Ciridae

Top right By the way, has anybody found out what that treelike thing in the bottom right corner is?

Captain Ico can be seen on one of Shallan drawings, as done by Veil, along with the Ghostblood symbol. Mandras are the same thing as luckspren seen around greatshells and skyeels. These are the first things that popped into my head, I'll see if I can come up with some more later.

I see a dragon too, but with horns, eyes and nostrils like this

This makes sense, but I don't see why he would have to change them. They were meant to connect to Honors investiture, and you're right that that connection was somehow broken. It's in their nature to connect to Honor, and I think it shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility to fix them. I agree with all of this, and Ill concede that we don't know enough about the exact circumstances of why the Honorblades don't work anymore. But I think in many ways Dalinar has shown to act as a representative of Honor, and I don't think that restoring the Honorblades is a matter of quantity of investiture, but of Connection. @Quantus This was the WoB I was basing that statement on, but it's more open to interpretation than I remembered: I interpret "power" not as just stormlight. The question asks about advantages over Radiants, and just having more stormlight but doing the same thing isn't that great of an advantage. I interpreted that as being able to use the surges on a larger scale, but I realise it could be interpreted differently.

Hmm ok, I think I see where you guys are coming from. To run with your analogy Argent, I think that both Dalinar and the Honorblades are the wire to the reservoir of investiture. If I understood you correctly we agree on that. But I don't think that Dalinar charge the Honorblades like he does Kaladin. That would mean he would channel investiture into the Honorblades who would channel it into its wielder, which is a bit redundant. What I'm saying, though, is that if Dalinar and the Honorblades are both a conduit for the investiture to travel through, someone has to hook up the wires to the reservoir of investiture. After that happens Dalinar isn't part of the equation anymore, it's only the investiture, the Honorblade and its weilder. I should have thought about the title more, I realize it's not really saying what I'm trying to say.

I thought about that too, but I think the difference is that the Honorblades were created as a means of channeling Honor directly. When Dalianar charges Kaladin, he's doing what the Honorblades are meant to do. They are meant to be a conduit for Honor's investiture in the spiritual realm to someone who can utilize that Investiture. The Honorblades were specifically built for that task, Dalinar wasn't. I'm assuming that it wouldn't take a constant effort on his part to make the Honorblades be able to draw upon investiture. I'm thinking he has to reconnect them to whatever source of investiture he tapped into when he charged Kaladin and they will resume doing what they were built to do.

The idea is pretty simple. Honorblades used to be directly fueled by Honor, making it irrelevant that they Stormlight consumption was inefficient and allowing the Heralds to use the surges in a far more powerful manner. Could Dalinar directly fuel the Honorblades again? I don't think this is outside of reason, they were especially designed to function this way after all, and we've seen Dalinar being able to act as, or on behalf of Honor several times. Right now they are inferior to what Radiants are capable of, they don't grant instinctual familiarity with the surges and are inefficient in their stormlight consumption. But if Dalinar managed to hook them up with unlimited investiture, they'd be good for a lot more than turning someone into a weak radiant. The biggest problem I see is that Dalinar has to figure out how to do it, and he has to somehow get his hands on an Honorblade again.

I think the spren on Scadrial are the more animalistic spren, not full sapient ones. We actually kind of get to see one, when

So far it's been a book that one of the characters discovered in that very same book, with the exception of Stones Unhallowed, which I think Szeth uses as a curse (correct me if I'm wrong). I really like both Song of Secrets and Rythm of the Lost, but I think it might be a new song or rythm that we learn of in the flashbacks.

I think Taldains isolationist period was before Autonomy directed her attention to other worlds. I think at the time she was focused on granting her own people autonomy, but when she started creating her first avatars on other planets she realized she would have "free" people on those planets as well. In that sense I agree with @Calderis that the avatars are what allow her to meddle without breaking the pact. If Bavadin swore to not interfere with other Shards that's fine. I think it's clear that the avatars are separate from Bavadin. Patji is not Bavadin. They are the same power, but not the same mind. I don't think the pact Bavadin made can apply to a being that came into existence far later. What kind of confuses me is how powerful avatars are. If Trell is an avatar, is he bringing the pocked of investiture he was created from to the fight on Scadrial, or does he have the full power of Autonomy behind him?

Eggplant for Threnody We know they don't eat pork, but if I remember correctly they hunt game, so maybe rabbit, turkey, and Silence definitely serves venison in her inn. They also have potatoes, mushrooms, and know how to make beer. I can't find the WoB but I think Brandon has said that Threnody was inspired by the first Europeans settling in America, so that's a good time and place to look at for comparison. Also, I think this is a great idea, I would love too see the finished version if you ever make it!

The interludes are one of my favourite things about Stormlight. I love Brandon's worldbuilding, and so the interludes are always a treat. I don't love all of them, and I was actually a little disappointed that in OB they weren't as great as in the first two books. But it's great when the main characters talk about Reshi or Aimia, and a few chapters later we get to see what those places are like. Plus, a good chunk of the interludes contain the novella, and I really liked the Szeth, Eshonai, and Venli chapters. The interludes make Roshar feel huge, and Brandon has done such a good job of combining incredibly character driven stories with a diverse, interesting and completely strange setting.

I don't think Adonalsium will be reformed, and I don't think one of the Shards will be the final threat to the Cosmere either. I think power hungry organisations like the Ire, Ghostbloods or a faction of the Ones Above will be the source of conflict in later books. I've also got my eyes on Bavadin, she'll definitely have her part to play, but I don't think there will be one big bad super shard with some evil plan.

It's interesting that Syl can do that. Can all Nahel spren do this? Did she give him some of the investiture she is made of? Or is Syl special because she was made by the Stormfather, and like her father has the ability to distribute Stormlight (in a very very limited way)? I like the idea that gem hearts are the physical manifestation of Cultivation. Theres that WoB that says that singers were not originally of Cultivation though. It implies that they are now, but I'm not sure how that fits with Roshars evolution and the post-shattering assignment of investiture. Maybe the singers weren't of Cultivation before the Shattering, because there was no Cultivation. In any case I agree that fabrials (and by extension all gemheart based symbiosis on Roshar) is part of Cultivations magic system.

Yeah, I don't believe for a second that it's coincidence. Brandon is too detail oriented for that, and BAM too important. I've read most of the glyph translation thread, but I'm far from well-versed in glyphs or Alethi. But I figure the root of the words Mishim, Mishram, Melishi and Ishar is the same, 'ishi'. IIRC its the number ten, and another name for the Herald. But has anybody figured out what it actually means?

I know I' m late to the discussion, but I just wanted to say that I love this theory. I don't know if the entire Last Legion was comprised of Nightform singers (I doubt it) but they for sure had some among them. One of the songs says that the Nightform predicted a new storm to come. If the Listeners knew of this a Nightform must have told them. This really excites me. On Unmade and the potential for being bondsmith spren, I'm not sure. I think it comes down to the spren in question. We know that a Nahel-like bond with an Unmade is possible, we've even seen one almost succeed. Re-Shephir tried to rip Pattern from Shallan and insert herself in his place. Would the result have been similar to a Bondsmith? I don't think so. But since we suspect Ba-Ado-Mishram to be the most powerful of the Unmade it's certainly possible. To clarify, I don't think there was a singer Bondsmith at the time of the capture of BAM, but that she just had strong connection to most singers. Also, isn't it interesting that the name BAM contains Ado, which sounds like Adoda, which we know to mean light? As in the Voidlight she supplied? And Mishram sounds a lot like Mishim and Ishi. Did we ever find out what that the root of those names meant?

Ooh, interesting. I didn't know that. I feel like Sel should be way more important than it is right now. Elantris is so early in the timeline, there's so much progress that's bound to be made by MB era 3. With people like the Ire involved in some serious interplanetary power games, I wouldn't be surprised if Sel's importance will grow cross overs in the Cosmere become more common. And thanks for that WoB, you're right that it doesn't tell us much. She could have simply refused to help A&S and it could be counted as (sort of) helping in their splintering.

I want the Set's faceless immortals to turn out to be Svrakiss. The one we see possesses a homeless man and doesn't seem to mind being blown up very much. If Autonomy is Trell, which I think is likely, maybe the Svrakiss are her footmen. She's got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, I don't think it's unlikely that she's turned her attention to Sel, one of the most important shardworlds, in the past. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a WoB about Bavadin having a hand in the murder of Aona and Skai as well? Or am I missremembering something?

I think it comes down to what the sky breakers already swore as their third oath. Some have sworn themselves to the law, others to Nale. Those who follow Nale are pretty much bound to him, those who swore to the law are influenced by their Heralds interpretation of it. But you're absolutely right about the Skybreaker squires or skybreakers of the first and second oath. They should have been treated the same way Nale treats Szeth. Its been bothering me too, I just hope that he gave them a choice offscreen. But I doubt that even if he did, they would have held to any other interpretation of the law and justice than Nale. I guess Szeth is special because he's doesn't just blindly follow the interpretation that Nale teaches, and maybe that's why Nale treats him differently.

@dvoraen True, yeah, spren like Ulim and Yixli might be capable of forming a bond that grants voidbinding. Right now it seems like they're just doing logistical work, but I've been wondering about them since the preview chapters (I thought they would become Shardblade for the Fused to give them an edge against Radiants). I do hope we see more of them though, I really liked Ulim and Yixli as characters. @Invocation I don't know, it seemed pretty clear from what we saw from Amaram and what it said in the Mythica that he grants the ten regular surges. He might grant voidsurges too, but if so, Amaram didn't use them and we have no lore about it.

Yeah I agree that the Fused are only surgebinding and that Renarin seems to be the only voidbinder we've seen so far. I guess the question is, is the only way to become a voidbinder to have a Nahel spren be corrupted by Sja-anat, or is there another way? I kind of suspect that the Nightwatcher is capable of a similar 'corruption', she messes with people's spiritwebs and I think she should be able to do the same to spren. I hope we'll see more corrupted spren, and subsequently voidbinders, now that Sja-anat is making first steps to help the Radiants. On voidbinding predictions... I think it's safe to say that Renarin is going to play a much more important role now that we know Odium can't see his fute and futures influenced by him. I tend to agree that that's because of his future visions. I'm really curious how other void surges work, and what they can do.

I really like the Mraize theory, and I want to believe it even if I don't totally buy it yet. Mraize kills a cremling with his blow gun and I think it's confirmed that that was a Dysian. Which means he's at least aware of them. I want the chain to be silver too

I'm thinking that maybe we don't fully understand to what extent the Heralds are tortured on Braize. I agree that it's most likely the Fused doing the torturing, and we know that a lot of them are in some kind of sleep. Is it just that maybe Taln wasn't tortured at 100% for the entire four and a half millenia?

In the Battle of Thaylenah there are several instances where Jasnah fights soldiers and it seems like she is using Transportation to push and fling them around. First: The full force being transferred is definitely not normal, and not part of the soulcasting that she uses simultaneously. Then: Right after that Adolin find Jasnah with the geometric shapes fading around her, so this could have been done with the extra strength of Plate. But I'm not sure if even a person wearing Plate is capable of throwing a grown man over a building. I think she used some form of Transportation to move the soldiers around. I wanted to point this out because we don't know that much about Transportation, other than that it allows you to slip into Shadesmar and theoretically teleport. This, to me at least, was a new application of the surge, and I gotta say it's pretty great.

That's certainly possible, but what about spren like Yixli and Ulim that don't seem to bond to singers? I really like your reasoning for why unmade stay. I've had a theory that some voidspren like Yixli hide between Desolations and have been hiding out in Shinovar, guiding the Shin as the "spren of stone". Either way, I think to kick off a Desolation it would have to be a Fused that was allowed to go free. What if Ulim was actually on Braize, was able to escape, but because of the details of the Oathpact his escape did not directly cause all Fused to be able to return. Ulim had been working with Venli for years before Taln arrived, so I think it's safe to say that him leaving wherever he was, did not qualify as Taln breaking. Taln actually arrives at a weird time. No major events came before that could be connected to either him breaking or Odium deciding it had been long enough and letting him go.