is defaulting to a sort of uncontrolled, Cancerous Gemheart growth. Thus without total control of that power it overwhelms. From there I could see having a secondary Stormlight supply acting as a Balancing force, or perhaps it's more that having a secondary means of Using the Power acts as a pressure relief. Does any of that jive with how you are picturing this? Side Note: What did the crystals look like in each case? Im curios if they at all reflected the type of gem swallowed, or something else.

The caveat on spiking a Spren is that you have to access them in the Cognitive Realm to gain access to them where they have enough physicality to be Spiked. The same would logically extend to a Soen/Skaze, though we havent actually seen what sort of form they have on that side, and the Dor makes it complicated in the sense that they might not actually exist in the same partial state getting pulled through that a Spren does, given that the boundary itself is different (more porous) on Roshar. Which I think just means it might a lot more complicated but still possible with a Seon/Skaze. Especially since that WOB did technically end in an RAFO on how you'd have to go about Spiking a Spren. Of course This One implies that you could steal the Nahel Bond but that you'd have to spike both sides of the Connection, one in the Radiant and another in the Spren, so I think it's a fair assumption. As another fun instance: you can also spike Kandra (which are basically just severely mangled people) but the interesting thing is that they have more fluid Bind Points, so there would be some unique possibilities.

Probably true, given that they are sentient godlings formed of the very Powers of Creation. And yet, here we are Shipping them, of all things.

That's fair, it's definitely a wildly different domain of power. The idea of higher levels of mastery being able to circumvent the limitations didnt really bother me all that much, though, as that was a common theme of the Heightening levels in Awakening.

Well, the Stormfather describes them as siblings, so that could be awkward. But then, Vorinism described Dalinar and Navani as siblings as well, so...

Im not sure I see how Slatrification doesnt fit with the rest of the system, unless it's just being able to create volumes of water externally. The internal aspects of it at least dont seem to be any different than F-Bendalloy. I mean, if you stored a bunch of hydration in a metalmind, then reclaimed it after getting severely dehydrated, you'll be able to produce real moisture (sweat, saliva, etc) that wasn't physically present in the world before, converting moisture to Investiture and back again. Though doing it internally, and thus somewhat via your own spiritual aspect, might make all the difference versus converting Invested Sand directly into volumes of water.

Nice. So by that it sounds like the Gem's only real function is to facilitate the realmic transition involved in Summoning/Dismissing, and the bond itself operates independently. That makes me wonder if it's possible to recreate the Summoning capability of Plate in a similar way, perhaps if you have the original pair (the Deadeye blade and it's own original Plate)?

Im still expecting the Windrunner's fourth Ideal to be something more along the lines of accepting that there are times when they cannot and/or should not get involved. Not about Failure, but about occasionally standing aside and getting out of the way of somebody else's fight, more along the lines of how Parents need to eventually outgrow their Helicopter-Parent style Protectiveness and let others Do for themselves. I think that is the meaning of this Epigraph (OB 86): I think Sacrifice is the theme of the Stonewards, the way Protection is for the Windrunners, Law&Order is for the Skybreakers, and the Edgedancers seem focused on the Ignored/Forgotten. See below Epigraph OB 58

A possibility is that the Gemstone is functionally simply providing a conduit to the Spiritual Realm, which is something all Gems can to to a certain extent. Its how the Singers perceive the Rhythms, and why a Perfect Stone still glows even though it's not loosing stormlight. A Charged Gem is "basically a light bulb screwed into the Spiritual realm". I think the Gem just facilitates the realmic transition, but the Bond is likely separate and more a function of dead spren themselves (via a Connection Effect I would assume) and the time and Proximity are more keys to forming it. Otherwise removing and/or crushing the Gem should be enough to break the Bond on it's own, and in the WoR quote that @Weltall posted, Adolin wouldnt have needed to have the guy consciously will the bond to break first. Granted it's possible that without the gem providing that conduit the deadeye spren would unable to form such a bond, or that it needs the gem to hold Stormlight to maintain it. The fact that the guy touched the gem to break the bond implies that, but that could easily be another example of Intent adding requirements that dont really exist (similar to Szeth needing ten heartbeats to summon the Honorblade).

Very probable, on a psychological level if not a a fully physical one, though the Soulcaster Savantism seems to have some elements of (or similarities to) addiction. I doubt it will happen to Teft, specifically, because he's so consciously against his Addiction and Id think (or maybe just hope, cause I like him) that he would not be as prone to try and replace one addiction with another. Also because his use of stormlight is being more specifically monitored by his Spren, who is able to not let him use it if the use is not being properly motivated by a desire to Protect Others (as we saw Syl do with Kaladin a few times).

If I recall correctly, Adolin said they were extremely brittle if not actually on a shardblade, which is why they were useless as a weapon in their own right. But the fact that they shapeshift means they are Invested (or rather, can become invested) when they contact the shardblade, which is where I think they are getting their Investiture. Also, I could be wrong but I was under the impression that they were Found Relics of the earlier era and not something that can be made by the current folks. Aluminum on Roshar is something that is a bit inconsistent, I agree. At one point it's mentioned as a Meteor metal, which would make sense and explain its rarity, but in another instance it's mentioned that it's known to be something that can only be created by Soulcasting (Shallan's necklace as a child) meaning it can be created by soulcasting and thus should not be as rare as it seems to be, and it would be undeniably useful in both blocking Shardblades and containing Stormlight. The only real explanation I can think of is that it takes a more specialized Soulcaster that is currently rare, and/or takes a lot more skill with the soulcaster to accomplish.

If you've already read all three Stormlight novels (did you catch the short story EdgeDancer? It falls between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer), you should Absolutely pick up Warbreaker asap. It has the backstory on a few characters that have appeared on stage in Stormlight but are not from Roshar.

I think they are just Invested enough to block the shardblade effects, which even a sufficiently Invested Metalmind or Spike could do (though I gather most would not because the relative Investiture levels on Scadrial are much lower than Roshar). He originally wanted to make them Aluminum, but his continuity editor "wouldnt let him" for Reasons. Im guessing because Roshar isnt supposed to be able to Invest Aluminum in any way and the guards have to be able to change shape.

Whatever Adonalsium was, he was enough of a person to be Killed, which caused and/or was part of the Shattering. So Adonalsium was both Living and Male. That being said, a lot of the Cosmere is based on Brandon's earlier story called "Dragonsteel", so being a living being and metal may not be incompatible.

The Magnus Chase series took this to a whole new level. The Dwarves there name everything they craft. Every. Single. Item. Each one is entirely unique, often has unnecessary features (like a beer mug named "Boom-Daddy" that would explode if you ever let it get completely empty), and it's considered impolite to use something without first asking its name and history. So you walk into a bar and must ask the bartender for the Name of the stool before you sit down, and you get things like "Rear-Rester" or "Keister-Home, Famed among Barstools, it survived the Great Bar Fight of 4109am!". There was even an old dude with a walker named "Granny Shuffler"...it had rocket launchers.

Have we ever seen anyone Bond more than one (dead) shardblade? The Honorblades form what seems like a relatively similar bond in the sense that it's shallower than a full Radiant Nahel bond (which is why they are less efficient in their stormlight usage). I cant think of any instance where a person has two normal shardblades, which could be a real limitation or could simply be that it's highly wasteful from a tactical standpoint.

Excellent, thanks! I think Id argue that recent revelations about Patji would make First of the Sun qualify, even if it doesn't rise to the level of full "Major" Shardworld.

Can I say Spirit? I want to have a Tron-Battle...

I want to say there was a WOB that he had about ten Shardworlds planned (presumably that included the minor shardworld we've seen without actual resident Shards), but I cannot find the WOB so I may be mistaken

So long as he still has the Shake-Weight....

For what it's worth, Singers existed pre-shattering

I think the act of implanting the spike itself, regardless of when it's removed, is going to be the cause of the damage. Hemalurgy works on the principle that the metal can access the spirit-web directly using the blood, and the "charge" that is put in the metal is itself the Investiture that comprises the piece of spirit-web being removed, such that that act of charging the spike is removing a piece of the spiritweb, regardless of whether the spike is immediately removed from the victim's body or not. So you've either stabbed them with the full Intent to remove a piece of their soul in the process, or you've simply stabbed them with a pointy object.

Yup, 'Mundane' was just intended as a general term for non-magical, and I thought it would be clear with the context of the WOB which was stating that Balat's issue was magically influences whereas Kaladin's was specifically chemical. I wasnt trying to in any way demean Kaladin or his his struggles depression, just that its roots were chemical and not magic related, and that absent the sort of tools we as a society tend to use to address such neurochemical imbalances, him getting an effective emotional/social support structure is going to be very helpful to his ongoing mental health. The Lightweaver mention is simply the pattern that stands out to me, though Im also personally fascinated with Tien, and wish he'd live long enough to become fully Radiant. For Kaladin simply being a part of Bridge Four is also probably very helpful in many ways, especially with folks like Rock and The Lopen around; his commitment to Bridge Four is what literally brought him back from the edge in WoK. It's always possible that there is more to his attraction than Im giving him credit for, more than just his fascination with her ability to maintain an (outward) happiness. I mean if nothing else, five pages and untold other threads on the discussion prove that. It's just that in my current reread where Ive been trying to pay more attention to it, that seems to be what Kaladin always comes back to (in his POV passages). Its one of the big differences between his attraction and Adolin's: Adolin seems (to me at least) to be more genuinely interested in getting to know Shallan and making himself a good match for her, whereas Kaladin seems really focused on that one particular enigma. And to be honest I far prefer his the scene at the end of OB to be a real moment of growth and self-reflection on Kaladin's part which he's not otherwise very good at), rather than dismissing it as "You're just kidding yourself kid." That seems more demeaning of his feelings to me, more like it's implying that he's incapable of real introspection. As far as the Lightweaver bit, there are several instances of strange, common traits among the various orders that are not magic in nature but still shared by the members. Artistic ability in Lightweavers, the mentions of Skybreakers being able to suss out guilt, etc. Could be nothing, I just find interesting and would enjoy seeing those sorts of shared (but specifically non-magical) personality traits manifest in the Radiants. For lightweavers it wouldnt have to be anything more an innate optimism and ability to take Joy in the little things of the world, like discovering a new plant or a pretty rock. At this point Im more looking forward to the possibility that he'll meet somebody that is entirely free and unattached and has nothing standing in his way, just to watch the Radiant Hero be reduced to bumbling, inexperienced teenager. The idea of Shallan teasing him, of him getting shy and awkward, and trying to reconcile all the incompatible advice he'd get from the likes of Adolin, Rock, The Lopen, etc. just brings a smile to my face. At the end of the day I dont want him cast as Lancelot in a Love triangle, I want him to have a Boy-Meets-Girl experience without all these outside forces getting int he way. It honestly never even sort of occurred to me that the term "mundane" would bother anybody, or really be taken as anything other than non-magical in this fantasy context, but that's at least two people that read it that way, so Ill just retire the term; Non-magical is just as easy and more specific. Im sorry to any whom I offended.

@insert_anagram_here Nice! I dont recall seeing anything about connecting the Essences with the unmade, but I like it!