PallonianFire

EDIT, from the State of Sanderson 2015:

I asked this at JordanCon. He said he wasn't sure if he'd answered it before, but to be safe he gave me a RAFO. I have a strong suspicion that Bavadin is no longer alive as of Mistborn Era 2, and another character from White Sand has Ascended to become Autonomy.

Isn't it supposed to be 2018? After Oathbringer, but before SA4 or Elantris sequels?

Mistborn Era 2 happens after WoK.

I dunno how me repeatedly saying "this isn't confirmed" seems like I'm assuming it is confirmed, but okay. But yeah, there's definitely something there with the differences between Trelagism and Trellism. They seem to each have a very different focus for the faith.

Yes, I get that it's not 100% confirmed. I've repeatedly said that this is theory. All people have come back with is "but we don't know for SURE." Well, of course we don't. We haven't gotten that info yet. If someone has actual evidence to shoot down the theory, offer it, instead of just constantly saying it's not proven—because that's kind of the point of theories. I'm taking the evidence we have and lining it up in the way that makes the most sense. Occam's Razor says that Bavadin and Rayse together perpetuated some grievance against Hoid in the past, and he's holding a grudge (singular) against them.

Well yeah, obviously these things aren't confirmed. That's why I emphasized that it's a theory. This can't guarantee that they're allies. I thought they were at first, but gradually I found that this sentence did, actually, not indicate that. It would be a logical flaw. "My grudge" is singular, implying that it is one grudge against two people, therefore implying that the two people are/were in league together. Odium is scared of Harmony, so it would make sense that he'd look for an old ally to take the brunt of things when he moves against Harmony...and it's not a stretch at all to see that Autonomy wouldn't like the way Harmony is running things. And yes, we don't know for sure that Jaddeth is Dominion, but the circumstantial evidence (strict hierarchical structure of the religion, for one thing) points to it being the case. And again, svrakiss as the Set's "Faceless Immortals" lines up with what we've seen of voidspren doing and looking like in SA. There isn't much direct evidence against this being the case. We just don't have all the puzzle pieces to fully confirm it, yet.

Re: Autonomy/Odium, the wording in the Letter does indicate that Hoid's dispute with Bavadin and Rayse is collective, not separate. There's more to this theory for Autonomy=Trell, but I can't discuss it on this forum. Re: svrakiss, again, this is theory. But the svrakiss are described as enemies of Dominion in Elantris, half-demon/half-ghosts that can possess the bodies of men—and we know that Odium splintered Dominion. Additionally, the red eyes of the Faceless Immortal in BoM are reminiscent of the Parshendi stormform. There are parallels and intersections to be drawn.

Still think Trell is Autonomy, with Odium's support on the ground (svrakiss). Odium is scared of Harmony, so he wouldn't want to directly face him. But his old pal Bavadin is around and really doesn't like the way Harmony is controlling people like puppets, so Odium convinced him to do some dirty work with a little support.

I thought this was Hoid, too. I haven't had a chance to double-check the prose against whether that particular musician is mentioned, but if he's not then I think that is a circumstantial point in favor (since WoB is that he was gonna change Hoid's appearance in the graphic novel to make him more prominent).

Makes sense, considering the UV light on Darkside. Ugh, I can't wait to see some stuff going on over there...

Other than the first chapter of the prose, which will be in Arcanum Unbounded. But yeah, he doesn't have the time or desire to do the full revision of the prose that would be necessary to publish it. Bigger (Stormlight) fish to fry.

Yeah, my B&N lied. They told me that they'd have it in stock today. Drove across town and used up my lunch break...and nothing. Said they'll call.

Following the thread on Brandon's Facebook announcement today, he said that the first chapter of the prose will be included in AU this fall. This is the first I've heard about this, and it excites me a lot because it means we'll probably get a Khriss intro about her homeworld. ME GUSTA.

I stopped in my local B&N yesterday, and they said they'd have it in-store on the 28th.

I've looked three places, and gotten three different release dates (June 21st, June 25th, and July 5th). In fact, this whole lead-up to the release has been weird. There haven't been any official press releases about it, that I've seen, and only a couple small previews that have popped up at Tor, io9, etc. I just feel like a typical Sanderson release has a lot more hoopla and coverage than this has gotten.

Yes, we do. also:

There is definitely only one Shard in the Taldain system. I'd argue much more that if Autonomy has an opposite, it's Dominion, not Endowment.

No worries! I wish there were something in the Letter to indicate that, but sadly not. At this point my theory re: Trell/Bavadin/Autonomy is based on almost nothing. Even the WoB that the Trell we see on the street being connected to Trelagism/Trellism on Scadrial doesn't say much for him being a Shard, just that he's a worldhopper. For all I know, he could just have started Trelagism back in the day and then Autonomy/Odium/whoever the heck is Trell took the existing religion and twisted it into Trellism.

Yeah, that's my point. If Bavadin were dead, he'd still have that same grudge to carry against Rayse. I'm obviously not saying that Bavadin is 100% dead. We don't know if he is (hence the RAFO I got on that question). I'm merely saying that someone can't use the Letter as evidence that Bavadin is alive or dead. I certainly never tried to use it as evidence that he was dead.

For Threnody to be named in memorial of Leras, the timelines would have to be way, way different. We know for sure that it's called Threnody during Era 1, and Leras is still alive then.

Past tense, and the grudge is referred to singularly, so even with Bavadin (theoretically) dead, we know Rayse is still alive and that's what Hoid is concentrating on at the moment.

I still think that Trell was just a dude in White Sand, later became a worldhopper and started the religion on Scadrial, and then somewhere along the line Bavadin died and Trell picked up Autonomy. Brandon was really sketchy when I asked him if Bavadin is still alive as of Era 2. He ended up giving me a RAFO, of course.

*cough* Expanse of Vibrance

Yeah, I can't seem to find it at the moment, but I know I've seen somewhere that Brandon said giving Hoid a bigger role in the graphic novel was one of the changes that was going to happen moving over from the prose version.