CaptainRyan

Small correction - the word "mandate", with a small m, was used by Harmony/Sazed in Hero of Ages, not by Khriss. See OP for the reference.

I feel the same as @Weltall on this; Sanderson seems to have accepted Intent as a canon term though, as you said, it is not yet in a book. Btw, I sometimes wonder if you are trolling us with that username @Confused haha. Are you the Shard (Powers?) of Confusion perchance?

Yeah it was the most recent signing That pretty much settled that Honorblade surgebinding was all Honor I think. Yeah, looks like it. I am going to add a follow-up question about this to my list and hope to see Brandon at a signing sometime to confirm. Thanks for the great WoBs and discussion!

This does seem to cast some doubt on my proposal but Cultivation did not necessarily need to be involved in the Oathpact for her to have been involved in the creation of the Honorblades, eh? If we assume the Honorblades were somehow directly connected to the Oathpact then it does make my theory less viable. I am definitely not convinced of my own theory but there is definitely a mixture of Honor and Cultivation in the spren so I would not be surprised if Cultivation was more involved in the Honorblades/Heralds than we know. Then again, I could be 100% wrong haha.

I believe 10 is reported to be an important number in the Rosharan system; e.g. 10 Heralds, 10 surges, etc. in a similar way that 16 was important in the Scadrian system. Also, AU spoiler: Edit: Why was I downvoted for this??

Here is a WoB I had in my word doc on questions I want to ask Brandon haha. I apologize for not having a link to the original source; this doc was only meant for my personal reference so I did not track where I found each WoB (emphasis mine).

Possible solution: the bond is the focus and the reason it grants two distinct powers is because each spren is linked both to Honor and to Cultivation. A Radiant/proto-Radiant draws in (relatively) raw Investiture through Stormlight and then focuses it using the bond which provides two options: the Honor result of the bond or the Cultivation result of the bond. Along those lines, Honorblades are simply tools designed by both Honor and Cultivation - the bond made with them acts as the focus for the Investiture of the bonded wielder in the same manner as a spren bond would. (I am assuming you can bond an Honorblade in a similar fashion to a Shardblade as Szeth can obviously summon/dismiss the Honorblade he carried.) Disclaimer: I know Syl claims to be an "Honorspren" but I think that simply means she identifies most directly with Honor but that she is still also composed, partially, of Cultivation. Please feel free to correct me if I am way off base.

Perhaps there is evidence to dispute this idea but I always just assumed that, eventually, the Investiture Nightblood "corrupts" simply goes back to whichever Shard it belongs to. E.g. I believe we know that Nightblood's "corruption" is actually just the mixing of Investiture so my head-canon is that the Investiture would eventually separate back out - think water/oil in a recently shaken jar. Another analogy would be how, eventually, if given enough time, even plastic or styrofoam break down. Furthermore, I, personally, believe that part of the reason Nightblood "corrupts" any Investiture that is taken in is because Nightblood itself was built using Investiture from multiple shards. Vasher did travel to Roshar before making Nightblood after all. If Endowment's Investiture (Breaths) were the only component of Nightblood then how would it "corrupt" (or mix) those nom-nom'd Breaths with another form of Investiture to mix with?

Suggestion: Create a list of scenarios and randomly assign them to each pairing. 1. Arena combat 2. Writing a novel 3. Painting contest 4. Win the 100m without magical abilities 5. Be elected mayor etc. That way characters without high combat ratings will still have chances to win their particular encounter.

I find this theory plausible though I am do not know if it is correct or not. My comment was only a response to the previous statement saying that only a shard, ala Endowment and the Returned, is able to resurrect with no issues.

Lift resurrecting Gawx in her interlude is a bit of a counter to this assumption. As far as we know, Gawx does not have an afterimage and his soul was not "repacked" by a shard.

Hmmm, is it suspicious that Vivenna noticed how it took "a lot more" breath? Perhaps because the stick she was using is a heavily invested stick worldhopper no? Brave stick must have been helping this other trapper before they were set upon by the predators. Notice how integral finding this particular trapper was to the end of the book. Coincidence? I think not. Great finds @Brightness Enna and @FiveLate! Keep it up Sharders! We will unravel the mystery of the stick worldhopper!

Friends, gather around. I have uncovered the greatest secret of all time. Perhaps this has been revealed before and, if it has, bless the Sharder who first found it. If it has not been revealed before, or if this post can reach just one more person and help them understand the depth to which Brandon has prepared the Cosmere for our enjoyment, then I think this post is not in vain. I quote from Elantris, page 466 and 467 of the Kindle version: This is where "Raoden" fixed Elantris by adding the chasm line to the city. Or, rather, this is where THE STICK fixed Elantris! Compare this to the following passage from Words of Radiance page 143 and 144 of the Kindle edition: Is it not suspicious that one of the beads that "surged" up to Shallan would happen to be a... nay, THE stick? It is, to me, quite obvious that the stick Raoden used to add the chasm line to Elantris is the exact same stick Shallan communicated with after the santhid rescued her. Note how the stick Shallan is speaking to "sound satisfied"... perhaps this stick was feeling so satisfied because it knew that it had been, literally and figuratively, instrumental in saving Elantris from the Dakhor monks! Perhaps this particular stick is now deeply embroiled in the fight against Odium in the Roshar system and, therefore, simply could not turn to fire for Shallan because the stick still had so much work to do. Perhaps Brandon Sanderson has given us a massive clue as to the fate of the Cosmere and we have been distracted by some doofus named Hoid (or whatever) and missed this obvious clue given in the very first published work! Also, lest we forget, there was an entire chapter of missing information about the stick that Sanderson gave us - I will quote the relevant portions of the chapter below! I propose a re-read of every Cosmere work with a distinct emphasis on finding out what the stick has been up to! I would wager that we can find the stick in each published work, quietly providing assistance to the characters of the book and not at all upset that Hoid (or whomever) has been soaking up all the glory! Truly, the stick is the worldhopper we need to focus on if we plan on teasing out more details on the Cosmere. edit: weird strike-through error corrected

Whoa! @Botanica! This is big! It provides a whole new perspective! This means the Diagram DID work! Or, at least, if my assumption that Eshonai was possibly going to be a Radiant then pushing the Alethi to fight the Parshendi caused her to, instead, become infected (infested? bonded?) with a Storm-form spren. Wow. Ok people, what does this little nugget of information tell us?! Any other ideas about what Peter's explosive revelation could mean?

The "small wells" Brandon mentions in that quote could be a reference to the small geodes of Atium that formed in the pits. Each geodes could have been a "small well" eh? Either way, I think it is pretty clear that the Pits are quite different from the other "Shardpools" we have seen.

Let's break this epigraph down into sentences using capital letters as the break point (ignoring proper nouns like "Alethi"): "There has to be an answer. What is the answer. Stop. The. Parshendi. One of them. Yes they are the missing piece. Push for the Alethi to destroy them outright before this one obtains their power. It will form a bridge." So, as I mentioned in the OP, the "jump off the page right into your face" interpretation of this is that the Diagram is suggesting that Mr. T push the Alethi to wipe out the Parshendi before they can summon the Everstorm. If that is the interpretation then the Diagrammists failed and... uhh, well hopefully there is a backup plan in the Diagram to cover this major failure on their part. But! What if that is not the proper interpretation of this epigraph? Is it possible this epigraph contains a mixture of information? That some of the sentences refer to the Parshendi and the Alethi and some of them refer to something else? This epigraph was originally obtained by taking every second letter from a jumble of writing and stringing them together. Clearly, Mr. T was not concerned with mixing information while writing the Diagram and I wonder if this epigraph is an example of how certain information got mixed together. Either that, or the Diagrammists failed and, if that is the case, I am not sure what that means for their cause.

This is from the epigraph of Chapter 89 in Words of Radiance [emphasis mine]: "TherehastobeananswerWhatisthe answerStopTheParshendiOneofthem YestheyarethemissingpiecePushfor theAlethitodestroythemoutright beforethisoneobtainstheirpowerIt willformabridge —From the Diagram, Floorboard 17: paragraph 2, every second letter starting with the second" I thought this was interesting as it matches with what Nale said about his fear, based on Ishar's lie/ confusion, that the Knights Radiant could form some sort of bridge that would trigger a Desolation. Now, the most obvious interpretation, to me, of this epigraph is that the Stormform parshendi formed a bridge using the Everstorm and Mr. T hoped that the Alethi would stop them. However, considering how cryptic the Diagram is and how unrelated information seems to sometimes be mashed together, are there any other interpretations this passage might be suggesting? What say ye, 17th Shard?

I think I disagree with how you are interpreting Sanderson's response. I will reproduce the lines from the Calamity release below: --- start Calamity release quote --- "LITTLE WILSON You mentioned that "half-ish" of the existing Shards are whole at the time of Shadows of Self. Is that counting splinters? BRANDON SANDERSON No. Splintered is one of the ways they are not considered whole. (He's thinking about Dominion and Devotion and says that's the opposite of whole) LITTLE WILSON I was thinking about shattered versus splintered, and going with shattered with Devotion and Dominion. And then splintered would be Honor separating a piece of himself to create the spren (pre-Shattering). BRANDON SANDERSON On Scadrial, Ruin and Preservation did the same thing. Their bodies are part of the world. Things on the spiritual realm don't matter where they are in relation to each other. All those spren are still Honor, when he was alive. Does that make sense? Yes, they're splinters of Honor, but they're still Honor. It's not like he's diminished, because his whole essence is the world. There's no diminishing that. So we're talking about the fracturing of the mind and killing of the Shard. That's the distinction between whole and not whole. LITTLE WILSON Are there any Shards we don't know of that are Shattered? BRANDON SANDERSON Yes. (Zas' sister says "Four....ish...right?") Eh....Honor is gone. Devotion and Dominion are gone. There are others. The question is is Cultivation gone or not? I haven't answered that for you. There are others. So this is why I'm not going to give you answers on this." [emphasis mine] --- end Calamity release --- Notice how Little Wilson clarified after Brandon answered the first time (the bold text). Sanderson was originally assuming Splintered meant what we refer to as Shattered. The next bold portion, in Brandon's response, shows what Brandon actually meant - Shards that have had their mind fractured and the Vessel is dead. So, in the context, Endowment is not one of the Shards that could be considered "not whole" as she still has her mind and has merely created splinters of herself.

Yes, we do. During Kaladin's fight with Szeth at the end of WoR we see Szeth hit by a "shardhammer". It merely breaks bones. It does not cut through Szeth like a blade would. As another example, the reason you can catch a shardblade using the "last clap" method is because only the edge of the blade is dangerous; the flat of the blade is not dangerous to the touch.

Someone correct me if I am wrong on this but is it not possible to use Lerasium in some way (perhaps alloying it with Atium or something else) in order to rewrite your spiritweb to make you a Feruchemist? I thought this had been discussed as a possible way for Hoid to have gained Feruchemical powers.

That seems like the most logical answer for sure. I am a bit bummed about it but, well, in Brandon we trust eh?

Excellent point! I do believe that would be correct!

Update: Peter responded to my question about Nalthis (at least, sort of) on Brandon's Facebook annoucement. My question: "I noticed in the Table of Contents there was nothing listed for Nalthis. Will there not be an intro into that system by Khriss? Has she, perhaps, never visited there?" Peter: "There is a teeny tiny minuscule amount of information on Nalthis, but no essay."

Tor.com just released the Table of Contents, along with some other minor info, about this month's release: Arcanum Unbounded. Someone commented that there was no mention of Nalthis. I was wondering, is that merely because there is no novella set in the Nalthis system or does it mean Khriss, who is doing introductions for each of the other systems we know of in the Cosmere, has never been there? Does anyone remember any mention of Khriss having been to Nalthis? Source: http://www.tor.com/2016/10/31/find-out-whats-inside-brandon-sandersons-new-cosmere-book-arcanum-unbounded/

Welcome! Finding Brandon Sanderson's works is such a joy, eh? I would caution you against looking at the Cosmere Theories forum or the Stormlight Archive forum until you have finished both the Way of Kings and Words of Radiance; too many spoilers in there for you haha