hoser

Apologies to all if this has already been discussed, but there are splinters of Adonalsium around. At the Seattle signing, Brandon specifically said that there are spren that are splinters of Adonalsium on Roshar. This would also imply that there might be splinters of Adonalsium on other planets. He also provided a new (to me) definition of splinter, but that should probably go into a separate thread.

Based on the starfalls vision, I am calling the last surge as communication. It could be detection also, but I see too many clues pointing to communication as a Stoneward ability. I believe that all Radiants can do detection via their spren as Kaladin learns that they are approaching the warcamps from Syl and the surgebinder learns of the presence of the shardholder in this reading. Edited: added detection as general ability, but not surge, explanation.

I wasn't there for that part, so I am not sure if light is the canonical name, but I think the surges are loosely based around the ideas of physical forces. So light would make sense as an interpretation of electromagnetism. I wonder if knights with that surge can Zeus it up with some spicy lightning bolts?

Something banged on the gates 3 times. The lock got cut by the Shardblade, then the gates just swung open.

Except that, IIRC, in this version the creepy foreigners with their strange conversation at the end didn't happen. I'm thinking it got edited out in the meantime. I believe that he used a Shardblade. This is mostly supposition, but to teleport someone somewhere, maybe a target is needed. One of the two flying orders can use a detection ability to travel to where the Midnight Essence is. Another order can target the location of the Knight who flew in and send the stoneward. This scenario assumes detection and probably communication, but I don't see how that vision happens w/out them.

Consider the starfalls vision. The stoneward seems to infuse also. We have multiple non-adjacent orders that can infuse. I do think healing is a stormlight infusion side effect, as Szeth narrates in the Gavilar assassination scene, but there is a Regrowth ability that the Stoneward uses a fabrial for that is faster and can be applied to others.

I think Shardlet will have the full report, but I got a few snippets. Brandon wouldn't say anything about Vanrial, not even saying whether the eye color differed from the Veden peasantry. Basically full RAFO, which maybe means there is something important there. The larkin have abilities relating to stormlight. I pulled out the chart of orders and surges. Apparently someone had also gotten most of what he was willing to reveal, but he said that the surge between orders 2 and 3 is Division, loosely based on weak/strong forces. He took pity on me, and said that there is an order called Bondsmiths and a surge based on the idea of surface tension. With the surface tension surge, you could snap a towel and make it stiff, for example. Enjoy!

Strong interactions hold nucleii together. Weakening the strong force could easily cause "breaking", bring "dust" and make rocks smolder. Based on the Starfalls vision, I think that communication or detection is a surge.

My main concern is the words. Heat + Atmospheric Pressure doesn't get me to "dust". Blowing things up with weak/strong force manipulation gets me to both "breaker" and "dust".

As I understand it, there is the information from the Beaverton signing (warning, steelhunt spoilers), which has some degree of canonicality. Leaving aside what I believe to be Steelhunt info, it includes a table with Skybreakers as order 2 and Dustbringers as order 3, sharing a surge of fire. It just seems wrong to me. We have so many words for fire, heat and lightning that aren't like "breaker" or "dust". I think from the words, we know that it is explosive and I believe there is WoB that there might be surges using weak/strong force. So, putting things together, this explosive surge shared by order 2 and 3 "could" be weak, strong or both. As I understand it, Soulcasting was initially conceived of as a an alternate to surgebinding, so I think there is room for doubt about whether weak/strong force=Soulcasting.

Do you have any evidence for this contention? It seems clear to me that he has information and training that don't fit w/Stone Shamanism and his grandfather seems as likely a conduit as any. fixed, thanks #2, but not #1? good idea! Do you have a better idea? Thanks, I'll see what I can do.

Hi guys, Thanks for all the thought and suggested questions. In order to properly enjoy this event, I will not be expecting to ask any questions. I will bring 6 or so, just in case. The general strategy is to ask an open question, so he can give us something, if he wants. If he wants a more specific question, the follow-ups narrow down to a particular concern. My primary concern is to add to our information. Based on your feedback and my inclinations, here is what I've got. I will check in before the signing to review any further feedback. Szeth carves his way through a stone wall then puts down his Shardblade to lash the piece of stone he just carved. Hoid has been using lightweaving to make himself invisible and picks up Szeth's Shardblade. What are you willing to say about the implications of this scenario? Follow-up (if appropriate): Are Szeth's abilities affected by Hoid picking up the sword? Szeth has acted in ways that don't seem to fit well with Shin society. Will you tell us anything about how he gets the information and or training that leads him to those actions? Follow-up (if appropriate): Is there a dissident faction, possibly including his grandfather, that he has learned from? What are you willing to tell us anything about the history of the Vanrial community at this time? Follow-up (if appropriate): Are their eyes generally lighter than the Alethi peasantry? From the Beaverton signing, it seems that Skybreakers are Radiant order 2 sharing pressure w/Windrunners. The suggestion is that they share fire as a destructive surge with the Order 3 Dustbringers. What are you willing to do to correct or increase our level of certainty about this information. Follow-up (if appropriate): So fire is the order 2-3 surge and not something else like maybe electricity, weak or strong force. Will you tell us something more about the Oathpact? Follow-up (if appropriate): Who are the parties to it? Gavilar may have done something to change Roshar just before his death. What are you willing to tell us about his actions or the information that led to those actions? Follow-up (if appropriate): Does his info or the stone that he gives to Szeth from the Nightwatcher? Can you tell us something more about larkin and their abilities? Is there a relationship between where the Tears of Edgli are distributed and where returned appear? Wish us luck. hoser Edit: incorporated Kurkistan's correction from below

Szeth makes no sense to me. He chose to do something to earn the Truthless punishment. Presumably a great sacrifice for something he believed in and a betrayal of Stone Shamanism. He seems to accept the punishment, which is fundamentally unenforcable and against some of his most sacred principles. His stated motivation is that by accepting the punishment his spirit will go back to the stone rather than being annihilated. He states that his honor depends on accepting the terms of his punishment at the end with Taravangian. Accepting an insane punishment that causes him to murder people wantonly just so his spirit will persist seems like the very height of dishonorable selfishness. If he accepts Stone Shamanism, why did he feel compelled to betray it? If he doesn't accept it , then why would he believe that his adherence will affect the persistence of his spirit and accept the penalty? With WoB that he had occupied a respected place in Shin society, he is too good at too many forms of fighting. I can imagine some training after he is provided with the Shardblade as part of his punishment, but that doesn't explain his skill. He doesn't want to be associated with his father, but doesn't mind being associated with his grandfather. He has motivations, training and beliefs that are at odds with Stone Shamanism. Where did they come from? An association with his grandfather? I am guessing that Brandon is trying to explore the nature of honor. Mr. T, Szeth and Kaladin are all exemplars for different interpretations. A far too superficial initial guess would be that Szeth is too rulebound, Mr. T is too ends-justify-means and Kaladin is closer to a desirable middle.

I only regret that I have but one lifeupvote to give for the OP.

Two minor points: Dalinar does think about Renarin specifically (and not Adolin), but it could be because Adolin is not present, having left to get the highstorm damage report. I think that Dalinar would have wanted help to deal with his guilt over getting plastered after Gavilar warned him to stay sober on the night of DalinarGavilar's assassination. edit: Gavilar was assassinated, not Dalinar

Hey Guys, just as a nitpicky point of order, I believe the Dalinar Purelake vision is a WoR spoiler, so this thread should probably be in the WoR section for the sake of those who want a certain experience of WoR. Until it gets moved, maybe the information can be edited into spoiler format. Thanks in advance

The more I think about this, the less credible it seems. While one could imagine that if the new Shardbearers worked together and came up with a unified story and wiped out all other survivors of the event, they could sell the story to people who didn't really know the Radiants for a short time. There are problems with this scenario. I can't imagine the new Shardbearers trusting each other enough to work together If they don't work together, I doubt they organize a massacre People are familiar enough with the Radiants that the lack of glyphs, glowing colors, infusing, powers and purpose would be noticeable. Powerful forces like the nobility and the clergy would know the difference The Radiants lived across Alethela. People would have known them. People would know if they never came back or returned without the armor, when others had it. If the new Shardbearers stayed anywhere for long, the differences would become apparent.

The interview database has nothing useful on shardpools. This thread has some interesting unattributed quotes (which might want to be in the interview database). I must be missing something, because they seem to jump from the idea that Sazed no longer has the Pits of Hathsin or the Well of Ascension to assuming that only impaired shards need shardpools. Another possibility would be that Harmony has a Shardpool that is different than that of either Ruin or Preservation. I think asking about shardpools could go on the list of questions I mostly won't get to at the Seattle signing.

I just got the tickets for the Seattle signing. Here's what I've got for questions and feedback. Feedback follows the questions, with my thoughts in parentheses. My bias will be to ask questions that will advance our knowledge of Roshar primarily and the Cosmere secondarily. If we can word questions in a way to get a useful partial answer, that seems preferable to a straight RAFO. I am still collecting feedback and suggestions. If Szeth put down his sword and someone else picked it up, would Szeth still have his windrunner powers? RAFO-bait Is Szeth's grandfather part of a resistance to Stone Shamanism? RAFO-bait or useless Do Stone Shamans deny the existence of Voidbringers? Good question, RAFO-bait After the Recreance, did the Radiants rejoin Alethi society? RAFO-bait Is Urithiru still intact as of the end of tWoK? Good question, RAFO-bait Did any of the other orders abandon their weapons at the time of the Recreance in addition to the Stonewards and Windrunners? Closed question Is Szeth the first Truthless? Good question, Closed question Are the Vanrial community lighteyed? Are they descended from Radiants? Good question Is the Tranquilline Halls a planet in the physical realm? Can Steelhunt codes be found there? RAFO-bait Do Surgebinders have gemhearts within their bodies naturally? How, exactly, does Hemalurgic decay work for Feruchemy? Do Inquisitors either have a cap on how much they can store at a time, store inefficiently or retrieve less efficiently than real Feruchemists? Why does Feruchemical Gold sometimes leave scars and sometimes not? (Wouldn't this just be based on how the object sees or wants to see itself?) Which order is called the Skybreakers? Are the Brightcallers a Radiant order? Are the Worldsingers a Radiant order? Is eletromagnetic, strong or weak forces surges? How many parties were involved in the Oathpact? Who would win in a fight, Rand or Rashek? Not likely to get interesting answer. What is up with that heat feruchemy thing being a emotion metal? (Isn't this just a canonical weirdness? What do we learn by asking this?) Who was the voice that Sazed heard telling him to use rings when he was fighting ironeyes? (Kelsier's spirit from the cognitive realm, right?) Was Dalinar's petition to the Nightwatcher related to his sons? Is Elhokar actually seeing Cryptics? Yes How can people see/describe unknown things when they are about going to die? RAFO-bait What is a Roshar date for some event between when Kaladin becomes the Bridge 4 leader and the end of the book? How long does that period cover? (PAFO?) When is the Steelheart novelette coming out? (Firefight is listed as 20% done on the website, wouldn't that mean that he has about a week to go?) Can awakeners effectively command drabs in conjunction with providing a breath? Only expert awakeners. Can you do hemalurgy on a tree? Where would the bindpoints on a tree be? Will "Sixth of the Dusk" be out before the end of the year?

Kaladin discovered the second oath without being a sliver. Kaladin (Dalinar also!) is getting information from mysterious internal voices. I'm not saying that Nohadon was not a sliver, but that another possibility is that the oaths are built into the magic system and become available when the participants are ready. Nohadon decided that it was time for the sword. He could have gathered an honorable group of knights-to-be that discovered the oaths while bringing order to the world. Later, when the oaths were known, he could have written them up as parables. Not saying, just suggesting. Edit: grammar

Great work! Thank you!

Actually, Gavilar suspects Thaidakar, then Restares, but not the Ghostbloods specifically. The Ghostbloods seem to be operating similarly to Mr. T: destabilize, then take over. Amaram, who seems to be working with the stormwardens and Restares, associates the Ghostbloods with Thaidakar and considers them the opposition. I believe the situation with Jasnah soulcasting was contrived so that team Mr. T could study Jasnah while she was soulcasting. Since they may have a real soulcaster, they may see whether Jasnah is using a Soulcaster or faking it. With the Ghostbloods attempting to assassinate Jasnah and Mr. T studying her, I've been assuming that Thaidakar and Restares are different, with Mr. T possibly being Restares or an ally. I've thought that if Mr. T really wanted to assassinate Jasnah, he would send a more reliable assassin (he has several, including Szeth) and have it done out of his kingdom, to redirect suspicion. This discussion has me wondering whether Mr. T is both Thaidakar and Restares. I think there is a secret society of ardents (the Ghostbloods) that are trying to take over the world and don't accept the restrictions put on them by the Sunmaker. I don't think it is all of the ardentia.

I still have hopes for the Heralds. I have this vague unsupported memory of Brandon saying that there was more to the opening scene than was evident. I think Jezrien may have been working a plan for all these millenia. Once the final desolation is coming, the equation is different for the Heralds. Their staying away from the fight will not be putting off the desolations. Losing might mean torture, but with the Oathpact ending, maybe there is a win condition. They might as well fight because they have nothing more to lose.

I would argue that Kaladin does more than three lashings: He does something with stormlight to cushion his landing when he falls from the bridge after stashing the armor. He does something with stormlight to amplify his voice to get Adolin's attention. Stormriding seems like a thing.

It's probably not vital to your theory, but I believe the radiants were around for more than one desolation. In the Starfalls chapter, the farmer that Dalinar inhabited expressed faith in the Radiants. The Radiants commented on the midnight essence being desolation precurser. According to this theory, the Radiants would never have seen a desolation. So they wouldn't have been as certain, nor would they have had a reputation.