Gloom

Kaladin - Young male (18-19), athletic, black hair, brown eyes, tan skin. Shallan - Young noble lady (17-18), petite, red hair, green eyes, tan skin. Dalinar - A Prince of Alethkar, 50's, solid musculature, black hair, tan skin, gray eyes, neatly dressed. Adolin - Prince of Alethkar, early to mid twenties, heavier athletic build than Kaladin, blond hair with black highlights, blue eyes, neatly dressed. Jasnah - Princess of Alethkar and sister to the king, mid-thirties, black hair, tan skin, light eyes, intense. Sadeas - Heavy build, late forties, thick featured, black hair, arrogant.

I believe the bond with the investiture is the engine. The magic is the fuel. Nightblood was invested. He requires Breath for fuel. An Allomancer has to kick start his engine by snapping, and requires metals for fuel. A Surgebinder has to be bonded to an engine and then uses Stormlight for fuel. The Shaod may be the engine and the fuel. The somatic components give it direction. I can't say I'm certain of this, because Brandon really knows how to make his magic systems complex, but I think this is the gist of what he has done.

I'm not surprised. In order to get the magic from all the Shard Worlds, he'd have to visit all the Shard Worlds. I never really thought Hoids mission was to collect magic. At the moment, Hoid seems to be focused on stopping Odium, so Odium is likely to be a hindrance to his long term plans. If Hoids mission was to simply collect magic, he'd be trying to gain access to Voidbringer magic. Just because Hoid is from Yolen, and likely lived when Adonalsium was whole doesn't mean he would automatically have access to magic that was created after the shattering and the migration of the Shards. It just that he can gain access to that magic assuming that Shardlets theory about SDNA is correct, which I have no reason to doubt.

I disagree. Sure, any idiot can swing a Shardblade, but I wouldn't say that members of Shallans Order will be just as effective as a Wind Runner, Shards or no Shards, A Wind Runner will be a much more effective warrior. His surges are way more useful on a battlefield. Each Order has it's own magic system. Some of those magic systems are geared specifically towards battle, while other are capable of being used in battle, but aren't necessarily geared for that purpose. I don't think Jasnah was a bad example, because of what her Order represents, and the type of people that are likely to bond with that type of spren are generally going to be academics and advisers. If anything, I think Jasnah may be an outlier because of her willingness to throw down. Just as I believe that those chosen to be Wind Runners will be honorable warriors. Some will be smarter and have more battle savvy than others, some will be reckless, and other cautious, but they will all have the same general characteristics. This is why the spren chose to bond with them in the first place. I also think that if Darkness comes to the Shattered Plains, he will find Kaladin a far tougher nut to crack than those other Surgebinders he's been tracking. I think he'd be lucky to walk away.

I think Hoid would say he's borrowing them, he just doesn't expect to get them back to you in your lifetime.

First, nice job putting this together. Now I'm going to nit pick. None of the magic used in AWoKs was accessed by a Knight Radiant except in Dalinars visions. It was accessed by Surgebinders. A Surgebinder in not a Knight Radiant. We don't know why people become invested in Roshar exactly. We know it is through their actions, but we don't know it is only through honorable actions that people are chosen. When did we see a dead man holding a Shardblade exactly?

This doesn't change much. Elhokar is still seeing a cryptic, and a cryptic has chosen Shallan. I would find it hard to believe that the cryptics aren't aware of Jasnah having a Nahel bond. It does mean this isn't a long ranging plan they've concocted, but it doesn't mean they aren't taking advantage of an opportunity to advance their cause.

I don't believe that every surge binder is the heavy cavalry. I believe some are infantry, some are medics, some are ranged combatants, and some are logistics and support. I believe that the Knights Radiant were a self contained army capable of functioning independently of outside agencies. For this to be the case, the above must be true. Some Orders are far more capable in support positions than others. A few Wind Runners who don't have the heart to fight may be utilized as scouts and messengers, but for the most part a Wind Runner is a combatant. A Soulcaster can be either a combatant or support. They have more versatility. It could be argued that putting a healer into a combat role is a waste of a good healer. So yes, I believe that their were Orders that were more 'combat-aspected' than others. This doesn't mean that you were relegated to a caste. It means that they were better suited to a task. I don't believe that a Soulcaster would be, or could be forced to sit at a desk while the warriors went out to fight if that Soulcaster decided to fight. Jasnah is a perfect example. I don't doubt, that Jasnah could, or would given the proper circumstances, get into the middle of melee and start Soulcasting her enemies into stone. I don't think this is where she would think she was likely to accomplish the most good however. I think Jasnah would be more comfortable making war plans, researching information about the enemy, and finding the perfect place to fight. Actually, I think Jasnah would be the leader of her Order, and would be directing the research her team was conducting and trying to put the pieces together while consulting with command.

I think something is going on with Gaz. I think he's alive, but I don't think he's a herald. If the bridgeman herald theory is correct, then I would have to completely disqualify Gaz from being a Herald based on the fact that he was in a position to help a fellow Herald and didn't. Even if this meant that Gaz would have had to leave the camp himself in order to do so.

And as far as Light Weaving goes, I believe that this was one of the actual magic systems on Yolen. I believe that Tanavast and Cultivation were native of Yolen before the Shattering. Hoid is also a native of Yolen. I believe that Hoids Light Weaving is the Yolen version of Light Weaving, and that Light Weaving on Roshar was named after that original system. It is still to be determined how much in common these two systems actually have.

It's difficult to imagine that should Pertuity have directed his talent towards killing SH, that he couldn't have seen a way in which to accomplish the task.

I don't believe it's even possible to be insecure under the influence of EE. These people seem to deficient in self restraint and introspection. Only fear of those with greater power seems to register as something they should be cautious of, but even then, they appear to secretly think that in the right circumstances they could take out more powerful epics. So I'd say that the thought that someone could use SH as a weapon against himself never even registered as a possibility.

I'm pretty much convinced that the man with the scar is Nalan. Not entirely convinced that the other is Kalak. I believe that over 4500 years, Jezriens instructions would have proven to be ineffective in regards to maintaining separation. We have ten immortals who are bound to find ways to integrate themselves into what remained of the Silver Kingdoms. At first I have no doubt that they had little trouble staying out of each others way, but as populations increased, and the power they held in their spheres of influence increased, they would have found it more than a little difficult to not collaborate in some manner in order to achieve their own ends. Over time, as small groups of them continued to work together, Jezriens instructions would have further degraded to the point where they would regularly meet and discuss their plans with each other. These are the only people who they can really relate to on an individual basis who aren't likely to die off in a few decades. If the Heralds are indeed cursed as they appear to be, then this too could have been a factor that altered Jezriens initial command.

I like the theory. I think you're onto something here Argent. I think Ishar might be with the Shin, and that he has perverted the piety of their people, just a gut feeling. Now if we assume you're theory is correct, the next question would be when were they cursed, and were they cursed by Honor, or as these curses appear to be neurological, perhaps by Cultivation/The Night Watcher. The Heralds betrayal of Honor did lead up to the death of the one she loved after all.

I have no doubt that we will see Surgebinders from all walks of life before very long. It makes sense that those spren who can remember and think independently are figuring out that they will have a greater chance of quickly re-establishing themselves if they make a power block in a noble house. I believe that is what is happening with House Kholin. The King is seeing cryptics, his sister may have already bonded to a cryptic, his sisters ward has bonded with a cryptic. This looks like a power play by the cryptics to establish themselves in a noble house. I would hardly find it surprising should Navani start seeing cryptics as well. I believe that Dalinar would also be chosen by a cryptic eventually were it not for the fact that his current investiture would almost certainly interfere. I believe Sylphrena has led us to under estimate bonding spren as a whole. I am beginning to believe that cryptics are a very cunning type of spren. This is what I believe they are doing. We know that Ardents have told the world that the Knights Radiant became corrupt and betrayed mankind. I won't get into who was responsible for this, but there are several places in TWoKs that ardents are either reported to have said this, or said this in person. There is also a reason to suspect that Surgebinders are being killed before they can get very far along in their ideals. So the cryptics make a plan. The choose the kings sister, which works for them because she is a good candidate for a bond, and let her reach a point in her bond where they feel she can defend herself adequately. Once she has reached that point, another cryptic starts the processes of bonding to the King of Alethkar, Jasnahs brother. This should, theoretically, give Elhokar a better chance of attaining a strong bond with his spren before someone manages to assassinate him if Jasnah teaches him what she knows. By making the King of Alethkar a Surgebinder, the crytics are raising the stakes. Now should Elhokar succeed in surviving to the point where he is a competent Surgebinder those who are trying to keep the KR from rising again will be forced to take greater risks in order to remove him, or to show their hand and denounce him.

Yes, we do have something to base it on. I'll highlight the part of the quote which is of relevance.

Honor is splintered, so while it's possible that some splinters or slivers of Honor are working with Cultivation, I doubt they have enough power to influence Honorspren. Any combined efforts by Cultivation and Honor ended upon the Splintering. I'll grant that Cultivation and Honor may have added to the spren native to Roshar in a combined effort before the splintering, but that doesn't mean that Cultivation has any sway over those spren who are mostly of Honor, or any new Honorspren that were created as a result of the shattering. We have WoB that investiture on Roshar is NOT hereditary. That being said, those spren most closely related to Cultivation appear to travel in groups. They appear to be mostly of the cognitive realm and appear to be capable of remembering and socializing amongst themselves. This may lead them to choose people who are associated with each other, people who hold important positions that are aligned with their goals or people who may be influenced to align with their goals. As Nohadon said, Not all spren are as discerning as Honorspren. This could just as easily explain why many of the major characters who are related appear to be developing Nahel bonds as genetics would, while not conflicting with the authors word.

I think it varies between orders. I believe that the more combat aspected Radiants can breath in Stormlight, while the less combat aspected Radiants actually need to hold something infused with Stormlight.

Personally, I don't think this fits, but if you think that is what this quote is referring to, I'll respect your opinion. There have been no new Shardblades that we are aware of in the last 4000 years or so. None of the Shardblades we have seen have been bonded to a Knight Radiant, outside of those in Dalinars dreams. I will grant that it is unlikely that a Knight Radiant can alter the size of the weapon they wield. We aren't talking about Shardblades though. We are talking about Honorblades, which are more powerful than Shardblades. The parallel is that because of the Plate, we know that changing the relative size of an object is possible through investiture on Roshar. Of the Heralds, five are men, and five are women. I suppose it's possible that they were picked by height and that each of them is a towering effigy of humanity, but I tend to doubt this is so. Because of this, I have further doubts that all Honorblades are the massive example that Taln introduced at the end of the book. The quote above offers no insight into the size of the assembled Blades. In fact, the Blade that Taln carries wasn't even described in comparable terms.

I don't consider that an issue. Shardplate automatically conforms to the wearer. I see no reason to believe that an Honorblade can't be altered by the Herald it belongs to to fit the need of its bearer.

Well, a lot of people have visited the Night Watcher. Sure, we're talking about a relative few in regards to the population of the world, but plenty of people in regards to picking future Surgebinders. Cultivation can see the future better than Honor could, so her marking an unborn child isn't that huge of a stretch, but I don't think Shallan would have been marked for greatness, so much as she would have been watched for it. Even Shards have less than perfect precognition. Shallan could have strayed far a field from the future that was glimpsed for her had things worked out differently. So while I will grant that the Night Watcher may be involved in choosing who receives a bond either directly, or indirectly, I will only grant that this is so for those spren that are closest to Cultivation. I don't believe that Cultivation has any influence at all on spren like Sylphrena. How can you influence something that has no memory? Additionally, it's unlikely that Kaladin or his parents went to visit the Night Watcher. I believe that Honorspren are outside of Cultivations influence. They will choose for themselves who they wish to bond with. Cultivations influence on those bonding spren that fall within her sphere of influence does make sense though. It's too much of a coincidence that so many of the main characters, of whom many are related, have acquired or are in the process of acquiring spren bonds. I don't believe that Cultivation has been directly responsible for Dalinars visions, or should he begin attaining a spren, his bond. Dalinar is firmly in Honors camp. I will grant that Cultivations tampering may have made Dalinar easier for Tanavasts Ghost to locate.

Keeping her gender a secret would also make it easier for her to get close to her victims. She would generally not be considered a threat. It would make getting into and out of locations easier as well. She may even be able to walk right past her victims guards if she carried a letter with her and explained it was urgent and needed to be read to him at once.

I would say that tight spaces would still be a very large factor to a Blade wielder. True, a Shardblade can cut through anything that isn't invested, but if you are carelessly swinging a six foot sword through walls and ceilings, those walls and ceilings will quickly fall on and around you. Both Szeth and Dalinar have used this to their advantage.

Oh, I'm not completely sold on this myself, which is why the thread is a question. It becomes an easier sell if you happen to believe that Szeth, whom we all pretty much agree is working for people whose interests run counter to those of the protagonists, is carrying Jezriens' Honorblade. Yes, I'm aware that their are various ways in which the Blade may have been appropriated, but the easiest way for him to carry Jezriens' Blade is if it were given to him.

Just out of curiosity, how exactly did Amaram kill Kaladins promises? What oaths did Kaladin forsake?