Ren

I like your theory, because you doubt in things that some people don't.

What I've found out in Sanderson's books is that you should doubt even the things that seem Divine. (especially them)

I don't trust the spren, I don't trust the Heralds, I don't even trust that Surgebinding is as helpful as it seems. Odium can have his influence spread anywhere.

If we're going to delve in deep, pretty much every PoV character (interlude or not) in TWoK and WoR is suffering from some psychological issues. Some are fairly obvious, some are not.

It's an interesting theory, but don't we have a WoB that Taln at the end of TWoK is the real Taln? And Taln we see in WoR is not acknowledged to be Taln. So kandra switching has to be done in between both books.

Totally made my day!

He's a very crafty person, worthy of his name. Nice catch!

"Or it could be Moash. Moash is basically the best example of a character who still considers themselves good even as they exhibit every attribute that Odium likes to see in a person- and he's also interested enough in redemption that being informed, 'nope, you can't have redemption ever, you are now the champion of the god of evil whether you like it or not' would be pretty horrifying."

 

 

Alright first of all, I am good and there is no way I will be Odium's champion. Perhaps you instead will be his champion and I will do a good deed in defeating you and saving Roshar. If you think I am going to champion the father of hatred, you are stormin mistaken. Adding to this theory, would the person who becomes Odium's champion be "the one who will destroy us"? Recall the info on the back of twok where it said one of the four (Kaladin, Szeth, Dalinar and Shallan) would redeem us and another would destroy us? What if then this champion ends up being one of those people in a cruel joke. It would fit perfectly for Odium's champion to destroy us and if it is one of those four we could in that case have one of them unknowingly become Odium's champion despite having good intentions.

That is not entirely correct.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.

 

Yes he did. Very good catch.

Nale put something glowing lightly in his pocket. I don't think it was a Honorblade, unless it's mini-sized kitchen knife. It's more likely a fabrial.

I think we can rule it out completely, I think it is quite clear that Taravangian is making it up on the spot.  Notice how he orders Szeth to avoid Kaladin, right after Szeth say that he will kill him and take back the honorblade?  if Szeth killed him, no honorblade would have appeared, and Szeth would have known that Taravangian was lying to him.

Then how would you explain Szeth saying that if he dies the Stone Shamans will recover his Honorblade in TWoK? This means that the SS know how to recover Honorblades from dead bodies. If SS know, then Szeth must know too.

Taravangian is following the Diagram and his own plan. His top priority was for Dalinar to die as soon as possible. It's only natural to order Szeth to avoid any complications where he might get himself killed.

He isn't, he just made that up on the spot to maintain his control over Szeth.

I agree, that's more likely, everyone is scared of Szeth and none wants him on the loose with questionable beliefs and motivation. But we can't rule it out completely without WoB or the next Book/s.

http://s546.photobucket.com/user/j_p_a/media/65672860-0f24-4afe-94ab-6e754cb142ea_zpsace20309.jpg.html

Here ^^ It is presumed to be Nale.

 

 

“No, no,” Taravangian said. “I have learned this only recently. Yes, it makes sense now. One of the Honorblades has vanished.”
Szeth blinked, and he focused on Taravangian, as if returning from a distant place. “One of the other seven?

“Yes,” Taravangian said. “I have heard only hints. Your people are secretive. But yes . . . I see, it is one of the two that allow Regrowth. Kholin must have it.

This is from WoR, it is unknown if Taravangian is lying just to keep Szeth in line or not. I don't know if we have WoB on this. If he's telling the truth, then there's only 6 left in Shinovar by the end of WoR.

Agreed with the point on Hoid--Hoid's been playing Pokemon with all the Cosmere magic systems. I don't think he needs to trade with Vasher to obtain breath.

Yep, Hoid already said that he's ready to destroy Roshar, if it will help him achieve his goal. Although, he's trying not to. So, yeah, Hoid pretty much confessed that if he wants something, he will get it, no matter what.

Spren are living ideas.

Nightblood is a living idea in a very similar way. He was Commanded and brought to live with the words - "Destroy Evil!". Just as Syl's focus is on protecting and doing what is right. Nightblood's focus is a bit odd - to destroy evil... ^^

If we are to compare him with other spren. I'd go for powerful spren like the Stormfather. We have WoB that Nightblood is far stronger than a regular Shardblade.

But since Nightblood is several times more Invested than a normal Sprenblade, we can expect some twisted things. I hope Nightblood is still able to destroy walls, instead of just cutting through them. So badass.

Since Nightblood acts exactly as a spren on Roshar. Szeth should be able to form a Nahel bond with him. That means Nightblood should provide him with some powers.. maybe.

 

 

 

Q:  How much more powerful is Nightblood than a a regular Shardblade?
A:  I haven't actually quantified that in my own mind so can't give an accurate comparison at this point. I will say that when he is fully consuming Investiture he can do some really freaky things.

 

 

A:  It would suck the Breath from anybody, and if they were unable to feed it he would feed on their soul.
Q:  So they would die.
A:  Yes. Anybody wielding Nightblood, he will suck their soul. For too long, he will eventually, if you draw him, he will suck your soul.

Yes, if Szeth has drawn Nightblood for too long and runs out of Stormlight, Nightblood will consume his soul.

 

 

 

Q:  Which is why Szeth can wield Nightblood?
A:  Eh, you'll have to see if … but yes. That could theoretically happen. You can use most of the magics on most of the planets to fuel the other magics, if you know how to do it, it is not easy

Szeth will have a hard time learning how to use Nightblood, unless Nale knows and teaches him some secrets and all.

 

I think that Nale's conversation with Szeth hold keys to understanding what true Skybreakers should be, so I'm going to post a few quotes from the book. I hope i'll help someone. I'll post my own lazy excuse of a theory below.
 

 

“You spend this long obeying the precepts of your people and religion..." 

 

 

“You, Szeth,” the man said, “worship order, do you not? You follow the laws of your society to perfection. This attracted me, though I worry that emotion has clouded your ability to discern. Your ability to . . . judge.”

 

 “You? Not worthy? I watched you destroy yourself in the name of order, watched you obey your personal code when others would have fled or crumbled. Szeth-son-Neturo, I watched you keep your word with perfection. This is a thing lost to most people—it is the only genuine beauty in the world. I doubt I have ever found a man more worthy of the Skybreakers than you."

I'm not saying that Nale can be trusted, but Nale is the only person we have that knows something about the Skybreakers, besides Brandon and Peter. And currently, the last two torture us by sealing their lips on the topic. ^^

Now, I find it very interesting what words Nale used. I hope I helped you a bit with your theorycrafting here.

My own theory remains unchanged so far, I believe the Skybreakers with Nahel bond do follow the law, but a higher law, hence the name highspren. Yes, the name matters - Honorspren, Cryptics (also known as liespren, but they don't like being called that.)

Each of the 10 KR spren are different and complex. We know that from Syl, Pattern and Wyndle, even from Ivory. Highspren are no different. They uphold law and order above all else. But it doesn't have to be human laws. We know that Nale followed Azish laws by the book, but he doesn't have a Nahel bond. We have no right to use him as an example in this exact argument.

Edit: Few edits, because laptops are annoying as hell. I hope I helped with the quotes.

 

Dalinar is a Radiant without shards and also a Bondsmith, as such i don't think he will do a lot of fighting, more likely he will focus all his brilliant wit and politically keen mind to do a lot of talk and schmoozing

Being without Shards, means that his battles will be even more entertaining. He'll just use his abilities given by the Nahel bond. Shards aren't what makes the Knight Radiants so fearsome

For me, Szeth is the most interesting character to read about. They way his personality is set up, allows Brandon far more freedom to develop Szeth's character than everyone else in the books at the moment. He can literally take any direction he likes.

Dalinar, along with every other major PoV, hold the second place. I find them all equally interesting.

 

• Hoid claims that Jasnah's Shardblade can't hurt him.  There may even be WoB that it is true. 

 

Yes, we have WoB that a Shardblade will cut his soul, but he will just heal it back. We don't know how he's able to do that though. 

Maybe Hoid knew Adonalsium well, or one of Adonalsium's Shards, and they gave him a Spren to Bind with.

Hoid witnessed the shattering of Adonalsium. He is confirmed to have Feruchemy, Awakening, Lightweaving (Yolen variant, which is almost the same as Surgebinding Lightweaving). He also posses the last bead of Lerasium.

He is also widely assumed to be at least a Soother or Rioter (it's possible through Hemalurgy spikes).

OR

He could've consumed the bead and he could be a full Mistborn, but that is not confirmed. We have WoB that Hoid got the Lerasium bead with the intention of using it for himself, but it is NOT stated clearly that he has consumed it.

Will Sanderson ever give Jasnah her own book?

Jasnah's book will be one of the last 5, together with Lift, Taln, Renarin and 1 unknown so far person.

Re-reading WOR, the chapter 34 epigraph jumps out at me:

 

 

 

 

This sure sounds like Odium, but I thought we had WoB that Odium had resisted too much investiture because he didn't want to weaken himself?

 

So how can the Parshendi gods (plural) (which I'm assuming perhaps incorrectly are the unmade?) be splinters of Odium?

You're assuming right, the Unmade are the Parshendi gods, for all I know.

I think that in the beginning of Odim vs. Honor war (probably Cultivation too, but I believe she's there more as a judge or 3rd neutral party, enforcer maybe, if you like it) Honor created and Invested in the Honorblades and made an Oathpact with the Heralds. In return, Odium Invested in the Unmade (or something like that).  

About the Nightblood test proving that Nalan is not corrupted: the test may have something to do with local Shard's Intent ore some other Cosmere variable and not work on Roshar. Even Szeth seems to be able to hold Nightblood and not get crazy, so…

Szeth is not evil, because he killed so many people. He was doing what he was ordered to do. Vasher killed far more people than Szeth and he has no problems wielding Nightblood.

Also, Vasher said that Nightblood has its own standards of evil and corrpution. And if Nale and Szeth can wield Nightblood without getting devoured, I think we can assume that they are as corrputed as Vasher. They are not saints, though... but, hey, neither is Vasher.

I don't think that the spren is in the box, or even part of it, because in the disadvantaged shardbearer duel, Syl saw something strange near Renarin and flew (Or whatever she does) over to him. In fact (Since I don't own the book I can't say), I don't think Renarin had the box during the duel. There's no proof yet, but I think Syl saw a spren near him.

IIRC, Shallan sent Pattern to distract the Shardbearer and help Renarin. That's what Syl saw.

I like where your theory went about Stormlight being of Honor and Cultivation. That made me think though, in Highstorms there is also voidspren with which the Listener's transformed. How are they lurking there if Stormlight is only of Honor and Cultivation? It doesn't make sense to me. I'd go as far as to say that when Honor and Odium went on war, Honor made it so that it would be fair. Honor is all about fairness, no backstabbing. What if all three shards agreed to invest in Stormlight. One part Honor, one part Odium and one part of neutral Cultivation. (idk if she's neutral or not, but I don't think she's the loving mother she seems to be) That seems fair to me.

I like how your theory goes on overall though. 

I agree that Kaladin's mother is probably from a wealthy and influential family, but I don't think that family is Alethi.

It seems like her family have some wealth at their disposal and because Hesina is a darkeyed woman, I'd suggest she's from one of the countries to the east, where darkeyes can be just as noble/kings as lighteyes. We know that eye-color discrimination is present only in Veden countries.

It's just too much if everyone turns out to be Alethi noble/prince/whatever...

 

...As to Nalan: what makes you think he doesn't have the whole picture? Do you know what caused the Recreance? It may very well be that the Recreance was caused by the fact that Radiants found out they brought the Desolations. I think Nalan knows a lot more than either of us, and while he might be a little 'twisted' in his devotion to the law, I am not confident that he's wrong in his conclusions that killing Surgebinders stops Desolations. He could be....

Almighty above, did I just find another person that doesn't think that Nale is corrputed-mass-murderer-sociopath? If it's so then today was a GOOD day! 

I think it was said somewhere in WoR that Blades don't need a gem to work. I'll try to dig this up tomorrow.

Q: The hair color: is there a link between the hair color in Warbreaker and the hair color in—like with the Alethi always have black, and I can't remember the other country that always have their gold hair coloring?

A: Yes. You are noticing something very interesting which was done deliberately.

 

This also led me to think that not all humans are the same species of humans on Roshar.. for example Alethi and Iri..