Stonerwarden

I can see what you mean but it could lead to conflict with the characters as well. Giving them a consequence of having access to the higher surgebindings, having to possibly sacrifice their being / sense of self in order to save Roshar and would also act as a preventative to them destroying it with Surgebindings.

The 5th Ideal As far as we’re aware there aren’t too many facts available for what the 5th ideal entails in terms of progression for the Knights Radiant and I couldn’t find much searching so thought I’d try this out and see what people think. Below is a list of the progression we know (we pretty much know 4th ideal will give plate) 1st Ideal – infuse Stormlight 2nd Ideal – Surgebinding 3rd Ideal – Shardblade 4th Ideal – Shardplate (presumably) Along with the above points it seems like they become more efficient at storing / using stormlight for surgebinding along with an increase in the Nahel bond. So I was thinking what could the fifth Ideal provide and what else we know about it. We have a few hints that I’ve been able to remember as follows; Nale states that he is the only Skyrunner to reach the fifth ideal in centuries and that a Skybreaker who reaches the fifth ideal embodies (becomes the embodiment of?) the law. Ishar originally founded the ideals as a measure to control the power of the Knights, so it’s safe to assume that the fifth ideal is the ultimate use of surgebinding We know that without Honor around to keep checks on the Radiant’s Nale is scared of what they can do. Now my theory is that the fifth ideal give the Knight Radiant a Connection to Honor’s power in the Spiritual realm enabling them to fuel surgebinding directly rather than having to inhale stormlight. I don’t think this would be a constant connection but by becoming the embodiment of the attribute of their order they could “power up” (almost like how Vin powers her alomancy directly from the mists from her Connection to Preservation). As we have seen from Dalinar accessing Honor’s perpendicuality a lot more can be achieved by Radiants with a large store of investiture available. The reason that Knights of the fifth ideal wouldn’t be running around constantly like this would be that by becoming the “embodiment” of the attribute would actually make the Nahel bond so strong that you’d see the human partner taking on the intent of their bonded spren and would suppress their normal human emotions. My reasoning behind this is threefold. Firstly we’ve seen that Odium seems to not just embody Hate but Passion, having seen him able to possess the Alethi soldiers who were caught up with the thrill and wanting Dalinar’s pain. I have a feeling emotion is going to play into the Stormlight Archive a lot more in the upcoming books than it has in the first two and it seems like the ideal weapon to fight Odium/Passion would be to have superpowered knights who dampen / supress their emotions so the intent of their ideals is their sole driving force and wouldn’t be influenced by Odium/Passion. Secondly, I think that Dalinar’s whole “I am Unity” shtick was him accessing the powers behind the firth ideal (Spiritual Connection) but only by saying the third ideal which is what I’m sure was shocked the Stormfather. He’s not used to this level of power being used by someone who’s only said the third ideal. Thirdly, we know that Skybreakers who have said the fifth ideal would become the embodiment of the Law so it fits that the embodiment of a Bondsmith would be Unity. Now, I’ve not really been able to fit many of the other orders into this theory, Windrunners would become The Protector for example and my knowledge of realmatic theory isn’t great but I just thought I’d put it out there and see what people think. (apologies if I've missed out spoiler tags etc, first time posting)

I don't think it's been discussed in this thread but may have missed it but would the discovery of the Heralds abandoning the Oathpact have caused the recreance? As far as I'm aware everyone thinks that they won and the Heralds returned to continue the fight for the Tranquil halls so what if they found out about the Heralds all giving up on the Oathpact and found it to be the ultimate betrayal enough for them to abandon their oaths as well?

Not really in any order and some may be a bit of a more wider scope than just Oathbringer and are some crazy theories I have, so here goes; The "Black sphere" of Gavilar's will turn up to be the condensed / contained essence of Odium's shardpool. The big reveal of Dalinar's wife Shshshshsh will be that she killed herself after Dalinar confesses in a drunken rage that he's only ever loved Navarni, the shame of this is what drives him to the Nightwatcher to ask his boon. We will meet Sadeas' heir who's an even bigger bastard than his father Now this still isn't completely formed out theory but in Urithitu Shallan will find a complete list (compendium?) of every shardblade from the Radiant's who broke their oath during the recreance. so similar to how a flamespren will retain a static shape once recorded. I think this is somehow related to the dead shardblades if someone knows the name of the spren, what type it is etc then it's the start of being able to revive them. She'll share this information with Adolin who will spend the last part of the book in exile trying to revive his blade. Once Kaladin returns he'll meet Veil who he'll have feelings for and Shallan will be with Adolin & Kaladin will be with Veil, until she can reveal her next truth as to who she loves. Lopen will say the second ideal of the Willshapers I think most of my remaining predictions have been mentioned, IE Kaladin's mother being from a mixed lighteye family (or Oldblood), Jasnah saving Kholinr (maybe with Kaladins help), re-opening of the oathgates etc