Ulthwithian

The real 'possible mention' of Roshar in Alloy of Law is when Miles is executed and mentioned the 'men of red and gold'... while I understand the Trell is almost certainly one of Autonomy's avatars, the gold here is really reminiscent of Odium, who always shows up with gold somewhere on him.

I do think Harmony is much more dangerous than he appears, at the current stage. A lot of the Metallic Arts works on a Newton's Third Law 'action-reaction' level, and the real issue Harmony has is that whenever he wants to use Preservation without Ruin, Ruin counters it, and vice versa. But if he can manage to use both at once (therefore maintaining the balance), say by defending against an attack, he can unleash his full power. Having said that, I believe that Sazed, as Harmony's Vessel, will find it harder and harder to act independently, as is the nature of all Shardic Intent over time. I'm very curious as to the polarization of the Cosmere into warring camps. There definitely appears to be at least three sides to the conflict: Odium and those who follow him, wanting to destroy (or perhaps at this point absorb) other Shards, Harmony and those who follow him defending against Odium's side, and the third neutral side, who I feel are being led by Endowment (among the Shards) and Frost (among non-Shards). I find Endowment's Stance baffling in the extreme. Anyway, regarding the 'sides' of the Shards: Odium's Side: Odium (naturally) Autonomy (pretty safe bet) Mercy Harmony's Side: Harmony Valor (possibly) Whimsy Neutral: Endowment Invention (I believe Invention is in Silverlight) Wild Card(s): Cultivation (seriously wtf)

For myself, I expect the 4th Ideal to be "I cannot help everyone." You can word this any number of ways. Most in this thread would probably qualify, and it is readily apparent that the Intent behind the words (other than the First... maybe) are more important than the words themselves. Kaladin's struggle throughout Oathbringer is driven home at the climax of the Kholinar arc (Part 3, I believe). He literally goes into a BSoD precipitated by the fact he cannot accept the quote above. The fact that his failure feeded his downward spiral makes the positive feedback loop even more destructive. Kaladin's back story and clinical depression makes it very difficult for him to accept this statement. (I should note that the quote also is an important statement for leaders to grasp.)

I think that the Shards were concerned with Hoid 'pulling an Odium' on them. Thus, they messed with Hoid to ensure that he couldn't. It's the only explanation that makes complete sense of Lunamor's (Rock's) statement. This assumes, of course, that what Lunamor said was true.

Honestly, given Odium's 'We killed you' line, Unity was likely the Intent, if such can be said, of Adonalsium. Which makes some sense, given that Adonalsium was killed by breaking up, and that is how the other Shards are also killed. If indeed Unity was Adonalsium's Intent, Honor may be telling Dalinar to try to recreate Adonalsium. 'Unite them' -- the nations of Roshar against Odium. 'Unite them' -- the Knights Radiant against the Voidbringers. 'Unite them' -- the Shards back into Adonalsium. This would lead to the theory that Honor has (had?), with benefit of hindsight, decided that the Splintering of Adonalsium was a mistake and it needs to be undone. (This is my personal theory as to what Hoid is up to, as he seems to be collecting Investiture from the different Shards.)

One obvious use of Tension (per WoB's explanation) is to stand on very small points; e.g., the anime 'stand on the points of trees' and similar. You guys need a material scientist or mechanical engineer to explain exactly how powerful Tension would be as a Force. The physicial/scientific effect of Tension would be to raise the Young's modulus of a material. That would have all kinds of applications, such as having metal that just doesn't deform like it should. You could also (theoretically) have an actual piece of wood act like metal (instead of Soulcasting the wood to metal). What would be really interesting is if Cohesion and Tension can be used to transmute elements. If possible, it would be theoretically possible to change one metal to another, with clear and obvious benefits to allomancy. (Presumably aluminum would be excluded.)

I always assumed that this Death Rattle gives the 'oath' that the Radiants used to break the Nahel bond; i.e., the Recreance.

Another argument that you can make here is that Wit's mind is developing fractures due to the stress of avoiding Odium. Nothing he can't deal with, but this is both subtly and not-so-subtly pointed out in the Stormlight Archive. His personality is markedly different there than elsewhere.

Wouldn't the reactions be more or less exactly the reactions to the similar situation at the end of Words of Radiance / beginning of Oathbringer?

Hi. I'm new here, but reading this, I had a few thoughts. First, is it possible that Autonomy, due to its Intent,... allows more autonomy to the vessel of the Shard? It may be that whoever holds the Autonomy Shard can use its power more freely than others, because of it being Autonomy? If this holds true, then Autonomy would be unique in that holding the Shard for a longer period of time would grant more autonomy to its vessel, not less. Perhaps. Another possible option is that the vessel of Autonomy is deliberately changing vessels every so often to counteract the effects of holding the Shard for a longer period of time? Or, perhaps, the creation of multiple champions is Autonomy's way of expressing the Intent of Autonomy?