ZenBossanova

I still think Jasnah & Kaladin for a political marriage is what will happen. He isn't just a bridgeboy anymore. He is one of most important people on Roshar.

Fact: On Yolen before the Shattering, there were three races, Humans, Sho-Del, and Dragons. Theory (with a heafy grain of salt): Each of these have a primary aspect in a different realm. Specifically, Humans:Physical Realm, Sho-Del:Cognitive Realm, and Dragons:Spiritual Realm. Of course, we have very, very little evidence to base this on. It is a weak theory at this point. Observation: We have only (apparently) seen humans on the different Shardworlds. Why? Proposal: I propose it is because it differs between races, what they consider most essential about their race. In other words, if you met a being that looked human, but thought differently from you, and/or had a different spiritual outlook from you, you might agree or disagree with that being, but you would call it human. But this may simply be our human perspective. What would a Sho-Del consider to be the defining characteristic of their race? Would they care at all about the physical appearance, if the cognitive aspect were there? What would a dragon say about a being that had their spiritual powers, but looked or thought differently? Note, that (in the very non-canon) chapters Brandon has released on Yolen, Frost the dragon appears, at times, quite human. We may have been looking at Dragons and Sho-Del the entire time, and have not realized it.

The other thing I wonder about, is if mass, and energy and investiture are all interchangeable, then does empty space have a zero-point level of Investiture, like it does for energy. Could the appropriate misting be able to drain that (like in the Casimir effect)? If so, that should generate negative space-time curvature. If that is possible, then you could make a Alcubierre drive.

Nalthis, of all of them, should be the easiest, if you have sufficient physics knowledge. Just make the exterior of the spaceship of a useful material (probably not metal) and awaken it with a command like, 'produce a tachyon field' , or 'warp space-time' , or (if you believe the ER-EPR theory) then simply 'create wormhole' . The commands would need to be more detailed with specific numbers, but it should be within the grasp of the average educated Awakener and his/her crew. A similar trick should be possible on Taldain if Autonomy allowed it.

What I want to know, is why Hoid went through all the trouble for that particular spren. I am sure he could have found a random spren more easily.

I don't see Jasnah being a demure, submissive First Lady. She is Queen. If Kaladin is to rule, you can be sure, Jasnah will insist on an egalitarian power-sharing, co-rule. But yes, Kaladin will be very loathe to engage in anything like politics. The question is, is it necessary to save his people? That is his overriding concern.

This is the one that I was thinking of, but it certainly gives more credit to what @Subvisual Haze said

I have wondered if his 4th or 5th oath would be to find a way to save the Parshmen. I also recall a WoB about that image with spears that goes along with Kaladin chapters, and how this will be more significant as time goes on. Kaladin has not nearly begun to peak, which makes the importance of a political marriage that much more urgent.

A very good point. Two things that may help neutralize that, are that we are in the middle of a Desolation, and the religious implications of having actual Radiants. Of course, Dalinar is a heretic, so that last reason may not mean as much as usual.

I am not at all convinced Kaladin and Jasnah would naturally make a good couple. I think there is a good case that it would take a lot of work, at best. At best! (at worst, they kill each other). Nor have I followed the Jas-adin debates closely, so I apologize if this has already come up. But I am not convinced Jasnah would spend much time even taking their compatibility into account. Of course, for that matter, I think it is entirely possible that Jasnah perfers women. But when she first realizes Shallan was a Radiant, she immediately has her engaged to Adolin. Now, there are far too many Radiants to that for everyone. But arguably the most important man on Roshar, after Dalinar, is Kaladin. He is the most accomplished Radiant so far (even if Shallan is technically ahead of him in oaths) and he has the most squires by far. Of course, part of that is his order's resonance/quirk, but still, he has the most. Jasnah is going to want him to marry into her family. This will be important for the Kholin Dynasty survival and stability. It would not be wise to have someone so powerful compete for power, even if utterly unintentionally. History will be a compelling factor here for Jasnah. I am sure she knows of other great dynasties that collapsed for similar reasons. So, if Jasnah can't marry him to one of her sisters, she will make a play for him herself. And I expect she will be terrible at it. Shallan might be helpful, with her powers of transformation, for instance how she helped the bandits become better men, even if she is helpless at transforming material. (I am a stick!)

Dalinar is certainly getting messages to unite them, from someone other than the Stormfather. Whoever that is from, it is very likely the same as Unity. Honor is dead, so if the Stormfather doesn't know about it, it can't be him either. I still stand by Adonalsium.

I am going to go with a third option - Cultivation. She has had time to plan and cultivate and she is has set up things so some Radiants (of which Renarin is the first) will have a powerset partly of Odium, and be completely invisible to him. The more power he brings to Roshar, the more powerful these wildcards become. Note, it isn't just Renarin. It is also Venli. She has a mixed powerset as well, when that shouldn't be possible, and again, Odium is ignorant of it. Cultivation is co-oping Odium's own power and advantages for herself, all under his nose and without him knowing. Prediction: When Odium does figure it out, he is going to flip out in a highly disproportionate manner. He will not be happy with powers mixing.

I was trying to think of somewhere to use a song from Paint Your Wagon. Depending what you have in mind, you might try Gold Fever. Plus, it is sung by Clint Eastwood. Edit: On second thought, you probably wanted those words, instead of just the idea, so this probably won't work. But the moral ambiguity would be great for Moash.

Brandon has really refused to clarify what was happening here, but he has said that Dalinar only said the third oath. So, when Dalinar said, I am Unity, I think Odium temporary confused him with Adonalsium. That is the only group murder we know of that Odium/Rayse was a part of, was the Shattering of Adonalsium.

One thing that occurred to me, is how quickly Jasnah decided to have Shallan marry into the family, once she realized that she was a Surgebinder. Of course, there are a lot of Surgebinders now and I certainly don't expect Jasnah to become involved with the Lopen! But Kaladin is a leader among Radiants, and the only one to be given land. He is the only one to start raising other Radiants. Besides Dalinar, Kaladin is arguably the *most* important Radiant. I am certain Kaladin rubs her the wrong way, but the political consequences of someone so important, powerful and charismatic as Kaladin is going to remind Jasnah of countless instances in history where this kind of thing has weakened or destroyed ruling families. She may pursue this as a political marriage for strictly political reasons. Of course, there are a lot of other things on their minds while they are in the middle of a Desolation.

People from Yolen must be pretty rare, or out of the public eye, as Khriss still has not found it yet. How do you get in touch with people that hard to find? The mechanics of of how this works still makes me curious. I still think a Shard of Communication makes a lot of sense. And a corresponding Shard of Sight. But there is more than just addressing a letter to Yolen.

My guess is that Cultivation is behind this strange merging of powers, and she made him relatively invisible to Odium in order to mess up his plans before he could even see it. Now, what we will have to look for in the future is, other sapient spren, who are also off of Odium's radar.

My thought has been that if humans have the Nahel bond, and Parshendi have their own bonds, for making forms, then Aimians have a different kind of bond, specifically for fabrials.

I think Taravangian and Rlain would be fantastic, if unconventional, Bondsmiths. Rlain in particular would be a good way to start unifying humans and parshmen.

Considering that Odium's response to the Unity line is "We killed you", I think he temporarily mistook him for Adonalsium.

If we compare most magic systems, they are all very different. Allomancy and the Metallic Arts are nothing like Awakening, which is nothing like what happens on Sel. Etc, etc, etc. But if we compare Surgebinding and Voidbinding, they are almost identical. There are some differences, but they are very small in comparison with any other magic system. So why is Voidbinding so similar to Surgebinding? We do know that dustbringer spren used to be voidish. And one Unmade may switch sides. The red we see in many cases, is due to one magic system running another system. I wonder if there is a lot more to the history of Odium and Honor and Cultivation.

Ok, I read the Liar chapters, but I have not read the Aether of Night book yet, but can any one give me a tentative non-canon explanation of Aethers?

It may be foolish for Mr T to make a deal with the devil, but I strongly suspect, it was unwise of the devil to make a deal with him. And yes, Renarin is a key. I wonder if Odium can see any of the half-void Radiants.

Tarivangian is a real possibility. Yes, he is a bit evil, but it is his goal to unite.

I am sympathetic to this viewpoint, but as it stands right now, we can't tell how things entangle, without a regular-speed signal. Keep in mind, that Entanglement is just a kind of statistical correlation. If it makes you feel better, one of the most interesting theories out there right now is called "ER=EPR", which suggests that those entangled pairs, are really connected by quantum sized wormholes. So, who knows? Maybe in the future we can do some crazy super-luminal stuff with it, but right now we just can't.