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WOW this thread totally exploded while i wasn't looking... But yes I agree that Dalinar is badassery-incarnate and i see so much potential for Kaladin as a character. Shallan is also interesting but i think she's the most static of the three (in Book 1 at least). She's completely convinced of her wit and we don't see her change at all. She still thinks lowly of Taravangian cause he's "stupid" and doesn't have an open-mindedness which will probably come to bite her in the butt real hard. In terms of actual character development, I think she's developed the least, which is why I was so excited to hear book 2 would focus on Shallan. Sure I was dissappointed to hear it wouldn't focus on Dalinar (my favorite character) but i really want Shallan to develop more, I feel like we've only see her backstory and none of the development.

From what i understand, the Soulcasting by using fabrials are not related to Radiant powers, as many people have mentioned how anyone can use them. And no, there has been no connection made between the Seventeenth Shard and the Ghostbloods. There hasn't been any mention of the Seventeenth Shard at all in the book as far as i know. At this point, the Ghostbloods are simply a secret society that are at odds against seemingly, well, everyone.

I think Brandon said in an interview that Aona's Intent is somewhere along the lines of Compassion? I believe he mentioned that he hasn't decided on the exact name for the Shard as those kinds of things are important to be precise. Also, some people see Seons as possible Splinters of Aona, and the Seons are all about love and caring for their master, although I guess that could also be seen as dedication.

Didn't Brandon say that Harmony is NOT a new melded Shard but just a name used to refer to Sazed? I believe he also said that the separate Intents of Ruin and Preservation still exist. Sorry I can't give you a quote, but I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned.

I'm usually really bad at catching stuff too. I didn't catch Shallan's Shardblade at all either! I only caught it in my second read when i read the chapter again because I couldn't remember where i had left off. But Elantris was a different story, it probably has to do with me somehow reading Elantris AFTER the rest of the Cosmere books, but I caught on everything really quick. The first time the Chasm is mentioned, I immediately thought, "THATS PROBABLY THE PROBLEM!" and after learning about the restriction of AonDor to nearby Elantris, I was 98% sure. I ended up mentally screaming at Raoden throughout the entire book =p. I caught Lukel's brother being an Elantrian, the use of Dor by the monks when Hrathren mentioned how they cultivate demons, Uncle Kiin being the pirate. I basically got everything except that one mention of the healing gone wrong mention, although i guess it wasn't really{/i} a foreshadowing. I found both the intense hatred and the case study mention really suspicious but never connected the two. I'm still catching little details that I've completely missed in the forum discussions so I still suck at this stuff. I think i pretty much only caught all the things in Elantris because I've become so used to Brandon's writing from reading every other book and know to look for little things from forum discussions. It's probably also the case that Brandon didn't hide Elantris stuff as subtly as his other books since it's his first published book, and he was less experienced then.

I think it's just that Odium has rules he has to follow. Like the Oathpact and all, even though the Heralds failed, that might not dissolve the agreement completely. Might be part of it that a new Champion can be chosen, or something like that.

It could also be a part of Nightblood's program to not activate when inside the sheathe rather than the sheathe having special functions on its own.

Sorry if this actually happened a few days ago, been really hectic for me with the holidays, but I just saw Stormlight 2 and A Memory of Light Draft 2 added to the Current Projects section on Brandon's website. Rejoice!

It could have to do with spren. I think there was a mention of something akin to gravity spren at one point in the book. I believe it was mentioned (I think the interlude with the spren hunter guy) where he talks about how scholars speculate on spren that keep people on the ground, though no one has actually confirmed one to exist.

I think that Odium is not the third Shard mentioned. As you've said, a recurring theme in Roshar is symmetry, but i don't think the third Shard would be Balance, though you do make a really good point with the Nightwatcher. If it is originally 3 Shard on Roshar, then the 3 Shards as a whole should be creating the symmetry. Sort of like how Preservation AND Ruin created "Harmony". Also, the theme seems to be on symmetry more than balance (though more evidence may point to balance), considering how when asked about Shards' Intents (like Aona and Skai's of Sel) Brandon would check his notes or not commit to a specific word as of yet, the word itself is of significance. It would be really interesting if the Blades really ARE from Odium, but Odium is not on Honor's side. What if the Blades (and plate?) were part of the Oath Pact and when the Heralds abandoned them, the Blades (and Plates) began to become corrupted which therefor lead to the Recreance? Whoa, I totally just blew my own mind... Which makes me suspicious that this idea stinks. >.<

Yeah but from the descriptions them seemed more around between a very large elephant and a mammoth. Godzilla is like 100x bigger. If I recall correctly, the picture in the book seems to show them to tower over buildings, though of course the reliability of it is questionable.

Considering Brandon's love for very 'human characters' I agree that it's probably not a simple matter of evil or good with Hoid or anyone for the matter really. I can see Brandon making Hoid to be more and more of an antagonist and "evil" as the Cosmere books continue but then turning it around and revealing that Hoid is the good one and EVERY PROTAGONIST[/b} we've read about are the bad ones. (okay that probably wouldn't be the case but that would totally blow the freakin minds off of everyone =p)

I've always wondered about what caused Adonalsium to shatter. Your theory is really interesting, I'd never really thought about the separate Shards Intent/Entities to already exist within Adonalsium before the shattering. I feel there is a sort of balance between the Shards though and if Adonalsium did shatter because of the Intents, I think it would have been because of Odium. Something could have gone wrong with the Odium aspect of Adonalsium (i'm thinking something external) and warped the balance of it all, hence 'the Broken One'?

Do you think Blades could also extend and retract at will? If some of the Voidbringers were like Godzilla monstrous in size would help alot if they could do more than a small paper-cut like cut.

That's be awesome. Chayshan and the Darkhor hints at more usages of Dor than just AonDor, so i think it'd be possible, but i think it'd be more of a fusion of AonDor and something else. AonDor is limited to Elantris and weakens as it gets further away, this makes me think that AonDor has specific and harsh limitations on who can use it, ie. the Elantrians, so it seems unlikely that just pure AonDor is usable by regular people. I think there's mention that the teleportation Aons in Elantris were only usable by Elantrians.

Hmm, that seems entirely possible. I like it. Also, whenever i read the description of the Voidbringers attacking makes me think about how storms start, swiftly and devastatingly.

Interesting point but the Radiants themselves also used Blades. It seems very odd that the Radiants would use something that is of the enemy. Also, Honorspren like Syl would have been around the Radiants time too, which implies that the Spren were once okay with Shardblades. There are actually some similarities between Blades and Plates too. Such as how the Radiant's Plates could banish and summon their helms the same as they banish/summon their Blades. Also, considering the likeness of the Honorblades and Shardblades, it seems more likely that the Shardblades are just weaker copies of Honorblades.

I agree that Renarin will become much more important in the later books, his connection to Dalinar and the Nightwatcher and him inheriting Dalinar's Plate, the only one not gilded with paint, etc. says a lot. But for roughly 2 reasons i don't think that Renarin will be revealed as a major antagonist. 1) Hoid's teasing of Renarin seems more supportive than malicious. Everyone treats Renarin as a weak person who can't do anything properly, even Dalinar and Adolin in some parts. Hoid's actions seemed more like he was trying to goad Renarin to keep him from self-pity, and I think Hoid rather likes Renarin. Also, Hoid mentions to Dalinar that Renarin is much stronger and capable than Dalinar thinks, and encourages him to think better of Renarin. 2) At this point we already have a seemingly harmless person turned major antagonist in the series: Taravangian. It also seems that he will be around for a while considering all these different secrets he has and all his accomplishments where no one suspects him yet. It would be utterly redundant to have 2 characters so similar in their development.

Oo~ thanks I totally didn't catch that at all... It's so funny how you can read something (multiple times) and just gloss it over. If Odium is the Broken One, why do you think that is? Somehow I think it might be that Odium is unable to create life on Shardworlds unlike the other Shards. Just a feeling but i think it would have something to do with his Intent but don't really have a specific theory yet, maybe his Intent has completely consumed him so that only the Intent remains? Either that, or during the shattering of Adonalsium, Odium's Shard got messed up somehow and has some sort of defect.

Hmmm.. knowing Brandon, specific words used probably has great significance. Do you think then Honor, Cultivation, and whoever the 3rd is, Odium or another Shard, ruled together? I was thinking maybe this has to do with Vorinism? LIke before written history or what not all 3 Shards were worshipped(?) but with establishing Vorinism Honor became the focus. Hmm, but this actually brings up an interesting question. Do the people in Roshar know about Cultivation? Considering they know Honor as the Almighty and not 'Honor' technically they know Odium as the Enemy (or whatever can't remember if that is actually used... actually.. okay i'm totally not sure now..). But i don't think Cultivation has been mentioned except by Honor in the last vision (UNLESS Cultivation is the Nightwatcher, but I don't think so mainly because we've never seen a Shard directly approachable like that before). Except from the way Honor mentions it, he almost seems to assumes that the recipient would know who/what Cultivation is. Maybe this also goes into the whole 'reigns' vs 'rules' thing?

Darn, this screws the theory that I was working on. I'm thinking that Odium must have come from wherever Damnation is, that planet must have been his Shardworld, one of the remaining three of the Core ten worlds. New idea, Roshar was Cultivation's world, Odium invaded and Honor came to defend her and defeat Odium, but somehow got himself killed by Odium. Or maybe it was Honor and Cultivation there originally and Odium attacked with his horde of Voidbringers. Does this mean there has only been 3 Shards on Roshar ever? Or does it mean at one time? It says "have" not "has had" mmm. Verrrry interesting, when taken with our new information. For this, I think there are 3 possibilities: (1) The three refers to the 3 Splintered Shards: Aona, Dominion, Honor (2) Cultivation and Honor and 1 other Shard built/ruled Roshar and Odium killed/Splintered the other one before fighting it out with Honor. (3) If we follow Windrunner's little theory. Cultivation and 2 other Shards built/ruled Roshar. Odium killed/Splintered 2 of them and Honor came following Odium to try to stop him. Agh this is really messing with my head.. I need sleep. Exciting though. Edit: The post didn't include the quotes in quote with multiquote at first so added it in

Navani's pain fabrial might be a chekov's gun. Seems a bit suspicious to just be there, I think i'll show up again with more significance. Maybe.

Do you mean the Shard itself is sending the vision and not Tanavast? I think that's what you mean but the wording is a bit confusing. =p

“But Eric,” you ask, “I’m ridiculously excited for this, but I have no money!” Haha, i was thinking that exact thing when looking at the prices.

Awesomely long OP =D I agree with a lot of things you said but I've always imagined the Envisagers as the remnants of the Radiants and to become the framework for rebooting the Radiants. I don't know what that bridgeman (sry i forget his name..) did but I imagine the Envisagers were spread out across society and probably not completely wiped out. Also, the Ghostbloods have targeted Jasnah, who along with being Dalinar's favorite niece, they seem to share some secrets (possibly having to do with Jasnah's mission of researching the Voidbringers and the Ghostbloods' reason for targeting her. This means Jasnah, Dalinar, and by extension Kaladin and Shallan are enemies of the Ghostbloods, (oh and possibly Elhokar) which are all the people who have shown (potential) Surge abilities thus far (other than Szeth). So it seems a bit unlikely that the Ghostbloods will be the framework for the KR 2.0 when we have already probable future KR on the other side. Also, I remember reading a thread a few weeks back discussing Tara (keke) and his possible connection with the Ghostbloods. If I recall, that wasn't the thread title but it sort of got to that point. But a lot of people seemed to think that Tara probably isn't in the Ghostbloods because he seems to have his own master plan, and there is someone already established as the Ghostbloods leader (sorry i'm blanking on the names- i believe it's one of the names said by Gavilar when he asks Szeth who sent him). Personally, if Tara IS in the Ghostbloods, I think he's just using/fooling them (with his fluctuating IQ) and he's hiding Szeth from them.