Moist_von_Lipwig

Certainly a good theory, it would make sense that in a time when magic was more prevalent, most surgebinders/radiants would have had infused spears with them, which could have influenced it becoming used as a currency. However, I think the primary reason for using Spheres as currency is a far more practical one. Consider the implications of soulcasting. The only know materials that cannot be soulcast are gemstones, so they are the only currency whose value is immune to the affects of soulcasting. If the primary currency on Roshar was gold coins, then any individual with a soulcaster would be able to create huge sums of money from worthless materials like stone. If this was the case the value of the currency would collapse. There is also the point that gemstones are impossible to forge on Roshar. As only true gemstones are capable of absorbing stormlight. -Postmaster Lipwig

I think the reason we have only seen shardblades so far is because swords are probably one of the most versatile and efficient weapons when it comes to combat, It's likely that they were simply more popular. as Crysanja mentioned, blunt, crushing weapons like morning-stars and hammers wouldn't seem to gain much noticeable advantage from the properties of a shardweapon, besides being harder to break. As for shardbows, I'm not sure how those would work. Is it just the bow that's a shardweapon? are the arrows shards as well? Although it is important to note that we have seen pseudo-shardbows in tWoK. to answer your question though, there has apparently been WoB saying that shardbweapons can take forms besides swords, though I have not seen the quote myself. There is another thread that has discussed this topic to a degree. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5173-wild-speculation-kaladin-will-have-a-shardspear/ -Postmaster Lipwig

I agree that Jasnah not interested in men=Lesbian would be far too cliché; it's refreshing to have a character who just isn't interested in marriage. Though I most definitely ship Jasnah and Kaladin. However, I'm not so convinced that she doesn't have any traumatic events in her past. Mainly because we've learnt that a person has to have 'cracks in their soul where something else can fit' to become a surge-binder. And I find it unlikely that Gavilar's assassination is said traumatic event, considering she was showing signs of becoming a surge-binder even before that. Now I'm sure that a person could still have cracks in their soul without any traumatic event causing them, but I'm not so sure that's the case here.

Submarines would indeed be the ideal solution. Why go through the storm when you can go under it. Besides the stuff you've mentioned and inventing submarines they could make the ship from stronger materials. They could soulcast ships to have metal hulls etc. That should offer a bit more protection during a highstorm.

No it's not confirmed that he went before Gavilar's assassination, but after the assassination he would have been at the Shattered Plains fighting the Parshendi almost constantly. I don't think he would have found the time to travel all the way to the Nightwatcher to ask for his boon. So that seems to give us a 4 year window between his wife dying and Gavilar getting killed. Like Plastic Misting said, this wasn't the honorable Dalinar we know, this was the Blackthorn. So him flying into a rage over something and accidentally killing his wife may not be that surprising for the man he was. And I like the irony of him losing all memories of her in order to remove his guilt.

But we know that the barracks in all of the war camps, Elhokar's palace, and Dalinar's complex are all soulcast; and those are fairly big. So surely a bridge wouldn't be that much of a stretch. They wouldn't even have to soulcast it out of air either, they could just soulcast the wooden bridges that are already there. I can understand the Ardentia not wanting to have their soulcasters used that way. And perhaps it's because they don't want the soulcasters put in danger, since the Parshendi could ambush them and steal the soulcaster. Still, it would make fighting on the plains a lot easier.

Wait. Cromptj has a point, it said in the book that they didn't have Permanent bridges that far out into the plains because Parshendi raiding parties kept burning them. So why on Roshar didn't they build the permanent bridges out of wood, fetch some soulcasters, and soulcast the whole thing into solid rock or metal. The Parshendi would have a much harder time messing with those.

Hey Iced, welcome to the 17th Shard, I look forward to many hours of scheming and musings with you. -Postmaster Lipwig

@Meg Yes! That was it! Up-vote for you. I think this explains the issue of who can see what Spren. I theorize that when a Surge-binder bonds with their Spren, the Spren is 'pulled' slightly into the Physical Realm (PR), and the Surge-binder is 'pulled' slightly into the Cognitive realm (CR). - The affect of the bonded Spren getting pulled into the PR would allow them to act and think more easily in the PR. But the cross-over is a likely cause of the 'dumb-period' we've witnessed in Spren. - In the Case of the Surge-binder. Getting pulled into the CR would allow them to see certain Spren who exist mostly outside the PR, as they are more closely 'aligned' with them. I theorize that it is also what enables Surge-binding abilities, particularly in the cause of Soul-casting, which is reliant on access to the CR. Essentially the Nahel bond is a symbiotic one, acting as a conduit for both Spren and Surge-binder to effect realms they do not normally exist in. - I suspect individuals like rock naturally exist partially in the CR for some as yet unexplained reason. This would allow them to see Spren not normally visible. I call this Lipwig's Theory of Cross-over. Now. As for Elhokar, it would get quite tedious if he continues to act like this for the remainder of the series. However, I think his paranoia is going to stop when he finally finds out what's happening to him. And with Dalinar, and Kaladin around him to provide guidance and role-models, we'll see him grow into a much better man and king over the series. I would quite like to see Kaladin take him under his wing. @Aether I think by the time Jasnah and Shallan get to the Shattered plains, Kaladin will have already revealed his powers to Dalinar. We'll then get a scene where we have both Dalinar and Kaladin going "What! You two are Surgebinders!?" while Jasnah and Shallan simultaneously go "Wait. You two are as well!?" Sorry for the long post.

The bit about the realms was just me speculating. I remember something somewhere about it taking an effort on their part to appear to poeple who couldn't see them. but frankly i'm starting to think i imagined it.

I'm going to agree with you guys. Dalinar asking for Renarin's live to be saved is a better theory than my original one. Him losing memory of his wife in return has a nice duality to it like Asha'man pointed out. Was there any indication of when Dalinar sought out the Old Magic? I believe it was after his wife's death 10 years ago, but was it after Gavilar's assassination?

Yes I believe there was a hollowed out space in the beams, like a semi-circle, where their heads would go. Allowing them to rest the beams on their shoulders. As well as hand-holds, but I'm not sure what they would look like. I see on your drawing you've curved up the bottoms on the ends of the beams, presumably to make it easier to slide onto a plateau. It seems odd that the bridges would slope down on either end, surely this would make them harder to get onto a plateau?

Well if Lift can interact with Wyndle because she is partially in the Cognitive realm. Perhaps Rock can see Syl because he is also partially in the cognitive realm. I remember hearing somewhere, not sure if it was WoB or in book, that spren like Syl can reveal themselves to people but it takes a lot of effort on their part to do so. I assume this is because the spren have to 'push' themselves further into the physical realm in order for regular people to see them.

I remember Dalinar telling Adolin that he knew what both his Boon and his curse were. But I thought it was confirmed that Dalinar knew forgetting his wife was his curse, or at least believes it to be. I believe he mentions it during an inner monologue. I cant find the exact quote from the book but this is what is on the wiki. I suppose Dalinar knowing his boon would be a problem anyway. Since he would surely have to have no knowledge of having his guilt removed for it to be effective.

I agree that the second suggestion is the most likely. It's note worthy that Ivory seemed shocked that Shallan could see him when she opened the door. Probably because he had been around all along and she was unable to see him up until that point. Though Elhokar is an oblivious idiot regardless.

Looks good, for some reason I always imagined them having support on the sides to stop them flexing when over the chasm. Though it apparently says otherwise in the book. I assume that it would slope down at the ends to give less of a step for crossing troops and cavalry. Nothing missing immediately comes to mind, good work. -Postmaster Lipwig

As stated in the title this isn't so much a theory as it is random speculation. It pertains to Dalinar's to what boon and curse Dalinar may have received from the Nightwatcher when he sought out the old magic. We know from tWoK that Dalinar believes his inability to remember anything about his wife, is the curse he received when asking for his boon. However, we have no idea what this boon may be. My wild speculation is thus: Dalinar may have been responsible for his wife's death 10 years ago, or at least believed himself to be. In an effort to remove his guilt, he sought out the Nightwatcher and the Old Magic. Dalinar received his boon, removing his guilt, but his curse was to also forget everything he knew of her. Dalinar's boon and curse may in fact be one in the same. While this does seem unlikely. I think this would be a very interesting twist when we see Dalinar's flashback chapters in a book 5. Thoughts anyone? -Postmaster Lipwig

you raise a good point Flowers, the way in which the Radiants abandoned their shards does seem quite peculiar. The fact that they walked up to a fort full of soldiers, dropped their shards, and walked off without a word. They seemingly made no statement of why they were disbanding. I wonder why they would choose to leave the shards up for grabs? instead hiding them somewhere. It seems like they were making a statement. "You don't appreciate what we do? Here you go, you try doing it." or "Here you go, you do better"

We know we're not getting one in Arc 1 (books 1-5) but that doesn't mean we wont get one in Arc 2. Frankly I'd love to see one, it would be great to get a book dedicated to his schemes and what got him started. At this point the Stormwardens essentially seem to be the Roshar equivalent of the Illuminati.

They are also essentially the Bankers of Roshar. It was said that people give them their spheres to have them infused with stormlight in their secret protected coves, and the stormwardens keep a portion in return. Which means they are also likely to be quite rich, perfect source of funding for an evil organisation. I wonder if they were founded by Taravangian?

Great catch Binnut, upvote for you. I remember thinking the wording here was odd when reading the book, but I didn't think much of it. This leads a lot of weight to the Recreance being the betrayal. Was this just the Radiants giving up their Nahel bonds? with some of the spren dying and others becoming like Syl perhaps? Interesting.

This is why I'm sceptical of the theory that stone blinds the shards. We know from the book that almost the entirety of Roshar, with the exception of Shinovar, is stone. And because of soulcasting it's used everywhere as well. I suppose you could claim that that's the purpose of the Highstorms; sweep away all the soil in an attempt to blind Odium. But that's a fairly shaky theory. XX--minor Mistborn spoiler--XX Im more on-board with the gem theory, on Scandrial it was metal that blinded Ruin. I believe it was mentioned that this was because the metal represented power for Ruin, so it was like looking at a bright-light or the Sun from his point of view. The exact quote escapes me though. Surely on this logic gemstones would be the equivalent on Roshar, but only infused gemstones perhaps?

Hi All. While reading the forums here an idea came to me. If this has been discussed before then my apologies. Anyway. What if the Parshendi forms that were mentioned in the Eshonai interlude, are actually related to Voidbinding? And what if the Voidbringers are actually type of Spren related/in-service to odium? Here's some of my thinking behind this: - We know from WoB that the Parshendi need to stay out in a Highstorm in order to change forms, and the Parshendi article on the Coppermind wiki says that this involves bonding with Spren. ( http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3238-brandon-signing-110612/ ) - From what Szeth says in the prelude of tWoK, we can assume that the Voidbringers are able to use Stormlight. - In tWoK Jasnah says she believes that the Parshendi are the Voidbringers based on the research she has done. -However, In the Eshonai interlude there is this quote in reference to Gavilar's assassination "she and the others had ordered the murder of their king in a desperate gambit to stop the Parshendi gods from returning. Well, that hadn’t worked out." So here's my theory. The Voidbringers are in fact Spren allied/in-service to Odium. Voidbinding is gained by bonding with these Spren, similar to Surgebinding. This would explain how the Parshendi change forms, and why they need a Highstorm/Stormlight to do so. What Jasnah uncovered in her research may have been referencing a particular form the Parshendi are able to take. Stormform? Voidform? This could also explain why the Parshendi want to prevent the return of their gods, as an effort to prevent themselves becoming the Voidbringers and bringing about the next desolation. XXX---Mistborn Spoilers---XXX Sorry this post was so long/hard to follow. Thank you for reading. -Postmaster Lipwig Edit: Thanks for the catch hoser

I think it's safe to rule out that the message is Szeth related. I doubt Szeth or Taravangian would give any warning let alone 62 days, and it doesn't explain why the writer wrote it so sloppily. Almost all of Navani's journal excerpts we've seen refer to the Parshendi in some way. So given this context the most likely scenario is the message referring to something the Parshendi are about to do. Whether this is the start of the next desolation/everstorm, as Dalinar believes, I'm more sceptical of. The question of who wrote the message is an interesting one. It seems doubtful that it's a Parshendi, with the exception of Shen I don't see how they would get in to write it (unless the Parshendi have a Ninja form). And why would they want to?So currently the Spren theory seems most likely, but would a Spren be able to lift the rock and write on the wall with it? Syl struggled with the blackbane leaf. That suggests someone under the influence of a Spren as being the most likely theory currently. Since they would probably be the ones with the knowledge to write the message, and are likely to have poor handwriting. Conclusion: The message references an action the Parshendi are about to undertake, whether this is the next desolation or not remains to be seen but it probably involves Stormform. The message probably wasn't written by the Parshendi but a Spren without the help of a human also seems unlikely. So Dalinar or someone else under the influence of one?

@eveorjoy : I agree with you about the Cryptics. Not sure why we collectively assumed that they were the absolute rulers of Shadesmar. In the chapter it says "the are the rulers of ONE of the greater cities" seems to imply the spren have their own factions/nations the same as the physical realm. I wonder if the Honorspren are also the rulers of a city in Shadesmar. Also, I agree that something changed with Sadeas between the end of tWoK and WoR, which is most likely related to the shardblade. In tWoK he seemed to be someone who believed he was working for the greater good, even if he actually wasnt. Whereas now he's just someone who wants to rule the world and get his warm fuzzy battle feelings.