thek9

WOB has disclaimed this one. Brandon said "Domi" was the Korathi word for God, and that the relationship to the word Dominion was purely coincidental.

I'm sure Hoid thinks himself the funniest.

Which begs the question, how does he have BOTH Feruchemy and Allomancy? Did he previously eat a different bead of Lerasium, and go back for seconds? Or perhaps, he already was somehow both (whether through previous beads or some other means) and by Brandon saying that he may not have used the bead in the way we expect, he did something totally different with it. Perhaps he wanted to use it to rewrite his spirit web for access to some other magic system, or to undo whatever prevents him from harming people. Or maybe he just has hemalurgic spikes that give him his Feruchemy and/or Allomancy abilities. Lots of possibilities.

WoB is that shardic power could be reconstituted. By implication, this would include Adonalsium itself. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#3 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=948#2

While I would tend to agree with the Ferruchemy interpretation, rather than the shard interpretation of Fortune, this would make an awesome book. A shard of Randomness or perhaps Uncertainty that grants random powers to random people at random times. Would love to see Brandon write that one.

Bottled stormlight? Liquiefied breath? These things may manifest differently in the cognitive realm, so perhaps do not look exactly like their physical counterparts.

The audiobook pronounces it in the later fashion. I don't know if he did in this case, but Brandon has indicated that he generally does try to work with the narrators to ensure correct pronunciation in his books.

Obviously, Dawnslight is Hoid. He stays around some important events, mostly observing, but also helping in an indirect way, then mysteriously vanishes when that particular crisis is over (Babilar). Sure, Reckoners isn't Cosmere, but Hoid would never let a simple WoB keep him from popping into an alternate universe!

This seems pretty crazy powerful to me. Essentially ANY useful item that you happen to need at the moment, you have. If Kaladin/Shallan realize that, watch out! Or worse yet, Lift... I would think that you could just fall in a shardpool accidentally, although who knows where you'd end up without specific intent.

That's exactly what I'm saying.... there can be lots of crossover without it being necessary to have read the other books. Hoid being on Braize could be a big RAFO for the third Mistborn trilogy, without it requiring you to read the Stormlight Archive at all. So you might miss out on the cool Braize Stormlight Archive references if you don't, but it won't affect your ability to understand the main plotline, which might not even mention Roshar. Brandon said it was a big RAFO, but didn't say for which series it is a big RAFO. Maybe it's such a big RAFO precisely because it is a RAFO for a much later series (one which is supposed to involve Hoid as a main character).

This is not necessarily true for later books. Brandon has stated that there will be more crossover later, and the 3rd Mistborn Trilogy does involve travel between worlds, so it may apply then, but not be significant to the Stormlight Archive. I like this theory... I'm kind of thinking that Hoid may have somehow swapped or more likely, orchestrated someone else into swapping a fake Taln for the real one, perhaps causing Odium to void the Oathpact by not returning the real Taln. So Odium puts all of the Final Desolation steps into motion, but in fact, he's causing himself to forfeit by breaking the rules of the Oathpact (that the Heralds must be returned to Roshar to have a Desolation occur), and perhaps the real Taln is still hiding out in a false identity on Braize somewhere.

That's a neat theory, although I'm not sure about Scadrial as an example – Ruin and Preservation never were splintered, and the Steel Inquisitors were using Preservation's allomancy to support Ruin's intent. I agree that it probably wasn't just a matter of, as Darnam so succinctly put it, Odium saying, "You see that Shard over there? He says you're fat." I suspect that Odium was more crafty and subtle, and probably manipulated world events somehow to promote this conflict. Hopefully Elantris 2 will give us some more insights, although it would be better if we could see pre-shattering Sel.

Remember also that Shallan's father was potentially being set up by the Ghostbloods to become Highprince of Veden. This kind of suggests that Mr. T/The Ghostbloods may be trying to install leaders that support their cause across Roshar. Perhaps the assassinations are intended to open positions for their people, in addition to weakening nations that they intend to conquer or destroy.

Ok, sorry, it appears I was incorrect about the polar opposite quote that I remembered–I think I may have misread a reader's response post as WoB. I still don't really see Dominion and Devotion as polar opposites, though, more like a complementary pair. Nonetheless, I don't think whether or not they are polar opposites ultimately affects the validity of the theory. In fact, if they were already opposite each other, it would presumably be even easier for Odium to manipulate events such that the Shards would destroy each other, by enhancing or playing on this opposition.

Certainly, they are related to each other, but I wouldn't exactly call them opposites, at least not in the Ruin/Preservation sense. But regardless, I don't think it really matters whether you consider them complements or opposites or something else, in any of those cases Odium could still provoke, start, and/or enhance conflict between them. As far as the letter goes, what it doesn't say (that Odium himself killed Aona/Skai directly–which wouldn't have had to happen if Odium just provoked/tricked them into killing each other) is exactly what I was referring to. Sure, anything could be a false trail, but the wording is suspicious. Furthermore, the letter states that it was "Presumably to prevent anyone from rising up to challenge Rayse." This could suggest that Dominion and Devotion working together would have been a threat to Rayse (which would imply that Dominion and Devotion did not have to be at each other's throats) or that someone might potentially have picked up both Shards. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch and I'm over-reading, but it is suggestive. EDIT: Removed incorrectly remembered quote reference

Maybe more baseless speculation, than theory, since we don't have much evidence available here, but I've always wondered how Odium was responsible for the splintering of at least 3 shards. Honor, you can kind of understand, in that Odium spent a lot of time in the Rosharan system, and probably invested less of himself in the population than Honor did, or somehow got the better of Honor with the Oathpact. I guess we will find out in the Stormlight Archive. But Devotion and Dominion? He managed to splinter both of them, despite not being long on Sel (in relationship to his time in the Rosharan system, anyway). You would think Devotion and Dominion together could've beat Odium on their home turf. The most logical conclusion I can make is that Odium somehow was able to pit Devotion and Dominion against each other. They are not opposites in the manner of Ruin and Preservation, and may have some natural conflict, but I think that Odium (perhaps by his very nature, and/or by clever manipulation of world events) somehow amplified and/or set them against each other. Hoid's letter says that Aona and Skai are both dead, not that Odium killed them, which Hoid probably would've said outright, if it was true. Odium was responsible, but did not act directly against them (as he could not have overcome them directly, especially in so short a time on their homeground, given how long it took him to kill Honor). This could also have led to the split between Shu-Korath and Shu-Dereth. I realize that split occurred after the splintering, but the societal forces that Odium set in motion earlier could have made such a split inevitable, even far later in the timeline.

Why would you want it to auto remove? After going through all the work to put the data there in the first place, I would think you might as well leave it. That way people can start from the end of the thread and go back progressively as far as they want. Just want the latest updates? Just read the last page. But it seems like there is value in having a complete record, and it would help make Q&A sessions easier to find/cite.

Gotcha. I haven't found a Steelhunt code yet, so apologize for the errant theorizing. Just can't wait till WoR comes out next year.

I was thinking the Nightwatcher as well.

Vin was not able to touch her own gold shadow either though, earlier in the same book.

This would make sense if the element was Lerasium and Hoid used the spiritual DNA splicing power to get Feruchemy, although I suppose it could also theoretically be done with hemalurgy. The "element" could also be a hemalurgic spike granting a Feruchemical power. I would tend to believe the Lerasium theory more likely however, given that we don't have any descriptions of Hoid walking around with metal in his body.

I'm not convinced Lerasium is as unimportant as some might think. And we know Hoid grabbed that bead of Lerasium during the first Mistborn trilogy. Perhaps Hoid plans to rewrite his (or possible someone else's) spiritual DNA to do one of those "really cool things". Like giving somebody the spiritual DNA to access some sort of power they couldn't normally?

What about the Dawnshards or Honorblades? They seem much more likely candidates for Splinters of Honor.

On the other hand, there was that quote from HoA that "Preservation is not creation". It could have been just a general reference, or it could have been literal. Other shards could still create things without being "Creation", just like other shards than Ruin can ruin things, and other shards than Preservation can preserve things.

Sorry, must've missed that. When was that indicated? I suppose it is possible that the face was another misleadingly-noninteractive recording of Honor.