WhiteEmporer

"It is noted that Sja-anat wants to be a god in her own right" from the coppermind wiki, and with a reference to the Sja-Anat viewpoint interlude from Rhythm of War. I don't remember the actual content of the statement in that interlude, but heard the idea referenced in the Shardcast as well, which I think it why they postulated the idea of Sja-Anat bondsmith.

I'd be inclined to agree that you can't have a bondsmith for just any unmade. The spren for Bondsmiths are aligned in a special way (which I don't fully understand) with a shard or with a joining of two shards. I don't think all of the unmade are like the Stormfather and Nightwatcher in this respect. I think Sja-Anat could possibly attain this position as a dual Honor/Odium spren. It's also possible there could be a spren who is to Odium what the Stormfather is to Honor, in which case that spren could form a Bondsmith bond. A relevant point: it seemed from Navani's research in RoW that Odium may have at some point BECOME one of the "gods" of Roshar. I suppose before he was merely a visitor. But right now his tone IS one of the three "pure tones of Roshar ". So potentially some of these possibilities we're discussing weren't feasible until Odium was sufficiently invested in the planet. It seems like he is now, though, so I'd be on the lookout for it, especially once we get to the back 5.

I hadn't even factored the honorblade in. I guess I sort of figured it would make him work like the Stormfather's bondsmith, but maybe it's more versatile. By the way, for any who aren't sure what we're talking about with the lights: In the "Lights" Shardcast episode, they theorized that each Bondsmith can produce the Light associated with their spren (Like Navani makes Towerlight). So theoretically, A Sja-Anat Bondsmith could make Warlight--unless Sja-Anat is more of Cultivation than Honor. In that case, it would be whatever that hybrid light is called. Also wondering if it's possible at the moment to have a bondsmith connected with Odium. It seems like the Bondsmiths are the most honor-connected, and Honor and Odium seem rather opposed at the moment. But perhaps with a new Odium things will be different.

So I just recently finished RoW (I know, super late), and have been listening to my backlog of un-listened Shardcast episodes. In one (I think it was "lights") the possibility of Sja-anat forming a Bondsmith bond with someone was discussed, which got me thinking: We know that in the current system the Radiants are really all about Honor and Cultivation, so the three Bondsmiths bond (respectively) a spren for Honor (Stormfather), a spren for Cultivation (Nightwatcher) and a hybrid between the two (Sibling). But Radiants like Renarin seem to show that there are other ways of doing things beyond the system. Is it possible for other representative spren to for bonds for bondsmiths? Could Sja-anat, an Odium corrupted spren previously of Honor, become a hybrid bondsmith spren like the Sibling, but for the new Honor/Odium light? Could a spren of Odium bond a bondsmith specializing in Voidlight? Of course this hasn't happened before because anything connected with Odium was connected with an enemy. But one of the themes I picked up in RoW is that things aren't as simple on Roshar as good guys and bad guys. Also that the situation with shards can change very quickly. I can theoretically see (probably in the back 5) a new situation where Odium's investiture is used for good, and "odious" bondsmiths join the ranks. Or, alternatively, if another faction like Odium or Sja-anat forms a Bondsmith to rival those of the Radiants. They don't all have to be on the same team (I'm looking at you, you dirty Skybreakers). Whadda you guys think?

The comment you're referring to in Oathbringer: re "breaking" of the bond that was being discussed was a: against the will of both spren and human and b: safe for the spren. The honorspren wanted to forcibly part Kal and Syl without breaking Syl. They implied that if Kaladin was at 5th oath, they would not be able to do this. But a knight breaking his oath would still do it.

Mr Hoid, what are your thoughts on the bombshell recording that was recently made public? Your opponents claim that it proves you don't have our nation's best interests at heart, do you have any answer for that? [plays recording]

I for one want to know if there's anything significant about those gas giants. Conveniently ten of them, named after the Heralds. And Brandon says 10 is important to the Rosharan system...

Just based on general scumbaggery, I chose Sadeas. He just is excellently written as a repulsive, detestable person who makes your skin crawl simply by his prescence. Writing-wise, I don't actually hate any of those characters. Sadeas is well-written for the very reason that he's so eminently hateable. Same with Amaram. I even like Moash as a character in the story. I think he fills an important role as a foil for Kaladin, and also for Dalinar in OB. While I don't think i particularly hate any stormlight character from a writing perspective (Brandon does good characters), the one that irritates me is, believer it or not, Jasnah. But that's mostly because I can't stand condescending people. I admit that she's objectively awesome. But she still grates on me horribly, and I'm waiting for her to finally get knocked down a peg (Brandon has to do it sometime. She can't always win.)

Sadeas getting a good face punch would have been immensely satisfying. Unfortunately, he is dead, and punching dead people just isn't the same.

I'm just seeing Brandon see GotG 2, yelling "storm it!", then dashing up to his study, where he pulls out a manuscript, furiously scribbles out a name, the writes "Ambition" underneath. He walks out, muttering "nobody better take that one."

I have been in the Moash vs Kaladin camp for some time myself. Not everything has to he a narrative curveball. Some things are built up to over several books. I'd like to see Kaladin swearing oath 4 (about accepting failure or some such), so that his climax in book 5 has him swearing the 5th oath, which will involve being willing to kill someone he cares about (i.e. Moash) if it is necessary to protect others. 5th level Kaladin vs Moash with honorblade and who knows what else. Kaladin will eventually win, of course, but he will die heroically in the process. That's my speculative headcanon, at least.

Huh. Interesting. Thanks for the WoB, I'd never seen that. Although it still seems plausible that the "muddying" Brandon talks about could interfere with compounding. Perhaps not, though.

I've wondered. Can matching A and F powers granted by hemalurgy be compounded? It occured to me that the different identities could interfere with using them together that way. Kind of like the limiting factor we saw for the medallions in BoM. Any WoBs on this?

I like the idea of flashbacks for a POV character showing them through a different person's eyes. Venli flashbacks from Eshonai's perspective. I think perhaps a mix might work best, though.

I'm pretty sure Occam's razor sometimes is dull when it comes to epic fantasy. The precedent of Atium is compelling. That WAS listed in the Ars Arcanum of the mistborn trilogy as one of the 16, even though we now know it doesn't belong in that spot. So we know that just because we see something on an allomantic table (or another metallic art) doesn't mean it actually belongs there, at least in that specific spot. Actually, the way Aluminum interacts with other investitures seems to indicate that it is different from other allomantic metals. The other allomantic metals only have investiture significance because of their interaction with Ruin and Preservation (Brandon has even indicated that the metal does not glow in the CR because it has power, but because of the power seeking to come through it). Simply put, unless you're a worldhopper using preservation's investiture, pewter is just pewter on Roshar. Tin doesn't do anything on Sel. Brass doesn't have any effect on Nalthis, etc. BUT: Aluminum has an effect wherever you go. That sets it apart, and makes it not quite fit with the rest of the metals. Seekers could sense atium being burned in the final empire days. Despite that fact, the Steel Ministry still placed Atium (and Malatium) as one of the temporal metals, where Bendalloy and Cadmium actually should have been. Bronze can identify the metal, but can't tell you everything about how it fits into the magic system. P.S.: Is there a place, other than the Ars Arcanums, where Khriss is actually quoted as saying Aluminum is one of the 16 metals? I don't recall, but if there is one, please provide the quote. That would certainly put a hole in my theory.