Kandrafish

If Nicrosil stores investiture, I would be willing to bet that you could at very least store Breath in it. I would also imagine that you would need a separate metalmind for Breath than for Dor than for Light of some sort. This is based on how tin needs a separate mind for sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. And how bendalloy stores food and water separately. The storage itself might require modifications, but I am inclined to think that, at least for Breath that a feruchemist is holding it would not need any modifications. I do not have any objective evidence on that.

Dalinar and Odium bargain with Dalinar as Honor's representative, since Tanavast is dead and Dalinar is bonded to the Stormfather who is the largest remnant of Honor. For some reason Honor can give Odium permission to leave the system without breaking some rule and exposing himself to other shards. --I don't know the specifics, but I assume it is just one of many rules that the 16 shards agreed on and if Odium breaks it, somehow it makes him vulnerable-- Dalinar comes in with a contract set out by Wit and Jasnah and him. The idea is that Odium is trapped on Roshar whether they win or lose the contest of champions. Odium recognizes his old not-friend Cephandrius/ Hoid/ Wit's hand in this contract. Odium rejects the offer and says that it cannot work because Odium cannot stop the fused from being reborn, if he wanted to. Odium tries to raise the stakes, so he can go free, from the planet, but settles for the alternative below. If Dalinar's champion wins, Odium will retreat to the kingdoms that he controls at the time of the contest and will not advance again for 1000 years. Additionally, Odium will give up Herdaz because Dalinar made an oath to the Mink and insisted that it should be a clause. If Odium's champion wins, however, Odium still will remain in the Rosharan system, but gets to control of the kingdoms of the coalition in addition to the other lands he controls. He also gets Dalinar's soul, which will be turned into a fused so that Dalinar can be the one Odium sends places around the cosmere, so he can plan his future conquests.

I agree with almost all of this. (I) Jasnah... "she comes across to me as an extremely emotional person who has learned to hide those emotions and then justifies her actions by calling them logical" I agree and disagree. She has emotions that drive her to make decisions and takes logical actions with end goals that align with her emotions or overall plans. Example 1: You, Jasnah, are furious about high princes not respecting you, but yelling isn't going to do any good, so to get revenge and rectify the issue, you set up a duel with Wit and a ring leader and humiliate your opponent. --You can use logic while acting on emotions and it further consolidates power, so it fits with your other plans. Example 2: You, Jasnah, are terrified about your plans being ruined by assassins again. So what logical response is there? Have gems nearby at all times and leave a boat in Shadesmar in case you need to escape and make your tent designed to foil assassins. If you are Elhokar, your "logical" response is to try to assassinate yourself during a chasmfiend hunt. --Paranoia and logic can work hand in hand. Or not. (II) "I could see her making a deal where she would agree to work with TOdium under" some condition. And it would be some emotion based condition. I could see her asking to take Dalinar's place or some of his responsibilities. You, Jasnah, could work with or for TOdium because it protects people that you love, but you are going to get as much out of TOdium as possible for this deal. It is just the logical thing to do. My own point: 1 People with a good grasp of logic are aware that there are always multiple logical options. 2 No one is omniscient. 3 Spending a too long on a decision is not logical. It is a waste of time. Solution: Follow your emotions. You will be more productive that way also. The funny thing is that you cannot use sound logic to justify anything. But you can use it to justify a lot. In the same way that Kaladin is bound by honor, Jasnah is bound by logic. I don't think either takes away free will or the ability to follow emotions. It does, however limit their options in different ways. Lastly, I think that everyone has emotions and feelings. Logical people listen to long term emotions and follow them when it is convenient. They ignore transient feelings. I think Jasnah does this, mostly and can do so while having strong beliefs. Is she a traitor? I think that Jasnah is not a traitor, but if she were a "traitor", I agree with others who said she would be betraying people for their own good. It would be a decision motivated by emotions (not controlled by them), but it would be logical in its execution. She would not think of it as betrayal and would have logical arguments to back this up.

Do we know if copper can partially protect someone from a shard's view (like hiding with partial cover)? It would partially protect from a shard influencing emotions. Stormlight spoiler Electrum would probably mess with a limited amount of the shard's futuresight, but could a really an ultrapowerful coppercloud have a similar effect of hiding the present from the shard instead of the future? I also totally agree with Tamriel Wolfsbaine. It would be awesome if a coppercloud could protect others from emotional allomancy.

So, Kaladin is made a slave and the surviving members of his squad are killed so that Meridas Amaram can get a shardblade. We know that Amaram doesn't like to share the credit, but is a big fan of sharing the blame, but... Amaram implies that his buddy Restares was the man who was "right". When he is talking to a storm warden about killing the remaining members of Kaladin’s squad. Why did Restares want that? Just in case there is a person who clicked by accident and hasn't read Rhythm of War... This raises the big question... What were the Sons of Honor really doing? We will get some answers from Gavilar in book 5, hopefully, but with Ameram, Ialai and Restares and his interludes there should be some sorts of clues.

I've read everything and concluded that there are too many factors to determine if we are being too hard on Lin Davar. I don't even know who "we" are or how hard "we" are being on Lin. There are certainly countless possibilities that could justify his actions... Maybe all those servants he killed were assassins (I doubt it, though). With the data we have, I think that he is a bad person who deserved to go to prison for a long time. He did horrible things. But... lots of what happened was behind closed doors and Lin is part of an organization with powerful enemies (maybe there really are assassins) and Shallan is a compulsive liar, so even what we think we know is suspect... All I know is that I know nothing... (I spent too long reading to not point out how pointless this argument is due to a lack of data) (Side Note: Evil people are not necessarily bad guys, just look at Dr. Heinz Doofenschmirtz... I, personally, identify as an evil scientist and don't appreciate being lumped in with Lin Davar) Here are some cooler stuff Lin certainly demonstrates Balat's violence, Jushu's alcoholism, Wikim's sullenness and Shallan's warped view of reality... Should we be more hard on him and blame his genetics for the problems Shallan and her siblings have? I am only kidding a little bit... Do you think the fact that Lin just never talked about the mother enabled Shallan's denial, or do you think that he tried to talk to Shallan about it and she just tuned him out? (This, I suppose, would be integral to figuring out if Shallan should shoulder some of the blame for these actions. At least in a court of law) Also, I just think it is ironic that Thaidakar employs Lin Davar... I think Thaidakar would murder him outright for what Lin did to his second wife and not give it a second thought. (Mistborn spoiler)

I don't know... Lift is an amazing character, but part of her power as a character is the vast implications of her weird powers. I am unsure about the Bondsmith bit. I can totally see Lift playing a Kaladin-like role in the next book, like how you said, but I think her becoming a bondsmith would require a lot of maturing. Right now I would almost expect her to turn the Nightwatcher down and try to steal her breakfast instead. You could be correct, though. Over the 10-ish year gap between book 5 and 6, Lift could mature immensely. I think that Lift's big moments might come later in the series, though... I really like the idea of Lift playing an integral role in the future of Stormlight and being the Kaladin-like person. I kind of think that she could be an agent of espionage and you put Lift and Renarin and/ or Rlain and some others in a strike team trying to discover Taravangian's plans. Renarin protects Lift from his sight and Lift helps them sneak around. I really think it would be funny to see the Lift-Renarin dynamic I'd like to see a more confident Renarin try stopping Lift from going in over her head. Sorry for opposing your theory. I do think it could happen later in the series. But, I kind of don't fully like that idea either. I think it might be because ever since Lift got an Aviar, I have been hoping for her to do some world hopping... Thaidakar's breakfast wouldn't stand a chance...

Favorite: I like Kalad, Peacebringer, Warbreaker the Peaceful, Vasher, Zahel and Talaxin (in no particular order... It is a 6 way tie.) Least favorite: Duke Telrii

Unnatural investiture... So, are you saying that a chromium misting could make someone drab if they had given away their breath and then bought a new one? Also, I think pewter... In essence, you just adjust how much pewter you swallow. If before you were swallowing X pewter, and now you are twice as powerful, swallow 2X pewter. You just have to spend twice as much money getting metals. I think pewter is a lot less expensive than gold, so you are still pretty set. Electrum could be pretty incredible too, if you could see quite far into the future. I agree with the bronze as well. But, copper would only be effective against people with improved bronze, zinc or brass Tin would have a major downside of feeling uncomfortable all the time if you burned it. Spook proves that it could be pretty amazing if you are willing to completely destroy your body and wear a blindfold and extra soft clothes and earplugs all the time, but in that way maybe having pewter with tin would be similar to having pewter with iron or steel. Having pewter and tin could be pretty good.

I like that... Stuffing enemy shard's power in the cognitive realm does seem to be something that Odium does. I figure it would be him trying the what works, though because he did that to Dominion and Devotion already. "Argent Okay. So did Rayse choose those Shards because-- Brandon Sanderson He went after Ambition first, but didn't find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list." So, first, we assume the Evil is Fain... Possibility 1 UliDa is dead or dormant... and a piece of her is the seed for the evil i) It takes a long time for it to spread I like the idea of Shadefied moss and that could apply to all cases. ii) It is dormant I like the dormant idea. It makes sense with the whole idea of UliDa or a piece of UliDa creating Fainlife. And maybe it does just need investiture. Maybe it needs cognitive connection and investiture... ShoDel and Fainlife are supposed to be more connected to the cognitive realm. (Oathbringer spoiler below) So, to me, it would make sense if a disturbance in the cognitive realm involving investiture of some sort and/ or investiture caused the Fainlife to erupt... OR Possibility 2 i) Maybe... Ambition is destroyed, but Uli Da is spared by Mercy in another system and the delay is that UliDa, who's personality is attuned to and perhaps altered by ambition spent those thousands of years roaming the cognitive realm (her soul has been stretched so she can live as a cognitive shadow for a very long time) in search of the her power... With the very ambitious idea of getting revenge on Odium, but first, she needs to get a hold of some of her old investiture... ii) Same thing except UliDa created or found some ShoDel on the other planet where she died and told them how to hike through the cognitive realm and take Threnody... A planet that is perfect for her people. Mercy kills Uli Da and spares the ShoDel (with an ulterior motive of some sort). (The 2 i) possibility is little out there... I think I might be stretching what is plausible. But, I welcome criticism. The more possibilities that get struck down as being implausible, the closer we get to the truth.) Also! I would welcome more possibilities! More ideas are better too!

First of the Sun trapper: First of Midnight OR First of the Blizzard (I was born in a blizzard at midnight.) Vorin: Nalan (Very symmetrical) Unkalaki: Lunu'alaii'liki (This probably means something... It may very well be a Renarin-like name, though... "Like one who was born unto himself") Shin: Lvan-son-son-Vurano (Son-son is to relate me to my grandfather not to disconnect me from my father... But, I am a stonewalker...) Korathi: Edalan (Skyward pseudo-spoiler explanation below) Returned: Endseer the Destructive (because I think too far ahead... When I start reading a book I am already thinking about how sad it will be when it ends) Threnodite: Goodness Beyond (eluding to good being done and the expression "goodness!" to give it a more pessimistic spin and the God Beyond for the second part) Kandra: AddLaan

If he had to split the book into two volumes to preserve its structural integrity, and we ended up with two Rhythm of War sized books published at the same time** for Stormlight 5, that would be ideal. But... I suppose I could get behind having 3 smaller books (for the safety of all of those unfortunate people who are injured each year by having a Sanderson book fall on them), as long as they are published at the same time**. **and this is key "published at the same time"

Here is an out there idea... What if Nale's idea to kill people with radiant powers manifesting wasn't so unique. I believe that Odium's side had human agents and I think that the Faceless ones could survive between desolations. What if between desolations, Faceless ones were serial to-be-radiant killers and the Skybreakers hunted them down. * means extra speculative Now, this relies on a longer more complicated theory that I have... So, addressing the main thread: I would like to weigh in and say that maybe there is a more mundane reason as to why so many humans died in the desolations. 0) Rayse/ Odium and his forces should be less powerful. This is a 2 vs 1 situation with Honour and Cultivation. Odium likely only survived through surprise and by fighting smarter. (The unmade can do a lot of damage if put in the right places at the right time and he probably surprised the others when he chose the Singers. He likely chose them because they had-- I assume-- a larger populace* and a more unified front) 1) At the start there were no Radiants and only Heralds. The Heralds would, on their own, were OP enough to win against the fused. Let us assume at a cost... Lots less humans. 2) Heralds continue to fight a losing battle because too many humans are dying. 3) Stuff Develops-- Knights Radiant save humans from the brink of extinction. But... They are limited because there are only so many worthy humans and spren willing to bond. 4) Radiants Swell and are too overpowered. But there are no war crimes because if innocents were attacked the Windrunners and other orders would defend them. 5) The Radient numbers stay too small to be overpowered because the fused kill them in small numbers and do not die. Also, lots of dead humans means less worthy humans. 6) The enemy gets desperate: they employ desperate measures and create plagues (Raboniel) and plan assassinations (per my theory above... I hope you like it.) 7) The wills of the Heralds are weakening and desolations come to close together --> The enemy starts winning again and the smaller the human population gets the less percent honorable people to become knights radiant. 8) But, Radiants have reached higher oaths and are so overpowered now even in small numbers the humans win. 9) There is a super successful battle because of the Radiants and all of the Heralds survive and there are so many Radiants who are all so powerful. So Jezrien thinks "Storm it! With Radiants like these, who needs Heralds!" 10) Taln sits in Braize for 1000 years (wonders where his friends are)--> No fused means populations swell and Radiants kill off any remaining fused (serial killers*). Radiants numbers should swell as well. War between Singers and Humans is negligible. Humans think they won. Singers are hiding or something. 11) 2000 years (and Taln is sure his friends got lost and went to the wrong planet) --> The Radiants are now very overpowered and have a large group of them. 12) False Desolation is a slaughter for the Radiants and Ba Ado Mishram gets captured in a gemstone and Parshmen are created. 13) Recreance happens and the OP Radiants give away their weapons so that the grateful people can start slaughtering each other. I don't have any detailed Hierocracy theories, yet, so we stop here. Anyway, I agree. I think that Odium would have lost to Radiants at full strength. But I think he must have needed to keep killing them and keeping the human population low. I think the inflated Radiant numbers are a result of counting them after thousands of years of piece. I think that we can probably model the number of Radiants as a function of population. Say 0.01% of people have the right kind of honor (this could be an overestimation). Fused are not a function of population, so the closer both races are to extinction, the better it is for Odium. (That means that the Iri and Rirans probably threw a wrench in Rayse's plans.) Now, in addition, lets say that the Singers have their scholar form between desolations. This adds a whole other element to Odium fighting smarter... I agree with all the people saying you can underestimate the common singer as well because of this, but I don't really want to go through all of the ways that Odium could beat a more powerful foe (the Radiants). Instead, I will say that the singers had the power of discovering information faster before Ba Ado Mishram was captured. After that all the knowledge was lost and those people became slaves. Now (during our books) On another note, the human armies know what they are doing and don't have to waste Radiant's on training troops. Fused do. Humans have the power of information and are on home turf. Also, someone brought up Dalinar's perpendicularity making Radiant's more effective. I want to add to that. If humans got reduced to the stone ages there would be less cut gemstones and the Fused have powers that work without voidlight. A larger population would require more currency and more gemstones which also helps modern day Radiants. As a final note, humanity may have grown complacent, but it still had wars. This is part of why Kaladin is such a good fighter. Practice. On the other hand, how dejected would you be as a Fused after waiting 4000 years and seeing Taln still sitting there. I think some fused could be extremely out of practice if after 2000 years they concluded that Taln was not breaking and just stopped training . In conclusion, I think that the Fused are significantly less powerful than a Radiant with stormlight. The fused lost all of the Desolations, but by keeping human casualties at a maximum they reduced the human population in any way possible. This reduced the ability of that population to produce people with the right ideals to become Radiant and it reduced the ability for people to build up as a society and stone age societies don't have much use for polished or cut gemstones. After Taln had held out for 2000+ years, humanity would have grown significantly. More people making more gems and more Radiants. These Radiants were overpowered and that is why the false desolation failed. The overpoweredness of modern Radiants and the lack of Ba Ado Mishram and the Singers being slaves all of their life, is why humanity is still around. The Radiants are very powerful, but I think that they must have been evenly matched by Rayse's ingenuity and relatively weaker power. We could even assume that it was that trademark Rayse craftiness that caused the massive numbers of Radiants to disband on the day of the recreance. We know that the Iri and the Skybreakers fight for him now because of political maneuvering. Who knows what else Rayse might have done to level the playing field without having to go head-to-head against the Knights Radiance.

I have always imagined Kalad's phantoms as like stone incased puppets. I think of stone marionettes with intricate stone carvings that hide the joints. The Breath would power them. I also think of loose stone sockets being built for joints. Mostly the hip since a hip joint would be easy but, wrists and other joints might have to be remodeled into ball and socket joints if my marionette theory is right.

You should read Warbreaker. It is one of my favorite books. Strictly non-spoiler correction: I wouldn't call it "loads of investiture"... It is a significant amount, though. In the early days more investiture was used to make lifeless that were apparently similarly effective. The way it is explained, it sounds like improved efficiency (similar to how you would talk about bigger more expensive computers used in the past). I don't want to spoil Warbreaker, but pretty early on in the book... Here is a insignificant amount of spoilerness, in my opinion: More spoilery about Nightblood's origins Also, just in general. I think you would need different Command and different Intent as well as LOADS of breaths for sentience.

I really think it is funny to see how Moash now serves a light-eyes who has sacrificed countless lives of those beneath him. Putty the irony aside, though. I think Moash and Taravangian's ideals align more than Moash and Rayse's... But, honestly, I don't know. I think Moash is going to serve as a familiar viewpoint who can interact with and help develop these new characters. El and Taravangian with the intent of Odium and perhaps even Ulim. With Venli gone from Odium's team, it seems like Moash would be the best source for foreshadowing about what the enemy is planning in the last 10 days. I think there are 3 main options. 1-Taravangian wins Moash over and Moash fights for him (he realizes he doesn't need some motive like revenge or he will take out his revenge on all light-eyes and the heralds etc...) --> No redemption (in the 5th book) 2-Taravangian asks Moash to do something so ruthless that even Moash cannot do it (i.e. kill someone who is defenseless because it will make things workout better in the end and Moash sees his grandparents in this choice and cannot do it) --> Part redemption ( for now) 3- Taravangian realizes that if he pushes Moash towards redemption and Kaladin sees this, Kaladin might try to help Moash... This seems the same as part 1... Until BAM! Taravangian kills Moash "because he is buddies with Kaladin" in order to make Kaladin so dejected that he is not useful to Dalinar's Coalition and the "talk to Ishar plan" is ruined. --> Evil Taravangian plan makes Moash a pawn (Moash dead)

Maybe not even the FTL problem. What if a group of Investiture engineers designed a device that could let her put the whole city of Bilming in a cadmium bubble... Or maybe not even that... They could just want her to put the bomb/ weapon in a cadmium bubble.

Adonalsium is not a crab. If Adonalsium were a crustacean, he would obviously be a lobster because all lobsters are immortal until they die, just like Adonalsium. (Biological immortality is weird)

What if the Shin are right? What if the cognitive realm in most of Roshar does weird stuff to someone's soul when they die. Maybe the soul gets munched on by angerspren. But, in Shinovar there are virtually no spren... So, no spren would mean that there is no soul munching happening. I am only sort of joking... (mostly about the soul munching angerspren bit) Maybe the the Shin do have an easier time in the cognitive realm and passing beyond. And maybe because of some past agreement to not leave Shinovar, they have little to no interactions with spren. Maybe Honor made the spren take an Oath so that Shinovar could be more like Ashyn... Finally, maybe that is the screams that Szeth hears... The screams of dead stone-walkers. (I don't actually think it is because they are walking on stone)

I didn't know that red eyes meant corruption. Thanks! Do you think that mean that the green eyes indicate that their existence is normal, but the enraged part is the corruption? That makes me think it is Ambition's power corrupted by Odium because when the shades are angry, they look hateful... Odious and they discourage ambition.

So... Fainlife is toxic for humans to eat and plants are bone white. Otherwise it is the same as normal life. a) Can kandra eat fainlife? Can kandra impersonate ShoDel? c) Would its ability to metabolize depend on its form (i.e. stomach type)? d) What about sand creatures from White Sand? Do kandra need water to survive? e) Do you think there is some sort of significance to the fact that kandra have two part names a little reminiscent of Sho Del and some younger generations were trying to use 4 arms in an era 1 book, I believe (don't hold me to that)? f) i) Could a feruchemist store fain nutrients to prevent being poisoned? ii) Would the feruchemist need a separate metalmind like he would for food and water? g) Could metalminds be used to turn toxic food into useable energy?

Does that belong in Cosmere or Mistborn?

All I really have to go on is Mercy's intent. But, using Ruin as a guide, intent can be very powerful. So the theory is that Mercy did spare Uli Da and/ or the Fainlife that she created.---But, I am trying to work out the why. I have clues but no firm conclusion that clicks. 1-The Evil embodies Ambition and Uli Da would (most likely) choose her own people to back. ---Spreads quickly and takes large amounts of land --- Made no compromises ---If it is Fain, it fits even better with Uli Da and Ambition 2-The shades are the opposite of Ambition and they seem angry, perhaps even odious. I was in another chat with Thaidakar the Ghostblood where we discussed this. --- you need to walk and not run --- you need to use the same old fires and not go making any new ones --- you cannot go around killing anyone 3-Rayse as Odium can unmake power, but that can invest him and trap him over time (Roshar), but maybe not if the enemy shard is dead... 4-Mercy worked with Rayse and worries Sazed, so she is probably crafty and power hungry. When following her intent, it will be justified with anterior motive. 5- We know cognitive shadows require investiture. So the shades need it, while the evil could just be toxic life (Fainlife). I feel like I have pieces of a puzzle that I cannot quite get to fit together.

Could Mercy have spared Uli Da while splintering Ambition? I think it is in line with Mercy's intent and a logical guess with the minimal information that we have. Ambition is separate from Uli Da and I think that it could be shattered while. Also could Uli Da being Fain mean that The Evil is Fainlife created from a piece of her? --This was a discussion from 2017 that got closed and I want to re-discuss. Honestly, I want to discuss anything vaguely Threnody--Shard--Cosmere related...