graciemoo

I guess I'm just a bit confused as to what you're saying... If it's manifested as a solid the whole time wouldn't you not be able to touch that person? And what would be the purpose in summoning the plate if it works exactly the same while invisible? (Sorry if I'm misinterpreting what you're saying)

How would that work realistically though? I feel like if it was exactly the same as when summoned, just invisible, it'd be pretty obvious that it's still 100% there. But if the spren are all still there in armor form, invisible and not manifested as metal, then it's pretty much exactly the same as a shardblade. ("Always there" meaning the Radiant doesn't have to summon the spren from their surroundings like they do when they first reach the 4th ideal)

We do have confirmation, and I think that WoB was just referring to the split of the shards, not the number of Dawnshards.

True, although of all people Frost is probably fine with not being able to harm people, and it's possible he wouldn't want to put it anywhere for fear of someone else getting it, but yeah.

Yeah I definitely like this theory. I also like the idea that Hoid forcibly gave Frost the Dawnshard, based on him saying "I realize that you are probably still angry" in the letter, especially if he was referencing the Dawnshard in the previous statement about now being essentially immortal.

Yeah, I'd still say that that Taldain's isolationism was Bavadin's doing, but it's interesting to think about. Also, the "Taldain is no longer hard to get to" WoB could be because the avatars didn't like her restrictions and took them down.

So, I was thinking about the Patji letter the other day, specifically the first few lines. In the past, I had never really noticed the phrase "one who cannot respond". But seriously, what does that mean? Based on the first sentence I'm assuming Hoid originally attempted to reach out to Bavadin, but why wouldn't she be able to respond? The thing is, we always assume that Bavadin is this super powerful mastermind but... what if she's not? What if she's not in control at all? Obviously there’s so much we don’t know about avatars, but my interpretation of them is that avatars are a way to increase a shard’s influence and awareness. The main limitation of shards is that while the shard itself is infinite, the vessel's mind, although greatly enhanced, is finite. But if you create avatars, more minds to help manage the power, it’ll greatly expand a shard’s consciousness. However that's super OP, and if this is the case, why wouldn’t all the shards be doing it? There has to be some sort of drawback. What if too many avatars can infringe on a vessel’s control? I'm thinking maybe Bavadin started creating avatars, and she slowly started losing her handle on Autonomy and it just spiraled out of control. (Also it's possible that wouldn't be the case for all shards, the nature of Autonomy might mean that these avatars have greater influence than other avatars would) Specifically the quote from this WoB, "The avatars aren't necessarily aware but Bavadin always is" makes me think... imagine if she's alive but essentially trapped and unable to do anything, forced to watch in horror everything the avatars are doing. Alternatively she could be dead and the avatars have just been running the show for a while, unbeknownst to anyone else in the Cosmere. Also, maybe it wasn't Bavadin that locked up the Taldain Cognitive Realm, but her avatars essentially locking her up there. I think this would be a really interesting (and really freaky) interpretation of Autonomy, let me know what you guys think!

Well, him saying that Odium is allied with another Cosmere power doesn't means he agrees with that persons previous statement about Bavadin. I've never liked making assumptions about any kind of relationship between Odium and Autonomy because we just don't have much information. The Coppermind cites that D&D WoB, but Brandon can be very tricky about these kinds of things, so him saying "You could say that..." could just mean "Autonomy was doing something at the time that coincidentally ended up helping Odium shatter D&D" or a million other possibilities, you can't really get anything concrete from that.

Brandon has also said he doesn't want the Cosmere to break the fourth wall, so probably not.