En-priestess

Rushu and the Stormfather, because she always has her head in the clouds

Prediction: Kaladin doesn’t die at the end of book five and instead becomes a worldhopper who goes in search of this mysterious and adorable creature from Hoid’s latest story. By this point Syl is in the physical realm and they are completely in love, and together they adopt their forever furry friend who Syl exclaims is the grossest little creature in the entire Cosmere - so gross that it’s so storming cute she could die!! They bring a whole bunch of doggos back to Roshar to be therapy dogs for all the patients at Kaladin’s mental health clinic, working alongside Ryshadium equine therapy developed by renowned scholar Renarin. The Stormfather gets caught giving belly rubs to a little pupper with a huge grin on his face before blustering over how ridiculous such a squishy creature is on Roshar. Odium is defeated once and for all, for “hatred is dead, so long as puppies live in the hearts of men”.

If the Radiants didn’t summon their spren as a blade when they broke their bond, could that mean that most of the deadeyes are simply that? Deadeyes who wander around Shadsmar and aren’t a blade at all? Perhaps others exist as other objects that people are unaware are like shardblades, since we know that radiant spren can manifest as many things - shardfork, shardspear, shard medical tools, etc...?

Embracing this theory of Chana as Shallan’s mother, my mind has gone full imaginative speculation. So... One thing that has always stood out to me from The Way of Kings is that when Jasnah is considering Shallan’s wardship, she asks what works of philosophy she’s read and Shallan references Nohadon as one of the few she has. This always seemed strange to me considering how frowned upon and relatively unknown it appears to be in the rest of society, with its talk of the ancient Radiants and dark eyes being higher than light eyes. And when Wit meets young Shallan and asks her to imagine her perfect life she imagines her mother teaching her philosophy. Now I’m imagining a whole arc where in the past Chana and Nohadon were close, possibly lovers, and engaged in philosophical discussions together - as a king and Radiant, and possibly Bondsmith, I don’t think it’s a stretch that they would have known one another. And so she keeps a copy of his works at home in Jah Keved and shares her passion for philosophy with her daughter, hence Shallan’s curious choice of books.

Omg this theory blew my mind. I think it’s definitely possible. It would explain why Shallan’s mother hasn’t been named, why there are secret societies, unmade and spren all connected to her family, why Shallan still has Radiant to protect her from this even bigger truth... I really love the idea that Radiant embodies Shallan’s memory of her mother. Also the connection to the Skybreakers would make a lot of sense since she would know Nale personally. Chanarach’s attributes are brave and obedient, and one of the very, very few tidbits that we get from Shallan’s flashbacks about her mother is that her mother was brave. Maybe not strong evidence but it’s something, especially since this is one of the only things we get told about her. Question: what does this mean for Shallan’s brothers then? Are they her children too? As children of a Herald, are they more invested? And what implications would this mean for Helaran’s death? Also, is it believed that Taln broke? Or did he return to warn that the Everstorm was coming? I really like the idea that if Chanarach was killed and returned to Braize, that she would have broken and not Taln, but can’t remember if it is implied that Taln’s return triggered the Desolation or the Everstorm itself? Now that Shallan is with Kelek, perhaps he will mention something that could be a clue as to whether Shallan’s mother was a Herald...

Omg yes! Also just remembered this conversation between Shallan and Mraize in chapter 13 of RoW, when Shallan asks why he was going after Ialai and the Sons of Honor: So Gavilar found secrets that lead him to believe he could become like the Heralds - aka a cognitive shadow. He discovered things that even Thaidakar and the Ghostbloods don't know. I'm so storming convinced he succeeded in part of his plans and that he's out there somewhere and for some reason he will become Odium's champion to further his goals.

Well there you go! Haha thanks for sharing this info

Yeah I do agree it’s most probably Cultivation. But I don’t think that rules out the fact that Gavilar could have found a way to remain as a Cognitive Shadow that the Stormfather wouldn’t be aware of, otherwise of course he would have told Dalinar. @Requiem17 pointed out some clues from the RoW prologue that Gavilar was invested - his ability to sense Navani at the door despite her not making any noise for example. And with his access to so many types of investiture including the voidlight and anti-voidlight spheres, his Cosmere awareness, he may have had the opportunity to become invested in many ways other than a proto bond with the Stormfather. Such a good point. Maybe something to do with the voidspren returning like @yulyulk said. It was Axindweth after all who gave Ulim to Venli and she was part of Gavilar’s group. But I’m not sure, whatever it is it shows that Gavilar had his hand in big Cosmere things...

I’ve said this before, but what if it’s simply that Kaladin and Syl end up together and Kaladin becomes the son in law of Tanavast by way of Syl being the ancient daughter On another note, I did find it odd that Navani makes a point in RoW of noticing when she meets Lirin that Kaladin doesn’t share any physical resemblance to him. The only resemblance she finds is in their eyes - the same “quiet intensity... and faintly judgemental gaze.” This could of course be very normal, children don’t look like replicas of their parents. But I did think it was interesting that Navani would pointedly notice this. And as someone who has grown up with a step parent I’ve often found it interesting how people will say they see the resemblance between me and my step dad (not knowing that we aren’t blood related) simply based on our shared mannerisms and facial expressions and such that I’ve picked up from growing up with him - even though we look so completely different haha

I agree. That is one thing I’m not sure about - why we never got hints about Gavilar being part of Odium’s plan (both Rayse’s and now Taravangian’s). Also why the Stormfather wouldn’t have known. I’m not sure how to explain it but perhaps Gavilar figured out his own way to stick around and maybe that is the “something else” that Taravangian notices in chapter 114? I’m not sure but perhaps Gavilar has found his own way of entering the realm of gods as he told Navani he had during the prologue, and only now can Taravangian notice him or perhaps only now has Gavilar chosen to revealed himself. This is very speculative but I don’t think it’s impossible that Gavilar could have hidden himself from Odium or the Stormfather, since it seems Kelek was able to keep his location in the cognitive realm hidden also otherwise the Stormfather could have just told Dalinar that he was at Lasting Integrity

Yeah like @Halyo_Alex said, I think it’s implied that Gavilar, by receiving the Almighty’s visions from the Stormfather, was forming a proto-bond. But perhaps there were other ways he was invested too... @Requiem17’s comment is super interesting! Those do sound like Gavilar was holding Breaths! Or some kind of investiture that provides similar effects... I wouldn’t be surprised to find that he had Breaths if he is Cosmere aware and had access to things like voidlight and anti-voidlight.

Maybe Kaladin is the Son of Tanavast because in the future he and Syl will get married and then he will be Tanavast’s son in law

Okay so I posted a theory about Odium’s champion in the ROW lore/magic thread and I feel like nobody saw it or maybe just thought it was too unlikely or insane or something... BUT I was just rereading the ROW prologue and gosh I’m so damn convinced that Odium’s champion is going to be Gavilar!! This is what he says to Navani in the prologue: This is freaking me out. Like at first I was just trying to think through all the possible candidates for Odium’s champion and people like Szeth just seemed a bit too obvious to me, so I thought who would be the most surprising AND crippling to Dalinar? And who better than Gavilar himself, the one he looked up to and failed. Now I do actually think this could be possible! And maybe even likely from these words that Gavilar says. And since we know that the next prologue is going to be from Gavilar’s perspective, what if we get to the part where he’s killed and he appears in the cognitive realm and finds a way to stick around? He was slightly invested like Eshonai was. And the more info we get about him (RoW prologue and Venli flashbacks), the more we learn how much crazy cosmere stuff Gavilar was in on. His relationship to the heralds, and to Axindweth who seems to clearly be a worldhopper of who knows what allegiance - he even seems to know of Kelsier/Thaidakar. So what if he figured out a way to stick around and his motives are not what we think. His whole stint with the Sons of Honour seem to have been a cover for other intentions, since he already knew the heralds were around? It just seems crazy to me how much Gavilar was in on - like where did he get those void light and, especially, the anti-voidlight spheres?! So many questions. Can we get all the answers to them in one prologue? Or will we get those answers from Gavilar as an actual character in the next book!! He is so obsessed with being extraordinary, with unending existence, so what if he finds the opportunity for this by joining Odium’s forces? I at least think it’s possible that we will find out in the prologue that Gavilar has stuck around, and if he does I think he would be an excellent and surprising candidate for Odium’s champion. Also one death rattle I remembered could perhaps support this theory... Interested to read thoughts!

When the Sibling refers to being “unmade” by what Raboniel was doing to the tower’s pillar, I kind of got the impression that perhaps all of the Unmade were once the children of Honor and Cultivation like the Sibling - meaning they would have had 10 children (a very Rosharan number)

@Oltux72 well I don’t think he planned on being killed so he doesn’t really have much control over what happens to the kingdom. But also if any of the theory is actually true, I feel he kinda has a bigger picture in mind than Alethkar now. He seems very much in the know about deep cosmere stuff like travelling to other planets, voidlight/anti-voidlight, worldhoppers etc, and there’s probably way more that we don’t know yet. I don’t think he’s just meant to be “really evil”, only that he could have some other motive that we aren’t aware of and aligning with Odium could perhaps be a way of achieving that. EDIT: my main drawback is how the Stormfather wouldn’t be aware. But at the same time the Stormfather doesn’t seem to be aware that Kelek is living in Lasting Integrity

Crazy theory but what if Odium’s (aka Taravangian’s) champion is... GAVILAR?! I was trying to think through all the candidates of who it could be and people like Szeth just seem a bit too obvious to me, so I thought who would be the most surprising AND crippling to Dalinar? And who better than Gavilar himself, the one he looked up to and failed. Now I do actually think this could be possible! And maybe even likely since we know that the next prologue is going to be from Gavilar’s perspective, so what if we get to the part where he’s killed and he appears in the cognitive realm and finds a way to stick around? He was slightly invested like Eshonai was. And the more info we get about him (RoW prologue and Venli flashbacks), the more we learn how much crazy cosmere stuff Gavilar was in on. His relationship to the heralds, and to Axindweth who seems to clearly be a worldhopper of who knows what allegiance - he even seems to know of Kelsier/Thaidakar. So what if he figured out a way to stick around and his motives are not what we think. His whole stint with the Sons of Honour could also have been a cover for other intentions, like starting a desolation to free Odium? I have no idea. I’ve always had “bad guy” vibes from Gavilar. But it just seems crazy to me how much Gavilar was in on - like where did he get this anti-voidlight sphere?! So many questions. And those questions lead me to think he would be an excellent and surprising candidate for Odium’s champion.

Yes! Definitely agree about the appearance too @Toaster Retribution Liss doesn’t appear to have an athletic body as I imagine Chana does based on little tidbits like her racing Fleet.

Rereading Words of Radiance and it jumped out at me that Liss could be Vedel. I searched if any others had theorised this and saw a post by @Toaster Retribution that had the same theory, but I had some other thoughts to add! My first thought was that her characteristics as an assassin are the opposite of loving and healing, which is what Toaster Retribution also pointed out. But also, a lot of attention is paid to her unusual ability to shift her accent. Jasnah comments on this twice: This thing with accents reminded me of what Lift does in Edgedancer when talking to the street urchin in Yeddaw - how she naturally adapts her speech to be able to communicate/connect with him. I feel like Liss's ability to shift her accent to sound native to any of these places seems a lot like the theorised Edgedancer resonance of enhanced communication with others. Lastly, on the previous thread by Toaster Retribution (which is now closed), somebody commented that it doesn't make sense for Liss to be a herald since she had Szeth as a servant at one point and would have recognised his blade an an Honorblade if she were a Herald. But I don't think this has to be the case as she only had him as a servant for a short time and was maybe unaware of Szeth's blade, as most others who have held his oathstone don't seem to know this either. It was only because of Makkek's increasingly difficult commands that Szeth had to resort to using his shardblade under his ownership. OR, she did recognise his blade and was the one who gave him to Nale and Kalak - the two "ambassadors from the west" that Jasnah overhears: Anyway, I haven't yet read Rhythm of War so maybe this will all be irrelevant, but if all the remaining heralds were present at the feast, then Liss seems a very likely candidate and I'm more convinced that she is Vedel than Chana!

Oh I didn't remember this! But I still think they could have met in Kharbranth

I’ve been rereading The Way of Kings and it stood out to me how Hesina in Kaladin’s flashbacks seems very scholarly, and she also seems to be interested in and to know a lot about spren, and now I can’t stop thinking that she is actually Hessi, the author of Hessi’s Mythica! We know that Hesina’s past is shrouded in mystery but that she comes from a more high ranking family. As such, it makes sense to me that she would have been highly educated in the Alethi feminine arts and pursued scholarship. And there is of course the obvious connection with the name Hessi and Hesina being very similar. It is said that she and Lirin met during Lirin’s travels, and we know that Lirin was training to be a surgeon in Kharbranth so my guess is that this is where they met. I believe that Hesina was in Kharbranth at that time studying the Unmade - 1) because the Palaneum would be the best place to research such a topic, and 2) because perhaps she figured out that Moelach was there and was studying the Death Rattles (which would have brought her into contact with Lirin if she was in the hospital to observe the Death Rattles herself). Hessi’s Mythica appears to be very certain about and familiar with the Death Rattles: Throughout Kaladin’s flashbacks we get a sense of Hesina’s intellectual nature. We know that she can read and write unlike other women in Hearthstone. Then there is the way she offhandedly corrects Kaladin’s use of words, and her use of wit and logic, for example: When Kaladin is upset about the townspeople gossiping about his father, Hesina tells him: The way she explains things to Kaladin in such a wise and level way reminds me of Jasnah, or rather it reminds me of a scholar. However this quote I think is even more significant. We know that Hessi’s Mythica was poorly received due its controversial arguments about the Unmade. So when Hesina says that people are “frightened of knowledge” and that things they don’t understand must be dark and mysterious, I think she is drawing on her own experience here too. Perhaps what stands out to me most of all is that the focus of one of the few interactions we see between Hesina and Kaladin is her knowledge of spren. It does not seem to be a superstitious kind of knowledge, nor does it seem to be common knowledge. To me it comes across as a scholarly knowledge, and something Hesina is very confident about. If we turn to Hessi’s Mythica, Hessi too seems to have a deep knowledge of spren. Mythica makes a point of identifying the Unmade as types of spren. The fact that Hessi makes reference to Jasnah shows that Hessi was writing in this current period, so Hesina is around the right age that Hessi would likely be. But it also means that in order for Hesina to actually be Hessi, she would have had to have published it while living in Hearthstone, not 19 years ago in Kharbranth when Jasnah would have been only about 15 years old. This isn't too big of an issue for me though. Hesina could have amassed her research and evidence and then finished writing it later on in Hearthstone, perhaps continuing her research in other ways that Kaladin wouldn't have been aware of as a child. These are my main thoughts, although I admit it is a bit of a crackpot theory!

@Sorana oh no! If I do another one I’ll try to take photos of the different steps if you ever want to try again

Thanks guys!! @Silva yeah my fingers definitely paid the price haha

Mads Mikkelsen is Odium for me. The way he played Hannibal Lecter = completely terrifying and charismatic all at once And Imogen Poots as Shallan Engin Altan Düzyatan as younger Dalinar flashbacks I also love the suggestions of Natalie Dormer as Venli and Tom Hiddleston as Hoid. Was also thinking Sam Claflin would make a great Hoid! photos in spoiler tags for length:

So this was my first attempt at needle felting... hello Sylphrena!

I agree that there’s more to Tien that we don’t know. Perhaps he’s hiding the fact that he’s not so happy as he seems and this “lie” is enough to attract a cryptic. Like he’s always trying to be the cheerful one to try to make Kaladin and those around him happy - similar to Shallan trying to cheer everyone up as a child. The fact that this might be a struggle for him to do so and that he’s hiding his true feelings sometimes is a pretty hard lie to live... Plus Kaladin’s the one who gets the attention of his family as the kind of family prodigy, the smart one, the successful one... Maybe Tien is jealous/resentful of this sometimes and he feels so ashamed and guilty for feeling this way about his own brother who he looks up to so much, and so he constantly has to hide those emotions both from his family and himself. I think it also makes sense that the constant cheerfulness we see from Tien comes from Kaladin’s perspective, who thinks the exact same thing of Shallan. In the chasm scene he thinks Shallan is just always so happy, that she must have had the perfect life, and could never understand his pain. He’s not good at seeing the pain that others hide and maybe this includes Tien’s.