Vortaan

I can see him replacing Elokhar, honestly. I do not think Elokhar will be making it out these books alive, and I have strong suspicions Dalinar won't either. I don't see the Alethi bowing down to a woman, so Jasnah can't inherit, and Adolin would probably take over as Kholin Highprince, since he seems suited to more small-scale governance. This leaves Renarim as the likely heir to the throne.

Random speculation... what if the Dawnsingers and the Voidbringers are BOTH Parshendi/parshmen? The difference between Parshendi and parshmen seems to be that the Parshendi make music. In fact, didn't they ask Gavilar where the parshmen's music was? Perhaps this lack of music is what allows Odium to master them. Considering how well the Parshendi fight, and the strange honor in battle they seem to show, I would imagine a force of them without honor, just as a ravaging horde could be BIG trouble. If they can do something similar to Surgebinding as well, that would be deadly. Consider that the Parshendi seem to have Soulcasting, since that is the theory on how they are supplying themselves. Soulcasting seems to be tied to Honor, and the Parshendi do seem to act with Honor. The parshmen seem to have no real intent to any of their actions... perhaps because Odium hasn't given them one yet?

Thought of another one: Tin Allomancy + Copper Feruchemy= the best doctor ever. Would be able to instantly remember any medical procedure he learned, and would have increased senses to help with surgery/find medicines/detect symptoms. Would actually fake a lot of modern diagnostic equipment if properly trained.

So question: why can Elhokar see the spren at all times while Shallan only sees them in her drawings? And if both of Gavilar's children are Soulcasters, is there a chance he was too?

In which case there'd be no Preservation. You'd just lose the attribute. It seems like the Preservation aspect comes from the tapping, not the storing.

Except it doesn't Preserve anything. You're using your own strength both times, nothing is being Preserved. As opposed to Allomancy, where your own energy is Preserved, and the energy comes from the metals/Preservation.

I actually like this theory. I've always kind of figured the Oathpact was with Odium, not Honor. It also kind of leads into the Recurrence, where perhaps Odium's influence grew too great and the Knights Radiant walked away rather than turn against the world. This especially makes sense if Odium is as smart as Ruin and can play the long game. If your goal is to conquer/destroy Roshar, and you are a god with no particular need to rush, set up the Oathpact so that Honor and Cultivation think they are safe. Make the lynch pin men, who after centuries of being sent to a torture filled after life are almost guaranteed to break their oath. The breaking of the pact gives you the power to shatter Honor, perhaps around the time of the Recurrence. The shattering removes the restraints on the weapons you created (Blades), so that men start fighting among themselves... and a couple thousand years later when you are ready to take Roshar, there is no Shard to fight against you, no Knights Radiant to lead the people, and the greatest warriors in the world are fighting against each other for weapons that could be their salvation if they were pooled. Sounds almost like Ruin's long range planning to get Vin to the Well.

The advantage compounding brings is an Allomantic gain, really, not a Feruchemical one. You are making a new Allomantic metal, and since the energy comes from Preservation, not yourself, there is a gain. I understand what you mean, but the entire nature of Preservation is to preserve people. How does storing an attribute preserve the Feruchemist? You actually end up weaker then you would be.

You are kind of making my point. If they are both equal partners in creating Feruchemy, it should be end neutral. And since the only time people tend to lose any attribute is by surging, it makes sense that you lose a little bit by accessing it all at once. I think maybe what you need to think of is that when stored, an attribute can be thought of as energy. When you try to dump more energy than your body can normally handle, it results in loss simply due to your limitations, not any inherent lack in the magic system. As for Sazed and his copperminds, remember that he had at least some of the power of Harmony at that point. He could have instinctively Preserved his knowledge to prevent degradation. Edited for spelling

My question about Odium: Why does appointing a champion make him vulnerable? And if it does, is the same true of other Shards?

Except that his magic system directly gives gains, thus preserving the resources of the person using them. No power comes from the Allomancer, it all comes from the metals.

And I don't disagree with that theory. I do disagree that Ruin being involved at all in Feruchemy creates the loss. It makes sense, but only if there's a gain somewhere from Preservation. Since there ends up being no gain, I don't really think that Ruin's mere presence is the reason why there's a drain in surging.

I still don't see where if it's half and half there is a gain. If Preservation does any half of it, there should be a gain.

Wouldn't that cause problems vis a vis the food in your stomach, etc? Becoming weightless tends to induce nausea.

By that logic, the fact that you are using Preservation as well should result in a power gain. It should in theory cancel itself out.

Sociopath double Duralanium probably wouldn't be hampered too much by the increased Connection to people. Think Sylar from Heroes with the power to make people like him... not super fun for the rest of us.

Come to think of it, it makes no sense if Blade and Plate are designed to be used together for there to be any Blades that are the size of Szeth's. Makes more sense that Blades do change shape to fit the wielder. I'm still thinking Odium is chiefly responsible for the Blades, as they really seem to fit his Shard more than Honor's.

What if the difference between Shallan and Jasnah's Soulcasting is what they can Soulcast? Jasnah says she is bad at organic materials. So far, Shallan seems good at them... but it's slower. Since we don't see anyone Soulcast food, is it possible organic Soulcasting is, by it's nature, slower? And that organic Soulcasting in general used to be called Regrowth? Maybe the reason Jasnah's organic Soulcasting is bad is because it goes so fast. If true organic Soulcasting requires more time, it could be why none of Jasnah's Soulcasting on organic items seems to work too well.

Szeth uses a Shardblade in a pretty similar manner to Dalinar. So I'm pretty sure weight isn't an issue.

A few ideas: 1) Chromium/Steel would be the best Allomancer killer in the world. Speed up to touch them, then flare your Chromium. No more problems. 2) Duralumin Compunding could well produce the most charismatic leader in the history of the world. I'd be scared of the political power such a person could wield. 3) Pewter/Cadmium would be the ultimate explorer, able to go anywhere really as long as he had pewter to burn.

I think it's a bad assumption to assume that Shardplate and fabrials work on the same principles. Even the halfshard shields that have been created do not exhibit the full qualities of Shardplate. And no fabrial so far acts like Shardblades. If we assume that Shardblades and Shardplate have the same source, which I think is fairly safe, then it's a logical assumption to assume that neither are fabrials. Actually, come to think of it, why wouldn't Shardplate work off of intent? If it was given to the Knights Radiant by the Heralds, would they really want it to be used for man to war against man? Look at the one instance when it glows. He's defending a person from a chasmfiend... coincidentally the same thing that Jasnah finds a picture of labeled "Voidbringer". What if Dalinar's intent to protect someone from the chasmfiend is what caused the Plate to react like it did? A third point for intent being important: modern fabrials seem to involve the binding of a specific spren into the fabrial to make it work. Considering the Knights Radiant served the Heralds, and the Heralds served Honor, wouldn't honorspren be the logical choice to bind to their armor and weapons to make them powerful? And if so, perhaps those spren react better to honorable intent. It wouldn't change the mechanics of Shardplate, it still works, but it could be the difference between a professional driver behind the wheel of a car, or your average person. The car works the same, but the professional will be able to make it perform better.

I believe someone mentioned this, but would the people of Roshar ever have invented siege equipment? Most battles seem to take place on open fields, and prolonged sieges are thwarted by the highstorms. I don't disagree with your idea, I'm just thinking the technology to create it doesn't exist.

Also, I used this name in World of Warcraft for quite awhile, and... well, frankly I use it a lot. It's usually not taken, for some reason. So perhaps we've run across each other in the wide world of the interwebs.

Cool, cookies! The shardie bit in the middle looks dangerous though...

It also doesn't make sense from a writing standpoint to make every main character a Surgebinder. Dalinar as the kind of guiding force, but just basically a normal man... there's a lot more conflict there. He's known as the Blackthorne for his skill in combat. Isn't it interesting that Brandon makes a large deal of how good a fighter he is, then strips him of the tools that made him such a good fighter? On topic though, have we seen anyone else with Dalinar's level of honor using Shardplate? Adolin comes close, except he doesn't believe in Dalinar's principles until the end of the book. That said, Adolin is stated to be a natural duelist... much like his father, perhaps? Maybe it's the ideals, not the powers that power the Shardplate. This seems backed up a bit by how Kaladin accesses more of his Surgebinding... through commitment to another ideal. EDIT: Also unfortunately, we have a lot of theories but not a ton of hard facts about Surgebinding. For example, Szeth can use it, but not like Kaladin does. And Nohadon (thank you, whomever corrected me), mentions a Surgebinder who apparently did something that aided the Desolation that followed. I gather it was some kind of uprising. So Surgebinding may not be as linked to Honor's intent, it may just be his power, much like Allomancy can be used to destroy, or (in theory) Hemalurgy to save.