hskeeter

12 minutes ago, Parzival said:

This is the perfect example of how I imagine the Pure Tone of Adonalsium sounding, thank you.

Thanks, it took a little thought for the examples. 

On a side note: One of the things people forget when discussing light versus sound is they both have frequency involved, and thus behave very similarly in some aspects.

On 3/16/2021 at 10:28 AM, Parzival said:

That is a good point, but I just can't picture a scene with Adonalsium and just white noise. It just doesn't seem very holy and magestic the way the Pure Tones are. I think that the Pure Tone of Adonalsium could have been split differently so different rhythms and aspects of it would have been assigned differently

I would think of Adonalsium versus a single shard is more like a the difference between a symphony orchestra vs a single instrument or a chord vs a single note.

I believe surgebinding is a style/type of magic.  The different Shards might have different surgebinding specific to them as well as some in common.  The "light" is investiture (power/energy) and these seem to be specific to the shard/god.

23 hours ago, Enter a username said:

I fail to see how Dalinar being his own champion makes any difference.

If Dalinar is dead, and so is Odium's vessel is as well; we have no winner and thus Odium can claim the contract is void.

1 hour ago, Bearer of Agonies said:

I think this means that full Cultivation magic uses Lifelight in a way that Lift has not yet. If Lift doesn't have it, but she "hints" at it, i feel like there's something else we're missing.

We could be waiting for a while then as Lift is intended to be a major player in the back 5 books.   

28 minutes ago, Enter a username said:

I don't completely understand what you're saying here. (For one thing, Taravangian is Odium now.)

Taravangian is Odium's vessel.  This is not the same thing as "being" Odium.  There is some interplay between the 2 personalities.  It is a fine distinction, but they can be separated and both live.  My point being the only loophole I see as possible is if both champions die and thus there is no winner.  This would make the contract void, especially if Dalinar is his own champion.  Then Odium would take the opportunity to do what he pleases.  

Hope that clears things up.

1 hour ago, Criggleworth said:

However, a thought just occurred to me. The Ars Arcanum in Stormlight notes that there should be something more esoteric than Voidbinding and that Khriss does not think this is the Old Magic. Which has me wondering- maybe there is a third type of "binding" of the surges, one that is more Cultivation focused. In this idea, Surgebinding is primarily of Honor, Voidbinding (which i believe is similar to Surgebinding but with a different expression of each surge) is primary of Odium, and the esoteric surges are primarily of Cultivation. Perhaps called something like Lifebinding.

I'm starting to think that Adolin and Maya will be the first of this new, esoteric category of surge binding- the first "Lifebinder".

Of course, I could be wildly off base. We shall see!

I like your ideas, but I do believe that Lift has already got this third method.  Lift has made a deal with Cultivation and is the only one we know of so far that uses lifelight which is converted a different way than everyone else so far.  Its organic too, she just has to eat to get investiture.

21 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

It's an interesting question, which reminds me of all the "patterns in the Shattered Plains", "what could have caused this", and cymatics foreshadowing from the Way of Kings.  It sure seems like Brandon was laying the groundwork for SOMETHING... and knowing him, it will be more epic than even we can guess.

Ah, totally different question.  "what could have caused this" is most likely a big plot device as it has been alluded to many times.  I just don't think they will be "un-shattered", but how they were shattered will be a big deal at some point.  I'm thinking Dawnshard!  

So two points to make:

1) The alliance is trying to win where they can and mostly focused on Jah Keved, and Alethkar.

2) Dalinar has committed to Herdaz and being high on the list, and it is part of the deal with the champion fight with Odium.

The main plot point for Herdaz being mentioned is to get the Mink as a field general and thus free up Dalinar for the bigger picture, ending the war. 

To answer your question: No, I don't see any plot progression that would need such a change.  If you are going that far, then the whole planet most likely will be changed i.e. Ashyn.

The only loophole I see is if both champions die, and then it depends on who the champions are.  To me this would indicate Odium would be best served to use another person than Taravangian as champion.  Dalinar has already stated he is his own champion.  Things get messy if they both use proxies as champions, but I would expect Odium to use this as an excuse to break the agreement as well.

On 1/8/2021 at 3:53 PM, AquaRegia said:

@Bearer of all agonies welcomes new sharders in the “Introduce yourself” forum with the question “who is your favorite character?”  This got me thinking… it’s impossible to pick one, because there are so many different ways someone can be a favorite.  But what if we break up some of the individual criteria?  Then it might make sense.  So I made a thing:

List the Stormlight character you

1)      would like to be friends with most = Adolin, fun to hang out with and/or a Ryshadium (one like Gallant if available)  would be really nice to have a protector warhorse.

2)      feel is most believable in terms of motivation = Rlain

3)      enjoy reading about most = Kaladin

4)      find most confusing/intriguing = Shallan

5)      find makes you laugh the most = Lift

6)      would like to punch in the face = nobody I don't punch people in the face.  I would seriously consider having Torol Sadeas assassinated, dude is just wrong! 

7)      personally relate to most = Renarin

8)      feel is emotionally most realistic = Dabbid, seems to be the classic PTSD grunt.

9)      shamelessly crush on the hardest = Jasnah

10)    is most like someone you know IRL = Hesina, mom

 

Lets not forget that Odium potentially could have parts of Ambition, Dominion, Devotion, and Honor in him as well due to the fact that Odium caused them all to splinter.  From what I can gather from Histories and such; Odium most likely has more of Ambition due to tearing parts off of her, an unknown amount of Dominion and Devotion, and most likely very little of Honor due to Honor taking a long time to splinter and giving most of his splinters to the Stormfather.  

But, does he have to uphold the law?  Seems to me the agreement is the law and must be upheld in Nale's mind.  Of course he is crazy, so unless he has a lucid moment at the right time, who knows what he might decided.

I think it should be the embodiment of the ideals.
I am the Law!
I am Honor!
I enforce Oaths!
I am Helpful!

etc.
Just my humble opinion!  The question is does taking the 5th oath make you a Herald, and is there only one allowed?

On 2/24/2021 at 3:21 PM, TheSprengineer said:

Journey before destination, friend. Plenty of people name their kids after lost heroes.

I’m not saying you’re wrong or that I’m dying on this hill, of course, but naming a kid after a badass is not a guarantee of the badasses’ safety. 

I do see Dalinar as more plot-expendable though now that Navani is a Bondsmith that can keep their key fallback point entirely secure. 

So 2 counterpoints:

1) I think we will need to see the 3 Bondsmiths before the end of book 5 not 1.

2) The Evil ones win, that being the Humans! (the good guys becoming the bad guys). 
         Who came to Roshar with the evil one Odium?  Humans
         Who subjugated the native inhabitants?  Humans
         Who took over the native inhabitants religion, following the original Gods of the World (Cultivation and Honor)?  Humans
         Who will exterminate the Voidbringers?  Humans

Dalinar can win or lose and the bad guys still win.
  Dalinar wins and Odium is still in control of parts of Roshar and still lives there.
  Dalinar loses and Odium is in more control of Roshar and still lives there.

Evil wins!

I think the second half of the Stormlight Archives will have the humans and singers finally realizing Odium is the Evil One and come together to defeat him.  But, I like a good fairy tale ending not a realistic one.

On 3/10/2021 at 9:18 PM, Waffles said:

pretty sure odium is alive as long as cats exist

ROFL 

On 3/13/2021 at 10:50 AM, RedBlue said:

That’s right - we know from Szeth that honorblade healing doesn’t fix wounds from Shardblades. At all. 

Assuming that Moash’s eyes don’t get better over time, I suspect that the blindness is a spiritual problem rather than a physical one. 

Or is it a mental one?  The Stormlight books focus a lot on "cognitive" effects of events and actions on the characters.  Brandon tends to deal mostly with the physical and cognitive "planes" and leaves the spiritual to the reader's interpretation.  

Just so you know I have read all of the Stormlight Archives (including the novellas and Warbreaker) since the first of the year. I work full time as well, so its not that hard.

4 hours ago, Bejardin1250 said:

We’ve already taken over the world they just don’t know it yet...

The question is which world?   

On 3/11/2021 at 6:42 PM, Bejardin1250 said:

Are you referring to Perfect Pitch?

This could mess with his storytelling but not much else

To me the perfect pitch is fairly straight forward, it is how you know breaths are gone.  We could debate the significance of that part for a long time, but it is just a small clue.  I figure Wit has a lot more breaths kept somewhere else.  Perfect pitch level is not very high and as old as Wit is I would suspect he has a lot of breaths at this point in time.  I figure the loss of breaths/memory is so Wit can recognize that Odium/Vessel has taken them and to let the reader know as well.  The question to me is more what is Wit up to by meeting with Odium?  There are clues, I am just not sure I have enough info and background on the cosmere to really dig deep.

Leuthie above has figured out my clue of important significance.  The question on this part being the major significance of the WoB information.  Wit/Hoid is a major player from the beginning of the cosmere, how does his world hopping play out for the Roshar story at this point? 

The "powers that be" does seem to care what Wit wants. The impression I get so far on why Wit travels is because "fate" wants him somewhere else to influence the bigger picture.  We have not gotten into the Spiritual Realm part of the cosmer very much, at least not from the Stormlight Archives standpoint.  

On 3/11/2021 at 4:56 PM, Leuthie said:

Is it this:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Questioner: Now that Hoid has bonded a spren, is he locked on Roshar?
  Brandon:Yes, that is a problem. Something will happen that is relevant. RAFO

 

Yep, that would be what I am talking about.  Good observation!  The question becomes is this on purpose from Wit's point of view or is it the cosemer putting Wit back on his path?

I think you are missing a key thing Hoid/Wit lost in the epilogue.  It is related to a WoB from the Stuttgart signing.  I suspect this is very important, even though in the RoW epilogue it might appear as a throw away line.  Hoid's worldhopping is important to his function in the cosmere.  I will let you find out the clues yourself, as I think that is the fun of these forums. 

I am thinking the memory loss is due to something else.  See the below WoB from Stuttgart signing:

Questioner (paraphrased)

Now that Hoid has bonded a spren, is he locked on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, that is a problem. Something will happen that is relevant. RAFO.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

Could the memory loss have more to do with Hoid losing his spren and now being able to worldhop again?

13 minutes ago, Frustration said:

All of the original vessels killed Adonalsium, it wasn't just Rayse, also Odium didn't exist before the Shattering

I stand corrected!  Thank you kind sir.