ROSHtafARian

So it looks like the three in the interlude aren't the only visitors to Roshar in Way of Kings! On twitter, Brandon had a conversation I already saw others had referenced here, about how allomancy would have trouble affect Shardplates, because of Investiture....but the real important thing was afterwards, people responded with surprise that Mistborn and Way of Kings was connected and Brandon said this: ...umm, WHAT? Multiple people from Mistborn? And my mind is blown. Discuss.

That actually brings up a very good question...we've seen the pools or the Shards cognitive aspects in Mistborn and Elantris, and seen their spiritual aspect in the mist forms in Mistborn, and the physical bodies of the Shards in Lerasium and Atium, and most likely in the Tears of Edgli....so what in Elantris could be the physical bodies of Aona and Skai? I'm wondering if the lands are the physical bodies of Aona and Skai. The Seons are too intelligent to be just the physical form of the Shards, and language, the power medium of Elantrian magic doesn't make sense as a physical body, but AonDor only works by essentially making a map of the Alethi lands...a map of Aona's body perhaps? Remember, Jaddeth is said to be a god sleeping in the earth...maybe the bone shapes of the Dakhor monks make a similar map of the Fjordell lands, or Skai's body?

I think its very likely that they're there because of events that happen in Elantris 2. Remember, Brandon's said he plans to write Elantris 2 after the third Stormlight book, and it'll probably come out around 2015. There are ten Stormlight books, and I can't imagine the biggest revelations about the Shards, Odium and Hoid will come out until near the end of the series, so by that point Elantris 2 will have been out for quite awhile, and maybe even Elantris 3 by that point.

It'd be more than coincidental. Aona is very obviously meant to be related to Aons, and Brandon has referred to the Skaze (which very obviously links to Skai) as evil Seons. We're talking about an author who created an entire language for Way of Kings that could literally be deciphered and translated into English, as seen with Navani's sketchbook. Someone who puts that kind of care and effort into the smallest details of his created worlds, including their languages and naming conventions, does not give two Shards names that are only letters away from highly important aspects of their worlds' theology and magic systems by coincidence, only design. The only way Aona is not linked to Aons and Skai to Skaze is if the similarity in names was put there as a red herring, which although possible, is very much not Brandon's style...especially when you consider that if he did not want us to link the Shards' names to Aons and Skaze, he could have simply...not given us their names, or referred to them by their Aspect like Ruin or Preservation...or simply not said which world they were on, that Odium visited. Yes, we take a lot on assumption when speculating about things that haven't been spelled out in the books yet like this, but we have to take SOME things on assumption, or else what's the point of speculating at all? If we HAD all the facts we would already know the answers, and if we just resigned ourselves to waiting for all the facts, well, again...why bother speculating then? As for Aona, I was rereading Elantris today (gee, wonder why, lol) and at the point where Raoden repairs the Aon for the city, he describes the power that bursts forth, the energy of the Dor, as undiluted purity, which makes me think that could also be a fitting name for Aona's shard...Purity, the unstained natural state of the land, souls, etc.

Anyone think that Edgli could be Endowment's name? If atium was named for Ati and Lerasium for Leras, and we think the Tears of Edgli are the physical embodiment of Endowment's power then well...could Endowment be Edgli?

Actually it is confirmed that Returned are Splinters of Endowment. I don't have the link, but Brandon's said so specifically in an interview. Seons being Splinters of Aona are a popular theory, but that's not confirmed, but the Returned is. But again, Lightsong is given a choice to Return by a voice in Warbreaker which would seem to indicate that Endowment's not dead, or at least its consciousness is still active. As for Odium having a polar opposite, right, Brandon's said not all Shards have an opposite and I don't believe shards like Cultivation and Endowment have opposites. But the more extreme shards on either end of the spectrum, with natures aligned towards the positive or the negative, I believe these are the shards likely to have opposites, because as I said, this is the only way they could all be pieces of a BALANCED entity or force. If there isn't a shard with an equal and opposite nature to Odium, then Adonalsium would have been an entity or force more weighted or inclined towards hatred, without a counterweight for Odium's aspect. Now, this is possible, but I find it unlikely. Shards like Ruin have Preservation to counter them, shards like Odium have a benevolent opposite to counter it, whereas Shards in the middle of the spectrum like Endowment or Cultivation can go either way, and thus require no balancing or opposite number. As for the Shin and Cultivation, I never said I think the Shin worship Cultivation. Not all Shards are associated with religions. I said I think the Shin are Cultivation's people, her domain, as it were. Their land is the most earth like, with no adaptations for the highstorms that plague the rest of Roshar, and its protected from the storms...grass, crops, other things are free to grow there naturally and be cultivated....similarly the Shin seem a generally peaceful and benevolent race, one of nurturers compared to the warlike people that dominate the rest of Roshar. I find it most likely that the Shin and their lands are most touched by Cultivation's influence...but that doesn't mean they worship her.

I don't think Honor fits for the Almighty, as it only focuses on one of the ten Orders of Knights Radiant, most specifically Kaladin's Order. Yeah, it was a major theme of the book, but it was Kaladin's book, so it makes sense that his trait would be the defining one thematically. I don't think we can safely say that the whole series and the Almighty are similarly defined by that. Especially as learning, honesty, justice, and the traits of all the other Orders are opposite of Odium's nature as well. I think the Almighty would have to be something that encompasses or embodies all the traits of the ten Orders, like Philium, which is essentially Love and creation, and the exact opposite of Odium and desolation. The individual traits of the orders could be splinters of the almighty's shard, one specific aspect of philium or charity or whatever his shard is, maybe carved off by the Almighty himself and granted to humanity, much like I imagine Endowment does on Nalthis (as Returned are supposed to be Splinters and I don't think there's any reason to believe Endowment is dead). However, I'm convinced Odium does have a polar opposite to counterweight his shard's nature, like Ruin and Preservation balanced each other...its the only way Adonalsium could have been a balanced entity instead of leaning more towards having a darker nature or a lighter nature. That said, I'm not entirely convinced the Almighty has to be that opposite shard. He's referred to as He Who Transforms, and I think Transformation certainly seems a good fit for him, or Change, or whatever...just because he and Odium are both on Roshar doesn't mean the dynamic between them is the same as the shards on Scadrial. Cultivation is there too after all. Come to think of it, its said that humanity was cast out of the Tranquiline Halls by Odium and the Voidbringers....but nowhere does it say (to my memory) that the Almighty came with them from the Tranquiline Halls. There could be another world out there, the Tranquiline Halls, and that's where Odium's opposite shard is, and Odium corrupted or somehow resulted in humanity being exiled from that perfect world, and coming to Roshar...where Transormation and Cultivation could have already been. I think the Shin are Cultivation's people, and the fact that they and their land is so different from the rest of Roshar makes me think they were the original natives of Roshar, and were there before the conflict between Odium and the Almighty or whoever else brought other humans and Voidbringers to Roshar.

I think Aona is Harmony. It fits with the benevolent nature of Seons, the bond between the land and the Elantrians' power, and the fact that shattering the land and breaking the connection between the land and AonDor, creating disharmony, is what caused the Reod. Also, when Elantrians go to the pool and the voice tells them to relax and let go, I believe they don't actually die, but their physical form and individualism is what dissolves, and they become one with the land, their energy added to the Dor. Similarly, I think Skai is Discord, or the disruption or perversion of Harmony. Plus Harmony and Discord I think seem more in tune with the other Shard names we know...Cultivation, Endowment, Ruin, Preservation, Harmony....it seems to fit in well, IMO.