dvoraen

I think we have the answer to this too, which I'm planning on posting about some time or other soon. That being: the story of The Girl Who Looked Up. I think this basically describes humanity's change from Odium to Honor and the beginning of expansion throughout Roshar.

It seemed very clearly meant for helping those in opposition to Odium (the implication being "for humans"), and came about long after the initial invasion of humans onto Roshar. From what the Stormfather said, the Oathpact was a prison/seal for the (Odium-invested) souls of the ancient Listeners who could not die. It was designed for the Heralds to function as the jailers of those souls, by exiling them from Roshar and sealing them there. Since the Fused couldn't be killed, since that soul could just inhabit another Listener, the Heralds asked Honor to help them formulate the Oathpact so that humans had a means of fighting back against the Fused. I think the rough timeline was like this: - Humans arrive on Roshar with Odium as their deity. They're granted the Shinovar(?) region as their land. - Relative time of peace. Humans possibly turn their backs on Odium, or his influence wanes due to Honor and Cultivation's established presence on Roshar. - Humans progress out of their allotted region and expand. Eventual conflicts with the Dawnsingers occur, leading to the First Desolation. - Listeners angry at the aggressive human expansion turn to Odium and become Invested with powers, unable to die, which creates those that would be known as the Fused. - The Heralds form the Oathpact to combat the perpetual nature of the Fused and seal those souls away on Braize / Damnation. - The cycle of Desolations begins.

I think we have enough info to fully deduce this, now. - The Sons of Honor were planning on returning the Heralds by way of artificially setting off a Desolation. - To do that, they thought they needed to return the Voidbringers, which we know now are mostly the Fused and Dawnsingers utilizing Voidlight in a form of power. - He discovered the Listeners at the Shattered Plains, and between his visions and goal, likely figured out who and what they were (possibly with Jasnah's help), and came to the realization that they were the mythical Voidbringers, and that he'd found part of the means to bringing the plan to fruition. - In order to induce a form of power to a listener, they needed to find a source of Voidlight. Voidlight is stated to source from the Unmade, as the Everstorm did not yet exist. - Based on Aesudan's comments, Gavilar found one of the Unmade. Navani states he made the Voidlight spheres, which likely means either the Unmade provided it, and/or Gavilar found one imprisoned, and siphoned off some of the Voidlight from the gem containing that Unmade. (The ruby containing Nergaoul, after his capture, shows them to be pure Voidlight.) - Voidlight + Listener = go for setting off his "Desolation". - With the Heralds returned, they would undoubtedly work to unite the world as the Silver Kingdoms once more, where he who controls Urithiru effectively controls Roshar (after the Heralds are gone). As Gavilar was developing towards becoming a Bondsmith, that made him a prime candidate for that overseer of unity. - Cue book 1's assassination. Random aside: The Voidlight spheres were likely perfect gems, for them to not degrade over time. Plus, the risk of letting loose even a piece of an Unmade was probably too great. They just wanted them for their bodies Investiture, in other words.

Likely not; most spheres are not perfect gems, which may be a condition required to hold one of the Unmade. I suspect the size of the gemstone is relevant as well, which most spheres would likely fail on. The spheres Gavilar had that he was giving out, were likely holding Voidlight he acquired from one of the Unmade. Which one that was, is the real question. It's quite possible he found Ba-Ado-Mishram and stored her perfect gemstone prison with his things, but it's just as possible he found one of the others still trapped as well. Chemoarish is unaccounted for as well, after all. Sja-anat and Dai-gonarthis are likely out and active. It's just as likely that Gavilar found Ashertmarn or Yelig-nar, though. I am honestly inclined to think he found Ashertmarn, though, because its appearance is rather sudden in Kholinar. It's entirely possible he found more than one of the Unmade. How does that explain the Voidlight spheres? If Shadesmar spren have devices that can deposit Investiture into a perfect gem, then it's just as possible to withdraw it from one. Navani said that Gavilar "made" it, and we know Nergaoul was shown to be made of Voidlight when he was captured, so, it stands to reason Gavilar could have snipped off a piece of Unmade Investiture into a sphere with some help from an artifabrian.

Yelig-nar was free probably since before Queen Aesudan swallowed the gem to invite him in for supper (consuming her). He can be seen described by Odium before Amaram ingests the smokestone he was given, so this particular Unmade is running loose. I think he's too weak from not having a food chain to do anything himself... yet. Either that, or the tales we've been told about Yelig-nar have been a big fat load of wrong. I find it very interesting that Kaladin seems to sense that he's pulling the strings with Aesudan and Amaram, though each one denies it (while obviously being consumed by him).

Actually, I've been wondering if we got a hint for which kind of Fused we haven't seen due to the fact that Taln (the "Stoneward" Herald) was arguably an aberration and originally there would have been nine Heralds.

I had a weird thought today with regard to "accelerating" the obviously developing bond between Adolin and Mayalaran, but it hit a snag because I momentarily forgot that Dalinar doesn't directly have access to Gravitation as a Surge. That said, I wonder if he can do one thing: Induce Spiritual Gravitation via a Windrunner or Skybreaker. The italics are the key point here, because I'm wondering if he can accelerate the process, but it requires numerous conditions (and people) in place. Spiritual Gravitation seems to me a means of inducing Connection between the affected objects/people/spren. Why not Spiritual Adhesion? It seems like a forceful method, whereas a Spiritual Lashing could at least allow for some gradation to the attraction between the two. It still forces the issue, but the pace could be what matters. A very soft bump rather than a head-on collision, so to speak. Alternatively, he might be able to use Spiritual Tension to sculpt Identity so that Maya and Adolin are compatible, but Tension is still somewhat mysterious, especially with respect to the Spiritual.

There's a WoB directly contradicting the idea that Hoid switched the blades: The Ghostbloods or Sons of Honor, on the other hand... It's also probably not beyond reason that the Sleepless or Stone Shamans could have gotten involved. The latter would somehow reclaim an Honorblade from the death of a Truthless, so who's to say they couldn't use the same process for going after Taln's?

When it comes to Dai-gonarthis vs. Cusicesh, I'm largely inclined to disagree on the basis of the evidence provided. What's below are my counterpoints: The Unmade are not the only entities that have caused a 'drained' effect to manifest after contact. The Stormfather has also left this condition in his wake, with the members of Bridge Thirteen, when Dalinar and Navani swear to each other (p62 hardback). Cusicesh is always looking toward the Origin. This seems like a strange action for any of the Unmade to perform, as the Origin is heavily associated with Honor and the Stormfather both. While we don't know a great deal about the Origin itself, it doesn't fit what we know about the Unmade in general, that being the Unmade are drawn to dark and unpleasant emotions or events. Cusicesh remaining stationary for millennia seems odd without having been trapped in a perfect gem. (There appears to be an implication where Odium can draw or order the Unmade to specific locations, but that still wouldn't explain Cusicesh remaining stationary while manifesting a form seen in the Physical Realm.) The Physical appearance of Cusicesh is different from the Unmade. I don't think I need to belabor this point at all. Even Sja-anat, who is likely to go off on her own, still revealed herself to be of a black hue. I'm not sure if Nergaoul is an oddity with respect to appearance, but the colors black, violet, and red have all been associated with Odium in the forms of the Unmade, Voidlight, and glowing eyes. The existence of Dai-gonarthis has been corroborated by a Death Rattle and (indirectly) by Jezrien. I feel confident in saying this because of a thread on Dai-gonarthis I'm slowly working on, but my point is that the Black Fisher is active in the world and has been linked to deterioration in mental state (Jezrien all but confirmed this). There haven't been indications of this linked to Cusicesh. If Cusicesh was one of the Unmade, why is there no indication of degradation or death in Iriali society? You might be saying that Iri being under enemy control nearly from the start is proof enough, but I can just as easily state that Rall Elorim is where the focus should be, for multiple reasons, rather than Kasitor (where Axies and Cusicesh were). (As an aside, Iri would be one of the first places for the Fused to manifest with the Everstorm, so it makes sense it would be one of the first places in the world to be taken over.) That said, I've been wondering about Cusicesh as well, because of the apparent Connecting and the manifestation of faces, similar to Re-Shephir, but I'll note that none of those faces seemed to exhibit signs of torment. I'm just not convinced because everything we've learned about the Unmade is strangely absent here. Cusicesh is called The Protector. Why that is, is what we should be wondering about.

This is my thought too, that by Connecting to the Spiritual Realm, he caught a glimpse of Evi forgiving him (in the past) for ordering what would be her demise. Odium made him experience part of her demise, but notably left out the part when she expired. I forgive you were likely her last words. I don't think Cultivation tampered with Dalinar in that particular moment. She pretty heavily implied that what she took (and wanted) from Dalinar was something else entirely.

It's likely the perpendicularity that moves around while a highstorm is raging across the land. The only previous direct reference to Honor's Perpendicularity that I can recall offhand is the one in this short story about Jasnah: https://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/ The subject of perpendicularities in general is discussed more in the anthology Arcanum Unbound.

I rather doubt Hoid will end up offering his services to Jasnah as Wit. As you said, she hardly needs it. Jasnah strikes me as far more likely to pluck out a random lighteyes she dislikes and manipulate that person into getting him- / herself killed with their "insults".

I'm honestly wondering if Adolin is going to end up circumventing the system of oaths entirely. Mayalaran is "bound" to someone else (their Identity) with respect to the oaths, but it's very clear that Adolin is getting through to her regardless of this fact.

Honestly, I think this is and isn't a red herring, because by this logic the provided names of the other Unmade could be just as suspect and/or incorrect if any other Fused are revealed to have comparable names, and we know that reasoning will break down for Yelig-nar at the minimum (since Odium himself uses that name). I mean, I could argue that Re-Shephir and the listener word neshua have similar roots as well, except we know that they're likely not the same in meaning at all. The other thought that kind of leans me away from believing this, is that the scouring of Aimia seems to be a pretty well-known and recorded event, and likely in living memory. I can't see how a thunderclast would escape everyone's notice if there was a mass hunt for lanceryn gemhearts. That said, I had a different thought come to mind that could explain this: suppose the Dawnsingers were the ones who named the Unmade and their names for them are what survived to be in common use?

I think it's a con, since you can have hatred suffuse a lot of things while trying to pass it off as something else. Take jealousy and envy, for example: it's a form of hatred for what another has that one may not have (or have less of) but it can be warped in dozens of ways, subtle or not. More to the point, emotions that stem from a form of hatred can lead to rather... passionate behavior. If you've seen the movie Death Becomes Her, just look at Goldie Hawn's character in how she views that of Meryl Streep's character. She does all sorts of things, but it all sources from hating Madeline Ashton for stealing Ernest.

I won't be seeing my copy until Wed/Thu at the earliest. See everyone in seven days, and maybe we'll dig into whether Sylphrena is slightly precognitive and/or

The Unmade or even a Shard isn't disqualified from being the source of the voice. Heck, I wouldn't drop dead to find out it was a Voidspren or Herald at this juncture.

Calling them traitors is a two-fold thing, I think, because each action prevented the return of voidspren at the minimum: 1) The Listeners that ended up at Narak had ancestors who deliberately broke themselves away from their gods by choosing dullform. 2) Eshonai and the other leaders arranged for Gavilar's death so that he wouldn't cause a Desolation to begin, which slowed down the return of Odium-sourced affiliates. I do think the ancestors are the Unmade, though.

Honestly I think the "real" Voidbringers are those beings that can draw the Unmade to a given location to do their nastiness. I think we're going to find out a lot more about this (the term's misuse and process I mentioned) in the next seven days.

Which really makes me think that Ishar is in a class of his own, for spren to emulate his Honorblade and three very different entities at that. That's why he's troubling me a great deal compared to the other Heralds who forswore their oaths, after reading Edgedancer.

I had a thought hit me just now while reading something completely unrelated to Bondsmiths: Is each spren that bonds a Bondsmith attuned to a specific Realm's attribute (Physical/Cognitive/Spiritual), and thus the Bondsmith is also? For example (and making an assumption as part of it), if the Nightwatcher is one of the spren for becoming a Bondsmith, would that mean that a Bondsmith that is bonded with her is substantially steered toward the Cognitive Realm in terms of his or her Radiant powers' effects on people? The Nightwatcher's boons and curses have all but been confirmed to be Cognitive in nature (Lift, Dalinar's memories and cognition of Shshsh, upside-down-world man, and so on), so I wondered if the Bondsmith's "bondsmithing" is also on a Cognitive level. We have evidence suggesting that Dalinar manipulates Spiritual bonds. He tugs at Shallan to Lightweave a map (which the Ars Arcanum in WoR states has a "powerful Spiritual component"), as well as the instantaneous release of a Shardblade's bond at the end of WoR. I feel like this is because the Stormfather handles the Spiritual aspect of things (the Investiture in a highstorm, and Accepting Words). While the Surges a Bondsmith gets can manipulate Physical things, I think the tertiary aspects will be very dependent on the spren to which the Bondsmith is bound. Thoughts?

I think this is likely, a Windrunner calling a storm, but I also think it'll take a little something extra: Dalinar. More precisely, the Bondsmith attached to the Stormfather. Syl flat out said that he's "supposed to harness the storm", so it only stands that ordering one direct delivery might need a little more to it than that.

After the end of this part, I'm picturing Pattern doing something like this to Jasnah: "Hmmm, you died, yet you are here." He paused. "What a wonderful lie you are!"

This isn't possible, as Yelig-nar existed long before the Heralds forswore their oaths, as stated in Dalinar's vision with Nohadon present.

+1 to Jasnah