Runyan Firetree

Spoilers for Warbreaker and Stormlight

Maybe I just need more caffeine this morning, but I'm having trouble making sense of a recent reply from Brandon on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/51u8qu/oathbringer_spoilers_stormlight_three_update_4/d9i30dm/?context=3
 

Quote

 

reddit 1: Also what would happen if I had a LOT of breath and tried to awaken something that was still alive...?

WoB: RAFO...You could say that investing someone with your Breath, however, IS Awakening them.

reddit 2: Are Commands unique to Endowment and those with Breath, or do other shards have an equivalent or similar power / ability? The girl Vasher rescues, his statements to Denth, and your quote above seem to point that Commands can be used on living entities for some purposes... I've always wondered if there was more to Dalinar referring to "unite them" as a 'phantom command'. If other shards use commands or something similar it could also explain the mechanism of the Nightwatcher's boon/curse related to Dalinar's memory loss.

WoB: Intent is one of the components of the Magic, as you'll see frequently. These things are related.

 

Am I correct that Brandon confirmed that other shards have an equivalent or related ability to commands?  If so, do you think there is more than just the surface meaning of Dalinar labeling "unite them" as a "phantom command"?

Wait, what's that about a potter getting the visions?

jW

Mentioned in one of the death rattle notations, although there's not enough evidence to assume they were the same visions but it's the only other highstorm vision that I'm aware of besides Gavilar & Dalinar.

>Subject was a middle-aged potter who reported seeing strange dreams during highstorms during the previous two years

Do we know, either in-text or via WoB, if multiple people received high storm visions at the same time or were they limited to 1 individual or just bondsmith candidates?  Gavilar died in 1167, an unnamed potter received visions during the 2 years prior to his death on Kaktach 1173; I'm not sure if that date is prior to Dalinar receiving his visions.

I've seen several interpretations of the suckling baby death rattle, but what if it was literal?  What if Odium chooses an innocent baby for his champion?  Would the KR champion be able to kill it without breaking the first oath?

"I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it give us further breath to draw"

...

"So the night will reign, for the choice of Honor is life..."

 

I've made a google doc that combines the essences table with the KR/surgebinding table along with the images of the fabrial endsheet table and surgebinding table.

There was a reddit post earlier this week that pointed out that "a mind a soul" is an anagram of Adonalsium, which seems to fit quite nicely with parts of your theory.

Nice post.  I imagine that #4 probably also applies to Truthwatchers.  Renarin seemed to correctly see the Everstorm before it was released, but incorrectly saw everyone dying as an immediate result of the storm.

^{sorry for necroing an old discussion, but in case ya'll haven't seen it yet...}

http://brandonsanderson.com/beta/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/alcatraz_map-1.jpg

 Thanks!  Is France missing on purpose?  It's been awhile but I don't remember that from the books.

edit:  Apparently it's a running joke from the books that I've forgotten...I was due for a re-read anyways

https://twitter.com/BrandSanderson/status/715655106738270209

Not really an Easter egg but I enjoyed catching the similarity between a line from the first chapter of Final Empire and one in Secret History:

(Spoiler: Secret History)

I wonder...

can he Break Death Itself?

I think he could but maybe not directly.  All talents seem to be derivatives of the breaking talent, and Grandpa Smedry's ability allowed him to arrive late to things including his own death.  That being said, the first Alcatraz either couldn't prevent his death or chose not to, but had enough power to break time around his final resting place before dying.

 

The flame's last breath, made of smoke at its passing.

Could this refer to the shattering, the death of Adonalsium? 

Whenever you split an object into equal parts, the resulting pieces combined will be less than the original whole.  Think of cutting a large cookie into 16 parts, you may end up with 16 equal pieces but also a lot of crumbs from the result of the cutting.  Similarly, cutting some objects at high temperature may result in some matter conversion to smoke.  And finally, think of cutting a piece of wood; 16 parts and a lot of dust...which brings us to another Hoid connection:

Words of Radiance

I know we have WoB that Hoid doesn't have a shard, but I'm not sure if having splinters/crumbs/dust of Adonalsium as a result of the shattering has been ruled out.  If not, I think there's a case for "made of smoke at its passing" and having the nickname Dust could be connected.

Speculative Intents aside, what about Odium? We can sort of tell from the magic systems and occasionally WoB's what the intents actually are.

Odium...hatred. Why does he destroy Shards?

Some dictionaries define odium as more than just 'hatred' but hatred towards someone as a result of an action.

Merrian-Webster: the state or fact of being subjected to hatred and contempt as a result of a despicable act or blameworthy circumstance

 

Google define: general or widespread hatred or disgust directed toward someone as a result of their actions.

It seems partly counter-intuitive, but could Odium hate the shards for their part in the Shattering?  Partly counter-intuitive because Rayse obviously took part in the shattering himself, has gone on to shatter other shards, and it doesn't mesh with Hoid's description of his character.  However, it could offer a possible explanation to why he targeted Devotion and then Honor; if Odium hates the shards for the Shattering then he may view the shardholders of Devotion and Honor as being especially hypocritical.

edit:appears that tobar14 and I were thinking along the same lines at the same time

I like this theory a lot but I think skaa may be more correct.  How would the theory address Av's family member's experiences?

 

“Nah,” Av said. “Don’t fancy making the trip all the way to the Valley. Besides, my brother went. Came back with two numb hands. Never could feel anything with them again.”

“What was his boon?” Baxil asked as the mistress wrapped up a vase with a cloth, then quietly shattered it on the floor and crushed the pieces.

“Don’t know,” Av said. “He never said. Seemed embarrassed. Probably asked for something silly, like a good haircut.” Av smirked.

...<break>...

“I didn’t,” Av said. “On account of my father going, my mother going, and each of my brothers going. A few got what they wanted. Most all of them regretted the curse, save my father. He got a heap of good cloth; sold to keep us from starving during the lurnip famine a few decades ago.”

“What was his curse?” Baxil said.

“Saw the world upside down from then on.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Av said. “Twisted all about. Like people walk on the ceilings and the sky was underneath him. Said he got used to it pretty quickly, though, and didn’t really think it a curse by the time he died.”

Even thinking about that curse made Baxil feel sick.

On 3/6/2016 at 0:10 AM, hoidhunter said:

When someone at a signing asked Brandon for a new fact about Hoid, he wrote, "Hoid loves bacon!"

 

Does it confirm you theory...no...is it neat anyway...yes.

On 3/6/2016 at 2:27 AM, imriel452 said:

At the Sheffield signing for Shadows of Self, I asked if there were pigs on Yolen, and Brandon said that yes, there are pigs on Yolen.

My new head canon is that Hoid loves bacon so much that he facilitated bringing pigs from Yolen to other shard worlds post-shattering in order to always have access to one of his favorite foods.

Not sure if this impacts OP's theory either way:

Ym from one of the Stormlight interludes mentions his religion holds that his people are part of a "Long Trail" of which they are currently in the "Fourth Land".  Assuming this alludes to post-shattering human migration then there's room for one to two other planets in the migration steps depending how you count Yolen as the starting point:

0 - Yolen

First Land - Yolen or first destination post-shattering

Second - ??

Third - Tranquil Halls

Fourth - Roshar

The Author's Forward from Evil Librarians & the prologue epitaph from Final Empire both contain doubts/denial of being a hero, including these near identical lines:

"...I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am." - Alendi's logbook

"...I am not the hero that everyone says I am." -Alcatraz

Really?

 

I think it's time for a re-read. I don't remember that at all.

There was the scene prior to the climax of Firefight where Regalia admits to being in contact with Calamity and that Calamity agreed to give David a "thematically appropriate" power.  She then raised David way up in the air to the point where he could make out Calamity in the sky, then later David hears Calamity’s voice telling him to take the power. 

"[...] I have read through the complete works of Tormas, Nashan, Niali the Just, and—of course—Nohadon.” -Shallan, interviewing with Jasnah

 

In addition to the above quote, when Shallan is investigating the Oathgate in WoR she specifically reflects on the part of TWoK where Nohadon mentions he walked to Urithiru instead of the direct method.

I'm not sure if it was mentioned elsewhere that Shallan had previously read Way of Kings, but I think she told Jasnah that she had read (or was familier with) the works of Nohadon during their initial meeting/interview.