KevThinker

57. Who is actually speaking during the Epigraphs?

54. What are the order of events in the Way of Kings since ancient days? So far I think it goes. 1. The Heralds leave the Radiants and primitive humans abandoning the oathpact. 2. Nohadon's kingdom is desolated in a horrible battle. (This must have happened before Honor was killed as he stated that his journal was composed of events he witnessed.) 3. The Knights Radiant give up their Plate and Blade. 4. Odium defeats Honor splintering his Shard 5. The Alethi Kingdoms and other Roshar Kingdoms acquire the Plate and Blade. 6. The taming of the Parshmen. 7. Odium chooses to allow his war to pass into myth and for the world to forget about him in preparation for the Last Desolation. The only event that I can't place is when Honor created his vision journal. It was obviously before Odium killed him, but the Knights seem to have fractured after his death. 3 & 4 give me a bit of pause because Honor stated that his visions were made up of events he witnessed. If he was already dead then how did he know the Radiants gave up their plate in the Firestone Keep vision? I've heard some people state that they think that vision contains the day that Odium finally defeated Honor, but I'm not so certain. 55. I wonder if the cities created by the Dawnsingers fit together to form some kind of larger pattern? I also wonder if they are connected by mystical means. 56. Did Talanel's blade behave differently because it is an Honorblade?

53. is Kalladin married? There are subtle references to someone named Tera probably a woman who pulled him out of his funk following Tien's death.

52. Would it be possible for a Surgebinder to create lashings if he had no use of his limbs? Could he create lashings by touching objects with his feet or other parts his body?

51. Is an Alethi woman's Safe Hand physically different than her Free Hand? Also does everyone have the same orientation of safe hand, meaning right hands are always safe or left or are they interchangeable?

Whats a "polestone?"

So the visions of the hierocracy were the same ones that Dalinar has been experiencing?

@WeiryWriter. You make an excellent point about Dalinar not being the very first person to see these visions. Do we have any concrete WOB that others have experienced the exact same events? I say it seems he his actually in the past because it just seems to odd that Dalinar would suggest to Noadon that he write a book. It smacks too much of planting an idea and a direct influence upon the past.

First two observations: More of a statement than a question. The more I read about Dalinar's visions, the more I am convinced that Dalinar is actually being transported into the past to influence events. It just seems to make more and more sense as he interacts with people. & Dalinar's vision in which he sees Noadon (sorry about spelling, I blame the audiobook) it seems to provide some insight into why humanity is in such sorry shape following Desolations. Heralds only come at the beginning of Desolations leaving the interim time to be governed by Kings/Soul Casters/Lords/Surgebinders. It seems like these groups abused their power and directed their energies towards eachother instead of uniting and preparing to fight the Voidbringers. This doesn't answer why the Radiants gave up their power, or why magical abilities such as Surgebinding vanished but it does seem to point to a possible reason for why the Heralds were so distressed everytime they were called back to Roshar to fight. Imagine being the only member of your team willing to pull your own weight, I'd get exhausted too. 49. Are Humans native to Roshar? They do not seem to fit into the ecological/evolutionary niche that Roshar cultivates. If anything the Parshendi seem to be more in line with what a humanoid native would look like. 50. Is the barrier between the cognitive and physical realm somehow weaker on Roshar? I keep thinking about how Spren are only seen on Roshar and not other Shardworlds. Is this due to the presence of a particular shardholder or has the world been affected in some way?

Sorry for the absence, Christmas was a whirlwind. Continuing! 45. Is Uruthiru the mythic Tranquiline Halls? 46. Are the Cryptic Spren that Shallan sees the Dawnsingers? 47. Who is Teft, your theories? 48. When Hoid says he started out as words on a page and then stole himself, is he making a meta joke?

42. Can Gaz see Syl? 43. Why is Lamaril blackmailing Gaz? 44. Do Hardazians have crystalline skeletons or just metallic hair and crystal colored nails?

36. The giant water spren mentioned in the interlude (the one with the changing faces), what the heck is up with that? 37. How is a Nahel-Bond initiated? 38. If Szeth doesn't have a bond with a Spren, then why is he able to surgebind? 39. The Shin seem to be a people who say one thing but mean the complete opposite. By saying that Szeth was worthless and that they hope there will never be another, are they actually saying that he is of importance? 40. Why are there no Spren in the Shin valley? 41. How did Szeth get his Shardblade?

34. When someone comes into the possession of a shardblade, do their eyes actually change color? 35. Is there a distinction between Honorblades and Dawnshards and if so what are they? I just read a chapter where Shallan treats them as two separate things.

I can get behind that theory.

33. Is the secret society of the 3 triangles linked to the Ardents?

32. Are the fabrials known as Soulcasters merely props meant to disguise soulcasting as an inherent ability? Or are there really working fabrials that give people the ability to soulcast?

29. Are the Parshendi Voidbringers? 30. Why did the Parshendi only show shardplate and blades after they encounter the Alethi? 31. Why did the Parshendi want to see maps?

Something to consider is that the Shardblades themselves may not be parts of honor, or they could be corrupted in some way making giving them up a positive in unintuitive thing to do.

#25. Syl reactions to the Shardblades seems odd. What exactly are Shardblades? Are they pieces of Honor? If so have they been tainted by Odium thereby causing Syl's reaction? #26. Why is the power of foresight considered bad in the Vorin religion? It seems to me that Honor uses it #27. Is there a power play being executed by the Vorin Church and its devotaries? Several things seem to indicate this such as Shallan's father, the secrecy surround the nature of soul casting, the events of the Hierocracy and the actions of the priest who befriends Shallan. #28. Is Shallan a sort of Rosharian Terrisman? She seems to store memories and information just in a different type of medium

I've been rereading the Way of Kings and posting questions as I read regarding mysteries and details I never noticed before, you can read all that on my other thread. However this is for something entirely different. I want to posit a theory about the nature between the conflict between Odium and Honor. What if the conflict between Odium and Honor is actually some kind of test or wager? There are several things that lead me to believe this: 1) When the Heralds die they are sent to a place that is presumed to be a domain of Odium there enduring torture before being sent back to die again in a conflict. They are sent there even if they win the battle. Wouldn't it make more sense that they would be sent to another place less hellish? In fact the place of chains and hooks is stated to be the reason for why the Heralds no longer have a will to endure the seemingly endless desolation. 2) Dalinar and Kaladin are both tested severely over the course of the book. When Dalinar finally goes on a plateua assault against the Parshendi, he is filled with the Thrill and then with disgust for the violence surrounding him. Kaladin on the other hand is constantly besieged by a melancholy that tells him that he can't save those around him only to push through it and finally succeed in saving his bridge crew. In Mistborn there were subtle hints early on that Ruin was whispering in Vin's mind and influencing her thoughts. 3) One of the major themes of the book is living up to commitments and doing the honorable things even though it would be easier and more profitable to not do so. Most of the characters seem to experience periods of darkness when an inner voice causes them to doubt while another inner voice encourages them. 4) Several characters and groups are shown voluntary giving up objects of power only to have it turn out better for them in the end. Kaladin gives up his Shard Plate and Blade to take care of his men. Dalinar gives his Blade to purchase the lives of Saddeas' bridge crews and the Radiants give up their weapons and armor by the hundreds in Dalinar's visions. This action of giving up an important piece of something precious is eerily familiar to the actions taking by Preservation against Ruin. The nearest analogue that I have for this scenario would be the story of Job about how God and Satan agreed beforehand that Job could be tried in all things to prove his commitment and honor to God. However this being a Brandon Sanderson novel, the model has to be tweaked. One possibility is that Odium and Honor struck a deal which has Honor lost or is very close to losing. Honor being the embodiment of living up to his commitments willingly allowed himself to be splintered and killed if he promised to do so. Going back to the Heralds in the prologue, they mention that they hope that having Talanel still bound to the Oathpact will be "enough." Enough for what? Enough to keep Odium from completely winning the deal? Does that mean that if Talanel fails in his duty the Oathpact will be completely shattered and the Last Desolation will begin? Why do I think this is a plausible theory? One of the things that Mistborn showed us was that all Shardholders are equally matched, they are unable to destroy one another. Ruin was only imprisoned by Preservation when he sacrificed his cognitive self to imprison Ruin's mind. The only three ways that I can think for a Shardholder to actually take down another Shardholder: 1) The Shardholder willing allows a part of himself to be weakened or invested thereby making him weaker and easier to take down. 2) For a Shardholder to gain an additional Shard essentially doubling his power (However this might cause someone to become non invasive in their actions like Harmony seems to be). 3) For two Shardholders to actively pursue and engage a single Shardholder. If this is the case, that means that Odium can only kill Shardholders and splinter Shards with the help of someone else. Brandon has mentioned that there is an as yet unrevealed Shardholder who simply wants to survive, could this possibly be a Shardholder who is helping Odium splinter other Shards in exchange for living just a little while longer? Or is it that Odium is simply better at using the Shard's own influence against their Holders? Honor could be easily manipulated into splitting himself or making a personal sacrifice. He would always strive to do the right thing and live up to a commitment, even if that commitment meant his own destruction. The same could be said for the other splintered shards on Sel and Nalthis.

For #24, if you're correct, would that lend a reason to why Szeth is truthless? Perhaps he displays different powers than the rest of his family, or perhaps just because he has powers?

I'm a big fan of your answer for 24.

#22. Who did Honor want to unite? Was it the Heralds? Alethkar? The Parshendi? #23. Why have surge binding powers only recently returned? #24. How does Szeth know so much about the Knights Radiant and their powers?

Did Dalinar go to the Night Watcher before or after his brother was killed? Could the boon have something to do with his brother's death? Also if Renarin was the boon, then why is he still sick?

#21. What did Dalinar gain from the Night Watcher in return for the memories of his wife? Or is it possible that he asked for the memories to be removed?