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I assume you have read Warbreaker since it's explained how Nightblood works there and in the warbreaker annotations if you haven't then all past this point will be spoilers. From the other WoB about Vasher I think we can make the assumption that Stormlight works similar to breath in many ways. In Warbreaker when Vasher draws nightblood it's noted that Denth hopes that he'll just kill himself by overusing nightblood since once it's drawn it will consume breath until it's wielder is dead or it gets discarded/sheathed. Since Stormlight is approximiated breath in this case that would mean in order for someone to use Nightblood they would have to have excess stormlight running through them or Nightblood would just consume the individuals life force(I can't remember what Brandon calls this). Something cool to note is that Nightblood itself doesn't actually have a way of telling what is good or evil. Instead there is a built in test for the wielder of the blade. If the person is "pure" or doesn't wish to destroy with nightblood(Think that's how pure is defined, not sure) then they will feel sick when picking up nightblood. This effect goes away when/if he feeds on said persons breath(Maybe Stormlight too). It's possible that Nalan is unable to use Nightblood because of this built in safety where as someone like Szeth may be able to. As for if someone can survive without a soul I don't think so but it's a little tricky. Shardblades are meant to cut the should but we see Kaladin healing his limbs when Szeth cuts him. This has two possible implications. One is that Honorblades/Shardblades don't actually do what we think they do, the other is that stormlight is able to repair that cut to the soul. Another interesting observation is that Szeth is revived after being killed by a Shardblade. From this I think we can say that one cannot survive once cut but it's possible to reattach the soul if done before the physical body dies(How this isn't the case when he falls from the sky I don't know). edit: I really wonder if breath can be equated to stormlight. The way breath works is that it almost molds itself to best fit the way the user envisions it to work. That's why the mental image is more important than the commands used when awakening. Stormlight seems to be far stricter in use. The question I have is if this is because of the nature of stormlight or has it been limited due to the nature of the spren bond. Could stormlight without restrictions be used exactly like breath? In fact how exactly does one without a Spren bond draw in stormlight? Can Vasher draw stormlight without a spren because of his worlds adjustment of humanity(Not sure how to word this). Compared to the people of Roshar who require an external conduit to access investiture ie: the spren.

It's an interesting theory and I think maybe on the right track but requires a little tweaking. If it's based on perception I see it being based on the people's perception and not just one persons. Much like the spren are "living ideas", I don't think one person alone could birth a new spren but a whole nation of people most likely can.

I'm not so sure about it. The way I view the listerners is as an almost incomplete form of humanity. They require spren for more advanced thinking where as the spren require humans for that very thing. It's almost as if Listerners are what humans could have been if they were derived from the Cognitive realm(Listerners seem to lean more on that side I think) where as Humanity in the books is derived more from the physical. I don't know how big into evolution Brandon is but I can imagine this being an interesting path. Two sentient races coming from completely different origins at the same time.

It seems like Listerners may be native to Roshar which could suggest that while Yolen is the first planet to have humans it might not be the first to have life.

Isn't the broken soul a lot like the snapping in Allomancy? If there are parallels between the two then it could mean that you don't just have to have negative experience but can also have positive ones. I believe the scene where she draws Burth and herself in various situations is important. Shallan and Lightweaving is about changing the lie into the truth. It's about making reality into what you want it to be instead of what it currently is. It's possible that Shallan as a kid displayed this desire strongly enough to attract a spren without any huge emotional trauma. She has always wanted to change her reality but then started to regress by lying to herself. Syl tells Kaladin how the way he fights is about them and it's always been the case. Kal as a person has always wanted to protect people. There's never a stage in his life when he doesn't want to protect them. He gave up everything to try save Tien and has dealt with the "can you kill and protect" since he was a child. Tien's death seems to have merely strengthen the bond enough it to start actively happening. I think it's possible that Kal might have bonded even without Tien's death, his desire to protect was there regardless it just pushed him further along.

I think it's just a problem with their society. Remember they are basically told from birth that their whole life is about fighting and to best serve their God they must become the best fighters so they can fight when they die. It's a society that revolves around conflict and never backing down. I can imagine people in that society being really terrible at admitting mistakes to another. Not only is everyone your enemy but it's also a sign of weakness.

This was before Kelsier took up preservation correct? Think before Leras died Kelsier couldn't interact with the people so I don't think it's him. If it is in fact him then it begs the question if Vin can interact with the people since she is/was a silver?

I think 17th Shard just view him as an anomaly. He doesn't seem to follow any pattern from an outside perspective. Merely appears at random events of various importance and makes bad jokes constantly. Having that kind of unknown variable in your system is extremely dangerous. He not only doesn't follow your rules but he doesn't even make sense most of the time.

Is it possible that Hoid is actually being manipulated by whatever power he uses to know where to be? In Warbreaker he pushes Siri into further distrusting the priests. In Mistborn he helps them overthrow the Empire. In Stormlight he helps the Surgebinders we know further their bonds. Each case seems to fall in line with what the shard of the planet wanted aside from stormlight. He also doesn't always know why he has to be at a certain location so that makes me think he merely acts in a way that he thinks his good regardless of where he is since he doesn't know the importance of his actions. Makes me wonder who is truly doing the manipulating here. Ruin thought he was getting what he wanted by being freed but it turned out that was actually Preservation plan all along. The same thing with Siri where Bluefingers thought he was winning but by making Siri distrust the priests he helped tighten the bond between Suseborn and Siri which I would assume actually helped them in the long run. EDIT: I always thought part of the reason Vin didn't go to Hoid was due to lightweaving. It's mentioned how similiar Yolen lightweaver is to Stormlight. From Shallan we see that lightweaving forms a layer on the skin so I imagine if you are as perceptive as Vin you might find subtle discrepancies with how the illusion interacts with the world. It's most likely something less mundane though

I'm also really interested in the Aimia. Here's a WoB that is of interest: I wonder if they are also the original race on Roshar or came from somewhere else. Hope they weren't bad guys since well the listerners already seem to fill the function.

I can Imagine Sazed attempting to unify all the shards. After all they aren't meant to be separately and as individual pieces they have no balance.

The problem with that is Eshonai tried to stop the process mid way and the council of 5 even mentions if there is an issue than Eshonai can stop it but she was overpowered by the spren. Maybe she just realized too late and you can stop it.

If Syl had seen Eshonai I assume that she would have convinced Kaladin to show Dalinar what he could do which would have lead to a completely different book.

Not much to add myself. Just Jasnah does mention a few times how Soulcasting now is much more dangerous than it used to be. Maybe it's somehow connected?

Oh yea think he was the one that told Kelsier about the metal to defeat TLR. Hoid was one of the informants that Vin is meant to meet in HoA but when she sees him humming some tune she gets a gut feeling that something is wrong and leaves. edit: Here's the WoB

The problem with the Edgedancer theory is that Adolin only seems to remember his mother locket as a ritual instead of a core part of him. Compare that to Lift who says she cares because someone has to(Paraphrasing). The mentalities are completely different. Lift doesn't do it because she'll get something out of it, she does it because it's a part of who she is. The same way Kaladin protects people because that's just who he is. He isn't protecting people because he thinks he'll be happier. in fact his nature often makes him more depressed. Think the Releaser theory is more likely. Mistborn spoilers below regarding lift being a thief and not a warrior

Pfft Vin never met Hoid. She's far too clever to get mixed up in his bad jokes.

I assumed the damage was already done when she crossed over without permission and now it's merely a time/bond related thing. Don't think the stormfather accepting his ideal would matter but maybe it will. We really don't know enough to say

It would seem like she would eventually get her memories back since Lift's spren(Wyndle?) seems to have knowledge of edgedancers. She just doesn't remember because she defied the stormfather to come so didn't have the usual protection(Assuming it's usual) for a spren to cross over while retaining memories.

The stormfather was the one sending the visions though. That could be part of the "bonding" process.

Syl wouldn't know if there were any Skybreakers around unless Kaladin has encountered them.

Thing is aren't we placing the ideal of the Skybreakers above the first ideal? These people aren't protecting the weak nor are they going by the journey before the destination. Surely one has to follow the first ideal before any others to be able to form a bond. In fact doesn't the first Skybreaker ideal actually conflict with the 1st radiant ideal?

Well Vivenna kind of became Siri and Siri Vivenna. So never know what Vivenna landed up being like.

I think the whole "I'll watch your world burn" is more a way of Hoid getting through to Dalinar that he mustn't rely on Hoid. Hoid seems like a nice guy that wants to help but doesn't always know how or isn't always able to so instead of letting Dalinar down he pushes him away with that line.

I think those are more likely emotion spren since Axies didn't see. I assume him being in prison a lot doesn't actually find it as oppressive and Kal did which may be why he hasn't seen them. If they were sensation spren I'd imagine everyone should see them?