11thHerald

I think it could be related to the old gods, rather than the shards too. Maybe there was a 4th god who died way way back in addition to the Wind, Stones, and Night. If that's the case, I wonder if it might be the Current because of this quote in chapter 11:

Quote

This device points to something far in the distance. Something the Sibling called ‘the Grand Knell, source of the Current, the death of a god.’ 

Although now that I'm looking at the quote again, it sounds like the Current is a still existing phenomenon, so maybe not.

50 minutes ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

I thought it was strange how we got the impression that Cultivation was a puppet master who helped orchestrate Taravangian becoming the new Odium, only to flee Roshar at the first possible opportunity.

I would like to think any master plans will be part of the back five, rather than “oh man Taravangian didn’t go along with my plans didn’t see that coming” and run away

I did get the impression from Tanavast's POVs that Kor wanted to get off of Roshar so while she might not have intended the formation of Retribution I do think she wanted the compact to not leave to be broken so she could get out

Arguably he also kept his word since he went off alone and it was Cultivation who broke the promise by showing up later

Is it set in stone that Harmony will become Discord or are there other forms the combination of Ruin and Preservation could take? It seems to me like there are ways to reconcile the two depending on how the holder conceives of the respective Intents. For example, I think Sacrifice could be a viable balance because it's destroying to preserve. 

Considering that the Current is capitalized, it may be that it's another of the old gods along with the Wind, Night, and Stones. 

Immensely satisfied that I called Chanarach being the one to break back in 2020.

Other than that, I really liked Adolin, Shallan, and Rlain/Renarin's arcs. The ending was great, I'm really excited to see how things go from here.

Whimsy + Odium = Depravity

Whimsy + Wisdom = Wonder

Endowment + Mercy = Charity

Ruin + Odium = Apocalypse

Honor + Whimsy = Caprise

Honor + Valor = Endeavor

On the subject of Shards and what cosmic forces they represent (Honor being bonds, Ruin is entropy, Preservation as stasis), I wonder what other Shards might represent.

Cultivation I think is likely something along the lines of growth, or positive change. Basically the mirror of Ruin in many ways. 

I like to think of Whimsy kind of along the lines of creation, though that probably isn't what it represents. I feel like it could be seen as creation under a view of the universe where there was a God and nothing else and the God decided to create the universe. In this sense, Whimsy is kind of the articulation of things being created on essentially a whim. I think it's more likely that Whimsy has something to do with randomness or chance though. 

Endowment could also be considered along the lines of creation in many ways I think, as might Virtuosity, though Invention probably is the closest analogue. It's hard to figure this type of thing out since we know so little about so many of the Shards.

On 5/20/2022 at 9:56 AM, JasonKeheIsLame said:

I think a great hybrid shard would be Honor and Mercy. Hold people to their oaths and keep people accountable for the things they do / don't do. But then also be understanding of the circumstances and empathetic enough to let things slide when it is the right thing to do. I'm not sure what to call it though... maybe Wisdom (if that isn't one of the unknown shards already) or Balance? Could do Empathy and Compassion maybe too but they seem heavy on the mercy side maybe. Anyone else have ideas?

Perhaps Justness (which to me is distinct from justice)

I also don't think Moonlight is Shai from Emperor's Soul. It sounds to me like she's relatively unpracticed with the Essence Mark for herself, which doesn't really fit with the Shai of the short story. I think it's more likely that Moonlight is a student of Shai or that Shai founded a school/subsect of Essence Markers which Moonlight is part of.

Other than Mistborn itself, I wasn't a huge fan of Mistborn Era 1.

Also Kaladin and Dalinar are my least favorite POV characters in Stormlight; Adolin and Shallan (especially WoK and WoR Shallan) are my favorite primary POV characters.

Rsyn's interludes, especially in WoR, are probably my favorite parts of SA. Honestly, I think a large part of this is because I really like Brandon's world building so storylines like Rsyn's that explore the different parts of the worlds are really compelling for me. 

On 3/30/2022 at 3:13 PM, Gilphon said:

So I'm thinking that it does kind of need to be either Chana or Vedel that died here- I would presume that what happened here is that whichever Herald died this chapter was sent to Braize for five years, and then broke sometimes around the end of WoK. Jezrien, Nale, Kalak and Shalash were at the palace, and weren't dying. Taln, Ishar and Battar are accounted for during those five years, and Pailiah more or less is.

And there's Vedel, where we just have no information whatsoever on her current whereabouts, and Chana, where all we actually know is that she appears onscreen at some point in the first two books. Which would make it more likely to be Vedel at first glance, but the theory people have been tossing around today about Chana's identity is a plausible one. 

I might be misremembering, but isn't there a WOB (or at least a lot of speculation) that the ardent Pai who was executed for speaking against the queen is Vedel? Because if so then that might also rule Vedel out, meaning it would have to be  Chana who died. 

1 hour ago, Lunu’anaki said:

If I had to guess what it was going to be, I'd guess that the sytem would be ever-changing... maybe not a soft magic system in a technical sense, but soft in that it never works the way its user would expect... like... it may be a system that is the least connected to "intent".

I dont think the Cosmere will go soft with an entire worlds "magic system" but Whimsey is likely the closest we'll get to that, whatever it ends up being.

Honestly I think this is what I was trying to say. I want the magic inspired by Whimsy to feel a lot more mystical/unknowable: more whimsical compared to the rest of the Shardic magic systems. 

This thought was mostly sparked by me reading an old blog post from NK Jemisin about the popularization in fantasy of the idea that magic must have a system; that is, it must basically be a science (maybe one that isn't possible in our world, but one that has internal consistency and essentially follows the laws of physics/the universe as much as possible). Jemisin's post was mostly about how she doesn't like that this idea has become so central in fantasy recently at the expense of more mystical or "soft" magic that isn't as consistent and logical. Brandon Sanderson, as I think we all know, is a big user/creator of scientific magic systems. I know this is highly unlikely, but I think it would be really cool if whatever world the Shard of Whimsy settled on is the only one that doesn't follow this rule within the Cosmere; Whimsy's magic is mysterious and unexplainable. I feel like this would actually be kinda fitting. All the other Shards produce rigid, scientific magic systems, but Whimsy is well, whimsical, and as a result, its magic system is as well.

Obviously, this probably won't happen, but I just wanted to share this thought to see what other people think. 

7 hours ago, Olmund said:

Other threads have discussed this pretty extensively -- check out those if you want lists of fan names.

On the intentionally blank podcast, Brandon made it clear that he's going with KoWT, and later he said "Knights of Woeful Truth" was the frontrunner...which is fine for those who are already invested in the series, but is pretty clunky and likely to turn off potential newcomers imo.

Personally, I like "Knights of Withered Truth," or "Knights of Waning Truth" better, though I'm sure many would think those are much worse than "Woeful Truth."

In any case, I know I'll buy it and love it even if it's titled "Kingdom of Wishful Thinking."

Personally I kinda like Knight of Wasted Truth, especially because it will deal with Szeth and his past as a Truthless even though he was right. His truth was essentially wasted on the Shin, so I feel like it works pretty well

On 1/22/2021 at 5:03 PM, NeonGenesis said:

I like to think of the voice as a young adult regardless of gender while sheathed. However when drawn with it yelling DESTROY I think of it a ferocious wild deep sounding voice. 

I like to think of it as an excitable 9 year old which I think that makes the instances where Nightblood yells DESTROY even better.

32 minutes ago, mathiau said:

She probably is, but since she's in a yin-yang realtionship with Dominion she has to be the about one worshipping, not the one worshipped.

Yeah, Devotion like giving someone else power over you

13 minutes ago, mathiau said:

Wouldn't these too be better switched?

The way I've always interpreted Devotion as a Shard is in a worship-like sense, which, in the way I configured the Dawnshards would land under the authority quadrant.

2 minutes ago, LewsTherinTelescope said:

It's definitely something that I've thought about and has influenced my current thoughts on Dawnshards. I've shied away from using the word Connect, as imo, if it's a thing, it likely applies to more than just Connection, but it's an interesting possibility to me. 

I wonder if something like Bind could encompass that without the implications that Connection already has

I think that the Dawnshards would be more along the lines of Change, Bind, Command (I want a better word for this because Command already has a certain meaning in the Cosmere but none really come to mind), and Think/Feel. I feel like Change signifies the power of creation but also change after creation. I think Bind is kind of like the different forces that, well, bind things together, as well as different societal constructs. I see Command as authority in different forms. And then I think Think/Feel is like the things that come from sentience: emotion and mental capacity.

Whimsy: Change

Cultivation: Change

Ruin: Change

Endowment: Change

Devotion: Command

Dominion: Command

Autonomy: Command

Ambition: Command

Invention: Think/Feel

Odium: Think/Feel

Mercy: Think/Feel

Assuming Survival Shard is Prudence/Wisdom: Think/Feel

Valor: Bind

Preservation: Bind

Honor: Bind

Of these Mercy, Ambition, and Valor are the ones I'm the most unsure about. If anyone has questions about why I grouped things this way I'm open to explaining my thought process.

Personally, Roshar is just my favorite Cosmere world, probably because I read tWoK first of all the Cosmere books. Cultivation also is just such a cool concept for a Shard so I'm on her side. 

My favorite individual team is Hoid, but I gotta pick Roshar just for the nostalgia

I think it might be an error between Ico and Notum

10 hours ago, Parallax said:

That makes sense until you read about Honor's intent: "Honor seeks to uphold oaths and agreements, and to make things binding. He is referred to as the God of Laws by singers." That doesn't really overlap with Justice: you can promise to carry out an injustice and there are plenty of unjust laws. 

That's why I think its the result of Honor combining with another Shard like Mercy. By itself I think there is too much overlap, but not so much that Honor is synonymous with Justice.

I feel like it's way too similar to Honor. It doesn't match up exactly but I think Justice is probably the result of Honor and another shard combining.

On 12/1/2020 at 2:22 PM, Anodortam said:

Tbh the Rosharan being 7ft tall, I’m willing to bet good money this is actually a singer and not a human under that armor, another good reason to not reveal the face.

I think also the fact that it seems to hint at them using a rhythm probably makes this even more likely.