ForcesOfNoodles

Odd that Preservation said that Lerasium, when consumed, invested a human and granted them Allomancy. You'd think that he'd say something about the Spiritweb instead. That could explain why Hoid needed Lerasium. Or are those two concepts the same thing?

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"In this record, I hold nothing back. I will try not to shy away from difficult topics, or paint myself in a dishonestly heroic light."

For this post, we'll assume that the author of Oathbringer is Jasnah Kholin, and not Sunmaker as some believe. "Oathbringer" seems to be a record of some lesson, some secret or religious truth where Jasnah's heresy is relevant. But what is it?

Epigraph from Chapter 84 of Words of Radiance, decoded. From the Diagram:

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Hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant. You may need it to destroy the new Orders when they return.

We know that Taravangian is going to Urithiru to speak with Dalinar, and we know that he sees Dalinar as competition. Perhaps he'll tell Dalinar the secret, to break him and the new Orders.

It's right in the name. Oathbringer.

Right. Sorry.

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“What of the thing we fight? Odium, the origin of the Voidbringers and their spren. Can he break oaths?”

No, the Stormfather said. He is far greater than I, but the power of ancient Adonalsium permeates him. And controls him. Odium is a force like pressure, gravitation, or the movement of time. These things cannot break their own rules. Nor can he.

In Chapter 16 of Oathbringer we have this line from the Stormfather, stating that nothing of Adonalsium is capable of breaking oaths.

This bears the question: Who created humans? Khriss seems to think it was Adonalsium, but this seems to indicate otherwise.

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Q: Hoid was once offered a Shard, but he refused it, right?
A: Yes.
Q: Was it right after the Shattering?
A: Yes. It was during the events. I wouldn't necessarily say "right after", it was during this process. I would say this is a RAFO before I finish writing at that time. (Not sure if I understood the last sentence right, but I think that's what he said)
Q: And who took this Shard instead?
A: That's a RAFO.

Source

It's under "Saturday Afternoon"

As far as I know, we've never had a WoB stating that Hoid's part in the Shattering was intentional. All we know is that:

• A very diverse group was working towards that goal, all for different reasons
• After the Shattering, Hoid was offered a Shard, which he turned down
• His goal very ambitious, and is being opposed by the 17th Shard

Maybe Hoid just sort of bumbled into some secret that broke Adonalsium, and the group opposing him/her/it was so grateful that they offered him a Shard on the spot, which he turned down out of guilt. He then begins an incredibly long-term mission to rebuild it.

He also vows to never make a mistake like that ever again, slowly changing into that cocksure, arrogant character that we all know and love.

We know from BoM that they can imitate animals, so I don't see why not.

The glass orb used to Connect Kelsier to Preservation(Which he stole from the Ire) seems oddly similar to Feruchemy. Maybe something similar to Feruchemy was used in it's creation.

One of the things that can be stored with Feruchemy is Connection. Using Feruchemy, one might be able to store Connection with a Shard over a long period of time, then, once the current Shardholder had died, tap it all at once and grab it. Which is exactly what the Ire was planning with Preservation; waiting for Leras to die, then activating a one-use device that momentarily Connected the user with the Shard.

Given that Hoid is capable is "Feruchemy", despite it being hereditary, and the fact that he somewhat predates Scadrial, we can probably safely assume that there are other magics that do effectively the same thing, like Yolish and Rosharan Lightweaving.

So there's an Selish/Elantrian variant of Feruchemy. We'll probably see some of that in Elantris 2.

Yup.

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Strength! Sazed thought, tapping his pewtermind for more power. His body became so massive that he feared splitting his own skin. Fortunately, his metalminds had been built to expand, braces and rings that didn't connect on one side so that they could bend. Still, his bulk was daunting. He probably wouldn't have been able to walk or maneuver with such size—but it didn't matter, for the koloss had already knocked him to the ground.

Vivenna's Returned blood allows her to change her age, according to the Warbreaker annotations. She's likely become immortal from that. Diseases may get her, but a sizable amount of Breath should give enough protection. Denth mentioned that Lemex's 300 Breath made him effectively immune to disease, and that it took a lot of poison to kill him.

In the chart in the back of the book, the gemstone corresponding to Tanat is a topaz. This is a strange coincidence, since one of Hoid's oldest pseudonyms is "Topaz", and that these gemstones and their Soulcasting properties are seemingly arbitrarily linked to each Herald. What do you guys think this means? Did Hoid have a hand in Talanel's death during the Final Desolation, to ensure that not all of the Heralds would abandon the Oathpact, and Odium wouldn't be freed? Hoid would probably be around for such an important event.

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Once, when she was just a little girl, a wandering singer had stayed with them at Winterfell for half a year. An old man he was, with white hair and windburnt cheeks, but he sang of knights and quests and ladies fair, and Sansa had cried bitter tears when he left them, and begged her father not to let him go. “The man has played us every song he knows thrice over,” Lord Eddard told her gently. “I cannot keep him here against his will. You need not weep, though. I promise you, other singers will come.”

When Sansa Stark was a young girl, a singer that looks suspiciously like Hoid came to Winterfell and told stories of noble knights and princes and so on. This left it's mark on Sansa, and she grew up as an idealist, and when she went south to King's Landing in an arranged marriage with Prince Joffrey, she was very excited.

She also did some very stupid things in the name of preserving this union.

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“It was for love,” Sansa said in a rush. “Father wouldn’t even give me leave to say farewell.” She was the good girl, the obedient girl, but she had felt as wicked as Arya that morning, sneaking away from Septa Mordane, defying her lord father. She had never done anything so willful before, and she would never have done it then if she hadn’t loved Joffrey as much as she did. “He was going to take me back to Winterfell and marry me to some hedge knight, even though it was Joff I wanted. I told him, but he wouldn’t listen.” The king had been her last hope. The king could command Father to let her stay in King’s Landing and marry Prince Joffrey, Sansa knew he could, but the king had always frightened her. He was loud and rough-voiced and drunk as often as not, and he would probably have just sent her back to Lord Eddard, if they even let her see him. So she went to the queen instead, and poured out her heart, and Cersei had listened and thanked her sweetly … only then Ser Arys had escorted her to the high room in Maegor’s Holdfast and posted guards, and a few hours later, the fighting had begun outside. “Please,” she finished, “you have to let me marry Joffrey, I’ll be ever so good a wife to him, you’ll see. I’ll be a queen just like you, I promise.”

She confessed to Cersei about her father's plans to overthrow Joffrey and crown Stannis, and told her when it would happen, giving her a chance to strike first and execute him.

This led to:

• Stannis, and Robb declaring themselves king, giving a chance for Renly and Balon to do so as well, basically starting the entire War of Five Kings.
• The Stark children being scattered across the globe; Arya becomes a Faceless Woman, Rickon becomes a cannibalistic unicorn rider, Bran becomes a tree, Jon considers leaving but eventually fully committing himself to the Night's Watch; without this, he might not have gone ranging with Qhorin Halfhand and might've died at the Fist or Mutiny and never become Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
• Tyrion never would've ended up in Essos.
• The Faith wouldn't have been re-armed; Cersei wouldn't have had the power to do so.
• Barristan wouldn't have gone to Daenerys; she would've been killed by the manticore in Qarth.

So clearly Hoid really hates this planet.

Next up: Hoid secretly being Littlefinger

Sneak Peek:

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And while I am your friend, please understand that our goals do not completely align. You must not trust yourself with me. If I have to watch this world crumble and burn to get what I need, I will do so. With tears, yes, but I would let it happen.

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Littlefinger would see the realm burn if he could be king of the ashes. [SHOW ONLY]

We have WoB saying that Hoid isn't a Shardholder, though after the Shattering he was offered a Shard. As far as we know, the Seventeenth Shard is an organization of Worldhoppers affiliated with Frost.

I think the deal between Preservation and Ruin was just a verbal agreement, whereas the Oathpact somehow actually places restrictions on the involved Shards' actions somehow, which would be very difficult. Maybe Cultivation was involved as a sort of third party that would destroy either of them if they broke it? I'd say maybe Cultivation killed Honor, but then again he literally said "Odium has killed me".

The "Champion" bit is probably some clause on the hugely complex magical contract between Honor and Odium, as a sort of failsafe.

Sure, compounding F-Nicrosil and A-Nicrosil doesn't do anything helpful for the compounder at all. But what if they can compound the Investiture in every human that Preservation gave them, which tipped the balance to Ruin? The Investiture stolen by Hemalurgic Iron, Copper, Tin, and Zinc? They'd be able to make themselves into super stable genius calculator koloss, with no drawbacks.

Would cutting through the spine with a Shardblade work? Kaladin didn't seem to think that Stormlight would be able to heal that, but then again F-Gold heals way faster. It seems to kill instantly. I also remember reading a WoB saying that the Lord Ruler couldn't survive decapitation, unless the blade was thinner than his neck, in which case his neck would heal itself as the blade went through it. Although I guess some goldminds in his head would do it, since it takes about a 15 seconds after decapitation for the severed head to die.

How about a machine gun with atium bullets? Or alternating pewter and whatever steals Allomantic Temporal abilities? Spike him twice before he can heal his Spiritweb?

Or you can just kill them in their sleep. I'm don't think you can tap a metalmind while sleeping, but that might've just been for filling them.

I've considered this. It would explain a few things, but isn't it harder to Invest an object that's already Invested? Maybe the fact that it used to be alive would offset this. Still, Shashara planned to give away the secret of this, and Vasher killed her for it. I doubt it would be such a big problem if the process required a Shardblade to start with.

Unless Shashara also planned to give away the secret of Worldhopping...still, you'd think Vasher would have thought of that in his memories.

Nightblood has Connection to Ruin.

It has been stated by WoB that Nightblood's corruption of Breath is an effect of mixing powers.

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BLIGHTSONG

How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren people would feel are corrupted. But that is corruption where the mixing of different shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, people are meaning the mixing of shards powers.

BLIGHTSONG

So is there a mixing of shards power with Nightblood?

BRANDON SANDERSON

*smirks* RAFO. That's the natural question, I'm glad you asked it.

The Command used to Awaken Nightblood was "Destroy Evil".

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That was the great crux of the problem, the issue that had dominated most of Vasher’s life. A thousand Breaths. That was what it took to Awaken an object of steel and give it sentience. Even Shashara hadn’t fully understood the process, though she had first devised it.

It took a person who had reached the Ninth Heightening to Awaken stone or steel. Even then, this process shouldn’t have worked. It should have created an Awakened object with no more of a mind than the tassels on his cloak.

Nightblood should not be alive. And yet he was. Shashara had always been the most talented of them, far more capable than Vasher himself, who had used tricks—like encasing bones in steel or stone—to make his creations. Shashara had been spurred on by the knowledge that she’d been shown up by Yesteel and the development of ichor-alcohol. She had studied, experimented, practiced. And she’d done it. She’d learned to forge the Breath of a thousand people into a piece of steel, Awaken it to sentience, and give it a Command. That single Command took on immense power, providing a foundation for the personality of the object Awakened.

But Nightblood's sheer power and sentience were unexpected; the Awakening had worked better than it should have, and neither Vasher nor Shashara had understood why.

Nightblood was based off of Shardblades; the Five Scholars were Worldhoppers. What if they brought back more than just knowledge of a Shardblade, but something of Ruin too, allowing a Connection between the sword and the Shard?

"Destroy Evil" isn't a very accurate way to describe Nightblood's intent either; there seems to be more of a focus on "Destroy" than "Evil".

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That man down there, Nightblood said. The god in the palace. He holds the power to start this war. You don’t want this war to start. That’s why he’s evil.

“Why does that make him evil?”

Because he will do what you don’t want him to.

“We don’t know that for certain,” Vasher said. “Plus, who is to say that my judgment is best?”

It is, Nightblood said. Let’s go. Let’s kill him. You told me war is bad. He will start a war. He’s evil. Let’s kill him. Let’s kill him.

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“I don’t know, Denth,” Tonk Fah said. “I kind of think we should keep it. It could be very useful. . . .” The beginnings of the lust began to show in his eyes, the desire to draw Nightblood, to use the sword. To destroy evil. Or, really, just to destroy.

A connection between Ruin and Nightblood would well explain all of this, and Nightblood's personality. After all, Ati was once a "kind and generous man" before Ruin's intent changed him.

Finally, Nightblood has been described as "Orders of Magnitude stronger than a Shardblade". Spren are splinters, as are Divine BioChromatic Breath. However, a Divine BioChromatic Breath is worth 2,000 Breath, double that which is Nightblood is Invested with. He must have some source for his power of destruction.

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Blightsong

How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren people would feel are corrupted. But that is corruption where the mixing of different shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, people are meaning the mixing of shards powers.

Blightsong

So is there a mixing of shards power with Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

*smirks* RAFO. That's the natural question, I'm glad you asked it.

Nightblood is definitely more than just an Awakened sword, that's for sure. Vasher even admitted that it's sentience is unusual, and that he doesn't understand how Shashara did it.

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That was the great crux of the problem, the issue that had dominated most of Vasher’s life. A thousand Breaths. That was what it took to Awaken an object of steel and give it sentience. Even Shashara hadn’t fully understood the process, though she had first devised it.

It took a person who had reached the Ninth Heightening to Awaken stone or steel. Even then, this process shouldn’t have worked. It should have created an Awakened object with no more of a mind than the tassels on his cloak.

Nightblood should not be alive. And yet he was. Shashara had always been the most talented of them, far more capable than Vasher himself, who had used tricks—like encasing bones in steel or stone—to make his creations. Shashara had been spurred on by the knowledge that she’d been shown up by Yesteel and the development of ichor-alcohol. She had studied, experimented, practiced. And she’d done it. She’d learned to forge the Breath of a thousand people into a piece of steel, Awaken it to sentience, and give it a Command. That single Command took on immense power, providing a foundation for the personality of the object Awakened.

It sort of sounds like Shashara was being influenced by a Shard when she created Nightblood. Perhaps she was insane; we do not completely understand the circumstances of her death, only that Vasher killed her because she planned to give away the secret to Awakening steel, like she did with the one Breath Lifeless Command, which doesn't sound very sane.

Then again, the Warbreaker Annotations say that Yesteel knows the secret to Awakening steel, and Idris would eventually destroy Hallandren should they go to war.

It's been theorized that Hoid is trying to do exactly this, and his goal so far is to get Investiture and Connection from every Shard.

We've seen this with the Lerasium bead, the Moon Scepter, Breath, and an attempt to become Elantrian. It's been theorized that he took Talanel's Honorblade too, but that's been refuted by WoB.

Splintered shards can be repaired.

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CHAOS

Is Splintering a Shard permanent?

BRANDON SANDERSON

No.

Huh. Forgery is the most direct way to change something's Spiritual aspect that we've seen so far, isn't it? No wonder Hoid wanted the Moon Scepter. I wonder how those permanent Forgeries on those vases work, and if there would be better uses for that.

I'm actually working on a theory where aluminum is actually really heavily Invested as a remnant from Adonalsium, and that's how it blocks Investiture.

It destroying metal when burned could be explained by the fact that Preservation chose all the Allomantic abilities.

It kinda falls apart once you realize that it can be Soulcasted though.