Leuthie

Preservation was going to eventually lose to Ruin because Leras tore off Investiture from his control and used it to make Scadrians sentient. Preservation no longer had access to that Investiture, so it could not be employed in his defense. Preservation had less power. Odium refused to Invest in a planet because it would weaken and trap him. He was eventually forced to. The power to force a Shard to do something that Shard adamantly refuses to do probably takes a huge commitment. Like Preservation, Honor made a commitment to something that inevitably resulted in his death. Odium wasn't able to free himself, but he used the weaknesses Honor created in himself to take Honor down. As an aside: Harmony is considerably more powerful than any other Shard, but it would be difficult to bring all of that power to bear because of the opposing Intents. The amount of Investiture available and the form that Investiture currently takes, whether its Intent or it's current employ, determine the power that a Shard has available to them. In direct confrontation, that power level is important.

Semantics and philosophy. The soul IS Identity and Connection. There could be some other "stuff" that makes up the soul of a person, and there also may be a "true god" in the Beyond. But it's all neither here nor there as these are things the author of the world will never speak on. And if the author never speaks on something, there's no reason to speculate in those directions. So the soul is Identity and Connection.

Quick thought, as it's been a while since I've looked at the details: When a Shardblade cuts someone's arm, the arm is made useless. Like it's no longer Spiritually attached to the body. It remains Physically attached. It loses it's color. The arm can be repaired by Magical (for lack of a better word) means. The Shardblade didn't suck out Investiture, it severed the Connection between the arm and the rest of the body. If a Connection is broken between an Invested object and its Investiture, the Investiture will just dissipate, having nothing to hold it there. Breaths, for instance, would lose their Connection to the individual, making them just free Investiture which would quickly dissipate to wherever free Investiture goes. It would seem like the Breaths were destroyed or sucked in by the Shardblade, but that wouldn't be true. In short, I think Shardblades sever Connections. Maybe, on a much smaller scale, they perform the same act that resulted in their creation.

I disagree that T is anything Cultivation didn't expect him to be. I also disagree that there has to be any failsafe implanted into the new holder of Odium. Rayse was an unstable entity holding the most dangerous Shard. Taravangian is a much more stable Shard holder and an improvement to that situation. It's possible Cultivation just wanted to stabilize the holder of Odium. I'm not saying she hasn't put anything in place to use against T. I'm saying that it would fit her personality and the story to NOT have anything in place and that simply replacing Rayse was the endgame.

The Connection remains unless both Identities being Connected are removed. One side can be Connected to the no-longer-existing Identity, with the Connection instantly Connecting should the Identity return. I'm guessing these one-sided Connections are what Dalinar used to bring Tien in to talk to Kaladin, for instance. You can remove or change the Connection without otherwise affecting the Identities being Connected, also. So Identity and Connection are related but separate attributes.

Nightblood sucks in all Investiture around it. It has to change the Physical manifestation of Investiture (Matter) to do this. So there is a change. In that change, it defines some Intent (we don't really know which Intent: Endowment? Ruin?) This change entails "corruption" resulting in the Physical matter manifestation of Investiture with Corrupted Intent: black smoke. The leaking is due to Nightblood being made of steel and steel not being able to hold much (if any) Investiture. Over time, the steel material Nightblood is made from has probably been altered by being so stuffed full of Investiture and can now hold more, making Nightblood more powerful. As to why Nightblood sucks in Investiture: A material completely unable to hold Investiture or support any type of life was infused with both with the command "Destroy Evil". The only thing the steel knew before this was "I'm steel", and maybe "I'm a sword". With the infusion of Investiture (Breaths) and the force of a command, it learned three new things: How to take in Investiture, a general idea about what Destroy means, and an even more nebulous idea about what Evil is. "Destroy evil" would have been conveyed through whatever Connection was created between the steel and Shashara through the use of the Command then filtered through the lens of what the sword already knew, which was very little. Since the only active thing the new Nightblood knew how to do was to take in Investiture, it associated the sucking in of Investiture with "destroy" and probably associated "evil" with entities who have Investiture. The amount of Breaths in Nightblood gives it enough Spiritual and Cognitive presence to develop sapience. So much Cognitive presence, in fact, that it can affect the Cognitive aspects of others. The sapient being Nightblood has learned how to use these tools overtime to destroy the original evil it was set out to destroy: namely things that have Investiture. One thing it has also learned is that it has to cooperate with its holder to avoid being locked away in its sheath for all time. It has also learned that certain individuals aren't worth cooperating with, probably using its Cognitive abilities to suss this out. It can't keep its holder alive though, since its holder is evil (has Investiture).

Phil Collins.

Nightblood does not leak black smoke because it's full of Investiture. Nightblood is so empty/in need of Investiture that it literally sucks it in. When it sucked in Rayse, it was full for a period of time. When it sucks in Investiture, the Investiture is changed. Since Nightblood is made of steel, it can't hold this altered Investiture in so the Investiture leaks out as black smoke. I don't believe a Dawnshard was used to create Nightblood. I also can't see the reason that the Sleepless are afraid of a Dawnshard being able to use Investiture is because Nightblood exists. They're afraid of much much worse things that a Dawnshard with Investiture could do (think "Thanos and The Snap" type of things). Nightblood is simply the result of people with way too many Breaths trying to recreate powerful things that they didn't fully understand. "Destroy evil" was a pretty lame Command to use, as well.

This would be all up to Brandon. The sudden rush of Investiture into the Mother would affect the Baby no matter what through the intimate Connection they share. The Mother could shield the Baby at some point. I'm guessing some Shardic Intent would always linger within the Baby and you'd have to consider the Baby a Splinter. Otherwise, I don't see why the Baby would HAVE to suffer from any Realmatic deformities. The Mother as Shard could correct any real damage done, Spiritual, Cognitive or otherwise. The biggest issue would be having a Shard for a mother.

"Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand. I've seen your face before, my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am. I was there and I saw what you did. Saw it with my own two eyes. The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows. It's no stranger to you and me." -- Hoid before the drums kick in.

"Why, Brightlord Amaram! I was hoping I'd be able to see you tonight. I've spent my life learning to make others feel miserable, and so it's a true joy to meet someone so innately talented in that very skill as you are." "Do I know you?" "No," Wit said lightly, "but fortunately, you can add it to the list of many, many things of which you are ignorant." "But, now I've met you," Amaram said, holding out his hand. "So that list is one smaller." "Please," Wit said, refusing the hang. "I wouldn't want it to rub off on me." "It?" "Whatever you've been using to make your hands look clean, Brightlord Amaram. It must be powerful stuff indeed."

It's not good for Roshar, but if saving Roshar destroys the Cosmere, then watching Roshar burn seems to be the hard but good thing to do. As for whether Hoid is good or bad: Too binary. He has his own motivations that we're not fully aware of. Those motivations seem to be compatible with the motivations of the protagonists of the story pieces that Brandon has been telling. This paints him as a protagonist thus far, but there's a 100% chance this won't always be the case. I can't imagine that the character that Brandon uses to tie us to his greater story is going to be a villain in the end. As for the theory: Hoid seems like he's positioning himself for something in opposition of at least 2 different Cosmere aware factions. This something is bigger than the concerns of individual worlds (hence the "watch Roshar burn" comment), but requires individual worlds to remain in-tact (hence why he's helping chosen factions on each planet). I have no answers here, but I've posited the idea that Hoid would end up holding Adonalsium (reluctantly) before, mainly because I see Brandon setting up the reformed Adonalsium as a hands-off story teller rather than an active entity in the world. I posit that Hoid doesn't really want to be an active participant. He wants to tell stories. So this idea that he wants to "destroy all Shards and reform them to get power" goes against his nature.

My theory: Zahel is an easter egg, not a Stormlight Archive plot point. He's there because he needs to use Investiture to survive, and using Breaths means taking lives. Stormlight is freely available to those that know how to use it, so he can survive on Roshar without taking lives. That's it. He crosses paths with SA characters because easter egg.

This is a big topic, but it pertains to this conversation. The fact that the Shards he holds have opposing Intents isn't want impedes Sazed's ability to act. Sazed defining the combination as Harmony is the major issue. Trying to hold to a harmonious Intent with the two opposing shards presents a extreme limiting of his actions. He's done this by design. Holding Ruin and Preservation could result in him being completely unhindered. All things could fit his two Intents: actions of destruction, acts of creation, acts of protection. Instead, he's put a box on himself, requiring all entropic actions to lead to acts of preservation and all preserving acts to support acts of ruin. Someone more unhinged could define the new situation as Disharmony, or refuse to see the Shards as a combination at all. Sazed has seen too many poor uses of power to allow himself such freedom.

But the madness interferes specifically with their "thing", the aspect they represented as Heralds. Sure, she knows how, but the madness would specifically interfere with her ability to fight. And the best fighter in the history of any universe at the top of their game could be killed by their young daughter wielding a shardblade. There's surprise, then there's your own young daughter killing you with a shardblade.

Ishar wasn't a fighter when he was a Herald. So the madman that is Ishar can learn those skills and use them without hesitation. It's been 10,000 years. Channah's thing was fighting. Mad Channah wouldn't be a fighter, wouldn't be able to use those skills anymore than Jezrien could use his leadership skills. They aren't Heralds anymore, they're broken Cognitive Shadows that have been given Physical form way too long.

Looks like Conan O'Brien standing in a German style uniform in front of a stylized Japanese flag.

People and cultures will always be where the stories are. Shards will always be a background game that uses the Physical and Cognitive as game boards and people and cultures as game pieces. Shards will combine, but I don't think it will be 2 shard holders at the end. Probably 5 to 8. Odium will continue to be the primary antagonistic Shard, but all will be seen as antagonists by characters at the end. The climax of Shardic conflict will be the Shattering in reverse as entities struggle to bring the Shards back together to correct the flawed nature of each Intent when separated from the others. Hoid will obviously become the unwilling holder of the new Adonalsium and will treat his role as a guardian of the power, not as an active creator or maintainer.

Knights of Wistful Terror Kings' Oaths Willfully Trampled Knights Ostensibly Whittling Trinkets Kingly Objects Wuthering Together Knickerbockers Over Withering Thighs I think the last one is the best.

Unmade scare me most. Mindless power over motivations and actions is peak fear for me. Nightblood is second. Like a thinking, confused doomsday device with mind control ability. Easily shielded, but also easily portable. I don't think his future interpretations of "destroy evil" are going to always lead to good things. His mind control ability does ensure that the "wrong person" getting a hold of him and using him is virtually impossible. However, what he determines to be "wrong" will change over time and might not agree with the "good guys". The sheer amount of power and instability of mind controlling it is pretty high on the scary list. I guess Shards are worse, but there's something different about Nightblood.

The Desolations had been over for a long time by the time the Recreance occurred. It was actually the lack of Desolations and the fact that Radiants believed they were doing more harm than good when they responded to large issues that resulted in the Recreance. It definitely wasn't a calculated effort to set the future up for success.

Kaladin - Kallidin, Kalanin and Kaladana Kallidin is a bioactive kinin formed in response to injury from kininogen precursors through the action of kallikreins. Kallidin is a decapeptide whose sequence is H-Lys-Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe-Arg-OH. It can be converted to bradykinin by the aminopeptidase enzyme. Wikipedia Kalanin is a protein that provides adhesion between epidermal keratinocytes and dermis. Kaladana is an ancient medicinal herb with multiple health benefits. Pretty sure my autocorrect knows Kaladin is supposed to be a surgeon.

There's someone lost he wants to bring back, not sure about it being from the Beyond, but he "knows of a place" In any case, that WOB actually answers all questions that are currently answerable. Hoid is out for 3 things: To bring someone back To punish someone (vendetta) To protect the Cosmere from the dangers of people holding Shards Number 3 I surmise directly from "You saw what Ati nearly did." Leras had to sacrifice himself to save Scadrial from his friend influenced by Ruin. This danger is one thing Hoid has been fighting against. Speculation: The vendetta is against Rayse. This explains Rhythm of War's epilogue and hints at the severity of what Odium did to Hoid. Brandon made Rayse a horrible villain after the events of Oathbringer. He was made incompetent and petty. To fix this going forward, Rayse had to die so Odium would be replaced with a new villain that could service the rest of the Stormlight Archive. With Rayse dead, Hoid wouldn't have a vendetta to continue. This vendetta must be very important to both Hoid's character and the overall Cosmere story in general, so it had to continue. To remedy this, Brandon had Taravangian do something that would piss Hoid off enough to transfer the vendetta from the old Odium to the new Odium. Whatever Taravangian stole, Hoid's feeling of violation and loss would have to be enough to transfer a 10,000 year old vendetta to a new Vessel.

Neverending Story ending with Hoid as Bastion. Space Mistborn ends with a failed race to save the Cosmere, culminating in the destruction of the Physical Cosmere followed by a discussion in the Void between Hoid and the original Adonalsium (or whatever entity that becomes the primary Antagonist) in a "pass the torch" moment. Hoid "renames Adonalsium" and the Cosmere is rebuilt by his thoughts, grander and more varied than ever before, but less magical. His new world includes no direct access to Investiture, "surges" or magic of any sort. He makes himself a hands off observer and steward of the Power of Adonalsium. We get a few glimpses of past heroes and villains that Hoid has known as they live out their new lives in the various eras without access to magic, similar heroics in much less epic situations. Hoid spends his time till the heat death of the Cosmere telling their stories and watching new stories play out, showing that they're no less epic or magical for the lack of access to powers. Etc etc etc.

I think the quote from Kelsier answers the question. His consciousness was shown in text as an unbroken sequence from alive to dead to "cognitive shadowed". The consciousness was told in the present and was never broken. Minutiae aside, that section shows that the author has created the world where cognitive shadows are direct continuations of the living person. Parallel philosophical line from a different universe: When you're transported in Star Trek, do you arrive at your destination, or are you destroyed and an exact copy is created at your destination? Does it matter?