alder24

What is even wilder is that Vin, during her Ascension, after almost fully merging with the Mists, would also be unable to push on Shardblades.

I'm not sure if Radiant has to say the words, but in the case of Eshonai, she was unable to say the words under water, Stormfather himself said that. During her struggle she chose freedom over power, so that's why Stormfather accepted her unspoken words. She said the words in her mind.

I don't know if a combination of sprens would become a Radiant spren. Radiants were bonded and formed by Ishar, so I don't think a new combination would become a new order, so no Oaths at all. Surgebinding might still be granted. But I suspect it would be the same Surges they are already, but they would act differently and have different resonances. Like maybe a surge of Gravity allowing you to lash yourself to the specific point or object, but you can't control the strength of it, so you lash yourself to a rock and now you're only affected by rock's natural force of gravity. Well, maybe something more useful than this, but still the same surges with different ways to use them. And you could aslo create fabrials with these new sprens. Why not? Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it will be done. Brandon sometimes says this.

Shard as a power is still alive, Shard as an entity might be dead (Dor is a counterargument for this as it developed sentience). I think it's important to distinguish these two. There are 10^82 atoms in the observable universe, for us humans it might be as good as infinite. We can't comprehend numbers that big, so we might just call it infinity. I think we can say that Shards have infinite power, even if they don't, but they are very very close to it, so it just doesn't matter. Again, how I see it, Shards are omnipotent, in the sense and definition that they have (nearly) infinite power (so close to it that Brandon constantly calls it infinite) - but they are not all powerful, they can't do everything they want. They have power, but can't use it without limits. And that's in the context of religion and the question if Shards are god. They can be easily qualified as gods, they have power, but can't do everything they want.

No. I don't think so. What I wanted to tell, what this WoB is talking about, is that non-Nalthian can use Awakening if he gets Breaths from Nalthis, but if he doesn't he still can use Awakening IF he converts some investiture (like Stormlight, or innate investiture) into Breaths - which is possible, and told many times in WoBs. I think this is what Brandon was talking about (it's a paraphrased WoB, so it might not be word by word as it was told by Brandon), because of the statement in brackets clarifying what Brandon was talking about, and I give you also a WoBs to support it. I might be wrong, but this seems to fit with many other WoBs I presented to you. Brandon often talks about how any investiture can be used to Awaken. I think we need clarification from Brandon on this one, but I'm pretty sure this was the case. The nature of Endowment is giving Breaths without any strings attached (Brandon's words), Awakening is about giving - as long as you have Breaths you can give, Endow, something with them. The same way hemalurgy can be used by everyone in Cosmere, because Ruin cares only about entropy, Endowment only cares about pure gifts. They do. What Scadrians have, because of Ruin's and Preservation's part in them, would be called Breaths on Nalthis (supported by WoB posted previously), but they can't use it like Nalthians can. What soul is composed of is the soul and additional innate investiture, sticking to it. Any person that comes from a Shared-invested world has that innate investiture as a part of their soul. This innate investiture could be converted into Breaths and used as Breaths if they know how to - nobody knows that yet. Nalthians have a bit more than for example Scadrials, but Scadrians still are significantly invested. Look again at the WoBs I posted. Nightblood will feed on both innate investiture and souls. I don't know why you're talking about it. I'm not denying that the soul exists, or that not every investiture is a soul. We don't have to define what the soul is. We don't know, people in Cosmere might have different interpretations etc. Soul is an investiture, an spiritual part of . That's what matters. From Coppermind: "Everything in the cosmere has a Spiritual aspect (even objects), a soul, which represents the idealized form or concept upon which their existence is based. Among sentient creatures, this soul is sometimes described as a spiritweb." Soul is made of investiture, connections, identity, fortune, spiritual DNA etc. I use the words soul and spiritweb with the same meaning. The average person in Cosmere, which would be somebody from a non-invested world, like First of the Sun, like WoB in my previous post was talking about, is less invested than Nalthian or Scadrian, but more invested than Drab. This suggests that Breaths are part of Nalthians soul/spiritweb, and even in Warbreaker it was also told a few times (especially in annotations, that having their own Breath is important, and people without them are lacking part of themself, WoBs are also mentioning this). So changing spikes doesn't change Kandra's personality, TenSoon was wearing OreSur's spikes after all. You can have that idea, that's ok. I don't think this is the case. Enough investiture on its own will develop sentience. So I believe no coding or spark of life is needed, you just put enough investiture in something and it will become alive. I'm not denying it, but with a simple hemalurgic spike you can't. I don't know why you think that I think that way. Soul is soul. There is some investiture that sticks to the soul and is part of the soul to some degree but it can be manipulated - like Breaths. Investing people expands their souls, that is how Savantism works, Dawnshards, and even Shards.

Cultivation intent is about change, Lift asked her not to change. It's like asking Preservation to ruin. When you run out of investiture, you stop being a winner. Yet the person who won, will be the winner forever. How would she kill somebody when she's never left the Valley? But in literal meaning you wouldn't.

And I was talking about "(talks about systems needing rigged up to work on different planets)". This seems to clarify what Brandon was meaning with "jumping through some hoops to Awaken". No, this is about Nightblood and Returned who need to feed on Investiture of any kind, if not, they will consume a soul. Everyone has a soul. No. It's a soul. Breaths are not a soul, they stick to a soul. That's Shard's investiture sticking to a soul. The nature of Endowment makes this investiture something that can be shared and give away. And here is more, non-Nalthian confirmed to be able to use Breath. They have more investiture than a Drab. This is because the Soul is a component of the soul + investiture of the Shard that invests the world. On Scadrial this is Ruin's and Preservation's investiture. On Nalthis it's Endowment, but here is a trick, Nalthians can use that part of investiture as a Breaths. And another WoB: That's what Breath is. It's an additional investiture that makes up their soul. Only Nalthians can utilize it, because of the nature of Endowment. But giving up their Breath doesn't make them soulless. This is the first time I'm hearing about it. Source? It's not cloning when the original loses his identity.

Yes, Intent is a must, that goes without saying. Intent is always a very important part in Cosmere. And like first WoB stated, walking away from Oaths would still break the bond (like Kaladin almost did), but saying "I'm breaking the Oaths" does it as well. There is Intent behind both of these actions. Saying the words might make it a far quicker process. And what Shallan said was a denying the Truths - she said she hates him, yet she was liking him before. She didn't say it with the meaning that she changed her fellings, she denyied that Testament ever existed, that Shallan ever liked her etc. This was contradictory to her previously spoken Truths, said with the Intent to break the bond. And I think, that's what matters. However it's not the repression of her memories that broke her Oaths, she felt the bond breaking right after she said the words "She felt the ripping sensation again. The terrible pain, and the awful horror.". It's like what Teft was feeling the moment Phendorana was killed - incapacitating agony as a part of his soul was ripped away. Kaladin felt nothing like that. So the words Shallan said in that moment were very important, and were the cause for breaking the bond.

Tell that to Kelsier.

Not dead, Splintered. The power is still there. Investiture, like energy, can't be destroyed. Vessels are dead.

I selfishly say that I'm happy you didn't get the other books and you are stuck with SA Glad to have you back. You are thinking about it in the wrong way. There are things that Edgedancer you and your Windrunner friend could do. Both Szeth and Kaladin did this at some point, and it would be very handy for a frictionless Edgedancer.

Khem khem Armadillo Similar, made out of calcium, so its very close.

I always had a problem with this. On one hand both Syl and Stormfather confirmed that Syl was dead, yet on the other Stormfather was actively preventing her from returning to Kaladin, and warning her that Kaladin will kill her. Not again, not like before, but just will kill her. I guess she was very close to dying and becoming the deadeye, and was being hurt a lot by Kalading conflicting oaths, yet because Kaladin himself was conflicted and didn't fully cross the line, she didn't fully become deadeye - Stormfather took her and cared for her in this near-death state, and prevented her from returning to him. So I'm still not sure if Syl was truly a deadeye at that moment or just very close to becoming one.

The best way is to put this in numbers. Like e.g. up until the year he started working on the farm, he had a strength of 0.6 of that of an average man, and each year of working on the farm gave him an additional 0.1. If he stores strength every time he isn't asleep, he stores it for 16-18h a day. Put a number on the percentage of strength stored, and you can vaguely estimate how much strength he would have after all those years. I bet it would still be a lot still. And the unit of storing would be something like 50% strength per 1h x16 or 18 a day. The time is important here to evaluate diminishing returns. That sounds nice. The train scene works on its own, so it can be placed wherever you like it or even be as its own separate short story. So you're right, you can just write it first and then decide where it fits the best.

That's great. I love the idea of using metalic arts in daily activities. Good idea. But if he stores strength for 4 years non stop, he would have insane amount of strength. He could easily deal with hundreds of bandits. Sazed in WoA has a very limited amount of strength and yet he killed hundreds of koloss, without using strength from his ring, that has been collected in the last 2 weeks or so. How about some bandits manage to rip his pewter bracer out of him, and take that with him, limiting him to strength in his ring only, which runs out far quicker? You can later use that bracer in the climax. How about bandits from the raid kidnaping his siblings and wounding his grandpa? There is nobody who can help him, and he has to go alone to save his siblings. He has almost no strength stored, and is on the ticking clock. He manages to find bandits, kill a few of them, and regain his bracer, which still stores a lot of strength. However even this ends after defeating a lot of bandits, there are some still left, but he has no attribute left - that where the mist fills the building (it was damaged during fight) and snaps him. He has some slight amounts of pewter, maybe from drinking and eating from pewter cups and plates like Vin, and he realized what he now is - he swallows his ring, and compounds pewter, defeating the last of the bandits with this. I would also incorporate religion into it. Maybe his childish motivation was because of Kelsier influence, mist protecting, giving power etc - it would pay off nicely when he snaps. It would also give another reason for him to desire powers, as he wants to be like Kelsier and protect those he loves. Prologue? naaah, spoiling the ending straightforward at the very beginning make me grind my teeth (I’m looking at you Dune) How about the epilogue? Sounds cool. I wonder however if strength alone would make his bones withstand the insane weight of the train (better locomotive than car, much much heavier), but if it's allomantic strength it might be possible. And make sure he has some small pewter balls for swallowing and compounding. While pewter armor sounds cool, while moving train car it's useless besides providing attributes. In fight I can see it being used by Coinshooters or Lurchers. Pewter is a malleable and soft metal, so it wouldn't be of much use as an armor. But some kind of pewter gauntlets or small body armor parts for fist fights would be much better for fistfighters and melee. But you decide of course. https://www.makeitfrom.com/compare/AISI-304N-S30451-Stainless-Steel/Type-2-L13912-Sheet-Pewter He can push it back on track, and lift one side of it to place it on the tracks, and he repeats it 4 times for each corner? It might be even better if he was traveling in this train when it derailed, and he jumps into action. Maybe first holding two cars together to stop them from separating and falling down the hill, and later pushing the locomotive or another car back on track, rather than lifting it. Because that's what heroes do.

That's why Brandon names it Old Magic... All boons we know of were affecting only one person, all Nightwatcher said was only about one person. Even followers can be granted by manipulating a person's connections, with some individuals, strengthening them, or giving him an aura similar to emotional allomancy. All descriptions of Old Magic were only talking about boons given to recipient. Cultivation still acts as Old Magic and Nightwatcher should be in this case. But she didn't become one, she forged herself as one, and is one as long as she has Dor. You won't be the winner this way as someone else is the winner, who fought and won. Do we know that she can? Only Stormfather of all sprens killed people in his true form, and this was done using Highstorms. For all we know, she never left the Valley. And yet you wouldn't be a winner.

WoB: No, Old Magic affects only the person asking for a boon. And this means somebody else won this competition, not you. This wouldn't be a winning. It's a forgery. Old Magic affects only the person who asks for it. And you listed only the ones that are either impossible, or those that don't make you a winner.

Ever since I’ve read this Death Rattle, I believed that to truly break the bond with spren, you need to say Words opposite and contradictory to the Ideals you’ve spoken. This WoB suggests saying words is one of the ways to break the bond with spren. However up until RoW ch 93 there was nothing more to suggest this was the case. Until we saw Shallan breaking her own bond with Testament, by speaking words that might not feel important at first, yet are the key to her original Truths. To fully break the bond, she spoke inverted words of her original Truths and the First Ideal. First Ideal is contradicted with the last three sentences, as they fit together very well, this means breaking of the Oaths is in order from the one recently spoken, to the First Ideal “Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination” - “You never existed. You are nothing. And I am finished!” Life never existed, the Strength is nothing, and the journey is finished. This bears very close resemblance to the Death Rattle quoted above. Knowing this we can say that Shallan's bond with Testament was on the 4th Ideal. “I’m done!” negated her 2nd Truth, “I hate you!” was for 3rd one, and “I don’t want you!“ inverted the last, 4th Truth she had spoken. These seems like a simple statements and I believe her Truths were also childishly simply, even Shallan said it herself: We can now guess her original Truths with Testament: 2nd Truth is the opposite of “I’m done!”, so it would be about starting of something, Shallan just simply admitting that “this is a new beginning” fits well enough. 3rd Truth was contradicted with “I hate you!”, so her Truth would be saying that she likes Testament. “I like you”. 4th Truth, the last one, was broken with “I don’t want you!“. Her Truth might be realizing that she wants to spend time or be with Testament, or even that she needs her. Now Shallan's situation with Testament is different from Kaladin’s with Syl in WoR. Kaladin didn’t say the contradicting words, he didn’t fully break his Oaths, he just didn’t live up to them. And when he started living by Ideals again, Syl was brought back to life, and he was able to say the 3rd Ideal. Shallan contradicted every single Ideal she’d spoken with inverted words. She can’t say the 5th Truth and make Testament alive again, she needs to reconstruct every Ideal she’s broken. And we have WoBs confirming it. She has already started doing it. She must have said her first Ideal somewhere in the past, maybe even at the same time she said it to Pattern unknowingly. Shallan said in RoW that she remembered using her surges after breaking the bond with Testament but before bonding Pattern, she soulcasted in WoK, and she was using Testament as a Shardblade during WoR. The most obvious candidate for her new Truth with Testament is “I’m terrified” spoken to a spren during events of WoK, when she soulcasted the goblet into blood. However, which Truth was reconstructed with these words is hard to say. It might be the 2nd one, or even the 3rd one, thus granting her ability to summon Testament as a Shardblade again, and allowing the blade to change shapes, open Oathgates, and look like a living Shardblade. To add more, Shallan admitting to killing or bonding Testament in RoW might be reconstruction of another Truth, as WoB posted above suggests this is a step in reconstructing her Oaths. But if that's true, then "I'm terrified" can't be 3rd one, as with the one in RoW she would be at 4th Ideal, and would fully reconstruct her Oaths. Yet Testament is still Deadeye. There might be something more needed, or her admitting to killing her spren might be just laying the foundation, not Oath reconstruction, because now she's aware of this, and now she can knowingly work on reconstructing more Oaths. What do you think? What were Shallan’s original Truths spoken with Testament? What Truths has she managed to reconstruct?

You don't reread era 1. Rereading just era 2 if you've forgotten a lot is enough.

In both cases, Lifts and Dalinar, Nightwatcher wasn't able to grant them what they wanted. With Dalinar we have in text evidence that when he asked for Forgiveness, Nightwatcher tried to give him a different Boon, until Cultivation intervened. It was because Nightwatcher wasn't able to give him what he wanted. In Lift's case even Cultivation wasn't able to give her fully what she wanted - Lift is still growing up. I don't care if it's Nightwatcher or Cultivation granting you Boon/Bane. They don't always give you what you wanted, because they can't. What I care about is how would asking her to be a winner work on the arena. This is important. You can't just say that you have boon to be a winner and therefore you win. Depending on how it would work it might help you, or do nothing at all.

Is it weak? She is able to manipulate identity and connections of people, and with bond this can be even bigger. Stormfater with a bond can do more than alone, and the same would be true for Nightwatcher. It might not seem that powerful at first, but I bet with a Bondsmith she would be able to do very impressive things. But Stormfather is the strongest entity on Roshar except shards, he holds the biggest shattered piece of Honor.

I think it's getting a bit into TLM zone so it should be posted in the spoiler zone. But anyway. It is possible that gaining more shards will allow Harmony to act. Shard of Autonomy might just make all shards act independently from each other, while still remaining as a singular entity. Turning into Discord might also allow Sazed to act, as Discord is not about balance, it's imbalance so he could potentially use one shard more than the other without any limits or repercussions. At this point however it's all speculative.

How would it work? It is very important, you know? Because we know from Lift's example that Boons can do everything without limits, after all Lift asked not to change and she definitely didn't grow in past years.

Not every god needs to be omniscient or omnipotent. Polytheism of ancient times is great a example of it. Nobody would say that Zeus is omniscient or omnipotent, many others aren't even omnipresent.

Not necessarily. Shallan has traveled a lot since WoR. She went with Kal to open Thaylen oathgate, later she moved from Narak to Kholinar, and through CR from Kholinar to Thaylen again. In RoW she spent months on Shattered Plains. Testament was found a year before Adolin met her at Nameless, on the island far east. So it would be somewhere during OB, or shortly after. It did't say "tiny" or small, just an island far east. It could be close to Thaylen, Kholinar, or Narak, and it could be because Testament was following Shallan. And to add to this, Shallan summoned Shardblade at the last meeting with Mraize in Urithiru in WoR, before revealing the truth about her mother - by logic presented above, it also had to be Testament, and it would be the last location Testament was summoned to, and from Urithiru she would travel following Shallan. I think in OB she was using only Pattern as a blade, but was still deceiving herself that Pattern and Testament were the same. As you said, she is an unreliable narrator.