Rasarr

I admit I'd find it endlessly amusing if it was Kelsier who got punched by some Shardholder one day. Possibly made even funnier if the assaulter had no idea of Kelsier's god-punching tendencies.

To carry on with this lovely thread derail:

I never knew "threnody" existed as a regular word in English language... But then again, I didn't know "odium" existed either, so I guess I learn something new every day... Anyway, interesting theory, and makes a lot of sense. Knowing the meaning of it now, Threnody does indeed sound like a name for a Shard.

My guess would be that it's not just based on what you think you are, but also on what you think you should be (there is a way to phrase this better and without some bad implications, but I do not know it). To go with your examples,

I'd suggest Honor, as Vengeance is often considered to be a matter of honor (although one may suppose Syl disagrees). The intent could be something along the lines of "to right the wrongs", or "to right my wrongs" as opposed to Justice's theoretical Intent. As a side note, I think Vengeance would lend itself well to Shardic future-sight - "vengeance best served cold", anyone? As for the chart, I seriously doubt Love, for pretty much the same reason as the person who commented there. I also don't think "Breeding" is a Shard. It's more like aspect of Cultivation.

Even when wrong-footed, he can still perform on spot. (a propos that speech after accounts of visions are leaked out) Alethkar is like France.

You can accept their taste, but you can never fully understand it. Online forums are like "My Little Cthulhu" plushie.

It could be some sort of probability manipulation. For example, with <insert Stormlight/metal/aon equivalent here> you can drop the chances of a bullet shot at you hitting you, or increase the chances of landing on something soft after falling down. We'd have to see more chromium feuruchemy to have any better idea, though.

While I agree with White-Fox-is-Hoid idea (well spotted!), remember, the only "solid" places in Scadrial's Cognitive Realm were those "islands" above the seas and lakes, and the plants that grew all around Ire's base grew only on those "islands", which suggests that Castle Ire is parallel either to Scadrial's ocean or the inter-planetary space (remember the tug Kelsier felt when he was going towards the base. I don't think it'd let him leave the planet). There were also the Ire people saying that Threnodites were going towards them from some "border", which in turn suggests that Threnodite Cognitive space started somewhere further away from the Castle Ire. This being said, Threnody is, indeed, close to Scardial, and Evil looks suspiciously well-timed for an invasion of the planet. A wild theory time: could Evil be Trell? It could take Threnody as its outpost for the invasion, and destroy Castle Ire so that it'd face no opposition on its way.

I almost snorted my drink when I read your summary, KnightGradient. Have an upvote, it's great. Same as above, the moment where Kel recruits "Fuzz" to the crew is just brilliant. Not to mention Leras' deadpan attitude to what's hapenning, especially when Kelsier states he's making him the crewleader. And Rashek's "so long, suckers" at the Well... And can we just think for a moment about Kelsier calling tens-of-thousands-of-years-old god "Fuzz" throughout the entire story? And how he travels with an entire campfire on a stick? SH is just filled with Kelsier awesome. *now imagines a series of novellas with Leras and Kelsier Cog-Realm-travelling, god-punching, bickering and stealing like a thieving crew would*

Don't have the book on hand now, but look for scenes in WoK when Adolin and Dalinar are discussing the latter's visions. IIRC, one of them is worrying that it's Voidbringers somehow influencing Dalinar, because future sight is supposed to be of them. It's been mentioned several more times in the book, and at least once in reference to the scribbles on the wall in WoR. Then again, it's not necessarily a conclusive proof that Renarin bonded an Odiumspren. There are some people on this forum theorizing that the people who reformed Vorinism and started to say that futuresight is evil were actually influenced by Odium to say so, to discredit any potential agent of Honor.

Have an upvote, AndrewStirlingMacDonald, this is a good idea. Reminds me of the WoB we had a while back (can't link to it, theoryland doesn't let me in) that Nightblood is an Awakeners' attempt at making a Shardblade. If the Scholars' been to Roshar, they might've just as well been to Scadrial.

Math tangent! Alright, so I'm probably going to make a ton of hilarious mistakes, but... Take complex numbers Z1 and C, and make a sequence out of them that goes like this: step 0: Z1 step 1: Z12 + C step 2: (Z12 + C)2 + C step 3: ((Z12 + C)2 + C)2 + C and so on. Now, depending on what number we take as Z1, the next steps of the sequence can either move past any given circle starting on (0, 0) on a Cartesian chart* - or stay within them. If they escape past the circle, they're called "escapees"; if they remain within radius, they're "prisoners". Now, if you put all Z1s of the "escapees" and Z1s of the "prisoners" on the Cartesian chart - is my translation correct? English isn't my native tongue... - anyway, if you do that, there's no point on the chart that's both a prisoner-Z and an escapee-Z, so you can draw a clear-cut border between the areas taken up by the prisoner-Zs and escapee-Zs. This border is the Julia set. The difference in what the set looks like on different pictures comes from different Cs used. As far as I understood my source (it's not in English, unfortunately, so I doubt I could link to it here), while using 2 in the steps above you get a flat image, but using 3 will give you a hovering three-dimensional Julia set, and 4 will make it four-dimensional and mind-explodey. If you cut a slice out of the four-dimensional set, it will be three-dimensional, and when it throws a shadow on a flat surface, you get the map of Roshar. I hope this clear things up at least a little bit... and that I didn't make any grievous mistake Math-inclined Sharders, feel free to bash me. -------- * You may know Complex numbers, but just for clarity: Complex number has a "real" part and "imagined" part, and is written as [Real]+[imagined], for example 3+5i, where 3 is real and 5i is imagined (you can recognize it by the "i"). When you put them on a chart, the horizontal axis counts the "real" numbers and vertical axis counts the amount of "i"s, so 3+5i would be drawn as being 3 steps to the right and 5 steps above from the centre of the chart. EDIT: clarification and simplifying stuff a bit. Also, spelling.

Gotchya.

A type of a fractal created from a mathemathical function.

Fascinating to observe, but you don't want to be on the business end of their maw or beak. Voidbringers are like email.

You suddenly realize that what you know about this new world you've found yourself in is a very, very small fraction of what the people who's been there for a longer time know. Superman is like the city of Elantris.

You do. The insults are so scathing, all your now-ex-friends unite, even coming back from the dead if need has it, to hunt you down. I wish for the ability to worldhop.

Ha, interesting topic. My thoughts: I could see Ruin + Endowment = Subterfuge/Sabotage, as in destruction via pretending to be on destroyed's side. Subterfuge + Honor could be Fanaticism, as in doing something dishonorable while being convinced it's honorable. Then again, Odium + Honor could be Fanaticism as well. Odium + Devotion = Vengeance? Devotion doesn't necessarily has to be "positive" force. Odium + Preservation = Nemesis, someone you keep around to hate. Autonomy + Devotion = Rebellion. Honor + Devotion = Protection or Dedication. I would disagree with Drake's Ruin + Honor = Justice, as Justice isn't always destructive. I would say Ruin + Honor = Necessity, Shard of "for the greater good", with Honor + Dominion as Justice (although Guidance is a good choice as well). Could it be that the Intent of double shard comes from whoever picks them up? If someone more rulership-minded than Sazed picked up Ruin and Preservation, could it end up not as Harmony, but rather something like Dictature (preserving those in power, but ruining all who don't hold it)? Then again, I'm not quite certain if names such as Society, Dictature or Democracy would be on the mark. So far, all Shards seem to be more about human ideals/emotions (Odium, Honor) and actions (Preservation, Endowment) than "civillizational concepts" created by humans. I guess it could be something we might check for any sort of group of people and still find it there, so to put it. You won't find democracy everywhere, but you're sure to find devotion and autonomy.

Perhaps his fighting skill was one of the factors in why he was made unable to harm? Something like "not only is this guy magical in the extreme, but even if we take away his means to do magic, he'd still be able to wreck our **** , better make him unable to do that". He might continue to practice in hopes that at some point, the ban on hurting will be lifted.

Using them makes everyone around thoroughly uncomfortable and wishing you bought a new one. Skybreakers are like cats.

My theory is that Saze knows perfectly well what Kel's up to and manipulates events subtly behind his back, figuring the best way to make him do what Harmony wants is to make him think it was his idea all along. Or Kel's unwittingly advancing Sazed's plans with no imput from Harmony's side and Sazed decided to stand back and let him continue, for the same reason as above.

I doubt Kelsier would know that - by the time he-as-Sovereign arrived in the South, people weren't being hemalurgically spiked anymore. If Sazed was witholding data from him, kandras would be Kelsier's only proof of how Harmony's control works. He might've assumed the rules are the same for kandra and people.

No; yes; don't, she's a vampire and will kill you; RAFO. You will never know the questions. I wish for a cup of drinkable hot chocolate that never runs out of hot chocolate, but won't drown me in it either.

Wayne already mentions Cosmere when visiting a bar in SoS. I don't have the book with me rigth now, but the sentence goes along the lines of "pondering the matters of the greater cosmere". It's probably just their world for universe, probably a leftover from Yolan or somesuch.