Ninth of the Night

You may have pinpointed the reason why Invention could be problematic for the cosmere. If an artist is inspired to create something, they'll put heart and soul into making something great that everyone can love and benefit from. If however they are forced to keep chasing that initial success, or keep inventing without proper motivation, the end results get progressively (or instantly in some cases) worse and ultimately benefits no one in the end. This happens way too often in real life, so I'd be surprised if this isn't the main drawback of holding the Shard of Invention.

That shouldn't have any impact on Lashings, as they use Investiture to simulate gravity pulling you in whichever direction you choose. I imagine it will be the most important Surge for spaceflight. That and Plate should make traveling through space pretty simple, mechanically speaking. Distance is another issue entirely. Sigzil actually states in Sunlit Man that he can easily survive in a vacuum. Personally I'm most looking forward to cosmere space fights. So many cool possibilities.

Exactly. As far as we know, Sigzil hasn't been back to Roshar since leaving at the end of WaT. He likely wouldn't know about Kaladin becoming a Herald. Sig has no idea if his old friend is even still alive or not, he just had a momentary spark of hope then was promptly brought back to reality.

This has merit, as Demoux noted the perpendicularity behaving oddly. We simply don't have enough information to form anywhere near an accurate answer. My guess though is that Cusicesh doesn't even originate from Roshar at all, possibly a Splinter of a different Shard with no connection to Honor other than what it formed during its centuries on the planet.

Many of us feel the same, although for slightly different reasons. I, along with a good portion of the fanbase, have suffered from depression or depressive episodes. It's been a lifelong battle for me, and reading the Stormlight Archive was a version of therapy that I needed. Seeing someone as strong and heroic as Kaladin going through similar struggles as I have faced, with some scenes hitting way too close to home, it opened my eyes to some of my own personal pitfalls. To the point where I'm much better at handling my depression than I was before starting my trek into the cosmere. Not just Kaladin though, while I do consider him my favorite character on most days, several of the others have faced struggles that I could also heavily relate to. Shallan being the next prime example, a few of her chapters have brought me to tears because of how deeply they spoke to me. The Girl Who Stood Up is still one of my all time favorite chapters in any piece of media. "Accept the pain, but don't accept that you deserve it."

It wouldn't be easy to become Honor's vessel without also picking up Odium. The Shards are intermingled now, if Taravangian dies he'll drop Retribution, not two separate Shards. WoB: As for Dalinar, I honestly can't decide on whether or not I believe he's truly gone. He probably should be, just to prevent any future resurrection shenanigans. However the text was vague enough to warrant speculation. I do feel like it should have been more cut and dry if he was all the way dead, instead we got little nuggets of info that make it seem like he could still be out there somehow. And that frustrates me a little bit. On one hand I actually want Dalinar to still be alive, but then that would muddy up what has been established as a true death card. Still, I can see some loopholes that would allow both things to be true. Dalinar could end up just being a special case, where he had the full intention of going to the Beyond but was spared by divine intervention (such as another Shard, as many have already theorized). Either way, I'm sure Brando will make it work.

There are only three times it's mentioned. And then Rysn name-drops it twice in her Interlude. Nothing happened to it, just isn't of any practical use with a ten day time limit. Even less so at the end, considering it no longer has "flight" capability.

There's also the excerpt from the Terris Prophecies in HoA. Seems to paint a clear picture, that Sazed will switch to Discord in order to better serve his people. Of course it could also be a red herring.

At point blank range no less. Casually, without even looking. Taln is so fast as to cause a thunderclap by simply taking a few steps forward. He killed several Fused with his bare hands while running purely on instinct -- since his mind is currently too broken for rational or tactical thought. Imagine a sane Taln, fully clothed and with his Blade. Well thanks to Kaladin Stormtherapist we'll get to see a fully functioning Taln (and other Heralds) in their full glory! Wait Taln's book won't be til the 9th entry? Jeez can someone just put me in a coma for 20 years already.

It was already rather evident that Axindweth was a full Feruchemist even before this book, the many metal rings on her fingers was a clear indication. A Twinborn wouldn't need all those various metalminds. And Brandon has said that they still exist in Era 2, simply very rare.

I was a little disappointed about that as well, but I think we were just expecting more from the 5th Ideal when in actuality it doesn't offer anything more than an increase in power/proficiency. The Blade, Plate, and Surges are all unlocked by the 4th Ideal for every order, so there's not really much left to gain for the 5th. Still, it feels like we got cheated on some displays of power, not just with 5th Ideal Radiants, but also with the Heralds. We got some snippets that were most certainly intriguing, and I know the rest has to be saved for the back half when there will be more focus on the Heralds... I just really wish we could have at least gotten the full scene of Taln and Ash dominating the Fused. Also I'm a little sad that we didn't get much more exposure to Kaladin's armor. Why do his windspren barely speak to him? It was so cute whenever Shallan's or Adolin's plate called out to them, would have been sweet for Kaladin to get the same treatment. Guess we'll learn why that is later... In a decade or so

Not as much of a stretch as you might think. Originally we figured that Sunlit Man took place long after Stormlight 10, but now with the time dilation it's more likely it lies somewhere within the gap between 5 and 6. Only about 10 years will pass on Roshar while everywhere else will progress 100+ years. Sigzil left Roshar directly after everything started going to Damnation. There's a lot of information he missed out on, and Hoid wouldn't have much else to fill him in on since he was dusted away from the planet even before Sigzil departed. Also Deadeyes are essentially fixed now, I think, since Ba-Ado-Mishram's release set things right. So it's quite possible that Sigzil has unoathed Armor, but he wouldn't know about its significance as he hasn't been back to Roshar to learn about such things. It almost seems like he doesn't even know about the time dilation, but I find it hard to believe Hoid wouldn't mention that (or maybe not, considering it's Hoid). Regardless it wouldn't have been mentioned in Sunlit Man for obvious spoiler reasons. Something else that has been bothering me though, when Sigzil explains to Aux about why he broke his previous Oaths... I'm willing to believe there's more to this that we just haven't seen yet, but the way Sigzil broke his bond with Vienta made perfect sense. And he absolutely had a valid reason and can easily justify it. He was trying to save his friend, that isn't difficult to explain at all, which means Aux is right to call Sigzil a liar. It's hard for me to believe that Brandon just made a mistake here, and possibly didn't yet know how Sigzil left the Windrunners while writing Sunlit Man. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but as of now it seems rather clunky.

A single Herald with minimal effort would be more than enough. At least let the lions be magically enhanced or something jeez, such a pointless slaughter of innocent animals

She's only had the Blade for, what, 2 years? Plenty of time to practice with the surges, having infinite Stormlight would mean she had no need to conserve and could go all out. I doubt Savantism would be necessary, and I don't think it can be achieved in only a couple years. Though I could be wrong about that.

Yay! My prediction was correct!

Oh man what a chapter. So much to unpack. Yeah it's because he was on Braize. Ishar had no way of reaching him, therefore no way to siphon off any pain, plus Taln was still being tortured so it would do no good regardless. The other Heralds had to occasionally visit Ishar for some healing sessions. A small detail I noticed, when Hoid draws in Stormlight it doesn't mention him breathing it in. I think this is the first time we see someone take in Stormlight without any motion to facilitate the process. We knew this was possible of course, it's just cool to see Hoid's mastery of Investiture. Speaking of which, I think Hoid confirmed that Lift is a Dawnshard. What else could cause her to be so highly Invested?

The reason I started reading the pre-release chapters was so I could get a head start (and because my excitement can't contain itself). I'll likely reread the whole book again soon after finishing it anyway, so no need for me to reread the chapters I've already gone through. I ain't got time to waste, gotta see what happens as soon as possible!

Not all Ghostbloods are from off world. Mraize himself is Thaylen. And I wouldn't consider them a small group. They have spies seemingly everywhere, including within Urithuru. Mraize also had dealings with Raboniel. It's rather logical they would find out about Anti-Light soon after it was first discovered. And it's not difficult to assume they had the resources to replicate the process.

Well it's possible that Iyatil was tapping speed. That blowgun appeared out of nowhere in an instant. I don't think anyone could be that quick without some kind of Investiture aiding them.

You're so right. Even though she's making terrible decisions I can still appreciate that she's just being Shallan. She doesn't even realize yet why she's making such poor decisions, but as always it's because Mraize is leading her by the nose. And honestly I can't truly blame her, we want all those secrets just as bad!

Agree. I said last week that I'd be mad if her next decision wasn't to immediately go inform Dalinar (which should have been done even before seeking out Renarin and Rlain). Yeah sure, she sent a Windrunner with the message, but she should have gone along to make sure Dalinar would actually listen. A random Windrunner isn't important enough to intrude on Dalinar's time but Shallan is. Or she could have just directly asked the Sibling to relay the message to Navani. Would take significantly less time. Shallan, honey, you are not Vin. Can't just rely on instincts, take a minute to think sometimes. I did laugh when Renarin thought about how she could use some common sense, because I was thinking the same thing!

Yeah I'm a little confused about Mraize's intentions there. He presumably wanted to use the perpendicularity to sneak into the Spiritual Realm, but instead he removed the only two Bondsmiths who can lead him to his goal? Maybe the original plan was just a coverup, but then why would he want to get rid of Dalinar and Navani... What could that possibly accomplish? I doubt he's on Odium's side. Argh so many questions! What a wild couple of chapters. Regardless I'm not convinced that Dalinar and Navani are completely trapped. Mraize must know something that led him to make such a seemingly bad decision.

At the end of the first era, Harmony changes Spook into a Mistborn on a whim. Kelsier's whim to be exact. He doesn't even ask Sazed if it's possible, presumably since he held the power for a while and knew it could be done...? If that's true, why didn't Kelsier try to change others into Mistborn to help against Ruin? Why didn't Vin? Why doesn't Harmony make more Mistborn? Is it just because he doesn't want to intervene too much? Maybe more Mistborn would be dangerous, but then why is he searching for the method of creating more Lerasium? This has always kinda bothered me. I assume there's a logical answer that we either haven't learned about yet or maybe it's in a WoB I haven't seen.

Shallan's ability to transfer is unique to her, not something Lightweavers can do. She implied in the recent chapter that it could be some quirk of her double bond. She also has a weird relationship with the Cognitive, we still don't have all the answers. Potentially there's some... Child of a Herald shenanigans going on with her. We shall see!

That's true for anyone using Teleportation (as of now). They can fully enter Shadesmar but can't get back out without a perpendicularity. Shallan entering the Cognitive Realm physically isn't new, it was covered somewhat in the first book. That's what initially led Jasnah to believe Shallan was a fellow Elsecaller. And she in turn warned Shallan against fully transferring herself to Shadesmar since it's very difficult to then return to the Physical Realm.