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This is just a small bit of last-minute speculation before Oathbringer arrives. I've had a Ghostblood Symbol-related idea before that was already debunked, so I thought might as well attempt a second one. This time, one of my inspirations came from an unexpected place: a Sharder's profile photo. Specifically, @Aon Ati's profile photo, which I noticed just a few hours ago. Admittedly I had totally forgotten what Aon Ati looked like, and when I saw that picture it simply blew my mind. It felt like a Eureka moment in my quest for deciphering the Ghostblood symbol. But another major thing that led to this idea came to me last year via a different Aon. Part I: Aon Ire The truth is that I've never really bothered to analyze the shape and forms of the Aons before. Old-timers like me remember other people's futile attempts at connecting Aon Ati with the Vessel Ati before, and because of this I tended to shy away from Aons in general, especially their off-world potential. But in reality, Aonic symbolism has in fact traveled across planets at least once. In particular, we know that there is a Scadrian version of Aon Ire. Of course, it's perfectly possible that the steelified Ire symbol doesn't really exist in-universe and was just something Isaac and Brandon thought up to symbolize in a way familiar to Mistborn readers the group of mysterious beings who call themselves Ire, but at least it sets a precedent for the idea of Aons being seen in a non-Selish cosmere story. Take note that Kelsier actually sees Aon Ire in his head when he hears Alonoe say her group's name: We'll come back to this later on. Meanwhile, let's get to the meat of this theory. Part II: Aon Ati You've already seen what Aon Ati looks like, and if you've been paying attention to your Stormlight symbology, you'd know that the Ghostblood symbol has been described as three interlocking diamonds. This similarity (which I first noticed when I saw that profile photo) is what led me to my theory: The Ghostblood symbol was derived from Aon Ati. But obviously it's not exactly Aon Ati as the Elantrians knew it. For one, it doesn't have the dots. Based on @Viridian's report, the Ghostblood symbol also differs from Aon Ati in that its diamonds are arranged horizontally instead of vertically. So it's not exactly Aon Ati, but is rather a slight modification. Just like how the Steel alphabet version of Ire is a modification that relates to a Scadrian writing system (the Steel alphabet), I speculate that the Ghosblood symbol is a form of Ati made to look like some sort of Rosharan writing. (Edit: Thanks to @Iridium Savant's comment below, I now realize the Ghostblood symbol looks like Women's Script, which in hindsight I should have noticed.) The differences between the original Aon and the "localized" version aren't even that big, but the truth is I wouldn't have entertained this idea at all without my prior thoughts about Aon Ire's appearance in a Scadrial story. Because there is another connection there: We know that Aon Ati represents the concept of Hope. Well, there is another entity in the cosmere that (ostensibly) represents hope, one who had prior encounters with Elantrian magic and likely learned more about it later on, one who by the way is as deceptive and as ruthless (likely more so) as any Ghostblood member we've seen so far: (Edit: I compiled a few more interesting instances of Kelsier reinforcing his claim of representing hope in M:SH in a reply below.) Wouldn't it be interesting if Kelsier really is the one in charge of the Ghostbloods? I mean, it already has at least one Scadrian among its ranks. This makes me even more curious about what that "Thaidakar" guy looks like...

Yeah, the description of the Tia plate shows that an Elantrian doesn't need to re-draw the Aon. Just pressing on the plate is enough. Which makes sense, because if the plate wasn't a shortcut that allows an Elantrian to skip the tedious part of his magic, then what exactly is the point of it? A mere tracing guide for Elantrians who forgot their Aons would be kinda lame, don't you think?

I hope you're fine with a less distinguished Arcanist like me handing out the WoB (which was taken from the Calamity signing at Austin):

Dude, anything that could potentially remind people of Discworld (no matter how unintended) is doing a service to humanity. Don't you agree? On a more serious note, I never thought of L-space while writing the theory, but the space-warping library of Unseen University isn't that far away conceptually from the idea of multi-dimensional Realms. I guess someone might think that I'm trying to put Discworld in the cosmere (which I'm not), but that's just silly. It's the opposite. The cosmere is clearly in the Discworld, located somewhere in L-space.

Wow thanks for the new comments, guys! Feel free to share what you come up with! Of course, the problem about a "theory of everything" is that often it's better to use a smaller, more specialized theory instead to explain something. In the real world, some physicists brag about how Physics is the purest Science, and that a theory of everything in Physics could explain anything in the universe; but if you tried to derive, say, the Science of Immunology using just the fundamental particles of Physics, it'll take you forever to do it. Similarly, I haven't actually used the L-theory in any of my subsequent theories because L-theory is just a bit too general to be useful most of the time. What's important is that Brandon himself has confirmed that the cosmere follows something similar to string theory, that there is a quantum of Investiture, and that there are two separate planes of existence in the cosmere that are somehow connected, which are major points of this "theory of everything in Realmatics" of mine. I speculated in Part II of my theory post that the Shadesmar environments that people experience are just a Lightweaving illusion, but yeah the reason why the illusion is different for each Shardworld wasn't something I intended to discuss here. I have commented on the Shardworld-specific differences within the Cognitive Realm elsewhere, though. I speculated that it has something to do with how each Shardworld might be attuned to certain Essences. The Shardworld Essences thing is one of my theories that I'm not very confident in, but it's the best I could offer right now regarding that conundrum.

I think it would be cool if Spark's species name is "reductionspren", because not only to Dustbringers reduce objects by breaking down their molecular bonds, but also their spren seem to have a philosophy that things are better understood when they're reduced to their constituent parts, a philosophy called reductionism.

Those really are amazing! Oh, and I'm looking forward to see Vedel. I wonder if these four Heralds will have important roles in Oathbringer somehow.

@Extesian You are too kind, but I am just a lowly Skaa with weird ideas. One thing I noticed about the 2003 Double Eye is that some of the Order Resonances seem to be related to the 2003 "Surges". For example, Shallan's memory ability fits the "Thought" Surge connected to Water (what we now know as Blood). If the Skybreakers (or whatever name the Order of judgemental Knights had in the 2003 version) were indeed originally supposed to be in the Air/Zephyr position (as suggested by the pre-publication chart), then "Time" fits their ability to figure out the dark past of people; they might actually be able to literally see people's past actions. And obviously the Truthwatchers' future sight makes more sense if they had a Time Surge (as they did in the 2003 version). I'll try to think of more connections later. Edit: More connections (this time to the Orders in general, not just to their Resonance)! The Edgedancer glyph is in the Vapor/Smoke position pre-publication, meaning they had the Wind Surge, which certainly does fit the the imagery of Edgedancers moving "like a ribbon on the wind" (as described by Nalan). As noted earlier, the Lightweavers were originally in the Lucentia position, so in 2003 they had Energy and Movement. @Pagerunner calls "Energy" broad, but Lightweaving itself is pretty broad given that it can involve any waveform, not just light. I think "energy" technically fits Lightweaving more than just "illumination". Movement... if that Surge had the same Realm-transitioning effect as Transportation, that would mean the 2003 version of the Edgedancers were basically the Stormlords in my made-up Orders ("lording over the skies and the Realms"). And also, Rosharan Lightweavers originally could Elsecall but not Soulcast. Interesting. Speaking of Soulcasting/Transformation, is that what the Thought Surge was, since Soulcasting involves Cognitive entities?

Yeah, I remember having to explain the connection between the Essences and the large glyphs of the Double Eye in a pre-WoR theory thread of mine about spren. But I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one who first discovered it; anyone who thought about the Essences deeply enough would have seen the connection to the large glyphs. Oh wow. More than three years ago I started wondering what was up with the Surge pairs associated with each Essence. It seemed clear to me that the Surge of Illumination should be connected to the Essence Lucentia because of its association with the eye, and couldn't imagine how it could possibly connect to blood. After that I noticed how most of the other Surges had similar issues. What has Transportation and Soulcasting got to do with fat? What does growing plants and sliding around got to do with crystal? I ended up creating an alternative "corrected" chart for the Essence-Surge connections and even made some alternative Orders. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to insert Sinew and Pulp, as well as the Surges of Adhesion and Growth, into that chart so I explained those away as being "Divine" Essences and Surges that were meant to be separate from the others. Basically I speculated that Tanavast did some tweaking of the Essence-Surge connections before giving humans access to them via Honorblades. (See this theory thread for details.) So... all that might have just been debunked. The connections that seemed weird to me were that way just because of some last minute swapping done "to get everything working right with the magic". I... I'm just gonna sit in a corner and cry for a while. TT_TT (Just kidding.) Anyway, at least the pre-publication Lightweaver glyph was in the Lucentia position, so that might mean Brandon did intend Lightweavers to be there. Hurray!

Welcome to the 17th Shard! Please avoid eating any offered cooki-- Oh, never mind. Carry on then.

It's simple: Every time you read about Brandon revealing something that's not in the books, do another re-read. Just kidding; that's gonna be a lot of re-reads. I think for most people it's enough to know about the Shards, the Realms, and the Worldhoppers. Read those Coppermind articles I've linked to and you'll already have plenty to look for in your re-read. Secret History and Arcanum Unbounded already revealed a lot about those topics, anyway, so hopefully the stuff revealed there is still fresh in your mind. Also, just in case you read an old edition of Elantris, I highly recommend "re-reading" using the Tenth Anniversary Edition if only for the Ars Arcanum and the extra scene at the end. More cosmere fun!

Welcome to the 17th Shard, @Dr_Evilcat! Here are some things you can do here: Ask any question about the cosmere stories in Cosmere Q&A. Don't know what the cosmere is? It's the fictional universe shared by Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, Warbreaker, and several other Brandon Sanderson books (though not all; he has lots of non-cosmere stories as well). Yes, while cosmere stories are set on different planets, those planets all exist in the same universe, and there are even characters who've been on multiple planets. Anyway, the Cosmere Q&A board is where you could ask anything you don't understand about any of the cosmere books, receive answers from the more knowledgeable Sharders (that's what we call ourselves, by the way), and vote on the best answer. You can also, of course, post answers to other people's cosmere questions. Post your own Cosmere Theories. We welcome most kinds of speculation here, though I suggest you read up first on what the fandom already knows about the topic you want to speculate on. Brandon has revealed a ton of info through the years that can't be found in the currently-published books. These are called "Words of Brandon" (WoB for short). It's common for new fans to post theories that have already been debunked by a WoB, though a few lucky/smart ones manage to discover true things on their own without the help of WoBs. Having your theory proven false is perfectly fine, in my opinion; it's something the most hardcore Sanderson fans still have to endure from time to time. But it's good to do your research first. Discuss individual book series in their own respective board. There are dedicated message boards for each one of Brandon's book series, both cosmere and non-cosmere. There's even a Wheel of Time board. You should typically avoid talking about other series when posting in a specific series' message board (e.g. don't mention Windrunners when you're in the Mistborn board). This is to avoid spoiling people who haven't read the other series yet. When a new book comes out, a temporary spoiler board is created for it so that early readers can discuss stuff without spoiling the others. Discuss Sanderson-related real life events (book tours, speaking events, fan-meetings, etc.). People attending an event could announce their plans, including any plan to record the event, interview Brandon, meet up with other Sharders, cosplay, etc. Afterwards they report on what happened, especially what Brandon said. These events are our biggest source of WoBs (although Reddit is starting to catch up, as Brandon is quite active there), so it's common for people to submit questions they want to ask in event threads just in case there's a Q&A or signing involved (you can ask Brandon to write an answer to a question on your book during signings). Roleplay, submit/view fanart, or just mess around. The Community section is basically the "fun" part of the 17th Shard. I don't often go there because I'm a big spoil sport (), but it's probably the most active section here. The General Brandon Discussion board can also be pretty wacky. To be fair, the more "serious" parts of the forums can also be fun, albeit with more rules; it all depends on your perspective. Some of the forum admins also manage other Sanderson-related online places, in case you're interested: The Coppermind - This is a wiki-based encyclopedia for all things Brandon Sanderson. It's where we organize the information we received from both the books and the WoBs into (hopefully) readable articles. Since it's a wiki, anyone is free to contribute. Don't be afraid to edit! Oh, and if you have any questions about the wiki there is a Coppermind board here. The 17th Shard Discord server - This is the 17th Shard's official online chat server, divided into several channels based on various topics. It's a perfect place to pass the time, or for quick throwaway discussions. Um... you probably would've discovered all those things on your own, but I have this bad habit of making super-long posts. Sorry about that. See you around!

Welcome back, Aether! Having been a part of three Sanderson-related Discord servers, I can say they are excellent venues for quick theoretical discussions, but the 17th Shard is still the best for sharing long theories because you can actually link to 17th Shard posts and those can be accessed even by outsiders. The two theories I posted earlier this year were both influenced by (and were later modified because of) Discord discussions. This method--discussing ideas on Discord then organizing the ideas into a 17th Shard theory post-- is something I will probably keep using in the future. You should try it, too! Unfortunately I'm in a sort of hiatus because of problems I've been having in real life lately. Seems like that's a trend here, huh? Anyway, I hope to see new theories from you. Oh, by the way, here's the current successor to your Master List of Origins thread. @The Young Bard took over the origin-tracking task a year after Quitecontrary left.

Aluminum actually stores Identity. Connection is stored by duralumin. As for unkeyed metalminds, e.g. the unkeyed goldmind that Wayne uses in BoM, this is how they work (let's use unkeyed gold as an example): A person first needs to have both Aluminum Feruchemy and Gold Feruchemy (in the case of the Set, they do this via Hemalurgy). The person first stores his Identity in an aluminummind. The now Identity-less person then stores Health in a goldmind. The goldmind now has Identity-less Feruchemical Health. It is not keyed to a particular Identity, hence the "unkeyed" part of the term. So as you can see, the trick is for the Aluminum Feruchemist and the Gold Feruchemist to be the same person. And of course, we mustn't forget the limitation of unkeyed metalminds: In the case of the unkeyed goldmind, only other Gold Feruchemists can use the unkeyed Health.

Based on the Jasnah escape scene, she doesn't really convince objects to change so much as command them to change. Given that, I don't think the Cognitive aspects of those thugs had much choice in the matter. Edit: That scene, while written by Brandon, is not considered totally canon. So I guess take my conclusion with a grain of salt.

Welcome to the forums! I like your username. When it comes to the non-cosmere stories I'm more of a Rithmatist kind of guy, but I'm sure you'll have loads more fun reading the Alcatraz books with your daughter. Those wacky Smedry cousins are great! See you around!

Ah, it's not every day we get a new member who is already Hemalurgic. Welcome to the forums!

Fun fact: While Brandon likes to invent new words (often based on real world non-English words) in his fiction, he also uses uncommon English words sometimes. Aside from odium, there's also recreance, investiture, threnody, and octant (just to name a few). Look them up in a dictionary (like Wiktionary) or an encyclopedia (like Wikipedia) and enjoy your expanded English vocabulary.

@CaptainRyan has the correct answer. A sort of resurrection does take place, though not a very pleasant one for the spren. Most Shardbearers simply can't hear the screams. And of course, since the resurrection needs to happen every time it's summoned, the zombie spren dies again when dismissed. Very unpleasant.

About the "father" thing, Wax later learns that Paalm was referring to a Survivorist priest. From Chapter 12: Father Bin was the priest Wax and Steris asked to perform their wedding ceremony. From Chapter 2: That's why Paalm called him "your father". He was, in a way, "their priest".

Hi @Gladius Deus, First of all, welcome to the 17th Shard! Please put all future inter-Shardworld theoretical discussion threads in Cosmere Theories, not in "Introduce Yourself!". I hope you have an awesome time here. See you around!

I have an old abandoned theory that is basically the same as yours, @Kinnsayyy. People didn't like it very much. Right now I still think there's a connection between atium and electrum, though my conclusions have changed somewhat. Aluminum and chromium being opposites of each other is a common counter-argument, but chromium doesn't alloy with other Allomantic metals while atium alloys with all of them, so it's a bit of an apples to oranges thing. The main conundrum is this: If Atium Allomancy is an inversion of Electrum Allomancy in a self-others axis, and Atium-Gold (a.k.a. Malatium) is an inversion of Gold in the same self-others axis, then is it possible that all atium alloys have this self-others inversion? If we say no, then what is the pattern followed by atium alloys? If we say yes, then Atium-Electrum ought to be a self-others inversion of Electrum, which is exactly the same as Atium.

What I did was to put all my favorite forum posts (both from others and from myself) in my About Me page, which I link to in my sig. I'm not sure how effective that is in promoting those posts, though.

All I gotta say is this: Take the "There's a Spren For That" principle and apply it to NSFW stuff.