Torrieltar

Got a better picture of the back cover thanks to /u/Jerigord on Reddit. @phoenix2563 had it right!

I'm very much on board with Tezim = Ishar. Navani's quote and Ishar's divine attributes make it seem all the more likely. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/5t8kcl/

Brandon commented on a couple of these on Reddit:

Reddit has a pretty good list compiled here.

If Szeth has bonded or is in the process of bonding Nightblood, it could just be because Nale only held Nightblood, but hadn't bonded it.

I'm one of the ones who thinks Nightblood is causing it. Szeth's afterimage is described similarly to but distinct from the normal glow of Stormlight. This is very reminiscent the effect that Nightblood has on Nalthis, similar to but distinct from a normal BioChromatic aura. It would make sense that this aura would manifest differently on Roshar, a different Shardworld. I'm still undecided on whether or not Lift is the only one who can see it, though.

Hehehe... I saw that WoB earlier today, and I took it as a challenge to create a crack theory revolving around Adolin wearing different clothes. It was actually a lot of fun and I ended up finding a lot more evidence than I was expecting. Now I think I might be starting to believe it...

Have you ever had an insane theory made of flying chulls and pure malarkey? Have you ever extrapolated so much from a single line of text that you've realized that Shallan's stick is actually Adonalsium in disguise? Are you still convinced that Reckoners is Cosmere? Keep your aluminum foil lined hats on, because this thread is the place for you! Now's your chance to share all of those random ideas that you know no one would ever believe. I'll start with a theory about this WoB: Clearly, from the context of the quote, this new outfit is related to the Adolin/Sadeas incident, and considering that the outfit isn't a Kholin uniform, it's very clear that Adolin will no longer be fulfilling the same role as a prince of Alethkar and a leader of the Kholin armies. This is how it will happen: having discovered the culprit, the Alethi have Adolin exiled and Dalinar is forced to go along with it to maintain peace in Alethkar. But Dadlinar has a secret mission for Adolin, and this new outfit is involved--he wants Adolin to act as his secret diplomat to Azir! This development was actually foreshadowed multiple times in Words of Radiance. Notice Adolin's thoughts here, on page 583 of Words of Radiance: "Adolin took a gulp of wine, not trusting himself to reply. I should just get up and walk away. But he didn't. A small part of him wished for Sadeas to provoke him, push away his inhibitions, drive him to do something stupid. Killing the man right here, right now, would likely earn Adolin an execution--or at least an exile. It might be worth either punishment." To add a little support to that, the last time Adolin thought something along these lines was in the Way of Kings, pg. 185, which was also foreshadowing. "Dalinar, who might once have responded to the veiled slur, said nothing. Adolin gritted his teeth. It was flat-out unconscionable for Sadeas to be taking shots at his father in his present state. Perhaps Adolin should offer the pompous scumbag a challenge. You didn't duel highprinces--it just wasn't done, not unless you were ready to make a big storm of it. But maybe he was. Maybe--" Other than Taravangian, the only ruler Dalinar specifically mentions contacting via spanreed after Everstorm hit was the Emperor of Azir, who didn't believe him. If Dalinar wants to unite the nations against the Desolation, he'll need to establish stronger communication and trust with Azir, and what better way to do that than to send his own son? Adolin was seen looking through a fashion book in Words of Radiance, of which we see a couple of pages. The only non-Alethi outfit we see is Azish. Why? Because that's the outfit Adolin will be wearing in Stormlight Three as Dalinar's emissary to Azir! There's a theory floating around that Adolin will revive his Shardblade and become a Radiant. We know from in-book evidence and WoB that Adolin's Blade once belonged to an Edgedancer, and where was the only Edgedancer we know of last seen? That's right, Azir! Lift will train Adolin to become a Radiant. To be a diplomat, Adolin would have to have access to a lot of knowledge of other cultures. Luckily, Adolin already has a bodyguard who knows a lot about these sorts of things - Sigzil. And where's Sigzil from? Azir! So, what crazy, off-the-wall theories do you all have bottled up? They can be as elaborate as this one, or just a single sentence of speculation. As a final note, since this thread is for sharing theories we already know no one else would believe, let's try to just have fun with them and not shoot any of them down.

Brandon also answers a lot of questions on each of his updates. Here's what he's said so far:

Is this thread still being watched? This one's on page 608 of the hardback. "Hopefully, from that position, she wouldn't notice that Amaram was shorter than he should be. Even walking on her tiptoes--which was masked by the illusion--she was shorter than the highprince." Instead of highprince, it should be highmarshal. EDIT: So, I checked the paperback version, and this change has already been made

We do have this:

You're right about Hoid using Feruchemy to show up for all of these important events, though. Whether his Lerasium bead is involved with this or not is anyone's guess. Personally, I think he's using Chromium, but who knows?

Granted. Unfortunately, you will never be able to find out what it was that you were given. I wish for the ability to travel through time.

Not exactly. Here are the only quotes I found about it. It's not quite as cut and dry as I remembered, but 'years' to me implies at least three. Since a year on Roshar is 500 days, that would be put it at at least 1500 days before the Everstorm.

Nice post, @Spoolofwhool! Have an upvote. There are a few points here that I want to address, though. First, my personal theory about how Taravangian saw into the Spiritual Realm is a lot simpler than the one about varying levels of investiture. I take the Nightwatcher's boon and curse at face value, Taravangian's fluctuates inversely to his compassion. I just think that there's some sort of threshold of intelligence beyond which the 'weight'(?) of someone's mind in the Cognitive Realm is enough that they begin to touch on the Spiritual Realm. There are probably any number of explanations for this that we really don't know enough about Realmatics to nail down. Second, I agree that any doubts I have about whether Taravangian had enough information going into the making of the Diagram to come to the conclusions that he did are far from conclusive. You raise some good points here. Third: Hope you don't mind reading an essay of my own... I would argue that, yes, it is that different. The difference between cult and national psychology is huge. The only times that they approach one another is when a nation is placed under a huge amount of pressure over the course of years, strong enough to unite almost everyone in a backlash against it, or through literally generations of cultural conditioning, neither of which was the case in Kharbranth at the time. Even then, in most cases, people wouldn't actually voluntarily commit suicide because you decided they weren't intelligent enough--you would have to hunt them down and kill them. Suicide cults are based almost entirely on personal charisma, which breaks down on a national scale, even for a city-state. They also depend on finding a few vulnerable members on society and separating them, whereas Taravangian would have to convince literally everyone. It's easy to imagine a nation of faceless sheeple being swayed to listen to Taravangian's arguments, but what if we imagine actual people? Would Taravangian be able to convince people like Gaz, Lopen, Bluth, Tvlakv, Moash, Yalb, and Elhokar to commit suicide through rational argument? None of them are particularly noted for their intelligence, and I can't imagine a single one of them being swayed under normal circumstances. Now, let's look a bit more into the specific obstacles that Taravangian would face. It's already an uphill battle, since despite Taravangian's cult following, he's largely seen as a weak, stupid king even within his nation and isn't taken seriously. He would have to reveal himself as super intelligent, but then some would distrust him. After all, this is a pretty superstitious society and he just proclaimed that his level of intelligence fluctuates each day, and maybe even explained the involvement of the Nightwatcher. Beyond that, it would also rally a lot of the upper class who mostly leave him alone because of his apparent stupidity against him. Even if he had the ability to convince the masses that suicide was in their best interests, he would be opposed by a lot of already entrenched factions, who might see this terrible idea of his as either inflammatory enough to cause them to rise up against him or an opportunity to turn opinion against him and score political points, maybe even seizing power from him. Think how much opposition Dalinar received to his strategies of working together with the highprinces to end the war on the Shattered Plains, and scale that up quite a bit. The ardentia especially would almost certainly condemn this kind of decision. From there, Kharbranth's diplomatic relationship with the other Vorin nations would be strained immensely, pressuring Taravangian to either retract his decree or be left alone as a tiny city-state with no military and no allies. And now any plans Taravangian might have had with the Diagram go kaput. I mean, it's theoretically possible that he could pull it off, but it would need to be the single thing he was working toward for years and years, totally setting aside any Diagram-related goals, with all the influence and political subtlety he could muster, and, of course, no guiding hand from the Diagram. Even then, the consequences would be severe. But I've been saying all of this without getting to the crux of the issue. Taravangian wasn't thinking about years of subtle political and psychological maneuvering to pull this off. He was so incredibly oriented towards intelligence and logic, without any empathy whatsoever, that he literally thought that he could just enact the law day and that most people would think it over, say to themselves, "Yeah, that makes sense," and commit suicide. It didn't occur to him that they could come to another conclusion as soon as he made the case to them in a rational and logical fashion. There was no idea of using fanaticism or cult psychology at all. That's the whole point of Taravangian not being able to make decisions on law on days when he's super smart--because it's monumentally stupid, and he knows it. Compare this with advice from the Diagram. There's still the same utter lack of empathy in the Diagram, but suddenly Taravangian understands how people work again? It doesn't add up to me. Lastly: The epigraph for Chapter 88 is the list for the dates of all of the Highstorms up until the coming of the Everstorm. It's not definitive proof that he knew the Everstorm specifically was coming, by any means, but why would he end the sequence there if he didn't? Also, note that the epigraph was actually a part of the diagram, so he had it written long before they got that particular Death Rattle.

Another option is that he wasn't quite as immersed in the Spiritual Realm as SPOILER was, sort of like how Shallan was able go just partway into Shadesmar when she tried to soulcast Stick. Ha! That's seriously cool, what a coincidence. I guess you get Hoid's Novelty Award for this theory

We already know that something was different about Taravangian's day of brilliance. On Adrotagia's chart, his intelligence was completely off the charts, something that could only be expected maybe once every two thousand years--this makes it immediately suspect for the rabid theorizers of the 17th Shard. Furthermore, we've actually seen that when Taravangian is smart normally, he actually gets worse at predicting the actions of other people. After all, he suggested a law that people under a certain IQ should commit suicide, and expected it to actually work. Something doesn't add up here. It's always been my opinion that on Taravangian's day of brilliance, that he was intelligent enough that his mind transcended the Cognitive Realm and saw into the Spiritual Realm in some limited way. This would explain the discrepancy between this day and every other, as well as some of Taravangian's more unlikely deductions. Let's put aside the fact that he apparently knew each and every one of the most powerful people in Roshar well enough to reliably predict how they would react, despite being demonstrably worse in some ways at predicting the actions of others on his more intelligent days. You might even explain his knowledge about Taln (ch. 83), the honorblades (ch. 78), the secret behind the Recrearnce (ch. 84), and the Unmade (ch. 81-82) as piecing together knowledge from old legends and Gavilar's visions. But how, in Chapter 88, could he know exactly when the Everstorm would strike? And, of course, the epigraph from chapter 85. "But who is the wanderer, the wild piece, the one who makes no sense? I glimpse at his implications, and the world opens to me. I shy back. Impossible. Is it?" This gives me the impression that more's going on here than simple guesswork, but that Taravangian was actually seeing something. The evidence doesn't stop here, though. We've seen descriptions of other characters looking into the Spiritual Realm before. Compare the descriptions Taravangian gives to of the day he wrote the Diagram to these descriptions of looking into the Spiritual Realm. ... ... ... ... Now, you might be wondering, "Didn't Taravangian just say in that last quote that he didn't see the future?" Yes, but as shown in the first quote, Taravangian doesn't actually remember any of it. He's just basing that statement on the fact that there are errors every now and then, which is consistent with seeing into the Spiritual Realm. So, between the uniqueness of that one day, the inexplicable accuracy of the Diagram, and the similarity of the description to other instances of peering into the Spiritual Realm, it seems clear to me that that's what Taravangian did on that day. But what does all of this mean? I find it pretty ominous that the guy who looked into the Spiritual Realm figures the measures he's taking are the best chance humanity has for survival. I also find it interesting that both the Diagram and Nale, two of the most knowledgeable factions we know of, both oppose the return of the Radiants. Only time will tell...

This is absolutely normal, and you're definitely not alone there. I remember being really confused at the beginning of The Way of Kings. What's a spren? What's a chull? Why are there so many disconnected viewpoint characters, and why are there so many time-skips? What do Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan have to do with each other? Now, I can say that The Way of Kings is my favorite book, bar none. With that in mind, here are a few tips that might help you out. First, and most importantly, you're not expected to remember all of the information that you're being presented. A huge chunk of the information about the world and characters in The Way of Kings is there more to set the tone and atmosphere than to provide plot-relevant details--this applies to things like the epigraphs (the random quotes at the beginning of each chapter) and the Interlude chapters, which mostly feature one-off characters who don't impact the narrative in a meaningful way. It's meant to just sort of wash over you. It's OK not to understand everything that's going on, and it was intended to be that way. It's a lot of fun to go through these things with a fine-toothed comb on a re-read, but in my opinion taking notes on all of those things on your first time through would be detrimental to your reading experience. (This also applies to anything related to the Cosmere--it's interesting on a re-read, but definitely non-essential to your enjoyment of the story.) Related to the first point, the things that are important to the plot are things that will come up often enough over the course of the story that you'll remember them when they matter. Most of the time, I didn't realize they were clues at all when I read them, but I definitely remembered them. Just focus on Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar, and you'll be fine. Third, The Way of Kings is a bit of a slow starter, even in the realm of epic fantasy. Sometimes, it'll feel like nothing at all is happening, but everything is build-up for the awesome climax at the end. And it really is AWESOME! Definitely one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. Lastly, just trust Brandon to tell a good story. He often says that The Stormlight Archive is something that is intended for readers who already trust him, which is why he can take liberties and add things like all of the epigraphs and Interludes. If it's really not coming together for you, then I would suggest you put it on hold for a little bit while you read a some more of Brandon's other books to build up that trust. Good luck!

Here it is! Basically, at the rate he's going, and with no tours or other interruptions planned, the first draft should be finished around mid-October. He's finished up through Part Two, as well as all of the Dalinar flashbacks, and the word count is 247k of an estimated 400k. Also, he's trying out a new process in an effort to speed up revisions. After he finishes each part, he's sending it to his team to do continuity and editing while he keeps writing, which means the second draft should be finished more-or-less at the same time as the first draft. As for actual content: Any speculation on who the "unexpected and interesting" viewpoint characters might be? Personally, I think it would be very interesting to learn more about Tezim, the Tukari god-priest.

Hmmm, these cookies are starting to sound suspicious. Is there anything else, like soup?

Thanks! As for other types of leaking metalminds, the way I see it a little bit of the Investiture might stick to you, but you would still have no way to actually access it. It's just kind of... there, until it disappears of its own accord. Sort of like anyone other than Vin trying to use the mists. It's there, on you and around you, just inaccessible. Technically, the leaking Investiture from the nicrosilmind is equally inaccessible, it's just a way to trick the magic system into believing that you have the ability to access what's in the metalmind. With gems on Roshar, I'm pretty sure they leak faster than a SoScad medallion, but I'd guess that a theoretical perfectly cut gem on Roshar could absorb leaking Investiture like that. We've already seen that gems can be used for capturing spren for making fabrials, and this wouldn't be all that different. That does make me wonder what other methods there are of gathering loose Investiture in the Cosmere. Do you mean, could a Radiant use it like they use Stormlight? I'd say it's analogous to using what's leaking from a Hemalurgic spike as Stormlight. The leak is a very small one, so it's probably not very useful. Beyond that, it's hard to say. Brandon's always given super vague answers on converting Investiture to fit other magic systems in the Cosmere, usually saying something along the lines of "All Investiture can be used for every magic system, but it requires a hack, and some of those are easier than others." My gut tells me that this would be one of the harder hacks to do, as compared to using Breaths or the mists as Stormlight, but not impossible. I would be very curious to hear Brandon's answer to whether or not Drabs can use unkeyed metalminds.

Inspired by reading through this thread. So, the question came up: How is it possible for a non-Feruchemist to tap an unkeyed nicrosilmind? We saw what happened with an unkeyed goldmind - only Wayne, a Bloodmaker, was able to tap it. It should logically follow that only a Soulbearer can tap a nicrosilmind. Except that apparently isn't the case. Furthermore, a nicrosilmind seems to be the only one that breaks the rules. If there was a way to tap an ironmind without being a Ferring, surely the nicrosil would have been unnecessary in making the weight medallions that Wax and co. use on the flying ship. So, how is it possible? We get a small hint from Brandon. It's obviously significant that whatever hack the Southern Scadrians use to allow non-Feruchemists to access a nicrosilmind ONLY works for the metal that stores Investiture. Possibly related to the innate Investiture that all Scadrians have? Wild theory time! Here's that hack I propose - the Southern Scadrians created unkeyed metalminds in such a way that they leak a tiny amount of Investiture when in contact with Invested beings. We already have precedence for leaking Investiture all over the place with Hemalurgic spikes and Stormlight leaking from gems and surgebinders. Now that I think about it, we also saw Wax and Marasi leaking Investiture they'd taken in from the Bands of Mourning in the form of mist. The best example is of course Nightblood, our favorite metal object that leaks Investiture. Investiture tends to leak in the Cosmere, so it wouldn't be hard to do. Maybe, in order to achieve this effect they made them intentionally imperfectly, maybe the nicrosilmind was made from a hemalurgic spike to take advantage of the end-negative nature of that magic system, or maybe they used some other method entirely. It doesn't really matter. Point is, if a metalmind is leaking small amounts of Investiture, it's not a huge leap to theorize that a small amount of this Investiture would temporarily 'stick' to someone with innate Investiture. Using a water analogy, it's like putting your hand over a boiling pot of water. Most of the steam will pass by, but a little bit of it will condense and stick to your hand, which will be wet for a little while until the water evaporates again. This makes sense, since we already know that Investiture tends to pool as part of its cycle through the world - that's where shardpools come from. We've also seen that the mists are attracted to Allomancers, swirling around them. Now, let's say you're holding a nicrosilmind which leaks a very small bit of Investiture, some of which naturally 'sticks' to your spiritweb. This is where the hack for tricking the magic system comes into play. When you try to access the nicrosilmind, the magic system 'notices' that you have some Investiture which allows the tapping of (unkeyed) nicrosilminds. It's not really your Investiture, but it's sticking to your spiritweb temporarily, so it's close enough that the magic system doesn't really distinguish. Sort of like a far weaker and less permanent version of what a hemalurgic spike does in stapling a piece of someone's soul to yours. It would be tenuous and there wouldn't be very much of it, so you probably wouldn't be able to tap the nicrosilmind very effectively or efficiently. At first. You then tap the nicrosilmind at a very small rate, which would give you a slightly stronger ability to tap it. This would take you through a rapid positive feedback loop, gaining the ability to tap more and more of the stored Investiture, until you're a full-blown Soulbearer, along with whatever other abilities were stored in that nicrosilmind. Problem solved! This would also neatly explain why the hack the Southern Scadrians use can trick the magic system into letting you use an unkeyed nicrosilmind, but not any other type, making nicrosil absolutely necessary in the creation of medallions. This means that, in theory, almost anyone in the Cosmere with some form of innate Investiture should be able to tap an unkeyed nicrosilmind. Which fits perfectly with a WoB I got that said a Rosharan could tap a Scadrian medallion in most circumstances. Thoughts?

Glad you like it! It would be really interesting to ask Brandon about whether a drab could tap an unkeyed nicrosilmind. EDIT: I found a WoB that's somewhat relevant to the discussion about how invasive unkeyed metalminds are:

Greetings, denizens of the 17th shard! You've this day was coming for years now. Or was it the Everstorm? I always get those two mixed up. Anyways.... the real reason I'm here is that I met an affable fellow from a quaint city passage the other day. He was a bit odd, but he assured me that spiked eyes are all the rage these days. He also told me there was some kind of free food around these parts if I were to introduce myself. Is this true? If so, I'd be very pleased to procure some of these fine victuals.

It's obviously significant that whatever hack the Southern Scadrians use to allow non-Feruchemists to access a nicrosilmind ONLY works for the metal that stores Investiture. Possibly related to the innate Investiture that all Scadrians have? Wild theory time! Here's that hack I propose - the unkeyed metalminds the Southern Scadrians create leak a tiny amount of Investiture when in contact with Invested beings. We already have precedence for leaking Investiture all over the place with Hemalurgic spikes and Stormlight leaking from gems and surgebinders. Now that I think about it, we also saw Wax and Marasi leaking Investiture they'd taken in from the Bands of Mourning in the form of mist. The best example is of course Nightblood, our favorite Invested metal object that leaks Investiture when drawn. Investiture tends to leak in the Cosmere. So, it really doesn't seem that far off. Maybe, in order to achieve this effect they made them intentionally imperfect, maybe Investiture just naturally attracts Investiture to a small extent and pulls it out of the metalmind like the weak attraction between droplets of water, or maybe it's something else entirely or a combination of the above. It doesn't really matter. Point is, if a metalmind is leaking small amounts of Investiture, it's not a huge leap to postulate that a small amount of this Investiture would temporarily 'stick' to someone who's similarly Invested. Going back to a water analogy, it's like putting your hand over a boiling pot of water. Most of the steam will pass by, but a little bit of it will condense and stick to your hand and it'll be wet for a little while before the water evaporates again. This makes sense, since we already know that Investiture tends to pool as part of its cycle through the world - that's where shardpools come from. We've also seen that the mists are attracted to Allomancers, swirling around them. Now, let's say you're holding a nicrosilmind which leaks a very small bit of Investiture, some of which naturally 'sticks' to your spiritweb. This is where the hack for tricking the magic system comes into play. When you try to access the nicrosilmind, the magic system 'notices' that you have some investiture which allows the tapping of (unkeyed) nicrosilminds. It's not really your Investiture, but it's sticking to your soul temporarily, so it's close enough that the magic system doesn't really distinguish. Sort of like a far weaker and less permanent version of what a hemalurgic spike does in stapling a piece of someone's soul to yours. It would be tenuous and there wouldn't be very much of it, so you probably wouldn't be able to tap the nicrosilmind very effectively or efficiently. At first. You then tap the nicrosilmind at a very small rate, which would give you a slightly stronger ability to tap it. This would take you through a rapid positive feedback loop, gaining the ability to tap more and more of the stored Investiture, until you're a full-blown Soulbearer, along with whatever other abilities were stored in that nicrosilmind. For obvious reasons, this hack wouldn't work with any ability other than Feruchemical nicrosil. This means that in theory almost anyone in the Cosmere with some form of innate Investiture, not just from Scadrial, should be able to tap an unkeyed nicrosilmind. Which fits with a WoB I got that said a Rosharan could tap a Scadrian medallion in most circumstances. Thoughts? EDIT: Spelling and a few added thoughts.