DiePie

I was talking with a friend about some absurd uses of compounding, and we came across the absurd idea of compounding heat. Burning everything within a specific radius by heating yourself up to thousands of degrees, etc. And, seemingly, you could survive it. So that raises the question to me, what kind of radiation would a brass compounder at 1000 degrees emit? Because in order to survive that temperature, most of your atoms couldn't be traveling at that speed right? It would kill you. I was thinking that all that heat would accumulate in the atoms that were allowed to move, and you'd be like emitting gamma particles or something. Though the alternative seems like that it would have to make the various forces in your body that hold you together stronger to compensate. Which makes me wonder how much stronger your body would have to be for the effects of particles moving at the higher points of the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution to be negligible on your health. Could heating yourself up to a couple hundred degrees make you invulnerable to physical attack? Or would preservation's investiture do the bare minimum to keep your body together, and any application of outside force would cause the chemical bonds holding your cells together to crumble to dust? I'm curious what y'all think would happen to someone doing this, or if you have any better (or more interesting) applications for this than being unkillable in a fight.

While (perhaps) going to somewhere with heavier gravity wouldn't build muscle if you're already pushing yourself in the gym, it would help condition anyone who wasn't so dedicated. I think growing up on Sel would put you in a better position to begin training for a pan-galactic strongman competition.

I'm sorry, but you sound like a Scadrian political pundit. Like they're still living breathing people. People who will commit atrocities if given power and an incentive, and whose ancestors will try to make the best of the world they are given. As far as Rosharans go, I'd find it hard to argue that Herdazians specifically are going to rise up and take over Scadrial. Also feels like a good time to remind you that the wars between humans and singers were deliberately inflamed by the shards of the system. Which, Brandon appears to be setting up again with the Scadrial vs. Roshar battle. At least someone is on the side of Scadrial, at least.

Not since the release of WaT I don't think. I've seen similar arguments before (mostly in threads arguing whether mistborn can take radiants in a 1v1), but ranking shards is something people tend to avoid. The entire Scadrian planet was created from scratch, supposedly revealed in the arcanum unbounded Scadrial essay (@Trusk'our points this out in his first reply). I did find this interesting WoB when looking (bolding added by me for emphasis): Do we count this "saturation" as part of Ruin's investiture? I believe it's mentioned in The Hero of Ages that part of the reason Ruin wants to destroy Scadrial is to reclaim this investiture (as the shard is trapped on Scadrial as long as it's there), the reclamation seems to function similarly to Retribution on Roshar. Since Ruin and Preservation both invested into Scadrial in equal amounts we can x2 this for Harmony. Combine that with the prevalence of physical manifestations of Harmony's investiture (Harmonium and mist), and Ruin and Preservation seem to be two of the weakest shards that haven't been splintered. If the Dor is one entity I'd place it above, then Retribution, and then all of the single shards in a line below. There's an argument to be made about putting Retribution above the Dor but this is already too long and I don't find it convincing. I'd also place the avatars of autonomy above the spirits of Night (which is gone), Wind (which was suppressed by Odium without any seeming difficulty), and Stone. There is no evidence they have any meaningful amount of investiture... just that they are pervasive across Roshar. (Bolding added by me for emphasis) As far as invested beings go, mistborn and heralds are pretty low. Most of their power comes from the ability to channel investiture through themselves, with the Heralds holding Stormlight and Mistborn burning metals as a "key" to channel Preservation's power. Heralds take the cake imo, considering their superhuman speed and ability to peer into the future, putting them in the prestigious position of... second to last. Nightblood is def more invested than any of these people. Not sure if you've seen this WoB. I would also be interested in what the actual conversion could be, if only to see where a black hole places on this list lol. You may also be interested to know that there was a time Brandon was toying with making investiture convert into power (like energy per second power) which makes this a whole lot more difficult lol. I'd also be curious if someone who knows more about Dawnshards wants to weigh in on where they would go. From what I recall they don't seem to have a lot of investiture on their own (thus why a Radiant can't hold one), and instead need another source to really be effective.

In my opinion, this is the most obvious arc for the character to take. Learning to live in service of the people rather than the lord who commands him, and rejecting the latter in favor of the former. In the Inheritance Cycle (great magic system btw totally recommend if you somehow haven't read) the excuse for why magic is not used to physically enhance people is that something substantive is gained by the process of training, that even though you may end with the same musculature, you won't understand as well how to use it. I would love to talk more about that but now's not the time. Given how clearly the Stormlight Archive advocates for treating the journey as an end unto itself, I don't think the Blackthorn will end where Dalinar did. Knowing Sanderson, he's got another 3-5 books of (mostly) new character development (and hopefully a space battle or two) in the works for the Blackthorn. And I am very excited hiking that trail with y'all, regardless of which way he goes.

I agree that it's weird. The conclusion I came to is that even a month is "time" to the heralds. They bounced between running from playing the worst game of hide and seek, being tortured, having to lead humanity and then once the cycle was complete, running from their own guilt and shame. Now, they have time that is their own, that they don't have to feel guilty for using. I assumed it was an unfortunate quirk of the writing (and not having an editor go: "This isn't what you're trying to imply, right?") that the line implied a comparison between the amount of time they have vs how much time people have outside on Roshar.

No one is saying that the real person Nohadon who lived on Roshar was necessarily anything more than a person. Normally I'd agree, a lot of the Nohadon stuff seems bent on trying to deny the agency of the long-dead King. Like, things can happen without the interference of a Shard, people can reflect on lifetimes of inflicted suffering and decide to become better. Adonalsium does not have to give himself a body and walk among us for there to be someone with a similar personality to his. But most of the theory fits with the interpretation of the text that Adonalsium (or some remnant of him) is impersonating Nohadon in the spiritual realm during that vision. And I think that makes sense from a character's point of view: Honor is looking for someone to console/guide them (it?). Tanavast respected the man, and he has a reputation for being notably honorable among the people of his era, and among historians who don't doubt his existence outright. We know perceptions influence the way highly invested beings act, I don't doubt that it could've influenced a developing shard's opinions. To Adonalsium, said developing shard would be almost like their progeny. The way the child acted seemed (to me) too familiar with the scene Dalinar has accidentally conjured up, giving me the impression that they had talked to a vision of Nohadon in the past (my previous theory for why Dalinar so easily slipped into it). Nohadon (who fusses over them like a parent) talks about both the child (and Dalinar) like he knows more than a being in a vision would. Adonalsium would have an interest in getting Dalinar to help teach the child (even if it's a hard lesson), and a (former) God would be one of the few beings with the foresight to manipulate him into reaching that conclusion. Nohadon, being a very similar person to Adonalsium (and having a strong connection to both Dalinar and Honor), would be a good choice if they wanted to talk to both of them. And as said previously, Dalinar already had a connection to Nohadon. Out of anyone alive he probably has the most positive opinion of the man. So it makes sense he would seek him out for advice... Though I think there is more going on. Going into the vision, he's reacting against almost destroying Roshar with the power, seeking a way forward without direct confrontation... A connection to Adonalsium, perhaps. The way he's used the spiritual realm in the past, he needs such a connection. I feel like Dalinar should've been thinking more clearly about Nohadon for Dalinar to create the vision. And that's why I like this version of the theory so much. It allows me to preserve Nohadon's as a man, by saying he simply tried to be better, and in doing so made himself into the image of God. But at the same time, it allows us to explain some odd parts of the story, such as parallels between Nohadon and Adonalsium included in the story, and the man in the visions knowing more than he has any right to.

I think the "but one of the shards didn't want to destroy" chull dung was supposed to be cannon, but I like this better. The fourth moon has established investiture-drawing effects, a large concentration of investiture in the physical realm could definitely have pulled it out of orbit because of Newton's third law: If the moon is pulling investiture towards it, the moon is also being pulled towards the investiture.

These capture rules sound more like Stratego than Chess or some other card game. It also reminds me of a lecture I watched on old American wargames (like from the summer of 1942), where instead of shooting at each other, soldiers in the wargame would "capture" territory by gaining a local 3:1 troop advantage (upped to 4:1 if the terrain you're taking is a hill). I would imagine occupying terrain would confer that as an advantage, along with movement blocks/advantages (perhaps if you are moving along a road you can move an extra tile/turn?) Still on the topic of Stratego, that game has card holders that hold each card up vertically. In Stratego those also serve to prevent the other player from seeing your troop placements, so that would need to be worked around as well.

my apologies, I thought the points I was making lead naturally into a comment I've been wanting to make on that specific criticism I've seen in other places, rather than addressing you personally. I find the ideological charge of the word interesting, since in a lot of cases it's correctly identified in movies that rely on fan-service, and even the fan-fiction-y type writing in many places. It's just treated as the root when it's really the symptom of a larger institutional rot (that excecs no longer trust the people actually making the movies -- for reasons often of their own devising but I feel like I've talked about this too much here) in Hollywood. The way you're using pandering is good for the problem you're describing, and perhaps I forget too easily that in a well-written book it becomes easier to ignore -- but still not adding value for you. In fact, I think there's a hole in my argument that Brandon could be said to be pandering to himself with lines like this. This is the version of your argument I respect most. It's definitely concerning that Brandon's quality has dropped while he's capitalizing on it more than ever, but I think a bit of nuance needs to be added where Brandon is not destined to fall into this trap if he doesn't make changes. It's hard to tell what's on his mind, and I'm glad we can respectfully disagree on that.

I agree that parts of WaT felt unpolished. I agree that the book was rushed. I will agree that sections felt out of character. But I disagree that's because Brandon Sanderson is selling out. I think it's a good thing to be worried about, especially with the recent growth of his brand and the new attention powerful figures in publishing and Hollywood are now paying him. But listen to his livestreams: he's still down-to-earth. Taking suggestions and fielding questions like that's why he does all this. He understands that the quality of his writing is what allows for the volume to be viable, that people buy books because of their substance, not just because of callbacks and nostalgia-bait. But perhaps that's because I didn't have as an extreme reaction to WaT as you did. First of all: Production. I don't think the money is what's rushing Brandon. I don't know his financial situation, but as you said previously the man is signing product deals and releasing books and merch left, right and center. If his goal was money we'd have that globe-trotting adventure of a Emperor's Soul movie he shot down because it wasn't the story he wanted to tell. I don't see a reason for his writing to have a different motive than himself now (he's talked before about how he would write if he made nothing off of it), so what gives? Well, after outlining RoW and WaT, Brandon realized he needed to figure out what he would write between the front and back halves (now more commonly called the first and second arcs, I think). He ended up figuring out not only that, but a rough idea of how many books he'd need to write to finish off the story of the Cosmere, how long each book would take, and therefore how long he'd be writing for until his Magnum Opus is complete. My theory is that the crux of his rush is that he's got 20 years of books left to write, and God-knows-how-long left to write it. He want's to get to the Cosmere-scale Sanderlanche at the end. Second of all: Product. Included more for completions sake since I want to address everything here. I think Velsii hits it on the head with: Like obviously spending more of his time overseeing merch and less time writing is going to influence his worldview. But I don't think it's a major problem rn. I'd also like to point out that Isaac (basically Brandon's 2nd hand man iirc) handles the vast majority of the merch stuff. I don't think Brandon does much more than sign off on it, and give feedback, now. Third of all: Pandering. I don't think it's as bad as you think, nor do I think Brandon is doing it for us. The three examples you gave were the Lost Metal, The Sunlit Man, and this. I agree that tLM and WaT have serious problems with characterization (I'll get back to that), but the Sunlit Man? I'd love to know what you consider pandering in that, since it wasn't really written to be published (I'll admit that's arguable), and (imo) most of the issues stem from tSM's breakneck pace, which isn't a product of pandering, it's a product of Brandon writing tSM because he wanted to practicing writing at a fast pace before writing WaT. I'm assuming that's why it's including, since the writing style seems similar to the current issue. The Last metal introduces a band of likeable misfits, and forgets to give them anything more. I agree that section reads like fan-fiction. But I don't think I'd call that pandering. Brandon wrote them in as a way of introducing (and maybe practicing) how he's going to write later cosmere books (probably the planned Ghostblood trilogy, in retrospect), and talked mostly about how readers less in-the-know would take people from other planets, with other magic systems. In fact, I think a big reason their characters got flattened was that instead of acting how they would act, they spent their time turning to the camera and monologing about their powers. Introducing the powers became more important than introducing the characters, which lead to bad writing but I'd call it worse if a reader who really liked W&W (which is supposed to be accessible) was suddenly unable to understand half of the book. Before I talk about WaT itself, I want to make another important point: Tor is no longer editing Brandon's books. After he gave them Shadows of Self and the Bands of Mourning, and they just published both immediately, Dragonsteel has been giving Tor books at the last possible moment and otherwise editing them in house. That, thankfully, means that the editing will naturally get better as the editors read feedback and grow their craft, but for the time being, they're definitely less experienced than whoever was doing the same job at Tor. There was one scene where the text implies that Kaladin takes a bundle of swords Szeth is giving him twice, the first time Szeth "gives" the bundle to Kaladin, and the second time he "takes" them. I hope you can imagine how a copy-editor who edits 50 books/year for their job (and has experience editing for clarity) might replace "give" with "offer", especially as the two actions frame Kaladin accepting Szeth's statement that he will do the next challenge alone (which could also be considered an offer); where someone who edits 1 book a year, has less experience with editing, and is far more familiar with the way Brandon thinks and writes would be more likely to nod along and continue reading. So finally, on to WaT itself: I don't think anything you've said is actually an example of pandering to the audience. Swearwords is a good argument, but there's like 5 in the entire book. Also, I think most of the language choices are due to the time crunch, and Brandon not really thinking about every word he wrote (which, as I've said above I think is primarily for reasons other than money), rather than pandering. During the Kaladin scenes, there's a lot of lines that just switch to him talking like a therapist. I don't think that's pandering, I think that's just Brandon understanding what Kaladin is trying to do (be a therapist), but forgetting that Kaladin doesn't actually know how a therapist talks; a mistake he wouldn't have included in the final draft if either he had more time or a better editor. The trans/nonbinary inclusion has been Brandon's goal for a long time, and I don't think you can really argue it impacted the quality of the book, expect maybe that he spent more time making sure Renarin/Rlain's love story felt natural, which it did. To drive home the inclusion point, Mistborn (one of the books you cited for being good) has a strong female protagonist for that same reason; and Brandon's biggest regret is that his supposedly gender-inclusive society has like 2 strong female characters, a regret he (iirc) had during the writing of the series. Elantris has an autistic character (who is such a bad representation that Brandon waited until SA to start writing them again) also for the same reason. Actually the edgy tattoos might be pandering, I genuinely can't remember who had those. Lift being horny feels like a natural extension of her character becoming a teenager, which she is, and shows a small amount of character growth, as her problem is that she doesn't want to grow up, and now she's accepting that she is a little. The fact that you find her annoying (which is fair, she is), allows you to ignore the fact that a lot of people do. Brandon has a habit of writing annoying comic relief characters (cough Wayne). He puts them in the book because he thinks it will improve the book, not because they're popular. And really? Are you saying mental health in a Stormlight book is pandering? You've identified important issues with WaT. But instead of looking for the root psychological reasons Brandon made those mistakes, you attribute them to the easy boogeyman: Capitalism. You didn't come to that conclusion because it best fits the facts, and let me explain that, because I'm not trying to insult you. Like I started this reply with (sorry it's so long, WaT is bleeding by a thousand cuts and I'm trying to show those were done with an obsidian dagger rather than a bronze sword), the point you're making is an important one regardless of whether it's the foremost reason. I don't think Brandon Sanderson is pandering. Not enough to be a concern at the moment. And I think you'll agree with me, because you ignored the biggest example of pandering in the book (the on-page gay romance between two "outsider" characters), and instead closed off that paragraph with Kaladin and Ishar's talk about health and how it was "cringe". I think it makes sense for Kaladin, soldier and surgeon, notorious for saying what he thinks and not thinking about the consequences, would be a little cringe when trying to delicately confront the root of a being millennia old's issues. I hope we can agree that the issue isn't cringe (or pandering), it's that it's badly written. In fact, that's the consistent throughline in your pandering paragraph. Characters not talking the way they would in-world (using modern English swears, or Kaladin being a therapist), callbacks that don't make sense in-context, lack of subtext or nuance when dealing with certain topics. And before I stop talking about your post specifically I'd like to point out that you almost reached the same conclusion I did. These problems appeal to no-one better than a better written scene without them would've, and I think Brandon still understands that. Since you brought up capitalism, I assume the arguments you're making here are influence by (right wing -- I don't have a better label for it) film discourse on the internet. The most recent MCU movies are bad for a variety of reasons, (I think) stemming from execs' inability to understand what makes a movie good. So when they interfere with a script they make a lot of bad suggestions, including ones intended on pandering. But the pandering is easiest to point out, and so videos trying to get as many clicks as possible start with that, and so people are most familiar with that. So it's easy to label it as the cause, and the bad writing quality as a symptom. My theory is that you saw the poor writing quality, saw the callbacks, and defaulted to Brandon Sanderson pandering to people (I would like to know if I'm right with that). But both are symptoms of interfering execs. Another reason that properties like this are bad all of a sudden is that in order to save cost, writers are hired for shorter periods of time. On an older TV show (one with 20-40 episodes), you'd hire multiple writers and have each of them write episodes more or less independently. They'd often be writing later episodes while their earlier episodes were being filmed and edited, and could give feedback or take criticism to improve their writing for later episodes. Now, often times they'll be given a couple of weeks to write the script, and then kicked out so the studio doesn't have to pay for them. Shows are bad because the writers have a time crunch, and the producers don't get that feedback. As you may have noticed, I have detailed above how Brandon Sanderson (who is both the writer and producer), has had both a time crunch and less feedback, both for reasons other than him selling out. TL;DR: The issue with WaT isn't pandering, it's its lack of polish. Which I believe is due to a combination of personal motivations and reasons outside of his control.

The Listener's polity on the shattered plains uses its position as the only place with trade deals between both Urithiru (and thereby Azir), and location on the well of control, to become a trade hub, the center of shady/legally dubious industries (such as organized warlight smuggling), and (later on) exporter of knockoff products (because of it's lax legal code and established economic relations with other major powers).

Something interesting I would like to point out is the Rysn interlude where she's trying to lobby for standardizing patent laws between Urithiru and Thaylenah. I see no reason Taravangian wouldn't encourage the spread of such a law (considering the outsized effect it's had irl), and at the start of the series, Alethkar and Jah Keved were at the front of the scientific curve. So yeah, I think most of the technological development will be done by the (now singer/human societies) east, with Thaylenah/Uirithiru maintaining a narrow cutting edge using their better starting position.

The unification of Germany took place under subtly different circumstances than the unification of Alethkar. For one, most of Germany was already in a free trade agreement (informally lead by Prussia), and part of an internation organization called the German Federation (informally lead by Austria, and secondarily Prussia). Most German states had a much stronger legal code (which most of those states inherited from Napoleonic France). Germany is smaller than Alethkar, and while (oddly, now that I think about it) is about as culturally diverse, formed in large part to take advantage of rising nationalism, something that most Alethi's don't feel for their (still very) feudal society. Likewise, most people across the Vorin world care more about their feudal privileges than if their King speaks the same language as them. So reason number 1: Because Germany was more united (and because its rivals were more united), it constituted more of a threat to the surrounding people's way of life. The second reason is that foreign policy in Europe at the time looked very different to the feudal politics of Roshar. The great diplomat Metternich had spent the better part of 50 years trying to balance the various European powers against each other in order to maintain peace. This part of this balance was the Prussian/Austrian rivalry for influence in Germany, which formed a buffer against the UK and France in the west, and Russia in the east. They would form alliances with the powers in the middle to prevent any one country from gaining too much influence. The formation of Germany put an end to this era, especially with it's defeat of France in the second Franco-Prussian war, showing that the unified Germany might be the strongest military force in European, potentially overtaking Russia. Since the UK's main rival at the time was Russia (because they were the strongest power in Europe, and using that position to compete for influence in Asia), this shift gave a reason for the UK to side instead with Russia against Germany. So reason number 2 is that it upended the delicate diplomatic system in Europe, while no such system existed on Roshar. The third reason is that there aren't as many countries to realign their foreign policies. Of the surrounding Kingdoms, only Jah Keved was strong enough to do anything about a potential Alethi invasion, and if a dedicated invasion was launched, even every foreign country working together probably couldn't stop Alethkar from conquering them. So instead of shifting country's alliances with each other, Alethkar became the center of attention (sort of like a newly-unified China was historically). The fourth reason is that the unification of Germany... didn't actually change that much. Not directly. I mentioned the UK and France earlier, and yeah. Every patriotic Frenchman would die in a moment if it meant the obliteration of Germany, and the UK became more hesitant. But Bismark was able to navigate the times, and maintain positive diplomatic ties with Russia, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and somewhat with Austria (I believe long term, he wanted to annex the regions of the Habsburg empire that were majority German, but that's beside the point). So how did WW1 end up basically being Germany vs. Russia the UK and France? Well, Bismark was fired by Wilhelm II, who wanted to show everyone that Germany was the coolest kid on the block by taking overseas colonies and acting insisting so. That's what caused the British to tentatively ally with France against Germany, and eventually lead to Russia allying with France against Germany. So reason number 4 is that it wasn't the unification that caused the diplomatic revolution, but the increased belligerence afterwords instead. Gavilar didn't immediately do everything he could to piss off Jah Keved after unifying Alethkar. So that's been long, but I want to make the point that the aftermath of the unification of Alethkar seems to be more similar to the IRL unification of Spain than Germany. The only nearby powers (Portugal and France) either knew they couldn't fight a unified Spain directly (and so buddied up with them), or didn't care because they were bigger and there was a mountain range in the way. Then Spain discovered a faraway land with lucrative mineral resources and dedicated a large amount of resources towards centralizing power there. But even that's weak, since Spain was unified by a marriage between the heads of two large kingdoms, who had gotten so large mainly by conquering Muslim rulers, in Spain, who no-one really cared about much (even other Muslims, as the Abbasid caliphate was falling apart around that time, and didn't command much loyalty).

They're essentially committing fraud, telling Retribution that they will use it for one purpose, and then taking it offworld and selling it. The Stormfather didn't keep record of who was taking stormlight, and why, but I suspect Retribution will be keeping logs that he can cross-check if anything suspicious happens. It makes the whole operation riskier. But that doesn't make it impossible, I suspect some group will try to make a killing off smuggling it. The Ghostbloods were the best candidate (before being dismantled by Shallan). Another problem to consider is Taravangian's control over most of Shadesmar, and not only that, the access points between Shadesmar and the physical realm. Before nobody was guarding Cultivation's perpendicularity. But now, I'm sure checkpoints will be set up at each of the oathgates, and at the Shadesmar side of the Well of Control. There are only 12 reliable ways in/out of Roshar, and while I can imagine Urithiru or the Listeners being complicit in such an operation, Urithiru doesn't seem to be able to power the oathgates located there, and Kelsier doesn't know about the well of control. So in his mind, Warlight would need to go through one of 10 hostile checkpoints, and then travel through another planet worth of hostile territory ruled by a god with no inhibitions regarding human rights/dignity or the excessive use of force. Like I think once the Ghostbloods become more familiar with the customs Listeners (who seem to have the laxest oversight obtaining Warlight), they'll set up operations there. Last thing to consider is that Navani's discovery in Rhythm of War is likely the final puzzle piece in obtaining unkeyed Dor, which is completely unregulated. It's probably why Kelsier is so willing to let Roshar go, he can get what he wants elsewhere.

Personally, I assumed El would be the champion until Gavinor fell into the spiritual realm and there were simply too many good options. He's an intimidating figure with an interesting personal philosophy, though honestly I thought the contest would end up being more like the end of WoT, where (spoilers): But I think Brandon wanted to go in another direction with it. When Dalinar visits Nohadon in the vision, Nohadon states simply that his policies have killed people. So I disagree that Dalinar would have refused to kill a Singer, I think he would've killed Gavinor if it brought about total victory (he floats the idea to the Stormfather. But Brandon wanted to illustrate not an individual coming to terms with the crimes of his ancestors and surrendering, but a individual realizing that the problem at hand isn't which option to choose, but instead the system that lead to him having to make that choice. The power itself must change. Though I would love to see a character being forced to confront their anti-singer racism, if you remember back to book 1, Dalinar was the one trying to empathize with the listeners (and sign a truce with them, which almost worked until Odium got to Eshonai first). I don't think this was the place to be having this conversation, especially because under Odium, singers and humans are more or less living in harmony. At least based on what we've been shown; it's unclear how much of the human population remains enslaved.

My headcannon rn is that this was a purposeful ploy to try and manage escalation with other shards. He already has armies, and so doesn't need that long to build up before starting skirmishing with minor planets, perhaps controlled by shards nobody likes (or ones without any shards at all). He is also inheriting all the governments of Roshar, rather than having to spend generations building institutions, and perhaps the 3rd most technologically advanced (though most rapidly advancing) planet in the Cosmere. If he attacked immediately, the rest of the shards might try to gang up on him (I believe there's a throwaway line the final Retributions chapter about how he went into hiding for 3 months for this reason). So he could wait, and let his armies decay and his people let generations of peace accustom them to only fighting among themselves. Or speed up time a little, and let Scadrial pass Roshar technologically, and let all the other shards say "now Scadrial is stronger than Roshar, so they'll just deal with each other". Then they can go back to kicking cans down roads, or whatever shards do these days.

the thing is, the moon falling to Roshar definitely symbolizes something, right? I don't think it existed when humans reached Roshar (Honor never mentions it during Dalinar's visions, right?), and if the timing has anything to do with it, then I think (unfortunately) the 4th shard hasn't had a meaningful direct influence on Roshar in a very long time.

I love the idea. I have a hard time thinking Autonomy sees Harmony as a larger threat than Retribution. So obviously she needs to get in on the action. I think the Reshi or Purelaker cultures are by far the most individualistic on Roshar, a greatshell seems the natural place to start. My only worry is how Retribution would react. I don't see how an avatar on Roshar could avoid being turned to red mist as soon as its discovered, the only way one was able to grow so powerful on Scadrial is because Sazed is unable to take direct action.

The metal used in Hemalurgy might just be a storage unit for the investiture that actually grants whatever effects. In that case, crystals become a plausible substitute, as they can hold investiture better than metals can; though I assume conduct it much worse, and that it probably took a few (extra) dead bodies before they figured out how to make the crystals work.

I assumed it was related to the investiture he consumed. Ate some Stormlight off a Skybreaker, took a nice bite out of the Bondsmith blade. I've been a fan (for a while) of the theory that Nightblood is becoming more powerful as he consumes investiture, so I'm partial.

Ishar, official Dungeon Master for the quest, does open the fight by implying the quest is complete: If you consider the quest to be the pilgrimage. Which I don't think Kaladin does, and he is the one surprised by Szeth swearing the 5th ideal. 12124 might've accepted it right then and there, though. Not that we have any real indication in the book.

My apologies, misinterpreted what you said (thought you were referring to the chain of events that led up to Taravodium). Yeah, she didn't get much further than Cultivating suitable candidates for the two other shards of Roshar. Really shaped by the intent of her shard there.

I think it's implied in one of the earlier books that Nale assumed Heleran was the budding Radiant, which is why he got heleran bonded to a Highspren. Based on that, I would assume the Skybreaker in the flashback was sent there to investigate, and was expected to report back before taking further action. Seeing that the Radiant they detected was actually a small child, he convinced Chana to kill her instead (deciding that he would probably be sent back to deal with her anyways), and then was killed by Shallan before he could really fight back. Nale, knowing only that lord Davar (a known alcoholic with rage issues) killed both Chana and the Skybreaker, believing they had an affair. A good story, besides for the herald Chana being killed by some random Veden noble. So he defaults to his hunch (as he is not particularly introspective at this point in the story), and recruits Heleran.

She may be referring to direct intervention? Fighting directly is off-limits, but creating a tool that just so happens to be at the right place, at the right time, to kill Rayse? Now that's fine, as as any Highspren are concerned. Good point, as far as we know only Cultivation foresaw the whole chain of events. So... what if Cultivation commissioned a weapon from Endowment for this purpose. I have no clue what Endowment would ask for from such a bargain. She may not even ask for anything at all, enowdowing a shard with such a weapon would satisfy the power to no end, I think. But theorizing about Cultivation's debts sounds more fun.