Hexagonal

I think is a really good point on what the back half could be like. Adolin and Shallan and Renarin and Jasnah fighting for hope would make it less grimdark. While it likely will be solemn, it will have hope as well. OP brought up WH40K as a grim dark example, and I think the main part of that(and most warhammer settings) is the lack of hope. There will almost always be hope in the cosmere just due to the nature of it. I think there could definitely be grim dark in the cosmere(canticle before nomad, the night brigade, early nomads on komashi after the father machine started), but Brandon just shys away from it due to his style. Personally, WaT will likely be the most hopeless of the SA books, as it is literally a countdown to destruction. That could just be me, but the back half could be pretty hopeful while also being grim.

The fact that of those who were stricken with the mist sickness, 1/16th of them were bedridden for longer and that was the clue they were mistings. That suggests, at least to me, that pres's number was sixteen. I think the fact it was Ado's number and then the shard all about keeping stuff the same used it next would be neat and make some sense.

I think part of what made the new Blackthorn was Dalinar meeting his old self in the visions. It seems like that would be possible to do with others, but somewhat difficult. I think that Retribution would have to focus his attention on someone to create a vision that could form a spiritual aspect of someone. That, to me, means creating more spiritual aspects quite unlikely. I do get the concern that it is a strange way to get a bunch of Dalinars, but it seemed to me that it needed the living person to interact with some potency with their vision self.

There has been some discussion of who will accept oaths, and whether or not each individual spren will do it now. I'd love to see Syl accept early oaths of some spren when she returns, and then hand it over to the individual spren for later oaths.

Yeah, when I first read WoK, the shallan chapters were kinda jarring from the rest of the book. Her chapters in WoR in the chasms were excellent though. Her banter with Kaladin was really good.

Least favorite..... not sure. There are characters like Sadeas who I don't like, but that's part of what their character is. Probably Yeden just because of his horrible decision to attack and then he loses like half of the rebellion. But I honestly don't have any least favorite characters. I'm not a huge fan of the section of Shallan in Kholinar in OB, but that's just me not finding some of Shallan's story that interesting(it's interesting but sometimes it feels like she just doesn't do anything because she won't let herself and then it spirals). But I do like Shallan, her overall story is neat and her character is cool. Yes, I do like bagels. Plain with strawberry cream cheese is quite good.

That seems reasonable, but Amaram was only powered up by Yelig-nar(just to note). I think he may be directly powered by Retribution(like the heralds were by Honor), which could provide him more potential healing and speed(especially with a body made out of investiture like the heralds). The thrill(if released) would likely help the blackthorn fight more aggressively and for longer, the aid from Dai-Gornathis could make him be able to elscall really well(slip in and out of the cognitive to doge attacks), moelach could give something similar to atium, Re-Shephir might be able to physically improve the blackthorn(make his body?), and Sja-anat could help make the blackthorn be even more invested(not entirely sure how her corruption/enlightening works). Together I think it would take more than Kaladin to take him down. Taln breaks the sound barrier with his speed, which is something the Blackthorn could likely do. Likely it would be a team effort to take him down(4th and 5th ideal radiants and a herald or 2 as well). He likely would also be able to return like the fused and heralds, which would be incredibly dangerous.

I agree with you on this. BAM being the biggest non-shard rival to Retribution would give her a lot of "street cred" with people, especially ones who might not want to fully resist Retribution yet. I could see BAM leading a group of singers that are more independent from Retribution but still kinda under him, like a satellite state.

We know that both Vasher and Wit have some way to help with having too many memories(Wit stores them in breaths and Vasher has that command that removes memories), so maybe they can figure something out. Ishar has been shown to be very willing to experiment with investiture(he did start the surgebinding that destroyed Ashyn), so maybe he will be able to figure out the memory storing the Wit uses(Wit did say something about maybe showing the heralds how to store memories with stormlight). I see a combo of Kaladin's therapy and possible memory removal/storage helping the heralds deal with the memories of thousands of years of torture they have.

I would wager it will be more along the lines of guess work, as if people can figure out the oathpact is still working(albeit in a different manner) and Kaladin is maybe a new herald, it would make sense that they might return. As people have mentioned, people(especially bridge 4) would likely find out about Kaladin's possible heraldness and wait for his return. Lopen, Skar, and the others would definitely be much more likely to spread the idea of another return with Kaladin being a herald.

That's a good point. I was more thinking along the lines of how the God King has a kid(or any returned) compared to just the conventional real world equivalent. More speculating if there had to be some sort of investiture influx or connection jank. The fact that intelligent design is in play for these species does make me wonder about the biochemistry at play with their DNA(and how it corresponds to their spiritual DNA), which would be really neat to know. There is also the spread of humans through the cognitive realm, which could be cool to track. Like maybe track different populations and their crossovers(probably easier with threnodites and rosharans). Slightly off track though... Anyways, intelligent design in the cosmere. The capability for Singers and Humans to create fertile offspring combined with the likelihood of intelligent design being at play makes singer human relationships the most reasonable interspecies relationships in the cosmere, especially compared to the mortal-immortal relationships we've seen(wayne-meelan).

I would say Nohadon. His wisdom would be really neat to just experience. If I had to choose someone living, probably Kaladin. His insight into dealing with depression would be nice to hear, plus maybe get some fighting tips from the giant(he's like 6ft Rosharan, so he'd be really tall).

I definitely agree with you here, but it is something to consider. I think earlier in this post it was brought up about Horneaters and Herdazians being human singer hybrids, which adds credence to the idea that there could be offspring from a singer-human relationship(just regular biology or something magical we really don't know yet). I personally am in the group that it is just regular biology, as nothing has really been suggested to make us think otherwise, just throwing the possibility out there because who knows with the cosmere(part of why I enjoy it so much).

I think the like destroying the soul part is messed up and we still don't really know what happens to souls that have been affected, though there is a wob(here) that says it reduces the time spent in the cognitive. What that means for the person's self is not super clear, but it seems kinda iffy. There is also the evil of its set up that you point out. I think if it was used similar to how they do the sun hearts on canticle wouldn't be too bad. I still have concerns about the effects on the person who is being turned into the spike, but if it could be used to help make the metalic arts more accessible that'd be good.

Considering Renarin is in Urithiru without stormlight and Adolin is all the way in Azir, I think it's reasonable that they both come to the conclusion independently(at least until they somehow get into communication). Maybe they can get Sja-anat to send them some corrupted firespren to make new spanreeds to work off of warlight.

Yes I have read the Reckoners(only the main 3, no Lux or Mitosis or anything) and The Frugal Wizards Guide to Surviving Medieval England

The chicken, so I don't get attached. Hemalurgy is really interesting as a concept and to create unique combos of powers, but it is superbly evil. And yes I would love a cookie I personally really like ale spren, the ones that Axies was looking for in Wok. I think it would probably be Crasher(Wax's combo). It just works together so well. But besides that A-Steel with any feruchemy. Upside down in a tree, its just a fun time up there.

My favorite metallic art is definitely allomancy, but feruchemy comes in a close second. I really like the cinematic ness of allomancy and how creative you can get with the powers(especially steel and iron). I would absolutely love to see more compounders of strange varieties in Era 3. Miles was a really neat villain because of how unstoppable he was, but someone that can compound the feruchemy and then also use their allomancy too would be really cool. Something like a zinc or electrum twin born that has 2 middle of the road powers but could likely do some neat stuff with compounding. An aluminium compounder could also be interesting, as that whole quadrant is very odd and esoteric.

Hey 17th Shard! New here to the forums within the last few weeks, and I just created my account. I have been reading cosmere for about 4 years now(started with WoK in February of 2021). I absolutely love learning about the cosmere and its unique mechanics. I have read all of the cosmere besides White Sand(I read the prose excerpt in AU, and am super excited for the full prose release)