Stormlightning

Your theory wasn't debunked until recently, so you should congratulate yourself. Brandon once confirmed that it is technically possible to alloy lerasium to change your spiritweb in the way you imply, and it was a theory that Hoid had done this. It had picked up several followers until it was debunked last year with this wob:

Very interesting theory, I admit that from a storytellers perspective, there's a lot of appeal in doing Dalinar's arc that way. But I'm not convinced that the Odium shard dropping would have the kind of terrible affect you are suggesting. If it drops whole, then there's always the concern that any dandy on the street with a little Connection could pick it up, and in that case one of our heroes better take it first. But if it were to splinter into just a whole bunch of investiturestuffs, whether as an immediate consequence or shortly afterward by the heroes, I'm really not sure what that would do to Roshar. After all, not all spren that are of Honor or Cultivation are obviously so. A lot of minor spren seem to be a mix that are mostly the result of human perception, and Odium-investiture might fit in nicely with some of them without rocking the boat. The investitures/magics/whatever that sprout from splintering are very loosely tied to the Shard's Intent in my mind. There's no obvious tie between Devotion/Dominion and how their power functions on Sel (granted, we don't know much). So I see a bunch of Odium investiture possibly leading to some extra unpleasant spren or something, but overall I imagine it to be a relatively passive effect. Not honed by Rayse's own goals, I imagine it is much less volatile--dare I say that if a more wholesome person had picked up the Shard in the first place, maybe Passion would have been the appropriate name (like the whole Harmony/Discord thing). Plus if Rayse dies, your post seems to suggest you think the Shard will be freed from it's restrictions, in which case successfully splintering the Shard would probably just lead to it spreading across the whole Cosmere, since IIRC Odium hasn't really invested himself in the Rosharan system. And that kind of thinning seems like it would erase the heavy-handed effects you surmise. Anyway, I'm probably forgetting something dumb and obvious about how that works. Cool theory. I'm in this isolated camp that actually thinks Rayse might win at the end of book 5, leaving books 6-10 to happen mostly to cognitive shadow characters or something, just because I wouldn't put anything past Brandon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

These are such fantastic questions. I'm so proud of all you Germany/Europe fans!

I just uploaded my recordings to Arcanum, it has my personal questions from Friday, a question that Brandon was asked at the Brandon/Brandon panel with Mull, and Saturday's full line. Admittedly, there's not a whole lot there, but it was fun to hang out with other fans! I would have done Fridays line if I'd realized no one else was doing it...I should check 17S more

I want it!!

There's a WoB from the seattle signing this week (although it hasn't been transcribed yet) that's pretty cool about Felt: So I'm somewhat inclined to think that he might have been significantly older than he appeared even at the time of era 1, meaning that he might have been up to some serious cosmere shenanigans then too. And he seems to have an interest in Shardic things; staying close to the atium, and later going to the nightwatcher.

I'm gonna throw a random thing out there that may support the "Broken One is Honor" theory. I made a note of it because I thought of this Death Rattle on a recent reread. Somewhere, we learn that the words for "death" and "broken" in Alethi are really similar. Maybe when Navani is teaching Dalinar how to read? So, since we know how fond Brandon is of using badly recorded, corrupted, or mistranslated history to confuse us, it's possible that the person actually said "The Dying one reigns" which would make it clearly Honor instead of Odium. It's fairly meaningless, except that I've come to believe that nothing Brandon writes is ever insignificant so there must be a reason that he included a scene about the confusion of these two words.

Well then. It looks like the theory that "Unite Them" means "everyone must become Kholin" is correct.

It seems like you put the Set-serving faceless immortals under the Fused, but I am inclined they should go in their own category under Scadrial. I think of them as another form of spirits-who-possess-others/steal-others-bodies like the Fused and Svrakiss, but separate. Although I see why you wouldn't, as the one who kills Wax's uncle seems to refer to Scadrial in a disassociated way. I tend to think that several Shard's investiture might have the power to create beings that can possess others, as a natural result of some Spiritual/Cognitive thing we don't completely understand yet. Although, that's just my initial thought and not supported by anything.

@What's a Seawolf? He has said Secret Project is not Cosmere.

Assuming that this prophecy isn't foretelling something that's already happened by the end of book three, I'm inclined to think that whoever ends up being the one who "will destroy us" will probably end up doing so because they believe they're doing what's best *glares at Taraganvian*. Anyway, in light of fixating on something and trying their best to accomplish it, not realizing they're doing something terrible...Kaladin is a frighteningly good prospect.

This made me excited too, because prior to think the only dragon we had any evidence of was Frost and I was wondering what the heck could have happened to all the rest of them. I've also been itching to ask Brandon if we have seen Dragonsteel (the metal) on-screen in the published stories, and now I'm very annoyed that I didn't ask that last weekend. I was previously starting to think that maybe dragons can't travel through Shadesmar, since apparently Frost has stuck to Yolen. These two wobs seem to dispel that theory. I don't know how much this theory has been spouted, but I'm more inclined to believe those guys are like the Fused/Svrakiss. Immortal ancestors of a sort. If I had to put a guess on dragons, Brandon kinda made it sound like it's people we haven't actually seen on-screen, but are players in the stories we have. That would make me guess something like the leaders of the Set, which is...not great.

Sorry if I'm missing things you've already said, but I'm trying to sort through a bunch of information, and compare it against my own theories:) --At what point do you believe that the Dawnshards changed to Unmade, and how? Are you suggesting with this quote: that they brought the Unmade with them, therefore they became Unmade prior to the Oathpact or Desolations? What do you think caused the switch? And if they did switch before leaving Ashyn, do you think it's reasonable for Honor to have said that "the Dawnshards" destroyed Ashyn rather than "the Unmade"? I'm trying to fix together a similar theory, but it doesn't (yet) include the Sibling as one of the Dawnshards. It's more tied to the Heralds and their broken-but-not Oathpact.

Now that it's up, I suppose I should post this for reference: Once again credit to @PallonianFire for coming up with the question to ask. I just wonder--how do you choose [or do you get to choose] if that Shard has multiple magic systems? Do you just get everything? And which Shard's power would Hoid most want if he were to use this method?

I feel like the reference to Hoid having had power and lost it is just a reference to the topaz; Frost basically says it in his Letter. Maybe that's an over-simplified answer, but he used to have more power, then it broke. Now he has less power.

We really don't know a whole lot about the Thaylen religion beyond the obvious implications of it being called "The Passions", but I did think that there was something interesting at the end of OB. The Thaylen Shardbearer that Adolin fights alongside says "Great Honor in you, Adolin Kholin. Great Passion in me at this aid" when Adolin gives him Maya to fight with. It stands out to me that he used a capitalized Passion and Honor--making this one of the most Shard-aware religions we know of, even if they didn't completely understand what they were referencing. I don't really have much to contribute directly to your questions, but this gives me something to think about. They may initially sound like they were heavily influenced by Odium, with all their talk of Passion, but perhaps we'll find they're more balanced as we see more of them.

At what point can I say that I think Brandon's aiming for a monopoly on the entertainment industry? Not that I'm complaining...much preferable to our other options

I had forgotten about the Lifebrother thing, and I think that's a really good guess. Although I have some hesitation to accept the NW as the second sibling, so if she's not, he could also be the second sibling we know next to nothing about. The other thing to remember here is that Brandon said this about Taravangian's religious tendencies: So Szeth might have been jumping to conclusions about the Lifebrother being a Vorin diety. Which would be a point toward the theory that he's just a spren and not necessarily something Heraldic status.

This exact thought has been sitting around in my head for the last few weeks! Guess I should have said something. I'm not 100% sold, as the evidence is pretty slim, but Brandon wouldn't put coincidences like Kaladin recognizing the queen's tune in for no reason. There's definitely something there. There's a theory out there that Hesina herself is lighteyes and hides it with eyedrops. How ironic would it be if Oroden was lighteyed, and in the midst of everything--and his mellowing out regarding lighteyes--Kaladin didn't even notice.

To run with @Subvisual Haze's theory, I think it's pretty reasonable it's MeLaan. Rial's attitude screams "Wayne", and although they haven't technically met at this point, they do hit it off really fast when they meet. Maybe it's because MeLaan's already got that inner Wayne thang going on. Or Harmony doesn't mess around and Wayne has been a world-hopping kandra all this time XD It'll be interesting to see where things go from here, since apparently Rial and his whole crew all became squires to Teft.

I'll admit that I have a little tinfoil theory rolling around in my head that they are the same. I haven't given it a lot of real thought yet, but I do have a little outline of some evidences that might or might not have any merit. Wait, are we allowed to talk about OB yet? Most of my references for why I think this is a possibility are from OB. I'll leave it at that for now.

There's also this bad boy... So my bet is on little bro.

I think you might be looking for things, rather than just enjoying the story--not to mention you seem to be missing the mounds of foreshadowing that make it clear almost everything happening in the story is there for a reason. At least in Way of Kings, just about every line becomes more significant upon reread after the later books. Remember, it is ten books. There's a lot of backstory that will be covered that hasn't been covered yet. Not just the flashback character for the book--we also get short memories and explanations for behavior outside the flashback characters. We learn a little more about Kaladin's past in OB, for example. Just hang in there and don't be on the lookout for problems! The man has a plan.

I suppose that's what makes him interesting. Because he's so static, or the better word might be stable, in spite of everything, it makes me wonder. You're right that it might be unrealistic, but I think you're overdoing how unrealistic it might be. One in dozens or hundreds of characters doesn't seem unrealistic. I wonder how long he can go. I wonder how deep his virtues are, and what will make him really have an identity crisis--has he already had one and overcome it, leading to this solidarity? Or has he just never really thought about it too hard? The latter is something that I see a lot of people around his age do, and when they are finally forced to question everything, it really takes a toll. But I'm not really super surprised that everything that's happened hasn't caused that in Adolin yet. He's been left out of a lot of the things in the story thus far that might have forced that questioning. He hasn't really been asked to do much outside his element. Plus he's really laid back, and it's a confident kind of laid back, so he could probably go quite a while letting others have the limelight. We do see his flaws. He's obviously scared of being held to the standard of his father, which might even explain why he's so okay with not being a Radiant. He's straightforward; he doesn't really follow sophistry and can probably be fooled. Heck, he might even be too forgiving and open-minded with regards to Shallan. He shines socially, but maybe that just stands out because of how many of our main protagonists don't. We just haven't seen him challenged, but like I said, he's been left out of a lot, and mainly asked to hit things when he's around. We may not see him seriously challenged, since the last thing I want to see Brandon do is go Jordanian-side-storying with the characters, but I imagine we'll get hints of off-screen development.

I really like Adolin. People says he falls flat, but I don't think they are looking very hard. There are some serious curiosities about him; how is he so well adjusted despite 1) having a mostly absent father in his childhood and 2) being at a very tender age when his mother was violently murdered (even if he doesn't know the real story)? I'm really curious to see what happens when he does learn the real story. Both with his personality and in literary ways, he's a lot like his mother. He comes off with a lot of her pure intent, which alone makes him fascinating to me since it's so rare in good fantasy. But he's also capable of killing when needed; nevertheless, the Thrill never seems to really get to him. He has a very fair balance of mother and father in him. I get the vibe that he's this warrior's son living on a battlefield, and yet emulating his mother in every way he can, which must take a lot of inner self-acceptance. Peer pressure hardly gets to him. And that fleshes him out a lot to me. The boy doesn't have a single proud bone in his body. As has been mentioned, his storylines have a tendency to get pushed under the rug. And how does Adolin react? In a way that seems consistent to me with what we've seen at other times; he lets go of his ego completely and focuses on the other characters in the same way we do. That might make him look like he's just a plot device, but I think it's actually a part of his character design (yes, @Calderis, I'm on the boat that his focus on other characters is both intentional and fitting). He was happy but not really egotistical after defeating 4 shardbearers--he was focused on someone else's bigger purpose. He stuck himself in prison with Kaladin due to a personal moral code and did so gladly. No one was cheering for him when he got out, but he didn't care. Everyone around him, even his little brother, are becoming big-shots while he stays static, and he just cheers them on. He loved Shallan deeply and never used her status in selfish ways (not to mention his incredible ability to let her struggle and grow while helping her along just enough without being smothering or judgmental). And when he suspected someone else might be what she wanted, he gave in without a fight (even if a tad misled). Adolin is an absolute GEM. GEM GEM GEM. He might never become a major character, but I will take as much of him as I can get.