Atlas333

Questions in the title. Terkin is immune to sandmastery but does that immunity apply to other magic systems (say a lashing) or is it unique to sand mastery?

You call it boring but I hope that's the case. The Beyond is the one thing shards can't control. I would find it disappointing if our favorite characters could simply be "claimed" after they died and brought back. Additionally, we now have the Blackthorn (which is kind of Dalinar but also not). While one could argue Brandon is setting up a Blackthorn v Dalinar fight in the future of the cosmere I find that much less exciting than an Adolin v Blackthorn or Navani v Blackthorn confrontation. However, if he wasn't taken by the god beyond then my money is on Valor. That shard is up to something on Roshar I'm sure of it. Nohadon is also a decent option.

Edmund should be dead. Few survive a mutiny, and no one survives being thrown into the Rose Sea. Fate has given him a second chance. Now a spore eater, host to a parasite that will protect him at all costs just to kill him later, and teaming up with a woman who can't confirm she's a King's Mask, he'll use what time he has left to kill the pirate who ruined his life. Or die trying. Tress introduced such a fun world, and I think it's a shame we don't get to see more of it. Hope you like the fic!

I think it'd be sick if the Blackthorn just possesses a suit of shard plate (we've seen spren can wear shardplate so why not). However, I think it's more likely he'll just get the herald treatment.

Taking this in mind, I wonder how similar Moash is to a singer now. Think about it. Moash has a "gem" inside him that holds a spren (or at the very least keyed investiture) that grants him abilities and changes his body in some way. Sounds like a singer to me. The only difference is that he is likely locked into a single "form." If this is the case it gives us plenty of other data points to compare. I would imagine that any singer form could be somewhat replicated with this method. I imagine that the physical changes would be much less pronounced but the abilities (increased strength, stronger focus, maybe even regal abilities) would be similar.

This question operates on the assumption that the Blackthorn will have a strong battlefield presence rather than commanding armies from the back line. When one of our heroes inevitably faces off against him, what powers will he have? I feel like plate and blade are a given (but I'm curious where he'll get said plate and blade, although it likely doesn't matter), but the bigger question is will he have any invested arts? Will Retribution turn him into a Fused? Or will he convince a spren to bond with him? Or will he have surges directly from Retribution like the heralds? It's anyone's guess but I suspect it'll be like the heralds... maybe the dustbringer or stoneward surges?

Question is in the title. I imagine it's because Brandon isn't completely satisfied with how the graphic novel turned out but I'm wondering if we have any official explanations.

Sounds cool. But will there be an invested art on this planet? While it's possible for planets to mostly rely on magitech (Lumar and Komashi come to mind), there are usually people who still have access to magic (Roshar is a good example of this). Of course, you don't have to have an invested art, I'm just curious. Also, how much has this planet been influenced by a shard? Is it the home of a major shard, an avatar, or no shard? (Sounds to me like it could be a creation of Invention if you're going for a mechanical focus).

I think secret spren (the spren that can detect investiture) are decent candidates for what are in the gemstones.

Not much of a magic expert but I do think it would be cool to preserve the push and pull thematic of the magic via keywords. Steel and iron are perfect examples if you ask me (not sure how feasible that will be with every metal though).

Book 5 is clearly ramping things up and setting the stage for the war between the shards as everyone's reacts to Retribution forming. I'm curious though what alliances will be struck during the war. What I'm trying to get at is that I find it incredibly unlikely that it's going to be every shard v Retribution (while Dalinar did refer to it as the Sunmaker's gambit I feel like Retribution would likely lose against that many shards). So, who's going to team up with Retribution? Or Harmony? And who do we think is going to stick to the sidelines and do their own thing? If I had to place bets I think these will be the sides Harmony: Valor (is hiding from Odium but not Harmony), Sel & Threnody (I'm sure there'll be a grudge for shattering their shard) Retribution: Mercy (has worked with Odium in the past) Neutral: Endowment, Cultivation, Reason, Invention, Whimsy, and Autonomy (I could see Autonomy playing both sides against each other). Personally, I think it's unlikely so many shards will be neutral (I just didn't know where to put them), so I would love to hear other's thoughts and bets.

I don't think it's quite the same. Knight Radiants are an invested art created by two shards (cultivation and honor) so it makes sense they would be able to use the shared light to fuel their powers. Here are the facts as I remember them: - Adolin says something to the affect that radiants across the world aren't able to access their powers except those in the tower. Whether this is because they can't use War light or because Retribution won't give it to them remains to be seen. - Venli is able to use war light to fuel her cohesion after Retribution ascends whether this is because she is a regal and has that connection to Odium or because Retribution is allowing her remains to be seen. I'm inclined to think that radiants can't use War light even if they had access to it, but it could go either way. I might have to look back in Rhythm of War for clues. We know that Venli can nearly any light (storm, void, and I'm sure war) because of her regal form, but kaladin does some weird stuff at the end. Does he use a light other than stormlight? I can't remember.

I thought I'd bring the subject up even if the answer is probably a no. The current fate of Roshar is a big mystery, the magic system being one of them. How does a merged shard affect the current magic system? The only real example we have is Harmony and Era 2 Scadrial. Era 2 introduced to us the concept of twinborn (at the loss of mistborn and full feruchemist). If we were to use era 2 Scadrial as our example I would expect that era 2 surgebinders would become less powerful but more varied. Of course, what happened on Scadrial doesn't determine what will happen on Roshar. The only relevant WoB on the subject makes it clear new orders are possible but incredibly unlikely. The other factor is that radiant orders were created to mimic the heralds. Despite gaining a new herald I don't think a new order will form as they were mainly taking the place of Jerizen. The other caveat to this is enlightened surgebinders. Is an enlightened truthwatcher still considered a truthwatcher or as enlightened spren become more common will they be considered their own separate order of radiant? Only time will tell I suppose.

What do we think happened to the Skybreakers? I see two possibilities 1. The refounded oathpact becomes common knowledge and the skybreakers learn Nale flipped. I could see them following his example. (Additionally, Szeth could potentially become the new leader of the skybreakers assuming he doesn't go into retirement.) 2. The refounded oathpact doesn't become common knowledge and the skybreakers stay loyal to odium. If this is the case, how useful will they be without stormlight? Will the high spren be ordered to be enlightened so they can use war light? No matter what I'm sure there will be skybreakers on either side of the conflict now that they don't have Nale to settle disputes and differing interpretations of the law.

Correct me if I'm wrong but can't the unoathed communicate telepathically with their spren? Normal radiants aren't able to do this until higher ideals I believe. You've got a point there. I think it's likely it wasn't capitalized intentionally to avoid spoiling stormlight 5. However, even if it wasn't, Adolin's arc with Maya has been in the works for so long (since WoR really) that I can't imagine the unoathed were a recent development in his plan for the series. Surely by Sunlit Man, it was at least in the back of Brandon's mind even if the specifics hadn't been nailed down.

This is a very interesting chart, but unfortunately, we can only guess on the remaining two. "Begin" and "End" are solid guesses though. The only thing I have to add is this epigraph We know at least one dawnshard has the ability to bind "any creature voidish or mortal." The question to me is whether this is referring to the change or exist dawnshard. If it isn't then that could point to one dawnshard having a command similar to "Bind" (maybe "Connect"??)

So, by saying "he isn't a radiant" he's telling the truth. Then why does he say it's a lie?

I personally see this as the case. When Wit is speaking he's being very specific. He's saying he's a "puppet of raw investiture" and then directly comparing that to the Iriali. Combining that with Brandon's fondness of in-book religions having some historical foundation I highly doubt that the Iriali have a religion founded on nothing. Additionally, I find it incredibly unlikely that Brandon is setting up this people as a through line across the entire cosmere and it isn't setting up some kind of grand reveal when they reach the seventh land. They believe themselves to be a piece of god, and Hoid hints that may be true, so I'm inclined to believe him. I see them as being the remnants of a shard (potentially Reason or Valor as they're hard to find) or maybe even the cognitive shadow of Adonalsium splintered and divided between them (not sure if the last one works mechanically but it does match their religion).

I was reading TSM and this quote stuck with me Why is this a lie? Yes, at one point Sigzil swore oaths but for all intents and purposes he's no longer a radiant. Sure he has a living shardblade but that's it. He doesn't have access to surges and doesn't follow his oaths. Ultimately, the distinction isn't super important. It could just be that he's lying to further mask his identity, he's saying what will give him the best chance at entering negotiations, or he still thinks of himself as a radiant and that's why it's a lie even if other people (me) wouldn't label him a radiant.

This is an interesting point and it makes a lot of sense. I've been thinking about the few hints we get about the unoathed in the Sunlit Man. Interestingly Zellion doesn't claim to be unoathed but the scadrian labels him as one. Initially unoathed was assumed to mean not a radiant but now with WaT it means something else entirely. This could imply that the unoathed are still a faction in the wider conflict but Zellion could either be trying not to affiliate himself with that group or he could be unaware of their existence (either because of their small size or because he's been too busy running). It's hard to say definitively because it's hard to differentiate between Brandon being sneaky and deliberately hiding information or Zellion not knowing that information.

Yep. That's the only way the "pure orders" make sense to me. If we're going off of oaths/ideals skybreakers and elsecallers make more sense as the pure order of honor and cultivation respectively. But I think we can all agree that isn't the case of elsecallers (they don't even get regrowth) meaning that the "pure order" is recognizable by the spren, not the oaths/ideals. Then it stands to reason that the vessels are why those orders are the "pure orders" rather than the ones closer to the shard's intent.

Fair enough. I imagine that this is setting up what the Shattered Plains will look like after the time jump. During the time jump it's impossible to say. The more I think about it the more it feels like Shallan getting back to the physical realm won't happen until after the time jump (why else would it be set up this way?). I just hate Adolin and Shallan being separated I would love to be wrong but it feels too intentional to have Shallan in this situation and have it resolved off screen. (It also feels a little contrived right now but I'm sure more context in book 6 will help).

Just want to throw my two cents into this discussion. When talking about forming radiant spren they say There isn't a lot of new information here but it reinforces what we already know (7 orders are mixes of cultivation and honor, then each shard has an order "of their own" and then the final order are bondsmiths). Now to prove my point, which is cultivation's order? If we're going off the name of the spren it should be the edgedancers because they have cultivation spren, right? But what does caring for the forgotten have to do with growth? If anything don't the elsecaller oaths align more with grown? To me, this makes it seem like the "pure orders" aren't the pure intent of the shard but rather the intent filtered through the vessel. Cultivation itself may not care about kindness but Kor sees kindness as something worth cultivating. Similarly, Honor cares about oaths but Tanavast sees protecting people as the most honorable thing you can do.

That's fair, but the final scene with Venli and the shard pool implies to me the opposite. To me. Bila is suggesting something similar to what you're suggesting: the parshendi do their best to keep the shard pool a secret. Venli clearly states this isn't possible. To me, this sets up that the shattered plains are going to become a hub of interplanetary travel. It makes sense too considering this is the only way into the physical realm. In the past it sounds like cultivation's pool was the most reliable method of transportation between realms. Now with her gone I'm sure Retribution's pool will fill that gap.

With WaT we now know the appearance of 3 enlightened radiant spren. This gives us enough of a pattern to make a guess about how the other orders will look when enlightened. To review, so far we've seen. Mist spren: originally looks like light reflected through crystal - when enlightened it looks like red crystal dripping light upward Cryptic: originally looks like a geometric swirling pattern - when enlightened it looks like loose loops similar to scribbles Ink spren: originally looks like a human that is entirely black as if made of oil - when enlightened they look "radiant with colors" (I would imagine like oil on water does) From this, I think it's safe to assume that enlightened radiant spren appear like the opposite of their original appearance (things that were sharp such as the crytpic's pattern become round and vice versa). So for the remaining spren we have Ashspren - originally looks like "cracks that appear to grow on surfaces or branch through the air." (I'm not sure what the opposite of this would be actually. Suggestions?) Cultivation spren - originally looks like a face made of vines - when enlightened I imagine they look like a face made of thorns. High spren - originally looks like a tear in space revealing stars - when enlightened I imagine they look more similar to a black hole Honor spren - originally looks like blue humans - when enlightened I imagine they turn red or purple. Maybe they look like parshendi? Peak spren - originally they appear to be made of stone - when enlightened I imagine they are made of crystal, perhaps looking something like an opened geode. Reachers - originally looks like a small comet - when enlightened I imagine they look more like a sparking firework I would love to hear suggestions (especially for enlightened ash spren) but also for the other spren if people have other ideas.