Gloom

This very much sounds like Jezrien to me. I would argue that Honor or Cultivation saved his life, and he now protects Odium who killed his promises. He made oaths to Honor which he forsook. Who else but the Storm-father can raise his hand and have the storm respond?

There is WoB that Szeth does not have a spren, that Szeth is using the same power set as Kaladin, and a recent reading with Jasnah shows she does have a spren. I think that should bring you up to date. I agree that it is to early to kill off Dalinar. Before Dalinar can die, Kaladin needs to be well along on his path to becoming a KR. He has begun moving in that direction, but he hasn't attained a level of confidence in his new role to handle a major upset like Dalinar getting offed yet. Plus I think Dalinar has a greater role to play in this story. Without him the High Princes will not unite to face the Desolation. I believe that we will see great strides in that direction in WoR, so if the attack occurres at the end of WoR, it's possible that Dalinar will die, but I tend to believe that the attack will happen early to mid-book based on the cover blurb about what will be taking place in the story, and because I believe it is likely that Szeth will reach the Shattered Plains roughly the same time as Jasnah and Shallan unless he detours to Rell Elorim or something first.

I've decided that I'd prefer my very own Thunderclast instead of a set of Plate of a Shardblade.

I was referring to Galivar getting the the sphere from the Parshedi, which is altogether possible, and the theory that Galivar having the sphere was why they wanted him assassinated. If the sphere was of great import to the Parshendi, they should have at least made an attempt to recover it. If they didn't want Galivar to have the sphere, they should have prevented him from attaining it. I'm thinking that either the sphere was unimportant to the Parshedi, and that Galivar was a threat for a completely different reason, or that Galivar attained the sphere from a different source and the Parshendi felt threatened enough by it that they sought to have him assassinated.

Just for clarity's sake, is the entire interlude banned from discussion, or can we discuss those parts of it made public through readings? So basically, I'm asking if we can discuss information, that we can link in post for easy verification by moderators, that discusses the same information obtained from a different source or if the information is banned from discussion regardless of the source.

Sanderson has stated more than once that perception can change how magic behaves. It's possible that how Shards are perceived has altered their function. Enough cognitive pressure on the investiture might be capable of altering it over an extended period of time. Alternately, the rejection of the Shards by the KR may have altered the investiture in the Shards. Just a thought.

I'm still skeptical. If the Voidsphere was the objective, then leaving it unaccounted for makes no sense. If this little bauble was worth getting into a war over, then why not at least attempt to retrieve it? I think the Parshendi had other, or at least additional motivations for having Galivar assassinated.

I think that a certain Herald has been systematically finding reasons to eliminate Surgebinders for some time. We have no evidence that Surgebinders have only recently started to reappear. They could have been appearing since the Recreance, and been eliminated before they gained the power of a Radiant. The little black pill doesn't have to be related at all.

Nah, little kids are notorious for not mentioning important things to other people.

Well, theoretically it could, but SH pretty much always wore his super undies when he was in public and seems to have made an effort to always look as tough as possible. So the sniper might not know whom they were shooting at if they were from another planet, but they would know it was an epic, and since he would almost certainly be surrounded by other epics acting as lackies, they would have a good reason to suspect he was a high epic. If they were even a little afraid, they would fail.

I would say that different spren use different methods to select whom they bond with. Sylphrena didn't appear to need a committee to choose Kaladin. She didn't even have any memories until she chose him. The Cryptics are another kind of spren, and while they appear to associate with each other to some degree and retain a strong grasp on the cognitive, we don't know they are as democratic as the spren type that Lift bonded to. So I wouldn't say we know that they give especial consideration to those who have visited the Nightwatcher. I also don't know when Shallan could have found the time in her cloistered life to go on a pilgrimage to the Nightwatcher.

So here's my hypothesis on how Galivar got the black marble. Galivar was riding through Alethkar enjoying a fine summers ride when he came across a small boy named Tien outside of a small village named Heathstone. He asked the boy if he knew about any good hunting in the area, and the boy shook his head, but offered him a strange black sphere instead. Galivar took the odd looking sphere and thanked the boy, then rode off into the countryside. My evidence is that Tien liked rocks and he liked to give them away. A big warrior on a horse deserved his best rock, so Tien gave him the black glowy black rock he found in the stream. Now before you get to critical about my idea of how Galivar got the stone please go back and find me better evidence for your personal hypothesis than what I've presented for mine.

I believe that they will fight, and I believe that Kaladin will successfully defend Dalinar. I don't think Szeths' story is finished, nor do I think BS will allow Szeth to kill off Kaladin and Dalinar. I believe that Szeth will try to kill Dalinar and find himself forced into retreat. If the blade Szeth carries is an Honorblade, I'm not sure it will go misty should Szeth be disarmed since it's technically on loan. I'm also not convinced that the blade will remain captured for long if it is an Honorblade because it should still maintain its link to the Herald it belongs to, whom most of us believe to be Jezrien. Should Szeth be disarmed, and find that Dalinar is surrounded by Surgebinders and Shardbearers, he may return to Kharbranth and report his failure. I think it's more likely that he will fight until captured or killed though. Szeth almost seems to crave the release that death would grant him...provided that he isn't reanimated and turned into a Voidbringer of course. I also find it unlikely that Kaladin will claim the blade Szeth carries. I would find it amusing if he turned another one down and was honored for it instead of punished this time. Edit: If Szeth is captured, I could see him admitting to having hidden the Sphere and offing to take someone to go get it before they bring him to justice for his crimes.

Pertuity had multiple powers, SH had multiple powers, FF has multiple powers, Nightwielder had multiple powers, the illusionist they killed outside Davids apartment had multiple powers. Sure, they aren't gifters, but I'd see gifting as an additional power set. I don't think the Prof could gift the entire planet, I think his ability to gift is finite and based on his personal power level in those abilities. We don't know that Conflux has a single power, and in fact I'd feel pretty confident that he has a secondary power that makes him immune to electrical attacks.

I take that differently. I take it as if you are going to live in my city, then you will serve me or die. If you leave my city, then so be it, I can't be bothered to track you across the world and leave my city to fend for itself for how ever long it takes to find you and kill you. Plus, SH may have been powerful, but he wasn't invincible. He knew that, so I don't see him going out of his way to borrow trouble that was no longer a concern.

I'm inclined to believe that some orders, including Wind Runners, but not exclusively Wind Runners can hold Stormlight directly, while others, like Light Weavers and the new Order from the link above, draw Stormlight directly from storage points such as gems. It seems to me that those Orders capable of holding Stormlight directly are more combat oriented based on this fact alone. I would hypothesize further that they will be the ones most inclined to front line melee while the other Orders will be more likely to take supporting roles. This isn't to say that the other Orders won't have people on the front lines in the heat of battle, but that they will be more inclined to act in supporting roles (ie: ranged attacks, medics, etc.). I could definitely see Jasnahs' Order on the front right behind the combat Orders Soulcasting Voidbringers into stone.

Okay, now that is unclear. I have an idea of what you may be trying to say, but then again you may be saying the exact opposite as well. I'm assuming that you're trying to say that the reason the Shattered Plains exist in Roshar was changed when he moved them from Yolen. That is that the Shattered Plains were shattered by something other than the shattering of the Adonalsium sparkly now that they exist in Roshar.

I'm not sure if Conflux got shafted or not. He can power an entire city by gifting his power to various places, but either he lacks a strong offensive ability, or he abhors violence to the point where he would rather be killed than to kill again. It doesn't really make sense to me that he lacks the ability to light someone up like a Yule Tree on Christmas. The power is ready to be used, he killed his wife accidentally, but he was still capable of releasing an electrical current capable of frying her. About the only benefit he sees from his gift is that he isn't subject to rolling blackouts, and he most likely isn't capable of being electrocuted. Hell, if Conflux wanted to, I'm sure he could come up with a weapon capable of toasting anything that didn't have powerful shields, and I mean really powerful shields. He could find a device that created a force field if he looked hard enough and long enough, and then power that as well. But this isn't what he apparently wants out of life. He intentionally gifts away his power, and wasn't all that keen at the idea of taking it back when the Prof told him to either. Sure, his excuse was that SH would get mad, but he knew that SH wasn't in a position to do anything about it, or in a position to blame him for it later had he won. In fact, SH would be stupid to do anything other than put Conflux back to work, which I think he'd have been just fine with.

Or remove the SH spoilers and repost

He took his power back. This is why David barely had enough power left to stop a bullet when only a short time before this he was drilling manholes in the floor outside the restroom. So after the fight with SH, The Prof had just about every drop of power he owns bottled up inside him. He needed it in order to survive against SH. He needed to start spreading it out again in order to regain control of himself. The less power he is holding himself, the easier it is to fight the EE.

SH seemed pretty open minded about doing what needed to be done to keep his city functional. He passed laws to protect his fellow epics from harm, He kept Conflux's captivity quiet so no one would be aware of his treatment, and generally seemed to try to engender an atmosphere to make his lesser epics feel safe in his city. So I don't know what evidence we have to say that Steelheart wouldn't allow epics to leave his service. If he didn't, then he'd basically be telling them that any epic that entered Newcago was his personal slave and would act as an extension of his will. This isn't a very effective way of luring new and useful epics to his city.

From what I understand, the greater the power, the greater the epic effect has on the epic. SH was incredibly powerful and incredibly heartless, indifferent, and arrogant. Lesser epics are also like that, but to a lesser extent. This may be due in part to the fact that high epics can kill them pretty easily so they have a force more powerful than them forcing a little humility on them, but then the Prof. says something at the end of SH that should make you think. It should make you think that the amount of power he holds is finite. As he gifts it away, he becomes less powerful, closer to human normal. This is established when David confidently does a tensor push against a bullet during the fight against SH and barely stops it. By gifting their powers, gifters don't become good, they revert to normal human.

I find it hard to believe that SH would consider the architect or his underground city beneath his notice. Why commission the city to be built in the first place if you have so little interest in it. I believe that Digzone is a literary device. Every time Digzone was brought up it was to introduce a small info dump of information in an interesting and entertaining way. We learned as much about epics and Newcago through Digzone as we did almost any other character. It's still possible that the Prof. is Digzone, but with the information we have available, for every new piece of evidence you present in favor of it, a piece exists that can be used to counter your theory.

I think Hoid is pursuing his own goals. I believe that Hoid thinks that what he is doing is the right thing, and that his are the right reasons. I don't believe that Hoid feels it is him responsibility to look out for the welfare of every thief, wanderer, or slave he crosses paths with. Good and evil are subjective to the time and place where they occur. St. George was considered a hero and sainted for reputedly killing an endangered species. St. Patrick was also heralded as a savior and a hero for eliminating every snake in an entire micro-environment. In our time, both of these acts would be seen as a crime against nature. At the time they occurred, they were considered both necessary and laudable achievements. I think Hoid has good intentions, and can't blame him for arming himself with every nifty piece of investiture that he can get his hands on. I know I would. I do like it when people think outside the box though, so I'll give you an up-vote for looking at it from a different angle.

Welcome to the forum. It was brought up, and you summed up the similarities and difference between the Prof. and Digzone pretty well. We didn't get very far because it kept coming back to the the Tensors making circular tunnels, and the fact that SH didn't recognize the Prof., or in the event the Prof. changed his appearance, the Profs. power set. We also couldn't say with absolute certainty that the Prof. wasn't Digzone either, because as you stated, we don't have proof of Digzones death, just that his people went crazy and he disappeared.