Ba-Ado-Fisherman

1. Oathbringer 

2. Words of Radiance (top 2 are basically interchangeable for me)

3. Way of Kings

4. Rhythm of War

5. Shadows of Self

6. Warbreaker

7. Hero of Ages

8. Yumi 

9. Emperor’s Souls

10. The Final Empire

I agree with a lot of this.  While there are strategies an Allomancer can come up with to kill a Surgebinder, I think the base power of any Surgebinder is too hard to ignore. (imo stormlight healing is OP and basically ends the argument itself).  Even the most powerful Allomancer with Atium can’t catch a Windrunner if they fly away, much less if they have living Shardplate on.  
 

I love seeing the creative ideas people come up with for how an Allomancer could win in a fight.  Like I don’t think Shallan is going to beat Vin in a 1v1.  But if we staged 100 random fights, I’d bet money on Radiants winning 75%+.  And that’s assuming many Mistborn do have small amounts of Atium they can use.  Atium could give Mistborn an advantage, but Stormlight healing is OP and could probably outlast it.  

6 hours ago, Chaos said:

I always assumed it was about the Southern Scadrians.

That would make much more sense.

In the scene with Hoid, Harmony and Wax in Alloy of Law, Harmony says something interesting to Wax.

He's talking about the way humanity has progressed on Scadrial since his Ascension.  

“You don’t explore, Harmony continued, ignoring Wax’s confusion. Why would you? You have everything you want here. You’ve barely progressed technologically from what I gave you in the books. Yet others, who were nearly destroyed …”

Could the "others, who were nearly destroyed" be a reference to mankind on Roshar?  People that were nearly destroyed by Desolations, and then built up technology and civilization for thousands of years afterwards?  Even if this is the case, it's really not much at all, but I thought it was an interesting idea.

On 5/26/2021 at 6:57 PM, Bejardin1250 said:

Yah I don’t think he would ever just say “yes” to a question like this 

He seems to not want to spoil things

but this isn’t pointing in either direction 

I disagree.  A few years ago he directly confirmed that RoW's prologue would be from Navani's perspective, and book 5 would be Gavilar.  So Brandon has spoiled future viewpoints in the past.  However, I think the reason he RAFO'd this question is because he doesn't want to explicitly confirm anything that happens after the end of book 5.  I fully believe that it will be from Hoid's perspective though.

On 5/27/2021 at 7:44 PM, Frustration said:

Moash could have been a good villain, then Brandon decided to try and make him sympathetic

He could have been a lost sheep, but Brandon made too much of the fandon holds him as irredeemable.

He could have been a champion for Odium, but then Brandon blided him.

He's now the worst thing to have in a story, no matter what Brandon does he's a problem

I completely and utterly disagree.  The entire theme of the Stormlight Archive is about redemption and growth.  "Journey before destination".  What you do in the past doesn't define your future, and anyone can take the next step towards being a better person.  Moash might be the best possible example of this at the current time in the series.  

If we're gonna sit here and accept Dalinar in spite of the monster he used to be, then we need to accept the idea that Moash is not irredeemable.  

19 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

WoB

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/222/#e5623

 

Well damn there you go lol.  I will say that Hoid talking to a Skaze doesn't imply that he would know exactly what it was.  I stand by my theory.

19 hours ago, Green chicken said:

According to several WOBs skaze are splinters of Dominion:

Argent (paraphrased)

Ashe says to Sarene "your god". Do seons (and skaze) have a religion/god?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They have an inkling of the nature of their original Shards, which they would consider their gods.

Argent (paraphrased)

Kind of like a first, a prime, a parent?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes. They kind of know what happened that created them, and they also know this is not the god being worshiped (by Sarene), so...

Steelheart Chicago signing (Oct. 5, 2013)

 

 

mathota123

Is the creation of skaze end-negative?

Brandon Sanderson

So, you're not quite using the term right.

The terms "end-negative" and "end-positive" refer to a specific system--in most cases, we're talking about the individual(s) using the magic. Do you draw more magic out, or is it powered by your own native Investiture?

Awakening is what we call end-neutral, despite the fact that (obviously) the Breaths came from someone else in the first place. That's not the point in contention here--do the same number of Breaths (the same amount of Investiture) continue to exist in the system as you're manipulating the magic.

In something like AonDor, you are drawing out much more power than you put in--end-positive. That power is put to work doing something, such as healing a body, or creating a blast of power.

The skaze, like the seons, were created when a Shard was Splintered. The terminology doesn't quite work there, at least not in the way that scholars in the cosmere would use it.

The question from the physicist in this thread about where Investiture goes, and what it means for a Shard to have access to certain amounts of power, is related to all of this. I'm hoping to be able to find some time to craft a response there, as there are some fundamental understandings of the magic that are relevant to the discussion that I should point out.

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 21, 2016)

 

 

 

Questioner

[Does] the expansion of Jaddeth’s empire have more to do with greed and hunger for power, or the innate nature of Dominion?

Brandon Sanderson

Both. I would say both. The innate nature of Dominion probably caused the greed and hunger for power.

Questioner

What would you say percentage-wise?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, one caused the other. It definitely started with Dominion. The Skaze are pretty thirsty for power.

Shadows of Self Chicago signing (Oct. 12, 2015)  

 

Chaos (paraphrased)

This is other information we overheard while we were there. Skaze are the evil seons, and are related to Skai. Seons are related to the AonDor and thus Aona.

Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010)

That's what I said... I'm theorizing that they could be anti-Investiture Splinters of Dominion.  And if this were the case, then there's no way Brandon would hint at that being the case in previous WoBs.  He has a long history of dodgy and misinterpreted WoBs in the past.

1 minute ago, Bejardin1250 said:

I can’t open links from other websites for reasons so I can’t fact-check that

I don’t think that Hoid could see a Skaze without Khriss seeing one 

even factoring in the dangers of going to Sel I think she would at least acquire  a description or drawing which would include all those details

And if she’s seen one and knows what A-Light should look, because of the theories, I don’t think that she wouldn’t connect the two

But I’m not discounting your theory it is very valid I just happen to not agree

I don't understand why you think Hoid wouldn't know more than Khriss?  He has been alive since before the Shattering, knows each original Vessel personally, was previously a Dawnshard, and his been to every world that a book has taken place on, except Threnody (that we know of).  

Just now, Bejardin1250 said:

Well this was a secret conspiracy between Gavilar and and multiple thousand year old heralds which is much easier to keep secret than a Skaze that Hoid can bring into Arelon and just talk to

Is that quote from AU?

I have no idea where that quote came from.  I got it from this page https://stormlightarchive.fandom.com/wiki/Khriss#Sel

Khriss says that anti-Investiture has been "long theorized".  It isn't that she was unaware of the possibility, only that she didn't know how it could be made.  If a group of people on Sel figured out how to do that, it makes complete sense that they would keep that knowledge hidden. 

10 minutes ago, Bejardin1250 said:

But could Sel keep this secret from the entire Silverlight?

Khriss says in the Ars Arcanum of RoW that this  is is the first evidence of A-Light

I doubt Hoid would know something about investiture before Khriss does

Well Khriss is actually wrong about anti-Investiture in the Ars Arcanum.  Gavilar had a sphere of it 7 whole years before RoW, but Khriss didn't know about it until after Navani figured out how to make it.  

From stormlightarchive.fandom.com: "She's begun to wonder if something greater is happening on Sel than they, at Silverlight University, have guessed. Something with origins lost in time.  She believes that there is a link between entities known as seons and skaze and the puzzle of Sel's nature".

So Khriss clearly doesn't fully understand what's happening on Sel, and she doesn't know how Seons and Skaze are linked.  I guess it could be possible that Skaze are essentially anti-Seons too, based on this passage.

So I recently bought the Elantris leather bound, and it turns out that Brandon released a two-page, bonus chapter for Elantirs' 10th anniversary that I never read...

Reading this after Rhythm of War, something stands out to me.  In the scene, Hoid is talking to a Skaze.  Per a couple WoBs, Skaze are described as "evil Seons" and they are Splinters of Dominion.  What caught my attention is the way it's described by Hoid.  He says it's "a hovering dark sphere, about the size of a melon.  It somehow sucked in the light, and didn't have distinct edges Hoid could make out--it just kind of blended out into the air, warping everything around it like a stone dropped onto a sheet of silk stretched tight.  It was ringed with a pattern of misty symbols"

In Rhythm of War, Navani describes the sphere of anti-Voidlight as, “Like the ordinary Voidlight sphere, its blackness expanded, making the surrounding air dim. But there was an added effect with this sphere, one she hadn’t noticed right away. It warped the air around it.”

Both the Skaze and the anti-Voidlight are explicitly described as "warping" the air around it.  Sel is also "the most realmatically knowledgeable of the known Shardworlds" (Coppermind).  I think there are people on Sel that are not only aware of anti-Investiture, but have also figured out how to create anti-Investiture Splinters of Dominion, called Skaze.

9 hours ago, LuckyJim said:

I once entertained the idea of Moash being the partner to the final Hoid monologue of era 1, contemplating what to do now that he has nothing, and setting up his character arc for the next sequence. I then dismissed this idea because I assumed that Sanderson had no big plans for Moash, but reading this makes me think maybe it's not such a long shot. I mean, it's unlikely sure, but not impossible.

I'd definitely love to see the fandom reaction if Moash was the character to close out book 5.

I feel like everything Moash has done since WoR is setting him up to be a more important character in the future.  I hope Brandon doesn't kill him off to sate the "f moash" crowd.

18 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Well the Stormfather would just end the Bond right?

Unless you somehow get Hemilurgy involved...

Exactly what I was thinking.  *Imagines a spiked Dalinar with Bondsmith abilities working for Odium, conquering the Cosmere*

I have also theorized that the Night of Sorrows will be the end of Roshar's continuous Stormlight supply.  For one reason or another, I think either Highstorms will stop, or they will just stop producing Investiture, leaving Roshar in a sort of permanent darkness.  

My pet theory is that Dalinar will leave Roshar after losing the contest, and somehow take the Stormfather with him.

7 hours ago, Frustration said:

Nightblood likely isn't anti-investiture, it's effects are destruction on all three realms, just a shardblades cut on all three realms. There isn't an explosion when it connects with something etc.

Every anti-Investiture weapon we've seen so far hasn't resulted in explosions, so that argument doesn't really hold up.  Also, as far as we know, anti-Investiture does destroy on all three realms.  Considering that it literally destroys Investiture, I'd be inclined to believe that it does.  Jezrien is dead.  His body, mind, and spirit are gone.

Just now, Bejardin1250 said:

I think this means he’s already cracked the code to CS and is still alive...

Well yeah, but what is he too late for?

I think I found a pretty good piece of evidence for Nightblood being a form of anti-Investiture

In Rhythm of War, from Vasher

“These enemies of yours though, I think they’re too strong for that. They’ve lasted thousands of years already, and seem Connected to Odium to feed directly on his power. You’ll have to find a way to disrupt their souls. You can’t just rip them apart; you need a weapon so strong, it unravels the soul.” He squinted, looking off into the distance. “I know through sorry experience those kinds of weapons are very dangerous to make, and never seem to work right.”

So Vasher sounds like he's describing Nightblood here.  "a weapon so strong, it unravels the soul".  Then I thought this sounded familiar.

Lezian's death:

“He plunged the knife down as the Pursuer struggled.  And his soul ripped itself apart” 

So Lezian's death is described as his soul ripping itself apart, and Vasher seems to think that Nightblood is a weapon that unravels the soul.  Obviously this isn't confirmation, but I think this is a very strong piece of evidence pointing to Nightblood being some kind of weapon of anti-Investiture.

19 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I kind of hope Invention has been just wandering around the cosmere helping people come up with things to spur each world's technological development further. I do hope we get to see them at some point though, yeah

It'll be interesting to see how Brandon works all of these new Shards into the story, if even at all.  I'm sure there'll be some Shards that don't really play a major role, like Whimsy.  Of the 4 new Shards we got in RoW, I think Invention and Mercy are the two we'll see the most of.  I have a feeling that Mercy will side with new Odium, and Invention will side with Harmony/Honor(or whatever Honor becomes).

After Rhythm of War, the prologue of tWoK carries an entirely new meaning.

Not only did Brandon name-drop Kelsier, but we now know that Gavilar was fully aware of Kelsier.  "You can tell Thaidakar that he's too late".  What does this mean?

Gavilar hands the sphere of anti-Voidlight to Szeth and tells him that "they" must not find it.  I'm going to assume that Gavilar is talking about the Ghostbloods when he says "they".  Given what we know about Kelsier's goals as well as the goals of the Ghostbloods, I'm trying to figure out why anti-Light would be of importance to them.

Why would Gavilar think that the Ghostbloods should not be allowed to discover anti-Investiture or how to create it?  Why would Kelsier even want anti-Investiture?  Does he want to make a bomb?  Could converting Investiture into anti-Investiture allow for it to be freely transferred between worlds?  Was Gavilar even referencing the Ghostbloods when he said "they", or was he referencing the Parshendi?  So many questions...  I think I'm looking forward to book 5's prologue more than the book itself.

I could definitely see Invention coming in at some point.  That Shard could be very helpful in building up to the space age of the Cosmere.

4 hours ago, Quantus said:

This is the camp Im in at the moment as well.  Much in the way it was Honor (and I assume Cultivation equally) that facilitated Spren procreating before Honor granted that to the Stormfather, I think it was the Shards (or in the case of Honor his current Proxy), that accepted Oaths.  I dont think Odium has yet had the opportunity to accept a proper Voidbringer Oath (and Im entirely uncertain if they will have their own Words).  But I do think it's something that the new management may come around to...

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me.  It seems as though Odium--either on purpose or by accident--invested in Roshar, and I think it'd be really cool to see Knights Radiant of Odium.

Pretty sure it was Cultivation.  The Stormfather accepts Oaths, but he's basically the remnants of Honor.  Dalinar accepts an oath, because he is essentially becoming Honor, slowly.  I think only Cultivation and Honor can accept oaths, and MAYBE Odium, but idk about the last one.  Maybe Odium will accept oaths spoken by Renarin?

7 hours ago, mathiau said:

Not sure that would work, the connection that Connection is written in their sDNA so you'd probably have to work harder than for the Connection between a human and a Spren. But after what Navani did too Moash's Identity I can't really call that completely impossible

Yeah I'm making assumptions about what Dalinar can and can't do.  Before Tanavast died, I would say that it'd be impossible, but now that Dalinar is a Bondsmith without restrictions, and is bonded to the remnants of Honor, I think at least on some level he manipulate Connection in the same way Tanavast could.

8 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

Rashek can’t he touched and therefore cannot be killed

He can also attack from afar, and Dalinar opening a Perpendicularity will drain and exhaust him

 

If Rashek can't be touched, then how did Kelsier stab him with multiple spears, and how did Vin kill him?  Fullborns are immensely powerful, and right now, in a 1v1 fight to the death with Dalinar, I'd take the Lord Ruler.  However, that doesn't make Fullborns more powerful.  Dalinar literally Ascended, whatever that means.  He actually scared Odium, a Shard that has murdered multiple gods.

5 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

I don’t think so... 

Dalinar isn’t very strong at all on a pure power level. Sure he is a good support but on a one on one a steel compounder will destroy

And the Lord Ruler can Compound everything 

(unless are you talking about how since he can open a perpendicularlity this gives him the most raw investiture)

I don't understand... You say he isn't strong at all on a pure power level, yet you realize he has the most raw investiture?  

Dalinar can theoretically manipulate, create, steal, and destroy Connection.  If he went up against an Allomancer, it would be a piece of cake.  Remove their Connection to Preservation and boom, no more Allomancy.  Remember what Ishar did in RoW?  He literally Connected like 5 different Windrunners to the ground, forcing their Investiture out of them.  Dalinar has the power of literal gods.  Bondsmithing is by far the most powerful Invested Art that we know of so far in the Cosmere.

Not to mention he has Stormlight healing, making him basically invincible with enough Stormlight, which he has a unlimited source of with Honor's perp. 

1 minute ago, Green chicken said:

Plenty of people can defeat Dalinar in a fight, here are just some examples:

Heralds

Windrunners above the 2nd ideal

Skybreakers above the 2nd ideal

Elsecallers who are proficient at soulcasting

Lightweavers who are proficient at soulcasting and or lighweaving

Truthwatchers who are proficient at lighweaving

Dustbringers who are proficient at division

Radiants above the 4th ideal

Shards

Coinshots

Mistborn

any twin born who has steel

Steel compunders

Neturo-son-Vallano with the bondsmith honorblade 

Ishar with the bondsmith honorblade

Moash

Szeth-son-Neturo

Fullborn

The 5 scholars excluding sahashara 

Elatrians

Feruchemists

Kandra with one spike

Sleepless

anyone bonded to yelig-nar who can control the power

Warform singers

Anyone in shardlate

While Dalinar is dangerous, he isn't immortal. As a fused he shouldn't be too difficult to kill with anti voidlight. The coalition already has raysium dangers.

 

lmfao ok dude