hoser

Are you saying that thunderclasts and midnight essence are just applications of Soulcasting? I don't agree. If Jasnah soulcasts something into flesh, you would have flesh, not an animated monster with a will of it's own that has no flesh whatsoever. Thunderclasts come from something like a spren inserting itself into rock. Surgebinding seems to me like an Honor or Honor and Cultivation based system. Surgebinding can be accessed through spren and maybe fabrials. We know very little about what Odium's systems are, but from the hints in tWoK, I think they are not just another way to Surgebind.

Your wish, from the Tor version of the Lift interlude:

For me, this phrase has in-world cultural nuances that no dictionary will capture. The key is this "There was no place for him in the Valley of Truth." I think the Valley of Truth is Shinovar, and Truthless has some of both the meanings you cite, but also overtones of apostate, blasphemer and traitor. As you might say "Abtrünnige", if anybody actually used words like that.

Interesting. I've been assuming that Szeth was on course to become Odium's champion. A voidbringer is another possibility. Possibly related: Szeth is hearing progressively more screaming. "Yelignar, called Blightwind, was one that could speak like a man, though often his voice was accompanied by the wails of those he consumed" Mr. T refers to his Shardblade as a monstrosity. When he kills Gavilar and leaves Gavilar's Shardblade, Szeth thinks "the blade he already carried was curse enough." Maybe this particular blade is more cursed and monstrous than others. A key question, for me, is whether Voidbinding encompasses the same powersets as Surgebinding. With rumors of possession, thunderclasts and midnight essence, there are abilities that do not seem to fall under Surgebinding to me. If it were just another way to access the same magic, why would it have another name. My thought is that Voidbinding is different. I think Szeth is surgebinding using a non-spren source. My further guess is that the surgebinding ability comes from the sword.

Welcome! Great question! Upvote! Yes, the quote from Brandon about the number of sentient spren being limited by choices spren have made suggests to me that at least some of the Nahel Bond spren created a barrier of sorts to the Nahel Bond. Is it similar to Darkness's quest to prevent desolations? How does this grouping of spren relate to Wyndle's "Ring"? Has something happened to this hypothetical barrier? Could it have been whatever inspired Szeth to do whatever he is being punished for? Could it have been whatever Szeth did? Could it have been what the Parshendi tried (and apparently failed?) to stop Gavilar from doing?

On purpose. In the privacy of my own mind, I think I are clever. Sure. My points are: The supply is not fixed. Shattered gems do not go out of circulation. I did not mean to make a representation about exact rates of creation and destruction. As for Chasmfiend gem-farming, it was a thought that amused me and that I thought others might enjoy,not a serious business proposal. Really, my initial thought was that it would be an elaborate form of ritual suicide. In addition to the problems you mention, until we know what pre-pupation Chasmfiends are like and what they eat, I recommend we hold off on the business plan.

Thesis: Darkness has been corrupted by Odium. I suspect that his scar may be involved in the corruption, but that is not essential to the theory. This is something that happened sometime after the events of the Prelude. A. Support: Undocumented theory: Odium has corruption magic Support for undocumented theory that Odium has corruption magic: Dalinar's vision includes the following snippet which could indicate corruption: “Just keep your eyes open, once Ja-ana touches them they are different. They act strange. ...” Hemalurgy is a magic that changes other investiture. Ruin and Odium seem somewhat similar. Corruption seems like a tool that fits Odium's intent. There are at least several references to Voidbringers possessing people. Possession seems like a form of corruption. B. Darkness attempts to murder people who are doing good things. C. Darkness is described as having "Dead eyes" by Lift. D. Darkness is described as an "abomination" by Wyndle, who also says that "There is something very wrong with that man! He is not right, not right at all." E. Baxil's mistress, also widely considered to be a Herald, is described as "amazing. Wonderful, intoxicating, overwhelming." The reporters are obviously different and Darkness' indifference could be a perversion of confidence. The deadness of Darkness seems stronger to me than can be explained by corrupted attributes. Prediction is the test of a theory: I therefor predict that any Heralds that are described as dead or abominations will turn out to have been corrupted by Odium post-Prelude. Please note: This theory is meant to be completely compatible with Darkness=Nalan, Argent's Fallen Heralds theory and Isomere's "Heralds and Intent" theory. Basically, I claim that Darkness is corrupted beyond warped heraldic intent and survivor guilt. This corruption could have occurred in conjunction with the prominent scar on his face. Edit: Baxil's mistress point, clarify that influence occurred after Aharietam, prediction.

I don't agree with some of what you said here, but I don't want to spend too much time building up a model that is almost certainly different from Brandon's. I think, details aside, we have a similar understanding. Shattered gems are recycled as smaller gems and eventually chips. We have seen chips used by Kaladin as stormlight reservoirs to great effect. Even if they weren't used, they would still absorb stormlight unless buried or stored inside. So no, shattered gems do not leave circulation. Yes, if limited by animal populations, the supply growth will be slower than if gems can be created at will. Chasmfiend gem-farming anyone? One could have diminishing charge work without continuous monitoring. For example: Charge = Gem size * constant * potential difference between source and destination. With more gems in circulation, more stormlight would be in the physical realm and the potential difference between the physical realm and whichever realm the stormlight (investiture) is coming from would be less. Analogically, potential is voltage, so you can think of the source realm as a battery. When more stormlight is trapped in gems in the physical realm, the battery is less charged and it automagically charges gems less. Voila, diminished charge with no monitoring.

The lack of spren in Dalinar's visions is thought by some to be a clue that Honor had not yet been shattered. The proliferation of spren would then be due to the abundance of investiture. There is WoB that supports this as he has said that the spren form a release mechanism that prevents Shadesmar from being as dangerous as is near the Elantris world (Sel?). Additional evidence for this theory over the Blade/Plate theory is that the spren are not seen in the Nohadon vision, when presumably the Radiants and their accoutrements didn't exist yet.

I see two models here: Honorspren are amorphous, taking on form depending on the Surgebinding attributes of the person they are attracted to. Multiple forms of honorspren, each of which is attracted to certain Surgebinding attributes and, when bonded, creates a surgebinder of a particular order (in this case, Syl would be attracted to people who protect and lead and her bond can only create Surgebinders with the windrunner powerset). I believe this to be a restatement of what Gloom is claiming above. Support in the text for Syl fitting the second model follows. At the end of Chapter 14: Syl's evolution is that she starts out as an apparent windspren and grows more different from windspren. If she was originally amorphous, becoming more defined as a windspren, then her behavior should grow more windspren-like as Kaladin becomes more of a windrunner.

Given that they have apparently never taken direction from a non-Herald, I think they will be led by a Herald. My totally uninformed guess would be that it would have to be Taln or Jezrien. If Taln is unwilling to accept Jezrien's leadership or Jezrien can't be recruited back to help, I would guess Taln. Otherwise, I put my money on Jezrien.

Marvelous! Total non-sequitur. Going totally out on a limb with a prediction here. Shallan will make it to the Shattered Plains in WoR.

I must be misunderstanding again, because I don't get it at all. "Lord" evolving in to "lighteyes" would have Vorinism encouraging humility on lighteyes and judgments based on honorable behavior. Instead, in Dalinar's times Vorinism glorifies lighteyes based on absurd superficial traits like ancestry and eye color, while excusing venal behavior. Changing the naming of individual traits could not achieve a change like that. I'm sure Nohadon would have scoffed at the idea of inherited Glory. The entire system has been turned inside out and I don't see how you get there with shifting of word meanings. In the evolution of Vorin theology, differences have become accentuated: men are forced into different roles from women, a rigid class system based on inheritance has been established, betrayal has become honor, spiritual impulses are relegated to a subservient class. I find it hard to consider that this could happen without intention, specifically odious intention. This does not seem like semantic evolution at all.

The following is a commonly repeated canard and is contradicted by the text. The text from the Prologue: Canonically, then: It is long (but we don't know what it is being compared to). It is thin. It has two edges. It is smaller than other Shardblades (presumably due to being thinner?) It is not described as being ornate or even ornamented By contrast, most Radiantblades are descibed as single edged and heavily ornamented. 7 of the 10 Honorblades are described as "magnificent", "masterly works of art", flowing in design" and "inscribed with glyphs and patterns". The eighth (presumed, as it is the Shardblade Taln bears) Honorblade is described as "massive", "long, narrow and straight, shaped like an enormous spike." I feel somewhat at a loss to explain how it is both massive and narrow, but I don't write these things.

Not sure what you mean by lingual shift. If you are suggesting that it is only a semantic difference, I will say that it seems quite the opposite, being a significant difference in meaning. I encourage you to read the section if you have any doubt. In the in-world Way of Kings, Nohadon talks about carrying a rock for a common laborer. The second quote I offered about lighteyed blood conveying innate Glory could not be more opposite. Whether the Vorin church, the Sunmaker and the ardents accomplished the change in meaning using semantics or not, the meanings (based on Dalinar's POV as related in the snippets we see) have been reversed. At Feverstone Keep, Dalinar was surprised to see darkeyed officers. Kaladin was taught that the Heralds had chosen lighteyes to rule and Dalinar feels constrained to limit his rank based on eye coloring. Dalinar was taught that blood and light eyes conveyed innate Glory. This seems like a significant shift in meaning, not semantics.

The following quote from Dalinar leads me to believe that theology changed significantly between the Recreance and the time of Dalinar, although I don't know when or how. Thinking about the Way of Kings, we have the following snippet at the end of chapter 15. Supporting this, in chapter 18, he talks about the Vorin Calling and Glory.

As you wish . I'll do my best. I can see the Shardblades being created as a result of the Nahel Bond, among other things. I can even imagine Syl inhabiting such a blade. If she did so, I can't imagine her shutting up. As Szeth's blade never talks to him, I can't see that as the genesis of this blade. This is not evidence of any sort, just my sense of the story. Szeth is well-trained, with a very sophisticated understanding of Shardblades and windrunner surgebinding. If he had to figure it out himself, I don't see how he would know all that he does. It makes sense that he was trained in the use of the blade and surgebinding by people who have had the blade and been able to do Windrunner surgebinding before. Taravangian says "Given that monstrosity of a Shardblade by your own people, ..." and he doesn't disagree. He talks about the Stone Shamans retrieving the blade after he dies. All the evidence I can see seems to point to him having been given the sword as part of his punishment. I see no hints of a spren relationship in his present or past. While I think that spren may be involved in forming Radiantblades, it is hard for me to see that Szeth created this blade, nor that he had a spren relationship. Hope this helps...

IIRC, the description in the prelude is of the blades not including Jezrien's (as his is not one of the ones stuck in the ground when they are described), so we actually have no clue about the appearance of Jezrien's Honorblade, suspected to be the one wielded by Szeth. Even if it can't be proven that Szeth is not wieyeilding an Honorblade, that does not make it logical to believe that he is. Given how little we know of this world, skepticism is likely the most logical (but least interesting) approach. I don't think it can be proven, given the clues we have, that Szeth is carrying an Honorblade. Edit: wielding

Chapter 16 Kindle p245 Laral: "Don't you want to become a lighteyes? Win a Shardblade?" Kal: "Father says that doesn't happen very often." ... Laral: "Kal, if you go to war and find a Shardblade, then you'd be a lighteyes ..." To which Kal doesn't disagree. It seems to me, in context, that the rarity is about winning the Shardblade, not the eye color change. Whatever the truth, these kids, one lighteyed, the other the son of an educated man don't doubt the eye color change.

OK, I get why they can't soulcast gems to keep the stormlight a limited resource. With animals growing gemhearts it could still be a growing resource. Another fix would be to have the amount of stormlight trapped per highstorm diminish as the supply of gems increases. Can Elantrans transmute matter into gems? I could see a quite useful trade setup if the Rosharians have anything the Elantrans want. It must be really hard to buy Christmas presents for an Elantran.

Welcome! Upvote for first post thread-starting and creativity! Just wanting to understand your theory. Is it the following? Odium has corrupted the Nahel Bond spren to hate the Radiantblades that are fine and essential to victory in order to prevent resurgent Radiants from using them.

It is very intriguing to me that Brandon is creating all these takes on honor. From modern Dalinar and Kaladin we go through more ambiguous takes like the Parshendi, Jasnah and earlier Dalinar to figures like Sadeas, Mr. T and Szeth. Amaram seems like one of the middle figures to me. He seems to know what is honorable and he cares about it, but when push comes to shove, he does what is best for himself. His behavior seems remarkably consistent to me. Kaladin remarks on his treatment of the darkeyes with uncommmon consideration (sheltering them in his headquarters, for example). Yet, time after time, he falls short of the honorable ideal. Taking Tien to satisfy Roshone is expedient, as Tien is clearly not a suitable candidate warrior. While Roshone might be able to force the choice, in combination with the following point, it shows Amaram falling short of ideal honorable behavior. Promising to protect Tien without following through is clearly a failure to be honorable. He has him assigned to a messenger role, but doesn't pay attention enough to keep him from being reassigned and sacrificed on the front lines. Amaram's battle strategy is almost the clearest example of his lip service to honor. We see only one battle, but the pattern is so clear that Kaladin knows to count on it. He sends out a sacrificial wave of inadequately trained and poorly led darkeyed soldiers (arrow and sword fodder) to blunt the initial assault, then sweeps through with his elite forces. While it seems to be effective, it is hard to see it as preserving darkeyed lives. Consider the following quote from Kaladin, "Amaram's forces were recovering; they'd win the day before long. In fact, Amaram would probably be leading a direct surge against the enemy by now. He generally entered the battle at the end." It is essentially a larger version of the strategy that was used to sacrifice Tien. Taking the Shards for himself while murdering and enslaving the rightful owners is a more brazen example of his expedient behavior, but really quite consistent.

I find his willingness to do what he knows is wrong quite frustrating. I do think this is an example of the way of Odium and Brandon is showing us more than one man's crazy choices.

Apologies for throwing in some annoying details. Feverstone Keep was not on the front lines, but it was still close to the conflict (from Chapter 52): 200 people marched up and 100 landed, so the impact would be 1/3 of what you suggested. It seems odd that for some minutes after the cataclysmic event that would eventually shatter the plains, there was no manifest instability. The Windrunners or Skybreakers presumably have traveled together in numbers of 100 before. If they shattered everywhere they landed, there would be more Shattered plains around. Dalinar reported that Natanatan "fell" several centuries before. Having your capital city shattered could do that. I have no real evidence that the falling of Natanatan was linked to the shattering of the plains, but at least the location is similar. The Shattered Plains hold the remains of a city. Feverstone Keep overlooks a plains. The city would have to have been built between the Knights landing and the Shattering. That seems like quite a delay.

Not saying, just suggesting. If Radiantblades alter the SDNA or spiritweb such that one's descendents have light eyes, but Honorblades do not affect eye color, then Elhokar could be lighteyed based on his ancesters wielding Radiantblades. Weilding an Honorblade could just not affect his eye color. Taln's eyes are dark brown when wielding his presumed Honorblade, whereas the Stonewards (the corresponding order) glowed amber. Maybe Taln's eyes are naturally dark brown.