ZenBossanova

Ok, we know what the expanses represent. But are the nexuses ? Are they related to perpendicularities?

I don't think Shallan did classical mind control. She wasn't forcing them. There was at least one man who resisted what she was doing when she convinced the mercenaries to help defend her wagon train. She was helping them see themselves differently. Of course, I really wonder if it could be used in a dangerous way and how much the oaths defend against that.

Very interesting. Here is a more chilling reading. It is Taln saying this about Cultivation. Of course, I have no idea what promises she might have broken, but we know she has pretty much given up on Mankind. Still, I expect you are right. And I do wonder if Cultivation and Odium were friends at some level before Odium started killing everyone.

We know all objects exist in the three realms, Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual. Perhaps the surges exist that way as well. We see that Shallan's lightweaving could do some flashy physical things, but where it really got profound was when she helped change other people. That was either a cognitive or spiritual aspect of that surge. I suppose, all the surges must have this three-fold nature. Perhaps all the magic systems in the Cosmere are really this way.

Just an additional data point, Hoid sees that same afterimage when Jasnah Elsecalls at the end of WoR.

Word All the Heralds are actively avoiding their responsibility (9 of them, anyway). Even Nale is using his job to avoid his real responsibility. So, if you get a shardblade with the 3rd oath, shardplate (maybe) with the 4th, what do you get for the 5th oath?

Book 10 of the Stormlight Archive, will end with Odium defeated, and out of the Roshar system, but still at large. Perhaps helping out Bavadin.

I am sure it is Hoid. I am not arguing that. I am just saying, there isn't enough time for him to have been in there, for that to be the thing he was talking about. Hoid said he was in there the better part of a year. But there has not been that much time since Lift was in Azimir. Likewise, I don't think Wit has been away from Alethkar for that long a period. It might be possible to shoehorn that in, but that is going to be really awkward timeline-wise. I think the best answer, is that what Hoid/Wit was referring to, was sometime previous.

OK, read EdgeDancer, and the essays, but none of the rest of AU. Which story should I pay attention to? You didn't mean that That certainly isn't what he was talking about.

At the end of Words of Radiance, Hoid says, I once spent the better part of a year in a giant stomach being digested. It could be there is a shard of Hunger or Consumption. Such a shard would not want to either consume the world, nor stay where there is not enough to eat. The shard may have made its perpendicularity here, and then moved on to richer buffets. Notice, that the animals on the islands are very, very good at eating

Just in case you wanted to know where the rest of the shards are, the webcomic XKCD has finally revealed it. http://xkcd.com/1762/

Logically, it would seem it must temper the climate, or the Dayside would burn. But while I thought I remembered reading it, I don't know where.

You might enjoy this.

Considering it is an unstable point, that just means the Shard will have to occasionally nudge it back into place. We put satellites in unstable Lagrange points all the time. You just have to keep a little closer eye on them. And considering how much the Shard modifies the climate, this is probably a lessor worry anyway!

Brandon did a reading from book 3 that, without giving any spoilers, you might find interesting.

I am really not sure what is going on with Renarin. I want it to be awesome, but right now, I wouldn't rule anything out.

9 fools currently

It seems unlikely, but perhaps the afterimage is the spren associated with SkyBreakers.

I don't have an astronomy background, but I do have physics. And yes, a lot of stars, including our own, die by entering a red giant phase. Red is cooler in color than the blue end of the spectrum. So, are those just old stars (possible, Yolen is probably really old) or is something really killing them? In Liar of Partinel, there was an aether (which is kind of a spren/crystal?) that said it was possible to defeat the fain-life, but nobody had any idea how. That suggests it was not created by Adonalsium.

I really wanted it to be Self-Preservation. That would have been a good shard.

Then why would Hoid be interested in recreating Adonalsium? (assuming that is what he is doing) That would be suicide for the entire cosmere. The fain-life left humanity on Yolen hanging on the edge of survival.

I think it is important to notice The Red Rip / Taln's Scar or simply, The Scar on the star chart. We know Yolen has (or had) dragons and that the Scar constellation was a dragon. I think Yolen is in the Scar. We know that the fain-life on Yolen withstood even Adonalsium, pre-shattering. We know that the fain-life had killed gods (Hoid referred to Yolen as a place where gods died) and had killed most of the population, life and land. Perhaps it has even spread to the stars themselves. After all, if it can withstand Adonalsium, then what is really so hard about a solar inferno? I think the fain life is killing those stars, and whatever planets they have. It is spreading outward and Hoid knows it is just a matter of time. That is why he would even let a planet like Roshar die, because he thinks they are all dead, if he fails. I am not sure that chronologically earlier stories mention the Scar, or they don't make it sound as big. This is admittedly an argument from ignorance because there are very few references to the Scar. But the references we have are mostly later ones. This could also be a reason that Autonomy is acting so isolationist. The Scar is the fain-life killing stars, and expanding outward.

If the scar is where Yolen is, then the reason those stars are red might be the fain life. In other words, it isn't just infesting Yolen. It has over-taken an entire constellation, stars included. After all, if the fain life was sufficient to withstand Adolosium, then a solar inferno is easy. That really would give Hoid motivation to do what he must, because he knows it is a matter of time before it gets the rest of them as well.

A black hole does fit the data much better. For most stars, if they are putting off a significant amount of UV, then they are large, but that makes them easier to see.

Keep in mind, Splintered does not mean immediate death. We don't know how long they were around.