The Nameless One

I think the golden hair might be Royal Locks.

The Kandra say they are of Preservation, not because they use Preservation's magic, but because they hide Ruin's body. Plus, they are all trained to remove their spikes at critical junctures.

I think you're right, which pretty much deconstructs my idea. Here, have some rep.

I would say that Shallan only thinks of the goblet as having a spren because she is inexperienced with soul casting. I would say that spren are not necessarily a change in the cognitive realm, but rather an increase. From the Side Carry Chapter: Obviously, if everything, including fear had an actual spren, there would be fearspren in both places. Thus, when people refer to everything having a spren , it is really cognitive aspects that they are describing. In the above quote, all of the bridge crews experience fear. The cognitive aspect of fear is increased. However, the powers of Honor/Cultivation are attracted to the largest excitation, allowing it to manifest in the cognitive realm.

Kaladin's mother talks of everything in the world having a spren. However, there is a quote during one of the bridge assaults that challenges the idea of everything having a spren. Before the side bridge assault, Kaladin thinks that the reason that there are no fearspren around Bridge Four is that all the fearspren are around the other crews. I purpose that both speakers are correct. All things have a cognitive aspect. However, spren, which manifest in the physical realm, are excitations in the cognitive field. Much like electrons are excitations in the electric field, or Higgs Bosons in the Higgs field. This is also the reason why spren of the same type are virtually identical, just like quantum particles. This excitation is caused by the perception of individuals. It is enabled by the powers of Honor and Cultivation. This is why there is a limit to the amount of spren in an area; there is a limited amount of shardic power. In the case of Kaladin and Syl, Kaladin's honorable actions increased the "quantum charge" of Syl. Kaladin can draw upon this increased charge for his surgebinding. To sum up, spren are created/summoned when a strong cognitive aspect excites or taps into a cognitive ideal. The combined powers of Honor and Cultivation then allow the excitation to manifest in the physical realm. The exact ideal, amount of Cultivation, amount of Honor, etc determine the type of spren, similar to how mass, strong and weak nuclear forces, and charge determine the type of quantum particle. Thoughts?

Brandon did mention Realmatics as an explanation. However, my question was more in line with if Preservation gradually drained from the Spiritual/Cognitive to Physical Realms to refill the well, losing the power like Ruin. The answer was no. Looking back, this should have been obvious, as the creation of the well involved the sacrifice of Leras's cognitive aspect, and that clearly did not regenerate/degenerate over 1204 years. Here are some photos: Sanderson's stand. Elend, Vin, Tindwyl, Sazed, and The Nameless One Sanderson signing my boxed Mistborn.

I just got back from the Phoenix Comic on, where Brandon is a guest at, and I must say it was an honor to meet him. He read parts of Wax/Wayne 2, Legion 2, and the Taravangian interlude in WoR. There weren't a lot of cosmeric goodies, but I did get a couple interesting tidbits in relation to Mistborn: Ruin would have had to manifest to reabsorb the atium, the Well of Ascension did not come at a price to Preservation's power, and perhaps the most interesting one. Burned metals are turned into a different form, and will eventually return to the planet. The Pits of Hath sin are meant to foreshadow this. There were a couple of cosplayers, with one particular group dressed as Sazed, Vin, Elend, and Tindwyl. I have audio of the spotlight (which includes the readings), but I don't know if I am allowed to post it. I probably will post a picture of the four costumers later.

After re-reading HoA, I feel the need to express it in Realmatic terms. Preservation forcibly separated Ruin's cognitive aspect from his physical/spiritual ones. Ruin's physical aspect (the black mist) was confined to the area around the Well of Ascension. Meanwhile, Ruin's spiritual aspect was leaking into the physical realm as atium. This decreased his overall power level, until he could somehow return it to his spiritual aspect. The question is, how do the mists factor in to this? When did they first appear, and when did Preservation attack Ruin?

What would Ruin burning it have done? It seemed to me that Elend and co. burning atium didn't feed it back to Ruin. Maybe it would have been different for Ruin though. Instead of returning to Hathsin, the spiritual energy might return to him.

What I'm wondering is how Ruin would have reclaimed the atium...

I thought that the reason Ruin was equal to Preservation was because of the loss of the atium, hence the whole manipulation of the hero's to find it. I also distinctly remember a theory that the reason that Harmony's shards are balanced is because he was siphoning atium off to Marsh. I guess that the question is whether a shard's spiritual aspect can be diminished by creating/investing things in the physical realm. Another thing, what would the Inquisitors have done with the atium?

Something's been bothering me for a while. In the HoA commentary, Sazed mentions how a Shard's power/body are pretty much the same. This seems to imply that the Shard's power is based in the physical realm. However, when Ruin's spiritual aspect started leaking into the physical realm at the Pits of Hathsin, he became weaker. This would imply that power is based in the spiritual realm. Perhaps that the thing most critical to keeping Ruin contained was Preservation somehow forcing power from Ruin's spiritual aspect into the physical world, forming the black smoke. When Ruin was freed, this power was released back into the spiritual realm, and he became strong again. Thus, Ruin's goal with gaining the atium would be to somehow transmute it's power back to the spiritual realm. Thoughts?

I believe that Sir Shemmington is referring to a full Feruchemist/Misting or a full Mistborn/Ferring. I'd want to be a Feruchemist/Coinshot.