Aether

Nice thought. I was playing around with the idea of creating a flash of light and then Soulcasting that. Somehow. ... ... ... Needless to say, I discarded that idea. O_o, it didn't even occur to me that Dalinar might have been the one using the gems. Even so, I find it highly doubtful, as either of the plates might have interfered with it (as per Szeth's quote) plus the assumed fact that he didn't have a Spren at that point. Elokhar had at the very least attracted them. When does Dalinar's plate glow other that when defending Elokhar (presumably literally standing over him, within touching range)? If Jasnah's kill spree cracked two gems, then imagine what STOPPING A GIANT CHASMFIEND CLAW might do to the Spheres. I believe that it is well within the realm of plausibility that Surgebinding on that magnitude - whether on the part of Dalinar or Elokhar - might more or less deplete and/or crack eight fully Infused Spheres. Also: another thought, if we allow the possibility that Dalinar's latent powers might have been what saved them, then I think we need for him only to absorb and hold the Stormlight - just like Kalladin does for the fight with the Parshendi - for it to produce that effect. It would have made him a lot stronger, and the expenditure of that amount of Stormlight in a blink of a second would have produced the burst of light. EDIT: Good point. Upvote for you.

That Elokhar is a Surgebinder is nothing new. He sees the same type of Spren as Shallan and is thus most likely a Lightweaver. But I think he might be further down the rabbit hole than we previously realized, as I believe he might have started Surgebinding already at the beginning of The Way of Kings. Think back on the Greatshell hunt and the apparent assassination attempt. The cut saddle was , but they all seemed convinced that the almost empty Spheres powering Elokhar's Shardplate was a sign of an actual assassination attempt. But since he has already been seeing the "Truthsprens" for some time by this point (as manifested by his accruing paranoia), it would be much of a stretch to assume that he might inadvertently have depleted those Spheres himself during the assault on the Chasmfiend itself or prior to its appearance. Now, I haven't the book with me right now - I shall have to look it up at a later time - but if this is indeed the case, then there might be room to reinterpret the events of the fight with the Greatshell altogether. Elokhar almost got crushed by the claw of the Chasmfiend, but Dalinar was able to save him by taking the blow upfront and holding its claw back. This produced a burst of brilliant white light just as he caught the claw, just before the beast itself fell and was subsequently killed. While some think that the burst of light from Dalinar might have been either himself using latent Surgebinding abilities (which doubt, as he had probably not attracted a spren at this point) or just an effect of his whole Shardpate cracking (thus leaking Stormlight all over), I propose that this might actually have been Elokhar unwittingly using his Nahal Bond to Surgebind and save himself and his uncle - and thus depleting the Spheres in his armour and producing the flash of Stormlight. I find this to sound quite plausible, though I have to admit that the audacity of this foreshadowing borders on the insane - and even so managed to escape detection for a long time, at least by me. EDIT: A weak point to the theory though is that - assuming he is indeed a Lightweaver - his particular Surges wouldn't seem to (at least not intuitively) produce the effects of this particular scenario. The Soulcasting Surge of Transformation wouldn't have been able to help Dalinar hold back the Claw as nothing seems to have been Soulcast, and the Illumination Surge - while certainly able to produce a bright flash of light - would probably not be able to produce this kind of effect. On the other hand, the limits of either Surge are not well defined at this point, so even though neither seem to have an intuitive application that could have stopped the Chasmfiend claw, there might still be and *cough* unintuitive one.

Here! Have an upvote!

Well, if killing the entire Davar family would look suspicious, killing the ward of the Alethi King's sister wouldn't look strange at all. Besides, Kabsal was using her to get to Jasnah. Wouldn't make much sense to kill her before they could do that.

Here. Have one from me. This type of nonsensical and radical theorycrafting deserves an upvote at the very least for the effort!

Well, they could, but that wouldn't look suspicious at all. They might not be an important family, but every family member murdered might get them unwanted attention.

IS there really anything bad to say about Renarin? He seems like the most gentle person ever. I just hope I get to read about him blowing stuff up.

I know it's not the most likely Order, if Renarin indeed becomes a KR, but I SO want to see him as a Dustbringer! Imagine how cool it would be, to give the kind and gentle character of Renarin - almost to the point of passivity - being given the power to blow s**t up!

Well, the likelihood of such a group in the first place s rather slim (I mean, stealing that many nukes without getting caught? That would employ way to many people to keep it secret (unless they just bribed the guys at the airport security ("Yeah, I GUESS that bulge in your pants it's just your way of showing your happy to see me"))). But yeah, if you really push it, I guess it could be said to be possible (in the strictest sense of the word) that there are tens of thousands of blades lost, though highly unlikely. But then the chance of people just randomly finding Shards while exploring or maybe even just farming the land would skyrocket, but there is no in-world information of this ever happening. Shards are earned by killing a Shardbearer, not by (re-)discovering them.

You really have a nice poetic way of putting it. And it ties in with what I believe to be the three types of Shardblades: Honourblades, "Radiantblades" and post-recreance Radiantblades.

Well, it doesn't seem that unlikely that Jasnah at least becomes curious of Kaladin, if what he can do with Stormlight ever becomes known to the Kholins (which is rather likely, considering he's now become leader of Dalinar's Honourguard). Purely in a scholarly way, of course, at least in the beginning, but as she discovers more about his background, his medicinal talents - and not in the least his rather unusual knowledge of Glyphs - that interest might turn into something more., especially considering that he has many of the qualities that she can respect. I suppose the reverse - Kaladin taking interest in Jasnah - might be more difficult to believe, but she is one of the more honourable Lighteyes (at least in her own way). She's also very strong of character, and not in need of protection - both of which I believe that Kaladin would appreciate and need in a woman. EDIT: @WeiryWriter: Jaladin xD. Personally, I prefer Kalasnah. EDIT 2.0: @Gloom: And how the hell are you everywhere on this forum! I mean, kudos for your prolificacy!

I hesitate to dip my toes into this, but am I the only one finding a Jasnah/Kaladin match up to be potentially far more interesting than "Shallarin" or "Kalarin"?

I've asked for it myself somewhere, but so far, no one has been able to produce it.

I am not inclined to believe there are tens of thousands of blades lying around, but your last suggestion seems reasonable. Plus, it has a nice way of avoiding ridiculous amounts of blades as well as making them remain highly personal.

Why would it be unlikely for them to be handed down? These are highly powerful weapons, and it seems irresponsible and unlikely for them to make them in the tens of thousands.

There are WoB suggesting that there is now much more spren around than there used to be. Presumably, the general Spren population was inflated, but mostly by hundreds upon thousands (or something) of lesser spren with too little investiture to gain sentience.

Well reasoned argument. However, I'd just like to point out that the atmosphere is in fact thicker (more oxygen-dense) on Roshar than on Earth. Which is partly why, in the WoB, that crustaceans are allowed to grow so big (that and gemhearts; and spren!). Doesn't really affect your theory, just wanted to point that out.

What do you mean "it's not a function of the Three Lashings"? Just Basic Lash yourself in whatever direction you want to go, be that up, down or towards the horizon (or any combination of those). It seems evident that it is the Gravity Surge that let's the Windrunners (and presumably the Skybreakers) fly.

I am surprised no one else have noticed this - or at least not started a topic on it - but Brandon slipped a major worldbuilding element into his latest "Wheel of Time Retrospective". Without further ado: Now, I assume that he is referring to either the perennially obscure Oathgates or giving us a hint as to how the Transportation Surge is going to work. It true he doesn't give any direct hints as to what exactly he's talking about, but I feel it's a safe bet that he's talking about one or the other. So, fellow theoreticians, thoughts?

Wait, he meant that we've seen three types of Shardblades already in tWoK? And This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules? Hoid has a Shardblade? I mean, I guess it makes sense, but where is this written? Also, I don't really believe that that particular WoB invalidate the "Szeth has an Honourblade" theory. If Honourblades are counted as a type of Shardbalde, than that could mean that the three types are 1. Honourblades, 2. "Awakened" Shardblades and 3. "Normal" Shardblades.

And neither should you. Truth to be told, we have only slight indications of what might possibly - just maybe - be taken for a hint of whiff of every so flimsy, suppositional evidence. I am honestly baffled that we can deduce anything at all.

Also, were not really sure whether or not that was every Stonewarden and Windrunner. There still might be more Shards from those two Orders alone.

Well, the descriptions of the blade has been more about the unusual shape of the blade. He hasn't described it as neither dull nor ostentatious, so it could be that it simply hasn't come up that it is in fact one of the most beautiful works of art ever seen by man. Unlikely, though. The size of Jezriens blade (nor any of them except Taln's, really) haven't been described or compared to anything yet. While hardly that persuasive, it could still be that the Honourblades - or at least some of them - are in fact smaller than most Shardblades. Now this I dismiss out of hand. Honourblades dissappear when their Herald dies. We know nothing of what would happen if another holder would die (and WoB state that others can in fact use them). They can, however, dismiss them, so we know they can go back to Shadesmar even without having the owner dying. Maybe they behave differently for mere mortals. A good a suggestion as the lot of them. Nothing to say on this. I'm glad to see some counter-arguments. I am still not convinced that it is not an Honourblade, but less sure then before. Windrunners still have more then the Three Lashings, though.

'Twould be appreciated, as I'd like to know more about why I've suddenly embraced this theory.