Thucydides

Feruchemy (Ruin) requires that you take someone else's life force,

You mean Hemalurgy, I think.

I don't know, the Ascendant Warrior could be Vin, but since she does die, and she was never spotlighted much while alive, and nobody really saw her awesome fight right at the end, I don't think she would be remembered well enough for that. It has been a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if memories of Harmony's Ascension differ more than a little from the actual facts of the event. Someone mentioned in the comments at Tor that they thought the Ascendant Warrior was Spook, I haven't read Mistborn in a while, but that strikes me as a slightly more likely option.

It almost seems that Bloody Tan was burning atium, but that should be impossible since Marsh has/had the only Atium left in the World.

Perhaps the city was waiting to bond with the first people group that came along, or maybe Aona was waiting for a people group and she affected the change once they arrived, a reason she might have waited several decades: she didn't want to scare them off.

Something else I noticed is that when Shallan ended up in Shadesmar (the Cognitive Realm), she was holding one of the little spheres in her hand, without having picked it up, and she was also touching the goblet in the physical world. I think that even inanimate objects have some kind of reflection or representation in the Cognitive and Spiritual realms.

You're right, I guess it is pretty obvious that everything, even the inanimate, is three part, after all this is the Cosmere! But I think it still needed to be stated because it implies some questions that I haven't seen people asking.

I find it very interesting that according to these descriptions, the Elantrians just stumbled upon the city. In that case, who built the city? Where did they go? Did Aona craft the city? And how come the moved-in Elantrians had the right "spiritual codes" to become Elantrians?

Maybe being around Elantris changes your spiritual DNA.

I was writing up a theory when I realized that I was relying on an assumption which is actually a bit of a theory in its own right. That being the case I thought it might be wise to write this here in a separate thread to avoid trying to explain a theory within a theory, so here goes.

We know that the Cosmere is comprised of three separate realms, namely the Physical realm the Cognitive realm and the Spiritual realm. We also have this from the ascended Sazed:

I have come to see that each power has three aspects: a physical one, which can be seen in the creations made by Ruin and Preservation; a spiritual one in the unseen energy that permeates all of the world; and a cognitive one in the minds which controlled that energy.

Which tells us that magic in the Cosmere is also comprised of a physical, spiritual and cognitive aspect each corresponding to the respective Cosmeric realm.

My theory is that every living entity in the Cosmere has three aspects as well, these are:

Body - Physical

Mind - Cognitive

Life force - Spiritual

Let us run it against some of the things in the Cosmere we know are alive.

Humans are obvious. Seons have an Aon that acts as both a body and a connection to the Shard Formerly Held by Aona (SFHA) which is their life force. I don't know where their mind comes from but it is quite obvious they have one. Nightblood has a sword for a body, breath for life force, and a command that gives him his cognitive aspect (he is also, apparently, moving towards sentience, but irregardless of his sentience, he is certainly alive). Animals are the same as humans, they have less sentience, but no one can deny that, unless Cosmere animals differ greatly from (insert name of our universe here) animals, they certainly have the ability to think. Spren are one of the more interesting things to apply this to; They obviously have bodies, and this:

Windspren were devious spirits who had a penchant for staying where they weren't wanted.....Windspren often played pranks like that.

...seems to indicate they can think, albeit not (excepting Syl) on a sentient level. You might say that the above quote is no good because it is about Syl, but these observations are made by Kaladin who obviously has had similar experiences with other spren so that is what I am basing this on. So they have bodies, though I don't know of what they are made, they have minds as evidenced by the fact that they can think, and they have life force as evidenced by their existence and movement. Plants are the only living thing that don't seem to me to be, to coin a phrase, "intuitively obvious". They have bodies, they have life force, and according to my theory they have a cognitive aspect as well, but I don't know what it is, regardless they must have one.

This theory really seems straightforward and almost obvious too me, but that does not mean it can't be wrong. Anyway I needed to write it so I could use it in another theory, so I guess I will post this and go finish writing that one. Feel free to dissect.

And touch isn't always needed. Doesn't Jasnah Soulcasts someone from a distance when she's getting mugged?

Here it is: WoK page 534

Quote

Stormlight shot from Jasnah's hand like twin bolts of lightning, symmetrical

Yes, and Shallan is very surprised. I think that is the only instance of Soulcasting or Infusing without touch. This is significant, Brandon clearly planted that instance to give us something to think about (or as foreshadowing, it doesn't have to be all about us).

I think Brandon shot that idea down already.

When was that?

I'm new here and this is my first post. I very much enjoy the puzzle of Sanderson's cosmology.

To continue off of subject: I thought of Empathy for Aona's Shard name. Empathy is an understanding or insight from knowing how others feel.

From Elantris Prologue:

Their bodies healed quickly, and they were blessed with great strength, insight, and speed.

Just wanted to focus on the word insight, BS could have used lots of other words such as knowledge, or intellect. But he chose insight. Which better way to have insight but to understand from another's point of view, which is perfect for empathy. And there is no better way to love something then to see it from it's point a view. Just some food for thought.

Empathy sounds very much like a Shard name, and I like your reasoning. You should write up a theory so I can espouse it.

Technically, Aona's Shard name has not been confirmed. However, we know it is a synonym of Love or Compassion, but is not those, specifically. We don't have it right yet.

Relief was a name that people liked on TWG, but I find it far too vague to be useful. Plus, Relief does not fit well with Seons, and Seons are our biggest clue thus far.

Personally I think that it is Charity (as in love, not as in money for others). That is just a gut feeling though.

First, great theory. Second, I think that the merging can be accomplished by saying that, yes honor was splintered and that is where the Heralds power comes from, while saying that the ten orders of Radiants are mortal people interacting with the divine power, manifest in the Heralds. I am too lazy to look it up, but somewhere Brandon said that this was how the magics in Mistborn came about, it is the way that "genetics and the realmatic theory" allow the power to be used by mortals, or some such. Essentially the Radiants tap into the Power of Creation through their specific Herald just as an Allomancer taps into the Power of Creation through Preservation. This is possible because the Heralds provide a direct link to Honor, which is in turn itself a direct link to the Power of Creation.

So the Heralds are each a piece of Honor, a diminished Shard you could say... Wait a second, I just had a thought. What if this is exactly what happens to every Shard that is splintered. Rayse splintered Aona and Skai right? Well I predict something similar to this splitting of powers happened to their Shards as well.

Ahem, sorry tangents are inevitable when talking about such awesomely intricate and undeniably Brandon things... So where were we... The Heralds are each like a mini Shard, weaker than a full shard but with the same connection to the Power of Creation as a full Shard. So the Truthspren and others like them could just be a manifestation of a specific shard's power... Okay, I see your problem. What are the spren?

Hmm, well let us just ignore the spren as a gap in our current knowledge, somehow the spren provide a to the Heralds power, which link is intended for the use of mortals. Thus you have Radiants and Heralds existing at the same time. Though this raises an interesting question: What does the Herald's leaving their post do to the Radiants?

Anyway, I thought I had something clear and relevant to add, but I see this has become more of a murky musing. I will post it anyway because if there is something to this I am sure you guys will be able to pick out and clarify it.

However, you do have a valid explanation for the same thing in Odium considering all of the other Shards worthless. My problem, then, is why Odium considers them enough of a threat to justify destroying them. It seems to me that if he sees them as dangerous enough to destroy them, he sees them as powerful enough to justify taking the shards rather than destroying them, if he could.

I don't see that as a problem. The human mind is not inherently logical, Odium could very well realize that the other shards are a threat (or he could simply be destroying them out of hatred) and still convince himself that they are worthless. It is quite possible to believe things that, logically, contradict themselves, especially if you haven't really given your emotions and motivations conscious thought, but even if you have... the human mind is capable of overlooking huge glaring logical errors if it's owner wants it too.

Hopefully that's somewhat coherent, I'm too tired to read through and check even so short a post.