Benkinsky

power, and following from that the Ability to do more things. You can find the theory linked in my comments if you want to read it

another thread abou tthe Ghostbloods? this is a chance for me to boist my theory! I think Kel is going to try and reforge Ambition, and moving Investiture is part of what he needs to be able to do for that. And the people of Threnody could certainly need some help, and they sure are apt at Surviving stupidly dangerous odds

oh man, that sounds really cool. I like it a lot. Spirals and Helixes are already really cool. The Idea of "metal fabrials" (cosmere scientists would probably hate me for this term) is also really cool, and I can imagine how giant versions of these would be applied. Specifically Brass-Brass and Brass-Bronze sound like something that a Lord Ruler type character would secretly set up. Bendalloy-Cadmium and Bendalloy-Bendalloy immediately sound like something to be built on a giant scale for a freaky legendary city type thing. a "faster" city, or more places like it, would make Nachi really really good at developing tech and science. No wonder they nailed down spiritweb-poison-application to specifics if they have stuff like that available. Wonder how it would feel to be born and grow up in a place with upset time. But also, a "slower" city or fortress, been there 100 years ago and everyone only aged roughly (how much @Cocoa ?) Of course, the Snail shells feels super cosmere and really cool. Could you also put the shells on things for effects, like Aons? How specific can you make spirals, or is just a 1-or-0 situation with a Spiral in general? And how long have these mutations been part of humankind there. Are there "subspecies", or creatures like Kolloss that were once enhanced humans and are now kind of their own thing? additionally, the weather thing sounds super super cool. Makes we wonder what freaky stuff might happen when a Invested Storm passed over an area with Bendalloy-Gold. one more question: Why specifically those four metals? number 2, number 2, numer 4 and number 4 of their quadrant. Or just scientific-progress reasons? that said, Nachi is intriguing, sounds like it would make an amazing ally and partner for Scadrial.

Obligatory "the red mist isn't Trell, it's a 'crude representation' (Quote Harmony) that Harmony makes to show Wax." plus this which is the case for the Unmade too, I think.

oh, that's interesting. I have very little clues for this, but I personally feel like Nazh appreciates Khrissalla a lot, and she represents what he was searching for at one point. Nazh strikes me as someone who is annoyed at fools but would rather die than stop exploring the cosmere and heisting things. He gives me "Kid from a small village who managed to get out and live in cities and expand his horizon. He can go back and visit, but he could never truly move to a village again." The "rites" comment gives me vibes of hearing big city kid Kelsier make a comment about something that Nazh knows a lot about, and being annoyed at it. Imagine like a city kid saying "I'm just gonna break into a barn and sleep there for a night". Nazh is the guy who knows exactly how well that's going to go. To step out of the comparison, I feel like Nazh always wanted more than Threnody was, whenever that was. Someone who lies around at night and looks at the stars and thinks "there has to be more out there", and he found it. The rest is kind of "I storming knew it". Maybe he found Silverlight and became a student or rather a research assistant there? Maybe. That's what I mean with "Khris represents what he was searching for", he was always convinced there was more and then there's this brilliant scientist who is exactly all that. Answers, but more importantly, more questions, and the offer to help her figure them out. Nazh doesn't have magic, but Threnody doesn't raise complacent people. When Khriss sais that once you know it's a play, you can't go back on stage", the man next to her knows exactly that.

Iyatil managed to escape and was very sure of it. I assume there's some Steelrunning involved there.

we can still speculate what "Cognitive Anomalies" could be. Someone on reddit theorizes that The Dor would qualify. I wonder what else. It's probably that the representation of The Evil in the Cognitive Realm is also an anomaly, both cause the situation there is anomalous and cause it would make sense that that's how someone found out that Silver Chains help you there

are The Birds one of them?

yeah, that's exactly how I pictured Breeze ngl The rest of the picture is obviously also great

this is one of the main reasons I like this theory so much, no joke. Gavilar always wanted immortality and legacy, for Kelsier surviving even that was a lucky chance. And one is as close to a clearly just evil mortal as we have seen in the Cosmere imho. (If anyone here know's the lore of Mordekaiser from League of Legends, think Mordekaiser. How freaking cool would that be?) let's roll it down from the top. In addition to the many good arguments people have brought forth for why Gavilar could've survived, kicking off some events, let's go the other direction: What future event could, looking back, be enabled by Gavilar? Put this way: we basically know that there will be Scadrial vs Roshar Conflict, and many of us probably wonder how that will come to be and be satisfying, because we the reader know both worlds, both sides, and it would be hard to pit Wax and Gang vs Kaladin and Gang without us freaking out. Gavilar, on the other hand, would be easy to accept as an antagonist in this conflict. To add to the arguments for the immediate future and not the far flung one, why would Dalinar be the first Human that Odium considers to want as a Fused? One Shard/Godspren already said "yeah originally we wanted Gavilar, but now that he's dead I guess we take Dalinar", why wouldn't another? Plus, so many ideas/theories that are floating around just combine so well with not even Champion, but Fused Conqueror Emperor Gavilar. "Conquest" or "War", a teamup or fusion of Honor and Odium? We all imagined how scary a Fused Blackthorn would be (and he would be), but there in plain sight is Gavilar, who ever prologue tells us is "what if Dalinar was smarter and more evil and ambitious and megalomanic". Fused or War!Herald Gavilar is scary as shades. plus, we've all thought "oh man how tragic would it be if Dalinar, after all his growth, gives in to his old ways and does the same mistakes", thinking of him going with the Thrill and being the Blackthorn. Wouldn't it be kind of the same thing if he became a follower of Gavilar again, once again subordinating to his Brother and being his most powerful weapon. [Crackpot theory time: Can multiple people hold the same shard? I've wondered this, if you could have two people sharing a shard, basically two massive Splinters? If so, let's get one crazier, could two people share the same mixed shard? Dalinar and Gavilar, both bearing half of Honor and half of Odium, one as Conquest and one as War or something? yeah, I think I'm reaching truly unrealistic ends here.] In all seriousness, both the idea of Fused Dalinar and El, the Rythm-less Carapace-less Fused, and Human Vyre are preparing us for the thought that who fills these important roles might be odd. I really thing CS Gavilar has a lot of merit. I just hope it wasn't Endowment who gave him breath or returned him.

god yes please. I want something dark. To rant a little bit: in the 3-5 Books that he's been present, Odium to me has not once felt as terrifying as Ruin did, and Ruin had 1 Book at the end of which he was bested. Seriously. the Finale of Hero of Ages, hell, the whole book felt so hopeless. The Fused and Knights Radiant feel like a fair matchup. The Knights Radiant have only just reformed, and are already ready to beat the enemy of old with the addition of the Everstorm. Compare that to how the Koloss and Inquisitors were matched up against literally the rest of known civilization. The Unmade would be an amazing way to change that. Nergaoul at Thaylen City was scary, and there's 8 others. Armies of undying Midnight Essence? yes please! Hard agree. I hope I don't come off as too uppity, but I'm really stumped that people expect Thaidakar Action in SA5, even more stumped as that it's Shallan vs Thaidakar. Warning: Rant. 1. on a storytelling level, I agree wholeheartedly that a) Thaidakars Story, if anywhere, belongs to Mistborn and b ) SA5 is going to be wrapping up so much and setting up big cliffhangers and timeskips, the Ghostbloods don't really fit well into that, there's already so much. Plus, they're being set up so slowly, it would be really weird if that setup comes to fruition now. 2. I think the RoW Ghostblood Storyline is part of a setup maybe, but not for Book 5. If anything, that was the sendoff, and we will see very little of them in Book 5. Shallans Duties first and foremost should be on Roshar - Radiant is still there after all - and the Ghostbloods and Veil were interwoven for her story. IF she goes worldhopping, she'll do it after Radiant's duty is done, I think. She's literally named Radiant, and like the Ghostbloods became Veil's context, the Desolations and Knights Radiants are Radiant's. I suspect that we will get to see the Ghostbloods do some stuff behind the scenes, maybe another Sja-Anat interlude, maybe one from Mraize or another yet unnamed Ghostblood. Again, I don't mean to sound arrogant, this is just my example for right now. This feels like Era 4, or atleast Cosmere-aware-era, stuff for me. There's so many players on Roshar, and Kel doesn't even know how to get to Roshar. Maybe I'm biased because I Have my own theories for what Kelsier wants to do, but a) Honor really isn't a shard for Kel and b ) 3. Shallan is nowhere near Kel's level. I don't mean this in a 1 v 1 fight sense (though she isn't there either), but like, I couldn't take a storyline of "she's going to take on Thaidakar" seriously if it started now. The only way I could would be if it ends with her realizing how far out of her depth she is. because she is. I like Shallan a lot. I seriously do, she's a very interesting character, and I like the train of thought that Thaidakar heard of her and approved because she reminded him of Vin. But that implies that Thaidakar has heard of her, which I genuinely don't know if he would. Maybe I'm biased because I assume Kel is sticking around for something very big in the future, but I think that "big thing" won't be Shallan. Plus, again, Shallan is nowhere near Kel's level. Shallan's direct contact is Mraize, who has Iyatil as a Babsk, and there might be more steps between her and the actual leader, Thaidakar/Kelsier. It would be impressive if Shallan managed to outplay her local chapter of the Ghostbloods, and getting some answers out of Mraize would be very satisfying, but I feel like we shouldn't equate Mraize and Kelsier too much, though they feel somewhat similar and one is a subordinate of the other. If Shallan ever takes on Thaidakar, she'll need some more mentorship from Hoid or a Timeskip for her + companions to become more knowledgable and trained, and she needs to have dealt with her current issues first. exactly this. Would love that to be part of the back half, but it would feel really off for Book 5. Rant over, thank you for the opportunity to get that out.

Ultra. I study english, and have had courses on translation, and you are advising not to always just use the first word that comes to mind. That said, in what world is Wüstwerdung better than Verwüstung? aaah. i think I remember hearing/reading somewhere - might've been the same stream - that Heyne's marketing tells them that titles like that would be more popular, which.. I guess. "Kinder des Nebels" i see somewhat, Kinder do be born, so... eh. "des Feuers", that's Spook. Why is that Book 2? am I glad I switched to English pretty quickly in the cosmere, I think Mistborn 1 is the only thing I read in german. Maybe Warbreaker too, not sure. speaking of Warbreaker, what the storms is "Sturmklänge"????

Okay, erstmal kurz zu dem Rest: warum sind die alle so komisch? / Why are they all so weird? So many of those would be easy to keep consistent! Ehre, Kultivierung, Bewahrung, Erfindung... Man könnte dann sogar versuchen alles mit so Wörtern zu machen, also Zerstörung, Hingebung, etc. Wäre schwierig. However, this one really gets me. It really, really shouldn't be. The reason english is such a good language for fantasy and translating from english to other languages is sometimes difficult is that english uses compound words, aka Windrunner, and not "runner of the wind" or something like that. I think roman languages do it like that. That enables english readers to see words like "steelpush" and "lightweaver" and such and get a grasp of what that entails quickly. Now to the part that frustrates me: know what kind of languages do compounding? Germanic languages. English is one. You know what else is one? GERMAN. "Die Tänzerin am Abgrund" is an insult to the art of translation tbh. Seriously, what the storm? Give me 5 Minutes and I'll have the orders as compound words. I'm deliberately not putting the translations here to show how close the translations lie. See if you can figure out all ten. Windläufer (literally: Windrenner) Himmelbrecher Staubbringer aka Freisetzer Randtänzer (literally: Kantentänzer). See how much better that looks? Wahrheitsseher. (Ich hätte fast "Wahrschauer" geschrieben aber das klingt nach Ghetto) Lichtweber Fremdrufer (literally: Andersrufer) Willen(s)former Steinwache(r) Bundschmied now, many of those don't sound as smooth or nice to me as the english ones do, but still. Compounding exists in German and is easy. Seriously, whenever there's a tool or machine that does something and there isn't a specific name for it, German will call it (whatever it does)-Zeug (meaning "stuff"). Planes are Flystuffs. Tools are Workstuffs. You could call a Soulcaster "Alchemiezeug" or "Seelzeug" and it would almost work. Okay, Rant over. Phew.

That's interesting! I think I interpreted that as fodder for the theory, that the Nightwatcher helped make Nightblood rather than currently having it. Not my theory, but the biggest hints are: - we know the Returned were worldhoppers, and had visited Roshar, Shardblades being a bit inspiration for Nightblood. - Something weird is up with the creation of Nightblood. We know Endowment was involved unusually much, but also just doing something like that with "just" 1000 Breaths is odd. Taravangian asked for Capacity, and got some hefty future sight. Though that was Cultivation, I wouldn't put it past the Nightwatcher to be able to give Shashara the knowledge on how to create Nightblood. (Speculation on my part, there was some knowledge on how to connect/tie it to shards somehow, or to "tap into" them. We know Endowment was unusually involved, and we know there's some of Ruin's Investiture involved in Nightblood apart from it having eaten some). - Shashara's story then fits the Old Magic scheme we know. Her boon was the knowledge to create Nightblood, her curse was ultimately dying to it. She created a sword that could destroy immortals and it destroyed her.

ouch. Now that's unsure. Wonder if she was hunting whoever got Nightblood to Nale. Doubt that was Vasher tbh, he seems pretty aware how dangerous immortality can be

oh, that sounds like it would be very very interesting to see!

There's a Trans Radiant who "healed" to match their body to what their spiritual identity has always been. Lopen regrew his arm because he never considered the wound as part of himself. Stands to reason that you'd lose body parts that you don't see as part of yourself

hahaha, I love it. "Take your pick" Some NB Alethi teen doing a world trip, and they see Cusicesh and see one of the faces and think "oh rust that's what I feel like"

yeah, I'm wondering that now too. We've basicaly only seen how healing affects humans. There's so many factors at play with the Fused. As you said, the body and the mind have two different perceptions of the body. If Objects have a corresponding sphere in Shadesmar, then surely a mindless body still has some perceptionof itself. Then again/in addition, physical identity / affirmation of identity is already much more complex with regular Listeners, let alone Fused. Gender is more complicated, with Male/Female gender only really coming into effect when in Mateform specifically, and changing your body is a common part of Listener life. Whether that makes disphoria worse or easier to deal with is not for me to know. (on a goofier note, I wonder if Genderspren are a thing :D)

Yeah, she seems pretty sure that once she leaves this body it's back to Braize, so she wouldn't get to hang around. And yeah, it would be the moral thing to do to keep the body and work with it, rather than try to get a femalen body next time. However, then there's disphoria to deal with. I just hope we don't lose Leshwi soon, she's cool

"Lewshi didn't care about mortal feelings of propriety. She didn't so much as human a note of Embarrassment, though in this incarnation, the body that had been offered to her was malen. Indeed, after drinking and being wrapped in her robes of luxury, she sat down to be seen by the barber, who shaved her face after the manner of humans. She hated whiskers, even if the ones she grew when inhabiting a malen body were soft and faint." interesting. I didn't remember that detail. Sounds like this isn't the first time Lewshi has a malen host. Wonder if that's a thing all Fused have to deal with, if the Fused with the Surge of Progression get to do the healing that Stormlight gives you but Progression doesn't for Radiants. so yeah, I think you're right, I'd say that technically makes her trans. We see her take care of her body to represent something. Plus, the narrator refers to her as "she" despite her body being malen, which is cool, cause Leshwi the person is a woman. I wonder if the "good" Fused, Lewshi and co, adress the "we're stealing bodies" thing. Maybe they can give up bodies and just become Spren like or something. Or cultivation could grant them bodies that aren't stolen. Leshwi x Riah Spren Ship?

wait, I think I missed that. I know of the Trans Radiant that healed their body to match their spiritual identity, which I think is a super beautiful representation, but I missed the Lewshi part. Not disputing it, but if you have passages and stuff to show me where i was blind, I'd be happy to look at those again! Is she in a malen body as in when she was reborn this time she took over a malen body, and hasn't gotten to "heal" it yet? or do we know Odium would put her into a malen body to torture her because he knows she dislikes that.

nowwww let's get interesting! Someone else might've made this observation before, if yes please point me in their direction, if no then here's a thought: let's connect a few dots here: Re-Shephir is a really twisted creationspren and was understood by a Lightweaver before. This tracks, seeing how Shallan keeps attracting creationspren (iirc). Now, hold up. We learned something very interesting in RoW, or rather it was confirmed in Row: Shardplate is made of lesser spren that are tangentially related to the Order of Radiant. Storm Surges, maybe this is what the Unmade - Radiant pairing is about. Probably aligns anyway. Sadly, we only know a few Orders' lesser spren, but still. I bet a lot of people have been guessing Creationspren are going to make up Lightweaver Plate. So... The Yelig-Nar - Blightwind - Windrunner pairing has been proposed before. This line of thinking works well for that, doesn't it? a "really twisted windspren"? Windspren play pranks by making rudimentary use of adhesion. Yelig-Nar eats your soul and takes over your body. Get pranked. Sadly, we don't know many more. Lightweaver - (probably Creationspren) - Re-Shephir Windrunner - Windspren - (probably Yelig-Nar) Elsecaller - Logicspren - (no idea. Probably one of the smarter Unmade. Sja-Anat, maybe) do we have more to speculate with? did we see Renarin attract any kind of spren more often, or Lift, or anyone else?

storms I didn't even think about that much. I'm on here thinking about 5d chess moves and haven't even hyped myself up yet about that. Why would only Windrunners and Enlightened Truthwatchers have those? Surely not everyone, but... man, how would Division and Gravity interact, for example? could you make something implode on itself/make like a "miniature black hole"? Holy rust. Transportation is probably the one with the least resonance with others. Info: This comment has a lot of answers to Inquisitor #5s post, and I'll post another one afterwards with some more thoughts and implications to the original topic of the post rather than just back and forth telling each other our theories and rants are cool thanks Love reading your thoughts on that, the whole "taken to the extreme" is exactly what the Unmade would be in a context like that, I think. I wonder if this is in part or in fact another trope, the "powerful being with the mind of a child, still learning". Aka "Re-Shephir doesn't understand what "killing" really does. As in, all the time she's been surrounded by Spren and Fused, both of which are functionally immortal, the idea that what she's doing isn't just an activity but has long and deep implications might be beyond her. lmao, accurate always happy to help, and yeah I feel much like you. I would hate to see that for our heroes, but as a reader it intrigues me greatly. "Odium doesn't lose" is better put, and would be so much more interesting than Hero of Ages 2: Stormlight Boogaloo gotta say, that makes a lot of sense with my/the "voids are passions are (natural) mental driving forces" thought. Very up Cultivations alley, in of itself. always happy. I had a similar thought but hadn't devoted time to it, enjoyed reading that. that is a very good point. I always kind of forget that and just think she's opposite-Ruin. She's not. Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. Cultivation is a garden, with carefully selected plants.

I also wanted to circle back to that, in addition to what I've already said. In the spirit of constructive discussion (which I'm delighted to have!) I think "just another surge" isn't quite accurate. The two orders who get access to Adhesion are 1. Windrunners, who are bound to Honorspren, and Bondsmiths, who are bound to Godspren. The former tracks for it being Honor's surge, the second only somewhat. However, we've only seen one Bondsmith use Adhesion, and that Bondsmith is bound to Honors Godspren. Leaving out the possibility that the Surges that Navani or a Nightwatcher-Bondsmith get are others than Dalinar does, I assume that if Adhesion manifests differently for a Bondsmith and Windrunners, they might as well manifest differently for other Bondsmiths too. Nightwatcher!Adhesion might manifest quite differently, some sort of Cultivation Version of Honor's truest surge, gifted to her. Maybe Tanavasts's death removed that, which is why Cultivation is training the Nightwatcher some more.