Bigmikey357

I wish we knew all the Shard names so we could play this game with Adonalasium. We know 11 of them. Maybe speculations are in order.

Anyone know how KR do family reunions?

I don't know if someone shouting out the equivalent of a Shakespeare soliloquy before they expire would cause me to despair. It would be disturbing sure, but the death itself is plenty cause for sadness. The Death Rattles don't add much on that score.

The statements are not opposed. You didn't take into account the primary statement. A Vessel with one Shard acts in accordance with that Shard. It depends on the action you want to take. If you hold 1 Shard you cannot act against its Intent. Full stop. If you hold 2 then the window of action opens a crack. It is difficult to act but not impossible. Like I said, the Intents push against each other as much as the Vessel. That's why the window for action becomes wider the more Shards are added into the mix. Depending on the Shard combos it's not likely that being a Vessel will always be fun with respect to the pressures multiple Shards would exert but that's not within my scope of inquiry. Let's give another example. Sazed picked up Ruin alone instead of what becomes Harmony. Era 2 does not happen because Sazed could not have gone against Ruin's imperative to destroy. Preservation without a Vessel to guide the power would offer little resistance. Only by holding both can Sazed act according to his inclinations despite how difficult it is for him to do so.

If Uranium were burnable, what would it do?

Shallan definitely turns Harmony into Discord.

Lemme put together a thought experiment that may shed light on my point. I'm a Vessel. I'm essentially the God on Scadrial. I want Kelsier to die. If I'm holding Preservation then OK, it depends on how long I've had it. A couple days? Kel is a goner. A couple centuries? Not so much. I've become Preservation by then and won't be killing anything. It's all Stasis. Same scenario but now I'm holding Ruin and Preservation. It's safe to say that whatever one Intent is in favor of the other opposes. The Ruin in me is all about ending Kel, my Preservation side does not want to kill anything. Maybe I can make a trade-off. I can murder Kel today but must save Vin tomorrow. Or I can get Lessee to kill him. Whatever but I gotta negotiate. Ok. I want Kel dead only now I'm holding Honor too. Now I gotta ask myself why I want him dead. Which side will Honor gravitate towards? Since Honor can both kill and protect nothing in it will intrinsically cause conflict for me in this action. It may be involved if he broke an Oath but context matters. How many more conflicts between Intents will there be if I'm also holding Dominian and Cultivation? Because what I know is that these Intents aren't just pushing me, they're pushing against each other too. The Intents are equal in strength so the more they conflict each other the less influence they can exert on me the Vessel. And of course some Vessels will agree more with killing Kel then others, leaving me a window to act that becomes ever wider the more Shards are involved. Hell, unless killing Kel is an act that nearly all the Shards I hold are alligned against I am going to have that room.

I postulate that the more Shards one acquires the less conflict the Shardic mass exerts on its Vessel. A Vessel is a complete person who theoretically holds all Intents within them. Hold one Shard, that Intent is all-encompassing, no context. Hold 2 and those Intents clash to a greater or lesser degree depending on Intents. What they aren't doing is changing the Vessel which is filtering those Intents, at least not as rapidly as a Shard unopposed would. 300 years after the Catacendre and Sazed is still recognizable from the Era 1 guy. Adding more Shards allow a Vessel to hold themselves separate from the power that would change them. They add context as some actions agree with more than one Intent at a time. To use the Supermassive Star analog, add another factor. These masses are not static in their positions. We have with Sazed a Vessel trying to navigate between masses on the extreme opposites of the Spectrum. Add a 3rd mass and the action one takes may allign so that it's 2 Intents against one. Each action changes the alignment of the Intents the Vessel holds. With each additional Shard gained the more those Shards interact depending on the action. Because the Shards represent the entirety of someone's personality every action contemplated will allign with at least one Shard and there are decisions that will not touch an Intent. The more Shards, the less points where a conflict can take place.

That's because his intents are opposed. If he held instead Preservation and Endowment for example he'd have more room to act.

I think a clue to how this works involves Frost's letter to Hoid when describing Rayse. He described Rayse as one possessing God's divine hatred without the virtues that give it context. Imagine you as an entire person. Imagine there are 16 character traits that make up your personality. Imagine you took one of those aspects and made that aspect your entire personality. That's what a Shard is essentially. The more aspects combine the more complete a person you become. The more able a Vessel is able to use their own judgement without an overwhelming imperative to interfere.

Giving Rashek Endowment seems like a bad idea. It would likely work on the opposite as on Nalthis. Everyone's a drab except for like 10 nobles.

I picked up Elantris when I found out he was finishing WOT. Haven't looked back since.

Solid. Liquid. Gas. Plasma. All matter on the macro level exists in one of these 4 phases. From my understanding, the prevailing catalyst for the transfer between the states is temperature. Water turns solid at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, gas at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, plasma is variable. Investiture is the third constant in the Cosmere and, like matter, it also has phases. We've seen investiture sources as solid (atium beads, Shardblades, ect.), liquid (perpendicularities), gas (mists of Preservation) and plasma (AonDor). My post deals with phase changes. Energy is another universe constant in both our universe and the Cosmere. Among the other services energy provides a working universe, it acts as an agent of change when it comes to transitioning between phases of matter. The most common type of energy that facilitates phase change is thermal energy. But due to narrative evidence we know that Investiture doesn't work like that. Temperature has not been a factor when we've seen Investiture in it's different phases. It hasn't been noticeable hotter or colder when seeing our investiture sources in its different states. We do know however based on the condensation that forms when a Shardblade manifests in the Physical Realm that some type of energy transfer is taking place. The question is, what type of energy drives Investiture phases and more importantly in Era 4 and beyond is given significant technological upgrades can those phase changes be induced artificially? If you melt enough Tanavastium would you get Honor's shardpool? The spren likely would not be pleased. Can you make the mists condense into a harmonious liquid? It probably could be done if one doesn't mind explosions. If iterations on Scadrial is any indication then thermal energy isn't the way to do it. So what is? My theory? Naturally occurring phase changes happen through Shardic Intervention. That's obvious. The non-obvious part, the mechanism through which it works is friction. There are 3 Realms of Cosmere existence, Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual. I propose that these realms are both layered and touching. Normally separate, these Realms can be transversed. It just takes a buttload of energy to do so. The realms naturally rub against one another producing a sort of potential energy available to harness. Currently the Shards and those who have Ascended have access to the vast potential energy produced by that friction. The Shards then decide what form this energy takes, either consciously according to the properties of their Investiture or unconsciously due to how Adonalasium was set up prior to the Shattering. Now each Godmetel will react differently depending on its properties. The periodic table of Investiture only has 17 items at present. So different Investiture will be harder or easier to change phases just like it's easier to turn bronze into a liquid than it is to turn Iron. But as the study of Investiture becomes more prevalent civilizations within the Cosmere will be better able to manipulate Investiture. I'm convinced that harnessing that friction energy will be key to this goal. Thoughts?

If I recall correctly Renarin's lightwever surge is different from Shallan's and we've seen its use on screen. When he healed Adolin's wrist that was progression but before Adolin notices that he was healed Renarin sent him an image of his Idealized self and of his potential. It looks suspiciously like what Shallan accomplishes with drawings. I believe he still has access to his normal 2 Truthwatcher surges. He just has an extra bit too.

Proof: He might as well be. We'll never see the Elantris sequel anyway. Theory: Silence Montane is secretly one of the Deepest Ones and is gaurdian to Sebruki, aka the Evil.

Not to mention bendalloy burns really fast. You would need a massive amount, think the atium stash at the end of HoA, for the aging effects to become noticeable.

Agreed on all points.

If a kandra were to somehow acquire the bones of an adult dragon, how much flesh would it have to eat in order to fill out it's skin and musculature and thus mimic a dragon effectively?

If Taldain would have been the first to achieve FTL, it would likely be due to Darkside technology rather than Cosmere magic. They had guns way before Scadrial gets them and Scadrial is the most technically advanced world us readers have spent much time in. Of course, we don't really know what magic looks like on Darkside. The most we know is that Darksiders can see into the infared spectrum (I think. Been awhile since I read WS prose).

Ok, so we know Hoid is probably immortal and quite difficult to kill. He's a repository for an enormous amount of knowledge and was present at the Shattering, something only 17 others (that we know of) can claim, and 6 of those are dead already. So only a very few things can kill him. The question I have is, can he be hurt? I ask because if someone were to capture him and attempt to torture him for information, how likely would that torture be of success? Can he be controlled by pain, forced through pain to give up his secrets? I realize that capture would be unlikely and that the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Cosmere would not know what they had even if they did catch him. But there's at least 2 secret societies on Roshar that know of him and at least some of his capabilities. The Ghostbloods in particular seem like a group that would make such an attempt. Their main stock in trade seems to be secrets and they would have no qualms at torture for information. Should we be worried?

Anyone think that had Renarin died at Jasnah's hand the section with Renarin's name would not have been greyed out? Also, how long has Sja-Anat been planning her defection from Team O? Did she go to Cultivation in an attempt to do the equivalent of turning State's Evidence? Did the Unmade target Glys on purpose because she knew exactly what powers he would have gained?

TLR is the sorting hat.

Not sure you're gonna need that much. I mean, increasing pressure in a small chamber and then giving a projectile a means of escape is basically what a gun is. If one can manipulate pressure itself then one need not use another means to generate it, like explosions. Lashings work on an entire body as we've observed so far but if a Radiant can learn to focus that lash on a smaller space they get much more bang for the buck, exponentially so if I remember my high school physics correctly. Plus, nobody said that all projectiles fired from a shardgun need to travel at the same speed. For normal targets one can fire almost instantly. You may have to charge up to one-shot a thunderclast however.

This is heartbreaking and blasphemous. Well written though, nearly impossible to put down. The contradiction is nearly as troubling as the story is. Looking forward to the conclusions.

That got esoteric in a hurry. I like the Realmatic explanation myself. It's so much simpler than the alternative.