Vortaan

Alright, so wrong on the orders of magnitude, but dispel Lashings? Don't see that happening, unless you're assuming that Nightblood can just feed on any Investiture. Which... if he could, couldn't he feed on the Breath of anyone he killed, instead of sucking it from Vasher?

Not sure I like that, as they are both Shardblades. Maybe Radiantblades and Sprenblades?

Shoot him with an arrow? Lash him to a wall? I'm also not sure I agree with the orders of magnitude stronger than a Shardblade, as Kaladin's fight with Szeth, particularly the changing shape of the Shardblade, seems like it could be pretty devastating... big spinning discus through a troop formation that you resummon, for example?

I wonder. They are using the dead-spren Blades, not true Radiant blades, or at least we can assume that if Shallan's brother was indeed a Skybreaker. Also, we need a better word for the dead-spren Blades. We also don't see anything like Surgebinding from Darkness, and Nalan used a fabrial, not Surgebinding. Hmm. They'd still need to bond spren though to be Radiants, wouldn't they? Considering how instinctual other Surgebinding has proven to be, I doubt they could stop entirely...

Well, at least we'll likely see what a Shardblade hitting Nightblood will do in book 3, huh? A secondary thing would be to see how good Szeth is without Windrunning. Certainly most of his victories so far depended on the fact that no one understood or prepared for people doing the things he did.

How about this? The Parshendi are Cultivation's creations, corrupted by Odium-spren when they take some forms, but with free will when they take forms more related to the natural world. Warform, dullform, matingform, etc are all forms that can relate to natural processes. Stormform? Not so much. Notice something else about stormform: the spren are VISIBLE to Alethi killing the Parshendi. This is hugely important I feel. Why? Because there is no such spren shown when killing warform Parshendi! So what is the difference?

I like this. It makes me question the role the Skybreakers had in the organization of Radiants. Were they the equivalent of internal affairs? As for Darkness being one, seems a stretch. He's hunting down Surgebinders so that the Desolation doesn't come back. If the Skybreakers continued for two millennia, they'd need to recruit... and that would mean they are Surgebinding. I suspect a different motivation from him, but I'm not sure yet what it is. Need to let the book sink in a bit more.

Reeaaallly..... http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1548-the-second-most-baseless-parshendi-theory/?hl=dawnsingers

I think that saying Investiture, period, increases qualities is a bit misleading. Elantrans are a special case, even on Sel. Forgers and the users of ChayShan don't appear to be always glowy or immune to anything. It really seems to depend on the nature of the Investiture, not just Investiture in general. On topic, I don't know that I agree with the basic premise. If high amounts of Investiture was all that was needed to make something resistant to a Shardblade, how did Shallan's Soulcaster break?

I can see an all or nothing situation, however I still think that given the situation, they wouldn't have just left Szeth roaming around with an Honorblade. AT the very least they'd probably keep his Oathstone. Considering having an Honorblade or facing a Surgebinder is forcing them to consider stormform as an option, I think they are equal threats. Time will tell.

Something from the newest chapters leads me to believe that Szeth doesn't wield an Honorblade. The Parshendi know about Honorblades and are understandably concerned that the Alethi might come across one. They also seemed to be aware of Szeth's powers. So... why would they send Szeth against Gavilar, known to be a formidable warrior, if they are worried about Alethi getting Honorblades? Particularly the only Alethi that they are willing to murder? Look at the fight again between Szeth and Gavilar... Szeth -only- pulls it out because of the balcony. I think Gavilar possibly could have won that if they stayed inside.

Hm. That could explain the voice Dalinar hears while using Oathbringer. I wonder if Sadeas will have a similar reaction while wielding it, or if it was just Dalinar.

Well thought out. I like it. The only thing I would quantify is that Heralds seem to have -limited- immortality. They can get slain, and that makes me wonder if they also need to eat, drink etc. If so, and Jezerin is disconnected from his body somehow, who is taking care of it and where?

Also, Hoid seems more interested in portable systems than ones that need the power source to be regular. Soulcasting needs Stormlight, and you're not going to find that in the Cosmere at large.

It's weird that you didn't mention Syl's face looking different near the pool as evidence of something fishy going on. That set off alarm bells for me.

But we know that Splintering doesn't leave a fragment like Preservation. Also, only -most- of Preservation's mind was kabloomers, there was still the remnant that we know as the mist spirit. I also don't know if we can judge all the Heralds equally. Jezerin in particularly was their leader and a king in his former life. Maybe he's set himself up as a king again, somewhere where he can mitigate some of the damage abandoning the Oathpact caused.

I find it interesting that Syl says Kaladin saw the Stormfather in the highstorm. We know that's a title that's used for Jezerin, the leader of the Heralds... is he hiding out in the Cognitive realm? Why?

Likewise apologies. Quoting whom you're talking to helps avoid confusion though. No harm meant, though!

Please read the person I quoted. He was specifically saying an opposite, an Entropy to Adonalsium's Creation. I'm personally opposed to that idea, and I agree with you that something opposing or competing with Adonalsium without being it's opposite would probably be better.

I see your points, but I really hope this isn't what Brandon's going for. It seems like... well, it seems like lazy writing. Like something from a not-great Saturday morning cartoon. I guess time will tell, but I'd much rather the God Beyond be something more along the lines of something competing, not an opposite.

We're talking across Shardworlds, remember? Off Sel I doubt you can get the power for an illusion.

I think it was Dalinar himself. He nodded off, and an after-effect of the vision caused him to scrawl the glyphs. I also don't know that they are a death warning, so much as the double meaning is intended.

Yeah, but that's really easy to hide, as opposed to the others.

It's weird to be on the same side of the discussion with Darnam... but yeah, another excellent point. Actually, subsequent point: Allomancy and Feruchemy are the only magic we've seen besides Forging with no visual cue that you're using it. You glow with Surgebinding, Elantrans are Elantrans, Hemalurgy you have big damnation spikes, and Awakening has the color bubble of sunshine. Granted these are all not terribly hard to hide, but still... not having to gives our hypothetical Misting worldhopper another advantage over his peers.

First, AoL era Scadrial doesn't have mists every night, and mists only appear at night. So that's a pretty big handicap. Second, you're assuming that the mists are available for access by anybody, when this doesn't hold up to anything that's happened in the books. Pre-AoL, they were controlled by the remnant of Leras, and then by Kelsier for a little bit, and then Vin. During AoL, it's reasonable to assume that Sazed has control over the mists and isn't likely to just let anyone start leaching off them, particularly since his Investiture on Scadrial manifests in ways that aren't -directly- powered by the mists. Yes, they act as an aid, but no one says "Oops, can't use my pewter, no mists around". Second, Darnam's right that it doesn't seem like Brandon's terribly sure which way he wants to go on letting other worlds metals work for Allomancy, but regardless... a bag of metal dust is probably going to be lighter than a bag of spheres. Surgebinding is pretty powerful, it would make sense to me that the limitation of it is that you have a very finite amount of Stormlight you can work with at a time... unless you're facing an army with gemstones in their beards.