Cheese Ninja

I don't think Hoid wants to get involved to the degree of killing/spiriting away people. He seems most comfortable simply guiding and informing people. I still don't have any idea what happened to Gaz, but it seems clear that this is what Brandon was referring to when he mentioned an "Asmodean's death"-type mystery. Later when we have all the facts we can look at it and say "Oh, that's reasonable." Note: This doesn't necessarily meant that Gaz is dead.

I think the plate has always been supported by infused gems, and that the stormlight could also be used to fuel Surgebinding back when the Radiants wore it. Blades don't use gems. I agree with you about their reason for "abandoning" the rest of humanity. Also, let's be clear here, Splinter is the term used for a division created when the Shard is Splintered, Sliver would be a better term for the Blades and Plate if Honor, Cultivation, or Odium contributed some power to their creation. I still can't decide if Odium was involved in creating the Blades, but I certainly do think Odium is responsible for the thrill.

I'm mostly with ulyssessword on this one. Here's an idea though, perhaps the spren that are capable of forming Nahel bonds (such as Syl and the symbolheads) are different in a major way from the spren that people are seeing all the time in the series. Syl's comment that "all spren are, in a sense virtually the same individual." could be seen to support them as splinters of Honor, who before that point had only invested himself in the Nahel bond type spren. Only thing that bothers me about spren as Splinters is that there are too many of them. Unless we consider each type of spren to be one Splinter, regardless of how many there are. I'm happy with that.

You explained it well enough. Sounds fairly reasonable, especially if you consider the Navani's notebook page that got translated. And then with the Ars Arcanum as well: Have we ever been told who's writing the Ars Arcanum in interviews? It sounds a bit like Jasnah or Shallan. Edit: Now that I've read Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear, this reminds of the simplest forms of sympathy. You too?

I've considered some of the same things as Lightreader. A Shallan/Renarin/Adolin love triangle for instance, although I won't bother guessing at which way the feelings will flow. I also like the idea of Jasnah and Shallan traveling with Szeth to the Shattered Plains, but again I won't try to guess at what Szeth's assassination attempt will result in. I don't think Szeth can truly oppose Taravangian or that Szeth can kill Dalinar, so I think it more likely that Taravangian will end up changing his plans to include a living Dalinar. I'm looking forward to the Amaram/Kaladin confrontation a whole lot, and if I'm right about who Kaladin killed, a brief Amaram/Shallan interaction. The Reddit interview said that Brandon was tending towards a Shallan book. I guess Dalinar will have to wait for book 3 for his flashbacks. Jasnah and Shallan will be able to recognize what's going on with Elhokar seeing the symbolheaded truthspren if they learn of it. Whether he or Dalinar will actually talk about it to them is something else entirely.

There is another thread where they were discussing that we don't really know much about the Dawnshards, besides "Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above.” from Jasnah's notes. There's nothing there stating that they are weapons at all. I thought that were related to Honorblades as well, until the person in front of me at a signing about a year ago asked a similarly confused question about Dawnblades and Honorshards, when I corrected him (I'm always trying to correct people, it's an irritating quality), Brandon stated that they were two different things. When I followed up with a question about what it was then that Szeth was wielding, he gave one of the cryptic "I wonder..." type answers that tell you nothing, neither whether you are on the right track, nor whether you are floundering. Still, that Goodreads.com interview came 2-3 months after that October 3rd Towers of Midnight signing. I could or could not be one of the "people have already begun to guess". I don't actually think that Szeth wields an Honorblade, but seeing as we have so few unique weapons at this point, it could very well be. From Kalak's prelude. Szeth's blade is never described as such. From the epilogue, assumed to be Taln's Honorblade, since it stayed when he collapsed, and we're pretty sure he's not dead since he has upcoming confirmed PoV.

I don't think Taravangian is a Ghostblood either. He could be Restares. (One of the other people Gavilar suspects, only mentioned in that one scene.) If Taravangian had wanted to kill Jasnah, he wouldn't have needed to bother with Kabsal and his poisoned bread. It's his palace and he supplies all of her meals. Also, "Thaidakar" Peter didn't mention it, but you mispelled that one too. And I still think the dead Veden Ghostblood Kaladin killed is Shallan's brother Nan Helaran.

Why I consider Szeth's shardblade odd: I'm pretty sure all the other Blades we've seen are described as being single-edged. And this quote says his is smaller than "most". Sapphire is the color associated with the Windrunner Order. Taravangian refers to it as a "monstrosity" despite it being smaller than most Shardblades.I could be wrong, we might just need more detailed descriptions of shardblades and their effect on eyecolor to compare to Szeth's Blade. The Shin might consider all Shardblades "monstrosities", given their current usage of killing other humans, and the Shin view of killing. But if Szeth is getting his abilities in a different way than Kaladin, his only unique possessions are his Shardblade and his Oathstone. It's possible that he did something in the past to acquire the Windrunner ablities, and then got the Shardblade as punishment later. We know next to nothing about his Oathstone. Szeth almost decides to kill Taravangian in the bloodletting room, despite orders otherwise, so it doesn't confer absolute obedience. He seems to have an easy time recognizing it, but whether that's a magical effect or simple familiarity isn't stated. He says the Parshendi tossed it on the side of road when leaving Kholinar, and he had to pick it up and wait for someone to claim him, but he doesn't say whether he saw them toss it, or followed a sixth sense to find it. That wouldn't work, Jezrien's order doesn't border Palah's order. Shalash (Shallan's) and Palah (Jasnah's) border each other and share Soulcasting.

Chapter takes place roughly one year ago. Shallan thinking of her father and brother. At the end of the book she is convinced that her father was part of the Ghostbloods. This quote is unclear whether Helaran's disappearance and proclamation of death happened at the same time, or separate occasions. I'm assuming separate occasions, which seems safe enough. Shallan and her family are Veden. From Balat. That's all we know of Helaran, that he opposed their father, but was more involved in his plans than the rest of the family.So here's the theory, the Ghostblood leadership at that battle decided to loan Helaran a set of Plate and Blade, in order to sweep in, eliminate Amaram, and get out. They figured he and the loaned Shards be safe enough, since he wasn't going to get bogged down in fighting massive numbers, and no one at the battle would be able to oppose him one on one. Except Kaladin, whom no one expected. At this point, only the Ghostbloods and possibly Amaram know who Kaladin killed. I'm expecting a very minor bit of unexplained reaction from Amaram when he encounters Shallan at the Shattered Plains. And eventually a very awkward conversation between Kaladin and Shallan, but not that she will be able to justifiably blame him for any of it.

I didn't know about Peter's comment, but I assumed as you did that that was why Hoid was at the Well. She finds the Lerasium nugget next to Hoid's bootprint, if that wasn't a hint that that Hoid was collecting slivers of shards of Adonalsium, I don't what would be. I'm guessing he's got some atium on him as well.

I always read that one nearly the same way happyman does. Which is why Taravangian's people consider "the sample largely useless.".

I have a minor theory that Szeth's odd shardblade is the source of his Windrunner abilities, but no one else seems to like it. There's a lack of information when it comes to determining how abnormal his shardblade really is, and nothing in the story to tell us that there is another way to get Windrunner abilities. If it wasn't for the Goodreads interview, we wouldn't even know that.

I think it has something to do with the info on the back cover of the book: Feels like it could apply to almost any of the four, if we give the characters enough time. So far, Kaladin and Dalinar have saved each other's lives, and Shallan has saved Jasnah's life. I have no doubt someone will soon both save Szeth's life and stop him from fulfilling his duty to kill Dalinar. All the quotes starting at the "ReShephir, the Midnight Mother" one are more a thousand days after the first one, if you bother to look at the dates. So if that first one is accurate, the Everstorm has already come at that point. Makes me wonder if the Everstorm is more of a metaphor than Honor made it out to be in Dalinar's vision of it. I think that might be about Dalinar's vision as well, except there's no "child crying", "waters", or "his own tears". Unless the water is a metaphor, and Dalinar starts crying to himself after he wakes from that vision. Then it's perfect. I'm not going to take the darkness and flame descriptions of Parshendi literally, metaphorically works fine for me. The Midnight Essence things that Dalinar fights in one of his flashbacks are a bit closer to being literal darkness, Knight Radiants say that aren't Voidbringers, but they might be somehow related. Obviously Taln, I feel pretty bad for the guy. I wonder how messed up he is mentally at this point. If he has heavy PTSD, his viewpoint chapters might not be very revealing about the series' mysteries. I have a slightly convoluted theory about this. The only pits we have at this point is the dueling pits, so I'm going to assume that in this instance, "pit" means chasm. If anyone falls into the chasms on the Shattered Plains, they're assumed dead, but if Kaladin works on his Windrunners abilities a bit, he should be able to keep himself and another guy alive if they fall in. And if they come out with a "heart" (gemheart) I think they'd get a lot of glory.

I think that Jezrien was the one speaking to Kaladin. For some reason I think ALL the Heralds are still alive, not just Shalash and Taln. I expect that there's one leading the Parshendi as well. I imagine the Taln chapters of going a bit like this: http://www.adweek.com/video/espncom-fridge-falconer-123545

Typo, should be Wax.So, the leader of the Vanishers is a former lawman acquantice of theirs. We still don't know the exact source of his bitterness though. from Chapter Five.It was good chapter, but I still would have preferred a rescue of Steris to Marasi. We got yet more references that regardless of whether Wax is interested in Marasi, Wayne certainly is. Marasi is almost too similar to Lessie, I can't help but think Steris would be a more interesting love interest.

Actually it looks like it's his footprint by the Lerasium. http://brandonsanderson.com/library/39/Mistborn-2-Alternate-Ending-Part-Two Which makes me wonder if Hoid took a nugget of Lerasium for himself as well. If he has some power from each of the shards, maybe he'll be strong enough to defeat Odium, if that's his goal. Or he could try making a mini-Adonalsium. Not too sure what he'd do with Odium's shard though, Splinter it, maybe? He knows better than to try holding it without also holding its opposite, if it has one. (Love, I'd guess.)

I've gotten the impression that authors in interviews about their series, while unable to lie, will sometimes say misleading things to tease the fans. (Kinda like Aes Sedai) "Hoid isn't a Shardholder" actually works pretty well with "Hoid used to hold a shard, and got rid of it/lost it." We really don't know the rules well enough to say that it can't be given up or transferred without the holder's death. Has Brandon said anything on that issue? I like the theory myself. I got the same impression from his speech. Would that line mean it became Splintered or otherwise weakened as a result of him bearing/losing it?

It does suggest aluminum is expensive, but it also answers the question of where they got their aluminum. Which I felt was part of the question being asked in relation to its appearance in the chapter. I actually like your idea of Koloss-blooded individuals being more susceptible to emotional allomancy. Perhaps you already understood that, but it's not clear from a post like this one if everyone else remembered.

Remember that the first thing the Vanishers stole was a shipment of aluminium disguised as a shipment of wool to avoid taxes? Wax figured it out two chapters ago.

Neat, I was right about either Steris or Marasi or both being kidnapping targets. Did he hesitate because he saw that Marasi was someone off his list, or did he actually recognize Wax as well? Maybe the familiar voice indicates that he is a former lawman that Wax knew? The bandit leader sounds bitter.

I was wondering about that too. "Daughter of kings and winds" made me think that maybe she was Jezrien's (Stormfather) daughter, but really, it's a bit vague. Since we don't know the circumstances that the Heralds were chosen in, we don't really know if there is anything keeping one Herald from being another Herald's child. That epigraph is only helpful in determining her identity in combination with Sigzil's comments about the Emuli worshipping the Heralds directly. Baxil's interlude takes place in Emul, if you weren't sure. Herald=Kadasix, Jezrien=Prime Kadasix Shalash's statue is missing in Szeth's prologue, I wish I could find the post for who made the link first. Even without Shash's picture in the interlude headings, we would have a good guess at her identity. With the picture, that just confirms it. What's really interesting here is that it means Shalash was there shortly before the events in Szeth's prologue. They had time to get rid of the destroyed statue, but not replace it.

Could the Parshendi's current song be a corrupting influence of Honor the same way that we've been considering the Alethi's Thrill as a corrupting influence of Odium? I'm thinking of the Parshmen as receivers for broadcast messages. They become dangerous if they start receiving an Odium related message to start a Desolation. Maybe one or two of the (currently missing) Heralds hijacked the system to get at least a few Parshmen to become the relatively honorable Parshendi. This still works with the "trying to get themselves killed" theory if they know that this is only a temporary state for them, and that if their normal message gets broadcast, they'll become hateful killers.

Actually, I think people might be giving Gaz's shadows more credit than they deserve. Unlike Elhokar, there's no evidence of the symbolheaded truthspren. There's a one-eyed man who is being blackmailed and is worried about what he can't see coming.

Which I guess still leaves some questions, when was Honor/Tanavast killed by Odium, and by what means? What happened to Honor (the shard), did Odium Splinter it, or is it free to be picked up if someone can find it?

5 years later, not 3. And there's no need to limit yourself to two factions, Ghostblood and non-Ghostbloods. Gavilar, Sadeas, Thaidakar, and Restares could all be doing their own things. Gavilar probably saw himself as a threat to all of them. Judging from Amaram's words, Thaidakar and Restares are against each other. Amaram reports to Restares, and since Sadeas is Amaram's Highprince, Sadeas might be with Restares as well. Restares might not be a real name either, I think it could be Taravangian's code name.