clyguy

3 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

SAME! 

Ok. Parshmen strategy. Stealing boats, food, and making demands? Where is all the destruction? I want VOIDING not POLITICS. 

Also when is tarangavian going to betray dalinar

I think they are trying to make the preparing for war as hard as possible for Rosahar. If they leave everyone alive but starving, wounded, with out means of transportation then Dalinar and crew will have to spend precious resources dealing with keeping people alive as much as fighting the void-bringers. This is a similar tactic used by the Librarians in the 4th Alcatraz books and is a pretty effective strategy used in real world examples.

I also have to reference Brandon's favored method of giving us lots of bits of information in such a way that we are encouraged to draw the wrong conclusion. With that in mind, if instead of following the trail of bread crumbs and instead evaluate each bit as it on it's own and how it relates to the big picture. Here are some mid level connections I believe in.

1. Any shard who chooses to manifest itself on Scadrial is likely to be in a way that interacts with the three arts (especially now that ruin and preservation are merged). WoB that investiture and magic systems would manifest and interact differently from one world to another (vasher eating stormlight - for instance).

2. Odium is possible thought not as plausible an enemy here. The only thing that he has going for him (in my mind) is to provide a place for him to be introduced as "the bad guy" on a smaller scale to show us his power and the difficulty in defeating only a small part of him.

3. I think that Autonomy or another shard might be possible. I think we only have a confirmation of 8-9(?) intents or names of all 16 shards.

4. Brandon has been intentionally dodgy on timelines of where books are on the cosmere timeline. Some of the only specific verification that we have had is the mention of One's Above in Sixth of Dusk (possibly Scadrians - because Brandon has confirmed that they will have a space sci-fy trilogy at the end). Beyond that, we only know (correct me if I'm wrong) that time is distorted when world hopping so ordering books based on who is in them is a surefire way to mislead ourselves.

I think Rayse could, he just doesn't because that would change his intent.

But that is just it: The pre-breaking investiture pools should be something like human stem cells that have no particular intent(in other words, the potential for all intents). He should then, be able to add these to himself to increase his pool of investiture but, I'm still not convinced that this is correlated with power. However, these "stem splinters" may not be easily detectable or may be hidden.  Additionally, the "sky people" in sixth of dusk were obviously space allomancers, but did not seem to know where the special birds came from or that there was s pool of splintered investiture - which isn't conclusive but if they have that level of technology it might be reasonable to expect them to be able to detect concentrations of investiture.  Also, Ryse is bound to that world for now with the oath pact so that he can't run rampant throughout the cosmere so being able to detect splinters is kind of a moot point.

All that being said - I want to go back to my first question and the response:

1. So when it comes to Shards, Splinters and Self awareness - Is is possible (or even probable) that some shards which have been bonded for a great deal of time will opt to become self aware instead of seeking another intelligent being with whom to bond? We know that bits of investiture, both before and after the shattering, have become self aware - both by design and by accident. If possible, would the then still be "killable". So far, when we have seen shards "die" it has only meant the severing of the power from the bonder. If it effectively renders the shard immune to death, would that put the cosmere at a standoff since Odium would no longer be able to kill other shards? Or, would he be able to beat the sentience out of them. OR would they require a bond in order to over come odium?

 

 

 

I'm not sure I follow you here. If a Shard doesn't gain sentience on its own, it can't really "decide" to gain sentience, can it? Preservation/Ruin didn't "decide" to bond Sazed, he decided to take up the powers.

 

As to the last half, Splintering is different than what happened to Ruin and Preservation. In Splintering, the power itself is shattered and separated into little chunks. Preservation/Ruin just killed each other's holders. If all the other Shardholders gave up their Shards, their Shards could presumably still be Splintered by Odium.

I see that odium could still splinter the shard and I know that Brandon has indicated that no shard (following science logic) can not be destroyed only dispersed and could then POSSIBLY gather all the splinters and reform the shard. 

However, may have poorly stated the other part of my question: Other bits of investiture (spren for example) have gained spontaneous sentience. Is it possible for an entire shard to become self aware - not just shadows )like the Stormfather?) If so, would there be any advantage/disadvantage. Would the shard understand itself and it's abilities on a more instinctual level and be more effective? Or would it is it more like bonding a holder is "the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts" kind of madness where the holder adds something unique and powerful to the relationship? THE BIG FINISH: If the shards can be self aware and if they can joinforces (captain planet style) to make something greater - ultimatly Adolnalsium ........ was Adonlasium ever bonded to a once mortal (or immortal?) being or was it just 16 shards coalesed into one god like-self-aware force?

As I was reading the posts I quickly found my self thinking that Adonalsium may have shattered himself but, why then would there be a plot and a weapon. A few ideas pop into my head

1: He know it's enemy's wouldn't stop trying so he did it voluntarily because of the collateral damage the weapon would cause (or to just defuse the situation or gain experience or other motivation).

2: Someone else found (stole) the weapon and it simply went off intentionally or unintentionally. In this case it might have been Hoid who was holding it after finding/stealing it and he therefore feels responsible even though it wasn't by design. 

3: The enemies eventually succeed.

I don't think that the 1/16th of Adonalsium  shattered the rest of itself. The quotes from above I think are being miss-represented. It talks about hatred Oduim going crazy because of how it was now out of context of the other godly attributes. 

1. So when it comes to Shards, Splinters and Self awareness - Is is possible (or even probable) that some shards which have been bonded for a great deal of time will opt to become self aware instead of seeking another intelligent being with whom to bond? We know that bits of investiture, both before and after the shattering, have become self aware - both by design and by accident. If possible, would the then still be "killable". So far, when we have seen shards "die" it has only meant the severing of the power from the bonder. If it effectively renders the shard immune to death, would that put the cosmere at a standoff since Odium would no longer be able to kill other shards? Or, would he be able to beat the sentience out of them. OR would they require a bond in order to over come odium?

2. Is is possible or probable for a shard to go around and pick up other splinters (others, there own, or innate investiture "pools"). In the story Sixth of Dusk, there is the splinter pool that doesn't seem to be self aware but, is granting power to creatures (so far only avian) via the grubs that feed on the fruit that grows from the pool. Could an shard go and scoop up the power there and add it to themselves to increase their own power? Does it have to be aligned with the shard? What if the splinter is sentient - how would that affect the process. With so many variables it could go many directions

COMPLICATIONS: A shard's "power" isn't really defined or even exemplified. Does having more power simply mean a larger pool of investiture? The closest thing I've seen is when Vin (preservation) clashes with Ruin. She throws herself (a vauge force) against him and they end up killing each other. Does collecting stray investiture increase one's "mass" or "power" and therefore make them more formidable? If so, would doing something like that make one shard become able to stand up to Odium?  

If not - are the splinters more like the individual rings of Captain Planet with their various strengths, weaknesses, traits and usefulness? That each one has certain abilities that make them more or less formidable? In this scenario - Odium is just a more potent peice of the whole. And in this analogy it would explain why more shards do not simply combine in order to protect themselves from odium. If two or three shards clumped together (or an opportunistic one that isn't bound to a planet and is simply hiding on worlds that odium isn't interested in right now swooped in and collected the fallen shards) haven't done this. It is an all or nothing kind of process (exceptions like Harmony not explained). 

I was going back through my notes and forgot to post this.

Q: Does being near a shard pool make it easier to worldhop?

A: Yes it does. 

This is what I assumed initially - I saw the outside arc of lerasium, saw that harmonium had two of those and atium had none, so I figured harmonium would be double lerasium, and maybe atium will cancel some of the extra spikes or something. But once I was done superimposing the lerasium symbols there was just no room atium. But obviously I can't argue with Isaac. Maybe the mix is more conceptual than actual - the straight spikes of atium with the curved lines of lerasium. 

I agree with you. When I fist saw it (before Kara put it on) i was trying to find which symbol it reflected and it is really close to the double lerasium.

As for this -

This is interesting and answers that question from the second letter. Safe to say that Frost is 99% unlikely to be a Shard. I wonder how Brandon plans to write out Frost's species' characteristics

As the for the second point, it may be prudent to re-read Zahel's/Vasher's scenes with a closer eye peeled

I don't know if it is a too much of a spoiler, but frost is addressed as "his scaly" friend in Hoid's letter. When I asked Brandon for confirmation he indicated that frost is in fact a dragon.

Thus we know that there are humans, dragons and a third race on Yolen. I have goo reason for believing I know what the third race it but, am not sure if it is yet spoiled somewhere else.

I find it interesting that Harmony's - or harmonium's, rather - Allomantic symbol is practically double lerasium. I downloaded the lerasium Allomantic symbol from the Coppermind, rotated it so the straight spike and the dot formed a vertical line, duplicated it, flipped the dupplicate along the y-axis, and got the attached.

 

It's not exactly the same (the left and right spikes are curved, whereas the harmonium symbol has them straight), but it's so close, I am willing to glaze over it. 

While that is good theory, I spoke with Issac and he specifically told me that it was his best attempt to mix Lerasium and Atium. As an artist he said that creating a new symbol that is based on other symbols is never going to be even proportions.

Dalinar x1

Adolin x1

Kelsier x1

Marsh x1

Shai x1 (the emperor's soul)