Gloom

I wasn't aware that such leaks could be plugged perfectly. It always seemed a side affect of investing in a planet to me, but I lack sufficient evidence to actually make a case. Outside of War Breaker, every planet we've seen thus far has a splintered Shard on it that could be used to explain such leaks, and we don't (or at least I don't) have enough information about Endowment to make any really solid guesses about leaks. It's been speculated on, but I'm not sure we have any answers. So for the moment at least I will concede the point.

I agree that Electrum is an equally plausible answer for Tans ability to dodge just the right way, but I wouldn't discount Atium completely. I don't think Sazed changed very much. I'm not sure that Tan was interested in surviving, he never looked up. He never even attempted to dodge the second shot. Tan knew too much. Far more than he would be able to discern using Electrum. He saw Sazed, he saw Marsh, and he saw Kelsier, at least he said he did. I believe that it will all tie together and that Tan was more than just a random villain.

Gems cut a certain way are capable of holding Stormlight longer than uncut gems. The text describes the gemstone in a chip as a sliver, but the quotes from Brandon would suggest that the larger denominations of spheres have cut gems inside them (which I was totally wrong about). So it wouldn't necessarily make sense to exchange all your Broams for Marks and all your Marks for Chips, because we don't know how much more Stormlight a Mark can hold over a Chip, or a Broam over a Mark. It may make sense to exchange all your Emerald Broams for Diamond Broams though, at least until we find that emeralds hold more Stormlight than diamonds, or that emeralds hold Stormlight longer than diamonds. As far as we know, cut and flawlessness(clarity?) are the determining factors on how long the Stormlight stays, and the size determines the amount of Stormlight a gem can hold.

It was written by Brandon 'Stormin' Sanderson! Nuff said.

I'd say that considering the Ym interlude, Roshar once had a very good understanding of the Cosmere, but that most of it was lost over time through mystification and religion. It's possible that bonding spren, being ageless retained most of this information, or in the case of a bonding spren that has moved to the physical will recover memories of that information in time. So it's possible that bonding spren are more Cosmere aware than most other Splinters, including Aeons since they were created as a result of their Shards being Splintered.

source So, it seems to me that it would be possible to create a greater soulcasting fabrial. It may have required a greater level of skill to create though and they may not have been widely used outside of the Orders for that reason. I would speculate taht most of the really good fabrials used by the Radiants were held back like most of the Shards. Some of them, I would speculate further, were entrusted to people outside of the Orders, or kept by fallen Radiants after the Recreance which is how they eventually ended up in the hands of the Ardentia.

Spren existed, but Dalinar apparently only mentions them when their appearance is of consequence.

Still haven't seen hatespren, or love spren for that matter. Honestly, if such spren existed it would seriously change the dynamic of personal relationships.

So yes.... And no. The Oathpact is still functional, but to what extent is remains functional is anyones guess. Source

The Oath Pact is still in force. Taln was enough to keep it from falling apart. Every time I see the title of this thread, I want to tell everyone that Dr. Jones took the remaining Shards to a nondescript government warehouse in the Midwest and had them crated up in nondescript boxes without labels for the last 4000 years.

Gave Peter an up vote for following policy and not using internet slang this time

We had a Gaz POV. If he knew he knew what was going on with whatever he was seeing out of his lost eye I don't think he would have found it nearly as disconcerting as he did. I don't believe that even if Gaz was a recently bonded Surgebinder (which I don't believe) that he would have had any practical control over what was happening to him. He wasn't on speaking terms with his supposed spren from what we saw, he just knew something was off and it scared him. I would agree that whatever he was being blackmailed over was likely of a more mundane nature.

This thread give a whole new meaning to the phrase Food for Thought.

I find it highly unlikely that Gaz will turn out to be a Knight Radiant. He may be alive, and he may have a greater role to play, but I think he is firmly in the villain department with Sadeas and Taravangian. Brandon is still growing as a writer, and I like to think he's getting better at making his villains a bit muddier then they have been in the past. Sadeas isn't as dark as some of his previous villains, and neither is Taravangian or Gaz.

Speaking of that, I wonder if they had any idea what the Shards intent was before they picked it up. Did Tanavast or Rayse know that they were picking up Honor and Odium, or did they just pick them up randomly and become bound to the Shard whether they liked it or not. It seems Ruin may not have been thrilled with his selection, at least not in the beginning. I get the feeling they kinda got stuck with whatever they picked up.

Gaz is tricky. He just up and disappeared on us. I suppose it's possible that he was assassinated, though why you would assassinate a down on his luck miserable SOB sergeant like Gaz is beyond me. It's also possible he was executed, but he was around after Lamarils execution, and kind of disappeared when nothing was happening IIRC, so I don't know of any particular reason he would be executed outside of whatever he was being blackmailed over. I believe that it was hinted by Brandon that he went the way of Asmodean, so it's unlikely he is alive, but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt.

This is true, but is this because Brandon considers Szeth to be a Surgebinder, or because Szeth considers himself to be a Surgebinder? I'm basing my assumption off of how Nohadon refers to Surgebinders, and what he would consider a Surgebinder since he lived in an era Pre-Knights Radiant. Szeth has never met a Surgebinder, and I don't think he figures he ever will. In his mind, since he lacks experience with Surgebinders, he identifies himself as one because he has access to surges and can accomplish what he believes to be the same effects.

I don't think that it would take more effort to move from one side of a city to the other through Shadesmar. I believe that because the cognitive aspects of things appear to be stored in those black spheres, and because those spheres aren't spread out but are are placed in an environment that has depth, the time would still be shorter, but only because you can cross the city unobstructed by skimming across the surface of the sea in Shadesmar. The distance would be roughly the same. This is just my take on it, so it could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

Well, I'll agree that anyone who can bind surges is a surgebinder, but I won't agree that they are a Surgebinder. I believe the word is capitalized because it is referring to someone who holds a Nahel Bond. It is a title, not a set of abilities. You may note that when I type Surgebinder, I'm using the word as it appears most often in the text, capitalized. Just as anyone who announces their lord is a herald, but isn't a Herald. If Heralds use surges, which is almost a certainty, but they aren't getting those surges through a Nahel Bond, then they are surgebinding, but they still aren't Surgebinders. I believe that Szeth may consider himself a Surgebinder, but we have Word of Brandon that he lacks a Nahel Bond, so as far as I'm concerned he isn't one. I'm also fairly certain that Darkness is aware that Szeth doesn't meet his definition of a Surgebinder as well. What the Parshendi do is not Surgebinding, and I have serious doubts that it is even surgebinding. They take forms, they bond with spren, but they have their own way of doing this that is foreign to what humans do.

So basically, your theory on how healing in the Cosmere works, the theory you defend with a great deal of certainty, has not just one hole in it, but three. When people speak of the exception to the rule, they aren't generally talking about multiple exceptions. The more exceptions you need to make for a theory, the less plausible that theory becomes, yet you adamantly defend this theory to be THE way that healing works period. The very fact that your theory requires one to make three exceptions so early in the cycle of information we will eventually receive tells me that this theory is wrong, or at the least far from complete. Yes, well lets take a look at this quote a little closer. Now I see where you're coming from. You look at the third line down and you have an answer that repudiates anyone who would suggest otherwise pretty effectively if they just look at that line. I read this quote quite differently though. Lets look at the first sentence of this quote instead. "One of the 'basics' of the magic in all of the worlds is that the energy of Shards can fuel all kinds of interactions, not just interactions based on their personality/role" So in this sentence, Brandon tells us quite clearly that Shards can fuel interactions based on the personality/role, but that they are not limited by their personality/role. He said 'not just', he didn't say 'just not' Now lets skip the second sentence since I'm sure you're very familiar with it and move on to the third sentence in which Brandon provides an example to clarify what the second sentence means. "So, in Preservation's case, the magic is a gift—allowing a person to preserve their own strength, and rely upon the strength granted by the magic. While Hemalurgy has a huge cost, ending in net entropy." Wow, look at that, Brandon is using the Shards intent to describe what is happening in the magic system. Preservation is preserving, and Ruin is ruining. How is this proof that the Shards intent is not involved in the magic system? And one last point before I'm done with this topic. Brandon didn't say in every single magic system ever with no exceptions. The fact that he leaves room for exceptions means they will exist, and in fact I believe they already exist. I'm pretty sure that your theory is solid as a rock on Scadrial, but it's rather flimsy when you apply it to the Cosmere.

I don't know, I suppose that by definition he would be binding surges, but is that what a Surgebinder is? Just someone who can bind surges? If that's the definition you want to go with, then sure, Szeth binds surges. I don't necessarily agree with that definition though because Szeth is the exception to the rule. Everyone else (except maybe the Heralds) needs to be bound to a spren to be a Surgebinder as far as we can tell. If the Heralds are the exception to the rule, and Szeth uses bindings the same way and from the same source as the Heralds, would it be fine then to call Szeth a Herald?

Heh, that's probably a good thing. I'm sure some of the theories that pop up on this site would make him cringe.

It would still be nice it it was picked up by a movie channel like HBO partnered with a reputable animation studio. Brandon is generally pretty PG on content, but I'd like to see something a little more gritty than Clone Wars.

Good call.

No one was trying to argue that Minor Shards existed, only that it is possible they could exist. If Honor is the embodiment of Oaths, Nobility, and Protection, then why couldn't each of those attributes create a Shard with the equivalent of one third of the original power of the Shard Honor. Each Minor Shard would have a holder, so intelligence would be irrelevant. If you had collected enough of one attribute it would influence the holder of the Minor Shard in a similar manner to how a full Shard of Adonalsium does, but maybe to a lesser degree. Now, suppose that Odium was shattered, and you took up the investiture for hatred and protection. What would you even call that Shard? It would be cool to know what attributes were attributed to different Shards we know of so we could mix and match and see if we can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again in new and unusual ways.