teknopathetic

When you look at the map of Shadesmar, the Purelake is a massive mountain range.

Also, when you compare the map of Shadesmar with Roshar: "Shadesmar has mountains where the Purelake is, like the bead-ocean was superimposed on a pre-existing landscape". It is very suspicious that a shallow lake would be superimposed with MASSIVE mountains.

We do have a hint of Cultivation's magic system in Roshar. The people of the Pure Lake ingested Fish: one fish cured arthritis, and one fish allowed you to track people. The Pure Lake was also rumoured to have tides that could predict the future. There was definitely something going on during the Pure Lake interlude. There is also the lake in the Horn Eater mountains. That might be another pool of Cultivation's power. It seems to allow healing and World Hopping to some extent. Honour said that Cultivation was good at predicting the future. It makes sense as you need to predict the weather to cultivate a crop adequately. And the idea of cultivating fish to obtain Investiture seems theoretically sound. It sounds a bit like Allomancy.

Do not read if you have not finished the Mistborn Trilogy! This discussion involves the final reveal of the Mistborn series. EVERYTHING HERE IS A MISTBORN SPOILER. I AM APPLYING THE FINAL MISTBORN SPOILER TO CULTIVATION! My theory is that The shardpool of Cultivation is the Pure Lake. AND, that Cultivation weakened herself, giving up part of her body, to create the second Shardpool in the Horneater Mountains. Why I Think This: We know from Mistborn 3 that Shards tend to create a pool of physical power. These are called Shard-Pools. In Mistborn, Ruin had the Pitts (or the metal there-in), and Preservation had the Well of Ascension (or the metal there-in). The Horneaters claim some Gods allowed them to cultivate the land on the mountain. This god(s) moved trees, water, and heat in order to let them cultivate the terrain. As well, Horn Eaters seem to worship a female deity. In The Well of Ascension, Preservation weakens her body and turned it into the Mists in order to help PRESERVE her people. It makes sense that Cultivation would do the same. She might weaken her Pure-Lake and split her essence into the Horneater Mountains. Many people comment on the ridiculousness of the Purelake's shallowness. This is very odd. When you look at the Purelake in the Shadesmar Map, the Purelake is a massive mountain range. Something is off between the two maps. Something has changed. This seems like an obvious clue that the Pure-Lake is a weakened Shard-Pool. Her magic system is the 'Fish Ingestion' magic we see briefly mentioned in the interlude. Obviously it is probably more in depth than what we are briefly shown. We know Pure-lakers can eat a fish to mitigate arthritis, or use another fish to track the location of an individual. We also have some musings on the tides being able to predict the future, which is something essential for good cultivation (predicting rain, drought, etc). The lake may also function like Elantris in some regard (Geographical Magic based on a specific region). We never get an explanation of how that magic system works (or even if it does work). But ingesting fish species has a shocking similarity to the Mistborn investiture of consuming metals. The ideal of Cultivation seems to easily mesh with the idea of cultivation animals or plants to gain powers. We also see some similar healing and regenerative powers coming from the Horn Eater's Lake. We also see That the pool can be used for world hopping in some fashion. A Horn Eater talks about how a God walked out of it one time! I think the two lakes split Cultivation's power. This is why no strong magic system has been associated with her as of yet. Half of it is in the mountains, and half of it is in the shallow Pure Lake. Brandon has said that all shards started out with the same power, but some grow weaker or stronger. It is the selfless ones that weaken themselves in this manner. This is why Odium is so powerful. He would never give up an aspect of himself for others. On the plus side, Honour said that Cultivation is good at predicting the future. Maybe her investiture will save the day for Roshar! ______________________________________________ Extra Bits of Speculation: Brandon is also very forceful with his "women eat different food from men" custom in this book. Could this be some vestigial rule left over from the days when Cultivation held more influence in Roshar? Thoughts? Also, could the Highstorm be similar to The Mists in nature? Or, could the Everstorm be Honour's Shard Pool. Or perhaps a weakening of Honours power n order to protect the human race? The Mists were destructive, but they were trying to help.