Treamayne
-
Posts
5395 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
9
Content Type
Profiles
News
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Posts posted by Treamayne
-
-
4 hours ago, Myst said:
(? That’s the right term for a thousand years right?)
Millennium/Millennia = Thousand Years/Plural
Eon (see below) is a geologic timescale:
Spoiler
Hope that helps
0 -
Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips.
1 hour ago, Xabben said:But the text explicitly states that Nightblood appears in the "Odium's realm" before Taravangian even grabs it...
PD: By the way, I wanted to include the exact citation here for reference, but I'm quite new to the forum and I don't know how to do it...
RoW Ch 113:
SpoilerRumbling thunder. A brilliant, terrible golden light. Odium appeared. When he did, his face was distorted, his eyes shining with angry power. Thunder broke the landscape, and Szeth began to fade.
You should not tempt me today, Taravangian! Odium thundered. I have lost my champion AGAIN, and now I am bound by an agreement I do not want. How do they know how to move against me? HAVE YOU BETRAYED ME, TARAVANGIAN? Have you been speaking to Sja-anat? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
The awe of that force—that transcendent power—left Taravangian quivering, spren of a dozen varieties swirling around him, fighting for his attention. So many emotions. He barely noticed Szeth pulling the knife free, for he was so overwhelmed—awed, frightened, excited all at once.
Fear won.
Taravangian cried out, his shoulder afire with pain, his body broken. His plans had been silly. How had he thought to outthink a god when stupid? He couldn’t do that when smart. No wonder he’d failed.
Did you fail?
The sword is here.
Odium is here.
Cold steel bit Taravangian’s skin as Szeth stabbed him right in the chest. At the same moment, Taravangian felt something pushing through his fear, his pain. An emotion he’d never thought to feel himself. Bravery.
Bravery surged through him, so powerfully he could not help but move. It was the dying courage of a man on the front lines charging an enemy army. The glory of a woman fighting for her child. The feeling of an old man on his last day of life stepping into darkness.
Bravery.
The Physical Realm faded as Odium pulled Taravangian into the place between worlds. Taravangian’s body was not as weak here. This form was a manifestation of his mind and soul. And those were strong.
The sword at Szeth’s waist—that strange, terrible sword—manifested here, in this realm where Odium brought Taravangian. The god looked down and saw the curling black darkness, and seemed surprised.
Taravangian seized the sword and pulled it free of its scabbard, hearing it scream for pleasure. He turned and thrust it upward—black smoke curling around his hands.
“Destroy!” the sword bellowed. “DESTROY!”
Taravangian rammed it up into Odium’s chest.
The entire process of feeling brave, beginning to transition into the Spiritual Realm Demense and Drawing Nightblood is all simultaneous - and since it is formed using aspects of all three realms, Taravangian's thinking "Odium is here, Nightblood is here" is enough to Connect all three Cognitively. Nightblood is invested enough that he would appear in all three realms regardless, but Taravangian Connected to both Odium and Nightblood as the vision formed, and drew the sword.
Hope that helps.
1 -
8 minutes ago, boolamoo said:
I think the Words of Radiance Epigraphs are at least enough to say that Skybreakers have a resonance to sense guilt/innocence if not exactly an explicit confirmation.
WoB:
SpoilerSlowswift
Similar to how Lightweavers have, kind of really good memories. Do the Skybreakers have any special abilities for telling guilty and innocent people apart?
Brandon Sanderson
No. Good question.
Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017)1 -
3 hours ago, Returned said:
I acknowledge that English doesn't have grammar to do that, and so it can't be expressed as it can in Japanese (
which was clearly the inspiration[EDIT: Frustration points out that the specific inspiration is Korean, though similar structures exist in Japanese]; I wonder how a Japanese [or Korean] translation expresses it in the book), but the "this novel is an in-world translation of an in-world language" device is generally one that leaves me cold.I made a thread to explain this back during the spoiler period - extracted:
On 7/12/2023 at 1:40 PM, Treamayne said:I thought that Hoid's description and definition of the Higher and Lower forms was . . . less than steller. The concept made sense to me, mostly because I studied Korean for years, as well as lived in Korea and Japan. So, assuming the concept Brandon was trying to express is actually based on Korean (which he also studied), I thought I would make a post giving a bit of desciption on the possible inspiration for that aspect of Komashi culture.
-
Relationships are important. So important, in fact, that the language naturally skews to reflecting the Connection between people. For example:
-
In English a simple noun like "uncle" has multiple translations in Korean - because the word "uncle" parses to a definition of the relationship:
- Father's Brother (unmarried) - Samcheon (lit. third-relation) 삼촌
- Mother's Brother (unmarried) - Waesamcheon (wae = maternal side) 외삼촌
- Father's Older Brother (married) - Big Father - Kunabeoji (or "more [age] than father") 큰아버지
- Father's Younger Brother (married) - Little Father - Jagunabeoji (or "less [age] than father") 작은아버지
-
In English a simple noun like "uncle" has multiple translations in Korean - because the word "uncle" parses to a definition of the relationship:
-
It's not only distinct nouns based on a relationship, the entire root form of a word can change based on relationship. Using the wrong form can be (intentionally or accidentally) insulting - especially using a child/animal form when it is obviously not "correct." For example:
-
To eat (note: infinitive [dictionary] forms of a verb are unconjugated ending in 'da,' 'ida,' or 'hada'):
- Meokda 먹다 - Informal (yourself, somebody of similar rank or age, anybody younger)
- Dushida 들다/드시다 - Polite/Honorific (restaurant server to customer, anybody older than you or above you in heirarchy)
- Japsushida 잡수시다 - Extremely polite (honored boss, grandparent, etc.)
- (Meogi[rul]) Juda 먹이를 주세요 - Animal (Feed an animal) - in this case the verb is Juda and "meogi" is what they are being fed - however just saying an animal ate something uses meokda and the conjugation carries the rest of the deprication.
-
To eat (note: infinitive [dictionary] forms of a verb are unconjugated ending in 'da,' 'ida,' or 'hada'):
-
Additionally, the conjugation of the word being used can change based on the way the topic is discussed
- Discounting the oddity that most verb roots can be conjugated into nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. - there are generally at least six different basic conjugations per verb depending on the object being discussed:
-
Brief Summary - Me talking to a boss is different than me talking to a friend, which is different than me talking with a friend about our boss, etc.
- Talking to/about somebody of greater age/rank gets an honorific conjugation (~십니다 - Formal Honorific)
- Talking to/about somebody of greater age/rank with whom you know or have a good relationship (~세요 - Informal Honorific)
- Talking to somebody of similar age/rank gets a normal conjugation (~ㅂ니다 - Formal)
-
Talking to somebody of similar age/rank with whom you know or have a good relationship (~요 - Informal)
- Also most common internet conjugation
- Talking to child, animal or somebody significantly below you in rank or age (~아/야 - Informal, commanding)
- Generic or unknown audience (or talking down in a possibly insulting way) - use the dictionary infinitive form.
-
Suffixes
- 씨 (sshi) non-gendered form of address to somebody of similar rank or age
- 님 (nim) non-gendered form of address to somebody of higher rank or age (or showing honor)
- 이 (i) non-gendered pronoun for something/someone near the speaker - English: This
- 그 (gu) non-gendered pronoun for something/someone near the listener- English: That
- 저 (jeo) non-gendered pronoun for something/someone away from both the speaker and listener- English: That over there
Summary - Based on context, the "highly"/"lowly" could be a verb change or conjugation change. While we don't know if Komashi uses either or both; the context of those tags will hopefully make more sense and be more impactful knowing from where it may have derived.
Hope that helps
0 -
Relationships are important. So important, in fact, that the language naturally skews to reflecting the Connection between people. For example:
-
Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips.
6 hours ago, AgentGato said:Hello everyone I am new to this forum board so if I break any customs I apologize but I just wanted to get a discussion started around these terms.
I was rereading Isles of the ember dark and it appears they refer to anti-investiture, and negative-investiture as the same thing, even though these are separate terms implying completely separate concepts, at least when talking about matter
For those who don't know the difference I don't blame you, but at least from what I can tell, and please keep in mind that I am not a physicist. Anti-investiture would be the correct term just like how we have antimatter in real life while negative matter is a theoretical concept. The short of it is negative matter would be exactly that, it has negative mass and negative gravity which has complicated effects and is to much to get into, while antimatter is greatly understood and is basically just normal matter except for it annihilates normal matter and messes with neutrinos a bit.
I understand Brandon probably doesn't know these intricacies but him trying to define negative investiture as self aware naturally accuring anti investiture (and I hope his arcanists can help with this) just makes terminology even terminology used on IotE when they use the term negative for the anti-investiture fired from the intensifier.
SpoilerReaderWarrior
Brandon: What is the difference between ANTI-Investiture and NEGATIVE Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
Let's let the Arcanists-
What we're calling Negative Investiture is almost all exclusively a warping of the death of Ambition. Anti-Investiture is a very, very similar thing, but it is man-made. And they have similar functions. But the Negative Investiture is mostly self-aware in a very weird way. In a non-
The Anti-Investiture built by Navani is functionally the same, but not self-aware, not necessarily from Ambition. And that's the distinction in my mind right now. But we'll let the Arcanists drill down on me- there's Argent flipping out. He might have a different definition for it and he maybe can-
The team of Arcanists might convince me that I should use a different definition .
YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)I hope to be able answer any questions you all may have.
One thing to keep in mind is that the terminology in-world is not necessarily standardized yet, and unreliable narrator applies. Starling can just be wrong (or using the wrong term(s)). Also, we do not yet have enough information on Negative Investiture to truly understand the difference (and that term may change/evolve, just as E1Atium was called Atium but was not really Atium - they just did not know that during the Final Empire).
- Are the Eidoliths really just Anti-Ambition? Unconfirmed (more than one shard was involved, in the event)
- Are there realmatics at play beyond what Navani discovered and used? Unknown
-
Is the developing Sapience a firm trait or a recent one? Unknown
- Somebody who gets to attend events should ask if a Type 1-6 was self-aware when created or only after time
- etc.
In the end, as far as IED is concerned, what they discuss is based on what they know (or think they know) at the time when the story takes place. TWhat the true realmatic difference(s) are remain to be seen/clarified.
Hope that helps
0 -
For me, least favorite of the Cosmere Secret Projects (but still better than Frugal Wizard).
Not bad, per se (on the scope of books in general), but the ending ruined it for me. Granted, I have not yet done a re-read.
This post explains better than I could, why the ending did not work for me. Excerpt:
On 7/26/2023 at 8:03 AM, Elegy said:[T]he fact that the book tries to make the reader feel the sad ending without commiting to it. Which feels like a major fake-out.
<snip>
This one was the worst of all, because it made me feel the deeply emotionally resonant ending that the book could have had. That ending would have been such a stand-out in his work, people would talk about it all the time. But he dropped it for the "everyone's happy, also they take over the noodle shop", which feels like fan fiction, or a meme ending, to the point that I think it's possbible that Hoid just made it up on the fly because everyone in the audience was crying and the tragic ending might be what actually happened, because it felt like such an odd decision.
<snip>
(EDIT: To clarify, the ending would have been better if he hadn't made it seem like he wanted to commit to the sad ending in the first place. Having a happy ending for this story is fine. It's the fact that he wanted the reader to believe that the sad ending had already happened just to undo it that makes me mad. If he hadn't done that, I would have happily gone along with the happy ending, even though it wouldn't have been nearly as emotionally resonant to me as the one he almost did. At the very least, it wouldn't have felt dishonest.)
2 -
On 6/14/2026 at 8:43 PM, Ironwill2112 said:
Did you like The Sunlit Man?
It wasn't bad, some good lore and reveals.
I just wish I had read it after WaT. . . (spoilers for both)
SpoilerKnowing this was Sigzil's future kinda ruined a big chunk of WaT for me.
0 -
On 6/12/2026 at 2:36 PM, Usseewa said:
what's an... Enefel?
Please see WoB:
SpoilerBrandon Sanderson
Meaning
Aon Ene represents wit, intelligence, and cleverness. In recent years, the Aon has also begun to be associated with prosperity and wealth as well. It was once a popular Aon for names, though in recent years it has fallen out of favor in this regard, and names using it are now considered a little old-fashioned.
The Aon has become a favored symbol of merchants in recent years, as cultural bias looked unfavorably on a shop using the symbol for gold or jewels. (Such symbols on a shop were seen as lavish or presumptuous by some.) Instead, many bankers instead use this Aon on their door to indicate their profession. The appropriation of the symbol is a reference to a quote from the appropriately named Enelan, a scholar who lived about a hundred years before the fall of Elantris: “No wealth of gold and silver can purchase a keen mind, but the man of wit will often find treasures beyond what mere lucre can provide.”
More traditionally, the symbol was used–and still is used–as a representation of books and scholarly research. Indeed, many scholars, scribes, and illuminators have grown upset by the banking industry’s tendency to use this Aon, as they see it as an appropriation of what they believe to be their own symbol. Part of the tension between the groups has made the Aon fall out of favor for names, though others–generally those who are more traditional–still favor it.
The shape of the Aon is said to represent two sides of an argument, interacting together in different ways. If one looks closely, one can see that there are, indeed, that the two halves are simply the same set of symbols reversed.
History And Use
Some scholars have expressed amusement that this symbol should come to mean intelligence in a broad sense, as the classical meaning of Aon Ene was far more narrow. Ene was the Aon which represented cleverness, the ability to out-wit and out-think opponents. It was often applied in stories and tales to those who had a slyness about them, and often was the symbol which represented the trickster figure. Indeed, those who plaid tricks on others were said to be Enefels–literally, Wit Killers, or those who kill with wit.
During the Middle Era, when Elantris’s influence expanded and the kingdom of Arelon began to take shape, Aon Ene was attributed to the guild of storytellers who brought tales of the marvels in Elantris. It was often rumored that these people, who took upon themselves the Enefel name, were agents of the Elantrians. Their purpose was to spread good will about the city and its inhabitants, calming the rural populace, who regarded Elantris and its magics with suspicion.
Over the centuries, this guild of storytellers transformed into a more scholarly group who gathered stories and histories from the people. By the dawn of the Late Era–about two centuries before the fall of Elantris–the group had burgeoned beyond its origins into several distinct sects of scholars and philosophers. By the time of the fall of Elantris, the constant association of this group with Aon Ene expanded its meaning into the more familiar use, representing scholarly intelligence and study.
Some still remember the original meaning, however. Though most of those are themselves scholars, and find the entire transformation to be something of a humorous joke played by history itself.
Naming and Usage in ELANTRIS
As use of the name is out of favor recently, the only character in Elantris who appears with Aon Ene in their name is Sarene herself. Eventeo, Sarene’s father, is not only a traditionalist, but a scholar himself. He is well aware of the ancient meaning of the Aon, and has remarked on occasion that he finds the choice particularly accurate when applied to his daughter.
Ene is one of the primary constellations in the Arelene sky, and the star pattern is the most easy to pick out. It contains the pole star of the world, a concept which has fascinated philosophers throughout history.
Eventeo’s use of the simple word “Ene” as a nick-name for Sarene is another traditional association with names attached to the Aon. Much as some cultures shorten words or names into common nicknames, Ene–pronounced Eeenee–is a commonly applied term of endearment for someone who has this Aon in their name.
AonDor
This Aon has a powerful and unusual AonDor counterpart. A properly drawn Aon Ene puts forth a light, known by many as the Light of the Mind. When sitting in this Aon’s light, one’s mental abilities are enhanced. The Elantrian–or anyone else who happens to be close to the Aon–can memorize more quickly, think more clearly, and stave off mind-clouding effects of tiredness and sickness.
Used in conjunction with other Aons, Aon Ene is what is known as a “Linking Aon.” Using it properly in the Aon equation will link subsections of Aon lists together, coordinating which effects take place at which times during the Aon List’s progression. It is an important Aon to learn to use well for complex Aon Linkings, and no true AonDor master is without substantial practice in its use.
Brandon's Blog 2008 (Aug. 21, 2008)0 -
22 hours ago, Sythrin said:
Storing weight is one of the strangest abilities of Feruchemy. You can increase and decrease your weight without affecting significantly your body autonomy, but it does not affect your density.
<snip>
Do you think in the future its possible to alter alter density and make somebody not only heavier but also tougher and stronger?
Or maybe create swords that wield like normal blades for the wielder but heavier for the attacked one.
The thing to keep in mind is that, based on current data, what Iron is really manipulating is the Higgs Field. Density is the ratio of mass and volume and changes to density (Wikipedia):
QuoteIn general, density can be changed by changing either the pressure or the temperature. Increasing the pressure always increases the density of a material. Increasing the temperature generally decreases the density, but there are notable exceptions to this generalization. For example, the density of water increases between its melting point at 0 °C and 4 °C; similar behavior is observed in silicon at low temperatures.
The effect of pressure and temperature on the densities of liquids and solids is small.
Higgs fields naturally interact with energy density, but not physical density - though my physics education falls far short of really understanding the interactions at play. Possibly @DrPhysics will find time to weigh in (pun totally intended)
WoBs:
SpoilerQuoteQuestioner
I remember in, I believe it was Hero of the Ages, when Sazed was helping TenSoon escape. When he had fallen on the guard, he said that, by increasing his weight he also increases his density so he doesn't <hurt> himself. Then in The Alloy of Law, it also says that when Wax increases his weight he said that he didn't.
Brandon Sanderson
So, Sazed is just making a mistake. He's mistaking the fact when he increases his weight his musculature changes to be able to handle the new weight and that was what he was talking about. Strength and muscle tone and things like that. I might have just gotten it wrong in the original one [scene], I can't honestly remember, but this is what we kinda decided it needs to be.
Shadows of Self San Jose signing (Oct. 9, 2015)QuotePhantine
I actually asked Peter Ahlstrom (who tends to handle math and magic system interactions with physics for Team Sanderson) about this a little while ago
A couple of friends and I are discussing if the iron feruchemy causing changes in speed is a retcon (since there's a mention in AoL that "increasing his weight manyfold would not affect his motion"), or if the effect is just more complicated (like only causing an instant change in speed if Wax changes weight while actively pushing on something).
Are you willing to weigh in on that, or is it just something we shouldn't be thinking too hard about?
Thanks
And his response was
I just don't know the answer to this question.
So I personally think the explanation is either 'Brandon thought it would be cooler for shifting your weight to change your velocity, and forgot he had mentioned it a couple times' or 'this is Wax's twinborn perk'. I'm leaning towards the latter, since the person who writes the magic system summaries at the end of the book specifically interrogated Wax about the effects, and mentioned she specifically was interested in his very unusual power combination.
As for the density thing, there is an explicit mention that you appear to get stronger when tapping, but only to the extent that you can still stand up and walk around - you still have more difficulty moving around overall. So (to pull out random numbers), if you're at 200% normal mass, you have 180% normal strength, and at 50% mass you have 60% normal strength. That means Wax habitually going around at 75% weight so he's 'light on his feet' makes sense - even if he's weaker overall, he's proportionally stronger.
The way I personally think about things for bullets or whatever, anything 'inside' the body (where 'inside' is defined in the same way that pushing/pulling metal 'inside' the body uses it) interacts with your body as if it were normal. So tapping iron doesn't cause your ultra-massive blood to be impossible for your heart to pump, but it also doesn't prevent a bullet from passing through your flesh. That seems to be consistent with how it's portrayed in the books.
Brandon Sanderson
Just a note: in the quote of mine above, I was trying (I believe) to find a way for Wax to indicate that weight doesn't influence the rate at which he falls. IE, acceleration in regards to gravity. It's tough, and I made the call (perhaps incorrectly) not to use modern physics terminology in the W&W books. It has been very hard then to explain:
1). Wax changing his weight doesn't change the pull of gravity on him, or the rate at which he falls. 2) He DOES follow the laws of conservation of momentum.
My talking around these things has let me to tie a few paragraphs in knots.
General Reddit 2016 (Feb. 19, 2016)QuoteQuestioner
So, Metalminds: if you store weight, how does that work, do you decrease your mass or...?
Brandon Sanderson
So, storing weight actually plays with your mass, because if you look at how we do the physics of it… This one is really screwy, because we are changing mass and playing with it. You watch, like with Wax decreases his weight while he's in motion he'll speed up, and if he increases it, he'll slow down. The conservation of momentum and things like that, but we'll doing really weird stuff. It's like, how can you store your mass… Well, in the magic system it works, but it’s one of the weirdest things we do. *pauses to sign book* We kind of play loose and free with the physics sometimes. Like the example that I often use is Wayne doing a speed bubble, the light that is trapped in the speed bubble...like if he turns on a flashlight would actually radiate because of the redshift, and you could just kill everybody by flashing that. So, we make the speed bubbles not cause a redshift for that reason. We kind of work with what is good storytelling first, and then work the physics around it, but we have to put in all these little breaks and things like that in there regularity in order to actually have the story.
Shadows of Self San Jose signing (Oct. 9, 2015)QuoteSeonid
I noticed that you-- Was that a retcon on the way iron Feruchemy works?
Brandon Sanderson
What do you mean?
Seonid
There's a researcher who talks to Wax, asking him about whether he's changing his mass of whether he's changing whether the planet perceives him-- affecting his gravity.
Brandon Sanderson
Right. It's more a re-- Defining something I didn't pin down strongly enough. I wouldn't call it a retcon because it's something that nobody really did until Wax, really, in the series. The only one really capable of doing that in the original trilogy would have been the Lord Ruler, maybe some of the Inquisitors, but we don't have viewpoints from them. So I wouldn't call it a retcon I would just say it’s something that didn't come up in the first series that now I have to make sure is clear.
Seonid
So is it Higgs field stuff going on?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah. Mmhmm.
Seonid
My idea was right.
Brandon Sanderson
Mmhmm.
Bands of Mourning release party (Jan. 25, 2016)0 -
2 hours ago, Shaukan-son-Hasweth said:
Paranoid Personality Disorder - Kelek
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder - ShalashThose two seem the most obvious, based on current data.
And just because the cause is at-least partially magical does not mean the effect cannot mirror real disorders.
0 -
49 minutes ago, Shaukan-son-Hasweth said:
Today I randomly learned that apparently there are exactly 10 officially recognised personality disorders
Cluster A:
Of course thWas there more to this thought? It seems unfinished. . .
1 -
21 hours ago, Schizoposting said:
From what I remember, when Kaladin was strung up before the Highstorm, his spheres were only charged during the centerbeat.
Correct - but my point was that the centerbeat is a perception thing for one person being partly pulled across Realms. Bridge Four did not experience it. In WoR Shallan did not experience it, despite being in the same cave and laying right next to him.
0 -
On 6/9/2026 at 7:25 PM, Schizoposting said:
Presumably they are flying in and out of the ceneterbeat as needed.
The "centerbeat" is a not 100% physical realm phenomon and not something you can enter repeatedly (e. g. WoK - Kal tied in the highstorm; WoR - in the cave with Shallan, etc. )
WoB:
SpoilerArgent
Both times when Kaladin has had to survive a Highstorm outside, he finds himself in an area of unnatural calm. Is the eye of the Highstorm not entirely in the physical realm? I've had this feeling that the calm area pulls people into Shadesmar, at least a little...
Brandon Sanderson
This is not 100% physical realm.
On 6/9/2026 at 4:12 PM, Xabben said:In chapter 71 of RoW, the Stormfather mentions that the stormlight of a Radiant gets recharged after the "centerbeat" of the highstorm. However, we have seen Windrunners constantly charging their stormlight by just flying near the stormwall... Am I misunderstanding something?
Stormfather did not say "centerbeat" - RoW Ch 71:
Spoiler“Blood of my fathers,” Dalinar whispered. “Stormfather, do you see him?”
I … feel him, the Stormfather said. Through you. He seems to be waiting for the center of the storm, where his spheres and Stormlight will renew.
Dalinar drew close to the young man, who had buried his head into his shoulder for protection.
The center of the storm is when Spheres typically recharge, a Windrunner flying the Stormwall is able to gain some Stormlight from leakage that far forward. It is possible (but not confirmed) that Windrunners have an edge in this due to their Order's affility with Wind Spren and the Storms. Afterall, we see Szeth do it, but only with the Windrunner Honorblade, and we have not yet seen a Skybreaker do it at all (that I can recall - i'll search in case I have forgotten). Either way, in the heart of the blockage in the Tower, it's unlikely Kaladin could have picked up leakage from the Stormwall.
Hope that helps
1 -
18 minutes ago, Through The Living Grub said:
Just started A Natural History of Dragons by Lady Trent, written by Marie Brennen. I saw the diagram of a dragon on the cover and went “yes. This is gonna be good.” Pretty enjoyable so far.
@CoderDrag0n8 - just bringing this to your attention.
0 -
2 hours ago, Arandomclone5555 said:
This is a topic that has confused me because there seem to be a lot of conflicting sources in the books. In Yumi, the father machine was made to consume the spirits, investiture entities, and it ended up consuming the souls of humanity. This would imply that souls are made of investiture, and nightblood also seems to support this as he consumes investiture but also seems to consume the soul. However, my main problem with this is cognitive shadows. Using Vasher’s explanation of how they work, he says that the investiture someone holds before the die, or in some cases if they were invested right after they die, then the investiture replaces them like a fossil. This seems to contradict everything else that is stated about souls and seems to imply that they are made of a different substance, and this is what actually goes to the beyond upon death. But if the soul is different from investiture and it’s related to the beyond, how are shards like Preservation, who themselves state they have no way of accessing the beyond, have the capability of creating beings that have souls that go to the beyond? I’m really confused and I’m sure I'm misunderstanding something, if someone has any better explanations or theories please tell me.
Keep in mind that part of this answer is, specifically, left unanswered by Brandon for readers to decide for themselves. WoBs:
SpoilerQuoteQuestioner
So, if Nightblood, unsheathed, killed someone, would their soul still go to the Beyond?
Brandon Sanderson
So, that's gonna be a matter of-- There's gonna be disagreement in the cosmere about that. Nobody has been able to actively test it, because there are certain things you can see, but there are people who are actively discussing this concept.
Questioner
So, no one knows for sure?
Brandon Sanderson
Nobody knows for sure. And I'll just leave it at that. It's an astute question that even Vasher has-- Vasher has his thoughts, but he does not have a definitive answer, and others disagree with him.
QuoteQuestioner
In Stormlight, Dalinar mentioned that <if he can die, he's no longer a god>, so to speak. And throughout the cosmere, gods died *inaudible*. Is there an omniscient, omnipotent, actual God in the cosmere?
Brandon Sanderson
Is there an omniscient, omnipotent God in the cosmere? Some people believe that there is. You guys laugh about this, but I don't mean it to be a laughing thing. There are certain questions I will not answer in the cosmere, specifically because it would too much undermine some of the characters' beliefs. And I want to treat characters respectfully. So whether there is life after you pass into the Beyond, and whether there is a God of gods, an omnipotent, as we would define "monotheistic God," are questions that I don't answer, and I let the characters deal with. Because if I answer that, then the character discussions about this are meaningless. Not really, but they kind of are. So there are a couple things I won't answer about the cosmere, because the characters don't have these answers.
Questioner
<Do you know the answer>?
Brandon Sanderson
I know the answer, yes.
QuoteQuestioner
After people die, in this universe, where exactly do they go? Because, at first they appear in this one world, and then they go somewhere else.
Brandon Sanderson
So where do people go when they die. *laughter* In the cosmere. One of the things that's very important to me as a writer, when I am writing stories, is when we get to these kind of fundamental questions about faith and religion and things like this, that the narrative is allowing multiple characters' viewpoints to be plausibly true, if this makes sense. For instance, I am not gonna come out and say, "Is there a capital-G God of the cosmere, is there an afterlife?" These are not questions I'm gonna answer, because in-world, they can't answer them. What they can say is, your Investiture will leave what we call a Cognitive Shadow, which is an imprint of your personality that can do certain things. And that most of those fade away, and you can see them, glimpse them, and then watch them go. But, are they going somewhere? Or are they not? Is that simply the Investiture being reclaimed, Is it more of a Buddhist thought, where your soul is getting recycled and used again? Is it nothing, you return to, you know, being-- yeah, is it a different type of matter? Or is there a Beyond, is there a capital-G God? Things like this. These questions are not answered. I'm never gonna answer those.
Now, the characters will try to answer them. But it's important to me that both Dalinar and Jasnah can exist in the same universe, and that the story is not saying "This one is right, and this one is wrong." The story is saying "This is how this one sees the world; this is how this one sees the world." It's very important to me from the beginning to do that, just because-- Like, I hate reading a book where someone espouses my viewpoint only to get proven wrong by the entire structure of the narrative, and in that universe, that person is wrong. But I'm like, "In our universe, I don't think that I am. Just the way you constructed everything makes it so that I have to be wrong, if I were living in your universe, even if it's a universe that's not a sci-fi/fantasy one." If that makes sense.
This is just kind of for respecting my characters and for the people who hold the viewpoints of my characters, in particular if they happen to be different from my own viewpoints. I feel there are certain lines I'm not gonna cross.
So, the answer is: who do you believe? Which of the philosophies in the books do you look at and say "Yeah!" Or, even better: listen to lots of different ones, and maybe these different viewpoints are all gonna have interesting points that'll give you things to think upon.
So, objectively, we know there is a Spiritweb in the Spiritual Realm. We know that it is consumed by Nightblood and Father Machine. We know that Sazed and Kelsier believe that Vin and Elend went to the Beyond after the events of HoA.
Furthermore, we know that some people call what is consumed by Nightblood "the soul" - while some people call what goes Beyond "the soul."
Who is right?Brandon wants readers to decide for themeselves. He will never answer that question.
Hope that helps
3 -
Welcome to the Shard. Thank you for the Intro Post to let us know what you have read; don;t forget to update the list as you continue in the Cosmere.
Also please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some (hopefully) useful forum tips and information.On 6/6/2026 at 12:39 AM, Timeloss11 said:I'm currently creating a table of the confirmed resonances of Radiants and the three most prominent theories for the orders that don't currently have a confirmed one. So, I would like to try and get some of the communities' opinions rather than just my own theories and the theories put forth on the Coppermind (Elsecaller GPS, and Edgedancer communication).
So long story short any and all theories about possible resonances would be greatly appreciated.
As far as I know, the only two surgebinding resonances that are confirmed are Windrunners and Lightweavers (clarified in the RPG as affecting perception or memory ref Stargyle). We don't really have enough information to know the others yet. But, it all gets more complicated with characters like Shallan and Lift who also have other factors affecting their Spiritweb. WoB:
SpoilerKaymyth
So, Kalak comments that Shallan is able to draw on Fortune because she has two Nahel bonds. Is this truly what's going on or is it instead because she is the daughter of a Herald or is it maybe a mixture of both?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, definitely some mixture going on there and some unique Resonances going on with Shallan. I would say anyone who is trying to theorize in world about what is going on with Shallan, they don't like, it's a pretty unique case and they are spitballing, maybe poorly. Whether it's Hoid or anyone else. Weird stuff is going on with Shallans spiritweb and it is causing all sorts of fun for me.
Hope that helps
1 -
On 12/26/2025 at 12:58 AM, Timeloss11 said:
3) Any suggestions as for what I should read next? I've read both Era 1 and 2 of Mistborn, Secret History, and am currently about halfway through Warbreaker while trying to decide what to get hooked into next.
I have a post here that provides the information on which books are referenced in other books to help make informend decisions on reading order.
Please remember to update post one onc you finish Warbreaker and move on to your next Cosmere read.
0 -
18 hours ago, Through the Living Hopper said:
That's where it says that Skybreaker spren also swear oaths, but where does it say the others don't?
4 hours ago, Deception said:I think it says there that the Skybreaker spren are the only spren to also swear oaths. Idk the exact quote, you can go find it if you want.
12124 says that only Highspren swear oaths, but he's young and new and unreliable narrator applies. Elsewhere it is implied that pre-recreance all Spren swore oaths:
SpoilerWaT Ch 86:
QuoteKaladin and Syl shared a look.
“I know how it’s supposed to go,” the figure continued. “The others showed me. Speak like this! Commanding voice! Get the human to do what you say! But it feels so wrong. I see him hurting … and it feels wrong.”
“Is this your first time as a bonded spren?” Kaladin asked. Syl was glaring. She had a thing about highspren.
“Yeah,” the spren said. “We’re supposed to take the oaths, you know? We’re the only order where the spren take the oaths too. But I feel like I’m ruining everything for everyone. I don’t feel like I’m helping, but I’m also making them all disappointed!”
“Them?” Kaladin asked.
“The other highspren. Particularly 121.”
WaT Ch 86:
Quote“These numbers are … perplexing, Shallan. Strangely irrational, in a sequence I do not understand. I mean … I mean that we are walking on unfamiliar ground. A better metaphor for you. Yes. Unfamiliar ground. In the deep past, deadeyes did not exist.”
It was what they’d learned, in part, from the honorspren and from Maya. The deadeyes—all of them except Testament—had been bonded to ancient Radiants before the Recreance. Together they’d rejected their oaths, humans and spren alike. They’d thought it would cause a painful, but survivable split. Instead, something had gone terribly wrong.
On 6/4/2026 at 6:35 AM, PanLin said:I was under the impression that Honor, Ishar and Cultivation all sort of worked together to define the oaths. From the wiki:
The spren formed bonds with the mankind to give them Surgebinding abilities.[22] Honor was surprised by their coming, because he hadn't taught it to his Heralds.[22] While he did not consciously choose his Knights, with them being chosen by spren, he did, alongside Cultivation and the advice of Ishar, formulate their system of oaths.[38]
Still, we don't know exactly why there are 5.
That section of the wiki seems to be poorly worded based on the source it claims.
SpoilerWaT Ch 120:
QuoteFIRST HIS FUSED, THEN MY HERALDS, THEN HIS UNMADE, THEN MY RADIANTS—WHICH WERE NOT MY CONSCIOUS CREATION, BUT FORMED BY PIECES OF ME WORKING INDEPENDENTLY. I CRAFTED THEIR OATHS TO MAXIMIZE THEIR ABILITIES, PER KOR’S CONTRACT AND ISHAR’S ADVICE. THAT ONE UNDERSTOOD THE WAYS OF GODS AS FEW MORTALS EVER HAD.
WoR Epigraph to Ch 42:
Quote"But as for Ishi’Elin, his was the part most important at their inception; he readily understood the implications of Surges being granted to men, and caused organization to be thrust upon them; as having too great power, he let it be known that he would destroy each and every one, unless they agreed to be bound by precepts and laws."
So, it seems Cultivation wasn't involved so much as the process was crafted to abide by the Contract she made in WaT Ch 113. It's less clear, but seems implied to me that Tanner didn't so much create the Oath system and "ratify" what Ishar proposed. But, then, the actual nature of Kor's Contract and much of the Oath system is still unexplained; likely to prepare for more reveals in the second Arc of Roshar.
0 -
4 hours ago, Deception said:
Somewhere in the books (I'm too lazy to go find it), it lists all of the powerful numbers as 1, 10, 16, etc. It specifically mentions 5 as weak. So why do radiants have 5 oaths??
The thing to keep in mind is that while Honor (Tanavast) was associated with 10, and considered 5 to be a weak number - Honor was not behind the Knights Radiant and the Oaths - that was Ishar''s doing. So, while we do not yet know why Ishar used a five Oath model - we at least know it's not ten because it was not driven by Tanavast or his prejudices.
Hope that helps.
1 -
2 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren said:
- Is there any reason to think that this shouldn't be possible?
- Why hasn't this been done in the book?
-
Logic is sound, but it would take a lot of practice/control to make something ascendable (first line, step up, second line knocks you off since they would all be the same "height" as far as we know)
- There is one WoB that contraindicates for the idea
- Was there ever a reason to try?
WoBs:
SpoilerQuoteQuestioner
If you were to draw a Line of Forbiddance on a portable chalkboard, could you actually knock somebody overside the head?
Brandon Sanderson
It wouldn't knock them over the head, because it kinda has the magnetic repulsion sort of thing, but we will get into moving things as we go further in the series.
Oathbringer Houston signing (Nov. 18, 2017)QuoteKalynaAnne
So you have Lines of Forbiddance, you draw them on the ground and you get forcefields. How about when you draw them on a chalkboard? Does it project out into the room?
Brandon Sanderson
It would project out into the room, yes.
Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)QuoteKalynaAnne
Could you make fences, like Rithmatic fences, by having fence posts and drawing Lines of Forbiddance down them and creating a forcefield--
Brandon Sanderson
Theoretically, yes.
Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)QuoteKalynaAnne
If you drew a Line of Forbiddance on, like, a slate and then you can hold the slate--
Brandon Sanderson
Moving stuff around starts playing with things. So I'm going to say, I will deal with that in the next book but it doesn't work how you want it to work.
KalynaAnne
Okay, I'll accept that answer.
Brandon Sanderson
For logistical reasons, when I was building the magic, I was "Ehhh, we've got to not have this be possible."
Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)QuoteKalynaAnne
How high up do they [Lines of Forbiddance] go?
Brandon Sanderson
Thickness determines height.
Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)QuoteRippleGylf
In The Rithmatist, in that world, do they ever use Rithmatics for practical purposes? I can easily see using Lines of Forbiddance for children to just draw a line on the wall, and like--
Brandon Sanderson
They should do it more than they do. But there are people using it, chalklings included.
Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017)QuoteQuestioner
How does a Rithmatist draw a Mark's Cross structure if they can't cross their own Lines of Forbiddance?
Brandon Sanderson
You can get it right up close, and I kind of made it my mind that if you get right up close it kind of snaps together. That was my work around for it, that you can get up and make it. It's also like a magnetism thing where you can kind of push into it a little bit. The harder you push, the more force it pushes back on them.
So those were my workarounds in my head. That one actually didn't strike me until I was halfway through the book and I was like "Hey wait a minute, how do you actually make this line work?" So I kind of put those two things on it. That's the in-world in but I didn't talk about it a ton in the books.
Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)Hope that helps
0 -
13 hours ago, NerdSandwich said:
I've never run into any issues
And mine looks...longer
Should I be shortening it?
I would recommend shortening it. Your signature is longer than this post, even on PC, for example:
Spoiler
Granted, I am not a mod - but since the stated intention is:
(Additional explanation)On 3/31/2025 at 10:57 AM, Chaos said:On 3/31/2025 at 10:52 AM, #1 Taln Fan said:Recently there's been a lot of signatures that have been breaking forum policy, especially the following rules:
Starting tomorrow, any violations within a signature will be removed by a moderator. Though it's not explicitly specified in the policy, please also make sure all text is only the default size, and remove any empty lines. Vertical space is already at a premium on the forums, and longer sigs can make it tedious to scroll through topics. If you want to display more information, you can do so in your About Me on your profile.
I'd like to chime in as well, because I realize this comes across as very fun-policey. What's the problem with giant signatures?
The problem is that when you are scrolling through a topic, particularly with many short posts, big signatures add a lot of vertical space and noise. Compare this to what is now an objectively more popular way to communicate, Reddit, and it's just so much easier to read a sequence of text there.
Forums have had much less membership over the last ten years. Let's try and not accelerate that process more and make the forums look nice for all, so people want to join in.
On 10/26/2025 at 1:23 PM, Chaos said:This is all measured on desktop on the max width the site can be. Yes, this can be hard to determine. I don't have a better metric for you, nor a technological way with the system to enforce it. I can enforce like... number of paragraphs, but that's kind of irrelevant if you have one paragraph with tons of characters on it.
I might recommend people just make shorter sigs in general. You don't have to, of course, but brevity is the soul of wit, you know, but you don't have to be a gas and expand to fill the space
More extensive information/listicles might be better on About Me.
You may consider what information is better on your profile page for friends and what, realistically, should be visible to anybody responding to one of your posts.
0 -
5 hours ago, JohnTMS said:
Walk with me still:
Understood, but I think you missed my main point:
Spoiler-
Clash on Threnody
- The Evil is formed from torn chunks of Odium and Ambition coalescing; likely a splinter of at least two (merged) Intents (possibly a Splinter existed that was warped into the Evil by those extra chunks)
- Time Passes
- Final clash in space, Ambition is Splintered, Grand Knell is formed
QuoteA Splinter is the term for a specific type of fragment of Investiture that is ultimately derived from Adonalsium.[2] These Splinters can be composed of a single Shard's power or the Investiture of multiple Shards. They are present in many worlds of the cosmere, sometimes in abundant quantities[3] or with self-aware personalities,[4] while other times they are absent altogether or exist simply as a chunk of raw power guided by something else.
0 -
Clash on Threnody
-
Welcome to the Shard. Thank you for the Intro Post to let us know what you have andr have-not read.
Please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips.25 minutes ago, JohnTMS said:- The Evil on Threnody grew to consume roughly an entire continent. What made it stop?
- Anti-Ambition Investiture aka 'consumption' as an Intent does not explain the Evil's current behavior, such as that of the shades, the Three Simple Rules, and other oddities. What else then, could?
- The "waves of destruction" as noted by Khriss shortly after Ambition's death, seem in description and consequences described to be far more powerful than how The Grand Knell appears to be, powerful still it may be, in the modern Cosmere. What changed?
-
Who said it has stopped? All we know at the time of SfSitFoH is that it has not yet found a way to cross the water to Hell.
- If we ever get Night Brigade, that will deal with the Continent and The Evil
- Sunlit Man implies The Evil may have crossed to Hell at some point
- Anti-Investiture is not known to invert the Intent based on current data. Also, it is implied (not confirmed) that The Evil is not composed of only chunks of Ambition - Odium also left chunks of power on Threnody when wounded.
- We do not know that the two are synonymous. Khriss was talking about what happened on Threnody. The Grand Knell does not seem to be centered on any planet, is more likely tied to where Ambition was finally Splintered (and Ambitions missing "corpse").
WoBs and References:
SpoilerQuoteReaderWarrior
Brandon: What is the difference between ANTI-Investiture and NEGATIVE Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
Let's let the Arcanists-
What we're calling Negative Investiture is almost all exclusively a warping of the death of Ambition. Anti-Investiture is a very, very similar thing, but it is man-made. And they have similar functions. But the Negative Investiture is mostly self-aware in a very weird way. In a non-
The Anti-Investiture built by Navani is functionally the same, but not self-aware, not necessarily from Ambition. And that's the distinction in my mind right now. But we'll let the Arcanists drill down on me- there's Argent flipping out. He might have a different definition for it and he maybe can-
The team of Arcanists might convince me that I should use a different definition .
YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)QuoteThrenodite Essay:
Long ago, soon after the Shattering, Odium clashed with (and mortally wounded) the Shard Ambition here. Ambition would later be Splintered, though that final act took place in a different location.
QuoteRoW Epigraph to Ch 27:
"That said, the most worrying thing I discovered in this was the wound upon the Spiritual Realm where Ambition, Mercy, and Odium clashed—and Ambition was destroyed. The effects on the planet Threnody have been … disturbing."
QuoteQuestioner
I had a question about Odium's intent for going after Ambition. Obviously, with Devotion and Dominion teaming up, he didn't want a twosome over there. Are we ever gonna learn more about the background on Threnody? 'Cause Khriss implies that there was always Investiture there, before the clash. So I'm looking for a little bit of information about the Evil before the Admiral's background story.
Brandon Sanderson
Before the clash, the Evil was not the Evil. It is the clash that warped it. And Secret Project Five has a splintered piece of Ambition as a plot point. Some of these books... All that stuff I said about not having to know multiple magic systems? That goes out the window for things like Secret Project Five. Those are books that are about that. You will find out some more there; it's gonna take me a long time to get to what actually happened with Ambition, why, and things like that. Know that Odium was not expecting it to be as hard as it was and ended up severely wounded in that clash.
C2E2 2024 (April 26, 2024)QuoteIslayThePeaty
Does Ambition factor into Sel, either in the events we've seen on-planet or in terms of where Uli Da was ultimately spintered?
Brandon Sanderson
I'll RAFO this for now. Suffice it to say that this specific splintering has had far-reaching effects.
General Reddit 2017 (Dec. 6, 2017)QuoteQuestioner
Was the creation of the Evil an intentional result of the splintering of Ambition?
Brandon Sanderson
No. Odium didn't really know what he was doing, but he knew he didn't want to have the same thing happen that happened on Sel. And what happened was worse. So, this is why Odium had to recuperate and could not really attack Honor and Cultivation and kind of had to sideways work with them a little bit, because of what happened there.
YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)QuoteLegionrip
In Sunlit Man there is an incredible amount of Investiture at the core of Canticle. We know that Odium, Ambition, and Mercy clashed near Threnody but that Ambition did not die there. Could Canticle be a grave or tomb for the corpse of Ambition and its Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
It could be, but it's not.
Legionrip
It would connect the Threnodites being in both systems. The rings could be intended to keep the Investiture from spilling out into the rest of the system and making it incredibly dangerous to traverse like Sel.
Brandon Sanderson
This is a great question and a great theory; but I know where Ambition's corpse is, and it's not there.
YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)Hope that helps
3 -
My initial implression was that "Ageless" was the first person to use the Well and become a Sliver. However, without Ruin imprisoned, it seems using up the Well (in the 1024 yr cycle) allows the imbalance for the Murk to be completely/predominately of Ruin. Will read again tomorrow when I am less tired and can cross check a few things.
1
Why not use Windrunners?
in Stormlight Archive
Posted
This was discussed in RoW Ch 19. They didn't have enough Windrinners for the War campaign as it was; which is why they needed to send an envoy to convince the Honorspren to allow bonds again and stop treating those Honorspren that did seek a bond as outlaws. They couldn't afford to lose a Radiant and their squires just to ferry the envoy party - even if it was only to Nameless. RoW Ch 19:
“It highlights another problem though,” Fen said. “We need more Windrunners. Kmakl has been raving about your flying fortress—I’ll have you know, I haven’t seen him this smitten since our first days courting. But the enemy has both Fused and Skybreakers, and you can’t protect a ship like that without air support. Stormfather help us if enemies in the air catch one of our ocean fleets unprotected.”
“We’ve been working on a solution,” Dalinar promised. “It is a … difficult problem. Spren can be even more stubborn than men.”
“Makes sense,” Fen said. “I’ve never met a wind or current that would change course because I shouted at them.”
Someone cleared their throat, and Navani was surprised to see Sigzil stepping forward again. “I’ve been speaking with my spren, Your Majesty, and I might be able to offer a potential solution to this problem. I believe we should send an envoy to the honorspren.”
Navani leaned forward in her seat. “What kind of envoy?”
“The honorspren can be a … touchy group,” Sigzil explained. “Many are not as carefree as our initial interactions with them led us to believe. Among spren, they are some of the closest in spirit and intent to the god Honor. While obviously individuals will vary in personality, there is a general feeling of discontent—well, insult—among them regarding humans.”