Harrycrapper

I agree on the likelihood of emotional allomancy working on an object's cognitive aspect, but yea Kelsier definitely couldn't burn the nails because he was only a cognitive shadow. I don't see any reason why Kaladin would be able to lash himself in Shadesmar, but an Allomancer couldn't burn metals.

I'd say it's hard to work around the timeline of the Iriali on that one. They've been on Roshar for thousands of years, likely since before Aharietiam given that Iri is one of the silver kingdoms. It's a bit of a stretch to claim that the time of the Desolations is "fairly future" in the Cosmere timeline. Maybe relative to stories like Elantris and White Sand, which are supposed to be pretty early in the Cosmere timeline, but I don't think Brandon is trying to deceive us on this one.

I think he also said fairly recently that all of the secret projects in the cosmere take place after where Stormlight and Mistborn are at now(i.e. as of RoW and The Lost Metal.)

I think the God King of Hallandren is a good sleeper contender. He can take control of any Lifeless regardless of whether he has the proper commands, control hundreds of inanimate objects, doesn't need to speak to awaken/command objects, and can make awakened steel weapons like Azure's sword. He's also so Invested that he's likely immune to direct attacks from various Invested arts(for example, he likely cannot be lashed into the sky or soulcast).

To expand upon this, I think they're definitely referring to the stones themselves there. The spren bit might also be the basic non sapient spren that Singers rely on to change forms in addition to other spren. It's easy to think that the betrayal of spren is refering to the sapient spren like Syl. But I think the betrayal was twofold in that the sapient spren started preferring human bonds for the increased mental capacity they provided and the non sapient spren instinctively were drawn to humans' more vibrant emotions. Which would have made transforming much more difficult and likely led to tensions. In line with those two, I don't think the betrayal of wind is referring to Honor or the Stormfather, but the winds themselves. Syl refers to the winds at various points as if they were in some way sentient/alive. Specifically, the Kaladin asks if she had been with him since he was a child and she says "No, but the winds knew you, so I knew where to find you."(not sure I got that 100%, audiobook listener :))

I'm not trying to pile on but I don't see why Ferrous would be any more or less canon than Night, they're from the same unpublished book. Only Amberite(or Rosite depending on how Brandon is feeling) is technically canon because we've seen it in published works.

Wax also mentions shooting a dog in a very particular place. Scadrial is the planet that most closely emulates Earth, so things like dogs exist there where they don't in a lot of other areas of the cosmere.

Hmmmm, assuming you did it through backerkit, I don't think so. Ordinarily, you back the kickstarter, clarify whatever needs to be clarified in the survey through backerkit, and then stuff is posted to backerkit when it's available if you purchased it. In this case, you likely bought them straight through backerkit, so you should be good to go. I think these are supposed to be delivered on the first day of the first month of each respective quarter, so come January 1st you should just be able to log into backerkit and download the book. You should also recieve an email when the books are available to download, but sometimes those emails come at a delay, so watch out for Brandon or someone at Dragonsteel announcing they're ready around the relevant times.

I think it's relevant to point out that Szeth was holding back a bit during the fight. I don't remember the exact wording, but he was told to kill Gavilar, but make sure it was a spectacle. If he felt he was in danger of failing his main order, to kill Gavilar, he would have likely became more careful and efficient.

Based on the fact that this happens after the Stormlight Archive books and certain factors involving a certain deal in RoW, I think we can safely assume Odium was not sufficiently in the vicinity of the splintering of Virtuosity to leave some of his Investiture similar to what happened with Ambition.

I had the same exact thoughts and I think Brandon himself said that most shards would seek to avoid Nightblood like the plague. Though in addition to that, I don't see how Endowment could make her way to the Rosharan system. Based on what's happening with Odium and what happened with Ruin, a Shard cannot just up and leave a planet they have Invested on. Endowment would need to destroy her planet to get to Roshar. I could see her influencing events from afar much like what seems to be happening on Scadrial with Trell. But, I don't see Endowment showing up in the Rosharan system, getting her vessel killed, Cultivation's vessel also dies, and Lift somehow merges the Shards. That just seems super implausible. Also did I miss something where Soulcasting used to be called Awakening? I'm drawing a complete blank on that. Not saying it isn't true, would just like to see the source. And I'm also not sure why you would need Awakeners to explain Dawnshards when you have Hoid there who once held one and was likely there when they were used to Shatter Adonalsium.

If anyone could manage it, it would be Hoid.

Technically, Hoid took the name Hoid from his master, so Hoid is Hoid's apprentice.

I imagine early Feruchemists would have run into this and come up with some maintenance techniques over the years. Feruchemy would have been around for thousands of years by the time Sazed was born.

Another possibility to expand on that; what if the Seon Mraize gave Shallan IS the Seon from her childhood. If the Seon was put in the safe and no one ever took it out, then it should still have been there by the end of WoR. The Ghostbloods went and grabbed Shallan's family during the civil war and probably ransacked the house. They would have found the safe and the Seon. Mraize later gives it to Shallan hoping to shake something loose from the quagmire that is her brain.

Given that the back 5 are supposed to be more about the Heralds, I think maybe this could be how the Ten Fools relate back to them.

It certainly could be, though I don't think Gavilar was the main target if that is the case. The Unmade that seems interested in the Davar family is more likely than not, Dai-Gonarthis, who feeds on sorrow. I could see him regularly visiting Kholinar to torment Jezrien, and Dalinar was likely an attractive option as well. I could definitely see Gavilar getting some of the periphery effects, I don't think the Unmade was particularly interested in him. As for Jasnah, I think his actions/words towards her were most in line with what was going on in his head; he really wanted her to marry Amaram. No one gets Jasnah to do something without making a logical case, and Gavilar could not make the case for marrying him without divulging his secrets. However, Gavilar is the only character we've seen that Jasnah doesn't inherently feel superior to. Given that Gavilar couldn't get her to do this through logic, he tried to brute force it using his authority. Though I think he underestimated how unappealing Amaram is, because I don't think that was ever going to work either. Still, he had to try.

Based on Gavilar's interaction with Dalinar, I think Gavilar was being deliberately hurtful to gaslight her and distract her from his various plots. He seemed pretty determined to keep his various family members out of his business and seemed to home in on their biggest insecurity. For Dalinar, it was Evi. For Navani, it was her own self worth.

To be sure, are you reading the transcription Pagerunner made or what was put out in the newsletter this morning? Presumably, what was in the newsletter is what Brandon was reading from. I feel it explains things pretty nicely. There are questions to be answered about Shallan's family/childhood. Why are the Ghostbloods, the Skybreakers, an Unmade, and the Cryptics all so interested in this backwater noble family? What is Shallan's final Truth? Radiant still hasn't been integrated, and she seems particularly modeled after Chanarach. Presumably Radiant will related to her final Truth much like Veil was her most recent. As for why she's there; she's probably just trying to live a normal life. The noble life is obviously better than most, but she can't be in a family that has too much notoriety or she may be found out. Then, she finds out her daughter is a Radiant, which could threaten to drag her secret out. On top of the fact that Ishar told the other Heralds that new Radiants would bring back the Voidbringers, her reasons for trying to kill her are clear. As for what it does for the story; one of the Heralds needed to die. Taln returned before the Everstorm was summoned, it couldn't be the cause of the Return. And Brandon seems to want Taln not to be the one who was broken. So, this was his way of showing us the Herald death that started the cascade of events starting in TWoK. It either works for you or it doesn't, the concept of it making a story better or worse is subjective and therefore entirely up to the reader.

Interesting pattern. I'll add one more thing; the "Stormfather"'s reaction when Gavilar said "Give me the power. I need it." Cultivation is somewhat known for receiving requests and granting them. That isn't too far off from Taravangian asking for capacity.

Technically, what Cultivation did to Dalinar shows she didn't trust him. She didn't give Dalinar anything like she did for Lift and Taravagian. She took away the pieces that made him unreliable and susceptible to manipulation by Odium. Also, now that I think about it, the "He has potential you do not see, that one. He could be more than you think" sounds very Cultivation-y, like she's thinking "I can prune that."

Dalinar went to visit the Nightwatcher shortly after Gavilar's funeral, not before his death. But, she's definitely a candidate that could be pulling Gavilar's strings here. Gavilar seems to be directly responsible for Taravagian visiting her, so it' entirely possible she's at the root of this.

I haven't seen anyone mention it unless I glossed over some comments, but one of the things "Gavilar Prologue Stormfather" said just cannot be reconciled with the Stormfather we know; what he said about Ba-Ado-Mishram. The Stormfather here seems to have a positive opinion of the Radiants who imprisoned her and thinks it was both necessary and right. These are the same Radiants who kickstarted the Recreance which killed so many spren which he considered his children. Not only that, but it deeply wounded The Sibling, and we know he blames humans/Radiants for that when Dalinar inquired about The Sibling and he shut him down with "YOU HAVE HURT THEM ENOUGH." I'm still not entirely convinced this is somehow Ishar, but I can imagine that exact explanation of events coming out of Ishar's mouth.

I mean, I'm pretty sure he was pivotal in the destruction of Ashyn, no one should like that guy.

I never trusted the other Heralds assessment of Ishar, they're insane too.