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Does Jasnah know Shallan's step-mother personally, or has she only heard of her? (I will most likely get a RAFO. Unless Brandon says something like, "Oh yes, because the step-mother was Dalinar's wife." Which won't happen.)

I saw a thread about the foreshadowing you've managed to catch in Brandon's books, and it was pretty cool what people have managed to guess. But this thread is not about that. Instead, it's about all your really stupid guesses about that books. I want you to share the ones that are hilarious when you think about them. Because crazy guesses that were wrong are fun to read. Here are some of mine that I can remember: - I thought that the Lord Ruler had succumbed to the power of the Deepness, which was a black slime monster. In his secret room, he had a pool filled with the Deepness, and he swam in it every three nights so that he could be immortal. - I thought Dilaf was some sort of evil monster who was stealing the power of Elantris so that he could have magic abilities. - I had two guesses for the cutter of Elkohar's strap. One was correct. The other was Renarin. I also thought that Navani was secretly evil. Both could be evil, but it's still silly. - My guess that Elkohar cut the strap was correct, but I thought he did it because he had a secret death wish. - I thought that Nightblood was the Big Bad of Warbreaker, and that he wanted to start a war so that he could destroy lots of evil. - I also thought that Blushweaver could be the Big Bad. I did actually guess Bluefingers at one point, but that was when I was being paranoid and guessing everyone for the role of Big Bad. - I thought that someone would reach the Eleventh Heightening, taking things up to eleven. - I thought that the gang leader lady (Karina?) in Elantris was Raoden's mom. - I thought that the king in Elantris was sneaking out to meet Raoden's mom, who wasn't really dead. - I thought that Shallan was being followed by the evil "Shadow Disciples". And yours?

Staying yourself by reducing a Shard's power is actually irrelevant to my theory but that's a good point. The relevant part is whether Rayse thought breaking his Shard would allow him to stay himself.

I just couldn't stand waiting any longer, so I traveled to the future and bought all the Stormlight Archive books. I read them all in 2 minutes. Stupid time powers. Anyway, spoilers! - "The most important words a man can say" does not refer to an actual saying. It is the title of Gavilar's sequel to The Way of Kings. Said sequel was terribly written, and the proofreader (Gaz) gouged one of his eyes out because it was so bad. - The Shin are actually evil, and they make their people into Truthless based on arbitrary things. Szeth is Truthless because he wrote bad poetry. - The flute that Hoid gave to Kaladin has a priceless painting inside it. When the flute inevitably breaks, Kaladin will immediately be implicated as the thief of the painting. - The Harolds (evil versions of the Heralds) become major villains in book six and beyond. - Shallan killed her father to win a bet. - When Gavilar said that his brother had to find the words, he meant a brother nobody knows about, not Dalinar. - Baxis' mistress is that girl Kaladin liked when he was younger. She wants to destroy art because she learned that there was a famous art-maker called, "Kaladun". - Shallan's family gets rich by finding a way for people to survive highstorms: they invent umbrellas. - The Truthspren are following Elkohar so that they can steal his wallet. - Shallan's shardblade comes from her step-mother. The reason said step-mother was famous enough to be known by Jasnah is that the step-mother controls the Truthspren. - Gaz disappeared because he was taking a really long bathroom break. - Voidbringers are humans. - Amaran isn't a Lighteyes. He just has contact lenses. - Jasnah was Dalinar's wife. - Shallan learns of Hoidbringers, which are stronger than Voidbringers. - Cenn will be the Big Bad of the series. - Kaladin will have to face Kaladdin, Kjasmine, Kjafar, Ksultan, Kabu, Kiago, and many more when he goes to recover Dalinar's stolen fedora from Kagrabah. - Shallan will get married to Elkohar. - Renarin is not Dalinar's son or a boy. Renarin is actually Renarina, the crossdressing daughter of Sylphrena and Odium. - Navani is evil. She was just good at hiding it in her POV segment. - The bookseller guy that Shallan met is a spy for Tarvarrigan. - The Nightwatcher is a spren. - The rock Gavilar gave to to Szeth is a Dawnblade. - Gemhearts are prototype Shardplates. - Parshendi don't like when you move their dead because they get a dollar for every dead Parshendi who isn't touched. - Axies is the most powerful person in the Cosmere. - Plottwistspren exist, and they will help Dalinar figure out who is secretly evil. - Hoid is Odium. - Sadeas wrote the letter. The recipient was Adolin. - Danlan is a Herald. - The reason one of Gavilar's Herald statues was gone was because Cultivation stole it to cultivate drugs. Ask me anything that you want to know about the books that I haven't posted already.

It's been said that Odium isn't originally from Roshar, right? If so, there's a chance that he isn't part of the "Three who reigned". Instead, (unless Brandon has said otherwise) could a Shardholder of Roshar have fled from Roshar to escape Odium and ended up in the Silence Divine world? (When this theory inevitably fails, chock it up to me not reading about the verse as much as I should have.)

I think Endowment's colour would actually be white, as that's the original state of colours before they refract (unless I'm failing at science here). That way, Endowment would have one colour that is every colour.

Wait, so unless I misread your post, Derethil went to find the Voidbringers, found some random guys and told them the emperor was dead, and they became the Voidbringers? Then again, I do think that the island people will be important. Especially the girl who was brought back. I wonder if she has descendants?

I am now convinced that the rock Gavilar gave to Szeth was the Dawnshard. Thank you.

What's up with Shallan's "Memory"? She has the magical ability to replicate what she sees on paper, and we even get a capitalized word for it. This ability can detect Truthspren as well, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the main magic system. I noticed this line while rereading The Way of Kings. It is part of the description of Shallan's artistic ability. Is it Brandon's foreshadowing, or am I just grasping? Is Shallan connected to Cultivation? Given that we don't know much about her, this could be possible.

Ah Hoid, the elusive figure who has shown up at many times and places around the Cosmere. While his motive is unclear, Brandon claims that there is plenty of evidence in the story for us to find. So I found one. I believe that Hoid's goal is the recreation of Adonalsium. There are several bits of proof for this. In The Way of Kings, Hoid namedrops him and says something like, "I wonder, if you split a man into his different emotions, then stuck him back together, would he still be the same?" (I'm not sure of the exact quote.) Note where I emphasized. Hoid specifically mentions putting Adonalsium back together. Brandon is no stranger to hiding things by having characters explicitly state them (Denth anyone?). Hoid's words would make sense if he was explaining his plans, and he might be based on the context of his conversation with Dalinar. Alas, I forget when it happened, but that scene was so notable that someone most likely has a quote of which page it was on. As well, in the original ending of The Well of Ascension, Hoid's footsteps led Vin to the well. Why would he want Ruin released? Because you can't reform Adonalsium with a Shard captive. Also, Hoid is hanging around Elantris during the book named after the city. Since it was around the time when Elantris was broken, Hoid would probably want it fixed. With that goal done, he would probably be able to find a way to get the splinters turned back into a Shard. In Warbreaker, Hoid is a storyteller, and he hangs around a city filled with Slivers. Actually, Hoid's cameos all have something in common. His appearance in Elantris and The Stormlight is in a place where Splinters are found. In Mistborn, he's in a city where a Shard is held captive. In Warbreaker, he's in a city filled with Slivers. The only time he hasn't had a cameo is in The Alloy of Law. What's different about that book? All Shards are complete, and at their full power. They don't need to be fixed. Therefore, his presence is no longer required. As well, when talking with Kaladin, he mentions that he went to Roshar to meet an old friend, but he usually avoids them nowadays. This "old friend" could be Odium, and he could be there to stop him. Odium is messing around with the Shards, so for someone who seeks put them all back together, he would be the number one enemy. It makes sense that Hoid is most active on Roshar, because he needs to stop Odium if his goal is to be completed. If he indeed wrote The Letter, then his conflict with the Seventeenth Shard person would make sense. Reviving Adonalsium would change the Cosmere on a massive scale, and could potentially end world-hopping (if Shards make it possible). As such, the Seventeenth Shard would be inclined to stop him. As for the why, I have some reasons. Hoid was there when Adonalsium broke, so he might have actually been the one to break Adonalsium. If this gave him his abilities or consciousness, then the "stealing himself" that he mentioned to Kaladin could have happened because Hoid broken Adonalsium. If this is so, then recreating Adonalsium would be a form of atonement. Alternately, Hoid is the remnants of Adonalsium, and he wants to become complete (immortal worldhopper who isn't a Shardholder or part of the Seventeenth Shard?). If so, "stealing himself" would mean the consciousness he gained from being broken. However it happened, it's a valid guess. Discuss.

(I really hope nobody has come up with this before.) Alright, let me put my theory right up front: The Odium shard possessed by Rayse is partially splintered, only half of Odium, or some other variation of "Not the complete Odium shard." I say this because (my quote skills haven't fully awakened) there was one chapter opening in The Way of Kings which said something like, "Once three reigned, but now the Broken One reigns." Since "Odium Reigns" is repeated at several points in the novel, it's fairly obvious (unless this is Brandon's plot twist wizardry) that Odium is "The Broken One". That's an odd name for an extremely powerful Shardholder (that's our name for them, right?). In Brandon's books, every little detail is significant, so a strange title for a character that is mentioned in one of the "Chapter Opening Foreshadowing Zones" should stick out like a sore thumb. As for why and how the Odium shard was broken, I would like to implicate Odium himself as the mastermind. I think that Brandon once said that Odium's goal was to kill all the other Shardholders, while not changing his way of thinking. Could this goal have stretched back to when Rayse obtained the Odium shard? At first, Shardholders still have their own thoughts, but the Shard causes them to take on it's aspects and decays their minds. When Rayse first obtained the Odium Shard, is it possible that he broke a small part of it off so that he could retain most of his mind while also having it's godlike powers? As for why he wouldn't take further Shards and simply break them, there are numerous possibilities. Maybe because he's a Shardholder, the effects of the other Shard would overtake him before he could break it. Maybe his breaking of the Odium shard wasn't completely successful, or had some unknown side effect, and he doesn't want to replicate it. Or maybe the Odium shard still has partial influence on his mind, and he doesn't want something other than hatred to be amplified. Next, allow me to offer some faulty proof. If Odium's powers are so "great", then why haven't we heard anything about an attack on Scadrial? I'm not sure about this, but I think a complete Odium shard is strong enough to defeat Harmony. Why then, has Odium not done anything about Harmony, who could become a serious threat to his plans? Could the Odium shard not be strong enough to defeat Harmony, as a consequence of being broken? Or could there be other reasons, all relating to the broken shard? I'll leave you to think on that. (Also, it leaves a plausible way for Odium to be defeated in the series.)

Hey, remember when Kaladin found Hoid, who told him a story? It was a few months ago when I read the book, but I think the story went like this: Some adventurers sailed to an island, and the natives welcomed them. At first, the island seemed idyllic. However, whenever someone made a mistake they were killed because supposedly, "The emperor did not tolerate failure." Eventually, the adventurers got tired of the Emperor, so they went to his giant tower. However, he was dead the whole time, so a huge war broke out on the island. They escaped and took a girl with them. The girl explained that the fighting happened because "Since the Emperor had been dead all along, our crimes are our own." The story provided a nice metaphor for the situation Kaladin was in (apparently?) but knowing Brandon, it's much more important than it seems. Maybe it actually happened, and Hoid had something to do with it? What if the natives were parshendi (or parshmen, because I forget which is which)? Or maybe it provides a metaphor for the whole series? What if Odium is dead, and someone else is pulling the strings? Then again, I'm not as good at crazy theories as everyone else seems to be. Still, there has to be more to Hoid's story than he's letting on.

This has been bugging me for a little while. Could a sentient, inorganic object like Nightblood gain a Shard? And if he could, how would he react to it. He is driven solely by the desire to "Destroy Evil", and Shards make you take on aspects of them. Would Nightblood's desire to destroy evil be overwritten by something else? Ugh, the more you think about it, the less sense it makes.

Sorry for bumping an older topic, but I just had to share what I've guessed here. - I figured out Vin's earring, but it sounds like everybody did that. - I figured out that Vin wasn't the Hero of Ages the moment Sazed said that she was in WoA. Some things are just too obvious. - I guessed the whole Syl = Dun Spheres = Superpowers thing, but so did everyone else. - There were people who didn't figure out Shallan's shardblade? - I guessed that Elkohor cut his own strap, but I didn't know why he did, and I also thought that Renarin might have been the traitor. - I knew that Jasnah couldn't Soulcast, but I didn't figure out why. - Shallan killing her father was one thing I figured out easily. - I also correctly guessed Kabsal being evil. - I figured out the chasm causing the Reod, but Elantris was easy. Dilaf being the Big Bad was also simple, but I don't think it was actually a twist. - I failed miserably at predicting Warbreaker. I thought that Nightblood was the big bad (wanting to cause a war so he destroy lots of evil), Lightsong was Arsteel, and I thought that someone would reach the 11th Heightening. Predictions are fun.

Hi! I've been a fan of Brandon Sanderson ever since March (not very long, I know), when I bought the Mistborn trilogy to see what his writing was like. After all, he wrote my two favourite books in The Wheel of Time. I found Mistborn to be the most brilliant thing I'd ever read, and sought out his other books. I've read all seven Cosmere books, (I just finished The Way of Kings yesterday), and am eager to discuss the books with others. This is going to be great!