Llarimar

I was very disappointed by the direction of house Sadeas in Oathbringer in general. I think it would have been really cool for Ialai to gradually become a more important character - a reluctant ally with Dalinar, a sort of hero-villain with her own motives, but who still brings a powerful voice at the table. I was disappointed first of all, that Sadeas's death was really brushed over (although we may hear more about it in the next book), and then by the fact that Ialai, who I find to be very intriguing (and very unique for a female Sanderson character), deferred power to Amaram. This is also all a part of the whole debacle of Amaram's failed character development, which a lot of people were upset by - I feel like having Amaram take control of house Sadeas was sort of just a way to get rid of him plot-wise and give him something to do. And I was also disappointed by the fact that Ialai was not as much of a sharp, cunning manipulator after Sadeas's death - for example, when she makes a clumsy comment during a diplomatic meeting and Navani gets annoyed with her. In the future books, I would like for: House Sadeas to fill less of a single-dimensional villain role. Ialai to become a more important, nuanced character. Sadeas's death to be more fully addressed, with possible repercussions for Adolin.

While it's possible that nobody mentions Jasnah's illness just because it's mundane, common knowledge that they would rather not talk about, I don't the situation is quite as simple as that. Whenever the illness was mentioned in the book, it seemed to me that there was some sort of darker undertone - something disturbing or surprising about the events surrounding her illness, something that people want to keep a secret and not just forget. I don't think that Navani and the others ignore her illness, but that for other reasons we don't understand yet, it cannot be discussed - the wounds are too deep, or Navani or Gavilar did something terrible, or for some reason they actually don't remember because their memories have been corrupted or something like that - whatever it is, the bottom line is that I think the reason why her illness is not discussed is definitely more complicated than "it's just common knowledge." The only thing that makes me rethink this is when Dalinar says "You'r daughter's lunacy?" and Gavilar says "No, she's recovering." That exchange seems very unguarded and offhand, which makes me think that if there was something darker or more suspicious going on surrounding her illness, Dalinar doesn't know about it, while Gavilar (and possibly Navani) might. The silence regarding Jasnah's illness reminds me of Shallan's ability to compartmentalize her memories and feelings. I remember being shocked at the end of Way of Kings to find out that Shallan murdered her father, and progressively more and more shocked throughout Words of Radiance reading about her tortured, disturbed past and all the horrible things she was forced to do, because you would never guess it just by observing Shallan's outward appearance. In the same way, the silence regarding Jasnah's illness seems like a glossy front, while underneath there may be something darker and more painful festering.

This was the first thing I thought of. As several people have expressed, I also can picture Kaladin being gay or bi (more easily than many of Sanderson's characters), but this scene with him and Drehy in particular makes me think otherwise. Of course it could be construed that Kaladin is overcompensating in this scene, acting more averse to the idea of a gay relationship than he actually is just to hide his own feelings. But I don't feel like there's a hidden subtext to Kaladin's comment, just because he becomes embarrassed when the other bridgemen call him out - I think he called Drehy feminine without thinking first or meaning something else. The main problem with this theory, and a question that I've had about Alethi society for some time, is what exactly their views on homosexuality are. It sometimes frustrates me when authors write a fictional world where the people are medieval and technologically primitive, and yet they have very modern, socially progressive views that don't seem to reflect the rest of their culture. Now of course, you could probably find examples of "primitive" cultures throughout history that have been more sympathetic towards homosexuality than Western culture, but I feel like in general, social progressiveness and acceptance of homosexuality come hand in hand with advancements in technology and science. From all the available evidence, it seems like the Alethi society would be unquestionably intolerant towards homosexuality. For one thing, like most fantasy cultures, the Alethi are more technologically primitive than the modern world (aside from all their fabrial science), and so it would be unsurprising if their social views were less advanced as well. For another thing, Alethi culture in particular is extremely stringent and stratified, with very strict gender roles and customs of clothing. Heterosexual marriage seems to be very socially, politically and religiously important, and once married, men and women have very strict and defined roles within that marriage. Now of course, gender roles and social stratification in Alethi society are slowly being questioned in the Stormlight books, partially because of the appearance of female Radiants, so it is quite possible that eventually Alethi society will become more open-minded and tolerant. However, as Alethi culture stands currently, there are very strict gender rules and expectations and breaking those expectations is frowned upon (Navani wearing a safehand glove instead of a button-sleeve, Dalinar learning how to write, etc.). Basically, it seems to me like the apparent acceptance of homosexuality in Alethi society is rather out of place. I don't think that it's realistic for a culture that has such strict gender expectations to be so tolerant and open-minded. Kaladin seems to stigmatize Drehy's gay relationship slightly, but all of the other bridgemen wholeheartedly support him, and when Sigzil voices some concerns about Drehy, Kaladin basically says "What's the big deal?" In addition, Shallan is just mildly curious by the possibility that Jasnah might be lesbian - you would think that Shallan would dissaprove of this, because she is very traditional and seems to unthinkingly support many of the gender expectations of Alethi society (such as covering her safehand). There are contradictions in the writing as well, because if Jasnah is lesbian, then she clearly doesn't feel comfortable with making that public knowledge and talking about it, which suggests that Alethi society is intolerant towards homosexuality, but if that is the case then why doesn't anyone have a problem with Drehy? To get back to the point, I think that before we can make an assessment about whether or not Kaladin is gay, we need to know more about Alethi feelings towards homosexuality. If the culture is very intolerant and oppressive towards homosexuality, then Kaladin's comment to Drehy could be interpreted as meaning "I'm also gay but I feel like I have to overcompensate as part of my in-the-closet charade, and so I'm going to pretend that I dissaprove of your relationship and that find it feminine." If, on the other hand, Alethi society is very accepting and open to the idea of homosexuality, then there would be no reason for Kaladin to conceal the fact that he's gay, and the other bridgemen would probably know about it - somebody would probably have brought it up during Kaladin's brief exchange with Drehy. Of course, there is also the possibility that Kaladin is unsure if he is gay, and is questioning his sexuality, but I'm not sure if Brandon would write a main character like that - I feel like he would either choose to make them gay or straight. I would like Brandon to outline a little more clearly exactly how Alethi society feels towards homosexuality, because as it is, Drehy's gay relationship just feels sort of thrown into the book without an explanation about how it fits into the culture. Kaladin's comment to Sigzil saying "What's the big deal?" makes it seem like the Alethi have very loose restrictions on sexuality, but knowing Alethi society, I feel like there must be more to it than that. I think it's quite possible that Alethi views on homosexuality may be explored more as we learn more about Jasnah - if she's lesbian then I can see it causing much more of a stir than male homosexuality, just because Alethi society is more repressive towards women than men in general. Sorry this is so long, I've been thinking about this for awhile, this thread gave me an opportunity to post my thoughts!

This topic thread brings up a very good point - I can't believe I've never noticed this before. There is a very strong portrayal of platonic male relationships and camaraderie in Brandon's books, such as Kelsier's Crew, the men in Elantris helping Sarene, and Kaladin and the bridgemen for example, but there are very few female relationships. I do think that Brandon struggles with writing from a female perspective, but I think that the main reason for the lack of female bonding in his books is the latter example you bring up - he wants to write strong, independent woman who are on a journey of self discovery. I can see how an author would think that giving a female protagonist a group of friends would potentially hinder their character development, because there would be a support network in the case of a tragedy or an emotional crisis that would prevent the character from growing as much. It reminds me of how the main character's parents constantly die in movies and books, because the character development necessary for the story would be much harder to achieve if their parents were alive. For some reason, it seems like this is less of a problem with platonic male relationships - maybe because male friendships are often less emotional and personal than female friendships, giving a male protagonist a group of friends doesn't hinder their character development as much. That being said, I think it is more than possible to give a female character a group of female friends without weakening their character development, although many authors (Sanderson included, as we have seen) probably find it easier to bring about a female character's journey of self discovery by isolating them. There was definitely a friendship between Shallan and Jasnah, but I always saw it as more of a maternal or a big-sister relationship. Shallan had never been nurtured or encouraged by someone before, and so I think that is what was lost when Jasnah "died" - not a friendship between peers (which is what Shallan really needs), but rather someone who she saw as a role model, or an instructor, or like I said a mother or a big sister.

I did know that the Cosmere rights have been purchased - I just am surprised that it has taken this long since Brandon has been publishing Cosmere books prolifically for over ten years now (and it will still probably be awhile before the first Cosmere movie, two years or more at least I'm guessing). It's also very lucrative from the perspective of a studio, since the Cosmere is already a well-developed universe that could produce movies for years if they're successful. Lots of studios have tried to develop a "cinematic universe" after Marvel did so well with it, like DC or Universal's Dark Universe, but none of them are doing nearly as well. If a studio tapped into the Cosmere, however, they would probably be much more successful, since there's already a developed work of literature and it wouldn't seem like they're just trying to copy Marvel and make more money. And yes, I am rather biased on Kingkiller, but I don't hate them - it's just that they've developed such a huge fan base, and I don't think they deserve it as much as other books do. I will definitely go to see the Kingkiller movie when it comes out and I might even enjoy it - I just hope that the same level of quality is given to the Cosmere movies when they start being made, and that they also attract big-name producers and directors (as of now, the names and the studios that I've seen circulating the Cosmere are just not as impressive as Lionsgate or Lin-Manuel Miranda).

So I just found out HERE that Lionsgate has hired Sam Raimi, the guy who directed Spider-Man, to direct a film adaptation of Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, with Lin-Manuel Miranda (the guy who made Hamilton) producing. I have read both of the Kingkiller Chronicle books, and I plan to purchase and read the third book when it comes out, but I really don't like them, and I don't think they deserve the critical praise and the fan following they have built up. Why have they landed movie rights, while Sanderson's books still haven't been developed? I think all of Sanderson's books are more original, more engaging and have better pacing and character development than the Kingkiller books. The only thing Rothfuss does better is that his writing tends to be more beautiful than Sanderson's, but that is the only thing that doesn't translate onto the big screen. A lot of studious have been trying to cash in on the excitement over fantasy that was inspired by the Lord of the Rings and later by Game of Thrones, but none have have developed anything nearly as good. If they actually spend the time and money to develop any one of Sanderson's books into a movie or a television series, they could really have something incredible on their hands. I feel like the reason a Sanderson movie has not been made is mainly because his books have such complicated worldbuilding and magic systems - and you can't do it halfway, you have to develop a movie that fully represents the creative genius and the overarching plots that are present in Sanderson's books. That's very intimidating for movie studios, especially because Sanderson's books are popular, but they don't have the global fan base of something like Harry Potter - there's a good chance that a Stormlight movie could fail to make its money back if the marketing is bad or the critical reviews are poor. They have found someone to write a movie adaptation for Mistborn (see here), but I have little hope in the quality of the film and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't get made. Just the fact that the guy writing the Mistborn movie is primarily known for a brief string of stupid action movies (like Xander Cage), while the Kingkiller Chronicle movies are being directed by Sam Raimi and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda (MUCH bigger names) tells you a little about which books people are paying more attention to.

Okay, so I read most of the posts in this thread, and there's something I haven't seen mentioned that is nagging me about the Aimian-Cultivation connection. Lift has been touched by the Nightwatcher - perhaps by Cultivation herself. Many people assume that Lift is a part of Cultivaton's plan, just like Taravangian and possibly Dalinar. And yet, the conversation that Lift has with Arclo at the end of Edgedancer displays a noticeable ignorance on his part as to who she is, what she can do and what her place in the larger scheme is. This quote taken in isolation and the general attitude Arclo displays towards Lift make me thinks that the Dysian Aimians are not working for Cultivation. The reason why is because if the Dysian Aimians are servants of Cultivation, and Lift/Taravangian/Dalinar are also connected to Cultivation (or at least tools of Cultivation, or a part of her larger plan), then it seems like the Dysan Aimians would not have questions about Lift, or would not find her suspicious or unusual. I don't think that they would ignore her, as Arclo says, but I also don't think they would interrogate her - if both are influenced by Cultivation, it would be like two parts of the same mind questioning each other. Now, Lift may not be as connected to Cultivation to the Aimians are, but I feel like the way that Arclo treats her during their exchange is notable, and might point towards a hole in theory. I think it may be likely that the Aimians are a separate entity, not really related to the gods of Roshar. I think it still may be possible that the Aimians at least originated from Cultivation, but that they no longer have a direct connection to her. Perhaps they were created by Cultivation, but now operate as free individuals. When humans are created by gods (such as on Scadrial), then they believe in those gods and they have a strong presence in their religions (Preservation and Ruin are very prevalent in the religions of Scadrial), but the humans are not the slaves of those gods, and over time they may forget that they really do exist. Perhaps the same is true with the Aimians - they were created by Cultivation originally, and they still worship her or hold her ideals close to their belief system to some extent, but they are not controlled by Cultivation or connected to her out of some mass hive mentality. But overall though, this is an awesome theory @hoiditthroughthegrapevine - definitely one of the most stimulating and thought-provoking ideas I've come across recently.

I like this a lot, it helps me understand the fuzzy similarities between these magic systems that have been confusing me. And thanks for the replacement of "catalyst" with "chemical reactant," it makes a lot more sense. This seems possible, since the stormlight is "used up," like all of the other chemical reactants listed above. I am not sure if the "bond" could be considered Stored Investiture in the same way as Breath or Infused sand - perhaps it is a combination of the bond and the oaths, which create a sort of electric synergy between the Radiant and the spren, a stored Investiture that can only be unlocked by drawing stormlight as a reactant. And just to add another to the list, would this work? AonDor = The power of Dominion in the Cognitive Realm (stored Investiture) + Drawing the Aons precisely (chemical reactant) = magical effect I think this example is useful because it much more clearly depicts how the chemical reactant unlocks or loosens the magical effect, which was previously just potential energy unable to escape. I am not sure what is "used up" in this case - perhaps since AonDor resides primarily in the Cognitive Realm, nothing needs to be "used up" in order to use it - the Aons just need to be drawn to release the power from one Realm into another. I am also not sure how this relates to being an Elantrian - perhaps Elantrians are sort of like cognitive shadows, like the Returned in Warbreaker, who "died" and then came back to life thanks to Investiture, and because of that are closer to the Cognitive Realm and are able to unlock the power residing there (although... I'm sure the situation in Elantris is very different from in Warbreaker).

This is why we need the International Phonetic Alphabet! (You'll notice I recently changed my rank to Linguist-spren).

Yol-in, Ash-in They... sort of rhyme (assuming the second syllable is pronounced the same). Not really though, I knew that was far-fetched when I wrote it.

I still think it's an interesting idea. Just reading your original post I thought it was really intriguing (until... of course, I read the barrage of WoBs from @The One Who Connects that disproved it). There may be some information we can glean from connecting Yolen and Ashyn though - for one thing their names are similar, and that might mean something (although probably not). The Heralds on Roshar have tons of different names based on the culture they're from, so I could conceivably see Ashyn being a permutation of the name Yolen. In addition there seem to be interesting connections between Yolen and the Rosharan system - for one thing, Rosharan variety of Lightweaving being the closest to the "Yolish original" as Khriss says. And also, the shard of Odium is in the Rosharan system, which may mean that if nothing else, Roshar has a closer proximity to Yolen than some other systems, because I can imagine Odium picking a world close to home and all the other Shards scattering away in fear of him (though that's just speculation). I think it will be interesting to learn what happened to Yolen after the Shattering. Did any of the Shards remain there? I think that the identity/nature/location of Yolen may very well be a surprise to readers, even if it doesn't relate to Ashyn.

I appreciate the WoB @RShara posted above about Drabs. When they give up their Breath, they give up their base Investiture, which everyone has, and then their extra Investiture as well, specific to Nalthians, so that they're at an Investiture disadvantage to normal humans. And regarding this, I think I might just be getting some terminologies wrong. I think what I'm trying to say is that: Metals = Allomancy. Metal is everywhere, so Scadrians can use Allomancy everywhere. Color/reflected light = Awakening. Color is everywhere, and so Nalthians are able to use Awakening everywhere. I don't think that metal or color is Invested, but I am trying to relate them because they are both catalysts. I am sort of looking for an explanation for why color is a catalyst - it's just confusing to me, because color is much more abstract than something like metal. And yes, I agree that color is not "of" Endowment, because metal is not "of" Preservation - these are substances that exist independent of the Investiture that uses them. If Preservation didn't exist, there would still be metal, and the same goes with Endowment and color. Maybe I need to research more about what a "catalyst" is and how exactly it works. I really liked the WoB that was posted earlier by @Calderis about how different metals are like different Play-Doh filters. I'm not sure if that's the same thing as a "catalyst," but it makes sense to me if light/color is sort of like a "filter" that activates Investiture in a specific way (coupled with Breath).

Oh, okay, that makes more sense (as well as the @RShara correction above). I was a bit confused when I thought that non-Nalthians could receive Breath, but then not use it. This also makes more sense with the WoB that @The One Who Connects posted about how Breath was meant to be a universal magic system anyone could use.

This is very helpful - I've been wondering about this. I just want to clarify, even though I know I'm basically just restating the WoB. 1. People from Nalthis have Breath, and they can receive Breath from other people. 2. People from Nalthis with extra Breath can use it for Awakening. 3. Non-Nalthians do not have Breath, but they can receive Breath from Nalthians who do. 4. If a non-Nalthian receives extra Breath, they cannot use it for Awakening. And with regards to color: 5. A Nalthian with Breath uses color drain as a catalyst to fuel their Awakening. I am still a bit confused on number 5, though, for a few reasons. The reason why it's confusing to me is because color is not a tangible substance. It makes sense that Scadrians burn metal in order to fuel their Allomancy, but it's more confusing that Nalthians drain color to fuel their Awakening. @Confused summed this up pretty well: So color is a cognitive perception - it is what our eyes intake based on how the light bounces off an object. However, I think that it is possible that this abstract phenomenon - light reflecting from an object to produce color - is the manifestation of Endowment's essence, just like metal is Preservation's essence. Metal is able to give an Allowmancer access Preservation's special brand of Investiture, just like the light reflecting off an object (color) is able to give a Nalthian access to Endowment's special brand of Investiture. All metal contains Investiture in the form of Preservation's essence (although @The One Who Connects and @Calderis point out that Soulcast metal and godmetal may be exceptions), and all reflected light contains inherent Investiture in the form of Endowment's essence. Awakeners draw from an object its connection to Endowment's Investiture - its ability to reflect light and produce color. Afterwards, the reflected light is "used up," like the metal is used up in Allomancy, and the object turns gray and is no longer able to reflect light and produce color. Its connection to Endowment's Investiture has been severed. I find myself agreeing with this. We shouldn't think about this in terms of Nalthian color, but rather in terms of Endowment's Investiture. Awakening requires Endowment's Investiture as a catalyst, just like Allomancy requires Preservation's Investiture as a catalyst. THIS however, is where I disagree, if the implication is that Endowment's essence does not exist cosmere-wide. It is true that some catalysts, such as Stormlight, are restricted to their home planet. However, I think that Awakening's catalyst (reflected light or color) does exist cosmere-wide, because all color is a part of Endowment's essence, and all objects reflect light and produce color, regardless of the planet. There is nothing special about color on Nalthis, or the way that objects reflect light there, just like there isn't anything special about metal on Scadrial. So if Hoid or Vivenna were to use Awakening on Roshar, they would draw from a Rosharan object it's connection to Endowment's special brand of Investiture, turning it gray and removing its ability to reflect light. I agree with this as well - I think it makes much more sense if Awakening can draw power from color on any planet, rather than just Nalthis. This is especially true because Awakening seems like one of the weaker cosmere abilities right now, and I feel like Brandon will want to give it all the help it can get so it can stand alongside powers like Allomancy. All of the quotes from @RShara about the importance of color when it comes to gemstones makes me wonder if I'm oversimplifying things - perhaps all color is Endowment's essence, but color can also be important in other it ways, such as indicating the properties of a gemstone for Soulcasting (I had previously assumed that certain gemstones were used for Soulcasting because of their mineral or elemental composition, rather than just because of their color). Although I may be wrong about some of this, it just makes sense to me that Nalthians are able to Awaken everywhere because Endowment's Investiture - the ability of an object to reflect light and visually produce color - exists everywhere. About this, I've looked around and I can't seem to find the reference that mentioned this. Sorry about that, I probably shouldn't mention quotes if I can't find them or strongly remember what they said. As a side note, what would a Drab be like on another planet? Would they just be like everyone else? On Nalthis, Drabs are stigmatized because they don't have Breath, unlike everyone else, but on other planets, no one has Breath, as the WoB at the beginning of this post mentions, so would Drabs just be normal people?

@Confused, I think that I agree with One Who Connects as well, although I must say that I'm very impressed with your analysis of Awakening and the Investiture on Nalthis. It's extremely complex and well-conceived. However, the thing that I'm confused about, aside from the other concerns about the theory that were voiced above, is the fact that I remember reading somewhere that the draining of color on Nalthis is merely a byproduct of performing an Awakening , rather than an actual source of energy. The fuel for Awakening are the Breaths themselves, and the color drain is merely a side-effect. Based on this idea, I had thought that Awakeners would drain colors from their surroundings no matter what world they were on, since the color draining is not specifically a Nalthian effect. If you are right that Awakeners need "color" from Nalthis in order to use their powers, then that would severely weaken their influence and power in the larger cosmere. For that reason alone, I think that Awakeners can probably drain their color from anywhere, just because they would be unfairly limited if they could only use color from Nalthis, while other Invested people in the cosmere like Allomancers can use the resources of any planet. Whew, this is a lot to take in, I'm new to this idea that cosmere abilities can be fueled by any type of Investiture (in fact, I feel like I've just learned about it on this thread, although it may have been residing somewhere in my cosmere subconscious already). It makes a lot of sense that the sand on Taladain can be fueled by any type of Investiture. I was a bit surprised that Hoid would waste it on a simple Lightweaving show for some commoners, when Shallan saw the drained sand in his bag, but it makes a lot more sense if Hoid is able to recharge the sand using Stormlight. So if Jasnah or another Elsecaller (or a Willshaper, as @Willshaping Crasher points out), could find another source of Investiture other than Stormlight, they could potentially use it to fuel their Surgebinding and Transport to the Cognitive Realm on another planet. Based on that, the Surge of Transportation would likely be a huge asset from a Worldhopping perspective. As a side note though, how would Soulcasting work on another planet? An integral part of Soulcasting on Roshar is finding the little glass bead that represents an object in the Physical Realm, and then convincing it to Transform. But from what we've seen, those glass beads don't exist in the Cognitive Realm outside of Roshar, so how would that effect Soulcasting?

I suppose that's true, Devotion and Love are much more similar than Autonomy and Ambition. And that makes sense about the WoBs, that's sort of what I was assuming. I'm always impressed how Brandon is able to keep such a tight lid on secrets while maintaining a very active presence with his fanbase. If it were me, I feel like I would accidentally let spoilers slip through all the time during question-and-answer sessions.

Wait... so those WoBs confuse me a bit - Aona is Devotion, and Skai is Dominion, right? Are the questioners getting it backwards? (They guess two times that Skai is Devotion.) Also, I'm not sure if we should take Brandon's comment that love is a synonym for devotion as iron proof that there isn't a shard of Love. I would be surprised if there were a shard Love, just because it's so similar to Devotion, but I still think it's possible. There are, after all, other shards in the cosmere with vaguely similar ideals, like Ambition and Autonomy.

Yes, Feruchemy is a close second for me. I think that Awakening might seem more limited than Feruchemy, but that may just be because we haven't seen very much of it. As Vasher says in Warbreaker, they are just beginning to explore the possibilities offered by Awakening. To get back to one of my original questions, however, and also because this is a Stormlight thread so we should probably stop talking about other cosmere worlds so in-depth, does anyone else think that the Surge of Transportation could have huge implications for the larger cosmere? Jasnah could potentially transport to and from the Cognitive Realm at will, no matter what world she's on. Jasnah says that going to the Cognitive Realm is easy, but leaving it is more difficult (although it is possible, as we see in WoR when she appears in Shinovar without a Perpendicularity nearby). If Jasnah or another Elsecaller found a way to easily travel into and out of the Cognitive Realm on other planets, it could revolutionize Worldhopping - they could potentially travel to any planet, even one without a Perpendicularity.

Warbreaker spoilers:

I have wondered the same thing. It may be impossible for Honor to be re-created after he was shattered, and for Dalinar to just become the new Vessel. We don't really know how Odium shatters shards, but however he does it, it's definitely more thorough than just killing the Vessel, because the actual power they hold is broken, and not just the person holding it. There is a very interesting moment that has gotten a lot of attention when Dalinar says near the end of OB "I am Unity!" with a capital "U". This is noteworthy since capitalization is very important in Sanderson's books, and could suggest that Dalinar is becoming a new god - not Honor, or Odium, or Cultivation, or anything else, but Unity. I am not sure exactly how this will work, but it definitely seems like it will be more complicated than just simply taking up the shard of Honor.

I am not actually sure of the manner in which Honor is shattered - where are the splinters of Honor? In Elantris (spoilers) Are the spren the shattered remains of Honor? I have wondered that since Syl says stuff like "I am a god! A tiny piece of one," but I also like 90% sure that the spren were around before Honor was shattered, so it doesn't make sense that the spren are his fragmented remains (although maybe someone can discredit that with a WoB or something). Also, where in OB exactly does Dalinar take up a sliver of Honor? Is it at the end, in Thaylen City when he unites the three Realms? I feel like many people have speculated that he partially Ascended in that moment, but I'm not sure if it's been confirmed that he actually took up a sliver of Honor (again, someone can probably answer with a WoB or something). And by the way, you have a super cool profile name! (Especially in the context of Roshar).

That's an interesting idea. Perhaps Cultivation and Honor were not romantically involved before they took up the Shards - taking up a Shard can change someone's personality, we have seen, so perhaps when they Ascended they became drawn to each other whereas before they were not. However, if this is the case, does this mean that Dalinar will find himself changed if he becomes Honor, so that he suddenly becomes romantically drawn to Cultivation? ...That seems unlikely to me - I don't think it's Cultivation's intention to reincarnate her lover. Although, who knows... the Vessels are gods, yes, but they are still very human, as we have seen. In addition, and we know so little about Cultivation so it's hard to make speculations, but I feel like Cultivation is controlled and "business-like" enough to not let her emotions get the better of her. If she feels that reforming the shard of Honor will make a real difference in defeating Odium, she would probably work to achieve it, even if it may be painful for her to see Honor reformed without it being Tanavast.

This is definitely an interesting idea. Many people have suggested that Dalinar might take up the shard of Honor, but I haven't seem someone propose that this was Cultivation's express intention - I've just always assumed, like @RShara said above, that Cultivation wanted Dalinar as an ally, and as a tool for defeating Odium, not necessarily that she wanted him to become Honor. Like @Calderis says as well, I am not sure if this would work the same as we have seen in other books, because Honor is splintered - the way that Odium kills gods, I think, makes it more difficult if not impossible for a new Vessel to take up the Shard. I also feel like it's difficult for us to know if this was Cultivation's intention, because we know so little about her plans and her relationship with Honor. I have always assumed that they were allies in the fight against Odium, but I think that Cultivation is much more complicated than we realize - perhaps she doesn't want to revive the shard of Honor, because she doesn't want to share power with him when she topples Odium, or because of some other reason. In addition, I believe it has been revealed (either in the book or somewhere else, I'm not sure), that Cultivation and Honor were romantically involved. Perhaps it may be painful for Cultivation if someone else were to Ascend and become Honor - she would then have to share her dominion not only with someone she doesn't love, but with someone who is holding the power of the man she did love.

WARNING: Contains spoilers for Warbreaker, Mistborn and Elantris. Okay, so there are two different ideas I've been thinking about, and I want to try and combine them in one thread, just because they're vaguely related and I don't want to make different threads. First of all, I've been thinking about which ability we've seen so far (Allomancy, Surgebinding, etc.) would be the most valuable to a Wordhopper in the lager cosmere. Although I don't often think of Awakening as a very powerful ability, I've started to think that it might be the most useful to a Worldhopper, because unlike most of the other abilities we've seen, it doesn't require a constant source of energy. If you're an Allomancer, you need to carry with you a little sack full of metal vials everywhere you go (which could run out), and if you're a Surgebinder you need to constantly have access to Stormlight. Awakening, however, does not require a constant source of energy - you always have the same amount of Breath with you, no matter how often you use it. This also allows characters like Azure/Vivenna to easily conceal their identity as a Worldhopper - she doesn't have to constantly be sneaking around, asking for "more metal" or "more spheres," because she always has a consistent supply of Breath with her. The only other power I can think of that does not require a constant source of energy is Feruchemy, and even then I think Awakening would be more useful to a Worldhopper, because Feruchemy requires you to inconveniently "store" senses constantly before you can amplify them, while Awakening does not. And AonDor (I think that's what it's called) on Sel would also not be very helpful to a Worldhopper, because you have to be on Sel for it to work (since it's based on geography). On a different (but slightly related) note, how would Surgebinding work in the larger cosmere? I feel like it may be the most powerful cosmere ability, but the problem is that it requires a constant supply of Stormlight, which is a serious downside. I ask this because while I was debating what was the most powerful Worldhopping ability, I decided that it might be Elsecalling, because the Surge of Transportation allows you to travel into the Cognitive Realm and back. Assuming that this Surge works on other planets, this could be a huge asset to Worldhoppers - they wouldn't have to sneak around Perpendicularities to enter the Physical Realm. If Jasnah became a Worldhopper (which I really want to happen), she could travel to the CR and back whenever she pleased. However, the problem is that Elsecalling requires a constant supply of Stormlight, which Jasnah would surely run out of within a week or so if she left Roshar. So to summarize my two thoughts: What do you think would be the most powerful ability to a Worldhopper? Do you agree that it would be Awakening? Would Elsecalling possibly be the most powerful ability to a Worldhopper, because it allows access to the CR? And how would Elsecallers and other Surgebinders get around the problem of having to carry large amounts of slowly-fading Stormlight wherever they go?

I very much agree with this. I loved the process of reading Oathbringer, but afterwards I found myself strangely disappointed by the book. Now of course, all this is relative, because being "disappointed" by a Sanderson book for me is about the equivalent of absolutely loving a non-Sanderson book (I feel like he stands on a higher tier than most of his contemporaries in the fantasy genre). That being said, Oathbringer is probably my least favorite book of his so far for multiple reasons. Most of them were explained perfectly by @maxal, so I won't bother going through them again. There is one thing in particular I would like to add though - the final battle sequence (I won't reveal major spoilers in case someone hasn't read it). The battle is extremely long and not very exciting in my opinion, comprising a surprisingly large portion of the final act, with long sequences of pure action that are written with little emotion or strong dialogue, and dozens of different viewpoint characters that really get exhausting. This was a major letdown for me, since you want the end of the book to be the best part of the story, as it was in WoK and WoR (the final act of WoR was a major high note compared to the rest of that story, in my opinion, which really improved my opinion of the book). In addition, the emotional resonance of OB was much lower than previous books, its relevance to the the larger cosmere was disappointingly small (there were many cosmere cameos, but very little new information that we learned), and it definitely suffers from "middle story" syndrome - like the Last Jedi, as @The Thinking Herald noted - I like that comparison since I also was let down by the Last Jedi. In many ways OB failed to capitalize on the momentum built up in WoR, especially with regards to character development (in particular Amaram, Shallan and Adolin, as others have said). Sanderson's writing is much more focused on content than it is on quality (as @Stormrunner1730 noted), which is a difference between him and many other fantasy authors, who write with very flowery prose but are less innovative with plotlines and worldbuilding. This normally doesn't bother me about Sanderson (in fact, I usually prefer his writing), but it did bother me a bit in OB - the writing was noticeably flat and uninflected, hitting all the major plot points but really lacking in descriptiveness and vibrancy. I have a lot of faith in Sanderson and I definitely feel like future installments in Stormlight will be better than this one. Even if they aren't, honestly, I'll still buy, read and enjoy them, but I really feel like the series will do nothing but improve after this.