IAmTheBeard

Theory: What if Atium (and potentially other forms of future sight) is actually reading Intent? Rather than showing you what was likely, it would be showing you what the objects and people around you intend to do. In the case of inanimate objects like arrows, they just intend to keep moving forward. In the case of other people, you get their next actions. According to this theory, the forking Atium shadows are caused not by possible futures but by branching decisions. Vin's two shadows, for instance, were the two different choices she was "considering." Two Atium burners would have an enormous branching network of contingencies.

I'm a he, hence the beard. Thanks for that quote, Axies. I was going to grab it next. The Elantrian, who presumably knows what it is, calls it a lake and it's apparently recognizable as a lake from the mural. As well, remember that Brandon just revealed that this was the "big hint" in Elantris for how Worldhopping works. So far, we're pretty sure that Hoit, the Seventeenth Shard, and others aren't using space travel for that. So I don't think that the Elantrians had space travel. I'm not trying to argue with you, but I think this is pretty much confirmation that the Shardpools are the Perpendicularities and that they grant access to the Cognitive Realm. Edit: Sorry about all the repeated posts! The internet is being wonky...

The Elantrian isn't falling toward the white sphere, it's falling toward the blue oval, which is explicitly described as a lake. So the Elantrian is falling into the lake. The white sphere is on the other side, set into the black wall.

There is a blue oval and a white sphere. As far as I can tell, they represent the Shardpool and something on the other side of the "gate." Since tWoK, I've assumed that it's Shadesmar/the Cognitive Realm. It's a black sky with a white sphere. Oh, and Galladon thinks it represents the pool as a gate. So, two questions. Is this Dominion or Devotion's "perpendicularity"? And is there a canonical term for Shardpool? Perpendicularity isn't canon yet, right? It was mentioned in a WoB...

I'd have to say the Cognitive, because of the white sun represented on the mural.

Shardblades only wound with sharp edges. You can touch the flat just fine and a Shardhammer only crushes, not cuts the soul. So as long as these items don't have sharp edges, you'll be fine. I'd also theorize that the edge has to be on a blade of some sort, in other words it has to Cognatively be a weapon.

Restares, then?

I'm not sure that the definition of Splinter being used here is quite right. Oudeis gave the definition as a piece of power that's broken off, based on Splinter as a verb meaning to fragment a Shard. But that's not the definition we've been given. It's more about having attained sentience on its own. See: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=699#8 So it's a part of a Shard, yes, and it was never human. and http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1078#25 (emphasis mine) I think the key point is that Splinters are pieces of power that become sentient. The question, as it regards Nightblood, is whether how the power attains sentience (or, really, sapience) matters for the definition. In the second quote above, Brandon mentions Splinters of Adonalsium that gained sentience on their own as being specifically Splinters. So, did Nightblood become sentient on his own? It seems more like the power was fiddled with to give it sentience. That jibes with the comment about Nightblood being like a robot spren. So does he count as a Splinter? If the definition specifically requires that they gain self-awareness on their own, then Nightblood isn't a Splinter. Personally, I'd lean toward Nightblood being a Splinter, just an artificial one. A robot spren.

See, I too love the character of the Joker and I agree (with whoever said) that his character makes Batman the character he is. But there is simply no comparison between the Joker and Szeth, especially where their backstories come in. Joker's present, his love for chaos, are what make the story interesting. With Szeth, everything we've been told about him is about his past. Almost all we know about his people and him personally are based on reflections about his past. It has been heavily foreshadowed that he knew something, or learned something, about the coming of Radiants and Voidbringers. With the Joker, you're right that his backstory doesn't add to the story. Rather, his vague background adds to his mystique, which adds to the story. But with Szeth, his background has already been stated to be important to the story. Think of it like this. What if you knew that the Joker had foreseen Batman's coming and had tried to do something to preemptively help Batman against his enemies, only to wind up becoming a villain because of those actions which were intended to help. Would his backstory be important then? You becha. What if that was foreshadowed from the beginning, the very beginning, of Joker's story? I don't downvote people because I disagree with them. If I downvoted you (and I don't think I have downvoted anyone on this thread), you were being rude or disparaging. I responded because I think it's ludicrous to say that Szeth's backstory is unimportant to the progression of SA. I also want to point out to people how frequently the comment of "I didn't like Shallan until WoR" comes up. There's a good chance that whatever Brandon already has planned for Szeth will turn a lot of peoples' opinions around.

Just want to point out that both Nahel and Zahel are extremely typical Alethi (or, well, Vorin) words/names. Remember that the 'H' is used to replace a letter that would make the name symmetrical. We learn this from the in-world discussion of Nohadon's name. It's another method of making a name almost symmetrical. Also, taking a symmetrical word/name and adding a suffix to it is basically how many Alethi names we know are made. Kalak+in = Kaladin, etc. So I imagine that both of these names followed a similar progression: Zaz -> Zah -> Zahel. Nan -> Nah -> Nahel. Now, what's more interesting than the similarity to Zahel (who we're pretty sure can't be a herald), is the similarity of the word Nahel to Nan, both the number and the herald. Hmmm...

I think that the idea that the Heralds are a different person each Desolation has much to recommend it. It explains how "Taln" can both be and not be Taln and is the only theory I've seen for "Taln" not quite being Taln that explains (remotely adequately) why he's so crazy. I'm not saying I agree, or that I find it plausible, but I think this aspect of the theory is very interesting.

I totally disagree with the comparison between Joker and Szeth and the fact that Szeth's background wouldn't add to the story. Szeth's POVs are one of the few places where we get any hint of what was going on with returning Spren and Surgebinders before Kaladin's repulsion from the army. (Other places would be Jasnah's prologue and a couple of small hints in Shallan's POV, her flashback with Hoid and the fact that she attracted Pattern before she killed her mother.) I'm not saying that we should like Szeth or commenting on whether he'll be redeemed or anything like that. I'm just saying that I think the reveal about why Szeth is a Truthless is going to be a Big Deal.

Exactly. What happens in the bubble is almost guaranteed not to go well for the people making the bubble. But how much time does a Nicrobursted Chromium bubble buy you even if it's only up for a fraction of a second? If the difference in the energy involved in a Pewter-fueled jump and a Duralumin-fueled Pewter-fueled jump is any indicator, it'd be pretty staggering.

I actually do like the idea of Allomantic duralumin/Allomantic nicrosil-boosted aCromium bubble to surprise and trap a powerful immortal. Even a few seconds could render him frozen for ages. Build a prison around him, if necessary. Of course, you've probably sacrificed your Allomancer(s), but this seems like the best way to do it without ridiculous preparation. Plus, it actually sounds like an in-Cosmere strategy. Perhaps the whole trick on Miles is foreshadowing...

I get that, and I'm not arguing that you're not absolutely right. But that is definitely not the only way to interpret that sentence. I'm just cautious about assuming this is a confirmation of prior Worldhopping. In addition to the wording, how can you "kind of hack" something if you know what you're doing is a hack? If Vasher was Worldhopping, or if someone with a Shardblade came to Nalthis, then it would have had to be someone who know how Shardblades work, I assume. That implies that this travel would have had to happen a long time ago, before or close to the Recreance, at least.

Not that it isn't a possibility that Vasher is a long-time Worldhopper, but I do want to point out another possibility. Notice the "kind of" in the response. It could be that Vasher didn't really do a hack, but that what he did was similar to one. That means he needn't have necessarily seen Shardblades before. Making a magic sword is hardly something they couldn't have come up with on their own. The fact that then is similar to a Shardblade, but not an intended function of his own magic system, could be what Brandon is referring to. Edit: Ninja'd, and by Oudeis, no less.

The extra power from the Breath doesn't provide strength in the case of the Lifeless, but rather provides the body functionality. I'm pretty sure both of those things are mentioned in the annotations. Edit: By the way, I agree that it'd take a ton of breaths to Awaken a Lifeless Chasmfiend. I'm just proposing that the extra work that is now being done by spren to overcome the impossibilities of such a large lifeform could instead be done by Breath, since they're both Investiture. Obviously it's not something that's verified at this point, but I think it's plausible.

The Breath could provide the extra power, just like the "muscles" of Awakened objects seem too strong.

I wouldn't be surprised if Besk is calling Kai's younger self a child, even though he was centuries old at the time.

The Russian ones are incredible! Edit: Thanks for sharing!

Insanity is mental, the Blessing of Presence is mental. It wouldn't help him not be upset, but it did help him sit through interminable hours of boredom and sensory deprivation.

How plausible is it that the Deathrattles are lies? The Unmade certainly aren't willingly helping the goodguys.

About the problem of Shardplate blocking a fall (as opposed to blocking an external blow), any elastic or cushioning effect that the Plate has will be just as effective against an internal blow. If the Plate takes twice as long to stop moving when it hits the ground (because of elasticity, padding, or even crumpling) then it halves the deceleration undergone by the entire body, including the brain. This works under the same principles as car crashes and is why car bodies are designed to crumple. Prolonging the impact lessens the force involved and thus the acceleration, which, as pointed out above, is what hurts our brains. Another interesting point is that Shardplate consistently cracks when it takes an impact. Any energy that goes into damaging the Plate, which one must asume is a pretty large amount of energy to damage something as incredible as Shardplate, does not go into harming the human inside.

Chapter 46 is the discussion of BioChroma. Vasher does talk a bit about the obstacles to Awakening research. He mentions the difficulty involved and the permanent loss of breath when experimenting with Lifeless. He does say that there is a lot more experimentation with normal Awakening of objects, but there is this tidbit: Finally, one gets the impression from his explanation that Awakening research is really a lot of trial and error. There isn't necessarily a methodology involved. When you take this into account, plus people being unwilling to share their discoveries, the lack of major breakthroughs isn't that surprising. I do want to point out that all we're really seeing is a lack of major discoveries, not a lack of research. Nowhere does the book even imply that there is no research done. The only evidence we have is that all the major discoveries mentioned in the book date to the Five Scholars. So what's really odd is not the glacial pace of current Awakening research, but rather the explosion of new major discoveries made by the Five Scholars.

This. I don't think there's any reason to assume this is from the viewpoint of a spren. I still think it's being written, after the fact, by whoever is "archiving" the Stormlight Archive. Do we really know anything about why the series is named as such and who is keeping this chronicle? Whoever they are, they have access to Hoid/Frost's correspondence and to the Diagram and its Deathrattle collectors. The only candidate that clearly has that capability would be the Seventeenth Shard, though the Ghostbloods also apparently have worldhoppers, so they might as well.