LeahAstonished

Dawncity Creation (WaT 115) 7000 years ago "Together [Honor and Cultivation] made the ground sing, and raised up incredible stone structures-beautiful sweeping vistas, rock made liquid until it froze into the shapes we'd imagined. Sounds sculpted from our Joy." (WoK 33) Kabsal explains cymatics to Shallan, how when sounds interact with a physical medium at resonant frequencies it creates patterns "It is proof that the Almighty is in all things. You can see him here, in these cities. Do you see how symmetrical they are?” "The original names for the ten Silver Kingdoms. Alethela, Valhav, Shin Kak Nish. Perfect, symmetrical.” So I think Honor & Cultivation went around Roshar and basically sang the numbers 1-10 creating huge stone structures with each of those symmetries that became the Dawncities/Oathgate locations. We know six patterns from Kabsal's city drawings (WoK 33), Shallan's map (WoR 71) & the city plan of Azimir (WaT 80): 3 - Kholinar 4 - Azimir 6 - Vedenar 8 - Thaylen City & Stomseat? (Shallan's map of the Shattered Plains shows 8 fold symmetry, but there was a catastrophic event there since its original creation as Stormseat, or maybe Honor wanted to skip 9 so he did two 8s?) 10 - Akinah Urithiru Creation (WoK 33) Jasnah then asks if Kabsal has a sound that can "reproduce a cymatic pattern corresponding to Urithiru", he doesn't, but from WaT we now know how Urithiru was created. (WaT 21) Urithiru shares that 6000 years ago "when the Stones wanted a legacy in the form of a child of Honor and Cultivation. Back when Bondsmiths bonded not spren, but to the ancient forces, left by gods...I, formed from the Stone, which was the sibling of Wind and Night" (RoW 83) "The stones whispered to [Venli] that the place had once been called Ur...An ancient place, with ancient stones...The stones had not been created by [the Sibling], though a grand project had reshaped them. Reshaped Ur, the original mountain that had been here before. The Stones remembered being that mountain." (WaT 90) Nightblood shares "[an honorblade] says that he helped build a huge fortress!...And the others joined in. They did it even before there were Radiants. Isn’t that deevy? Stoneshaping is deevy." So Urithiru was Stoneshaped from the mountain, Ur, by the Heralds and the portion of the old god Stones in that mountain is now a part of Urithiru. Stones of the Dawncites (WoR I-10) When Szeth was in Urithiru "His voice echoed against the mountains and their spirit-souls" (WaT 55) "Like the rock at Urithiru, these stones were eager to speak with [Venli]—and their rhythms were those of Joy and Peace. They named themselves Ko, the stones of the hills, but sometimes spoke as if all stone—indeed, all Roshar—were one." So during the Silver Kingdom Epoch, could the portion of the old god Stones in the 10 regions that Honor & Cultivation "made" now be a part of those cities, their "spirit-souls"? One god of many souls? The Unmade Process (RoW 38) Raboniel to the Sibling as she moved to corrupt the pillar with Voidlight "You shall not awake, at least not as yourself." (RoW 42) The Sibling explaining what Raboniel was attempting, "The Lady of Pains has the Surge of Transformation and dangerous knowledge. She will infuse my entire heart—the pillar—in the proper order, using her Voidlight. In so doing, she would corrupt me and leave me … leave me as one of the Unmade.…" (WaT 120) From 6000-4500 years ago, Honor and Odium "have been in an arms race. First his fused, then my Heralds, then his Unmade, then my Radiants". So could Odium have infused the stone structures of the Dawncities with Voidlight, corrupting the "spirit-souls" of the Stones and using Transformation to create the Unmade? (RoW I-2) Odium "hated how [Sja-anat] referred to the Sibling...as her cousin". Cousin would make sense if they both started as a portion of the old god Stones that inhabited structures made by Honor and his allies. Also makes sense that Odium would hate this. Why only 9? (WoR 47) From the book by scholar Ali-daughter-Hasweth of Shinovar "Urithiru was the connection to all nations, and, at times, our only path to the outside world, with its stones unhallowed." (Note: I interpret "its stones unhallowed" as the outside world's stones unhallowed) (WoR I-10) When Szeth was in Urithiru "The only place in the East where the stones were not cursed" (WoR 83) When stepping from the Shattered Plains onto the Oathgate, Shallan thinks "There was a hallowed quality to this place, and honestly, that was part of how she knew she was right." So, if the Shin say all stones except those in Shinovar & Urithiru/Oathgates are unhallowed/cursed, is the stone structure in Shin Kak Nish the only one uncorrupted by Odium? Could the Shin saying "Stones Unhallowed" actually be another name for the Unmade? Is Ba-Ado-Mishram a corruption of Stormseat? (WaT 120) 4500 years ago, Honor throws himself at Odium over Stormseat: "In that moment, tiny pieces of something discordant were born. Something dangerous, even to a god. the counter to my essence. anti-light, it could be called. Worse, the shock wave of our clash surged beneath us, power rushing and vibrating with those terrible tones. I realized too late that there was something strange about this land, beneath this city. Pieces of something fallen. A … fourth moon? In splinters? It reacted to us, and I saw people there—new ones, watchers, who had been hidden from me. Those pieces of the sky … they sheltered from the eyes of God? That was not aluminum. It was something greater. something … that responded to our clash, the ground liquefying in a pattern, dictated by the tone and the strange nature of the place. We vaporized an entire capital city in seconds." (WaT 121) By at least 2000 years ago during the False Desolation, Ba-Ado-Mishram had found the Well of Control, "I stepped into God’s role. I took his pool, his perpendicularity, and am tied to every singer who holds a form. To every spren, to every fiber of Roshar.” So if Ba-Ado-Mishram is a corruption of Stormseat, did this release of anti-light, the vibrations of the fourth moon and the restructuring of the stone of Stormseat partially free her from Odium's control? Was she at first only weakly able to ask Honor for peace, but then able to take up the power of the Well of Control (which she could find since it was hidden in her ancient body) and Connect with Roshar? What's the deal with the hyphens? (WaT 21) "Back when Bondsmiths bonded not spren, but to the ancient forces, left by gods" So maybe the more intelligent Unmade are the ones that had bonds before being corrupted? For example, "Re" = the portion of the old god Stones & "Shephir" = the Bondsmith (maybe an off-worlder with access to aethers?). What if Ba-Ado-Mishram is three entities? "Ba" = portion of Stone old god, "Mishram" = the Bondsmith, & "Ado" = ???. Sure seems to be from the root word Adonalsium. (WaT 121) "[Ba-Ado-Mishram] hummed the Rhythm of Exultation. “A battle won,” she announced. “And gifts to be given. Some of you have been chosen for your valor. Come forth, and receive your gift.”" There is a theory that Valor is hiding in the same location as the Well of Control "within the shroud of the fragments of the dead moon" (WaT 41). So, has Ba-Ado-Mishram interacted with Valor? Does she have some of Valor's investiture?

There have been a few posts about the Unmade being the Dawncities (like the one below), but I think they are specifically the part of the Stone old god that inhabited the Silver Kingdoms (corresponding with the Oathgate locations, whether they are technically Dawncities or not). When the Shin say all the stones except those in Shinovar & Urithiru are unhallowed/cursed, they are referencing the "spirit-souls" of those regions being corrupted by Voidlight/Odium. WoR 47 - From the book by scholar Ali-daughter-Hasweth of Shinovar "Urithiru was the connection to all nations, and, at times, our only path to the outside world, with its stones unhallowed." (Note: I interpret "its stones unhallowed" as the outside world's stones unhallowed) WoR I-10 - When Szeth was in Urithiru "The only place in the East where the stones were not cursed...His voice echoed against the mountains and their spirit-souls" Timeline: 10000 years ago - (WaT 100) When Honor arrived on Roshar there were "Three powerful incarnations who had [Adonalsium's] voice, and many smaller ones representing aspects of nature and personality." I think those that would become Unmade were part of Stone, but they could also be some of the "smaller ones". 7000 years ago - (WaT 115) "Together [Honor and Cultivation] made the ground sing, and raised up incredible stone structures-beautiful sweeping vistas, rock made liquid until it froze into the shapes we'd imagined. Sounds sculpted from our Joy." I think this was done in the 10 areas that would later correspond with the Oathgate locations, whether they technically became Dawncities, I am not sure. I think the part of the Stone old god in each of those regions inhabited these structures. 6000 years ago - Urithiru was built and then Oathgates to the 10 regions (WaT 21) Urithiru shares "when the Stones wanted a legacy in the form of a child of Honor and Cultivation. Back when Bondsmiths bonded not spren, but to the ancient forces, left by gods...I, formed from the Stone, which was the sibling of Wind and Night" (RoW 83) "The stones whispered to [Venli] that the place had once been called Ur...An ancient place, with ancient stones...The stones had not been created by [the Sibling], though a grand project had reshaped them. Reshaped Ur, the original mountain that had been here before. The Stones remembered being that mountain." (WaT 90) Nightblood shares "[an honorblade] says that he helped build a huge fortress!...And the others joined in. They did it even before there were Radiants." 6000-4500 years ago (WaT 120) - Honor and Odium "have been in an arms race. First his fused, then my Heralds, then his Unmade, then my Radiants". My theory is that in this arms race Odium discovers that he can inject Voidlight into the stone structures created by Honor & Cultivation and corrupt the portion of the Stone old god there, creating an Unmade. This would be something like what Raboniel tried on the Sibling in RoW 38 & 42. Over some portion of these 2500 years, he was able to corrupt nine of the ten, leaving only Shin Kak Nish "hallowed". As far as which region became which Unmade, I only have good guesses for two (see the other post for theories on the other seven) Stormseat/Natanatan = Ba-Ado-Mishram, because of what happens next Kholinar/Alethela = Nergaoul, because Alethela was the "One kingdom to study the arts of war so that the others might have peace." (WoK 19) 4500 years ago (WaT 120) - Honor throws himself at Odium over Stormseat and "In that moment, tiny pieces of something discordant were born. Something dangerous, even to a god. The counter to my essence. Anti-light, it could be called." destroying the city and creating the Shattered Plains. I think this release of anti-light and/or the change of the stone structures of that area affected the corruption of Ba-Ado-Mishram, allowing her to act more independently, because the next thing that happens (at least in God time) is her approaching Honor with an offer of peace. Bonus thought: If "Back when Bondsmiths bonded not spren, but to the ancient forces, left by gods" (WaT 21). Maybe the more intelligent Unmade are the ones that had bonds before being corrupted.

There could definitely be other things going on. But I think this boundary between oaths might be slightly more defined. In chapter 60 we see Venli try to swear an ideal that is not ready to be accepted. She could say the words, but didn't grasp the meaning behind them (Command with no Intent). And Dawnshard spoilers: I think Kaladin is in the exact opposite situation. His ideal is ready to be accepted he just hasn't said it (Intention waiting for a Command). I think this is what is granting him the fourth ideal level passive powers protecting him from the fabrial, but not the active ones. Just like he had the passive power to heal before he actually spoke the first ideal, but only got the active powers when he swore it. Such a late bloomer. I think Teft's fourth ideal wouldn't have been accepted before the occupation, so he went unconscious. But it would have been accepted when he was fighting Moash because the Intent was there, so he could summon Phendorana as a Shardblade.

Possible, but if so, it sure seems like they would have been brought up in Adolin's trial. I went ahead and added it there.

A possible continuity thing, could have a different explanation: The first thing I thought when I read that Captain Notum's father was a deadeye in RoW C36 was "isn't that Captain Ico's father that's the deadeye"? I continued to think about it and since Notum's father was born after the Recreance (OB C108) there would have to be extraordinary circumstances for him to become a deadeye, which might be the case. Just wanted to check if they got confused, though.

Notum from OB C108: Per this Notum's father was created after the Recreance. Notum from RoW C36: How did this happen? - Is this a Testament situation? I thought Syl was the first honorspren to bond a Radiant since the Recreance. Per this recent WoB, Moash "probably didn't attract any honorspren", let alone bond one, and that is the only candidate I can think of. - Was he one of Ishar's failed experiments? Those seem to pull them out of the Cognitive Realm all together, not create deadeyes. - Could there have been casualties in the honorspen's attempt to conquer Shadesmar? - Is this an error and Captain Notum's father got confused with Captain Ico's father?

Oathgate Locations Based off this in world representation of Roshar when the humans came from Ashyn, the planet was ruled by a dragon and a lion type thing (or a mink as Adolin observed). I think there is a WoB about whether the lion represents Honor that was RAFO'd but in the right direction, I think they discussed it on Shardcast but I can't currently find it on the Arcanum. I would assume Tanavast isn't actually from a sapient lion species, I would guess it is being used metaphorically, but I think they would show two dragons if that is what he is.

I have also played around with this theory, thinking that Taln's would have been the odd one out. But going with the cityspren thing, each Herald might have had a "companion" city. In WoK C19, Dalinar has a vision of Knights Radiant in the eighth heraldic epoch preparing for another desolation. At this point, the Midnight Essence has been released, I would guess this means Re-Shephir has been Unmade, but Natanatan is still standing, which in my theory would be destroyed right before Aharietiem. The Radiant notes that between Desolations, Alethela's duty is to "study the arts of war so that the others might have peace". So what if each of the 10 city had a duty that aligned with each of the Heralds, in this case I would match Talenel with Alethela. Then when the cityspren were Unmade, what if their nature corresponds to that duty. Possible combos and general order of destruction: Ba-Ado-Mishram - City: Shin Kak Nish/Shinovar, Duty: Religion, Herald: Ishar, Effect: god-like Connection Sja-anat - City: Aimia/Akinar, Duty: Secrets & Soulcasting, Herald: Battar, Effect: Transformation of spren Yelig-nar - City: Unknown, Duty: Unknown, Herald: Jezrien, Effect: Takes over people and grants all ten surges Re-Shephir/Midnight Mother - City: Makabakam/Azmir, Duty: The Law, Herald: Nale, Effect: The midnight essence copies unlawful acts Dai-Gonarthis/Black Fisher - City: Unknown, Duty: Scholarship, Herald: Paliah, Effect: Sorrow of some kind? Chemoarish/Dustmother - City: Unknown, Duty: Unknown, Herald: Chanarach, Effect: Something destructive? Moelach - City: Unknown, Duty: Healing, Herald: Vedel, Effect: Death rattles Ashertmarn - City: Unknown, Duty: The Arts, Herald: Shalash, Effect: the Revels Nergaoul - City: Alethela/Kholinar, Duty: Art of War, Herald: Talenel, Effect: Battle frenzy The 10th that was destroyed - City: Natanatan/Stormseat, Duty: Engineering, Herald: Kalak I go with a general east to west order as that is the direction of the Everstorm and would leave Natanatan last. I also am guessing that newer Unmade are more mindless than older Unmade, either because they started becoming less and less willing to be transformed or because Odium likes them mindless and was getting better at creating them that way. Sja-anat refers to the Sibling as "cousin".

This is how the Sibling describes the process of unmaking in RoW C42: I think Sja-anat might also use the Surge of Transformation and Voidlight to Enlighted spren. In fact, it might be the same process and you could also say she is unmaking them. The big difference, would be having a willing subject. Per this WoB: Maybe since the Sibling was very unwilling, they would have become a corrupted Unmade. But since Glys and Tumi were "Fully willing to become what they are", they are Enlightened Unmade. This is then why Sja-anat hates the term "corrupted" as she specifically only unmakes willing subjects (non-sapient spren being the gray area from the above WoB). Sja-anat notes in RoW I2 that if Odium figures out what she is doing behind his back, he will unmake her again, stealing her memory and ripping her to pieces. Since she would be unwilling in this case, she is describing what happens to a corrupted Unmade. Based off this, my theory is that the mindless Unmade, like the Thrill, were unwilling to become Unmade and thus became corrupted. While intelligent Unmade, like Sja-anat & Ba-Ado-Mishram, were willing (at that time) and thus became Enlightened. I don't know if we have solid confirmation that Sja-anat uses Voidlight when Englightening spren, but when Tumi hears the Rhythm of War, he starts pulsing to it, and wants to share it with his siblings (RoW C114), I take this as solid evidence that he was a spren that used only Stormlight, then was harmoniously infused with Voidlight during Enlightening, and now can use Warlight.

Do you think dragons/immortal beings can just hold it together over the years better than humans/mortal beings? Koravellium Avast and Edgli (theorized dragon) seem to be doing ok. Rayse, Tanavast, Leras, & Ati all seemed to be losing it before the end. Do we have confirmation on what type of beings they are? I think of them all as human.

In the Rhythm of War prologue, Navani sees Kalak, Nale & Gavilar with spheres on a table between them, including the anti-Voidlight sphere. Since this doesn't seem like Nale's type of thing, is Kalak the first to discover anti-Voidlight? Has he used it in the past? When he used it, was a side effect the Shattered Plains? - Great magic was unleashed on the Shattered Plains (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/168/#e10547) - At least one Herald knows what happened on the Shattered Plains (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/41/#e7226) If so, when and for what purpose? The only two things I could find are: - The city was inhabited when the shattering happened (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/296/#e9837) - Brandon is cagey on the timeline (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/296/#e9839) The first option I see is the imprisonment of Ba-Ado-Mishram, which we know he was present for (RoW epigraph C94). But I definitely picture this more like the imprisonment of The Thrill, so I am not exactly sure how the use of anti-Voidlight that resulted in such destruction would play into that plan. Anyone have more thoughts on this? My second option is that he used it to stop the creation of a 10th Unmade. This goes with a more in-depth theory, started on this thread: [Theory] Origins of the Unmade, Sin of the Singers [discuss] - RoW Lore, Magic, and Cosmere Discussion - 17th Shard, the Official Brandon Sanderson Fansite What if the 10 Oathgate cities are Dawncities, constructed by Dawnsingers around a "Cityspren" created by Adonalsium (Honor & Cultivation then used these Cityspren as inspiration for the Sibling)? What if Odium was systematically "unmaking" these Cityspren over the course of the desolations? By the Last Desolation, Odium could have unmade 9 of the Cityspren and went to Stormseat/Natanatan to unmake the last one. But Kalak had discovered a weapon by this time and at some point during the process, once the Cityspren was invested with Voidlight, he used anti-Voidlight against it. This destroyed the Cityspren (which is why there are only 9 unmade) and sent shock waves throughout the entire area creating the Shattered Plains.

Yes, Adonalsium could have created 10 "Cityspren" hearts for the Dawncities that the Dawnsingers were constructing. There might have been more Dawncities constructed, like Sesemalex Dar, but I think only the cities that eventually got Oathgates are the ones with spren. And that a Silver Kingdom developed around each of these cities. And most relevant here, the Sibling of Urithiru. After all, Sja-anat calls the Sibling "cousin", even though Odium doesn't like it (RoW I2). Maybe because it puts Honor & Cultivation on the level of Adonalsium. So the Sibling could have been created near the start of the Desolations to be a link to all the Cityspren through the Oathgates (the children of the Sibling, O C116). Now that they are connected each country had its own purpose within the war against the Voidbringers (WoK C19). Yes. I think this took a lot of time and happened over then entire length of the desolations. I wonder if their level of consent has to do with how intelligent/mindless they are now in the physical realm. Sja-anat and Ba-Ado-Mishram were probably willing converts. And what if their purpose during the war is the thing that got amplified by being "unmade". If Kholinar/Alethela was set up for the arts of war and to train people, maybe it was unwillingly unmade into Nergaoul/The Thrill. My last addition to this theory is that during the Last Desolation, the final Cityspren of Strormseat/Natanatan was unmade by Odium. But the forces of Honor & Cultivation, probably one or more Heralds*, had finally discovered a weapon against these unmade. Once the Cityspren were turned into splinters of Odium and invested with Voidlight, they could be destroyed by anti-Voidlight. And... KABOOM!... Shattered Plains and only 9 Unmade. Now the Desolations had gone nuclear and the Heralds knew they needed a radically different plan, so you get Aharietiam. The Heralds go into hiding along with their knowledge of anti-lights. The fused, like Raboniel, would of course know the process of unmaking a Cityspren and would know a power to destroy Odium's spren existed, but not how to create it, which leads right into Rhythm of War. * I would assume this same Herald gave Gavilar the sphere of anti-Voidlight

- As noted in the title, full Dawnshard spoilers in this post - Others have theorized that Ba-Ado-Mishram was using a Dawnshard: Ba-Ado-Mishram was using a Dawnshard? - RoW Lore, Magic, and Cosmere Discussion - 17th Shard, the Official Brandon Sanderson Fansite I think this is very possible and that it is imprisoned with her in the gem, which is why freeing her is so valuable. What I have observed of the nature of the Dawnshards so far (and confirmed by many on the forum): My theory on the last Dawnshard is that it is LIBERATE. I think Odium has been using this Dawnshard to "liberate" other shards from the vessels throughout the Cosmere and then brought it to this system. I think Ba-Ado-Mishram had possession of this Dawnshard during the False Desolation and used it to make connections to the singers that gave them "the power or scope to act as one pleases" or "liberty". I think when Melishi imprisoned Ba-Ado-Mishram in the gem, the Dawnshard went with her. Therefore, the resulting slaveform of the singers and the Radiant spren now becoming deadeyes when they broke their bonds are because LIBERATE is imprisoned, not Ba-Ado-Mishram. When Shallan asks "What power do the Ghostbloods seek with a thing that can bind the minds of an entire people?" I think she has it completely backwards. For the Ghostbloods purposes of moving freely between worlds, how much more valuable would LIBERATE be.

Like how Navani connects Towerlight to Science, I was thinking this third hybrid light would be connected to Art somehow. Maybe Culturelight? Probably too close to Cultivation though.

How about LIBERATE. Liberty is both: - the quality or state of being free, the power to do as one pleases - a violation of rules or a deviation from standard practice, "to take liberties" I think that goes pretty well with Odium, Ambition & Autonomy

I am on board with the three commands we have seen capitalized in the books: UNITE CHANGE SURVIVE For the fourth I suggest: LIBERATE It works as a balance to UNITE. And the definition of Liberty as "the power or scope to act as one pleases" sure fits the shards usually put in this fourth group: Odium, Ambition, Autonomy, & ... Also, going with the theory that Odium is the bearer of this Dawnshard, he sure has liberated a few vessels of their shards with it.

Adding another layer to this, I recently heard the theory of the Unmade being able to form Bondsmith Nahel bonds. I like this a lot. Then you would have the following: Stormfather - Stormlight Nightwatcher - Lifelight Sibling - Towerlight Ba-Ado-Mishram - Voidlight ?? - Warlight Sja-Anat - Voidlight + Lifelight If that's the case than "Enlightening" spren (corrupting them) may be a process that uses this hybrid light. I think Culturelight would work for this, or maybe it should just be called "Enlight"

Rather than War + Passion + Science, what about War + Art + Science... Inspired by this idea, what about Culturelight? Adding the artistic/intellectual passions of people with the growing of natural things. I could also see it going this way with something like Freedomlight. But what if Venli is feeling the culture of her people specifically, where as someone from Azir let's say, would feel something very different.

This is definitely another possibility, I still like the idea of mine better so I will go with Helaran didn't tell Hoid anything about Shallan for those theories. A couple questions to flesh out your timeline: - What do you think would be Helaran's motivation for wanting to join the Skybreakers? - If Helaran has bonded a spren, other than Mraize saying he went to "seek out the Skybreakers", is there additional evidence to why this would be a Highspren rather than a spren from a different order? Taravangian's thought that he could train Shallan made me think he might share at least one surge, other than sucking in stormlight is there much a Skybreaker could teach a Lightweaver? Also, I have no specific evidence, but my general feel of Helaran's personality didn't fit with Nale and Szeth.

I definitely agree. This brought to mind the WoK interlude with Geranid and Ashir, where measuring and recording spren characteristics locked them into those values. In the first Eshonai interlude of WoR, she notes that since the assassination of Gavilar, Venli has created a script and uses a lot of resources so that they can have paper. The nimbleform scholars have been "capturing" the old songs on the pages. I wonder if there is something about the spren in the sphere (and maybe the songs) that Venli was able to measure and record to force the spren used in stormform into the characteristics that facilitate the transformation. Do you think that belief has some part in the Parshendi forms? Is what the stormwardens do measuring, predicting and recording the high storm related, especially to how Gavilar got the voidlight sphere in the first place? Is there something about Szeth's belief that the voidbringers were returning that might have the power to lock it into place? Clap if you believe... I don't have any solid ideas but all this was floating around in my head so I thought I would get it out there and see if anyone else could connect some dots.

Mraize said Helaran went to "seek out the Skybreakers" not necessarily join them. I like one of the two possible timelines. Helaran is dead timeline: 1167 - Shallan's mother and associate (Dreder?) try to kill Shallan. For this proposed timeline, I am assuming they are affiliated with the Skybreakers. Helaran finds out the truth about his mother's death and goes to "seek out the Skybreakers" in an attempt to protect Shallan in the future. During his search over the next five months, he discovers the Ghostbloods and joins their ranks as it will further his goals to protect Shallan. Through his connection with the Ghostbloods he receives a shardblade. 1168 - Helaran summons his shardblade in front of Lin and Shallan Over the next three years, Helaran is working for the Ghostbloods and doing what he can to help his family: Giving Shallan art supplies to encourage her surgebinding Having the Ghostbloods financially help House Davar (since Lin didn't have a tattoo, I would guess Lin had a lot less control of things than he thought, that he had no idea Helaran was a part of the group, and that Luesh was actually calling the majority of the shots) Sending Hoid to intimidate Lin (I don't know how much Hoid is connected to the Ghostbloods, but their interests aligned in encouraging Shallan's surgebinding) 1172 - The Ghostbloods send Helaran to assassinate Amaram. He was carrying a shardblade so he was not bonded to a spren. He was killed by Kaladin and Amaram got his blade 1173 - Shallan killed Lin. With Helaran dead there is no one to intercede with the Ghostbloods on the behalf of House Davar so their debts were called up. Continuity issue 1: If WoB says Amaram knows "who the Shardbearer that Kaladin killed was" why did he not say so or react to "Shallan Davar's messenger"? I am going with he is a cool customer and he said he didn't know his name because he didn't want Shallan to know it was her brother. He noted it was a young, red-haired Veden because that was probably already known publicly enough Shallan would find out about it anyway. Why he can be cooler about this than being faced with Kaladin? He would have found out who Shallan was when Adolin left their conversation to go talk to her for the first time and we didn't see his reaction then. He has had time to be prepared with this cover-up. Continuity issue 2: Why would Taravangian think that Shallan could have been trained "by the girl's brother, before his death" if he was not bonded to a spren? Mraize says "You seem to think that your new found place among the Radiants makes you unfit for our numbers, but I see it differenly, as does my babsk". The Ghostbloods clearly have an interest in furthering surgebinding abilities, so maybe Helaran would have information from them on how to train Shallan even if he didn't have first hand experience. Continuity issue 3: To the statement "I guess Helaran was not bonded to a spren, then." WoB was "Why do you say that?". I am assuming under this proposed timeline that Brandon was asking the question just to understand where the asker was coming from, not to point out that the statement was wrong. Helaran is alive timeline: 1167 - Shallan's mother and associate (Dreder?) try to kill Shallan. For this proposed timeline, I am also assuming they are affiliated with the Skybreakers. Helaran finds out the truth about his mother's death and goes to "seek out the Skybreakers" in an attempt to protect Shallan in the future. During his search over the next five months, he discovers a group working against the Skybreakers. This could still be the Ghostbloods or another group, maybe Hoid and the Worldsingers, or possibly Liss. Helaran is given a shardblade or earns one through combat. 1168 - Helaran summons his shardblade in front of Lin and Shallan Helaran bonds with a spren and can no longer use the shardblade. The group he is working with finds it useful for him to have a body double so the shardblade is given to someone who looks like him. Helaran encourages Shallan's surgebinding (gives her art supplies to Shallan and sends Hoid to intimidate Lin) but chooses not to tell her what she is or train her at this time (Taravangian thought it was possible he could have, though). 1172 - Helaran's group sends his body double to assassinate Amaram. The body double was killed by Kaladin and Amaram got his blade. Armaram finds out who the man is and it is not Helaran Davar. Helaran needs to keep up the pretense that it was him who was killed, so he no longer has contact with his siblings. 1173 - Shallan killed Lin. Helaran is still working in the background, if he has the surge of Illumination then we might have even already come across him in disguise. If Taravangian thought Helaran could train Shallan, then it is most likely he shares at least one surge, like Jasnah does. Continuity issue 1: Regarding the following discussion, I am assuming under this timeline the clue is that Helaran could not have been the one killed holding the shardblade since he had bonded a spren. I guess Helaran was not bonded to a spren, then." WoB "Why do you say that?" " I saw that his Blade had a gemstone at the bottom, so that was a clue." WoB "That is a very good clue."

I agree with the the "show don't tell" comments already posted, especially the view from space (I am sure Howard could give some tips). Even though I haven't read the prose version, I have read all the published Cosmere works, so I was a little surprised at how hard I had to work and how many times I had to flip to previous pages to figure out what was going on. Then again, pretty much all the graphic novels I have read so far are continuations of favorite TV shows, so maybe I have an unjust meter for a new story's learning curve in this medium. I agree that a number of characters looked too similar, especially since there were name typos confusing things further. Another issue I had was that the sketchy line work makes it look like practically everyone has a skin condition. It's pretty clear that Traiben was dessicated in the battle and there is something bad happening on Nilto's face, but in the scenes where N'Teese takes Khrissalla around to try to talk to the leaders her hands look just as bad (or should they look that way?). And on the previous page I can't tell if Cynder is balding of if skin is peeling off his head. But I will definitely keep on reading based on an intriguing plot, the hope that the humor, magic system and pacing will improve as the need for exposition decreases and of course my faith in all things Sanderson to entertain.

On C4 P20, when Kenton says, "ANNOUNCE MY ARRIVAL TO THE CHAMBER. " the guy replies, "I CAN'T INTERRUPT. BUT MASTRELL DRILE HAS THE FLOOR." I think the sentence order was switched. Also, the Junior High student in me was like, hehehe Drile does deserve the rank of But't' Mastrell.