Wreith

I imagine it was largely so Kelsier wouldn't have to do all the exposition on Pewter. I don't recall exactly, but I think he may also be the only one described as devoted to leading the army they assemble. The others are involved, but Ham is the general and most involved in that aspect.

She actually attempts to summon it in WoK ch45 This is the first time she actually sees shadesmar. I was wondering if maybe her regression caused her to be pulled to the Cognitive rather than Pattern be pulled to the Physical, but she re-swears an oath at the same time, so it may just be her soulcasting ability manifesting.

With regard to the issues with Gems being the focus of Roshar's magic while seeming to just be energy storage: is it possible that Bonded Radiants begin developing Gemhearts? Would explain their inherent ability to store stormlight and if the gemheart grows with each oath, explains the increase in power.

I'm on the fence about this and mostly just skimmed this thread, but here are some of my stream of consciousness thoughts on the conversation: If the plate is condensed stormlight, why did it remain after the Recreance? In the vision we see pieces of it falling off of people. I would have expected it to simply disappear. Blades remained because they are actual corpses that couldn't return to the cognitive without a connection to their knight (as I understand) Corollary: When the gems attached to the plate run out of stormlight the plate doesn't disappear, it just stops behaving like assisted power armor. If they are spren, why doesn't Syl ever comment about Plate use, even when Kal uses the helmet in the disadvantage duel? Possible she simply doesn't care about lesser spren; an attitude we've seen from her with regard to spren we don't associate with her. We've seen lesser spren in their true forms now. Did we see (hear) any vocalizations from them? I don't remember. Maybe plate doesn't scream because lesser spren don't make sound at all.

I like this sentiment for Roshar SA as a civilization strategy game. Could do different eras Uniting Alethkar Warcamps as mentioned I think this would also be a good take for Sel. Sel would also be good as an AR mobile game like Maguss with its spell drawing.

I don't think this would prevent access based on : It seems like the form the investure takes doesn't matter

The closest thing I can find to that is https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100-rbooks-ama-2015/#e3530 Also potentially of relevance https://wob.coppermind.net/events/250-warbreaker-annotations/#e6801 https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332-jordancon-2018/#e9552

All the theories along the lines of forgiving his own failure or saving who you can don't fit with the (alleged/likely) Windrunner's questioning of the fourth oath in the epigraph. "Am I not supposed to want to help people" implies being presented with a case where the choice that needs to be made is to voluntarily refrain from helping anyone. I suspect the fourth oath is something along the lines of "I will not let the situation in front of me distract from my sworn mission" When he starts to leave the parshmen, rather than reporting, he goes back to help get people to safety. no real consequences here. He almost goes to help the men on the wall when he first arrives in Kholinar. Adolin's intervention is likely all that stopped him. And if he had focused on the mission instead of allowing himself to be conflicted, he could have saved Elhokar. In Shademar, getting to Dalinar would likely have meant leaving Adolin behind. Seems to me that there was a lot of that kind of 'when do I help' theme in Oathbringer like Shallan's similar issue where 'helping' people caused them more harm than good.

Bureaucratic and Orderly don't necessarily go together I would say the Vogons are more Bureaucratic. I don't think the Vogons, had they followed Azish rules, would have been able to elect Gawx on the spot. I think it would have take significant research and paperwork to determine if a single 'miracle' could be classified as an application essay for the position of Prime. While I think the Azish are more orderly largely because the Vogons' requirements for filing documentation for saving their own mother from the Bugblatter Beast includes losing the document and then finding it again.

someone asked Brandon for an oath at a signing

The oath was just "to the law". The difficulty is that the law changes depending on where you are. If you swear to a person or to a particular law, then that difficulty goes away

I believe he's suggesting that the strong only rule because society allows them to. Thus all laws originated/enforced by those who claim authority are only those laws the society as a whole agrees with. If the society were to revolt against a law, the law would change. Social power is societies collective sensibilities and the law is derivative from that.

Swearing the 5th ideal wouldn't excuse you from the external guide you adhere to in the 3rd ideal I wouldn't think. I interpret it such that, as of the 3rd, ideal you follow the guide explicitly provided by your chosen source but the at the 5th you begin to interpret and then extrapolate further rules from those existing without explicit instruction. Also, for all the arguments about the Jailer being executed: The Skybreakers were executing everyone for everything. That doesn't have to have been the actual punishment for the crime as described in law. They just got special permission for it in the cases they arbitrate.

Having put more thought into this as a result of this thread, I wonder if the next ideal moves beyond protecting. If Windrunners follow the ideals their patron Herald is associated with, perhaps the 4th oath would push Kaladin toward being a leader. I can't think of a sentiment that would follow this line but be inhibited by Kal's recitation of failure, but it's an idea...

will they go boldly? Along the same lines... Before I found this thread I was wondering if the ideal would be "I will put the needs of the many before the needs of the few" Kal has a tenancy to run toward the few. Protecting Bridge4 at the expense of a whole bridge run Going back to Hearthstone and trying to convince his parents to leave. Leaving without notice when missing bridgemen called.

See, I wonder if Honor had already somehow trapped Odium, but then Odium began affecting Roshar and Honor needed warriors. They could agree to fight to protect their world, but the fact that it was necessary would be Honor's fault by trapping Odium there. bear in mind, I'm not really convinced. It's just an idea that occurred while reading this thread. edit: ooh ooh, I think I'm actually right. Cool. I'm not sure how to feel...

Since this was recently revived anyway, I was looking through the new Arcanum and saw this gem. So Brandon hasn't even decided which is correct, apparently.

without some source that is fantastically unhelpful

I'm not entirely prepared to rule out a revival just yet, primarily because comet-spren is still lurking. It is unfortunately unlikely though. shakily founded speculation: So Unmade are probably ancient Listeners. This was previously suspected because of Rlain's mention in WoR. Unmade are also spren, and because they've been explicitly compared to Heralds, also probably Cognitive Shadows (hooray ambiguous terminology). So Unmade are Cognitive Shadows of ancient Listeners, called spren because that's what you do on Roshar. Dawnsingers, the only time they're discussed with any depth at all, are also referred to as spren. Perhaps Dawnsingers were also Listener Cognitive Shadows and Eshonai will become one of them.

This seems as good a place as any to ask this question: Did the heralds come first or the Unmade? Seems like honorable folk choosing to fight an eternal war would make more sense as a response than as something preventative. Maybe the Heralds were the answer to the Unmade, not the other way 'round

Yes. You can take up multiple shards.

The Elantris 10th Anniversary edition had a scene with him, relatively early in his career, apparently attempting to become an Elantrian (in the company of a Skaze). Attempt failed. No word if he's made any better progress since then.

edit: It might not effect Shallan, as she's not actually entering the CR just peeking. Not sure about her

This is an attribute of anyone experiencing an incomplete transition to the cognitive realm. Jasnah experiences it before she transitions. Axies is always partially in the cognitive, as is Lift and we have WoB that something's up with Lift's shadow, I just don't think we've seen it onscreen.

We see the two talking to Elhokar in Szeth's assassination PoV also. It was theorized on here a while ago that Nale might have been trying to convince Elhokar to give him permission to hunt surgebinders in Alethkar for precisely this purpose. Not sure if this encounter happens before or after the other. Seeing Jasnah might have gotten him to seek permission or the glare might indicate he failed to get permission. If I get time, I'll see if I can hunt that other theory.