AlmightyGir

I have a feeling that Syl will end up being the "most pure" Honor spren, where all the others are at least part Cultivation, she will somehow end up being entirely "of Honor". And will in some way be Connected to how Honor learns right from wrong, even when upholding oaths. No hard proof here, just thoughts.

I think this has already been answered in the first half of SA actually... As for their bond: Nale has a bonded spren, who resided with him on Braise when necessary. Their bond endures through both their torture and their release, and Nale's nature as a herald/being of Investiture does not diminish his ability to form bonds or maintain them.

Well, Roshar has just become a theocratic dictatorship so... Have at it?

I think it's also important to point out that the most important aspect is Intent. People can speak the first words of Radiance all they like, but if their Intent behind the words isn't correct, they won't be accepted at the first ideal. Adolin might not be speaking formal oaths, and would prefer to call his actions promises. But I think from what we've seen, his Intent is quite apparent, and that seems to carry a lot of weight with both spren and shards.

Presumably, BAM's thing is actually the unoathed?

Excuse me, it's The Lopen.

I'll remember to do so in future, sorry and thank you

It's possible the aftermath might be much more immediate than we might think. If a century passes on other worlds then ~12 years passes on Roshar. A lot can happen in 12 years, but it's unlikely we'll see any off-screen deaths of major characters in that time. We're probably going to see Adolin, Shallan, and co all doing things in book 6, or potentially other worlds in between.

Thinking a little more... If pulling large amounts of investiture causes time to slow, then that makes a certain amount more sense. Cadmium slows time in a bubble, pulling investiture in. So does that mean that Bendalloy speeds time up by *pushing investiture out* of the physical/cognitive realms? This would certainly hold up with the push/pull nature of Allomancy.

This thread: And this WoB: has caused me to question something... If we see what we understand to be Lightweaving showing up in other places, and as it's been explained in WaT, Surges (unbound) are fundamental forces of the universe. Does this mean that all forms of investiture on all planets are essentially just the various Surges under different names? Including various Allomantic abilities? In particular, I'm thinking about what has recently been stated about time dilation, and how Retribution caused a bubble around Roshar by pulling so much investiture into the physical/cognitive realms through his new storm. Does this mean that Cadmium/Bendalloy burning results in huge amounts of investiture being pulled into the physical/cognitive realms to cause their dilation effects? This might also explain somewhat how Atium burning works... You're burning actual godmetal, something much more highly invested than anything else, which gives you the ability to see potential futures, something most shards can do. Am I crazy here or does this hold a little water? Should we be starting to think of the powers in all systems as various Surges rebranded?

I think Szeth's gaining of the fifth ideal, and specifically the manner in which it was sworn are important. "I AM THE LAW". The nuance here, to me anyway, is that he is saying that he is capable of deciding at any given moment if something is legal or not, and when both he and Nale (brokenly, I'll admit) have reinforced to each other that the law is what is right, this holds some measure of importance for Honor too. Honor is currently portrayed as a child who doesn't quite understand right from wrong, and that the words are what truly matters. But Dalinar tells Honor to go with Todium and "learn". I think Honor will itself, over time, come to understand that while the words are important, that it itself is capable of deciding if something is right or wrong in the moment, and whether an oath is upheld, broken, or even made more or less valuable by the actions taken to either uphold or break it. If someone is capable of reaching the fifth ideal on this premise, then I think Honor itself can learn too. Szeth isn't just forshadowing Dalinar's choice, he's also forshadowing a change in Honor and/or Retribution in the future. It's likely that Honor will leave Retribution when Big T does something that's so incredibly wrong, even though he's upholding an oath.

I wholeheartedly agree with this.

My understanding is that even under the new oathpact, the heralds and the radiants are still bound to a portion of Honor's power, by Ishar and his bondsmithing. And due to the nature of Honor as a Shard/power/intent, Retribution would not be willing to break that bond, it's an oath sworn to the power. I think the willingness/unwillingness of the power to break these kind of oaths is proven by Retributions new storm stopping exactly at the borders of Azyr, which is to the letter of the agreement made at the contest of champions. I also think this might be backed up by some of those pieces of Honor that Dalinar saw flying off as Taravengian took up the power. Undoubtedly some went to some specific spren, and to Kaladin. But I think some likely went to just generally maintain the oaths already in place. After all, none of the current Radiants had forsaken their oaths, and Honor would certainly not do so.

I think we will still see that. Given that Retribution has a spiritual doppleganger of The Blackthorn. From that he can create an unmade, or maybe even his own version of a herald... Something whos body in the physical realm is made of pure investiture, but has the spiritweb, memories, personality of The Blackthorn.

It seems like some combination of being able to more efficiently use Stormlight, and also the bond with your spren being improved massively. Syl mentions earlier in the book that her bond with Kaladin is what lets her do more and more corporeal things, and at the end of the book it's implied she's crying real, actual tears. Perhaps the fifth ideal allows the spren to fully corporeate at will?

I suppose the bigger downside here being that while breaking an oath to Honor led to deadeyed spren and powerless radiants, Retribution can just disintegrate you...

It's the Freedom + Bridge Four tattoo, he got it before leaving the tower. It stuck this time, likely as a result of his spiritual self finally believing he is worthy of it.