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On the topic of cool things noticed this time through:

In the Starfalls vision Taffa swears by the heralds a few times, but when she's really amazed she says, "Three Gods, Heb" 

Sixteen guesses for who she's talking about...

Dalinar mentions that those with the king's favor can pay a large fee to borrow the king's Plate and Blade in order to duel a shardbearer, though in the context that was for general duels of honor or sport; I suspect the king would be less likely to favor duelists seeking shards as prizes.

When Rock told bridge 4 that his nuatoma had come to duel for shards, they all seemed surprised that he would attempt it. (It is not specifically stated whether the nuatoma was loaned a set of plate for the duel, but from the context I doubt it.) Rock says it is a fairly regular occurrence for a group of Horneaters to come down and try for shards, but it seems like within Alethkar most attempts to win a set of shards take place on the battlefield rather than in the dueling ring.

That's not to say that it doesn't happen.

Something else to consider: In several weeks of bodyguard duty, neither Kaladin nor Syl seem to have picked up on the fact that "Renarin seesa spren nobody else does." (per WoB)  This despite the fact that in WoK Renarin is frequently observed to be "preoccupied," with "staring at nothing." I'm guessing that his spren is around a bunch, but neither a watchful surgebinder nor that surgebinder's spren has noticed. Presumably Rock hasn't been around the Kholins at all to see things.

 

I take this to mean that there's something else going on with visibility than just Nahel bonding.

 

As an aside--I seriously doubt it will happen this way, but I have a scene in mind where Jasnah is introducing Shallan to the family, and S notices R's spren. She says "Oh, you have one too?" This leads to explanations Kaladin only gets to hear afterward from the bridgecrew who were on bodyguard detail at the time.

Weiry is right. The days are only 20 hours long, not 24, so a 500 day Rosharan year is only 1.1 earth years. So the ages given in the books are actually very close to what you would envision.

 

Edit: Is there a reason this info isn't on the wiki page? I assume we have the relevant WoB citations to reference.

I like the comparison of type I and type IV, and the idea that the smoke may be a shared byproduct. I don't think that has been postulated before.

The alternative is that the smoke is more from Nightblood's destructive ability, and the things he is destroying (such as walls, etc. in the final fight scene) are reduced to smoke, while Breath is simply fueling that ability.

Here is a description of an emerald broam from Ch 55 of WoK.

Kaladin rolled the sphere between his fingers. The otherwise pure glass had cooled with a thin line of bubbles permanently frozen along one side. The bubbles were tiny spheres of their own, catching light.
[…] Hanging in the very center of it was a large emerald cut in a round shape, with dozens of tiny facets along the sides. A small rim of suspended bubbles clung to the side of the gemstone, as if longing to be near its brilliance.
Bright, crystalline green Stormlight shone from inside the glass[…]like part of the storm, captured by the emerald. The light wasn’t perfectly steady; it just seemed that way compared with the flickering of candles, torches, or lamps. Holding it close, Kaladin could see the light swirling, raging.

 

There are a few extra details there, but the main point for me is that the gems (at least in broams) are definitely cut and faceted. (When I was finding the quote to post it I thought that there was also something about the size of the gem relative to the sphere, but it doesn't say anything about that.)

 

Edit: Found another quote to add to my earlier luminance post, but the upshot is that a broam is between 3 and 5 times the size of a mark, depending on your use of "several."

Here it is!

Wow, that's great! I made one for myself that is similar, but yours definitely looks nicer. I'll be printing a copy to make notes with through WoR.

Did you make this directly as a pdf? If you have the original spreadsheet file, do you mind making that available for my own downloading-and-editing pleasure?

Go check how Rock talks in the first book.

I did this. After reading all of Rock's quotes, I didn't find any cases of swapped pronouns, though he does frequently drop pronouns at the beginning of clauses. So, I could go either way on this. He does have a unique speech pattern, and "him" in reference to the broam could be just a manifestation of that. Or, since this is the first time this particular irregularity has manifested, it could well be something more significant like a spren sighting.

So, this morning I woke up all excited to come post the new WoB I heard at the signing last night. There were confirmations of theories, and a few brand new tidbits about Sel and Roshar. Then I gradually realized that no, all of that actually happened in a dream and Brandon hadn't actually told me anything. It was disappointing, to say the least.

Clearly I am spending way too much time on this site.

 

(I decided not to post the fake WoB by subconscious came up with.)

Well said, marianmi. I still don't find myself fully convinced, but there are definitely pieces of it that I like a lot. This is a very well-reasoned theory. 

Brandon said that each SA book will have a "main interlude character" - one side character that shows up in all of the interlude groups. In The Way of Kings it was Szeth (damnit, even after all this time I keep trying to type Sazed...). In Words of Radiance it's Eshonai - he told us so somewhere sometime.

Yes, but from the example of Szeth in WoK, I assumed there would be one Eshonai chapter per set of interludes. The twitter picture indicates that there are two Eshonai chapters together in the first interlude. If that's not just a misplacement in the draft version, this is a break from the pattern we've seen.

 

I have two alternative and equally feasible explanations

Another possibility is that soulcasting requires one to visit Shadesmar, and the spren there are much more hostile than they used to be towards human interlopers.

Why is Rock mentioning the Amethyst sphere that Kaladin gave as a 'him' ? Shouldn't he say it? 

This stuck out to me too, and initially I was going to speculate that the sphere's gem had captured a spren similar to the gems that power fabrials. Since Rock seems more aware of spren in general, it made sense that he might notice. But this doesn't work given Syl's lack of reaction--I really think she would both notice and object to trapping spren. For now, I'm chalking the "him" reference up to cultural personification, similar to the way a boat is usually "her".

Also, (if I'm correct) Dalinar's elder son being provisionally engaged to the little sister of the guy who tried to kill Amaram should be another interesting topic.

Oooh, didn't quite catch that dynamic. The engagement really does make an immediate difference.

 

It's nice to know that Rysn, Ym, and Eshonai are all in the first interlude set.

I was also surprised to see that there is apparently a second Eshonai interlude in that same set. I hope that's true at least here, and possibly for other interlude sets as well. 

My bet is that he's some type of spren, like the Nightwatcher or Cusicesh.

I'm not buying the Nightwatcher is a spren nonsense Jasnah keeps dropping. Seems like a serious case of misinformation to me.

My favorite was this exchange between Syl and Kal:

“Laws are of men, Kaladin. Nature doesn’t have them!”

“If I toss something upward, it comes back down.”

“Except when it doesn’t.”

“It’s a law.”

“No,” Syl said, looking upward. “It’s more like… more like an agreement among friends.”

Wow, great stuff! But what's so incredible about chapter 7 that it didn't make the preview? What spoilers were too juicy to throw our way?

Edit: I'm expecting a Shallan flashback there.

As far as the economics go, there have been lots of good points already about counterfeiting, soulcasting, etc. In particular I agree with the idea that using spheres for indoor lighting expands their utility and appeal greatly.

 

For one thing, could this valuable resource really have been used for mere currency in the time of the Radiants, when they knew exactly what stormlight could be used for? Did they make sure they were always the wealthiest to ensure they had adequate stormlight? That doesn't seem to fit with their ideals; hoarding all the wealth to maintain their power, while others may starve for lack of funds? That doesn't seem very honorable.

 

Regarding the magic and radiants, though, I can see the KR actively encouraging the use of spheres as currency. There are few things more ubiquitously carried than money, so if you want to be sure of access to stormlight wherever you go, what better way than to ensure everyone you see will have some in their pocket or safe-pouch? This especially works if people treat dun spheres with suspicion, because then there is a system in place to regularly infuse spheres for mundane reasons, and you don't have to dedicate your own KR resources to monitoring the stormlight and gem supply.

 

If the current gem/sphere supply is any indication, it seems that from a magical perspective there are plenty of stormlight reservoirs to go around. And except during the Weeping, they are refillable every few days.

Just something to add on the general Q&A discussion:

 

While I agree that it gets old listening to the same questions or advice over and over, it wasn't too long ago that I was the one asking those irksome dumb questions. I went to a local WoK release party when Brandon happened to be passing through my city. I had a genuinely interesting question to ask, but when I got the chance I worried that maybe I should ask something of more generic interest so the rest of the crowd could get something out of it...so I piped up with "Who's your favorite character?"

 

Inane, I know. I'm pretty sure there were a few groans from the other people there.  But after that someone sitting near me directed me to the old TWG site, where I was introduced to the cosmere, etc.

 

I guess what I'm saying is don't be too hard on the drabs who haven't caught the vision yet. I would say that if a given Q&A is a wide audience, go right ahead and stack it full of cosmere questions, but try to make them ones that could trigger someone to go look up what you were asking about--i.e. more character motivations, big ideas, and important background, less nitpicky details. Just my 2 cents.

I agree that "drooling" refers to Jezrien. First, note that Darkness could very well have been speaking metaphorically. He could just be saying, "Jez is senile up in those storms and doing absolutely nothing useful." This interpretation is kind of funny to me because "drooling" might be an oblique reference to the amount of rain that gets dumped by the storms. Oooo, insult!

 

However, I've been been thinking that there are a few ways for his body to still be around to drool mindlessly. One option is the already-invoked different-and-weird-things-happen-when-you-only-hold-part-of-a-shard idea. This seems unlikely to me. Another possibility comes to mind:

Remember that Vin and Sazed took up their shards via the physical realm, while Kelsier did so via the cognitive. What if Jezrien was looking into Shadesmar when Honor died, and he reached out to grab what was left? In this scenario it is possible that Jez's mind could end up directing the shardic pieces while his body got left behind.

 

I'm basing this idea on the interpretation that while everything exists in all 3 realms, spren (and dead crewleaders) are primarily cognitive, while humans (and presumably Heralds) are mostly physical. I think it's reasonable to assume that actions would have a different effect if you are out of your element. Brandon has said it's possible to actually go to Shadesmar, or to simply peer in with your mind.

 

 

Also, since I didn't see anyone else respond:

I've seen these hints about Kelsier before, but I'm not sure what they reference. I read the Mistborn trilogy and AoL, admittedly awhile ago, but I don't remember anything about him obtaining any part of shard. Did I miss something or is it in another book?

No, it's not stated overtly in the books. The relevant WoB quotes are here and here. Also worth looking at the coppermind page on Kelsier.

 the only thing I'm sure of at this point is that I'm wrong. 

I think you are in good company here. I strongly suspect most of my speculations are wrong.

Speaking of which, here is another one:

Even though I'm not convinced of the need to divide up the chart between Honor and Cultivation, I still look for patterns that might work. One that occurred to me today was to give Honor all the odd #s and Cultivation all the evens, so that they alternate around the ring. I don't think I've heard this version before, though I doubt it's really new here. A couple things this does that other divisions don't:

• Both sets of 5 have access to all the surges
• Every connecting line between orders is now a bond between Honor and Cultivation, making the whole magic system a link between the two of them (or at least their spren). Note: bold means I really like this part. I'm not sold on the division, but this is an element I approve of.

...and you know it's a good discussion when the topic originator gets totally distracted from what he meant to write about. Maybe I'll eventually get back to actually doing the spren-type speculation I intended to do in the OP 

Sorry. Is there a way to move it myself? I don't see that option.

How did Dalinar know what was written on the wall? I thought he did not know how to read or write...

Men can read glyphs, which is what the writing was in. Alethi script would have been another matter.

 

Also, you have some good points on the alignment of spren. I'm not sure I'm convinced yet (I currently still think cryptics are Cultivation) but I'll keep my eyes open for evidence that you're right.

In the new Shallan chapter for WoR, Jasnah strongly implies that each order does in fact have a corresponding spren-type.

“I had originally hoped that we would have the same type of spren.... But of course, that would be too easy. I have suspected since Kharbranth that we would be of different orders.”

This idea has been suggested by many, but this is the first thing from the text that comes so close to confirmation.

 

As an honorspren, Syl "binds things", which is a good descriptor for the abilities granted by the dual surges of the Windrunners. Similarly, the cryptics or "liespren" make sense for the dual surges of the Lightweavers, specifically transformation (turning a thing into something it wasn't) and illumination (disguising a thing as something it isn't). 

 

Incidentally, these two orders are directly opposite each other on the chart, as you might expect from the implied polarization between their spren types. A thought on this: If we take these as the "centers" of the Honor/Cultivation divide, then rather than splitting the double-eye left and right it makes Honor's orders include #9 (Stonewarden) through #3 (Dustbringer) and gives Cultivation #4 (Edgedancer) through #8 (unknown). This matches what we know of Wyndle from the Lift interlude.

 

So, the question is, can we infer spren types for the other orders from their respective surges? Here is the latest chart for reference. Also remember Jasnah's division of Honor's spren = emotions, Cultivation's spren = natural forces.

 

(

 

It's late here and I need to get to some other tasks, so I'll save my own speculations for a later post. What are your thoughts?