Josiah Bills

Even so, I would think that they would still need a way to store stormlight even if they had a different way of actually getting it back then. If there is not a place with infused stones, I would not be surprised if the searchers found a large store of uninfused gemstones.

Our airsick lowlanders would have noticed if they were high enough to just ignore the storms. Also, as to how it has remained as clean as it is, I see no problem with there maybe being stone shamans coming to clean the place if it is in the Shin mountains as I theorized.

Didn't Shallan conclude that they put it at the center of the maps because people saw it as the center of everything? She may have concluded that it is at the center herself, but that could be wrong.

I can see two major issues which Kaladin has left to confront. You're right about letting go, and I mentioned those issues with taking too much responsibility above. It just seems so convenient that Kal is about to meet with the person who led him to one those two major hangups. A perfect opportunity to confront it is approaching, even if it is not part of the oaths.

Everyone who has read the mistborn series knows what happens when you assume something in a cosmere book. Apocalypses usually. Part of my theory relies on the idea that draining stormlight from a storm weakens it, and that the Shin mountains alone aren't enough to weaken the highstorms as much as they do.

So, this is actually two theories in one. My first theory is that Urithiru is located in the mountains shielding shinovar. I think this because of the windows, and because of Szeth. At the end of WOR Dalinar wonders how the windows in the tower of Urithiru were unbroken. This could be for several reasons, but I think that this provides evidence for the city being located in the Shin mountains. Secondly, it appears that Szeth visits here during his free time. This could be because the city is close to home, and Szeth was feeling particularly homesick on that occasion. My second theory is that Urithiru acts as a stormlight sink. My main evidence for this is because this city was home to a group of people with magic powers who all relied on stormlight in order to use their abilities. Perhaps Urithiru, in order to weaken the storms and give the radiants access to stormlight, has an enormous store of gemstones whose exclusive purpose is to drain stormlight from the highstorms, weakening them and giving the radiants potential access to enormous stores of stormlight. After being drained of the majority of its stormlight, the highstorm would then pass over Shinovar as a mild rainstorm before hitting the seas, rebuilding stormlight and strength. It would then circle the world to repeat the process over again. Even if I am wrong about the location of Urithiru, and the idea that draining stormlight from a storm weakens it, I still think that the radiants would and will need a massive, constant supply of stormlight. You are already beginning to see the results of lack of stormlight near the end of WOR.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but I have a theory as to what the fourth oath of the windrunners is, based off of information in the past two books. I came up with this theory by completing the pattern (bah-duh-tss). Each of the past two books has shown and dealt with one of Kaladin's many, Many, MANY issues. Book one dealt with how he was unable to protect anyone, and the second oath matched that: "I will protect those who can not protect themselves." The second book dealt with his difficulties wanting to protect those he hated, and his desire for vengeance. His oath again matches this: "I will protect even those I do not like, so long as it is right." Now, assuming that this pattern continues, what issues does he have for book three? I can think of two off the top of my head. There is his tendency to put the responsibility for his own issues on to others, while taking personal responsibility for everything (and I do mean everything) else. Then, there are his moral issues with killing to protect. Now, think about the end of book two, and who it is implied that Kaladin will soon meet. Who was it who said to Kaladin that you can not stop a storm by blowing harder? Right, his father, the man he is going to try and rescue in book three. If the pattern continues, and if I am correct then that means that the next oath of the windrunners has to do with when Kaladin will be allowed to kill. Perhaps it will be something like: "I will kill only when there is no other way of protecting." What do you think of my reasoning? Does it at least sound like I could be right?

Well, there is always Champion of Honor. After all, Honor himself said that it (naming a champion and forcing Odium to choose one) was the only way they could win. As for my favorite moments, I would have to say Nightblood, Syl's return, and the moment I realized that the everstorm was not some abstract term for the last desolation, but a real storm sweeping in from the wrong direction.

I wondered this myself, and came to the conclusion that Gaz decided the bridge would have nothing to gain by forcing those two to run. In fact, he may have noticed that the bridge crew was more efficient with the helpers. Bridge crews are supposed to die, but so long as they serve as a distraction they do not necessarily need to. After all, as soon as it was discovered that an armored bridge crew could serve as a good distraction they were allowed to wear armor

This seems plausible, but there is a problem. Aren't most lighteyes perceived by both themselves and others as honorable? I know that there are some cynics in the population who believe that all lighteyes are completely corrupt, Kaladin for example, but the largest majority sees them as upright. If this theory were true then the lighteyes would all be surgebinders simply because of others perception. There may be explinations for this however. Maybe the level of Honor of the people who believe a person to be honorable matters. Since Kaladin had a smaller, but ultimately more honorable group of people believing he was honorable, he was more honorable by association.

I had a similar idea a while back: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/2670-theory-the-30-magic-systems-are-actually-10/#entry46301. I am glad to know that I am not the only one to have thought of this. It seems to make the most sense given the known facts.

Actually, he said that he gave them to Elhokar to give to a warrior of his choosing. I would say that Gavilar's shards are now his.

Do we know whether other spren are capable of talking? I know that Kaladin mentions that it is pointless to talk to a spren, but does he ever say whether conversations with them are impossible?

You are probably right. Do you know whether Syl talks to anyone besides Kaladin? Also, I still think that it is possible that the parshendi knew that if they continued attacking the bridge crews Kaladin would be put in them. If they knew that then they could have used it to get an opportunity to kill someone who would be as deadly as a shardbearer to them. We already know that they are willing to sacrifice hundreds of men for the hope of taking down a shardbearer. An elaborate plan like this would not be so different. If the parshendi had ignored the bridgecrews, then they would have probably been given armor, and Kaladin would have ended up as a soldier one way or another.

But why was bridge 4 itself such a tempting target to the parshendi? My idea is that it might have been because the parshendi thought that someone dangerous might be put in it.

I have been wondering about two things for a while now. First, do we actually see Syl talking to anyone other than Kaladin? If not then maybe she can only communicate with him over their link. Also, why is bridge 4 always targeted? Is it just a coincidence that the first real windrunner in centuries turns up in that crew, the one that is targeted the most often by the parshendi? If it is not a coincidence, then perhaps the parshendi have some sort of future sight. I do not believe voidbinding is related to prophecy. Maybe prophecy was only associated with it because some parshendi can do both. If they do have some form of future sight, then maybe they saw that someone important was going to be in the bridge crews, most especially in bridge 4. Maybe the whole reason they focused on the bridgecrews was to keep that system in place so that when Kaladin came along they would have the opportunity to kill him. Maybe in the next book we will see Sadeas's bait system fail when the archers stop focusing on the bridgecrews.

The problem with that is that you still have to be able to see those 40 as either 10 or 30 as well. Brandon has said that their are 10 magic systems if you look at it one way, or 30 if you look at it another. I am currently of the opinion that the old magic is something else entirely. Perhaps the Nightwatcher is a worldhopper with some sort of mind based magic.

I think that the thirty magic systems described by Brandon are simply ten magic systems with three different methods of accessing them. These three methods are the following: surgebinding, voidbinding, and fabrial science. Surgebinding gains you access to a one of the ten magics, with that power growing stronger with each KR oath you speak. To gain the power you must begin by acting with honor. I am not sure about Voidbinding, but here is my theory: the ten levels of voidbinding stack. When one first becomes a Voidbinder he gains the first magic, windrunning. As he progresses he gains access to a new magic system each time, while keeping the old ones. At the tenth level he possesses all ten of the magics. The problem with voidbinding would be that each magic alone is only as strong as a surgebinder without the oaths. This would make a first level voidbinder weaker than a Fully oathed KR. Gaining voidbinding would be a result of performing an extremely odious action, something seen by others and oneself as purely evil. To gain a level, one would have to do another odious action. Szeth gained his powers this way, making him a first level voidbinder. As for fabrial science, that is a bit different. Fabrial science works by gaining you access to a portion of a larger magic system. For example, you can make a soulcaster that soulcasts, or one which takes you to shadesmar, but not one that does both. A fabrial which causes a breeze could be accessing a portion of windrunning, or it could be using some other magic system. (we have yet to learn if the three lashings are the limits of Windrunning.)

I think that the ability of Half Shards and Shardplate to block Shardblades is accidental. After all, why would the Knights Radiant needed the ability to block Shardblades? They could not have expected to need to fight one another. How do Half Shards block Shardblades? Supposedly, the fabrial strengthens the metal of the shield. How is stronger metal supposed to stop something that can cut through anything? My theory is that these two items block Shardblades not because of the strengthening, but because of the investment made by the fabrials. The same thing applies to Plate, only more so because of its increased complexity and power. Expanding on this, I think that shardblades are meant to destroy investment. What a shardblade does when it cuts a human is burn away his innate investment. When a Shardblade cuts an object that is strongly invested though, it only manages to do a bit of damage. The fuzzing of a Shardblade when it passes through humans is beacause it is burning away a weak investment. This could mean that Kaladin is immune to soul-burning when he is infused with stormlight. Instead the blade would cut him like an ordinary sword.

This fits with an idea that I have been playing around with. Fabrials need power, and Shardplate uses stormlight. Shardblades do not need stormlight and make you a lighteyes. I think that Shardplate and blades used to require a spren to use, linking them with Honor. Now, Odium powers Shardblades making them less honorable (and possibly linking him to lighteyes. Hence the "Thrill") and Shardplate needs stormlight. Also fitting in with this idea is the glow of the shards: the spren powering it changes the colors.