honorblades

That is true, the timeline is a little tricky here. I think the main takeaway from this is that although Rayse may have initially been working with Autonomy, Taravangian seems to be setting up to be far less limited. More able to act than Rayse was. I think it is safe to assume that by BoM Taravangian is holding Odium, though.

I think you are assuming that anyone involved with the Set would have to be involved from the very beginning of their organization, and I don’t necessarily agree with that.

I was not sure where to put this topic, but I thought here would be best. RoW & Stormlight Archive spoilers will be untagged, but I will tag all Mistborn Era 2 spoilers with the appropriate book. So, Era 2 occurs during the time skip between SA5 and SA6. Clearly, knowing that Taravangian is the new Vessel of Odium recontextualizes many things - there is one from Bands of Mourning that I would like to talk about. BoM spoiler: Hoid implies in his WoK letter to Frost that he has a grudge against Rayse and Bavadin - although not explicitly stated that this is the same grudge against both, I have always read it as so. In other words, that Rayse and Bavadin were working together. BoM spoiler: Alloy of Law spoilers: Those are some colors typically associated with Odium. We also know from Rhythm of War that Odium planned to use Roshar as a staging ground for an army to conquer the Cosmere: One last point from Rhythm of War: This clearly indicates to me that Odium is considering sending agents out into the cosmere, if he hasn’t done so already. I expect he is bound by Honor against doing so. Taravangian winning the contest of champions or otherwise being unchained from the Rosharan system would certainly make it easier for him to influence other planets, in a way that Rayse-Odium could not. We also know from experience that in our current point in the timeline, with most planets generally unaware of each other, foreign magic systems are much more effective for stealthy purposes. You can’t see through a disguise you don’t expect - much less one you don’t even know is possible. Now, if we put all these things together, it would make perfect sense that Odium & Bavadin would continue their plans. Scadrial will be incredibly important in the future, and surely Odium can spare a Fused for some wetwork on another planet.

this was my exact thought while reading this sequence. With Hoid’s monologue leading up to this moment - which is all about tricking someone into seeing what they want to see - I think Hoid expected to have his memories stolen here. Otherwise, what was the point of this? Exposing himself completely to Rayse-Odium, a being who before seemed to want to kill Hoid on sight, just for the chance to gloat? About a contest that isn’t even won yet? That just seems.. not as clever as the Hoid we know. If nothing else, there is more than meets the eye here. I am firmly in the camp that Hoid is planting these “memories” for T-Odium for an ulterior motive.

I like this theory - I think indeed T-Odium will appoint a child as his champion, and Dalinar will be unable to kill them. However, I think that this will result in T-Odium still “winning”. The hint for this appears in Renarin’s vision that he showed to Dalinar: Dalinar is not fighting someone other than Odium - he is fighting for Odium, as one of the Fused. As per Dalinar’s agreement with Odium:

Sixth of the Dusk reading spoilers:

The more I thought about this today, the more it seems like Odium may be directly interfering in some way. Perhaps Odium is like.. infusing T with investiture in a way so that his baseline intelligence is just normal, or slightly above? This could also have an advantage of making sure T doesn’t get too smart again and wriggle out of their deal somehow. I have absolutely no evidence for this though, pure conjecture.

So you are implying that this is all part of the plan on Cultivation’s part then?

Oh man. I hope neither of us are right.. I do think an attack on Urithiru is very likely this book though. There is too much talk about the tower’s defenses and such for them not to be tested soon. Plus, it would give a nice opportunity for someone to ‘revive’ the Sibling in a dramatic and heroic way

There was some discussion of the Masked Ones, the Fused Lightweaver equivalents.. Perhaps this is foreshadowing that there is a Masked One spy in Urithiru? Maybe even at that very meeting? If you’ll don your aluminum hat with me - isn’t it odd that Taravangian no longer requires aides and is, according to Navani, very lucid and present basically all the time now? Shouldn’t he still be having his “stupid” compassion days? Has T been replaced by a Masked One? He could be alive and well, coaching this one in his mannerisms and such, so that no one is suspicious. I don’t know if I believe this, but it is fun to think about.

Speaking of Dawnshard, isn’t it crazy how much lore we got from that book? Especially considering Brandon treats all his novellas as “not required reading”, it makes me think that we are gonna get some heavy lore stuff in RoW. I can’t wait!

They are not, it was mentioned in a previous chapter that the Oathgate spren acknowledged Dalinar as the successor to Honor and so opened the Oathgates for travel that was once forbidden. Shadesmar, and presumably direct travel from one Oathgate to another though this second part was not directly confirmed.

The Sibling is clearly tied to Urithiru somehow... is it possible that they “inhabit” the tower similar to how the Oathgate spren inhabit the Oathgates? I wrote up a whole thing about how I have been thinking about how to power the Fourth Bridge and then Navani just addresses it straight away in this chapter, lol. So clever. I should have suspected she had this mostly figured out already. Finally we get some mention of the Stonewards! I was starting to get worried, honestly. I wonder... Is it possible that Taravangian could be a candidate for a Bondsmith? Something about the way Dalinar describes him in this chapter makes me think about how different members of the same Order can have such different personalities. I would say T is probably too old... but... Hmm. Is it possible? AND NOT BRANDON FORESHADOWING DALINAR’S DEATH NOOOOOOOOOO I CAN’T TAKE IT

One things that really stuck out to me in this book is our totally new viewpoint of Huio. I really like the Huio is like.. super smart, and inclined towards scholarship but he is not part of one of the traditional ‘scholar orders’. I think this simple thing adds a lot of depth to the Radiants. One doesn’t have to be an Elsecaller or Truthwatcher in order to study science and make important discoveries. I’m sure this goes the other way too - there will definitely be a nerdy scientist type that is also a demon on the battlefield.

You know, this theory really rules. Few things strike me as more Honorable than a noble sacrifice, and it totally fits into Cultivation’s intent to plan the killing blow a few thousand years in advance

I feel like both of these options are equally crazy to me... can the shard of Honor even lie?! Ugh. I can’t wait for RoW to come along and break my brain even more

I feel like by simply commenting on this thread I am attempting to compete with Olympic athletes while I am on the high school JV team, as my cosmere knowledge is paltry compared to others, but here goes: I think a big takeaway for me is that Hoid was a Dawnshard. And given that Dragonsteel occurred so long in the past (assuming that it is still mostly canon), and that Rysn is now currently a Dawnshard, there must be some mechanism for them to.. regenerate? To be reused again? And if that is true, why does Honor appear to say in Dalinar’s visions that the Dawnshards are lost? These appear to be two conflicting ideas, and we clearly do not have all the facts yet. I do not have any solutions, but this seems important to note.

This is... crazy. I was not expecting to get this level of deep cosmere knowledge from a novella. I suppose it isn’t a surprise, given the amount of cosmere connections we have gotten from the RoW previews - this book is shaping up to be huge for realmatic theory. So, the Dawnshards existed prior to the Shattering, as they appear to be instrumental in that act. As @Pagerunner said, it appears that Hoid may also be a Dawnshard, given the old WoB that part of Hoid’s immortality comes from the remnant of what destroyed Adonalsium. Does this mean that Rysn may also be immortal now? Very interesting that Rysn’s perception of the world post-bonding the Dawnshard appears very similar to someone who is an advanced Heightening - I wonder if this is a sort of Cosmere-wide affect of holding a lot of investiture? Or perhaps this is an affect of holding a lot of this type of investiture? It certainly seems like the Command that Rysn now holds - this would fit with the mural being split into 4 larger chunks. I would guess that this Dawnshard is associated with the same type of investiture that Endowment, and therefore Awakening, is associated with. I wonder if we will see other magic systems that provide similar affects as far as color and sound perception goes. I have been trying to develop a theory on Dalinar’s odd visions for a while now - obviously some of them are sent by the Stormfather, but others appear to be separate. Particularly the ones that feature a golden light. This appears very similar to the light that Rysn experiences. I would hazard to guess that Dalinar is somehow bonding another Dawnshard, though the mechanics of this I’m sure will not be clear to us for some time. The most confusing part of this for me by far is Honor’s lamentation that humanity has apparently “lost” the Dawnshards. He specifically expresses to Dalinar his despair at humanity’s chances against Odium without them. But, clearly, there was a Dawnshard in Aimia this whole time. How do we square these two facts? Was Honor somehow not aware of this Dawnshard? Was it moved to Aimia by the Sleepless sometime after Honor’s death? It does not seem to make sense at this point, and I am desperate to know more. Man, I know RoW is only a few weeks away at this point but it can’t come soon enough! Hopefully some of this gets cleared up.

NOOOOO I JINXED IT!! MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES TO ALL GAMERS

Hmm.. it seems Kaladin is quite good at helping others find purpose in their lives. I wonder, will he need external help to find his own purpose, or perhaps self motivation will play a big part in him swearing the 4th Oath? Something tells me however, that Kaladin will not be fully satisfied being his father’s assistant forever. Or even a full surgeon himself, eventually.

I would like to discuss young Gavinor’s role in the Stormlight Archive. Obviously this is pretty far future speculation, mostly for the Back 5, but I think it would be interesting to make predictions now. If you have a prediction I have not listed here please feel free to add it below!

“The Dustbringers continue to flirt with rebellion, often ignoring Dalinar’s orders” You know, for an Order known for being oft maligned and misunderstood, the Dustbringers certainly seem to straight up suck. I think the rumors are true. There is something so hilarious about Wit nonchalantly going to fetch the Heralds. Oh don’t worry, brb, just gonna grab the Heralds of the Almighty. lol, the Shin take aggressive neutrality to a whole new level.

Hey folks! Glad to be back for another great chapter. 1. THEY THREW THE THRILL IN THE OCEAN?? Who thought that was a good idea??? 2. Oh Szeth. Even though you’re a war criminal and perhaps the most deadly living person on Roshar, I still sympathize with you. Poor boy. 3. Uh, yeah, those scientists are totally going to release an Unmade inside Urithiru. Question is, which one... Or I guess it could be a Voidspren. I just doubt that, it would be anticlimactic I think given the attention this book is giving that sphere.

I’m willing to bet that 10th heightening grants implicit mental command, but if you know enough (which Zahel clearly does) you could do it at an earlier heightening

Hmmm... this could be a clue as to how humane fabrials could be crafted? Something tells me there will always be fabrials that need captured spren however, particularly off-world from Roshar