Yezrien

We know almost nothing about the Dawnshards, so obviously this theory isn't built on any concrete evidence. But here's my thought process... In Dalinar's vision, Honor himself used the word "Dawnshard," so it's clearly an official, accurate term. He also used the word "shards" for the shardblades of the Radiants. So there would seem to be a connection. Suppose Dawnshards are "shards" in the same sense as the blades. Spren. Powerful, ancient spren, sent by the Almighty to aid mankind. Which is exactly how Vorins describe the Dawnsingers. But that belief could be a product of its time. In the Age of Solitude (when SLA takes place), most people don't understand that shards are spren. So I'd theorize that the Dawnshards and the Dawnsingers are the same thing. (Or, potentially, that the Dawnsingers were humans, bonded with the Dawnshard-spren.) Now here's the weird part. So Honor says we are "without the Dawshards." But if we don't have the Dawnshards, what happened to them? They can't have been destroyed; they're splinters, pure investiture, which cannot be created or destroyed. They might have been killed, like the common blade-spren, but that wouldn't make them gone. They'd still be around, at least partially usable, and potentially even revivable. I guess they could be 'splintered' beyond repair, the same way Shards (of Adonalsium) are splintered. But as far as I know, that doesn't happen to spren. It could, in theory, but let's assume it hasn't. What if Honor lost the Dawnshards because Odium took them? Took them, tortured them, infected them with his own malignant investiture, and twisted them into monstrous agents of hatred and destruction. Ergo... the Unmade. This might explain the name "Unmade." Honor made them as beautiful, benevolent Dawnshards, and Odium un-made them, ruining Honor's work. It also makes sense when you consider the names of the known unmade. Nergaoul and Moelach are clearly named for the Mesopotamian gods Nergal and Moloch. These 'gods' are identified as demons in Judeo-Christian mythology, and demons, generally, are fallen angels. And what are the Dawnsingers, if not angels? Thoughts?

So when you die, a Ghost can catch your spirit, and use it to control someone else?

WARNING: I'm about to make an extremely lame (and slightly graphic) play on words. I think they'll have to castrate the story. By which I mean... they must remove the balls. Most of them, anyway. The whole subplot about "Valette Renoux" infiltrating noble society will have to be trimmed down considerably. This is going to be an action movie, with an epic allomancy training montage. ("Time is racing t'ward us / to avenge... the skaa! / Let's go kill that bastard / up in Kre... dik Shaw!) It would be absurd for our heroine to learn all this awesome magic from her amazingly charismatic mentor... only to spend half the movie hobnobbing with socialites. Vin's primary role in the grand plan is "Badass Mistborn #2." She's Kelsier's backup, his secret weapon against Inquisitors, and (secretly!) his successor as the leader of the revolution. Playing dress-up for espionage should not be a major focus. There can be one ball. The iconic one, where Vin meets Elend. It happens in the first half of Act Two, right after the training montage. Vin's learned lots about allomancy, and she's finally got some self esteem. She's not a weak little urchin anymore -- she's a powerful mistborn! Ready for a mission to help the resistance! And Kelsier's got just the thing: an essential mission, and one that will require two mistborn at the top of their game. The mission: to steal atium from Keep Venture. It's a heist. A spiritual trial-run for the climactic heist on Kredik Shaw. It'll require a partial core crew: Vin, Kelsier, Sazed, Breeze, and maybe Dox. The plan is to strike during a ball, when there are holes in the security. Vin and Breeze will attend as guests, impersonating nobles. For Vin, that's a total curve-ball... but she's up for the challenge. Once the ball is well underway, Kelsier will attack the keep from outside, drawing Straff's hazekillers to the outer battlements -- and away from the atium in the inner sanctum. Then Sazed and Breeze create a distraction in the main hall, while Vin sneaks off and goes for the atium. Probably has to fight a couple of coinshots. Her first real test. But, of course, before the signal is given, she'll be encouraged to mingle, listen for valuable intel... and have a meet cute with a certain son of the host... Afterwards, when Kelsier hears that she hit it off with Elend, he'll think that's great! She can play him. Pump him for information. He encourages her, under the Valette guise, to arrange little dates and meetings. A conversation here, a dinner there. She could meet his friends, and learn about their subversive ideas, realize that nobles aren't all bad... But more balls will not be necessary. After the ball-heist, she'll spend most of her time with Kelsier. She'll help him inspire the troops, and back him up on some smaller prep missions. This can almost slip into another montage: conversations with Elend, intercut with Kelsier-capers. She falls progressively more in love with Elend, while growing progressively more appalled by Kelsier's callous, brutal bigotry. An ironic juxtaposition, mainly of images, that builds tension within the Vin-Kelsier relationship, which is, of course, the emotional core of the movie. If it's handled right, adapting TFE should go pretty smoothly. It's a classic hero's journey origin story, like The Matrix. I'm much more concerned about WoA, which actually has a lot of the same problems as The Matrix Reloaded. There's a really interesting, super-important plot twist at the very end... but everything leading up to it is basically filler. (The Zane relationship and the Kandra mystery plot are fine, but all the political bickering and army-posturing become irrelevant as soon as Vin finds the Well.)

Strictly speaking, this isn't really how it works. When you burn metals in your stomach, you're drawing on the power of Preservation. That power passes through the metal, which encodes a specific effect. When it passes through zinc, for instance, it's encoded to riot people's emotions. But when you fill a zincmind with mental speed, you're altering the zinc. So if you burn that zincmind, the Preservation-investiture that passes through it will be encoded with the feruchemical effect, not the standard allomantic one. You'll be drawing mental speed directly from preservation. Compounders don't use metalminds to "fuel" allomancy. It's actually more like the opposite. The feruchemical attribute in the metalmind is supercharged with the raw power of allomancy.

Thanks! I know I can get a little overbearing with the criticism, but it's only because I'm passionate about this stuff, and I really believe I can help. The ghost-superhero idea has a lot of potential. It's such a classic, natural way for a person to get superpowers, yet it's never really produced a mainstream superhero. I know there are superhero ghosts in comics (Deadman? Deathman?), but they're not well-known or influential characters. No one's rushing out to make movies about them. So this concept is just sitting there, waiting for someone to do something cool with it. I'd like to know more about this story you've started. What made him a ghost? What are his powers? What's going on with that doctor? What was the bombing/shooting all about?

Just a few really basic things. In the prologue, you start in third-person omniscient viewpoint, then move to third-person limited, then back to omniscient for little bits. Then, in Chapter 1, it's in first person. The tense also changes from past to present for bits of Chapter 1. As a rule, these variations shouldn't happen. Pick a tense, pick a viewpoint, and stay consistent. And if you're open to more practical advice... The prologue introduces Ian, but doesn't tell us much about him. We know what he looks like, but there isn't a strong sense of personality. You tell us what he's not -- a nerd or a jock -- but not what he is. 'Loner' isn't very descriptive. Try to establish the main character using actions and emotions. Let him show his true colours by doing, saying, and feeling things. If you're looking for some examples, most of the Marvel movies do this really well. Make sure the hero has some clear, distinctive qualities, and make them obvious. "Just an average kid" is the most boring kid in the world. Heroes stand out, even before they're heroes. The Doctor scene is interesting, because it introduces both Ian's abilities and the villain. The big problem here is the pacing. You don't need that whole paragraph to show that he's not in his own bed. He wakes from a deep sleep. There's an EKG monitor. He realizes he's in a hospital room. Got it. He calls out because he's confused. A nurse sees that he's awake, then goes to get the doctor. Everything before the doctor's arrival is trivial. Don't draw it out. The other problem with this scene is Ian's behavior. He doesn't seem confused or curious. He really should be asking "what happened?" "How did I get here?" "Where are my parents?" It seems boring and uninspired, but it's the way people react. It's a reaction readers will understand. And we need to understand the main character's actions. Otherwise, we disengage. You say "I squirm against the uncomfortable restraints, trying to give the doctor a hint to let me go." But why doesn't he just ask the doctor to remove the restraints? And you've probably heard this one before, but... show, don't tell. I'm talking about the syringe. Don't say "a scary-looking syringe;" describe the syringe, and let the scariness speak for itself. Tell us it was cut glass instead of plastic, and the needle was about as thick as an HB pencil, and the liquid inside the glass was bubbling like 7-Up on steroids. Bubbling so loud you can hear it. Ian demands to know what's in there, but the Doctor just tells him to relax. Ian can't relax. He struggles against the restraints. The Doctor advances. A drop of liquid falls off the tip of the needle and sizzles on the floor. Ian begs and pleads, but the doctor just keeps coming. There's something wrong with his eyes! Okay. I'll stop now.

For movies, I think there'd be spren for different tones and genres. Actionspren. Suspense-spren (evolved from anticipationspren). Epicspren (evolved from gloryspren). Witspren, for Joss Whedon dialogue. Artsyspren, for Oscarbait. Marketingspren, for product placement. Plus modern-world spren for both real life and fiction. Cutespren. Awkwardspren. Hipsterspren. Nerdspren. Memespren. Tweetspren. Probably Pokemonspren.

Sounds like a good, solid (hypothetical) plan. Duly upvoted!

But this grand cosmere revelation isn't "heavily supported by textual evidence and foreshadowing." It's informed by... This is something only one person has figured out. And it comes from unique insight into Brandon's life and experiences. Isn't that comparable to exclusive inside information?

If I had such powerful knowledge, I'd make every effort to get in touch with Team Sanderson. Let Brandon decide what's to be done. We may enjoy theorizing and discussing, but Brandon's the one who built this thing. Built a career around it. A reputation. This affects him more profoundly than any of us.

I know this isn't a helpful comment, but Roshar might not be playing by the standard rules, astrophysically speaking. This is the planet of greatshells and skyeels, which can only exist because they're bonded with spren that bend the laws of physics. The planet itself, and even the star, might be doing something similar. If you consider all the different surges that Radiants can manipulate, almost any aspect of the system could be more magical than natural. Maybe the star is too small to exert sufficient gravity, so the planets are held in their orbits with giant Lashings. Maybe the sunlight is too weak to support a biosphere, so all Rosharan plant-life is dependent on Cultivation, or Highstorms.

Just a thought to consider: I believe WoB acknowledges that hemalurgic boons might be heritable: Which, of course, has implications on both sides of the ethical argument. If you're against soul-mutilation, then this makes it even worse: you're not just stapling someone else's soul onto your own, but onto your children's souls as well. (Assuming you have children after being spiked, of course.) On the other hand... what if an old allomancer is dying, childless? His valuable invested genes would be lost. The overall Scadrian genepool would be diminished, magically speaking. And today (circa BoM), that might not be so terrible. But we all know Scadrial will face strange new threats in the future. The day may come when allomancy is a more precious resource than spiritual propriety.

If you graph the learning curve for a new Surgebinder, would the slope of that graph be... The Knight's Gradient?

This is a really interesting idea. I've been wondering why the whole quantum-observation-measurement thing was introduced, and how that concept might be relevant to the story at large. All I came up with was Axies, since he's also making quasi-scientific study of spren, and writing down information about them. But the Diagram connection is a lot more interesting. If Taravangian's predictions are as accurate as they seem to be, then they might be comparable to direct measurements. And since many of his conclusions concern spren (either directly, about the Unmade, or indirectly, like his comments on the Radiants), they could have a similar binding effect. It makes me wonder if writing down the death rattles is significant, too. The really interesting question, though, is whether Taravangian knew about all this. If writing down his predictions really had some direct impact on reality, did he do that on purpose? Oh, and as we all know, the phrase "deific intelligence" can only be interpreted as "knowledge equivalent to that of an unsplintered Yolen-born Shardholder on a Tuesday." Using it to describe a person whose IQ is vastly beyond human capacity was obviously erroneous, and reprehensibly misleading. Shame on you!

I didn't mean to imply that it has any authority. Just that I didn't come up with it myself, and I'm pretty sure it's been around for a while. We don't know exactly how he changed snapping -- only that he made it easier for people to access the magic system. I figured making it harder to access a magic system would be a comparable change. "Restructure" may have been a misleading word choice. I only meant that he changed the rules. That part's just a theory. But I don't think it's a groundless one. In the vision, he discusses the nahel bond, suggesting that he could be a Radiant. And 'bondsmen' could suggest Radiant squires. And if he belonged to any order, wouldn't the Bondsmiths be the most appropriate? He was a prominent king, in the time of a desolation. He probably played a similar role to Dalinar's, uniting people against the Voidbringers. And his book clearly guided Dalinar to the Bondsmith ideals. According to WoB, Dalinar and Gavilar were both "on the Bondsmith path" for some time. The Way of Kings seems to be a common denominator.

Yeah, I see the flaw in my theory. If it was true, there really should be at least some mention of Oathbringer in the flashbacks. Which leads me to think the book will actually be found in the present, in Urithiru, like @nervousnerd said. So... new theory. The more I consider the name 'Oathbringer,' the more I think it should refer to Ishar. Look at this quote from (the in-universe) WoR: The standard interpretation is that Ishar, probably backed by Honor, performed a Sazed-esque restructuring of the Surgebinding magic system. He basically encrypted the nahel bond, so new Radiants couldn't access too much power until they proved themselves worthy by saying oaths. So he literally brought the oaths to the KR. Suppose, then, that this earned him a knickname: Ishar Oathbringer. And suppose Nohadon, a Bondsmith, got to know Ishar pretty well during his desolation. After all, Ishar would be his patron herald, and probably a mentor figure. So when Nohadon set out to write his memoirs (TWoK), he included a whole section about the lessons he learned from old Oathbringer. But, like many wise and talented writers, Nohadon wrote a book so long that it couldn't be bound. In order to publish TWoK, he had to cut out the Ishar section. He then resolved to expand that section into a second book, a sequel, called Oathbringer. Sadly, Nohadon passed away before he could send this book to his publisher. The only extant copy is a rough manuscript, which he left in his trunk, in his chamber in Urithiru. Where Dalinar will soon find it, and learn lots of interesting things. So why is the sword called Oathbringer? It was named after Ishar. Today, the epithet 'Ishar Oathbringer' is forgotten, probably expunged during or after the Hierocracy. But Sunmaker, well aware of it, named his blade after the herald he thought was the strongest. Or... Sunmaker was Ishar. Or another herald. We can't rule out that possibility. So Dalinar will be sifting through a pile of old manuscripts, and he'll see one called Oathbringer. And he'll think, "Hey! It's a book about my old shardblade!" But he'll find that the name is mainly a coincidence, and the book is actually way more interesting than mere blade-lore.

I think the cognitive realm looks different for every world, and the ones we haven't seen yet are all hard RAFO territory. But we can speculate... Basically, the cognitive realm is shaped by many factors, including human perception. It reflects the fundamental differences between worlds -- differences that aren't as apparent in the physical realm. It may have something to do with the fact that Scadrial was created by shards, while Roshar and its people seem to predate the Shattering. And "spren" is definitely not the correct term. "Spren" is the Rosharan term for sentient splinters; on Scadrial, there are no splinters at all. Those spheres are the cognitive aspects (the minds, essentially) of inanimate objects. If I had to guess, I'd say they're just spheres on Roshar because they exist almost entirely in the physical realm, with very little cognitive presence. On Scadrial, everything, including people, seem to be slightly more immersed in the cognitive, so it looks like a ghostly shadow of the normal world. Again, this is probably because Scadrial is artificial, and more invested than other worlds. (Consider Lift, who's known to exist more in the cognitive realm than most Rosharans. This lets her invest herself by metabolizing food in her stomach -- which is basically what allomancers do.) It may also stem from the way people view the world around them. The one thing that both worlds have in common (in the cognitive realm) is that bodies of water appear solid, and can be walked upon. The difference is the land -- solid for Scadrial, an ocean of spheres for Roshar. On Roshar, this could be because people see the land as being very different from the sea; the land is complex, made of many objects, divided into many significant places -- an ocean of concepts -- whereas the sea is just a monotonous, homogeneous mass. On Scadrial, where the land has very few political, cultural, and linguistic divisions, it might seem as homogeneous and anonymous as the sea.

Technically, I think the ultimate counter for an atium-burner is just to overwhelm them. If you use attacks they can't stop or dodge, seeing the future won't do them much good. So yeah, tapping speed from a steelmind is one way to do overwhelm a mistborn. But the mistborn, having the entire allomantic suite, could overwhelm the steel-atium twinborn in plenty of other ways. Just think of the duralumin possibilities! They could steelpush your metalminds right off you. Or jump 100 feet in the air, then pelt you with super-fast death coins. Or just entomb you in crippling depression.

Sunmaker. (Sunspear is the capital of Dorne, which I'm 96% sure is not in the cosmere.) And in WoK, we get this quote from Sunmaker: It's interesting because it's so completely opposite Dalinar's current beliefs. I'd guess Oathbringer is a book that Sunmaker wrote. Part autobiography, part Art of War. And in Dalinar's flashbacks, we'll learn that it was very important to him in his youth, when he was a ruthless bloodthirsty warlord. It was his guide to life, and Gavilar's inspiration. The grand arc of Dalinar's life is symbolized by his shift in reading material -- from Oathbringer to Way of Kings.

The color in a gemstone actually comes from metallic impurities, so the Allomancy connection might be more than just an analogy. Soulcasting probably has a lot more in common with Scadrian magic than Nalthian magic.

And that's how Marasi gets to join the Mistborn space opera.

If I recall, that's the only mention of that name, and it's not much to go on. Senna could easily be a friend or a family member, or even a god that he worshipped (before he became one). To me, it sounds like he's apologizing, like he's failed to keep a promise. Almost like Senna was a mentor whose guidance he's failed to live up to.

This thread has attracted a powerful Odiumspren -- probably one of the Punmade.

This feels very plausible. I imagine becoming shardholders was the tragic end to an epic romance -- with the 'kind and generous' Ati agreeing to undertake the burden of Ruin, a dangerous and destructive shard, only so long as his true love, Leras, takes Ruin's opposite, to keep him in check. They sacrifice their love to keep Ruin from rampaging across the cosmere.

@john203 Yep. Correction made! Thanks!