Asha'man Logain

As for the 3 of 16 quote. I have an Idea I believe to be pretty solid. There were 3 of 16 here. Honor, Cultivation, Odium. Then some stuff went down. Honor got shattered, Odium ran off to Braize and Cultivation withdrew from the planet and mankind, with the exception of her Nightwatcher spren doing some stuff, but only if people seek it out, and even then it seems to be theoretically end-neutral investment. One boon, one curse. Probably how much the Nightwatcher likes you determines the severity of both. Therefore with Cultivation and Odium (for all intents and purposes) no longer working on the planet, it is left to the broken one Honor (or his collection of splinters, plus the big one, stormfather) to reign over the entirety of the planet. The stormfather even seems bound to start/release the Odious Everstorm if the Parshendi ask.

I actually posted this Nazh theory when I noticed that I seemed to recall that name also in the Alloy of Law maps. Peter promptly set me straight with a very direct "Nazh did not write the ars arcana" Good thoughts though EDIT: Also good catch on the constant Sel references. I had noticed that myself and thought it odd as Sel does not have the most impressive of magics (and personally it is my least favorite Sanderson book.) But I never went that step farther to wonder if there might be an in character reason for it. Good show!

As to Dalinar's oath, I think you are missing some key punctuation. "I will unite instead of divide." That is the Oath he spoke. That is what was accepted by the stormfather. "I will unite men" was a corollary, a statement he believes is a reiteration of his Oath. I agree (and have since book 1) that Dalinar (or whoever gets to see the visions) should unite them in the broadest sense of the term. Unite the. Unite Roshar. Not just the Alethi, not just humankind (which may be a pretty loose term on this particular world), but all of Roshar that would not see Odium reign.

Well the obvious interpretation of there being 3 bondsmith spren, is that there are 3 shards, 3 special spren, and one is the stormfather. However we know Brandon rarely is that straight forward. If it didn't take the brilliant minds here at least 4 days to crack and/or discuss, it's probably too easy. However, a lot of threads lately have been about how Cultivation and Honor seem to be linked and meshing, at least as far as spren go. Most spren seem to live on a spectrum, cultivation being on one end, and honor on the other. If that is the case, then why can't the Bondsmith spren be the one 100% Honorspren, the stormfather, one 100% Cultivationspren, the nightwatcher, and one perfectly balanced 50-50 spren, the Night father, (or stormwatcher but that sounds a little passive )

Lerasium works but granting a (stronger) connection to Preservation. If a surgebinder ate non-alloyed lerasium they would then in essence gain the sDNA of a scadrian. (at least this is how I understand the text and WoBs I've read) Other magic systems are not so easy to access. Regardless of how Hoid seems to feel I think the easiest would be on Roshar. There does not seem to be any underlying sDNA needs, just a cracked soul, and following the intent of one shard or another until a spren deems you acceptable. Forgery may be next, with enough devotion (see what I did there?) to the art, practice and skill one could learn to forge in the sector of the world. Much like AonDor I assume with enough knowledge you could tamper with it to make it work anywhere.

I must say I clicked on this theory prepared to dislike, disprove and disavow it. Wow. I quite like it. I find this very plausible and surprisingly well reasoned. You did a good job sir to put all this together from so little. Up-vote for you!

Well done, You are all much smarter than I. I stand in awe of your code breaking prowess. I love the teamwork here

Could her mother have been a Skybreaker? The one order of Radiant that didn't Recrease (is that the correct form of that word?). They may believe as it seems some Heralds believe that an increase in surgebinders can bring a Desolation. I can think of no other reason for anyone to try and kill someone that can surgebind, unless they know about the desolations, how the spren bond works, and believe that it may cause voidbringers appearance.

I looked through the Forums and did not see any threads about this. Hopefully this is a new Idea. Remember back in that Shallan flashback wherein she met Hoid, Shallan is trying to cheer up her family and gives one of her brothers a bunch of math problems. I do not have the quote at the moment, but when she looks back at him hard a work, she mentions something about predicting Highstorms using math. Did Shallan invent and/or start the practice of Stormwardens? If I remember correctly they are spoken of as being relatively new in WoK. If he figured out how to predict them mathematically and taught others, he could have been the founder of the Stormwardens, all because Shallan was trying to cheer up her family. The smallest of actions can have the largest of consequences.

Yes the moon and damnation both are named Braize and Taln mentioned in his mad way that he came form there, yes?

I regret nothing. I tend to want to skim a couple of the pre-released chapters. but hey I read them all anyway!!

I don't know. If it didn't matter to him, why would he try to resist so hard? Also didn't one of the epigraphs say that there were only 3 bondsmiths due to their unique spren requirements?

I did not think of that. I was surprised by the many factions, and who ended up being in which. I would suspect Hoid is involved in at least one. We have the Envisagers, Diagramist (which Gavilar appears to have been), ghostbloods and seventeeth Sharders. Hoid is of course not involved with the sharders as they are chasing him, likely at the request of the 2nd letter writer EDIT: Large hair pins? Or small hemalurgic spikes?

To anti-complain-brag (to brag-complain?) I got my hands upon a copy nearly 16 hours ago. Best 16 hours ever.

True, to this point we have only seen actual measurement and writing lock a spren into it's shape. However that was merely the 2 minds of ardents, and the potentiality of writing carrying their measurments. Perhaps if enough people 'know' something about a spren for a fact, after observing it, that is enough of a cognitive lock that it works the same way as 2people observing and writing it down does.

How does on get started on a shardhunt? I've usually not heard of them until well after they have started, and apparently there are nondisclosure rules once it kicks off.

Wow. So true.

I say, how has there not been speculation on the similarity of Rosharan (or at least Alethi) money and the apparent cognitive aspects of things in Shadesmar? I wonder what the connection is there.

Well I for one would be ok with him for Kal, assuming they could adapt the pure awesome of a sanderson book into a TV series. Though I think Alloy of Law would be a better setting for a Brandon based TV series.

Ah, true enough. In that case "Kaladin won't die right? Like, ever?"

Eh, I'm currently at work and do not really want to register for reddit at work. My question would be....... Did Dominion and Devotion have some particular ability to oppose Odium, or would any two shards coexisting on a planet with semi-compatible Intents have done the same.

Good point Eveorjoy! (I vote Eveorjoy)

Interesting. It seems to me so obvious a connection that it must be wrong, yet no one is speaking of it. Along with the oathpact Honor has been shattered as well. It strikes me as an odd word choice for the stormfather/face in the wind to use, he in fact does change the way he talks about it later. Perhaps there is a reason why he used that particular word?

Well looks like I voted for the current top 3. Navani, Adolin and Renarin. Hopefully that means I'm correct and not just unimaginative

Perhaps I'm different, but I shall not have the torture abate for me until I actually finish the book. I will be constantly pulled into one chapter after another until I finish. In a good way of course. Well Other than the "It's 5 am and I need to be at work in 3 hours, I should nap after this chapter." turns into me not going in to work due to still not being finished with the book. lol