Pagerunner

@FirstSelector, that sucks about your phone. Glad to hear it was just an accident, though, and that you'll get it back. As long as the unpublished question isn't about unreleased Dragonsteel chapters, you can post it here, as long as it's clearly identified and in spoilers.

Being discussed here. Topic closed. @TheOneKEA, you should post your comment there. It hadn't come up in that thread yet.

Nazh is the one who picks up these maps and drawings (and likes to complain about it), so he's almost certainly the one who wrote the page on glyphs. Purity fits with the naming system of the Threnodite system, who had a Shard (Ambition) there at one point. Purity might be a person, or maybe even a place, in Threnody, but not a Shard. Good catch, though!

Just so you're aware, @Glamdring804 has posted that theory over here as well, but the thread is not tagged for OB spoilers, so I'll let this topic stay open for the time being. Oathbringer has shown us that there are different forms of the Surges, the most drastic one being Spiritual Adhesion (a.k.a. Connection manipulation) vs way we've seen Kaladin use Adhesion (presumably Physical). It's interesting that Kaladin and Dalinar can both use Spiritual Adhesion, but Kaladin cannot use Spiritual Adhesion. I wonder if all Surges have three forms, one for each Realm, and different Surgebinders are limited in their application. Maybe seeing the future, what Renarin did (and the Nightforms among the Listeners), is Spiritual Illumination, whereas Lightweaving is Physical Illumination and the way Shallan can transform people (like Gaz and Elhokar) is Cognitive Illumination. I think that Realmatics would be a better paradigm than Pushing or Pulling, but it's not an idea I've had time to develop yet. Regardless of how we slice it, there are different ways to use the Surges.

We only know of two dark spheres, and Gavilar gave one to Eshonai and one to Szeth. We're not sure where Eshonai's ended up, but Szeth hid his. One of them would need to make its way back to Kholinar, possibly before the beginning of the book (since Ashertmarn was definitely there at the end of WoR). I think it's important to distinguish between a gem and a sphere. Gavilar had spheres, which are pieces of gemstone inside a glass ball. But to 'bond' Yelig-nar, you need to swallow a gemstone, a whole piece. It was described as a smokestone when Amaram swallowed it. Although the distance may seem inconsequential to us, I think it's a key indicator that they aren't the same thing.

Everything that is recorded uploaded will make it online as quickly as we can manage. We have the audio from this event, and we'll be working on getting it out as soon. (As we all finished reading the book first!)

There's a difference between a carefully phrased piece of misdirection, and an outright lie. Since humans are people by (almost) every definition of the word, I don't think you can stretch that WoB to the point Brandon is only referring to the Dawnsingers while excluding humans.

Moved to Oathbringer Spoilers. Introduce Yourself is a spoiler-free zone. Oh, and welcome to the Shard!

I think there are some misconceptions on the subject of Roshar's ancient history that arose because Brandon has been intentionally cagey on this point. (Which makes sense, considering how it's a major twist.) That question was incorrectly paraphrased. The actual transcription is: The questioner gave Brandon a false dilemma, and Brandon gave an Aes Sedai answer. We know that humans did not migrate from Yolen to Roshar. Khriss says in the Rosharan AU essay that Ashyn suffered a cataclysm a long time ago, so I think that's our number one candidate for the original world of this group of humans.

So, we saw five of these on-screen in Oathbringer (Re-Shephir, Ashertmarn, Sja-anaat, Yelig-Nar, Nergaoul), and we know where Moelach is in the Horneater Peaks. That means, if Cusicesh (the big spren Axies observes) is indeed an Unmade, he is one of the ones we didn't see; but both of those are described as females, Chemoarish and Ba-Ado-Mishram. I don't think that either of them could be Cusicesh, although I know I've seen a theory that he is the Black Fisher Dai-gonarthis. I also don't think Dai-gonarthis is an Unmade, as speculated here. One of the thunderclasts, the one who destroyed the wall in Thaylen City, was named Kai-garnis, and if I'm reading the text right thunderclasts are ancient singers who have twisted their souls so they inhabit stone instead of people. If the destruction of Aimia was accomplished by Dai-gonarthis, then maybe he was a thunderclast who stuck around? All that goes to say, the ninth Unmade might actually be Cusicesh, whether or not Dai-gonarthis is an Unmade or not.

I think the gold metal is intentionally reminiscent of Odium's associations with gold. I think it's Odium's god metal, and that this is an Odiumblade. The way the sapphire in the pommel glowed made me think that Jezrien's soul was converted into Stormlight, basically; consumed and transformed into a form that Moash could use. Similar to how Kaladin 'drew upon' Syl when he and Shallan fell into the chasm, or when Preservation sacrificed his mind to imprison Ruin. Odium gave them a new weapon to kill Jezrien, to actually kill him.

I'm having a hard time reconciling CR mistspren/ PR Truthwatcher spren, and CR lightsprean / PR comet spren. The five kinds of spren we have seen in both Physical and Cognitive Realms have been extremely similar across Realms - in the case of Syl and Ivory, pretty much just a smaller version. I don't think that those ones match. The comet spren... there's something very odd about it. It speaks to Rhythms, even before Venli has bonded it. None of the other spren do that. If I were in a crazy mood, I'd say that mistspren sound like something that came over from Scadrial. But it would take quite a series of events to get Scadrian splinters serving Rosharan honorspren.

Airship translation: Painrial translation: Not quite sure on the first line of the airship one... I've triple-checked the letters, but unless there's space missing in that second word, I don't quite get it.

Great confirmation! I noticed that Mraize is the one carrying Ialai's chair into that big meeting, but he doesn't have appear to have the bird then.

What do we think the third Bondsmith Spren is, before we go for a fourth? It think I'm giving up on my idea that it was an Adonalsium spren; the prologue now seems obviously referring to Ba-Ado-Mishram as the "Ancient Spren." The way the Radiants seem to refer to Urithiru as "Sibling" in their gemstone recordings make me think the city itself is the third spren. I'm a little concerned for Sja-anat, now that Odium has the diagram. "One is almost certainly a traitor to the others." From the 2nd Desk Drawer, whose other quotations are talking about the Unmade.

Jasnah first mentions it in Chapter 56, as her theory for what the Radiants were fighting at the time of the Recreance. We apparently had parshmen taking on voidforms outside of an actual Desolation (so, presumably they didn't have Fused or Thunderclasts or anything like that.) The Chapter 80 epigraph is what I think connects Ba-Ado to that, since the other gemstone recordings were set shortly before the abandonment of Urithiru and the Recreance.

Some interesting worldhopping connections that aren't just limited to characters: Mraize's laundry lady gets "aether" out of his clothes. I won't stray into spoiler territory (save it for the Aether spoiler board), but it's nice to see that word appear in canon. Hoid has a jar of mastered sand. When Shallan spots him storytelling in Kholinar, his pack has a jar filled with something black, but it's also white on the side facing her. It must be black sand, with the sand closest to her feeding on her Stormlight and regenerating. I suspect it's what he uses for some of his dust-based storytelling. The "crystal ball" of the Elantrian fortune-teller makes me think of the Connection sphere that Kelsier used. Nothing too concrete as far as parallels go, but I think there's another Selish magic system that can use these for a number of things. The Court of the Gods painting in Shadesmar. Apparently, it's not just Returned who can get visions... maybe anyone with Investiture? Awakening is quite prevalent in this book. It's the first thing that the fortune-teller asks about when he realizes Kaladin has Investiture. We see Hoid use it on-screen at the end, we see Azure use it with her cloak around her arm while they are fighting in Kholinar, and we also see Azure prepare some defenders out of cloth before they part ways with her (although we don't see them get awakened on-screen). A new Nalthian Shardblade, which Azure has. It apparently has a mind, although it doesn't require constant Investiture like Nightblood and doesn't vaporize whoever it touches. (I think this is also designed to lay the framework for Odium's Shardblade, which we see Moash use at the end of the book.) Nightwatcher seems to reference Nightblood in the things she offers Dalinar. How did she get a hold of it? And how did Nale get it?

Syl, speaking to Kaladin at the end: It looks to me like there are two wars going on here. Humans vs Dawnsinger Humanity, on Ashyn, gains the power of Surges, through Odium. They use the Dawnshards to destroy that world. Humanity flees to Roshar, where Honor and Cultivation are. They take over the planet like a bunch of jerks. The Dawnsingers make a deal with Odium, to achieve immortality through resurrection to reclaim their world. The Heralds make a deal with Honor, forming the Oathpact. The spren side with humanity, forming the Radiants in imitation of Honor. Nine Heralds abandon the Oathpact, although it is still in effect. The Radiants, learning the truth of their homeworld, forswear their Oaths. That's what I think comes across pretty clearly from the text. But, there's another war behind the scenes, one which I don't quite understand. Here are some of the pieces, which don't fit together quite as well: Honor/Cultivation vs Odium Odium is trapped on Braize, and he wants to escape and kill other Shards. Honor and Cultivation are on Roshar, but... why? If the humans brought Odium with them, then those two Shards did not create their own copy of humanity, and the Dawnsingers predate the Shattering. Odium is worshipped first by humanity, later by Dawnsingers. He appears to help whoever is invading Roshar. How and when did Odium Splinter Honor? Honor survived the Recreance; he has memories of it, and he prepared Stormfather as his successor at some point after the Recreance (since Dalinar is the first he's bonded with "in this form.") All I can piece together of this second war is that Odium wants to destroy the planet, and will help whoever is more likely to do it. It's consistent with what Honor showed in the final vision, of the planet dropping away and being destroyed. But why? Is the planet what's keeping Odium locked away?

I stopped reading and spent an hour comparing that chart to my notes. I still wasn't able to decipher the HIghprince glyphs, even the new ones that Argent got from Isaac that do not appear to have been "smoothed out." There are also several symbols that appear clearly in Argent's glyphpair (which has obviously not been smoothed) which do not appear in the displayed components (which I assume are the Standard Phoneme Set). I think they must be a part of the Caligraphic Phoneme Set, which will be an entirely separate set of glyph components, which (I think) can both be used in the same glyph.

Agree 100%. Those were basically my impressions as well, but I hadn't made the last connection about Gavilar getting his Voidlight from her and hiding her in Kholinar. The size of that Dalinar used at the end of Oathbringer makes me think that the normal spheres are too small to hold an Unmade, and it also evidences that a perfectly cut gem is not a sphere. My initial impression of the last scene was that Odium's forces were after the Cryptic that Hoid rescued, since he recovered it from the same location. But I like your interpretation better. That was swallowing a gemstone, for Yelig-Nar. Which is what we saw happen on-screen with Amaram and the small amethyst, and referenced off-screen with Aesudan. Ba-Ado-Mishram provided Forms and Voidlight during the False Desolation, as referenced in the stormlight archive epigraphs. (Or is that not a good name for the gemstone library in Urithiru?) Odium normally provided both, but Ba-Ado was able to fill in for a period of time, resulting in the war that was happening during the Feverstone Keep visions. With Odium returned through a proper Desolation, they can take on forms without Ba-Ado. But she still has a big role to play as a commander,

I think it's worth mentioning that Frost is not a Shard, so it's possible Hoid is looking for help from powerful beings beyond just the Shards.

I'm not going to be at this signing, just making a thread for it. Who's gonna be there? Anyone have any experience with this bookstore?

Why is it being called sci-fi? Because "Skyward" is reminiscent of outer space? Or is it being conflated with Adamant, a sci-fi story that Brandon may set in the cosmere? EDIT: Never mind, it's called sci-fi here.

There are a number of these sorts of interviews in Arcanum, as their own events. What we'll typically do is pull out anything good and give it entries, without spending a lot of time transcribing general questions or the stuff Brandon has said many times before. I think we identified a half-dozen or so new entries from this interview, but we haven't gotten around to adding it or creating an event for it. (I dont know if you heard or not, but there's a new book coming out soon! That's been keeping us all busy.) Thanks for bringing it up; this interview is in the middle of our work process.

I've merged these topics, as they cannot effectively be discussed independently. Feel free to double-post when creating a topic if your thoughts will not fit into a single post.