Jondesu

Control

That's an amazingly well written version of my thoughts on Renarin, FeatherWriter. Not that I'd figured out all the details, but you explained why I like him. I identify with and like Kaladin more in most ways, but that quote of him saying it would have been better for the monster to kill him? I've been there (not in a chasmfiend fight, but in my thoughts). My family would be better off without me, I've thought many times. I can totally understand him rushing in and risking his life without thought for the concerns of others about his life; it's worthless in his view, and he thinks others must see him as worthless as well, even when they tell him otherwise. jW

The biggest reason I can identify is that the Shards seem to mostly be equal in power. Ruin could have attacked Preservation all-out, sure, but he would have been destroyed too (as we saw with Vin when she attacked Ruin as Preservation's Vessel). It would be suicide to attack directly, and most Shardholders won't be suicidal. As for not acting out their intents, remember that those intents can be very nuanced. Ruin was acting on his intent: he was bring ruination to Scadrial, blocked by Preservation but still putting forth all the effort he could. Cultivation is presumably cultivating things on Roshar, while Honor was being honorable or making people behave honorably. Endowment is endowing people with purpose and power. Edit: lol, didn't see all the other replies first. Oh well, I don't think I said anything others didn't, but I think I said it well enough. jW

I think recommended earlier in this thread, I started reading Robin Hobb's Assassin series. Quite good so far. jW

I'd disagree with you on that fact though: my opinion is that most of the "natural" spren are from Adolnasium, and only the Radiant spren and maybe a few others are from/of Honor or Cultivation, and those natural spren have little to do with the Shards. That's not backed up by anything specific yet in the text, so we'll just have to accept those as different theories, and naturally other theories like this will arise from different places. I like your reasoning, if I agreed with the original assumptions. :-) jW

Actually, we know that not to be true. There were spren before Honor and Cultivation arrived on Roshar, per WoB, and Odium arrived later. Some, if not most, of the spren are spren of Adolnasium, or perhaps not from a Shard at all, but just part of Roshar's natural magic. jW

Ah, gotcha. Haven't looked through the new edition of Elantris yet. jW

Did I miss a WoB about Vax? jW

Considering the way the Oathgate keys behave, molding to the Shardblade, it seems almost inevitable that they're invested in some way, which leads me to doubt they're aluminum (though aluminum can be used as a metalmind, so it's not out of the realm of possibly). I suspect they're the same thing Spren and Shardblades are made out of, whatever that actually is (beyond the generic "investiture"). jW

I suspect it wasn't used to steal strength, but instead a (the?) "human" trait that would somewhat tie to that. Are all the Kandrea Blessings Iron? Or just the Blessing of Potency? That would also play a role. jW

I just hit my midyear Christmas music kick apparently. Harry Connick Jr is playing in my headphones as I type. jW

That brings up an interesting related point. I don't think Ruin was the right name, or rather, the name that would have been given to that Intent in context with the whole. Remember, Preservation couldn't have created without Ruin. Ruin isn't evil, except taken out of context, he just wanted to destroy. In context, you could call it Entropy, or Dissection? Basically, the ability to pull things apart in order to rebuild, which is necessary and good, just not divorced from the whole. jW

Coldplay (it's Viva la Vida I think)

Using Cultivation against her will wouldn't be very Honorable, though. I know Shardholders can sometimes do things against their mandate, but that seems fairly extreme. I suspect if she is part of it, it was willing rather than forced. jW

I suspect Adolnasium had a hand in that directly. Spren appear to be as natural on Roshar as metals on Scadrial, except in Shinovar, so there's clearly something innate and yet extraordinary, and I can only imagine Adolnasium as the cause (since we know the spren predate the arrival of Honor, Cultivation, and Odium). jW

Currently laying in bed fighting nausea from a really intense headache that just hit me suddenly. Fortunately not light/sound sensitive this time at least. jW

Yeah, it's one of those ways that magic systems form with the interaction of the planet and the Shard, usually without the Shard's conscious involvement (beyond choosing to invest in the planet). Honor could probably have influenced parts of that, but the fact that some Spren came from his investment and that they were modeled in some way after Roshar's natural forces wasn't his decision, I'd assume. jW

Keep in mind too, for someone to do what Szeth did on any other world (with the Honorblade, that is) they'd need access to Stormlight, or a hack to use some other investiture. The Honorblade itself would just be a sword that cuts really well, but wouldn't grant the survivability that was mentioned earlier. I don't think the Honorblade is responsible for the screams, for the reasons others have stated already. jW

Ah, yep, kenod, we agree completely then. jW

Hey, even if they didn't reach that size, they could maintain the upper boundaries of what is doable for a very long time. Perhaps reach Savanthood in Feruchemical Pewter? That could be ridiculously awesome, if it didn't kill them. jW

You'd quickly run into some physical limitations if you compound Pewter Feruchemically, since while your body would handle the added bulk of the muscles for a while, there'd have to be a point where it just wouldn't function. The Hulk never has that problem that I've heard of, but a Superthug would (not sure what their actual Twinborn name would be). jW

Syl calls the Windspren her "cousins". My guess is that Honor's investiture, when he invested in Roshar, formed spren that modeled themselves after the existing spren (which are tied to the natural forces on Roshar), but with Honor's mandate guiding them, or rather portions of it. Thus, Syl is an imitation of a windspren, but because of Honor's intent, she binds and can be a Radiantspren, rather than being a nonsapient windspren. jW

Nope, no other metal shares that quality with aluminum. Silver is in fact usable as an alloy with Gold (that's what Electrum is), but it's not special in any other way. It's basically worthless because of that, unlike aluminum. jW

But silver isn't immune. It's just Allomantically inert. You can't burn it, but it's affected like any other metal, and no, silver daggers weren't used by Mistborn or Hazekillers. jW

I don't think it's even the wholesale slaughter specifically. A mass murderer who believed they were doing the right thing probably wouldn't hear any screams, I'd bet. Szeth feels forced into what he's doing. My bet is that's more of a factor than just the fact that he's slaughtering innocents. Especially in light of his internal dialogue as he's doing it. jW