Malim

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

He was a Roman Emperor, and at least to me, it reads exactly the same way as I imagine Nohadon to have written TWoK.

Probably a silly question, but has it ever been proven that Hoid's Dawnshard and the Change Dawnshard are different? Brandon seems to have firmly RAFO'd this, example below:

Quote

Simon

1) Is Hoid still holding his Dawnshard?

2) If not, is the Dawnshard currently hold by Rysn the same as Hoid's or a different?

3) Nikli mentions 4 Dawnshards. Are there more than that?

4) Are all the Dawnshards currently (as of SA 4) on Roshar? Or in the Rosharan System?

5) Are there some of them on worlds we have already seen (Scadrial, Sel, Threnody, etc...)?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid Dawnshard is a RAFO.

Same.

There are only four Dawnshards.

RAFO on whether they're on this planet or not.

These are great questions, but Dawnshard info is mostly for the future cosmere books--and so I consider most of it very RAFOy.

Brandon Sanderson

"Same," here meant RAFO. I answer these quickly, I'm afraid, particularly when they come in a list like that.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/406/#e14592

Granted Rysn and Nomad's experiences have a very different feel to me, but we also haven't had much screen time with Rysn since she obtained hers.

4 hours ago, Confused said:

I speculate Taravangian sends his Fused to the Shattered Plains because he thinks that’s where the Dawnshard is. Sigzil and his Radiants head there for battle. I predict that Hoid will recover the Dawnshard before Taravangian’s forces find it and give the Dawnshard to Sigzil. That sets up the TSM narrative.

Or not...

Agreed.

TSM spoilers

Whether or not the Dawnshard would actually work in this way is speculative, but TOdium might very well believe it to do so.

1 minute ago, alder24 said:

I'm 100% sure this wasn't it. The reduction of power would manifest in the same way as Syl leaving Kaladin for longer - his powers would fade but the bond would remain, when reunited he would regain his powers (we've seen this a little in WoR). But this shouldn't break the bond or affect the Sibling because they can create their own light - Towerlight - and with it power all functions and fabrials of the Tower, with or without the bond. I can't believe that there wasn't a longer period of time with unbonded Sibling in the past - if loss of the bond caused Urithiru to fail, this would have happened periodically in the past, yet Radiants had no clue what was happening with the Tower before the Recreance. Moreover, the hunt for BAM was not happening at the time of recording the gem archive and abandoning Urithiru - it was still being planned and they even said they would need Melishi for this in the future. 

The death of Honor and the wound caused by capturing BAM caused the Sibling to lose its ability to hear their own Tone and create the Towerlight, but something else was happening to the Sibling which made some protections and fabrials to fail. It was also said that the Sibling was the one who broke their bond - if the bond was broken after Mishram was captured, the Sibling would have become a Deadeye.

Could this have been something preemptive on the Sibling's part then?  Melishi is going to try to capture BAM.  They don't know what, if any, the implications will be, so they take precautions.  Melishi creates the defences, the Sibling starts to withdraw, and the plan goes ahead.  Sure they didn't know what exactly would happen with greater Connection, they may have not even thought about it, but could this simply be a fail safe?

Another thought: what if the plan itself went against the Sibling's beliefs?  They don't like Spren being captured and held after all.  I could see a scenario playing out like between Kaladin and Syl when he was going along with the plan to kill Elhokar.  The Sibling starts to lose themself, and withdraws, but in the actual moment, they break the bond, not Melishi.  Would this still deadeye them?  Not necessarily if it happened at the same time.  The Sibling is on a higher level than Syl after all, maybe they were able to sever the bond themselves without as many drawbacks.  If the bond had been already lessened, it might work.

It's problematic I know, but I think it is at least a possible action given the timeline we suspect.

So this topic came up in the Stormlight board, and one of the questions raised was the timeline of the capturing of BAM, the Recreance, and the lessening or breaking of the Sibling's bond with Melishi.  Sorry to bring it here, but a thought occured to me that is solidly in WaT spoiler territory.

It was revealed that Navani's bond with the Sibling is limited both spacialy and in time.  Specifically, she cannot leave the Tower for prolonged periods without the bond weakening.  Could this be a clue as to what happened between Melishi and the Sibling?  Melishi leaves the Tower to hunt down BAM, maybe because he/she (can't remember if gender was ever stated) was the only active Bondsmith.  This weakened the bond and led to the reduction in power and withdraw of the Sibling that we see in the Gem Archive.  Melishi still had enough of a bond to do whatever needed to be done, and captured BAM in the Spirit Realm.  Then the bond was totally severed.

This could explain why the Sibling wasn't deadeyed, but why they withdrew.  It could also explain part of why the Sibling doesn't like humans.  From their perspective, they were abandoned, and a Spren was imprisoned. 

Any thoughts?

There is another possible consideration, but it comes from the latest WaT chapter.  Spoilering and going to try to be cagey.  Please let me know if we should move this specific idea to another board.

*edit* Starting a topic on WaT board on this.  Thanks @LewsTherinTelescope for the ok.

1 minute ago, slavagh said:

There is another problematic thing. You need to separate Adolin and Maya for all of this to work. I doubt she will be OK with this. 

Agreed.  I hadn't thought of that.  The only way I could see it is if in the moment, Adolin chose Shallan over Maya, which frankly he probably would, but that might fully Deadeye Maya again.  That would be interesting as it could leave him without a Blade for the Contest, or at least with severe difficulties in summoning and using her as he is used to.

2 minutes ago, slavagh said:

    I agree. It is possible to exploit Adolin's resentment of his father and persuade him that TOdium is better for Roshar. But not in his current state. A lot of groundwork needs to be done to justify his shift. 

This is true, and the timeline would seem to make this a real obstacle to overcome.  I still think it could be done though.  Chapter 15 is called Passionspren after all.  What could in an instant change a person?  Passion, heat of the moment.  Put a literal or figurative, but imminent, knife to Shallan's throat, and hit Adolin with the listed arguments.  It might be hard for Adolin in that moment to say no.

Quote

He’d thought waiting would let the pain fade. It had instead festered. He found himself more angry than he’d been when he’d first found out.

Adolin - Chapter 15

I have seen several people both here and on Reactor note Adolin's internal monologue in the latest released chapters.  It actually gave me a bit of a chill when I read it.  I have long been a... not fan I would say, of the the Gavinor as Champion theory, but I have always seen it as a possibility.  This however has me thinking along a different line, and it is one that I apparently am not alone in, nor is it one I would like to see happen, but it may have been foreshadowed: Adolin as Odium's Champion. 

There are serious issues with this theory, but they may all be explainable. 

1) Adolin would never go against Dalinar.  As the quote above shows, there is some resentment, honestly well earned, between Adolin and his father over what happened to Evi.  Adolin adored his mother, and the revelation of what his father did to her almost broke him.  He still wants a reconciliation, but the truth of that resentment is still there.  Could that be a seed that Odium can exploit?

2) Even if Adolin would go against Dalinar, he would never turn on Roshar.  What if there was a way around this?  What if Adolin could be led to believe that he wasn't really going against Roshar.

Quote

And he had an important mission, the same that he’d given himself years ago when he’d seen the threat to Kharbranth—then had moved to save it. He was the one who could both see the coming danger and be willing to stop it.

-TOdium Interlude 2

TOdium at the very least sees himself as something more than just an embodiment of hate.  He sees himself as the embodiment of passion, and even more as a voice for those who have been forgotten by the other Shards.  In other words, he sees himself as the embodiment of Divine Rage.  This may or may not be true, as at least to me, he is the definition of an unreliable narrator, but it is a compelling argument.  One that might resonate with a proto-Edgedancer?

3) Adolin would never go against Shallan.  What if there was someone, or a group of people who can use that for their own ends?

Quote

Mraize will try to hurt me, love. Prove that I was foolish to cross him. To get to me, he’ll capture or kill you if he can. I have to act before he does.”

Shallan - Chapter 15

Mraize and the Ghostbloods are still around.  They still have their own goals and plans.  This may play into their hand.  Threaten Shallan in a real way, which I do believe to be in their power, approach Adolin, and make an offer.  Accept the role as Odium's Champion, defeat Dalinar, and in return, we will forget Shallan.  What do they get? Odium is free, but perhaps so is BAM.  They have worked with Fused before, I see no difficulty in them approaching TOdium with an offer like this.  Sure most likely they will be on opposite sides of the larger Cosmere War, but this, at least in the short term, gets both sides their goals.

4) Odium's Champion must be willing.  So this is what is put to Adolin by TOdium: your father is not the paragon you once thought, there is a larger war coming that no one can stop, I alone am capable and willing to protect the ones who have been forgotten by all of this, and by the way, I will get the Ghostbloods to call off their vendetta against your wife and her family.  All told, this is a powerful argument. 

Will this happen?  It remains to be seen, but at least to me, it appears to be a very real possibility. 

Oddball theory:

Could it be the bead that represents the necklace from Adolin's mother that he has?  It was cared for by him long enough that it would probably want to help him.  Do we know if he still has it?

We have seen something similar in the Cosmere before.

Mistborn spoilers:

Shallan is atunning Fortune, which seems tied to BAM in some way.  That is probably drawing BAM's attention, and it could be leaving Shallan open to picking up the "radio waves" that are being sent out.  BAM might even be aware enough to sense that her thoughts are being picked up, and is directly communicating, to what purpose and Intent remains to be seen.  It could also be as others have suggested just a wide broadcast that Shallan is able to tune into.

It is possible that BAM has been sending wide broadcasts ever since her imprisonment, but no one was listening until now.  Shallan, through either her double bond or through Fortune, is now receiving.  It could be that this is a result of her Intent to at least locate BAM, if not free her.  It's possible that people with similar Intents in the past have also received these broadcasts, it just hasn't been story revelant until now, so hasn't come up.

I have seen this with a few different audio books on different services myself.  Same narrator, same book, but slight differences.  I don't know for sure, but I suspect that they are different recordings due to "reasons".  I think that the different services or narrators sometimes have to make different recordings of the same book due to contracts or copyright issues.  I have no proof, and the reasons might not be right, but I have seen it often enough to wonder myself.

To the main point, though, Brandon has said that he gives pronunciations permission to be head canon for whoever reads them.

It is definitely an interesting idea, and I can 100% see this being tried by one of the Cosmere's mad scientists at some point.  It does raise some questions though.

1: Would Endowment even allow it?  Assuming that they would know of this attempt to hack the system, would they even be ok with it?  It seems that for whatever reason, they are about giving a piece of themselves to humans, and I don't know if they would be ok with this extra Investiture going to non-living beings.  Of course there are Lifeless, so...

2: What would be the ethics?  I got from your post that this may have occurred to you, please correct me if I am wrong.  But if you build an artificial Spirit Web, and pump in Investiture, how long before it gains at least some sentience?  If it does, does that mean that you can't take that Breath and end the Spirit Web?  This topic has come up on the real world with things like Stem Cell lines and fetal manipulations, neither of which will I comment on here, but it does raise the same type of questions.

3: Yumi Spoilers:

All told, interesting idea.

23 hours ago, Cinnamon said:

 

I would invest in that  

I'm sure with the right approach we could get a proper Endowment

I agree that Connection doesn't seem to be enough on it's own, and that it is Identity that is the most important.  I think of it like this:

Connection is as if you have taken a fully immersive set of classes on a culture. You become fluent in the language, customs, history, etc on an intellectual level.  You can communicate and understand fluently and without thought, but your sDNA hasn't changed.

Identity, however is more than that.  It overrides or represses your individual sDNA, and replaces it with something else.  It fundamentally changes who you are, and who you have been.  With that comes Connection, but on a deeper spiritual level with all that implies in the Cosmere.

Now both Connection and Identity can be changed both with "magical" and "non-magical" means in the Cosmere.  Sunlit Man spoilers:

What does this mean for the OP's question? I think it means that Connection alone won't let you switch magical systems, but Identity will.  In the case of SoulStamping, I think both are at play.  In the case of an unkeyed Metalmind, only one is.

The Crystal Gryphon by Andre Norton.  It's one of the books that first got me interested in Fantasy many moons ago.  It is part of the larger Witch World cycle, but can easily be read as a stand alone.

The Witch World itself has quite a few books in it, some by Andre Norton herself, some written in collaboration with her.  Basically it is a world that she created for herself and others to tell stories about.  Think the Cosmere, but one planet with the various books about different countries.  Definitely worth a look in my opinion.

It might be possible to be born with the proper cracks in place, but as far as I know, we haven't explicitly seen it in Stormlight.  We have seen it in the larger Cosmere though: 

Mistborn spoilers

A-Gold, F-Copper.

Why?  I'm not much of a fighter, I don't like heights, and frankly I don't care much about time skipping or emotional manipulation.  At heart I am a historian and philosopher, and these two just seem to fit my mindset the best.  A Coppermind to be able to store and remember things I've studied, and A-gold for personal reflection, growth, and possible life correction.

You could even call the Twinborn a "Stoic" which would fit me even better.

The question to me comes down to how the Vessels handle the responsibility that comes with their position.  Whether or not they are "gods" is of lesser import, at least to me.  They all have immense power, and through their Investment on various worlds, they literally have the power of life and death over all beings that exist in those worlds.  That power comes with a responsibility, at least in my mind, to care for, or at least not harm those in their power.

I fully realize that some Shardic Intents are at odds with this.  Ruin, for example is bound by its Intent to promote entropy at all costs.  By doing so, it directly harms the beings under its care.  This is not inherently evil, but is a consequence of its Intent.  Odium, by extension, is in the same boat.  Whether its Intent is Rage or Passion, the end result is the same, as in many cases pure passion can be indistinguishable from rage, in that both are strong emotions that can and do override all other considerations.

Now, the same can be said of many, if not all of the Shards that we know.  They are all bound by their Intent so strongly as to exclude all other considerations, if not when the Vessels took up the Shards, but definitely over time as the Intent changed them.  So what do we have to go on?  The Intent that aligns best with preserving life?  That would seem to limit it to three: Preservation, Harmony, and Cultivation, with possibly Endowment or Devotion thrown in for good measure.  Of these, we dont really know much about Devotion, Endowment seems to be more about playing 3-D chess with the Cosmere, Harmony is conflicted and finds it hard to act, and Preservation did empower and aid the Lord Ruler.  Cultivation is about growth and change, but frankly, I think that she is more concerned with staying alive than actually caring for her people, same as how I perceive Honor was.

To me it is a question of who seemed to care the most for their people.  In this we only have two choices: Preservation, who took it upon himself to try and save his planet from destruction, and actively tried to console the spirits of those who died, and Harmony who seems to be actively trying to protect and promote his people from outside harm.  Both are deeply flawed, neither are ones that I would necessarily want as my "god," but in my mind they seem to be the best of bad choices.

I am an insane addict to historical recipies, and while I can't pick a definite favorite, there are two YouTube channels that I hit up quite frequently for recipies.  Townsend's and Tasting History.  I've made several dishes from both, and have not been disappointed except by my own lack of skill at certain things.

As far as my own recipie, there's Macaroni and Cheese Pizza.

Sure, I'm in.

Nunavik

Xi'an

Auckland

Natchez