Wonko the Sane

In that case, the issue is resolved: Vasher is a "good person," but is able to handle the sword without being repulsed because of his prior connection to the sword. By the same token, any "good person" could acclimate themselves to Nightblood simply through repeated use. Hm. That is a very strange answer. Essentially, this means that Nightblood does, in fact, kill his wielders by consuming their divine Breath ... but he does so regardless of whether they actually have a divine Breath. Does this imply that all ordinary Nalthians have a specific portion of their Spiritual aspects that parallels the nature and function of divine Breath in Returned? Something which Nightblood can consume? Additionally, if Nightblood is capable of feeding on Spiritual energy that is not presented in the form of a Breath, what else can he devour? If, during Vin's ascension, after she had accumulated the bulk of Preservation's power, but before the disintegration of her physical form, she had drawn Nightblood, could he have consumed the raw essence of the Shard? On an unrelated note, I really need to just devote an afternoon to marathoning my way through the Interview Database. The problem is that there is just so much there that I simply don't want to read: WoT questions, inquiries about Brandon's personal experiences, discussion about his methodologies as a writer, and so on. I sincerely apologize if that sounds rude; honestly, I find a great deal of it interesting and informative. The problem is that I simply don't have enough time to read all of it. Is there a better way of filtering those so that I only need to read information relevant to the Cosmere?

I think he's actually referring to the possibility that the spren are, for lack of a better word, imaginary -- that they only exist as a part the collective consciousness of the sentient beings around them. I do believe that between this quote and a number of others, Brandon has strongly implied that spren are created by human minds. I see Kaladin as white/red. He has too little respect for laws and rules to be mono-white.

Vivenna is unnerved and nauseated by Nightblood, but is nonetheless able to carry him. Perhaps she herself would be unable to draw him, but I see no reason why a pure-hearted individual with considerably more willpower could not manage it. Furthermore, it would seem that Vasher is not influenced by Nightblood - at the very least, he never acknowledges an urge to draw and use him. While it is possible that this is merely because Vasher has grown so used to ignoring Nightblood's influence that he no longer thinks of it as noteworthy, we must at least entertain the possibility that Vasher, too, is considered "pure-hearted" by whatever criteria determine Nightblood's effectiveness.

The way I see it, when you burn Lerasium, one of two things happens: a. The amount of Preservation's innate Investiture in your system increases, which inherently increases your power as an Allomancer, or b. You rewrite a section of your sDNA, producing an effect somewhat akin to forgery, the instinctual usage of which is to increase your Allomantic potential. Actually, these two could could be combined into a third option: the metal contains a portion of Preservation's spiritual aspect, which you can use as raw material to expand your Spiritweb, essentially adding extra paragraphs into the metaphorical book of your soul. Instinctively, most people would simply attach it to their sDNA in its prior state, giving them a larger portion of Preservation that would in turn grant Allomantic potential. Well, I've convinced me. I will now defend this theory with my honor long after it is been conclusively proven false. EDIT: I had to change my list style from "a)" to "a." because a "b" followed by a ")" is apparently automatically converted to a emoticon. Does anyone know how to prevent that in the future?

But is the mass of the metal actually annihilated, or does it merely undergo some sort of reaction, at the end of which you are left with a completely different material? Either version could account for the loss of metals.

I'm not certain, but I believe that the quote actually said that a Shard has to make certain alterations to the people of a planet in order for those people to have access to a magic system linked to that Shard. If you already have that access, I see no inherent reason why Allomancy, for example, would not function on Roshar. Additionally, it seems unlikely that Hoid would need to return to Scadrial every time he wanted to use Feruchemy.

Another thing to consider is the massive spike in efficiency Kaladin underwent when he spoke the Second Ideal of the Windrunners. The scene in which he first encounters the First Ideal is less definitive, but it seems likely that it would have a similar effect. Szeth may simply have access only to the baseline abilities of the Order; the "Zeroth Ideal," as it were.

Okay, sorry about the misunderstanding. I have no issues on this, then. Very good catch, and one worth pursuing.

They would name themselves the Seventeenth Shard because it identifies the reason they joined forces. The Shards (and also Hoid) are the only real players in the Cosmere game, and pretty much every galactically significant event can be attributed to their interactions. The Seventeenth Shard, then, are a group of (relatively) ordinary people who decided to band together in order to contend with gods.

I have no quote, but I believe that Brandon has said that end-negative Investiture is exceedingly rare, and that hemalurgy is very unusual. I get the feeling that if variations on the same power existed elsewhere in the cosmere, the Arcanum writer would be a good deal less excited about it. That being said, Szeth could easily have another one of those rare end-negative Investitures - just likely not the same one. Also, I believe hemalurgy is end-negative not because the donor loses power, but because some of the power is permanently destroyed, as per the Law of Hemalurgic Decay.

Sudden, random inspiration: could either the sphere or the element — or both, if they are indeed one ant the same — be a quantity of 'Raysium' (the "body" of Odium)? Recall that, while missing a significant portion of his body, Ruin was severely crippled; easily foiled by even a nearly mindless Shard. Could a similar thing be happening here? Admittedly, all of the references to Odium's strongly imply that he is at his full capacity. However, were our heroes —or at least, Odium's foes — to obtain a sample of 'Raysium' , would such a treasure not carry all of the Cosmere-shaking import hinted at by Gavilar and the Letter?

The word cultivation automatically calls to mind the idea of plants, of growth, and of nature. As such, many of us — myself included — have internally made the assumption that Cultivation is something of a wild, primal force. However, I have recently realized that there is a fundamental difference between this interpretation and the actual definition of cultivation; indeed, one might actually say they were opposites.

I agree that there is a case to be made for it, but most people do not make it. Instead, they simply say the following: The storms are destructive. Odium is evil, and likes to destroy things. Therefore, the storms come from Odium. Now, in this case, flawed logic leads to a reasonable conclusion. However, it is this exact line of thinking that leads many to believe that Odium secretly orchestrated the Reod, as well - a statement that has been confirmed to be untrue. Also, minor point about your wording: Cultivation's status is currently unknown, there may or may not be a fourth Shard on Roshar (what with Odium not being "native to Roshar"), and even Honor still has a measure of influence in the form of Surgebinding, so I would hardly call Odium the only functional Shard on Roshar.

Agreed. He is clearly a potently evil force, and one that poses an incredible threat to the entire Cosmere. However, that does not mean that he is the incarnation of all evil. Adolf Hitler presented an severe threat to our planet, but that does not mean that he was also the mastermind behind Hurricane Katrina, or the Ku Klux Klan. A person can be incredibly dangerous without having to represent the entirety of the universe's danger. In a Cosmeric example, would you claim that Odium is behind the Dakhor Monastery? No? But then, if Odium is the force behind all evil, are the Dakhor not evil?

I feel that, if they were to travel to Scadrial, they would likely be forced to create new, metal-based magic systems in line with their Intent. Their "God Metals" would probably increase one's aptitude for these, rather than any preexisting systems. Also, Preservation and Ruin are far more diametrically opposed than Honor and Odium. I believe that Brandon has hinted at the existence of an Atium-Lerasium alloy, and if this is possible, then I fail to see any reason why there could not also be a Tanavastium-Raysium alloy.

This is a somewhat trivial matter, but it's been bothering me for some time now, and I had to complain. I constantly see people attributing things to Odium, simply because they are destructive, or violent, or treacherous. Now, I'm going to be very clear with this: Not. All. Evil. Comes. From. Odium. I don't understand why people seem to think that, because Rayse is turning out to be the villain of this particular plot, he must be the raw embodiment of villainy. Odium is the incarnation of hatred - nothing more, nothing less. The Highstorms may indeed be his doing - but we cannot jump to that conclusion simply because they are very destructive! Odium doesn't care about destruction. All he desires is hate. Sorry about that. I generally avoid ranting, as it accomplishes so very little, but for some reason I have found this particular mistake to be extremely grating, to the point that I had to say something, not to bring about a change, but for the sake of peace of mind. I hope you will understand that this is very unusual for me, and that I am not at all a vindictive person.

When Vasher draws Nightblood, it is clearly stated that when he runs out of Breaths, the sword will kill him. However, Vasher is a Returned, and running out of breaths will always kill him - Nightblood or no Nightblood. Thus, it could easily be the case that the only reason that he will die is that Nightblood will eat his Returned Breath. If this is the case, could a normal human wield the sword without fear of death? Obviously, they would be a Drab by the end of it, but a live Drab is better than a dead Returned. However, this possibility only raises further questions. What would happen when they ran out of breaths? It seems unlikely that Nightblood would continue to stab walls and ceilings into oblivion and evaporate the corpses of his victims, as there is a strong implication that Nightblood fuels these powers with the stolen spiritual energy of his host. Would he function as a normal sword? Also unlikely, as even while sheathed, when he is not drawing Breaths from anyone, Nightblood clearly has eldritch qualities beyond the capacity of any traditional blade. The trouble is, we never saw anyone actually wield him while he was partially sheathed - most of the time, he was wielding them - and it seems likely that such a situation would be similar to his being wielded by a Drab. Furthermore, what would happen to him psychologically? Would he regain sentience and speak as usual, or does the mere fact that he is out of his sheath - regardless of the accessibility of Breaths - preclude his full lucidity? Then, too, there is the possibility that he would kill them. If this is the the case, how would he do so? Is he capable of consuming an person's entire spiritual aspect, and not merely their Breaths? Or would he simply force his wielder to stab themselves? If so, why would he do so, assuming, of course, that they were not evil? In fact, how would he seize control of a truly pure-hearted host at all, given that it is expressly stated that he is incapable of doing so? Many questions, and few answers. I generally try to be more constructive when theorizing, but this question has me legitimately baffled. I turn to you, mighty forumites, in hopes that you might light my way to enlightenment. Any ideas?

This is all very interesting. Until reading this, I had never even stopped to consider that Breaths might be anything other than "mini-Splinters." I must admit, I like the idea that it is a portion of your own soul much better. Beyond the aforementioned reasons, it also has a very appealing sort of symmetry: humans on Nalthis give away pieces of their souls to others, and meanwhile, on a higher level, Endowment gives fragments of its spiritual self to the Returned.

I recently had the weirdest coincidence explained to me. Now, this makes less sense cosmerically, but my father has only read WoK. He voiced a theory that Roshar was underwater. Now, think about it for a moment. Look back at Shallan's sketchbook, and remark on the appearances of the Rosharan flora and fauna. It seems rather plausible, doesn't it? He claims that the Highstorms are nothing more than the gripping power of the tide. This is not actually an acceptable theory, of course; the existence of Shinovar alone puts it down immediately. However, you have to admit that the parallels are very intriguing.

But if that's the case, and Shadesmar can be utilized to expedite travel on one planet, in addition to between two, then we are still missing something beyond the cognitive properties of a vacuum. I, personally hold with the theory that Hoid is simply very good at tricking himself into "seeing himself as being" somewhere else, as the ability to easily force a false belief on himself sounds very Hoidish, and as far as I can tell, there's no reason why the above system wouldn't work, regardless of whether its the one Hoid uses or not. Also, keep in mind that the first time Shallan Soulcast, she did not visit Shadesmar (This was the occasion on which she faked her own suicide to conceal he newfound talent). I believe that the two abilities are linked, but not identical.

*Grumble grumble* You guys didn't seem this interested when I noticed this. *sigh* I am a little hurt at your betrayal, but I will get over it with time. And cookies. Time and cookies. Anyway, on to serious discussion. Why not? I've mentioned elsewhere that while Cultivation could be used to refer to nature, the actual meaning actual meaning of the word is the harnessing of nature, chaining it in order to further human survival. This seems to fit right in with fabrials. I had not heard that fabrials were a magic system all of their own. This fits right in with my Radiant Machines theory. If fabrials follow a similar schematic to surgebinding, it makes sense that they would have similar abilities. And looking back at this post, I realize the whole thing looks like some sort of personal ad campaign. Oh, well. You all deserve it for making me feel so unloved.

So extending this, is it dangerous to get there from Sel because it is hard to access some sort of power? Such as the Dor?

I've given this a little thought in the past, but as has been remarked by others, we simply know too few to guess at the rest. However, now that I've told you it's useless to have an opinion on the matter, I'd like to give you mine. On the "Shard/CounterShard" line of thought, I agree that Devotion would, of the Shards known currently, be the best match for Odium. In the first place, there is the previously mentioned supporting Word of Brandon that, at least in this case, Aona's Shard (Devotion) is a synonym of love. Now, I can understand all the arguments for Honor and others, but honestly, when looking for an antonym to hate, if love is an option, there is little sense in considering much else. Furthermore, the most cogent defense for Honor - a reinterpretation of the meaning of "Odium" from hatred to worthy of hatred - has two fatal flaws: One, such a definition would necessitate a reciprocal meaning for Honor, as "worthy of loyalty." Unfortunately, Honor has not given any indication that this is the case. Rather, he has, as would be predicted by the conventional definition, rewarded any and all honorable actions. The second hole in the idea is simply that "worthy of hatred" does not seem - in my own opinion - to convey the characteristic singularity of purpose found in the other Shards. What sort of decisions would an "Odious" person be inclined to make? Incidentally, the recategorization of Devotion as love resolves a different issue that I'd been considering: the motivation of Devotion seems too vague. After all isn't Preservation "devoted" to preserving things? If simply being devoted to something were enough, then holding literally any other Shard would put you at the top of the list for Devotion's favored servants. Furthermore, the opposite of devotion would be ambivalence, implying that its Shardholder would have to... fervently not care about things. I'm not exactly sure how you would go about that. Returning to the topic at hand, I feel that we have too easily allowed ourselves to be duped into thinking that Devotion and Dominion are counterparts, simply because they are on the same Shardworld. While I acknowledge that there is admittedly some friction between their purposes, I do not believe that the two are in direct opposition. I see a much greater enmity between Dominion and Endowment. Endowment is fundamentally oriented toward giving indiscriminately, relinquishing its power wherever it can. Dominion, on the other hand, is about conquest and acquisition, seizing and taking control of anything and everything. These two - giving and taking - seem to be fairly contradictory to me. Furthermore, this means that Devotion must needs look elsewhere for a match... See above. Based on the completely indefensible assumption that each Shard must have a polar opposite, I have done my best to throw together the following: Preservation vs. Ruin Odium vs. Devotion Endowment vs. Dominion Honor vs. Deception/Treachery/Corruption/Treason/Cowardice/etc. Unfortunately, Cultivation's name, out of context, tells us frustratingly little that can actually be trusted. She could stand for anything from life and the boundless growth of nature to the chaining of nature and the progress of civilization. As such, I do not feel confident enough to speculate as to her opposite. Lastly, I would like to affirm the conviction that in a world this complex, it hardly seems likely that these Shards are simply a random collection of attributes. In fact, I would like to take the notion even further. I feel that Brandon, with his notorious reputation for complex, yet somehow beautifully unified worldbuilding, would not settle for simply sorting the Shards into a number of (in many of the above theories, pretty much arbitrary) categories. It seems far more probable that each individual Shard was chosen very carefully as a true, elemental aspect of reality, such that when taken as a whole, they take on a unified centrality. I'm not sure that the way I worded that will make sense to be anyone but me, so consider the following analogy: I feel that it is far more likely that the Shards would be Red, Blue, and Yellow, as opposed to a random assortment of Green, Yelllow, and Purple or a loosely categorized system of Red with Orange and Blue with Purple. In a sense, I'm saying that even the most rigorous systems suggested so far seem a little too haphazardly put together for Brandon. (Also, the color theory referenced in this analogy is unfounded, simplistic, and extremely outdated. However, despite all of this, it is almost invariably still taught in public elementary schools, so it made a useful bit of common ground upon which to base my explanation. Please do not perpetuate its academic use.)

As stated before, my theory is that the Origin is actually meaningless, and that Honor's body is actually pulling the storms inward. if this is the case, it would be absorbing the excess energy as it reformed. Aditionally, Honor could well be in Shinovar, so it does'nt necessarily block the storms on the other side. I understand that little of this is likely to be the case, but the fact that more than one kind of spren are following the storms west must mean something.

Remember, the concept that the storms are actually spiral hurricanes is just speculation. I personally disagree, as give the percentage of the planet that the continent covers, a hurricane large enough that the eye covers the continent simply would not fit on the planet, much less be possible to form. I have to agree with the in-world view: that the storms are just massive straight lines that move from east to west. Given that nothing like this exists in nature, I have to disagree with the idea that they are not entirely supernatural. As stated before, I believe that they might in fact form a circle around the globe, traveling from one point to another. think of it like our own lines of latitude. the ending point would be Honor's corpse, the beginning point just the point opposite him.