Child of Hodor

This isn’t quite confirmation but the idea that Helaran didn’t join Nale’s skybreakers is raised to Brandon and he says there is only one group calling itself the Skybreakers. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/9/#e7452

I don't know where I come down on this, here are my thoughts in random order. The Ghostbloods are the only organization we know tried to kill Amaram at least once. They may have done it more than once. Attempting to kill Amaram in a battle isn't how the Skybreakers usually do it, but maybe it was delegated to Helaran and he freelanced the method. "Mother called Shallan one of them" WoR Ch. 89 seems like her mother and her friend influenced by Skybreaker propoganda, I'm not sure what other group has hatred for radiants other than the general distrust most everyone on Roshar has from their betrayal. Murdering an 11-year old isn't in keeping with how they operate. But we've seen a Skybreaker slit Gawk's throat for no reason, so they don't always follow Nale's rules. It is in Nale's M.O. to give sprenless new recruits powerful equipment i.e. Szeth. Maybe Helaran was a new recruit to the Diagram who the Ghostbloods co-opted. Seems overly complicated though. Amaram has never been of interest to the Diagram and he isn't on Szeth's hit list a year after Helaran tried to kill Amaram. I believe the Diagram scoffs at the Sons of Honor's plan and doesn't take it seriously because the SoH fundamentally misunderstand the coming desolation. I don't think Mr. T cared about Amaram. I think Mraize saying the Herald's aren't allies and can't be trusted is one of the lies. He's correct that they aren't reliable, but he spends Oathbringer actively trying to meet one and make a deal with her. He wants to work with or exchange information with Ash, so he trusts one enough to work with a bit. As a means to an end I'm sure, but that's how the Ghostbloods do everything.

WoB above is hidden for length. Brandon initially misunderstands the question, but I interpret his response to mean Nale was a KR before the Recreance. If so, I have the feeling that he was instrumental in them keeping the Skybreakers keeping their oaths. There are issues with that, he would probably be incognito he can't be running around as Nale because then the KR would know that the Heralds didn't leave. Then again, what are the KRs gonna do about it, all quit? LOL ... oh. The Skybreakers are the biggest rule-sticklers of the KR, so they could have decided to keep their oaths on their own.The Windrunners were the first to break their oaths and could be said to have led the Recreance by example, not that it was solely their idea but they took the initiative. Windrunners and Skybreakers really don't get along. This may have been part of why they resisted going along. These orders clash so much because one protects based on what they think is right even if it violates the law of the land while the other worships the law of the and above all else and feel individual human judgement is flawed and cannot be relied on. Windrunners felt the Recreance was right the Skybreakers rejected that feeling and stuck to their oaths. Hidden for length: But the Skybreakers are the only order with a Herald as a member at the time of the Recreance and they are the only ones not to quit. Seems like it could be connected. Nale is leading the Skybreakers in the modern day he may have been a leader among them back then as Clark, Clark Nail nice to meet you. Or Nailz with a backwards z. Or Nale might not have been actively working with the Skybreakers at the time, but he became aware of the Recreance beginning through his spren and swooped in to be say "don't" to his order.

The diagonal lines seem like they are there so that they all intersect in the middle of the diagram. UNITY! The vertical lines between Windrunners and Edgedancers and such ... I have no clue. They make the diagram busier, but they may be there for artistic reasons. I don't know why some would have 4 lines and others three. My only idea is that those orders can interact and combo in a special way when used together but I don't think that's true.

Here is a really tiny thing that may or may not mean anything. He has a street named that shares his name in Luthadel. Whether this is Brandon doing a meta nod to a character in another series, reusing a name he like from something that was not published at the time or it is meant to mean he visited Scadrial is unclear.

That's what I'm saying! I don't know the rules, but it seemed like Dalinar rejected Odium's nomination of him. Does Odium get another choice? Does Odium have to fight himself, cause I think he'd win easily against anyone on Roshar, but Cultivation. What would have happened if if Dalinar had accepted? He wouldn't have picked a champion for Roshar does that mean Odium wins by default or just that the contest of champions can't happen? I think the latter. I expect the contest of champions to happen, but not be a straight forward fight. The real challenge seems to be getting Dalinar and Odium to "meet" again so that Dalinar can force him to follow through with the contest.

Might be he doesn't have enough and he might not think they are ready yet. He seems to be preparing them longer term, using the humans at Thaylen Field and just having the Singers watch.

Hoid is Loki. Uses illusions a lot, loves to talk, narrow, angular face. Hoid is neigh unkillable. Loki seems to die every movie, but now he's got his own TV show in the works. Dalinar is Nick Fury. Older warrior trying to unite all the emerging superpowered younger heroes in a fortress in the sky.

“He feels. He is angry. But this does not change, and his rage does not cool.” - OB Ch. 38 Stormfather on Odium

Same, I've resigned myself to the possibility that I'll never read all 10. Both he and I need to stick around another 20 years (at least!) and that's a long time. It's kind of dark to bring mortality into it, but those are huge books that take a long time to write. It will take him into his late 60s at least to finish the Cosmere books he's said he wants to do. I can't be upset with him at all. He gives us new books every year and is exceedingly open and honest about his progress. I've told myself as long as I get to see the first 5 Stormlight I'll be happy.

Singer gods confused me for so long. I assumed they meant the unmade, but clearly post-first desolation they mean the Fused. I assume Singers viewed all spren as gods, like the Horneaters do. As descendents of humans and singers that lived in the mountain peaks for a looong time I think their culture was better preserved, less influenced by co-mingling over time. It's possible the more intelligent red spren like Ulim sided with Odium and Odium gave them a little tweak to so they could better serve his purposes which is why they are red. He's conserved investiture by co-opting what's already there with the Unmade and the Fused. I still think the white/gold spren are his making. They are the same color as the knife, how Odium dresses, the power that streams behind him at Thaylen field, in Mr. T's meeting the ground glowed a molten gold, the golden pedestal Odium's copy of the diagram rests on and the golden lettering all over his recreation of the diagram room. It's Odium's preferred color scheme. How big an expenditure of investment is it to make some spren, even if it's like a hundred or two of the white/gold ones? He's stuck in the system forever unless he acts, he has to do something. It's not his primary way of doing things, but I think he did it a bit. The yellow/gold spren described in detail have shin eyes. Odium's human projection that Dalinar sees has Shin eyes. They look and are "dressed" just like him and they do his bidding. "The tiny woman stood on a translucent pillar of golden stone that had risen from the ground to put her even with Kaladin's gaze. It, like the spren herself, was the yellow-white color of the center of a flame ... Her face was shaped oddly, --narrow, but with large, childlike eyes. Like someone from Shinovar." - OB Ch. 23 The Guiding Spren that spotted Kaladin and leads the Hearthstone Singers I'm not aware of spren being able to change colors outside of being co-opted or corrupted. Syl shapeshifts constantly but she is always white/blue like all honorspren and their cousin windspren. ODIUM:

Yeah, it's like calling Native Americans "Indians" a misnomer thrust upon a people out of ignorance and a lack of respect / curiousity. They could have asked what they called themselves. The Listeners didn't call the Alethi "Softboys" or whatever.

I could see that. Nale is so tightly strung it's hard to rely on him and Honor has "suffused" him according to Nale in ED. Nale has also been mostly emotionless for a long time, Odium likes to give his minions "Passion" when they need it according to one of the Fused. Nale might have a freak out with this sudden rush of powerful emotions. It's Brandon, so Moash V Kaladin probably won't be the champion contest just because it seems obvious.Both Dalinar and Odium used the exact wording "A test of champions" and "contest of champions" in OB Ch. 117 which could be interpreted to mean plural for both. A nice callback to Adolin/Kaladin/Renarin "duel" in WoR. Although, Odium and Dalinar immediately discuss who Odium's champion is going to be using the singular "I have chosen my champion already". I also doubt Brandon would use the same trick again. Well, shot my own theory down in the span of a paragraph. Trying to think like Brandon is a fool's errand. Odium and the Diagram seem to think it's still in play. "You have agreed to a battle of champions. You must withdraw to prevent this contest from occurring, and so must not meet with Dalinar Kholin again. Otherwise, he can force you to fight." OB Ch. 122 Odium seems convinced by this reasoning and agrees to a deal. He could be pretending, but he immediately bailed on Thaylen Field once he saw Dalinar create the perpendicularity and Amaram was blocked from killing Dalinar by Kaladin. It would suck for Odium if he's stuck with Dalinar after Dalinar rejected his influence. Dalinar could just throw the fight.

That's the impression I got as well, but I don't know why. Is it like when a Herald agrees the Fused can leave it unseals Braize but the Fused still have to swim through some investiture molasses to get out? Even when all the Heralds are on Roshar fighting, when a Fused dies there is a delay in them getting back due to the Oathpact. Do they have to deal with that same delay once the seal is broken and the Heralds don't? The Heralds were never meant to leave Braize once they sealed it so I don't think they would have been given some fast travel ability back to Roshar beyond the surges which both the Fused and Heralds can use.

I don't see the Champion thing going beyond the Front 5 without getting resolved and I doubt Odium will "catch 'em all" in two books. I also don't think we'll have both Ash and Taln dead before their flashback books in the back five. Brandon might do it one more time, but I don't think more than that. I do think Jezrien's soul being in a gem will pay off somehow. Either brought back or used to make something new. Maybe he'll come back better, like he's going to rehab, he could use it. I don't expect Jezrien to be a major character, but I think something will happen with his soul. Moash sucks, but Odium judged him worth of Jezrien's blade. Nale would make a better choice now that Nale has joined the Singers. Nale has two blades, plate, and experience using his surges for thousands of years. Moash will have a year and change of experience and no plate, and he's a jerk . Moash only really makes sense as champion if the other champion is Kaladin and Odium wants to mess with him.

The Everstorm has to be dealt with before the Oathpact will matter again. Fused used need to be sent back to Braize, now they aren't. "He will not remain bound by this. The enemy. He'll find a way around it.You know he will." Prelude to the Stormlight Archive. @Pathfinder "HUMANS COULD NEVER WIN WHEN THE CREATURES THEY KILLED WERE REBORN EACH TIME THEY WERE SLAIN. AND SO, THE OATHPACT." ... "THEIR OATHPACT DELAYED THE FUSED FROM RETURNING IMMEDIATELY, BUT EACH TIME AFTER A DESOLATION THE HERALDS RETURNED TO DAMNATION TO SEAL THE ENEMY AGAIN." OB Ch. 38 Broken People If the Heralds lingered on Roshar too long after a desolation a new one starts: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/160/#e2893 The Oathpact was made specifically to address the problem of the Fused from coming right back after dying. The Heralds killed all the Fused who were then delayed on Braize for time, then the Heralds went to Braize to make the seal permanent. They thought that would be the end of it but the Fused tortured the Heralds into letting them out. I agree the female heralds did significant things that we'll learn more about as the series goes on. I'm saying a couple male heralds did hugely important things that it would be very hard to equal as far as historical impact. I'm not saying Male heralds are better, just that I see where @Isilel is coming from in saying in feeling that they've been given short shrift in the books, so far. The Oathpact is a big deal. It's the whole reason for the Heralds to exist in the first place. The knights radiant are a huge deal. the whole series is based around them. One male herald is the founder of both. Being the only Herald not to quit and take the longest to break is huge.

Parshendi wasn't taken to be an insult by the Listeners and wasn't meant to be by the Alethi. "Neither side seemed to see that as an insult" - tWoK Prologue. Shellhead is a slur. Depends what Dawn means. Dawnchant, Dawncities, Dawnshards, Dawnsingers. Dawn of civilization? I remember someone had a theory that Cultivation Vessel's name was Dawn , I don't think that fits, the Singers predate Cultivation as a separate entity. With the Dawncities all being shaped by semantics, I assume the Dawnsingers used the Rhythms in a much more powerful way than modern ones know how. I don't feel like the modern Singers have enough in common with the Dawnsingers to be worthy of the full title and I think it's useful to distinguish the ancient Dawnsingers and the modern ones.

One of the three Bondsmith spren must have survived the breaking of the bond based on what we know. We know there was a bondsmith Melishi who was needed to capture an Unmade right before the Recreance started. https://coppermind.net/wiki/Melishi We know the Skybreakers were the only order not to break their oaths. 9 out of 10 did. WoR ch. 41 epigraph. The Bondsmith must have broken their oath and whatever spren was bonded survived. Unless Melishi died in between capturing Ba-Ado-Mishram and the Recreance starting, in that like 2 hour time gap, but that seems too convenient. As was shown above, Sibling was already retreating and was a big reason why Urithiru was abandoned. Probably Stormfather, just because he seems the easiest to find and bond of the three. If I had the opportunity to bond the Nightwatcher and have her hanging around me all the time I'd be like "Nah, I'm good."

True, but Ash is the only female Herald confirmed to have had any lines of dialogue so far. Jezrien, Kalak, Nale and Taln have all appeared and spoken on screen in more than one scene. Ishar has spoken via spanreed and been ID'd by the Stormfather. I don't want to speak for @Isilel, but maybe what they are feeling is a result of the lack of focus on the female Heralds so far. I think Brandon is saving them for later and I'm cool with that. I love Herald spotting and wondering what they are up to. In the end it the focus will have evened out. The male Heralds do appear to have been primary drivers of the most important events we know of: Ishar founded the Oathpact and the Knights Radiant, Taln is the one who took the longest to break and the only one who didn't quit. Jezrien was the king who seems to have recruited people from his kingdom to be Heralds his daughter Ash, her bodyguard Taln, Kalak refers to Szeth carrying "my Lord's own blade" in the WoR prologue. Male Heralds founded the Oathpact, Knights Radiant, and maintained the Oathpact the longest. When we meet more of the female Heralds I'm sure they will have done significant things, but can't really equal the significance of these three things.

Same, I first heard of him when he was selected to finish WoT and then I gave Mistborn a chance. Glad I did! Wow, that must have been frustrating. MB:SH without Mistborn is like watching all the Marvel after-credit scenes without seeing the movies.

Back 5 books they will be of some use. For now they know too many things that need to remain secret for dramatic purposes. Ash and Taln are back 5 POV characters, they could die before their book but is Brandon really going to do that 3 times or more in this series?

He has a wife, but I don't think we know more than her name. "Felt was with Dalinar when he visited the Nightwatcher and he reveals he's married to Malli".[1] We don't know much at all about him. This WoB seems to imply either Scadrial was not his first world or he's been to other one's besides that and Roshar. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/2/#e235 https://wob.coppermind.net/events/370/#e11812

I don't think Aluminum can be soulcast into or out of. I https://coppermind.net/wiki/Soulcasting https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332/#e9599 "Now, could you soulcast aluminum using a reasonable amount of energy that an individual could conceivably have in a normal setting and situation? No. " "So star or not, it still runs out." Yeah, no ____, that's what I'm saying. They were using way more than they doing a lot more in a short time than they normally would and it was made easier because the realms were closer. I recommend you play a Mario game in those game the star supercharges Mario for a time THEN IT RUNS OUT What's your point, that Kaladin got tired eventually? My comment was that it is a unique situation that we can't use to precisely measure how much Stormlight was burned or how much an action normally took "He had 16 Gigajoules of Stormlight and burned it at an average .5 Gigajoules a minute" In this thread people have claimed to know the approximate amount of stormlight the gems scattered on the ground held and can therefore figure out how much was burned and at what rate. Brandon probably didn't bother with that for this scene. Dalinar summoned a perpendicularity and that allowed the characters to do what Brandon already wanted them to do. The three realms being close after the perpendicularity throws everything off. Most radiant powers involve some sort of realmatic manipulation and the three being close probably makes it easier to do things, perhaps making it require less stormlight. Jasnah seems to think it helps "Then let's make use of it before it fades, shall we?" OB Ch. 120. He summons the perpendicularity in Ch. 119 and it's they are still close in ch. 120. We don't know when it faded, during the battle or if it didn't completely fade until after. But, enjoy arguing over gas conversion rates.

Screamers do look similar to windspren, but they are yellowish in color making me think they are one of the few that Odium didn't hijack. I think the stuff Odium crafts intentionally is mostly white/gold or yellow. He seems to prefer that color combo. Like Vyre's knife. Venli's buddy Ulim is red so I assume he was hijacked. The yellow guiding spren leading the Hearthstone Singers is yellow. Screamers These spren are similar to the above spren in their color, being yellowish-white, but instead of appearing similar to windspren, these look more like "vivid yellow spheres cackling with energy." https://coppermind.net/wiki/Voidspren#Screamers Guiding Spren I think the Thunderclasts are Fused Odium did something extra to. "Those are the spirits of the dead, she realized Fused who haven't yet chose a body Most were twisted to the point that she barely recognized them as singers. Two were roughly the size of buildings." - Ch. 115 OB Venli could be wrong, but she is lumping the two Thunderclast in with the rest of the Fused. I don't know how they got to be so much bigger, Odium may have just made them that way with extra investiture. Or maybe they are the cognitive shadows of greatshells (but then why do they take humanoid shape). One has a Singer like name: Yushah (Leshwi, Vatwha, Aharat, Hnanan, Harial ... the Fused are brought to you by the letter H. ) The other has an Unmade-ish name Kai-ganis. Dai-gonarthis specifically. I don't know if there is much to make of that.

I wouldn't put too much stock in measuring Stormlight usage at Thaylen Field. Everybody was running around like they got the star in a Mario game. If both are at 5th ideal I wonder what can be done with pressure that we haven't seen. It's hinted in a WoB that a Windrunner could get to the moon by lashing and survive the trip by creating an air bubble. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/225/#e5806 Could Kaladin do the inverse and asphyxiate Jasnah by cutting her off from fresh air? I think we can dream even bigger with these powers. Like Lightweaving seem less combat focused but this WoB says Lightweavers can use lasers in combat. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/309/#e11554 If making pretty light illusions leads to death rays just think of all the crazy powerful things someone could do with gravity manipulation, transportation and soulcasting once there access to and control of the powers expands enough. With gravity you could send the entire battlefield up in the air, lash the edge slightly down and the whole thing would begin to rotate and tip over. Silence Divine Spoilers: Each surge is supposed to correspond with a fundamental force. I'm thinking of that force in the world and what all it effects, what is the most extreme variant of it? Gravity: Create a black hole. At least a mini one, like in Mass Effect the power singularity creates a small one and everything around it is pulled into it's orbit. Transportation: Sonic boom! FTL? Soulcasting: I'm having trouble with this one other than transmute more over greater distances. Create combos like the oil-fire one she does on the Fused. It's possible to soulcast into things beyond the ten essences, but hard. Could do a massive Acid-Base combo that explodes a huge area.