FirstSelector

That's true, but the same basic idea is the same - they reconsitute bodily functions magically. I would bet that, at a low level, the magical mechanism is similar. I would guess that gold allomancy and Radiant healing is magically very similar, in that the Investiture itself rebuilds the missing matter. For kandra, they aren't drawing on Investiture directly, or at least not the same level; however, their healing uses the same 'mechanical' roots as gold allomancy.

I guessed this in reply to your other thread, but I'll repeat myself here. I was struck by how well Wayne and MeLaan seemed to get along. In particular, she seemed to understand his ideas about imitation, and the importance of accents and small things. And we note that the kandra have superhuman (more correctly, inhuman) healing ability. It's a bit harder to connect the actual temporal ability, but kandra are immortal and can manipulate their bodies at very high speed. My claim is thus: the instinctual ability to imitate others comes from the overlap of these powers. This is a very tenous connection, I know, but it seems that the Perk that Twinborn get would have to be subconscious or nearly so. Wayne's mastery of this art at an almost subconscious level seems very similar to the Radiant Perks.

I like this idea a lot, though I have to wonder if instead he's actually just a Steel savant. His deflection bubble is almost subconscious, similar (I think) to the perks of being in a Radiant Order, which is why I think you have hit the nail on the head. As for Wayne, it seems to me that his imitation abilities are very closely related to that of the kandra (c.f. Shadows of Self). In fact, the latter seem to accomplish feats of healing and reconstruction in mind-bogglingly quick time, so I have to wonder if some of their ability to imitate humans stems from a similar overlap in Investiture.

I'm with Moogle here - the simplest explanation is that it is the same glyph. With all of the important symbolism and connections between the Radiant Orders and their corresponding Herald, it would not be surprising that there is some Cognitive connection between the spren and the Honorblades. I suspect that the glyph is indeed the stylized version of Jezrien's sword, and the Windrunner bond has "echoes" of the conneciton.

I particularly like Hoser's idea: It seems like a very Brandon thing to consider how a colloquialism, without context, could cause all manner of scholarly issues several thousand years later. It was noticed in several threads that there are forty parables in Nohadon's The Way of Kings, ostensibly the textbook for Radiance 101. It was then proposed that each parable describes each of the second through fifth ideals for each Order. I will take a leap and propose that since the quote about walking to Urithiru comes from the 8th Parable, it is meant to somehow embody the second ideal of the Willshapers. They are supposedly varied and erratic, with a love of adventure, and a long journey connecting all of the major cities seems to be right up their alley.

Thanks Jez, I couldn't find the actual reference but I (at the risk of admiting to an appeal to authority) trust that the people who maintain the quote database to be very careful. On a second note, it's interesting that early quotes from Brandon seemed to imply that the man from the WoK epilogue was Taln. Later quotes, however, were hedged or dodged on who, exactly, he was. Brandon is specifically trying to avoid revealing too much about the Heralds. I have a half-baked theory that we are going to see a very convincing pretend Herald, and to avoid it being weird when he dodges questions later he is starting now.

Shalash did indeed destroy her own statue in the prologue. Edit: before anyone nitpicks about the quote below it, Shalash is Baxil's mistress.

Ah, I should have been more careful in my wording. I don't think it was only Nale that arranged for the assassination, and as such his personal qualms would be not as important. Since it appears at least one other Herald was in on the plan, it wouldn't be strictly necessary to follow his usual plan. As an aside, I think that Nale's opinion on law is probably very to-the-letter. It could very well be that the Parshendi were not technically under the jurisdiction of Alethi law (something like diplomatic immunity), providing an opening.

I believe that the Heralds were at Gavilar's assassination because they orchestrated it. Isn't it wildly convenient that the Parshendi, who only learned of Gavilar's plans that very night, had on hand one of the very few people on Roshar who stood a chance to kill the king? We learn later that Nale has been expending considerable effort to assassinate future Surgebinders. I have a sneaking suspicion that Gavilar, had he not been assassinated, would have become a Bondsmith (which is why he, and then Dalinar, were sent the visions). In fact, this would justify the extreme measures taken by Nale - he would never have a legal way to touch the king, but (I think) the Bondsmiths wield huge power over establishing new Radiant orders (similar to how Ishar founded them the first time). As an aside, almost immediately after Jasnah visits Shadesmar for the first time, she runs across Nale and (very likely) Nalak. The former, however, takes the time to frown at her before moving on. I assume this is because he sensed her nascent abilities, despite their attempts to prevent new Surgebinders. One has to wonder if Nale realized in that moment that their plan would fail. On somewhat broader strokes, I believe that the Heralds have been running things behind the scenes since the most recent Desolation. Given that we know that there was a particular secret that destroyed the original Knights and this apparent connection between Surgebinding and Desolations, I suspect that the Heralds were behind forcing the Knights into an early retirement. I suspect they had a hand in helping the Sunmaker overthrow the Vorin church, probably for the same reasons.

So, let's suppose that the Set is in fact using Hemalurgy to make a new mistborn. This raises a few fairly disturbing points: * Someone taught the Set enough to make a Hemalurgic construct. This is highly nontrivial, as described in HoA, unless they are going to simply duplicate a Steel Inquisitor. If the magic is so complicated that it takes Shard-level cognition to understand it fully, and we assume Sazed isn't behind this, we must then ask how the Set learned. * A powerful Soother/Rioter could take control of someone with enough spikes, meaning that the question of loyalty is moot. * What happens if a spiked person has children? If I recall, spiritual DNA has its own hereditary rules, meaning that this could be a somewhat more involved scheme. Lastly, I also have to wonder why the next book deals with the Lord Ruler's atiumminds. It seems a bit in contrast with the current plot, except that atium is the wonder spike.

As far as I know (as per several WoB) there is no Shard on Ashyn currently. Brandon doesn't say much because the other planets near Roshar have impacted its mythology. As for reading Dragonsteel, at this point you'll have to do what I did - go to BYU and read it in their library. It is nearly impossible to get the book via interlibrary loan anymore.

There is something about Honor's "Purposes", which WoB implies is something special about Honor and/or the magic system he set up.

I suspect that Yolen and Braize are distinct for several reasons. First, the Ars Arcanum author (almost certainly Khriss) references Yolish lightweaving in the WoR Ars Arcanum. Given that she is travelling world-to-world to collect information on the magic systems, I imagine she travelled to Yolen directly as opposed to being taught it by, say, Hoid. Second, the first Letter was almost assuredly written by Hoid, and its recipient is (again, with very high probability) a Yolish native. The recipient refers to Rayze being bound in "that system," meaning Greater Roshar, and I take that to mean that Yolen is not in the system. For reference, there is good evidence to support the theory that mankind was created on Braize by Honor and Cultivation, while Roshar was Adonalsium's little experimental planet. Odium showed up and forced them off the planet. Thus, if Hoid had visited Braize before Odium took over, it would be a very important point.

I'm inclined to believe that it was the series of events to denounce Vorinism that 'broke' her. The decision to give up on religion, especially in such a devout society, must have been very difficult. Doubly so to then come out in front of the whole world as atheist. Having to balance her sense of duty towards her family versus what she knew was correct was probably enough.

There's a bunch here. The compounding effect (say, Kaladin using Jezrien's blade) is minimal, since proficiency with the Surges is mostly a function of the strength of the Nahel bond. You can bond several Honorblades, and they will each give access to their specific surges. The Heralds are something else entirely - even without their Honorblades, they have powers above and beyond any normal human. The most obvious example of this is immortality. With their Blades, they have access to the Surges and other abilities that we know. As far as I know, the Honorblades are not dead spren nor do their powers stem from spren. Brandon explicitly stated (in the above link) that Honorblades work very differently from everything else. My most informed guess is that the Heralds have (fairly large) splinters of Honor which grant them their superhuman abilities, and that the Honorblades are Splinters as well.

Ah, I should be a bit more careful with language. I seem to recall a WoB that was more explicit than these two, but a pair of entries here seems to imply that there is the distinct possibility that the Heralds are not native to Roshar. There were a series of theories/ideas floating around the WoR release where it was hypothesized that humanity is not native to Roshar. If we assume that Adonalsium built the planet, then the listeners are "native" (see entries 17, 18, and 29). On the other hand, humanity was brought there by Honor, and it was conjectured that the Heralds were among the original "settlers," as it were. I'll go make that more clear in my post.

I would totally believe the existence of a fabrial that lets you worldhop. The only issue is making sure you have enough (usable) Investiture to get back. This raises another fascinating idea - can anyone from any world use this proposed fabrial?

Actually, given that Honor and Cultivation were lovers, came to Roshar together, and Invested the world together (spren are a mixture of Honor and Cultivation), I assumed that their shardpools were placed nearby. Also, the way that Sigzil describes the craters implies that there is more than one crater in the Horneater peaks, which I assume means that's where both pools are located. Of course, this could be wildly incorrect.

I had forgotten about the aftermath, where Jasnah avoided Soulcasting. I could definitely see her having to reconcile with Ivory, but at the same time one wonders why she was able to continue after killing the first bandit. I was originally under the impression that a Surgebinder's powers would vanish almost instantaneously if they directly acted against their Oaths (and would slip away under more passive circumstances). Now that I am thinking about it, it's likely more subtle but with similar outcomes. It's certianly true that there is an important difference in the human element from both of these situations, but Surgebinding is a particularly strict system that depends on the opinions of the spren. I would be surprised to learn that there were considerable variation in temperments of a given type of spren. The practical upshot is that I don't think Knights have very much ability to lie to themselves to accomplish unsavory goals. At least, without losing their powers. You bring up good points, and I think it will be exciting to see the differences between Orders and members of a given Order.

I think there is a worldbuilding lesson in here as well, comparing the restrictiveness of the various Orders. Kaladin loses command of his powers when he fights Adolin in the training grounds, and Syl is none too pleased with him after. This makes sense, the Windrunners are committed to protecting others and Kaladin was assaulting Adolin in anger. Jasnah, on the other hand, uses her abilities to terrifying effect. It demonstrates that the "prodigiously benevolent" Elsecallers can apparently get away with some pretty dark stuff without running afoul of their Words. If she was acting in direct accordance with her oaths, it makes me wonder what sort of Words enable her actions.

This is a fascinating theory, one which I had not previously considered. I worry about how Brandon hedged three times on answering the quesiton, and it makes me wonder if this is one of those theoretical possibilities requiring off-world magic. Since the series is supposed to be self-contained, it would be possible considering the whole cosmere but impossible when restricted to Roshar. Thus, while techincally true, it doesn't help Adolin. That being said, this smells like the perfect long-term setup for Adolin and I suspect that is will be possible given his available tools.

I like the idea that her name is Thaylen. It's not airtight, but it might be a good place to start. The biggest issue, in my mind, of the Rosharan worldhoppers is how they get off the planet. Granted, the ardentia seems to have some fairly good grasp on Shadesmar, but without some sort of transportation surge any potential worldhoppers would have to find an alternate way across the boundary. Assuming that the ardentia's records are not from pre-Recreance Elsecallers, there must be some other way. Using a Shardpool would risk Horneater wrath, and the timeline lining up appears to rule out pre-Recreance Knights. I suppose one could ask a boon from the Nightwatcher. Perhaps there were other "new" Knights before the current time? Another question, related, is if any of the Heralds engaged in worldhopping. They aren't may not be technically Rosharan, so I suppose they are may be ruled out.

In Taravangian's interlude in WoR, he implies that Nergaoul (assumed to be of the Unmade, the Splinters and spren of Odium) has a finite radius of effect, and that knowing of the Thrill nearby can help them pinpoint the Nergaoul's location. Brandon has pointed out that Kaladin is now immune to the effects of the Thrill, which I think can be safely attributed to his Windrunner status. Kaladin (along with the other Radiants) hears screaming when picking up a Shardblade. Dalinar, lagging somewhat behind his comrade Knights, has a negative reaction to the Thrill. Later, he feels somewhat unpleasant when he pulls the Shardblade on Amaram. Since he later heard the screams, I would guess that your hypothesis is correct - Dalinar's growing negative reaction to the Thrill was indicative of his budding nature as a Bondsmith.

I would be very interested in trying this! Can that be arranged?

I agree with Moogle. Even if we assume that Hoid has a knack for languages (learning, speaking, accents, humor, and so on), by his own admission to Dalinar he is sometimes called to a location without knowing why and on short notice. It's one thing to know "I will be on Roshar in a few years, now is the time to pick up Alethi," but quite another to "I need to be on Roshar, now, and I need to speak the language when I arrive." Since language gives structure to ideas, and ideas are the denizens of the Cognitive realm, I find it highly likely there is some way to quickly learn a language through Cognitive trickery.