Honorless

*Some Darkeyes in key positions. This is like saying racism doesn't exist because Shaq exists Check out the chapter where Laral and Kaladin's parents get their rooms in RoW. Lirin and Hesina get it because of Kaladin and because he's a doctor & they'll use it as a clinic. Laral, meanwhile, gets the same deal simply because she's a Lighteyes. So the distinction explicitly still exists in RoW.

Yeah, I can kind of see why they ship Szeth & Lift with their OB King's Drop scene but this is still very problematic, to put it mildly. Lift's very clearly and quite a bit underage, let's not ship very underage characters. Just no.

Nightblood?

Here you go, here's the relevant passage where she muses over the Shaod, which turns an Arelish person into an Elantrian:

Pretty good points. Actually Cryptics might accidentally take things way too far and make things awkward. The other Orders might've been content to let people go unpunished so long as they improved themselves or made themselves useful and that might not have sat well with the Skybreakers. The Knights Radiant were also an old organization, with divine backing based on solid codes of morality and divided into specific roles, their cultural viewpoint might've stagnated into "this is how it's always been done", and so the Skybreakers did as they always did and so did the rest of the Orders.

That's a pretty weak bond though, as Odium himself noted

That's the Coppermind wiki's words, not Khriss' exact words, she just mentions the string of Shardworld names and compares their methods of Initiation into their respective Invested Arts. To make the comparison, she would have to know the method of Initiation on Vax, so she's probably been to Vax, this is, admittedly, not a given because she hasn't or hadn't been to Yolen at the time of writing some of those texts, iirc. Yup, that's a pretty good summation

Redin?

I don't think so Yup, you've got it! Good game, everyone! Those were some of the solidest guesses I've seen!

Afraid not 1) This character acts as a companion to a main character on a quest 2) This character is or has been married 3) This character was relatively highborn but did not live the posh life (though one could say they lived / are living a successful life) 4) This character is a pretty good spy

No it's not fire-I mean Evi

Yup Death on all three Realms isn't instantaneous. After the Physical body dies, the Cognitive mind self lingers on for a while before getting pulled into the Beyond, and the Spiritweb also remains lingering for a while, still tethered with its Connections till it finally dissolves. So if you're quick enough & skilled enough, you could spike a dead body. I imagine the Hemalurgic decay rate might increase as the person was already dead, otherwise the Inquisitors wouldn't have bothered keeping their victims alive for as long as possible for the whole process. Though that might just have been sadism due to the mindset the Final Empire inculcated in the nobles, their fractured psyche, Ruin's influence...

Nope

Oh wow, good guesses, guys! But no, I'm afraid not 1) This character acts as a companion to a main character on a quest 2) This character is or has been married 3) This character was relatively highborn but did not live the posh life (though one could say they lived / are living a successful life)

A few relevant WoBs on the Spiritual Realm While most of the power of a Shard is in the Spiritual Realm, the Vessel or the mind that holds it is still mortal and can't access all of it at once. That's why Shards are localized. Here's a rather long WoB where Brandon goes into the concept: The reason I have so much trouble answering these questions (and you'll see me struggling to get an answer in the 10-15 seconds I have when someone asks me in a signing line) is because this isn't an either or. Is this computer I'm using matter associated with Earth, the Big Bang, or such-and-such star that went supernova long ago? Well, it's probably all three. When people ask, "What Shard is this Investiture associated with" it gets very complicated. Shards influence and tweak certain Investiture, giving it a kind of spin or magnetism, but all Investiture ever predates the Shattering--and in the cosmere matter, energy, and Investiture are one thing. I always imagine Investiture having certain states, certain magnetisms if you will, associated with certain aspects of Adonalsium. So it's all "assigned" to a Shard--because it's always been associated with that Shard. To Investiture, Adonalsium's Shattering meant everything and nothing at the same time. We generally mean the term "Invested" to mean a Shard has taken permanent residence in a location, a kind of base of operations--but at the same time, this is meaningless, since distance has no meaning on the Spiritual Realm, where most Shards are. So imprisonment of a Shard like Ruin or Odium is a crude expression--but the best we have. Autonomy never "Invested" on First of the Sun. But even answering (as someone else asked) if they created an avatar without visiting is a difficult thing to explain--because even explaining how a Shard travels (when motion is irrelevant) is difficult to manage. It's a subject that I intend to be up for debate, discussion, and argument by in-world philosophers and arcanists. You can see why I have such troubles explaining these things at signings--and why I fail when I try to, considering the time limitations and (often) fatigue limitations placed upon me. These are concepts I intend to spend entire, lengthy epic volumes explaining and exploring. Let's say you were Autonomy, and you have--through expanding and exploring your understanding--found a gathering of Investiture that has always been there, you always knew about, but still didn't actually recognize until the moment you considered and explored it. (Because even though your power is infinite, accessing and using that infinity is beyond your reach.) Were you "Invested" there? No, no more than you're Invested on Roshar, where parts of what were Adonalsium still exist that are associated with you (in the very fabric of matter and existence.) But suddenly, you have a chance to tweak, influence, and do things that were always possible, but which you never could do because you knew, but didn't know, at the same time. And...I'm already into WAY more than I want to be typing this out right now. If it's confusing, it's because it's practically impossible for me to explain these things in a short span of time. I'm going to leave it here, understanding that no, I haven't fully explained your question. (I didn't even get into what avatars are, what Patji was, and what happened to Patji the being--and how that relates to Patji the island.) But hopefully this kind of starts to point the right direction, though I probably should have just left this question alone because I bet this post is going to raise more questions than it answers... Overlord Jebus You've confused things so much now. We thought we had a pretty good grasp of this whole Patji situation (Autonomy visited the planet at some point, got themselves all Invested and created an avatar which is called Patji by the locals). Now you're saying no Shard has ever visited there? And that the pool would have existed if no Shard had ever interfered? But that Patji still exists and is a Shard? Does that mean Autonomy edited First of the Sun from afar without actually going there? And that the pool would have already existed without any intervention? Does this mean it was associated with Autonomy from the beginning? I'm really confused now. Brandon Sanderson I don't believe I said no Shard had visited. I said no Shard was there during the events of the story. Investiture on First of the Sun predates any Shards fiddling with it. Shards have fiddled with it by the time of the story. I think fandom might be going down too far a rabbit hole on this one. Chaos Are you saying here that Patji is an avatar of Autonomy, or is it a separate Shard and not an avatar of Autonomy? Brandon Sanderson When I said Patji was a Shard, I was meaning Automony--but it is not quite that simple. Take this post to mean "no, you should not be looking toward another Shard for Patji's origins. Autonomy is the one relevant." But Autonomy's relationships with entities like this (not sure entity is the right word, even) is complex. I'm not trying to confuse the issue, though. General Reddit 2018 (March 18, 2018) We do have confirmation (I'm taking it as confirmation) that Vax is a place Khriss talks about Vax in the Arcanum Unbounded compares its Invested Arts with other Shardworlds', which suggests it's a Shardworld or something like it: a moon, a giant spaceship, some weird dream realm in Shadesmar, perhaps an entire planet shoved from the Physical Realm into the Cognitive, let your imagination run wild. It's technically not impossible for Vax to be partially in the Spiritual Realm kinda like the Visions perhaps, which operated from the Spiritual quite a bit sometimes

Solid guesses all around but nope 2) This character is or has been married

1) This character acts as a companion to a main character on a quest

Aesudan wasn't a slave I think I figured it out, it's Lhan

And? Defense lawyers are part of the legal system. Elsecallers aren't necessarily all utilitarian, they are about self-improvement, with a tendency towards being logic-oriented rather than being emotional in their decision making, owing mostly to the nature of their spren preferring people with that type of mentality. They'd both have been well-suited to that role. I doubt the whole Radiant internal police force was always made up of Skybreakers. "Predisposed to toss out the concept of guilt" excuse me? What?

I'm pretty sure it was in my copy. In RoW as well, Lezian's name is listed in the very same part title where Adin's name is missing from and he doesn't even get a chapter or any focus, only serving to introduce El. The absence of either Gaz or Adin's name on the part title pages could've just been mistakes and maybe we're just reading too much into this.

I think you got all the suspicious sentences, though I did find this small one: Could be seen as a bit curious how the last one is a bit separated from the others. Likely just a narrative choice but just maybe not.

Wow, we really missed out on watching Shallan's expression when she finds out that the top dog of the Ghostbloods is a talking dog

After the caste system caused so much plot and character development? Again, this is exactly what I'm talking about. The books didn't tackle the problem at all, it just went "not every high caste person is bad", "hey, you no longer belong to the lower caste" and "hey, we should forget about all this and unite (under the high caste) to fight the big bad", none of which address the issue at all. You're right that Darkeyes Radiants and how they destabilize the Vorin caste system could be an interesting thing but it is also never brought up.

That's a good point. We don't know anything about how Vorin people might look at different gender identities, the WoB only went over homosexuality iirc. Looking at gender based segregation in their society, realistically, probably not very well. I've always suspected that the apparently egalitarian attitude towards homosexuality from the Vorin people is a holdover from Tanavast, Yolen was probably a lot more well-developed. As someone from a conservative culture, Jasnah appeared very familiar to me. She's a lot like some women I know, so I saw her as heterosexual, independent and just not interested in & frankly tired of listening to the idea of getting tied down with a relationship. I didn't really like the Jasnah and Hoid ship much at first but I think it kinda works. They're not lovestruck birds but just two adults working to have a relationship. They respect each other and are working to establish trust and are reasonably fond of one another. They don't have insta chemistry but they could work, if they work for it. I could see this relationship going any number of ways, so I'm quite satisfied with how it was written and quite excited to see where it might go. Jasnah being asexual or aromantic didn't really occur to me but I think the former fits, and the latter could've fit too. Her being lesbian though, I didn't really see it. She seems to be quite a monumental figure, an immovable monolith, a near mythical figure, expected to be perfect because of who she is from birth and who she's chosen to be, so that is what she became. Even members of her own family, as we saw with Navani & Adolin thinking about her in RoW, think of her like that. Someone like her would have to have been aware, I think. What the OP describes could've happened to a young, gay Jasnah. After all, a society not being hostile to gay people and a society accepting of gay people are two different things, I would know. I really don't see Vorin society being the latter. The one moment of acceptance we see, Drehy & Bridge 4, I would irl interpret as a textbook example of accepting, protective friends being defensive of their gay mate in a very heteronormative, masculine environment. Vorinism's acceptance of homosexuality looks very much like authorial fiat to me. I can't imagine that society being very gay friendly. Knowing gay people exist and someone you know telling you that they're gay would be very different. So young Jasnah could've internalized that part of her and buried it deep inside her because it would've been easier, more convenient, less potentially hurtful. I'm kinda sad for the Jasnah that could've been now. Regardless, given everything else Jasnah has since become, most prominently among them, an atheist, I think she would've self-examined herself and been capable of accepting herself at the point in her life where we and Shallan meet her. Also, I gotta say, I love the fact that Jasnah is such a monumental figure to so many readers as well, it mirrors her character in-world quite nicely. Yeah, I've seen a few LGBT people looking at ace people as having it easier. People underestimate how intrinsically woven the idea of romantic companionship is in our societal structure, and how hard it is to go against that. Wanting companionship and not wanting a sexual or romantic relationship would be an alien idea to them. It's kinda sad, they should know better. Hope being in the head of more ace people in literature and the arts help people understand this better.