Nicrosil

Yeah, thinking back now, I don't think Timbre is Eshonai. Timbre was following Eshonai around in WoR, and Timbre saying her grandfather was killed in the Recreance matches Ico, the lightspren captain who's father is a deadeye and daughter ran off to find adventure. As for Eshonai being alive? ...I really don't know. I mean, it's straight up said that listeners can become cognitive shadows with Odium's intervention, but Brandon already had two fake out deaths in WoR that he's said he regrets... I have a prediction of the future. Blasphemous, I know, but here goes: We won't ever directly see Eshonai again, but Eshonai's survival becomes a hotly debated topic due to certain scenes in future books and Brandon being cagey about certain questions. Eventually, years after Stormlight 10, Brandon writes the Stormlight Archive Companion, a giant omnibus with all the little details that couldn't fit into the books. There's a two sentences on Eshonai that raise more questions than answers. Due to massive fan demand, Brandon writes Rhythm of Resolve, a full Eshonai novella, and includes it in The Lost History, an Ars Arcanum style book focused solely on Stormlight Archive, including the lost Jasnah novella, a Teft and Rock buddy cop style story, and the Stick interlude.

...I was unaware you could ask questions... Whoops.

Every Radiant quiz tells me I'm a Skybreaker, but I don't want to be Lawful Stupid. The orders I resonate with the most are probably Stoneward or Edgedancer, maybe Truthwatcher? We know so little about the Stonewards, and our Edgedancer and Truthwatcher aren't exactly typical members of their order...

WoK’s is a Death Rattle by someone who spoke very little Alethi, WoR’s is the... title? Cover art? ...of Navani’s journal about the events leading up to the Everstorm.

The Letters in Oathbringer have sparked a lot of discussion, namely on their authors. The general consensus is that the first is by Endownment, the third by Harmony, and either Autonomy or Ambition as the author of the second. This theory is not about that, though. This theory is about Obrodai. We know that Obrodai is a world, claimed by the author of the Second Letter. We know Hoid has been there, and has been instructed not to return. Most importantly, we know that a new avatar of the author is manifesting there, who's being taught to dislike Hoid. Now, why would Brandon include this? Just a bit of fluff to give us a clue about the author? I don't think so. I think Obrodai is a planet we're going to see more of. I think Obrodai is the setting of Dark One. For those that don't know, Dark One is a planned YA cosmere novel Brandon's teased in some State of the Sanderson's over the past few years. From what Brandon said, it's a reverse Hero's Journey, a story about the individual prophesied to destroy the world, rather than save it. Peter confirmed that Dark One is a "modern" cosmere story, like the other modern cosmere stories we've seen. "Modern cosmere" presumably means it's in the same era as Stormlight Archive, Wax and Wayne, and Warbreaker. I could be wrong though, and Peter could mean modern as in the modern Mistborn trilogy. I will be the first to admit, this theory has a lot of problems and not a lot of proof. For example, the main character of Dark One has been described as male, while the new avatar is female. Brandon could have decided to change the main character's gender between writing that State of the Sanderson and writing Oathbringer. Plus, the magic system in Dark One has been described as electricity based, like Nikola Tesla style stuff; that doesn't easily fit what we know of Ambition or Autonomy. Plus, why would an avatar of those Shards be prophesied to destroy the world? The only real proof I have is that we know there's a young avatar of a Shard forming in the cosmere, and we have a story about a young person with a lot of power in the cosmere presumably waiting in the wings. Really, the only justification for this theory is "wouldn't it be neato...?" Cause, I mean, wouldn't it be neato...? EDIT: Wow look what I found! A relevant WoB! Obrodai being the setting of Dark One is a RAFO as of December 1st, partially because Dark One keeps popping in and out of the cosmere, so this theory is probably dead in the water!

Plot twist, the Thrill is the Sibling.

I love pretty much every character, but my current favorite is Adolin because his story resonates with me. I have a lot of friends going through some hard times, and I want to help them the best I can, but I don't know how, and I have to juggle that with my own responsibilities and duties that I've been ignoring... Say what you want about him, but Adolin will always hold a special place in my heart.

I think there is a definitely a time limit to Regrowth. Renarin is unable to heal people from Thaylen City only a few weeks after the Everstorm; I don't think that's long enough for people's image of themselves to permanently change to account for their injuries. I really like Ryan, but I think she fits Willshaper better than Bondsmith. Actually, my personal headcanon is that she shows up in the back 5, 15 years later, with a pet greatshell.

Aluminum is internal pulling, and removes the user's metal reserves. Duralumin is the internal pushing, and burns the user's metal reserves in a single, super powerful flare. Chromium is the external pushing, and removes the touched target's metal reserves, and Nicrosil is the external pulling and burn's the touched target's metal reserves in a single, super powerful flare. Why are the internal/external pairs so similar? None of the other quadrants are that similar. The internal physical metals enhance strength and senses, but the external physical metals don't enhance other's strength/senses. Copper and bronze are wildly different from zinc and brass. Gold shows you your past or alternate self (personally I think shows a change in Identity, but that's a theory for later); it's not like cadmium shows you another person's past... that's what malatium does... huh. Is there a reason for this? I know Harmony and Preservation changed around Allomancy, is this an artifact for that, or just a weird coincidence?

There's been a running joke in the books so far where any bird is called a chicken, and any hoofed mammal is called a horse. We also know from WOB that people on Roshar would call any cosmere/investiture weirdness a spren. Maybe something similar is going on with surges? Maybe they would call any "flashy" magic a surge, and the original voidbringer humans came from a planet destroyed by a completely different magic system, and this is all a wacky case of mistaken identity? Okay, more tragic than wacky, but still!

Something also interesting to note is that the Fused we've seen using Surges only use one Surge. We've only seen them fly, with Gravitation and become awesome with Abrasion. Then there are the Fused who just seemed stronger than normal and have a lot of carapace... are there Fused who don't use Surges, or did those Fused just have a form with lots of carapace that happened to not use their Surges? Or are they an order equivalent and their strength/carapace is an application of a Surge we don't know yet?

In one of the Last Desolation visions, Dalinar notices a stacked pile of dead cremlings, which is almost certainly a Sleepless corpse; that could be where the violet blood comes from. Another mystery solved is the Unmade, but we still have three unaccounted for. We also finally see what Cohesion does! We learn the whereabouts of some of the Heralds and that Ishar is Tasha the god-king. Oh, and we learn what the Stormlight Archive actually is. I hope that there's more, detailed lore recorded than what we saw in the epigraphs. Surely the Elsecallers or Truthwatchers would have made an Idiot's Guide to Urithiru or something...

HOH boy do I have some thoughts here at two in the morning! Mr. T why are you like this. So by my count we have three Unmade we know almost nothing about. Ba-Ado-Mishram is the commander of the voidbringers and the Unmade, no idea what she's up to. Oh, except during the Recreance she may have been leading the last Voidbringers and pushing towards Rall Elorim? Chemoarish has a lot of lore, and is definitely not the Nightwatcher, probably. Then the ninth Unmade is weird and might be Dia-Gonarthis the Black Fisher who destroyed Aimia? Excuse me? TALN. MY MAN. I was on the fence of Adolin reviving his blade or just being an awesome, nonmagical dude, but after seeing him interact with Maya, I am firmly in the revival camp. My reaction to all the Shallan chapters can be summed up as: oh no baby what is you doing? The Amaram "power up" felt weird. I always thought of Amaram as the "human" evil, to contrast with the supernatural stuff. Moash you're literally the worst. The Stormfather gets my vote for most frustrating character purely from a lore hunting perspective. WHAT IN DAMNATION IS THE SIBLING. Anyone notice the neat inversion of Dalinar and Kaladin? Kal mocks Amaram, telling him the war did not make him stronger, while Dalinar thanks the Thrill for making him strong enough. What was the point of Honor's Drop originally? It was entrusted to the... Elsecallers? But for what purpose? RENARIN. MY MAN. The secret behind the Recreance seemed underwhelming, since we'd speculated since the beginning that the parshendi/listeners/singers were the original inhabitants of Roshar. Odium being humanity's first god is terrifying though. What's really weird though is that surgebinding apparently worked on an entirely different planet without Honor or Cultivation... I don't think we're getting the whole picture here. I'm not the only one thinking Timbre is Eshonai, right? I mean, the void spren said that the Fused were reincarnated listener heroes, and immediately afterward a weird spren shows up next to Eshonai's corpse? If that theory's true though, Venli is really weird. She's a listener who's bonded a void spren, but that void spren is being suppressed by her sister's soul spren, and she's also forming a Nahel bond with her sister's soul spren. Alrighty. Seriously though, Renarin being a blind spot to Odium is very interesting. It may be similar to atium, where two future-sights cancel each other out? I think Dalinar did Ascend, but whatever he is now is much less powerful than Honor or an actual Shard, but still has an Intent: Unity. Wasn't there a popular theory floating around that Splinters have their own Intents? The Shadesmar sounds awesome. Also, Azure is awesome. I really like that Odium's aesthetic. I feel like this book is setting up for the second half. Like others have pointed out, a lot of existing plot threads were answered or at least addressed, but there's a lot that was brought up for books 4 and 5. Seriously Moash you're the worst.

So I'm not sure if anyone's brought this up yet, but there's no way Mraize's bird is a normal parrot; Shallan's already seen one and probably would have recognized it. Remember, she saw one at the... Midday festival? The flashback where she met Hoid. Also, I don't think the Sixth of Dusk perpendicularly is dangerous because of any supernatural stuff, the way travel to Sel is, but more because everything on the island will murder you. If there's a worldhopper who could survive the jungle and bond an Aviar, it would be Mraize.

So I got the tickets for the VIP backstage party, and preordered a book. Sadly, I am an idiot. Do I still need to get a wristband? I know I still need to print out the barcode to actually get the book. Also, there were two options for shipping besides FedEx, one said "At the BYU store" and one said "On Campus." I chose the BYU store, and the email confirmation I got says "Ship Via: Pick Up In Store." Did I choose the right option? Sorry for all the dumb questions; this is my first signing party! EDIT: So one of the perks in the VIP ticket is "Reserved seating for Brandon's Presentation", and the book party says that at 8:45 Brandon's Presentation and Q&A begin, so I'm assuming the VIP ticket counts as a wristband? Again, I'm an idiot and I don't know what I'm doing.

The Shallan x Adolin/Kaladin/Renarin/Szeth train will never be stopped! As far as Shallan breaking herself with too many personalities... We may be latching on to this theory. Like, a lot of people thought that Adolin's wrist would become a major plot point, but it was resolved in 1 paragraph. We're too focused on finding foreshadowing that we're latching into minor details. Although, I am a lot more for Adolin reviving his Blade after these chapters. The yellow spren might not be a sentient spren like Syl; it could be a power one of the Void forms gives? Like, stormform let's you throw lightning and summon the worst disaster the world has ever known, and shrillvoiceform let's you highlight things with yellow light.

To be fair, Navani never said Dalinar got his Plate through marriage. Although, I do agree that the plate descriptions are weird. Gavilar had bright blue Plate, which may be Adolin's now, while Sadeas had golden armor, which is what Ehlokar currently wears. However, it has been stated that Plate can be painted and decorated, so I have no idea.

I'm glad I'm wrong! Right now, I'm thinking the same thing as others: Dalinar let the boy and/or his mother live, it comes back to bite him in the butt, he slaughters the city in vengeance, and his wife accidentally dies in the process. Can someone check the map of Alethkar from WoK and see if Rift is still on the map? As for the Szeth/Kaladin meetup, I wouldn't be surprised if Kaladin putting history aside and working with Szeth is related to his next oath.

Oh God I had a terrible thought. What if the young kid is Adolin? What if Dalinar married Tanalan's wife? And Dalinar's boon was for everyone's memories to be altered? It could explain the discrepancy with how Dalinar got his armor from his marriage, but had it when he killed Tanalan. ...Ok, it's pretty stupid sounding now that I type it.

Here's the thing with Mr T. We already have one villain switching sides between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer in Nale; I doubt Brandon would do that twice. Plus, Brandon basically wrote Edgedancer to show Nale's redemption so it didn't come out of the blue. No, I think that Mr T. is going to be a new Amaram, someone the audience knows is a scumbag who shouldn't be trusted, but the characters don't. As for the shipping wars, my crack theory is that Shallan will pull a Rand al'Thor and end up marrying Kaladin and Adolin and Renarin and Szeth. I refuse to be persuaded otherwise.

I always thought that the Shin were worldhoppers and brought their Earth-like plants and animals to Roshar with them. They settled in the only place that could support their old way of life, in a valley very far west from the Highstorms. The Iriali are just to the north are basically confirmed to be worldhoppers, though I don't know if that helps or hurts my theory. Oathbringer spoilers As for if Shinovar is cut off from the Shadesmar, maybe? Everything in the cosmere has a cognitive aspect, and therefore a representation in the Shadesmar, even if Shinovar doesn't have spren. Like others have pointed out, it might be harder to use Knight Radiant abilities or Soulcasters in Shinovar, though. Mistborn Secret History spoilers

...Well I feel like an idiot now. I need to figure out how to change my name to Eshu... I still feel like there is some merit to Gavilar binding the third Bondsmith spren, and it being the mastermind behind everything. It might just be wishful thinking though...

I have a crackpot theory, but I haven't read the entire thread to see if someone's already thought of this, so I apologize if I'm repeating something. Gavilar is not insane. He got the exact same visions Dalinar did, but he figured out the Parshendi were voidbringers. I don't even think he knows how to unleash the Unmade; he bluffed to Eshonai knowing that the Five would assassinate him, leading to a vengance war against the Parshendi. It would unite the highprinces by creating a common enemy. This doesn't answer what the black spheres are, nor how Gavilar knows so much, but what if Gavilar was already a Bondsmith? What if this ancient, powerful spren gave Gavilar all this information? Gavilar and his spren engineered his assassination to make him the martyr that would unite them and last beyond his death by making the Parshendi a common enemy. I even propose that Gavilar's mystery spren is the one who told Klade about Szeth; if I'm right Gavilar's knowledge of the Parshendi comes from his spren; it's not much of a stretch to say that this large, powerful fragment of investiture could speak in Rhythms a la Ruin. Oh, there's a meta-point against this theory, but it's spoilery for Mistborn. Also, this doesn't make Gavilar a good guy; he sentenced the Parshendi to genocide. I think he regrets it though; if we get an alternate point of view from Gavilar, I wouldn't be surprised if his though process mirrors Eshonai's in the moments up to his assasssination.

I really like the idea that Atium alloys reverse metals, make Internal powers External and vice versa, but it's tricky to think how that would work for some metals. Zinc/Brass plus Atium: Either tell what other people are feeling or Riot/Soothe your own emotions. Tin/Pewter plus Atium: Increase other's senses and strength. Aluminum/Duralumin plus Atium: ...it's just Chromium and Nicrosil. Iron/Steel plus Atium: ...uh...

I believe there were theories that the crazy man in the Axies interlude was one of the Heralds, if there are some unaccounted for.