Gloom

IIRC, They spent three days preparing Soldiers Field, and David was the stick man for the tensors pretty much the whole time. If David was showing EE, it wasn't because of some relatively small excavations. I agree that the power can't be utilized by another epic regardless of what method is used, but I still believe that objects can be gifted. Conflux could charge/gift batteries.

It's a theory, so take it for what it's worth. It's a theory based on solid argument, but not everyone is in agreement with all of the points above. Gifting objects is disputed, though I'm in favor of the idea. Other seem to think that gifting is done person to person, but I've argued, apparently successfully, that being gifted by the Prof. through objects makes more sense. Getting shot without your jacket on for instance would raise questions. Healing without the aid of the harmsway would also raise questions, and no one but the Prof can use tensors without wearing them. There is more evidence around. Read the thread on Conflux if you're interested, most of it's there.

I'm not sure there is an age at which you become an epic. I'm of the opinion that Firefight has been an epic for quite a while, and then there are other epics that obviously became epics much later in life. Personally, I wouldn't worry about suddenly becoming an epic. Why should I? As long as I continue to use my powers, I'll never regret a moment of it. PS: Your worries are baseless Limelight, you're already an epic...though, I must say, you look nothing like I imagined.

I think the point was well made, and apparently someone else does as well. I don't think you came off as childish. We all need to take care when voicing our opinions, as well as how we respond to opinions that we don't agree with. There are times when someone says something in a way that gets a knee jerk reaction from us, and while we try to avoid these moments, sometimes we are a little too forceful or come across a little hostile even if this wasn't our intent. And sometimes, we're just to excited about something to take the proper care that we should. On Topic: I don't believe that, were Elhokar utilizing his Plate as it was intended (ie: the way the KR used the Plate), that this would be possible at all. I don't believe that if the Plate were intact, that stormlight could be drained from it at all (regardless of how it was being used). Because Elhokars Plate was damaged, and because Elhokar was not coherent, I can agree the possibility exists that Dalinar was able to siphon stormlight from Elhokar's armor. I don't think that Szeth is any less capable of drawing stormlight than any Surgebinder, but I think the conditions need to be right for it to happen. So, I'd theorize that if Elhokar wasn't dazed at the time, any attempt to siphon energy from his Plate would have failed, regardless of the damage to that Plate unless Dalinar was a powerful enough Surgebinder to not only overpower the natural resistance of the Plate as an invested object, but also the natural resistance of Elhokar as the bearer. In this event, we have a perfect storm situation. The Plate was damaged, and Elhokar was recovering from a blow by the Chasmfiend. I'm still not convinced, but I'm agreeable that it is plausible.

I didn't intend to tear your theory apart Natans. Unfortunately, as a started looking into it, it led me to a completely different answer than the one you proposed. I'm afraid that I have some additional circumstantial evidence that would further derail this theory. From reading the book, I feel that the evidence suggests that not only did none of the Knight Radiant Orders survive, but that they were purposefully dismissed. Even should such an Order desire to continue, they were despised. They would also have likely been considered a threat to the Theocracy that followed after the Orders were dissolved had they been an active part in their organization. All that being said, I think at least in part I've been convinced that the Worldsingers may very well have been given their charge by the Heralds. I'm actually curious about when this may have occurred.

I'll agree that my word usage was stronger than it should have been. Having just re-read that particular dream sequence again, twice, I have little reason to change my opinion on the matter though. No mention of Knights Radiant have been made at all, while Surgebinders and Soulcasters are mentioned several times. This little snippet of information simply confirms that the KR modeled their organization around what Nohadon wrote in his book. It's possible that Nohadon, a king of Alethkar, simply forgot about the KR, or that he hadn't heard of this particular group of Surgebinders and Soulcaster, but I find it unlikely. When the Radiants are spoken of by the Heralds, they don't speak of them possessively. I don't hear Jezrien saying anything about his WindRunners, or Kalak about his Radiants. The Radiants themselves don't give the Heralds any special notice, no bowing, no salutes, no gestures of respect, they just trudge past Kalak without even acknowledging him. Very sloppy of a military organization in regards to its leaders, if that's what they were. No, I'm going to stick with my belief that the Heralds had almost nothing to do with the Knights Radiant, and that their relationship with the Orders varied from desolation to desolation.

I don't agree, but I'll give it an upvote because your research brings up an interesting point. The Worldsingers were, or at least believe they were, founded by the Heralds. Some assumptions are being made here that are implied by the reader but aren't strongly implied by the book. We don't know that the Radiants took orders from the Heralds. The Heralds only existed during desolations. The KR had to have had a command structure that was independent of the Heralds or they would fall apart after every desolation when the Heralds returned to the Tranquilline Halls. Prior to Nohadons time Knights Radiant didn't exist. Surgebinders and soulcasters existed, but not Knight Radiants. What we don't know is if those surgebinders and soulcasters carried the arms of Radiants prior to his reign or weather they came as a result of the forming of these orders. We can assume that since the Radiant orders were formed after the desolation, that they were formed without the explicit will of the Heralds. I don't doubt that the Radiants once formed were willing and able to assist the Worldsingers, but we don't have any evidence to support the theory that Worldsingers were Radiants. In fact one could argue that if the Worldsingers were an order formed by the Heralds, then they were unlikely to have been Radiants.

Well, at least he'll die with a name now. Hate to think of how many epics died before they could come up with a pithy name.

We don't really know the rules regarding Honorblades. We've seen some of the rules in regards to Shardblades, but we have reason to believe that Honorblades function differently. For instance, it would be easy to be given a Shardblade as demonstrated by Dalinar, but can a Herald give away an Honorblade? If they did, would it disappear while the original owner was still alive? If it did disappear, would the bearer take the heralds place in the Tranquiline Halls, or would it drag the original Herald into that place with it? If it didn't, why wouldn't it simply reappear as on the ground like an ordinary Shardblade? I see too many questions without answers to actually use the blade itself to prove or disprove the theory, but I've been wrong before. Regardless, it's an interesting point. I forgot about Szeth mentioning that.

Here's my take on Nohadon. I'm not going to try to convince anyone it's accurate, I'm just putting it out there. Surgebinders existed before he organized them. They may have even had orders. These orders may not be the orders we know now, and there may have been dozens of them. What I think Nohadon did was unite the orders into a cohesive group with a central command structure. He consulted members of the orders, brought them together, negotiated between them, possibly got them all on board with the same program and either had them work together to create Urithiru, or helped them come to an agreement where all orders would share it as a central location from which to operate. He learned of the ideals favored by the spren who empower the Surgebinders, and created laws by which the Knights Radiant would operate. When everything was stabilized, he wrote a book called The Way of Kings. He may have had extensive contact with the Heralds during the desolation, since he was a king, and as a king was someone they would coordinate through. This, along with the decimation of his homeland, may have been what inspired him to take the disparate groups of Surgebinders and form them into a cohesive fighting force later known as the Knights Radiant. If Urithiru was soulcast into existence in a combined effort by the Knight Radiants Soulcasters, would that be considered to be built by the hands of no man?

Kabsal was marked on his arm, but I find it difficult to believe that his mark was on his wrist. Had Kabsal been marked on the wrist, I doubt he would have been so difficult to spot. The mark on the enforcers was plain to see. I believe that the enforcer branch of the Ghostbloods are marked on the wrist, and that those who are covert are marked in harder to locate areas. I actually do believe that at some point, Kabsal was actually an ardent. He had quite a few of the known skills and background information that would be required by members of the Ardentia. He is most likely a defector. His mark was placed in a location that would be difficult to notice in the vestments of his supposed order. So some effort to maintain secrecy was being made. As to replicating it, who would want one? Tattoos are permanent. Once you have the mark, you'll have to continue to wear it the rest of your life. If you're found wearing a false mark by the Ghostbloods, I can't imagine a good end for you. Even if you aren't, how much will your allies trust you? Even knowing that the mark was false and that you are an agent of infiltration, how can they be sure you remain on their side? What would be the repercussions to the masters of those who tried infiltrating the Ghostbloods and failed? This still brings us back to the relevance, or lack there of, of Luesh's Pendent. Did he have it before he died? Was it placed on him as a mark of failure by his masters? Was he even a Ghostblood or just killed as a warning to the Davar's that the Ghostbloods meant business? If he had it prior to death, was he a probationary member? A deep cover spy who was trusted without a physical mark?

I believe that the Almighty was a combination of factors. I believe that Tanavast was the backbone of what is considered the Almighty, but not the entirety. Vorins, for instance don't even have a place for Honor that we know of, they strictly worship the Ten Heralds. The power that was Honor still exists, it is splintered, lacks a central focus point, but the power is still available to fulfill predetermined functions. The Heralds are almost certain to still have their investiture, Spren seem to be able to maintain their investiture, so it stands to reason that as long as the construct was already in place it would seek to fulfill its purpose.

Placing a mark upon a person is not an uncommon occurrence in history. It can establish membership, ownership, or a means of identification. The risk of not marking someone in a secret organization can be greater than that of having your agents discovered. If a person has the mark they can be trusted, if they don't, they can't. I find it interesting that Luesh wasn't marked. He wore a pendant. I can think of two reasons this could be. Luesh was a probationary member of the Ghostbloods who had yet to earn his mark, or the pendant is a tell to those in the know that Luesh was killed by the Ghostbloods.

The thought had occurred to me. It seems likely that it was a bluff created for the sole purpose of engendering additional fear in David. Steelheart had all the intel he needed from Megan's phone thing. Even if he hadn't put everything together prior to seeing David he at least knew someone from the bank lived before he accepted the challenge and knew that he had to track them down and kill them.

I believe that others have had these dreams or visitations that Dalinar endures, but I don't think more than one person at a time has them. I believe that most of these people are driven insane by them because they don't have the proper background or training to reference them. If a scholar had these dreams, he may have a background to understand what was happening, but he would probably be killed before he had a chance to learn anything. A warrior may survive, but wouldn't have the proper background or temporal power to affect any changes. A farmer would just be a victim, etc. I'm not sure what draws the dreams to Dalinar, but if it is a persons character, then they could have been haunting people who lacked the ability or resources to effect the changes that would be needed. It may be that those who have tried in the past have been eliminated as Taravangian intends to do to Dalinar. As for the Radiants, I agree with you that they didn't obey the Heralds. Heralds only existed during desolations. Knight Radiants existed all the time. They needed their own command structure separate from the Heralds or they would fall apart after every desolation. I'd still buy that Dalinar was being groomed to replace a defunct Herald. We don't know what happened to them over the course of millennia. Some we know are well, and likely to be capable of raising their Honorblades in defense of the world, others may be broken or dead.

I don't know. Shardplate is an invested object. Taking stormlight from inside of an invested object seems unlikely to me. On the other hand, Elhokars Plate was damaged if I recall correctly. This could have increased the chances of it working. I'm not concerned about what would happen when two Knight Radiants fought in close proximity of one another. I believe that a Knight Radiant would have full control of the stormlight within their armor. I also believe that a Knight Radiant uses stormlight much more efficiently and while they may still need gems in their Shardplate, they can probably circulate the stormlight through the plate in ways that a regular Shardbearer can't. By circulating the light through the armor, it would activate the glyphs and the Knight Radiant would claim ownership of that stormlight preventing accidental or intentional theft of their power.

What hoser said, and... I also find it unlikely that a surgebinder that topped out at about 4 and a half feet would wield a six foot sword, so provided that spren don't choose their bonded by height, there are bound to be some shorter blades out there. Why Szeth doesn't have a spren is anyone's guess. For all we know, he killed it with his Shardblade and that was the sin that got him bound to an Oathstone.

1) Powers suite would include: A ) Dominion over animals. No animal would willingly harm him, and he could maintain direct control over two dozen animals. B ) The ability to mutate any animal. C ) Regeneration. D ) The ability to gift control of his animals to others and to gift regeneration to his animals. E ) Minor elemental resistance. He would be comfortable in any natural temperature extreme. 2) Weakness - Can be slain with a silver tipped arrow. Other silver weapons can slow regeneration. 3) Name - Lord of the Hunt 4) Costume - The Lord of the Hunt would wear furs over his body armor and a medieval helm with stag horns. He would frequent the forests in the northern tier states and Canada. 5) Epic behavior - The Lord of the Hunt travels with a pack of mutated wolves and hunts those who disturb his forests from the back of a mutated stag. He believes he is the Celtic myth reborn, and tries to emulate all of the darker parts of that legend. He lives a nomadic lifestyle and believes in his own superiority. Few know of his existence and live to tell about it. His atrocities are little known because they often occur in isolated locations. He controls several isolated towns in the wilderness by proxy through his huntsmen who each have control of several mutated animals.

Oh, I don't doubt that the Prof. would either find a way to explain the occurrence, or take a trusted team member into his confidence. I'm close to as certain as I can be without having a view point that Tia knows the Prof. is an epic. So he has shared this knowledge, and he hasn't eliminated David now that he is also aware of the Prof.'s secret. The question though, is weather or not gifting can be done through an item. I feel pretty certain it can be. Between the Jackets, the Harmsway, and the fact that Edmund didn't become an epic slontze when he gifted the pen light we have evidence that can support this theory. I also think that by gifting an object it insulates the user of that object from Calamity's influence. Calamity, or at least the power that epics use, influence their behavior. If gifted directly to another human, there is no reason why it wouldn't also affect their behavior. I believe, that in the case of the diggers, Digzone gifted them directly, and as a result, either Calamity, or the power itself, drove them insane. An object can't be driven insane. The person using that object may be insulated from the effects of the power in the object limiting or preventing that power from harming the user. I have no proof of this, but it feels right, and makes sense to me.

I believe you're missing a few key factors. Intelligence may be a factor, but not a huge factor. Imagination combined with a hunger for power may have been more important. I personally believe that an epics subconscious mind and nature of their character may have had a large part in what powers they were granted. I would agree that every epic may have had access to an equally large pool of energy, but once they believed they had reached their potential, they subconsciously closed the door to additional power. They decided this is my power set and once that was decided, it became so. The small minded would be self limiting. In the case of Curveball, had his powers developed further, he could have had the ability to create any type of ammo for any weapon, he could have been able to gift other weapons with unlimited ammunition capacity, he could have imagined himself impervious to bullets, and armed every weapon in Steelhearts empire, tanks and choppers included. He may even have been able to summon/create weapons instantly had he reached his full potential. But he was a thug, he even fired his weapon gangster style. He lacked the imagination to really fulfill the potential of his power set.

We don't know precisely why the diggers went mad. Their is speculation in the book about it, but no hard facts. I believe that the diggers were gifted directly, and that over time, a direct link can cause insanity. I can't remember what led me to believe this, but it was something in one of the conversations that mentioned the diggers. The devices the Prof. used were complex enough to convince the Reckoners that they were new tech. This was the point, the Prof. didn't want it widely known even amongst his own people that he was an epic. I don't think they actually do anything except look fancy without being gifted. I think the powers were gifted to the objects. If one of them got shot without their jackets on and the bullet stopped, that would raise some interesting questions if it were otherwise. I don't believe all the Reckoners were aware that the Prof. was an epic himself. It also keeps people from activating a tenser field inadvertently. I'll use the Harmsway as my evidence. There were several times in the book when people were injured and didn't heal until they were treated with the Harmsway.

If the theory above is correct, or even close, and Odium's investment in the Roshar system was part of the conditions for the Oathpact, then he will be tied to it until he can withdraw that investment.

There are three habitable planets in the system. I think the Oathpact revolved around Odium wishing to claim the last planet. I think that Honor knew what Odium had done, and knew what he was likely to do, but considered it worth the risk. What! you ask? Simple, Odium was not invested in a planet. This gave Odium a greater amount of power that he could use at one time. In other words, Odium had all his cash in hand to spend as he wanted, and most of the other Shards had part of theirs tied up in real-estate. The Oathpact forced Odium to invest his power into a planet. If Odium left that planet, the Oathpact would be broken. I believe that the Oathpact was a risk freely taken in order to bind Odium to one system or force him to abandon some of his strength by leaving a planet he invested. It may also be that this pact contains the terms of war within them. This may have been what convinced Odium to agree.

What if Braise is the Tranquiline Halls? What if the Oath pact was an agreement between Honor, Cultivation, and Odium to share the system? What if Odium used that agreement to his advantage and found a loop hole that allowed him to attack Honor? What if the Heralds were actually created to defend Braise, and they are forced back to their home world between desolations, a home world now completely dominated by Odium? Roshar is not the home world of humanity, but it could be the world that was chosen by Cultivation. When things went south for Honor, he could have moved his people, or at least a portion of his people to Roshar. Once Honor had fled to Roshar, Odium pursued. He brought the Parsh with him. Honor invested himself on Roshar alongside Cultivation, but was still weak from losing Braise, vulnerable. The heralds abandoned him before he could recover, then later, the Knights Radiant abandoned him as well. Honor was left defenseless and splintered.

It may not be the correct conclusion, but from what we have seen, it isn't an unreasonable one. In regards to Refractionary.