Timewaster's Guide Archive

My personal theory is that Shalash is the Herald associated with one of the Soulcasting orders of the Radiants.  More specifically, the Soulcasting order that used the same form as Shallan.  We know that there's something magical about Shallan's drawings, and the way she transfers a Memory, which seems to have some paranormal significance the way she thinks about it, into her art.  There's some kind of magic or power in these Memories and they go into her artwork, and I think it has to be tied to her form of Soulcasting.  Maybe its storing power in the artwork or maybe its fueling certain mystical properties in the artwork...either way, I think the same thing happened with pictures or representations of Shalash or her various incarnations, like this Epani, Lady of Dreams.  (Seems like it could be a fitting title for a Herald who Soulcasts and has possible ties to a magical art form as well).  I think that all these statues or paintings of her were Memories of her that were put into art work by whatever you would call these Soulcasting artisans...and maybe this took some power away from her, or imprisoned some of her power amongst the representations of her, or maybe she had it done to store some of her power, like a safe for Stormlight or whatever fuels her particular power or brand of magic...a way to preserve it over the millennia.  And either way, now that the final Desolation is on its way, she needs this power back, and so is systematically destroying representations of herself and recovering the Memories or pieces of herself or her power that are contained within the artwork.

Well I believe Brandon has specifically said in interviews that not all planets have or ever had two shards. 

Saw seeds of this idea on another forum, and thinking about it and carrying it one step further....could the Voidbringers really just be one species, and Parshmen, Parshendi, Chasmfiends and Thunderclasts all just different stages of their lifecycle?  Their first stage is mostly similar to humanity in form and perhaps thoughts, in their most human stage they might even be the most peaceful, not that aggressive.  And then when their first stage is over, or they die...they don't actually die, and that's why they're so reverent of their dead...because they're not dead, merely in a kind of comatose or cocoon or pupating stage before they take a more warlike, destructive form and grow armor and become more hostile to humanity, more aggressive.  Then they finish their second life stage, and again they're not dead, just hibernating or in a cocoon like stage...and then they become chasmfiends, more monstrous, more hostile, more aggressive...and then they die, and unless their gemheart is harvested first, a real death they can't recover from, they mutate or evolve even further, perhaps cocooned in the actual rock before they realize their final and most fearsome stage of their lifecycle...as monstrous, red-eyed thunderclasts, beings of hate and destruction and a fully realized, 'Adult' Voidbringer at the prime of their power?

And the custom and significance given to harvesting gemhearts is humanity's way of interrupting a Voidbringer's full gestation cycle and protecting them from Thunderclasts, the true power of Odium's armies in a Desolation...and also why its so important to the Parshendi that the gemhearts be protected from humanity.

Okay I think the spoiler warning should be self-explanatory, but yeah.  Leave now if you haven't read both books.

Anyways, we know from the epigraphs that Rayse (who I think most of us are assuming to be Odium) killed Aona and Skai, the Shardholders on Elantris, and then proceeded to Splinter their power so they couldn't be taken up by someone else and used to oppose him.  Now we also know, from Dalinar's visions, that Odium killed the Almighty, who seems to be his prime opponent on Roshar.  Given that Odium doesn't seem content to just kill Shards he views as a threat, but Splinter them so a successor can't inherit them and use them against him either, I think its a definite possibility that Odium Splintered the Almighty's Shard after killing him.  After all, even though its only the first book, there's nothing to indicate yet that the Stormlight Archives will involve any single character seeking or holding the Almighty's Shard to oppose Odium...but we have heard an awful lot about 'Uniting them.'  Now, we don't know WHEN in the timeline Odium killed the Almighty but we do know that while the Almighty wasn't as good at seeing the future as others like Cultivation, he did have some ability to see the future...the closer the events were to him, the clearer he could see them.  So point is...we don't know that he was actually even still around at the time of the events Dalinar saw in his visions.  The betrayal of the Radiants, etc.  Just that he'd seen them, either as a personal witness, or in visions.

So basically, what I’m proposing is…what if Odium killed the Almighty BEFORE the founding of the Ten Orders and the Knights Radiant?  What if, similar to how he treated his possible rivals on Sel, he not only killed the Almighty, but Splintered his Shard to keep anyone else from raising it up against him?  Could the Ten Heralds and the Ten Orders hold or tap into the Ten Splinters of his power?  Think about it, Odium means hatred and disgust, essentially the worst emotions sentient beings are capable of.  Not all the Shards are supposedly paired as polar opposites, but some like Ruin and Preservation are, and unless Adonalsium was a less than great guy or force himself, and leaned towards the negative (something I find hard to believe considering Hoid, a seemingly good guy, seems to have some desire to see Adonalsium reconstituted) - then that means Odium has to have an opposite number to balance the scales, and represent all the good and best emotions and traits sentient beings are capable of.  Now I realize this is a lot of conjecture, but this is all speculation anyways, but if Odium does have an opposite number representing the best of sentient beings, the Almighty is are best bet for being that Shard, given his power, opposition to Odium, and the fact that both of them seemed to make Roshar their home.

And what are the Ten Orders of the Knights Radiant?  Well we don’t know all of them, but we do know they’re dedicated to the protection of humanity and represent positive ideals.  At least one of them, the Windrunners, is dedicated to the pursuit of Honor.  Another of them, the Soulcasters, seems to have some relation to Truth given the emphasis Truth is given in the book from Szeth the Truthless to the unknown (Truthspren?) requiring a Truth from Shallan…perhaps Soulcasting requires a personal Truth be exchanged each time one changes the True nature of another object?  If Honor and Truth or Honesty are two of the Ten Orders….might the Ten Orders each hold or be powered by one of the most positive traits beings are capable of?  And thus make up Ten Splinters of a Shard that embodies all the best traits in creation?  The Dawnshards the Almighty speaks of could be the actual Splinters, or the Splinters could be the Dawnblades of the Ten Heralds, as we know they’re different from actual Shardblades.  Regardless, if any of my theory is true, its most likely that the Ten Heralds or that which powers them is the individual Splinters which they then in turn pass down to the individual Order of Radiants that they correspond to. 

Unite them then….unite the high princes perhaps, or unite humanity, or unite humanity and the parshendi…or unite the Ten Orders, the Ten Splinters and recreate the power of the Almighty’s Shard as close as possible?