Aminar

They are clearly part of her magic, but I really doubt they are an important part of the Illumination ability. More specifically they seem to be just a hint at what could actually be done. As in, she can most likely take and store a certain amount of memories and use them, in conjunction with Stormlight, as the basis for Illusions. (Also of note, both her memories and the lashings occur quite frequently with blinking/the closing of eyes involved. I never see much discussion about that. Could it be a brief connection to Shadesmar, like the longer ones with Soulcasting?)

That was a joke moogle...

The mists were sentient, something stormlight hasn't been shown to be so far. Moreover, brandon has said highstorms are like the mists, which makes a whole lot more sense. Stormlight is not the Highstorms. We've never seen mists put into metal, we've seen both metal and mists power allomancy, but the mists are a shard, so we know why it can power allomancy. The metals aren't a shard.(Atium/Lerasium aside.) Your explanation(that stormlight is shard gas) just doesn't seem to work... Or at least there is less reason to look at that way than as pure investiture. That's how it's been treated all through the first book. Your explanation of the gem cuts works for light and other wavelengths, but not for a gas. And I really hate the idea of Lift metabolizing food into gas as a power source...

It seems natural that Storm Wardens would have span-reeds. They have to communicate signs from a number of areas to predict a storm(assuming they work off of anything like meteorology. They should be a network unto themselves, and thus would have need and use for spanreeds.

Then why does the cut of a gem increase rather than decrease how much stormlight a gem can hold? And how would a gas be put into a gem? If anything stormlight is the purest form of investiture we've seen. It's straight up energy, and acts like it. The breath is just a function of how Surgebinder's are allowed to interact with that energy.Even the way Stormlight is breathed in doesn't actually act like a gas, as it can be summoned from across a room, out of sacks, etc. No regular breath could do that.(meaning the breathing in of stormlight isn't evidence towards its gaseousness.)

I'm not seeing any high profile deaths this book... Certainly none of the five PoV characters(Which means not Szeth or Dalinar) I could see Elhokar dying, but I doubt it. Sadeas is a possibility, but it would be disappointing. Taravangian is the strongest possibility, but I doubt it. I mean, there wasn't much for high profile deaths in book one either. It's too early in the series to be killing resources...

I've always felt like a vast majority of those are from the PoV of the Heralds. Many of them are clearly from the PoV of someone who is trapped in a torturous prison(I wonder who...) Besides which, many of them seem to be happening at the time the actual thought is hapening. 1000 days till desolation and whatnot. That and, with that being first person I doubt it will show back up again. It wouldn't fit with the writing of the rest of the book.

Anywhere else, this would have looked a whole lot more like a spam topic... That said, I think his intel is more being part of an organization. Szeth wasn't exactly being subtle when he was found. If even one agent was nearby and noticed a string of impossible murders they would probablu notify the rest of the organization.(This meaning I've pretty much been assuming Mr. T is one of the Ghostbloods.

By the technical definition Nightblood isn't alive.(1. reproduction 2. growth and/or differentiation through metabolism (which usually implies some form of respiration) 3. adaptation to the environment 4. the ability to distort entropy--that is, to increase or maintain the organization of the living system at the expense of the environment. ) He doesn't attempt to reproduce, nor have the capacity to do so. He metabolizes breath, intelligence allows for adaptation, and communication covers the last one. Beyond that, as far as the Spren thing goes, I think it's pretty simply that he is a cognitive being, a being of pure thought, like spren. It suggests a level of linkage between the three dimension. Enough spiritual investment can create cognition in inanimate objects. Spirit is created through the beliefs of physical entities, etc.

We don't have a real way of knowing, but given Stormlight's generic effects(healing, sustaining the holder without breathing, etc; I would guess everyone breathe's it in for the most part. Obviously Lift gets around that, but she's special, an outlier more than anything else.

So, we've been having that discussion about the Body of Honor right? And this discusses the gemstone being dead(much like the black sphere Szeth had could be considered) What if that gem, that Gavilar had was Honor's body and Gavilar was trying to become a shard... The new Honor?

Ordered the Slave hat. I was telling my girlfriend about it(via phone) while waiting in line at the bank. I think some people got the wrong impression.

If I had to guess that's actually more proof that Stormlight isn't a physical thing. In our world Cut gems display and move light around much better than uncut gems. It's part of their value. The facets allow the light to bounce around and move more freely. If we look at stormlight as pure energy that cannot pass through stone effectively unless manipulated magically, and the light seen is what leaks out that makes a form of sense.

Or it's just that the investment in the plate comes from the shardbearer through their own stormlight, allowing them to control it. A pass through effect if you will. That makes more sense than the armor and blade being the spen itself.

Memories of a Herald. Totally and completely.

I doubt that's all he could do, but there is something deliciously perfect about Honor forming his physical essence into the weapons meant to herald the beginning of the fight against the desolation. It's just the right kind of clicke if you understand what I mean. Beyond that, it's quite possible we haven't seen the physical manifestation of honor yet. As to them having to be metal, I think the pool in Elantris is enough to prove it doesn't have to be metallic.

Because it started as a physical being. I don't see why Shards would need to invest in a planet. Clearly they desire to, but I don't see why a Shard couldn't just be on a planet. They have to be able to not be invested in a planet but manifest physically at some point or they'd never be able to find planets to start creating life on.

I really hope this keeps up. I am enjoying having so much to discuss, and debate. It really helps with the wait.

Agreed. It's not that I can't wait, it's that I want every ad that pops up to stop taunting me about Words of Radiance.(It'll likely move to skin game really fast...)

HE IS A BIG! The Presbytarian Church. (Sorry you reminded me of this http://winterson.com/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html)

I think the point he's making is that then the body of the shard would be the Stormlight itself... I would guess that the body of a shard would be a gem, but a gem that comes pre-infused... On Scadrial there is no ifusing of metal, the metal is all pre-infused, but on Roshar gems have to be infused via Highstorm. It seems likely that if there are pre-infused gems they'd have to come from something like gemhearts... Except we'd need three kinds of gemhearts then, and that seems unlikley. Instead I think we haven't seen any of the Shards physical aspects yet(unless the Honorblades are made of Honor...) I can see that route being taken.

Flakflakflak... I don't think there would be much stigma to the blade, given that the Radiant's came in both genders and some have theorized Adolin's armor was originally owned by a woman. But Shallan might have to deal with a level of Stigma iof she outed herself as a Shardbearer. Certainly less than Jasnah's heresy though. Also Flak flak flak from a sibling about siblings. Flak.

My messages show up in the GMail Promotions box. Check there Bremen. I'll pm you the same. BTW, that PM was the 666th profile view for Bremen. I feel honored.

Kaladin overdoes Stormlight at least twice, suggesting there is a cost to channeling Stormlight too fast. Having near infinite stormlight would likely cause even more severe issue when she came down from the Storm-high, or whatever you want to call it. And Fat isn't straight calories either... I'm just pointing out possible flaws.

The other side of it is Ryshadium are Brandon making a horse that horse people can't complain about, by making them super special.(A fantastic move on his part) I would guess they're just a genetically modified horse from when the planet was colonized. Keeps things simple.