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Endowment would have no need to smite people, I think. Really, on any single-Shard system, the Shard would probably take a pretty hands-off approach to the people mostly because nothing the people do can really hurt the Shard. So we get smaller-scale stories (more "save the city or kingdom" than "save the planet") because it's just operating on a different level. People aren't opposing Shards here, so there's no Shards-smiting-people going on. (spoilers for which stories have just one Shard involved and so no inter-shard conflict) Whereas on a multi-shard system, the people can be the "tiebreaker" in a fight between Shards, so we see epic save-the-world plots, but no shards-smiting-people because that's an inefficient use of shardic power in an inter-shard fight. (spoilers for which stories have multi-shard conflict)

If Cultivation is involved, there really doesn't have to be an explicit curse. The boon/curse is how the Nightwatcher operates, and some of the examples we see of it are pretty boring - boon granted is "enough cloth to keep a family from starving", curse "see the world upside-down". On the other hand, when Cultivation is involved, the whole boon/curse pairing is intertwined and you can't tell what's what. Dalinar got his memories pruned, and eventually they came back just in time... ...was the memories coming back his curse? Or was the memories being pruned both the boon and the curse? Hard to tell. Lift got the ability to metabolize food into investiture and to see/exist partly into the cognitive realm - I can't see anything in there I'd even call a curse. And for Taravangian, the boon/curse are tied together - intelligence and compassion, but not at the same time. You could call the "not at the same time" part the curse, I suppose. So I think if she wanted to, Cultivation would just do things for/to Syl, and then leave us readers to figure out how exactly to categorize that as part-boon and part-curse.

Curious, what are those scenes/WoBs? It is a theory that interests me

Could have been a pact where both thought they were getting one up on the other, maybe? E.g. maybe Odium thought that the pact would let him "duel" Honor and Cultivation in order instead of together, thinking that Honor was agreeing to it just because Honor was being corrupted by his Shardic intent. But maybe it had a loophole that then basically kept Odium stuck in the Rosharan system until those duels happened... ....and didn't actually compel either Honor or Cultivation to fight, so then they both retreated and said "yep, you're stuck here with us now." OK, so fleshing out the theory - the "pact" could have been like formalizing duel arrangements. "Honor and Cultivation will fight Odium individually, not bringing their power to bear on him together. The battle will take place in the Rosharan system, with H+C starting on Roshar and O on Braize and not leaving until the fight is complete. " Odium agrees because he thinks he's got better chances at two sequential duels rather than a one-on-two fight. H+C agree because they want to bind Odium to the system for as long as possible. Hidden loophole - no timelimit and no requirement to engage, allowing Honor and Cultivation to basically hide and stall. They think they can just do this indefinitely! ...so Odium is trying to draw Honor out to fight him - by sending Desolations to create a situation so dire for Roshar that Honor HAS to come out of hiding to protect the Rosharans using his Shardic powers, thus opening himself up to a strike. And so we get the setup for Stormlight history - Odium trapped in the Rosharan system, Honor and Cultivation hiding, Odium trying to provoke H+C by doing horrible things to Roshar (+Ashyn?) to make H+C use their powers and thus battle him. Huh, I'm starting to see this theory as a plausible explanation. I don't think we have text or WoB support for it, but it's at least a plausible mechanism for how Honor might have "trapped" Odium in the Rosharan system, why Odium cares about all this desolations and voidbringers stuff, why the Odium vs H+C conflict never got resolved via a straight-up shardfight, and why now O and C are both trying to be behind-the-scenes and manipulative rather than going in guns blazing.

With the clarification, I think yes. I'd guess bronze-burning and screamer spren are likely using the same kind of sensitivity-to-investiture mechanice. I would guess yes. I would guess yes - with practice. We've also had it WoBbed that a bronze-burner would be able to detect the Rhythms.

That's not a short story though, I think I'd expect the short stories (especially published things like Children of the Nameless) to be treated differently than unpublished drafts/curiosities.

Could be competing Shards. If he expends too much of his power to do something, then Cultivation could immediately take the opportunity and kill/splinter him, she wouldn't give him time to recuperate. Or whatever binds him to Braize doesn't have to do with the planet and would still be active, just confining him to an empty space. We don't know how the confinement work. My guess is on the former though. I think the times we've seen inter-shardic conflict go down to the level of depending on humans to make a difference are all because the Shards are nearly perfectly evenly matched, so whoever makes the first power-intensive move loses. That's how it was in Preservation v Ruin; anything one could do, the other could counter, and the differences were at the margins, which is why the actions of the humans could make a difference. That (relatively) little bit of Atium the humans kept hidden was enough to compensate for the extra investiture Preservation put in humans. And so at the end, they were *exactly* evenly matched - Vin and Ati both mutually-killed each other because their powers were exactly equal. My guess is that it's similar here - Cultivation and Odium are both playing the game of "What's the minimum amount of power I can expend to do some damage to the other guy." If one of them ever messes up and does something too costly, the other can pounce and win. It's why Odium is mostly working on the level of "supply the Fused with some voidlight, appear in some visions but other than that just boss around his Unmade" and Cultivation is like "here let's just tweak Dalinar's memories a bit and give Lift some food-to-investiture powers" and neither is like "OK let's just go out guns blazing." No idea why Honor+Cultivation didn't team up and destroy Odium when there was two of them, though. Maybe Honor got himself into some Oaths he couldn't break, because he was too Honorable like that. Not sure.

Or, vice versa, Hoid would have to store Connection while on Roshar, and tap connection to Roshar when he leaves.

Adolin probably hasn't said much about Maya, because there's not much to say. All the stuff about reviving her is our fan-speculation; there's no indication that anybody in-world has come up with this as a possibility. Sure, Adolin kind of summoned her with fewer heartbeats once, but as far as he can tell, that was just a curiosity. She helped him out in Shadesmar, but is that some big heavy Reveal Of Cosmic Secrets? No, it was just a fight, and I think none of the characters have interacted with Deadeyes in Shadesmar for this to seem unusual. And he knew her name - great, so his sword is named Maya and not Oathbringer, cool name. I think Adolin hasn't talked about it not because he's keeping it some terrible hidden secret, but because to the characters involved, it seems like a minor curiosity rather than a hint of massive world revelations. They don't get to do the textual analysis we can do to see what's been given narrative importance that indicates it's part of some larger plot.

Also from the same annotation from Brandon, about Bridge Four: Rock is off to the Horneater Peaks to be "punished" (possibly by being given responsibility and being made their King or something, is my guess). The former Bridge Four crew aren't Kal's squires anymore - they're Windrunners in their own right and have crews of their own squires. I'm also going to guess that sometime soon is the moment Rlain (possibly after being rejected by Yunfah?) goes off and starts doing his own thing, and not waiting to be part of the no-longer-cohesive Bridge Four.

This might be the start of the "bold operation" that the enemy is launching.

Yeah, that's what made the most sense to me. Technically we don't know, but Timbre's the only spren we've confirmed that Venli's been in contact with, so it seems the most straightforward connection.

Hm. Thinking about it. If the mists are used to power allomancy, then they wouldn't heal Vin since that's not what Allomancy does. Pewter abilities lwould make her strong enough to act despite physical injuries, but not heal. If the mists are being used for their other function (moving all of Preservation's power into their target for an Ascension) then that also doesn't heal. ...but yes, Investiture is in a sense interchangeable if you know how - on Roshar we know that Vasher is powering his Returned status with Stormlight instead of Breaths, and there's WoB that he could technically use it to Awaken if he could figure out how. And of course we've seen how you can use Allomancy to power Feruchemy with compounding, etc. But in all those cases, it looks like people are using the wrong source of investiture to do something they already know how. A feruchemist can power their feruchemy with allomancy if they can get it. A Returned can power their Divine breath with Stormlight. So following that trend, the answer would be no. Vin COULD use the mists to power any other investiture-based powers she knew how to use - so IF she were a bloodmaker, or a radiant, she'd in principle be able to heal with mists instead of using the intended power source (if she knew how to do the conversion). Or if she were also a radiant, she'd be able to use the mists to power her surges, instead of stormlight. But accessing investiture/mists doesn't by itself give those powers. ...well, until she gets enough of them and Ascends and holds Preservation, at which point she has all of Preservation's powers which is everything.

I like it! That's a very nice way of putting it. I definitely like it better than the oath being about "forgiving himself", that always seemed a bit off but I could never place why. Thinking back to the times he's failed to swear the oath... once was when he was failing to protect Dalinar at Thaylen City. Dalinar was there because of his own choices, he was of course putting himself in danger to save the city. So that fits. The other times he's failed at swearing it is when he freezes - when he can't protect his Windrunners who are there because they're choosing to fight. I think it fits!

Yeah, it would be pretty hard to tell. I don't know, I'm imagining seeing a raccoon in the woods. How would I tell? I'm not gonna pick it up and inspect it. Or, like a bear. Wouldn't know. A deer I'd be able to tell - by antlers. And a Parshendi in a form besides mateform - well, sounds like "Beard" is the best way to tell. So if Leshwi has always appeared beardless, maybe that's why Kaladin always assumes female. Kal would probably not notice "a bit of stubble", so wouldn't even notice that this body is particularly different from others.

So this discussion has definitely made me excited to see an Edgedancer journey from Adolin. Not because he's already a great Edgedancer, but because he's in that sweet spot right on the boundary. People here have made great points about why he's a good fit, but also great points about why he's not. And I think that's perfect. If he was already living by all the oaths, there'd be no journey left, he just swears them and keeps doing his thing. If his personality completely didn't match, then it would be absurd that he becomes an Edgedancer just to fit his sword. But as he is - he's right on the boundary. He's thinking in some of the right directions, but clearly has a long way to go. Actually living by the oaths is gonna take some rough character growth for him - as it should! But it'll require growth rather than a complete character rewrite.

Stormlight books 3 and 4 are already introducing the concept of multiple worlds being in contact! The trips to Shadesmar in Oathbringer, as Brandon said in that WoB, are the start. And in RoW, Shallan discovers the Ialai/Ghostblood notes about "Nalathis" "Tal Dain" and "Scadarial". So both the characters and the readers are explicitly learning about other worlds. I think the key point for me is that "multiple worlds being in contact" is not the same thing as "requiring other series". In Stormlight Archive, we're getting introduced to people and plots that touch other planets. The Ghostbloods and their plans, the Warbreaker trio, the economy of Shadesmar. But everything you need to know about those people/planets in order to read Stormlight is introduced in Stormlight - there's not going to be a plot point that relies on knowledge readers would be expected to have from Warbreaker or Mistborn or White Sand.

Well, there's another reading of that though - that he kept Venli around as an envoy, to be the Last Listener and to evangelize listenerhood. He picked her to do exactly what she was sent to do afterwards. She hadn't bonded Timbre at the time yet, Timbre was still just flitting around. Doesn't mean Odium knows what happened later. Or it could be that he plans to try and use her to take over another Knight Radiant order maybe, like he did with Skybreakers? Still, I figure if he knew about her then Leshwi and the other Fused would too, or at least Leshwi would be somehow being used differently. Basically, it's not particularly obvious that Odium knows about Timbre+Venli until he actually *does* something with that knowledge.

Those things aren't contradictory! You don't have to read *other books* to read SA, though SA introduces readers to the broader cosmere now.

Yeah, that's an excellent point. Has there been any indication in-story that Nightblood would kill the Fused any more effectively than a normal Shardblade? Why would the characters think it would? For them, it just seems like a weirdly strong shardblade. It can kill you just with a small nick so it's a bit easier to kill with than a regular blade, but on the other hand if you lose the sheath somehow you yourself get eaten. Szeth almost died last time he used it. Seems like something to save for emergencies, not a routine weapon. This particular reason I'd disagree with though. It's the other way around - Warbreaker is the prequel for these characters, written because Sanderson knew that these characters would figure in the Stormlight Archive. So I definitely expect the Warbreaker Trio (Vasher, Vivenna, Nightblood) to have some important role to play in SA (otherwise they wouldn't have been relevant enough to write a prequel for!) But I definitely expect them to get their own introduction in Stormlight. I think it's a good bet that Nightblood's gonna be pretty important in Book 5 since that book will have a bunch more Szeth in it - but it'll be introduced well enough so that people who *only* read Stormlight learn what Nightblood is and where it came from. I'm also guessing that Vasher's Returned-ness is going to be important (but given how he still hasn't been given much of a buildup yet, I'd expect that to be in the back 5 books and not in the first five.) Because weilding Nightblood effectively isn't easy, and it's pretty risky. In Warbreaker, Vasher used Nightblood as best he could, and it's not like Nightblood trivialized that plot. ...in fact, getting Vasher to draw Nighblood was a pretty key point of DENTH'S plan to drain Vasher of Breaths. "Use Nighblood" isn't an instant win button no matter how powerful that sword is, because once it's drawn it's basically just as dangerous for the weilder as it is for their enemies. Heck, even in Stormlight, the Fused nearly killed Szeth just by stealing Nighblood's sheath and keeping it away from Szeth until Szeth died of lack of Stormlight. Only Dalinar's perpendicularity saved him, if I remember right? I could be misremembering the details.

I actually think there's a more fundamental issue at play here besides "poor organization structure of the Knights Radiant" - it's the disunity and distrust in the opposition to Odium. They cannot have a "command structure for the Knights Radiant" because the Knights Radiant aren't all on the same side! At the very least, it's obvious that the Skybreakers are (mostly) on Odium's side, so far with Szeth the only exceptions we know of. Taravangian is playing a double agent and our one known Dustbringer/Releaser (Malata) seems to be in favor, so she obviously doesn't want to be under the command of anyone on Team Honor/Cultivation. So Kharbaranthinan/Veden Radiants are out, as are Dustbringers/Releasers. The various other human nations are also only reluctantly committed to the coalition. Well, Thaylenah might be all for it now, but the rest of 'em certainly don't want to permanently give up their newfound Radiants to the Alethi! (Dalinar is trying to set up an independent organization in Urithiru so that it doesn't look to other nations like they're becoming vassals to Alethkar. Even getting as far as he has it's massive success, but there's a lot further to go.) And hey. If there was a natural leader for the Knights Radiant - someone who could indisputably be the head of all the orders, who everyone would recognize as being given the god-granted right to lead them - it would be Ishar, Herald of the Bondsmiths. ...and he's probably on Team Odium, or at the very least totally insane. So that's not a great plan.

Huh. Mostly, I woudn't expect Khriss to get involved in a violent conflict like this. She's a researcher, not a warrior, and these guys are in the middle of a Shardic fight against Odium, a fight which is spilling over to the Cognitive Realm which is Khriss's way in and out. This would be a time I'd expect Khriss to go "I'm staying the heck away and watching" rather than "I'm gonna go poke the bear".

The Knights Radiant aren't really being used to provide a command structure, the command structure is the same as if all the people involved were not Radiant. Jasnah has authority over people because she's the Queen of Alethkar. Dalinar has authority because he's the highprince of Urithiru and leader of the coalition. Malata would take orders from Taravangian, who technically claims to be allied with Dalinar, so for now Malata would listen to him (in public at least). As far as we know the Edgedancers are based out of Urithiru and so probably answer to Dalinar through that, so including Lift and Stump (probably via some command stucture)? I don't know that this organization is similar to or different from how the Knights Radiant were organized in the past, but I don't think the characters do either, so it doesn't really come up or matter.

Well, possibly he never really bonded with his new Shardblade - after all, it's not like they would let a darkeyed madman keep hold of his blade!

So, the thing is, "wings for lift" is a solution to a problems the Rosharans don't have. It solves the problem of how do you convert forward motion into upwards lift. You need wings for lift when it's easy to generate forward speed, but hard to counteract the force of gravity. But that's just not something Rosharans really need! Lashings can just be directly pointed in the direction they want to fly - lift-wings just make controlling the contraption counterintuitive for the people doing the lashings. On the other hand, they don't have propellers or jets or any kind of engines on the ground, so "going forward fast" isn't an easy thing for them. So Navani may well understand the idea, but just not have a useful application of it yet.