skaa

Yep, it's totally possible that the Surgebinder mageocracy started before the founding of the Knights Radiant, and that it lasted all the way until the Recreance, after which the surviving bondspren saw humans as traitors and stopped making Nahel bonds, thus ending the magocracy.

You are correct. I guess I was showing my biases a bit. I feel (as a very opinionated lover of speculative fiction) that it would be an odd narrative choice to make a third person limited narrator of a fantasy story use incorrect magic terminology without any qualifier, even if the viewpoint character doesn't know the correct term. In such cases, it would be better to use uncertainty ("what appeared to be an enormous, sea-blue spren...") or hearsay ("According to the locals he interviewed..."). But of course, Brandon might not have the same opinion, though I haven't seen any proof that he's ever made a narrator use incorrect terminology in the past. But anyway, I think the issue is moot because the things that make Cusicesh supposedly unique (a predictable schedule, an enormous size, and a unique appearance) can also be found in the Stormfather who we all agree (I hope) is a spren. It's all fine and dandy to theorize a totally separate, heretofore unknown category of magical being on Roshar for a creature that just so happens to be called a spren by the locals if you have reasonable cause to do so, but I think it's still safer to call Cusicesh a spren until, you know, there's actually an alternative term we can use in its stead.

Note, though, that the Silver Kingdoms period was different from the Hierocracy; the theocratic Hierocracy existed after the Recreance, if I remember correctly, and the Silver Kingdoms have been a thing way, way before that. I think it is more likely that the magocracy was the Silver Kingdoms, and that the kings of that age were Knights Radiant. After all, they were supposedly guided by a book called "the Way of Kings".

I don't know where you got that impression, but anyway the one using the term "mage-ocracy" is Brandon himself so we have to ask if he thinks Surgebinders are mages. At any rate, we know that 1) Urithiru was the headquarters of the Knights Radiant and that 2) it also contained ten thrones, one for each king of the Silver Kingdoms. It's not so far-fetched to connect those two facts and conclude that the kings of the Silver Kingdoms were Knights and were therefore Surgebinders/magic-users/"mages", although I admit that this might not necessarily be the case.

RShara's transcription of the Sugarhouse signing has this bit:

But Brandon specifically said the "mix of the two Surges". The difference in the use of each Surge in that mixture might be "slight", but it's still a mixture.

Allow me to resurrect this thread of mine to quote a recent WoB that is relevant to the topic: I take this as a confirmation that hybrid abilities are a thing. That is all.

What makromag said. As for your other question: As a matter of fact, Wit/Hoid does have Lightweaving powers, but it's not exactly Roshar's version (though it's pretty close). Hoid's Lightweaving came from his homeworld, Yolen.

I think some Julia sets look a tiny bit like Roshar, like this one (except it's pointed differently):

If you're still accepting additions to your questions list, Hero, perhaps you won't mind adding these: 1) Are Parshendi born already bonded to a spren, or are they born "slaveform"? On a related note, 2) if a pregnant Parshendi performed the bonding ritual, will the spren bond to her, or to her unborn child?

I really like this idea! Last month I decided to use my Coppermind User Page to store theories that I am not yet ready to post on the forums. An actual Theory Category would allow people to see the theories that other Sharders are working on, which might be useful for idea gathering or even theory-development collaboration. One possible issue, though, is when people start using a theory article's Talk Page to discuss the theory instead of going to the forums. But I suppose it shouldn't be too much of a problem since it's trivial to create a forum post that links to the article and its Talk Page.

Probably because it's very hard to get the exact ratio of alloy elements right using only Soulcasting. It's might be easier to Soulcast the individual elements separately and create the alloy afterwards.Edit: Never mind.

@cem: Thanks! I must have been half-asleep while reading that part. @Argent: Nice! The info about KR Squires intrigues me. Windrunners are meant to be leaders, so it makes sense that they'll have special Squire-making privileges. The Releaser from Dalinar's vision seemed to have quite a number of Squires herself, so I wonder how many more a single Windrunner could have. A small army of Squires? Also, I wonder what "abnormal" powers Lopen and the others in Bridge Four will get. We know that Lopen can now heal himself, but that seems like a universal Stormlight property. Lastly, I wonder if Heralds could have Squires. That might be one way for Szeth to get Skybreaker powers without a spren bond.

Here are a couple of questions that just came to me this morning: 1) Has Kaladin told Sigzil about his meeting with Sigzil's master (i.e. Wit/Hoid)? 2) Would the events of WoR be significantly different if Kaladin actually learned to play Hoid's flute (or at least if he brought it with him to Dalinar's camp)?

Chapter 55: The Rules of the Game. It's a pretty fun chapter, except the last part when Amaram was proclaimed head of the Knights Radiant.

"You!" - Kaladin, Adolin, and Shallan (in the same chapter, but on three separate albeit related occurences)

Given that scholars have been writing books that mention the Heralds for a long time (one such book is Words of Radiance, author unknown; also, I'll bet Nohadon mentions them by name a few times in the Way of Kings), one would think that what the Heralds called themselves was already common knowledge among the well-educated. I don't think the Vorin ardents are suppressing that information. Even in Earth religions, a person gaining a religious name does not necessarily render his previous name taboo. Most of the time you just have to know when to use one and when to use the other. So I won't be surprised if the ardents themselves use the Heralds' "real names" in discussions of history among scholars, and their "holy names" in discussions of theology or spirituality.

Pardon my moment of Assuredness there. There is no confirmation yet that the Nightwatcher, who isn't Cultivation, is a spren. For all we know, she could be some totally different thing that we've never ever encountered in the Cosmere before, like she could be a female Irish leprechaun who got sucked into a wormhole and ended up in the Cosmere, becoming the mischievous little prankster that all Rosharan kids know and love. Or something. Hell, Occam's Razor doesn't necessarily apply in fiction, after all, so let's all feel free to make the wildest speculations we possibly can. But Moogle, may I ask why you think the holder of Cultivation would do such a thing as you described? It is for sure a very interesting theory. The last time we saw a Shard do something even remotely similar, it was to imprison an enemy Shard. I don't think Tanavast would've approved of letting his Shardwife's Investiture become the prison of the Shard of Hatred (remember that the Nightwatcher was already a thing when Tanavast was still alive), but it does have a poetic feel to it given what Odium has done to Cultivation's pets, the Listeners. Alas, Laras was still known as Preservation when he used up most of his power to imprison Ati/Ruin, so I think Cultivation's holder would still be properly referred to as "Cultivation" no matter how small her power remains. Hence, since WoB says that the Nightwatcher is not Cultivation, I will have to say that she is also not "Cultivation's holder". No, she is probably a leprechaun. I mean spren. Probably a spren.

That's awesome, Sir Jerric! We all eagerly await the transcription. Have an upvote! Very interesting. Here I thought that Hemalurgy only involved the circulatory system (i.e. the blood, from the "hema" part). Turns out the nervous system might be equally important. This makes sense to me because other transformation-based Investiture in the Cosmere involve the Cognitive realm, the realm of perceptions, and the nervous system is the one responsible for the ability to perceive in animals.

From Awesomeness' Houston signing report, it looks like the Nightwatcher isn't Cultivation. Well then, that sounds like a confirmation that she is just a very powerful spren, similar to the Stormfather. Moogle's issue about why a spren of Cultivation would care so much about Honor is a valid one, though. My theory is that the Nightwatcher contains both Cultivation and Honor's Investiture. She is, in other words, a spren of both Shards. If this is the case, her sadness due to Honor's death would make sense: she is grieving for her father.

"I am a stick." "Become fire." "I am a stick!" "My name is Jasnah Kholin." *stick immediately transforms into fire*

From everything I've seen in WoK and WoR, I think it's very likely that the Stormfather himself is the one responsible for filling gemstones with Stormlight during a certain part of a highstorm. The Shards' Investiture does ultimately come from the Spiritual Realm because Investiture is spiritual power. More specifically, Investiture is Adonalsium's power of creation. The Shards are pieces of this Spiritual power that a group of sixteen humans have taken for themselves at some distant point in the past in the event called the Shattering. Each of them united with the Shard he or she took, becoming the Cognitive aspect of the Shard. Thus, a Shard usually consists of a Spiritual aspect (Investiture, filtered by the Shard's Intent, e.g. Odium, Devotion, etc.) plus a Cognitive aspect (usually a mind that was formerly human, e.g Rayse, Aona, etc.). The exceptions are the Shards whose holders have died, rendering them basically mindless (though Brandon did say that a mindless Shard will eventually develop sentience on its own).

Renarin calls his spren (who is male, by the way) "Glys". It's probably a nickname, like "Syl" for Sylphrena. I don't think Glys is an Unmade. A force of hatred with a scary name like "Moelach" or "Daigonarthis" probably won't use a nickname, certainly not a girly-sounding one like "Glys".

Man, I would've upvoted you if I could, bartbug. Awesome reveals! I'm guessing that since Nightblood is a sentient form of Invested object, his Investiture can be considered as a Splinter of Endowment (similar to Divine Breaths), so he's basically the same type of thing as a Shardblade: a Splinter in sword form. Now I'm wondering if voidspren (or the Unmade) can manifest as Blades or other Shardweapons as well. Update: Upvoted bartbug.

We'll need clarification for that. What will the stones change into? (I hope Peter will find this and give an answer.)