Killik

I like your theory, perhaps there is a way for the Honor Blades to be united into a single item.  I'm not sure what it would qualify as though, how much of Honors power was disbursed to the higher level spren?  Is it enough that even together, the 10 honor blades would only create a splinter of honor and not put the wielder on the level of Odium?

An alternative is that Honor is telling Dalinar that he must unite the Honor Blades with the Heralds, although I would expect he would tell him to re-unite them in this case....

As totallly_not_a_worldhopper said, another alternative is that Dalinar has got the right idea of it and he is supposed to unite the peoples of Roshar and/or the Radiants.

I also very much like Jasnah and am looking forward to her backstory book.  

I don't necessarily agree with the position that she is lesbian however.  I think it is more likely that she experienced some sort of abuse or traumatic event involving a potential lover/political spouse.

I cannot recall where it is exactly (could be WoK or WoR) but there is absolutely a somewhat subtle reference to this in one of the first two books where we get a Jashna pov.  Also, there have been a good number of references (and also many popular theories here) that the Nahel bond works best with a human that is "broken".  A traumatic history with male relations would quite well.

Granted a history of abuse and being gay are not mutually exclusive and we have seen that the Alethi are open to alternative sexualities (does that count as a OB spoiler?)

Yes, this is most likely the Kholinar Oathgate.

I can't find the section atm, but I recall Dalinar saying it was connected to the Kholinar palace and that Jasnah had tried to open it once.  The location fits and the description matches the Stormseat Oathgate perfectly.

On 6/23/2017 at 10:18 PM, Calderis said:

.... There are at least 3 spren at that level because of the 3 bondsmith limit, but if that's actually a hard limit on the number of spren, or just the only spren of that magnitude willing to bond... I don't know. 

Has it ever been confirm by Brandon that there are multiple Bondsmith spren, or can a superspren like the Stormfather bond multiple Bondsmiths?

Also:

“But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. ”

On 9/26/2017 at 11:32 AM, The One Who Connects said:

It's remarkably less deadly than you'd think. Death is usually a secondary effect of Throwing Knife/Shuriken/Arrow wounds on a battlefield unless you can guarantee a shot the the heart/brain. The real killers from those type of wounds are blood loss, infection and/or cumulative injury.

Blood loss and infection are ruled out automatically with Shardblades, as they don't cause open wounds on a live target. Cumulative injury is rather speculative, due to the questionable effectiveness of partial Shardblade cuts (see below)

A Shardblade kills a limb by cutting the core of it. A throwing knife/arrow/what-have-you, is not going to be very good at severing limb cores. The blade is much smaller, which requires more precision. The projectile is thrown, which hinders that precision. The projectile is unbreakable, so there is no danger of shrapnel.The projectile is always a through and through, so there is no danger to your bones/organs from running around with a knife stuck in you.

True, a shardknife/shuriken/arrow wouldn't cause the blood loss that a normal weapon would, but it also doesn't stop like a normal weapon would.  Meaning if you threw it with enough force, it would likely go right through a person's body.  Now I don't know for sure what would happen if a Shardshuriken went through one of my major organs, but considering it kills a limb when it cuts through I would expect that organ to die.  

No blood loss, but a dead lung/stomach/heart would be difficult to survive.

18 hours ago, kmosiman said:

I think Vasher would have the same sort of issue. He can get the power, he can eat the power, but he can't use the power to Awaken.

I was reading through a thread on the Warbreaker forum dealing with the investiture and catalyst of the Nalthis MS.  There was some question to whether or not the Tears of Egli was required to be used in the dye of something to draw the color as a catalyst for Awakening.  Certain scenes of Warbreaker make it seem like this is not the case and that an Awakener can draw the color from any item, but perhaps all things Nalthis are innately invested by Endowment and so can be used. 

If that is the case, then perhaps color from Nalthis must be used and that's why Vasher hasn't yet been successful.  You would think he would have tried this, but as we don't know the circumstances of his worldhopping, its possible he came to Roshar with only items that had already been drained of color.

I believe I remember a WoB stating that Dalinar was one of the original characters in his head before he began any of the Cosmere books.  The character understandably changed from his first concept to the writing of WoK, but I think Oathbringer is going to be somewhat of a huge milestone for Brandon personally.  I think this will be a really exciting book since he's had ideas about it floating around for so long.

Or perhaps this little tidbit is more of a foreshadow not explored yet.  One interpretation could be.....

Odium is trapped on Braize ergo he cannot reign.  Honor is dead ergo he cannot reign.  Therefor it must be Cultivation and we have yet to see how she is broken.

I'm re-reading Warbreaker and then the 1st Mistborn trilogy to keep myself away from the Oathbringer temptations.  It's hard when your strolling through the forums here and keep having to leave threads that start building on the spoilers, even when the spoilers themselves are hidden.

So, presumably this has been asked, but I couldn't find it.  Please direct me if there is already a thread for it.

Vasher must replenish his Divine Breath on a Nalthis weekly cycle.  I also haven't found threads on this but I know they exist, I am assuming that he can substitute stormlight for eating a breath.  That is all well and good but what does he do during The Weeping, particularly the one with no Highstorm in the middle?

Is the Rosharan weekly cycle shorter than Nalthis so he can (very luckily) survive on the gemstones that hold their light long enough until The Weeping ends?  Can he even draw stormlight from a gemstone like a surgebinder or would he need the raw investiture of the storm itself?

The WoB i mentioned was the 2nd linked by The One Who Connects

20 hours ago, Jace21 said:

There is an Epigraph in WoR from the diagram that talks about how "The Ancient of Stones must finally begin to crack".

I think you were on the right track here, but should have pulled the whole epigraph.

"Obviously they are fools The Desolation needs no usher It can and will sit where it wishes and the signs are obvious that the spren anticipate it doing so soon The Ancient of Stones must finally begin to crack It is a wonder that upon his will rested the prosperity and peace of a world for over four millennia"

Book of the 2nd Ceiling Rotation: Pattern 1

It is a somewhat common theory that Mr. T. had Cosmere and or CR insight on his special day, and so I generally take his Diagram ramblings as more authoritative than most ideas on these forums.  However, I have also seen a WoB like whatNecessary Eagle mentions, I can't link it but i'm fairly sure it was to the effect of "The desolation ends when the Heralds return to Braize."  This would infer (not confirm) that they begin with the Heralds being released back onto Roshar.

7 hours ago, Ansalem said:

...But like I said, if the Desolations are tied to the Heralds then Honor caused them, not Odium.

It is not that Honor caused the Desolations via the Heralds, but that Odium was causing rampant destruction and Honor instituted the Heralds to combat this.  The Oathpact was put in place to confine Odium and end the destruction.  When the Heralds break, Odium's power is re-released to Roshar and cause massive destruction again - Desolation.  They are tied to the Desolations because they can only occur when the Heralds are back on Roshar, but they aren't the cause.

Now, I particularly like the theory that Taln was broken long ago by Odium but was not released back to Roshar.  Instead Odium continued to work on him and now has some measure of control over Taln's mind.  This would explain why the spren know something had changed.  I think this theory stemmed from this line, the thinking was that the words Taln was hearing were never his (but Odium's) but were beaten into his mind so relentlessly that they are now his own words.

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The Gift and words.  Not his.  Never his.  Now his

WoR I-7 Taln

I think there was a mention that the Bondsmiths held a peacekeeping role within Urithiru between the orders.  I also remember a reference to them being the diplomatic tie to the Silver Kingdoms.  This makes me think that while they may have been leaders (note that is not THE leaders) in the governance of the KR, the Windrunners were the battlefield leaders.

Certainly the Bonsmiths were active in battle strategy and the like.  As evidenced by one of the WoR epigraphs:

“So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address.”

–From Words of Radiance, chapter 30, page 18^[18]

Seeing as how the KR was formed with the main purpose of fighting in the Desolations, the natural leadership role would fall on the battlefield generals: the Windrunners.  We have been shown very clearly that Dalinar has been moving from a battlefield general to a diplomat and strategist.  While I believe he will  certainly be the most natural leader of the new KR from its beginning, I think Jezrien is the "King of Heralds" for the same reason the Windrunners were considered leaders, he was the battlefield general and the battlefield was the sole reason for the Heralds to be back on Roshar.

27 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

This one was literally the letters K through Z. We have 10 Heralds, and the first 10 letters of the Alphabet are A-J.

If A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.. then K=11. Jezrien=1=A. Nalan=2=B, etc..

If each Herald Face represents one letter, we'd need a way to combine them for.. the rest of the alphabet. The "K-Z"

He may have used the same coding scheme as he did for The Diagram code.  You can find a long and detailed discussion of that here:

They finally broke the code on page 17.

48 minutes ago, FiveLate said:

Well Brandon said the mists would pull away from Nightblood, I would think that stormlight would perform some sort of evasion as well.

 

Oh, maybe Szeth can now shield people or towns (depending on the area that avoids Nightblood) from highstorms. He could stand in the center of the storm like the eye of a hurricane. 

On 8/27/2017 at 8:43 PM, Flash said:

...

  I am so confused how entire nations were destroyed by these desolations. What we've seen just doesn't seem enough to cause the utter destruction of a civilization's roots. Even giant stone giants don't seem... destructive enough. I feel like there is something more to the desolations that we haven't seen very much of. Something more than the conflict between Radiants and Voidbringers.

Another though just occurred to me.  True we have not seen the destruction in action, but Stormseat seems like the answer you are looking for.  Something completely wiped out the city, (presumably all those living there), and a huge area surrounding the city.  Think atomic bomb level.  Granted this is the only area we've been shown like this but it proves destruction on a "desolation" level.

41 minutes ago, Weltall said:

Randomly on the thunderclast discussion, Dalinar's vision implies that they can be harmed by ordinary humans with hammers. I don't want to know what the death toll would look like after an encounter...

Just think of the Parshendi death count as they are attempting to bring down Dalinar and Adolin.  Not only would the Thunderclast have a presumably much higher combat thresh hold than one Shardbearer, but the Parshendi are stronger and more Agile than humans.  Dalinar and Adolin together can wade through hundreds of Parshendi.  I imagine one Thunderclast could probably devastate an entire battalion.   

46 minutes ago, Weltall said:

Dalinar's vision of Presumably!Nohadon points out that at the end of one desolation, Yelig-nar deliberately targeted everyone in the capital who could write. Imagine that there's standing instructions for Odium's forces to destroy the sorts of things that give continuity to a civilization and it's easier to imagine how these things could become so devastating.

 deliberately targeting everyone who can write and presumably read.  Kind of makes me wonder if the author of "Arts and Majesty" was influenced by Odium or possibly Yelig-nar or some other Unmade to make it easier for a desolation to target those individuals.  Much easier to say "kill all the females" than "kill anyone that can read/write".

1 hour ago, Bort said:

My guess is that's because the Spren who are part of it are dead. As for how they used it, I would guess with difficulty.

Or even, maybe carrying bags of spheres charged with Stormlight, and it is only after the Blades have started being bonded, that someone thinks to do the same with Plate.

I think they probably just didn't use it until they put gems in.  I would think that adding gems to plate to make it work would come before adding some kind of Fabrial to the Blade to allow bonding and summoning.

We see a couple times where the gemstones in Plate runs out and they "lock-up".  Its not that it is difficult to move, its practically impossible and completely impractical for battle.  

18 minutes ago, Bort said:

There is a WoB that tells us that the gems in Shardplate weren't there originally, but were added later, after the Recreance. So, Plate cannot just disintegrate if it isn't kept charged with Stormlight. You may have been thinking about trying to grow Plate from a fragment of a broken piece? This is mentioned a few times in WoR, how the Plate would disintegrate if another piece of it was given more Stormlight than the piece you are trying to grow.

Yes I was thinking of attempting to grow new Plate when a piece was broken/lost.  But I was under the impression that without the influence of the KR and their investiture, the plate couldn't function at all, I supposed I simply extended the concept of the plate not functioning to disintegrating without use or new investiture from the KR.  Granted this does not mean that any plate that hasn't been used since the Recreance would disintegrate but plate that has survived but has no gemstones to function would be significantly less helpful than the missing blades.

We may possibly see a cache found in Urithiru.  Those in the Recreance vision publicly abandoned their shards, but I suspect there were many that chose to do so privately and simply left them in Urithiru where the general public couldn't simply pick them up.

If that is the case, then we could very well see a drastic change in the geopolitics very quickly.  

I wonder of The Diagram has accounted for this and T has worked out a way to deal with it already.

Possibly more likely in the near future than being at the origin, what would happen if Nightblood is within the Everstorm?  Will that react differently in regards to stormlight/investiture?

17 hours ago, Oversleep said:

We know he used Allomancy. We have multiple confirmations on him using Allomancy. We have zero confirmations on him having burned lerasium, even when Brandon was directly asked for clarification on this one.

Is this in SA or another book or a WoB?  I haven't noticed anything though I haven't read everything yet, particularly Secret History.

My favorite one-liners are from The Lopen but the only line I have actually laughed out loud to was the stick scene while listening to the audio book.  I knew it was coming, read it more than once, but the way it was delivered I thought was perfect.

Other than that comedy relief, I am a huge fan of world building in general and the things that really get me excited in a book is when the author hits at hidden history or direct contradictions to something that has been taken as truth to the characters.  For example, in Dalinar's vision of the purelake when he sees the fortress:

Quote

"There's a fortress ahead," he said, continuing forward.  "It must not still exist - if it did, it would be famous."...

Hinting at Sela Tales and the Silver Kingdoms.

Also, I believe Odium is physically trapped on Braize and couldn't get to Roshar to fight a Rosharan.  This may also be why he would have to appoint a champion.

Getting back on topic...  Perhaps the Stormfather was reluctant to bond with Dalinar because, though the Recreance didn't kill him, it diminished or hurt in some way.  He seems very harsh on Kaladin in regards to his bond with Syl, I suspect he is angered by how easily the spren can be killed by the bond.  But as it has been mentioned, the bond cannot be forced and so he reluctantly "accepts the words" of Dalinar and is bonded.  

It wasn't wrong to bond the Stormfather, he is just a big grump.