Geneio

Exiled Horneaters becoming Worldhoppers is a very interesting idea and I wonder if we've seen any in other books if it's true! I never thought Rock was dead either, I had assumed he was going to be put into jail or serve some sort of slavery like the Truthless of Shinovar.

Do you mean Kal here? Otherwise I'm confused as to why you mention Rock.

I was thinking that, but Vapour is literally a form of Water and Blood feels like it's too strongly connected to actual blood.

Wouldn't it be 10? 16 is an important number only post-Shattering, which these Spren and Roshar as a whole predate! Infant, I think we're actually missing something incredibly obvious when it comes to what these "Old Magic" Spren are, they're the Spren of the 10 essences! Zephyr - Wind Vapor - Water God Spark - Sun God Lucentia - Star God Pulp - Nightwatcher/Tree God Blood - ??? Perhaps one of the Unmade Tallow - ??? Perhaps one of the Unmade Foil - ??? Perhaps one of the Unmade Talus - Stone Sinew - ??? Perhaps, BaAdoMisharm

My pet theory is that Dalinar loses the contest of Champions and becomes Odium's Spren of Storms (Odium's counterpart to the Stormfather). Then, at the climax of the book, (I think Dalinar losing will be the low point in Act 3) the Everstorm and Highstorm will merge, as will Dalinar and the Stromfather to make a Warlight Storm. Or maybe Dalinar loses at the end of the book and because of Bondsmith-y powers mergers himself with the Stormfather to make the Warlight Storm.

What if instead of the voice being Tanavast or even being any creature we know, it's the voice of the Splintered Shard of Honor? Since Honor was Splintered about 2000 years ago, might that not be enough time for that Investiture to become partially self aware? We know that Kaladin has a very strong Intent of Honor (I in fact think he'll pick up the Shard of Honor at the climax of the book) so maybe the voice on the Wind is able to speak to him because he's highly Connected with the Shardic Intent! I also think that the new Storm that the voice is talking about is going to be a Warlight Storm which will be the aftermath of the Highstorm and the Everstorm merging together (perhaps with Dalinar/Dalinar's Cognitive Shadow becoming the Spren of this new Storm)

I think you're right. I think that only a handful have truly opposite Intents like Ruin and Preservation and most likely Dominion and Autonomy, this is probably only when the Shards have diametrically opposed Intents, which on my theory would correspond to Shards that are related to a 'pure' Dawnshards Command. Like how Preservation is 'pure' Connect and Ruin is 'pure' Change. If they're opposite in some other way I feel like they just might not get along but likely don't hate/want to destroy eachother.

Okay, having read all the Secret Projects and all the (currently published at time of writing) books, I have a theory about what the Primal Commands that the Dawnshards represent, and how they tie Shardic Intents. The crux of my theory is 2-fold, that the Commands Dawnshards are related to the 4 Spiritual Components: Connection, Identity, Fortune and Investiture (or the 3 Spiritual Properties plus Investiture) and that as they were used as part of a weapon that split Adonalsium into the sixteen Shards and that these Commands helped form and shape the Shardic Intents; this is being extrapolated from the Mural that Rysn saw in Dawnshard. This makes some sense to me, as the Cosmere was made by Adonalsium using Investiture [citation needed, but I think it's a safe guess] and these 4 Commands. From this, I think the 4 Dawnshards are: Connect (This is the one that Hoid and Sigzil held and relates to Connection) - You can't harm living things, as they have Connection, since you'd be destroying Connection instead of forming it and binding things/creatures together. This is also reinforced by the fact that holding this Dawnshard makes you connected to everything in the Cosmere and I postulate that skipping works by Sigzil rewriting his Physical Connection to the Planet/Location in Space - I am unsure how Hoid has such a strong connection to Fortune as I don't think he holds the Fortune Dawnshard, but that could be because he changed his Connection to Fortune, or it could be related to his past while Adonalsium was still alive. Control (Relates to Fortune) - Since seeing how things move and work on a Spiritual and Axi level (so both in very granular Time and Space) probably allows for insanely fine and accurate control of Investiture and relates to Future Sight. Change (Relates to Investiture) - As Investiture wants to change from Potential to Kinetic, it wants to Change itself from one state into another. This is also reinforced by the idea that Rysn was explicitly told to not learn any Invested Art and that this is likely the Dawnshard which destroyed Ashyn. Also, as explained by Sigzil, that a creature holding a lot of Investiture - like the Chared and a being that is holding a lot of Stormlight - wants to act/change/do things. I think the reason that someone with a lot of Breaths don't have the same compulsion to act/change/do things is because Breaths are Innate Investiture and not Potential like Stormlight is. Capacity (Relates to Identity) - This most likely provided creatures with Identity when Adonalsium was creating the Cosmere. This one might be semi-self aware, like a Spren, and I think is likely the one that Sanderson mentioned is different from the others, as the other Dawnshards just have self-preservation as we learnt in "The Sunlit Man". Applying these to Shards, my idea is that opposite Intents cause tension between Shards and that these are related to the corresponding different Dawnshards that created/split them and the Spiritual Attributes/Primal Commands that Dawnshards themselves represent. This would also be why some Shards are better at Future Sight, for example, and why some have differing abilities/relate to the Commands used to control Investiture within their corresponding magic systems. (I don't think that all of these manifest directly, but sometimes they do like how Honor bound Odium to the Roshar System as he is closely tied to Connection and also require the need to form a Connection with a Spren to work.) I assign each Shard 2 different Dawnshards/Primal Commands that they are related to - a base one related to which direct Dawnshard they are most directly related to and then a secondary Intent/Dawnshard/Primal Command/Spiritual Attribute. Shardic Intents: Connect (Connection/Binding People/Not Harming Others) (Opposite of Change) Devotion : Capacity (At tension with Dominion, yet their powers work together as the Dor - so together they have opposite primal Intents/Commands. Devotion and Odium can also be argued to be opposite to each other.) Preservation : Connect (Opposite of Ruin and wants to keep everything the same.) Honor : Control (Was Married to Cultivation, and is said to uphold oaths and agreements, and to bind things together.) Mercy : Change (Not much is known about their intent, but Harmony (pure Connection and Change) became troubled by Mercy as a result of their exchange.) Change (Investiture/Entropy/Growth/Action) (Opposite of Connect) Ruin : Change (Opposite of Preservation and the manifestation of Entropy.) Cultivation : Control (Has good Future Sight, Cultivation's intent as a Shard appears to be related to transformation. In her own view, on the other hand, she wishes to grow things and people, and prune them if need be, to shape them in a desired form, even if she accepts that there will always be a degree of uncertainty.) Invention : Capacity (After that initial contact, Harmony was unable to locate Invention again - so maybe wants to be free and by itself?) Virtuosity : Connect (Virtuosity's Intent concerns artistic intent, and artistic talent, and artistic appreciation. It is said in Yumi that Art needs an Audience.) Control (Fortune/Power) (Opposite of Capacity) Odium : Change (Has good Future Sight, wants to be the only God in the Cosmere, said to be the vengeful anger of God. Opposite of Devotion.) Dominion : Control (At Tension with Devotion, Dominion's focus was probably related to amassing and maintaining control over others. Their powers, with Devotion, work together as the Dor - makes sense as they have opposite base Intents/Primal commands.) Wisdom/Prudence : Capacity (Can foresee the Future very well, wants to be left alone and away from the coming conflicts. Antagonistic to Hoid (who would have picked up Endowment if they were to hold a Shard at the Shattering), so makes sense that they have opposite base Intents.) Valor : Capacity (Wants to help Hoid, understands the issue which Odium shows, but very little is known about them yet.) Capacity (Identity/Self Determination) (Opposite of Control) Endowment : Control (Their Intent is not entirely clear; it's likely related to bestowing gifts or talents upon others. They are able to ignore their Intent somewhat, as they don't provide Hoid with help (which would be a form of Endowment); but this could be because of disagreements between Hoid and Edgli, related to the differing Intents that she and the Dawnshard that Hoid holds are or because Capacity Intent allows for some amount of self-determination. But there are certain things they are looking for when endowing Divine Breaths. They also have some capacity to perceive the future and bestow those visions upon others, so likely has some advanced Connection to Fortune.) Autonomy : Capacity (Autonomy wants to remain alone; she does not wish to be corrupted by other Shards and thinks that all Shards are better off on their own. Her philosophy is very much focused on the survival of the fittest. Under Autonomy's world order, one must earn their right to keep existing, so it makes sense that they are the purest form of Identity.) Ambition : Connect (Disliked by Endowment, but unsure if that is related to their opposite Intents or a disagreement between the Vessels.) Whimsy : Change (Not much is known, but they are said to be not congruous with intense planning and ambitions. It is also not calculating nor deliberate, so no relation to Control. Likely either Connect or Change.) All the information in brackets is from the Coppermind and WoB's. I am open to some of these being changed as we do know very little about most of these Shards, but we do know that some are truly opposite, like Ruin and Preservation and Devotion and Odium. Please let me know if you have any different ideas or modifications of this idea, but I am fairly confident of the broad strokes of this theory having read "The Sunlit Man" and "Dawnshard".