kmosiman

@BlackYeti Posted this link in the Oathbringer forum. While the book is not canon, the Aether's are for some reason canon. Seeing that they also appear in the Liar of Partinel, I would guess that their exact origin and powers may change but their existence in the Cosmere has been confirmed.

The part of the Diagram that makes me wonder is the scope of the task. The instructions clearly seem to be limited to Roshar. While I doubt that a mass exodus through Shadesmar is possible for the people of Roshar, humanity will survive on other worlds. Taravangian's goal is to preserve humanity as he knows it, while Hoid may be seeking to preserve life as he knows it.

Ordinarily I would agree, but with Hoid I see more of a "great power, great responsibility" situation. I suppose he could view his actions as never being outright harmful, which for the most part has been true (except for the scene in Secret History and the deleted scene in The Emperor's Soul). But in terms of power levels, he's so far beyond the people he's around that there is no real comparison. My guess is that he would have some sympathy for Taravangian since they may share similar goals, but have different ability levels to achieve their goals. Hoid evidently has all eternity and greater foresight*, while Taravangian has limited time and notes made from one day. This allows Hoid to be more subtle and keep his hands cleaner; while Taravangian must employ more drastic measures. *My assumption/theory is that Hoid has some ability to predict the future in his deck of cards. This power may be similar to WoB that explains how he knows where to be using a form of Feruchemy. Taravangian has variable intellegence which he does not control unlike a feruchemist, who can chose when to store and when to use an ability. Under this assumption, Hoid spends much of his time aimless and lost, so that he can then use the stored potential to know where he needs to be and what he needs to do.

I agree with the theory on Moelach and the death rattles, but Spren also have secrets to take. As we've seen with Syl and Windle a Spren can be a powerful spy. An unmade that can corrupt and gain information from Spren would have an unmatched spy network. More in the cognition category than the precognition though.

Isn't that just for downstream circuits though? On the supply side, batteries in parallel will evenly discharge, providing the same voltage for a longer period of time. 4 1.5V AA batteries in series is 6V, 4 AA batteries in parallel is only 1.5V but it will have 4 times the amp/hours at 1.5V. I'd think the gems would last longer since the draw would be shared among them.

Interesting parallels between the 3 men speaking to Dalinar. One seeks to restore his religion, one seeks to save humanity, and one seeks to save creation itself*. Wit seemed to take particular offense at Amaram; yet he is willing to watch a planet be destroyed to accomplish his goals. I wounder how he would treat Taravangian? *Wild guess on my part since Hoid's true goals are unknown.

I believe that has been brought up to Brandon before. The problem is the amount of power required. While theoretically possible, the Forger would need access to another magic system to replace the power lost. I would also imagine that the stamp creation would be as difficult as the one in the Emporers Soul. The entire history of the Spren would need to be rewritten (restored) to recreate the mind. Then extra Investure would be needed to power the transformation of an Invested object. In other terms, since Forgery is similar to computer programming, you'd need to handwrite the code for an entire supercomputer and then strike it with lightning to turn it on. Emporers soul

I found a few more items I hadn't read on the sample chapters index thread. Check Chaos's link to an older Thread right before the main sample chapter links.

The issue I see with the dead blades is that they were broken in a specific way. Kaladin broke Syl by promising to defend the King and failing to do so (I believe he could have broken his promise to Moash without breaking the bond). He restored the bond by fulfilling his oath without regard for his own life. I believe the vision with the Windrunners shows the exact same thing, but done deliberately by the entire Order. They arrived and attacked a fortification that they had sworn to defend. A similar, but opposite act would probably be required to restore the bond.

True, but we've already seen the ramifications of one out of place part in a complex mechanism. The broken Soulcaster was repair imperfectly and no longer functioned. If a trained person had fixed it, it probably would have worked. In the same way, one blocked Pillar out of a city wide relay could shut the whole city down, just like a power outage after a storm. Loose the wrong transmission line and the whole grid shuts down.

I definitely agree with the blocked Stormlight theory. There's mention of basket on chains lowered into the clouds, but it seems like too much work to remove an entire pillar's worth of fist sized gemstones to lower them into the storm.

So I guess the next question is how to power it up. As far as we've seen so far a gem needs to be outside in the Highstorm to collect Stormlight. Does the column connect through the floor to an area below the storms or is some sort or Knight Radiant relay needed?

Thanks for the link. After reading it in context it sounds more like a death rattle issue. With the death rattles the person briefly sees into the future. While the followers of the diagram are mining them for information there's a possibility that others are using them as well. Otherwise why would one of the Unmade cause them? If she knew the secret of Aimia, then such a being could mine her soul for information as she passed beyond.

Where is this quote from? My text search doesn't find a match for it.

I agree with this general assessment. This is how I interpret the events leading up the the book: The Emperor and Empress are attacked by assassins, who are caught in the act. She is either killed in the attack or wounded too much to save. He has a serious head wound and is dying (Abraham Linclon was shot in the head, but didn't die until the next morning). The surgeons (Resealers or Flesh Forgers) are called to heal him. They remove the arrow, seal his skull, and repair the damage. The Emperor lives through the procedure, but has severe memory loss and is barely functional. I think that a lot of the "damage" may have been caused by the healing process. Unlike most other magic systems, the magic on Sel is trapped in the Cognitive realm and has to be channeled in very specific ways. It is mentioned multiple times in Elantris how careful healers need to be. As an added layer of difficulty, it appears that "magic" in the Empire is much more limited than in Elantris. Elantrians are capable of opening a direct connection to the Dor by tracing their hands in the air. The Resealers couldn't just open a pathway to the Dor and let it do the work. They have to tell it exactly what to do through stamps. I assume that their training is similar to Shai's; just as she is actually capable of painting or sculpting the art she Forges, they need to know how to the body works and how to heal the damage. Assuming that the Resealers healed him perfectly; he may be in the best physical shape in his life, but completely brain dead. Spoilers for everything Cosmere:

Not necessarily; I believe that the general rule of Shardblade ownership is if you have it it's yours (see the scene with Kaladin in Hearthstone). It may be a bit more complicated with the murder issue, but if the holder was cleared it would probably be his. Some shards are loaned out (e.g. the King's blades) but I was always under the impression that the terms were reinforced with the "we will hunt you down and kill you if you keep them" clause.

The biggest issue with the bridges is mapping out the route. There are permanent bridges close to the war camps, but the Parshendi occasionally destroy them in night raids so they don't extend out too far from the camps and the watchtowers. The upside of the permanent bridges is that they are probably longer than the mobile units, so they make it easier (faster route) to reach the outer plateaus. The path to a given plateau is probably never straight since the bridges need to be placed in an area that is level with or higher than the next plateau and close enough to reach with a mobile bridge. In some cases the route back may not be the same as the route out because the plateaus don't match up correctly. This was part of the risk with the final expedition. If they didn't map their path correctly they could have been stuck without a way back.

Interesting point. Is there a prevailing theory about the missing blades? During the Recreance, Dalinar noted that they were many more Shardblades shown than he knew of existing in the world. Do the spren come by to "bury" their dead if the blades are left alone? If this is the case then it would explain the hundreds of missing Shardblades. Every time a shardbearer died (traveling, wilderness, shipwreck) and the body and blade were not found soon enough, another Shardblade would be lost.

If Kaladin had been granted a boon he could have fought him, but he was thrown in jail instead. Now if there was a NEED to pursue his removal; I'm sure Elhokar could be persuaded to make the challenge agreement pass on to the next Highprince. It may also be possible that the law passes the responsibility of the duel on to a Second, but Amaram would probably have to have been named as Second; which is doubtful since they had a year to work out the details.

I agree with that assessment. He may have gone in to save her, but just like the 3 Kohlin soldiers he killed, she could have been too close to the action. It's also possible that they killed her in a standoff and he laid waste to the city. Either way, falling into the Thrill leads him to be consumed by blood-lust.

Interesting information. I had previously read it as a daily progression in a set order. I forget all of the names, but I was thinking that there were certain rhythms that began and ended throughout the day: morning rhythm, lunch rhythm, and so on. I hadn't caught on that the rhythms were always going and didn't stop. I should have picked up on that earlier since everything on Roshar is musical or rhythmic (written language is a vibration track, storms in a pattern, dawnsingers). I had assumed that the rhythm of peace was a like a symphony (long but not that long) and not a day long song on repeat. Reminds me of the Simarrillion where Eru sings the world into existence.

The prevailing theory (as I interpreted it) is that their connections (their minds) have been repaired by the Everstorm but they haven't bonded a spren yet, so they are incomplete. There is mention of a day of first transformation by Eshonai's mother. If this is the case then the transformed parshmen are like overgrown children, full sized but they haven't hit puberty yet. Dullform can hear and follow the Rhythms. I would actually expect that they would follow the Rhythms very closely since they lack the mental capability to go against them. The Dullform Listener speaks in the Rhymth of Peace because it is the right time of day for it. The "higher" forms, Warform and Stormform can ignore this rhythm at will.

Is anyone else wondering about the end goal of the Yellow spren? I assumed that all or some of the parshmen would transform in the coming highstorm; but Kaladin found shelter for them and the Yellow spren warned them and found a mine to hide in before the second passing of the Everstorm. Kalidin may not know that they need a storm to transform (not sure how much time he has with Rlain); but the spren is actively keeping them out of the storms.

It should be interesting to see how that prophesy works out. In fantasy, prophecies almost always come through (Wheel of Time, Mistborn) but sometimes in unexpected ways. I always like the twist where the prophecy is from the side of evil. Given the dark connotations of "nightform" it may not be a bright future that awaits them.

She turned me into a Newt! got me mildly ill for a few days! Burn Her! (burn her, burn her....) On a more serious note; think of all the mass panic and worry from recent health scares: Zika, Ebola, SARS, Bird Flu, and so on. Do we need a travel ban? Do we quarantine people? Go back a century or 2 and it's now a curse from that person that people don't like very much, brought in by those immigrants we don't like, or caused by our tolerance for people who don't believe in our God in exactly the same way we believe in Him. Expel the outsiders who brought this disease upon us!