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:

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Just a warning: as always, some of these were heard wrong by me, or by the person recording, or were mixed up during questioning.

For example, the one referencing the first 11 chapters was me talking about the first book, not the third. The question about Ivory also wasn't quite recorded correctly.

 

Reddit has a pretty good list compiled here.

6 hours ago, VoltCruelerz said:

Lift also wasn't there at the time to see it, just a guy who'd been recently brought back from the dead.

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.

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“Let me see that,” the lead guard said, taking the sword. He grunted, obviously surprised by its weight. He turned it about, noting the clasp that tied sheath to hilt, keeping the blade from being drawn. He undid the clasp.

The colors in the room deepened. They didn’t grow brighter—not the way the guard’s vest had when he approached Vasher. Instead, they grew stronger. Darker. Reds became maroon. Yellows hardened to gold. Blues approached navy.

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.

16 minutes ago, Turbonator said:

Wow. You've really thought this through, haven't you, @Evenstrom?

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:

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argel1200: Also, could you give us die-hard Adolin fans something new to over-analyze? I think we have speculated to death, undeath, and performed both holy and unholy rites (in that order, or course) speculating to death about the Adolin/Sadeas incident and ramifications of it. We need need need NEED(!!) something new to last us till SA3 comes out!?!  

Brandon Sanderson: A tidbit on Adolin. Hm... In Book Three, he will finally get to wear an outfit other than a boring Kholin uniform.

Knowing you all, you're going to read WAY more into that than I intend. But there you go.

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:

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legobmw99: Quick question - at what point in the process does the artwork get done? Are all the fabulous artists already working based off an outline, or do they get brought in last? How long does there work usually take?

Brandon Sanderson: Ben and Isaac are working already. They tend to do the bulk of them, and I've seen some of Ben's sketches for the first two parts. I believe the guest artists are lined up, but we'll probably wait until the book is finished before handing out assignments.

Dan Dos Santos wants to do something again, which excites me. And we want to, as always, bring someone new in as well.

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legobmw99: Any chance of an art teaser? Maybe just the subject of a piece? I love the art in these books, they (along with everything else, really) make the book stand apart from a lot of the genre

Brandon Sanderson: I think that would be a good idea. Once we're closer to publication, we'll do some art teasers.

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Pheonix_222: As someone who primarily ingests my fiction through my ears I'm very curious about the audiobook production timeline.

At what point during publication do Michael and Kate get involved? I know the audio books come out lightning quick after release.

How much involvement do you have with the recording if at all? Do you prepare any pronunciations or anything beforehand or is it on a more if-need-be basis?

Brandon Sanderson: I send them pronunciation guides about six months(?) before the book comes out. That's about all I have to do with it, other than answering any questions they send me

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ConnorF42: Thanks for the update! Just curious, do you write the interludes as you go, or do you write them all at the end?

Brandon Sanderson: It's been all over the place. Some in the middle, some in a big pile at the end. This time, I haven't done any so far, so it's looking like them all at the end--but that's in part because there are a number of them I'm toying with, and haven't nailed down which I want to do.

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djscrub: Sorry if you've answered this somewhere else, but have you nailed down for certain that Dalinar will be the flashback character in this book? I know at one point you were ambivalent between him and Szeth, and I see that you are writing Szeth flashbacks but not ticking up the progress bar for them. Is he pushed to book 4 for sure, now?

Brandon Sanderson: Most likely it will be Dalinar, like 99% sure. But you can never say 100% until the book is done, as you might decide to go a different direction. I'm going to write Szeth, assuming it's for another book, just to have it--but it also gives me more options.

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havoc_mayhem: After writing Szeth's section, do you have any plans to start up the Stormlight Archive #5 progress bar on your site?

Brandon Sanderson:

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Aurimus_: How much planning goes into the SA books? With all the interludes and the various parts and everything, it can't just be a simple outline. Would you ever release the outline or whatever for Way of Kings? (It shouldn't spoil anything seeing as it's a released book)

Brandon Sanderson: I want to do this sometime. If you look in the second update I did, I gave a "kind of" outline for this--just talking about the shape of the book without any specifics.

Trouble is, my outlines are often a mess, devised only to make sense to me--and often including only a few words to remind me of a scene I have in the back of my mind. But I can imagine cleaning one up at some point and posting it. Maybe for Oathbringer, once it's out. It will be easier if I do it for an outline I'm watching as I build it, remembering that people will want to try to make sense of it afterward.

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Aurimus_: What if you did it as a YouTube video, explaining your outlining process for SA? It would take less time than forcing yourself into a tidier than usual outline, I assume?

Brandon Sanderson: That's worth considering.

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FirstRyder: Were the Parshendi based on something the Shards had seen before, in the same way the humans (and horses, and chickens) of Roshar were?

Brandon Sanderson: RAFO! You're asking the right questions, though.

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havoc_mayhem: This relates to a question I've been saving up to ask you in person, but could be relevant here.

You've once said that there were three sentient species on Yolen: Human, Dragon and Shodel. We've seen a lot of 'people' on the different planets that were either descended from or intentionally based on humans. Frost is known to be a dragon.

Are any of the non-human species we've seen descended from or based on either Dragons or Shodel?

Brandon Sanderson: RAFO!

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WitOMatic3000: I watched your Q&A at Dragoncon and really respect your interaction with fans. So are you targeting 450k words only because that is the absolute maximum count that can bound in a single volume?

Brandon Sanderson: "Absolute maximum" is actually flexible with books, as you can always shrink the font size. 410k or so is the max at the current font size with the current printer, but those can both be altered.

The_Second_Best: So does that mean ~1100 is the maximum number of pages you can have with the current printer?

Peter Ahstrom: 1088, the page count of Words of Radiance. But switching to a different printer is no problem. When we semi-hyped the "longest book that can be bound" thing, it was done mostly in jest, because for most authors this is in no way a selling point.

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hodgkinsonable: Thanks heaps for the update Brandon, you're a legend.

My quick question is just a silly little thing. On your website you have often had updates on 4 projects in the top bar. At the moment that has both White Sands Vol. 1 which has already been published, and Alcatraz book 5 which is coming out very soon, and finally the Stormlight novella which is coming out in the collection also relatively soon. Besides those three is Stormlight 3. Are you planning on updating that bar with new projects soon, as 3 of the 4 will have already been published in the next several months?

After typing this out I feel like I'm putting more pressure on you, but that's not what I intended, I was just interested in seeing what you are thinking of working on after Stormlight 3 is done. I'm assuming Wax & Wayne 4 or the new YA?

Brandon Sanderson: My plan is to do the new teen book (Apocalypse Guard) next. Then Wax and Wayne. Then another teen book. Then Stormlight four. The State of the Sanderson post I do in Decembers tends to run down this.

Usually, there's more activity on the progress bar--but that's because other books go by quickly, so I'm hopping projects. Stormlight has dominated them all, though.

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yahasgaruna: Is the other teen book the Rithmatist sequel? (Crosses fingers)

Brandon Sanderson: Rithmatist 2 was what will probably go in that slot, yes.

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usuyami: With all the linguistic elements in Stormlight, how much have you done in the way of mapping out the linguistic history of Roshar, ie deciding that this modern language descends from this older language, which descends from that ancient language that also gave rise to all these other languages, etc.?

Brandon Sanderson: I've done a surprising amount of this. The linguist in me slipping out. The vowel shifts are one of my favorites.

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TerrestrialOverlord: Would you consider posting the trimmed content after the book is published?

Any updates on legion? I love that series too. I've been wishing I develop aspects. {Sigh}

Brandon Sanderson: I plan to do one more Legion story, but since the television show never got off the ground, I don't know that I can dedicate much more to it. We'll see. But at least one more.

As for the trimmed parts, if I ever cut anything that would be fun to read, I'll post it--but most is a sentence here, a repeated idea there. Nothing that makes sense on its own.

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Tehdren: I'm confused about the TV show. I see there is a show on FX called Legion that's in the X-Men universe. This isn't related to you is it? Was there another TV show in the works? I feel like I'm missing a chunk of information that may have already been put out there (brb, searching for old news...) Yeah I've got nothing. Was there potential for your Legion to be turned into a show?

Brandon Sanderson: We sold the rights twice, but nobody got it off the ground. Then marvel made its show with a similar enough premise--though based on their character. No relation. That pretty much killed our chances.

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Paradox2063: Dunno if you'll see this, but who would you envision playing the main character in legion?

Brandon Sanderson: I never cast Stephen in my head. So I don't have a specific choice.

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Use_the_Falchion: Thank you for the update! You are the best author in the world. Is there a chance that the Stormlight Archive would ever be released in Japan in Japanese like the original Mistborn Trilogy was?

Brandon Sanderson: There's a chance. My books have done fine in Japan. Not smash successes like in Taiwan, but good enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see more of them be released.

Peter Ahlstrom: Actually The Way of Kings is already out in Japan, split into several volumes. Here's a link to the first part: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4153350176/

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yahasgaruna: Also, the plan to have each book focused on one order is still on, right? Does that mean Book 3 will focus on the Bondsmiths or the Skybreakers depending on whether Dalinar or Szeth are the flashback focus? And what about the book focused on Ash, since she was the Herald of Shallan's order? Am I right in assuming that book will focus on the Dustbringers?

Brandon Sanderson: RAFO.

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harsh20483: I have always wanted to ask this - How does one become an Herald? And is there any way for a someone else to take up the mantle of a Herald?

Also, is there any chance of the Dragonsteel series starting before the second set of Stromlight Archive comes out?

Brandon Sanderson: RAFO on the first.

Yes, there is a chance on the second.

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ArgentSun: Hi! I know you've been known to answer the occasional Sharder question in the comments of those regular updates of yours (which I very much appreciate!), so I wanted to try to get a clarification on a thing or two.

Recently, at DragonCon, you talked briefly about detecting worldhoppers by examining their speech, and you mentioned Hoid using "coin" on Roshar, where there are no coins. Which overlapped with a question I had been meaning to ask - why would the people around him hear "coin" instead of "sphere"? Is this magical translation (something to do with Connection) malfunctioning for some reason? Or is the use of such out-of-context words solely for the benefit of the Cosmere-aware reader?

And to keep things somewhat grounded in Roshar, I was talking with someone about the woman on The Way of Kings endsheet, and I wondered about her identity - could you reveal whether she is supposed to depict a someone/something specific, or is it just a somewhat generic image of a woman?

Brandon Sanderson: Yes, this has to do with magical translation. It's a quirk of trying to say something in the language, and the magic mixing up your intent. Someone who actually learns the local language wouldn't make this mistake.

The woman on the border of the maps isn't meant to be anyone specific, I don't believe. I've never asked Isaac about it, actually.

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ArgentSun: Can I just make sure I understand your reply real quick? Are you saying that if Hoid, or someone with the same magical translation, were to learn a bit of Alethi language and culture, get more used to spheres being used as currency, then the magic would stop using "coin" and replace it with sphere? Or, in a sci-fi world, maybe "credit"?

Brandon Sanderson: If he was thinking about saying sphere, he'd say sphere with the magic.

If he accidentally said coin, through the magic, it would try to translate it into coin.

If he learned the language, there's little chance he'd make this mistake. It's a natural feature of learning another language--you tend to imitate those around you. It's still possible he'd make the mistake, but from my experience with second language acquisition, you don't accidentally say words in your native language expecting them to make sense in the new language.

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ArgentSun: Ah, so when you say that is he had said "sphere" in his own language, instead of "coin" (which would be weird to him, because he doesn't think of spheres as currency), then the translation would be fine. Not that he could say "coin" and have the magic interpret his intent and turn into "sphere".

Brandon Sanderson: Yes, to an extent. Remember, this is magical means through connection--not exact translation. But this is a short version of what is happening.

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ArgentSun: But wouldn't this require, in his case, the Alethi language to have a word for "coin"? I thought what's happening is that he is saying "coin" (because it's more natural to him), and his magic - not knowing how to translate a word that doesn't exist in Alethi, just sends it across verbatim. Like how he used the word "dog" once, even though the Alethi can't have a word for it.

Brandon Sanderson: That's exactly what is happening--it's sending across the word verbatim.

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Torrieltar: Is that how translated puns work, then? Based on your intent?

Brandon Sanderson: Yes, that has something to do with it. Though being aware that you're using the magic, and how it works, helps. For example, Hoid (very experienced with this sort of thing) can manipulate the magic and get a feel for what will work and what won't. It's a strange thing, because in most cases, you're actually SPEAKING the language, not speaking your own and having it translated. The magic pretends you were born and grew up in that place.

So you can speak in puns, and riddles, and so forth. However, there's latency from where you actually grew up that causes a kind of "blip" when you try to force through something that just doesn't translate. If you just let the magic do its thing, you'll naturally use idioms from the world you're in. But if you lock on to one from your past, it causes a kind of disharmony in the magic--reminding your spirit web that you don't actually speak the language. It will spit out a transliteration or verbatim phrase in this case.

You will rarely see Hoid having the trouble that Vasher does in using the language and magic, as Vasher doesn't really care. But you will still see even the most expert slip up now and then.

There's an extra layer on this that I don't focus too much on, in that the books themselves are in translation--so when Hoid's using a pun, he's filtering his intent to pun through the magic, into Alethi, creating a local pun that works in the language--then that is in turn translated to one that works in our language.

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Dave2727: My wife has gotten me the first two books, signature included, from your website for my birthday(s). Do you intend to do this all the way through the series? I'd love to have an entire set!

Brandon Sanderson: Yes, though to not compete with bookstores, I only sell the books myself after they've been out for a year. If you want a personalized copy before then, you'll have to get them from one of my local bookstores. (Like the release party, where you can buy a book shipped to you.)

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arichards117: ( I apologize if this has already been explained and I somehow missed it.) When someone is "killed" by a shardblade, their soul is understood to be severed. What do Vorin practitioners believe happens to the soul if it is severed? Does this mean that the soul cannot go to the Tranquiline Halls? If this is the case, why are Shardbearers/Blades so revered rather than feared or hated?

Brandon Sanderson: Vorin belief doesn't take being killed by a Shardblade as destroying the soul, likely because of Knight Radiant traditions.

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brova: I'm sure you've answered this elsewhere, but I've missed it. How come the plan is a late 2017 release, if you plan on finishing your first draft a year before that? How long do you expect the editing/revisioning process to take for Oathbringer?

Brandon Sanderson: Revision/editing for Stormlight books takes much longer than for other books, as the continuity takes a lot of work. Beyond that, remember that this book will be between four and five times as long as one of my regular books. So editing takes an equivalent chunk of time.

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yahasgaruna: Is the other teen book the Rithmatist sequel? (Crosses fingers)

Brandon Sanderson: Rithmatist 2 was what will probably go in that slot, yes.

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

6 hours ago, Vaatuu said:

3: Is the Nitewatcher Cultivation's spren in the same way that the Storm father is  Honor's spren?

We do have this:

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I didn't record it, but here's the takeaway:

1) The Nightwatcher and Stormfather are parallel entities such that NW:Cultivation::SF:Honor
2) There is sort of a parallel for Odium, but the parallel is the various Unmade instead of a single entitiy; 
3) They are parallel in that they are all Splinters; 
4) The Unmade are voluntary Splinters, because Odium ("like almost all of the other Shards") voluntarily splintered part of it's power
5) The SF is different from the others because it's a Sliver.

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.

2 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Lastly, do you know when the Diagram was made?

Not exactly. Here are the only quotes I found about it.

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What he had asked her to figure out, however, was when he could expect another day like the one during which he'd created the Diagram. It had been years now since that day of transcendent mastery.

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In his clarity of genius, the sentences had looked easy to separate, but it had taken his scholars years to piece together what this said.

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:

2 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

I'll be honest, I don't see this logic. Consider first what we know Taravangian has managed to convince people to do. He has a secret hospital where the staff slowly murders sick and elderly. Yes, this is a different tier from actually convincing the general population that people with low IQs must die for the greater good of the population, but not that different. In addition, people have committed suicide and other actions for fanatical and/or religious reasons which are a lot more fantastical than the reason he wants. All he would've had to do was convince people that there was solid fanatical reason for doing so. Yes, unlikely from our view, but not impossible. 

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.

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Interestingly, he had decided that when he was too brilliant, he was also not allowed to change policy. He'd made this decision after a day of genius where he'd thought to fix all of Kharbranth's problems with a series of very rational edicts--such as requiring people to take an intelligence test of his own devising before being allowed to breed.

...

"I was smart on that day," he said. Smart enough that Mrall had declared he needed to be locked in the palace, lest he reveal his nature. He'd been convinced that if he could just explain his condition to the city, they would all listen to reason and let him control their lives perfectly. He'd drafted a law requiring that all people of less than average intellect be required to commit suicide for the good of the city. It had seemed reasonable. He had considered they might resist, but thought that the brilliance of the argument would sway them.

Compare this with advice from the Diagram.

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"Pali's mind," Adrotagia said, watching them rise. "I don't believe it."

The soldiers sat separated in groups by banner, being tended to by Taravangian's surgeons, water-bearers, and comforters. Wounded and unwounded alike, any who could stand rose for the king of Kharbranth and cheered him.

"The Diagram said it would happen," Taravangian said.

...

He had ordered the execution of their king, along with specific highprinces the Diagram indicated. In doing so, he had pushed the various factions into war with one another. He had brought this kingdom to its knees.

Now they cheered him for it. He forced himself to stop with one of the groups, asking after their health, seeing if there was anything he could do for them. It was important to be seen by the people as a compassionate man. The Diagram explained this in a casual sterility, as if compassion were something one could measure in a cup next to a pint of blood.

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:

2 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

He knew when the Everstorm would strike from Deathrattles. One gave a prediction that it would arrive in 1000 days, though the actual time from the Death Rattle was 1229. I don't see hims saying that in Chapter 88.

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.

1 hour ago, Argel said:

Another problem is T stayed present enough to write everything down and write a way to translate the anew language he created. But in the SH quote:

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But maybe T touched the SR and then wrote down what he saw afterwards?

 

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.

53 minutes ago, Djarskublar said:

Lol I posted more or less the same topic with a similar argument just a couple days ago. Great minds and all that I guess.

 

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.

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He didn't remember any of this. It was the product of twenty hours of lucid insanity, the most brilliant he had ever been. -Words of Radiance, Interlude I-14

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Secret History Spoilers

Spoiler

As he moved, Kelsier tried yet again to sort through the conflicting set of images, impression, and ideas he'd experienced in that place where he could perceive everything...

From there however, his thoughts grew more vague. These people, the Ire, were working on something dangerous. Something he could use against Ruin . . . maybe.

That was all he had. Preservation was right; the threads in that place between moments were too knotted, too ephemeral, to give him much beyond a vague impression. -Mistborn: Secret History, Part 4, Chapter 1

 

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He turned his attention back to the book, the Diagram. That grand plan he had devised on his singular day of unparalleled brilliance. Then, too, he'd spent the day staring at a wall. He'd written on it. Babbling the whole time, making connections no man had ever made, he had scribbled all over his walls, floor, even parts of the ceiling he could reach... -Words of Radiance, Interlude I-14

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Secret History Spoilers

Spoiler

Everything else was vaporized; nothing could withstand that terrible, wonderful light. Kelsier lost form, thought very being. He transcended self and entered a place of flowing light. Ribbons of it exploded from him, and though he tried to scream, he had no voice.

Time didn't pass; time had no relevance here. It was not a place. Location had no relevance. Only Connection, person to person, man to world, Kelsier to god. -Mistborn: Secret History, Part 3, Chapter 3

 

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The Diagram was not perfect, however. They caught errors in it now and then. Or . . . not truly errors, just missed guesses. Taravangian had been supremely brilliant that day, but he had not been able to see the future. He had made educated guesses--very educated--and had been right and eerie amount of the time. But the farther they went from that day and the knowledge he'd had then, the more the Diagram needed tending and cultivation to stay on course. -Words of Radiance, Interlude I-14

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The figure squinted at the horizon. "I cannot see the future completely. Cultivation, she is better at it than I. It's as if the future is a shattering window. The further you look, the more pieces that window breaks into. The near future can be anticipated, but the distant future . . . I can only guess." -The Way of Kings, Chapter 75.

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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:

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Part Two turned out well, though it's a slower, more lore-and-character focused section. (It includes some viewpoint chapters I think you'll find unexpected and interesting, though it has less action than other sections of Stormlight.)

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?

This is a solid theory (and well-explained one!). I can absolutely see it being correct.

 

I wonder, in this case, it'd be possible to create more "leaking" metalminds. Going by your theory, the advantage of nicrosil is that the more you tap it the more you can tap it, so other "leaking" metalmind would probably work, but be "tappable" (totally a word) at a very slow pace... From other observations: Drabs wouldn't be able to tap medallions*. Would Rosharan gem fill with Stormlight if you put it near nicrosil medallion? Could Radiant get investiture from such medallion?

 

Anyway, I like the theory, and it looks good to me.

 

*As a way to test the waters, someone could ask Brandon whether Drabs could use SoScad medallions. Or was it asked already?

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:

Question

Can Odium pick up pieces of a Shard without changing the nature of his Shard?

 

Brandon Sanderson

Any investiture, over time, will slowly change one’s personality, no matter how small that investiture.

Greetings, denizens of the 17th shard! You've this day was coming for years now.

 

The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather... we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Evenstrom comes.

 

—Collected on 17 July 2013, 31 seconds pre-death, by the Silent Gatherers. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.

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.