Jod1

I'm pretty sure it was a typo. It isn't the only typo in the book, and Formless wasn't an alter, as confirmed in the text several times. This is confirmed early on, before we get the final revelation, but ultimately made very clear in those final chapters. Shallan never seems to question her gender or sexuality, enjoys and identifies with feminine things, and is specifically interested in and attracted to men, so there's no evidence to support that she has or had a male alter yet. And since Formless was just a false front, a fake idea to let Shallan run away and not an alter at all, there was never a separate identity or personality that could have been male. While it's not impossible that she could have a male alter in the future, progress means breaking away from alters and not depending on fracturing her own mind to function, so ideally she won't be making further alters in the future. I have a digital Kindle copy, so mine might not have the exact page numbers as a physical book, but even the use of "they" later on was only used to confuse exactly who was in control (it was Shallan, but she didn't want to admit it) and hide exactly what "Formless" was (again, Shallan, though the next Shallan scene went through and explained the whole thing in detail).

Forgive me if someone else already thought of this and I missed it, but am I the only one who thinks it's the exact opposite? Formless seems a very deliberate title. Shallan is TERRIFIED of giving up her multitude of personalities, of facing her past and avoiding more mental gymnastics and blocked memories and splitting her mind. My first thought was the Formless wasn't a new alter at all, but the lack of an alter. The true, unbroken mind and personality of Shallan, as whole and as traumatized or capable as she truly is without all her coping mechanisms. It's something she needs, but refuses to acknowledge or consider, even though the Veil alter has pointed it out. To someone with such a carefully broken, shattered and contained mind, embracing her past and just being herself without the alters and memory blocks and such might well seem lacking in form, structure or rules. Shallan claims her current self, the Shallan we knew before the alters, is just as fake and weak as the others but I really don't believe that; even if she made an alter personality as a child, it wouldn't be dominant with no competition or change for a decade, and she wouldn't have needed her constant, often excessive, coping mechanisms before making Veil and Radiant. Unfortunately, her self worth and confidence in herself is absolutely nonexistent, so she sees no value in her true, unbroken self (either because of her abuse, trauma, or likely both). I am only on chapter 12 or so, but I really do hope Shallan can get better. Both because she deserves it, and because I'm not particularly fond of her bickering with herself all the time. I know Sanderson did a good amount of research, and certainly he'd know more than I do on the matter, but I just don't see how Shallan could possibly say the next ideal or ever improve her mental health and relationships with a bunch of alters bouncing around (and the constant threat of making more under stress, which she worries about).