Rasarr

Shardblade. I can carry it with me unseen and take it pretty much everywhere, which can't really be said about a giant hulking piece of armour (imagine trying to take this through airport security!). Given what we know of them so far, would you rather be an Edgedancer or a Skybreaker?

If we're talking fictional character's mysterious parentage, R+L=[X] must appear at some point of the discussion. I think it's a new Internet law, I've seen this joke three times already.

Rhaegar targaryen and Lyanna Stark, from Game of Thrones. One of most popular fan theories has it that they're the parents of Jon Snow. The theory is called R+L=J.

Maybe that's why Odium could shatter him. Too many things pulling him in too many directions.

Wait, wait, but if he stores weight, he becomes lighter, so not only he doesn't become heavy, it's also much easier for him to go flying than if he was unable to do that... Hmm... Anyway, your wish is granted, you are bonded with a Radiant spren of the Order of your choice. Your bane is that for Nahel bond to form, your mind has to be broken first, and you develop a mental problem that interfers with your chosen Radiant power (for example, lack of empathy if you're a Windrunner, or inability to tell lies from truth if Lightweaver). I wish for my writer's block to end at last.

Are we talking full Windrunner, AKA Shadbearer + Surgebinder? Shardbearer, I'd stand at least some chance at survival. Also, if a Windrunner wants to fight me, then something went very, very wrong with my life. Would you rather have an opportunity to do an interview with Adonalsium (pre-Shattering) or with Hoid (W&W era)? We assume that they are forced to answer every question, and answer it honestly.

Combination of books and interviews, yeah. The basics go thusly: There used to be a divine-like being called Adonalsium, which resided on planet Yolen (where Hoid/Wit comes from). For some reasons, sixteen people decided to kill Adonalsium - so they went ahead and shattered him, each of them gaining one-sixteenth of his power. This one-sixteenth of Adonalsium's power is called a Shard, and because Shattering has left Yolen inaccessible/dead (we don't know), Shards fled all across the Cosmere, settling new worlds with humans. Every Shard represents some aspect of Adonalsium: Ruin, Cultivation, Honor, Odium, Devotion etc. All Shards started off with equal, divine-like power (having powers of Preservation lets you move an orbit of entire planet, for example), but when a shard invests itself into a world, some of those powers become locked. Shards have Intents, which restrict what it can do (Preservation can't destroy, for example). They can be merged (Preservation+Ruin= Harmony), or splintered (Honor -> spren). So far, we know of ten Shards. Odium is from Braize (in Greater Roshar solar system), Honor and Cultivation are on Roshar proper, with Honor having been splintered, Preservation and Ruin merged into Harmony on Scadrial as result of Mistborn events, Devotion and Dominion are from Sel and were splintered by Odium before events of Elantris, Endowment creates Returned on Nalthis, and Autonomy resides on Taldain (White Sand world). There's also the "survival Shard", which we know exists but know nothing else about.

Granted, the Nightwatcher will try to be creative. As your bane, from now on you will always be followed by a gaggle of blue groundhog plushies that will sing songs from famous musicals in chippery voices whenever no-one in the room with you is speaking. They follow the law of Slasher Movie Villain Offscreen Teleportation, so don't hope to lose them. I wish for to know what the Turthwatcher spren are called.

You forgot to ask your question...

Dvoraen, that's some excellent point you've raised. From narrative standpoint, this would also work - after all, our heroes wouldn't look so great if there were ten physical gods running about, saving the day (and imagine this moment of realization - "Heralds work for Odium now!" ). It'd be also interesting to note that going by your theory, the most insane of all Heralds is also the only one still afforded the Oathpact protection - which, again, does little to help the heroes. Regarding the question you've posed by the end, I suppose this: the Heralds could have some sort of splinters of Honor merged with them - much like Listeners or Returned do with spren and Divine Breath - which would bestow them with additional abilities, including longevity and whatever lets them use their Shardblades more ergonomically, Stormlight-wise. What happens after the Aharietiam is that those splinters are ripped out by the act of breaking of the Oathpact, turning Heralds into Slivers (thus, preservation of skills like immortality), but leaving part of Spiritweb "dangling", so to put it and opening Heralds to other influence that can fill in the space that was earlier occupied by the Honor splinter. As we have a WoB that if you were to survive hemalurgic spiking, you'd be severely impacted due to lacking parts of Spiritweb, it could also be that the breaking of Oathpact contributed to insanity, and Odium utilized "broken mind" to influence the Heralds.

Hm, I wasn't thinking the Hulk's size, but I see why this may be a problem. Ah, well... On another note, A. Pewter/F. Steel Twinborn? Wanna see that, too. We've seen what a Steelrunner can do, add superstrength and for short periods of time, they'd be almost unstoppable.

Pain-diminisher. I don't really have much need for a proximity detector, and this could come in handy every once in a while. Also, I could make thousands claiming that I have miraculous healing hands! Would you rather be a Pewter Compounder or A. Pewter/F. Steel Twinborn?

I'd like to see a Pewter compounder in action. Pewter is one of two metals that improve the same quality (the other would be Tin, it works on senses both in Allomancy and Feruchemy), and I'm guessing the effects would be even more powerful than any other compounding. Imagine storing Pewter while burning Pewter. Or tapping Pewter while burning Pewter. I want to see Scadrial Hulk, really.

Wayne's, hands-down. Being able to insta-heal any scraps or colds at the cost of a day or two of a headache (or a headache at the cost of cold) is worth it in itself, but bendalloy would also let me think longer before I have to answer someone or even flat-out disappear by running in circles in the bubble. In Vorin society, would you rather be a lighteyed man or a lighteyed woman?

I can't access Theoryland right now, but the WoB Argel refers to said that screams were a side effect of some element of Realmatics and that anyone in Cosmere would hear those screams if they did what Szeth did, regardless of which planet they were on. A typical Rosharan wouldn't find it magical because it's part of physics of this universe.

Full Feruchemist. Considering how not-filled-with-crimefighting my life is, Feruchemical powers would be more useful on day-to-day basis. Coppermind, bronzemind, zincmind... seriously, Feruchemical powers are like a student's wish list. Would you rather be a post-Catacendre koloss or a Final Empire-era kandra?

*tinfoil hat on* Maybe they're from Braize? It'd tie nicely with the RAFO on whether they're from Roshar, and not include too much of Cosmere-wide stuff into one of the main aspects of the story. *tinfoil hat off* Regarding what was said about most-likely-Shallash's potential use of emotional Allomancy, I'd frankly put more stock with Heralds being naturally more charismatic... positively radiant, you may say (*badum-tish!* )... to help them do their job. If you create a group of people who you want to lead mankind, it's probably better to give them some ability to attract people to them, so that they'd be more likely to follow them.

I like the theory, though a question about the point raised with seas and oceans - if the ocean is, in Cognitive Realm, one big thing, what about the fish? If sticks have cognitive aspects, fish should have them, too. Do their Cognitive aspects move through walls or somesuch?

Granted. Every day, ten bananas will spontaneously manifest behind you at exactly 10:03 AM, London time. As your bane, every time you see colour yellow, you start to hear voices of Despicable Me's Minions chattering incessantly into your ear. I wish for a pair of sunglasses.

It probably attracts and "feeds" spren that accompany chasmfiends. Take a look at this, from JordanCon (emphasis mine):

Elsecaller. Transportation and Transformation sound way cool. Would you rather own a Shardblade or a Lifeless or two?

Forger. I probably wouldn't be able to perform most of ChayShan's moves. Would you rather live on Nalthis or on (Wax&Wayne) Scadrial?

WoB means Word of Brandon, info on Cosmere Brandon gives us on cons, signings etc. WoR and others are book titles - Words of Radiance in this case. There's a ton of abbreviations for book titles used around here - trust me, understanding all of them comes with practice . I'd advise this if you want to do some catching up. Edit: ha! Ninja'd by three people already...

I really like both of your ideas (NovaSeeker, how did you come up with names? They're cool.). Making up alloys is fun, so let me try my hand at it... Steel - lets you see the future of metallic objects (for example, trajectory the bullet is going to take, moving automobiles) Iron - lets you see the past of metallic objects (the trajectory bullet's taken, for example, so that you can check where it was shot from) Zinc - make others see the future as if they were burning pure atium (though I like NovaSeeker's idea, too) Brass - likewise, but with past Pewter - age self (you revert to regular age when you stop burning); like Cadmium, it's not very useful on self, unless for disguises but could be powerful with cubes (I like Nyali's idea, though) Tin - experience time slower (something like bullet time for mind, but without a bubble and without ability to move like Flash) Copper - hide all temporal "visions" from other temporal allomancers (something like temporal coppercloud) Bronze - sense upcoming allomantic pulses (for example, someone is going to start ironpulling, bronzeatium misting senses it a few seconds before - like atium shadow of allomantic activity) Duraluminium - send current allomantic reserves into the future (I like Nyali's idea here, can't figure out anything better within "temporal" category) Aluminium - send allomantic effects into the future (for example, you burn cadmium while burning alumi-atium, and nothing happens, but after a few moments the bubble "pops up" in the place where you've burned cadmium on its own; time delay depending on how long you burn alumi-atium) Nicrosil - send target's allomantic reserves into the future Chromium - send target's allomantic effects into the future Cadmium - fast-forward without a bubble Bendalloy - slow-motion without a bubble Electrum - reveal your future self, like reverse Gold Gold - malatium, of course.

Hm... back when I wrote that, there was an entire train of thought that led to this conclusion, but it eludes me now IIRC, it was me wondering whether some types of spren wouldn't be too... haughty to change into something else than a weapon (used for the "noble" purpose of mass-slaying of Voidbringers), for lack of a better word. They come in all shapes and sizes, and so far we've seen only helpful ones, while Glys doesn't seem to be aiding Renarin much, so I figured if there was one spren who'd refuse changing into a rock, it could be Glys. We've been told spren can be less than shining paragons of helpfulness and joy, it's about time we've met one who is. Though granted, that's some weak reasoning right there Also, couldn't the "rock" Shallan saw be this box Renarin's carrying with him everywhere?