teknopathetic

Likely the Mistborn wouldn't be powerful enough to burn an Invested Metal. Magically Invested Materials have strong resistances to other types of magic use. So even if a blade could be burned, and that is a big if, it seems unlikely that any mistborn would be able to do so. Perhaps the Lord Ruler would have been able to do so (since he was a Splinter Sliver and was incredibly knowledgeable and powerful). We still have no proof that Shardblades can be used for the metallic arts. I am not even sure we can consider a shardblade to be 'metal' in the strictest sense.

We know that Emotional-Non-Concrete Spren are different fundamentally from Physical Concrete Spren: However, it seems like certain Spren work in pairs to help a Surgebinder. We also know that the Spren 'decided' which Honorblade they would mimic, and so this combination could be somewhat arbitrary. The spren actively figured out how to mimic honorblades and surgebinding. WoR mentions the Spren deciding the matter openly. It is also believed that Concrete Spren (physical noun Spren) are influenced more by Cultivation and that Non-Concrete Spren are more influenced by Honor. This is likely because Honor focuses more on Abstract ideas and Cultivation is more physically grounded. _______ Kaladin seems to have Wind Spren and Honorspren (Honour being non-concrete and wind being concrete). (Kaladin is more of Honor) Shallan seems to have Lie(truth) Spren and Creativity Spren. (Lie's being Concrete things and Creativity being a more abstract concept).Shallan is more of Cultivation as her bonded Spren is more of Cultivation.

I find it interesting that "Ambitious" things summon the Shades. I know that the lore is based on Jewish Sabbath beliefs, but there seems to be more here, Fire, Working (running) at Night, Speed, Murder, Shedding Blood - These are all Ambitious things. Could these shades be set-off by reminders of the Shard that painfully separated itself? Could they be set off by physical expressions of ambition? On a numerous note, it is funny that pigs keep away the Shades seeing as pig are famously lazy and unambitious....

I more mean't that Hoid wasn't a complete Human in some meaningful sense. Like, his master Hoid-1 created an artificial human, and Hoid-2, while human, has limitations. Or not? We will see haha. My money is still on the Hoid being an awakened story character. Thanks for the quotes though! It changes my internal debate!

Odd, I read the liar excerpts and got a distinctly different impression. Could "born a human" be using a softer definition of 'born"? Hoid's quote of "I began life as a thought, a concept, words on a page. That was another thing I stole. Myself" REALLY makes me think Hoid is not a uterus-born human. Hoid also blames "his-upbringing" as the reason why he can't hurt people. Hoid's childhood seems to extremely atypical Thanks again though Yata for being so helpful! Gotta find me those quotes.

Hoid doesn't seem to be a real person. He always references himself as some sort of literary creation or invested idea. I don't get the impression that Hoid is a natural person - I think he might be something like Nightblood and a spren mixed with a Lightweaving. His creation may have come with certain limitation when he was storywoven or lightwoven. Hoid's birth seems to be a literary one, not a biological one. It would make sense that Hoid, and idea, could fight other cognative ideas.

You'd think people would be making armor out of Aluminum then, right? Don't we know from the book that it is possible to soulcast aluminum and that the people know of aluminum? (even though Roshar doesn't have accessible deposits). I wonder if Brandon changed his mind on Soulcasting Aluminum? Maybe Shardplate is a form of spren-invested Aluminum? Though that seems pretty unlikely.

It makes me wonder what Nightblood might do in a Highstorm or with the Mists? Doesn't he consume an increasing amount of investiture per second? Theoretically, couldn't he consume an entire storm? Chuck Nightblood at the Everstorm and then problem-solved!

Horneaters and Herdazians are both WoB confirmed to be Parshendi/Human mixes. It really makes you question what Jasnah believes about the Parshmen in my opinion.

There is that quote about a bondsmith walking to the top of the tower in order to bond something; he is holding a crystal or orb as well.

Do we think Odium is behind foresight? Seems like Cultivation likely bestows forsight and that the Vorin Religion has got its ideology all messed up.

My money is on Dominion or Ambition. Sel has had their eyes on Preservation for a while now, and i bet the Selish people have found a way to work with their splintered shards. Odium killed Dominion and Devotion first, so I can see their shattering being a little less complete. Autonomy, while more likely, seems too obvious for my liking. I still vote Ambition to be trell since Ambition is a shard i can see surviving a shattering. Ambition had time to plan his death and that is suspicious. Odium couldn't find Ambition and then suddenly Odium kills him after destroying Sel? odd. Ambition would totally die if that meant he'd be stronger later. I'd love if Ambition studied Odium killing Devotion and then made a plan to ressurect himself. However, you're saying now that it can't be Ambition. Plus, to be ambitious is to bring discord.

Haha, i edited to the full quote a second before you posted this. The Diagram is a translation of a much more difficult language. There could be some pretty awful translation errors when interpreting the statements. But, I do see your point. I just can't understand how fewer Radiants could be helpful? The Diagram seems to find the Skybreakers' efforts laughable and useless. New orders ARE returning. The Diagram thinks it can't be stopped,but at the same time says maybe stop it? I suppose the Diagram could want the Radiants to not form formal orders and instead work as rogue agents, but that seems pretty damnation bizarre before a war. There is some incongruity in the Diagram over this issue.

We know the quote "Hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant. You may need it to destroy the new orders when they return" out of the Diagram, but I am wondering if this is a misinterpretation. The Skybreakers were working hard to kill new radiants, but this plan is shown as being absurdly futile. Preventing the new orders from being founded would be an absolutely horrific idea. The Diagram states "Obviously they are fools The Desolation needs no usher It can and will sit where it wishes and the signs are obvious that the spren anticipate it doing so soon". We are lead to believe that the Skybreakers were completely misguided in their task. Also, the Diagram states "They will come you cannot stop their oaths look for those who survive when they should not that pattern will be your clue". The Diagram seems to think Surge binders are inevitable. The easiest interpretation of the Diagram is that Radiants will make fighting the desolations harder, but how could that be? Granted, the Heralds managed to fight desolations without Radiants for some time, but still? Could 'the new orders' be literal "New Orders" of Radiants? We know that Seons and the "Sword" Seth receives can bestow new powers outside of the Radiant orders (WoB). We also know that the Radiants are not natural creations of Honor. Honor was suprised when the spren began bonding with humans to create Nahel bonds. The Spren made a cognitive leap (teehee) and learned to mimic what they had seen others manifest on the cognitive realm. Spren might be able to mimic a lot more than we have seen thus far. Could new types of Spren preform the Nahel bond once they see a Seon or a "Certain Sword" create a new type of bond on Roshar? The Spren have a precedent of creating new manifestations of investiture without the guidance of a Shardholder. Why wouldn't the be able to mimic a Seon Bond set of skills or abilities? Once, lets say, a Keenspren figures it out, then perhaps more Keenspren will start bonding. Boom: new orders screwing up the entire system on Roshar, the politics in Shadesmaar, and the religion of the people. That could be a problem worth smiting. I know that Honor didn't intend for 11 Orders of Radiants, and that the world has 10 gas giants and 10 essences, but Honor also didn't intend for Radiants at all either.... And Honor isn't exactly tending the garden anymore. Who knows what his fate spells for the magic system now.

I was re-reading TWOK, and i noticed something in a flashback. At the Purelake the Radiants and Co. are chasing an infected spren. Dalinar says that "chasing a Spren is pointless" because you can't capture one. After the spren is spotted, we see the female Radiant pull an orb off of her necklace. I seems likely that the Radiant was going to use that orb to stop the spren in some way. Do we think that orb was a Dawnshard? We know the Dawnshards could bind nearly anything, and it seems like the Radiant was going to use that orb to accomplish something. Surely the Radiant had a plan of action when it came to trapping or killing the infected spren. Dawnshards make the most sense from what we know. ------- Also, how could all the Dawnshards be lost? Could the animals/well/world that produced them be extinct or cut-off? Did dawnsingers produce them like a gemheart or create them with investiture? My gut is that the Parshendi can create (in some way) dawnshards. Parshendi can bind spren internally, and perhaps this ability can be cultivated in some way. Perhaps at one point the Listeners were the Dawnsingers, but the Listeners abandoned that calling for some reason. The Dawnsingers were a group of good Parshendi that supported Honor in the wars. The Parshendi also helped create the Dawncities using their understanding of natural resonance. I am getting 'native American and Plymouth Rock' vibe from it. Cabsul says the Dawnsingers were sent by the Almighty as healers and vibration is known to have regenerative qualities. Prediction: The Dawnsingers will return when the non-executed Parshendi begin working with the humans again. ______ My other thought is that the Dawnsingers might be folks from Nathalis as Nathalis and Roshar have a lot of contact. Vashar was able to heal others using breath (somehow) and perhaps Nathalis sent aid in the previous desolations.

A homeless man also is said to be "raving about uniting the people" before he met his untimely end. I always wonder what that homeless man's arc might have been? The homeless uniting would have been truly awesome. Throw in some Viveena and I am sold.

I also think ambition is Trell, but I haven't decided if Ambition is shattered or an Ambition Shadow is manipulating events. If there was one shard that might want to be shattered in order to achieve victory, it would be ambition. Maybe Ambition figured something out - seeming dead would be the best defense. Ambition did get to see Devotion and Dominion be shattered, so maybe Ambition had a plan?

I still think children brought up outside of the Royal Line would think that maybe they were royal enough, too. Look at how messy claims to the throne get? You'd get some extremely complicated chains of inheritance.

It would be awful if all dead radiant were sent to Braize to fight against Odium for all eternity. We do know there are battles going on in other realms ("you can serve in the next life" as a quote from another book).

I have read Aether too, and I don't believe that system to be end-negative. I obviously can't say more. But, that system will likely change a lot.

isn't it mentioned that the island was scoured in order to collect gemhearts from some now-extinct beast?

I wonder if Edgli started making Returned once Honor was killed. Maybe Edgli felt she needed to help Cultivation, or that maybe Endowment was next in line to be killed.

That's a good point, too. It is possible that some Liespren/truethspren/cultivationspren would look for a host who loves lies/truths in other people.

I am not so sure. I could also see her being in Jasnah's order (Elsecaller). Wan Shailu doesn't need to confess any truths, instead she wants to explore what item are historically in order to improve and enhance somethings expressed essence. I think Lightweaver works, but the mental state of a Lightweaver isn't really who ShaiLu is. I see Elsecalling as being honourable in your study and application of knowledge (very ShaiLu). We don't know what broke Jasnah so we can't really say for sure (though sexual violence seems the most likely suspect).

It likely would have helped to break up the story and focus on one character at a time. Perhaps tell Kriss' story in Book 1 and go past the Prose version a little bit. Then we could get details from a different point of view in different incarnations. As it was, the g.n. was very discombobulating (and I had read the prose version so I had an advantage going in). I don't blame the artist or the novel material, i just think they should have been more flexible with the source material timeline and presentation.