Asha'man

That's what I meant, that it could be a lifelong thing or a final action. Since all that we know of Lightsong is his final act and previous occupation, all we can truly say is that his final sacrifice contributed to his return by endowing his niece with life. Maybe that was enough for him. The other two seem to paint a picture of lifelong endowing plus a final action in line with their lifestyle.

When I read this two things stick out to me as obvious. 1. It's not true that you have to do something brave in order to Return, but bravery is a possible route. To me this means that doing something brave may give you the opportunity to return, but it is not the only avenue for this outcome, nor does it guarantee your return. 2. You have to do something in order to return. Returning is not an opportunity given to every individual, and thus has certain requirements. So what requirements could brave actions fall under that also allow for other possibilities? The key, to me, is endowment itself. Endowment is giving something to others, but doesn't necessarily have to involve bravery. Lightsong endowed his niece with life by sacrificing his own. Calmseer endowed others with health and aid. This sticks out to me as we are given the picture of her whole life and personality, not just the deed she accomplished immediately before she died. Blushweaver endowed the city with honesty and safety through her merchant practices and testimony against the criminals. She was known as an honest merchant which leads me to believe she also used her life to endow many times and not only in the instance right before her death. With this picture I see the requirements for return as endowment throughout life and not only endowment via death, though that may also be a contributing factor. This allow that brave actions may result in an chance to return, but actions outside the realm of bravery and sacrifice may also. In the case of infants, perhaps their death endows their mothers with life, or somehow contributes to society as a whole. They seem to be the theory braking contraint in all things having to do with the returned. *edited for proper quote box

I thought (and please correct me if I am wrong here) that Preservation used the pattern of 16 to make it obvious to humans that there was a pattern. In other words, the exact number itself is not the important part, but the fact that there was a recurring number at all. That in and of itself does not rule out the possibility of each number correlating with a specific shard though; It does however give evidence to the fact that 16 may just be an important number to the Cosmere and not to solely Preservation.

I like Zas' theory too. I was under the impression, however, that Brandon said drabs could not become returned because giving up your breath messed with your spiritual component. That could just mean though that Returned need spiritual energy now instead of Physical in order to kickstart the change and relinquishing their breath means that they lack the initial energy needed. It could also mean that giving up your breath somehow reconfigures or alters your spiritual web in a way that makes returning impossible. The one problem I have with the returned needing breath to live is that if they consumed their Divine Breath (DB) wouldn't it be enough to fuel them longer than a week? Perhaps as soon as it is consumed they lose their link to the cognitive instead of it being a gradual process. I'll have to make some revisions to the theory with the amended principle of intent in mind. I still think it's important though that the DB might function like normal breaths, requiring a command. If it is true than we would know a little bit more about splinters and their interactions with the focus of their specific worlds. If not than at least we know how they don't behave. Also, I will have to amend the part where I said taking others breaths is an Un-Endowing action because it is true that the people are voluntarily giving up their breaths. Rather, it is the keeping of the Divine Breath that is Un-Endowing. Not that this would permanently use up Endowments energy, because of the Amended principle of Intent, but the week long cycle of life in Returned still suggests to me that the DB are supposed to be used rather than kept. This is pure speculation, but If, like it has been suggested of the Elantrians, there are a specific number of Returned and others can only be created when one of the existing members "dies" than people using and giving up DB quickly would create more returned to use the DB and great changes could be made very quickly. That could be completely wrong though.

ya, I remember reading the Brandon hadn't officially decided or that he wasn't sure in one of the signing threads but that It close to or is Devotion. It still holds true though that she would be devoted to those who follow her and would show them love. I still think it points to the pools reflect their shards intent

The Returned from Warbreaker are talked about a surprisingly small amount on the forums, and the workings of magic on Nalthis are amongst the subjects we know the least about. Even the characters from Warbreaker know very little about what it is they do. As a forward, this theory relies heavily on the assumption that The Principle of Intent by Chaos is correct. If you have not read it or do not want to take the time, I will give you the main point: What this means is that the magic systems of a world act accordingly with the intent of Shard they are associated with. Preservation preserves, Ruin Ruins, Endowment endows, etc... About midway through the theory, Chaos diverges into a side of speculation This Immediately struck me as having importance and being worthy of investigation. It also brought to mind a question that has been nagging at the back of my mind since I read Warbreaker: Why do the Returned need additional breaths to live? If magics act according to the intent of their shards, and the returned are given their Divine Breath by Endowment, it does not make sense for them to require additional breaths to live. It does make sense, however, if the returned were never supposed to live forever in the first place. Let me explain. Taking the Breaths of others is an extremely Un-Endowing action, it is essentially the opposite of the intent of Endowment. If it is true that Ruin and Preservation could fuel all of the Metallic Arts, even those not in accordance with their intent, but doing so would require them to expel their power without it returning, then it is also possible that the returned could go against Endowment's Intent but would require the expelling of energy, or a source of NEW energy to do so. This is where the required breaths come into the picture. Brandon has said (citation needed) that the focus of BioChroma is commands, not the breath. Breaths require a command in order to awaken an object. Why then, would a Divine Breath, essentially one breath with the power of many, be exempt from this principle? It would not be. My theory, which I have dubbed The Endowment Axiom, is that Divine Breaths are (or were) given commands by Endowment to awaken the Returned in order for them to endow their power on one improvement for the world. Why is this important? We already knew the gist of this before. This is important because if the Returned continue to live without using their Divine Breath to aid others, they are acting against the command, against the intent, of Endowment's Shard. Acting against Endowment means that, at the end of their determined lifespan (I believe a week but need citation) their power (the Divine Breath) would dissipate and they would die. They are able to survive longer than intended by being infused with more of Endowments energy. This energy fuels the life of the returned even when they should have died. The largest possible criticism with this theory (besides it's reliance on other theories) is that if the Returned living goes against Endowments intent, and magic against the intent of a shard requires energy to be permanently spent, Endowment's energy should be diminishing or eventually run out entirely. I do not believe this to be the case, however. The returned are not running out of energy, but receiving new transfusions of energy every cycle. This new transfusion allows them to continue living without permanently expending their energy. Another criticism of this theory could be that the Returned would have to follow the command given by Endowment. This has, IMO, two possible solutions. The first is that the Divine Breaths only have the command to awaken the returned, and the intent of the Shard is supposed to press them into giving it up. The other is that all humans have part of Endowment in them already in the form of their personal breath. This spark of Endowment could give humans free will and the ability to resist giving up their Divine Breath. Implications this would have if true: Endowment designed the Returned to be brought back and use their breaths relatively quickly, Divine Breaths have/require commands in order to function. This would not mean that normal people are supposed to give up their breaths and become drabs, because the Divine Breaths were given the explicit command or intent of being given up, whereas a persons personal breath was not. I think we will eventually be able to look at every shard and see their intent's influence on their respective magic systems. I put this in general theories because, while it mainly deals with Warbreaker, it has some spoilery details of Mistborn and references other general theories about the Cosmere. Edit* Edited the topic description

There is a quote from the 11/10/11 signing Brandon did in Huntington i believe, that says: Now examining the first quote, it strikes me that all the objects seen are of the wrong density, "smokey" and "Amorphous" instead of solid and physical. If the expanse is actually a world we know or have seen, it could indeed be that Dalinar is visiting the expanse, placing him in the cognitive realm of Shadesmar instead of the as of yet unseen spiritual realm. This is also supported by the fact that Kelsier (MB) is thought to be lingering in the cognitive realm instead of passing on, presumably to the spiritual. If the thought journal of honor was to exist anywhere, it would make most sense to exist in the realm of thought that objects can "linger" in if they have a strong connection to the physical. What connection could be stronger than Honor's worry over the fate of an entire planet? Also, other Knights Radiant, such as Shalan and Jahsnah, have already been seen to have the ability to enter the cognitive realm. I would find it much more believable that Dalinar, in some capacity, shares this ability, though he may enter in a different nexus or expanse. I have always believed the WoK reference to the Tranquillen halls to be a reference to the spiritual realm and that the major conflict of the Stormlight Archive will be over this realm. This last part is only my opinion however.

well we know he mentions the religion of Trell to Vin on multiple occasions. I forget the thread but I believe it was an AoL thread focused on Trell that had all of the quotes from the three books. In WoK the people worship "The Almighty", who is actually Honor. I remember a quote from Brandon stating that what the people worship and what is actually going on may be different things. Religions may be wrong, but there are important lessons and clues found in them. I'd keep my eyes open for any other similarities we can find.

I believe the "lakes" conform to a shards intent. The Well of Ascension gives Rashek, and than Vin, the power to preserve the world, altering its state in an attempt (thats the important part) to preserve it from destruction or Ruin, but eventually causes Rashek to only preserve the world, instead of allow it to progress, locking it into a thousand year state of limbo esque existance. The pool in Elantris is more or less confirmed to be Aona's pool, and her shard is a synonym of love. The pool,while not granting immense power (not that we've seen anyway) grants Relief (possibly Aona's shard name?) from pain and the Reod and also allows Raodon to return without being absorbed. With this in mind, we can guess that Ruin's pool would have a similar effect in line with its intent, either ruining the one who stepped in it, or give them the power to ruin other things.

One thing we have to remember is the way we have seen humans created on Shardworlds before. On Scadrial (MB) humans are the result of both Ruin and Preservation working together, meaning humans had both a piece of Ruin and a piece of Preservation within them. This sets our precedent. On Sel (Elantris) it would makes sense that Aona (Her shard is a synonym of love) and Skai (Dominion) worked together to a similar end. On Nalthis (WB) we do not know because only the Shard of Endowment is shown to be present. Perhaps there was a second shard here before, or Endowment has the ability to create human life on its own. Extrapolating, we must assume the humans on Roshar (WoK) were created by the shards we find there. If Odium and Honor created humanity on Roshar (Most likely with Cultivation as well, though we require more information about the past to be sure) than it would make sense that humanity would have a piece of both Odium and Honor within them. This would allow Odium to influence humanity in at least some small way, that way being the Thrill. This would also lend evidence to beings such as the Parshendi being creatures of only Honor. We see that, in battle, the Parshendi sing together, as if they are all hearing or being influenced by one song. They also behave in ways that are more honorable and in keeping with the shard of honor than the Alethi in general. While not confirmed, it does make for interesting musing. The importance of this, however, is not that humanity has a piece of Odium within them, but that humanity has a piece of honor in them as well. If humans (or creatures in general) are susceptible to the power of a shard that contributed to its creation than humans have the possibility to be redeemed by honor or even overcome their influence at the hands of Odium altogether. Much in the way that Mistborn snap by overcoming Ruins influence within them, perhaps humans on Roshar can fight to overcome Odium. This theory assumes that A) humanity on a particular shardworld is created by the shards drawn to that specific world, B. that humanity contains a piece of each shard used in its creation, and C) that the influence of a shard can be overcome. We will ned more evidence to confirm this, but i see it as the strongest case for what the Thrill is, why it exists, and how it will play into the future of humanity on Roshar.

I am wondering why inquisitor Santa is serving the Lord Ruler. That does not seem to make much sense, knowing what we know. Loved the post though; maybe he is trying to trick us? I am on to you Inquisitor Santa.