Argent

Steelheart, since it takes place on (an alternative) Earth is not a part of the Cosmere, and therefore doesn't have things like Shards, Shardworlds, Adonalsium, Hoid, and so on.

Now that I think about it, it does look pretty daunting when you walk into it years after it all started, eh? I am probably not the best person to help you with this, but I've got a few sources (though not necessarily in the proper order) you can look at: Cosmere 101 - Zas put together a very 101-ish guide to the cosmere. It won't give you enough, but it will establish some foundations. Question & Answer - This one could be either very helpful or very useless. There will be basic questions, which will build on top of your foundation, but there will also be advanced ones that probably won't make much sense for a while. The Coppermind you are obviously aware of. Theoryland's Interview Search & Database - this is rich. I don't know how up-to-date it is or even who is supposed to maintain it, but it has a lot of content from Brandon's public events. A lot of what we know can be traced back to one of the entries in the database. This being said, there are some things we now accept as almost canonical based solely on fan theories that just make sense. If you've read Lift's and Ym's interludes, it is widely (though not fully) accepted that the constable known as Darkness there is actually the Herald Nalan. Another well-received almost canonical theory is the Chaos' Principle of Intent - which, in a nutshell, claims that in order for a cosmerian to use the magic of a given Shard, this person's actions need to be in line with the Shard's Intent (e.g. you can't do Hemalurgy if you are hell-bent on preserving things, because Hemalurgy comes from the Shard Ruin, whose Intent is diametrically opposite of Preservation's). It's going to take time. I followed everything closely pretty much since the rise of Brandon, went on a two-year hiatus from the forums (and most other source of deeper cosmere information), and a month after my return I am still catching up.

It has a nice ring to it. And I agree, speaking a truth seems like a prerequisite for (Lightweaver-specific?) Soulcasting, not an Ideal.

@Bloodfalcon, it's possible but we really don't have enough information to make a conclusion like that. Words of Radiance / Steelhunt

It makes sense. Though I am more curious about why Cultivation would choose to work the way she does, assuming her boon/curse gifts are a reaction to Honor's Splintering. I mean, it's a strange thing to do, unless of course her mind is a little unhinged. I don't see the rational step behind "my lover is dead, therefore I'll play a game with the humans and curse them even as I bless them." It almost feels like the circumstances around Honor's Splintering nudged Cultivation's mind towards this specific course of action. Unfortunately, I can't even speculate about the details...

I was responding to your question about how I would feel if Dalinar's eyes turned brown if he picked up Taln's Honorblade. I don't think one of the Honorblade's effects is to turn light eyes into dark and vice versa. Hence my hypothetical surprise.

It's still a point that could be argued - but I strongly suspect I will be on the losing side, so I'll let it go.

They do have limited sentience though. They are not completely brainless, only mostly. We don't know where this puts them.

Am I the only one severely disturbed by Kurk's uncanny ability to remember people's past posts and/or stalking tendencies?

I am not convinced that spren are attracted to certain gems. We know a gemstone of a specific type and cut can imprisoned certain type(s) of spren, but it's very possible that you need to "summon" the spren using conventional methods. In fact, nothing we've seen suggests that spren are attracted by gemstones.

@hoser, too subtle. She was muttering to herself. take a look at the interlude, it doesn't feel at all like she is being subtle. @Gloom, I'd be very very surprised.

I am inclined to interpret "vaporized" as "they are gone." Strictly speaking it means what you say it does - but very often it is used in a way that suggests that something is just gone.

@Theorymaker, I don't see how that could be the case. The only shards of Shards we've seen are Splinters, and they are conscious. Also, because beating a dead horse is always fun, what you are looking for is [spoiler]Spoiler-y content to spoil the spoils off spoiled spoilers.[/spoiler] EDIT: Damnit, now the word "spoiler" looks funny to me...

Didn't Brandon say that regular metals (i.e. everything except lerasium and atium) are really burned up? And so while Scadrial's low population of Allomancers has never been able to make a serious impact on the planet's reserves, the issue of iron (for example) running out is a real concern for the future of Scadrians? Something he was maybe looking to explore into future books?

I was actually thinking of another WoB, though I can't seem to find it. I am much more vague on this one, so I won't pretend I am sure such a WoB exists. But I'll counter on Seons and Divine Breath. The former are all about devotion - they practically thrive on it. Recall Reoden's (memory of) his conversation with Ien when he wanted to see his Seon free. The latter... Divine Breaths practically exist to be given away, to be endowed upon someone. The Returned come back to life with a purpose - the Hallandren religion and Lightsong's visions both agree on this. And since what makes the Returned what they are is their Divine Breath, it's an obvious conclusion to me that those Breaths come with the same purpose.

Shallash, if she is Baxil's mistress, doesn't have a Blade currently. She briefly entertains the thought of acquiring one so her quest for art destruction can become easier. But the fact that Taln's eyes are dark raises a good point. We can be certain that he carries an Honorblade, yet his eyes remain dark brown. It's possible to dance around this, but to me it hammers the final nail in the "Szeth carries an Honorablade" coffin.

Being the technical douche I am, I will note that Pressure is a surge itself. Windrunning is not... well, it's not anything. It doesn't mean anything (unless it turns out that each Order has an ability completely unique from what the others have; then the Windrunners could have an ability called Stormriding Windrunning). Being a Windrunner means you have control over the Atmospheric Pressure surge and the Gravity surge.

I apologize for the delay, busy couple of days... It looks like I got the WoB a little off, Shardlet: I still believe my original argument holds, but it's not as strong as before. Spren are, as far as we know, Splinters. Splinters pretty much follow their Shard's Intent, though I seem to recall that they are not always 100% in line. So honorspren, being Splinters of Honor, would behave the way he would in more cases than not.

Odium is a real word, just like all of the Shards' names / Intents. This one just happens to be an incredibly rarely used one. But you are partially correct, it does come from Latin.

's exactly what this got me thinking about. I've been... avoiding Reddit, because of the dangers that lurk in it. Most notably, the time sink I really can't afford. But it's Brandon, so... =\

This might be a moot point, but I am not sure if the Shards' ability to see the future is as specific as you make it seem. It feels too... I don't know, specific. Considering their nature, I would imagine they see the "big picture" when they look into the future, not specific details of individuals' lives. This is, of course, just a feeling.

For what it's worth, I will remind you that even though Dalinar and Elhokar are both from House Kholin, they use different glyphpairs - or, rather, different stylized pictures for the same glyphs, khokh and linil. Dalinar uses a tower and a crown, while Elhokar replaces the tower with a sword (and keeps the crown). So the tower and crown from Dunny's last words (I keep wanting to call those deathchants, but that feels weird - what do we call them?), if related to House Kholin, link Kaladin to Dalinar specifically, not the entire House. Or, I should say, the fact that Dalinar uses those particular stylized glyphs is no indication of ancient lore buried in House Kholin's history.

That's why I chose this particular phrase - it fit so perfectly with no modifications.

WoB says that the Shardic Intent, Honor in particular, is affected by people perceive it. The Shin, for example, have a very different idea about what constitutes honor from the Alethi. It's possible that the Parshendi followed a "for the greater good" kind of logic when they had Gavilar assassinated. In way this could be considered honorable - them taking the blame, facing potential xenocide, because they are willing to accept the consequences for their (justified) actions.

Sound logic. I can't agree only because we have seen so little, and modeling data out of only a couple of data points is bad practice. But your methodology is sound.