ND103

Well not necessarily... I would think any Parshendi in spren based form where the spren was a radiant spren would hear them which we haven't seen an example of yet. If it's normal spren I would imagine that doesn't hold true. It might not be true even with radiant spren... I imagine with humans it's a case of - they have a crack in the soul. That crack is filled in part by the radiant spren as they start bonding. That part of the spren that's filling that crack makes them hear the scream because presumably the dead eye is trying to reach that same crack. With the singers, they have a gem heart to take the spren so it's possible that that mechanism simply wouldn't work.

I'm going to have to weigh in with the group here. Sebarial is far from a comic relief unnecessary character. Sebarial is shown to be pretty smart (he was the only one thinking long term with regards to the shattered plains for instance), and most important he thinks long term (see above). I am by no means an expert on the apocalypse, but someone with a long term vision seems like exactly the sort of guy you want around in one of those. However I will disagree with you sir on your point about him being on Dalinar's side as that is pretty much equivalent to being on humankind's side. Or rather the point I disagree with is that its the same as being on humankind's side. I think the whole point of the saga is to explore the fact that humankind's side isn't really the side of the good guys. Neither is the other side. There is no good side or bad side. There's the side against Odium, and the side for Odium.. And Dalinar's vision to unite them is about uniting all the different people's on Roshar against Odium after a fashion. And if you consider that as a goal, Sebarial seems again, just like the kind of person to have on your side. Because he's bright enough to see that the conflict won't end unless all parsh people are eradicated, or a more reasonable solution is found between everyone involved. His approach tends to be less militaristic and more let's talk it out (even if it is for pragmatic reasons and not the altruistic ones). Either way you slice it, seems like he's just the guy to have around... No? Of course having said that, odds are he's dying in the first half of the series, because he's too useful to keep around... So if you find him annoying, there's a fair chance he ain't gonna be around too long.

Hmmm.. interesting.... As theories go I'm inclined to think this one is unlikely.. however, in support of the original theory, the WOB says it's not a spaceship. He doesn't say it won't be. (I appreciate I'm grasping at straws there). I do like the idea of Ash being the girl who looked up. I read some WOBs recently that most of the heralds were not from Roshar. Except maybe Ash. And since she was the herald of the lightweavers, I like the parallel of Hoid telling that story to Shallan. Similarly he tells the story of Fleet to Kal, which sounds like a very windrunner thing and who knows maybe Jezrien was the original Fleet! I certainly would like that kind of parallelism to be going on. With that in mind, solid theory, but most probably undone by WOB...

Oooh nice... Looking forward to reading about that then... Sometimes I can't help wondering just how awesome the stories Brandon has reused in other places might have turned out if they'd worked the first time around!!

Just read a reading Brandon did which was one of Taln's earliest written scenes. Obviously the character/plotlines etc have changed massively since. That said I remember reading a WOB that Taln originally was supposed to have a plotline where no one was sure if he was a herald or just a madman. Having read OB, I'm pretty sure there's very little doubt in world that Taln is a Herald after all by this point. Has that story line of everyone being unsure about whether he's a Herald or crazy been completely abandoned? Any WOBs on that? Just thought it'd be pretty cool as a story to read of someone who's possibly a lunatic or a saviour but no one's sure one way or the other. Thoughts?

^i mean you can use that argument for almost anything but the fact is he also hasn't done a ten book long series with a ten year gap in the middle before. So possibilities are endless. Few weeks back someone was shipping the Lopen and Kal, and that sounded awesome. As things go, this one sounds about as awesome to me. Cuz Jasnah and Shallan can bring out something really different in each other and seem rather complimentary. That said that doesn't really ever equal relationship. But could be fun to read.

Having read that section again I think he was talking about Drehy and Dru. But I still want this to be true

Haven't we already seen a case of a knight radiant bound to both a radiant spren and a voidspren? Namely Venli. Venli is bonded to Timbre, and the unnamed voidspren of some sort. It was considered impossible for a radiant spren to bond the Parsh but that's clearly not the case. Why should the reverse of Venli's case not be possible where a void spren can bond an already bonded knight/an already bonded knight can bond with a void spren that their radiant spren defeats? Or depending on how dark you want to imagine, the void spren binding a knight, and defeating the radiant spren so it's not really dead but suppressed until the knight/void spren wants to use is a surges? The only contradiction I see to this is - humans ain't got no gemhearts. So there's a chance that can't happen. But honestly, I'm not sure why that would be any kind of problem. And that's not even without introducing hemalurgy to the mix. Anyone know any WOBs on multiple spren bonding one person? EDIT - here's something interesting I noticed about Renerin and Glys. In OB (Kindle edition, pg 1175) - It will fear you! Glys said from within Renarin. Glys said from within Renarin. Even if humans don't have gemhearts apparently a spren like Glys can bond with Renarin in a way similar to Venli and the voidspren/Timbre. Hmmm.

I dunno if this is a thing or not, but damnation that sounds like it should be. I'd like that. I imagine Lopen's unique worldview will be something Kal could really use! I'd like this one to be true!

I'm inclined to say it's likely some kind of mix of the first and the second plus the battle of champions. The reason odium didn't make them do that is pretty easy actually. He doesn't want to continue the desolation. He wants to end the cycle. If the desolation doesn't end in victory for him, then it continuing perpetually would just leave everyone dead and no real way for him to get out of his imprisonment. He's got objectives too, and without fighting for his objectives he ain't achieving them. Not sure I've got a WOB though. So open to changing my mind if there is one.

Lots of possibilities here. I really can't make up my mind about what's going on with it, but it's definitely up there on my list of questions to ask next time Brandon is up in Europe for an event!!

Not sure if there's already a thread discussing this but I just had this thought while re-reading OB. If I'm repeating something please point me the right direction. That said, Nin had already decided that he and the other Skybreakers were going to work with the Parsh. If he didn't give all the other individual Skybreakers that choice, why'd he give it to Szeth? What makes Szeth so special that he gets Nightblood and gets to pick something different from the rest of his order to follow? One speculative reason I can think of is that the Skybreakers can't all abandon the Knights without significantly impacting the Oathpact or the way the Knights work. No evidence to back this up but it would certainly be an interesting narrative reason. Another reason I can see happening is to do with Nin's attribute of justice. I saw a thread recently that talked about how the Skybreakers ideals don't seem to suggest justice but in fact law which are very different things. That said when Nin is taking to Szeth, he talks about approximating justice by following law, so he's still trying to align with it. Perhaps his choice to side with the Parsh is his attempt at showing justice by siding with those who originally we're the owners of the land. And he let Szeth follow Dalinar because he also sees that there is justice in the efforts of the Knights. Essentially the Skybreakers would then be left pondering the complications of justice versus just following the law. Anyone have a WOB on why Szeth is so special?

So this is the first time theorising, if I'm in the wrong place/not tagging properly or breaking some other norms, I apologise and please set me right. That out of the way, I had a theory about Nightblood and the future of the Cosmere. One of the problems with the different people who picked up the shards of adonalsium is that while the power they hold is infinite, their minds (thought greatly expanded) are finite. This is one of the reasons that even though harmony is technically connected to all the bits of preservation in the Cosmere, he needs to be actively aware of a bit before he can do anything with it/about it. I'm assuming that in the good old days, Adonalsium didn't have that problem. Also, he was less bound by the intents and able to do things like create Roshar. And one possible reason for this was that he was not a human or finite being that picked up the power, but in fact a sentence created by the collection of that power and therefore infinite in itself. With that in mind, if anyone we're to somehow pick up all the shards, they'd still be limited by that finite ability of their limited minds. However, of something like Nightblood, a sentience created of investiture were to pick up the shards. For instance if Nightblood were to kill old Rayse and take up his investiture. And possibly add Honors shard. And so on until it picks up all of them. Not being restricted by a finite mind, Nightblood could in fact become something like Adonalsium 2.0, a mind born from all that sentience, possibly with its bigger goal being to destroy evil. The theory then is that add the Cosmere evolves, the shards will start getting unified in Nightblood until something like Adonalsium is restored in Nightblood. It would be cool as well because a sword meant to destroy evil would become the ultimate God like being of the Cosmere. Obviously there are many issues with this, and very little evidence to support any of it. But might be something different and cool which we know Brandon likes to do. What do you think?

First time asking a question here, so i apologise if I'm not in the right place or don't have the right tags etc. Reading the sections where Kal was performing field surgery in the way of kings, and the mention of rotspren etc got me thinking about bacteria and viruses and so on. In our world, we understand that bacteria/viruses etc are mostly responsible for illnesses. And at the same time humans have a large number of bacteria in our own bodies (for instance the bacteria in our gut), which we actually need to maintain a healthy life. At least as far as in world understanding of diseases in stormlight goes, it appears that rotspren are involved, not necessarily bacteria or so on (though they may be wrong in world). Has there been any WOB around whether or not the different human species in the Cosmere have similar microbiomes to what we have in the real world? And any consideration on the potential impact that the different magic systems might have on the microbiology of the human species. For instance, we know that with the fifth heightening, anyone on Nalthis is effectively immortal. Does that impact the many different bacteria that inhabit the bodies of such people in any way? Or on Roshar, if Kal were to be inspired to consider a shard scalpel form for Syl, and use it to treat wounds, could he use that instead of cauterising wounds to prevent disease from spreading in injuries? Or in a situation we'll likely never see on screen, could a shard scalpel(and other shard tools) be used for general surgery? And if Rock gets a spren and decides to use it as a shard razor to shave, would that potentially kill all the bacteria living on his skin (a lot of which might be actually beneficial to him)? Could you hypothetically cut out a cancerous tumor with a shardblade, and treat that? I appreciate that the answer for these would likely be - there is probably no significant impact simply because to consider the impact of it all would probably kill the fun of the story itself. But I am curious if anyone has had any thoughts about this/asked Brandon about this?

Yes I am including non cosmere works, and even whatever unpublished works I got my hands on though I'll admit I've missed a few of those. That said I'm not as invested in the non cosmere works due to the relative short term nature of them versus the cosmere works. Nice to find other connoisseurs of fine writing! Are you guys theorists as well? Any pet theories?

That's a great one. It's the first one I read and I got hooked.! I'm great thank you. And what all have you read then?

Hey Life&Death! A better question would be which ones have I not read and the answer to that is none. Don't really have a favourite to be honest. Love all of them. Though I am partial to characters like the Lopen and Wayne and Breeze so... Chocolate all the way!! How about yourself? Hey to yourself. How do you do?

Thanks Kidpen!! Seems pretty straightforward. Pleased to e-meet you

Yes please! Also, any beginners guide type of things I can go over so I know what rules I'm breaking when I break them?

Hey! Long time reader of the forum, finally joined up myself. Love the theorising that goes on here.