Xavien

"most were not considered individuals" and "was one that could speak like a man" reminds me a bit of Syl. Could it be a type of spren? So far most of the spren we have seen have been linked to nature or strong emotion: flamespren, windspren, gloryspren; but then we have Syl who is attached to an ideal (honorspren). We have also seen spren attached to negative things: rotspren, angerspren, painspren & deathspren. And finally we have spren like Cusicesh the Protector who is massive, can show human faces and leaves people feeling "drained." If there are spren attached to positive ideals and emotions, why not spren attached to negative ideals and emotions? Edit - wiki listing of types of spren that we have seen or are theorized: http://coppermind.17thshard.com/wiki/Spren

I think the key phrase from the outline is definitely "Or so the legends say." We have plenty of creation myths in our own world and the Christian one specifically talks about a fall from a heaven like place (Eden). It's been 4500 years since the last Desolation in theirs and even longer since the very first one so they could easily have come up with a myth regarding them and why they occurred. As a whole I think the myth is close to reality, but I see Tranquiline Halls and Damnation as more of metaphors describing the state of things before the Oathpact and what they fear will happen if they lose. Also the current state of religion (at least in Vorinism) is focused on one god while people during the period of Desolations seemed to be aware of all three ("Three gods Heb" from Dalinar's first vision). Who knows, maybe during the cycle of Desolations the people were more aware of the Oathpact then now.

Dalinar's first vision. Highstorms are not mentioned explicitly but in describing his surroundings he mentions rockbuds and crem. The first exist as an evolutionary (or Shard created) response to the Highstorms, the later is a direct byproduct of those storms. On the other side of the spectrum we have what Dalinar didn't comment on. In our brief interlude to Shinovar we see an easterners first experience with real grass and her response to it. Grass is only possible in Shinovar because the Highstorms don't reach there. The first vision takes place in Nanatanan, if their was real grass there I would expect Dalinar to have made note of it. Other than recognizing that he was near what would become the Shattered Plains, the world itself is familiar to him, not foreign.

I do not see how the Highstorms could be related to Honor's body for two reasons: 1) Highstorms existed during the period of Desolations (Dalinar's first onscreen vision) 2) The visions are a "recording" from just before Honor died. Only the last vision was speculation of the future, the others were all events that had already happened. Personally I see all a bit of all 3 Shards at work in the Highstorms: Immense destruction = Odium Regrowth/Life in the rains = Cultivation (plants do better with water from Highstorms than normal water) Either Stormlight, unity, or it represents a challenge from Odium to overcome = Honor The last of the 3 is a little weak I know, but it also makes sense in how those three Shards would coexist on Roshar. Think of it as another contest between Odium and Honor from something that may have initially been started by Cultivation. Cultivation created an ecosystem in spite of it and Honor used the power of the storms to unite people (Dawncities) We know 'Three ruled but now the broken one reigned' (paraphrase) so something as important to the world as a whole sounds like it would be a product of all three.

If Taravangian wanted Jasnah dead, wouldn't he have just used Szeth? He has no problem using Szeth to kill her uncle, and even specified that it would need to be bloody, and Szeth is currently in town. Using an ardent to try to get close to Jasnah (even through Shallan) strikes me as underestimating her and a little naive. Taravangian doesn't strike me as the type to underestimate an opponent or to play the political games the Ghostbloods seem to be playing in Jah Keved/Alethkar. He is bloody and ruthless and believes fully that the ends justify the means. If he wanted Jasnah dead, she would have been hit with something a lot better planned than a (fake?) ardent with poisoned bread. And especially not one with a tattoo of his organization. In short, I don't think Taravangian is a Ghostblood.

Based on the vision with Nohadon, didn't formation of the Knights Radiant happened after the Desolations began? He never mentioned them but he did mention people with Radiant like powers and in particular one person who had the bond (forget the name) and started a war just before a Desolation. It was my understanding that Nohadon founded the Knights Radiant and The Way of Kings was how the ideals would pass through history. Also the Desolations have been going on for a long time. Odium could have given some of his power to the creation of blades or other manifestations early on or before the Oathpact, long before he started going after the holders of other Shards.

I wonder if seeing someone else doing what he can do with Stormlight would cause Szeth to reconsider what he was doing. Or at the very least give him enough of a pause so that Kaladin or someone else could disable him. Kaladin also has Syl, who has performed Full Lashings (binding objects together) as pranks but we haven't seen her use these abilities in combat or know what other things she can do. Szeth doesn't always rely on his Shardblade either, relying on lashings and hand to hand. He could find himself in a battle with Kaladin and without his blade and lose before he realizes what is happening or, realizing what is happening forgo using his Blade. As for the fight between them: Would they be able to perform a lashing on the other? Could one steal Stormlight from the other? Or when Stormlight leaks from one can the other breathe it in? How much more efficient/powerful is Kaladin (though untrained) over Szeth with Stormlight now that he has said the first ideal?

I always thought of Memory as being analogous to the Thrill, more of a "cultural" ability related to the epoch kingdoms or even perhaps "spiritual dna". From Dalinar's first vision (ch 19 I believe) where he spoke with the Radiants we learned each of the 10 epoch kingdoms had a specific purpose to help against the Desolations. The purpose of the Alethi was to be the warriors, so my theory is the Thrill is something that they gained in order to improve their combat skills. Giving one kingdom Memory also makes sense: they can remember something perfectly until they transcribe it and thereby pass down knowledge to help future generations against Desolations. Shallan does this through art, but I wouldn't be surprised if she could keep an entire event as a Memory and write it down. I'm not saying that everyone in Jah Keved would necessary have this, at this point we haven't met enough people from Jah Keved or enough about Memory. However, hair color is indicated as a trait of pure ancestry for the Alethi, the more black the more pure (it's even noted that the nobility has less dark hair because of their need to marry foreigners for strategic purposes). Shallan is described early on as having red hair which is an oddity and causes her to stand out. If these abilities are genetic (spiritual or physical) it could be something that has been lost over the years through intermarriage and Shallan just happened to get the traits for it. It could also be an ability from another culture entirely. The idea that each of the 10 epoch kingdoms had a cultural trait outside of the Radiants that would help them through the Desolations makes a certain deal of sense to me. Particularly if those kingdoms became extremely specialized. We just haven't seen enough of them yet as so far every main viewpoint character we have seen is Alethi except Shallan. Also so far all the powers we have seen related to the Radiants/Soulcasting involved the use of Stormlight and sometimes specific types of gems. I don't recall anything from the books where Shallan needed Stormlight or a type of gem to create a Memory. Side theory: abilities such as Thrill and Memory are related to a person's Calling. The Calling in the book sounded like it was something you could pick and then later change, but based on Kaladin and how he feels whenever he picks up a weapon it could also be something baser.