The Invested Beard

1. Everything Hoid was gold this book. 2. Come on no one has mentioned Szeth flying at top speed while wielding Nightblood and CUTTING A THUNDERCLAST IN HALF???? Yeah that's a moment right there. 3. Dalinar basically ascending. I had a feeling it would happen, but the circumstances and the power of the scene itself blew me away. Beautifully done.

That was a very odd interlude and seemed completely unconnected. You make me wonder. Of course it could have just been Brandon blowing off some steam and wanting a laugh.

Possibly a level below the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher because of whatever happened to it during the Recreance, diminishing it's status/abilities? Also possibly because it, unlike SF and NW isn't connected to a shard directly?

That is unknown. Here's the Coppermind description: "At exactly seven forty-six in the morning every day, it rises from the waters of the bay, sending out an illusory wake. At over one hundred feet tall, it is one of the largest spren Axies the Collector studied. It is a translucent blue color, ranging from deep blue in the center to a lighter blue on the surface. It forms four long arms and a face looking toward the Origin that shifts through male and female human faces. Some of the people of Kasitor worship it, placing golden pedestals out to honor it. It commonly leaves a feeling of being "drained" in those who witness it." From WoB we know that it is on the same level of spren as the Stormfather and the Nightwatcher. Also notice the abundance of water mentions in it's description. My money's on Cusi.

I've said it elsewhere but I think Cusicesh is the other Sibling.

*High fives Jasnah* Good game.

I'm thinking since he's the Herald of Soldiers he was some sort of common front line grunt who loved the princess (Ash) and somehow convinced Honor to include him so he could try to protect her. Just spit-balling here.

I don't think the knife was a hemalurgic spike. From what we know, using a spike requires a superhuman ability/knowledge of the exact spot to strike (within a fraction of a millimeter or less) to pull the exact aspect you want. I don't see Moash having that ability at the point he pulls this off.

I would pay good money to see this happen. One second Adolin and Shallan are getting all smoochy in the PR, the next second he gets pulled into the CR and is being swung into an angerspren.

10/10 would neglect all semblance of normal life and responsibility again.

I feel like this is actually pointing to Cusicesh as The Sibling perhaps? There's so much important stuff that I feel is just outside our grasp, but it does seem to fit what we know.

Color me plussed.

Ooooh yeah all we've seen with bonds is a spren reaching out to a human to grow the bond. With Adolin it's been the opposite. He's been reaching out to his blade instead. Reverse Nahel Bond GO!

This is correct.

Aesudan had swallowed the gemstone when they found her in the palace. It was later revealed that she was unable to control Yelig-Nar and was consumed.

You may be right. I'll have to go back and check.

Yeah I have a feeling there are a large contingent of Truthwatcher spren who have been corrupted since the Recreance. Not all though because if you remember, Jasnah figures out Glys is not right by a report from another current Truthwatcher spren description that doesn't match.

There was definitely some specific talk about Bondsmiths and their powers over Connection at the end of the book. I believe Dalinar is going to break the Connection the dead spren had to the dead KR and create a new Connection between Adolin and Maya so that Adolin can then say the oaths and revive Maya.

Yeah so the Dawnshards logically have to be connected to surge/voidbinging. Some sort of highest progression of the art.

Didn't the Nale specifically warn Szeth that he needed to be careful learning how to use his Division surge as it was exceptionally dangerous beyond other surges?

They are only to be outdone by TonyOrlandoShards

As this is one of my biggest questions going forward I am very interested in what people think here. I like the original theory a lot and could see it going in a Stone based spren or Urithiru itself definitely. I really do think whatever happened to The Sibling had to do with the recreance as well what with the Stormfather saying the Radiants had hurt them enough already.

I hope the whole thing gets worked out at some point. I was really hoping for a Dustbringer that was, while still somewhat edgy, ultimately on the side of the new radiants. Fingers crossed for the next book(s).

Wow. What can I say. Just...wow. I can honestly say this is my new favorite Sanderson novel. The worldbuilding, the characters, the threads all got tied in...just amazing. I love all the answers that got dropped at a steady rate but I am still cautiously thinking there's more to what we got. For instance; the Recreance. There was mention throughout the book about "The Sibling" which appears to possibly be the third Bondsmith spren. At one point the Stormfather said something about the Sibling that reeeeeeeaally made it sound like the Recreance or past events were very closely tied to this spren or entity. Can't wait to find out more there. Also Aimians. For all the awesome info we got dropped we still know very little about what's going on with them, why they're so important, what secret they're guarding that could destroy everything, what's going on in the caves under their islands...so much still there. I smell further revelations that are going to twist what we know and break our brains. Random stuff: Nightblood and Lift BFFs FOREVER Beard? I think Brandon's noticed me. All the amazing face melting stuff we got and people are still kvetching about Shadolin/Shalladin? It's dead folks, give it a rest. Hoid's stuff in this book was amazing and I can't wait to see what he gets up to with Elhokar's spren. Only thing that disappointed me was Dustbringer stuff. Why did we have to get the bad apple? Ah well there's always hope for the future.