LewsTherinTelescope

I don't fully disagree, but it's also the definition we are given. Hmm, yeah, probably. So you think Allomantic genes would then just be a stronger bond? Makes sense. I suppose burning metal would be using metal to temporarily boost the bond to the point you can draw real power from it? Scadrians having an innate bond feeding them power does solve the Feruchemy thing quite nicely, true. Though it should be pointed out it's not fully end-neutral, as the change of state from the attribute to Investiture is fueled by Shardic power. Which supports your innate bond idea. Didn't even think of kandra, that's a good example of it, thanks! Yeah, that was mostly just a random "uh idk could work that way". I think it's possible still for Hemalurgy to work by forming and breaking a bond, but idk.

Aether of Night was before he came up with Aethers of Lor (which he only wrote a few pages of), but yeah. And after that, like you said, he moved them to Liar of Partinel (but didn't like them there, so now he moved them back out and plans a trilogy on the Aether planet). Syl actually originates in a sub-series of Aethers of Lor called Aether of Wind (Brandon was planning for Aethers of Lor to be grouped into various sub-series, so the first book was gonna be The Aethers of Lor: The Aether of Wind Trilogy: Climb the Sky or something excessively long like that).

Probably kills the spren (as in, actually kills, not deadeye, because it destroys it)

My guess is that, when the war started in earnest, humans seized control of some place to the west first, and stayed there for a bit, but then went onwards and took Alethkar, probably.

Yeah, and I'm not counting the Nightwatcher as a proper magic system. That's why I said what she does is closer to direct intervention by a Shard or incredibly powerful being. When a Shard directly doing things gets involved, these rules don't have to apply. Well, I think that in the Cosmere, there won't be many that don't. I think that bonds are a fundamental part of externally-fueled magic systems used by Physical beings, at least within the context of Realmatics. I could see Allomancy as a bondless magic system, if it's just magic flows out of the Spiritual and immediately has an effect. However, based on how just about every other magic system uses bonds in the Cosmere, I suspect Allomancy functions based off one too, as I outlined in the main post. Hemalurgy and Feruchemy are examples of ones where it's probably not bond-based. Sure, I came up with a theory accounting for them, but I don't particularly believe that one, I just wanted to throw out there was potentially a way they could be. This is actually one of the ones I feel most confident in. The Breath is shaped into a rudimentary mind, and partially melded with the object's spirit (but rather loosely, as it can be reclaimed easily). Under Brandon's definition, this is a bond.

I'm having trouble figuring out what you're asking, could you clarify? I guess I could see that being extra magic. Imo, it's probably more just an inherent thing in the nature of the Blade rather than an active magical thing it is doing. That's a good point, and I realize I phrased it poorly. When I say that, I mean it in the context of a being using a Shard's power to do essentially whatever they want (see: the Well). But the way I wrote it implies I think it's Cultivation doing it, and that's not what I think. So I need to find a different way to word it in the future. He can affect the highstorm, but that does not mean he actually created it, just like Kal can affect the wind but does not create all wind (this is an imperfect analogy, but is the first I thought of, and I hope it can get my point across well enough). That's a good point. I'll have to think on Shardplate more. Under the theory, Awakening forges a bond between the Breath and the Awakened object, not between the Awakener and object. Brandon has described it as a Splinter melding with the spiritweb, which is the definition of a Nahel-type bond (well, the actual definition Brandon gave is even broader, but for the purposes of this post I am narrowing the definition somewhat). To be clear, that's what I meant by "originates", is "arrives to the user from the external source". That's a bad use of "originate", I will concede. A lot of this has been written without proper concern for precise wording. Depends on how much magic is actually used in the transformation, but potentially. Another thing I'll have to think on that may be a flaw in the theory. I was speculating that dragons may have something similar to a gemheart. Alternatively, they could themselves be more in the Cognitive or something. Under my theory, lerasium's effects simply allow one to form the bond with Preservation. Side note, this fits with the "making Mistborn is a side effect" WoB on lerasium: what lerasium actually does is increases the Connection to Preservation, which as a side effect allows one to use metal to forge the temporary bond to draw power through. This also explains why it strengthens someone who is already an Allomancer: they already have some Connection, and the lerasium strengthens it. Shards tend to break the usual rules of magic systems.

Which is why I think they do use an external source: the Spiritual Realm. It's a sharp object that is hard to damage because of the Investiture it is made from. Once it is summoned, there is no active use of magic. I did not bring aluminum up in response to Shardblades, but to terken. Cultivation probably could too, she almost certainly chose to let the memories return over time. I don't believe he creates the storm any more than windspren create the wind, personally. I don't remember that part, so I may be misremembering. In that case, however, the fact it is made of spren bonded to each other a. is a bond and b. is spren. This is what the theory is about, yes. I require we know even a basic level of information about something, yes. Yolish Lightweaving is something where we know nothing about how it functions. Other systems we can look at, most of which we know for a fact use bonds: Breath Divine Breath and Royal Locks (not sure whether I'd count these or not, but you brought them up earlier) Sand mastery Aviar Surge fabrials (somewhat arguable, but Brandon considers fabrials one) Normal fabrials (maybe, but may also be due to a Cognitive entity on its own rather than a bond) Ashynite disease magic (we know very little, but the one thing we do know is that it is a bond) Aethers (once again, we know very little, but we know it is a bond) The Investiture still originates from a bond. We know that gemhearts are related to something with the Sho Del in Dragonsteel. Perhaps dragons have something similar? Based on the Dragonsteel Prime sample chapters, dragons literally leak (what we assume almost certainly is) god metal. There's an awful lot of some sort of Investiture there, at the very least, and some form of bond could fit.

I'm taking this directly from the Ars Arcanum. Khriss explicitly says it's via a bond, forged using the reaction from water and lichen. I am not arguing that a bond shapes the outcome of the magic. I am arguing that a bond provides the Investiture in the first place. Weird Connection stuff, combined with the shapes you make, are what determine what the power does once you have it, I agree. As to the rest: I am not using "bond" to mean "conscious decision between two beings". I am using it with the definition Brandon used, that of Investiture melding with the spiritweb. That's why I clarified at the start: I am by no means arguing Preservation decides to bond people every single time they burn a metal.

Everything has a spiritweb. Everything. They are Cognitive entities. As such, they have access to that power without a bond. What powers the Stormfather has is somewhat unclear. The visions were something Honor gave him the ability to do directly, the timeless zone is likely related to him simply being a really massive quantity of Investiture, etc. Direct Shardic intervention, not a proper magic system. Most of those would likely not be using an external power source, merely their Cognitive aspect (boosted by the large amount of Investiture on the island). Perhaps they are magical, then. But it's not something we know enough about to be able to say much besides "Investiture probably plays some role". That's a fair point. In that case, the fact that as Cognitive Shadows they are Cognitive entities comes into play. Right, the sharp part of the sword cuts. I fail to see your issue with it? Still comes from a spren bond. I am assuming, based on the active effects they have and the fact that they work fine anywhere, that they draw from the Spiritual, since they do not seem to run out. Most of First of the Sun, no. The Aviar, yes. That's like asking "why do Nahel bonds count when most humans don't bond spren". Just because most of the planet does not bond things does not mean there are not creatures who do. Probably has a spren bond. Quite a few Rosharan creatures do. We don't know enough for me to have any idea. Probably just Connection shenanigans rather than active use of magic. (Assuming you mean Dysians. Siah, we don't know enough.) Similar situation to Shardblades. They are created using a bond, but once the dead Plate is left and just sits there, it is no longer an active use of magic. The Syl interlude seems to confirm lesser spren theory, which would involve a lot of bonds, most likely. Feeding it SL to regrow it is probably doing weird things related to the lesser spren that bonded to create it.

That's what I figured at first, but then I realized Allomancy is the only externally powered magic we have seen that's not described in terms of bonds (neither BioChroma nor the Dor is described using the word itself, but the description Brandon gave matches his definition of a bond perfectly). Rather than assume Allomancy is the only one that doesn't use bonds when every other magic does, I find it more likely that Allomancy just fits it in a not-immediately-obvious way. And sand mastery + the Dor offer a pretty clear explanation when bits of what happen with those two are combined. Hemalurgy and Feruchemy are the ones I'm less sure of (though I did come up with a theory for them anyway), but they also aren't externally powered.

Ah, this is why I posted it in the RoW section. Knew I was forgetting a couple. We don't know how their "brands" work, but a bond with Odium and/or a voidspren in some way feels likely to me. Based on the description of Soulcasters, spren are indeed bonded to the Surge fabrials, just in Shadesmar. Normal fabrials, perhaps bonded to the gemstone? But they work directly off a spren being there, so a bond would theoretically not be necessary, because it's using a being of Investiture anyway. The bond with an entity of Investiture is where their powers come from. Depends on how exactly mistwraiths work. Personally, I got the impression they were supposed to be biological (if fantastical) rather than magical. But I don't know. Shades are Cognitive Shadows, not a magic system. That's because it has already formed. The only magic part is the summoning and dismissal, the rest is a natural result of being a sword of solid Investiture. Inherent part of the nature of seons, I'd guess. Probably share a sort of bond connecting them, anyway. We don't know enough about skaze to say, I'd guess. Actually, they are the result of a bond. They do not use an external power source. I assume they simply use their Cognitive aspects in some manner. We don't know how terken works, but it seems to function similar to aluminum, and as far as we know, aluminum's immunity is not due to a magic system. Now, I'm not saying it is aluminum (though I wouldn't be surprised if terken contains trace amounts), just that it may function similarly. Royal Locks are due to a fragment of a Divine Breath, which is a Splinter melding with your soul, which qualifies as a Nahel bond, or at least a bond functioning off the same fundamentals.

Yeah, I considered putting seons, but figured that didn't seem to be a magic system. Definitely are bonds though lol As for your second point, note that I put plain "Dor", not AonDor. All Selish magics are manifestations of a single system using the Dor, just as Surgebinding has various manifestations on Roshar, or Allomancy various manifestations on Scadrial: So if one works by "letting the Dor into your soul", all of them probably do. Under the (admittedly rather broad) definition of "Nahel bond" Brandon gave, this likely qualifies, imo, even if the powers they give are rather weird.

TL;DR All magics that draw from external sources function via bonds with entities made of Investiture (generally Spiritual or Cognitive beings). Magics that do not draw from external sources seem to possibly not do so, however (although I believe they still might). Do note that this sometimes uses a very liberal version of the word "bond", but it is based on what Brandon has defined it as. If you would like, you may mentally replace "bond" with "the underlying mechanics of a Nahel bond", but that's wordier than I'd like to write down. For all these lists, an asterisk (*) denotes a magic system that has not been canonically seen. Edit: Dawnshard has added..... complications, to some of these. I think the main points all still stand, but I will need to revise things with Cosmere-wide Command taken into account, as well as genericified Heightenings. To start, how do the magics we know of work? Hey, I'm noticing a pattern... You missed a couple... Closing thoughts [insert my usual disclaimer about typos and odd ways of phrasing things, because I'm too lazy for more than a cursory scan of what I wrote, and another one of my usual disclaimers about there probably being obvious gaps I missed] References

Oooh, thanks. Giving me some pretty interesting ideas.

It has? I haven't seen this before, do you have a link handy?

That is correct.

Plus, the GB don't just want to fuel tech with it. They want to hold a monopoly over it in order to wield power over the entire Cosmere. I doubt Saze would just oblige there.

This is a theory, but not a confirmed one. It's an interpretation of one of the epigraphs.

Part of the reason he hasn't done the Aztlanian is because he wants to do a bunch of proper research first, and potentially even visit South America, so it might take him longer to write than it normally would for a book of its length, iirc.

Magic is canon (or mostly canon), nothing else is, I think. The Shards will likely change a lot, as most of that moved to Scadrial. Darro is most likely no longer in the book, as he will likely be moved to being a native Nalthian. As Brandon mentions in I believe the opening, he doesn't really like the contrast between the two "halves" of the book. Etc. So I'd go with "nothing is canon, but it could have some small influence on whatever eventually happens".

I think you misunderstood me, or perhaps I phrased things poorly. I never suggested NB started the Manywar (or never intended to suggest that); this post is about my theory on the end of the war. The only part that is about the beginning of it is me saying that the Idrians were probably reluctant at the start.

TL;DR: Vasher's killing of Shashara turned the Idrian royals against him, leading to him seizing control of the kingdom. Not really a complex theory, but I'm colors-cursed bored, so I'm going to be overformatting this post. The TL;DR + relatively common knowledge from WoBs should be enough to guess what I'm going to write without having to read it all. Also, probably not a new idea, but I hadn't seen any post on it, and a very quick search did not find anything saying it. Quick overview of the pieces Let's make some deductions from this evidence And finally, here's what I think happened References

I liked most of it (though the very end had a real vomit-worthy moment in it...) And there's a point that definitely feels like it was a sequel stuffed into a couple chapters. Overall though, I like the book, perhaps more than it deserves, and I hope the published version stays closer to this version than it sounds like it will end up being. There's a specific moment towards the end I hope both remains and gets expanded (spoilers for the end below!) A lot of the book was more tell-over-show (like Raeth's crazy speech abilities that really were not all that deserving of the responses he got to me), but that's probably stuff revision would improve. Overall, I think a nice neatened up and revised version would be pretty good.

1) I found the Shard via.... not sure, my memory sucks. Probably someone pointing me to the Aether of Night request thread? 2) It's gotten me way more into the Cosmere. I already enjoyed the books, but the obsession came from reading through random posts on the Shard. 3) I haven't really been actively involved in enough to have a lot of "memories" yet, but reading the RoW chapters and discussing and going crazy over them has been fun. (I'm actually mainly active on the Discord rather than the forums, but that's technically still 17th Shard, soooooooo... [I do like the forums still, but I just prefer the more instant discussion style on a chatroom for most things besides super detailed theorymaking.])

Interesting, not a connection I had made previously. I'm gonna have to mull over the theory a bit more, but my first reaction is it makes some sense, and I kinda like it.