neuxue

Well done

I'm still uncertain where I stand on this theory, but I'd suggest creationspren as the 'lesser spren' for Lightweavers. They're the ones we see most frequently with Shallan, and the most we ever see from her, I believe, are when she's drawing Pattern out.

I took it to mean that he would not gain Blade or Plate through the bond. There are a few ideas floating around as to where the original Radiants' Plate comes from, including the thought that it is gained by progressing further in the Ideals than any of the characters we currently see becoming Radiants. If this is the case, it is likely that the Stormfather is saying that Dalinar won't get Plate at whatever 'level' another Radiant would. Interestingly, though, it doesn't appear that wearing 'ordinary' Plate has any negative effect on a Radiant/proto-Radiant the way holding a deadspren Blade does - Kaladin wears a fragment of Adolin's Plate without problems, and Renarin seems okay with Plate, it's just the Blade that screams in his head. The only potential downside to a Radiant wearing Plate is what Szeth tells us - that it interferes with Surgebinding (and Surgebinding interferes with it). I'd be curious to see how this is different for a Radiant wearing Plate they 'earn' through the bond - Plate more like that which we see in one of Dalinar's visions and, incidentally, the kind of Plate he's probably not going to get by being bonded to the Stormfather.

No. Might I suggest thinking slightly...outside the box.

Also no.

No

Clever, but no.

I feel so special. Alright then, my turn? You could perhaps describe this character as...Aonically ironic.

Sell. Hoid's as close as we're likely to get, and he's far more entertaining anyway. Kaladin will die to save/protect others. The guy has 'painful scene of last-stand sacrifice' written all over him.

the only thing that comes to mind is Dalinar doing the lastclap. Which...seems like quite a stretch.

The Lightweavers don't have specific Ideals to speak beyond the first one (life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination), if I recall correctly. So Shallan doesn't have to swear oaths like Kaladin. Shallan also progressed far enough to have a spren-shardblade very early on (we see this in her flashbacks), but due her coping mechanism of blocking out large parts of her memories due to traumatic experience, she has regressed by the time we first meet her. So when she draws Pattern in the start of WoR, she's basically re-establishing a bond she already previously had. According to WoB, Shallan is one 'step' ahead of Kaladin. We don't have a huge amount in the way of textual evidence of this - by the end of WoR, both can use their spren as shardblades, and Kaladin actually seems to have a better grasp of his two Surges, but presumably there is something else Shallan has/can do...anyone? Edit: other characters who are (becoming) Radiants: so far Jasnah, Lift, Renarin, Dalinar, and Ym (though he presumably is no longer around).

so by that logic, Dalinar's wife was an Elantrian shot out of the sky by a dragon burning pure allomantic Adonalsium

Obviously she was Shalash. (while I don't think this is actually the case, it's kind of fun how appropriate it would be. Anytime someone says her name in his presence, he hears a 'Shshshsh' noise. Now, we read that as him just hearing nothing, or the name being obscured, but WHAT IF it's actually a 'hint' of some sort to him about who she truly was. And then there's the fact that she likes ruining statues and images of herself - not unlike erasing herself from memory. It would also open up several different possibilities as to what his boon and curse from the Nightwatcher really were...like I said, 99% certain this isn't true but false theories can be just as much fun as real ones) *jumps onboard the HMS Elhokar/Szeth*

I keep wanting to answer with the Thorn of Camorr and then realising that nope, wrong author entirely... Dawnslight?

grow long hair, use Tension to turn hair-flipping into a deadly martial art.

when you've baked an excess amount of cookies and your first thought it 'that's fine, I'll just take them to the Dark Alley and pull a Jasnah'

Lightweave illusions of yourself everywhere, cause general mayhem, seize the throne of Asgard oh wait. Abrasion gives the ultimate banana-peel effect anytime. Great for use on people, cars, possibly even Windrunners if changing friction applies to air as well. Edgedancers could turn a surface slippery whilst simultaneously causing a natural spike to grow. Forests are no longer safe. Never allow someone with Tension to hit you with a wet towel.

Vin's sister?

Level Up (vienna teng) for Bridge Four. Just set the entire training montage sequence of WoK to this and I'll be happy. "if you are afraid come forth if you are alone come forth now everybody here has loved and lost so level up and love again [...] everybody here has seams and scars so what? level up [...] yes you are only one no it is not enough but if you lift your eyes I am your brother and this is all we need and this is where we start"

I hadn't considered it in those terms (to be honest it occurred to me as I was thinking about an entirely different fictional multiverse) but I suppose that's somewhat similar.

This is a bit of a stretch, but... What if using the power of the Stormlight corrupts or dilutes it in some way? Stormlight itself seems to be a thing of Honour (generated/replenished by highstorms, which the Stormfather claims). Maybe it serves some purpose in working to repel Odium somehow, and when humans use it, it drains that power? We know that if the Heralds remain on Roshar too long, they will trigger a Desolation - maybe part of this is due to the fact that they would be using and draining stormlight. Meanwhile when they're off being tortured, Roshar (or whatever is left of Honour) can 'recharge' so that there is then enough stormlight to repel Odium's next attempt. This seems like the sort of thing that, if it were true and the Radiants found out, could cause them to re-think and possibly give up their positions. It would also provide one possible explanation for them leaving their now-dead spren Blades - leaving some necessary defences for the rest of humanity that would not use excessive amounts of stormlight. It also would tie in to the fall of Urithiru, which requires vast amounts of stormlight to access and run. If they found out that draining stormlight was a problem, they would abandon such a place.

The Breaking Light (by Vienna Teng) for Lightsong. lyrics here. listen here particularly "Let your lion heart cleave the waves brother you will return" and "Listen to the darkness, listen to the patterns, listen to the breathing sea listen to the colours, carry them inside you, they will bring you back to me in the breaking light"

I'm a fast reader. It is both a blessing and a curse at times...I knew seeking out the Old Magic was a bad idea...

Personally I quite like the idea that he is the Herald Talenelat - or rather, he is what Taln has become. Given how we've been told (I'm about 99% sure there's a WoB on this somewhere) how large a role perception plays in things like Kaladin's scars, Shallan's shardblade, etc, I would not be at all surprised if this is also at the core of the issue with Taln. If he no longer perceives himself as the Herald he was (despite naming himself such - Kaladin can factually acknowledge that he is no longer a slave, but the scars stay), then the caginess we see with actually referring to him as Taln makes sense, to some extent. He-who-was-Taln no longer envisions himself as the Taln we see referenced in the prelude, and can thus no longer fill the same role. I'm using Kaladin as a precedent here (again) - in WoK, he thinks that the old Kaladin Stormblessed is dead, but that his current self can learn from him. Given that Taln actually was killed in the Desolation we seen in the prelude, this would be an even stronger issue - the old Taln is dead, and he-who-was-Taln is a shadow of what he once was, much as Kaladin is a shadow of his former self earlier in WoK. (incidentally, this would mean there is some hope yet for the 'Taln' we see now to reclaim his identity, as it were). I'm new to Realmatics but it seems possible to me that Taln remains more or less the same in the physical realm, but in the Cognitive - his self-perception and how he is perceived by others - something has been greatly altered, perhaps due to a shift in the Spiritual realm due to the change in the Oathpact (not broken, but perceived as broken by those who speak of it, which may be just as important). The Spiritual realm has to do with how the 'soul' is connected to those around it. This seems like something that would have been drastically altered by the other Heralds abandoning Taln and the Oathpact - the connections between his soul and the other Heralds (as well as anyone/anything else involved) would be redefined, thus having an impact on how Taln envisions himself (and how the others see him), and therefore his overall 'self'. So he would be, in effect, a different person. I also sort of wonder how much of his sense of identity is tied up in his Blade. The Blades grant the Heralds at least a portion of their power, so would it serve as a 'reminder' of some sort to Taln, of who he was and is meant to be? In a similar way that Kaladin feels so very different when he picks up a spear again? Apologies for the endless Taln-Kaladin parallelling

I've just started in on his site/these forums/all the extras. Maybe this time I can exert a modicum of self-control and make it last longer than a week. Good thing he's given us so much to speculate on in the books - it's an excellent excuse to re-read instead of, you know, being a productive and useful member of society