Subvisual Haze

Rhythm of the Night(watcher)

I suppose it'll depend which way Brandon chooses to write it. I could see him integrating an idea like a Faraday Cage though - where a metal mesh is usually enough.

Bring forth the holy roll of Reynold's Wrap, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal!

I think it's a combination of: Spook+Kel having a very close connection, Ruin no longer actively blocking Kel, and Kel retaining the knowledge of how to communicate+spike from his previous ascended state.

Sure, I'll just repeat what I said before: Ruin's shard could talk at people, but Preservation's shard could listen to people's thoughts. pre-Catacendre any time Preservation or Kelsier tried to talk to character Ruin would block them. Now there's just Harmony, the 2 powers are one and they're wielded by a person who finds it hard to take action. Kel can meddle at will.

Spook only saw the real Kelsier once in a dream. And heard him whisper the "I gave you a name" line. Everything else was just Ruin messing with him. Sazed noted that Ruin's shard could talk at people, but Preservation's shard could listen to people's thoughts. Just something inherent in the powers.

We know splinters can be formed from a shard's destruction (this seems to be Odium's MOA for destroying other shards). It seems like it is also possible for shards to purposefully and voluntarily spin off independently operating concentrations of their power though (also called splinters). Endowment's Divine Breaths, the Honorblades from Honor, Odium's Unmade. I think they do this to delegate tasks that they otherwise couldn't directly do themselves (Endowment's meddling, the Herald's special mission, the Unmade seeming to have freer action in messing with Roshar than Odium etc.). All seem creations from the original shard, but now operating independently and possibly with different motives than the shard itself. Could Harmony be creating small splinters of concentrated ruin from himself as a way to balance out his internal preservation and ruin? If so, who has control of the power in these splinter(s)? My money is on Mr. Survivor grabbing that power, whether Harmony intended him to or not.

I wonder if Trell might be a part of Autonomy that has been corrupted by Ambition. Hoid did have a grudge against Bavadin mentioned in The Letter. Perhaps that grudge stems from her Bavadin finishing off Ambition (who Odium had previously significantly wounded).

The hilarious thing about Adolin is that he's: a Prince of great power, starts the story wielding a weapon of mass destruction, is extremely handsome and well dressed, and is ridiculously charismatic. Based on those characteristics he should be a giant ball of spoiled wealthy privilege, a narcissistic rich kid prick constantly looking down his nose at the peasants. And yet that's obviously not the case, if anything he's become the closest thing we have to an "everyman" viewpoint character (due to lack of Radiant powers, average intelligence, and enjoying spending time with common people).

3. A shocking truth will get revealed that makes you very happy in hindsight that they didn't hook up. aka the Luke+Leia scenario.

The ghost of Kelsier appears and tells all the heroes to "Go Beyond the Impossible and Kick Reason to the Curb! Your investiture is the investiture that will pierce the heavens!" And then they become a mecha the size of the cosmere and throw a galaxy at Odium to overcome him with the power of their determination!

I felt kind of silly not noticing that the names of almost all Mistborn character names are extremely French in their spelling. "Kelsier" looks like an infinitive verb though Kelsiez-vous?

A bunch of weird 4th wall breaking inter-dimensional crossovers happen and Brandon writes himself into the narrative. At the end of the final book we find ourselves back in Chapter 1 of Elantris, however now Raoden is carrying Nightblood for no adequately explained reason.

You know, I think that corruption angle is extremely important. He's corrupting investiture in the same sense that I corrupted the Taco Bell I had for lunch yesterday. The fact that he changes the investiture instead of just using it like a unconsumed catalyst to unlock a magical effect is what makes me think Nightblood is growing in some way. He must be metabolizing that changed investiture energy into...something. This is clearly outside the norm, Pattern reacted with shock when Shallan described how humans eat to make other things into us. Maybe that's how Lift can metabolize food into free investiture. It's an accounting trick for the universe to balance its spreadsheet

It's not very rational, but it's perfectly fitting with Dalinar's character though. Dalinar is the "man with a dark past seeking redemption" archetype. See Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, or Rurouni Kenshin for some good examples. He has lived an incredibly violent past and now is trying his best to make a clean break from it. As a result he over-corrects and offers everyone chances at redemption and is willing to forgive seemingly anyone, because to do otherwise would be hypocritical in light of the forgiveness he himself obtained. We saw this in him mourning the loss of Sadeas even after the multiple betrayals, offering Amaram forgiveness at the Thaylen Battle, allowing Szeth to join their cause. It's not so much that Dalinar is naive, just that offering second chances to everyone is the only way he can live with the sins he has committed. Also it's important to remember that his demand for justice from Amaram occurred before his memories had been restored, demanding similar justice post memory restoration would be incredibly hypocritical in light of the mass-murder Dalinar committed (as Amaram correctly pointed out earlier in the book).

Good natured people tend to feel nauseated around Nightblood when they first meet. So presumably Kaladin would immediately start projectile vomiting. I kind of wonder if Nightblood is still "incomplete" in some way. As he continues to consume investiture perhaps he will grow into something greater, or gain a higher level of intelligence. It seemed important when in the Thaylen City battle when he finally ate enough investiture and dozed off for a while. I don't think he was used again after that point though, so I wonder if he actually did "level up" in some way that will become apparent the next time he is unleashed.

I agree that Ruin-Cultivation-Preservation create a triangle of change. Breaking things down, building things up, maintaining current state. It also neatly shows why Harmony is having so much difficulty in taking productive actions on Scadrial, the piece that he is missing is a very important one. I also think there is another triple axis of Dominion-Devotion-Autonomy relating to rulership. Dominion rules over others, Autonomy rules over self, Devotion submits to others. Borrowing from Sefirot imagery, I would highly suspect there would be the classic Judgement vs. Mercy axis of Godhood. Brandon has suggested that Odium and Honor are actually somewhat compatible shards, and I would tend to agree. Both fall strongly on that Judgement side of the axis (Honor judging based on rules, Odium based on emotion). Theoretically that would imply there should be two shards more associated with the forgiveness/mercy side of the axis. I believe Endowment may be one such shard (as a form of charity). I think the missing shard would be something like Mercy. Another axis from Sefirot is the intellectual. Frequently this is expressed as a 2 part Wisdom and Reason. Occasionally Knowledge is listed as a balance of the previous two. Although not all shards require a perfect pairing, I do think it would make sense if Ambition had a counterpart in Contentment. As Adonalsium was a being of creation perhaps certain creative themes could exist. Beauty, Utility, Elegance

Okay, that's pretty much a perfect match for Taldain. Taldain actually has 2 suns, the large center one which shines on dayside and a So everything about Evi's idiom is a perfect match for a Taldain Darkside resident ("white", "a sun", "sun in the night"). A couple other pieces from the Taldain System Introduction seem to suggest it as an extremely likely possibility: I mention the first point about cultural variance as physically Khriss (our only other known Darksider) bears little physical resemblance to the Iriali. The second part is interesting because it implies many things: Autonomy prevents travel to Taldain currently, Autonomy interferes with other planets, and most importantly the "many years" implies that there was a point in the past when travel to-and-from Taldain occurred. I also think Scadrial was a stopping point on the long trail. Specifically I think the ancient Nelazan people https://coppermind.net/wiki/Nelazan with their religion of Trelagism were previously Darksiders from Taldain. They were located in the far north, experiencing the effects of axial tilt meaning their summer days and winter nights were very long. Their living to the far north where the days and nights were very long would be very appropriate for expats from the planet with endless days or nights. Also their faith of Trelagism has been noted by many fans to have a strong link to the day/night imagery of the Taldain system: Even more interesting is how closely this relates to the Dualistic beliefs of the Purelakers' Nu Ralak/Vun Makak duo (Brandon has noted the Purelake region is from the same language family as Iri/Rira).

Just wanted to say I love the ambiguity of your thread title. It can be read as either "Speculate about Ideals" or "Speculate in an ideal manner", and both can be simultaneously relevant!

Although Nale (post Lift hug) seems more human now that doesn't mean his Herald madness is completely gone. Also, even if he is trying to walk a better path, he can't erase his past actions. Nale has cultivated the Skybreaker order into something like an assassin cult with himself at the center, all under the militant belief that what they were doing was necessary to save the world. It can't just be a happy coincidence that Nale is the only Skybreaker who has sworn the 5th Oath. An essential characteristic to be a Skybreaker is likely "follows orders". Some of the Skybreakers have even formally sworn their 3rd Oath as following Nale specifically. Nale suddenly declaring that everyone can freely choose for themselves doesn't overwrite the long years of selection and enforcement that have created an order that follows Nale. Even those who aren't formally sworn to him in their 3rd Oath will likely still follow him out of veneration or simple habit.

Woah. That's crazy if verified. Maybe that's why the one Death Rattle was off when it said: Someone counted the dates and it was closer to 1300 days until the Everstorm. Perhaps the 1000 days here refers to the time that Taln finally broke.

Ohhhhh! I think I got it: Tien wasn't lying to himself, he was lying about himself to try and cheer Kaladin up. Like a good proto-Lightweaver he was playing a part for the world around him. I always thought Tien was a rather flat and stereotypical character custom-designed as a plot device to maximize the PROTECT motivation in Kaladin. It would be pretty clever on Brandon's part if the reason Tien's character seemed so artificial was because he himself was playing a role (helpless and innocent younger sibling). Specifically, I think he may have been exaggerating certain aspects of his personality to try and cheer up Kaladin when Kal was sliding into depression. On the surface Tien is always cheerful, innocent, and seemingly helpless. Inside his head I doubt he was happy all the time (who is?), and I also kind of doubt he was as simple and innocent as he seemed to let on (Kaladin and both his parents are intelligent, analytical, quick witted etc.). It was like a symbiotic relationship between Kaladin+Tien: Tien acts cheerful and innocent to give Kaladin a sense of purpose when he's sliding into depression (Protect Tien!), Tien has a sense of purpose in cheering up his brother.

I like it, and I agree. The surges often seem to work by temporarily modifying the basic equations that govern reality. Gravitational surges redefine the direction of your gravitational field. Abrasion can manipulate the forces of friction. Re-growth may have something to do with time contraction (accelerating healing in humans or rapidly growing plants). Surges are like reality hacks. In such a paradigm I bet the Transportation surge could mess around with the positional coordinates of objects in space. For example Jasnah "cheats" her own positional location in the magic system so that she functionally is making contact with the object she is soulcasting at a distance. Almost like a mini-wormhole connecting two distant locations. In addition Jasnah seems to have an uncanny intuitive grasp of location and directions: when she meets Hoid at the end of WoR she starts walking towards the nearest village by instinct, and she also is able to stab a Fused swooping down to attack her without even looking at it.

Jasnah herself tells Shallan this isn't the case in OB. Elsecalling into Shadesmar was easy, but returning required her to specifically seek out a transfer point where the two realms touch. Which heavily hints that she sought out and found Honor's Perpendicularity. Also the bonus chapter of Jasnah in Shadesmar strongly implies that seeking out Honor's Perpendicularity was her plan https://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/

I think the strongest hint to me that the Unmade and the spiritual screams are linked is demonstrated by Dalinar. Dalinar had previously heard the screams in his mind after the death of Evi and Rathalas and it was driving him mad. When Cultivation gave him his blessing and curse (essentially sealing off the part of his soul that remembered Evi and his violent past, along with his past connection with The Thrill) both the screams in his mind as well as his susceptibility to The Thrill vanished completely for several years. Both the screams and the Thrill returned to Dalinar when his Cultivation memory block and soul band aid faded, allowing the Unmade access to his soul once again. Personally I think the most likely Unmade to cause this effect is Dai'Gonarthis, aka The Black Fisher. Partly because we know almost nothing about him, but his few references have been extremely interesting: also our scene with Ahu/Jezrien: We have a rough idea what the other mentioned Unmade do. I think it's interesting that Ahu mentions The Black Fisher first though. Perhaps Dai-Gonarthis uses the screams from the spiritual realm to psychologically torture humans with guilt, and then tempts them with the narcotic relief of "the void", offering an escape from their screams and suffering via emotional emptiness and apathy. We've seen Szeth drift in this direction before, emotionally numbing himself to escape the pain of the guilt. We see Moash doing a similar thing now, retreating into the emotional void to avoid thinking about the pain he saw in Kaladin's eyes. I think both connect well with that earlier Death Rattle of "Let me no longer hurt".