Lightspine

Guys I have some cool thoughts One of the few things we've heard about the Nightwatcher is that she's female according to a certain scholar but a lot of people say she isn't female. What if she's actually so old that she is femalen? On a fun side note, are the spren imagined by Dysian Aimians genderless? Do they have a gender? On that note, how do they reproduce to make more Aimians. Is there a special hordeling for that???

Guys I might be going mad but the vibe i got from Renarin is making me think that he's the copycat. I believe he's trying to frame himself for Sadeas' murder to save Adolin. First off, he certainly knows Adolin was the killer. In addition, he was in a position to see Sadeas' body before it was moved.

I had a theory that the force that shattered the plains was a more powerful version of what the Dawnsingers used to create the symmetrical Dawncities (as demonstrated by Kabsal). I still hold to this theory, along with that the Dawnsingers were some form of Listener (imagine them singing together to make these cities/shatter the plain, like they did to summon the Everstorm). This theory makes sense but doesn't have much evidence. I like it anyway. Edit: i should have read the above discussion more closely. The connection between this and cymatics was already made. @thejopen27 had a nice idea that this was connected to the end of a desolation. That seems reasonable, but I believe there were more desolations than symmetrical cities, unless that theory that there were actually 9 desolations is true.

On the discussion of cousin spren, I noticed angerspren appear similarly to the Parshendi as stormspren. Could they be cousins? Also, that would add some mirror imagery: he Windrunners bond honorspren (which represent a sentiment), whose cousins are windspren (which represents a force of nature). Meanwhile, void-form parshendi bond the stormspren, the force of nature, rather than angerspren, the emotional spren.

Ah, I got my timeline mixed up. Thanks! This theory goes to the bin then.

Hey guys, there's been lots of speculation that something is wrong with Renarin's "radiant bond". I'd like to bring up a new related theory that I haven't heard brought up. I don't entirely believe this theory, but I have given it some thought and think it should be considered. First of all, there are a few reasons to believe that something's up with Renarin: his spren is never described, and his prediction of the everstorm, while true, was excessively pessimistic. In addition, his scrawling on the walls urged Dalinar to strike at a time which led him perfectly into the (nearly successful) parshendi deathtrap. I saw a little speculation that he has bonded a voidspren or something of that sort, but I would like to bring up something new. Renarin hasn't bonded a spren at all. Because he joined Bridge Four and became very respectful of Kaladin, he might actually be a squire, who has been tricked into thinking he isn't one by some agent of Odium. This agent of Odium has been showing Renarin some, but not the entire, future. The timeline of this would look like this: the agent of Odium first appears to Renarin around the time of the first time writing is found near Dalinar after a highstorm, giving him visions. Some time later, in order to make Renarin, and eventually others, less suspicious, it urges Renarin to join Bridge Four, hoping he will become a squire and be able to ingest stormlight (we don't know exactly when his eyes heal, but it seems to be quite a while after the first scrawled messages appear. We also don't know when Bridge Four began their ability to ingest stormlight, so it could be that Renarin discovered this earlier than they because the agent of Odium helped him to do so). The agent of Odium influences him for the rest of the book, having him leave messages such as "seek the center" for Dalinar that ultimately lead to him confronting the Parshendi during the Weeping, right in time for the Parshendi to embrace stormform. There are, of course, a few points to clear up to see if this is possible. Both are yet to be answered: if squires can hear shardblades screaming, and if Renarin has stopped ingesting stormlight because Kaladin is distant. For the first point, this is pure speculation. Are Radiants able to hear the dead sprenblades because they are slightly closer to the cognitive realm? Is this also why they can ingest stormlight? Are these abilities unrelated? Would they both be given to squires? I don't think we can hope for an answer here, at least without some good WoBs (I don't have any, do you guys?) For the second point, I would like to refer to Chapter 3 of Oathbringer: *bolded section is my edit Maybe I'm just seeing it this way because I'm looking for ways to tie it into this theory, but doesn't what Renarin says (bolded) seem almost as if he wants to say something else, but can't get it out? What if he has stopped being able to use stormlight? Thoughts? I'm open to anything right now. Edit: due to timeline placement of when Renarin removed his spectacles, this theory is void.

Also the highstorm's movement can somehow be affected by the stormfather? The storm that ended the weeping was NOT supposed to come, it occurred because the Stormfather wished it to, at least according to Syl. What does THAT imply? Did the Stormfather create a new storm? Or did he simply speed up its movement? Is it that each weeping is when the highstorm dies, and a new one starts and circles Roshar for a year, before dying at the next weeping, and that the Stormfather simply created a new storm sooner?

Also, with two references now both coming from Oathbringer excerpts, and none from the other books, I'm getting the feeling that this is actually an important historical detail, as if Brandon is trying to get us to notice it right now. I didn't think that way when I first created this topic - it was just some fun speculation, but now I think it might tie into the plot somehow. That does make sense. Perhaps the Hierocracy also covered up details about the use of Honorblades (assuming they were used) which would otherwise have led to pervasive rumors about what the Shin were capable of.

In addition, you must realize that the Almighty created this image, and his future sight was likely not accurate enough to know who the champion would be. It seems more likely Dalinar recognized an emotion in those eyes than that he recognized the person.

Ah, I was unawares of that. Even so, it has seemed like a solid assumption so far. There are no WoBs on this?

Any speculation yet on the golden light? Odium's color is red, why would his power appear gold? Or, is gold just a more generic color for investure (if so, I haven't noticed/heard about it)? The only other appearance of golden light I can recall from SA is Dalinar's dream at the end of WoR, but that light wasn't "terrible", it was warm and welcoming. Perhaps that was Cultivation's power?

This came from the second sample chapter that was released this morning! Doesn't bring up much new information, but just wanted to point out the reference. What does strike me is that this Shin conquest was very expansive, its referred to as if it had taken over a significant portion of Roshar. Also, is this list in order of occurance? We know that Sunmaker was after the Hierocracy, so does that place Shubreth before the Hierocracy? It would be interesting to see if that piece of history had survived.

There are a few aspects which I think are missing a bit from this discussion. First of all, when speaking with Nan, Szeth says that the gods of the Shin are the spirits of the stars and the stone. Nan says that Szeth does not worship them, and that Nan is one of his gods. (Please correct me if I got this paraphrasing wrong, I don't have the book with me right now). Secondly, Szeth calls the Sun the "god of gods". How is this belief related to the others? We know (from above) that they worship the spirits of the stars. The Sun is the nearest star. Lastly, their treatment of stone is just bizarre. They certainly see it as sacred, and that is the reason they consider mining and building with stone blasphemous. But walking on stone seems to be different - when Szeth is in Urithiru, he says he can walk on the stone there, not because it isn't sacred, but because it is especially sacred. It's the only place in the world where the "stones aren't cursed."

HI guys, I'd like to bring up a couple of quotes that I haven't seen discussed yet, and aren't in the older version of the prologue. (At least, not in the version which is posted on the "Excerpts" pinned page.) What is up with this? Am I misreading this quote? It seems as if the songs described humans this way. Or is it that the songs did not describe them at all, so they took that form in Eshonai's mind? I could see either interpretation. If the songs do speak of humans in this manner, what would be the reason for it? Because they used to fight each other as enemies? But, calling them "dark" and "formless" makes little sense - the human legends tell of the voidbringers in a negative light, but they also got some details correct: skin of ash and fire (orange and black) and red eyes, while exaggerations, at least had some origin in the appearance of the Void-form parshendi. Darkness and formlessness, meanwhile, are wildly inaccurate. The entire spoken part above is new. First of all, Gavilar shows he knows of the Five. This is pretty unsurprising, even though Gavilar never showed this knowledge in the previous version, so, even though it is new, I don't think we need to speculate much about that detail. The detail I bolded seems more important. Who is watching Gavilar? The Ghostbloods (seems likely)? Jasnah (unlikely, but seems almost plausible)? The heralds? (at least 2 of them were at the feast!) I feel as if this is related in some way to the voice in the rhythms. Whoever that was, they knew the Listeners would need an assassin, so they had to have had knowledge of Gavilar's plans. But, would Gavilar even notice a being omniscient enough to speak through the rhythms spying on him? I feel as if he is likely being watched by multiple parties, and he may not have known about all of them. Thoughts? Edit: Forgot to talk about the end of the second quote! ("I need their help to achieve something."). It sounds as if Gavilar can't bring the Listeners back to their old forms without the consent of their leaders. It's not as simple as him breaking some gemstone and unleashing an Unmade or something of that sort: It requires active participation by the Listeners in some way.

I was thinking it could have been the black sphere which Szeth hid away (given by Gavilar) and Hoid had retrieved it somehow. That would've been a lot more interesting. Oh well.

I believe there's a WoB saying that it is a bit traumatic and painful for the spren, but the spren survives and can form another Nahel bond. There is evidence even without this WoB: Syl mentions Kaladin is not the first person she's bonded with.

Soulcasting radiants never used fabrials. The soulcaster Jasnah has is a decoy to disguise her ability to soulcast on her own. She was able to soulcast perfectly well even with the broken soulcaster that Shallan replaced it with. However, Jasnah did need the gems on the soulcasters - for some reason, soulcasting seems to require stormlight being held in the correct type of gemstone. Soulcasting fabrials are a form of surge-manipulating fabrial, one of the two we've seen. The other is the healing fabrial.

Nightblood can control those who are "evil", but I wouldn't label any radiants or radiantspren that way. Unless your definition of "evil" is super strange.

Wait, didn't Szeth need 10 heartbeats to summon his honorblade? Has anybody given that some thought? I doubt the Heralds were limited in such a way. Especially becausel living sprenblades, which were made to imitate the honorblades, do not require these heartbeats. Something about the honorblade has definitely been changed, but it's not exactly like a dead spren, because Kaladin does not hear it screaming. Seriously, what is up with that?

I considered this, but, if you read the OP, I mentioned that I find this unlikely because Nale carried one around. Nale would only do this if he could somehow guarantee that all of the Aimians other hordelings were dead, but that seems very difficult.

(I agree with a LOT of the predictions made above. I'm only writing down new ones that haven't been mentioned) 1. Jasnah will expose herself as alive to her family. 2. We find out what Dalinar asked for from the Nightwatcher. My guess is he asked to be like Gavilar. (Thus leading to his visions, reading and agreeing with The Way of Kings, eventually courting Navani, possibly even his position as a Radiant) (Also, nobody has posted this as a theory? I guess I should) (Stuff that only makes sense if you read Edgedancer:) 5. Kaladin brings some form of justice upon Roshone (but without breaking his oaths) 6. Shallan becomes some kind of double agent, acting for both Jasnah and the Ghostbloods. As part of the climax, she tries to reconcile them and make them band together. (Sorta Spoilers if you don't really know what Sleepless are)

Additional hint that the Sun is related to the Beyond: (Massive Oathbringer released chapter spoiler) Also, there has been a great amount of discussion on this topic already: (there is also a link in the post i just linked to that has even earlier discussion of the Sun, although the Great Beyond was not mentioned in that one) I don't think we know enough yet to tell if the Sun is the Beyond, or simply the Spiritual Realm which is closer to the Beyond, so the pulling effect would still be from the Beyond.

I meant only the last two lines of the passage. I agree that all the prior stuff makes much more sense when applied to Roshar as a whole.

I agree with all that has been said. In addition, I believe the last two lines do not refer to Roshar as a whole, but rather to the Aimians. "Redeem" is not quite the same as "save" - redeeming seems to imply that somebody was falsely accused and has been vindicated. This term would make much more sense referring to the Aimians, once allies now believed by all to be enemies, than to Roshar. If this is true, it seems that one of the Four will be responsible for destroying all of the remaining Aimians. This seems chilling, and I have no clue how they could accomplish this. When it comes to fighting capability, Szeth and Kaladin certainly take the cake, at least in their current state. However, I believe that against the Sleepless, soulcasting (at least of the form Jasnah displayed, which seems like it is different from Shallan's) would be much more effective than swinging swords around. So, if one of the Four directly murders the Aimians, my bet is it will be Shallan. That said, one of the four may simply indirectly cause their deaths.

If I remember correctly, Szeth tells Darkness/Nin that his gods are the "spirits of the stones and the stars" - the sun in particular is perhaps worshipped as above all others, but all the other stars in the sky are also "gods". (wait... is this a connection the the eyes of Nalt?????????????) My other thought is that this is somehow related to the sun of shadesmar (although that does nothing to explain why they worship all stars).