Olmund

Huh. That's surprising -- thanks for the correction you two. I don't really like it, since Lift's boon/curse feels like it should be something totally separate from the Nahel bond (which grants everyone else the ability to inhale stormlight), but I suppose I'll trust that Brandon's got a decent mechanical explanation for it. Given that her old magic blocks her ability to use stormlight through the Nahel bond, I somewhat doubt an honorblade would override that -- the Nahel bond is normally much more efficient at holding stormlight.

No need for an honorblade. Lift is a radiant, so she can already use stormlight. She just has lifelight as her backup (or go-to) resource on top of that. Edit: I was mistaken, as has been pointed out below.

There was a fair bit of German discussion in this topic from last year:

Gavilar pretending to be his own son? Now I'm imagining Elhokar suddenly reappearing in KoWT, only to reveal that he's actually Gavilar.

With regard to stone, it's worth mentioning that they may have revered the literal stone itself since the ancient singers (pre-Odium) had access to the stone's memory through their form of surgebinding (as we see when Venli "speaks with" the stone in Urithiru). It's very possible animism was big among the Singers back then, since they seem to have an eclectic notion of "gods."

Still muddling through Shallan WoBs, but here's something slightly relevant: I suspect it's a connection thing -- Shallan was connected to the sailors through her friendship with Yalb, and connected to Shalash as her namesake. Good question, though!

I agree that he's most likely referring to Adonalsium here, but I don't see how that would indicate that Adonalsium is still alive. Rayse gave the classic "murderer sees ghost of someone he killed" line -- meaning that although in that moment Dalinar seems to resemble (probably through spiritual connection) someone Rayse (and others) killed, that doesn't change the fact that Rayse did, in fact, kill that person (or being).

Ryshadium are cool, but this wouldn't work for a number of reasons -- one of which you pointed out. Before the return of the Radiants, it would make sense to consider Ryshadium to be on par with plate and blade -- they offered peerless mobility over land when there were no surgebinders. They can still be a useful resource for some orders, but certainly not on the same level as living plate and living blades. Setting aside the fact that Ryshadium are separate biological entities from their radiants (and have their own bonds with spren), a bigger problem with your theory is that if a Ryshadium bond is required for the 5th Ideal that would place yet another severe limiter on the number of 5th ideal radiants (Ryshadium are incredibly rare). That said, your comment makes me consider how powerful a radiant could be if both the radiant and their horse were fully outfitted with shardplate. I wonder if anyone has asked Brandon about whether living plate could be altered to fit a horse -- maybe two adjutant radiants working in tandem could fully encase a Ryshadium in plate, giving it insane strength & speed as well protection.

Cool theory. We could investigate the possibility if someone gets a chance to ask Brandon something along these lines: "Did any of the unmade originate outside the Rosharan solar system?" If the answer is "yes," he's bound to drop a RAFO. If the answer is "no," he might just come out and say that since he might not consider it spoilery/important.

Alright, I'll humor you. You make a decent point about the "Blade of Evil's Bane," but I still think (It feels silly to keep spoiler marking for an 11 year old game but I guess we've committed to it): Off the top of my head, some easy parallels between SA and SW are: Knights Radiant ~ Jedi Knights Both must adhere to strict codes in order to access their abilities normally, but can gain access to a new powerset by giving in to hatred. The primary difference between the two is that midichlorians are symbiotes that are passed down to offspring, whereas spren are cognitive splinters of investiture that can bond with someone regardless of ancestry. If we wanted to draw from LoZ to fill that gap, it seems that the awakening of sages in OoT (and maybe LBW) is a similar process to becoming a Radiant -- after Ganondorf kills most of the sages during the timeskip, new sages are chosen seemingly based on their affinity for the vacant powers rather than their ancestry (though that is not the case for the LttP maidens and (probably) the WW sages, who were explicitly chosen based on their ancestry). On a similar note: The Recreance ~ Order 66 These two events were functionally similar, but were accomplished via diametrically opposed means. Both ended in the near erasure of Jedi/Radiants, but the Recreance was a voluntary measure designed to curtail the spread of the enemy, whereas Order 66 was a successful enemy gambit which killed off nearly all living Jedi. If we wanted to patch that up with something from LoZ, it's a bit of a stretch, but the ancient champions/sheikah did willingly bury the guardians and divine beasts, and it's mildly possible that the ancients buried them because they were afraid they might be repurposed by the enemy (though it seems much more likely they just buried them because they were no longer necessary at that time, and they needed to be stored somewhere. Plus, they didn't want giant weapons just sitting around for 10,000 years until they were needed again). Transitioning to similarities between SA and LoZ: Recurring Desolations ~ Recurring Calamities Both Hyrule and Roshar tend to have periods of disastrous war involving the return of deadly foes separated by periods of relative peace when the enemies are temporarily sealed away by sages/heralds. Even the "false desolation" has parallels with certain Zelda plotlines such as the Oracle games where Twinrova takes Ganon's place as the primary antagonist, similar to how Ba Ado Mishram took over for Odium. One difference between the desolations and the calamities is that the enemies seem to be spontaneously generated (or regenerated) when they return via malice (with the exception of guardians/skeletal enemies, which are manipulated by malice), whereas the fused and voidspren require hosts (the singers) to be effective. SW can sort of fill the gap in that "The Dark Side" also seems to need sentient hosts. I'll have to take a break, but you could continue to find parallels (practically) indefinitely if you so desired. There's just so much material to draw on.

Too funny to not point out -- "Torol Sadeas" is here complaining about Kaladin's treatment. Now there's a change of heart if ever I saw one.

The human mind is good at finding patterns. With enough time & dedication, you could compare basically any two sufficiently detailed works of literature/art and find a ridiculous number of similarities. I once wrote down a long list of similarities between the Megaman franchise and the Bible (some of them were intentional -- the vast majority were almost certainly not intentional). That said, while your framework is almost certain to prove fruitful (drawing on ONE major long-running franchise is bound to deliver similar characters/themes/worldbuilding elements when compared to something in a similar sci-fi fantasy genre -- TWO franchises is overkill), I will note that there are much closer comparisons to make: To a Pratchett fan, Nightblood feels like a clear amalgamation of Gonne and Kring from the Discworld series. But someone who has read ye olde Michael Moorcock could say that the Black Sword - Stormbringer is a dead ringer for Nightblood--to the point that some could easily argue Brandon borrowed from Moorcock (either intentionally or unintentionally). That said, both the "evil/cursed weapon" and the "talking weapon" are common tropes with numerous examples throughout fiction precisely because they are cool and offer interesting possibilities for character interactions. Still on Nightblood -- and to illustrate my earlier point about not needing two franchises -- if you want to compare Nightblood to something from Legend of Zelda, you don't need to borrow the Dark Saber from Star Wars. Just go for (Skyward Sword spoilers): Anyhow, I shouldn't be so negative. It is fun to compare franchises, and you yourself mention in the color example that making good use of the RGB color space is just common sense (and I'll add that making Red the "evil" color is extremely common because of its associations with blood/fire/war), so I shouldn't treat you as if you're oblivious to the fact that your comparisons are perfectly explainable via chance/function alone.

Interesting idea. I think the biggest issue with this theory is that Sja Anat claims the enlightening process is voluntary (as opposed to unmaking, which is involuntary), and we see deadeyes act with no (or extremely limited) agency -- aside from Mayalaran, of course.

Setting aside all of the mechanical issues and general creepiness such a reveal would entail... Since the only semi-concrete evidence we have of Chanarach being Shallan's mother is (KotW Prologue spoilers): But yeah, that's quite the imagination you have there.

I'm a bit more skeptical. I think in Oathbringer we saw just how difficult it would be for Jasnah and Shallan to maintain a relationship of trust. Shallan desires Jasnah's approval, but is unwilling (and probably unable) to jump through all the hoops necessary to become what Jasnah wants her to be. Likewise, Jasnah values Shallan, but not enough to deal respectfully with her (many) character flaws. For all of her strengths, Jasnah is not a very emotionally intelligent person, and has limited patience for people's mental/emotional foibles. Despite a similarly utilitarian approach to life, she's basically the polar opposite of Adolin, whose greatest redeeming quality (at least where relationships are concerned) is his willingness to set aside his desire to "fix" things when dealing with Shallan. I think that when we see further interactions between Shallan and Jasnah, they will likely be mostly unpleasant -- especially as their ideals come into conflict with each other. But we shall RAFO that one.

In a more realistic setting, "the ten fools" would just be a saying invented by the populace as an extension of religious symbolism -- that later took on a life of its own as storytellers named and described each of the ten fools. However, this is Brandon we're talking about, and it's hard to find a repeated string of words that doesn't have some extra significance. My bet is that one of the Heralds (Jezrien, perhaps) coined the expression when talking about heraldic madness, and it caught on. That said, the TC's theory would be interesting -- the only issue I have with it is that there's little or no indication that Whimsy is interested enough in goings-on in Roshar to parody the heralds.

All four possibilities you included in bullets seem at least somewhat plausible. Szeth as Odium's champion has been floated before, and my biggest issue with that theory has always been that Taravodium's goal is more subtle -- he doesn't want to win or lose; he needs Dalinar to renege on the terms of the contest so as to weaken Honor and strengthen Odium. Szeth is a bit too unstable to be a useful pawn, and making him Champion would likely end in at least one of the champions dying, unless... Okay, now I'm rethinking things a bit. Szeth's unpredictability could actually skew things in Taravodium's favor -- he doesn't want Cultivation to catch on to what he's doing, so if he purposefully obscures his plans with an unstable champion and feeds the possible futures where Odium remains trapped while secretly setting things in motion to end his imprisonment -- i.e., he engineers Szeth to break in such a way that it ends with both champions killed or unable to fight -- a draw, of sorts, that was not written into the terms of the contest and thus frees Odium. It's still a bit far fetched. Taravangian does take risks, though he more often chooses the least risky path. I still think something like the Child Champion theory is more likely -- where Taravodium forces Dalinar to renege and thus ends the contract with the remnants of Honor badly weakened. Then again, a move like that might be a bit too visible for Cultivation... the single future he foresaw wa likely something that Cultivation would overlook. Huh. Interesting food for thought.

Interesting insight. I suppose that lines up with the theory some others have floated -- that Shallan knew (to some extent) that her mother was a herald, and she suppressed that understanding because it meant she killed a religious figure (in addition to killing her own mother). It would be a little repetitive (since the Veil impetus and resolution was somewhat similar), but her Radiant persona could have that knowledge tucked up inside (she was the persona who killed Ialai for the greater good -- just as her mother decided to kill Shallan for the greater good). So reviving Testament could involve admitting that her mother was a Herald. Here's how I could see the timeline of events working out: -Shallan first bonds testament, speaks some simple truth based on her experience as a child of a fraught household (e.g., "my parents do not love each other anymore"). She gains the ability to speak with testament and lightweave. -Some time later, Shallan spies on her mother speaking with the skybreaker acolyte, who calls her by her heraldic name/title. Despite her youth, she recognizes and whispers the truth (e.g., "I am a daughter of a Herald of the almighty.") This causes her to burst alight with stormlight, which forces her out of hiding. -Shallan's mother, influenced by a newly spoken radiant "oath," is at first overjoyed by discovering that her daughter is on the radiant path. As moments pass, however, her heraldic madness returns, and she decides she must sacrifice Shallan for the greater good (likely also spurred on by the skybreaker acolyte). Witnessing her mother's fluctuating personality and her decision to kill Shallan causes Shallan deep emotional trauma (and likely plants the seeds for her own multiple personality disorder later on). -Shallan's father bursts into the room just before his wife kills Shallan, and he tries to intervene. The skybreaker acolyte pins him to the ground, and Chanarach moves in to kill Shallan. Frightened, Shallan summons the Testament blade straight into her mother's heart, killing her instantly. Chanarach slumps to the ground. -The Skybreaker acolyte leaps toward the fallen herald, then attacks Shallan after confirming Chanarach's death. Despite Shallan's inexperience, the man is no match for her shardblade. -Lin Davar recovers, places his wife's glowing "soul" in an aluminum safe per Chanarach's prior request (provided that theory is correct) alongside his daughter's shardblade. He sings her a lullaby and carries her to her bedchamber, then disposes of the bodies. -Shallan later goes to the garden, screams at Testament, and seeks to break her radiant bond. Either Shallan discovers it herself by chance, or perhaps Testament realizes the pain that Shallan's bond is causing her, and willingly reveals the way Shallan can end her bond and seal her guilt: by abandoning her personal truth (e.g., she tells Shallan "Your pain will go away if you keep saying this over and over until you believe it: 'My mother was a normal person. Neither she nor I was ever special.'"). At any rate, Shallan abandons the truth that her mother was a herald, thus breaking the majority of her bond with Testament and transforming her into a deadeye.

I think becoming a better vessel for stormlight, in itself, is actually a tremendous advantage. The amount of stormlight a radiant can hold and the rate at which they lose that stormlight is the greatest weakness of the Knights Radiant, and so if they can cram more stormlight into themselves and not lose as much of it just by breathing/exfoliating, they become significantly more durable. And that's not even considering the innate advantages that come with being more invested (e.g., heightenings that come with breath), which could partially explain why Nale is so good at spotting surgebinders. Finally, surges seem to be more powerful in proportion to the stormlight spent on them. Carrying more stormlight means more investiture can be spent on a single use of a surge -- remember Vin absorbing the mists in the Mistborn Trilogy? She was able to perform greater allomantic feats than even duralumin-fueled allomacy. Applied to surges, you could see things happen on a truly massive scale (like what caused the shattered plains to...well, shatter).

Interesting thoughts. I think that his shimmering projection from the SA5 prologue is just closer to how he manifests in shadesmar, and he could still do it with Dalinar -- but he didn't like the fact that Gavilar treated him as a lackey, so he chooses not to. He decided that it's better to maintain a distant, austere, powerful, unknowable self-image to garner more respect. I do think that you're on the right track with regard to the prologue Stormfather being the actual Stormfather -- the Stormfaker theory misses the mark imo. We already knew that the Stormfather knew more and was capable of more than he let Dalinar know; he refuses to talk about the recreance (which he knows about in explicit detail), for example. The fact that Gavilar caught him in a lie (or a web of lies, if you will) doesn't disqualify him from being a splinter of Honor; we see in RoW that there are plenty of Honorspren that think lying is perfectly justified when one's aims are "Honorable." As for why the Stormfather changed his mind and bonded Dalinar anyways, I think part of it was involuntary. After Cultivation's pruning, Dalinar became truly honorable -- enough that he was willing to forsake Alethi traditions and his own self-image in order to do what was "right" or "just." Just as Syl was drawn to Kaladin's honor, Dalinar's honorable actions resonated with the Stormfather's intrinsic investiture and created a connection -- whether the SF wanted it or not. Eventually, the SF had to either choose Dalinar and send him the visions, or sever/ignore his proto-bond and try to find someone else (which might be difficult).

Cobbling together a "herald-ish" quote from the passages we have: My quest can never truly end. I travel not to avoid duty, but to seek it. All save the heralds dine with the nightwatcher; I take up the stone -- I assume the burden -- and I am repaid in pain. If my stone is removed, the entire formation collapses. Control is my true strength. ...which isn't remotely close to "Give it to me. Now. I need it," but it does sound like something Gavilar might have said with his random guesses. Honest intent probably is the key ("no good can be achieved of false means").

I see "Destiny" a bit like gravity in our universe -- when a large proportion of possible futures involve a specific outcome for a specific object, that object can be drawn towards that outcome and other less likely outcomes become even less likely and are naturally culled. However, Fortune is a force tied more to subconscious intent -- it can act in opposition or cooperation with Destiny, and it draws someone toward the outcome which aligns with their desires/goals/intent. Thus, when a feruchemist (or Hoid) stores Fortune, I expect that they will become more susceptible to their Destiny (and/or they will be pushed away from outcomes which align with their intent). When they tap Fortune, less likely outcomes that align with their desires/intent become more likely, and more likely outcomes which align with their intent become nearly certain. My guess is that Destiny and Fortune are tied to the spiritual realm, and they can affect both the object/individual in question (i.e., their conscious decisions and subconscious acts) as well as the actions of individuals/objects outside of them -- though people/objects that they share a strong spiritual connection with (or "capital C" Connection) would likely be more affected. When Destiny is stolen via Hemalurgy, the spiritual connection between an individual and their most likely outcomes is torn out of them, meaning they are no longer attracted to those outcomes (and they are probably dead), and afterward someone who receives that hemalurgical spike gains that attraction towards those outcomes. As an aside, I think it might actually be difficult to spike someone with a strong Destiny -- I think in the Cosmere novels we see examples of Destiny actually protecting someone from getting spiked, e.g., (Hero of Ages spoilers): To the TC's point about "fixed points in time" when important things happen, if we extend the gravity metaphor even further, we could suppose that something like that could exist. There could even be completely predestined outcomes in the Cosmere -- say, if a critical mass of possible futures all included a single outcome, then it would create a singularity which would completely preclude other possible outcomes from occurring. More Mistborn spoilers: ...and if their are singularities/black holes, perhaps there are supernovas as well -- where there are so many radically different possible outcomes (due to chaotic/cataclysmic events usually brought on by a clash of Shards) that Destiny becomes weak. That could partially explain why Shards make so many incorrect predictions -- though that could be explained solely by the involvement of shards with opposing intents (like a Mistborn burning Atium looking at another Mistborn's Atium shadows).

Super late response, but I think that we do have all of the most important details at this point. Your theory is certainly possible, but I think it's unlikely for the following reasons: 1. By recasting Shallan's mother as a typical protective mother, the most interesting aspect of her character are erased; i.e., she was someone who was so firm in her convictions that she was willing to sacrifice her own daughter. 2. Shallan already has stated truths corresponding to killing people both knowingly (her father) and unintentionally (Testament), so yet another truth in that vein would be needlessly repetitive. 3. It's unlikely that all Lightweaver truths need to be based on a traumatic failure and they almost certainly can occur after bonding the Lightweaver's current spren -- otherwise child Shallan bonding testament makes very little sense. From the Brandon's order summary: Based on this description, Lightweaver truths are centered on progress and self-actualization, so it makes sense that they could reflect later additions to the radiant's personal narrative. I see her final truth as something that's a slow burn/gradual realization with narrative weight -- something like "I am a leader, and I will act like one." Not exactly that, but you get the idea.

Nah. Historians wouldn't consider alternate Rome #3405050 to be interchangeable with ours, because it wouldn't actually allow them to learn/extrapolate anything meaningful (way too many variables and possibilities for cross contamination). Tourists wouldn't consider it THE "Rome," because that would negate a big part of their travel experience. Brandon's original idea was "time travel tourism," and the guide itself includes touristy goals (among other things) as possible motivations for visiting alternate universes. You're right that the cost definitely puts limits on the prevalence of interdimensional travel, and it's probably more expensive (and definitely more dangerous) than regular tourism. We also don't know exactly how difficult it is to find alternate universes which have the very specific attributes (i.e., a nearly identical copy of Rome).

There was a similar discussion a couple months ago; I'll repost my response from that topic as it's fairly relevant to your thoughts: