Leuthie

First, the Sibling and Oathgates are "land-locked" because the things they represent don't move. Urithiru and Oathgates are stationary objects so the spren representing them are stationary. Since we don't know exactly why the Dor results in location dependent magic systems, we can't say whether there's a relation or not. I suspect the Dor is reforming to represent the perceptions of the land it finds itself in, resulting in large nebulous spren-like entities. The Dor and Stormlight will probably become more alike over time. The Dor is free Investiture made up of the splintered remains of Devotion and Dominion in the Cognitive Realm of Sel. Over time it will gain/has gained sapience and will act more and more like spren. Stormlight is free Investiture on Roshar, part of a regular cycle of the High Storm. Due to the thin veil between Cognitive and Physical on Roshar, some of this Stormlight leaks into the Cognitive Realm and results in small, sapient and non-sapient Cognitive entities. Honor and Cultivation Invested into these spren in several ways. One of the spren created on Roshar was the result of the size and permanence of Urithiru. The spren of Urithiru was Invested by both Honor and Cultivation and gained sapience to become the Sibling (they may have had sapience prior to Honor and Cultivation, but they're Invested nonetheless). So The Sibling (and all other spren on Roshar) is what the Dor could be if there were an Intelligence and Will available to shape it, and a thinner veil into the Physical Realm to allow for a larger variety of things to attract it.. As it is now, the Dor just picks up on what's going on on Sel and shapes itself accordingly. In the case of Arelon, the Dor responds to the Intent of Aons and shapes that mimic the land. In the case of Fjorden, the Dor responds to sacrifice and pain, and Aons made through the twisting of souls and bone. These responses are reflections of the land and cultures found in these areas; the result of free Investiture defining itself by the Cognitive perceptions of millennia of beings living in those areas. Dor is just free Investiture. Over the several thousand years it's been on its own, it's changed. The area dependent magic systems suggest it isn't a single, monolithic piece of Investiture, but that there are several "large spren" tied to specific areas in Sel's Cognitive Realm.

Rayse wants to rule, but the power doesn't like that. It wants people to question and argue and stand up, and Rayse's insistence on demanding obedience conflicts with it and weakens him. Rayse was a bad leader who didn't know how to deal with his underlings questioning him. This flaw was something the power didn't like. It wanted questions and arguments from its creations. It wanted to react to those things with passion. That doesn't mean the Shard was against ruling the Cosmere. Ruling the Cosmere isn't in opposition to anger and passion. Quashing the passions of those being ruled would go against Odium, but ruling is probably something the Intent of the Shard doesn't care about one way or the other.

I like these. I don't see it the same way, but seeing as we don't have much to go on for Dawnshards and their relationships with Shards, it works really well. Now I give you my speculation: Personally, I don't believe that Dawnshards have life based purposes. Survive would be a Command given only to living things. Non-living things would be more along the lines of Stasis (or Don't Change). Also, Survive doesn't sound like a Command to me. It implies a Stasis Command, which can really be called part of the Change Command (Don't Change). Unite is probably a Command, although I'd call it Bind. The name Unite comes from Dalinar/Tanavast UNITE THEM, which I never thought had anything to do with Dawnshards. Occam's Razor says "Unite them" refers to creating political and social unity among the various groups on Roshar, not using a Dawnshard Command. Tanavast is telling Dalinar to seek unity, that the problems Dalinar is trying to solve have to do with Odium creating discord where it doesn't need to be. However, I'd still include a Bind Command among the Dawnshards. Create is an obvious Dawnshard Command. I think Destroy is another obvious Dawnshard Command. So Create, Destroy, Change and Bind. 4 Commands that would allow a powerful being to do anything they wanted to do ever. As far as throwing Shards into 4 categories: I believe the shards are varying combinations of all 4 Dawnshards, not categorized snippets based on each Dawnshard. For instance (quick thoughts, a pie chart would have to be made for each one, I believe): Honor is mostly Bind with little of the other 3. Cultivation is Change and Bind with little Create or Destroy. Odium is Change with little of the other 3 Ruin is Destroy and Change with little Create or Bind. Preservation is Create with little of the other 3. Devotion is Bind and Create with little Destroy or Change. Dominion is Bind and Destroy with little Create or Change. Endowment is Change and Bind with little Create or Destroy. Ambition is Change and Create with little Bind or Destroy. Mercy is Bind and Change with little Create or Destroy. Autonomy is Create and Destroy with little Bind or Change. Whimsy is Bind, Destroy and Change in equal measure with little Create. Invention is Bind, Create and Change with little Destroy. Valor is Destroy and Bind with little Create or Change. etc. In other words, the Commands that defined the Shard's Intent hit each of the 16 Shard's differently and nudged them in different directions. All 4 Dawnshards had to be used to chip away at Adonalsium and the configuration at each chip defined that Shard's Intent. The resulting Intent feels like a specific part of a god's psyche, but is really the Commands that particular Shard prefers as echoed in the Vessel's mind. In other words, the breaking up of Adonalsium was more organic than the Intent names of the Shards make one believe. The definition of each Intent is an interpretation by the Vessel of the shadows left of Dawnshard Commands used to create that Shard. Every Shard has some level of every Dawnshard, so a solid set of categorizations isn't possible. Of course, this has no basis in anything Brandon said. It's more how I'd write it.

Dakhor sacrifice twists a soul to attract Dor, and uses the Dor to do whatever its trying to do. It doesn't consume the soul as Investiture. The twisting of the soul probably results in death. If the Fjorden's weren't so willing to sacrifice themselves and others, they could probably find a way to attract the Dor without killing people. Dor is gaining sapience and "likes" certain actions. In Fjorden, it likes the twisting of souls and bones. In Arelon it likes Aons that match the landscape (among other things). This isn't a net negative magic system, it's the result of a Shard with no Vessel and people trying to get it to do things. Once you have its attention, you can do net-positive things. Getting attention is the hard part.

Ishar didn't define the Oaths, but he did impose their requirement upon the process. The process is a creation of Ishar (requiring the 5 Ideals/Oaths to get more power), the Oaths themselves are determined by the spren (and accepted by Shards, Stormfather stepping in for Honor).

In the first quote, the Sibling mentions that the tone hurts Moash, which is consistent with causing pain with like Invested beings. The second quote is after the Sibling and Navani have bonded and the Sibling switches the anti-Stormlight machine back to anti-Voidlight. So the pain is caused by the tone. However, the break in Odium's Connection is caused by Navani's bond with the Sibling. Moash knows nothing about the Sibling, so he attributes the Light to Navani alone. I don't have the book in front of me, but I know that Navani and the Sibling bonded just before Raboniel finished unmaking the Sibling and just before Moash was going to kill Navani. I'm almost certain, the reason Moash was rendered blind was because he was standing there with a Connection to Odium when Navani first bonded, sending a super powered dose of Lifelight into his eyes, severing the Connection to Odium and blinding him. Sounds aren't going to kill anyone or break Connections. They're going to cause Investiture to "flee". So spren will have to disappear or run away and Fused and Regals will feel pain and have their surges cancelled and temporarily blocked.

Vin had a Connection, blocked by Ruin's earring. Radiants have a Connection through their Nahel Bond to specific spren. The big question: Is the Connection specific to Investiture type? Can a Radiant Connection facilitate breathing in the mists? Could Vin breath in Stormlight? I think Vasher/Zahel answers that question, using Stormlight to fuel his Returned body (much less morally grey than using Breath).

The universe wouldn't work if tones could remove sparks of life. Even if Scadrians are more Preservation than others, anti-Investiture tones being able to remove any spark of life would be narratively difficult to work with. I suspect that Investiture based "structures" that exist in the Spiritual Realm like souls and Breaths, aren't susceptible to the effects of anti-Investiture tones. They can be affected by anti-Investiture stabbing, but simply hearing a Physical tone can't break through all 3 Realms. Moash's Connection to Odium was broken by the Sibling, not the tone. Raboniel felt pain, probably due to the Investiture holding her together existing in all 3 Realms. You couldn't kill her with a tone, though. My conclusion: Physical sound can effect Physical, and maybe Cognitive Investiture. It can't impact Spiritual Investiture.

I think Brandon has something big planned for Dustbringers that would have been slightly spoiled had he clarified their status. If there were any Dustbringers fighting for the good guys, they would have been at the big battle, not hanging out in the tower. But we don't even know if the good guys have any Dustbringers. We know Taravangian had one, and there's a king up north that is one. That's really about it.

WOB are not canon. The books are canon. WOB is a stressed out and tired author answering every random question people can think of.

Mraize doesn't suggest that Radiants can't use Lifelight. He only states that Lift can't use Stormlight. Lifelight doesn't really exist in gaseous form like Stormlight does. Lift uses it through digestion of food, much like Allomancers burn metals. If Lifelight had an available gaseous form, I would assume there would be some way for Radiants to use it, as WOB says they could use Breaths if they knew how. Ultimately, Investiture is Investiture.

Yolen had an issue with magic that could cause nuclear explosions. I suspect that once technology and scientific methods catch up, the direct conversion of Investiture to energy will be probably be made trivial. Direct conversion will be much more efficient and easier than tricks like anti-Investiture. I suspect that gaseous Investiture (like Stormlight) takes up Physical space. When it's annihilated by anti-Investiture, a temporary vacuum is created by it no longer taking up that space. The pressures created by this vacuum are very small. In open space, the filling of the vacuum barely creates a breeze. However, in a solid object like a gem, the vacuum causes an instant collapse of solid material. The resulting inward movement results in impacts that generate equivalent outward momentum. Since the path of least resistance is outward, an explosion is the result. A lot of energy is lost in the interactions of the particles before moving outward. Could go a step further: Energy doesn't have mass when it has momentum, however when it's still, it has mass and that mass has a conversion formula (E=mc^2). Free Investiture may not even take up space, resulting in no breeze when it's annihilated by anti-Investiture. However, Investiture stored in a gem does take up space, resulting in the above explosion. In any case, the explosion as a result of anti-Investiture/Investiture annihilation is a physical reaction to a vacuum with a linear relationship to volume and pressure. We don't have anything that would help us determine the conversion between Investiture and Energy (Investiture equivalent to E=mc^2). I would put money on it having a similar exponential relationship though (I = Eħ^2, for instance, with ħ being the reduced Plank constant used in uncertainty equations in quantum mechanics). This exponential relationship would render the physical linear relationship explosion the equivalent of dynamite with the direct conversion of Investiture being a hydrogen bomb. But that's just me.

To be explosive, the anti-Investiture/Investiture reaction has to be within a storage vessel; usually a gem. I'm guessing the release of energy from gem stored Investiture meeting anti-Investiture isn't as great as could be achieved by direct use of the Investiture. Then again, I'm not sure how much of a Star Trek fan BS is. He could very well be planning on replicating the matter/anti-matter reaction within dilithium crystals for warp drives right in front of us.

I read ROW and heard all of his and Dalinar's arguments. I believe all problems (narrative and IRL) are caused by the means that people employ to reach their ends, so it makes me side with Dalinar that Taravangian did not need to commit evil to save everyone. No matter what he felt or what his big day told him, assassinations and killings are never anything but evil. We can blame Cultivation, but it was Taravangian and his friends that decided to not allow compassionate (dumb) Taravangian to make any decisions, removing any possibility that compassionate decisions could be made in the name of the Diagram. Morally grey Taravangian was smothered by his belief that high intelligence without compassion would save the day. Evil was a choice based on hubris, not a requirement imposed by Cultivation. And it's guaranteed that Taravangian will continue with his hubris with the addition of more power. There's too much setup to make him just another big bad, but there's no doubt he isn't going to help the Cosmere without causing significant pain.

Real life evil starts with "for the greater good" and "ends justify the means" morality. Those two statements are used to justify every evil ever committed. It's cliche because it's so consistent. Taravangian was never morally grey. From WOK he was taking healthy people off the streets and killing them just to hear what Moelach would make them say, "for the greater good". Mass murder is not morally grey.

Gravitation - Can alter Physical gravity Division - Destruction and decay, burn, turn to dust, etc. Natural Physical changes amplified. Abrasion - Can alter Physical friction Progression - Can speed up Physical growth and healing Illumination - Can manipulate Physical light and sound Transformation - Can change things Physically via the Cognitive Realm (convince things to change their Identity) Transportation - View and travel to Cognitive Realm Cohesion - intramolecular forces: ionic, covalent, metallic (?), etc. Can alter these forces to mold any non flesh Physical material. Tension - Similar to cohesion but more limited(?) Can change the stiffness of Physical materials Adhesion - Can view, create and alter Spiritual Connections. The only "forces" here that aren't Physical first are Transformation, Transportation and Adhesion. Air, Fire, Water and Earth were once fundamental forces. Obviously we're not talking about scientific fundamental forces. A planet whose ecology is determined by a Physical Investiture cycle, a thin veil between Physical and Cognitive Realms, and bonds with Cognitive entities would have a different set of philosophic fundamental forces, which would include Cognitive forces like Transformation and Transportation. The ability to alter Spiritual Connections directly just doesn't fit with the rest of the set. As I said, this is a bit tenuous just looking at the characteristics of the surges as we know them. Adhesion IS different from the others as it is an almost entirely Spiritual (the Realm of Shards). It is directly using Honor's abilities, making it the closest to Honor.

Odium got trapped on Roshar by Honor and Cultivation. I speculate that Honor basically splintered himself (or allowed himself to be splintered) to solidify the prison after the Heralds quit. It was probably a deal much like what Dalinar made with Odium. "If I win, you're trapped for the next 10000 years. If I lose, you can kill me and splinter the Shard and you'll be trapped for only 1000 years." Or some such.

FYI: The amount of Investiture that Dalinar brought to the fight at the end of Oathbringer was a nearly infinitesimal fraction of Honor's total Investiture and a tiny tiny amount of that was enough to sate Nightblood. What he took from Odium wouldn't be a rounding error in the Power Accountant's spreadsheet. So no, Nightblood didn't weaken Odium when he killed Rayse.

Honor and Cultivation worked together to bind Odium, probably using the very thing Odium was trying to use to destroy one or both of them. Honor's death was probably also part of the deal, or at least a direct outcome of it. Rayse played a long game to splinter Honor, get stuck for a while, then find a way to break out. He didn't count on Nightblood, and Cultivation's Intent probably allows her to play even longer games. I don't think Dawnshards played a large part in trapping Odium. I'm guessing that Shards not using Dawnshards is one of the first agreements that the Vessels made before picking up Shards, and the entire Pantheon would immediately destroy any Shard that threatens to use, or get followers to use, a Dawnshard.

I don't believe adhesion is a fundamental force in the Physical Realm, which is what surges are supposed to be. Gravitation covers most of what adhesion can do (as evidenced by the common names of the abilities: full lashing, basic lashing and reverse lashing). Adhesion doesn't do anything Physical; it creates new Connections (or alters existing ones), which is fundamentally Spiritual. Granted, all changes created by surges are Spiritual. Everything exists in all three Realms, so there is a Spiritual element to everything. However, other surges modify existing Physical phenomena by temporarily changing Physical, Cognitive and/or Spiritual characteristics. Adhesion just messes with the Spiritual Connections with no real tie to Physical phenomena. Full Lashings (Physical adhesion) use Stormlight to bind things together Physically so strong that the objects themselves would break apart before the bond failed. This is creating a Spiritual Connection that defines the two objects as one until the Stormlight runs out. There is no Physical phenomena that permanently binds two disparate things together with a stronger bond than the internal bonds that hold the objects together in the first place. This is purely a Spiritual Connection created between the two objects. Spiritual adhesion is even more direct manipulation of Connection, allowing direct visualization and manipulation of Connections. The "surge" itself is probably Honor sharing the Shard's abilities with those who swear Oaths. Also, adhesion is granted to those who have Bonds with spren that were made by Honor or creations of Honor, rather than "naturally" occurring spren. It's debatable that any spren, lesser or greater, were or were not created by any particular Shard. We know that all existing honorspren were "birthed" by Stormfather at the behest of Honor (prior generations of honorspren were created by Honor itself). The Sibling was a direct creation of Cultivation and Honor in an attempt to bind together singer and human. The Nightwatcher is being groomed by Cultivation, hinting at some level of creation on Cultivation's part. Stormfather existed long before Honor and Cultivation came to Roshar, but has undergone significant change by Honor since just before Honor's death and probably was highly Invested and Connected by Honor from Honor's arrival. This is all a little tenuous, but I suspect that adhesion is a creation of Honor and not a fundamental surge, as stated by Raboniel. Honor's Intent specifically deals in bonds and a "surge" that creates and alters bonds would be right in the middle of the Venn diagram of his Intent. Manipulating bonds is far from Odium's Venn diagram middle and may even be outside of anything Odium considers his purview. Creating such abilities in others would then be antithetical to the Shard and difficult if impossible for the Vessel to maintain against the Shard's will. So: Honor's truest surge is something Tanavast was able bestow because it fits his Shard's Intent. Rayse was unable to do so because the Shard wouldn't like it*. Raboniel was right, but so was the Sibling. *Odium would probably like severing Connections in anger, which sound a lot like something that would be called Void and would feel like Moash feels when under Odium's control.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/452/#e14509

My speculation. I think dawnsingers (singers prior to the arrival of humans and without Odium's influence) bonded higher spren in a similar way that they bond lesser spren now. It "completed" the singer (a singer without a spren bond is "dullform" and seem to be missing something, mostly Cognitively) in the same way as a lesser spren bond and included a constant companion. Spren were able to experience the Physical Realm through the singer, but were locked in the gemheart. The betrayal came when the higher spren began Bonds with humans, even preferring Bonds with humans. Spren learned they could actually freely roam the Physical (within a certain distance of the Bond) if they were Bond to a human. This freedom made spren choose the humans and singers were left with only lesser spren bonds. Add to this the fact that Bonded humans ended up access to surges (probably due to Connections they brought over from Ashyn, which was destroyed due to Surges). This became a wedge that Odium exploited to get singers and humans fighting with each other. Odium offered singers new bonds and new powers, creating Regals and Fused. Another wedge would be convincing humans that they deserved more than just the land of Shinovar.

To be fair, that change can be attributed to the Bond.

Renarin is the first (known) of a set of Radiants that use Odium's future sight against him. Link to a previous post and my view how Renarin's future sight works and why I think it's Cultivation using Odium's future sight against him: I agree with Frustration that the name is more to add to Dalinar and Evi's relationship at the time than anything else. To call it foreshadowing is a bit much. "Like one who was born unto himself." could foreshadow any number of things. Is it foreshadowing Renarin being the one to take up the collected Shards of Adonalsium? I seriously doubt it. I also think Brandon is creating separations between Adonalsium and God, even going so far as to suggest there is another entity above Adonalsium (God Beyond). Adonalsium is a person with too much power, just as the Shards are being shown as people given too much power. In short, I can't believe Brandon is setting any individual up to be an analogue of God, much less Renarin. Jasnah's relationship is with Wit. If she has another with a Herald, then Brandon has two relationships with men planned.

I don't think it's a spoiler because you have all of the information you need: Stormlight is Honor's Investiture. Lift was changed by Cultivation and doesn't use Stormlight, so she must use <blank>'s Investiture/Light. As for what Lift is becoming? She'll be a viewpoint character in the back 5, so it may be almost a decade (3 years till book 5, 5+ more years years till book 6) before we find out.