Argent

That's because we have so much freedom and democracy here.

All we know is that they are spren or spren-like beings (assuming Taravangian's Diagram is correct). They can be bonded with, the way listeners bond with other spren, and this bonding presumably results in a new form / forms. Beyond that, it's all speculation. Some of us believe they are the the Parshendi gods. @Moogle (and some others I still don't know I want to join) takes it a step further and claims they used to be ordinary listeners who gave themselves - their souls - to Odium, who then turned them into said Parshendi gods presumably by separating them from their bodies (hence their spren-like nature). They also seem to have unique powers that affect people around them (e.g. the Thrill and the Death Rattles) - powers the Surges don't seem to account for, by the way.

I really tried to get into the Recluse series, read maybe a third of them, but his style was truly painful for me. I just couldn't force myself to finish them - the story was alright enough, but the way he would tell it... I don't think I was ever fully immersed in the writing. The one problem I managed to identify (and so I've been clinging to it) is how he likes to vocalize sounds. If a horse whinnies, Modesitt would try to write the sound phonetically; if somebody coughs, he would do the same thing. Happens a ton of times too. It was really repelling to me.

I've been trying to be more subtle about it, so I can surprise Brandon on some signing... Because, apparently, my idea of subtle is to post on public forums.

I assure you, as soon as I know how to create it, I will share this knowledge with all y'all.

Wow, I didn't even think to share it here when I first heard it... It is, perhaps, the best interpretation of the lullaby I've heard to date, but I still can't make myself like that part, I think about a third of the way in, where the volume spikes up drastically. It's probably 15 seconds total, but it feels off to me (though I understand why it's there, and I agree with that). Still, Vi Hart is now a confirmed reader of both Brandon and Pat (and an active supporter of net neutrality), and this is a very good thing indeed.

And this WoB you keep referring to... care to share with us?

Aons are neat, but they look... plain without modifiers. And we don't know the modifiers. The Stormlight Archive has a lot of potential for tat-art though. Hell, if I had any inclination to decorate my skin, I'd probably wait until I could design my own glyphpair (with my name, for example), and use that.

Playing God is definitely a big part in my eyes. There might be a more practical component as well, though perhaps not as... direct as you suggest. Investing into a world allows your people - and they are yours in so many ways - to develop their potential and maybe become a force in the cosmere. Look at the third Mistborn trilogy we know so little about. Harmony, if he is still around, will have a pretty formidable army (whose purpose can be influenced, if not outright dictated by him - conquerors seem unlikely, but peacemakers, judges, galactic policemen, balancers would be in line with his Intent).

For some reason this particular mini-theory keeps coming back to life every so often. We've established, with very high confidence, that Vin is not Cultivation. Not only do we have a WoB that he is done with Vin and Elend, they are dead for good, the timeline is off.

While I agree with you, we also have to keep in mind that there will be about a decade between the two 5-book arcs, and a lot could happen during this time. Both Adolin and Rysn could find themselves in a particularly sticky situation at the end of book #5 (exiled, for example), so their flashbacks could be about the period between the arcs, not about the time before the first arc. Imagine, for a moment, that at the end of book #5 Adolin is not yet a Knight, and is sentenced to die. He escapes, the book is over, and next time we see him (in book #6), he is a dark and powerful Radiant vigilante who brings bloody justice throughout Roshar. I'd be really interested in reading about how he got to where he is, find out what his journey was between the arcs. Those would make for some pretty sweet flashbacks.

The thing is, I want more than just a Wiki, or a forum thread. Tags are the least of the features not supported (well enough) by either one. I haven't had a chance to think about this idea realistically, so I don't know what I would like to have in it, but I suspect a few years down the line cosmere theories will be much more popular with the general public than they are now - and, not to blow this out of proportion, but look at how versatile the sites about the Middle Earth are. I fully expect the cosmere to match that by the time Brandon is done with it.

Technically, we know the names of two of the Unmade - Nergaoul and Moelach*. The others - Re-Shephir, Dai-gonarthis, Yelig-nar - are only speculations. In fact, I have grown skeptical of them in recent months. Partially because neither Nergaoul nor Moelach match the other three's hyphenated naming scheme, and partially because Yelig-nar had enough control over the physical realm during Nohadon's time that he was able to slaughter the king's wordmen. This hardly sounds like something the spren-like beings from the Diagram could accomplish. * I find it remarkable that my Google Chrome doesn't attempt to flag those names as invalid words (while "Moeloch," for example, gets the red underline)

This alone is probably enough to convince me (if I weren't already convinced) that the stormforms are (one type of the) Voidbringers.

The thing is, the Divine Attributes are not as rigid as we maybe want them to be - and considering that the Ideals can be very specific, it doesn't seem like it's required for the Kandidates Radiant (seewhatIdidthere) to be 100% true to their attributes, at least not in the beginning. For example, Chana's / the Dustbringers' attributes are brave and obedient: Rysn's stunt on the Reshi Isles proves that she is brave (or foolish) and obedient, I don't think we need to - or can - argue this. We'll just have to see whether the (apparent) loss of her legs will be enough to break her to the point where she will attract a spren (unless the larkin can somehow bypass this need, and we don't know of it). Taravangian can be considered obedient because he follows the word of a version of himself so far above him in regards to intellect, it might as well be an alien, incomprehensible being. It's an order, a command to himself. He is also brave because he is willing to bear the burdens and consequences of his actions - he (thinks he) knows what needs to be done, and instead of hiding under the bed while the world ends, he starts working on saving the kernel of humanity. Adolin is another no-brainer - he is obedient before his father (though it's been a work-in-progress kind of thing for the past couple of books), and his bravery in battle is undeniable. Similarly to Rysn, however, we'll have to see whether his murder of Sadeas (or whether some other event in a later book) will be enough to break him. Bottom line, out of the three, only Taravangian is obviously broken, but all three could be considered as candidates.

Yea, it's eh-GWAIN. Because broken spelling & pronunciation in English wasn't bad enough already...

I sometimes wish* I were British so I can shake my fist at Americans and go "damnation colonials!" * The rest of the time I wish I were British for other reasons.

You have failed me.

No reason to though. There is a chatbox, and there are offtopic threads. Derailing topics we consider "(nearly) complete" simply because we can seems... bad form.

And for the gajillionth time I want to finally pick up web development and make a site dedicated specifically to cosmere theorycrafting and indexing... One day, folks. One day.

That's a pretty awesome life. But we should probably try to kind of stick to the topic...

Well, I finally passed Kurk, only to be dethroned by Swimmingly. Some kid who's been around for less than a year. Ridiculous... *mutters*

We've never asked whether the Shards we've seen are the same as the ones that spawned from Adonalsium, but we've never had a reason to doubt that. Plus, Harmony is not quite like the other Shards - Ruin and Preservation continue to exist separately, and Sazed would drop them (instead of Harmony) if he were to die - do look for a WoB on this, though, because there is a chance that I got this last bit completely backwards.

I think you are falling in the same trap I was - and still am, which is to assume symmetry everywhere. 10 Heralds, 10 Unmade. 10 Orders, 10 voidforms. 10 Surges, 10 Voids. And while some correlations work, it's not all as neat as we imagine it - the number of the Unmade is not 10, for example. So, I like this, there will probably some truth to it, but it's almost certainly wrong, at least partially.

Kids these days...