FirstSelector

I assume this is because Wyndle doesn't know who Nale is. Recall that Syl didn't immediately remember why Szeth using an Honorblade should be different from a normal Shardblade.

The Taldain essay reveals some pretty interesting information about Bavadin and Autonomy, even beyond the specifics of sand mastery and the solar system. First, the way Khriss describes Bavadin makes me think that she has a lot of control over her Shard. It appears she made a conscious decision to prevent travel to/from Taldain after Khriss and Baon left, and Khriss seemed to imply it wasn't impossible that she might restore the perpedicularity. Second, Autonomy interfering with other planets despite the contradiction with her isolationist policy seems to fit nicely into an old theory of mine, which was that Odium recruited her to take down Sazed. These two taken together raise several interesting questions. Are Rayse and Bavadin related/involved together? What was their role in splintering Adonalsium? Do they share any of the same goals and plans?

I like these ideas, and in particular Argent's allomancy analogy. However, I disagree that the algae/fungus film that covers the sand is for another topic. In fact, I think it is of paramount importance. An idea I have had for a long time is that sand mastery doesn't actually manipulate the sand itself, but rather manipulates the film. The sand "goes along for the ride," so to speak. The conscious control comes from the fact that the water is drawn out of the sand master's own body. This generalizes much more easily to whatever is happening with Skycolor - it's just manipulation of very small organisms via water. This also seems to fit with Brandon's statement that the ecology and magic on Taldain are closely connected. We could easily imagine that different people can control different types of organisms, leading to very different effects. It also closely matches Roshar - small and large creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the magic. Maybe this will give us insight into crem... Slatrification is still a mystery, but I would guess that there is something similar that turns Darkside fungus into water. Maybe it is the analog of Soulcasting, but only works on sand covered by a particular fungus.

Yes, I am aware of those quotes and others to the same effect. I should have been more clear - I was postulating why he doesn't want to pick them up. "Being a match for personality" is a very vague statement, and I find it hard to believe that Rayse's entire personality is hatred. There must be method to his madness, as it were.

Hoid said that he "stole himself." What if this is literally true, and he had to reclaim his Spiritual Identity from some sort of thief? I don't know what mechanism would allow this, but it's not outside the range of possibilities.

I believe Sazed's quote is "It is yours." I have long thought that Sazed will (eventually) willingly hand over Harmony to someone. I would also agree with the idea that Hoid is reassembling Adonalsium, or causing to be reassembled by others. An interesting question to ask is if Adonalsium left behind a cognitive shadow somewhere. However, we know that Kelsier was mostly ineffectual at controlling Preservation, so I find it likely that a reformed Adonalsium would need an actual, living host.

Here's a scary thought about Rayse - what if he avoids picking up other Shards because he figured out how to (mostly) control Odium? Supposedly, there's a quote saying that Ati kept the worst of Ruin at bay, and that events on Scadrial could have gone far rose. What if Rayse did better, and actually was able to somehow prevent the Shard from overwhelming his mind completely? Another Shard could disrupt his delicate balance. Hoid certainly seems to think that he has accomplished this, though Frost disagrees.

In the JordanCon Q&A session, it is revealed that there is a location where worldhoppers tend to congregate and set down roots. Not much else is revealed, except that it exists and is not a planet. We also know that there is a Shard not attached to a planet, but also that large concentrations of Investiture tend to warp the Cognitive realm. I find it somewhat hard to believe that there is a Shard just floating out in the wider interstellar medium (though I do recognize that it could have settled on a moon, star, or other astrophysical object). Moreover, it would not be particularly difficult to locate that Shard, so the location can't be some secret. Instead, I would like to propose that the proprietor of the Restaurant, as it were, is this Shard. It provides some notion of shelter to the various worldhoppers, along with a Investiture "anchor." This anchor acts like a planet or moon filled with life, allowing them to settle in the Cognitive realm without requiring the corresponding planet in the Physical realm. I think this is plausible for two reasons. First, I find it unlikely that every Shard is mostly focused only on their own world. I would guess that at least one takes the wider cosmere view, and thus refused to set down roots in a planet due to the restrictions. Second, worldhoppers are among the most powerful and dangerous group of individuals, and I would guess that any community would want to hide under the umbrella of a Shard to avoid being flattened by other Shards. Of course, this idea is patently ridiculous and over-the-top. However, I find the existence of the Restaurant to be intriguing, and I can't wait to learn more.

I seem to recall a WoB to the effect of "Oathgates will make more sense once we see them from the other side" implying that they have some nontrivial extension into Shadesmar. I can't seem to find it, as it does not appear to be in the quote database.

Not in the slightest - that's almost certainly Hoid. One wonders what was so interesting about a map that Nazh goes to such lengths to reclaim it and then Hoid shows up afterwards.

I had a few thoughts about this already. Whomever held Ruin originally was from Yolen. However, Ati could have picked it up from that person on Vax.

I agree that lots of Investiture probably facilitates moving between realms, but note that the Pits of Hathsin were located above Ruin's shardpool.

To be fair, Kelsier has a really good point at the end - Scadrial is frighteningly behind in cosmere terms. In fact, if it weren't for Kelsier, some random Elantrian would have walked off with Preservation and let Ruin destroy the planet! He knows that they have to figure things out, and quickly, lest one of the other Shards come in and terrorize the planet in some way Sazed doesn't understand.

The funny thing is that in both the Cognitive and the Physical, fish are far, far out of reach of mankind. In the former, they are buried deep within the obsidian (c.f. the extra Stormlight scene) and in the latter they are far bellow the water. Edit to reply to Windrunner - if the mists congeal without human thought, then maybe the process of people wandering nearby (or thinking that they could wander nearby) "churns" the mists, preventing them from solidifying.

You are absolutely correct in how the Cognitive Realm is shaped, but I think there is a difference between "shaped" and "created." I think it highly likely that Shards have considerable control over the Cognitive nature of new planets they create, meaning composition and so on. However, once that is set, I would then guess that the humans who inhabit the world shape it from there. A few relevant questions (especially to Roshar): What happens if there are no people? Presumably the planet can still exist and have life, but what form would Shadesmar take? What happens if another group of humans joins the planet, with completely different Cognitive aspects? This is all highly speculative, of course. And I do agree with your point that money is very important. I just don't see how it can be the primary driving factor to shape Shadesmar in a world where humans probably did not originally reside and were using stone tools (very far away from gemstones in glass beads) for the vast, vast majority of their history.

But at the same time, they don't have much choice, as the OP points out - they have to follow the Simple Rules. Now, it could simply be that violating the Simple Rules creates a catastrophe in the Cognitive Realm that these powerful shades all act in virtually the same way to counteract. For example, lighting a fire summons a terrible firestorm in the Cognitive Realm and they all rush to prevent that. I don't disagree that they have power, but they don't seem to have much of a mind. In retrospect I could have phrased that far better.

I really like this idea, and would like to expand on it a bit. So, we see Kelsier intentionally not tell Goradel that the latter's quest was successful, so as to prevent Ruin from catching on. I wonder if Preservation was doing the same thing to Kelsier the entire time. For example, the part where he shows Kelsier the future was almost unprompted, but necessary to have him go west to foil the Eyree/Ire's plot without Ruin realizing how vital it was. Even the part where he shoves Kelsier into the prison is strange, especially given everyone's reactions afterwards. I honestly think that Leras planned from the beginning to have Kelsier show up and eliminate these threats, knowing full well that everyone would ignore or dismiss the random Cognitive Shadow. I don't think he foresaw everything (such as stabbing Elend), but he probably had a good idea.

Maybe the connection runs the other way - Adonalsium set it up so that Shadesmar had ideas represented by spheres, and this caused people (unconsciously) to shape their currency in that fashion. I have serious doubts that the shape of money could alter something so fundamental as the Cognitive Realm.

No problem, it's certainly an important insight that not all Cognitive Shadows have the same facility. Also, the Theoryland quote database seems to be broken at the moment, so you couldn't have looked. Theorize on, I don't want to sound discouraging!

Brandon has said explicitly that they are Cognitive Shadows. Should Kelsier travel there, he would become a shade. However, I think you are on to something - the shades don't have a particularly strong Cognitive presence. It could be the way they are created, or something having to do with the residual magic.

Of the people still alive when the Sovereign first appeared, he would probably have the most Connection to Spook and Marsh. So yeah, I could totally see that he had to hack together as many Connections as possible and so grabbed one of Marsh's spikes. Of course, we have to wonder what Sazed thought about this, since usually "experimenting with Hemalurgy" is synonymous with "murder." Just randomly sticking a spike through an eye is not going to be healthy, so it must mean that he's some sort of Hemalurgic construct. It could be that the spike is what keeps his spirit tethered to his body, and that he needed one with a lot of Connection to make that work.

My first reaction was to assume that Hoid and Khriss do not get along very well, but upon thinking about it I am not so sure. I find it unlikely, but possible, that Hoid explained the nuances of his magic to Khriss.

I would guess that it's a major milestone in her quest, because getting there does not solve the problem of rampaging Shards or whatever force opposed Adonalsium. More precisely, Yolen holds a whole slew of very important secrets to the past of the Cosmere which will almost certainly be important down the road. One wonders, then, how in the Stormlight Archive Ars Arcanum she expresses some familiarity with the magic systems. I doubt that she wants to get there via Physical means, because that would involve waiting until the Scadrians develop the technology and there are very important cosmere events going on in that time. In some senses, figuring out why she can't go in the Cognitive realm is probably almost as interesting a question.

I have the distinct feeling that it is not a property of the local Shards, but rather of the Identity of the planet and its inhabitants. A very interesting question for Brandon would be if Shadesmar was made of glass beads before Honor arrived. Note that when another Shard arrives on Scadrial, it manifests as metal, which is a property of the planet and not the Shard. Moreover, "solid" things in the Cognitive Realm near Roshar are made out of beads, whereas things near Scadrial are made out of mists. In both cases, touching the spheres/mists gives an impression of the Physical Realm object corresponding to the Cognitive Realm object. Thus, I would instead guess that the Cognitive Realm near Sel is made out of some sort of viscous light or other continuous liquid - perhaps even that which they were drinking to maintain their Connection to Sel. This is because they make a solid wall, with no gaps, out of whatever their native material is. And we guess it is native to Sel, since when Kaladin touches it he gets an impression of their world. Doing so near Roshar would have yielded a wall made out of the glass beads, which would give the impression of Rosharan objects when touched. Also, Ruin does have a physical, gaseous form - Vin and Sazed encounter it when going down to the Well.

Is this another cameo? Is Brandon trying to tell us something more about this enigmatic character? What more is hidden in this post!? Just kidding. Thanks for the story, it was an absolute delight to read.