ND103

Sadeas definitely had a certain je ne sais quoi about him. Amaram was a solid villain too but could've gotten more build up in OB, without which it frankly felt a bit convenient. But honestly if I had to pick one it would have to be Bluefingers. IMHO,warbreaker is by far one of the best books I've ever read, and i love how many times it subverts my expectations until I finally realised that Bluefingers was behind it all, along with his pahn kahl friends!!

If by black hole we mean a gravitational singularity, then here's another question - aren't perpendicularities really just investiture singularities? A shard, Like H has enough investiture to form a singularity from even a fraction of its power and a conscious mind behind it like at the end of OB. so technically I would imagine a shard should have enough ability to not be impacted by black holes. Would a black holes gravity pull in investiture the way it would mass? Is there a pub nearby I can go to get smashed cuz this is hurting my head? *Where's the restaurant at the end of the universe when you need it*

Here's one cosmere question that keeps me up at night. Can the entire structure of the cosmere be described mathematically (that is the PR, CR, and SR physical structure). If that is possible, and I imagine it is though I'm not nearly good enough at math to do so, is it possible that the cosmere exists as a computer simulation running on a computer capable of ancestry simulations. And if that is the case, is it possible for anyone within the simulation to break the rules of the system, not cheat them but outright break them. If all that is true and possible, can someone figure out how to bring back Ati and freaking explain Vax for a bit.

This approach is perfectly fine for the geometry between two different worlds and conceptually I can wrap my head around it. But if we go back to just looking at one world. Let's say Roshar for simplicity. In the PR, if I pick a random point and start walking in a random direction, and I'm a windrunner with infinite stormlight so I can walk underwater. And I keep walking in this one direction, I'll eventually wrap back to where I started. This is undeniable. After doing one lap of the world in this fashion, I then switch over into the CR with the help of my elsecaller friend.i pick the same direction and start walking, and I've an elsecaller to ensure I don't get stuck in the beads or some such. From everything I know, I'll never circle back to that point, but drift off Roshar. That's the part I can't seem to wrap my head around. Not without assuming there is some axis along which the sphere of Roshar is divided so that it can be flat in this fashion. No evidence for any of that obviously, but a great question for a WOB I would think... Any mathematical structure that might allow this? The only other explanation I can think of is that Rosharans are presently all flatearthers... They believe Roshar is flat and not a sphere. Therefore it behaves as a flat structure in the CR and not a sphere of any sort. This raises other issues that don't have any solutions I can think of. I'm not sure why this bothers me so much but it sure is confusing me...

Let's say it is locally flat, how does that work with the spherical nature of a planet still? You still have the issue of a sphere on which you can get back to point A by walking all around, which wouldn't be the case with a flat CR. no?

Kelsier didn't really have the intent to go off world but he didn't end up walking spherically in secret history. That does suggest that's not possible... Also thanks for the correction. I meant to say flat not necessarily two dimensional. Though that raises another excellent point. What if I pick a random point on land in CR and start digging... ?

Has any one asked Brandon about how the three dimensional sphere of a planet gets converted to a two dimensional space in the cognitive realm. With a sphere, if I start walking in a straight line along any direction, logically, at some point I have to get back to that point (assuming I swim when there's water etc). From what we've seen and the WOBs I've read on the subject that doesn't sound like it's the case with the cognitive realm, because in the CR you just reach off world at some point instead of circling back to where you started. This suggests there is some kind of axis along which the sphere gets divided. So if you're exactly one step on one side of said axis, you're at one end of the cognitive realm, and if you're exactly one step on the other side of the axis you're at the other end of the cognitive realm of said planet. How exactly does this work. Is there a WOB about that? I tried searching but haven't found anything.... The clear implications of this I can think of happen on places like Roshar where its just one continent, that is entirely in the southern hemisphere (if I remember correctly) and so if that axis is the equator, doesn't really matter. If that axis is a prime meridian passing through Urithiru on the other hand, that could be really really bad. Cuz half of Urithiru in the cognitive realm would be one end of whatever is the boundary of shadesmar before you're no longer on Roshar, and the other half would be the other end. Clearly from the maps we have of the Roshar cognitive realm this isn't the case, but I was using it as an example to illustrate where the issues might be most prominent (I.e. in cases of a super continent). Any who, any thoughts on this subject?

If I remember correctly he's talking about the fact that Drehy and Skar hadn't returned. Dru, I believe, was with Drehy. That said a while back someone proposed Kal+Lopen and while there's little evidence for that it sounds so amazing to me that I really want that to be canon now.

I do believe there is a WOB that there is no more atium or lerasium except any that was left prior to the events of the hero of ages. What there is is ettmetal which is the metal of harmony which could well be in play though for what you're proposing.

This conversation seems to have gone far into the Navani theories and ignored the juicy piece of speculation that is Yanagawn. We know that Knights have squires (see where squires of Kal/Shallan for obvious examples).. we know that he hangs out with lift a lot. And we have a WoB that Knights seem to cluster together around other Knights cuz spren are attracted by the Knights already there. It could very easily be argued Yanagawn is a squire to lift at the moment and will be an edgedancer... I would quite like that actually given he was made King for 'performing the miracle of regrowth'. It would be pretty cool if he eventually can actually do it, as if in that moment he were an incipient Knight...

Here's a question for BS next time someone gets a chance - has anyone on screen/historically actually bonded multiple spren? (So not the possibility of it but did it actually happen)

Well humans acting on Odium's influence? The logic i was thinking was, if it's possible to corrupt spren that are just part of a fabrial and then change how they behave (like the oathgate spren) then the reverse might be true as well, where you mess with a fabrial by changing its physical construction so as to corrupt the spren. Following that assumption, humans affiliated with Odium could easily have messed around with the tower to corrupt the spren over, at which point it withdrew before calamity struck.

Well the assumption is it was corrupted in some fashion. Presumably by humans. So it's not entirely inconsistent.

Common speculation around the abandonment of Urithiru and the Sibling in general is that the sibling was the spren of the city and it went a-slumbering, the city stopped working, and so the radiants of old abandoned the city. Most of the speculation I've seen about this situation lean towards - find the sibling, bond it, revive it, and instafix Urithiru. What if that's not necessarily the order of events though? What if, and at this point my theory starts, the sibling abandoned Urithiru (and radiants) because the giant fabrial that is the city got corrupted somehow? We've seen that corrupting the spren of the oathgate can make the fabrial do something different. What if introducing some kind of corruption (by modifying a part of the fabrial in some key way) could corrupt the spren? Sibling notices, and before something goes horribly wrong decides screw that, I'm outta here otherwise all radiants gonna be gone. Next thing the radiants know, no sibling and Urithiru isn't working. And they attribute it to the sibling abandoning them, and abandon the tower. One thing that's supporting this is that the new radiants find reshephir in the tower trying to presumably find a way to take it over for team Odium. Maybe that had been the plan all along, to corrupt the city and then take over the city either through the sibling, or after it leaves. but the plan had to be put aside cuz the parsh lost their forms. Of course the important part is what does this mean for team Dalinar? They presumably arrive at the same conclusion as I started with - find sibling-> fix tower. They find the sibling, someone tries to bond it, succeeds cuz at this point the sibling doesn't have too much memory of the past, tries to revive the tower, and BOOM. That could be, imo, an interesting way for the front five books to end at. Our heroes at a loss, needing time to regroup after their losses, ask an ascended Dalinar (and at this point I'm stretching beyond even what I buy) to make a new deal to bind Odium for a bit, and we end with both sides trying to gather their forces for renewed hostilities in the back five. Presumably this would be associated with Venli and some humans and radiants and parsh causing a sizeable loss to Odium, presumably by having a bunch of parsh radiants cuz everyone realises this is possible now? As theories go I've left a lot as an exercise for the readers imagination, but it could be interesting. Even if it doesn't quite go like that, at least we could have someone find the Sibling and try to bond it only for it to go - you idiots, what have you done! Apologies if this has come up before but I was unable to find anything.

Here's something funny... Kal, Adolin, and Shallan all heard about nightblood from Azure (Viviena). And they all saw it in action at Thaylen city (or should have). Not one of them noticed it and remarked at it. Or had a moment of recognition. Or anything really. How come none of them mention it and you know... At least think about it to themselves? Or did I miss it? Seems odd to me if they never remark on it.

Going through the list of the ones not in the Cosmere, I disagree on the following - Invisibility - could be possible with light weaving or similar. Runes -forgery is akin to Runes. As is elantrian magic. Possession - the Fused, though they leave the original host dead so... I would count it but I can see why someone might not. Shapeshifting- dragons can take on human form so that's there. Spells - again elantrian magic is sort of a construction of spells via Runes except you don't say them out loud. Sex magic - I have no reason to justify this... I just really want to read a BS take on it. Enchanting objects - warbreaker magic Conjuring - by a particular definition of it spren are kinda that especially for singers/listeners. Remote sensing - fabrials like the ones for communication work on similar principles so I would count it but I can see why not. Just my thoughts.

Lift. It doesn't even have to be a direct Boon or bane. It could just be a side effect of giving her her spren bond...

Given he also united the spiritual realm, I take that quote with a lot of caution. The spiritual realm is a place where time is sort of irrelevant. So for all we know, Odium isn't seeing anything that's going on at that point in time, but something that is supposed to happen at a later time. Or some other weird timey wimey effects are taking place. Basically my personal thoughts are, all Odium saw there was something that could happen someday but might not. That said, Mr. S has consistently rafoed questions about that unity line. So I'm inclined to believe he has some plans for it. This could very well be his plan, though I for one would personally not be that impressed by it. Or maybe I would be, there is just so much we don't know.

That's where my vote goes. Because a utopia can't particularly exist in my opinion (based on my world view, and my subjective experience of life so far). In any non utopic world, I'd back the lord ruler. In terms of experience he lasted a thousand years. Yes the society he created was imperfect, but any society will end up imperfect. He did however have a bigger plan for the survival of the species. He managed to create the exact situation that led to humanity thriving post ruin. He was in a sense stagnant for a thousand years but he had picked up a sliver of preservation so that's kinda the shard I reckon... Yes he was ultimately defeated, so he's not all powerful, and his ideology was not going to last forever. But he did plan for that eventuality, so he did recognise it even if he didn't improve on his ways (which could've been preservation). That said, would'nt want to be a skaa under him. But then again, would anyone really want to be a commoner under any of the above leaders? Not me.

My two cents worth - there's A WOB out there that the reason the original adonalsium had no issues acting (and he did create the system of Roshar so clearly he could act when he felt like it ) was that it was an infinite being holding infinite power. The limitations of shards and their holders is that it's an infinite power held by a finite being. The power greatly enhances their finiteness, but doesn't make them infinite. So for instance harmony is linked to all ruin in the Cosmere. But he can't access it all because his mind is greatly enhanced but finite. He needs to be actively aware and trying to affect a certain part of ruin in the Cosmere to do so. A reforged mix of 16 shards would likely not lead to an infinite being, unless it developed it's own consciousness (and I have some crazy ideas about that, a conversation for a different place in time). So if harmony gains all 16 shards, or Dalinar united all shards, it would still be limited due to the finite nature of the holder... At least until they get enhanced to an infinite being. Or until Mr. S directly puts something in canon contradicting it. Essentially, even if the sixteen were reunited, they would be limited at least for the short term. To pull in an analogy from Sandman, it's not like the endless, where the new dream just takes over as the entity dream having its entire scope. The new Adonalsium would be very different and at least in the beginning, limited in scope... Gonna try looking for the WOBs now unless someone else finds them before me.

TBF, even if it hasn't happened before, doesn't mean it can't happen like that going forward... While Glys may not have happened that way, nothing stopping it from happening that way for Maya that I know of. As I said, it's unlikely. but if it did happen that'd be kinda interesting too. I kinda see where you're coming from, but I still think Adolin will end up reviving and potentially bonding Maya. Mostly because reviving the dead eyes is something that I feel WILL happen at some point. It's like with the wheel of time, one of the things that had to happen in those books was the cleansing of Saidin. It would be weird if it didn't happen in book at some point. And Adolin is closest to making it happen on screen. I also don't think we're likely to see too many badass normals here just because of how the system works. Spren bonds happen with people who sort of are badass to begin with and spren seem to cluster around other Knights. With that in mind, badass normals are relatively harder to come about on Roshar I would imagine especially when the number of radiants is so low and therefore there are presumably a large number of unbonded spren. Obviously could be wrong about that. Maybe Mr T's best friend ends up being a badass normal scholar and befriends an equally badass normal warrior who end up saving the day by sheer badassery. Who knows!

Agree with most of the posters here. While he will likely be overpowered, he is limited by his inability to do harm. And given the spread of things like hemalurgy and unkeyed metal minds, it won't be that impossible to imagine a situation in which he's not particularly op compared to everyone else. That said, way too early to speculate on era 4. For all we know, SA ends with the creation of a super shard that is a combination of multiple of the 16. Or some other force grows in numbers to combat him. He is after all only one man however op. You have to imagine him against the rest of the cosmetic will still be a heavily disadvantaged fight given he can't do damage and he's still limited to being finite.

TBF, the OP did say that they splintered the shard to make the dawn shards which isn't inconsistent with this WoB. It's still unlikely. But this WoB doesn't prove it one way or the other.

Here's a thought. Has anyone ever asked if Glys did time as a dead eye? What if we have seen the effects of a spren revived. Except it's not what it was, its now something different. Something new. Something more. Shallan's arc in the near future will include finding Sja-anat. Presumably Adolin decides to go with her. Sja-anat offers to revive Maya as a ploy to stay free. And next thing you know, we have another spren like Glys, or - Maya.... It's unlikely, but that would be consistent with the WoB that it requires something more.

Here's a thought though... One that I'm pretty sure I haven't seen crop up, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. What is it wasn't a lightweaver spren. Yes we have WOBs confirming it is. But what if it's actually a corrupted lightweaver spren? Similar to glys? Now bonded to hoid. Wouldn't that make it just that much more interesting? Obviously I've no evidence to support that. It's more just something rather interesting as a plot device. After all, why would hoid need a pure lightweaver spren? Per WOB he's an OG lightweaver, doing it before it was cool.... But if it's corrupted partially by a spren of Odium (can't remember the name, sorry), then that adds a dimension to it that is pretty cool no?