Scott

I don't remember much of high-school chemistry, so someone should correct me if they can here but... Bonded molecules are typically in their lowest-energy state, and they require either additional energy or a catalyst to break those bonds and do something else. It would require a lot of Stormlight to give the bonds the energy they needed to break. However, once that happened, there'd be a whole lot of excess energy in those molecules. An explosion or sudden increase in heat shouldn't be out of the question. Here's to hoping a chemistry person comes in and explains that better (or corrects it)

It's at 300, but nothing has been updated It's torture! I may have to swear off this site entirely until the book comes out, I've gotten an hour of work done in the last two days.

I just realized that Dalinar, like Ned Stark, would have an Intrigue score of 0 in any Stormlight Archive game If the chapters we've seen so far don't have "hooks", I'm a bit scared of what Peter is foreshadowing here haha.

I think you've hit the nail on the head Shardlet. Nice post! I feel that the people here condemning the Alethi for going to war over the assassination of Gavilar are being sanctimonious. Wars have been started over much less. Our entire world was plunged into war in 1914 after an archduke, the heir but not yet the emperor, was assassinated. The Alethi were already a warmongering civilization, and they had their king brutally murdered on the very night a treaty was signed. I find their reaction completely believable.

Intriguing possibilities! Spren create their own cities. Gives more weight to the theory that Urithiru is in the cognitive realm, although there are still other unresolved issues with it

I believe the WoB states "You've seen what comes out of the Chrysalis (fully grown Chasmfiends like the one the Alethi were hunting), but not what they start out as"

Maybe he's Optimus Prime... vewy vewy sneaky

I'll redirect your question Why would the dying person see Shadesmar? We don't know the mechanism by which the dying speak their truths. They could be briefly between realms, able to touch and be touched by the cognitive aspects in Shadesmar. If the person is able to describe Shadesmar, and we know that Cryptics have a close association with travelling to Shadesmar, then it's not a stretch to think that there is a Cryptic involved in his dying moments.

It's possible, but you'd think there would be many other ways to describe Taravangian before referring to him as having "a head of lines". In addition I'm pretty sure people in Karbranth would know what Taravangian looks like if only from the occasional feast or public event. My feeling is that it's a Cryptic as well.

He's a Windrunner! It would have been hard to attract that Honorspren without being honorable

To be honest, I agree with most of your post, but I've completely forgotten entire courses worth of stuff I learned only a few years ago. Living forever just means you forget more stuff

The scene Shallan draws does not match the scene where Szeth kills the king of Jah Kaved. From the part where Szeth kills the king: 1) The king flees the feast room. He's killed outside the doorway in the hall. 2) He's surrounded by dead guards, and a shattered halfshard shield. 3) The only wound the King receives is from the Shardblade. From Shallan's sketch: 1) The body is in the room. 2) His is the only body in the sketch. 3) Blood is pooling around him. Pooling blood only happens when the body is freshly dead, and when it has a physical wound. None of these points match. In addition, I think there's a rock-solid refutation of this that no-one has considered yet. BS has said he writes his scenes in chronological order, ignoring preludes and prologues. Shallan draws the scene in chapter 39. Szeth kills the King in the interludes between chapters 51 and 52. This means that Shallan would have had to draw the scene before it happens.

I wasn't sure about the above posts so I looked up the WoB. Here it is if anyone else is wondering: I'd suspect that Brandon was sorting through this as he went. He seems to contradict himself: I'm thinking that the arguments both sides have been making are valid, and that the truth isn't as clear-cut as we'd like. Then again different people will interpret those statements different ways e/ Found yet another WoB about this:

Great catch @name_hear, and thanks for the quote hoser. Upvotes for both of you I had assumed that this was Dalinar's internal monologue when I read it in the book but that seems unlikely in view of the quote. Dalinar would have heard "Life before death" in his readings of Way of Kings, but it certainly seems like it's not his own voice here. I've always hoped he did have a spren and that it would show up after he gave away the shardblade. This makes it more likely that the spren is already there. Syl didn't have cognitive function until long after being drawn to Kaladin. If Dalinar's possible spren is talking to him, referencing the ideals, and is aware of the history of his blade, then it's likely the spren has been around for some time. Dalinar never mentions any spren. I'm curious exactly why; is it simply revulsion of the shardblade that keeps it away, or does the blade have an actual effect on spren that we don't know about?

Gemhearts are actual gem types. It's mentioned that Emerald gemhearts are the most valuable since they can be used for food and are big enough to resist shattering for a while.

I grant you a +12 Wand of Terrible Puns, sir. May it serve you well. On topic, I don't think Jasnah would bother setting a false trail. She's had a dozen petitioners already that year, and she was surprised when Shallan came back a second (and third) time. I figure she's used to putting people off firmly and quickly enough that they don't disturb her much. I also don't think she could Travel without arousing suspicion. Agree with the points above, she's a powerful princess using a sacred relic. People are going to be keeping track of her, especially the ardentia trying to save her soul and recover the soulcaster.

I find it frustrating that so few people are recommending a dalinar/lift pairing. To me, it seems nearly certain, age difference not withstanding. Here are my reasons. Dalinar is awesome. Lift is also awesome. I rest my case. e/ its so hard to avoid trolling this thread. I've deleted at least five replied I had typed out before I posted them. These ones got away from me My post is 99% sarcastic. The 1% is awesome.

How about Kaladolin? Or Shallasnah? Edit!! Or Shalladolin! Dalift! Taravallan! Shallarinadoladinah!

tbphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I work with computers. Biology is yucky. e/ forgot to add smileys to expressly express sillyness Shardlet also chimes in:

I'd call you a wet blanket if you didn't correct things I've gotten wrong so often You're of course correct, Syl mentions helping men kill in the past, and that she felt it was right. Most likely a previous KR bond. Although that brings up another question for me. If she was at the same cognitive state in her previous bonds as in this one, wouldn't she remember the words being spoken? Wouldn't she be able to tell Kaladin? It's possible that she DOES know the words, but is prevented from simply saying "here's what you need to say". Instead she has to help Kaladin reach them on his own.

Very interesting theory. @Shardlet Syl may not directly supply the words, but she's aware of them. Before Kaladin joins the tower battle she prompts him several times: "Words" is capitalized, Syl pushes Kaladin hard to say them, and starts to get worried when he hasn't yet. Nohadon could have used the Way of Kings to embody the ideals, while intending for it to also bind the spren. When Geranid measures the firespren, she doesn't write "Firespren (size): XX measureunits". She just writes down a number. Could it be her intent to measure the spren that binds it to it's current size, and the intent to erase the measurement that releases it? If so, Nohadon could have bound the spren to the Radiant Ideals without anyone else knowing. The Way of Kings would be an ideal method.

I don't think this theory is very likely. All of the Shards/Shardholders we've seen have either been alive or splintered. No-one has "given up" the power of their Shard. I think Cultivation is alive and healthy, albeit pissed off and depressed about the death of her lover. Nothing we've seen in the text suggest any differently. There is a ton of information telling us Honor is gone, but Cultivation has only one or two references in the entire book. The most info we have about her is from the Steelhunt and that strongly suggests she's still around.

I think we have WoB that the leader/founder of the 17th Shard is actually a Dragon... While Kelseir may qualify as a dragon figuratively, I don't think he had anything to do with the 17th Shard,

Knowledge by Osmosis!!

I agree with this. I'm fairly confident that the Thrill is at least partly of Odium's influence. Like Ruin's influence on the mists, the Thrill could have been a Shard-powered adrenalin rush for Honor's warriors. Odium could have encouraged it to appear in more situations, and affect people more strongly, leading them to more conflict. I could also see it being a countermeasure that Odium intended to prevent people from showing traits and qualities that would attract Honorspren. Violent bloodlust in battle wouldn't appeal to Syl in the slightest. e/ spelling