Vortaan

It may be just me, but is this a little too neat? It just seems like if the Unmade are able to summon creatures of fire, or creatures of wind... how are people fighting them off? Without knowing the other Surges, I can't say with certainty that the KR couldn't do something, but there weren't just KR in the Desolations. Normal people fought, with primitive weapons, and were apparently successful enough to beat back creatures made of, to name a few substances: stone, fire, gas/air, and metal? Most of these things sound horrific to even attempt to combat as a normal person. Armies of them... scary. Maybe normal people are fighting the Voidbringers? I'm still trying to figure out what a normal human soldier brought to the table in any Desolation.

Really well thought out. I hadn't thought of that Dawnshard quote referring to Nohadon, but it's a brilliant fit. I wish I could upvote this twice... As for the spren being pawns in a big game, there's a fair to decent chance that the only reason they are sentient is because of this change in the Oathpact. Syl is the only spren we see who seems sentient, and there's more than one indication that it's her bond with Kaladin that allows her to be sentient.

It seems like Soulcasting would require multiple souls to be bribed then... for example, to Soulcast a chair, you'd probably have to bribe each individual part, unless the chair was carved from one tree... and then what about anything else carved from that tree? Does chopping it into three parts create three bodies for souls?

I don't know that I disagree with 1-3. It's a better explanation of the Oathpact than I came up with. However, it's not very honorable to create war in the first place... maybe the Oathpact was more along the lines of codes of conduct for the war, rather than agreement to do it in the first place. Your fourth point however... I find it hard to believe that a physical aspect of a Shard would have any kind of cognitive aspect to it. Basically, the fact that Syl can think and reason makes me think spren aren't the physical aspect of Honor. They also have too much variety, since I can't see the drunkspren or painspren being an aspect of something is ultimately honorable.

Or like atium? Atium doesn't act like a natural metal either, not being mined so much as collected. the fact that you can regrow Plate was something that made me think that there is more about the actual material of Plate than meets the eye.

It's a hypothesis, but one I think has some solid backing. As to the ownership issue, Syl seems to approve of Dalinar in every way... but makes a comment that he is better after having given up that "thing". The way it's said it makes me think she has an actual disgust of the Blade, not who owns it.

So you're saying there's actually one fabrial, the gatemaker, and the Oathgates are something it makes? Kind of like a super portal gun. I like it. The question would be then, why would they need to teleport, as some Radiants do? All Radiants could be deployed anywhere, depending on the limitations. In fact, but using multiple gates you could probably skip Urithiru for more than a few seconds.

What if the reason Urithuru couldn't be constructed in Alethela is because the Oathgates require more consistent amounts of stormlight to function? Imagine this example: Oathgates are charged by stormlight, but require.. every three or so days. To this end you probably need to closer to the source of the storms so that you get hit by more of them. Urithuru is constructed to take advantage of this fact, no matter how inhospitable the terrain since supplies can always be brought in by Oathgate. The reason you couldn't construct city-to-city Oathgates is because they wouldn't get enough stormlight to remain functioning, or could possibly grow dangerous... it's speculation, but it does fit. Where it could be that Nohadon could walk that fits my criteria? Not sure. However, isn't Shinovar unaffected by highstorms? Maybe it's because Urithuru... absorbs them? Deflects them? Something along those lines.

This is something that leads me to believe it's near or around the Origin. I imagine there are massive amounts of stormlight there to be tapped

Question... is it possible that the city is lost, but not abandoned? What if the remaining KRs didn't abandon their Shards, they just shut their city and went home? After all, the KRs at Fellstone Keep (I think that's it) met troops and went... somewhere. Why not go home?

I'm kind of figuring that Urithiru is located in or around the Origin. I don't know why, but the image of a tower, in the middle of a calm eye, storms raging around it... perhaps the Oathgates all passed through Urithiru because it was close enough to the Origin that Stormlight was plentiful. The KR could have taxed the use of the Oathgates. As for not being made by the hands of men... maybe by Parshendi? Are they classified as men? I think they are something more, and if they are, as pointed out by Dalinar, the Blades and Plate they have are pretty great construction tools.

I can't find a quote where it says that the Parshendi language is understood. However, you are correct that the Alethi can at least recognize the Dawnchant. However, it's Navani that points this out. Dalinar, Adolin, and Renarim have no idea what the Dawnchant sounds like. So my question would be, do you think the Parshendi spoke their language around Alethi women? The accounts of Dalinar's expedition makes it seem like they picked up Alethi very quickly.

Gavilar might have knowledge of Voidbinding that the Parshendi don't. Also, Parshendi might have knowledge of the Knights Radiant and Surgebinding that Gavilar needs, but can't be taught. Or thirdly, they might need him to know that Tanavast is dead, something they can't tell him without seeming like heretics... but could probably use his resurrection as proof of after he became Parshendi.

I thought of this awhile ago and have now reread WoK twice in order to gather what evidence I can. So here's the theory: The Parshendi are the Dawnsingers, not the Voidbringers. However, parshmen ARE Voidbringers. Looking at it step by step: 1) Parshendi seem to be very involved with music. They sing all the time, they make musical instruments, and they seem to all know the same song and be able to sing it at the same time, no matter of distance involved. Conversely, parshmen do not sing, and there's little to no evidence that any single parshman knows the thoughts of any other parshman. It also seems that parshmen and Parshendi don't share this ability to sing, since one of the questions asked of Dalinar's expedition is where the music of the parshmen is. 2) No one speaks the Parshendi language that we see. No one understands the Dawnchant either. Is it possible that the Parshendi are singing in the language of the Dawnchant? 3) The Dawnsingers were help sent by the Almighty to make Roshar habitable for men. Looking at the cities, they seem to be crafted, probably using the Dawnshards. This leads me to believe that the Dawnshards are some kind of super Soulcaster. There is another terrain that characters have commented on looking as if it were made: the Shattered Plains. And who lives there? 4) The Parshendi seem in awe of Kaladin when he is using Stormlight. Is it because he's doing something they haven't seen before... or something they thought was lost? Any servant of Honor is likely to be happy to see a Knight Radiant, particularly since the Everstorm is coming. 5) Parshmen seem to be automatons for most purposes. In point of fact, they seem to lack free will. This is ludicrous. No species can evolve without the basic will to care for themselves and the drive to do so, yet parshmen from all accounts sit in the same spot you put them if out in the wild. What if that is because their will is Odium's? It would explain Jasnah's theory, and yet still allow for the odd, and honorable, behavior of the Parshendi. 6) Dawnsingers. The very name indicates that they at least could sing. Spren, except for Syl and Shallan's truthspren, don't seem to make noise. If the nahel bond is what allows spren to speak, then the Dawnsingers would either have to been in such a bond, probably with the Heralds... or they weren't spren. And if they weren't spren, something more solid like the Parshendi makes more sense than a nameless spirit that returns to the Tranquiline Halls.

But there is still some loss. Ruin builds Inquisitors, but they lose some of the Allomantic strength of the Allomancers they were made from. Koloss combine 5 lives into one, but lose individuality and life. Ruin builds by destroying other things. It would make sense to me that atium alloys would fit into this theme.

The problem I have with some of these alloys is that they don't seem very... well, Ruinous. Malatium seems like a more Ruinous application of gold because you can use it to cause harm, unlike the original metal. So for some I could see something like: Copper+Atium= Copatium, masks an Allomancer from being able to sense his reserves. Bronze+Atium= No idea for name, lets an Allomancer cause Allomantic pulses. Electum+Atium= No idea for name, lets an Allomancer see further into the future and burns slower, allowing him to pick a longer term solution to problems. Pewter+Atium= Petium, Causes a larger surge of strength than pewter, but without the toughening of the body that pewter allows.

EDITED TO REVEAL SPOILERS FOR WAY OF KINGS AND HERO OF AGES Theory: Shardblades and Shardplate are the physical aspect of Odium and Honor. Points in favor: 1) The header for Chapter 57 from Hero of Ages reads as follows: Assuming that all Shards function somewhat the same, this would mean that Honor and Odium both have a physical, spiritual and cognitive aspect. Looking at Roshar from what we know, we've seen evidence of both the cognitive aspects. We have seen evidence of the spiritual aspects in stormlight and the unknown energy that powers Voidbinding. However, there has been no example of a physical aspect. Looking again at Ruin and Preservation, the physical aspect was something that was physically present in the world that gave great power to people. Taking atium as example, it does not follow natural laws. Both of these statements seem to apply to Shardplate and Shardblades. 2) Syl, an honorspren, seems to have an issue with Shardblades. Syl also has a very dramatic response to the name of Odium. We do not have a direct quote of her disliking Shardplate, however. So what could be the difference between Plate and Blade? People tend to lump them together, but Plate seems to function very differently than Blades do. In fact, while Blades work on humans, I put forth that their intended purpose was always to attack creatures made of stone. This is why Blades work so well on stone and inanimate objects, but only kill people. On this note, the eyes burning out effect of Blades seems to be more in line with Odium than Honor. 3) The Oathpact. Part of my theory contends that the Oathpact was an agreement between Honor and Odium. Odium would be able to send Voidbringers to Roshar, conquering humanity for reasons unknown. Honor would be able to keep 10 chosen Heralds alive to lead mankind against the Voidbringers. However, Odium would get the chance to break the will of the Heralds after each Desolation, and Honor would gain the use of Odium's physical aspect to arm humanity against the Voidbringers. So that's the theory. Shardblades are the physical element of Odium's power, Shardplate is the physical element of Honor's. Discuss!

As to 2: the 16% was Preservation's signal that something was there and was trying to help. Probably more than 16% of the skaa population could be mistings, but doing something other than 16% wouldn't have sent the message Preservation needed.

The question I would have is how is Hoid "essentially immortal?" I seem to recall reading some things that lead me to believe that Hoid COULD be killed, he's just too strong/smart to have been killed yet.

Keep in mind that Ruin and Preservation appear to be paired. They could both be grouped under the number 16, or one's number could be 1 and one's number could be 6. Their combination would be what makes the 16 show up.

He was probably tapping his goldminds to keep himself alive. Vin couldn't even keep her vials of metal on her, I doubt Rashek could have kept any kind of metal on his person. As to Ruin believing that Rashek would take the power again, quote please? I think Ruin was just figuring that he didn't want to be trapped another thousand years when Rashek failed.

Rashek probably couldn't have taken the power again. His atium bracers pierced his skin. In order for him to be able to use the power, he'd have had to take them out (see Vin's earring). He didn't last too long after they were out, and there's a pretty good chance he'd have died mid-use, particularly since he wouldn't have had any goldminds to tap either.

I always kind of figured it was a pact between Odium, Honor, AND Cultivation. Odium could send Desolations, Honor would fight them, and Cultivation would stay out of it. The fact that any of the two Shards could probably defeat the third leads me to believe that they needed to balance things out somehow.

I agree that the Parsh in general being the Dawnsingers doesn't tell us much about what's going on in Roshar except for one thing: it gives a valid reason for the war on the Shattered Plains AND their possession of blades/plate. I think I will write up a theory on it later, but suffice to say that if the Parsh ARE the Dawnsingers, they had a huge impact on the way humans live on Roshar. It would almost seem that any Dawnsinger candidate has to be linked to either Honor or Cultivation, or possibly both. As to the big bad powering the highstorms, an idea I've had is that both Honor and Odium's Shardpools are on Roshar, and they are both located at the Origin. the conflict between the two is what causes Highstorms. The reason Shinovar is more Earth-like is that Cultivation's Shardpool is there, and serves as a natural buffer against the powers of Odium and Honor, much like a mountain range affects weather patterns.

So here's the big question: under what circumstances would a Hemalurgist want to use the identity store of a Feruchemist he killed? And how would stealing that particular power be useful? It's an interesting idea, but what we've seen of Hemalurgy, it is used to create weapons. Soldiers, in the form of koloss and Inquisitors, and spies in the form of kandra (although honestly kandra would make some pretty good soldiers with the blessing of Potence and a koloss body to devour). The mental-manipulation aspect of it is very Ruin, but... not used often now that Sazed's in charge.