Argent

@lord_Ffnord misspelled the name, @cem - he typed "haemalurgy" instead of Hemalurgy. Brandon likely took the "Hema" part of "Hemalurgy" from "hema" / "haema" (the latter being British), which is derived from "hemato" or "of blood." I assume our lord_Ffnord up there is not American, so every time he reads "Hemalurgy," it's itching him to turn that into "Haemalurgy" Linguistics aside, I'll admit that Hallandren sounds similar, but there is one very significant difference. Being a Drab doesn't mess up your sDNA nearly as much as Hemalurgy does - I am not even sure giving up your Breath affects your sDNA at all. Hemalurgy literally rips your soul apart, and as far as we know the damage is irreparable. On Nalthis, even if you've been a Drab (almost) your entire life, you can still buy a Breath and go back to "normal." That, I think, makes all the difference in the world.

Spiked, not necessarily killed. It's not a huge difference for the person whose sDNA is getting ripped from them, but I can (given how messed up Scadrial has been...) see a culture where certain people offer to be spiked in exchange for... stuff. It could be that this is how Southern Scadrians deal with criminals, offering them a choice between pseudo-life after spiking and death. Or maybe some people volunteer in exchange for massive monetary compensation for their families. Or they only play sDNA roulette with those who are close to death - the sick and the elderly. But all of those options sound... unstable. I really can't imagine a society whose foundation is Hemalurgy surviving for a millenium.

Which in turn makes me think of the Lifeless from Nalthis...

I could see it happening. First, Desolations probably happen thousands of years apart. Sometimes - often even - when a scholar or a scribe writes something down, they assume that their readers will be on the same level of knowledge as they are. Or, rather, they would have enough common sense to make the same assumptions you did. When we say that Earth is about 70% water, we almost always leave out the "liquid" qualifier; but somebody living on an ice desert planet, where the implied qualifier is "frozen," will make a very different assumption about our tiny blue dot. Similarly, somebody who knows that the Voidbringers are the Parsh people won't be bothered to explain the difference between a Parsh whose form comes from a harmless spren and one who is bound to a Voidbringerspren (this is such a horrible name...). I could probably make up a better example using references from the book, but I think the idea is believable enough to allow me some leeway. Moreover, I can definitely see how an ancient race similar to the Alethi from modern Roshar could decide that "domesticating" the Voidbringers was a good idea. One factor that could aid this decision is the (perceived) certainty that the it would be literally impossible for the Parsh men to turn into Voidbringers. The Heralds told the people that they had won - there were to be no more Desolations. Why not turn their enemies into their slaves? Hunger for power is another reason. Maybe the people - or the Radiants, or whoever "domesticated" the Parsh people - thought that they have something to gain from keeping the Parsh alive, but docile. Maybe they wanted to learn their magic. Of course it's also possible that people in the past had more decency and simply thought that a genocide - a xenocide even - doesn't exactly scream "I am good and pious, Almighty, take me to heaven!" I am skeptical of this idea, but it's at least possible. After all, imagine we fight and win a war against an army of murdering werewolves, only to have them turn into cute puppies in the end. This all feeds back into the idea that almost anything could be justified if the people genuinely believed that there were to be no more Desolations.

That's... random and farfetched at best, @Gloom. It's possible, but in the way a-wizard-did-it is possible. @Shardlet, I will fight against those shorthand notations. Partially because I don't like shorthand very much, but also because those feel... clumsy. Not that I have anything better to offer. Back to the main theory. It makes sense conceptually. My realmatics are more than a little rusty, but let's see if I can put something sensible together. Let's look at fabrials on Roshar. They touch each one of the Realms, mostly by requiring components: a gem from the Physical Realm, to host a spren from the Cognitive Realm, which using Stormlight, the power of creation itself, temporarily and locally rewrites the laws of magic which "reside" in the Spiritual Realm Assuming I am correct here, mist fabrials might operate on a similar principle: A metal from the Physical Realm will be foundation, the host, of the entire fabrial Something from the Cognitive Realm will do the actual work. It would have to be something, a Scadrial spren (for the lack of a better word), to which magic is as native as breathing is to us. The mists to serve as fuel for that mysterious Cognitive component We - or at least I - don't know enough the Cognitive Realm on Scadrial, so I can't really bring any proof to the table, But it sounds streamlined, there is coherence to the idea. There are holes, obviously - this can only explain Allomancy. I can't begin to imagine how Feruchemy would work under this system, though I am not convinced it has to be possible.

True. But I doubt they would've called them Voidbringers either. I probably could've been more clear, but a few thousand years are not enough to drive an entire race or species from one stage of their evolution to another - so they were still essentially Parshendi, or Parshmen, or Parsh, or whatever name they used back then.

Here is something interesting that tickled my mind when I was rereading TWoK: I think we've kind of been assuming that the Voidbringers are what really marks a desolation. Those shades from Dalinar's vision start showing up, but that's only the beginning; at some point after that, the Voidbringers show up and they mark the start of a Desolation. Except the quote doesn't give off the same feeling. Obviously we can't verify how correct the author of that book was, but if Kharbranth was founded before the Last Desolation, and if Voidbringers were stalking the land during the same period of time, then the Voidbringers must have existed in large enough numbers to warrant a mention before that Desolation. This pulls me in the direction of the Parshendi (or, rather, one of their forms) being the Voidbringers. They could've coexisted with humans long before the Last Desolation. Then, for a period of time after the Last Desolation, the people knew that the Voidbringers were just Parshendi on steroids, but the knowledge was corrupted by the passage of history, as is often the case. So really, what the author of that book should've said (in my opinion) is that Kharbranth was founded back in the shadowdays ... back when Parshendi stalked the land. Or something to that effect.

That's what I kept thinking - that he could pull so much awesome stuff out of the Cosmere!

This has me wondering - if I grab a few friends and we decide to go worldhopping, would we all need to wield the magic required, or could one of us give the rest a lift?

I am flattered @Kythis, I think you'll want to clarify what you mean by "accidentally wordhop." To me, it sounds as vague as asking whether someone can accidentally run or jump.

I stand corrected then. I had missed the thing about Adien's Seon.

I was wondering who those people are Regarding Adonalsium, maybe it's a he. I wouldn't get too excited though, I think Brandon has referred to Seons using a masculine pronoun too, even though they have never been alive and gender is irrelevant to them.

Well, wasn't it established that the mists were essentially Preservations body/power? It's probably too simple of an explanation, but what if Stormlight is Honor's body/power? The highstorms themselves are not the same as the mists of Preservation, but the Stormlight they carry (somehow) is? Strictly speaking, this could satisfy Brandon's response.

There ought to be a website for good autocorrects, not just the bad ones...

Hmm, it would appear that I indeed have not included Jasnah's interlude in Nalan's section. Though I touch upon it in Shallan's. Will be fixed. Also, we now know that every single Herald is mentioned or shown somewhere in TWoK. Very interesting. We previously knew that we had seen more than Brandon thought we had guessed, but all of them... that's interesting. I would have to really relax my criteria when I come around to updating this. EDIT: Fixed the link quote. I still plan to hunt them down...

Pity. I was hoping to create a mini-contest of my own where I would share the code I got...

I see - I suspected that might be the case, but wanted to be sure. We know for a fact that all of the Cosmere's magic follows a set of magical laws, akin to our (and its) physical laws. That much is true. Figuring out those laws... you wouldn't be the first one to try to to accomplish this

Some good stuff in there. I am probably most excited about how we have seen all of the Heralds in The Way of Kings - which, I think, also implies that they are all alive. Since I started (slowly) rereading TWoK, I am tempted to make a list of all the characters and start crossing them. Anyone wanna help? Let's see, what else... Braize has a good chance of ending up being Damnation. I am willing to completely ignore the Tranquilline Halls for now. Also, this Voidlight (let's capitalize that, since its counterpart also is), this is interesting. For some reason I had assumed that even Voidbringers would use Stormlight to power their abilities. Unfortunately, we probably haven't seen enough to theorize properly.

Help me out a little bit - what's the core of your theory? I see a lot of interesting connections between the magic systems (and I believe you will find Forgery and Bloodsealing in the Emperor's Soul fitting some of those models), but I don't see your thesis. Your main point, your hypothesis, or prediction. Perhaps there isn't one - there is nothing wrong with that - but I would like to know whether that's really the case, or I am just missing it.

I thought about turning my code in a matrix of math problems and just publish them openly...

It's possible - I entertained the thought that she might be some kind of a nurse, but for some reason discarded it. To be fair, I had forgotten about the death room.

For those of you wonder, the picture reveals the spren Zoidbringers use to form the equivalent of a Nahel bond - the krakkenspren.

EDIT: I have revised this theory to include data up to, and including, the early Oathbringer preview chapters. You can find the new version here. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- In the light of recent Words of Radiance information, I've developed a small pet theory about the current whereabouts of the Heralds. The information for this comes mostly from my not-very-reliable memories of The Way of Kings, recent Words of Radiance readings Brandon has done for the Steelheart tour, and forum discussions; a couple of veeery small pieces come from the Steelhunt, but I've kept them spoiler- and context-free, so they shouldn't spoil anything. The theory goes like this. The Heralds have turned into twisted versions of themselves. Not polar opposites, but their divine attributes have become... perversed. What evidence do I have for this, you ask? Not much. This is a flimsy theory I put together to serve a double purpose - look into the Heralds possibly present in The Way of Kings, but also suggest things to look for in Words of Radiance; things that might reveal the location and/or identity of more Heralds. Let's start with the Heralds we (think we) have seen. Nalan While none officially confirmed (none except for Taln are), Nalan is one of the Heralds I am almost completely certain about. I believe he is a "dark-skinned Azish man who had an odd patch of pale skin on his cheek " who first appears in the prologue (he is talking with Elhokar). Distinct physical characteristics include the crescent-shaped scar or mark on his cheek and black-and-silver clothing resembling a military uniform of unknown origin. He doesn't appear in the rest of The Way of Kings, but makes two appearances in the Words of Radiance chapters Brandon has revealed to us. One of them is in Lift's interlude (the constable she calls Darkness), and the other is in Ym's interlude - again as a constable. In both scenes his race, skin color, clothing, and scar/mark are noted by the people he meets, so I am pretty sure it's the same person. His goal in both scenes appears to be the killing of Surgebinders. Interestingly, he seems to need some sort of legal justification for the justice he dispenses (an actual legal document in Lift's case, and some heavy research into Ym's legal background in the shoemaker's case). Moreover, his divine attributes are a perfect example of my main hypothesis. Darkness / Nalan looks like he is just and confident, even in his modern day "form." His justice, however, is blind and indiscriminate to the point where it's closer to execution than justice. His confidence is not the confidence of one aware of his own value, but of one who is utterly indifferent to the world, and it is this indifference that makes him appear coldly nonchalant, unconcerned, and thus - confident. Shalash Shalash is the other Herald we are all pretty confident about. She appears in Baxil's interlude of The Way of Kings and seems pretty hell-bent on destroying art - it's not certain whether she targets only art depicting Shalash, or any work of art. The Chapter 55: An Emerald Broam interlude is most likely about her too, as we know that Shalash is Jezrien's daughter and the interlude refers to a "daughter of storms," likely also vandal who destroys her own image. The only other evidence of her work comes from the prologue, where Szeth wonders why the statue of Shalash was removed from Gavilar's palace. Assuming that the crescent-marked man is Nalan (a fairly safe assumption) and that his constant companion, the " thinner, Alethi-looking man" is Kalak (a plausible, but not very well supported assumption), then it is likely that the "Ash" they refer to in the Words of Radiance prologue is, in fact, Shallash. She is supposed to be getting worse, whatever that means. Similarly to Nalan, her divine attributes seemed to have turned on herself - although where Nalan's sense of justice and confidence look "merely" corrupted, Shalash's creativity and honesty seem outright missing. She is a thief and a vandal, and her goal is to not promote, but destroy the products of creativity. Though it is possible to make the argument that she still needs creativity in order to execute her heists... Kalak Just slightly above Jezrien on the evidence scale, Kalak is probably Nalan's companion (assuming Darkness is Nalan). His conversation with Nalan from the Words of Radiance prologue implies familiarity with both him and Ash (who could very well be Shalash); this kind of familiarity is not likely to be seen from anyone who is not a Herald, and he doesn't match Ishar's profile (and he is obviously not Talenel...). Unfortunately, his divine attributes - resolute and builder - don't exactly fit the paranoid, jumpy man he has become, regardless of whether we consider in the pure or twisted form. On the other hand, his essence - foil - might come to aid us a little better, though not as much as Nalan's divine attributes help his case. Jezrien He hung out with Kelek for a few minutes after the last Desolation. What we saw there was one tired man - but that doesn't much, considering how long ago this all was. We probably haven't seen him recently. Unless he is that "man with a long grey and black beard slumped in the doorway, smiling foolishly" who asks Szeth "Have you seen me?" from the prologue. The only marginal evidence for this is that Szeth encounters him in the hall where the Heralds' statues are, and that in Lift's interlude Darkness (who probably is Nalan) is heard saying “Praise Yaezir, Herald of kings. May he lead in wisdom. If he ever stops drooling." Which could suggest that Jezrien might not be in his best state of mind. It is possible that the constable was just insulting him, but it feels personal and specific enough that it carries a "I know him, and he is not what you think he is" kind of a vibe. His divine attributes (or their twisted versions) are not displayed in the short scene we (maybe) get a glimpse of him, so that neither confirms nor refutes my null hypothesis. And so, those are the Heralds I think we know something about. Assuming I am right (note: this is a safe assumption to make, and I am a perfectly objective authority on the matter) about those Heralds' modern personalities, there could be some merit to my original hypothesis, though not as much as I had hoped. Nalan and Shalash are definitely the ones we have the most evidence for, and they both kind of fit the model. Nalan is a perfect match - he seems to have kept the core of his Heraldic virtue intact, but the details are tainted (unless Surgebinding does bring the Desolations; then I am probably all wrong). Shalash is not a good fit as Nalan, but she also seems to be using her divine attributes in precisely the way they were not meant to be used. And since we don't know enough about Kalak and Jezrien, let's go make some predictions about what the other Heralds could be doing, and how they might go about it. Many will probably fall short of the mark, but I might hit something here and there - it's an interesting experiment to me. Ishar He is supposed to be pious and guiding. His body focus is flesh. I think we'll find him involved with the oldest business in the world - though I don't know on which side. Probably a customer. Indulgent, carefree, shameless, sinner - we are looking for a dirty old man here, folks. Chach Brave and obedient. With body focus being the soul. That's a tough one. If I had to work with only one of her divine attributes, I'd say that either her bravery has been turned into foolish denial of any danger to herself, or that her obedience has made her a spy, or an assassin, or a double agent - something that would allow her to appear obedient, while working towards her own agenda. Much like how Shalash's destruction of art requires creativity. Combining those two, however - the bravery to the point of foolishness and the obedience as a means to an end - don't leave me with great many options about what Chach could be doing with her life. I wonder if she is Lyss from the Words of Radiance prologue... Vedeledev Loving, healing, and body focus - the eyes. ??? I've already made the dirty old man guess, I don't want to turn Vev into a concubine. But honestly, I am drawing up to a blank. Palah Being learned and giving, it's possible that she lives to take knowledge away from people. I wonder if she's found herself a spot in the Vorin church somehow, corrupting knowledge and history... Battar I am not even going to try with her. Her wisdom and carefulness have defeated me. This project looked like a much better idea before I sat down, trying to figure out those Heralds we haven't seen. But that's it. Ending was more than a little anti-climatic, so I am going to pretend my intention was to focus on which Heralds we might have seen so far, and what their business could be. I am rereading The Way of Kings, so I'll keep an eye on random strangers that could fit the model, but I don't know if it will be at all possible to find out more. Either way, I suspect I'll be updating this in the (not so near) future.

I don't know, you might have to figure something else out. I've been active for less than a month and already accumulated over 100 rep in this time. Perhaps doing awesome things is not as good as, well, being me. You should consider acting more like me undergoing a personality change surgery spiking me with duralumin for my identity alternative options.

I think you can figure out what it is exactly* that was revealed to us. Just keep it to yourself * I did not imagine it at all like this. As in, I was waaay off. EDIT: There should be a "probably" somewhere in there. After some staring at the drawing, I find my confidence dwindling. Though not dramatically.