Yezrien

Words of Radiance and The Way of Kings might be ancient texts, but I don't think it was ever promised that all the title-books would be. We've certainly seen more contemporary works used in the chapter epigraphs (Navani's journal, the Diagram, the deathrattles). The name "Oathbringer" points to Ishar or Sunmaker, but that might be the subject of the book, not the author. Based on the epigraphs we've seen so far, I think the pro-Jasnah evidence is overwhelming. If it's not her, there are just too many coincidences that point to her. The Alendi-Rashek deception was a clever mislead, but this feels like it would just be a cheap trick. I don't think Brandon would do that. The big twist won't be that it's not Jasnah; it'll be that Jasnah has discovered something truly shocking. That's my prediction. The big mystery of the in-world Oathbringer isn't the author. It's the content. (Kind of like the real-world Oathbringer.)

It's possible that the 'solid ground' we see in the cognitive realm isn't actually a three-dimensional solid with depth. It might just be a flat plain, and everything in water is on top of that plain, hence the fish.

I think the reason Brandon chose "Odium" instead of "Hatred" is quite simple: it sounds a lot cooler. Latin-based English words sound more ominous and powerful than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. That's probably why all known Shards have Latin-based names. (Except Autonomy, which is Greek.)

I think the defining difference here comes from the Second Letter: Odium might have done some good when it was part of Adonalsium, but without that context, it runs amok. The Everstorm may have liberated the parshmen, but I don't think Odium cares about their freedom. We've already seen him make slaves of the Parshendi.

I was just reminded of the Unfortunate Events books while reading your story. The orphan who invents things, the stingy and pompous guardian, the evil boarding school. Good times.

Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea is a great book, and it's not too long. If your essay is supposed to focus on gender, it's a particularly interesting book because, even though LeGuin is a feminist, the book is disturbingly sexist. It's from early in her career, when she was (in her own words) "writing as a man," because she'd only read male authors. It would make a very interesting contrast with BoM, which, even though it's written by a man, is a much more feminist text.

Okay. But it's harder to offer helpful thoughts if I can't see clear storytelling goals. Without commenting on plot or metaphor, I'll offer this advice: slow it down. The whole thing feels very rushed. Hold on important points, and explain the details. And always remember 'show, don't tell.' Introduce Uncle James with a scene, not a sentence. Instead of just telling us that the boarding school is "cruel and harsh;" describe the evil teachers, and the terrible food, and the substandard living conditions. Paint us a picture. It also helps to stop and explain things when they're not obvious. The pump car, for example. What exactly is that? How did he get the materials to build it? Where did he learn how? Most importantly, why are the students of a cruel and harsh boarding school free to leave campus and visit an abandoned train station? And how did Uncle James find them there? (If I might offer some suggestions, you could establish near the beginning that Eddie loves trains, and the thing he misses most about having parents was building model trains with them. That way he's using his skills and passions to achieve his goals. And you could write a very tense and exciting scene about Eddie and Terrence sneaking out after curfew, and thinking about what the horrible headmaster will do if he catches them.) And please be careful when using the word "literally." Are you familiar with the works of Lemony Snicket?

Is the Light death? Is Eddie committing suicide (and killing his cat) because he'd rather be with his parents in heaven than suffer on Earth?

I guess that makes Pattern... exsprendable.

I really want this knob to be a cleverly-disguised switch or latch. Urithiru must have secret passages.

Shepherds forward? That's perfect! Much better than what I had there.

This sentence before "The Captain" seems to be the blurriest part, but I think that's roughly what it says. Possibly "resurfaced in some, and shifted against others." It's very rough guesswork, but that would fit the general theme of the passage.

My poor eyes! I feel like a Steel Inquisitor.

Quite possibly. It's all too blurry to be certain of anything.

"For those regrets will crush him as they did the Knights who came before." I think that's the last sentence. Edit: Maybe "secrets," not "regrets."

And I think it ends with "the Knights who came before," or something like that.

I think it's "while the eyes of men open." And I think the word before "surges" is 'hold.'

Excellent point. I just wanted to illustrate the basic concept, so I haphazardly outlined the largest possible land area that doesn't contain any oathgates, but that doesn't really correspond to the area that would be outside the Radiants' zone of control. A better way to illustrate it might be to expand the circles around the oathgates to a [not-too-arbitrarily-selected] "radius of reasonable response time." That would show us which areas the Radiants would really have trouble reaching in a hurry, and it would probably correspond more to your suggested OD. Of course, travel times would vary with the terrain, so they couldn't really be perfect circles.

Those three points weren't supposed to justify the whole theory. They were just to explain why there might be an oathgate in Kurth. At present, we have no reason to think there isn't an oathgate in Kurth. You've made some interesting points about the resources and economics of that region, but I have to assume that Jasnah knows the region better than any of us, and has good reasons to think there's an oathgate there.

I don't know. The Rall Ellorim oathgate wouldn't provide access to the Reshi Sea, which might be an important battleground. Kurth could be the HQ for the naval defense of much of Roshar's northern coast. Building it on the west side of the island might look like an odd choice, but I see three potential reasons: more efficient trade with Iri during peacetime. highstorm defense better defensive position against voidbringer naval strikes from the east (which my theory assumes is where they'd come from).

If you look very closely at the Silver Kingdoms map, the island that Kurth is on is brown, like Rishir; not reddish like Iri.

I assume she's not one of the three, if only because she's too obvious a choice. We assume that since one is the Stormfather, the other two will also be giant superspren, but I don't think that's been directly confirmed either.

True, but these are obviously a tiny minority of spren, and they have to go through a lot of trouble to do it. Any who can't form a nahel bond would have to use a perpendicularity. (As would any who wish to manifest physically, but don't want to be tied to a human.) Also true, but I doubt the Horneaters crossed all of Roshar in their search for a home. They may not be indigenous to the Peaks, but I suspect they were indigenous to the Deadzone, just like Herdazians.

Good point. My thinking is that the spren we've seen so far are still mainly in the cognitive realm. They haven't fully crossed over, which is why they're insubstantial, and can't interact with the world directly. And they're like that because they just phased across the boundary, without using a perpendicularity. But when spren (like voidspren) do use a perpendicularity, they'll bring all their investiture with them, becoming physical, substantial creatures. Like the midnight essence. (Notice that Lift can physically touch a spren because she's straddling the boundary, just like they are.) I think about exhaustionspren and Ivory, both of which are much bigger in Shadesmar than they are on the physical plane. If they came to the physical via shardpool, they'd be just as big here as they are in Shadesmar. Edit: I'd theorize that the memory loss some spren describe is a consequence of the casual phasing. If Syl had come over via perpendicularity, she would have been intelligent and knowledgeable from the start. This raises question of why spren don't just come over using the perpendicularity. And I'd guess it's one of two things: either they have to stay mainly in the cognitive in order to form nahel bonds, or there are voidbringers guarding the shardpool on the Shadesmar side.

A compendium of one man's informative but inscrutable brilliance? How about the Diagram?