teknopathetic

I was rereading The Way of Kings and noticed something odd (spoilers for the whole series though). The Parshman slaves had retained their dislike of humans disturbing their dead even with their connection stripped from them. One of the only things Parshmen would ever do undirected is look after their dead, and they could become violent if humans disturbed the deceased. In terms of ritual, the Parshman will retrieve a corpse, take it to a forest, and lay it on “a slab of stone”. Some Parshmen don’t even seek food when they are starving, so what’s the deal with this being retained? Why do we think this behaviour was retained and what do we think the purpose is? The behaviour is also mimicked by the Listeners as well. Oddly though, the Fused refer to the practice as modern superstition, but that can’t be if both the Listeners and the Parahmen are drawn to the same behaviour. Are the Fused unaware of their history, or are they actively hiding it? I think it is likely connected to stone shamanism in some way. We have so many references to stone superstitions that there must be something to that side of the magic system (the Sibling maybe or the gods of the mountains if those are different than the Sibling?) Any other thoughts on this? My tinfoil hat is that death does not work the same in Roshar as in other places. For some reason, being laid to rest in this manner is beneficial when it comes to passing on. There is something happening to the dead on Roshar beyond references to fleeing Ashyn or being sent to Braize as a Fused or Herald. Rock (or maybe crem that looks like rock) does/did something neat and I am excited to see what that is.

Shai catching Hoid.

Would someone be able to briefly let us know what the flute mention was?

Roshar also has advanced medical technology since they can use rot-spren to gauge the actual effectiveness of medicines and anti-septics. In our world even washing hands before surgery wasn't something achieved consistently until around 1890-1910 for most of the western world. Spren might allow other technological leaps if you can connect what brings/removes the spren with what processes are actually working around you.

Oathgates also we’re once able to move people safely between realms (though Honour forbids that now). Also, a corrupted gate was able to move people into the cognitive realm, but an unmade was also involved so who knows the exact mechanics there. Id love to know how far apart Oathgates can be. Could we move one end to Ashyn? To Nalthis? Does the difficulty in moving Spren make this impossible?

I like the theory that Kaladin's mother is from Kharbranth and that Kaladin will be granted the protection that Odium promised.

Well H can stand in for any letter

I believe there is a quote to the likes of "Jezrien looked regal, though he hand't worn a crown for centuries" in the TWoK prologue. That implies he did at one point (maybe Ashyn, maybe on Roshar)

I would like Shai to become a prominent worldhopper and to discover how to use her magic off-world. Also, it would be interesting if she was a founder of Silverlight.

When do we think Teft bonded his spren? Seems odd he would speak two ideals off-screen so quickly. Is it possible he bonded earlier and pulled a Shallan by 'forgetting' he did so?

And the surges existed before the Nahel bond, so if spren aren't needed originally for surges then perhaps there is a way of doing fabrils without them.

This scene really made me wonder if classical fabrials worked more like metal minds mixed with breath where the specific order of radiant would infuse stormlight into an appropriate gem, and other radiants could draw out that pre-determined stormlight to complete the pre-intended task. It would be interesting if the trapping of spren is something that became possible/permitted post recreance. I realize that bonding a spren to gems was possible (dawn-shards), but maybe gemstones weren't being utilize in the same way as artifabrians now do in the modern era. I feel like the intention was not to torture spren in order to get levitation...

I might be wrong, but I think Adolin is accepting that his ideals, while close, are not the same as his fathers and are not the same as the codes. What Adolin did was right IMO, and I think Adolin will only face external stress as consequences for his actions. Now how post-murderer Adolin reacts to the murder of his mother might be an interesting bit or emotional turmoil....

I don't think Adolin considers what he did as "wrong" in any way, and he had the full support of Shallan when she said "good for you" after his confession. I don't even think we as an audience as supposed to think he did anything wrong.

I am not so sure. Khaladin manages to kill a voidspren in the physical realm by stabbing it with a shard blade (In Kholinar). It seems like the spren in the physical realm are somewhat vulnerable.

Breath can be used to create endowments (powers/blessings) that l can be bestowed to other people, somewhat like a financial endowment. The Royal locks (and body morphing) were an endowment granted to the royal line by Vo, not a power granted by simply being the child of a Returned. This explains why the Royal Locks only are granted to potential heirs to the throne, and why these powers don't seem to dilute with time or as the royal blood gets further removed from Vo. Currently the art of turning breath into an endowment of power for other to access is not currently understood (or quite guarded).

The effect might work like Cadmium bubbles (slowing down time for people inside the area). I am not sure if that ability is cognitive or spiritual, though. Edit: it could even be physical, as speed and time are connected in our realm.

Over 80 tribes of Native American people were eradicated by disease, starvation, war, murder; so I would say probably similar levels would happen with Rosharians (maybe less if their kids get the benefits of breath).

Braize and Ashyn are not hospitable. if Odium wins, I doubt those worlds get any better. I am aware that spren are locked, but if the planet is going down maybe they will get a chance to leave? Or they really, really won't. Nightblood is from Nalthis, but I feel like we could have been told there were other planets and he was a mutant version, and that would be fine. Why do we even need him to be from Nalthis? What's the point of mixing the two world together? "I need a sword" could have been done in a lot of ways, and so far making Nalthis creep into the book hasn't been enough to justify Nightblood's foreign backstory. Disease is a pretty real-world reality in refugee camps. Having the people develop health issues would be true to form. Perhaps their children would receive breath and those children would acclimate better in turn.

Nalthis is the closest planet in the cognitive realm, and we have two politically important Nalthians as potential sponsors for the resettlement. I agree other planets are possible, but we have three data points (a customs agency in Nalthis, closest location, and prevalent worldhoppers) pointing towards Nalthis. People still need to eat in the Cognitive realm, so they will need aid fairly quickly. I can see Nalthis turning into Turkey and having massive refugee camps all along the border with other planets being unsure if they should let the people of Odium into their worlds (considering what happened the last two times). We also have a WoB saying Warbreaker is a necessary prequel for Stormlight, and I don't think what we have in the plot so far is enough to justify that. In this exodus some people might go elsewhere in the cosmere, but the bulk would go to Nalthis; think Syrians crossing the sea and ending up in Europe. And yes, usually those better off manage to be the first-wave refugees. Rarely do the poorest get out first, so maybe only the Alethi get out and certain races/peoples are exterminated. We also have a confounding issue regarding if spren will be able to leave with the people, or if oaths will be broken again in order to flee. Maybe Bondsmiths can open perpendicularities now, or maybe new fabrials are an option; or maybe only 50,000 get out and we get a Battlestar Galactica thing going on. Who knows? It will be a mess, but Roshar has always been a mess. Stormlight's main theme seems to concern what happens when people are displaced (Singers, Listeners, Ashynites, Horneaters, Dysians, Iriali, Natans, Tower-people, Radiants, Alethi, etc etc) and I have hard time thinking that all this thematic build-up won't end with the cycle repeating itself but on a much larger scale. Other Plot Convergences 1) the Iriali believe they are on a long trail going from planet (singular) to planet (singular), so a sigular port of entry seems even more likely. Unless the Iriali we have chose to stay in the past and way back when there already was an Iriali exodus, then we have a plot point saying something must happen to make that entire country want to leave when the invasion wasn't enough to do that so far. They might even have their own Old Magic from before that helps them Worldhop? Who knows? 2) Spoiler for Stormlight 4 Prologue

I agree that Book 10 is the more likely choice for the Roshar destruction, but I fear that if it happens in Book 10 we won't really get to see the ramifications in the ways I would like. I would love to see Jasnah dealing with the Court of the Gods as she pleads for her people to be let in spite their 0/2 planet history. I want the Heralds to be viewpoints into how the last refugee crisis went, and to act as a foil/echo of what the new Radiants try to barter for when they flood Nalthis customs. I did a degree focussing on war-ethics, and my job is dealing with refugee resettlement and education in Canada, so I have quite invested in seeing how Brandon handles the series themes of displacement, loss, and transition. I've also got an MEd on training non-literate refugee adults to read and write for the first time, so I am also curious about how a shift in writing culture/norms would work in this post-Roshar age.

It would also be great for covering up murders. "This man has been dead for days! I wasn't even in the city until yesterday!"

Ive always wondered if Hoid helped set up Elokar's death in some way, or if he was just at the right place at the right time. He keeps saying he will do evil things, and I am itching for this to be one of them.

I wonder if Adolin could bond a spren and use that connection to somewhat bring back his dead-blade through his connection to the new spren.

That seems to close to other Brandon plots. My money is that Roshar goes boom and we see a massive Cosmere refugee crisis. Nalthis Customs, anyone?