Leyrann

In other words, he can form a Shardblade. Next question: Could Sunraiser be the Sibling, forced into Shardblade form in the Recreance?

Let me pose a question: If Dalinar doesn't have a Shardblade, how did he activate the oathgate in Azir after his memories returned?

Remember in OB Part I where Renarin heals Adolin that, for a moment, Adolin "saw himself perfected". We've seen Renarin do it on-screen without doubt.

That's just because 10 is Honor's number and 9 is Odium's number. As for Dalinar + 9 orders, Dalinar is part of an order as well, so it's still 10 orders. And I doubt Odium is just gonna let the other nine Heralds run around and maybe regain their sanity and start fighting him.

Well that's annoying... Should be fixed on coppermind then, because that's where I took it from. I presume the metals that are called "hybrid" are then physical in nature as well? Yeah, I realize it pops up every now and then, it seems like an obvious connection. With the WoB I quoted at the start of the post, however, I think that we can find some kind of connection between at least Shards and allomantic metals, as they are apparently mapped to the same pattern (or the Shards created the pattern and allomancy was mapped on it). I do not think it's as simple as "Pair them with their god-metals" or "Give every Shard it's opposite and pair them off". For the first one, we don't know enough god-metals, and we most likely never will, and for the second one, we know not every Shard has a clear opposite. I realize it can become arbitrary pretty fast, but that doesn't mean that there's no truth in there, and we do have that WoB, which I believe is worth diving into, if nothing else. As for the allomantic powers being chosen to fit the needs of a thief crew, that's true out of universe, but I don't doubt that there is an in-universe justification for using these metals and abilities as well.

@Confused's theory to order the Shards made me think about it myself, and I believe that the Shards can be related to the different allomantic and feruchemical properties of metals. Or, more correctly, that the allomantic and feruchemical properties of metals have been designed after the mechanism that ordered the Shards. To back this up, we have this WoB about allomancy in relation to the Shards: Short deviation on the relaionship between allomancy and feruchemy (fair note, I think you can skip this part and still understand what I'm saying; it's just that I want to show how allomancy and feruchemy are related beyond just using the same metals) The allomantic table has been ordered into the physical, mental, enhancement and temporal groups, wheras the feruchemical table has been ordered into physical, cognitive, spiritual and hybrid groups. Additionally, the allomantic table has been further divided into internal and external and pulling and pushing. Though it is lost in the feruchemical table on coppermind, the correct ordering has symmetry in crystal structures of the pulling metals (alloys do not have a clean crystal structure), further implying that the metals are supposed to be ordered in this way*. I personally believe that the allomantic table's groups could also have been described as physical, cognitive, spiritual and hybrid. This because the "mental" metals are related to emotions (which are cognitive) and the emanation of "pulses" when metals are burned, which seem to be cognitive in nature as well. The enhancement metals, meanwhile, are related to the burning of metals themselves, which seems more spiritual in nature (Investiture comes from the Spiritual Realm, after all), and I believe the temporal group works in several Realms at once. In gold and electrum's case, it reads the Spiritual Realm and shows it in a cognitive or physical way (you can actually see the past/future version of yourself), and in cadmium and bendalloy's case I just think speeding up or slowing down time does not work in only one Realm. I would also not be surprised if there is something spiritual about time. *There is actually an error in this symmetry, as tin has two possible crystal structures, and the structure it is supposed to have in the table is the one that appears only below room temperature (about 13 degrees celsius or lower). Though I do not have the source with me now, Brandon has previously said that he first intended for another metal to fill this spot, but switched to tin; though I do not remember by heart which metal this was, I do remember looking it up and finding that, indeed, it had this crystal structure as well. Edit: The original metal was silver, thanks to @John203 for helping me out there. The relationship between the tables and the Shards I think that the Shards can be ordered in four groups of four and that the allomantic and feruchemical properties of the metals are based on them. However, we do not know all the Shards, while we do know all the allomantic and feruchemical properties, so let's try to reverse engineer what they were based on. I'll start with quadrants and apply Shards to their metals, instead of the other way around, as the known structure makes it easier to order. Having said that, I do not think the Shards themselves are (primairily) physical, cognitive, spiritual or hybrid, though I wouldn't necessarily rule it out either. Expand the spoilers for explanations. First (physical) quadrant: Steel: Survival Shard? Iron: Honor Pewter: Unknown Shard Tin: Endowment Second (cognitive) quadrant: Zinc: Odium Brass: Devotion Copper: Autonomy Bronze: Dominion Third (spiritual) quadrant: Duralumin: Unknown Shard Aluminium: Ruin Nicrosil: Unknown Shard Chromium: Unknown Shard Fourth (hybrid) quadrant: Gold: Unknown Shard Electrum: Unknown Shard Cadmium: Preservation Bendalloy: Cultivation Finding the other Shards I believe that, if this system is correct, we might be able to at least take a guess on the Intents of the unknown Shards from the properties we have here, though there will be a lot of guessing involved there. I'll give this a shot soon, but right now I'm going to hit post because I don't have much more time. I'll probably edit some guesses in.

It's just that you can express "Ruin" in different ways. That makes me think... All things that happen increase entropy, but they may locally reduce entropy. Would it be possible to interpret Ruin in such a way that it makes things like "entropy machines", so to say, that continuously create entropy? Because that's really what your average engine does... Similarly, would it be possible to interpret Ruin to create life, as all beings also continuously increase entropy? Things like that... Depending on how much you can interpret a Shard's intent, sufficient creativity might allow you to do something like this.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/156-words-of-radiance-lexington-signing/#e2841

I've come across it several times while looking up other stuff, but I can't find it now. It kind of read like Kelsier was not likely to appear, but it could happen. I'm sorry, best I can give you right now is that I've read the WoB at least twice.

Well, Brandon was not willing to rule out Kelsier appearing in SA...

It is probably safe to assume that Sanderson has gone through a lot of iteration on both Wheel of Time and Way of Kings, however. We know he had to write almost all of the last three books of WoT by himself. While looking for the WoB in above post I actually came across a post where he explained that he got 200 pages of "notes", which existed half of worldbuilding stuff, and half of the rest was about Egwene, while the last 50 pages were divided over other characters. Perrin, as example, had only a single line. He's basically crafted the aMoL storyline by himself. As for Way of Kings, we know, for example, that the Shattered Plains weren't in there until much later, and additionally we know that he gave Kaladin his depression much later on because he felt Kaladin was a too-perfect hero, while these parallels would be very much related to his depression. Just because characteres are differen't doesn't mean they can't have similarities, though. Kaladin and Rand can very well be foils to one another in this. I'll admit that I immediately wanted to move towards "Creator and Dark One are shards" as well when I read that quote, but the problem is that I distinctly remember from my time in the Wheel of Time community (I think even before the release of aMoL) Brandon had already confirmed that he would not make Wheel of Time part of the cosmere, meaning that there will not be actual crossovers of any kind. If whatever Brandon was referencing in the interview is related to his own works as well it has to be in parallels or something like that. (apart from this I could probably come up with a hundred reasons why Wheel of Time doesn't fit cosmere, but why bother...)

(NOTE: spoilers for the end of Wheel of Time are included, I would advice against reading this post/thread if you haven't finished WoT) A while ago, we got some info in an interview from Brandon, followed by a WoB: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900003841/qanda-brandon-sanderson-on-the-importance-of-fiction-and-how-writing-influences-his-lds-faith.html https://wob.coppermind.net/events/171-oathbringer-release-party/#e8167 Before I was aware of this WoB, I had noticed some peculiar similarities between Oathbringer and the ending of A Memory of Light. Firstly, in the end of Part I of Oathbringer, when Shallan fights and defeats Re-Shephir, she presumably does this in the Spiritual Realm, which is similar in it's description to where Rand fights the battle of will with the Dark One in A Memory of Light. This, however, is less of a similarity than the one Rand shares with Dalinar at the end of Oathbringer: Both are battling a vastly more powerful force of evil, battered and broken, about to give in, as someone who is dear to them but dead (Egwene and Evi respectively) encourage them, strengthening them at the vital moment, after which they stand up to fight once again. Additionally, both are subsequently enveloped in a column of light. On top of that, in my current reread of The Way of Kings, I noticed something else. Rand always feels the burden of those he killed or otherwise failed, as a list of names he repeats to himself. In the Stormlight Archive, Kaladin does exactly the same, and if it were not enough, their fathers, though very different, are both good men trying to support their sons and teach them to deal with the burden, as Tam indeed managed to do. I think this parallel between Rand and Kaladin may be what Brandon Sanderson has been talking about. I do realize that the interview and the WoB do not hint at a relation between Oathbringer and Stormlight Archive, but on the other hand I do not see how there would be a point of foreshadowing in Wheel of Time that is big, but has not been noticed by other people, if it does not related to something outside of Wheel of Time. (oh, and long time WoT fans will probably remember the last "Big Unnoticed Thing" in the Wheel of Time, which was considered very disappointing (for those who don't know, no one had figured out that Mat's ashandarei was a way out of Finnland)) In short, I think Brandon has foreshadowed, in Wheel of Time, that Kaladin will, for a long time, remain unable to leave his failures behind (or supposed failures, as he typically does all he can to protect his men), also rendering him unable to say the Fourth Ideal, whatever it may be exactly, until he has a talk with Lirin which allows him to proceed. Of course, knowing Brandon, it might not actually be such a long time and it might happen in book 4 already, right in time for Kaladin to say the Fifth Ideal in book 5 before he goes to Braize to stop the Desolation for the duration of the 15 year gap.

Yup, that's basically it. I think that either we got something wrong about the timing of Taln breaking, or, as you said, some force knowing how much longer Taln would hold out influenced events on Roshar. I wouldn't be surprised if Odium was behind the Sons of Honor.

And that's my point. Even though some Parshendi might have looked for Forms of Power before, this could very well have been the first time that a truly large group of Parshendi would be willing to accept them. Somehow, that happened at almost exactly the same time Taln returned, even though it seems like it is in no way connected - this happened on Roshar, while Taln was on Braize.

Certainly, but I don't think Eshonai, the Five and the masses would have been convinced if they hadn't been faced with a losing war without possible escape.

That could be, but the thing is that it would be very peculiar that he would break so shortly before the Parshendi felt the need to seek out Stormform (once again, even though a single Parshendi might have looked for it earlier, it's clear that the majority view was that it was best to stay as far away as possible, which means that it wouldn't have been possible to convert enough Parshendi to Stormform to summon the Everstorm).

It could very well be. I also like the idea of Taln holding off the breaking through his madness mantra. Perhaps Odium had figured out he could circumvent Taln a long time earlier already (maybe Honor dying is what allowed him to do so?) but he had to wait until there were singers looking for the Forms of Power until doing so would actually have any effect; during that time he wouldn't want Taln on Roshar preparing people, so he'd continue torturing him, while Taln kept holding out. Then, the Parshendi got pressured, Odium did his circumventing trick, Taln realized he had been tricked, and he returned to Roshar at the same time the first Parshendi took up Stormform. (yes, Taln returned shortly before Eshonai took up Stormform, but Venli had already been in contact with that spren (Ulim?) for longer)

Something along those lines is what I believe too, I think we've got something wrong about Taln breaking. I think it's one of two possibilities. 1. Taln broke earlier and has been back on Roshar for longer. However, with the parshmen in slaveform and the Parshendi staying away from the Forms of Power, there was no way for a Desolation to start. Only when the Parshendi were in trouble they turned to the Forms of Power, allowing the Desolation to begin; it needed a kickstart of some sort, basically. This could also explain the Sons of Honor as directly influenced by Odium - he needed to find a way to scare the Parshendi into taking up the Forms again, as it was the only way he could start a Desolation. 2. Taln hasn't broken, and has returned to Roshar because Odium or his minions found a way around him without having to break him. This ties Taln's return to the Parshendi being pressured, as the moment that the voidspren would go to the Parshendi would be the moment Taln realized the Oathpact was no longer working. EDIT: To clarify, I think these options are the alternatives to a direct interconnection where both things were caused by the same thing, or "it's a big coincidence", which I don't like and which is probably false, as that isn't how Brandon writes his books.

The thing is, firstly, if some were already seeking the forms, there is still the huge coincidence that the Parshendi were pressured this hard exactly when the forms returned; if Taln had broken earlier, a Desolation would've come out of nothing as a Parshendi had found the forms naturally. This would've probably been a standard Desolation. If Taln had broken later, the Parshendi would most likely not have exited anymore. The peace talk between Eshonai and Dalinar, as you yourself said, was after Eshonai had already taken up Stormform. In fact, if she hadn't yet taken up Stormform, they'd have abandoned the idea at that point. Venli and a few others might have continued to pursue Stormform, but they'd have never convinced the masses to take it up. Secondly, though it indeed wasn't a boon to their survival, they did believe it to be, and that is why they searched for it. I simply feel like the "intensive searching and adapting Stormform" and the "Taln breaking and Stormform becoming 'available'" are two unrelated events that were a huge coincidence to happen so close together, which feels like an un-Brandon thing to do, making me wonder if there's a connection somewhere there that we're not seeing, maybe something that caused both of it.

But then, what is the chance that basically the moment Taln breaks is the same moment that the Parshendi are desperate enough to actually seek the forms of power? We know they would actually want to stay as far away from them as possible. They've existed for thousands of years undiscovered, then in a few years time Taln breaks and they're discovered and faced with either seeking the forms of power or going extinct. If Taln had held out 50 years longer, wouldn't they have gone extinct due to the forms of power not being there to help them out (not that they helped much for them to stay alive...)?

When talking about SA with my brother, I realized that there's been a pretty special lining up of seemingly unrelated events, which seems to be too much of a coincidence. On one hand, we know (do we?) that Taln broke recently, which is why he is back to Roshar and a new Desolation is coming. On the other hand, we know that the singer forms of power were lost and rediscovered by the Parshendi (not to mention that the parshmen wouldn't be able to find them, as they were locked in slaveform without free will). To expand a little on the forms of power, we see from Eshonai's points of view in WoR that the Parshendi deliberately swore off the forms of power. We now know that this was most likely because they realized the forms of power (which I believe is actually just the Fused taking over their bodies, but that's another discussion) were essential for Odium to bring about Desolations. The only reason the Parshendi were looking for the forms of power again was because they believed the alternative was extinction, and even then it was Venli, who was already influenced in some way, pushing it for quite some time. It seems like a huge coincidence to me that Taln breaks just at that moment when the Alethi are at war with the Parshendi and the Parshendi are in trouble, facing potential extinction, which makes them look for (and find) the forms of power, bringing about the Desolation. It seems like that which is supposed to cause the Desolation (a Herald breaking) and that which we have seen is the direct cause of the Desolation (seeking the forms of power; summoning the Everstorm) is totally unrelated but occured at the same time, which should be such a small chance, once you think it's been 4500 years since the last Desolation. There's got to be some kind of connection between the two things happening, but what? Or, maybe, was Taln back for longer already, but did he only now get noticed, or whatever it would be?

*goes full conspiracy* The red is because he was influenced by Odium in the later stages of his life. *debunks own theory* Gold is also an Odium colour.

I think it is either "I will let go of those I failed to help" or "I will let go of those who cannot be helped". Something about dealing with failing.

It's the other way around. Bondsmiths don't have shards because the godspren don't want to act as shardblades (it does appear like Dalinar forced the Stormfather to do just that when he wanted to return from Azir when his memories returned) and like any Radiant he can't use a dead shardblade because of the screaming. Nightblood doesn't scream, however, so he could use it. Technically, he could also use any living spren as shardblade, like Kaladin uses Pattern in the chasms in WoR, though Kaladin doesn't know at that point that Pattern is not a 'normal' shardblade.

Humans came from Ashyn. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/174-oathbringer-portland-signing/#e8243