Extesian

I'm less confident Lift was chosen by the Nightwatcher in any big way, but that it was more about her request and the rules of the Old Magic. I find this WoB intriguing. Sounds like Lift just got lucky by baffling the Nightwatcher, and luckier still when the Cultivationspren chose to bond get because she already had such a useful power. But of course there could be much more to it than that.

My take is that the Nightwatcher have Lift the ability to metabolize food into Stormlight based more on the rules of the Old Magic and it was the Cultivationspren who then saw the potential in that and bonded Lift. We have this useful WoB that indicates the boon was more due to Lift's strange request than any Roshar-saving plan. Though it could be both of course, the WoB is pretty vague.

I agree it's the most likely candidate. I'm just not sure based on the wording that we have seen minor hints of it. That could mean a system we've seen plenty of but we've seen minor hints of it being end-negative (Dakhor would fit then) but it sounds more to me like we've only seen hints of the system itself. Edit - just saw this and seems like a good point. I'm wondering if it could be the magic on Threnody. That's one we've only seen hints of. But i suspect it's something more obscure, some niche system on Roshar or one on a minor Shardworld. But yes, hard to guess which is why it's on my list for general reread focus

Another end-negative one, like hemalurgy. And yep it's been talked about a couple of times, most significantly in a recent signing.

Just saw this, good idea! Not sure if it's what you're getting at but here are a couple of thoughts I have of questions I wish I'd focused on during my first rereads (or have come up since). I'll try remember more of I've had recently. Threnody - hints on deliberately becoming a Cognitive Shadow as distinct from a normal Shade (after Nazh said it involves specific rituals); possible perpendicularities (that are unpredictable and have morbid origins). All stories - religions that could be of Bavadin; the other end-negative magic system.

Welcome! The White Sand Prose forum is http://www.17thshard.com/forum/forum/80-white-sand-prose/ if you haven't found it, it needs a password but the instructions are at the start of the page, just gotta search the Word document. I believe a discussion on the name you're thinking of is active at the moment, second most recent one (If that's not the name, I'll be curious to know what is. White Sand Prose is one of the only books I haven't done a reread).

He had a fair amount of investiture already from hemalurgy, maybe not as much as Kelsier (he had fewer abilities and has probably used them less, meaning less investiture has seeped into his Spiritweb - though it's possible he was spiked a long time ago), but probably enough to stick around in the Cognitive a while. Though Harmony would be in no hurry to help out so it would presumably have to involve another Shard having enough of an influence on Scadrial that they can intervene in the Cognitive Realm there. I have wondered one other things. The metals of his spikes are reasonably resilient. Would they have survived the explosion? Could we have someone find them? Could be an interesting development.

@Yata is right. But for those like me who need the comfort of a WoB with these things... To be fair it is paraphrased, but the recent signing is the source.

I just saw these threads, brilliant. I loved the ideas behind Aether of Night even if the prose is well below modern Sanderson standards. To be honest I figured the reason Aethers are already canon is simply that Amberlite is in Mraize's collection, as that Word of Peter was after Words of Radiance was published. But I'm intrigued by the idea that they could have been actively employed in another book, or in some other way had the magic referred to. I'm thinking I should reread every Word of Hoid...

For sure, Wolfe taught me to read in a different way, he's a master! My heart goes to Rothfuss but my mind goes to Wolfe. And thanks I'll definitely try Wilson!!

I did earlier this year, Book of the New Sun (and Urth), and it was so magnificent I reread it immediately. He's extraordinary. I still find Rothfuss more poetically and emotionally beautiful but Wolfe has some extraordinary quotes and his ability to write layered writing, where you don't see the full story unless you read very closely, is unrivaled!

I avoided WoT for years because of the length. Then I read all the Sanderson books in 2 months and realized the length is manageable. But i see it like a Test cricket match (for those who have heard of cricket ;)). It's long, there's stretches that are quite slowly paced, times where you don't know if the payiff is worth it, but has such a wonderful buildup, and such a magnificent, exciting close with everything coming together, that it makes the whole story amazing. It is not as well written as Sanderson, and it has a less defined magic system, and there are some characters that are not well written (especially some female characters), but watching the psychological development of the main character makes Frodo's journey seem like a walk in the park, and the Big Battle is just out of this world. I thoroughly recommend it IF you hand plenty of time and have read all the Sanderson books and any other shorter series you want to cover. Read it in one hit, people complain a lot about the middle books but if you think of it as one 10000 page story the pacing is actually fine. Read it with time, patience and an expectation that the overall story trumps the few thousand pages that seem like a mission!

Oh yes It's so full of soaring hopes and shattered dreams, but then written in such a beautiful way, that it will wring every emotion out of you. It's the hero telling his own story and it has the most astonishing number of magnificent quotes. The books are as long as the Stormlight ones and there are some slower sections. But I've never met a person who wasn't swept away by it. Enjoy, I wish I could read it for the first time again! Instead I'll have to settle for the fourth time

Sanderson is my favorite author due to his publication rate and intertwined stories, but I look forward to nothing more than the last Kingkiller book. They are the most hauntingly beautiful books I've ever read, with one of the most incredible magic systems, the most remarkably mighty but flawed character, and the most beautiful prose you'll ever read. I can't recommend them enough. As someone once said, George R R Martin makes you upset with rape, torture and death. Rothfuss makes you weep when a boy loses his shirt.

Welcome! Love the theory work, but yes Wyndle is a good example of why this may not be the case as he is (almost definitely) a Cultivation spren and

Atthe recent November 30 signingBrandon confirmed we will see Stump again.

Welcome! I agree that Wabreaker is the best one to start with, it's short, has intriguing magic, one of the best smart-chull characters you'll ever read, and is probably his funniest book. But I should note that one of my absolute favorite non-Cosmere is the Infinity Blade ones! I never played the game but you simply must read the books if you have. My favorite order, taking into account length, is Warbreaker, Mistborn, Elantris, Sixth of the Dusk, emperor's soul, stormlight 1 and 2, Edgedancer, shadows for silence in the forests of hell, mistborn 2. But Warbreaker, Sixth, Emperor's soul and shadows for silence are standalone and short so can read them any time. (I believe chronological is Elantris, Emperor's Soul, Mistborn, Warbreaker, Stormlight, Edgedancer, mistborn 2, sixth of the dusk (no idea when shadows for silence is set), but I look forward to being corrected :)) Edit - typed smart-chull instead of smart-chull, corrected it. Though once you read Stormlight you'll appreciate the accidental use of chull

I'm a bridgeman. And I'll be damned if I let any of those cursed lighteyes promote me while a single bridgeman remains in this hell!

Fair interpretation. I feel that "she is still there" followed by "alive and kicking" is a very strong indication that 'there' means on Roshar, but there have been a lot of mixed signals so given Brandon's sneakiness it's maybe not completely solid. From previous WoBs I have an unformed theory that Cultivation's Vessel is still alive but no longer the Vessel ie may have dispersed the Investiture and is living a post-Shard life. I really doubt it but it could reconcile the careful wording of inconsistent WoBs where the wording of questions switches between Cultivation and Cultivation's Vessel. For now I agree that Cultivation is almost definitely still there, but not definitely.

This. WoB from 2016-12-06 [Arcanum Unbounded] Herald Washington Library Center - Chicago, IL

"It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future. The locked and rusted gate that stood before us, with wisps of river fog threading its spikes like the mountain paths, remains in my mind now as the symbol of my exile." Cheating a little, but for merging fantasy and scifi, and for utter beauty of prose and layered narrative, it doesn't get better than Book of the New Sun. I can't recommend it enough to Sanderfans.

A Dhakor monk would presumably have more investiture than the average life, and I'm guessing (?) more than the average Breathy Nalthian. Seems like a large amount of Investiture.

Other than @Valhalla's great input, did we ever get any more info from this event? If there's any audio in happy to transcribe, I just haven't seen anything here or on Theoryland.

It caused a little chaos (hehe) with one of my posts but I'm sure it will end up well. Seems like a good time to thank you, @Chaos, for the selfless work you do here! Cheers mate

My humblest apologies, 'Something went wrong', the same topic double-posted and when I tried to edit 'Something went wrong'. Hopefully someone can tell be how to delete the duplicate post or one of the lovely Moderators can delete it. Totally...noob...