Jondesu

I can definitively believe he touched the SR, but the problem is that given enough intelligence and enough information, he could also memorize and predict much, much better, and when he reached the limitations of his new abilities, could have still use intuition to determine the most likely outcome. Another problem is T stayed present enough to write everything down and write a way to translate the anew language he created. But in the SH quote: But maybe T touched the SR and then wrote down what he saw afterwards? The other problem I see is that e.g. Cultivation or Odium could have been influencing him, and I'm not sure if we can tell the difference. One thing I like about your theory is that there's no direct influence on T, so every decision made based on it is all on him. That's a lot of blood on his hands, with no one to shift blame to. Anyway, have an upvote for such an interesting theory. I've figured for a long time that "future sight" in the Cosmere is really just reading the Spiritual Connections and following them to their outcomes. Time doesn't matter much in the Cosmere, but I don't think anything is predestined either (we can debate if that's true in our world, but I don't think it is in the Cosmere ), so the Shards that can predict the future are simply making sense of the great amount of information and Connections they can see in the Spiritual Realm and can make very accurate predictions about the relatively near future. As Honor said, it gets tougher the further into the future they go, like looking through shattered glass; I think that's because those Connections become ever more unpredictable as the "moves" play out, just like in a chess game. Chess players can predict sometimes 60-100 moves ahead, but that's usually with several options for each move the opposing player makes, unless you can force a particular move. The further ahead they try to guess, the more complicated the possible options become until even the best players can't necessarily keep track, or simply can't plan for the myriad possibilities. Chess also has a definitive end; the Cosmere doesn't (within the foreseeable future, since non of the cataclysmic events have threatened the Cosmere as a whole yet, just specific worlds). I think if Taravangian touched the SR, it was in a different way than the Shards or He wouldn't have been aware of his actions in the Physical Realm, but perhaps if this was indeed his boon from the Nightwatcher as we believe, part of that was an ability to remain Physically grounded enough to unconsciously scribble out these Connections he was making. @Evenstrom, wonderful theory, and have an upvote! jW

Considering Brandon wants SA to stand on its own, we're unlikely to see Vasher Awaken anything with Stormlight. We might get some tiny reference to indicate he did, but it won't be important and likely not on-screen. He's just a nice Easter Egg, but probably won't even be that important to the overall story, and certainly not with any obvious benefits to being Returned, or Awakening, since non-Cosmere-Aware readers wouldn't understand. jW

LOL. That thought did cross my mind, but I couldn't keep something that good from the Shard. jW

One note: Brandon has stated that Vasher/Zahel hasn't been able to figure out using Stormlight to Awaken. He left open the possibility that it could be done, but Vasher doesn't know how. jW

Just found out GoodReads is promoting a giveaway of Arcanum Unbounded. :-) Here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/199124-arcanum-unbounded-the-cosmere-collection jW

If you're exceptionally, magically, lucky, then why wouldn't you? :-P jW

That could have been some wiggling, though, if Kelsier and his Splinter aren't on Scadrial. Note that he said that there are no Splinters of Ruin or Preservation in the context of saying there aren't any Splinters on Scadrial. He's tricky like that, so it's possible he's disguising something. It's also just as likely that a piece of Ruin split off and not sentient wouldn't be considered a Splinter (the WoB we have on that seems explicit but also seems to ignore some things like the Divine Breaths, so I wonder if even Brandon hasn't 100% nailed down his definition of a Splinter), so it could be that Kelsier is carrying around some form of a chunk of Ruin's power that isn't considered a Splinter by Brandon. jW

In another thread, btw, we were speculating that Taln may have been waylaid or delayed intentionally by a group on Roshar (the Stone Shamans were specifically what was being guessed). How likely that is is up for grabs, but it's possible Taln wasn't there earlier not because he was in such bad shape, but because he had opposition (in addition to Odium, possibly). The post explaining the theory I'm referencing: jW

Let's be polite here. @PantsForSquares was correct that there's obviously a bond of some type, just not a Bond. It's like the difference between having a shard of glass and a Shard of Adolnasium. Same word, different applications. If there wasn't some type of bond, Szeth wouldn't be able to dismiss and recall the blade, since he's not touching it during that time, so it's not simply "works while it's in your hand". As for the issue of Splinters being self-aware of not, Brandon has not been as consistent as you state, and has not confirmed that the Divine Breath is self-aware (in fact, I believe it was at least strongly implied to be the opposite). It's possible that the Honorblades are something like Splinters, but since they're not self-aware they would indeed have a different name, but I would not rely on that WoB you quoted, since it's really more subjective (he notes it's a "term used by certain people in the cosmere", specifically, which means it's an in-universe term and therefore there may be mistakes by those who use the term in-universe). jW

Quick note, Nightblood doesn't seem to be able to draw Investiture from anywhere other than his wielder (and possibly his victims), so drawing from nearby gems wouldn't be a direct process. The Surgebinder could draw in the Stormlight as Nightblood eats their own, providing more Investiture within themselves to be eaten, but Nightblood won't drain those gems otherwise. jW

Thanks for clarifying. I'm generally of the same opinion, I've just learned not to try my opinion as fact. Hopefully we'll get clarification in a future novel or WoB. jW

Currently under a tornado warning here on the southeast edge of Hurricane Hermine. We'll see what happens. Edit: Appears to have passed for now already. jW

Indeed. (Imagine that's bacon instead of a tongue.) jW

@hwiles, I'm curious, do we have confirmation somewhere that "a Splinter can have an Intent attached to it that only very distantly and vaguely resembles that of its parent Shard"? If so, and assuming Sazed could choose that Intent, at least to some degree, he could totally have given Kelsier a Sliver with an Intent that could make him Sazed's weapon against other Shards (not the Shards directly, of course, but enough to go and mess things up for them). That's something I think Sazed would be fine with doing, considering how he's used Wax. jW

@jofwu, I have to disagree on Preservation and Cultivation being complimentary. There's a line (from Ruin, IIRC) in one of the Mistborn books that if Preservation had his way, nothing would ever change at all. In that way, Preservation and Cultivation are also contrary to each other, perhaps as much as Ruin and Preservation (but probably with far less disastrous consequences than we saw on Scadrial). Other than that, well put! jW

Yeah, I think he's said he's planning two sequels to Elantris (not sure on the source or if that's correct, but we know at least one), but I wonder if it won't end up being almost entirely detached from the characters and events in Elantris, and instead be set in a future Elantris and Arelon and be another basically standalone story. Also, @What's a Seawolf?, I think he was simply saying he wanted to focus on that before going back to Mistborn 3, rather than needing the books to be released in that order due to Cosmere knowledge, but you can never be sure with Brandon. jW

That's awesome! I will note that there's another brand? of Aimians we haven't seen, but since we don't know anything about them we don't know if they look different or if there's something else different about them. jW

Wait, Taln was originally supposed to come back earlier...Szeth may have seen him and heard his warning...Taln couldn't Elsecall on his own... those possible theories are sounding like a conspiracy to me. What if the Stone Shamans knew Szeth was right, but had their own reasons for concealing it...along with Taln himself. They have the Honorblades. One of them could have Elsecalled with Taln into Shadesmar, then left him stranded. Taln figured out a way to escape eventually, just 6 years later, when we see him covered with condensation like he'd just returned from Shadesmar. jW

AFAIK, Khriss wrote the Ars Arcanum, right? Here's how she put it there: I agree that it could come across like you say, but IMHO, that's exaggerating what she's actually saying. Wax does get more than just what Iron and Steel do separately; the Effect of mixing the two is that he becomes a Crasher, able to do something no Steel Misting or Iron Ferring could do. It fits well with how she's describing it there. jW

I think too many people are overanalyzing this passage. VenDell doesn't say there's an "effect". There are "unanticipated effects" to combining Allomancy and Feruchemy (and probably any other two magic systems or powers). In Wax's case, the ability to decrease or increase his weight while pushing is particularly advantageous. Wayne's Gold Feruchemy and Bendalloy Allomancy is a bit more vague, but he's able to avoid more damage, preserving his Gold for healing only when he's unable to avoid injury, and it's possible there are other benefits. Similarly, on Roshar, the combination of any two Surges gives new possibilities for what can be done, but it's not a singular "effect". It's simply the natural result of having two powers and gaining a significant extra advantage by using one to boost the other, or using them in conjunction. jW

Woah… never considered that possibility. Doesn't seem very honorable, though, so I'd have a hard time believing that Honor and the Heralds could have set up that as part of the Oathpact. Definitely scary if it is the case, though. jW

Yeah, I name almost all of mine, but only two are Cosmere. The other one I had mentioned before (Nightblood, my Ghastly). I recently added a Flareon named Firewall, and an Electabuzz named Garfield. A lot of my names aren't that great. jW

Don't forget that even then some of the Inquisitors might have managed to gain Feruchemical steel or other powers, so they would have had a huge advantage if so. And yeah, they weren't fighters and didn't even think to train that way probably. jW

Woah… that sucks. BTW, since we were talking about names previously: I had to name my Exeggutor "Paalm". Couldn't resist. (Since it looks like a Palm tree and all, and, well, SoS.) jW

Actually, I think @cloudjumper is onto something here. Vin didn't beat Zane because she moved faster, she beat him because she perceived what he knew she was about to do, then changed that. Theoretically, zinc should be able to help with exactly that. Steel helps them move faster, but faster isn't enough if they know where you're going before you move. Changing your attack at the last instant is what will defeat Atium if you don't have Atium or Electrum yourself. jW