Caevita

Well, by all accounts Elend was stronger, in the objective sense. Kell's strength with iron and steel was better than anyone we've seen thus far, though. I would give Elend the edge, but this one could easily go either way, since Kell has much more experience than Elend, even at the end of the 3rd book. Unless, of course, you're talking about 1st book Elend.

Well said. But... aren't the gods of the Parshendi spren? Also, I didn't think that the Parshendi were naturally Odium's, any more than, say, the kandra were naturally Ruin's. EDIT: there's also all kinds of things that glow in the Cosmere, including that one guy in Elantris who was most definitely not using Honor's power.

I don't deny that Odium destroys stuff, but he tends to do it, like you said, with spite. The night is more of a solemn, grim-reaper concept to me than the furious destruction of the (Ever)storm. The other point, which has been brought up before, is a good one. I do have to do a bit of clarification, though. The "it" in "its coming brings the gods their night" refers to Stormform's coming, not the Everstorm. That said, it could be argued that the Everstorm is what Stormform brings, so this may be a meaningless distinction. Still, I suspect there is more going on than that. As I said earlier, unless the "night" is just death (which might be accurate, but is really boring) the Everstorm and Odium don't seem like the night types.

I, uh... don't think that's the kind of devotion Brandon had in mind. Remember that devotion is the Shard paired with Dominion, and the debate on that world is which is the correct way to lead/follow.

That theory has already been brought up, but... I just don't see how Odium is the "night" unless we're talking about a straight-up, no survivors apocalypse. Even aside from the fact that he seems more red and... angry than the silent finality of the night, the "Night-watcher" doesn't really seem to be positioned well to watch Odium (I don't pay all that much attention to maps, but I do know that the Nightwatcher is in the far east (the direction highstorms come from, called the "Origin," whereas everstorms come from the west). That said, though, it's still a possibility.

That's very possible. I like this idea. I mean, they aren't speaking English, but Brandon has never shied away from English-specific wordplay in the Stormlight Archive (pit-tance). If that is the case, though, it's odd that its the Knight, and not Knights. Seems to indicate that one specific Knight would accomplish something far beyond what any other has done, and that would have repercussions between the orders since that KR would have to come from one order or another (unless they would't-- I've seen mostly-baseless speculation that there could exist a mistborn-style Knight Radiant).

I am suddenly really glad i brought this up. I completely forgot about Nightblood. I disagree with the idea that conflict with Taravangian will be a problem, though. Taravangian is all about life (For which essential should we strive? ....Preservation, to shelter a seed for humanity from the storm that will come. I know, I didn't get the quote word for word, but that's a Diagram quote). "Though its coming brings the gods their night" actually does not sound like an implication that Odium is related to the night to me at all. It's talking about its coming being the god-killer, as I see it. But even if it isn't "the gods" includes Odium, so if the "night" is something other than death in this case, it sounds like Odium is as much a victim as Honor or Cultivation. The “I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw.” seems like a pretty good connection though. An implication of a darker tilt to the "night will reign" thing. I don't really know though... I can't tell if it's talking about breath, Breath, or Stormlight. (the last two are related to inhaling, too)

I was reading a death rattle from tWoK, the one that says, "so the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life." Well. In addition to sounding really ominous, it didn't really make any sense to me initially. So naturally, i put all kinds of thought into figuring it out. I basically came up with three thoughts, none of which are clearly correct or incorrect at this point. One: "the night" reminds me of the stars and of certain beings associated with them, which I can't get into here. See: Trell, for those interested. But I wasn't really able to make any concrete connections as to why or how Trell might be involved. EDIT: except for the fact that one of the interludes involved a religion that seemed very similar to Trellism. Very, very similar. Two: the rattle could just be ominous in the obvious ways. Maybe Honor put too much of himself into trying to protect the humans or parshendi or both, and ultimately doomed them to a "dark" existence, or possibly a lack of said existence. But three is where it gets interesting (if more far-fetched). We could be talking about the nightwatcher, someone whose relationship to Cultivation I still need explained to me, but I think I understand enough. Honor, currently-- or, well, his cognitive shadow/spren, the Stormfather, has pretty much given up on mankind. On... life, one might say. But this deathrattle implies that there is still hope for him. It claims that his choice is (or will be, or was) life. I'm going to assume "will be" for the sake of the theory. If we take as a given Odium will eventually be defeated on Roshar, then the Nightwatcher might well be the resident authority... and this claims that Honor (well, or lowercase-h honor) will be the (or at least a) driving force in making it happen. Makes me better able to put up with his infuriating behavior in WoR. I mean, he's still being a jerk right now. But you know.

So, as far as I've been able to figure out, cognitive shadows, shadows of self, or whatever you want to call them, the things that happen when gods die, are a type of spren. This has been confirmed (ish) by the Stormfather, when he claimed that he was "both" a spren and a god, and also when he said he was the piece of Honor that had to remain. So, if they're spren... well, say Roshar got a new shard-holder for Honor, but that shard-holder then died fighting Odium. I know, Honor has been shattered, but I suspect Brandon isn't gonna let that be a forever thing. That temporary shard-holder would then leave a spren behind. Which could get... fun. Yes. I am using a complex cosmere phenomenon as an excuse to ship Kaladin and Sylphrena. I regret nothing. (Yet. Then Kal's gonna not be a spren and the regret will come. But not yet).

I had more or less the same thought, but I don't think it's about Ruin and Preservation any more. I think it's about Harmony and Anarchy, a very chaotic and disordered kind of freedom. But yeah, you pretty much nailed it. Sazed made Trell. (I think).

So, I have a very tenuous theory on this topic. I think the dialogue about "he's just another pawn" is likely bleeder and trell talking. But, "You know he's just another pawn" seems like a very good reason to kill Wax, not let him live. What if Wax was having that conversation with Trell all along? Okay, well I did warn you it was tenuous. But, the thing is, Bleeder called Wax "Wax" in the dialogue at the party. More specifically, she called him by his nickname twice, and never by his full name. Then in the dialogue in the mist, she calls him Waxillium, twice, and never by his nickname. It seems like a strange thing to happen on accident. And then Bleeder talks to Wax out loud right after that. But I don't know if that makes my case better or worse to be honest. tl;dr: "you know he's just another pawn" was Trell trying to convince Bleeder that Wax wasn't really all that important.

Now, I don't have the quote handy but... I seem to recall the Prince-guy, Raoden, talking about how the Dor was trying to "speak through him?" I can't remember if that's how he phrased it, and I don't have the book (getting my hands on a copy to confirm this, though). Something was certainly happening to him involving the Dor becoming attached to him personally. Only, the last time someone did that, it was Vin with Preservation. Godhood ensued. I didn't realize that the Dor was confirmed to be both powers, but if it is, I think it is extremely likely that they are going to be finding a new host soon. And since the Dor is both, yeah. I am pretty sure "Unity" is going to be a thing soon.

How do I find annotations? They sound like something I would be interested in...

Wait he held Preservation? Now I'm just confused. Glad to get confirmation though.

Stormlight Archive spoilers:

So, I think that Kelsier has (had? will have?) a "shadow of self," defining a shadow of self to be some sort of remnant of a person. It was used to describe the mist spirit, which was what was left of Preservation. Whether that shadow was more Preservation or Leras, I don't know. I've also applied it to the Stormfather. Kelsier doesn't really fit into the same mold as those two (or does he? He's kind of a god... right?) and that's easily the biggest problem with my theory. Hear me out, though. There is evidence-- subtle evidence, but evidence nonetheless, that Kelsier stuck around after his death in some form. I realize that most of the "evidence" was forged-- first by the kandra whose name escapes me (OreSeur? Maybe. I don't know), and then by Ruin. But Spook was hearing voices after he took the spike out too. First it was the whole I named you, Spook thing which might have been all Spook, but then came the "And that's why you must get that letter sent, Spook" right after he regained consciousness. Add to that the fact that Marsh talked about Kelsier as though he were still around to voice an opinion, and the fact that it's obviously someone's shadow of self, and I think there's actually decent grounds to assume on this one.

I've read all of Brandon's full books, but not all of the short stories. My favorite series is probably the Mistborn trilogy (and don't ask me which of those cause I don't even know). Steelheart series is looking to be pretty high up the list too, but I'm reserving judgement until it's over.

Granted. However, you will never be able to collect all the ingredients for it. I wish for pefect memory, so that I will never again forget my bike tire when I go to get my bike tire fixed (true story).

Hi everyone. I exist, and I've been on this site for about a year, but never really felt like making an account. Then today I was like, "Why have I not made an account yet?" And then I did. The end.