Argent

Good work! I would have to rake my brain a little bit, see if I can figure out where else we have seen aluminum. Shardblade guards are an obvious candidate, I think.

I know, it's alright. I am not berating you, just making sure it doesn't happen in the future

Yeah, that's Shalash. Daughter of Jezrien, king of the Heralds, patron of the Windrunners. Her vandalism is obvious.

I believe @Blightsong has a short theory about this specifically, the essence of which is that Sja-anat may be able to extract information not only from the spren she corrupts, but also from the minds of the dying.

Oh, that's interesting! If autism (autistic disorders?) runs in families - which I don't dispute, I just didn't know that - then put another Kholin at least a little bit on the spectrum not only makes sense, it also makes Renarin's condition appear as less of a token and more as an organic character element. Which is fantastic.

The "ten levels of Voidbinding" line has been in each Stormlight Ars Arcana - and the number ten does make sense, considering that the Voidbinding chart has two sets of ten circles. Venli says there are nine different types of Fused, if I recall correctly, so I think something else is going on here.

There Unmade and the Stormfather are "on a similar level". I kind of forgot to talk about this (though it's not entirely in the purview of this theory refresher), but I had been working under the assumption that Cusicesh is a weakened form of Dai-Gonarthis. You know how Re-shephir splits off pieces of herself (a little bit like creating Splinters of herself, though she herself is a Splinter) - well, if one were to trap those, Re-shephir would have less essence to work with, she'd less of herself; or like Ruin was weakened by stowing away a good chunk of his Investiture away from himself. I imagine Dai-Gonarthis was similarly weakened, which is why people around him experience only a vague feeling of being drained instead of, I don't know, a compulsive desire to fall on the ground and never get up? Jezrien/Ahu mentions both the Black Fisher (which I like for one of Dai-Gonarthis' names, which in turn I like for Cusicesh) and "the Faceless" in the same breath, so I doubt they are the same entity. Yeah, I thought about that, and I couldn't figure out a way to make it work. The closest I came to this was Timbre trapping the voidspren that gave Venli her envoyform, but that presumably also made use of Venli's gemheart. So unless there is a gemstone sitting somewhere in Kasitor (or maybe in Kasitor Bay) where Cusicesh the Protector and Dai-Gonarthis the Black Fisher are locked in an eternal battle, I don't see how this would work. This feels too random to me. Aimia is 100% going to be important in the future, but I don't think this is its place in the plot.

Let's avoid double and triple posting - you can edit your previous post instead (there is a button in the bottom left)

I've seen a few people reference theories or headcanons about Cusicesh the Protector either being an Unmade or being a spren that somehow holds an inmate Unmade as a prisoner. In fact, early this year @jofwu reported on a great theory about Cusicesh he had found on Reddit, but since that report is stuck in the non-Oathbringer part of the board, I wanted to revive it here with some additional evidence. Here's a very short summary of that "Cusicesh is an Unmade" theory: Dai-Gonarthis is a good candidate for an Unmade, as his name seems inspired by the pagan deity Dagon, and his (presumed) title of the Black Fisher fits Dagon's frequent association with fish. Both Cusicesh and Dagon have ties to the sea. The feeling of being drained after seeing Cusicesh is reminiscent of both Nergaoul's and Moelach's proximity-based effects on people. In Words of Radiance, Shallan briefly brainstorms on the nature of Odium, and hypothesizes that he might be a large spren, like Cusicesh. Foreshadowing, much, Brandon "I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages" Sanderson? I won't repeat the original theory (as both jofwu and the Reddit thread offer good summaries), but I would like to... refresh it a little bit with Oathbringer knowledge. Jezrien Jezrien, as Ahu, all but confirms that "the Black Fisher" is an Unmade in Chapter 88: Voices when he lists off a few names, trying to guess who Dalinar is: “Which one got to you, little child?” Ahu asked. “The Black Fisher? The Spawning Mother, the Faceless? Moelach is close. I can hear his wheezing, his scratching, his scraping at time like a rat breaking through walls.” Given that the Spawning Mother is Re-shephir - a confirmed Unmade - and that Moelach is mentioned by name, it is pretty safe to assume that "the Black Fisher" and "the Faceless" are also Unmade aliases. Mythica & Dai-Gonarthis Hessi's Mythica speculates on the identity of the final Unmade (after it lists off eight with confidence), and Dai-Gonarthis is the only candidate she has. Reportedly, Dai-Gonarthis' "actions have actually caused the complete destruction of Aimia" (though Hessi is uncertain about this). A much smaller piece of supporting evidence is the fact that Kasitor (where Cusicesh appears every morning) and Aimia are not that distant - if Nergaoul can move from Alethkar to Jah Keved in about a year (tops), it's not unreasonable to assume that another Unmade might be able to move from Aimia to Kasitor in a similarly short amount of time. Draining The feeling of having been drained reported by people who see Cusicesh is very reminiscent of not only the aftereffects of Nergaoul's Thrill, but of Shallan's encounter with Re-shephir, and Odium's and some of the Unmade's general theme of taking certain emotions away from people. Appearance Having seen a few Unmade in Oathbringer, there are some visual themes that seem, if not dominant, then at least common. Every Unmade except for Sja-anat that we have seen has appeared physically massive - from Re-shephir's and Ashertmarn's blob of darkness type of look, to Nergaul's red-haze-and-dying-creatures. They also tend to look... not very pleasant. Both of which can, with a little imagination, be applied to Cusicesh's face-changing routine and four arms. And I think that's all I got for now. As to why Dai-Gonarthis' original name may have changed to Cusicesh... It could be something related to the destruction of Aimia, maybe Dai-Gonarthis expended himself too much there and that changed his appearance drastically. Maybe the trip across the Aimian Sea changed it. Maybe the combination of people's perception and knowledge lost led people to see him differently. What do you guys think? Does this theory stand better in this post-Oathbringer world we live in? Did I miss any potential evidence for Cusicesh being Dai-Gonarthis?

Voidbringers come from California, you say?

Technically nobody else is supposed to know it points to that I've decided to wait until I meet Brandon on Tuesday so I can make sure it's okay to reveal The Page™.

Small correction, Ivory can change his size in the Physical Realm. We've seen him human-sized a couple of times. I've been thinking about this, and I think that spren just speak whatever language the person they bond with speaks, but Timbre is still too weak of mind in the Physical Realm, so... it? communicates more simply. It's not a perfectly satisfactory explanation of what's going on, but I think it's a true one.

That scene with Jasnah has been bothering me, as neither Stormlight's enhancing properties, nor the Elsecallers' Surges explain the thrown enemy. Plate does. These words are accepted.

My impression was that each individual Knight would go to their homeland, not that Orders are specifically associated with specific Silver Kingdoms. Hence the Edgedancer problems - they, apparently, tended to be people without a home (literally or figuratively).

Yeah, the first Stormlight arc still takes place before Mistborn Era 2, but the "commodization of Allomancy and Feruchemy" must've been going on for a few decades at least, if not more. I doubt Khriss is as limited in her knowledge of Scadrial overall as the people of Elendel Basin are.

I can espouse that theory. The one candidate I've been trying to fit in for the Sibling (also, talk about potential middle child syndrome - you get the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and then... the Sibling. Come on, Tanavast, be a better dad, give your kid a name) is the giant spren of stones Szeth mentions once in Oathbringer. I don't have my notes with me at work, but I might post another reply eventually with whatever I had marked as potentially interesting. Other than this, I think my thoughts run along lines similar to yours, especially with your recent confirmation that Urithiru was not powered by the Nightwatcher (who was my previous top candidate).

Oooh, good WoBs, juicy WoBs! Hope we get these in audio format too.

I've moved this to Stormlight Archive. Introduce Yourself! is not exactly the correct place for Stormlight chat

There is a link to my personal list in my signature, if anything catches your fancy. I will be seeing Brandon next week, so don't feel in any way obligated to pick anything from there - but I also won't get a chance to ask everything.

@Weltall, as Chaos implied, the best thing you can do to help our Arcanists is to just upload your recording(s)

Oh no, Brandon's books are not for eating...

I can't say I've tried it myself, but it does look like it might have a nice flow to it. Are you flowing from one letter into the next by essentially writing over the horizontal line? I feel like that would be the Vorin equivalent of cursive.

Wasn't an explicit spoiler, but let's err on the side of safety.

Looks like somebody messed up. I'll need to check mine tonight.

@Steeldancer, I edited our conversation a little bit to properly mark (potential) Oathbringer spoilers. Let's be more careful in the future.