alder24

No. The 1st Heightening gives you something like 10 more years. That's not so much that people would notice how long they are living. Yes, from what Vasher said in RoW ch 15: Yumi spoilers:

Or they aren't invested enough. Returned, with their 2000 Breaths worth Divine Breath, are only a weak CS, Heralds or Fused are more invested than them. Radiants aren't. I doubt they are even close to 1000 Breaths. I would say Radiants are between 1st and 2nd Heightening.

Why would Szeth fight FOR Taravangian when he hates him so much? Szeth already chose not to side with Odium so he has no reason to be his champion even if Taravangian would deceive him. While this theory is interesting, and a tie is certainly one strong option that was foreshadowed to us, I can't see Szeth being Odium's champion at all. I personally think this is about Taravangian - he will win/tie the contest, kill Dalinar or turn him into Fused or whatever, but this will deadeye Stormfather which will cause endless weeping - flooding Kharbranth as a consequence. Taravangian will accidentally destroy Kharbranth which will be considered as a broken oath made between Taravangian and Odium, wounding and exposing him, forcing Odium to withdraw from Rosharan affairs.

Lost Shards seems like a good solution - some might get lost east of Shattered Plains and Highstorms carried those Shards to Parshendi or something. Brandon did say that many Shards were lost in Highstorms etc. But it's unlikely that Listeners got them as spies - their first contact with humans was just before the WoK began, with Gavilar and Dalinar. They didn't meet humans before, at least as far as we know. This would require them to establish contact with humans before, steal Shards and somehow make humans completely forget about them for centuries to come, as well as future generations of Listeners would have to forget about this first contact. I think that's very unlikely.

Possibly - in OB in the Riino's Lighthouse scene, Kaladin, as a knight Radiant, proved that he is invested enough to be considered of some higher Heightening. Being a Radiant invests you at least to the 1st Heightening. We also know that a Mistborn is as invested as a Radiant. A full Feruchemist would be definitely as invested as a Mistborn, they're basically the same thing from the spirit web perspective. OB ch 97:

This can't be true because the Last Legion abandoned Odium before Recreance, so that's before any Shards existed in a deadeye form, and spren weren't bonding with Singers at that time.

Nalthian with a Breath > Scadrian >= Rosharan > minor (or non) Shard world inhabitant > drab > spiked but alive.

Or changing of Odium's Vessel, from Rayse who did that, to Taravangian, whose goals are "save them all" so basically unknown yet. But my personal theory is that Taravangian's actions in SA5 will accidentally destroy Kharbranth, wounding Odium and forcing him to withdraw. Whatever it is I'm sure we won't get dual Shard at the end of SA 5 - that's too early.

That directly gives you attributes. That's how compounding works, it gives you attributes from an outside source instead of your body - Preservation. Shardic intent in Matellic arts manifests not as directly as you would expect it. It's influencing the way the power is obtained - Allomancy is end-positive (power gained from the outside source), Hemalurgy is end-negative (power is lost) and Feruchemy is a blend off those two, end-neutral (power isn't gained or lost):

Being at higher Heightening doesn't make your Awakening stronger, but you just understand it more, and unlock more ways in which you can Awaken (but an Awaken cloak would be as strong at the 1 Heightening as it is at 10 Heightening). I think the same would be with Scadrial - having more Preservation's innate investiture would make you instinctively better at Allomancy/Feruchemy - you would just understand it better and come up with better tricks (like Vin and horseshoe trick) but it won't make it stronger. What you want is already given by Hemalurgic spikes giving you Allomantic powers - raw investiture alone won't make you stronger at Allomancy, you need this to be coded into the power to make you stronger. You're just more invested. You're not stealing Connection to Preservation (that's what gives you Allomancy) but just raw investiture. But the question is if Hemalurgy corrupts stolen pieces of soul into Ruin's investiture, which I think is a valid question. In that case every spike would increase your connection to Ruin, not Preservation and this might make you understand Hemalurgy slightly better (not a lot in my opinion). The steelsight can be learnt by any Coinshot/Lurcher/Mistborn:

Hemalurgy doesn't work like that. You can't pass on powers and traits gained from Hemalurgy. Set was trying to create a breeding program, kidnapping Allomancers (and those genealogically close to Spook) and force them to have kids. I have no idea what Sazed did to Koloss to make them work like that. This might be the result of "...complications" Brandon talked in earlier WoB (from 2012, but it's contradicted by recent WoB from 2019, posted above - I take that was as more valid), So Sazed just made them bread and the Koloss-blooded are a result of their DNA being damaged by spikes and this damage is passed onto their childs, or something like that:

Preception? No other idea tbf. Yes, I've found it. They literally stepped out of the fire unharmed ch 61: No air would do nothing to them, Dor would heal them immediately (if they're close to Elantris).

Yes, Elantrians can be killed and can die of illness, but a decapitated Elantrian can't draw an Aon - it has to be healing from the Dor itself. Their bodies are literally fueled by the Dor. I don't remember Raoden's hand, was it at the very end, away from Elantris? That would explain why he didn't heal so fast as he was so far away from the city. The WoB specifically said "the body would grow a new head" not somebody can heal them, but the body itself would just grow it (it's the same what Hoid did in some non official story). I think they just heal naturally and that's just more op than Radiant's healing (weren't Elantrains being burned alive at the end just before Raoden restored Elantris? I haven't read it in a while). Edit: Elantris prologue

2 stage projectile - aluminum shrapnel with steel part - Mistborn pushes on steel part but it's aluminum that spikes into Radiant's spine - they can't heal that now and can't move at all. 9/10 Radiants don't have reverse lashing to attract non-aluminum parts away from them. This would work with normal steel pushing (not for plated Radiants, 3 stage projectile for that, with something very dense for a tip, with aluminum in between) but requires super precision. But aluminum always works so...

Elantrains heals, because of the Dor. They can heal decapitation, this would be nothing more than inconvenience. Blast them with fire, light or just create an investiture sucking Aon. And they can make their own illusions. The Elsecaller has the advantage, as Elantrian needs to draw an Aon to soulcast, Elsecaller not. You would need to immobilize their hands. Agree. Such fight would be legendary.

I don't think so, Koloss have a stronger connection to Ruin because of spikes, but this isn't something they can pass onto their child. They definitely can't have more spikes than 4 - this limit is because Ruin subservient nature in Harmony, not because individual's nature. The Mists of Era 2 are both of Ruin and Preservation, not always at the same time, sometimes they appear together, sometimes alone. And there were black mist in Era 1, which was of Ruin - they were near the Well. But this is not about it - Allomancy draws directly from Preservation, the question is would Koloss blooded Allomancer draw directly from Ruin - my answer is no, because Allomancy comes from the Connection to Preservation, which they would still need. Well that's what Atium does. The Metallic Arts came because of interactions of both Ruin and Preservation with each other and Scadrial. Both Shards can do it if they want, and Ruin did it to Marsh at the end of HoA. It's possible that Hemalurgically granted Allomancy already draws from Ruin instead of Preservation: I don't think there is anything like "Preservation's half of Feruchemy". Feruchemy is a blend of both Ruin and Preservation, and because the whole investiture in metalminds comes from you, not Shards, there would be no effect. Never. There was always more Preservation in people than Ruin, that's the Preservation's fragment in their soul, that's what gave them sentience. HoA ch 54: But if you're talking about Preservation's fragment being equal in all humans, that also isn't likely to be the case - Mistsnapping awakens the weaker people to mistings, but this never was equal in everybody, even before Rashek Ascension. Yes, and also the maximum number of spikes a person can take before their soul starts rejecting new ones. This is because Ruin no longer pushes so hard on the fabric of Cosmere and is subservient to Preservation in Harmony now. TLM Ars Arcanum:

The Prelude (not prologue) is 4 pages long. That's not much for slicing. It wouldn't work at all if you put it in a different place in the book, because it's too short and it's not a part of WoK, but it's a part of SA. That's why it has to be before WoK, because it contains crucial information for you to know before you start reading WoK.

Yes, that's what they are doing. Not connection specifically, but raw investiture coming from Preservation's fragment (innate investiture) in them. TLM ch 47: That would be a nicrosil spike. This is not a connection, because that connection isn't formed yet (that's what Snapping and Lerasium do) There are two problems with getting Metalborn powers out of that. First is that it is just raw investiture, that needs to be somehow programmed to a corresponding power (possibly Navani's method of creating anit-light could be applied here to change raw investiture into specific type of investiture corresponding to a specific power which all have distinguishable tones). Second is the identity contamination - this spike contains 20-30 different identities, and if modern spikes with their single identity is enough to prevent compounding from working, the investiture in that spike wouldn't want to combine together and would remain separate because of different identities. You need to blank either the spike, or people who you're spiking.

Well, this means nothing. Honor is Splintered, but someone like Dalinar could take pieces of Honor and pieces of Odium (without killing its Vessel) and form a new Shard, weaker than Harmony, but comparable or stronger than a single Shard. But personally I think this is too early for a dual Shard on Roshar - that would happen in the second 5 books, now it is more likely for somebody to unite and Ascend to Honor alone.

I don't know, connection is a part of Singer's form. Just spiking something from a spren won't give you singers form. You may get some physical deformations corresponding to Singer's form, but it would be far inferior to a real form. But what part of spren's spirit web gives form of powers? Yes, it's a connection, but just like Radiants gaining Surgebinding from spren, Singers are getting their specific forms because of what's in spren's spirit web. If lesser spren have some basic Surges in them, that give Singers their form, then your idea would be much more likely - as you would need to steal that and give it yourself (+ connection) - but in that case I doubt there would be big or even any physical deformations happening. But if it's something more broad, like raw investiture or strength, then deformations might follow.

The prelude is meant to confuse. You are meant to be left clueless about the events presented there, asking questions about what happened there. It's the prelude to the Stormlight Archive as the whole, not just to the Way of Kings. And by reading the book you can quickly pick up that the truth about Aharietiam was really forgotten and distorted. That people are unaware of the danger that's coming. That's the reason the prelude is there, to set up a stage for the whole series, to tell us that a new Desolation might come, that there is the enemy, and that the Heralds aren't gods or divine, but just immortal, tortured, broken men who abandoned their post and lied to humanity. The prelude is a fantastic piece of the storytelling, giving you some introduction to Heralds and important foreshadowing, but leaving you mostly clueless about everything, setting up a mystery that is slowly unraveled throughout the entire series. This could not have been told in epigraphs (as they are in-world texts, so it would be weird if humanity had a prove that Heralds lied and Aharietiam is a sham, but did nothing with it) or even in interludes, as those are too late and they are a part of specific book.

I'm very skeptical of this idea. First of all, a wire is very bendy, it would be really hard to push it through tissue and bones precisely into a binding point without it bending or being deflected, not to mention such wire would be very susceptible to breaking. You would have to drill a hole through a person first, but I don't know how this would affect Hemalurgy, as you're not spiking a body anymore, but a hole (however Marsh recover a spike that was pushed out of his eye by Vin, Vin has an earing, so I guess it can be done - but a drill would hurt like hell). Secondly I doubt you could keep the majority of investiture outside of your body. Hemalurgy is pushing a piece of soul into your soul - if it's outside of your soul I doubt it will connect. You need to have all of it going through your body, not hanging outside of it. Wiring multiple people into the same spike is out of the question - again, that's a piece of soul that's being stamped into your soul - you can't connect it to multiple souls at the same time. You need to divide the charge into two separate spikes to spike two people. Next, a wire through your brain, heart or spine will still kill you after removal. It would be easier to survive spiking through different areas, that is true, but we're back to the bendy wire problem. And you're ignoring the damage done to your soul. Hemalurgy isn't damaging just the body, but the mind and the soul as well. The more investiture you have in spike, the bigger the hole in your soul to fit all of that (that's my opinion). The damage done to a soul and mind is permanent - you don't want to be healed by Hemalurgic spikes in hospital, that's a terrible idea. To make such a wire spike you would need to melt the whole spike and then reforge it into wires. I doubt you could just weld a piece of wire to the spike - the charge likely is bound to Axi of the spike, not the wire. It's far better and more reliable to just use small and thin spikes - they can still hold a full charge of an invested power and be far less damaging to you than traditional spikes. Rust, Vin and Wax have an earring spike, with Vin getting double A-bronze from that small piece of metal. Just find non lethal binding points, like in your ears, nose or lips, and put a small piercing in it. It's so simple, you can take out those spikes whenever you want it, without any trouble. It wasn't because of the spike's size, it was because Set was spiking raw investiture out of non-Allomancers. A single spiking invested a spike by around 5%, they did tests and determined they needed to spike 20-30 people with the same spike to fill it up completely However powers granted by these spikes didn't last for long and likely that's because of identity contamination - that spike was keyed to 20-30 different identities - but also lack of proper reprogramming of investiture in that spike.. Vin's earring could hold the whole power of A-bronze in it, a small piece of metal can hold a lot of Hemalurgic charge. The limit on the number of spikes accepted by a soul is because of Ruin's subservient nature towards Preservation. The inability to Compound with modern spikes is due to Identity contamination, and this idea doesn't resolve it at all. Moreover, when spiking people for powers/investiture, trauma is helpful so willing people might give weaker powers, TLM ch 47: "Trauma on the part of the subject is helpful as well." Tbf I don't fully understand you idea with spiking multiple people at once with a single wire - it doesn't address any problem that Set was facing.

I doubt it, Odium promised not to destroy Kharbranth himself, to spare them from the destruction he wants to bring on Roshar - it isn't about protecting it from any harm, but only from the harm done by Odium. OB ch 122: Why would she do that? She had no reason to suspect that Taravangian will be even worse than Rayse. She believes that the problem of Odium was resolved and Taravangian will bear this Shard with Honor. She will probably realize her mistake when Taravangian will use that loophole in the contest. Shards are omnipresent, they can do multiple things at once in many different places. Their attention is usually focused in one place but they still know what is happening elsewhere and can act anywhere on the planet all at once. No. He needs to destroy Kharbranth, even if as an accident. Technically Odium is permanently bound to the Rosharan system - without Honors agreement, he can't leave. I don't think you can bind a Shard more than that.

With this part I agree. Elantrians aren't combat focused. While some of them will definitely fight from time to time in their thousands years of lifespan - Fjorden is a big danger for them and who knows what else was there in Selish history, and they do have a preferred offensive Aon, so I bet most of them will experience combat one in a while - but that's not something the average Elantrian would be proficient with. It's more comparable to Radiants of the past, Radiants living in between Desolations, most likely with no enemy to fight, not engaging in local conflicts etc. However those Radiants would still be trained in combat, duels and military tactics - Elantrans probably not. The sheer presence of Elantrians acted like a deterrent. Description from Coppermind: Explosive energy will surely crack and break a plate.

Nalthis - T'Telir. I can get Breaths, I can Awaken, lots of art, colors and restaurants.