Timewaster's Guide Archive

Elithanathile for the Almighty is absolutely fine, as the reason names aren't quite symmetrical on Roshar is because it would be heretical to Vorinism, and tantamount to claiming divinity. But it's probably not the name of the shardholder anymore than Ruin was Ati's real name- it's probably just a fourth name that the "Almighty" picked up in addition to his real name and shard name.

No, Dalinar's final vision is quite explicit that A) the speaker is The Almighty, and B) the speaker is not Cultivation.  There is the possibility that Dalinar's vision is false or altered like the prophecies in Mistborn, but I don't think that's the case.

I'm not implying the Almighty is Cultivation, I'm implying that "novelty" as you describe the shard is probably a role that's being fulfilled by Cultivation, given that the improvement of existing stock is pretty much the definition of that word.

@Sir Reads A Lot: Yeah, that's a really good catch.

Personally I'm wondering where Szeth's honorspren is.  Syl really doesn't like leaving Kal, so why is Szeth missing his companion?

I think we may find that Spren, while necessary for being a Radiant, are not necessary to access the magic systems. But that's pure speculation based on one of Jasnah's comments near the end of the book.

So, back on topic...

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It's still pretty tenuous, but I suppose it's the best we've got.  It just seems so hard to know where the Shard's referenced were, given that both Hoid and the recipient already know the background information.

Definitely. And complicating matters is the fact that--if Odium went to Sel prior to the events of Elantris--we don't really know what "Splintered" means, which makes it even harder to discern what Shard does what on that world.

I thought Brandon referred to the Returned in Warbreaker as Splinters in one of his interviews?

Quote from: RicksterBLM on September 09, 2010, 09:31:32 PM

as for the Spren,  if you look at the back of the book there's a table describing the 10 virtues, they're associated spren, and the kind of power that comes with it.  There's probably a very good reason Vorinism pushes people to choose a virtue and excel at it since it was more likely to attract a spren and therefore towards becoming a Radiant.

I'm going to guess that when the Radiants betrayed everyone, the Spren stopped bonding with people (or the Spren gave up on the Radiants causing them to lash out and betray everyone?).  Either way, net result, no more radiants.  Spren seem to become more aware the longer they become attached to a person (as seen by Syl) and then go back to being mindless after that.

This actually seems to be the best thing anyone's said yet.



In regards to planet hopping -- How come nobody is freaking out (like I did) when I read Shallan went to Cosmere?

Don't you think that'll be how people start planet hopping? I think it definitely has to relate in some way.

I really like the Spren Abandonment idea, that's great.

As for Shadesmar, (not the Cosmere o_O) Brandon has talked about Hoid knowing some tricks to do with it that allow him to access to all sorts of places, like for instance perhaps the Well of Ascension, but I don't think there's any hints in any of the books as to exactly how he travels between planets.

Now, what do we know of Shallan that would make attract these spren to her? She has a shardblade, is (or rather, was) living a lie, and she murdered her father. Unfortunately, this doesn't tell us much except perhaps the murder. Maybe these spren are attracted to killing? Unlikely, as there would be many Alethi soldiers with spren hovering around. Perhaps these spren are attracted to something else? Deep, emotional scarring? Unfortunately, we don't really know enough. I can't make heads or tails of it, really. What do you guys think?

Well, we don't know what attracts these spren, but perhaps we can find out what these spren are. There are three options that stand out, Truthspren (note how they asked for one truth to enter Shadesmar), Soulspren (they allow you to soulcast, they have something to do with death.) or Shadespren (they give you access to Shadesmar, and they aren't really visible in the physical realm, they are only visible through the cognitive realm).

Can you guys make some sense of this? I've about run out of ideas here.

I think Kaladin actually makes it incredibly clear how Spren are attracted: You exemplify the virtue the Spren represent. Honorspren bind things, and Kaladin bound together groups of soldiers and slaves, protecting them and treating them better than they expected. I imagine Shallan's spren are something to do with intellect, or perhaps honesty, given that they require personal truths to admit her to Shadesmar, and that she started being more honest to herself at the end of her plotline when she first discovered her powers.


Oh, and on shardblades glowing- do you think perhaps that they can be imbued with Stormlight when a Radiant uses a Shardblade?

See I'm not so sure about Rayse = Odium

Simply because both Rayse and Odium seem like mortal names.
I have wanted to ask Brandon (and will hopefully do soon) if all the Shards have similar power names.
Think about the ones we know:
Preservation, Ruin, Endowment, Cultivation... I think they may all follow a similar pattern.

I've made an incomplete table for this exact thing, trying to organize it all.

http://imgur.com/UUCj5.png

What do you think?

Where do we know that Rayse was on Sel from? As far as I remember that name is completely new.

So going through what Zmann sent me, I have some immediate observations:

1) It seems likely that Rayse is Odium from the narrator's description of him.
2) There is mention of Bavadin, too, who may be in some sort of co-operation with Odium as he is included in the narrator's grudge. So there might be as many as two shards (including one of the "most frightening and terrible of all the Shards") working for the "bad guys" on Roshar. Eep.
3) The almighty is probably not Aona, who would seem a natural fit for holding the shard powering Elantris, but he could potentially be Skai.
4) The narrator seems to be talking TO Hoid, who could be properly addressed as "Roamer", unless we suddenly switched viewpoints. That Hoid is meddling on Roshar so obviously seems to indicate he took the missive seriously and is actually helping.

I should really go through and collect the epigraphs together sometime, because I suspect it's much easier to understand them without the chapters between them.