Elithanathile10

The spike doesn't have to be big. It could be embedded in Paalm's body somewhere. One more thing I want to add. As Szeth is bald, he would be an easy subject for a Kandra to digest. No hair means a faster substitution.

It might be that the existence of rotspren stymies the progress of the medical field. If you're a doctor and you have an obvious cause of the infection (i.e. rotspren), why bother looking for another cause?

This post contains spoilers for Mistborn Era 2. You have been warned. Big brain idea: Szeth is no longer Shin, he has been replaced by a Kandra. Specifically, Paalm. The art for the chapters with Szeth's POV have him making a facepalm, or "the face of Paalm," so to speak. It's just crazy enough to be true. We don't really get to know any Shin other than Szeth, so there's no way to tell if this is acting, but Paalm is a commensurate actor. Szeth is also moderately unstable, as was Paalm. Furthermore, the fact that Szeth has a Nahel Bond does not disprove this theory, as per this WoB: Lastly, there was some time between the death of Lessie (AKA Paalm) and Paalm's reappearance in Shadows of Self, I believe Paalm spent this time on Roshar disguised as Szeth. This lines up with the Cosmere timeline, as Mistborn Era 2 occurs ~9-10 years after the first Roshar quintology as per this spreadsheet made by the excellent BeskarKomrk. This probably means that Trell is somehow connected to Roshar, possibly an agent or manifestation of Odium, but I digress. What do you think? Is Szeth sus? Am I crazy? Can we trust the POV of a character who has suffered severe mental trauma?

As much as I think Adolin is worth of Radiance, and would love to see him as a Radiant, I honestly think it would be even better if Adolin DIDN'T become a Radiant, narratively anyways. If he can make it through the Desolation and all that it comes with without superpowers, while taking a central role, well. That would be something.

I'm curious about what would have happened if a Radiant had broken their oaths sometime between the splintering of Honor and the capture of BAM.

I'm leaning towards that explanation as well, but it begs the question: Why don't we see the Cognitive Shadows of the Radiants? I don't really have an explanation that fits.

Kelsier is too close to my heart for me to kill. He's the epitome of the bad*** good guy. Chaotic good? Maybe not if I'm being realistic, but I relate a little too much. I imagine he's a popular choice though.

Whatever I've read last lol so right now it's Rhythm of War.

Moash. No contest.

As others have said, I'm of the opinion that Lift was sufficiently changed by Cultivation so as not to be affected by the Sibling's defenses being inverted. Her use of Lifelight is potentially unique throughout all of Rosharian history and so was not taken into account by Raboniel. While progression is clearly a Surge that is more closely aligned with Cultivation, I think it's more important that Lift's Surges are powered through Lifelight.

Anyone else catch Sanderson's inner Alcatraz bleeding through in the interactions between Hoid and Design? I thought the references were hilarious and was one of my favorite moments in the book.

In Chapter 22 of RoW (p. 325), Adolin observes Gallant leaving behind an afterimage. This passage is shortly after the delegation to the honorspren enters Shadesmar. This tickled my brain to the point where I decided to do a little digging into Szeth's afterimage, which is remarkably similar. To quote the wiki (I unfortunately do not have the relevant passages on hand), It's pretty clear to me that Szeth's afterimage is his Cognitive Shadow which is the result of his death and that "improper reattachment" by Nin/Nale/Nalan. I'm going to go out on a limb here and surmise that this detail about Gallant is 1. a characteristic of all Ryshadium, and 2. while not necessarily a Chekov's Gun by Brandon, something that is relevant to the nature of Roshar and/or Cognitive Shadows in general. I don't think it would be like Brandon to have a detail like this be purely flavor. I have a number of ideas concerning the ramifications on the lore that this has. I don't expect it will blow anything wide open, I just think it's interesting. Firstly, I'm fairly certain that these afterimages are connected, if not the same thing. What I think we're seeing here is Gallant's Cognitive Shadow (Ryshadium do have CSs as per this WoB). The implication here is that any sufficiently sentient life-form has a CS (not much of a stretch). I would posit that we would see a similar afterimage in Shadesmar (the manifestation of the Cognitive Realm on Roshar) from bonded Aviar. However, since we do not have any mention of such afterimages from humans or even Radiants (who have a symbiotic spren bond as do Ryshadium) this comes with a few reservations. It could be that my first premise is false and that Gallant has suffered some trauma that has harmed his "soul" and/or spren bond in some manner. I'd like to encourage someone trying to get a WoB about if we would see the CS of a non-sentient life-form with a symbiotic sprend bond such as a chasmfiend or skyeel in Shadesmar or even to confirm/reject my first premise. Another detail of note is the differences between the afterimages of Szeth and Gallant. Adolin is not heavily Invested, at least not enough to see Szeth's CS. However, he can see Gallant's CS without issue. He has not become more invested, so the only conclusion I can see is that CSs are more visible in the Cognitive Realm. While I don't have any evidence to back this up (perhaps someone who has Secret History could scrounge for such details about Kelsier), intuitively this seems reasonable. I'm also curious if Lift could see Gallant's CS in the physical realm. What are your thoughts? Am I making too much out of a random detail? Is this just a one-off? Am I wasting my time on a minor detail? Let me know what you think and any crazy thories you come up with!

Hello there! I'm a longtime fan of Sanderson, ever since I found the Alcatraz series at 12 I've avidly read everything I could get my hands on. I'm particularly anticipatory of Alcatraz 6, The Azlantian, and the Cosmere, which is why I'm creating this account now. Like many of you, I recently finished reading Rhythm of War (don't worry, no spoilers), and I was completely blown away, so much so that I decided to start editing on the wiki and join up here. I'm thrilled to be a part of the Sanderson fandom and am super enthusiastic to share all my crazy Cosmere theories with you all!