Vortaan

It probably resulted in the geographical system of Investiture on Sel, which is pretty odd for a Shardworld. We don't see Investiture acting differently depending on location anywhere else in the Cosmere (yet). As for the soulstone being the body of a Shard... sorry, also have to agree with the hate train, simply because soulstone doesn't seem all that special. If it worked more effectively than anything else for Forging, yeah, ok... but it doesn't bestow any special powers, and it doesn't seem to be any more efficient at taking a seal than any other material. It just lasts longer so you don't have to recarve it as often.

I took it as a purely pragmatic sense, but I don't know. If it severed his emotional connection to the things he's done... yeah. Maybe no sword through the chest. I honestly wish we'd gotten Nightblood the book prior to this one, I really feel like we'd actually get a better idea of how Nightblood works and what he is from some more time on Nalthis.

I'd wager that Honor would probably be the closest to an opposite Shard for Odium of what we've seen so far. Maybe Endowment, also? It's hard to say, because hatred is something that inspires so many different behaviors.

Hrm. I'd be more inclined to think that if Adonalsium isn't actual God for the Cosmere, then it is a physical object allowing people to access God, similar to the Anima artifacts in Xenosaga. This actually could be neat, and would explain the Shattering, and why some people are incredibly super-powered (Shards), while others become normal superpowered (anyone using Investiture), and still others are normal (Doxson). That said, I doubt any of that is true, and it is what it says on the glowing box what melted Rayse's stooges' eyes.

Except Forging, ChayShan, and Dakhor can't all be powered by the same two Shardpools, considering that geographically they are pretty far apart. I'm more inclined to think that the splintering of Dominion and Devotion co-mingled their Investiture, creating the Dor and a multitude of region-locked magic systems to access it, whereas before it may have been more similar to a Ruin/Preservation 3 magic split. Likely all three systems would have focused on Forms as a focus, and considering the quasi-spiritual nature of AonDor I find it likely that one would have focused more on physical/body forms and another more on cognitive/mental forms.

I don't disagree with your first point, although Kelsier was kind of pulling a heel-face turn on the psychotic murderer thing towards the end of his life, thanks to Vin. It's debatable whether Hoid has that same moment of clarity, but as for Vasher... Vasher spends an awful lot of time in Warbreaker trying to prevent actions very similar to Kelsier's (an oppressed minority starting a major govermental upset in order to claim freedom). Can't imagine he'd be too big a fan of Kelsier, and I suspect that he'd find Hoid more annoying than Lightsong... although Hoid and Lightsong could have probably been bromance buddies.

If there's one thing Stormlight's shown us so far, it's that intentions aren't as important as what you do. Kaladin had good intentions for helping Moash. Sadeas had arguably good intentions (Dalinar is going insane, Elkohar is incredibly weak). Good intentions that use evil actions are poor, and Szeth valued his own soul more than the soul of everyone he destroyed. The fact is, I know people want to see him as a tragic figure, and to some degree he is, but he isn't a hero, he isn't a good person. He is, at best, a Kelsier analog, and frankly Kelsier was only a hero because what he was opposing was so much worse.

Going to throw two more contenders into the ring: Hoid and the God Beyond. We haven't seen the God Beyond's purpose or really much of it, but I can't help but wonder if Sazed's crisis of faith at the end of this book was important to it for some reason. As for Hoid... well, getting someone to have two Shards seems to be a good thing from his perspective, and

However, if you removed the Command somehow, the sword would still be there. If you removed Syl from the Physical realm, there's nothing left. I honestly feel Nightblood has more in common with people than with spren, but I'll agree to disagree until we have more information.

Honor's Shard was Splintered, I think we have WoB on that. We do have WoB that Odium doesn't take up other Shards because he likes his Intent just the way it is. Also, Shard dropped on Nalthis? Pretty sure Endowment is still alive, isn't s/he?

So you're saying that an insane good person could wield Nightblood with no ill effects? Szeth doesn't get sick and doesn't start wielding Nightblood right away. The only other people we've seen with that level of resistance to it are Vasher and Denth, and I doubt Szeth had the mental discipline of either of them at the point he gets Nightblood. It's just an oddity, but it's an interesting one.

I kind of disagree. I see Shardblades as primarily Cognitive entities manifesting on the Physical realm, whereas Nightblood is a primarily Physical entity with an extremely strong Cognitive aspect. From the outside this is probably the same thing, but I think it provides Nightblood a lot of the same strengths that normal humans have, which spren don't, namely the ability to retain sentience without any kind of bond onto the Physical realm. Also note that Shardblades as of right now do not consume Investiture but Nightblood does. This is probably due to his nature as a physical object, as opposed to sprens' nature as Cognitive entities.

This actually isn't a bad list of things, because we can assume some things about why he is where is at the times he is. For example, he's on Sel when Raoden figures out how to fix AonDor. This might seem like it's not a big deal, but literally no other Elantran figured it out. It's also the only planet we -know- has splintered Shards on it at that time. Hoid may very well have been investigating the second factor, and his strange ability to show up where he needs to be brought him to Kae at exactly the right moment to see an entire system of Investiture get revived. This could end up being very important to his theorized goal of reconstructing Adonalsium. Now we go to Scadrial, which is again a pretty important Cosmere event. This is the only place we've seen two Shards being held by one person, and it's probably the first time that happened as well. This is hugely important for Hoid's theorized goal, so again there is probably a large amount of Hoid's ability plus his own investigation happening. I suppose the major consideration here is if Hoid knew Ruin was working to get free at this particular time. I have to wonder what Hoid would have done if Ruin had won? Would he then have tried to get Vin on his side and have her move to Roshar to counter Odium, or perhaps steer Ati that way? Warbreaker actually seems like a pretty unimportant event Cosmere wide. Is there anything that happens here that is one of a kind.... oh, right, Nightblood. Nightblood seems incredibly important, but not because he's a sentient Invested object. Afterall, we now know Shardblades are too. What's important about Nightblood is that he can consume Investiture just like human beings can. This doesn't seem too important, until you wonder... what's the upper limit on what Nightblood can absorb? Could he, in fact, absorb a Shard? Is Nightblood the -perfect- weapon to destroy Rayse with? When Nightblood's Command comes up against Odium's Intent, which wins out? Stormlight Chronicles so far seems a bit personal, and less related to Adonalsium. This is where we find out about his grudge against Rayse. We also know that if Roshar burns, but somehow Odium is defeated, this is a win in Hoid's book. So... is this personal, or is this tied into his overall goal? Is there just one, or is Hoid playing a much deeper game? This is all theory, obviously, but isn't it interesting how often Hoid is around for Cosmere-first events? Granted we don't have enough information to guarantee they all are, but... Seems pretty likely it might be, huh?

I'd buy that right up to the point where he decides murdering Adolin is a good idea. Willingly murdering someone who is helpless to stop you is not exactly "good person" material.

There's a lot to indicate that Leras and Ati had a lot to do with how Preservation and Ruin acted. I suspect that both were pretty good guys, and so they took their Intents in as positive a manner as could be. To be fair, Ruin could have been... substantially worse than he was.

We know what Mraize is doing on Roshar, but not why. He could very well be working to prevent the Desolation, or is trying to perhaps hunt Odium? I'm withholding judgement on them until we know the purpose of the Ghostbloods, as they could very well be well-intentioned extremists too. As for the 17th Shard... we know they have a policy of non-intervention, but their overall goal is still unknown. I honestly don't think we have enough info on any of them to make a judgement on who is more benevolent than whom, particularly given Hoid's statement that he'd watch Roshar burn if it furthered his goals... makes me wonder what else he's done that we don't know about.

Do we know enough about the other worldhoppers to make the claim that Hoid is the most benevolent? I mean, we haven't seen him directly harm anyone and indirectly he's helped a few people... but we don't have a fixed "this Worldhopper killed/caused this event/stole this MacGuffin" moment for the others yet.

I just figure Steris as incredibly socially inept. Being kind of the same way, people have assumed I'm gay more often than I care to relate (hint, it's a lot), but it's really just that romance isn't super big on my mind (which makes the married with a kid thing a bit of a mystery to myself and those who know me)

Well since someone brought up Lifeless... I'm thinking Awakening is the way to go. Let's say Sixth Heightening? Best way to fight a mindless zombie horde would be with my own mindless zombie horde.

Here's the question no one's asked: if Nightblood is an equivalent weapon to an Honorblade on Roshar... can he bestow Surges? At the very least, he has to allow Szeth to absorb stormlight, or drawing Nightblood is going to end pretty quickly. Fun secondary question: how does Szeth not end up with Nightblood in his chest? Every other person of questionable morality we've seen around the sword has wanted to wield it, and that usually ends with Nightblood killing them. The exception is Denth, but he A) has a history with Nightblood and B: is probably MUCH stronger willed than Szeth in his current state.

I figure Hoid the same way I figure the Lord Ruler: a well-intentioned extremist. It's something that is very prevalent in Brandon's books, probably because of the previously mentioned optimism.I suspect Hoid's statement to Dalinar is because he's been in the situation before, where someone did count on him and his own goals made it end poorly. I think this is the same reason Kelsier and Hoid wouldn't get along... and it makes me suspect that Vasher and Hoid would also not be the best of friends.

Realmatically, if one species of Aimains are associated with Cognitive aspects more, and the other are more involved in Physical aspects, it could explain the difference you're talking about. It might also explain Axies interest in the spren, since they are also Cognitive/Physical blends while on Roshar.

Hm. Kind of a tangent, but you know who else on Roshar is effectively immortal? The Aimians. I wonder if there's some Herald blood involved in that?

I don't recall if Axies mentions what color his blood is. I wonder if it's human red, or something else...

You're also assuming that what Kaladin did is precedented. It might not be. Maybe no spren has ever been restored that way before. Pattern seems to hint that restoring lost spren is still theory, not fact.