Duneye

Just joking around man, I'm as much a nerd as anyone else on here

Definitely Invention for me. I love seeing technological change over time and getting be actively shape technology would be fascinating to me. I think Reason would actually be a double-edged blade. It could force terrible actions if they're seen as the most "logical" option, like murdering the entire population of a city for rebelling in order to prevent any further rebellions. Seeing how Honor has interpreted its Intent so narrowly, I don't trust Reason to be a very "good" shard. As for a Shard I wouldn't want to hold, Preservation would be hell for me. I've got ADHD so being forced to try and keep everything the same forever... it would kill me pretty quick. I think it's kinda funny how Reason and Invention are the most picked. what a bunch of nerds we are lol

They did just get sent to Shadesmar, we see them trekking through it when Aux finds Szeth in the Iriali caravan.

I'm glad I'm not alone lol. It's just such an odd spren. They did, apparently generations ago they world-hopped to Roshar and have just been living there until they were called to go elsewhere. ooo I hadn't caught that. Maybe it's some kind of effect highly invested spren have? I suppose it's possible Cusicesh is a Splinter of Honor, same as the Stormfather, but that'd be kinda weird since Tanavast never mentioned it in his chapters. I wonder if the Iriali worldhopping to Roshar somehow created Cusicesh...

So I've been scouring the forums, Coppermind, and Arcanum for any information on Cusicesh I can find, but there isn't a whole lot, and there's certainly nothing that would suggest why exactly it could open Honor's perpendicularity. As far as I can tell, the only other people/beings able to achieve that were Dalinar and Ishar. Does anyone have any ideas as to why Cusicesh would be able to do this? I'll list a couple theories I've found and my thoughts on them, any help figuring this out would be amazing. FIrst: Cusicesh is some kind of spren guide for the Iriali as they travel the Long Trail. They have both been on Roshar for thousands of years, so it's plausible they appeared at the same time. This obviously explains why they were the one to usher the Iriali into Shadesmar, but doesn't exactly explain how it opened Honor's perpendicularity in particular. So far as we know, only Dalinar and Ishar (and him only after Dalinar), both with Connection to Honor, have been able to do that. Second: They're some kind of Ocean Spren. I personally like this one, but it doesn't address its relation to the Iriali unless it's like a local guide for the Iriali. But, of course, this would beg the question - When people talk about the ancient spren like the Night, Wind, and Stone, why don't they talk about the Ocean? Since (as far as we know) Roshar is the only continent on the planet, that would make the ocean pretty darn big. Seems to me like it should have a spren. What neither of these theories covers, however, is why it pops up at 7:46 every morning or what's up with the "illusory wake" it emanates. The shifting faces makes it seem connected to the Iriali religion (experience of many into one). I wonder if it's downloading the experiences of the Iriali in those ten minutes it appears, shifting its face to that of the person it's downloading from...

There's also a case of a shardpen being used in WaT I believe. I don't know where it gets the ink, but apparently it works.

These are the double Shards I assign to the theorized Think and Act Dawnshards, so maybe we're on to something with those? As far as I can tell there are four total opposite pairings and four related-but-not-really-opposites. They go as follows: Opposites: Preservation - Ruin (obviously) Dominion - Autonomy (Control over others vs control of yourself) Odium - Devotion (Divine hate and love) Reason - Whimsy (Thought and the lack of it) Related-But-Not-Really-Opposites: Cultivation - Endowment (both about growth in different ways, one guided the other granted) Virtuosity - Invention (Art vs science) Honor - Valor ("Noble" ideals) Mercy - Ambition (The dregs, not really an obvious connection but those who are ambitious wouldn't be merciful) TBH, I'm not really sure that the pairings have much meaning beyond how the Shards would react to each other if held by the same Vessel.

I've just noticed a trend with some of these Shards. At least three of them have to do with authority. Dominion and Autonomy are obvious, but looking into different combinations of Shards and Dawnshards I found Mercy was defined as "kindness that makes you forgive someone, usually someone that you have authority over." Honor is kinda authority adjacent as well, or at least the way the Shard has interpreted it's Intent so far feels authoritative to some extent. Since neither Dawnshard we know of directly makes sense for these (Dominion doesn't track with Exist or Change easily, Autonomy kinda makes sense with Exist tho) there has to be some Dawnshard that has to do with Authority in some way. Maybe something like Connect or... Influence! Influence works for both the authority Shards and our theorized Act Dawnshard. Affect could work as well, tho that may be too close to Change.

A good theory, def similar to Dofurion's here, tho I prefer your Think to their Feel.

Ah, I knew I remembered something like that. Still a bit disappointed that it happened in the background, but there's only so much Sanderson can fit in a book so oh well.

I know he didn't beforehand, but I guess I just took the fact that it's covered by the Everstorm to mean he controls it now, seems that might be a false assumption. We're shown that the Everstorm recedes from Azir and that El agrees to leave the Listeners independant, but we don't get anything that tells us Shinovar isn't under his control so I just assumed. I also remember the Reshi Isles being specifically mentioned as free of Odium's influence, but again, not Shinovar. If Shinovar isn't already under Retribution's control, it seems like they'll have to bow to him anyway in order to grow anything.

Very much enjoyed the book, I binge read it in like a week after it came out. I've been letting it marinate since I finished and I think I finally have some (maybe) coherent thoughts on it. 1. Kaladin and Szeth: Kaladin was my favorite character throughout the series and his whole arc in this book is him trying to become Roshar's first therapist and I honestly think it worked better than most people give it credit for. I generally enjoyed him trying to get through to Szeth, and him finally learning to play the flute after losing Hoid's was great. I think a lot of people have looked at Kaladin trying his best to relate to Szeth and giving him the all the tricks that have worked for him and brushed it off as amateurish psych 101 kind of stuff. But that's just it, Kaladin IS an amateur therapist. He has no idea what can or will work, so he's just using all the techniques that worked for him. For Szeth's part, I loved his backstory. As someone who is very much a rules-by-the-book kind of autistic, I really empathized with him struggling to understand his place in Shinovar. Speaking of Shinovar... How the f did Odium end up controlling them?? The Honorbearers were like their rulers, right? Or were they just religious leaders? Wouldn't that make Ishar de facto the King/Pope of Shinovar, since he controlled all the Honorbearers? There was no actual Unmade, so how does Odium control the area? Who did he strike a bargain with? The way Sanderson just hand waved Odium's control over the region really doesn't sit well with me. 2. Shallan/Renarin/Rlain: I really liked the Renarin-Rlain romance, and I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship effects human-singer relations in the future. As I was reading the book, I got annoyed every time Formless showed up in the SR because I thought Shallan had already resolved that... turns out, she had and it was a Ghostblood pretending to be Formless! Loved that twist, if I hadn't been so annoyed at Formless maybe I would have figured out who it actually was. The trio's SR shenanigans were interesting to say the least, but I would like to know how exactly Sja-Anat's spren have a greater understanding of the SR than regular spren. I 100% subscribe to the "Shallan is pregnant" theory, and I can't wait to see what happens there. I think it'd be funny if Shallan tries to form an anti-Ghostbloods while juggling an infant in Shadesmar. 3. Adolin: By far the bet POV in the book. Adolin's story was incredible, and I am absolutely stoked by the possibilities of the Unoathed. I'm kind of picturing Azir turning into a human-refuge, where all the oppressed humans will try to escape to in order to get away from the tyranny of the Fused/Singers and the Everstorm. I wouldn't be surprised if the Unoathed were backed by Valor somehow considering the whole infiltration of the palace was about the most valorous thing a person could do, but that theory is still a bit far-fetched for me. INCREDIBLY depressing that Adolin will never get to reconcile with his father 4. Dalinar/Navani: Spiritual Realm adventures were crazy. Idk about other people, but it makes sense to me that two Bondsmiths would be able to traverse the Spiritual Realm fairly well. I got kinda po'd when Dalinar kept refusing to go back to the PR even when they were dragging around child Gavinor. Like, they could just go back in, right?? And Dalinar, my man, you could just *talk* to the Stormfather, you didn't have to push him around like you did Elhokar. I am very curious as to who the Nohadon in the vision actually was, not to mention how Honor is going to evolve while held by Taravangian. 5. Jasnah: Oh, Jasnah... don't feel too bad. It was a hard sell to keep Thaylenah in the coalition to begin with. And with the terms Taravangian was offering? How could Fen refuse? Thaylen City would die without ports to trade with (especially now that the Oathgates are dead), and all the ports are controlled by Retribution. Not much you could do there. Fen made the right choice for her people, but I hope she at least tries to help what is left of the Coalition somehow. All in all, I like where things ended up, tho I feel like the journey to get there could have been a bit better in spots. Kaladin as the 10th Herald really only makes sense considering the Herald that died was the Herald of the Windrunners and Szeth really didn't want the job. Dalinar's death also made sense, tho I feel like people are maybe reading too much in to the "he is claimed by another" thing, he's dead for sure. Now Blackthorn on the other hand... That I hate. It makes absolutely no sense to me that just because Dalinar told a SR version of his past self a few of his memories that that somehow makes it possible to turn into a Fused, not to mention it gives Taravangian yet another thing he wanted without really earning it.

I feel like this discussion is predicated on the idea of replacing a kingdom-scale monarchy with a kingdom-scale democracy/republic, with all this talk about French and Russian revolutions. But that's not what is happening. A kingdom-scale monarchy has been reduced to, at best, a single tower-city and some towns out in the boonies, which we'll have to ignore because they're so isolated from Urithiru that they would effectively be self governing. So, in reality we have a kingdom's worth of nobility and military along with a menagerie of merchants from all over the world living in a single tower-city. All of these people would want some form of representation/influence in their government, and they'll take it wherever they can find it. And, it's been mentioned that darkeyes who have been pressed into menial labor that used to be done by parshmen have been unhappy with their labor, so they may jump at the opportunity to have some representation in government (see Urithiru coppermind page, "Problems" section). Speaking historically, cities within an otherwise feudal society were very commonly governed by an elected official. There are innumerous examples of city-state republics just in Europe, many of which were independent of any monarchy (Venice, for example). These still had their own hierarchies and were by no means perfect democracies, but they show that republican rule, that is rule by a representative as opposed to a monarch, is a perfectly viable system of governance for a city such as Urithiru. The viability of a republic/democracy here should not be in question. Whether it's instituted top-down or bottom-up doesn't matter either. There's already a whole lot of chaos surrounding the government considering the supreme leader of both the Radiants and Urithiru just died, I don't think beginning a democratization process would make things worse. And we don't even know for certain that they'll attempt to implement a modern democracy; as we've seen in Mistborn Sanderson doesn't seem like the type to write a modern, liberal democracy devoid of any aristocracy anyway. I am kind of afraid that he'll just write another Elendel though. Maybe it'll be some type of consitutional monarchy? I seem to remember Jasnah saying something about being a figure head

Personally, I would love to see Valor show up and be the 4th shard. Of all the shards, Valor makes the most sense to me to back the Unoathed since they were literally standing against insurmountable odds before the deadeyes saved the day. Infiltrating the palace while the enemy surrounds them, every one of the people on that mission embodied valor to a T. But the more I think about it the less it makes sense. If Valor is the 4th shard, why would they wait so long to interfere? Kind of goes against their Intent IMO. Reason, on the other hand, would make far more logical sense as the 4th shard. Getting involved in the conflict between Honor and Odium would be dangerous, and Reason would stay out of it because of that. I also think that Reason would seek Roshar out in particular because of the fourth moon which was apparently made of some kind of "super aluminum" that blocks even Shards' vision. It would make a perfect hiding place for them to wait out and avoid any inter-shard conflicts. In my head canon, as soon as the 16 took up their shards Reason ran directly to Roshar, sequestering themselves inside the fallen moon before Honor and Cultivation even show up. Maybe they spent all that time hiding gazing into the Spiritual Realm, trying to make sense of their future-sight. Maybe they felt the brief battle between DHonor and TOdium, or saw the possibility of the Shards fighting and were worried another event like the shattering of Natanatan would happen and their hiding place would be revealed, so now they're getting involved covertly

Odium as the opposite of Devotion makes more sense to me, for the reasons you've given and because Odium is, canonically, the Shard of hatred, not Passion, per WoB. This swap would also make Whimsy the opposite of Reason (assuming no other shards change opposites), which to me is reasonable. Whimsy, being silly/arbitrary, doing things simply because you feel like as opposed to Reason, only acting when logic dictates, listening to your brain instead of your heart. Now this one kind of depends on your interpretation of Ambition. Is it the selfish desire to achieve great success for yourself to the detriment of anyone who gets in your way? Or is simply having grand ideas and working hard enough to be Ambitious? Personally, I think it would be the former: no holds barred drive towards self-gain, no remorse, no Mercy. But even if it is, is that really the opposite of Valor? The google definition just being "great courage in the face of danger," but with synonyms like heroism and gallantry, it feels more... selfless. Certainly a selfishly ambitious person would be unlikely to display Valor, as the valorous would put themselves in harm's way to save others, but perhaps they would if displaying that valor would result in their gain somehow. I agree with your conclusion here, the two feel opposing in some respects, but I'm not sure I can make a logical case as to them being total opposites.