alder24

Because he didn't want Gavinor to die and he knew theContest was meaningless - Taravangian had bested Dalinar no matter if he won or lost the Contest. He owned most of Roshar, having peace served Odium's plans, allowing him to raise an army to invade Cosmere and he could always arrange breaking the peace and starting a new war on Roshar anytime he wanted. He knew Taravangian would find a way to make humans break the terms of peace, allowing Odium to restart the war and all the Contest would achieve was to push the problem down to the next generation, just like it happened with every Desolation before. This wasn't any solution, in fact Honor was a part of the problem and Dalinar realized that the only way to solve this problem was to break the cycle of Desolations and allow Honor to learn and redefine itself - this couldn't happen with Dalinar as Honor because Honor alone is devoid of context provided by other Shards, which once existed together as one in Adonalsium and gave context and meaning to themselves. With combined and free Odium and Honor, other Shards could no longer ignore Odium and had to take immediate actions against Retribution, as now he became the ultimate danger to all of Cosmere. Keeping Odium restricted is no longer the problem of Rosharans alone, it is also the problem of Shards now who ignored him up to this point (no, asking other Shards for help wouldn't work as Tanavast already tried this and was simply ignored by all) and with Taravangian distracted by other Shards, Rosharans will have time to develop a plan to end this threat for good. Moreover, Honor now has a context provided by Odium from which he can learn and grow to understand that oaths or wanting to fight Odium aren’t everything. Without that context Honor can't change, so Dalinar staying as Honor's Vessel wouldn't change anything in the end - Desolations would still be raging, Odium and Honor would be clashing, people would be dying and Roshar would be suffering. WaT ch 142: WaT ch 143:

There is one, TLM ch 32: And the reason to go there is the Iriali Long Trail.

It's Hemalurgy, but not exactly the same one used on Scadrial. Hemalurgy is like the concept of Lightweaving or Midnight Essence - the same mechanic which manifests differently on different worlds and in different magic systems. Maybe it doesn't have to be of Ruin, but it looks like all of Hemalurgy is of Ruin because Ruin is everywhere in Cosmere and you need to borrow Ruin's intent to use it. Hemalurgy on Scadrial manifests with metallic spikes, because metal is a big part of Scadrial, on Roshar gemstones are important so that's why Hemalurgy on Roshar manifests with spikes. You can still use metal spikes on Roshar, you would be using Scadrian Hemalurgy, but crystals are used for Rosharan Hemalurgy. I think that Harmony can have some influence over Moash, but it would be similar to how the Set used Trellium spikes that made them invisible to Harmony. Those crystal spikes filled with Voidlight Connect Vyre more to Odium and this blocks Harmony from interacting with him in most ways, just like he couldn't do anything to Set members spiked with Trellium.

No because there is no intent and they don't pierce binding points. Hemalurgy requires a very specific intent that a body driven to survive likely won't be able to reproduce. I'm also wondering if those traces of metal would contain any investiture from spikes. Does division of spikes require intent? Does the soul in the spike naturally stick to the largest part of the spike (like in healing)? If yes then any traces of metal that got separated wouldn't contain any Hemalurgic charge in them, but I must admit, it seems unlikely.

He did. It was said all throughout the book sine the very first chapter. TSM ch 1: TSM ch 46: Aux probably became Unoathed after Sig broke his Oaths.

This is Sigzil's exclusive skill. He held a Dawnshard, this changed his soul and allowed him to draw in any investiture to power his skills. Others can't do it unless they get unkeyed investiture (like what we saw in TLM). A lot of what's happening to Sigzil is unique to him because he held a Dawnshard. But all Invested Arts, except Selish ones, can easily work anywhere in Cosmere. You need just metal for Allomancy, Stormlight for Surgebinding, White Sand for Sand Mastering, Breaths, for Awakening (or in the future any investiture can be used to Awaken) etc. The hardest part for Radiants was to have light outside of Roshar (well, the hardest was to leave the system, now they can), but they can also fuel their abilities with any kind of unkeyed investiture (like pure Dor). This always was the case, we saw Vasher Awaken in RoW, we saw Hoid doing Allomancy throughout SA (plus some other Invested Arts), we saw Feruchemy in RoW performed by Axindweth and we saw Shai hacking Selish magics to work on Scadrial. No retcon, it was all in books for a very long time now. Looks like they were mostly consumed by the Dawnshard, just like Aux was. However, because Sig started to fight for right causes again and he aligned himself to his former, broken Oaths, he was able to summon them to the Physical Realm once more. If they were consumed like Aux, they had no body, no form, only some remnants of soul in the Spiritual Realm, where distance doesn't matter anymore. There were also Windspren leaving Roshar at the end of WaT and because he broke his bonds, his platespren would have been deadeyed, just like his Radiant spren was, so his spren were likely sticking close to him as Unoathed, until they were consumed by his Dawnshard and were no longer able to manifest in the Physical Realm. TSM ch 20: TSM ch 39: TSM ch 40: TSM ch 41: TSM ch 45: He had them, in the same way he had Aux, but they did start to manifest a little bit at some moments. Quotes above. Consumed by the Dawnshard, as quoted above. Only his soul remained, but he became a half-living spiritual corpse of his former self. He was worse than a Deadeye, with no body in Shadesmar or the Physical Realm as that was also consumed by the Dawnshard. Then at the very end of TSM, Aux gave up his Identity, mind and whatever was left of who he was to grant Surges to Sig one last time (he could use his own soul to power them because of the Dawnshard aftereffects) and now Aux is really gone as a person. He's not even a Deadeye anymore, just a Spiritual corpse that Sig can summon as a Shardblade. At least that's how I understand it. TSM ch 46:

No. Orders of Knights Radiant were established by Ishar long after Heralds were bound to the Oathpact - they are separate from Oaths made by Honor. It's highly unlikely to create a new order because there are only 10 Surges and there are only 9 kinds of True Spren (plus God Sprens). You would need not only a new spren who embodies a different pairing of Surges, but also you would need to incorporate into the structure of Knights Radiant - which is currently impossible because of how Ishar made the Orders. Creating new Surges is even more difficult as they are a natural manifestation of powers of creation and they are partially based on perception and were also made in such a way by someone or something (related to Dawnshards and the Shards). The reason why there are 10 Heralds is because 10 is the number of power. There are other numbers that could work and those numbers are unrelated to Knights Radiant. WaT ch 64: WaT ch 77:

Kind of. Rhythms and Tones of Roshar. Singers and Fused can hear them, there is a slight change in Tones when a new Vessel Ascends, there would be a massive change in Rhythms when two Shards combine. Hearing Rhythms allows one to understand their meaning. Humans are not only capable of learning to hear Rhythms (Navani), it was also shown by the imprisonment of Mishram that drastic changes of Rhythms can be heard by everybody - Dalinar and Navani felt Rhythms stopping for 3 seconds when Mishram was captured. I believe that's how everybody knows Retribution's name - he literally broadcasted it across the whole Cosmere, but he didn't do it intentionally, it was just a result of merging two Shards together that was unavoidable. RoW ch 76: WaT ch 20: WaT ch 87:

Everything in Cosmere exists in three Realms - the Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual Realm. While metals in our universe have "physical" chemical properties, in Cosmere they also have Spiritual properties, that define how they respond to investiture. This is something that likely existed even before the Shattering, so it's not that Allomancy defines steel as pushing investiture away, rather Allomancy borrowed the existing Spiritual properties of steel to make it push metals away.

No, their perception of self is still written in their Spirit Web and they will always be healing to match that image, no matter if they're conscious or if their mind is somewhere else (because of the nature of Heralds and their ability to heal which is powered directly from Honor's essence). They will be tortured, they will heal it like they were always doing, but they won't feel it because their mind is somewhere else, just like Dalinar who couldn't feel anything that was happening to his body while he was in a vision. Taravangian can't touch them directly because they are protected by the Oathpact, just like spren are. He needs to use his minions for this. From everything we know, they don't. Raboniel said that no life exists on the surface of Braize and there are only angry souls there. Ishar also said they have bodies only when they Return, not when they are on Braize. They would probably manifest like Kelsier or spren in Shadesmar - they can still feel pain, and that's how they torture them. RoW ch 89: WaT ch 145:

Retribution reclaimed it all and sucked it into himself from every person and gemstone in the world - both Physical and Cognitive Realm. There is no Stormlight anywhere on Roshar now. I don't know if this also affected perfect gemstones, but I think it should as it was done directly by Retribution and also after a month of travelling though Shadesmar, Shallan has found no Stormlight anywhere. If perfect gemstones were able to keep Stormlight, Shallan would have found it everywhere as this is basically the currency in Shadesmar.

As long as both Shards agreed to settle together, it was fine. The pact wasn't a binding Oath so it wasn't on the same level as Odium's binding to Roshar.

On Braize, Heralds always existed without physical bodies. Now their souls are still on Braize, but their minds are separated from them in the Spiritual Realm vision. This means that it doesn't matter what will be happening to their souls, their minds can't feel it and therefore torture became ineffective against them. Their souls are regenerated by the mechanics of being a Cognitive Shadow and their Connection to Honor so torture can't leave a permament damage on their soul. It's their minds that were always affected by it. So while Retribution would love to torture them and force them to break the Oathpact, it won't affect Heralds at all.

Which is the very same thing Hemalurgy does. If a Hemalurgic wound can be healed, Szeth's missing arm also can be healed if the correct method of healing is used. All forms of healing in Cosmere take your physical self and match it to your spiritual self, filtering it through your cognitive self - the way you think of yourself shapes the way your spiritual Ideal of yourself looks. As long as Szeth views himself as having two arms, he can heal it even if his arm was consumed by Nightblood in all three Realms. Edit: So I have to disagree with you because all available information points towards this conclusion - this is how healing in Cosmere works and what Nightblood did is no different than a Hemalurgic wound.

Does 1000 years count as a long period of time on a geological scale or not? For example the Siberian Traps, which caused the Great Dying - the biggest extinction event in Earth's history - were erupting for 2 million years and covered a region equivalent to 2/3 of continental US, so I think 7 small volcanoes erupting mainly ash over just 1000 year long period is not enough to cause a significant greenhouse effect on Scadrial. Also, keep in mind that the Ashmunts were specifically designed by Rashek to dump tons of ash into the atmosphere when he held the power of the Well. He could have designed them in such a way to limit the emission of greenhouse gases to minimum. I think that's your answer.

This shouldn't matter at all. It's no different than any other damage done to the Spirit Web either with Hemalurgy or a Shardblade. And if you can regrow a part of your Spirit Web stolen by a spike, Szeth can most definitely regrow his arm. It's all about perception. So we should be asking ourselves if Szeth wants to regrow his arm at all, or if he views it now as a part of himself - a sign of a new chapter in his life in which he doesn't have to fight anymore, not only because he chose not to, but because he's missing an arm. But even if he wants to heal his arm and he still views himself as having both arms, he doesn't have any light for it. There is no Stormlight anymore, Warlight is very limited and you need to pray to Retribution to get it, lastly he isn't a Radiant anymore so he can't hold any light. And while Nightblood likely can connect himself and feed directly from spheres, the last time he did this, Szeth lost his arm. Yes, Nightblood changed, he chose not to consume Szeth and Kaladin, but he's still driven by his Command when drawn, it's still extremely dangerous to use him when you can't hold any light. Too dangerous. However, we know that Honorblades were a prototype version of Shardblades and Regrowth granted by them did not allow for healing wounds of the soul. This is because the bond between a Honorblade and its bearer is weaker and not as deep as the one between a Radiant and their spren. The important question is how deep is the bond between Nightblood and its bearer - Szeth? Is it comparable to the Radiant bond or the Honorblade bond? If it's like the Honorblade bond, Szeth can't regrow his arm even if he wants and if he does have Warlight (because Nightblood consumes in all three Realms).

No. A Sliver is someone who once held the power of the Shard but since then they released it. It made their soul expand and then deflate, leaving some permanent changes on it. A Splinter is an autonomous part of the Shard, separated from its control and Identity. Returned aren't Slivers or Splinters, but their Divine Breaths are Splinters (not Slivers).

We know it's a vision like Dalinar had experienced and those are happening in the SR. Ashyn is still inhabitable on the surface and it was said their souls still returned to Braize - quote below. Faster. They will experience Rosharan years in just a few months. WaT ch 144: WaT Postlude: Brands yes, but not individuals. The Focused Ones appeared in the book before Chana was found. Look at the quote above. They still expected to be tortured as they knew Retribution would want to force them to break this new Oathpact. It's not about releasing Fused and allowing them on Roshar anymore, it's about releasing protection of spren this time.

I think he knew, it seems he knew that Heralds might be tortured on Braize when the Oathpact was formed, but it seems he didn't realize what long term effects of torture and immortality would have on them after thousands of years. WaT ch 65:

There are still Fuse on Braize - Chana was captured by Fused who haven't returned to Roshar yet. Also, many Fused are insane and adore causing pain - they would torture Heralds just for the sake of it even if they can't get anything out of them. But yes, I don't think that the new Oathpact prevents Fused from returning to Roshar. It's possible it might slow them down (as every Herald who died before others go to Braize slowed down Fused Return to Roshar), but it shouldn't matter anymore.

Both 10 and 9. He's both Shards, they exist within him and so both of their numbers are his numbers now.

Mraize said that Lift is weird because she's powered by Lifelight, not Stormlight. I think no other Radiant can use Lifelight because they lack a sufficiently strong Connection to Cultivation. This is shown by Venli, who because of her bond with a Voidspren is capable of using Voidlight - without Voidspren in her gemheart, she wouldn't have been able to use both lights. RoW ch 60:

He didn't want to do that, he only wanted to absorb all spren. WaT ch 145:

There is no need for this anymore as Heralds' minds are safe from torture in the Spiritual Realm vision, where time flows faster than on Roshar.

Striking deals and using his agents to secure 90% of Roshar behind the coalition's back is nothing to you? If not for Gav, Taravangian would have chosen any other innocent person whom Dalinar also wouldn't have been willing to kill - Gav was just cherry on top. The contest wasn't about the fight, it was about philosophy and morality and Taravangian outsmarted Dalinar on this field. WaT ch 137: The contest was literally the same problem Taravangian and Dalinar discussed in OB - Nohadon's problem with 4 people, among which one was a criminal but nobody knew who he was. Taravangian chose to kill them all, Dalinar chose to release them all as for him hurting even one innocent person was unacceptable. This is the same moral dilemma Taravangian had presented Dalinar with. Gav being Odium's champion didn't matter at all, Taravangian did it for drama, it was all about forcing Dalinar to kill one innocent person, which would prove Taravangian's right. Any innocent person. Dalinar's trip to the Spiritual Realm was absolutely necessary for him to Ascend to Honor. Without it, he wouldn't have been able to understand Honor and Ascend to it, which allowed him to find a third way out of this problem and checkmate Taravangian in the end. This wouldn't have worked if someone just told him all of this, he had to live through this to understand Honor. I don't know why people are so confused about it when it was presented so clearly in the book. WaT ch 139: Even if Dalinar was present this whole time, he wouldn't have been able to do anything to prevent secret talks between leaders of nations and Taravangian. There was nothing he could have done to stop them from switching sides in secret. Even Fen switched sides. I agree with you here, I don't like this. That's the reason. He wanted to kill them. Rayse's goal was to become the sole god in Cosmere and he wanted to do it by Splintering all other Shards. He went to Roshar because Honor and Cultivation settled there together, which gave him a weakness to use against them and also to raise an army, because his direct fight with Ambition weakened him too much and he was trying to find an indirect way to attack other Shards - with an army. And Cultivation threatened to gather other Shards and deal with Rayse, like they did with Adonalsium, if he were to leave Roshar. WaT ch 113: