Senor Feesh

Recent signing, someone asked the question. It's confirmed.

On what basis does a Shard choose which planet to settle/colonise? Do they have any specific criteria they look for? Edit: Beyond the capacity to support human life, I mean.

Yeah, I'm currently re-thinking my viewpoint on how Shardic magic works, and I'm thinking that the planet has a much bigger part in it than I recently thought. I'm currently thinking of the best way to word a question for the Ultimate Q&A thread, to optimise info gained vs. risk of RAFO.

As Phantom pointed out above, Atium alloys will have temporal AND mental effects - so don't feel constrained to speculating only timey-wimey effects.

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful actually - it's helped me to reconcile the two seemingly conflicting statements. It's not that Preservation's power can't be used to destroy (we've seen with Allomancy that it obviously can); rather that someone being influenced by the Intent will find it difficult (or impossible) to use the power destructively (perhaps even to do anything destructive, though that may be a stretch - Ruin was able to act in non-ruinous ways in the short-term to set up larger gains (losses?) in the long run).

Devotion and Love are not necessarily synonymous. Please let's not assume too much. Although Devotion and Dominion in a romantic involvement does make me think of S&M

Ok, please let me know if I'm being crazy, but I thought I read somewhere that Rashek, when he held the power of the Well, was unable to use the power to destroy (something, I forget what) because the power was of preservation. This actually informed my (now debunked) Shardic Lens theory. However, if I DIDN'T imagine this quote, it seems to contradict the info which I linked over there - specifically, that any Shard can be used to power any magic system, but that the Shards themselves are limited in HOW they grant the power. As such, Rashek should have been able to destroy whilst holding Preservation's power. So does this quote exist, or am I crazy? I would actually prefer the second option, because it preserves (heh) consistency in the quoted material.

I think it would still be possible to run out of Allomantic metals - if the consumption rate is higher than the reformation rates, it wouldn't take much. I know it could be argued that Atium, as a god metal works differently, but consider how long it takes for Atium to reform after being burned.

Ha, thanks Windy what can I say, I follow the scientific method. If the evidence disagrees with me, so be it. And to put the lid on this theory for all time, I offer the following: source Look out for my next theory, when I think of one

Yes. Yes you should

Did the creation of half-shards only become possible once Honor was Splintered?

Nah, thanks Windy I don't see a way around that without serious twisting, and I know this guy Occam who taught me how to shave... Edit: gah, stupid brain. I do see one possible way, which is that the Shards still each have a chunk of the full-spectrum power innate to each of them, but the use is filtered by intent. I'm still gonna go with Occam and my gut though, and unless I get a good reason to change my mind call this theory toast for now.

Perhaps they are; I don't know if it's come up.

Surely that would have been more noticeable than just a 'weird feeling'? I'm also thinking a nudge from Ruin is more likely.

I agree with Windy in that the flash probably signifies the blade becoming attached to Amaram. However, I do find the logic of blades containing trapped spren to have merit. In fact, this may even be what facilitates the bond between weilder and blade, some kind or forced bond with the spren. That's probably not a new idea, but I don't remember seeing it before.

Hoorah for horribly inaccurate book-related music XD I'm currently listening to Apoptygma Berserk (lots of it), but I'll take the opportunity this thread offers to plug one of my fave bands - The Protomen

Atium and Malatium don't actually belong to those sections of the chart though (in truth Cadmium and Bendalloy do). Because of that, it might mean the internal/external pushing/pulling aren't correct for those metals either. I'm not saying they are wrong, only that they could be. I think the only confirmed info on Atium beyond it's pure form, is that alloys would create 'various expanded temporal effects'. Seeing as Malatium has an obvious shared property with gold, we can speculate on other alloys being related to the original metals. Perhaps [tin/Atium] lets you see/hear/smell the past? I'm not sure how this would pan out for emotional Allomancy... hmm... Saying that, what would [Atium/bendalloy] or [Atium/cadmium]? The only thing I can think of of-hand is swapping the external to internal, and having the time-effect only affect the user - or, gods, even catapult the user into the past or future (incidentally I despise time-travel - paradoxes are a major pain in the rear). There's no harm in speculating, just be prepared for others to agree/disagree with you using logic no better informed than the logic you're using - we just don't know enough yet to really have anything concrete.

Wow, Ryan, that's a great effort at consolidating what we know so far. Some nice conjecture in there too, although we don't have enough yet that I'm comfortable weighing in with if I think you're right or not. I will say this though; as much as I'd love to see a story where Joel doesn't become a Rithmatist by the end of the series, I expect he will. And it's not because of any reason presented in the story so far (although the fact he saw the creature in the Inception room certainly implies something beyond the mundane). It's simply because this is a YA story. Yes, it's a horribly meta reason, and maybe Brandon will prove me wrong, but ultimately I don't see the majority intended audience being satisfied with and ending where Joel doesn't become a Rithmaist - unless he becomes something else, anyway.

Where is the Expanse of the Vibrance on the map?

Not that Nalizar doesn't choose Joel. Nalizar wonders why 'they' didn't choose Joel. It's during their final conversation. Some people interpret this as the creature in the Inception chamber (which may be a Shadowblaze, but I'm not taking that as 100% confirmed). Others are suggesting 'they' may refer to a human agent who in some way influences the process.

Koloss were actually designed to be aggressive, it's not just a function of the spikes. TLR wanted them to fight with each other and kill themselves off if they ever got out of control (alas, he didn't predict that they'd figure out how to harvest spikes). Inquisitors I think were heavily influenced by Ruin even before TLR's death, as they made great tools (being all Allomantically powered killing machines and all). Hemalurgy doesn't automatically make you irrational, rage-filled creatures. It just opens you up to Ruin's influence - and he chose to ignore the Kandra, thinking they weren't worth his time as a tool. Silly Ruin.

Look at the Shadesmar map again; it's an inversion of Roshar. So the land on Roshar is sea in Shadesmar (I guess made of beads, given Shallan's visits there?) whereas the oceans of Roshar are land in Shadesmar. Given that distance in Shadesmar is more of a function of Cognition in some respect (rather, that areas of low cognitive activity such as the void of space have little presence in Shadesmar) it's very likely that these barren areas in Shadesmar represent the reaches of space between Shardworlds - which would require only a (relatively) short walk to get to. I very much like the notion of Densities being Scadrial, even more with Yados' interpretation. So if we're looking at it that way, what would Vapours (yes, I'm British!) relate to? Wispy, smoky cognitive presence would be... what, very spread out populations? Not sure what that would fit with. And Broken Sky... well, Sel is the obvious choice simply because of the word 'broken', but I'm still kind of thinking along the lines of Yolen and Taldain, because why throw out that Densities relates to a world we've seen and then not mention the others? So in my own head I'm going to table those two for now. Edit: Actually, another consideration is the location of the mountain ranges in Shadesmar - they correlate with the Purelake, the Reshi Sea (which seems to be behind a reef made by the Reshi Isles) and an area in the ocean known as the Southern Depths. I don't know what relevance this has, but I'm sure it won't be a coincidence - perhaps these are places on Roshar where the water is unusually deep? I don't know that what would have an impact Cognitively. I will ponder this.

Hi Govika, and welcome Some general advice, as you're planning to read the other books in time, is to be very wary of spoilers on this board. You're likely to see a lot of talk about Odium which relates (factually or speculatively) to other Shardworlds. That said, I look forward to hearing your conspiracy theories on WoK

Nice questions, and some great answers. I daresay some theories regarding Cultivation will be reconsidered now

Regarding Cryptics, do we actually know that they use a Nahel bond? It's something I see bandied around a lot, but something about the interactions we've seen isn't sitting right with me. They don't seem to have bonded with Shallan, and there's always a lot of them (rather than the one-on-one thing Syl and Kaladin have)