Lunu’anaki

Listening now! We needed this episode!!

Lmao, that's a lot of magic. I don't believe that it is that cut and dry mathematically though... As an example, we have Sel: 2 Shard with potentially 100's of magic systems. Also, Roshar: Technically it has around ~30 magic systems with two shards, a half-way invested 3rd shard, and past influence from Adonalsium (all 16 as one) Meanwhile, Taldain only has 1 shard and has at least 2 separate magic systems. You've definitely got one thing right though. All 16 shards investing on one planet and mixing their investiture would mean A LOT of magic... but what if they worked together to just make one magic system?

Very interesting idea @KandraAllomancer It would be very cool to see how the back 5 play out in this scenario. If Odium can be splintered and reformed perhaps the same can be said about Honor. If that’s true... perhaps the focus of the back five (alongside the oathpact) will be on “reforging” honor fast enough to form a new pact or something.

1. Hoid (if you couldn’t tell by my Username) 2. Kaladin 3. Vin 4. Nightblood 5. Syl 6. Pattern 7. Siri 8. Lightsong 9. Kelsier 10. How dare you make me stop at 10! Therefore... I will pick Kelsier’s Crew, Bridge 4, Shallan, Vivenna, Vasher, Raoden, And every goddamn Kholin!!!

Thank You I'll put you on the list for Alpha Readers when I finish the first draft! I expect to be done by December 2020. For now you can read a section of the book here I'm glad you like where I'm going with this! Thanks again.

Very good point!

I was actually considering putting in a stipulation to this idea. If the new Herald isn't Kaladin, then it's Moash! Honestly though. Moash doesn't deserve to be a hero.... I just find it hard to see a 20 year gap between the current state of affairs and whatever comes after without a break from the fighting... Heralds at least going back to Braize would offer that, whether it's the originals or something new.

Interesting! And here I was thinking i stumbled onto something noone had thought of I'll give your post a read-through and perhaps leave my comments there. Would it be wise of me to hide this thread seeing as there are already theories on this out there?

FOR REAL. my inner fanboy is screeeaming. So many moons. Is it possible some support life?! Im betting on the latter with that anomaly. Verrry interesting!!

Okay so I've been thinking about this a lot. This is a fairly general theory that I might expand on in the future with book references and quotes but I wanted to get the basic idea of it out there and see what people think. My basic expectation is something along the lines of this: At the end of book 5, Dalinar will learn of a method to take up the shard of Honor and do so. Upon doing so he will endeavor to form a new Oathpact. That oathpact will be with Kaladin and perhaps others. Reasoning: Kaladin has, from the very beginning been a tortured soul, and his pain always comes from protecting others or failing to protect them. This is a very Herald-like quality The first Herald to be eliminated by Odium just so happens to be the patron of Kaladin's order, The Windrunners. If a replacement were ever needed, Kaladin is a perfect fit. Dalinar's connection to the Stormfather and his incredible abilities as of Oathbringer give him a special link to Honor's power. There will be a 20 year gap between book 5 and book 6. What would account for that gap? Kaladin forming an Oathpact and going to Braize in order to give time to his allies in preparation for Odiums eventual return. I'd like to hear people input on this, for and against. I'll give it some more thought and eventually formulate a full fledged theory based on what we come up with.

Me too!! That's one of the most fascinating bits of the Shattering. In the realm of gods its almost easier to think that Adonalsium could be killed by his friends, on purpose. What god would be capable of being tricked by their enemies?

She's also in Mistborn: Secret History.

I completely agree

oh yeah! for some reason i always jam era 3 and 4 together in my mind as if they're the same thing

On Warbreaker: From what I understand it's not that people don't like it but they see a lot of problems with it because its structured strangely. I tend to disagree. It's a really well put together and I think the story works really well in it's current structure.

It was full of burnt bacon.

I don't like Wheel of Time. Star Wars Episode 8 was awesome and so was the Han Solo movie. GoT ending didn't ruin the series. (I wasn't blown away by it and it had problems, but the show isn't dead because of it) Bojack Horseman is a bad show. Night Angel was better than Lightbringer Warbreaker is one of the best Brandon Sanderson Novels.

It seems like Sel isn't getting enough attention as possible "Ones Above" so I'm going to present some reasons I think that they are also a likely candidate: 1. It seems a lot of the assumptions about the ones above are based on the ambiguous technology featured in Sixth of Dusk. We've seen Fabriels on Roshar and technology on Scadrial so it's not hard to see why they are prominently featured in theories about this. However, it's not hard to imagine that Sel would have technology of this level during the time of Sixth of Dusk. As far as we are aware, Sel has had a rather stable existence over the timespan of the cosmere. Thats a big assumption, but still, Roshar and Scadrial have both faced literal Apocalypses since the times of Elantris/The Emperor's Soul while Kriss had virtually nothing to say about the Selish system in her Arcanum essays other than the idea that "Landscapes are coming Alive" 2. Sel has the biggest reason to develop space travel: They have the hardest time leaving the system through the cognitive realm of all the shardworlds. If any shardworld were to have a good reason for space travel, it would be Sel, and that makes me think that they might be the first shardworld to go to space, meaning they would likely be heavily involved in developing a cosmere-wide system of laws and regulations for space travel. 3. Sel is the Shardworld most accustomed to interacting with a multitude of cultures/civilized development; due to the size of their planet and the number of countries and climates it features. The rules on interacting with peoples who are less advanced, and also the willingness to break those rules therefore make a lot of sense for people from Sel as well. Now, I'm not entirely convinced the Ones Above are from Sel myself, but if Brandon wanted to throw us a curveball which, in hindsight makes a lot of sense. Sel would be that curveball. They've been too stable of a planet, based on what we've seen of them, to not have developed faster, and more effectively than other worlds. Especially considering where Elantris falls on the timeline as a story.

BUT WHY CAN'T HE JUST MAKE IT ALL NOW?!? (obviously j/k) That probably means that Era 3 is going to have some reallllly interesting events taking place, seeing as Dragonsteel needs to happen before them and will be featuring the Shattering and probably backstory on most of the Shards. It's probably going to be more like 30 years too... because Brandon tends to take "breaks" by writing other series/standalones between books. Because you know.. he's a machine.

It's also entirely possible that those who know about their means of travel were wiped out in an unexpected desolation. It may require some rediscovery on their part.

Alright. In that context I see exactly what the OP is saying in regards to Feruchemy. I was just a bit thrown off by my interpretation of this: Thanks for the clarification. I really like the way this takes the Spiritual Realm down from "It just works" to "It works because this." I hope we see some canon cosmere stuff regarding things like this in the future.

In the same way that the internet is now? Era 3 is going to be incredible. Does Brandon have a timeline on when he'll be writing those?

Welcome!! Warbreaker is excellent if you go into it without expectations. It's a very strange mix of Genres but it's definitely worth reading for some backstory on characters you've met in Stormlight I highly recommend the "Arcanum Unbounded" collection of Cosmere short stories as well. The Emperors Soul, Mistborn: Secret History, and Shadows of Silence in The Forests of Hell are all incredible stories. Kriss's cosmere essays between stories will provide you some really cool info on Shards and their worlds as well.

It's really hard to tell.... I doubt that the entirety of their civilization is, if anyone at this point. Why would they stick around on Roshar through desolation after desolation instead of leaving if they knew they could? It's an interesting idea. There are some WoB's out there referring to an opposition to Adolnasium (which could easily just be the 16 who killed him and took up the shards) but it's also possible that it's something... bigger. In regards to Adonalsium and humans. We currently know of 3 pre-shattering races: Humans, Dragons, and Sho-Del. The Humans on Roshar are definitely descendents of Humans created by Adonalsium. The humans on Scadrial are not, ruin and preservation modeled them after Humans from Yolen. As far as I'm aware that is the extent of our exact knowledge on human origins.

Yeah, I guess it's not 100% clear but i believe the intent of it is it's a sort of sacrifice for future gain. You're at least losing the potential to do the thing while storing. That has to add up to something. 20 hours of moving through treacle must be worth more than 1 hour of it. you know what I mean?