Synapticsam

Shallan has arguably been doing intrigue her entire life, even if we ignore any speculation about what she was up to as a kid radiant surrounded by major Rosharan players. She grew up hiding who she was from an abusive, pretending to be his perfect daughter. All while sneaking off behind his back to support her brothers. Support in the form of providing them exactly the things they needed in order to overcome their various issues. She clearly was spying on them in some capacity, all while hiding from her father's disapproval. The next thing we see from Shallan after she kills her dad is a family intrigue where they pretend that her dad isn't dead and the estate is doing fine. A ruse exclusively maintained by her. Then she managed to track the princess of Alethkar from city to city, a woman who can literally teleport (though admittedly she probably wasn't doing that). Shallan thinks she doesn't have experience because she has tons of imposter syndrome and attributes all of her skills and experience to other personalities. Veil has skills because Shallan has skills. Radiant is a good leader because Shallan is good at leading people.

I guess I'm more talking out of character, from a narrative perspective. This single chapter of setup that Brandon wrote has done more to show a connection between the two of them than anything else I've read from him -Dalinar and Navani never felt particularly emotional. Dalinar is too stoic and Navani too analytical. Their POVs don't really capture any sort of yearning. -Any romance in Kaladins story is more backstory than actual romance. -Theres little bit for Shallan and Adolin, but honestly I've always felt like that writing only explains why Adolin is able to help Shallan with her identity crisis, not any real romantic connection. -If I reach all the way back to era 1 mistborn, Vin and Elend are a POV couple but I can't really remember much about their relationship except a couple flirtatious moments where they were being rebellious. My point is, I feel like Brandon is maybe flexing some new writing skills that we haven't seen him use before, and I'm excited to see what he does with it.

Does anyone else feel like the latest chapter building up a relationship between Renarin and Rlain is one of the best Brandon has done so far? Maybe it's recency bias or maybe I'm just the target demographic, but I really enjoyed what he did. Renarin and Rlain haven't had much POV time outside of strictly main plot stuff, but getting in their heads this chapter really felt to me like this was a relationship I could root for. They have a lot more in common than what I had previously assumed from the outside. Both of them struggle with communication in different ways. Both of them work hard to fit into a "normal" that doesn't really exist. The fact that both of them are enlightened truthwatchers is just icing on the cake. Did anyone else feel like this relationship has a much better chance of working out than anyone else in the Cosmere? (Outside of maybe Tress, which is like storybook romance so that's cheating)

10 feels narratively satisfying because it's Honors number but it's probably not strictly necessary. Kaladin, Szeth, and Dalinar all feel like their stories could be building up to ascension. You could also consider Syl, Szeths highspren, and the Stormfather as a package deal with their radiant counterparts which would bring us up to 6 already.

I'm seeing a lot of good arguments for potential candidates, but is there any reason I couldn't be ALL of them? 16 came together and split the power of Adolnalsium, why couldn't 10 come together and split the power of Honor? Dalinar could reforge the "oathpact" in a sense by "Uniting" 10 honorable individuals to share the power. I think that would fit the theme of the story so far better than yet another ascendance. In contrast to Scadrial being ruled by a single person unable to act due to opposing shards, Roshar could be ruled by a council that struggles to act due to opposing vessels

No more sacrifices for battery power yes, but as time passes and generations of Threnodites die, their souls would become shades and I assume would get zapped by the sun. There wouldn't be a chance for shades to build up like they did on Threnody. This is a really good point though. And actually I feel like this must be sort of what the Night Brigade has done. Somehow harnessing the power of the Shades. At that point the Shades become less of a looming threat and more of a source of power.

The surface of Canticle is ever bombarded by a pillar of light which scorches the entire surface. Nothing survives this, causing even souls to be transmuted into little Investiture batteries. The people on this planet have to constantly stay on the run to survive, never truly knowing more than a fleeting moment of peace. Sounds like Hell right? Well, no. As many of the people living on Canticle told Nomad again and again: This Isn't Hell. Their ancestors lived in Hell and fled it.... they fled to Canticle to escape Hell. You might simply attribute this to the nature of Threnodites, especially those we see on Canticle. They take things in stride. Even when faced with certain death, they carry on without complaint. Back in the past of Threnody, Silence exemplifies these qualities as well. I however think that there is more to this. The people who fled Threnody had space flight technology. Advanced enough space flight technology that they left not just their planet, but their entire solar system. Canticle is not one of the planets listed in the Threnodite solar system. If these people could escape the entire Threnodite system, why would they choose Canticle of all places? Perhaps they had no choice, but I think they may have chosen it intentionally. Consider the reason these people left Threnody. When a Threnodite dies, their soul becomes a shade. Nomad describes Shades as one of the most dangerous forces in the Cosmere. Every single Threnodite becomes a shade someday, and as far as we know Shades don't go away once created. The entire planet of Threnody became overrun by shades, making the place unlivable. So the people evacuated the planet. However, these people may have had enough foresight to know that wherever they ran, their Shades would eventually overrun that planet as well. Nomad notes that the way that Canticle zaps people into little batteries is precisely the reason Canticle is not overrun by shades. The Chorus essentially confirms this as well, and seems to me to imply that they came here intentionally, If we establish that the people came to Canticle to intentionally avoid another Hell, then I think there are two possibilities of how they found Canticle. The first is that they searched through the Cosmere until they found a planet that would obliterate shades. This would require a tremendous amount of technology. Perhaps possible in the far future of Era 4, but not at all possible with the level of technology we've seen so far (even I think with the level of technology we see in Sunlit Man, which is likely hundreds of years after the Threnodites arrived). I think this first possibility would require an incredible amount of luck. The second possibility is that Canticle was created for them. By a Shard. One popular theory I've seen is that Canticle is an experiment created by Invention. We don't know anything about Invention, but it seems a fitting manifestation of the idea that Shard represents. It could be that the planet is just an experiment left running, that the Threnodites happened to stumble upon. Experimentation is definitely part of invention. However, another thing about invention is that usually it creates something that fulfils a need. That need could be the creation of some sort of core battery in the planet, or it could have instead been to create a planet where Threnodites could live without causing Shade apocalypses. Perhaps the people of Threnody knew enough Cosmere lore to seek out Invention. Perhaps Invention came to them knowing that following in Odiums wake would provide a great place to rationalize some experiments. TLDR; Canticle is actually the only place a Threnodite can live without fear of Shades, and it may have been created by Invention specifically so that Threnodites could escape Hell.