ArchangelCaesar

To me, The Black Piper sounds like Hoid, and the tune is either related to the Heightening he has, or its related to the fact he is manipulating everyone to his own ends. Or it could refer to the fact that he has many magic powers, all of which have their separate tunes which not even the Listeners can hear because they aren't of Roshar.

If you combine the investigative journalist remarks with the Cognitive/Spiritual remarks, the reconstruction of memory or of true events based off the *objects* perception/memory of them through illumination is probable If anyone has played Disco Elysium and had a high Visual Calculus, I imagine it like that, being able to reconstruct crime scenes magically similar to how Shallan interacted with Stick, but just Connecting objects with where they were. this opens up so many interesting moral/ethical/legal questions too. How reliable is memory as "truth" if that is what is being reconstructed? How moral is it to extract the truth of memory from someone forcefully and is that equivalent and as unreliable as confession by torture? Can you fake your own memory/perception? How does Storage of Memories thing that Hoid did affect this illumination? So many fun avenues to waltz down

1. I heard it as lowercase 'c' cosmere, which has been used before as the in-world substitute for "universe" 2. No answer yet. I'm waiting on the Stormlight RPG to come out. that's when we'll get all the answers, I think 3. Lots of walking through portals and then the cognitive realm, although it'd be thematically appropriate for it to be a next level portal that throws them straight through the Spiritual Realm and on to Land 5. Bed ridden: Magical wheelchairs will appear is my joke of a theory 4. We know that the golden Iriali hair breeds true, so I think that mixed race people who identify as Iriali will likely be allowed to come. Identity is likely important here.

I'm on board with the Awakened theory. Additionally, I think they were made by a certain Scholar who is currently MIA: Yesteel From what I read in a bunch of WoBs and the end of WB, Yesteel is thought to be on the world of Nalthis at the end of WB, and that we will see him if we ever get that WB sequel (though this was as of 2011. so who knows if that has changed) Assuming Vasher doesn't gank him in the sequel, Yesteel is still alive and kicking and likely experimenting. If he somehow ran into Autonomy, he could very well have been enlisted by her to create an army of autonomous soldiers using corrupted Breaths (hence the red eyes).

This is a really good theory. If it is probably, we'll definitely see more of this in Elantris 2 or 3, which will be exciting. This could also set the stage for the Ire's operation (Selish Ghostbloods?) which Moonlight conspicuously doesn't mention in TLM. Red is the color of corrupted investiture, so it makes a certain amount of sense that red has become the color of an invading force, essentially. The consistent gold coloring is getting frustrating though. If Brandon comes out and says they're different shades of gold, I'm going to lose it.

It's possible, but I had a theory that the Thrill was actually a corrupted version of the Evil on Threnody. Overall, I think it makes sense, although a recent WoB throws a wrench in this: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/508/#e15875

They could be choosing to work with autonomy for a temporary period to steal the Shard from her. Lesser of 16 11 evils type of decision

going off of your comments about the malleability of a body both Fused and Returned, he doesn't have to have a mistraith body to still look like Kelsier. I think that when a Cognitive Shadow is stapled to a body, the Identity of that shadow changes the body, kinda like a Soulstamp, as the body integrates itself with the spiritweb of the Cognitive Shadow. Thus, Vasher could be pulling some major Identity switcheroos with his Breath (somewhat like Hoid) and convincing his body to look how he wants it to look, similar to how healing works.

So essentially he's becoming the Spirit of Imperialism? I saw another theory floating around that the "clash of cultures" that Brandon has described for Era 4 could easily be an exploration of intergalactic imperialism, and Discord, driven by Preservation (of Scadrial and it's culture) and Ruin (of other people's lives and cultures) could easily be a driver of this. So as you said, a very human Shard

I think I know what you're asking, but I'm not sure it is feasible. I think it is possible to separate the Intent from the Investiture, based on random hints Brandon has thrown out, specifically this WoB, which hints that Vasher can indeed do it. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/379/#e12667 I think it involves completely removing the intent from the investiture, purifying it, so that the intent no longer exists. So imagine if the rubber band in your analogy dissolves once it is not attached to the pencils or pen. I don't think it is feasible to completely remove intent from a Shard, because there is likely some sort of magical filtering process involved, possibly through an individuals soul or Spiritweb. And shoving *massive* amounts of Investiture through anything can't be healthy, especially if it's your Spiritweb. Also, every Shard has (essentially) infinite power/Investiture, as I think we can imply from this WoB https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256/#e8702 Specifically addressing how you worded this: No, I don't think this will be possible because you can't take the entire rubber band away with only one pencil attached. It would be more like taking one pencil out at a time until only one pencil is left. Even then, that one pencil will still represent an infinite amount of Investiture that the pen could or could not be aware of. I think it *could* be possible to trick the finite mind of a Vessel into thinking they're completely cut off from their intent, but I'm more speaking out of my rear end here. If you want more weird Shard stuff that is tangentially related to your question, a WoB that really illustrates the muddiness of these waters is this one: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/315/#e9385

I think there's a possibility that the "new or unexpected" is that Aux picks up the Dawnshard and that is why the Night Brigade is hunting them. They probably think that Sigzil still has it. Then Sigzil picks up a weird bond with Aux, but he is also suffering from the Torment as a result of formerly being a Dawnshard.

I would assume that the Listeners were simply Connected to the world and the spren at that point. The highstorms and spren existed pre-Shattering, so I think the Parshmen just used the Highstorm to transform at that point. Through the desolations, I think Odium warped their Connection so it was only to him (and then later, Bo-Ado-Mishram) and this may have prevented the parshmen from transforming in a highstorm due to a lack of Connection to Honor, (who at this point could've co-opted the highstorms for himself).

they would only consume the breaths if the transformation consumes Investiture. Maybe the reason they singer needs to be closer to the Cognitive and Spiritual is so that they can "edit" their Spiritweb easier.

Also Truthwatcher and Willshaper, since those are the two that have been appealing to me recently. Imagine being able to take the memories of stone and turn them into grand scale illusions.

Not necessarily. that means the story took place thousands of years after the last Desolation, but the timeline of the rise of the Evil is more fuzzy. It is true that it has been a century since mankind abandoned the continent however, so that might throw a wrench in there.