alder24

@Frustration How would they even move Oathgate when they don't even know how was it made and just recently learn how to move just to CR? They do not have that knowledge after RoW. Moreover there is only ONE skilled Elsecaller with no sprens willing to bond, and ONE Willshaper that just begin to learn how to surgebind. Furthermore production of anti-light is very limited at the end of RoW, so no mass production of it and not even thoughts of weaponry on scale of bombs at the end of RoW. To add more, Roshar currently has only 2 radiants of 4th ideal - just 2, no more. You basically say that Roshar would master all Surgebinding, get all knights on 5th ideal with all sprens involved, figure out stuff that they didn't even think about yet and make everything there is to make, just because it is possible for them to make and was made before, and they had that abilities in the far past. It would be as well counter with argument of someone geting the power of Well of Ascention, vaporized every invading rosharian, and make milion Rashek-like soldiers, each with Harmonium-Trellium bombs with hundreds of MT yield, to set up on Roshar - just because it could be done, thye could have know how to do it, and it happend before. I just don't get that arguments of what they could do, if they knew everything there is to know when right now, they do not have neither knowledge, nor abilities, nor numbers to do any of that. We should compare them as they are at the end of each book, with the same skills, knowledge, numbers, even not united but conflicted among themselves as they are, and just maybe give them more equipment but only the one they already have and figured out how to make, as long as there are resources to make them right now, not what they could make in the future.

I was also thinking before TLM that it would be so "useful" to have some hamalurgic donor system in the future, where sick or old people could volunteer to get spiked, so their rare metalic arts would be gifted to someone else. Of course with payment granted to their families. Just like organ donors today. But with revelations from TLM it seams even resonable to do, as now the donor remains alive, and there are new rules and restrictions on how much spikes you can get, with possibility to even remove spikes. It will definitely get more popularized in the future, maybe even legalized.

As I understand it, there is no Ruin or Preservations any more, only Harmony. Those Shards no longer exist in pure form, they're part of Harmony but Harmony is somewhat different from any of them alone. So there cannot be any Atium nor Lerasium made as there are no Shards connected to that metals. That's why splitting Harmonium required so much imput and getting both Atium and Lerasium was a big deal as it was unexpected. But why would Marsh wanted to be involved in any of this? Last time he was, he was a puppet of pure destruction, he killed countless of innocent people, tortured and spiked dozens of Allomancers and Feruchemist, almost killed Vin, nearly was killed, killed Elend, almost lead to destruction of the whole world, and was spiked more than 20 times, feeling constant pain, that maybe he still feels. Moreover his feruchemic powers are weaker than normal feruchemist have, forcing him to spend more time on filling up metalminds than doing something. He might still be geting tired very quickly. Why on rust would he ever want to be seriously involved in anything considering all of that? Did he not deserved to just chill out? And to add more, he has more than 20 spikes, making him easily controllable not only for Shards.

The thing that makes me wonder is that army of "gold and red" were sent to destroy Scadrial's civilazation as we know. Not conquer, but destroy, as it was to dangerous to let them be alive. And they always mention as "men of gold and red" - nothing more, except guns when Marasi saes them. Their color and objective makes me doubt that they are humans as we know them - it would be just to hard to destroy whole planet's civilazation with living army that need constant supplies (Desolations on Roshar proves that). The duality of their color is the only description we got, and they were to be used only if the bomb would fail - not with the bomb to subject the population under the Set. They must be much grater threat than just some people, not to be deployed alongside regular Set members. That made me think about other dangerous, weird, almost single color entities - Shades of Threnody - men of black and red when enraged. They are not exactly the same, but I think "men of gold and red" might be made in the image of Shades, but more controlable and self-aware version of them - basically some sort of Cognitive Shadows, as they would not need any supplies, almost unkillable, with additional shades-like abilities they could easily destroy whole life on the planet. They might even work as Fused and required a host body to take over - there was a cave full of people to use just where the perpendicularity was. Regular human army even with advanced technology would have hard time inviding another planet just from single location.

They both would be unbeatable on their home ground. Mainly to the one thing - supplies. There is just no possilbe way for both of them to reliably supply their army on the other planet with only few perpendicularity to use and very, very, very long, and troublesome lines of supply. IF Rosharians manage to land on Scadiral then artillery and gunfire would alone pound them into nothingness - not to mention using coinshoters on all of that metal equipment. They won't be able to gain big enough ground and resupply losses quick enough to even stand a chance. Radients require Stormlight to work which for now is impossible to take out of Roshar - Radients would be useless on Scadiral. They would fail in conventional warfare with enemy far superior tehnologic supported by allomancers and feruchemists. Scadirals on the other hand would not be able to fully conquer even Roshar's CR because of Radients. They would be easly outmanoeuvred by Roharians with multiple access points to CR (Oathgates), and the Sprens would be a force to deal with first. But then again if they gain some ground in PR, supplying army through one perpendicularity/oathgate would be too big of an chokepoint, constantly harassed from flanks in CR by Radients with hard ground in PR to defend against numerically superior force with Radients having Fullborn-Tanks-like powers. But Scadirals have new bombs in their arsenal. Harmonium-Trellium (H-T) bomb is ridiculously overpowered - it was said that if that bomb exploded between Elendel and Bilming, both of them would be destroyd. They are almost 100 miles apart on the map (160km) so that's blast radius of little less than 80 km capable of leveling buildings. BIGGER than the Tsar Bomb that had power of 50MT, which was the most powerfull bomb ever made! With 50MT that radius when buildings are mostly leveled is around 17km. It is just ridiculously more powerful. It would kill everyone, regardless of healing within dozens of kilometers radius. Yet even with that they would not be able to make them in such numbers to make difference as they simply don't have enough Trellium. So maybe they could afford one smaller bomb made from all of Trellium spikes and leftover Set's Trellium. Still bigger than Tsar Bomb probably. Regullar Harmonium bombs would be much more common, much smaller in destructive power with biggest having "just" few kilometers of building-leveling power (if even the one set by Wayne was that powerful, I would say no). Yet they can only just now make some small rockets with small payload, which is technology still not fully understanded on Scadrial yet. So not really helpfull if they cannot deliver that bombs from far away. I was using https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ to see the "Moderate blast damage radius" on which I assume power of H-T bomb, with the setting of surface burst. They don't go more than 100MT but for our bomb it is much more than 100MT. And that assuming that blast of H-T bomb would destroy most buildings from both cities with pressure blast, as it was predicted in the book. Either way, logistic and supply wound be the end of any planetary invasion in the matters of days/weeks. That's why Kelsier insisted on developing other means of interplanetary travel, independent from CR. Without that and ability to take Stromlight out of Roshar, there is no way for any kind of reasonable invasion by both sides.

Autonomy road to conquest was cut and destroy, and all of her inside spies were defeated. She could try to send them to the other perpendicularity (which is guarded by the kolosses) but that's outside the Valley and far away. She was already overinvested on Scadrial, pushing for more would force her to invest even more, when Harmony was back in power, and aware of her plans. Now he could easly prepare defence of the planet on favorable mountainous ground, while her army was still stuck in the bubble. Strategically she lost that fight, and trying to push one more time, without any support from the inside, would be disastrous. She needs to withdraw and regroup to make new plans. Moreover people of Scadial just show that they want to be independent from her which aligns with her intent - trying to kill them might hurt Autonomy. And how even her army of gold and red even works? Who or what are they? Are the Cognitive Shadows like Fused that required body or something different? Do they need supplies like food or investiture? It simply might be that her army could not work on any other position without her perpendicularity - I don't think we have enough information about what was that army.

Did you forget that Dalinar is the Blackthorn? The most experienced and fearsome warrior on Roshar that butchered countless lifes? Kaladin is great soldier but being a soldier is not the same as being a warrior. Dalinar can't fly but he is Bondsmith which is something even more powerful, as flying did not help Nale when he faced Dalinar's abillieties in RoW.

That probably should be in Cosmere Discussion thread - it's both SA and Mistborn era 2 spoilers. There was few discussions like this before, here's one: I say Kaladin is not and will not be sword of Harmony. Wax however is, Wax was called multiple times Harmony's sword. And like I said in topic above:

I was asking the same question, as there should be hundreds or thousands of missing Shardblades. I think they may be kept in Shinovar alongside Honorblades, at least some of them. Here, if you want to read it: Your idea sounds cool, yet the bigest problem with it is regular travel in and out of Shadesmar - as only one perpendicularity is accessible for travel, high in the mountains - it would be hard and time consuming but doable. But how to leave a Deadeye permanently in the Shadesmar? This seams to be a big problem. Bringing bonded blade would not made you break the bond or anything, you leave with bonded blade. Can you even unbond the blade as there is no blade nor gem in CR ? Does bringing unbonded blade and leaving Deadeye behind prevent it from going back with you to Roshar? Seems ok to me. So your theory could work, I think. But I think both of our theories are dead on arrival, as this WoB suggest that there are no hundreds missing Shardblade, and they are lost because of weather So around 100 of Shardblades are known, 100 are lost in crem and seas - that doen't add up to 300 left at Feverstone Keep, and to even bigger number of 2000 dead Honorsprens, not to mention all other sprens like Cultivationsprens. Most likely is that most of the Shardblades left behind disappear from physical Roshar into Shadesmar and only around 200 of them are still left as blades, 100 of them are known. So no secret assassin guild in Shadesmar, no secret cache of blades in Shinovar.

I think that it was the very first words Gavilar said with true intent behind them. He really needs it and wanted to have it, whatever it is. All previous attempts were just guesses without actually meaning the words. Even later the Stormfather said that "It's not the words that matter". However I'm not so sure if SF wants to be bonded to Gavilar or it's about creating new Herald or maybe even something completely different. I totally forget about that, when I was reading this prologue, as there was no sign or mention of said Unmade. I wonder if it will change on premiere or it will be important later in the book at all.

That's good idea. We've never seen sprens interacting with multiple radiants of their own, so it could be a possibility. I've checked that out, posted it in "The Stormfaker isn't a Cracktheory" and Ishar couldn't have had the Honorblade when Gavilar was alive. Here it is: Overall I think that lying Stormfather keeping secrets from Dalinar about his brother would be much bigger deal to Dalinar and be an interesting twist to their relations than any twist with Ishar or other Stormfaker.

Yup, there is something weird going on with that Stormfather, and good job on catching that. To be fair, Stormfather show himself to Dalinar in form of shimmering in the air few times as well, iirc one of that was in the Aharietiam vision with Navani. As mentioned earlier, the most prominent and well made theory is that it is Ishar manipulating Gavilar, but other names are also appearing as valid Stormfakers candidates like Tanavast Cognitive Shadow, Odium, Cultivation, spren of Everstorm or Unmades etc. But also there is a socond camp, to which I also belong, that there is no Stormfaker, and all discrepancies can be the result of Stormfather lying to Gavilar and Dalinar, his trust issues after failure with Gavilar, Stormfather changing over time, or even his hidden agendas. If you want to know more about this, I highly encourage you to check out these two forum topics in Cosmere Discussion, possible spoilers to all Cosmere books.

I also think that Cultivation does not gives curses, as all known affected by her wished for someting more than physical, something more spiritual. It may at first appear to be typical boon and curse but it isn't and it masks her involvement. Sometimes you need to cut sides of the bush to make it grow in the right direction. Dalinar would not only never had his wish granted if he retained memory of Evi but he would also never grew to be a better person. The same goes for Taravangian, he would never ascended if he had both intelligence and compassion at the same time. For Lift I think that Cultivation made her a little like a Returned. She connected her own self-perception to the way how she looks like, and gives her ability to create Life Light so she can heal and change her body to that image, what as a side effect gives her more presence in CR. As long as Lift perceives herself as 10 year old girl, she would remain that 10 year old girl. But as she journeys through the life and experiences more and more, her self-perception matures, so she matures as well.

I just love reading about your first Journey through Stormlight Archive. I was there, we all were there. Glad to see you enjoying this as much as I did. When I read it for the first time I also was much more invested i Kaladin story, then Dalinar/Adolin and poor Shallan was way behind. But on my first re-read I began to notice many interesting things hidden in between lines, as there is a lot of things happening there, some are important, that may seem boring at first adn easy to miss. On my second re-read I was more invested in Shallan's chapters than Kaladin's. So don't give up on Shallan so fast, you're in for a lot of surprises

Just because Helsina is married to surgeon doen't mean that she has some connection to Vedel, there is a lot of surgeons and doctors all around Roshar, many that Kaladin met, non of them have nothing in common with Vedel except for profession. Helsina herself is just an assistant and seams to not have enough knowledge to perform tasks of an surgeon alone. The Heralds don't have to do anything special or influential, Jezrien is best examle as he is rotting away in alcohol. Only Nale, Kalak and Ishar seams to be doing something with plan in mind. And none of the Heralds except Nale ever bonded spren and become Radiant. They are done with being Heralds, they abandoned humanity and this war is not their war anymore. Helsina has one of her parent as a lighteye (WoB you provided). That explains everything, why her parents don't like Lirin, as she abandon her position in favour of some darkeye, how well educated and religious she is, why she "fallen in social standing since her childhood", why even she named Kaladin with such lighteye fiting name, and insisted on him marrying Laral so at least his children would have chance of becoming lighteyes. Maybe she is related to someone like Amaram or Sadeas which would not be positively received by Kaladin, but I doubt that there is something more to it. Brandon also might just try to cover her true identity as Liss for time being, like he did with Taln "a man who claims to be a Herald" as he'd RAFO anything related to her (there isn't many WoBs on her). Or maybe Vedel is hidden somewhere among Kharbrant's hospitals where she drained blood from her patients - was it mentioned somewhere about some important doctor or "leader" of that operation?

Only Veil disappear as Shallan embraced her past of killing Testament but Radiant is still with her, probably holding the last repressed memories (Shallan's early childhood?)

That's even better motivation, and there is nothing more to add, it answers first question. Nightwatcher would always grant her visitors wishes, this time it was above her abilities, so Cultivations got involved (with whatever end goal she had in mind). But Lift's wish was against Cultivations intent, as its all about changing and growing (there was WoB about it), so Cultivation messed up with her spiritual web - probably gave Lift ability to heal herself according to her self perception (similarto Returned). And about boon and curse it's not always so easly distinguishable, Taravangian needed both intelligence and compassion to have his wish granted, with Lift it maybe similar.

We know Lift was in Rall Elorim for some time, and that's in Iri, and they know about Old Magic (Evi). That quote about her mother tells me that she looked after Lift, but when she felt ill, Lift did not do the same, as a selfish kid she ran away from responsibility, and maybe instead of facing grimm truth, she decided to be kid forever so noone would ever blame her for what's happened to her mother as "she is just a kid who don't know better". Also her mother "wasted away" so she was probably dying for prolonged time of some illness tying her to bed and as Returned are immune to ilnesses, Heralds would be too. But as this is quite literally the only thing we know about her past, that may be the possibility. But if her mother doesn't fit as a Herald, there is zero information about her father soo I'm betting on Nale!

I highly doubt that Hesina is Vedel, she is mentaly stable without any kind of insane behaviour. Also as you point out her parents are alive so that most likely exclude them as Heralds. However they might be of Herald's descendants as we don't have much information about their ancestors. I personaly don't like the idea of everyone being suddenly offsprings Heralds as its difficult for CS to have kids, Chana is enough, and adding more is unnecessary. If I remember correctly there was a WoB saing that sprens are attracted to bonds being formed so they will try form more bonds with people around - Bridge 4 is good example as they aren't related yet all are now knights. If I were to find Herald's kids I would be looking into someone with very troublesome and traumatic childhood as having insane thousands year old parent would not be perfect for child growing up. I'm much more in support of theory of Liss the assassin being Herald Vedel as it fits perfectly to her insanity - for a healer to the killer - and it place another Herald in Kholinar's palace during Gavilar's assassination. EDIT: I think Taravangian would be a great Bondsmith material, if only he had more hope in saving all of Roshar. Having 2 Heralds on Braize would be catastrophic, as only Taln is able to withstand torture when others broke after less then a year - with herald's current mental state it could last even less. Lift mysterious past (did't she mention something about her mother, or she did not want to remember her?) and her trauma fits well for a candidate of being child of Herald

I belive that Sizgil did not break his oaths, they were removed when he picked up Downshard. Downshard extended his soul so much that oaths were removed or changed by this. That would mess up not only him but his spren Aux as well. As Lift's spiritual web was changed by Cultivation it messed up a little with her bond with Wyndle (she can touch him), becoming a Downshard while being bond to spren would completely messed up all of Sizgil's connections and his spren, who is part of Sizgil's spiritual web, would be highly affected as well, possibly turning him into "dead" like state. I like the idea of Sig fulfilling role of the "spren" and Aux of the knight capable of accessing surges in their new bond. Rysn was forbidden to bond with spren probably not only because it would gave her access to surges but also Downshard would messed up with the bond and the spren - WOB: If he would have broken his oaths then he would know they cannot affect him now: And he still was able to summon Aux as Shardblade when he wanted to pretect those who cannot protect themselves I couldn't also find if he ever specifically said that he had broken his oaths: I don't find it convincing enough that Aux is some CS or different spren that bonded with Sig after picking up Downshard or that he killed his spren before. Downshard messed them up and left behind more than the Torment, they became something that Sig never wanted them to became "destinations really are important".

Stormfather is not only spren but he also holds the bigest remains of Honor, he's probably the most invested being beyond Shards, so I believe stabbing him with Nighblood would look really similar to stabbing Odium - it could seriously damage or even destroy the identity of the spren but not fully consume all of its Investiture. What would remain would be injured Stormfather or Investiture without a Vessel, which would probably reform and manifest itself as new spren. You could probably stab Stormfather in that vision during Highstorm as it looks almost the same as Odium's visions that Taravangian was pulled into. But other Godsprens and Unmade would probably be fully consumed by Nightblood.

The problem with Kaladin as the Sword of Harmony is that Harmony needs someone to act on his behalf as he is useless even on the world he's most (and only as far as we know) invested in. Kaladin being that sword would be equally as useless as Harmony is right now as both of them cannot act on Scadrial where they're both most needed. Wax on the other hand is on Scadrial, is watched by Harmony and his Kandra from early on, performs multiple tasks on behalf of Harmony, talks with him on multiple ocasions, his story takes place after this letter is written, and he even said he's a Sword of Harmony. I don't know why there is such confusion about who is Sword of Harmony. Kaladin is Son of Honor not Sword of Harmony.

Fullborn is just so ridiculously overpowered that it's just uncomperable. He can think extremely fast, move like lightning, heal almost any wound even decapitation, push metals inside body even invested ones, not to mention Atium. Even Ishar would be nailed to the ground with metals within his own body before he would be even able to touch a fullborn to manipulate his conections and that just steel push. You should maybe split it into mistborn and full feruchemist. As much as I would like to vote fo God-king cause he can just Awaken clothes of his opponent to suffocate him and I just love the potential of Awakening, fullborn is one true god in this fight.

The relationships in this part are like in soap opera - no idea who is who. And that's definitely THE Kaladin, thinking about cutting himself and dreaming about descending from the bridge. i love this journey we went through, sad to see it ending.

Oh Stormfather, what a reveal! Navani is not only Gavilar's daughter, but a sorceress and a chosen one! Wow, that's a lot. Moreover she's not willing to jump into a bed with her own father, who killed Elhokar. Wow, that's a lot. "You would be the Empress of I'dw tr ybeir" that's a great name, it's a hidden Gemheart!