skewh

Your point about the Honorspren got me thinking. Are there any Windrunners that didn't originate with Bridge Four? We know that Lightweavers, Truthwatchers, Edgedancers, storms, seemingly every other order of Radiants can manifest their powers in isolation, and only later flock to the orders of their spren. But to my knowledge, all of the Windrunners can be traced back to Kaladin/Bridge Four.

All who we have seen bond so far have been Mistspren, but there are the "touched" Honorspren in RoW, not to mention whatever spren Sja-Anat was going to send for Mraize.

I agree that Taln breaking is what led to this new Desolation, i.e. the return of the Fused. Leshwi makes it pretty clear in the beginning of RoW that as long as the Heralds on Braize, the Fused are confined there. Unfortunately for Taln, Jezrien figured out that they didn't all have to be there to maintain the Isolation. An interesting question is whether Rayse's plans with the Listeners would have allowed the return of voidspren/forms of power through the summoning of the Everstorm, but not the return of the Fused, had Taln not broken. Either way, I'm sure Rayse knew that even Taln would eventually break under millennia of torture and planned for it accordingly.

While the connection between the Iridescent Tones and the Pure Tones of Roshar is interesting, I think it probably has more to do with the nature of Investiture itself than a specific reference to Roshar's tones. That is, maybe Investiture has a musical/rhythmic component to it in all the Cosmere worlds, we just don't understand them yet. A poster in another thread brought up the Allomantic "pulses" that Seekers can hear, which I think may support my theory.

I agree. He shows us the opposite choice that Dalinar made, i.e. giving up his pain to Odium and becoming "free." Of course, we know that the second Odium's defense of Vyre wavers, he is crippled by the very emotions he's tried so hard to cast off. I don't know how Brandon will continue to use him in the plot, especially with his new blindness, but I am very excited to see where it goes. I actually think Moash has more nuance than people give him credit for. He had the potential to be so much more, but he couldn't get over his hatred of Lighteyes and it ruined him.

The fact that Moash says several times that "Stormblessed can't be killed" definitely makes me think there is something more to it than just hero worship or fear of Kaladin. Indeed, Kal's successes in the tower kind of prove Moash right, don't they? I think because of their Connection that Moash might realize something is different about Kal, even if he doesn't really understand what it is. In my opinion Kal's apparent invulnerability probably relates to the "Son of Tanavast" mystery.

I would argue that the rare moments we see behind her mask are the moments that humanize her. Jasnah presents herself as eminently composed, knowledgeable, and rational. But as readers, we know she doesn't really feel that way all the time. We get to see her insecurities about her research of Urithiru and the Voidbringers not being meaningful despite her best efforts. We see how exhausted she is at the beginning of WoR, and how behind the 8-ball she feels when she shows up in OB. We see her struggle between her rational mind recognizing Renarin as a threat, and her heart recognizing him in love. Yes, Jasnah often appears perfect, both to the reader and the other characters. But what humanizes her is that we readers are shown that she really isn't perfect. She's trying just as hard as everyone else.

My favorite Cosmere book is probably Arcanum Unbound. Both because it's extremely satisfying to get in-text expo on Shards and shardworlds, and because short stories are one of my favorite literary formats to read. I first got into the Cosmere after reading Stormlight books 1-3. Once I realized there was more behind the scenes of these stories I worked my way through the rest of the Cosmere books in the time between finishing OB and starting RoW. Now that I've read all the books I can't wait to start digging deeper into the Arcanum and connecting more dots on my own.

I'm kind of sold on this too, if only because I can't think of a single example of Brandon reusing a name without it being the same character in a different place (e.g. Felt).

Maya begins to say it but struggles, then Adolin says it back to her.

Just finished RoW and I need more Cosmere discussions in my life.