Argent

I was actually thinking about Sadeas while I was forced to be away from the decoding project - and I am not sure his name is supposed to be translatable into glyphs. We know that Dalinar's last name can be turned into a glyphpair (Kholin = khokh + linil), but I didn't know that and was trying to write it out, I'd probably try to do it phonetically - and likely fail. Because his name is not [kho][li][n-], it's [khokh][linil] - however those two might look like. What I am pointing out here is that Dalinar's last name takes one (symmetrical) half of each of its "parent" glyphs, and merges those halves together into a single family name glyphpair. khokh > kho|kh linil > lin|il Kholin > kho|lin[/code] So maybe Sadeas' name is not supposed to be written as a series of glyphpairs, but a single glyphpair instead. If we use Dalinar's example and reverse-engineer it, we might be looking at something like Sadeas > [sad|eas] sad(+ das) > sadas (or possibly dasad) eas(+ sae) > easae (which I'd wager is supposed to have an 'h' or two somewhere, because this does not sound like the name of an Alethi glyph!) So for Torol Sadeas' family name glyphpair, we should try checking whether we can write the parent glyphs first (sadas = [ad][as], easae = ???), and only then try to combine them to form "Sadeas."

Fairly sure about those: "... root line. The delicate shapes mix and overlap by multiple dimensions." "... but I have seen it swim through the air..." "... and those strange robes. "

It seems like glyphs are mirrored for symmetry. So instead of writing "ha" you would write "ahha." It's possible that glyphs are also written outside in, but I doubt it. So the glyph "sas" is really a big "s" on the outside, surrounding an "a" in the middle.

Alright, double-posting, but I am much excite. I am going to write some observations for now, and we'll see if I - or somebody else - can take them elsewhere later. #1: The vertical line in the middle of the sas glyph is an odd one - it's not present in any of the Thaylen letters, and it's very rare in the illustrations (including the Orders / Surges chart). I now suspect it might be optional (fun fact, it looks like the Map of the Battle of the Tower and the Alethi Warcamps map have the highprinces' glyphs oriented differently; one of them has it upside down) #2: I am going to guess that each glyphpair consists of two sounds (one vowel and one consonant, not necessarily in that order though), mirrored along the y-axis. Furthermore, it looks like we can take the "core glyph" of each consonant and rotate it along either axis to denote that this consonant is now part of a different glyphpair. For example, if we use 'L' to denote some glyphpair, then 'Г' might be this pair's consonant followed (or preceded) by a different vowel (e.g. 'L' could be "[a]" while 'Г' is "[e]") #3: If I am correct in my previous assumptions, then there are 12 possible glyphpairs we can create using a single vertical line, a single "core" consonant glyph, and all the vowels. Each "core glyph" can assume one of four forms (default, rotated along x-axis, rotated along y-axis, and rotated along both axes). If we add the vertical line to the left, that's another 4. If we add it to the right, that's yet another four. This might be something we can work with, because there are 11 two-letter combinations we can form using a single consonant and all the vowels, as long as we include a "no vowel" as a unique option (e.g. [empty] and [empty] are the same). #4: I am running out of time for now, so I'll have to go back and finish this, see if I can come up with a way to formalize everything. A set of rules that explain how to form any possible glyphpair. Wow, brain is really fried right now. Wish I wasn't at work...

I just went back to the (revised) original post, and have a couple of questions. Regarding the Thaylen script - which letters / sounds are we missing? 'B' is one that comes to mind, but I'll need to go through the books and find all the Thaylen names I can, see if any others show up (we know 'b' must exist because of babsk) Also, a few thoughts on the Alethy glyphs: * The description explains the three ways of writing a glyphword well enough, but it doesn't really talk about how to read or write them. The key does that, but it's not very self-explanatory. I think I figured it out, but it definitely took me some time. * Using shash as an example, it might be more intuitive to not include the "-S" glyphpair, but instead say that 1. each glyphpair must start with a vowel, and 2. if we are left with a standalone consonant, it gets a vertical bar to separate it from its mirror image. This rule, while more roundabout, also sounds more... reduced to me. It's like pulling a factor out of a mathematical expression in my head. * Of course, Sadeas had to ruin my perfect rule like he ruins everything else. His name would be split into the three glyphpairs [sa][de][as] - which screws everything up. I can't see the Alethi Warcamps glyphs well enough to decipher how "Sadeas" would look like, but I'd be curious. * The thing about glyphpairs starting with a vowel might be wrong. Going to leave this post unfinished, got an interesting thought...

Except we know where Urithiru is. More or less in the center of Roshar. Do you believe it was moved?

And in mobile Chrome.

That one poked me in the ribs as well. Unfortunately, since this is all we have from her, all we can do is put her on the radar. Support for her being a Herald is even less than for Jezrien / drunk madman.

It had some notes on the topic. We don't know how extensive she was in recording those things - though "very" is probably a good guess.

It's not very clear what exactly happened, but most of us seem to believe that Kaladin forced Syl to grant him the ability to Surgebind as he was about to fall. If you reread the passage, the tone is very defiant and stubborn. So maybe he kind of drained her of life, even as he was trying to do the right thing. It's all a little muddy.

Heh, yea, I am so unreasonably curious about Dalinar's wife. I can't think of any dead women mentioned in the book, so we probably haven't heard anything about her - which, in turn, suggests that she is not terribly important. But I still really want to know what's up with her.

Let's use this thread for consistency - it's similar enough, if not (almost) the same.

Except, unless you are trolling, it's far from obvious. Eshonai, for example, is going to have her own book, and she sure is not becoming a Radiant. One of the Heralds, likely Taln, is also getting a book, and I doubt he'll demote himself to a Radiant either.

I am getting a good vibe from the ketek line of thought. But if we are going to the subtle interpretation route, then we should use not the epigraph as a clue, but "those who survive when they should not" - the Radiants in training. Kaladin and Shallan definitely. Dalinar and Renarin, probably. Lift, maybe.

That may be a bit of a stretch...

Oh, heh. You are in for an adventure then. My reply to you in this thread should give you a starting point.

Hoid is largely irrelevant for the flashbacks - he makes only one appearance, and his role there is more important to himself than to Shallan. If you want to get yourself acquainted with the ways of the cosmere, you can start reading things on the Coppermind Wiki. There is also the Events, Signings, and Stalking subforum, where most interview and Q&A transcripts with Brandon are posted (first). Finally, the Cosmere Theories forum has a couple of introductory threads, as well as pretty much all of the theories we've come up with in the past (except for the ones specific to Words of Radiance, of course - which are here).

I believe the assumption is that she drew on the back of the page from one of Jasnah's notes.

All of them are. But they are also in the same universe, and there are overlaps and cameos, which - for the most part - are not significant.

There is an argument to be made about the special relationship the listeners have with the voidspren (namely, the spren's ability to take control over the listeners' minds). I personally do not support this, but I acknowledge that it is possible that voidspren, unlike regular spren, do not need the consent of the Parshendi to bond with them. Eshonai's experience just before she began her transformation to stormform could be an considered support for this - namely, how it looked like even though she tried to back away from the transformation, it still happened. A much weaker, but still possible, argument could be made that the Everstorm is much more dangerous to the listeners than the recent highstorms, because of either the much higher concentration of voidspren in it, or some special properties of its own, or a combination of both. To me, this is not enough to make the argument that voidspren can force the listeners to turn into Voidbringers, but I like to make sure both sides of each argument are as informed as I can make them. So devil's advocate it is.

Hmm, yes. But I think it was either said or implied that they did that through their spies in the warcamps.

Oh, yes, but I wanted to illustrate another scenario in which random events can influence the names of books.

You paint a grim picture. But I don't think it's as bad as you present it. In part because Brandon writes heroic fantasy, but also in part because Roshar has existed in relative peace for thousands of years, at least on a global scale. Yes, the spren who were once bonded to the Radiants are in a pretty bad shape. But this is not necessarily the fate that awaits the new wave of Nahel spren. Maybe it's possible for a Radiant to peacefully sever the bond and simply send their spren to Shadesmar. Maybe the oaths offer enough freedom for Knights and spren to work together and avoid painful consequences. Maybe humanity will emerge from the Last Desolation victorious enough so the Orders won't be under so much pressure to uphold their Ideals. I imagine that if Kaladin starts a family in, say, Hearthstone after the war, he won't have all that many people to protect and he wouldn't find himself in as many situations where he has to choose between conflicting promises. Of course, it IS the Everstorm, the end of the world, and I can't imagine it anywhere in the same neighborhood as peaceful and easy life. But there is hope.

We have several other threads about this, perhaps one of them could offer some insight? Granted, we don't know much, but some of us have speculated...

Or it could be a fabrial.