Aether

Um, What now? Why would it? And who, in this context, is Eric? I am confused, and I would therefore prefer to sell. Shallan and Shallash will meet, and the latter will angrily destroy her art when the former tries to draw her.

I think we can quite confidently assume so. We have several examples of battles between Shardbearers, and at no point is it ever alluded to any potential damage to any Shardblade, while the effects of the duels upon the Plate is described meticulously. And in chapter 52, "A Highway to the Sun", where Dalinar is witnessing the first moments of the Recreance, at no point does he include the destruction of Shardblades as a possible reason to why there are so few Blades left in modern times. There might be a way to destroy a Shardblade but I propose that - if it is indeed possible - it is exceedingly hard or difficult to do, or at least that most people are ignorant of how to do it, and that this would thus mean that it practically never happens.

I believe you to be quite frankly thoroughly wrong on this point, as you seem to be referring to another passage then the one to which I am. When he draws upon the Stormlight, its power is described as "invigorating but dangerous. It pushed him to act. To move. To strike." . What I am suggesting is much (if not exactly) alike the Alethi Thrill happens a few pages further in: Now, you might propose this to be simply what it says it is: a thrill, but not the Thrill with a capital "T".However, consider its signification when viewed in context with this later description of the Thrill by Dalinar when racing with Elhokar just before the Chasmfiend attack: Note how similar the wording is, the only difference being that it is capitalized in Dalinar's PoV, an Alethi who has a strong cultural relationship with the Thrill and its effects. (I included that last sentence not to suggest that "the Thrill of contest" is another thing from "the Thrill of battle", but just in order to give the full context. The context seems to suggest that they are different strengths of the same thing, which I myself believe.) It should also be noted that Brandon has always seemed particularly careful about his wording in such cases, so as to hint to the true nature of what is going on when seen in a larger context, while at the same time not spelling it out when only seen within the context. See Shardlet's excellent analogy for further elaboration.

The Honourblades in the Prelude are only ever really described as "magnificent", being: At no point in the Prelude is their relative size to other Shardblades (or even size at all) described. The impression you have about their sizes comes from the Epilogue, where Talenel'Elin's Shardblade is correctly described as "massive". This might not really indicate that it is noticeably bigger than other Shardblades, just that Shardblades in general are massive weapons. But even if it is, it wouldn't necessarily be representative of all of the Honourblades. In fact, that last part of the quote is a strong suggestion that they may vary heavily in appearance, and presumably also in size. If the impression of all Honourblades being "massive" was the only thing holding you back, then consider this rebuttal ALONE to be enough to convince you of otherwise . It is widely assumed that Honourblades behave differently from "normal" Shardblades, correct, but the only thing we know for sure is that an Honourblade disappear when their bonded Herald dies. We know nothing of what would happen if a normal human dies while wielding it. Suggestions range from it behaving just like a "normal" Shardblade and appearing next to its dead wielder, to reappearing where its respective Herald left them. Someone have also suggested that the Honourblades actually do behave like other Shardblades in this regard, but spawn next to their dead (or dead-ish) Herald wherever to he is transported. A normal human would not be transported anywhere, and the Blade would appear next to him/her. All of the above suggestions would account for how the Stone Shamans are able to retrieve it. EDIT: Minor grammar.

While it seems likely that the KR could store Stormlight in their armour, I highly doubt they could do the same with Shardblades. Shardblades seem to be impervious to damage, and they seem to be completely independent of any outside source of fuel, neither of which a Shardplate is. While they might have a similar origin, they function rather differently. I would also like to add that the ideas you're having here, that there might be a "vacuum" of sorts left within the shards when the KR abandoned them which could then be filled with something else. I would however like to point out that, while something changed when they were left behind, we have little if anything at this point to go on when trying to divine the nature of the shards.

SELL! BY THE GODS ABOVE, SELL!!! The 17th Shard will eventually find, and likely gently ask Hoid to stop trying to do what he is trying to do. He will gently tell them to This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules off.

I've been trying to find the relevant WoB on this for the last 30 minutes, but alas! I cannot locate it. But there is a WoB stating that, while all 10 KR Orders had access to Shardplate and -blade, some of them did not usually use them at all. This seems to suggest that the KR were defined by more than just their shards.

Ah! I was not aware of this. But could you give us the WoB? I want it for my bookmark-collection.

57. Well, the Epigraphs of Part I and IV are "Death Chants" collected by the Death Surgeons you meet at the end of the book. "The Letter" of Part II is commonly believed to be written by Hoid and addressed to a Shardholder we haven't met, but is generally believed to be the based on Yolen - Hoid's presumed home-planet (and is a freaking Dragon!). The Epigraphs of Part III is Jasnah's notes about Urithiru, the Voidbringers, the Dawnshards and other subjects. 58. We do not know enough to say anything either way for certain, but I am still going to give you a sound "no" on that one. I do not think Odium even has a champion at this point, but if he does, then I sincerely doubt it is the Parshendi Shardbearer, who have shown considerably more honour than most Alethi Shardbearers. 59. We do not know. He has invested himself on Roshar, but is really located on Braise, another planet in the Greater Roshar (Solar) System (consisting of Roshar, Ashyn and Braise). Presumably, because of this, he cannot roam around any more as easily as he's done before, but that is just speculation. And even if he was already pretty aligned with his Shard's intent to begin with, I do not think he can go directly against it at this point, which is to say that there will be no "Odium finds true love and resigns from being evil"-ending.

I am not quite sure what you're asking, but a common theory is that the Shards are more of "access keys" rather than the power of Creation itself, and that the nature of the Shards define how the power is accessed and influences its effects. A fully restored Adonalsium would, in my opinion, let you access the power of Creation indiscriminately.

Wait, what now? Where is this coming from?

Concerning White Sand, check out the latest "State of Sanderson" for info about his future projects. Specifically, "Some fun things are happening here, but [brandon] can’t really talk about them right now." EDIT: Removed a random space in the middle of "Sanderson".

Wait, Taravangian?? When did he say that?!

I believe most of us who've read White Sand - unless Brandon makes some major changes - are rather certain of who Blunt is. Nazh is a separate Worldhopper.

Lift Interlude spoilers: EDIT: Added spoiler-tags to part of my post. EDIT 2: Changed my mind and put the whole thing in spoiler-tags.

I don't know, it sounds like some type of coral to me. I don't think they have to be stone trees at all.

They're still splinters, but I am suggesting that they cannot necessarily develop sentience without bonding with someone/something. I see no conflict between this claim and the WoB.

If there are Odiumblades, then where do you propose we've seen them? The WoB in question mentions that we've seen all three types of Shardblades in the Way of Kings (Honourblades being one, the two others unknown at this point). . I believe the three types to be either of the following two categorizations, either: Honourblades "Normal" Shardblades, as carried by Adolin, Dalinar etc., made to combat humongous enemies, such as Thunderclasts and the like. Assuming Szeth's blade is not an Honourblade, a Shardblade made to fight human-sized enemies, which accounts for its uncommon length. Or: Honourblades (including Szeth's blade, which I myself and others believe to be Jezrien's Honourblade) Ancient Shardblades as wielded by the Knights Radiant The same Shardblades as wielded by the Knights Radiant, but twisted and corrupted either directly by Odium, or indirectly by their use against the people they were made to protect, not slaughter haphazardly. It might also be that there is some unknown distinction that makes the common "Shardblades" we usually lump into a single category really two different types of Blades. I find myself leaning towards the second categorization, though, mainly because Szeth's Windrunner abilities would be explained so simply by him having Jezrien's own Honourblade. EDIT: The current WoBs on this subject do not limit the number of different types of Shardblade, as per Shardlet's post further down. I mistakenly said claimed "all" three types of Shardblades have been seen, which could be true, but is currently unconfirmed.

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One time, when a Mistborn was going to a Dragonwasp Legion meeting, he saw a grey Shardbearer in a dark alley, brutally slitting open a gigantic watermelon with a rusty Sliver of Honor. So, of course, the Mistborn burned the watermelon, lighting the Shardbearer's cape on fire, blue flames concealing it from his view. . The Shardbearer turns into a duck, ripping open the cosmere, and seeing a locked door emitting dark shine and Stormlight. The Shardbearer ran to get his Blade, tripping over duck beaks that littered the ground, breaking his neck. . The Mistborn howled at a monkey's attacks on his Mistcloak. Thrashing and struggling, he broke free, hitting the door with a llama and a koloss head, breaking it into splintery bits. The door floated down the river and ended in a black shardpool. . Meanwhile, the Shardbearer thrashed on the floor and died. . A shadowy figure hopped out of the Cognitive Realm and into the river. The Shadowy figure glowed with dark light and quietly said, "Where is Hoid?" . The Mistborn answered, "Where isn't he?" . At the same time, the Cognitive Realm was torn asunder by a massive Voidbringer. It killed many sprens that tried to intervene. . His metals spent, and his Stormlight stolen by a small green larkin, the shadowy figure, named "DARKNESS" the Evil Librarian, began building an altar out of cheese! This brilliant choice made many Epics weep with tears From the smell of their weakness. Ookla the Mok rebuilt the door with the most evil thing possible in the Cosmere. The opposing force was a rhino cross-bred with Hoid an 16 different aspects of Odium as well as 14 of Ruin. . Unfortunately, a Shade flew in right in the middle of the giant altar, crushing the brilliant and wet kandra cheese container which exploded, spraying lemonade all over his tattered remains - hitting the large hippopotamus that was really just begging to become a Knight Radiant that bonds with Deathspren - and kills a poor, innocent chull. He [the Shade] launched it into the sky, where it grew three heads without even considering that the Heralds were notoriously unimpressed with him. Jezrien yelled, "How dare you throw a chull, you skunk eater!" At that moment, Kaladin threw his chull-sized suit, and despite the fact that Amaram already had his head shaved, Kal recognized him. He signaled to Lopen to eviscerate Amaram. Unfortunately, that was the Horneater's plan, before he became a Knight Radiant. . "I'm so confused," Amaram said, scratching the behind of his Chull. "I wanted him to narftle the Garthok!" he said, collapsing on the roof of Kredik Shaw. A nearby inquisitor - spiked with bananas - made drinks for the dinner party, who were confused . . Who were confused

Not necessarily. The raw power of investiture might behave differently on the scale of a full Shard. It should also be noted that, while they do not develop their own sentience, they do heavily influence their holder - even to the point of completely overwriting his or hers original personality. Just look at Ati and how Ruin changed him..

made drinks for

I have also taken note of the curios fact that most of the splinters seem to have to be tied to a separate conscience to develop one on their own. Syl mentions having a mind as fleeting as a normal Windspren before she bonded Kaladin and slowly regained her sentience and personality. Seons also bonds humans, and the Divine Breaths seem to fuse with the dying conscience of their host to let them come back to life. It seems plausible that splinters do not gain sentience on their own, but can when linked to a someone else.

Aether, the town scholar offers his services for the common cause.

Welcome to the 17th Shard! I am not well practised in Latin, and given the lack of proper conjugation I am afraid your tag doesn't really have a proper meaning. What you can do, on the other hand, is look at the word-stems themselves. Ludus, as you suggested, means game, something you play with. Animae means that which is "animated" or "brought to life", but can take on any number of meanings. I suggest naming it "game of the soul" as per Shardlet's suggestion or "Living game" or something and calling it a day. Also, congratulations on your baby!. I suggest reading him Alloy of Law as soon as possible and then move on to Mistborn. She/He'll be a happier kid that way.