drsabek

My thoughts were that it was Bastille's way of distancing herself from her princess childhood and fully embracing being a Knight. By dying her hair, she makes herself look more like her mother, a devout Knight of Crystalia, and attempt to earn her mother's favor.

I mentioned the Windrunners, as they were the only ones with squires that came to mind, but yeah. Following my idea, all would be able to create squires at this ideal. My thinking for Shallan is that she had reached the third ideal already, but, as her class deals so closely with truths/lies, had made herself forget that, while getting around the downside of the second ideal. She made herself forget so much else about that time, so it would make sense (at least to me). She would then have to re attain the ideal again, but her class is special in that sense.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm not sure if anything has been confirmed about it, but I've had some thoughts about what the ideals actually do. Naturally, they are designed to train the Knight to think and act like the Herald their class is based on, but obviously there is more to it. Based on the path that Kaladin takes, I propose the following effects for each ideal: 1st Ideal: Starts the nascent Radiant on their path, gives them access to breathing in Stormlight, and some ability to surgebind, although at a more instinctual level 2nd ideal: Directs the Radiant on the class they will take, gives them a boost to their surgebinding (in that they can do it more easily), and cements the bond to the point where diverting from their path can have drastic (but not necessarily permanent) repercussions for their spren. 3rd ideal: Solidifies the bond to the point where the spren can take physical presence (ie, allows them to become a Shardblade). In the case of a Windrunner, allows them to extend the bond to squires, evidenced by Lopin finally being able to breathe in Stormlight and begin healing his arm. 4th ideal: Allows the formation of Shardplate. I've read that it's been theorized that Shardplate comes about due to a lesser bond, and is unique to each Knight. It makes sense that Shardplate for a Radiant would be alive, and that modern Shardplate is dead, in the same way that Shardblades are. As evidence, I submit the following 2 points from Dalinar's visions: When he sees Shardplate worn by a Radiant, it has a glow to it. When the Knights break the Oath, on the day of Recreance, the Shardplates lose their glow. When he sees the Radiant save the farm, she is able to dismiss and replace her helmet with a thought, in the same way a Shardblade is summoned/dismissed. 5th ideal: This one I haven't been able to figure out, because we have yet to see anything that approaches it. Best guess I can give is that it finalizes their path, and maybe they get a diploma, or something

I first thought this up after re-reading Way of Kings again. There’s a scene where Wit is talking to Kaladin, and says, in reference to names, “I’ve many...I began life as a thought, a concept, words on a page. That was another thing I stole. Myself. Another time, I was named for a rock.” Nothing very telling about this, but it got me thinking, what if he was being literal about this. What if he wasn’t born human. This could explain both his longevity, but also his immunity to Shardblades. It is my theory that Shardblades (dead ones) destroy Investiture, which is the power to manipulate souls in such a way that they influence the Physical Realm. A person’s Investiture is also their “soul”, and damaging/removing it has the effect of draining the person of life. This is evident on Nalthis where, giving up your Breath, the form that Investiture takes on that planet, leaves a person as a Drab, colorless, susceptible to disease, and lethargic. It is interesting to note that people who are injured by a Shardblade, but not killed, have the injured limb become pale, useless, and very much Drab-like. Based on this, I propose that Hoid does not have Investiture, therefore, making him immune to Shardblades. If that’s the case, how does he have “access to all the magic systems,” as established by Words of Brandon? We’ve seen evidence of Lightweaving, Perfect Pitch, Allomancy, and so forth. I propose that he is not using Investiture to gain these effects. There may be another magic system, one that can mimic the abilities of Investiture, but is different enough to render one immune to it’s power, unless that power is used in a pure form. This also answers such questions of how the 16 were able to destroy Adonalsium and why Odium was able to destroy other Sharholders without, himself, being destroyed. As seen with Ruin and Preservation, when one Shardholder tries to destroy another, they, themselves, are destroyed in the process. If, however, one had access to another power, one that didn’t feel the backlash that would come from attacking another Shard, it makes more sense. Anyway, these are just some of my musings, as I contemplate the cosmere. Let me know if I'm totally wrong with this.

Trelagists believed that night was sacred and daylight was profane. During the night, Trelagists were able to see the Thousand Eyes of Trell (the stars) watching over them, but during the day, Nalt - jealous of the worship given to his brother - would shine his single eye (the sun) on the land, blocking Trelagists from seeing Trell's eyes. Pure Lakers worship a god they call Nu Ralik, but they never say his name out loud. They try to trick Nu Ralik's younger, spiteful brother, Vun Makak, into believing they worship him instead to avoid his jealousy. Nu Ralik can only be worshipped openly in a holy grotto. Sanderson has also mentioned that there is a Shard who's all about hiding...