mai_day

Even without that, The Sibling says it flat out in Wind and Truth

Personally, I think Ba-Ado-Mishram is the Night Unmade for sure (hence why all of Roshar was wounded and disrupted when she was sealed away, why she was connected to all Singers and Spren, why she is described as moving as a cloud of smoke pulled along the ground by smoky hands in the same way as the Nightwatcher, why she started ‘talking’ to Shallan at the same time the Wind started talking to Kaladin), but I also think it’s likely that several or perhaps even all of the Unmade were created from the Spren of Night. Sja-Anat's drive to create and protect her Spren children, and Re-Shephir’s desire to understand and create people from her Midnight Essence both seem to be similar to BAM’s desire to protect the Singers that she cares for, all possibly stemming from the Night’s rejection by the peoples of Roshar. The Wind seems to have some degree of future sight, and if the Night is similar, that part of them could’ve been split off into Moelach. Ashertmarn seems like the normal human instinct to gather and celebrate in community at night just turned up in intensity until it’s mindless lust for indulgence. Heck, we still don’t know anything about Chemoarish except that she’s often conflated with the Nightwatcher, who we know is made of a small piece of the Night’s essence. I don’t know if it all fits, but it seems like an interesting line of connection. I am pretty sure about at least Mishram, though.

I don’t know why, but I kind of feel like this line might be a bit of a misdirect/red herring. Maybe because it seems like an especially juicy tidbit cut off right at the last second; it’s almost too on the nose as a tease. i wouldn’t be surprised if Ed was saying something like “only known living shard who has performed the rite of personally guiding the recently departed to the Beyond after death.” It’s something that we know Sazed has done, and Marsh could be telling other people about over the centuries since he knows that detail. Just that on its own could be enough to draw a non-Scadrian to worship, imo. Would be very nice to know that you’ll have someone to see you off once you die. I could also be totally off base here and it’s hinting towards some totally epic thing that we’ll see in Era 3 of Mistborn, tho. Maybe I’m just being a contrarian.

I have kind of had the thought that there is not currently a fourth primeval spren…but that one more is necessary and must be born. think about it, it seems as though before the shattering, Roshar was designed by Ado to be perfectly balanced. The animals were evolved for certain purposes to exist in balance with the spren and the Singers, and spren were evolved to exist in balance with the Singers and the animals, and the Singers were evolved to exist in balance with the animals and the spren, and it was all watched over by the Wind, Stone, and Night. However, the arrival of men to Roshar destabilized the balance (though it seems the balance may have already been broken with the Singers abandoning Night). Men destabilized the animal kingdom by farming them for gemhearts or hunting greatshells to extinction, the Singers by waging expansionist wars, and the spren by creating bonds that changed the very nature of spren in a way that led to the spren mostly abandoning the Singers. Things have continued to become less and less stable as men became the dominant force of Roshar. however, it seems like there were elements on Roshar that were kind of perfectly placed for humans to adapt to. Shinovar seemed like a worthless mud pit that was unwanted by Singers, animals or spren, but humans were able to cultivate the land into the most fertile area in Roshar. The fact that human perception, interaction, and bonding changed the spren so profoundly almost seems like a necessary part of the evolution of their forms. this may be a leap based on pretty limited information, but I feel like there were three primeval spren to match the three dominant forms of native life on Roshar (Singers, spren, and animals), but that Adonalsium had foreseen the arrival of men to Roshar and how it would destabilize their perfectly balanced ecosystem. So he built in contingencies, ways for humans to adapt and help build a new balance for Roshar. This was immediately disrupted by different sides becoming pawns in the games of shards, but the chance is still there, if humanity takes the opportunity to ruthlessly reevaluate the ways it interacts with the world of Roshar. so how does a fourth spren come out of this? Well, Brandon has said that new spren are formed when large groups of people begin focusing on particular concepts, people, things, etc. which can create new cognitive and spiritual reflections of whatever the focus is. And as of the end of WaT, 90+% of the world is underneath the Everstorm, completely cut off from the sun. It’s even called the Night of Sorrows. Imagine living under that for 10-15 years, never seeing the sun, not knowing if you’ll ever see it again. It makes perfect sense to me that almost everyone in those lands would start hoping for, thinking about, praying for the end of the Night of Sorrows and by doing so, they’re creating a new great spren: the spren of Dawn. i think this is leading to the humans working to find the balance between all the beings who have a valued place on Roshar, and take their place as a fourth equal part of it rather than trying to hold solitary dominion over it all. And I think Adolin is already reflecting that in the way he treats Maya and Gallant, seeing that they are beings that deserve respect when the culture around him tries to convince him that they are objects for him to use. i don’t know, it’s still half formed, but it fits thematically to me. Humans have been noted on Roshar as a force that brings change, one way or another, and what better way to represent that than by the personification of the Dawning of new days.

Ok...which Christian ethics, though? There are thousands, many of them wildly contradictory. Christianity was widely cited by the Confederacy as the moral and ethical underpinning for their brutal system of skin-color-based chattel slavery, and also by John Brown and many violent abolitionists who declared it a moral good to kill the slavers to free men from bondage. It was the espoused moral framework for George Wallace and the segregationists, and also Martin Luther King Jr. and many other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. You can find the Dutch Reformed Church providing a theological support for Apartheid in South Africa, or the Liberation theology of Oscar Romero or James Cone that argues that liberation of the oppressed is the core of Christianity. You can find movements of Christian capitalists and Christian socialists, Christian dominionists and Christian anarchists, Christian pacifists and Just War Christians, feminist Christians and patriarchal Christians, Christian fascists and Christian communists, Christians who support the full affirmation of queer people in the body of Christ and Christians who advocate for imprisoning or executing queer people. That is a HUGE spectrum of disagreement, yet they are all basing these beliefs on the same set of scriptures. All of those groups and people truly believe that they are viewing scripture and the messages of Christ in the correct way. But how can any of them be certain that the path that they follow, the interpretation they have of the Bible, is the correct basis for morality and ethics? I know all of them would argue until they're blue in the face that their interpretation of scripture is the correct one, but in the end, that's all it is: interpretation. Which leads us back to the original problem you stated of "ignorance," because ultimately we can't be certain of the truth of what we believe. But that ignorance is not a total ignorance of "I have no idea what is right or wrong and no moral framework to base any of it on," but instead an admission of "these are my beliefs, but there are many things of which I am ignorant, and holding that in mind, I can remain open to my views being challenged or even changed entirely." For what it's worth, I was raised Christian. I don't know exactly what I believe these days, but I've yet to find a much better rubric for assessing morality than Jesus' words in Matthew Chapter 7: "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." It's my personal belief that the admission of ignorance is not the end of a moral framework, but the beginning.

My guess is that the “Order” Jasnah is the head of is the Veristitalians. I kind of think Jasnah might abandon her oaths for a while in a crisis of identity and belief, now that doing so wouldn’t turn Ivory into a deadeye.

I think it also echoes the resolution of RoW. There, the Sibling had to make a leap of faith to trust Navani in order to save their lives and everyone in the tower. In WaT, Navani has to take a leap of faith to trust the Sibling to save their lives and everyone in the tower. And yeah, I love the imagery of Navani being trapped in a gemstone, becoming the heart of a fabrial herself. I can’t wait to see how the experience changes her and what her views on fabrials will be.

Cosmere: probably Rhythm of War, followed by Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, then Emperor’s Soul non-Brando: hmm…so many more options. Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (and the rest of The Locked Tomb series) The Lord of the Rings is a forever fav Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, I keep coming back to that one (every content warning in existence, fair warning) maybe Berserk by Kentaro Miura if we’re counting manga (also every content warning) Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane If you can’t tell, I’m terrible at making decisions, so you get lists instead of single favorites

for a party, I’d love to invite all the characters that seem to be simmering with sapphic vibes just under the surface and see what happens. So I’d say Shallan, Marasi, Shai, Yumi, Venli, and Navani. Navani’s there so I can have someone to flirt with too (I’m way too old for the rest of those girls and you can’t tell me Navani and Raboniel didn’t have chemistry).

Something that I think a lot of people have missed is that even if you remove Dalinar from the equation, there was another Bondsmith present at Thaylen Field. Sure, Navani had not yet sworn the oaths, but neither had Venli, Ash or Taln. If anything, I kind of feel like Dalinar being gone for good reinforces his arc of being the man who could Unite, but that ultimately he could not do everything himself and had to let go and trust others to create a new world.

Dragons are cool as hell, and I’m so glad we’re getting more of them in the Cosmere now. I want so badly to see a dragon character with a Radiant bond do some surgebinding in dragon form (can you imagine a dragon Stoneward?!) Can’t say I’ve read any webnovels, not familiar with the form. Any you would recommend? To be honest, Wayne is my least favorite character in the Cosmere. I don’t really want to break down why, as I would rather let those who love him do so in peace and in return be left in peace to think he’s awful. I will say that The Lost Metal was an enormous improvement on that front, but even with that he still falls dead last for me.

Hello fellow cosmerenauts, I’m new here, but I’ve been a fan of Sanderson ever since I read The Gathering Storm upon release. I’d had major doubts whether some random author could come in and do justice to what was my favorite series at the time. I’ve been hooked since. I’ve read all Cosmere except White Sand (ETA: I also haven’t read the Emberdark previews), though Stormlight is definitely my favorite and most reread series. My favorite cosmere characters are Shallan Davar, Steris Harms, Navani Kholin, Wan ShaiLu, and Silence Montane, and my absolute crack theory that is supported by only vibes is that Shallan is an allomancer. Excited to chat with other fans!