mdross81

There are some other instances in SA of characters feeling warmth, although I don’t think any of them describe it as being familiar or coming from some distant/beyond place. Most notable are probably: Kal in WoK 11: and Then in RoW 8: And RoW 38: And finally the warmth associated with Hoid in the nightmare when Hoid tells The Dog and the Dragon. The other SA warmth that kinda jumped out at me was Adolin during the climax of his trial: I haven’t finished looking through other Cosmere books yet for similar references.

Duh! I totally forgot I meant to include the God Beyond in the Other category, as something else that we don't really know anything about.

I'm guessing there are some good pre-RoW threads discussing the "warmth from a place beyond" that Dalinar has felt at various points in the Stormlight Archive. But it seems easier to discuss here where we can delve into RoW material as well. I've been going back through the books to find the times when Dalinar experience that warmth, with an eye toward putting together a list of candidates of who/what is responsible for that warmth. Below I list the five times that I think Dalinar has experienced this warmth/light and suggest some possible culprits. Dalinar's Experiences with the Warmth/Light from Beyond Dalinar first experiences the warmth in WoR 89, on the morning of the day when he would later formally bond the Stormfather: When Dalinar asks the Stormfather about this vision, the Stormfather says he didn't send it. Dalinar later tells both Kadash (in OB 4) and Taravangian (in OB 28) about this warmth and light he has felt coming from a place beyond. He feels the warmth again, just before swearing the third Ideal and opening a perpendicularity in OB 119: This passage shows that whoever or whatever the source of the warmth is, is also the one that Dalinar hears in his head at times, telling him to "Unite them." There's actually an earlier time in OB when this is hinted at as well. In OB 111, Dalinar hears the words in his head and asks if it is the Stormfather. The Stormfather says he didn't say anything. Dalinar feels the warmth again in OB 122 in his rooms in Urithiru with Navani, just as he's completing the introduction to the in-world Oathbringer. In that introduction, he shows that he has discovered what the most important words he can say are (I will do better) and the he has truly come to understand the concept of journey before destination. The next instance comes in RoW 107, just before Dalinar Unites/Connects Kaladin, enabling Kal to swear the Fourth Ideal and save Lirin: Note that Dalinar does this immediately after feeling a "warmth" that the SF does not feel. Note also that shortly after drawing the warmth close, and gaining some kind of understanding, Dalinar speaks as the storm, as indicated by the small caps font. Why do I say that he was speaking as the storm here? Because earlier in RoW, in Chapter 71, we see Dalinar's words in the small caps font for the first time. While riding the storm to try to figure out what is going on with Urithiru, Dalinar grows angry with the Stormfather for refusing to spare some foragers caught in the storm: Then later in the chapter, Dalinar forces his way from the stormfont to the middle of the storm to get a second look at Urithiru (the first went by too fast). He sees Kaladin climbing the outside of the tower, and after he is unable to get through to him speaking normally, Dalinar does this: After the stormriding vision ends, Dalinar reviews the scribe's written account of what he said and notes that the scribe "hadn't heard the parts where he'd spoken as the storm." Even more interesting, however, is this bit about Dalinar drawing power from the soul of the storm. Well that's new. So to recap, the four times that Dalinar explicitly mentions feeling this familiar warmth/light are: The vision of his childhood home at the end of WoR (WoR 89) During the battle of Thaylen Field, just after telling Odium that he can't have his pain and just before opening the perpendicularity (OB 119) In his rooms in Urithiru with Navani while writing Oathbringer (OB 122) Just before majorly leveling up his Bondsmithing game and Connecting/Uniting Kal with Tien so he can swear the Fourth Ideal (RoW 107) In addition to these, although warmth is not specifically mentioned, I think that the second Nohadon vision (the one with an aged Nohadon after he'd written The Way of Kings) may be related to the warmth/light beyond. The Stormfather did not send this vision, and Dalinar sees an intense light: The Nohadon in this vision seems to know who Dalinar is, even calling him by name at one point, and seems to know that Dalinar is having a rough go. This vision comes when Dalinar has fallen off the wagon after being excommunicated from the Vorin church. Nohadon gives some advice about how a hypocrite is sometimes a person in the process of changing, and the very last thing that happens before the vision ends is that Nohadon asks Dalinar "what are the most important words a man can say?" This question jogs Dalinar's memory, taking him back to the night of Gavilar's funeral. That was the night he first heard a reading from The Way of Kings, courtesy of Jasnah. Here is the passage Jasnah reads (slightly edited for clarity and to consolidate the passage): At this point, Dalinar thinks about how, for years, it seemed that he'd been seeing everything around him through a haze. But those words reach him and he thinks "Could words give off light?" After to listening to the whole thing again from the beginning, Dalinar decides then and there to go on a journey, specifically to the Nightwatcher (though he keeps that part to himself). Given that the Nohadon vision reaches Dalinar at a point of despair and points him back towards Gavilar, and the Way of Kings, and remembering his visit to Cultivation in the Valley, I feel pretty confident that the vision is tied to the other instances where Dalinar experiences warmth from beyond. More generally, all of the times that Dalinar experiences the warm/light from beyond seem to relate to a deepening understanding of the meaning of the first ideal of the Knights Radiant, to the concept of Unity, and to Dalinar's growth as a Bondsmith. The first instance (the childhood home) comes just at the end of a book where Dalinar has successfully united the highprinces of Alethkar to try to stop the Everstorm, and just before before Dalinar swears the first two oaths and bonds (unites with) the Stormfather. The second (the old Nohadon vision) causes Dalinar to remember Gavilar's dying words, the Way of Kings, and the beginning of his journey to Cultivation, which helps him remember that his memories of Evi would return. The third instance (battle of Thaylen Field) comes at the end of a book where Dalinar has united multiple nations into a coalition to fight Odium and just before he swears the third oath and unites the three realms to summon a perpendicularity. The fourth (while writing Oathbringer) comes once Dalinar has come to understand what the most important words are for him to say, but also that the words will not be the same for everyone. The key is to keep taking the next step. The fifth (before Uniting Kaladin) comes as Dalinar begins to more fully understand his powers as a Bondsmith and uses them Connect Kaladin and to allow him to continue his journey and take the next step at a time when he didn't think he could go on. So Who/What is Responsible for the Warmth/Light from a Place Beyond The short answer is that I don't know for sure. But I think that we can draw up a fairly narrow list of candidates. Adonalsium - I mean, if Dalinar has concluded that the Almighty was never truly god, and that there was/is something larger/more powerful, this seems like a pretty obvious possibility. I don't think we know enough about Adonalsium at this point to really come up with persuasive arguments for or against this possibility. Honor/Tanavast - Maybe through some sort of spiritual mumbo-jumbo, possibly related to the idea that Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men, and tied to the visions, Dalinar is experiencing some sort of Connection with some aspect of Honor/Tanavast that persists in the Spiritual Realm even though he was killed. Nohadon - Almost all of the instances where Dalinar experiences the warmth/light are tied to Nohadon in some way, and there's that WoB that says that even among kings and surgebinders, he was someone special. Maybe Tanavast set up the young Nohadon vision in such a way that would allow Nohadon and Dalinar to make a Connection despite the fact that they lived millennia apart. Also, when Dalinar notices the warmth while writing the introduction to Oathbringer, it feels like a very obvious mirroring of the introduction to The Way of Kings that Jasnah read to Dalinar. Cultivation - Just as most of the instances are tied to Nohadon in some way, they are similarly tied to a recognition of the way that Dalinar has "grown" and "changed." Also, I mean, the female who can see the future that Nohadon spoke with? Who is encouraging him to experience his own journey of growth/change. I'll be shocked if that wasn't Cultivaton he spoke to. Hoid - this one is a little far-fetched maybe; but perhaps part of his vow to be there when needed involves him delivery these little Connections at crucial points; see also how Hoid's small bubble of protection for Kaladin during the nightmare when Hoid tells the Dog and the Dragon, is described as "a pure white light, a longing warmth," and Hoid's assurances that Kal will feel warm again Someone else - I think the five candidates above are the most likely, but who knows. Maybe it's another Shard. Maybe it's the Dawnshard of Unity. The God Beyond (thanks for the reminder @Frustration). Or [insert your favorite crackpot theory] Thanks for reading what turned out to be a long post, and I look forward to hearing others' thoughts.

Seems there hasn't been much activity on this thread in a little while, but I had something to add and didn't want to start a new one when there's one already discussing this topic of Dalinar speaking in small caps. As @joesleepsalot mentioned in the original post, we see Dalinar speak in small caps in Chapter 107, just before Uniting Kaladin. And he does it again when accepting Kal's fourth oath in 108. But I think he does it once before this too. In RoW Chapter 71, Dalinar asks the Stormfather to show him Urithiru, and the Stormfather allows Dalinar to ride the storm with him. While en route to Urithiru, Dalinar asks the Stormfather to have mercy, and temper the fury of the storm for a couple of foragers caught in the storm. The Stormfather gives his favorite excuse - I am a storm - and refuses Dalinar's request. Dalinar is not pleased and I think this is the first time we seem him speak in small caps: Later in the same chapter, Dalinar forces his way back from the stormwall into the middle of the storm to get another look at Urithiru because the first look was too short. He sees Kaladin spidermanning outside Urithiru. Dalinar tries speaking to Kaladin in his own voice, but Kal doesn't seem to hear him. So he tries another tactic: He can draw power from the soul of the storm!? I definitely missed that on my first read through. Anyway, Dalinar swoops Kal up onto the balcony when he falls, and shortly thereafter exits the stormriding vision. The scribe who was writing down Dalinar's words during the episode hadn't heard the parts where Dalinar had "spoken as the storm." It's worth noting, I think, that Dalinar does a similar sort of drawing-on-power just before the passage from RoW 107 that was part of the original post: I'm working on my own post dedicated to discussing the "warmth" that Dalinar feels, so I don't want to go too far down that road here. But I think it's interesting that just before speaking in small caps and doing cool Bondsmithy things, he seems to either draw on some power related to the warmth, or gets some sort of message or idea from the warmth. More generally I'm curious whether anyone knows of any good pre-RoW threads talking about the different fonts used when the Stormfather speaks. Has anyone been able to tease out any answers as to what tit means when he speaks in different fonts? I recall that back OB 31, when Kaladin rode the storm and similarly asked the Stormfather to spare some people in the path of a high storm, the Stormfather chided him for making demands of the storm. He then describes himself as "the memory of a god, the fragment that remains. The soul of a storm and the mind of eternity." Perhaps the different fonts relate to these different aspects of the Stormfather?

First of all, thanks for this awesome thread. I think it's generated some really great discussion. I also caught one additional line that I don't think has been discussed and may be a part of the puzzle: I point this out because blinking is how Shallan takes Memories. Specifically, the Memory is what she sees just as her eyes close: So her inability to blink would have prevented her, even if she were inclined to do so, from taking a Memory of the scene before her. Could be part of why she's still so confused about the whole scene. This presupposes, of course, that she had that ability at the time. I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't, given how far along she seemed to be in her Ideals at the time.

That’s interesting and plausible. I had been thinking that the SF viewed Lift as an exception to his near-monopoly of access to Investiture to power Surgebinding.

Well, who knew my post would lead us in all of these directions. For what’s it’s worth, I wanted to weigh in on the distinction between CS and spren. Both are heavily Invested entities with at least a cognitive and a spiritual aspect. But CS I believe usually result from the spirit persisting after the death of a physical body: Spren on the other hand, can manifest in the physical realm, they are not the remnants of a living physical being. They are pieces of Investiture that gain sapience. That said, I agree with those who have argued that both have problems when it comes to leaving the planet where their Investiture came from. As for the madness discussion, I’m of the opinion that the Heralds and the Fused share one common source, that of being repeatedly reborn through imprinted Investiture But I think the Heralds have an added component tied to the dissonance between the way they are revered and what they know they’ve done in abandoning the Oathpact. Spren don’t have this problem because they are fundamentally power which is already immortal. They don’t experience time the same way as a being that was once mortal. I’m not sure what I think about whether Kelsier’s extended lifespan as a CS will have an impact on his sanity. Certainly it will change his perspective, and the accumulation of too many memories for a cognitive entity to hold presents an issue (that Hoid has seemingly found a solution for). I also think he will feel himself affected more and more by the Intent of the Investiture that preserved him.

Yeah, it was definitely nice to get a little bit more of an explanation of how a desolation ended in RoW. I probably should have included this in my post as well. It comes right before the Leshwi quote in my original post about shifting the Oathpact onto Taln: It’s not necessarily explicit, though heavily implied, that ALL the Heralds had to return to Braize to activate the isolation. So one of two things must have happened at Aharetiam. Either Ishar and the others found a way to activate the Isolation remotely or Taln eventually realized the others weren’t coming and, stand up guy that he is, activated the Isolation on his own. My money is still on the former. I also wonder whether the Heralds could, like the Fused, return multiple times prior to activating the Isolation, or if once they died they remained on Braize until the rest died and came. If it’s the latter it might have been better to die early and just chill on Braize. The Fused would likely be more focused on returning to Roshar to fight than finding and torturing whichever Heralds were on Braize.

I’m not so sure that the hole-in-the-soul wasn’t what gave Odium an opening to kill Devotion and Dominion. We know that some of the Shards took the agreement that shards shouldn’t cohabitate more seriously than others. Possibly to the point of creating a binding agreement, the violation of which would put them at risk. And in most circumstances I would agree that the world can be corrupted without an invested Shard being so. But Honor and Cultivation do seem uniquely tied to the very nature of Roshar.

I know there are already a couple of threads discussing Cultivation's scheming and motives, but indulge me as a run through some observations, questions, and a theory. Shattering to the Expulsion I think Cultivation's story is, while sparse, largely agreed upon up until the arrival of humans on Roshar. Koravellium Avast takes up the Shard, moves to Roshar with Tanavast, with whom she's romantically involved, and per WoB the two of them invest equally in the planet. At some unspecified later time, Rayse shows up in the system, tempts the humans on Ashyn to experiment with the Surges. Said experimentation (and Dawnshards) result in Ashyn being destroyed, and the humans needing a new home. Honor and Cultivation take them in on Roshar, giving them Shinovar, which was likely transformed so that it would be habitable for the humans. Odium follows the humans to Roshar and is likely involved in sparking conflict between humans and the singers bringing on the Desolations. Desolations & Conflict with Odium So now we've got the conflict between the humans and the singers and the conflict between Odium and Honor. Here's a rundown of what we know to be Cultivation's contributions in these battles: Odium is sealed in the Rosharan system by the powers of Honor and Cultivation Cultivation works with Honor to create the Sibling and Urithiru (Raboniel says the Sibling was created to fight Odium) Presumably Cultivation allowed the Nightwatcher to be bonded as a Bondsmith spren Cultivation was (possibly) involved in creating the intelligent spren that would later be capable of forming Nahel bonds (there's one WoB mentioning that they may have been 'cultivated') That's the full extent of what we know, I think. The Heralds and the Oathpact: that's all Honor's doing. Honor loved mankind and died defending them. But what about Cultivation? Raboniel at one point calls her a god of creatures, not people. And Wyndle is of the belief that once Tanavast died, Cultivation gave up on mankind. Then there's the fact that, in all of the visions left behind by Honor that we've seen, Honor never once suggests that humans might seek out Cultivation for help. Doesn't that seem weird? I mean, there's another living Shard on Roshar, but Honor doesn't suggest that she may be of help. I suppose there are several possible explanations for this. It could be that he was not sure that she would still be alive. It could be that he was trying to protect her. But I think it most likely that he did not think humans would find a receptive audience in Cultivation. After Tanavast's Death Fast forward thousands of years and we get the first hint that Cultivation is taking an interest again. She meets with Dalinar, the first time in centuries that she's come to speak personally with someone seeking the Old Magic. She takes an interest largely because of the attention that Odium is paying to Dalinar, and she gives him a pruning. We know that thereafter she also meets with and tweaks Taravangian and Lift. With the former, she claims to have been grooming him to potentially take up the Shard of Odium and wield it with Honor. With Lift we don't know what her motives are, although the Stormfather thinks she's been given the ability to metabolize food in Investiture specifically to frustrate him. Both Wyndle and Sja-anat express the view that Cultivation has been subtly using the tales of Old Magic to draw people to her as part of some long-term plan. We also got two mentions of the threat Cultivation represents to Odium. The Stormfather notes, after Odium invades the vision Dalinar used to speak with Venli, that Odium could have splintered him as he tried to hold Odium back. The Stormfather says that the only reason he didn't was because he feared exposing himself to an attack from Cultivation. Then, in RoW, responding to Dalinar's question about what happens if Odium breaks their contract, Rayse responds: So, with all of that as background, I have... Questions Did Cultivation truly support accepting the human refugees from Ashyn? The main evidence we have for this is in the Eila Stele, which is ancient and which some have suggested may be Odium propaganda. Do you think Cultivation was more involved than we know in either the battle between Honor and Odium or the battle between humans and singers? If not, why? Was there some agreement that it would be a one-on-one contest? (that sounds like something Honor would do) Why didn't Tanavast suggest that the humans seek out help from Cultivation? What's up with the Nightwatcher serving as a Bondsmith spren? We know she was one because the Stormfather tells Dalinar that in the past his Bondsmith and the Nightwatcher's sometimes had relationships. But Wyndle says that "Cultivation created her to be apart, separated from mankind, un-Connected." That doesn't sound like a spren she would allow to bond a human. Why would Odium trying to splinter the Stormfather have created an opportunity for Cultivation to strike at him? Is this one of those hole-in-the-soul situations where Odium would be breaking some agreement he had made? Or is it just that trying to splinter the Strormfather would take a significant amount of time and focus during which Odium would be vulnerable to an attack? Crackpot Theory Cultivation is a villain. Ok, so the theory itself isn't so crackpot. It's more that the couple of lines I found that made me think she might be are probably reaching. First, in WoK, Chapter 67, just before Kaladin does his super-awesome hero stuff, he thinks: Something about the description of the world as sickeningly green and corrupted, makes me feel like Cultivation herself has been corrupted somehow. The second is more jokey, but would be hilariously on the nose if Cultivation does turn out to be villainous. In OB, Chapter 21, Adolin and Shallan have the following exchange: Interested in others' thoughts and theories.

It seems likely to me that there was some affirmative step taken to alter the oathpact, beyond just abandoning Taln. For the reasons I explain here: As to your other question, I don't think we know for sure when Honor started dying. We know the he was in the process of dying around the time of the Recreance and the imprisonment of Ba-Ado-Mishram and died relatively shortly thereafter. Those events took place thousands of years after Aharetiam. So, I don't think he was already dying when the nine Heralds abandoned the Oathpact. Shard death is a longish process, but I don't think it's thousands of years long.

We know (or at least Ulim says) that Ulim came through the barrier storm in Shadesmar that blocks the way to Braize. Given that Ulim zips around in form of red lightning, and that lightning is ultimately the secret to collecting stormspren, I'm of the impression that lightning from the barrier storm is the mechanic by which Ulim came through. So I don't think that Voidspren have always been able to circumvent the Oathpact. I think it became possible though once the barrier storm reach a sufficient size or strength, but the Voidspren needed a landing place (a gem) otherwise they would be pulled back: Venli was going out into highstorms to do this. But I think it's unlikely that a highstorm on its own would have been sufficient to pull a stormspren through. By this point in time, Odium had pulled the Everstorm close enough to the shattered plains that the stormspren in the Everstorm in Shadesmar could then hitch a ride on the highstorm's lightning when it came through. If getting a Voidspren through did, in fact, require a highstorm passing by, then you can see why it would have been such an ordeal to pull through Voidspren before the chunk of the barrier storm was broken off and moved. You'd have to get agents of Odium with gems ready on boats out in the middle of the ocean during a highstorm. Not super practical or efficient. From this it seems clear that, at the very least, an Oathpact with Taln as the only Herald in Braize, was not sufficient to stop this method of Voidspren getting through to Roshar. Whether this method would have worked with all the Heralds on Braize is another question. I'm inclined to think that it still would have worked, but who knows, maybe having all the Heralds there would have somehow prevented the creation of the barrier storm in the first place.

Forgot to mention in my response above, that I had one additional thing to add re: Kaladin. Once we finally had a name for Cultivation's vessel, I went looking for any characters whose names sounded similar. Didn't find much. Just three characters, all in Way of Kings. The first (chronologically, not the order in which it appears in the book) appears in the flashback in Chapter 47. Kal goes to see Gare, the squadleader in Amaram's army that Kal bribes to get Cenn. One of Gare's sergeants is a man named Korabet: That's the only time he's ever mentioned. Probably nothing, although it's interesting that the other sergeant - Nalem - also has a name that bears a resemblance to that of a more major character. The second name with kora in it is a member of Kaladin's squad in Amaram's army. Just before heading off to take down the first Shardbearer he faces that day, Kal orders two men to take the injured Cenn back: We actually see this scene twice. First from Cenn's perspective in Chapter 1 and then from Kal's in Chapter 47, the same as the one above. Again, it's probably nothing. Then again, Kal interacting with two characters with kora as part of their name on the day that will come to define him. It's ... just the slightest bit fishy. Finally, in Chapter Chapter 46, just after Adolin rescues the courtesan in Sadeas's warcamp, he asks Kal to send a message to a Brightlord Reral Makoram in the Sixth Battalion. Adolin wants Kal to tell Makoram that Adolin won't make their meeting that day. Kal doesn't convey the message and we don't hear of this particular Brightlord again. So ... not much here, but just wanted to point it out given the topic of your post.

You are not alone. I have increasingly been thinking this as well. And not just Kal. There’s gotta be something to the fact that Shallan’s early explorations of surgebinding took place in the heavily cultivated gardens of Davar manor. There’s the way she describes cultivating souls on a page when she sketches someone from memory. And at one point, which I can’t seem to find right now, she talks about how her memories are overgrown/tangled/snarled or something like that. I’m workin on my own Cultivation post as well, hoping to explore what she might be up to. Edit: ok, I found the passage now, from RoW chapter 30:

This idea of wrath directed toward those viewed as contemptible fits with how I’ve been viewing Odium: as that part of divinity that enforces the infallibility of god. I remember doing some research on this a while ago because the concept of divine hate didn’t make sense to me. And what I found tended to relate to the idea that god could select certain peoples as his own and bless them, while designating others as contemptible or disfavored. Not because of anything they did, but just to prove the point that he was god and could choose to favor one group and dole out wrath to the other because he’s god. To allow the disfavored group success/happiness would prove god wrong, which would potentially undo all creation (basically the plot of Dogma). Once I thought of Odium this way, this one line from Frost’s letter to Hoid made more sense: This potentially recasts the lines in RoW about how the power of Odium (as opposed to the mind controlling it) liked questions. Why might the power like questions? Because it gives an opportunity to prove a point; that questioning god will get you a heaping serving of wrath.

That’s an ongoing question I think. I’ve seen theories on both sides of what the ado in ba-ado-mishram (or in the middle of koradaros as mentioned above) is referring to: either Adonalsium or Adoda (the Alethi word for light). It could ultimately be both if the word for light was derived from adonalsium a long time ago.

Good memory. I found the scene. It's in WoR Ch. 41 (Scars) I just made it to the Battle of the Tower in my WoK reread, and it's really cool to see the moment when, it seems, honor truly does return to the hearts of men - specifically Kaladin as he is leaping over the chasm and sucks in the stormlight from the listener's beards: Chills. Then the chapter ends with a quick switch to Teft's POV and storming Moash gets to be the one who says it: "Something just changed. Something important." I note the use of the word salvation in this passage because of what Hoid tells Jasnah in the WoR Epilogue: "You'll find God in the same place you're going to find salvation from this mess. Inside the hearts of men." And it's that return of honor to the heart of a human that brings the storm to life again hinting at what Odium fears - a way for Honor to be reforged and taken up.

I wonder if Shallan maybe describes part of the method of Heralds procreating back in WoK: The use of the word "cultivated" here is rather suspicious, no? Maybe with Cultivation's help a Herald could snip free a portion of their soul to create offspring?

You're probably right. Storming Alethi and their forced symmetry.

It doesn't line up with his real name. But the page notes that Tanavast's Alethi name is Tavast.

I'm glad someone else found this too. I just noticed it today when looking back through the interior art from RoW. The diamonds are definitely arranged in the double eye of the almighty shape. The diamonds could represent essences or surges instead of the orders of Knights Radiant. But I don't think that gives any more of a clue why some of the diamonds appear as part of the glyph representing Cultivation's s light and others appear as part of the glyph representing Odium's light. Curiously, none of the diamonds are part of the glyph representing stormlight. I've also been trying to tease out which parts of the Roshar glyph are shared by all three Shards, which are shared by two of the Shards, and which are unique to a particular Shard. I'm no expert on picking apart these glyphs, but it seems to me that the vaguely s-shaped glyphs pointing out to each side in the partial screen shot below are the only thing shared by all three glyphs: So, I guess that would be the part of the glyphs that means "light"? There are definitely parts that the stormlight and lifelight glyphs share, and parts that the lifelight and voidlight glyphs share. There seems to be less overlap between the stormlight and voidlight glyphs. I've also been trying to see whether I could parse any of the linguistics from this page in a way that would reveal any new information, but have hit a dead-end there as well. I'm hoping maybe others can find something here. The phonemes in the stormlight glyph say "tavodovast" which means Tavast's light. The phonemes in the lifelight glyph say "koradaros" which means Koravari's light. And the phenomes in the voidlight glyph say "rasodonar" which means Rasan's light. With tavadovast, it looks like maybe the word Tavast is split between the beginning and end of the word like so: tav-odo-vast. Which would make "odo" the portion of the word that means light. Neither of the other two split quite as neatly. Although with rasodonar, there is again the "odo" in the middle, but "ras" and "nar" don't line up with Rasan the same way "tav" and "vast" line up with Tavast. And then there's koradaros. I thought perhaps the "ada" in the middle is a gendered difference. With Cultivation being female, maybe they use "ada" instead of "odo" but then that leaves "kor" and "ros" on either side, which, again doesn't really line up with Koravari. I can't seem to make heads or tails of this. But I'll note that the glyph for "light" is adoda, which seems like it could be some kind of combination of "odo" and "ada"

Good call. The back cover blurbs aren’t included in the kindle editions so I missed this reference:

This forum allows spoilers, I believe, but just in case, possible spoilers below for Stormlight (through Oathbringer), Bands of Mourning, and Shadows for Silence. I was going down a rabbit hole today trying to work on a theory about the Vanrial - the order of artists on Roshar who lived on the slopes of the Silent Mount in Jah Keved and kept the Dawnchant alive - when I instead stumbled upon and switched my focus to, our old friend Rial. Rial, you may recall was a member of Bridge Thirteen, and one of Dalinar's guards in Oathbringer. He drew attention because of some idiosyncratic speech patterns and because he rolled a sphere across his knuckles (I think Wax does this with a coin at one point). Brandon has RAFO'd questions about whether he's a worldhopper. Here's a summary of the pertinent descriptions we get in OB: He spoke with a slow drawl - a Koron accent from near the Sunmaker Mountains in central Alethkar (OB 16) Clean-shaven, he was a little pale for an Alethi and had dark brown hair. (OB 16) He liked to roll a sphere across his knuckles in what Dalinar found to be a distracting way (OB 16) When telling Dalinar his name, he raised his hand and "gave a precise salute, so careful it could have been given by one of Dalinar's finest officers, except he maintained the same lazy expression." (OB 16) He gives Dalinar a hard time about walking through Urithiru alone when Dalinar has said that no one should walk around Urithiru alone; Dalinar asks where he got this habit of questioning officers (OB 16) Rial responds that it's not a habit if he only does it once; when pressed by Dalinar on whether he's ever questioned any officer more than once, Rial responds cheekily, saying the previous times don't count because "I'm a new man. Reborn in the bridge crews." (OB 16) In a later scene, Rial salutes again and, curiously, this time he's described as a "leathery, dark-skinned man" (OB 58) Dalinar tells him he doesn't have to salute every time; he also sniffs Rial's canteen checking for alcohol. It's implied that on some previous occasion Dalinar had chastised him for having alcohol in his canteen. It's clean this time but Rial admits to still having alcohol; just in a flask instead of his canteen (OB 58) Navani responds to this situation by suggesting that Dalinar get someone else to guard him, saying "That greasy man is ... unfitting." But Dalinar likes him, says he reminds him some of his friends from the old days (drinking buddies?) (OB 58) So, armed with these descriptions, I went hunting in my other cosmere books to see if I could find any other possible sightings. I came up with two. 1. Shadows for Silence During the final framing sequence in the bar, Daggon is again talking to the guy who calls himself Earnest. They're discussing the "revelations" about the White Fox, and then there's this: Why is the highlighted line in there? I can't figure out any relevance to the story. But we do have someone fond of drink and described as greasy-looking. Both matches for Rial. Not a lot to go on, for sure, and Threnody is of course notoriously hard to get to. But just wanted to make the connection and put it out there. 2. Bands of Mourning In chapters 12-14 of BoM, while Wax is at a fancy party, Wayne and Marasi go on a side quest to a graveyard, hoping to find a piece of ReLuur's body containing a hemalurgic spike. This brings them into contact with a gravekeeper named Dechamp, who seemed to go for Wayne and Marasi's bribe, but also likely sold them out to the Set. Wayne and Marasi get attacked by hired goons during the attempted grave robbery. Here's the scene where they first meet Dechamp: Later, during their time with Dechamp, he pulls out a flask, which he refuses to share with Wayne. After the betrayal, Wayne finds Dechamp's stash of booze hidden in the floor of the hut at the entrance to the graveyard. So we've got another greasy fellow, rather fond of drink, who looks at Wayne lazily (Rial looked at Dalinar with a lazy expression). Obviously the hair color is not a match, but that's an easy thing to change. Again, it's not a lot to go on, but maybe there's something there? If they are the same person, it doesn't seem likely there'll be more world hopping in store after BoM, because Dechamp dies during the attack on Wayne and Marasi. (He did say he was "reborn" in the bridge crews, but that would have been before the events of BoM). One last small thing I noticed that might show a connection to Roshar. At one point, while talking to Dechamp, Wayne adopts an accent similar to Dechamp's. Here's how Marasi describes it: Again, could be pure coincidence, but I've been conditioned by Stormlight to perk up every time someone seems to be speaking rhythmically. So that's it. That's what I found. Maybe something, maybe I'm grasping at straws, or maybe Brandon just has a thing about describing boozehounds as greasy (not a totally inaccurate description). Interested in others' thoughts.

Yeah, with Jezrien gone and Kal heading to Shinovar, in the west, where Fleet’s race ended, and possibly meeting up with the most powerful (if crazy) Bondsmith we know of in Ishar, I think Kal becoming a Herald feels really heavily foreshadowed. What the continued utility of the Heralds is, given the Everstorm, is another question though.

Just adding what I think is some additional support for my OP about how the conflict on Roshar turns, in a significant way, on the hearts of men. Here's Kabsal (not the most reliable source, I know) answering Shallan's question about what the Voidbringers were: Now, to deal with the caveat right away, Kabsal may just be making this stuff up. But, it doesn't read that way to me. Whether he's actually spouting Vorin doctrine here - or possibly hinting at what he, as a Ghostblood, believes - is another question. But he seems genuine, especially because shortly after this he gets all heated about how he thinks Jasnah is just trying to undermine Vorinism with her Voidbringer research. I'm really intrigued by this passage about how men, as mortals with a "dual nature" may choose to do good without creating evil. The implication is that the Almighty (Honor) is singular in nature. And that, because of that nature, any good that he tries to do is somehow also a source of an opposing evil. And the "dual nature" of men is tied to them being mortal - so I take that to mean something about how men's spiritual aspect is separate from their physical/cognitive aspect. But why would the singular combination of spiritual/cognitive/physical in Honor mean that doing good would also result in an opposing force? Is this some kind of conservation of energy? Action/Reaction? Anyway, I think the above is further support for the idea that there is a pitched battle going on for the hearts of men on Roshar. Another piece of evidence is in the Starfalls vision, when the Stoneward is talking to Dalinar: This reads to me as a recognition that men who feel an urge to fight (*cough* Dalinar *cough* Kaladin *cough*) are susceptible to Odium's influence; that their hearts are open to Odium. So the KR wanted to identify those people to make sure they didn't become weapons for the enemy.