redbishop

Can I nominate toddlerspren as the interim name for the Dustbringer Order's spren?

I like it, as well, in general, but can I propose that perhaps they hacked something extra in, instead? The Bondsmith Surges are Tension and Adhesion, so maybe they pulled on two parts of the spiritweb and the sDNA that are the normal attachment points for most spren, and stick them together instead. Or some mechanic to splice them in some way. Then the Everstorm comes, and undoes that alteration. Tearing something apart or ripping something out seems more in keeping with a storm born of hatred.

Of the relatively little we have seen of and about Ialai, not a single thing suggests she would make a good patsy. I think she is either using the Ghostbloods, has some arrangement with them, or is one of them herself. That arrangement may be lopsided and/or they are playing a longer game than she is, but a person like Ialai doesn't just happen to find herself in council with someone like Mraize.

Do we have to Spoiler-Tag Warbreaker here? Just to be on the safe side...

I think we are basically getting a montage of Kaladin deciding that he relates more to the ex-Parshmen than he does to Lighteyes, and he just recently came to terms with that. The montage allows us to see hints of what he is doing without giving away too much. So, the ex-Parshmen can all see the Voidspren, and are surprised that Kaladin can't. As for a new Oath... are we thinking along the lines of "I will stand up for what is right, even when I am told I am wrong"? Also, I'm going to leave this here: I really love the two of them together, and the more I see of Adolin, the more I like him. Murder aside, he's just a great human being.

Yep, that was inevitable.

Interestingly, the Stormfather did not foreclose Plate as a possibility for Dalinar. So perhaps Bondsmiths can still get that, at least. Anyone else looking forward to Adolin and Shallan's next date, and seeing Shallan order crazy-hard liquor to Adolin's horror?

I think "Former Parshmen" is appropriate for those that have awakened. Unsatisfying, perhaps, but I suspect they will find themselves a new name soon enough. Then we'll be torn on which name to use - canon, or our fanon?

So... if Shallan had counted growth rings, perhaps the Stick could have been persuaded?

I still think, reading her thoughts in the latest chapters, that she has something painful she is repressing in her past that involves caves/striated rock and possibly shardplate. Do we have an active theory that Shallan was once deeply-bonded with Pattern, but regressed and the bond atrophied? Considering all her repressed memories that have been popping up, it seems likely that Soulcasting is related. Besides, "I'm going to borrow a Soulcaster and use it to create marble deposits to mine!" is creative, but a pretty unusual route to personal wealth. Something had to inspire that particular choice.

Oh, I get what you mean. Didn't she refer to both Cryptics and Honorspren having cities? Also, based on Wyndle's discussion of growing gardens, I imagine the Ring and the Keenspren have at least some enclave.

I recall hearing (because Audiobooks) Lift mentioning "The Nine" in a semi-religious context. What all (other than 9 abandoned Honorblades) do we have reference to 9 of? Also, you forgot to mention the fact that the man ate crab curry, for BREAKFAST! A bit suspicious, don't you think? No mention of lunch, either... plainly a champion of hatred. Case closed.

I am guessing that @Lazarus52980 was alluding to the city of Silverlight. I don't think that is likely, simply because I would expect a Cognitive City to exist in a relatively uninhabited space to minimize disruptions. I also feel like we'd have had a hint on the maps of Shadesmar. That being said, don't lose sight of the physical/cognitive connection. It could be an effect of the bonds, or it could just be that a lot of our characters have attracted spren, and we know (WoB, I think?) that people with spren tend to attract more spren. As for the gloomspren, plainly it is time for another Honorspren-led hunt!

So the Rhythms are an ability the Listeners may possess (unless blocked), but requires training. That would explain why they use the word "attune" rather than some other term. It seems implied that this condition was not unknown to the Parshendi. From the prologue: Whether being trapped was an effect of not having the Rhythms, or a matter of coincidence, is thus far unclear.

Wild Speculation! I think this may also be foreshadowing. We have from WOB that Shallan is one ideal ahead of Kaladin, so she's on the Fourth (of at least Five). What we don't yet know is the circumstances that led to her mother and her mysterious visitor-cum-probably-not-lover deciding to try and kill Shallan, or the circumstances leading her to bond with Pattern. Anyone want to take bets that it involved a cave, a mountain, or both? Maybe once it is revealed, and she faces it (stating a truth), she'll be able to pull herself together. Extra points if Plate is involved! EDIT: What if she was discovered because she Soulcast the additional marble deposits into one of her families failing mines, which both alerted her mother and planted the seed for her father the idea to use a Soulcaster to try and save the house that way, when the opportunity arose? It would also explain why Soulcasting seemed so difficult for her (a block), and why the striations in what we speculate is Soulcast stone are so distracting.

Almost certainly! Brandon doesn't seem to own black or white pencils. I can't point to a single character (with the possible exception of Straff Venture) that I can say I unambiguously hate. Gavilar did some good things, and it is unlikely he set things in motion. After all, Szeth had been named Truthless before Gavilar met the Parshendi.

I second Proto-Radiant, and further suggest she will be the first Alethi of an order we haven't seen much of, who will be challenged for leadership by a non-Alethi KR. We already have racism and classism, why not add in jingoism? 10 books is plenty of space!

What an ominous statement, since the difference is in dosage... and we are soon to see what happens after another dose of the Everstorm! Also, in point of fact, Gavilar sought to bring back the Parshendi gods, not specifically the Everstorm.

Does anyone have the skills to superimpose the Oathgates onto the globe and see if the describe any interesting sort of pattern? Mars makes sense. I will have to dust off AU once again. My thanks to the collective for your patience.

It would be interesting to see that mapped onto a sphere. A Mercator projection like we see above may obscure a planet-wide pattern for Oathgate distribution. I just tried doing some math to try and figure out what size globe it would need to be mapped onto, but the extrapolations are tied pretty closely to planetary composition. Fundamentally, surface gravity is proportional to average planetary density and radius: g = (a pile of constants) * d * r, where the pile of constants account for the universal gravitational constant as well as geometry, d is average density and r is planetary radius. Relating Roshar to Terra is a simple matter of ignoring Surges and setting up a ratio. Since surface area (A) = 4 * pi * r^2, we could theoretically come up with some interesting theories. Mercury, Venus and Earth are all pretty similar in density, so if we hold that constant and apply the first relation, Roshar's radius is .7 Terran radii. Using the second equation, that means Roshar could have a surface area of as little as half (.49, technically) of Earth's surface area. Any geologists care to weigh in on how much less (or more?) dense a planet without tectonic activity would be, relative to earth? Do we have any clues that would give us a sense of scale to the map, so we could map it to a sphere?

It was. Flying is an effect of the Surge of Gravitation. Semantic point, but I don't think Elhokar can rightly be called a sovereign anymore. He has a liege-lord now, so while he may be a monarch, he no longer is the final arbiter of the direction of his kingdom. That's part of the definition of sovereignty. Another point I haven't seen discussed, which I will bring up because I don't buy Adolin-reawakens-his-blade (Because Adolin being an Edgedancer seems like it will take an unusual amount of character growth in unexpected directions): Renarin returned the blade that Adolin won for him, for Adolin to decide how to dispose of it. A few thoughts: Assuming it is of a more-suitable Order, will some trick of fate result in him reawakening it? There are several Orders (Dustbringers, Willshapers, Stonewards... even Windrunners) I could find that as plausible. We have a precedent for what a sharpbearer-cum-KR does with a former shardblade - relinquish it to the ardents, for redistribution to someone they trust to decide. This may eventually become the Stormfather, though that's a pet theory. Combining 1 and 2, Adolin will become a KR and relinquish his balde, asking Dalinar to decide what to do with his blade. He'll ask the Stormfather, and I expect Very Interesting Things may result. Did we ever get a description of Renarin's blade? I believe we saw Elhokar's and Amaram's described, and at least one of them sounded Dustbringer-y.

Huh. That's a really good point. I can't say I like the Bondsmith portion, but that is a matter of practicality. With a maximum of 3 Bondsmiths at a time, I doubt that one of their intended functions was to be facilitate magical fertilizer. The Growth + Gardens idea makes a lot of sense, though. With adequate stormlight, even a few Edgedancers and Truthwatchers could surely turn inadequate space into a surplus. Given Wyndle's obsession with gardens, I imagine this is likely a passion-project for some KRs and their spren. Now I'm imagining Edgedancer squires being called Gardeners.

I'm not even sure that Adolin could reasonably allow himself to be punished. One, Kaladin would probably imprison himself in protest, probably at a time he is SORELY NEEDED. Elhokar views Kal as his last hope, and that is before the obligatory Kal-saving-his-butt (or maybe vice-versa) in Kholinar. Beyond that, Adolin's soldiers were left for dead by Sadeus. Adolin was visibly instrumental in the holdout, and is well-liked by his men. I think the Kholin princedom would be strained to the point of leaving Alethkar rather than permit that. Not that I think that will happen - although what would happen if an independent Highprince Adolin swore the same fealty oath to Dalinar that Elhokar did?

Spren of the various types are implied to be of a type, as it were, and I got a scaredy-cat vibe from Ym's spren. It may be that Truthwatcher spren aren't the brave and outgoing sort. If they were, say, reluctancespren, that would explain why so little is known about the Order as well. I wonder what would happen if they were Elsecalled into the CR, or tossed into a perpendicularity. Perhaps they could be offered to the Stormfather during a highstorm, and they could begin to heal. After all, they are native there. It would also neatly dovetail with the Everstorm restoring the abilities for Parshendi to adopt forms. Perhaps the two are even related.

I like the theory. Implications are clear for KR spren, and it goes beyond that. Syl read that Ardent's mind, although it appeared to be surface thoughts. Is that limited in scope? Are honorspren only interested in snooping on coupling-related items, an Cryptics only on elimination? Since intimate relationships are related to pair-bonding, I can see a correlation. Same with elimination - perhaps on Roshar, they tell the same lies about "freshening up" and "powdering ones' nose." As for Odium, I think it depends on agency. I can't find it, but I feel like I've seen a WoB that not even all of the unmade are at the sapience-level of KRSpren, and that seems like it would be needed to usefully employ this tactic.