LewsTherinTelescope

Yeah, it's weird and Brandon seems to have spoken about it both ways on occasion.

No idea. Same way she knows about other Yolish things despite not even being able to locate the planet, I guess. Probably because Cohesion is the thing she was writing that particular essay about. And perhaps whoever her source is might also have had more experience with that particular variant? It's also possible that on some level, microkinesis variants seem similar, and at a glace this matches with the "axial interconnection" thing of Cohesion more.

That's fair, and like I said, I'd agree with the Sja-anat Truthwatcher connections if not for that. The name "enlightening", the collecting of secrets, etc do seem fitting for it. So I'm kinda torn with her there. I could see it going either way.

Eh... maybe. From the sound of most WoBs, they're mostly just Physical gaseous Investiture like Stormlight or the mists — which raises the question of what the heck all the "it's part of your soul" things in the annotations were talking about, since everything since then seems to contradict that idea.

Based on this, I'd guess it's more just an environmental thing than a magic system. No idea what the hell is up with Skathan if so though. Offworld magic? Direct gift from a Shard?

Seems like probably not.

Yep, it required Navani playing the anti-Voidlight tone through the tower's systems to uncorrupt the Sibling.

Honestly, my main holdup with it is that the transformation she performs seems to be associated with, well, Transformation. Otherwise, this one would fit well enough. Here Sja-anat compares her power to Transformation: And Raboniel corrupting the Sibling is explicitly attributed to the Surge of Transformation: An interesting side note: Sja-anat is partially in the Cognitive, but in a way less like she's halfway between and more like she's two entities sharing a mind, one in each Realm The other seemingly sapient Unmade (besides BAM, the rather weird one) that we know is Yelig-nar Yelig-nar, when Amaram used him, caused amethysts to grow, which is the polestone of the Willshapers (and iirc OB got edited so that Amaram swallowed an amethyst as well, vs a smokestone in the earlier version) Willshapers have Transportation, and Sja-anat has that association with Transformation, which borders Transportation and is shared along with it by the Elsecallers So both our sapient Unmade of this level may have an association with Transportation, and at least one of the two has a separate segment of themselves in the Realm of the mind and thought. Not enough for me to do a proper theory with it, but just an odd observation that I feel like could mean something.

Otoh, he's more recently compared the back half more to Era 4: And Stormlight's definitely been heading further and further towards Cosmere things, considering we have freaking Kelsier leading one of the secret organizations that has only been growing in importance there, that Harmony is trying to build a coalition of Shards against Odium, that Hoid was talking about openly supporting them as himself, that we've been seeing more mentions of offworld trade through Shadesmar, etc.

Very good point. Even our example of CS least like their original selves still retain a lot.

Brandon did a reading from the sequel to Sixth of the Dusk at the RoW release party.

Though, there is seemingly a period where he's not aware, so we can't say for certain. (I'm of the opinion that ultimately they are for all intents and purposes the original person, personally.)

Seems that CS do retain Identity, even Returned: (It's interesting a Lifeless could potentially retain enough, but he does say it's pretty unlikely.)

We do not know that they heal their spiritweb. We have been told it works by "negating and sucking out", specifically contrasted with healing.

Nope, annotations reveal that Yesteel knows the secret.

a large number of these 60 pages disagree My guess is the amount they instinctively go for as "one Lashing" would be different, but that it would use more or less Light accordingly. So in other words, I don't think there's anything special about one Rosharan Lashing, it's just that they naturally gravitate (heh) towards that amount because it's what they think of when they hear "gravity". I could be wrong, though.

who cares if it's feasible, it's cool I would guess that a Radiant using one Lashing's worth of Light will always give one Rosharan gravitational.... thingy, not sure of the word there. Just because it seems weird if going to, say, Sel would suddenly make your Stormlight more efficient.

The Stormfather on the rare occasion he has a sense of humor is great. Good point, actually. Yeah, probably. I'll be honest, there's enough in the conversation I lost track of the exact thread of thought I had there but that sounds close to what I think I was thinking. Hm, could be. Might be one of those "once you know it's possible, you know how to do it instinctively, but you have to know it's doable in the first place" things? That's a good point, actually. Good point. Though, voidspren and corrupted spren do seem to be different things (and a lot of corrupted spren aren't even red iirc). So I'm curious what exactly is up with Voidspren. True lmao What if you put a looooooot of Lashings :thinksmart: (aaa limited forum emoji) Could be. I was thinking that Cohesion + Bondsmith would probably come out similarly to Shallan's map, but as an actual physical thing (the model of Urithiru they find, perhaps?), but maybe I'm just not stretching my imagination there enough lol

I mean.... deadblades. No need for it to be pre-Recreance.

I don't really agree, we see Stormlight have some pretty large effects on people as well (improving their physical capability, driving them to act, even healing them). I think it's the other argument that you present, it's just easier to acquire larger amounts of Investiture via Breath than, say, Allomancy.

Imo, that's more Venli being an edge case than the entire order. First singer Radiant (well, Eshonai was first, but died basically instantly after swearing the Ideal), it makes sense to me for Cultivation to be paying close attention. Agreed that he probably does, just noting it as a possibility. (After all, Syl is someone that the SF would pay special attention to, and the Stormfather does seem to like to troll Lopen, so could always be just that ) Sounds like it's mostly #2, with maybe a bit of #3: (I've been interpreting the "hard limit" as the Intent that drives the spren being broad but ultimately still having limits on what it can cover. Could be right, could be wrong, just how I've taken it.) My point's just that if the Shards are preventing people from forming bonds, the people directly working for Odium and betraying the war effort seem like people the Stormfather might want to deny. That'd be my guess too. Some kind of emotional state required to start the bond/when progressing to the next step, maybe? It's definitely an interesting theory, yeah. And does seem to be what looks to be happening in RoW... That's where Point 2 comes in. Keeps it going that way for a while, and then the Knights Radiant mean that alternative attempts probably won't be being experimented with much, because Ishar's going around threatening to kill anyone who doesn't join the world protection effort, lol. Yeah, it's definitely interesting. It's seemingly not something that came naturally, since they had to imitate the Honorblades and it had to be discovered, but I don't see why even after all these years honorspren would still know how to do it, considering the stigma against bonding... It's weird. Good point. The relationship between Ruin and Preservation is really odd, after RoW, to be honest. Seems highly unlikely it's anti-Investiture, but it also seems to act remarkably similar in some ways.... This stuff is probably more complicated than we realize yet, I guess. Since the Sibling and Nale also talk about it, I don't think Odium's completely lying when he talks about it, in that I think it really does fit Honor's Intent very closely and in my opinion the Surge may even have been inspired by him (the "there were seeds" WoB). I do however think he's bullcrapping when he says he can't grant it, because that doesn't really match how we've seen powers work before (and Venli's Regal power seems strongly Connection-based, so I don't buy claims that Connection is somehow too anathema to him to be able to use it). Why not both? Just let all Surges nuke places! Transformation already can, Cohesion might be able to, Division sounds like it fits nicely, maybe Gravitation and Adhesion can rip particles away from each other, Illumination could do the weird things you mentioned, Transportation can.... uh... idk transport particles away, Progression can grow a particle weirdly until it blows up, Abrasion can... uh... I'm stumped here, and Tension maybe can do weird particle things too! Nukes for all! Oh I agree they can do something with all the orders, I just don't think it's a straight superpowering. I think it'd have to be more tied into Connection like the illusions that are based specifically on what the Bondsmith spren knows.

Yes, but if he was working with them to stick a Dawnshard somewhere safe, they'd probably know it couldn't be recreated. I think it's possible it's got a Dawnshard of some kind, to prevent proliferation of Vessel killers, but the Scholars would imo have to be unaware of what it was and what they were doing, since Vasher and Shashara both believed the latter could release the secret and it could be mass-produced.

I believe so, though we don't have a lot of samples. (Possibly Willshapers too, depending on if the Stormfather saying afterwards but not saying it in the big boomy voice at the time is counted, because that's kinda odd and doesn't match the others we've seen.) Also depends on if Teft heard a voice offscreen or not, since iirc it cuts right after his words, and before any acceptance may or may not occur. I had interpreted that as her just genuinely not living up to it enough to be able to swear it, and the voice letting her know of this fact to prevent it being anticlimactic and having nothing happen, as opposed to the voice preventing it, but it's unclear, for sure. I mean, yeah. Happens now too. Gaz is a sack of crem but bonded, Malata is working directly against the other Radiants and for Odium but bonded, etc. I've been of the opinion the difference might not actually be super large, considering that, when their essence is manifested physically, Brandon's said he'd consider it all one metal. I imagine there may be some differences with the addition of Odium (we know there'll be some differences between him and normal Truthwatchers, but not whether this means the structure of the Ideals or just the specific Ideals themselves), but I expect either way it would turn out somewhat similar, due to also having H&C in large amounts. I'm very very curious to see how Renarin's bond works, since there's clearly some large differences (Glys uses Stormlight to recreate the vision, for example). Fair enough. Like I said, it to me makes sense that the magic that is in large part Honor requires an actual oath and commitment, but I can see where you're coming from as well. I've got a two-part response: The Radiants were intended to keep knowledge around, iirc, and the Silver Kingdoms were seemingly a lot more stable than their predecessors (considering that, you know, they existed for more than one Desolation, lol), so I think the knowledge could have stuck around. The bond had to be discovered, which I would guess means that the newer spren bonding had to learn (by example or by actual instruction, I don't know) from other spren who'd already worked it out about how to do it in this way. Imo, that opens things up a bit for why it always happened this exact way. Ah, I see what you're saying now. That's fair. In case I wasn't clear, what I meant was, say, playing Preservation's tone to split Pres's mist out of Harmony's (or maybe you'd need to play both Pres and Ruin, but with the Intent to split instead of harmonize). I don't think the tone would need to be Vessel-specific for that? I could see the Bondsmith restrictions being the first to fall, because the power's so tied into Honor. It might also just be that the restrictions on Bondsmiths were way more obvious, and so he wasn't sure a.) what was restricted for others or b.) if those still held (the Ars Arcanum mentions Cohesion is restricted to avoid Yolen's probably-nuclear mistakes, but how often are people going to stumble upon that one?). Definitely interesting, I agree. Dalinar's stuff with Shallan's visions is a lot more specific than just boosting, so I'm not sure. I think it's possible it could be the case, though. Yeah, these powers have some insane potential if fully unrestricted and given a good power source. Era 4 will probably not be fun for any planets who find themselves on the bad end of Roshar or Scadrial.... If it comes to a conflict between the two as often theorized, I imagine it'll be proxy war style for a long time to prevent the complete and utter glassing of multiple entire planets.

Kaladin, Lopen, and Venli are the only ones we've heard have their Ideals accepted by someone besides their spren, and Syl tells the Stormfather he cannot intervene if Kaladin swears the Ideal, so this seems more to be a formality than a requirement. (The Stormfather does later tell Eshonai he accepted her oath, but we did not hear anything when the oath itself was sworn at all.) The thing is, if he's magically changing how the process of bonding fundamentally works, why would this be necessary? I mean, threatening to hunt down and kill them all doesn't feel much more Honory, lol. Yes, but unlike the Honorblades, the spren themselves are a mix. It seems plausible to me that their attempt to imitate it would end up incorporating both, because the Investiture likes to work that way. (I've actually got a theory that Soulcaster fabrials were an earlier attempt at replicating the Honorblades, which functions more like them but is far more restricted, and the Radiant bond was discovered as a way to grow more powerful, partly because it aligns with their Intent much better.) I agree it's very neat, but imo, it being somewhat structured matches the Intent of Honor very well. And even then, it's not quite as neat as it looks on first glance — see Kaladin, who had not moved fully up to the next step, but had a strong enough bond and aligned closely enough to the Intent of Honor that he could push through things that ordinarily would require the Fourth Ideal (pushing through the fabrial, commanding the windspren), as did Teft. The Ideals imo seem to be a lot more of a gradient than they first appear, though there still are some discrete steps. Makes sense, that's what their goal with the bond was. Wouldn't be surprised if, were the bond worked out in another scenario, Plate ended up manifesting a bit differently, but the goal of the bond both when it was first discovered and when the Radiants were bonding throughout was to lead and protect between and during Desolations. We've been told that the reason deadeyes default to Shardblades is because the bond was worked out as an attempt to mimic the Honorblades, for an example of something similar. Isn't this mostly just because as a godmetal, it's super Invested? It forming via specifically the cousinspren of the order is interesting, but I can see some potential reasons for it. Main one I've settled on is that the Radiant bond getting deep enough forms a more general Connection to the truespren and similar entities, which the cousinspren then can follow and bond the Radiant so that they too can be pulled into the Physical. I'm thinking of it as a similar but more limited version of what Brandon outlines for why spren tend to bond within families and close-knit groups: It just takes a powerful Connection to fully let the cousinspren piggyback off it enough to come through Physically, imo. Fair enough. It's a reasonable opinion and I can see how someone would come to it, though I do disagree. Yeah, if there actually are two mists, it'd definitely make it easier than having to split it, I think. Though, I'm curious if the tones can split it, if played with the correct Intent. The restrictions do seem to be quite possibly gone, which is.... worrying. From what the Stormfather says, the restrictions started breaking down during Melishi's time. RoW 66: RoW 111: I've seen some propose superpowered Cohesion (to make the stone more moldable) + Illumination (to produce the massive sound). Though, it's plausible to me that a large enough bit of Surgebinding might produce a sound on its own, considering bronzepulses are a thing. I've previously liked the idea it was using the Honorblades at their theoretical max power, drawing through incredible amounts of Investiture (we've been told the Heralds could obtain raw levels of power no Radiant could match), and destroying the city to protect its Oathgate (Venli mentions that the towers the Fused were having them build in Kholinar reminded her of a building in Narak), but Dawnshard does seem the more logical theory. I just really like the idea of a Silver Kingdom, fed up with the Desolations that were hitting multiple times a decade at this point, defecting to Odium to try and get it over with, and the Heralds essentially nuking them in response. (I don't think they ordinarily would have access to quite that level of power, but if one nation betrayed the others to join Odium, Honor might make an exception to his limits.) I agree Dawnshard seems more likely, though. Tangential note from Way of Kings Prime: I agree with therunner, I don't personally see it being the case. I think it's possible Brandon could decide to let them, but as of yet I don't think Connecting to a Realm will allow you to hop to it (though I'll admit I'm a bit confused over how Connection to a Realm is even a thing, considering Connection is a Spiritual phenomenon, so I can't really say it with much certainty). Mostly going off gut feeling, though.

I feel like the Lightweavers are the ones most likely to do this, not the Dustbringers Agreed, it could be interesting. The one thing is that we don't know if he can sever Connection, or only transfer it. I don't think it's unimaginable that he could cut it off, but we'll have to wait and see for sure, and I could see arguments for why he might not be able to. As for manually forcing a Radiant to a higher Ideal, I think it's theoretically possible, but might cause permanent damage to the spiritwebs of both the spren and the Radiant because you're trying to force them together when they aren't compatible.