Oudeis

On Isaac Stewart's map of Luthadel: ...Kredik Shaw is represented by something that looks a bit like an allomantic symbol. Does anyone know what, if anything, it means?

Well, unlike the "Greek Gods" of the Shards, I've always gotten the impression that the full Adonalsium itself actually was God, if perhaps not a fully omnipotent one. Still, Investiture is called the Power of Creation. The case could be made that it is inherently divine. The other question is, does every shardworld incorporate it into their religion (which may or may not have any connections to Adonalsium). The Arelish, for example, actually worshipped the Elantrians themselves, not as avatars of Devotion and Dominion but as self-contained Gods. Feruchemy is prolly the most secular "magic" of Scadrial. I wonder about hemalurgy, though... The head of hemalurgy on Scadrial was the Lord Ruler who knew more about Ruin and Shards than we the fans do. Did he worship Ruin? Did he know he was a God? It's kind of up-in-the-air how "divine" he thought hemalurgy was.

By Steel Ministry doctrine, allomancy is a power granted by God (The Lord Ruler) to his chosen allies and their descendants. They're not exactly worshipped, but the power is considered divine. Spiritwebs (aka sDNA) are a mystery, but we know that they include wherever you were born, we know hemalurgic spikes steal or transmit parts of them. As for the realm, I personally suspect that we've seen it; I think it's where Stennimar was when he died the first time, saw the world, and was offered the chance to Return. This is entirely baseless, just a gut feeling.

Some of the WoB is obscure and confusing and worse, contradictory. I should also mention that (ironically, per WoB) any WoB is mutable. So until it's flat-out stated in-universe, what we know could prove false.

Aaaaah, cool. Sorry if I could have tried to clarify more politely. I just went up to re-read what I'd written before, and should have done the "read the words aloud to see if you sound like kind of a jerk" trick before posting. [smiley face to defuse tension]

...Actually no, he (she?) posited two possibilities, neither of which are the one you describe. Though I do hear that one speculated on constantly on these fora. Also, while Shuden claims he's not very good, he in fact takes down two or three Dhakor monks. Either ChayShan is fantastically overpowered, or he's not as weakened by distance as AonDor is (not very) far from Arelon. Or, I suppose, maybe the Dhakor monks, being far from Fjordell, aren't at full strength either, though Dilaf never seems to suffer any noticeable weakness. Maybe in Fjordell he really would be just incomparably strong?

WoB has flatly stated that Harmony actually does have the two opposing Intents, which argues against the idea that he no longer feels either, but just an urge to seek harmony.

That seems inconsistent. Why would people on Roshar consider their hair to be not a part of their bodies, but people on Nalthis do? I also always find the "because Cognitive aspect trumps everything" to be a weak catch-all card to play with huge flaws. If that were the case, wouldn't insane people have incredible powers? If I'm crazy and truly believe I can fly, shouldn't my Cognitive aspect trump the laws of physics and grant me flight?

Nightblood, like Spren or Seons, is power which has become self-aware. In the case of Spren and Seons, this happened when one human, wielding a fraction of the power of God, shattered other fractions of the power of God. Not sure if you count that as a species which has evolved magically independently of humans; Rayse never set out to make Seons, it was a natural result of what he actually did do.

More people seem to Awaken around Vivenna, actually, than Siri... I'm gonna guess no? Which is odd. On Roshar, Yet on Nalthis this doesn't seem to be the case. Even without anything to Awaken, they keep all color away from Vahr just in case. Why bother, if he could simply use the color of his own hair? Maybe there's something about Breath. Maybe it permeates your whole being, even your hair, making it "part of your living body" the way it isn't on Roshar. Since Vasher does use spilled blood, it's been suggested that Vivenna could cut off her hair, which would presumably either stay the last color it was or revert to whatever her "natural" color is, use it for Awakening, then grow more hair and repeat the process.

I've been wrestling with how to address this. The idea makes sense in my own head, and I try to clothe that idea with words that will deliver the same idea into the heads of others. Basically... I don't think he ever "fixed" the situation. I think he straight-up did break one of his promises, and that this is part of what killed Sylphrena. I think the recovery was almost unrelated. I also think something else you said was right: If Kaladin had sworn he would pick up some milk on the way home, but then had to go out of his way to kill some Voidbringers and didn't, that would bother, perhaps even hurt Syl, but it wouldn't kill her or end the bond. I believe you're right, it was the breaking of an oath combined with the abandonment of an Ideal. So. Here's the analogy. Let's say Kaladin was fighting stormform Eshonai without any spheres or Stormlight and she breaks his leg with a kick. His leg is now broken. Boo-hoo. But what's that? A gemheart! Filled with Stormlight. Kaladin sucks it all in. Now, his leg heals itself and he's stronger and faster, to boot. I see this as the analogy. Stormlight healing doesn't do time-travel, it doesn't make it so that your leg hadn't been broken in the first place, it just fixes what was broken. I don't think Syl came back because Kaladin found a way to unbreak his word. I think the damage from that had been done, but his deepening of his power as a Radiant and his acceptance of a fundamental Ideal of being a Windrunner was a powerful agent able to heal the damage he'd done to his Bond. Admittedly, this is wholly my own interpretation of events. I think that what happens in the books is nebulous and not-spelled-out enough that we may not know for some time, if ever, what truly and exactly happened. However, this is just my idea. I am against the idea that honor means, "I will fulfill only the things I swear I will do, if I later decide they were also the right thing to do." That's a loophole I could ride a chull through. Breaking your word is breaking your word, and the lesson we should take from Kaladin's example is, be much more careful when you give your word in the first place. You don't get to just take it back later when you decide the thing you promised to do wasn't right. Also I love your example of how a good person can still agonize over doing what is right but hard. At the risk of opening a can of worms, consider Jesus Christ. Putting all the religion aside for a moment, whether or not one happens to agree with Christian mythology, taken as a pure work of (possibly fictional) literature most people acknowledge that, as a protagonist, Jesus is a relatively good man. He still agonized over the fact that he'd have to die and suffer literal damnation in order to save the world. (Remind you of any Heralds we know?) it was absolutely the right thing to do, he knew it well, beyond a doubt. And he still begged to God that a way could be found to avoid his fate, despite knowing there wasn't. Again, whether or not this is your particular religion or you believe in any religion, taken purely as a story, most people would accept the general premise of the situation as plausible. Good people can absolutely agonize over clear-cut, right-or-wrong decisions. And that's even assuming that you'll only ever be presented with the opportunity to decide right from wrong; what about the times when you just have two or more kinds of wrong to pick from?

This is a fascinating question I haven't myself wondered before. I am briefly going to pen down the few thoughts I have, behind spoilers per Shardworld. One overarching thought is to think about how long humanity has been on each Shardworld. Some of them have been there for, at least, several millenia. Scadrial: Roshar: Nalthis: Sel: Threnody: First of the Sun: As for your questions: Language is definitely not the same Shardworld to Shardworld, though it's implied that many of them will exhibit common roots. Hoid, for example, needs magic to speak local languages. I will try to find the WoB. The Hallandren believe in a vague, non-specific God called the Iridescent Tones. The Tones are what Return heroes as Gods. Gods are manifestations of the Tones. The Tones are less like a "I imagine you as a human being" God and more like an idea of fate or destiny, more overarching and universal. Llarimar (Scoot) happens to be my favorite character in that book, and he talks the most about this. Sel: It is implied that certain places have certain magic. I'm not sure if that means there are "points of light", i.e. certain places will allow for magic but most places will not (Teod either doesn't have one, or is technically within the Elantrian hegemony, just so far as to have crippled power). It could be that every possible magic system in the world will cover the entire planet, but it's also possible that not everywhere does have magic. However, we do know that a new place will have a new magic. The current Arelish people migrated across the world and found the city of Elantris. The king's own daugther was the first taken by the Shaod and made Elantrian. Moving to the geographic location made the people attuned to the magic that must have already existed there (else, how could the City already have been made in the form of an Aon?)

Source.

...No. RAFO specifically means that the information has not been revealed.

Keep in mind also that as I pointed out, Kaladin's Bond was doomed. This is alluded to in the book itself at one point. He gave his word to protect Elhokar. He gave his word that he would allow Elhokar's death. At that point, he could not simply have turned in the conspirators, recovered Syl and been fine. He put himself in a position where he HAD to break his word to someone; this, not a reduction in his protection, is what hurt his bond. Also, my personal understanding of the Ideals is not in line with what I mostly see represented on the fora. Dalinar and Adolin talk about this in Way of Kings. Dalinar at first doesn't want to force people to obey the Codes. Similarly, just trying to obey the letter of the law of the Ideals is not going to make you a Knight Radiant (Well, except maybe for a Skybreaker). WoB (I believe, I cannot seem to find it) is that for several orders, the different Ideals weren't codified; for the Lightweavers, for example, they speak specific Truths, unique to each Radiant. If you go into it thinking, "Okay, here's what the rules are. I will make sure that the actions I take are in keeping with these rules, and then a spren will give me magic powers," I do not believe you will ever attract a spren (unless there's an Order whose nature fits that; maybe Dustbringers?). As Dalinar eventually realizes, forcing people to behave in a certain way is, at best, a step on the path to getting them to actually internalize the ideas of them. A true, fully-realized Windrunner, therefore, will not be someone who thinks, "What are the strictures by which I must act in order to get/maintain my powers?" She will be someone who doesn't think about it, whose underlying premise behind every thought and impulse will be the urge to protect people. It will be someone who sees powers as a valuable tool to protect people, not someone who sees protecting people as the price you must pay in order to get power. Just my thought; something of a minority opinion.

I disagree with Pulse. What follows is my personal interpretation of the book, which I believe is as valid. Every Order is different. Syl was damaged not because Kaladin disobeyed an Ideal. She is Honorspren. In hers and Kaladin's specific code of honor, once you give your word you cannot break it. Kaladin was Elhokar's bodyguard, and gave his word to do everything in his power to protect the King. Being complicit in his murder broke that word. What is interesting about the situation is that he trapped himself in a catch 22. Syl was being hurt and regressing from the moment he agreed to the plan, because now he'd given his word. Kaladin learned that honor can require you to actually think sometimes, and not just run off and do whatever seems "right" at the time. A lot of people who claim to have honor find themselves in similar circumstances, where they promise two things that are entirely contradictory. He promised Dalinar that he would protect the King's life. Then he promised Moash that he would allow the King's murder. It was like jumping off a the empire state building (for someone who isn't a Windrunner). You aren't technically dead yet, but you've put yourself in a position where death is inevitable. Contrast with Pattern. A somewhat similar thing happened to him with Shallan, yet she certainly broke no oath. She killed only in clear and present self-defense, which we've seen is entirely possible for a Radiant. And she did nothing to make her a "bad person". Hoid himself points out that she's being a pretty amazing person. But as Sylphrena lives or dies by honor, Pattern lives or dies by an understanding of the subjective nature of truth. When Shallan grew incapable of accepting the truth of her life, when she trapped herself within a lie, Pattern broke and all but disappeared for years. Lastly, neither Surgebinders nor Radiants have to be good people. As Nohadon says, not all spren are as discerning as Honorspren. Nothing in any Ideal says "also don't be a jerk." There was a large thread somewhere, where a few people got frighteningly insistent that all Radiants have to be paragons of virtue, and if any of them show up I am backing away rather than face their irrational ire again. EDIT: Also, moptop, welcome to the Forums! Hope you enjoy your time with us! Good first post.

There are a number of Sharders who agree that it must be Pewter, though I have pointed out a number of flaws in their arguments. To the best of my knowledge, is has most decidedly not been confirmed. (EDIT: Here's a RAFO.) There is a WoB I will try to find confirming that the earring came from an Inquisitors spike. EDIT: I have searched and cannot find the WoB saying it is a spike. I'm gonna continue looking cuz I'm really sure we've seen one.

Being the 'alternate ending' I suspect it is noncanon, or at least that some details have changed.

This, tiny and colored black, am Ivory. (Still not sure it's a misconception, yet.) The Sage at the End of Time from Chronotrigger.

...Well it couldn't be in ash, because it was indoors and underground, yes?

...Vin was being tortured to death. While the world died. I categorically refuse to believe she took it with a sort of stoic acceptance, and less emotion than Zane sitting down to dinner with Straff and idly cutting his arm, being careful not to cause any real damage.

Zane successfully uses pain to dampen Ruins voice. Vin hears Ruin as shes being tortured to death until Marsh removes the earring. A difference between steel and bronze? Ruins direct voice versus passive?

I believe he meant, did that baby end up dying, and Returning, and that's the one they need. My gut tells me no; I feel like the pressure for her to get pregnant existed well before this scene with the baby. I was under the impression that it predated Siri's actual arrival in the city by some months. However, we know very little of that whole background plot mechanic, so like many things, it's entirely possible. I hadn't ever even considered it, so whether this proves to be true or not, great eye for spotting a hidden, possible connection! Words of Radiance:

To rewind a bit, while looking for the quote I was thinking of, I found the quote I tried finding earlier about solid, liquid, and gas. Okay look up "atium" on Theoryland keeps referencing the fact I'm trying to nail down but I can't find the direct quote. Basically, the God metals obey different rules. Burning lerasium isn't a connection to Preservation's power; it's the actual power itself. Like the difference between a battery and an extension cord. Similarly, atium is actually Ruin's power. The mechanism inside you that allows you to burn it might be a tiny scrap of Preservation, but you're not opening a door to Preservation's power, you're actually burning the fuel that is the atium itself. This is a departure from the mechanism one uses to burn the other metals. Here is my understanding of the mechanism: Preservation was able to separate a fraction of Ruin's power, an amount equal to what Preservation had Invested in humans, thereby restoring balance between the two powers. Atium is what he did with the extra Ruin. It's trapped within a mini-system; it condenses into physical matter in the beads, and when burned evaporates back into the cycle which, itself, is Preservation's means of keeping Ruin's power divided. That's why it's not going back to Ruin when it gets burned; the beads aren't the lock, the entire cycle is. One possible difference if Elend had just used aluminum flushes: well, first, they would not have killed anything like as many Koloss or held them off as long, and it's possible no one in the caves would have survived to the World Reborn, meaning almost no Terrismen would be in the New World, and twinborn would be impossibly rare. But also, Elend "beat" Marsh by burning duralumin and atium to see the future well enough to realize that by sparing Marsh and sacrificing his own life, he would "checkmate" Ruin. So that might have turned out differently. Still, for Elend's actual plan, that probably would have worked just as well. ((And ties in with my question, if Elend has access to all allomantic powers while Vin is powering him, what specifically would happen if he used the power of aluminum? Presumably it would only affect metals, not the actual power Vin is pouring directly in to him. Hrm. Does that mean aluminum actually doesn't affect lerasium or atium, which are themselves not a conduit but direct power? Or would it metabolize the metals, leaving you with a belly full of direct Shardic power?))

First, literally every upvote ever for the phrase "cognitive bearhug of negation". Second, I did not mean to imply a lack of connection between the Well and the prison. I mention it only briefly because, as you state, we have no idea what the model is and very little to go on to guess. Maybe it's one of your two ideas, or maybe it's something entirely different. I absolutely think they were tied together very closely, and that the act of releasing it immediately broke the prison. The idea that it would be used once every 1024 years to shore up the prison came from this WoB. I didn't mean to imply that the only connection was the ability to patch a prison. Last, there's a WoB I cannot find right now (I thought it was on Theoryland) which states that the "state of matter" determined strength; gas, the mist, was the weakest, spread everywhere and only doing a little. Solid was in the middle, very powerful at one specific thing. And then liquid was the most powerful, granting temporarily something akin to full Ascension. It rubs my OCD the wrong way that "states of matter" go in order but the power levels do not, but I try to make my peace with that. The world isn't always neat and tidy like that. I would be the worst God ever, the fundamental elements of matter would be alphabetized.