Argent

That's the thing though, she is not Invested at that time - no more than her innate human Investiture, and that's more or less equal for everyone on a given Shardworld. Maybe he is sensing Shallan's weakened Nahel bond, but I imagine that would require him to actively... perform some kind of magic, I guess. And it would be a hard thing to do too. I thought maybe it has something to do with the fact that both of them could Lightweave, but we don't know anything that could support that either.

@Kobold King was suggesting that Cultivation could have started off as a male, but because perception is such a big deal in the cosmere's magic, the male Shardholder could've turned into a female one, because people associate cultivation with femininity or something like that. Which we all agree is not a very plausible argument

Fair enough. I suspected Szeth discovered something about the return of the Voidbringers, but it was not a very strong suspicion.

Here's another interesting bit. Hoid seems awfully surprised when he sees 14-years old Shallan in Chapter 45: Middlefest: As far as we know he has never seen her before, so it's not like he was really surprised to see her. When they talk a few pages after this, he asks her if spren talk to her and then tricks her into Lightweaving, so I strongly suspect whatever made him lose his crem during his meeting with Lin Davar had something to do with Shallan's suppressed Surgebinding. Thing is... how? She was not actively Surgebinding at that point - or almost any other point in her flashbacks. She was not holding Stormlight. Pattern was not around her at the time, as she had him suppressed. So what was it that Hoid saw that startled him so?

Not necessarily, though I agree with you. It could also mean that Rayse didn't resist his Shard's Intent (which would've postponed the inevitable change), but embraced it instead.

Thank you.

I like a lot of this. I don't know how I feel about Ishar, because I've been imagining him as an old Dalinar in my head (which I acknowledge might very well be wrong, given that quote from Words of Radiance), but I think you've got Nale - Nalan - pretty spot on. Except for the last part. I followed you all the way through the idea, but the conclusion feels a little out there. Maybe I need to reread it, but I'll wait to see how others respond first.

Bah, I'll need to get dozens of rep points before I find myself in uncharted waters again... Who wants to do my work for me so I can go back to theorycrafting?

Only there are coincidences. I find it odd that the Parshendi were in possession of Szeth's Oathstone in the first place, but not necessarily for the same reasons you do. I think you need far too many pieces to be in place for this theory to work - an implausible amount, in fact. It's like arguing that the Parshendi knew that they had to abandon Szeth, so that his stone would be picked by the series of people it did, so that Taravangian's agent would be able to find him, so that Szeth would find himself "employed" by the king of Kharbranth, so that he would send him to assassinate Dalinar, the one man who was most likely to pursue vengeance for the murder of his brother. Possible? Everything is possible. Plausible? Not so much...

You are an audio book fan, aren't you? But I agree, this one felt off to me too. Though I was attributing that to how... specific it got, not "wishy washy." I was concerned that by the time Kaladin is done with his Ideals, they'll get waaay to specific, but in the end of the day I trust Brandon enough to suspend that.

I always assumed they didn't know what they were picking. All the Holders would have to be pretty powerful Investers to be able to sense the Shards' Intents, and I find this unlikely.

What makes you think that Szeth has met a Herald?

It would be very useful to ask whether Brandon's big hint about worldhopping in Elantris has to do with Aons (Tia in particular), the pool outside Elantris, or something else entirely.

I don't see Odium in what Sadeas has been doing - he is not particularly hateful. If anything, he is exhibiting a weird form of twisted cultivation of Alethkar....

This makes me think of Hemalurgy - physical body parts / locations corresponding to spiritual... things. Properties. Abilities. Traits. Aspects.

I like. But. If you list Jezrien's Vorin name, Jezerezeh'Elin, you should list all of the Heralds' Vorin names (their symmetric name + 'Elin). I guess the fullest list, for Jezrien at least, would be Jezrien: Jezerezeh, Jezerezeh'Elin, YaezirI should mention that I haven't seen any of the female Heralds sport the 'Elin suffix, so it's possible that this one is strictly masculine A small thing, but the differences in tenses in the Notes column bothers me slightly (e.g. "she would train surgeons" vs "he taught people how to cast bronze") The Windrunners' extra power, the one you have listed as fighting skill, is far from certain or confirmed. In fact, since Brandon advised me to keep an eye on the number of the Windrunners' squires, it might be completely wrong. Add a question mark, maybe? Actually, I would be interested in working with you on finishing, maintaining, and updating this, if you would have me.

In the original draft it was Hatred, but he said he liked Odium better.

Brandon keeps suggesting that. The Taln's Identity thread has more about this.

I have seen no such thing, and I think it would lend significant support if you can find it. You should also not use it as support if you can't, because it's not a small thing.

I don't think so. The name Shallan was familiar with, Talenelat'Elin, is how Taln is known in Vorinism. Almost all of the Heralds' names have been twisted into symmetry in the last few thousand years, so they sound holier to Vorin followers. Jezerezeh, Talenelat, Vedeledev, Nalan, Shalash, etc - they are symmetric versions of the Heralds' original names, with the 'Elin suffix added, likely to mark their names as Heraldic.

They can, but it's not supposed to be a dramatic change. Small variations in size, mostly so they fit their wielder's style better - and if they can change size a little bit, then surely they can remove (or add) ornamentation.

No, I don't think so. It's also possible that Ishar had been thinking about avoiding the Oathpact for a long time, suspecting that the Oathpact doesn't require all of them to go back. Seeing that only one of them had died during this Desolation, he decided this was their best chance to attempt to escape their burden. The highest number of them get a chance for freedom, the lowest number of them have to suffer in Damnation. This one could be explained easily. Taln's location may have been known (which is highly likely, since the Heralds probably planned the battle). One of the Heralds could've seen Taln fall. There could be some things that indicate the death of a Herald (a flash of light, a boom of sound, a feeling of a lost connection, a magical announcement, etc). True, but that's an argument you can use to support a theory, not build one on. Again, true, but it's also a pretty common figure of speech. Looking at the Heralds' divine attributes, Kalak is far from the most likely to defend Taln. Jezrien (protecting) and Ishar (pious) would be first in line here, likely followed by Nale (just) and Vedel (loving). You also assume that all of the Heralds survived the actual battle, and only after it was over did the other eight decide to kill Taln - and it all happened before Kalak could get there. I can't say this has potential, no. I'd be really surprised if it turns out to be even partially true.

Talenel is also the Herald of War, it makes sense for his Honorblade to be more... brutal. Primal.

Unlikely. Honorblades are not "made of" spren, they are much more like Nightblood - actual physical weapons full of magic - than like Shardblades in that regard.

The site lists the event at 7 PM EasternTime / 4 PM PacificTime - so that's what you should be using for your base. When I open the webapp, it already has EDT and CDT there, so I just need to add my own location / time zone (Chicago, which happens to be CDT) and see the local time that matches EDT's 7 PM.