Catchfraze

Spoilers for WoR

I'm not too sure on that. I think Vin plays an important part in it somehow, but they don't worship Vin or even Harmony. It's more of a guidance thing. They follow the beliefs of all religions in an effort to make the world a better place to a certain extent. Sazed also was uneasy about being worshiped so it could easily apply to him too. I think the earring is just a way that Sazed uses to not only communicate with people who are pathians, but also as a way to remember Vin.

In regards to the whole "holy" argument going on, it's not a matter of what the soul caster is used for (i.e, human waste), but more a matter of how. It's been said multiple times throughout the story that there is secrecy involved in their usage. An ardent soul casting out in the open to make a permanent bridge to span the chasms is not only vulnerable, but it would expose how exactly the soul casting is performed. I still maintain my argument that the reason why it wasn't done doesn't really pertain to the cost of the act, but the religious stigmata and the vulnerability it would expose the ardents to whilst performing the act.

In regards to the problem with the bridges, I think the issue is pretty obvious. As other people have already stated, soul casting is extremely tied into religion with the Ardents basically secluding themselves not letting anyone outside of the order who has the "right" to witness the act take place even have the opportunity to do so. Also, since the number of soul casters is limited (from what Jasnah and Shallan have said), the risk of having an Ardent who has been "trained" actually get killed in battle thereby limiting the number of supplies that can be created is a huge risk. Not to mention if the soul caster is somehow damaged or lost. (Edit: Based on what I read, I can also infer that Ardents for all intents and purposes are not counted as men and war is the most masculine of arts. They can help on the back lines, but actually doing anything on the front lines would severely go against vorinism as it's practiced) Another issue is that any bridge created that can't be removed is another bridge the Parshendi can use to get back to the camps much faster. At the very least, since nothing has been revealed concretely about their stamina, I imagine that jumping from plateau to plateau is not energy efficient at all so at the very least it slows down the Parshendi movements or leaves them fatigued if they were to attempt a frontal assault. The last issue is that it's just not efficient most likely to waste a gem soulcasting a bridge that can and will be destroyed when the Alethi leave the front lines. It makes much more sense to have a mobile bridge that moves along with the column of soldiers and can be deployed as need be. A target moving through the air (as Parshendi are apt to do when jumping) provides a tempting moment of vulnerability both in flight as well as at the moment of landing. Heck, even the act of starting the jump exposes a moment of weakness. The way things are done in the book make sense for the Alethi theologically as well as strategically.

I like parts of your theory, but I took the less convoluted (no insult intended, I couldn't figure out another word to describe the route you took to reach your conclusion) route and just assumed that the shardbearer Dalinar fought was one of the Parshendi present during the "peace treaty" that resulted in Galinar's assassination.

If Hemalurgy is the power of ruin, then why does it attach you to preservation?

I took this quote from the Brandonology site. Reading the above, I get the impression that some of the stories or rather, some of the worlds Brandon has already written about take place on a different plane of existence from each other (I.E some of the worlds could be in the physical and some of them could be in the spiritual). Assuming on the right track, and given my crippling inability to proper express myself, I'll try and focus on my main points/questions instead of rambling: Mistborn could possibly take place in physical realm (This is just supposition without supporting facts. You could replace physical with spiritual if you wanted I suppose, just not cognitive since apparently Shadesmar takes up all of that). Elantris could possibly take place in the spiritual realm (Same as what's in parenthesis above). Since Roshar is the first world where we are introduced to Shadesmar, is the current consensus that if we were to see maps of Shadesmar in other books, Shadesmar would form a mirror of the world/plane you access Shadesmar from? So if you try to access Shadesmar from the Physical plane, Shadesmar is a mirror of the physical plane and if you access it from the spiritual, it's a mirror of the spiritual plane? Are the physical and spiritual planes able to interact without Shadesmar, or is Shadesmar required for either one to affect the other? Assuming that the physical and spiritual planes can't interact with each other, but require Shadesmar as a intermediary, how likely is it that the shattering of the Shards of Adonalsium took place in Shadesmar? I haven't read the books that aren't canon that Mr. Sanderson have wrote, so I have no knowledge on this subject. Lastly, do changes in the physical realm affect shadesmar with the same going for what happens in the spiritual? I'm under the impression that the Shadesmar can affect either one of them, but if the physical and spiritual can't directly interact with each other without Shadesmar, does this mean that changes which occur to Shadesmar as a result of one or the other don't transmit to the respective plane of existence? I realize that a lot of the answers to my questions don't exist and that some of what I said is probably flat out wrong. If there are any theories on the subjects though, I would greatly be interested in reading them.

I'd like to point out that on the first bridge charge after Kaladin decides to stop being emo (the one where he switches with Rock to be in the middle of the front), Kaladin notices that the Parshendi are also going after the Gem heart. This could be why we haven't seen any Thunderclasts, for some reason the Parshendi are stopping them from pupating completely.

Well then, what do you mean by spiritual DNA? I read this in a few Branderson interviews, but it's something I don't understand really. I'm assuming this means that if a shard (Ruin and preservation) was to exist somewhere else other than Scandrial, then their powers wouldn't be the metallic arts? If you could explain to me why what I said is correct or wrong, rather than just saying it's one or the other, this would go a long way to helping me understanding the cosmere.

In that case:

Thank you for answering my questions. I have more, but I think a reread of Way of Kings and possibly Elantris will answer some of them. I just finished my second read of mistborn.

But this would mean that

So, It's possible I don't fully understand the way the magic system works. I apologize if my question makes no sense or if it's explained elsewhere. I tried hunting down the answer to my question with little success.