Gloom

Do the Spiritual and the Cognitive realm interact without the Physical or the direct intervention of a Shard?

Seons are of Devotion, devotion is a much more subtle attribute than honor. Someone can be devoted to something which is benevolent, or to a purpose which is nefarious. To be devoted means you are extremely committed to your purpose. Honor is different in my opinion. Honor is situational. It requires more from a person than devotion to a purpose. It requires a particular behavior set. It influences every decision. It has baring on every action. Devotion is about accomplishing the ends. Honor is about the means.

I like it just fine as a book. I can see some of Brandons work being converted into a film format, but I don't think the Cosmere works would benefit from this at all.

— I never knew how to make those before...didn't even know what they were called. Thanks Kurki! — Up vote for teaching me something new

I disagree. Being bonded to a Splinter is bound to have some residual effects on behavior even without communication.

It's also possible he will gift the Shardblade to Dalinar to replace the one he'd sacrificed to free Kaladins men. Wouldn't that piss Sadeas off.

Indeed. Syl was following Kaladin around prior to killing the Shardbearer. She tripped him on the way back from getting the new kid and had been pranking him for (IIRC) weeks. I think her ability to influence Kaladin behavior at this point was minimal, but still may have been enough to impact his emotional states. Kaladins decision strengthened the bond between them.

I see things a little between the lines so to speak. I believe that humans are incapable of recognizing the spiritual except when it is used or seen in conjunction with the physical. I believe that what may, or may not, actually be happening in the spiritual is beyond human perception and even beyond to the perception of some Shards (assuming precognition is a function of the spiritual). I believe that the spiritual is separate from the cognitive realm, and the Cognitive realm is separate from the Spiritual realm. Both realms bleed over into the Physical realm. What do I believe this means? You won't have any complex cognitive activity as we, humans, would recognize it existing in the Spiritual realm. It is the power of transition, of changing states. No one sees Stormlight until it attaches itself to the physical. No one sees the mists unless there is a physical component for the power to attach itself to, water vapor. I believe that Syl is primarily of the spiritual, and her bond with the physical (Kaladin) is what allows him and others to see her. I believe her link to Kaladin is what allows her access to the Cognitive realm I believe the Cognitive realm functions in much the same way but with fewer limitations. Spren from the cognitive can't be seen unless they are bound to the the physical (a host). The difference is that the Cognitive is pure thought. It lacks the power to do anything. It just is. Because of this, it can host the Physical without resulting in it's destruction. Spren in the Cognitive lack the ability to do more than communicate (think) until they bond with a host. Once the bond is created, the host becomes a link to the spiritual. Through this link they can access the power of the Spiritual and empower their host. Now, when both forces interact with the Physical, you can do some really neat things. Even when the physical is brought into the Cognitive, it can by extension, bring the Spiritual. Without the physical, these two forces cease to interact. This could also explain why the host body of a Shardholder is important. That body is the Physical component that allows a Shard to interact with both the Spiritual and the Cognitive. I believe that in the case of invested objects, that the Spiritual really is reduced to the role of fuel, but in a sentient being, it can be much more versatile. I could be completely wrong, but this is how I have come to understand the rules of the Cosmere.

Another problem comes down to the fact that I doubt that Tanavast was an idiot. Making a bet that someone isn't going to break over the course of thousands of years of brutal torture is just plain idiotic. I'll bet that most people wouldn't last a week under rigorous torture. I'd also bet that those people would never be the same again, never move as freely or as pain free as they used to again, etc. At least not without magic. Tanavast was human once. He has seen, lived that life. He would have seen, either in his life as a human being, or as a Shard the results of torture. Honestly, I find it unbelievable that the Heralds went back once, let alone 99 times. This is part of why I don't believe that the Heralds began in a manner that led to their torture. Edit: I wasn't trying to be offensive. Some of what you said I believe.

I can see two possible spies. One is placed high in the council of the king. This would be Sadeas, and he is the most likely person to be in contact with Taravangian. It is likely that he has access to Span-reeds as well. Sadeas was one of the possible people that Galivar named as his assassin, even though Sadeas was their helping Galivar at the time. That is how trust worthy Sadeas is. Sadeas knows that Dalinar was pressuring Elhokar into naming him High Prince of War, and that Dalinar was trying to get all the Princes to work together. I could easily see Sadeas and Taravangian working together, they have the same level of moral ambiguity. The other possible spy is Gaz, but if Gaz is a spy, I don't think he reports to the same master as Sadeas. In fact, in the case that Gaz is a spy it would only make sense if he was actively spying on Sadeas himself. If Gaz is alive, I think that he either works for either Thadikar or Restares, which ever one Taravangian isn't. I completely agree with your stance on this Feather. I don't know how Kaladin would react to the opportunity to claim another Shardblade, but I can see him being seriously conflicted over the matter. I will say that I believe that Kaladin will make his decision with a far greater understanding of the ramifications of his decision than he had the first time, and that understanding may give him options that we aren't seeing at the moment. I also agree that Szeth has more to show us, and that it would be unfortunate if he made Kaladin kill him.

I believe that Heralds have additional investiture outside of their Honorblades. They are extremely long lived if not immortal. They are almost certain to be knowledgeable in fabrial science as well.

Actually, considering the effect a Shardblade has on a living creature, I tend to think they go to the spiritual realm. I personally believe that when they Knights Radiant discarded their Shards, that the Blades changed. I don't believe that the Blades are meant to be carried by anyone except the Knight Radiant that created/summoned the blade into existence. Once they were discarded they lost something vital. I think spren see and react to Shards in their current form in a way similar to how a person would react to a zombie. The information about Lift isn't included in the information generally available about that interlude. Please don't post SH info. It is currently not allowed in these forums. You can find what information is generally available in the Readings section of the WoR subfolder. We have word of Brandon that Szeth is without a spren. We also have a RAFO on weather or not a Shardblade can kill a spren, so it's likely they can.

I think, considering Kaladin's fathers plans for him, that eventually, Kaladin will form a romance with a light eyed woman. I don't know that it will be Shallan, but if it isn't, then no big deal. We still have about 4000 pages for him to meet someone. I would like to note that it appears from the cover blurb, that Kaladin and Shallan will be spending some time together in WoR. I get that they don't exactly fit each other like a glove, but since they are likely to both be deeply involved in politics before long, I think Shallan would be good for Kaladin when navigating the morass of politics. He's too damned honorable to avoid a set up. Shallan is crafty enough and devious enough to watch his back.

I don't think that the Orders themselves are gender specific. The spren may take the form of the opposite gender when they bond to someone, or they may choose someone who is the opposite of their gender, or it may be a big coincidence with the tiny pool of Surgebinders that we have in play at the moment.

Nice quote. Upvote for you.

It might, it might be happenstance, or it might be that way for an entirely different reason. From the brief reading of the Lift interlude which Brandon had read, her spren can be assumed to be male. Wyndle didn't strike me as particularly feminine. Shallans cryptic seemed rather sexless, but could be male as well.

I think a world with casual Hemallurgy would be a far more frightening place to live than one ruled by Catquistors.

It amuses me that you are arguing that the Parshmen are the Voidbringers in the Parshmen are NOT Voidbringers thread. I tend to think that the second scenario is the most likely. After several re-reads, Jasnahs evidence is pretty damning as far as I'm concerned. There would be a lot of places for Parshmen remnants to disappear for a millennium or two considering how badly the human race is decimated in Desolations.

If they lived underground with the mists, that would be...different. Life underground is far more difficult than life above ground, even in Scadrial this would still be the case. No matter how long your society exists, it would be difficult for it ever to flourish. There would always be a definite balancing act between expansion, which is extremely labor intensive when using manual labor, food, and population. I think such a society would be likely to fail at the first plague unless they were broken up into separate colonies. Those colonies may or may not ever encounter each other pre-Harmony. If they did encounter each other they would probably fight to see who was stronger, if the fighting proved fruitless, they would eventually trade. Space would be the most important factor next to food, and in fact, without space to grow food, no food. This lack of space would result in a surplus of people who were not sustainable. I don't believe that a society would be unable to survive by spiking and killing a portion of its population. In our world, the Aztecs sacrificed their own people for generations before they began sacrificing their enemies instead. Human beings have since the dawn of time left unwanted infants exposed to the elements. They continue to do so even to this day. Humans are willing to do what it takes to survive, and when that is something unpleasant, we codify it, mystisize it, and make it acceptable. Hemalurgy is a strong candidate if you can figure out how to keep a spike alive in a machine.

It also depends on the spren. If one type of spren only chooses pacifists, then those chosen will be non-combatants. Granted that's an extreme generalization, but the point it valid. We know that some spren types are quite willing to choose people who are in no way ready warriors.

It's been a long time since I read these books, and they had no data on the southern continent that I'm aware of. So would I be wrong to assume that there are mistwraiths on the southern continent? Perhaps if you force a mistwraith to ingest the metal, and wait a specific period of time it can be extracted as invested metal.

Okay, so apparently, I'm the only one who doesn't think that some Orders are better equipped to fight on the front lines, in general melee, than others. That everyone else who posted in response to this idea basically believes that all Orders will be equally capable in the thick of battle in hand to hand combat. I'm aware that we lack extensive amounts of details about many of the Orders. I think we have enough details to make an initial assessment though. If you believe that every Order is equal in every way but just has different powers, that's fine. Based on the amount of information currently available I suppose that you could see it that way if you wanted to. I think your wrong. I think that different Orders excel at different things. I think that some Orders will excel in hand to hand, others will be good at hand to hand, and others will suck at it. There may be outliers within these Orders. I think the same will be true of ranged spell casters, and support positions. I believe that every Order will be capable of contributing to the fight, and that every Surgebinder is dangerous, but I don't think they are equally dangerous.

I don't think that Gaz is on a bridge crew. I think he was a spy, and fled the camps when Lamaril was taken by Sadeas just in case Lamaril tried to use what he had against Gaz as a bargaining chip.

Thanks for updating Windrunner. Yeah, it is a lot, but I'm anticipating that Team Sanderson and Tor will start officially releasing the first few chapters, probably a chapter a month starting in December, maybe January to drive up pre-order sales. So we have more to look forward to as well.