Stark

I think it is more accurate to say that Sureblood had Nahel-bond like interaction with a spren, similar to that of the Chasmfiends, or whatever lets the skyeels fly. Being close to, or friends with, a bonded individual or being doesn't mean you are predisposed towards the bond, just that you have good choice in friends. Probably. Just like being a member of Bridge Four does not predispose you to being a Windrunner via proximity and friendship with Kaladin. It may be more accurate to view it as Adolin was predisposed to become Sureblood's squire, due to proximity and the nature of their interactions, more than anything else.

Oh, other people came to that conclusion first? There goes that sensation of being smart. People are fast here. Still, wondering about Reya's tear though, and if there is an analog on the other worlds...

@KidWayne Definitely on board. I've heard a theory that the densities on Sel has to do with both Dominion and Devotion being compressed into the cognitive realm may have something to do with it. Also, the magic is location locked, and if Elantris is any example, the magics are centered on cities, which is where population is at its most dense. There are a couple of indirect ways to view it. Just like Taldain = Expanse of the Broken Sky makes sense from the point of view that the sky does not change. It is like a broken watch, it does not move, due to being tidally locked.

I came to that conclusion by switching between the images on two pages of my web browser and tilting my head a lot.... Thanks for making it far more visual! Though you may want to edit to say blank corner towards Nalthis. And I believe the blank corner has been confirmed to be the Expanse of Vibrance, which fits with the colours of Nalthis...

Based on that, maybe Reya's Tear is the large yellow star running along the side of the sword, but not included in the Rosharan Constellation? It is almost directly between Roshar and the Scar, but notably not part of the constellation (if that even matters)

@Pagerunner Thanks for the fast answer. But I'm not sure it will be another Shardworld. Unless it is one we either have not seen yet, or is where an unnamed Shard lives (or lived). All we know about Reya is that she(?) is important and not Cultivation. It seems to me like a star, or planet, named for her(?) would be noticeable on the star chart. That said, the "brightest" points I see on the map are Roshar, Taldain and First of the Sun (Shardless), where as the darkest points seem to be Threnody and the Scar... Taldain is a neat pick, as you have the two stars orbiting each other. Also, I like your coincidence of the major worlds being close to each other (other than Threnody and first). I wonder if their spatial relationship and orientation matches up with the various expanses on the shadesmar map? Going clockwise around Roshar we have Scadrial, Nalthis, Sel and then Taldain. In the Shadesmar Map, we have (the expanse of) Vapors, Vibrance, Densities and Broken sky. That kind of lines up, doesn't it? Scadrial-Vapors (mist). Nalthis-Vibrance (colour). Taldain-Broken Sky (Tidally locked). Sel-Densities (This one I'm lost with, maybe because the magic is location based you have dense magical locations that taper out, I know, I'm stretching) Anyhow, that is far afield my original desire to know where Reya's Tear is... I guess I'll ask Brandon about that if ever I get a chance to get my copy of AU signed. Where, if anywhere, on the star map is Reya's tear?

Out of curiosity, does anyone know where on the Cosmere map from AU Reya's Tear is located? It seems like it should be a relatively significant feature as it is the only other space element mentioned (that I can think of) that isn't a moon or the scar.

I would say yes. Syl was able to carry that poison leaf, albeit with extreme difficulty, when trying to cheer Kaladin up out of his depression. She also was able to make him stick to things when she was in her regressed state and was acting as a windspren. On the same vein, I'm fairly certain that Kaladin remarked that windspren typically were pranksters, messing with people a bit, when he was noticing how persistent Syl was at the beginning of their bond. I believe we do have a small amount of evidence to indicate certain types of spren can manipulate the physical realm to a limited degree. I would theorize that as a nahel bond becomes stronger, the degree to which spren can manipulate the physical realm grows as they become more rooted in the physical realm, eventually allowing them to manifest phyiscally in the Physical realm (Shardweapons, shardplate, etc) Which has me thinking that the "dead" spren in shardblades are trapped in the physical realm - the bond was broken when they were too strongly in the physical, trapping them there, cut off from the cognitive realm where their minds are. Mistborn Reference/Spoiler

Didn't Shallan already do this with Pattern? I could swear I remember her having him open a lock with him humming contentedly about the pattern of the lock.

That's true, I had completely forgotten the unkeyed metalminds. While that is far more likely to me than Hoid using Hemalurgy, my understanding is that would require use of significantly advanced metals that may not have been accessible when he first gained these powers. That said, I do like the idea of him going around stealing peoples luck for himself with a special metalmind. I do agree that it is a genetic thing. But there has to be a way that the first Feruchemists gained there powers and had it written into their sDNA. Whatever that was, he may have done that. I find that slightly more likely than him getting a metalmind made from advanced metals from a Feruchemist at the early days of Scadrial... We will see I guess.

@jofwu, @HoidvsVoid There was a WoB somewhere (can't remember where I found it) stating that Hoid uses a feruchemical ability to figure out where he needs to be, if not why he needs to be there. If he was using this as early as Elantris and Mistborn: Final Empire, he was using it before Ruin was gone... So he if he had acquired Hemalurgic Feruchemy, he would have done so long before Ruin was eliminated... I'm 99.999% certain it is confirmed that he has access to Feruchemy. Here is the link to Theoryland: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=895#2

On the same vein, we also do not know how someone can become a Feruchemist who was not born to it. Hemalurgy is obvious, and there is no natural way to become a Hemalurgist. Allomancy, you can either be born to, spiked to or eat a Lerasium bead (I would be very surprised if Saze does not have some equivalent metal granting power). But Feruchemy, as far as we know, you can only be born into, or spiked. We do not know of a way for a non Feruchemist to gain access to that power other than Hemalurgy, and I really don't see Hoid indulging in Hemalurgy - it would have to have been done when Ruin was still around, and I don't really see him voluntarily opening himself up to Ruin's influence. So how did Hoid become a Ferring/Feruchemist?

Thanks @Blightsong, I've never been to theoryland. I'll google it and start exploring over there.

Thanks @Yata and @Argent for the responses. I kinda hope that ends up happening. I'm not able to make it to any of the signings, and there is so much new information coming in to sift through, I almost don't know where to start. It is so easy to miss some really crucial, theory destroying/confirming/creating information..

Do we know if anyone is going to compile the WoBs from the AU signings in one location?

Nice @Pagerunner Do you know when the transcript from the Seattle signing will be up? I have a friend who was there, and I hear there were a couple of really good WoBs dropped, but I'd love to read them. So, can we take that as confirmation that Nightblood is not causing the afterimages?

@HoidvsVoid Careful with your interpretation there. IF he is talking about the Lerasium bead in that quote (big if, yet to be confirmed), Hoid is big on misdirection. The telling part is : "I protect its safety like I protect my own skin, you might say." IF he is talking about the Lerasium bead, and IF he swallowed and burned it, it is incorporated into his sDNA now. So to protect it, he would need to protect his own skin. And seeing as he is nigh unkillable, his own skin is pretty damnation good protection... The phrasing is playful and misleading, I would be very careful about taking it at face value. There are a couple of valid ways you can interpret it apart from the obvious.

What I find interesting is that we theorize 9 unmade. We also theorize that of the 10 heralds, one has turned traitor, based on the diagram. So, 9 Heralds, 9 unmade, and one traitor that switches sides... That could explain why there are only 9 unmade, but what appear to be 10 orders of Voidbinders. And if (Kinds-sorta-maybe Edgedancer-y spoilers? Tags just to be careful) :

@Argent I guess my confusion comes from that. If they can't gain power without following the Oaths/Ideals, you can't have porto-radiants unless they are behaving. So unless he has gone completely nuts, killing them to keep from organizing makes no sense. By definition they have to follow. So if he is intentionally harming them, I don't think it has to do with his old Oath - they are still following that command, if unknowingly. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we see him try to use that justification, we will know it is false, and likely be able to conclude that Ishar has changed sides.

@Argent I thought the oath he took, and organization he enforced had to do with the five ideals?

Well, we know Hoid is collecting investitures, and it has been strongly hinted that he already has access to a fair number. So there is a high probability that, among his other goals (such as poking Rayse in the eye and foiling his plans) Hoid wants to attract a bondable Spren. We have seen that there are Spren that are involved with the larger creatures, possibly even bonded to them. But no one has gotten a chance to investigate them in vivo. Santhids are rare. Greatshells tend to either be eating you or dead (other than those giant ones that have communities built on them from the Rysn interlude. So seeing as Hoid is very difficult to kill, jumping into a greatshell may be a unique way to semi-invasively study the greatshell spren while still alive from the inside. It would not make sense for anyone else to take that approach, but Hoid is, well, Hoid. His motives don't always make sense to us. But I think he was studying the spren interaction there. @HoidvsVoid as far as I know, Brandon has been very tight lipped about whether or not Hoid swallowed the bead. But we did see him sprinkle a powder into his own drink before going to do business with Shallan's father in a flashback, and her mood did change after. So it is heavily implied that he can use emotional Allomancy. Which tends to indicate that he did swallow it, but I do not believe we have official confirmation yet.

Brandon is intentionally writing them so that each series is self contained. You do not need to read the series in any particular order to get the full benefit of each. Hints of the greater Cosmere are liberally sprinkled throughout, hidden for you to find. Chances are you'll want to read them all, then re-read at least once to find the hidden bits from other worlds. But you will not lose anything by reading the various series in different orders. One thing worth mentioning about the 16 Shards, they are each named for an intent that was part of Adonalsium, as @Samaldin mentioned, but it is more than a name. They are guided and must act according to that intent. You will have seen this in action in the first Mistborn trilogy, and to varying degrees elsewhere.

Closer to $200 for me. Canadian conversion rates plus shipping? I'm going to have to start selling organs I'm not using or something for these. But it will be worth it.

Also, it may not have been as easy to spy on Jasnah as the others just from a location standpoint. What we have seen of her is that Jasnah was spending most of her time in Libraries in various cities, and specifically the Pallaneum in Kharbranth and its Hospital. Both Hospitals and Libraries tend to have pretty solid pest control measures in place to protect their wards. It may not have been possible to infiltrate using cremlings or other small organisms to observe her. Add that to her apparent death and subsequent jaunt into Shadesmar (we have no idea how well the Sleepless are able to view the other realms, if at all) resulting in her not being on the Shattered plains where the world changing action was taking place... I think those all added together are what relegated her to minor player. The big four all ended up on the plains, however briefly, and all were there when everything changed. I think that more than anything is why she is not yet getting much attention from the sleepless.

I agree with your reasoning completely, just not the weight you give the various options. I rank point one at higher than 50%, like say 51%. Unfortunately, seeing as we have so little information about this, as the afterimages were more of a curiosity to Lift than a matter of import, we have no basis to develop any counter arguments. As far as I can tell, we have not seen any phenomenon like this outside the use of Malatium. And even then, Malatium showed far further back than a fraction of a second delay. I'm very curious to see how it will turn out. Thanks for outlining the options, as they stand, in such a clear and concise way.