Scion of the Mists

No problem. There have been a rash of outrageous necros lately (like 5+ years).

The site rules are very clear that necroing on this site isn't the great sin it is on others, and that it's usually better than making a duplicate thread (which will probably quickly get filled up with identical discussion. Making a duplicate thread with all the same info as an existing one is basically spamming, which is much more discouraged in the site rules: Yes, @Chaos did just announce that older, out-of-date topics are being closed. But that's referencing threads that are two years old, not five months. Those threads have been rendered moot by subsequent info from books/signings. (E.g. reviving the "Are Damnation and the Tranquiline Halls the same?" thread now would be pointless.) We haven't had a major Cosmere release since Oathbringer (likely not a coincidence that that coincides with the closing topics cutoff) and the last "Unity" WoB was in 2018.

While Radiant and Fused flight might be slightly different*, all the Surges that we've seen the Fused use are either the same or very similar. I think the only ones we've seen are Gravitation, Illumination, and Abrasion, which all seem basically the same. Regarding the different Orders, their Surge usage is actually basically identical as well. To quote myself from an older thread. *Two theories I've seen regarding this are that the Fused can only use a single lashing at a time, or that their lashings provide different amounts of gravity, because it's based on Braize's gravity rather than Roshars.

At this point, I would just assume, like @Harrycrapper suggests, that the dates aren't real unless they're confirmed by a Dragonsteel source.

Aluminum only seems to have an active effect in the Metallic Arts, not in any other magic system. (Likely because Brandon hadn't fully fleshed out things about the Cosmere when he wrote Mistborn.) I don't see why not. That's likely (maybe confirmed?) how Nightblood ended up on Roshar.

It's very difficult to try to compare the Cosmere worlds to the different Earth technology eras. Technology just isn't going to develop in the same way, because the presence of Investiture/magic systems alters the incentives to research in various areas. @Weltall lists a bunch of ways that the various Cosmere worlds are more/less advanced than the corresponding Earth eras. Also, remember that the different civilizations on Earth didn't all develop in the same order/pace. Remember that Roshar can refer to the continent, the planet, or the whole solar system. If I was a Silverlight scholar, I would not count humans hopping to an adjacent planet in the same solar system as being one of the "only two places ... where humankind does not predate the arrival of Shards." Not that she says "places" rather than "planets." P.s. @PrinceGenocide Double posting is against the site rules. You can use the edit button to add additional thoughts to your previous comment.

Where exactly does it say that? Rosharan humans are all but confirmed to be pre-Shattering (they were not created by Honor, Cultivation, or Odium). Probably just a typo, but there definitely wasn’t fainlife on Roshar. What makes you think that there was a regression to “pre history level”?

Where exactly does it say that? Rosharan humans are all but confirmed to be pre-Shattering (they were not created by Honor, Cultivation, or Odium). Probably just a typo, but there definitely wasn’t fainlife on Roshar. What makes you think that there was a regression to “pre history level”?

I don't think that we know how either of those things work at that level of detail. In general, it's best practice to specify where you are and are not speculating (and link/quote book passages/WoBs for confirmed info).

Isn't this counter to the site rules? I mean, I totally get it for really old threads that are outdated by new books/WoBs (e.g. this Ashyn thread). But I don't think that this is one of those threads.

So, Brandon has said that corruption is a "mixing of Shards' powers." However, it seems pretty clear that it's not just any mixing of Shards' powers. Otherwise, most things in the Cosmere would be considered corrupted as they have a mix of different Shards' Investiture (e.g. human souls, especially Scadrians; Rosharan spren; etc.). The things that are confirmed to be "corrupted" all seem to be hijacked/co-opted from a different Shard. Glys was originally of Honor/Cultivation, but has been corrupted by Odium/Sja-anat. The Thrill corrupted Amaram's army to fight for him. The "evil Kandra" (probably a Svrakiss) with red eyes has pretty clearly hijacked a Scadrian body. FWIW, I disagree that silver is anti-corruption. Silver is a fairly common metal - if it had an obvious use on a non-Threnody planet, people would have discovered it. The simpler explanation is that it works against Cognitive Shadows (which the Shades are). That would explain why it is valuable in the Cognitive Realm, as well as why nobody else but the Threondites is using it in the Physical Realm: because no one else is fighting against (body-less) Cognitive Shadows.

The followup question would be: why would silver be difficult to get into the Cognitive Realm? Although transitioning between Realms is not trivial, plenty of people/organizations have done it; you really just need a stable perpendicularity. People's clothes appear to transition with them, why not the metal they're carrying?

I liked it a lot, and it's getting pretty good reviews, so we'll see. The one thing I did not like was the finale, which ended on a massive reveal/cliffhanger, while tying up almost no plot threads.

It's just a different way of doing things. It's not very common in English - I'm sure we borrowed it from some other language, maybe French. There are a number of other English phrases that operate the same: attorneys general, sisters-in-law. You can put the adjective (or adjective phrase) either before or after the noun, but the noun is the one that becomes plural. "Knights Radiant" isn't really any different than "Knights of the Round Table." Sometimes it just sounds better to put the modifier after the noun, rather than e.g. "Round Table Knights."

Sure. It's perfectly possible that they're wrong. But if that's what the text says, and Brandon's said nothing to the contrary, why assume otherwise?

Can you provide your source? I can't find anything on Arcanum or the Coppermind. It says explicitly in Oathbringer that perfect gemstones can hold Stormlight indefinitely:

“Feeding” on Stormlight just means that it uses it as fuel to power Surgebinding.

Which law of thermodynamics are you referring to? Don’t we have an example of non-leaking storage in the perfect gemstones?

I'm not sure what you mean by "empowers the connection of the separate pieces of your soul." A Cognitive Shadow is basically a person who has figured out a way to stick around after death. For example, a certain character was able to dunk himself in a Shardpool and use that Investiture to resist the call to the Beyond. I'm not sure how storing/tapping Connection/empowerment would accomplish the same thing.

None of the Shards created the Rosharan system's humans. The Nahel bond was a joint effort between the Radiant spren and the humans; it was not given to them by a Shard. The Radiants and their spren were fighting the Singers, so why would the spren bond an enemy? This is the big question. We're not exactly sure on the specifics, but I attribute it mostly to Odium's meddling. The Singers likely adopted Odium because Honor/Cultivation weren't helping them in their war against the humans.

Generally, a Shard would have to work to make foreign metals function in the Metallic Arts. But, if tanavastium was made to work, we have no idea what it would do. What leads you to believe that it would turn you into a Cognitive Shadow?

Have you check out the Coppermind? It's the Cosmere version of Wikipedia, and it's super useful: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Splinter. Seons and spren are Splinters. They are broken-off pieces of a Shard, but that Shard does not have to be Splintered (like Honor, Devotion, etc.). Kandra are not Splinters, they're just normal (albeit Shard-created) creatures that are given sentience via Hemalurgy. There aren't any Splinters from Scadrial, although there are apparently foreign Splinters present in Scadrial's Cognitive Realm.

We don't know. Have you seen the Silence Divine reading from Brandon? I imagine we'll find out more as The Stormlight Archive progresses. As for which Surge, a lot of the less obviously combat-oriented Surges actually have very destructive potential. Illumination, for example, can produce waves of any sort (e.g. lasers, gamma/x-rays, microwave, etc.) that can cause a lot of damage. Sound waves (i.e. vibrations) can also cause tremendous damage (see the Tacoma Narrows incident). Messing around with the planet's gravitation or structural integrity somehow (maybe Transformation, Tension, or Adhesion) could also cause catastrophic events.

While I doubt they will be able to Push/Pull at an angle, they definitely can move the origin point (its required to be able to hover something).

Honor is not a person. Honor is a Shard.