Lightspine

This entire post is based on the assumption that Sanderson is extremely thorough when it comes to the science and mechanics of his world. It is based off of two discrepancies: 1). the skin color of the Taldainians and 2). sandlings eat people. 1). Skin color is typically determined by exposure to sunlight. So why is it that daysiders are light skinned while darksiders have dark skin? It seems as though some time in recent geological history, recent enough that the genes of the Taldainian's haven't adapted to their exposure to sunlight, the sides of Taldain that were day and night were suddenly swapped, there was a mass migration where humans from one side moved to the other, or Autonomy created/brought humans to Taldain and placed the humans the way they are as of the time of the graphic novel. I find the last one most likely because of: 2). Sandlings and other sand creatures have carapace that dissolves in contact with water. Because of this, they can't eat vines in the ground which store it, because it melts there mouths. However, the deep sandling in the Mastrell's path tries to eat the people who come near, even though people aren't exactly dry. This must mean that the sandlings haven't learned not to eat people yet. Sandlings live extremely long lives, as the Mastrells say the one on the Path has been there for centuries. Animals can learn behaviors from prior generations, such as avoiding places or food. This shouldn't take nearly as long as genetic adaptations, but it will still take a few generations. That means the humans of Taldain haven't been in contact with the sandlings for more than a few of a sandling's life cycles. Even if those are hundreds of years, humans have only been on Taldain for at most a couple thousand.

Wait, doesn't that support my theory? Only the mind goes to the Beyond- upon death all bonds are broken (as happened to Szeth) so it would make sense that the Beyond is only visible from the cognitive realm.

Okay, that description makes sense. I hadn't read secret history yet.

Not exactly. The spheres in the cognitive realm are the cognitive aspects of the physical objects. They're part of the cognitive realm. Are you talking about something else j don't know of?

So far, we know almost nothing about the spiritual realm. Some people speculate that it appears as the sun in the cognitive realm, and we know that the Shards exist mainly in the spiritual realm. We also know people have "spiritwebs" and "spiritual DNA" which exist in the spiritual realm. Anyway, I was just reading the Way of Kings for what is maybe the fourth or fith time, when I reached the second to last chapter and actually gave thought about the place described by Dalinar at the start of his vision: "The sky was dark and he stood on a field of dull, bone-white rock, jagged and rough, extending in all directions. Off into eternity. Amorphous shapes made of curling grey smoke rose from the ground. Like smoke rings, only in other shapes. Here a chair. There a rockbud, with vines extended, curling to the skies and vanishing. Beside him appeared the figure of a man in a uniform, silent and vaporous, rising lethargically toward the sky, mouth open. The shapes melted and distorted as they climbed higher, though they seemed to hold their forms longer than they should." I haven't been on this site for that long, so this may have been pointed out before, but what if that was the spiritual realm? It seems completely different from any place previously described, and the figure in the uniform seems to be Dalinar. The smokey shapes may be the spiritwebs of nearby objects. In addition, Tanavast speaks to Dalinar and his voice comes from all directions. That could mean that Dalinar is surrounded by Tanavast, and we know that Shards exist mainly in the spiritual realm. I know there is barely any evidence for this but it seems like the best thing we have so far that could be the spiritual realm.

Wouldn't the cognitive realm be visible from the physical too then?

I feel that the "sparks of life" would be located with the minds of the people, not way up in the sky. The Cognitive Realm's appearance is based off its perception, after all, and I don't see why people would imagine the energy that gives them life high up there. It wouldn't be a bad location for the afterlife, however. (Forgot to make that point earlier).

I recently read this post about the "sun" in the Cognitive Realm and it got me thinking about what it could be: As far as I know, it has been proposed to be the cognitive shadow of Adonalsium (as explained in the above link) and the Spiritual Realm (not sure where this got started, but a commenter on the post above mentioned it). For those who don't know this topic, minds in the Cognitive Realm appear as flames, and smaller ones are weaker flames (as shown when Shallan visits Shadesmar to soulcast her ship). The "sun" of Shadesmar has been theorized to be an extremely large mind, but it could also be a massive collection of smaller minds. My theory is that the "sun" is actually the Beyond: the place souls go after they die, viewed from the Cognitive Realm. Upon death, it is known that a person's spirit visits the Cognitive Realm before moving on to the Beyond. That seems strange, unless the path to the Beyond is in the Cognitive Realm (this is also nicely illustrated by the "corridor" of clouds). This would make the "sun" a mind-numbingly huge collection of souls, the spirits of every thinking creature to have ever died, which would manifest as an enormous gathering of flame in the Cognitive Realm. Another thing backing this up is that Harmony can't touch the Beyond. In a released chapter from Jasnah's point of view after faking her death (read it here http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/) she can't touch the flames around her: they resist her, and block her influence. The Beyond, with it's colossal number of souls, might have enough resistance to block even the power of Harmony.

Not exactly the same. A cognitive shadow is sort of like the cosmere version of a ghost, a spirit that stays in the cognitive realm instead of moving on to the Great Beyond. Splinters are small pieces of a Shard's energy (but is different from investure, splinters are more a part of the shard. On Nalthis, for example, Divine breaths are splinters but normal breaths are a form of investure). Spren are splinters.

Thanks for the input! I appreciate you explaining the philosophies, I wrote my post based almost entirely on memory. I agree that not all of them conflict with the first ideal, but ones following it are suspiciously lacking. I just assumed they were Vorin as well. It wasn't a far fetched assumption, but I thought there was evidence behind it, thanks for clarifying there isn't. And also for clarifying that bit about the stormlight.

Strategically, giving two different shardblades to two different people would be more effective than giving them both to a single person.

Thanks for the correction! I also forgot to point out that stormlight being the power source for the Heralds and Radiants also makes sense. Honor made his Heralds completely immune to Odium's influence, and the spren copied him and made his knights the same.

I have a theory that I believe is new about the Hierocracy and how stormlight ties into the story. The theory about the Hierocracy arose when I noticed a discrepancy in Dalinar's visions. In them, Honor shows Dalinar the Radiants, the Recreance, and a few of the ancient threats: the Midnight Essence and Thunderclasts. But, he doesn't show Dalinar the Voidbringers. The Voidbringers were likely the largest threat to humanity, as they were remembered while other threats, such as Thunderclasts and especially the Midnight Essence, were forgotten. It seemed baffling at first that Honor would leave them out of the visions. (This is a discrepancy that I want to fix with my theory. If you disagree with my theory, that's fine, but I want you to fix this another way) There seemed to only be one reason why Honor would leave out the Voidbringers, and it's that he expected them to be remembered much better than they were. He believed that the modern Rosharians would know that the Parshmen were Voidbringers. However, he knew that information would be lost, which was why he made the visions. I can't bring up the quote, but in the final vision to Dalinar in WoK Honor makes it plain that he knows the Rosharians had began fighting among themselves, and they's forgotten who the real enemy is. Honor had anticipated this. What type of event could have caused information to be lost much quiker than expected?... oh wait. I believe that Odium brought the Hierocracy to foil Honor's preparations. Odium is likely able to whisper into people's minds, and could have used this power to make the priests take over. He guided them to destroy and change information about the Shadowdays. He also made them alter the Vorin philosophies. The one time these Philosophies have been analyzed in detail is after Jasnah kills the 4 thugs in the alley, and asks Shallan to decide if it was justified. Shallan lists the Philosophies, and explains how all of them in some way support the notion that one can perform ill deeds if they have good intentions. The Vorin teachings seem to be the exact opposite of the philosphies of the Knights Radiant. I'd now like to tie in stormlight to all this. It seems and odd choice for Honor. The Stormfather is a cognitive shadow of Honor (I think that was a WoB), so it seems that Honor's dying act was to perpetually distribute stormlight throughout the land. However, that may serve a purpose. On Scadrial, Ruin couldn't see metal, because it was a focus for energy. It might not be far fetched to say that Odium cannot see or influence things with Stormlight. By distributing it to the people of Roshar, Honor may have shielded them from Odium's influence. This was likely not enough, gemstones to hold stormlight were probably uncommon immediately after the Shadowdays, seeing how destitute the people seemed after Aharietiam. It seems unlikely that they were used as currency that far back. My theory is that Sunmaker was the one who introduced that. Perhaps he was an agent of Cultivation, and she used him to end the Hierocracy and make gemstones so widespread nothing like it could happen again.

Umm, Hitchhiker reference? Anyway, I'd like to see some opinions on who wrote the back covers of the books.

Good one. How does that fit in with our only known reference to the Dawnshards though: "taking the Dawnshard, known to bind anything voidish or mortal, he ascended the ten steps meant for the heralds" (that's the quote as I remember it but it may be off)

First of all, the theory: I had this theory a week or so back that I kind of joked about because it had this gaping big hole but now I've actually been considering it. Here goes: the force that shattered Stormseat and the one that created the Dawncities were one and the same, and the Listeners are the Dawnsingers. There are some things backing this up, the "singer" part of Dawnsinger matches with the Listener rhythms, and they are known to have inhabited Roshar before humans. At one point, the spren of Honor and Cultivation also bonded with them and not humans, and those forms could have been the Dawnsingers. The Dawnsingers had some sort of sound related power that allowed them to create the symmetrical Dawncities. (Though the process would include massive earthquakes). This probably would have been done by many singing together, such as when the Stormform Listeners summoned the Everstorm. This is connected to the shattering of Stormseat because, firstly, it was symmetrical in a similar way to the Dawncities, and secondly because of this snippet of a Listener song: "They blame our people For the loss of that land. The city that once covered it Did range the eastern strand. The power made known in the tomes of our clan Our gods were not who shattered these plains." -Listener song of Wars, 55th stanza These seems like pretty good evidence that the Listeners shattered Stormseat. It is also known that the shattering took place during Aherietiam, when the Listeners rejected their gods. Perhaps they briefly became Dawnsingers and used that power. This is where the huge hole is: how did the Listeners shatter Stormseat after they'd rejected their gods, and the only forms they knew were dullform and mateform (Eshonai mentioned this but can't recall the exact quote) and why did they not keep that power? Now the (completely unrelated) question: (which I will also try and answer) Somebody wrote the passages on the back cover of the books. Who? I have a list here of possible candidates and my judgement (I'm asking you for yours) of how likely they are: Hoid: He's definitly old enough to remember the "old days" when there was "honor in the hearts of men," and he has been seeking out Radients and helping them along their path, which is in line with writer saying that the ancient oaths must be sworn again. However, knowing things about "the surgeon," "the thief," "the prince," and "the assassin" and how one of them will "destroy us" and "may redeem us" seems to require shardic future sight. Cultivation: Like Hoid, she is old enough. She also possesses more shardic future sight than Honor. She seems the most likely, even though she hasn't been involved with the Radients as Hoid has. The Stormfather: Old enough, but may or may not possess future sight, and if he does, it is like Honor's and not terribly good. Also tried to prevent the bond between Kaladin and Syl, so he seems unlikely to have written the part about swearing the oaths again. As you may have noticed, all the conclusions above are from the back cover of The Way of Kings, because that's the one I remember better. I believe that of Words of Radiance just talked a bit about cracked souls and the nature of the magic. Any of the above may have that knowledge. That's all I've got. To the people who actually read all this: how does the theory sound? How can the hole be filled? Who do you think wrote the back cover? Edit: forgot to mention Dawnshards! How would they fit in (if they do at all) with the theory?

??What do you mean by "recommendation"??

For some reason what I haven't seen here is any quote from Jasnah and Hoid's conversation. When Hoid tells Jasnah that the Everstorm has been called and it will bring the transformation Jasnah says "that's not how it happened before." It seems the Everstorm existed before, but didn't bring the voidspren. I think that the shear side of Urithiru facing west is another indicator of this. Anyway, somebody above said that the Listeners may have hid in the wilderness between desolations. However, their songs mention something called the "dark home." No clue what that is, but it doesn't sound like the wilderness.

The best known example of this I can think of (though it hasn't been related to the dawnsingers) is the shattering of Stormseat. With the exception of the Oathgate, it is completely symmetrical, so I believe it could be similar to the formation of the Dawncities, except on a much larger scale. The reason why I say it's the best known is because, unlike the other cities, there is a Listener chant about it: "They blame our people For the loss of that land The city that once covered it Did range the eastern strand The power made known in the tomes of our clan Our gods were not who shattered these plains" - 55th stanza, The Listener Song of Wars If the power that shattered the plains was the same that created the dawncities, there is much information that can be deciphered (though not by me, I'm not terribly good at that). I'll just point out the obvious fact: the Listeners have the power, independent of their gods, (the voidspren) to shatter plains like this. This now fits in with a theory I've read which is that the Listeners were the dawnsingers (the "singer" part of that name seems to match with this"). I said I'd only point out the obvious stuff, since I'm bad at deciphering, but my bad deciphering has led to some theories that u good detectives will probably frown at, but here goes: The listeners say in their songs that the spren betrayed them, which is why they turned to the voidspren and bonded with them. That means that perhaps, at one point the Listeners were bonded to spren from Honor. In these forms, they were the dawnsingers and created the ancient cities. After or during Aharietiam, they abandoned the voidspren. This means that perhaps, they had a chance to bond with the spren from Honor, and used that power to shatter Stormseat. That fits, since Stormseat was said to be destroyed during Aharietiam. The big hole in this theory is obvious though. If the Listeners took up Honor's spren and used their power to shatter the plains, why do they no longer have that power? See, my theories suck...

To me it seems that the first death rattle means that Odium wins because mankind acted with honor (in line with tsravangians belief that he can only save the world by being dishonorable) and the second one is a reference to the parshmen: Odium seems nothing like a small child but the parshmen are harmless and innocent but have the potential to become vicious machines under odiums control. Cutting a throat seems like nothing to do with cutting bonds. However it does seem as though Odium was released in the AoL books but the death rattles u supplied as evidence don't match up.

Lol k that was resolved quickly

Noticed something odd about Alethi and Veden. I've read a number of Brandon's books, and so far only Stormlight contains wordplay. Wordplay that wouldn't make sense... If Alethi and Veden weren't forms of English. However, we have been told how to say certain things in Alethi (such as "bridge four") and it does not sound like English. Brandon is the type of author who puts tiny little details in his books that we easily overlook and have significance later. He doesn't seem like the type who would make a mistake like this. It doesn't seem unintentional to me, since I haven't seen wordplay in any other of his books but it literally fills the stormlight books (with Wit, Shallan and Kaladin making puns frequently). I haven't read all his books and have a baddish memory, so please point out any other instances of wordplay you can recall. Otherwise, what do you think is up with the Alethi language??

I remember that it was stated the kholin Princedom had a fourth the shards in alethkar after Adolins 4 on 1 duel. At that point he had his 2 shards, his brothers plate, the blade he won and gave his brother , another set of plate and another blade won (right? I'm having trouble remembering his duels) and the 3 sets of plate and 2 blades won in the 4 v 1. That's 6 plates and 6 blades. That means there's about 24 blades and 24 plates in alethkar.

Looking at the symbols for the surges, the symbols on the void binding diagram are derived from those on the surge binding one; if you take a symbol split it in half, and flip the left side upside down you change between the symbols. Symbols seem to have the same color too.

About light weavers, creation spren make most sense to me, but I feel like rain spren are also candidates even though they don't really match, since kaladin dislikes them and Shallan finds them intriguing (that's what I think I remember, correct me if I'm wrong). That seems to follow the wind runner and light weaver conflict (though shallan doesn't hate windspren)