Hi All,
I have been lurking on this site (and other cosmere sites) for a while (about 2 years), reading the WoBs, reading all of your excellent theories about the Cosmere, etc. I have finally made an account because I have a few things that I want to talk to people about, and no one that I know in the flesh is very into the heavy theorizing about the Cosmere (though I have many friends who enjoy Sanderson's works).
I haven't seen any of these particular theories around, but if I have just missed them I would appreciate being pointed towards resources where I can read up on them. I will just jump right into it. Many of these are about Ishar (the herald of the order of the Bondsmiths), as I suspect he is going to become a major player.
Theory 1: Ishar is in Shinovar
There are a few things that lead me to suspect this. When I was reading up on how exactly a Bondsmith's oathbinding works (or rather, how we know little to nothing about how it works), I began to suspect that we have seen the effects of such a binding in first person chapters - Szeth. His compulsion to obey the holder of his Oathstone despite his extreme aversion to the acts that they command him to perform always seemed a little more than just the result of an extremely disciplined man. For example:
That sudden lucidity on Szeth's behalf seems like a man who has been tampered with. He stopped swaying aimlessly, stopped fretting, and repeated back what sounds an awful lot like an oath, an ideal ("I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.", "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right.", etc). This is important when you read later in this post about my theory that the ideal's of the knights radiant were intended as a safeguard against who can form a Nahel bond, put in place by Ishar. So, it smacks of something that I already suspected Ishar had a hand in. I was thinking that perhaps there were bondsmiths in Shinovar who were imitating their herald, until I read the following quote from Szeth. This excerpt is from when he was responding to Taravangian about finding a surgebinder on the Shattered Plains:
One of the seven. So, Taln's honorblade would be thought to be with him on Braize (or at least the cognitive realm parallel of Braize, but that is another random theory). Szeth obviously holds Jezrian's blade. That leaves eight remaining blades. The Shin should have eight blades left in their treasure-trove of honorblades, yet Szeth immediately discounts one as being able to "vanish". I think this is the blade that Ishar holds (note: it could also be Nale's, as he is obviously running around so you would think he has his honorblade. But, the other heralds are all active as well [they all appeared in some capacity in book 1, so I understand], just in a less active role. So, I don't think the situation with his blade would be special). I think that Ishar is responsible for the oath that makes Szeth "Truthless".
Theory 2: Ishar created the Parshmen
I believe that Ishar is responsible for Parshmen, having neutered the voidbringers by making a binding oath among their species that they will obey. I haven't thought this one out as fully, though. For instances, I haven't figured out how the oath would pass from parents to child, but to be fair we have no idea how Parshmen (or Listeners in general) reproduce. The answer to how an oath could be hereditary could lie in the answer to how Listeners breed. Anyway, it seems to be supported here in the chapter heading of Chapter 58 of WoR.
So, this Melishi dude realized that he could use the "nature of the Heralds" to destroy the Voidbringers, i.e., have Ishar magic them into a servile race. We haven't had a POV chapter from a parshmen yet, so we can't see if their compulsion to obey is at all like Szeth or Nale (see later in this post), so I can't be certain. There is also the bit about how the Parshendi refer to the Parshmen as having lost their song. Not sure what to make of that, but it doesn't seem to support an Oathbinding.
Theory 3: Ishar caused the Recreance
We see that he was uneasy about letting men have access to Surges. I believe that he has something to do with the ideals that must be spoken (did he put his magic voodoo down on the spren themselves, preventing them from forming a full Nahel bond unless the words are spoken? That seems to be a bit of a stretch.). Either way, I think the ideals of the knights radiant are a direct consequence of Ishar's Bondsmith-like power. I also believe that at some point he decided that he did indeed need to destroy each and every one, and likely did something to compel all of the knights to break their oaths simultaneously. Perhaps he coded in some sort of doomsday button into the original oaths that he could trigger at any time. In Dalinar's vision, the radiants were being incredibly unresponsive after they abandoned their spren (stuck their shardblades in the ground). It was as if they were being compelled or controlled by an outside force. He did say he would destroy each and every one. I don't think a Herald is strong enough to just straight up destroy the entirety of the knights radiant directly.
Theory 4: Ishar betrayed the other heralds.
I actually have a lot of thoughts regarding this passage, but lets draw our attention to the last bit. One entertained great subterfuge at the expense of the other nine. First, I think that the 10 we are talking about are the heralds, not the orders, and the quote above refers to the Recreance. The reason I think that the herald who entertained great subterfuge was Ishar is that when we see Nale, he seems to exhibit the same kind of compulsive behavior as Szeth. He strongly believes that having Radiants around will kickstart another desolation (though how having people with Nahel bonds would make Taln finally crack on Braize isn't clear to me), and seems unable to change some of his views. He denies the everstorm while standing in it. I believe Ishar used some sort of oathbinding to compel him to seek out and eliminate anyone forming a Nahel bond. This could be Ishar's way of making sure humans do not regain their surges (apart from the few skybreakers that work directly with Nale).
It is also possible that perhaps the excerpt refers to the situation we see in the prologue of way of kings. The other 9 heralds abandoned their arms and fled, but one entertained great subterfuge...perhaps the one is Taln. Brandon is constantly saying things like "the one you think is Taln" when we refer to the crazy dude who showed up at the end of WoK. It could just be that he is being coy and doesn't want to admit that this dude is a herald, but maybe it really isn't Taln. Maybe Taln never went back to Damnation. Maybe he has been playing the other 9 this whole time. I don't know, this one is particularly hairbrained.
Theory 5: Adolin will become the champion of Odium.
While I was re-listening to the books, I was trying to figure out if we already know the person who would become the champion of Odium. There were not any strong contenders. I had been thinking perhaps Szeth, but I now think other things are in store for him (I suspect he is going the anti-hero route). We know from WoB that Shallan's father was under the influence of Odium. I suspect his fits of rage were a result of this. So, I suspect that Odium's influence on men makes them experience great rage. Now, read this:
That sounds very much like Adolin was experiencing the same kind of blind rage that we have seen from Shallan's father. Afterwards, when he comes to, he is shocked at what he has done and runs off in the night. It definitely sounds like he at least had some sort of episode, I suspect it was due to the influence of Odium. I don't think you need to be a bad man to feel his influence.
The enemy's baleful influence demands vigilance. I assume the enemy is Odium, and this is saying that his influence is insidious, it can creep into you unless you are constantly vigilant. We have already seen another shard capable of such kind of influence (Ruin). Adolin has already begun expressing discomfort with the fact that Shallan was a radiant. He was supposed to be the powerful one in this relationship. He used to be one of the most important people in Roshar. Now the bridgeboy AND his fiancee are both the thing of legends? I think that will grate on him. He is likely just a tad angry about that. Which is enough for Odium to find a way in. I suspect when Oathbringer comes out, Adolin's jealousy of Kaladin and Shallan will become a bigger plot point, and eventually Odium will have enough influence to corrupt him completely.
I know I am making a lot of assumptions here, off of not very much evidence, but I think that it would just make a great story. So far, we have seen Adolin and Kaladin's friendship grow. They are on the path to being total bros. We love Adolin and Kaladin's bromance. How poignant would a final battle to cap off the first 5 books be, if that battle was between Adolin and Kaladin? Two characters who have a difficult history, two characters who we love. It would be hard to root for one over the other. It just seems...likely.
Kandra Detection
Finally, I wanted to share some ideas for how to detect a Kandra if you suspect one is imitating someone.
The first one is related to something I read on these forums a while back. They were suggesting that you could use a Duralumin enhanced soothing or rioting to try to make someone go absolutely bonkers, and see if they react. If they don't, they are likely a Kandra (or have inhuman discipline), since Kandra are not effected by emotional allomancy. However, another idea I have that that also involves duralumin depends on how duralumin actually works. What happens if you are burning iron or steel, and duralumin, at the same time? You can burn steel or iron and not push or pull, simply to observe the blue lines. The stronger you flare your steel, the clearer lines become (we saw this with Vin vs the lord ruler, when she flared her iron to incredible levels she started to be able to make out the lines of the lord ruler's bracers even though they pierced the skin). The Kandra's spikes do not make visible lines because they are both inside the body and heavily invested. However, if you can burn duralumin and steel at the same time WITHOUT pushing steel, it would just make it so you are flaring your metal with insane intensity. Perhaps that would be enough to see the lines associated with a Kandra's spikes? You would need to test it on a friendly Kandra first, to see if it worked, but if it did it seems like a pretty easy thing to do...In fact, maybe that is why Kandra can't go near inquisitors. They have super steel vision. Maybe they can see the spikes?
The second detection method is more mundane, not requiring allomancy at all. Tensoon needed to place each hair on the wolfhound's body independently, because as we are told many times in passing throughout the books, Kandra cannot imitate hair. It seems you could just shave people's heads and see if it grows back. If it doesn't...Kandra. It obviously takes a while, but it would be a way to insure that members of your team have not been duplicated. Though perhaps the Kandra can imitate the follicle that grows the hair, even if they can't imitate hair. So it may not work. It would again require testing on a friendly Kandra, I suppose.
Anyway, that is what I have been thinking about. If you read through all of this, thanks for your patience. I can be a bit longwinded. I'd appreciate any comments you all have on anything I put down here. I look forward to talking with you all!
