Obnoxiousspren

@Glaedr Firnen that is a good point that wasn't considered on the Shardcast though, so good job bringing that up. But yeah there is definitely a very large number unaccounted for.

After listening to the podcast a few weeks ago (the link is below), I thought of another possibility for the locations of the missing Shardblades. The Sons of Honor have already been mentioned I believe, but what if the Vorin Church itself is stockpiling old radiant blades? OK, to clarify, the whole church probably wouldn't be in on it. But what if some very high members or specific devotaries kept a stash hidden away? We know there are groups that want to return the power of the Church (yes, the Sons of Honor are kinda dumb but it is their goal) and that the church once tried to take over the world during the Hierocracy. What would really help a group that wants world dominance? Yup, Shardblades. Good supporting evidence for candidacy that I see: Big enough group that could potentially hide all these blades and keep them secret Influential enough to convince people to hand over Shardblades Has been around long enough to have plenty of time to accumulate blades Hierocracy supports idea that church would 1) have to at least have some blades to be a threat and 2) have a reason to gather as many blades as possible There is a lot we don't know about them, so plenty of room for surprise secrets (This is additional evidence that I forgot about until a couple days later. It is part of another post a few lines down, but I'll include it here as well.) We also know that Taln showed up to Kholinar with his Honorblade. By the time he got to the Shattered Plains it was switched with a normal blade. We can assume it wasn't switched on the way since Bordin would have noticed if it had been switched out. The most likely time to switch it out without being noticed would have been right after Taln arrives. Who would have had access to Taln right away? The ardents of the Vorin Church who take care of madmen. If they did switch it out they used a Shardblade that there was no record of, which supports the idea that they could have a stockpile. Problems (and potential ways around them): If they had so many Shardblades during the Hierocracy, how were they defeated? (There may have been internal conflicts or they didn't have as many blades as they do currently) If there is a group in the Vorin Church that has Shardblades and wants power, they would probably be closely associated with the Sons of Honor. If this is the case, why wouldn't Amaram (a influential member) already have a Shardblade and instead need to murder a bunch of soldiers to get one? (Giving Amaram a Shardblade may have raised suspicions since the history of blades and plates is very closely tracked.) So what do you think? Likely option? I'm not 100% sold on this at all because we really have no idea at all, but I think there is enough evidence for it to at least be an option.

Well if we are talking Paalm during her Bleeder days than Jasnah would just Soulcast her dead. Which is pretty much the majority of what we know about Paalm. If we are talking the time before she went insane we kinda just have to base our knowledge off what other people said about her. I would say they would actually get along well, because both are said to have a very blunt practicality about their actions. On important decisions they would probably have similar views (again, assuming Paalm isn't insane). Kelsier and Jasnah

Alright, so we know that not all the Shard's vessels were human. We have humans and at least one dragon and at least one Sho Del (based off of the language in the Ars Arcanum Essays, I would guess there is more than just one of each of those). So the question/theory is: does the species of the vessel effect how much they can resist the influence of their Shard's intent? Are there some minds that are naturally stronger just because of which species they belong too? We have a WOB that says some Vessels are still actively resisting the Shardic influence. We also know from WOBs that some individuals are better at resisting than others. I think the species and strength of the mind could have a significant effect on this, what do you think? (I'll post the relevant WOBs below to keep the whole theory together.)

My reaction when I first read this: Usually I just skim over Nightblood theories that I read because most of them are just repeats or completely wrong from the offset. This one actually makes me pause because I could actually see it being the case. I personally think Endowment is the most likely meddler with Nightblood, but this is totally plausible and I could definitely see Brandon doing it. I'm not sure if Nightblood would exactly be considered an Avatar of Autonomy, but I think Autonomy is the 2nd most likely Shard to be involved in the weird creation of Nightblood. Congratulations, this is the first new/believable Nightblood theory I've seen in ages!

Shai would love to study Renarin and figure him out. This would probably make Renarin extremely uncomfortable but he'd love to know about Soulstamps. Both are a bit reclusive though. I'd say mutual respect with a fair amount of curiosity about each other. Stick and The Nightwatcher

They'd get really well I think. They are similar in a lot of ways and would love comparing wits and sass. Plus Sarene is a sort of leader, so her dominant personality would probably make Shallan more comfortable around her since it would let her sit back out of the spotlight. Pattern and Nightblood

You forgot that in one of the flashbacks where Dalinar remembers Navani talking really enthusiastically about new fabrial technology and Gavilar was just ignoring her.

Proof: Jasnah is hungry for knowledge, Amaram is hungry for power, so of course their lovechild would be just plain hungry all the time. Obviously its Lift. Theory: The Nightwatcher will fall in love with The Lopen.

I have been recognized by the Shardcast, Heralds be praised I must have an ardent burn glyphwards for me as a show of gratitude!! A separate note: Did anyone consider that maybe Lutha (or whatever the name of the city was named after) was one of the Lord Ruler's children? And maybe at first he was having children that were both Feruchemists and Mistborn? Or maybe at least one? It was also discussed that the Lord Ruler tried to give up the kingdom at one point, how do we know he didn't try to give it up to one of his children who his capital city is named after? My theory would be that the Lord Ruler planned on having at least one, maybe more, children who would have the similar powers to him. After all, besides mistborn he needed powerful allies/minions to help him keep hold of the kingdom. We know that he made the inquisitors and that those individuals had many of the powers that made the Lord Ruler extremely powerful. What if he thought at first he could accomplish the same with his own offspring? So he has Lutha, someone who is a full Feruchemist and Mistborn and begins prepping him to take over the kingdom. He even establishes Luthadel and starts converting it into the kingdoms capital. His plan is to give the empire over to his son/daughter (I guess we don't know for sure the gender). Then the plan doesn't end up working out. Maybe Lutha is killed (not super likely in this scenario) or starts going a way that the Lord Ruler doesn't want. Maybe he wants to free the ska or joins Ruin or goes crazy or maybe he just leaves Scadrial and goes worldhopping (crackpot theory, I know). The Lord Ruler has to kill Lutha, decides that the only person he can trust completely is himself and settles into a much more strict set of procedures for his tyrannical rule to make sure he isn't put at risk again. Anywho, those are my two cents.

Or.....

I was gonna say Galladon because he was grumpy in that scene but then I remembered he is always grumpy soooo.....

I actually brought this up with Brandon at a signing in Provo (I'm a psychology major and was extremely interested in this point). He pretty much said the same thing in the quote shown above, only much more condensed. He was very quick to point out that he wasn't specifically trying to portray DID with Shallan but there were some similarities involved. He also mentioned that because magic is involved it messes up a specific diagnosis like that anyways. That being said, DID is such a widely debated disorder within the psychological community that it would be impossible to get a consensus from professionals. It is so controversial that one of the major debates is whether or not it is a "real" disorder (what they mean by "real" is kind of complicated, I'd look up more information online if you want to know what that means). Some argue that memories can be, but not necessarily are, retained during personality shifts. Others argue their must be forgetfulness involved. Long story short, the characteristics and nature of this disorder are probably the most disagreed upon than any other disorder in the DSM. One of the things that is mostly agreed upon regarding DID is that of those with the disorder or displaying symptoms of the disorder (for opponents of DID), 95% report serious childhood trauma related to abuse. Shallan definitely falls under this category, and so the adoption of new personas to cope with increased stress is a realistic route this character could take. There are some definite differences, but with magic involved I think we can agree that variations would definitely exist in any mental disorder taking place in these books. So my overall feeling is that I am impressed in how well Brandon did in his research and how skillfully he is able to portray mental illness in his books.

This is the best thread since the "Nightwatcher Boon/Curse" Game! -Lightweavers, we would ask that you educate your Spren on the social consequences of announcing every potential lie they hear in a conversation. It is difficult for various orders to remain civil when a Windrunner can't even say "Have a nice day" to a Skybreaker without every Cryptic in the area humming in unison. -We would also mention that it is highly inappropriate to use a Cryptic as a lie detector in relatively unimportant conversations, like while questioning a significant other about their association with a particularly attractive Edgedancer. In relation to this, spren of any order should not be used as spies to determine the faithfulness of one's partner. To those wishing to find a more socially acceptable way to overcome relationship issues, we would recommend the use of the weekly group sessions with the Bondsmiths. -While we understand that there is necessity in practicing the abilities available to the each order, we would ask that the maturity of one's calling be maintained. For example, we would ask the Stonewardens to cease morphing ceilings and walls into rude phrases, lewd images or even information on how to contact a specific individual via spanreed. Such activities can not be categorized as the "critical formation and maintenance of skill." -On a similar note, the Edgedancer practice of "slicking" the objects of other individuals must be discontinued. The Skybreakers have submitted multiple complaints, citing these actions as "blatant violations of another's property, health and dignity." Incidentally, all these complaints were submitted following last week's meeting in the main assembly hall after the event was cancelled due to the "slicking" of the seats of the entire order of the Skybreakers.

Well, I'm glad I posted this! I can see now that I definitely missed some details that would have answered my questions pretty quickly haha. Thanks guys!

Right, so the other day I was considering the use of spheres and gemstones as money on Roshar. Yeah they are super useful for holding stormlight and giving off light so it makes sense that they would be used for money. But (and this is where the theory starts) where do those gemstones actually come from? We know from a recent WOB that Roshar specifically does not have plate tectonics. I'm not a geologist or nothing, but it seems like this would make it rare or even impossible for gemstones to be created naturally by underground pressure. In addition to this, we have never heard of a single person having the profession of a miner who would get those gems in the first place. Considering all of this, where do we know we can find gems on Roshar? Inside the bodies of certain creatures that inhabit the planet. In the early days of Roshar, before the coming of humans, the Parshman were probably the largest population of organisms that had gemhearts. What if one of the reasons the humans who came to Roshar started to try and conquer the world was because they figured out that they could get very valuable gems by cutting them out of the bodies of the indigenous people? This may have inspired a full scale slaughter and war of greed against the natives of the planet. What if the monetary spheres used by Rosharans are the cut up gemhearts of generations of Parshman?

It was the February signing at BYU Provo Bookstore. Unfortunately I don't have any sort of recording or thing like that, so the summary I just gave is kinda the best I've got.

A couple quick notes here, I actually had a short conversation with Brandon on this when I got my copy of Oathbringer signed. I'm also a psychology student specializing in disorders. He told me he consults with several people who are well versed in psychology when he tries to portray anything along these lines. He did say (and this goes along with other statements already made) that his intention was not to have Shallan diagnosed with DID like Kaladin is with Depression. He did take some ideas from the disorder to use in the story, but he didn't intend for her to be set into a specific mental illness category. Like we said before, Brandon's focus was mainly on the magical consequences, which makes her case weird anyways. Just thought I'd add that since I talked to Brandon about it specifically. I will also point out that among the psychological community there is huge debate over whether or not DID is actually a mental illness, or at least that the concept and description of the illness is lacking some very key points and understanding. For example when observing brain behavior of individuals with DID, they was no observable change when personalities "switched". However, for the things that we do know about DID, Brandon followed the rules so well that Shallan is an extremely accurate representation of someone who COULD have this disorder. Hence the reason so many people have pointed it out. Brandon is just too dang clever for his own good. This is actually one of the reasons I'm not a huge Shallan hater like a lot of other people. In fact, all my friends who have read the book and have an interest in psychology think Shallan is a great character because of who accurately her history matches up with her psyche. For someone who has gone through what she has, it is not surprise that acts and reacts the ways that she does. Sure, it drives us nuts as we see her make choices that we know aren't good for her, but that's because her portrayal is consistent with real life. Anywho, Imma get off my soapbox now. I just really love psychology so this conversation makes me twitch with excitement

I think we've gone off topic again.... Isn't there a general discussion page you guys could take some of these topics? Linguistics, oppression and prejudice are good topics to discuss, but I kinda came here to talk about things taking place in a fictional world and theorize in regards to fiction.... Just saying.

Autonomy decides Odium and Roshar are just to much trouble. Right as Odium is about to win and destroy all of Roshar, Autonomy/Bavadin takes advantage of the situation and wrecks him hardcore. Instead of being Roshar's savior however, Autonomy decides the planet is to dangerous (and also wants to get rid of Hoid) and proceeds to destroy the planet and Cultivation on his own. A portion of the population and our heroes manage to escape before the complete destruction and flee to another planet. Its out there but it is fun to throw out some crazy ideas

Here is a throwback to everyone's favorite character....

Yup, I will try to quickly. I'm not in the most convenient place to do it at the moment but it will happen soon.

I have an update! I just got my book signed by Brandon today at the BYU signing. My question was specifically: "Was there a Bondsmith at the time of the Recreance and did they abandon their oaths?" He wrote in my book: "Yes....RAFO." He said this is a RAFO because it is a major plot point of Book 4, he also confirmed for me that Melishi is the Bondsmith (not the spren). So, take that how you will, let it be fuel for the fire. I'll get that in the Arcanum database soon

Heh.... Put "Other" for the new Radiant we get in the epilogue of Oathbringer.... Definitely my favorite. Also, Lopen and Lift deserve a vote for the most entertaining Radiants. So much fun with those characters. I love Szeth's story arc, plus him and Nightblood together are terrifying and awesome at the same time. I find myself very able to relate to Dalinar. I loved his story in Oathbringer, I think his development is my favorite among all the Radiants so far. Final comment, Jasnah has one of my favorite action sequences at the end of Oathbringer. Seeing her using Soulcasting so naturally and with such ease gave me chills....

With a revival of this debate with the new information we have, I really like this idea A LOT. And by like I mean hate. But I love how much I hate it. Oroden being Odium's champion would be so twistedly tragic and also the ultimate trial for Kaladin. Plus, I feel like these deathrattles really line up with the idea. There are a few problems with the idea to be fair. First of all, he is a baby right now. Kinda hard to fight a war like that. Also, why would Odium choose him over all the other candidates? In order for this to work we would need either a 15-odd-year gap between a book or some sort of accelerated aging process for Oroden. Still, my favorite idea on here so far. Probably not the most likely, but I still love it.