Gloom

Okay... Spren are not a release valve, they are splinters. They do fill the function of maintaining an equilibrium between the realms in Roshar, but spren existed before Honor was splintered, so their primary purpose isn't to act as a release valve. I don't believe spren give Surgebinders their powers, I believe they act as a Gateway that allows Surgebinders to access the powers. I think it's unlikely that spren rewrite Sdna. If you reject the bond, you revert to normal. Instead, I think they act as a bridge providing access to the surges. Fabrials — I believe modern fabrials use spren as a way to harness the representation of that spren in order to aspect the stormlight. The design of the fabrial gives the aspected stormlight direction. The spren itself most likely is unaffected and remains unchanged by the process.

I believe that this was the primary motivation behind the idea that Szeth has an Honorblade, and that it was Jezriens Honorblade in particular. I believe that for a Herald to access the surges, they must be in possession of their Honorblades, when in possession of said blade, they are capable of doing more than a Knight Radiant of the aligned Order. So Jezrien in possession of his Honorblade would be capable of doing anything a Wind Runner could do, as well as some special abilities not accessible to a Knight Radiant. Add to this 99 decades of combat experience, and you have a rather formidable force. This isn't' including those abilities they were granted that didn't require their Honorblades. I'm sure that some people will argue that a Herald can access the surges without their blades, but I believe that the blade replaces a spren bond and acts as the gateway.

Well, the oversized swords would certainly fit into the genre.

First, Darkness knows about Szeth. He has known about Szeth for over five years. Darkness was there the night Galivar was killed. Szeth was seen. What he did, required magic. I agree that the Darkness either has a way of tracking Surgebinders, or he has a very well connected network of informants. Probably both. Ym didn't know the wine was poisoned. He thought the wine was the message. I doubt he thought no one would drink it. If he knew it was poisoned he wouldn't have delivered it. If My Lords own Blade is an Honorblade, this would explain why Darkness doesn't consider Szeth a target worthy of his attention. If it isn't, then Darkness has other reasons for not tracking and facing Szeth.

Agreed, not only is the bonding process different, but a human can ultimately reject the bond.

I saw a quote recently where someone asked Brandon if Shards could be other weapons besides swords and he said yes. No idea where that quote went, but hopefully someone will source it for me. Knowing that a Shard can take the form of any weapon opens the possibility that something like this may very well be the case.

The Tranquiline Halls and Damnation are both based off of real places in the Physical Realm. More specifically, they are most likely other planets in the Roshar System. There are no Odium spren.

No, the Parshendi shied away when Kaladin landed, The speaking of the second ideal tossed them backwards. There was no clap of thunder when Kaladin landed. These are two separate events. The first one made them hesitate, the second one threw them back.

This is the closest I could find that Hoid hasn't used the bead. Brandon speaks in the present tense.

I think that if Darkness is working alone, or with just a small handful of people, that he would be extremely ineffective at his task. The continent of Roshar is a very large place, it's cities are large, and there are villages scattered across the land. If the Alethi are capable of fielding 100,000 veteran troops for more than five years at a remote location and still capable of maintaining control of their home country, it would mean that Alethkar alone holds several million people. The highest level of conscription in recorded history was in England during the hundred year war when up to fifteen percent of a nations population had been conscripted, it appears unlikely that the Alethi are conscripting more then eight percent. When Amaram was conscripting soldiers, he only took a handful of those with the potential to become soldiers. The English dragged off every able bodied man that wasn't under the direct protection of a noble that could be spared. This would mean that Roshars population is in excess of fifty million humans. By this logic, if Darkness has four associates, that would place them in the position of a ten million to one ration.

Yes, Brandon has made mention of release valves and pressure, especially when referring to splintered Shards. I appears that pressure is definitely involved in the process.

I think we can safely say that the Ars Arcanum is missing information. What was described are the three basic lashings. Szeth explained what could be achieved using basic lashes, he was quite accomplished with them. This is as far as Szeths understanding of Wind Runner abilities go. He was trained up to the basic level of the skill set. Kaladin has moved beyond the basic level of the skill set by accepting the thruths that unlock the power of his Order. So while Szeth is limited to the basic lashings, Kaladin may now have access to the intermediate lashings. We know that Wind Runners can do more than Szeth has explained, One drops out of the sky in Sky Fall. Kaladin rides a storm, these events aren't something that I believe can be accomplished with the basic lashings.

I believe that to be a more than reasonable assumption. I don't believe that Fortuity became a robot that was forced to act instinctively. He may have even intentionally ignored information that would save him from a checkmate because he arrogantly expected that another option would present itself. We also don't know if his precognition was visual. If he was a seer, that would be both annoying and distracting. I would guess he acted based on feelings. That he did what felt right.

But a fabrial is in the physical, they are worn. My theory does require that the fabrial has a connection to the cognitive, but I'll happily propose that once the physical is severed, the cognitive is severed as well. When you repair it, you have to repair the connection in both realms for it to regain functionality. House Davar lacks the resources to get that done, or even understand that it should be done. Fabrials are not sentient, or at least I don't consider them sentient. So a fabrial would have an image in the cognitive, but not a self image. It would reflect the reality of it's condition, not what it thinks its condition should be. Once the cognitive connection are severed, they have to be reconnected on that level to function again, if they are not, I believe you can make all the physical repairs you like and it still won't work. I don't believe that this is a contradiction to the information in TES. A forger would be able to repair the connection though. I agree with you, but felt that the theory has enough support to merit a mention. Fortunately, we shouldn't have to wait much longer before we can put this one to rest one way or the other. This should be cleared up in WoR.

I like the theory, at least the beginning. I kinda got lost along the way, but I think I got the gist of it.

That's why I suggested scattering or diffusion. If I throw a handful of rice in the air (scattering), I'm still likely to get rice in my hair. If I get shot in the chest while wearing a bulletproof vest (diffusion), I'm still going to feel an impact (but hopefully not a fatal one). It doesn't work perfectly. I think I like diffusion better because with diffusion your defenses can still theoretically be overwhelmed. The right type of bullet would still be able to punch through.

I can't believe you devils side-tracked this thread like this! I agree that the OP makes sense, and would make a solid set of principles upon which members of different Orders could judge each other actions. So long as those actions appeared to follow the first ideal, everyone could play nice.

I proposed that because it appears Darkness seems to require legal justification for his actions. He wears a uniform that Ym didn't seem to recognize, and he wears the same uniform regardless of the location as far as I can tell. I don't think his sense of justice would be satisfied if he was impersonating the law or dispensing vigilante justice. If you are looking for solid legal grounds upon which to punish someone, you have to have solid legal ground to stand upon or it's a farce. I know Darkness appears to have had his sense of justice skewed, but it seems like that would be all the more reason he would want to make sure everything was legally justifiable.

I wasn't aiming the post at you in particular. In fact I was well into writing it before you posted. I agree that I believe the comment was being used to reference Jezrien. Those who are convinced it is directed at the new Prime can feel that way if they want to. I was basically trying to put the argument into perspective.

I get the reasoning behind the Shardblade theory. It's sound, solid reasoning. I just don't think that a Shardblade would be required in order to cut the Soulcaster. I don't believe that a Shardblade is required to disrupt the power invested inside it. We don't need a Shardblade to kill an arm. A regular rusty old cleaver can do the trick well enough. You might be able to get the arm re-attached surgically, but that doesn't mean that severed connections will reattach and function as they once did. I would imagine that the settings and chains are invested. That they were created in such a way as to channel the Stormlight in the gemstone in a manner that would accomplish the instructions received. We know modern fabrials require trapped spren in the gemstones in order to function. We also know that Soulcasters function in a completely different manner than modern fabrials. Up vote for the locating the description of how the Soulcaster was damaged.

I would assume they are affiliated with the Vorin Church. The constables are still servants of the people. I could see the church selling the idea to the leaders of as many nations as they could. A means to track and prosecute criminals across borders and bring justice and retribution in the name of the Heralds. I'm sure they are mostly a legitimate organization that tracks and punishes real criminals. No one would tolerate it if most of your potential offenders were basically innocent people who were executed for minor infractions. Darkness may have special dispensation to seek those whom are considered most dangerous and remove them by whatever justification he can find. Who knows how far reaching the organization is, I would say larger than just the areas mentioned. I would imagine that the places they aren't welcome are far fewer than those they are, but that for the most part they are valued for their skills. Even in the palace their presence was mostly questioned because of the event taking place, not because their presence was that unusual. Most of the WoK took place away from civilization in military encampments. While the Princes may leave justice of the common folk to the constabulary, they are less likely to allow them jurisdiction over their troops on campaign. I could easily see them hunting Envisagers. They might even have managed to convince law makers that these people are dangerous heretics who dabble in dark sorceries and wish to revive the Knights Radiant. No government is going to want the Knights Radiant revived. Not if they are going to have magical powers and hundreds of Shardbearers to back them up.

I know this isn't an established theory that people have grown attached to or anything, but it could also be that Jezrien is comatose somewhere being spoon fed like a baby while his mind is trapped in the Highstorm. We really don't know who Jezrien is, potentially, every single theory we have can be wrong. Even theories based on WoB can be wrong. It isn't cannon until it's cannon, so while my example may be unlikely, we should remember that no matter how hard we argue for a theory, only Brandon can speak with certitude. I'd say that, yeah, the theory that Jezrien may be drooling is established. Evidence was presented, the evidence was evaluated, and enough people excepted it that it has validity as a theory. That's pretty much all that was established. It doesn't prove Jezrien was the drunkard who spoke gibberish, just that he drools a lot. this line can be applied to other theories, that's fine, it doesn't prove them though. So if you want to believe the theory, that's fine. If someone else wants to believe a different theory, well, sooner or later one of you could be right. Some of us will be so far off the mark it will be funny. In March we'll know some things for sure, we'll have better theories about other things. There isn't any real point in arguing the point any further until we receive additional information from which to draw new insights.

I doubt he had the sword out in front of the companion of Darkness. I'm assuming they have other ways to know.

How about extra sensory effects? Emotional and perceptual, they are both extra sensory in nature, or at least not physical in nature.

There is no interpretation required. source Sorry for not commenting on the rest of your post