Extesian

Nah guy, if there was ever an online group that supports that sort of thing, it's this weird combination of people who like some dude's books. Let others support you the way you do them. Be yourself, as you have been mate, and let yourself slowly believe that the nice things people think of you are because you earn them

You're polite, respectful, helpful, intellectually curious, you've gone from thanking people for WoBs and theories to providing them yourself as your knowledge has increased, you reason well, you engage in any topic, and you contribute hugely to the site. The only thing you're always wrong about is your estimation of yourself

BTW, you're a monster. At this rate you'll be the Stormin' Stormfather sometime next year.

@Chaos we welcome all types here but you should know we discourage double-posting. Please edit your previous post if noone has posted in between and you have an additional thought. Welcome to the Shard And seriously, I'm open to the passwording option, the only problem is that it may result in less contribution because people won't see the text in All Activity. But then I guess that's the point

Zen, I’ll try to clarify. Liss doesn’t come into it. The bit about the voice in they rhythms is talking about Klade buying Szeth. Klade is a listener and can attune the rhythms. Eshonai originally thought that Klade bought Szeth on a whim, but Klade subsequently informed Eshonai (and the others) that he had bought Szeth because a voice in the rhythms told Klade to. So the question is, whose voice was in the rhythms, that told a listener to buy Szeth. I hope that makes sense. I don’t have an answer, but it would surprise me if it was Szeth. Szeth is a slave to others (or was at that time), not a player. Edit - ninja'd by Caldinja

Just to clarify (even though this is mostly humor) the Cosmere has no relation to any dimension of Earth The non-Cosmere stories are parallel 'Earth' universes but Cosmere is deliberately separate.

Not quite, more along the lines that @Calderis described. I think the Nightwatcher was simply the Rosharan name for Cultivation (irrespective of whether Cultivation was known) and that somehow the word got back to living people of Cultivation greeting people after death. But the name Cultivation wasn't known so they attributed it to the Nightwatcher. That's entirely speculation though.

I’ve tried to make this into a theory, but for now it’s just an observation, one I’ve never seen (though I’ll be surprised if it hasn’t been discussed before my time). The Shin worship the sun as the God of Gods. Did we already know this? Here are some quotes from WoR, Interlude 10 “Bright sunlight shone down to banish the shadows, which kept those screams to a minimum…He did not look up. He would not meet the gaze of the God of Gods…’Have I not remained faithful?’ Szeth shouted, finally looking up to face the sun…”Have I not obeyed, kept my oath? Have I not done as you demanded of me?” Seems pretty unambiguous that either the Shin, or Szeth himself (and in my mind it’s almost definitely the Shin) worship the sun as the God of Gods. How that interplays with the holiness of stone, I’m not sure, except perhaps that they think that stone represents millennia of trapped sunlight? What mainly baffles me is that I’ve never seen this mentioned before. If there’s a previous thread that discusses it I’d like to be directed that way. If it’s a new idea, I’ll be very surprised, but seems like it’s worth discussing!

Hmm I distinctly remember that passage but I’ve never seen a discussion on it. Interesting. My best guess is that we know Shards can (and sometimes do) talk to people after death, as they pass through the Cognitive Realm to the Beyond. Given the speculation that the Nightwatcher is related to Cultivation in some way (whether its vessel, spren or whatever) the line could be referring to the fact that all people die, and will be greeted by Cultivation in the Cognitive Realm (except the Heralds who are instead reborn). The writer is simply referring to Cultivation by the persona Rosharans know her, Nightwatcher. (nb I'm not saying that they're right in thinking they're the same, just that could be the reason for the line)

Thanks @jofwu, good catch. I'll update the OP. I don't think it's categorical enough either, out could definitely just mean it wasn't an option for the priests. not just that but it's unclear whether he's talking about normal breath, divine or both. But the most recent ones, including that, make it increasingly likely that normal breath definitely can't be spiked out. Divine Breath is more likely.

I don’t like talking about who I upvote (or very occasionally downvote). But I will explain why I downvoted Thanatos. It wasn’t because of his opinion, or because of asking questions – those things are non-judgement-zone matters and in fact, for newer members, I’ll regularly upvote basic questions that show some insight. I’ve upvoted one of Thanatos’ other posts on this very thread. My downvote wasn’t designed to punish, or criticise a different view. It was simply because he (?) asked questions, got quite a large number of insightful comments and suggestions, and instead of acknowledging any of it, he just repeated a dictionary definition he put up earlier. I think people lose sight of the fact that upvotes and downvotes are supposed to be a system that represents, as a whole, how useful your posts are to other members. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten a downvote and if I do I’ll probably be a bit cut. In fact, I expect I’ll get a couple of downvotes for this post, for admitting to a downvote that people disagreed with. But that’s ok. The point was only that I do find it a bit rude to have people go to the effort of addressing a question then disregard the answers and simply repeat yourself. I have no problem with Thanatos having a different opinion, I just had a problem with that approach. But then I’m also quite sensitive about politeness and debate (rather than blanket statements) so maybe I’m the chull-lord here. So @Thanatos I hope it didn’t make you feel like your contribution isn’t welcome. If it did, I apologize for downvoting you rather than simply PMing or directing a comment your way. You ask some good questions on here and post some interesting ideas. And I appreciate your mature, zen comment you've just posted. I actually am feeling like a bit of a cremling now. And that’s the last I’ll say on it, I feel a bit uncouth talking about rep in a serious way. I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t offended, and if I had to apologize for my approach!

They told me I was a liar! They told me I was wrong! David-son-son-Malcolm . . . Truthless. They named me Truthless! Are they back? Are they all back?

Yeah ok, I get the point. I'd forgotten about the reasoning with Liss. I think that's probably right, I just wanted to qualify it with an explanation that could mean she still knew about the Honorblade. Even if it strains credulity

@Calderis I'm not sure why, have I missed a logical step? Liss had Szeth and sold him to Klade, yeah. And Klade didn't know Szeth's powers until Szeth was pressed and admitted them. But why does that mean that Liss wouldn't have known about them? Sure, if she wanted a good price for him she may have wanted to mention it, but I don't think failure to is proof that Liss didn't know. Or am I missing something here?

Let me interject here. I think the distinction is in Sel's regionalisation. Yeah, the landscape is the surface of the planet and the surface of the planet is the landscape. But there are regional variations as we know through the different magic systems. The distinction between landscape and planet is, I think, that the entire planet isn't gaining a single sentience, but the landscapes in the different regions are gaining sentience of their own. I'm not saying this is certain, but it does bridge those two diverging views on what Khriss is saying.

Even though there's no mention of the God Beyond in the text of the Words of Founding in HoA, I reckon Harmony mentioned it in the reams of info hue gave the Originators. Wayne mentions it at least twice. Eg "That’s different. She was a woman. Good at lying, they are. The God Beyond made’m that way.”

My biggest issue is that the cook was already on the boat and waa specifically preventing them from reaching Akinah, so the Aimian doesn't need intel to know where Kaza is. But I could believe that Aimians can communicate to some extent with larkins. I'd have to be convinced though, and I think that interlude doesn't do it. Good thought though.

Aah that makes sense, but

Congrats @StrikerEZ and @The Flash, they're nice milestones. I find myself a little jealous as they took away my access to kinetic investiture in exchange for dominion over thousands of men. Gimme power over nature, rather than power of men, any day

Right? It's great. Combined with the previous one, and our knowledge of Bavadin, it's pretty compelling.

Here are a few more about Trell that clarify why people think it's Autonomy, particularly the last two.

Thanks @The One Who Connects you're quite right. It could still be possible that Honorblade wielding Shin Gabe Shin a reputation long ago and people forgot why, but it's not really deterrent now.

I couldn't find anything helpful either, unless you misremembered this one?

Basically I think Shin doesn't get invaded for the obvious reason that they have a handy collection of Honorblades. I think their religion makes it likely that they have an official, communicated non- aggression policy. And what's the last place in the world you invade? One that isn't expansionist, is highly defensible and can utterly destroy you if you try to invade them. (Imagine Switzerland as the only nation with nuclear weapons). The Shin walk softly and carry a big storming stick. But I think it makes a lot of sense that Shinovar is the way it is now (enormous potential power but non-expansionist) and other nations don't even imagine invading precisely because there was a previous Shin warlord who showed other nations what happens if you fight a nation with Honorblades. I picture Shinovar getting invaded for the Honorblades and the leader at the time using it as an excuse for a Roshar-wide counter-attack.