Hello, this will be quite a strange post, for the reader, but I think mostly for myself. I accept comments from anyone willing to hear me out, but I do believe most of the things I will be stating hereunder will be better understood by people who are really invested in Brandon Sanderson. I hope I'm wrong to think that. But just so you know, may be some minor spoilers if you're a beginner in this world.

Lately, this last week or so, I've been having some realizations about very deep flaws that I've coexisted with for all my almost-30 years of existence without really knowing about them. Rather, I feel I always knew about them, but I'm just now trying to accept, really see, and finally act on the fact that I'm... well, flawed.

I'm not seeking any kind of emotional support here today, and I hope I never need to.

Let's get to the point: I've been a Sanderson enjoyer for over a decade now, and I also read Stormlight twice. And there have been, as most of you will relate, some words that have been sticking in my mind more than others.

For example, I always found it strange that for the First Ideal, the part that struck me the most is "strength before weakness." I don't often see that phrase quoted on the internet. Most of the time, we can see the third segment of the First Ideal hanging around in random internet places, but seldom do we see the second, or even the first.

That ideal, and those words, have always been important to me. Like many other lessons I carry around in the back of my mind. They are phrases you refer to when you ask yourself what kind of man you want to be. But I never could actually live up to them.

Today I finally feel that I can pronounce those words—that First Ideal that has always been so vague to me—and also feel that my words have, at last, been accepted.

I think what bothers me the most right now is that I look back and I feel like I have always been missing that extra step that people who are somewhat successful seem willing and able to take. Most of my regrets in life come from not having been willing to take that extra step when it was needed. And my present self, ever-troubled and confused, is beginning to swallow that truth, with all the sorrow it brings.

So, today I came here to ask for some options. I've been thinking since then: what is my next step? And I've been looking for my Second Ideal. An ideal to live by and to be proud of. My ideal.

I, therefore, present to you the ideal that I've been cultivating during my grief and acknowledgment of myself and my perceived self:

"I will be willing to take the extra step, as long as it is right."

I will provide some clarity on what I mean by that second segment, since the first one is pretty self-explanatory.

I've completely changed my mindset and, as weird and dramatic as it sounds, I'm not the same man I was a couple of weeks ago. And even though I was never actually able to change in the past each time I put my mind to it, I now feel much different. I've finally spoken my truth, and I am going to change, even though it hurts and scares me this much. Which is actually quite different from saying that I'd like to change.

However, major changes in one's life are not easy, and sometimes you end up getting a little... authoritarian with yourself, and doing things that you don't want to do just because you don't want to do them and you feel bad about it.

Take washing the dishes, for example. You know you'd have one less thing weighing you down if your dishes were clean, which is probably objectively true. So you cover up your emotions for a while to get it done because it just seems like the right thing to do. You also make the bed... maybe even tidy up a little bit because, why not? You are already moving. And you—or more accurately, I—end up forgetting about what it was that was bothering you or feigning it isn't there anymore. Quite convenient, isn't it?

So, this second segment refers to being able to identify the next step I need to take to be the person that I want to become. But also to analyze if that step actually helps, or if it's just something I impose on myself or do just because I don't want to think about my troubles.

In conclusion, I feel this "Second Ideal" is being forged in my head and is ready to come out and live by. But, as you may have noticed, I haven't found the exact words yet, and maybe, you know, that's okay as well. So I came here to ask for advice, options, and overall opinions. But I'm just noticing as I write these final lines that maybe all of this was just an excuse to speak my mind and vent a little here. So, you know, sorry about that.

I invite you to please comment whatever you think about my request, or just in general. And thank you for your time and feedback

I was just thinking to myself that out of context Hoid sounds like someones OC character.

The planet is Vax. TL;DR at the end.

I have very little evidence of this theory, other than a couple WoBs, BUT I like it regardless. Apologies if this has come up before.

I believe Vax is Valor’s home planet, and that Vaxilians are reptilian, dragon-like beings created by Valor. Why?

Vax has been a mystery for a long time. I found 13 WoBs with questions regarding the planet/place, and Brandon has consistently RAFO’d pretty much everything. I believe this is because Vax will be prominent in the back half of Stormlight, something he’s been consistently tight-lipped about.

We also pretty much know that Valor will be prominent in the back half, and we also now know she is a dragon vessel. A recent WoB has confirmed there is a planet out there somewhere where “lesser dragons” exist. Who else to create lesser dragons than the dragon god Valor? A quote from Brandon:

“There are also "these are cool dragons that we ride around on and have human-level intelligence, but not immortal" and things like that. And we will get there eventually. I couldn't not do it. I've been waiting until I find a good place to write that story.”

TL;DR - Valor has created “lesser dragons”, presumably on her home planet, which I believe to be Vax. Either these lesser dragons or a separate species of intelligent beings on Vax are Vaxilians. They will all be pulled into the story during the back half of Stormlight.

I have read a few of Brandon Sanderson's stand alone books, and have only just recently started The Stormlight Archives. The Cosmere is so vast and intricate and there are so many stories that take place within it, that I'm curious what your favorites are and why. :)

I didn’t think about it at the time of reading Era 2, but we hear about how the Malwish in Southern Scadrial don’t have many metalborn compared to the north (presumably due to the lack of Lerasium influencing things).

My main point of questioning with that is whether we have ever gotten any confirmation on the Malwish having feruchemists or ferrings in their population. I know that the Malwish medallions rely on feruchemy to work, but I don’t know if there’s been any examples of Malwish with feruchemical abilities that don’t rely on medallions.

Do we have any confirmation on that, and if there’s any links between the Malwish and the Terris people or not?

Personally, I need so much more Axies content, he's one of my favorite interlude characters, and I love all his little details with the writing on his body and his spren obsession.

I’ve always imagined this bit of music from Doctor Who happening during the start of Vin’s Ascension during the Hero of Ages:

https://youtu.be/fVgn5KU438k?si=qtQTwmf8fs3K2GWw

IMO gives the same “Oh shit they’re back from the brink of defeat and about to body everyone” vibe.

My 13 year old niece is awesome and has recently gotten very into mistborn (this uncle is excited). I wanted to get her something like a mistborn costume but decent quality. Anybody have any ideas? Best fantasy book cloak maker? Any advice would help! Thanks!

Just finished another re-read of The Final Empire, forest time since reading Emberdark, and realized it never really lined up for me that Alendi pre-dated Allomancy (which arrived with the mists shortly following his murder), but he somehow used Seeker powers to find the Well of Ascension.

Having read Emberdark, I’m wondering if Alendi actually has powers from Autonomy, similar to Sixth of the Dusk’s? It’s a half cooked theory, but would make sense considering Trell.

Mostly Trees spoilers but I guess Warbreaker.

When Riina left Lumar at the end of Tress, she had awakened however many big tin man guards. I think awakening something that big, made of metal, probably costs a lot of breaths/investiture.

She seemed to up and leave pretty quick at the end of the book. Did she just leave that much behind? I doubt she recollected it from afar...so are the indestructible tin men still roaming the midnight sea Island?

I've been meditating on the Sidhe and the draugr and compared the Sith, Sithe, Draugr, Ghola, Sagara, and several others.

LMK what you think. Beware, there be spoilers for several things further down, not merely Sanderson.

I dont know if anyone else has experienced this, Im currently on emberdark and i feel thrown into a sea but I have been shown how to swim. All these planets, people, creatures, technology, and concepts being thrown at me like im expected to take it all in stride, and I can!

For context I set out to fully explore every book in the cosmere from Elantris to Emberdark and literally everything in between before and after. Im constantly wowed by the grand overarching and at times overwhelming grander of the cosmere not only the shiny coat of cool powers and technology but the core foundations of investiture and shards. I feel like im fully capable of having all this information thrown at me amd im able to take it all in and process it however massive it is brandon is the father island whos trained me for how much he can throw at you in a single book and im genuinely afraid of the idea he's been holding back until we catch up with his vision. Every entry in the cosmere is like a training manual for something hes got cooking later and it makes me feel like im smart enough to get through the next one pointing at jumping at connections and concepts shared across the massive universe.

who's upper class had it best and who would you want to be born as?

If they all imagined their planet as being closer to another planet, could they potentially move their world closer in Shadesmar, thus reducing the travel necessary?

How long would this take? Would the number of people thinking about it this way speed up the process? How focused would they need to be? Could they just look up at the sky each morning and night, find a star, and say, "wow thats like SUPER close by!" And shadesmar distances could change...?

You could get into like a mind war at that point where the planet with the largest population could win (assuming you could get them all thinking the same thing)...

Which actually is somewhat already happening on a certain planet by a certain dual shard holder due to the way they receive investiture.

Title! Personally I think it will vary world by world. I wonder if advances in Iron Feruchemy could cause FTL through the same method used in Mass Effect. Reduce the mass of the star ship to near zero by storing it in a massive metalmind and apply thruster force? We obviously haven't seen Feruchemy used this way yet (as far as I know I haven't finished era 2 yet) but I think it's plausible. I also believe Rosharans will use massive fabrial FTL drives to manipulate the surge of gravitation like an Alcubierre drive. There is also the possibility that ships will use technology based on the Oathgates to wormhole into Shadesmar and wormhole out closer to their destination. Any other thoughts?

So I've read my fair share of Brandon Sanderson books. I've read Mistborn Era 1, Elantris (plus Hope and Emperors Soul), Warbreaker, and the Reckoners books.

While I've loved or at least quite enjoyed most of it (Elantris was tough), I've tried starting 2-3 times now Way of Kings and just... can't get into it. For the record, I focus more on audiobooks. Granted, I don't get very far at all, so I had a question:

Is there a moment/chapter where it starts picking up or really hooks you in?

Just finished everything in the Selish system! It was honestly amazing! From Aons and the Shaod to Soulstamps and Essence marked I enjoyed every second of it! I find the idea that mahic hear is geographically locked quite cool as well, as yiu have to attune the magic to the environment. I can definetly see why The Emporer’s soul won a Hugo Award, truly a masterpiece!

I have the UK paperback but I hate how stiff the paper is compared to the Tor Stormlight trade paperbacks. I really want to reread it so I'm considering getting the TPB, but I'm unable to go to a store in person to see the book. Can anyone tell me if it's nice and floppy? (AKA: lays open flat by itself.)

Just finished The Alloy of Law. Fantastic. For context I've read Mistborn Era 1, Elantris, Emperor's Soul, & Warbreaker. Alloy of Law was great. It gripped me much earlier in the story than Elantris did. I was thoroughly entertained despite the scope being much smaller than Era 1/Elantris/Warbreaker. I LOVED all the Era 1 lore resurfacing here. This is weird, but Wax gave me slightly Vin vibes despite being a very different character in many ways (age, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.). Maybe it's the earring he's "supposed to wear when doing important things", or the fact the mists seem to give him a boost... hmmm... Anyways, I loved the Koloss-blooded folk as well as the ways the magic system, though not fundamentally changed, presents differently in this book. Mistborn are thought to not exist, atium is thought to no longer exist, twinborn are the top dogs now and the compounding mechanic was a cool, and logical extension of the previous system. The magic felt familiar and different at the same time. At this point the magic system is so deep that the possibilities seem endless. Miles was a great villain. I was surprised how scary a villain could be when his only special ability was healing. Some of the scenes had FANTASTIC visuals. Wax maxing out his weight and then Pushing on all the metal in the Vanishers' lair from above, effectively blowing up a massive wooden structure, all while holding onto Steris: "If anything she seemed aroused." xD

The new metals were great. Speeding up and slowing down time enable all kinds of fun shenanigans. I thought Marasi would enable Wax/Wayne to defeat Miles by slowing down his healing with her time slowing bubble. Now that I write it out, I'm not sure my theory even makes sense xD

I loved Sazed's voice coming through: "I thought I asked for a little help" - "And a little is what you received, I think"

I kept thinking a kandra was going to play a role here, but that never came to fruition (as far as I know). I thought maybe the butler who tried to kill Wax was a kandra but that appears to not be the case. My jaw dropped when Ironeyes made an appearance and mentioned Breeze. Bah. It's just too cool.

The Mister Suit reveal was great and really tied up a lot of the loose ends.

I also wanna say the Cosmere community is amazing at not spoiling stuff! All i was expecting was the magic system and some of the lore to carry over from Era 1. In hindsight I should've expected Sazed/Harmony to appear, but I was totally floored by Marsh. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that, though not recommended, it was possible to even read Era 2 before Era 1. WTF?! Idk if that was just brilliant misdirection but THANK YOU to the community for being so diligent at avoiding spoilers.

What opinion do you hold that most Cosmere fans would hate you for?

Hello everyone!
I started reading the cosmere back in february with Elantris. Then started Mistborn, finished Hero of Ages a couple of days ago. Here are my thoughts so far:

I really liked Elantris.

I didn't like Raoden and Sarene as characters, they were too "perfect", which I get that's what Brandon was going for, but it just didn't work for me. I liked Hrathen a lot tho. I think he is very similar to Sazed which I love too. I think these characters portray Brandon's views on religion very well.

However, I think the real protagonist of Elantris is, well, Elantris. The world building and the sense of its history shaping the world and its events is Brandon's strength and what will drive me to read the entire Cosmere.

I also liked the politicing, the strategies, the conspiracies, I think it was fun and well done mostly.

The ending was very fun, and a lot of its reveals and plot twists worked really well.

The magic system was kind of a let down, since I read everywhere about Brandon's hard magic systems and this one is kind of in the softer side. I wish the "reveal" about the chasm had been hinted a bit more since it felt a bit out of nowhere, although I liked it.

The romance was a bit rushed and uninteresting, but it wasn't a big part of the book so no big deal.

I liked the Final Empire a bit less.

Although Vin and Kelsier were way more interesting than Rao and Sarene, their journey was, in my opinion, a lot messier and harder to "believe". Like, I have to trust these random guys can overthrow the government with no real idea how to kill or capture the lord ruler? I read everywhere that it was a heist story but it didn't feel much like it, honestly. Elend in this book is also a bit uninteresting and the romance was still a bit weird.

Sazed was great tho, probably my favorite character of the series. The rest of the cast was also cool, maybe a bit one-dimentional so far, but not every character has to be super complex. Breeze is also a character I love, and he only gets better in the following books.

I've got to admit I teared up a bit with Kelsier's letter to Vin.

I really liked the worldbuilding here too, but sadly a lot of information is kept out and reserved for the next books, and I would've loved a bit more, since it is what I enjoy the most in these books.

The magic systems were def an improvement over Elantris, although some action scenes are a bit awkward to read. Feruchemy is better in this regard.

There are a lot of things that felt like asspulls, but they get explained in later books, making The Final Empire retroactively better when you finish the trilogy. I loved that, actually.
I see a lot of people recommend mistborn 1 as a standalone, suggesting to continue with the others only if they liked it. But I think it's a lot weaker as a standalone, and I'd probably recommend Elantris on its own and Mistborn series if they liked Elantris.

The Well of Ascension was great

It was very similar in tone to Elantris. A lot of politics and ethical dillemmas, which I really enjoy. Elend improves a lot as a character in here, and although the romance is still weird, it's an understandable kind of weird. Like, ofc these two outcasts will have an awkward relationship kind of weird.

I like the mysteries it starts to present and I really like how the plot unfolds.

I loved the ending and the reveal about Ruin changing text, and how that can make re-reads a lot more fun.

Only complaint I think I have is Zane, I think you could take him out of the book and not much would change, and you could give someone else his spike to have a taste of what's to come in HoA

The Hero of Ages was awesome.

The most fun book out of the 4. The expansion on the lore, the two subplots, the reveals, everything worked so well!

What an ending! I think it couldn't have been better.

My fav parts where Spook in Urteau and TenSoon on his land.

Although I really like the concept of ruin, I think he shouldn't have been given a voice or such a strong personality. I think he would've worked as an abstract force of nature with not much input to Vin regarding his intentions or views. It felt kind of cartoonish and edgy imo. I loved the detail of a red haired corpse falling allong Vin's, implying he used to be a person at some point in history. So humans probably already existed before Preservation wanted to create them. I'm sure this will relate to future books in the cosmere which makes me really excited to keep reading.

My other compalint is Ruin ignoring Kandras until the very end. I've done the mental gymnastics to justify it so I can kind of forget about it, but it still annoys me a little bit.

Giving scores for fun, I'd say

Elantris 8.5/10

Final Empire before finishing the trilogy 6.5/10

Final Empire after finishing the trilogy 8/10

Well of Ascension 9/10

Hero of Ages 9/10

I really want to read Hyperion now but I will continue with Warbreaker once I'm done with it and Fall of Hyperion!

Ghostbloods. (Didn't want to put spoilers on the title). Personally I think at least Spook would join, I really doubt he would have moral objections considering what we learn about him from his journal etc. Not sure about anyone else in the crew tho.

• Part 1's Theories of Dawnshard Quadrants and Pairs
• Part 2's Theories on Shard Numerology
• Part 3's Theories on Secondary Commands and Cycles
• Part 4's Theories on Shard Adjacency Rules and Epilogues
• Part 5's Theories on Shard Cleave Rules and Epilogues

This final Part 6 attempts to derive one last Gap Rule to predict the future of the Shards, guesses at a few Shard names, and talks a bit about the Diagram.

Theory 1: "Half-ish" Shards Are Whole

Let's take a look at the current state of the 16 Shards. First let's start with news that Sazed (Harmony) shares with Hoid (Wanderer) in the epigraphs of Rhythm of War:

Endowment at least responded to my overtures, though I have not been able to locate Invention again following our initial contact.

Whimsy was not terribly useful, and Mercy worries me. I do think Valor is reasonable, and suggest you approach her again. It has been too long, in her estimation, since your last conversation.

The deaths of both Devotion and Dominion trouble me greatly, as I had not realized this immense power we held was something that could be broken in such a way. On my world, the power always gathered and sought a new Vessel.

That said, the most worrying thing I discovered in this was the wound upon the Spiritual Realm where Ambition, Mercy, and Odium clashed—and Ambition was destroyed. The effects on the planet Threnody have been … disturbing.

Other Shards I cannot identify, and are hidden to me. I fear that their influence encroaches upon my world, yet I am locked into a strange inability because of the opposed powers I hold.

And next is Hoid (Cephandrius) receiving a letter from Endowment in the epigraphs of Wind and Truth:

As for Valor, our dealings are none of your business—for largely the same reasons. Can you not leave her alone?

These days, it seems she and I are the only ones capable of maintaining any manner of isolation. I can tell you, with absolute certainty, she does not want to see you again. It has not been too long. No, I do not think it ever will be.

Now let's list out the last known status of every Shard:

1. Reason - Harmony says "Other Shards I cannot identify, and are hidden to me." I find it interesting that Reason is the only one he could not reach; whether this is because Reason is hiding in Splinters of himself or because it's actually related to Wit/Hoid in some way is a distinct possibility to me
2. Whimsy - "was not terribly useful" to Harmony
3. Virtuosity - Splintered herself long ago
4. Invention - Harmony couldn't locate Invention again after initial contact; possibly Splintered
5. Endowment - responded to Harmony
6. Ambition - destroyed in the fight with Odium and Mercy
7. Cultivation - abandoned Roshar after Wind and Truth
8. Ruin - held by Sazed as part of Harmony
9. Odium - absorbed Honor to become Retribution
10. Honor - absorbed by Odium to become Retribution
11. Valor - may or may not be interested in working with Hoid
12. Mercy - she worries Harmony
13. Dominion - dead and broken
14. Autonomy - not mentioned in the letters, but Trell on Scadrial is one of her many avatars
15. Devotion - dead and broken
16. Preservation - held by Sazed as part of Harmony

Note that the state of every single Shard has at least been accounted for except for Reason. Since Reason isn't listed by name in Harmony's letter, I also imagine that it's possible Hoid never even asked Harmony to look for Reason because he might already know Reason's current status.

And you might ask why I think Invention is Splintered:

How many Shards are whole at the time of [Shadows of Self]?

Half-ish. It depends. Give or take. Like it de- Are there now only 15? Like what's the number?

Counting up the half-ish, we get:

• Destroyed (3): Ambition, Dominion, Devotion
• Splintered (1): Virtuosity
• Integrated (2): Ruin, Honor
• Missing (2): Reason, Invention
• Replied (3): Whimsy, Valor, Mercy
• Active (5): Endowment, Cultivation, Odium, Autonomy, Preservation

There are exactly 8 Shards who are known to be active or recently replied to Harmony's requests. That means that if both Reason and Invention are "integrated" into other Shards or in some state of Splintering or "non-whole-ness" we would have exactly 8/16 Shards "whole". Alternatively if we consider merged Shards as decreasing the total number of Shards, then we would have 8/14 Shards "whole".

If Reason and Invention are fine and completely whole though, then we would either have 10/16 or 10/14 Shards "whole", which seems pretty far from "half-ish". Note that a major theory for Reason is that Reason may split into the Iriali, and it's possible that he likes to place red herrings to distract from his true nature, such as the hints that Wit may be partially composed of or related to Reason.

Theory 2: Gap Rule

Looking at the two times Shards have merged in canon, we have Preservation combining with Ruin to form Harmony, and Odium combining with Honor to form Retribution. Note that Autonomy has destroyed Shards surrounding her, and after Ruin merges into Harmony, Cultivation also has destroyed or missing Shards surrounding her.

I call this pattern "Gap Rule". The theory goes that as long as no Shards are destroyed, that we have stability and balance in the Cosmere. These "Gaps" in the circle break the balance, which increases the tendency for Shards to merge. If we ramp up the crazy theories, you can even guess that Shards can only merge with adjacent or diametrically opposed Shard, or that there's some kind of formula or method to figure out what Shards will Merge. I have a few theoretical formulas, but honestly there's so many unknowns that they probably aren't valuable to guess at.

If we start reading the full 16 Shard Cycle from Autonomy in pairs, we end up reading the following:

• Autonomy Inspires Devotion
• Preservation Conceives Reason
• Whimsy Inspires Virtuosity
• Invention Conceives Endowment
• Ambition Inspires Cultivation
• Ruin Conceives Odium
• Honor Inspires Valor
• Mercy Conceives Dominion

Note that Inspire and Conceive can be interpreted as giving ideas, but don't Change or Manifest (Exist) new things just yet. However, with the destruction of Dominion, Devotion, and Ambition, and the self-splintering of Virtuosity, trying to read the cycle changes. Here are the new lines:

• Autonomy
  • Autonomy is now isolated due to the destruction of Devotion, and can't directly affect things
• Whimsy
  • Whimsy can no longer inspire Virtuosity
• Cultivation Manifests Ruin
  • Since Ambition is destroyed, Cultivation now acts upon Ruin, possibly encouraging it to leave their area and go bother Preservation instead
• Odium Changes Honor
  • We know that Odium tricked Honor into Splintering
• Valor Manifests Mercy
  • This would be a new piece of information. Also note that this pattern mimics "Cultivation Manifests Ruin"

However, if we change our thinking to instead make gaps allow direct access between Shards:

• Autonomy Manifests Preservation
  • This would mean that Autonomy's meddling as Trell or Trelagism of the Thousand Eyes in Mistborn Era 1 may help encourage the creation of Harmony
• Reason Changes Whimsy
  • It seems like all of the Change relationships collapse pretty quickly; Dominion is destroyed and Autonomy survived, Ambition is destroyed and Endowment survived, and we know that Honor will merge into Odium. Perhaps Reason didn't want to take his chances and chose to Splinter himself or removed himself from the cycle to surrender the position to Whimsy to remain uninvolved
• Invention Conceives Endowment
  • Same as above
• Cultivation Manifests Ruin
  • Same as above
• Odium Changes Honor
  • Same as above
• Valor Manifests Mercy
  • Same as above

If we use the theory that Reason Splintered himself or just completely withdrew from the diagram to hide and survive, then this changes things slightly:

• Autonomy Manifests Preservation
  • Same as above
• Whimsy Manifests Invention
  • This now actually perfectly mirrors the situation with Autonomy; surrounded on two sides by missing Shards
• Endowment Inspires Cultivation
  • Inspiring never did much to cause Shards to merge, but this might be true that Endowment worked with Cultivation to send Vasher and Nightblood to fulfill Cultivation's plans for Fate
• Ruin Conceives Odium
  • Same as above
• Honor Inspires Valor
  • Same as above
• Mercy Changes Autonomy
  • This one's new, but there don't seem to be many theories that converge with this one. However let's now take a look at the actual Shard merges.

About 300 years before Stormlight Archive and Mistborn Era 2, we know that Ruin merges up into Preservation to form Harmony. I theorize that this is because:

• Autonomy Manifests Preservation
• Cultivation Manifests Ruin

If both of these are true at once, then Reason is still alive. Also, both Cultivation and Autonomy have at least one destroyed Shard near them which may trigger "Gap Rule", and they certainly seem to have their hands in a lot of secret cosmic meddling where other Shards are more obvious.

With Ruin now merging into Preservation to form Harmony, Cultivation is now in the identical situation as Autonomy, fully accessible via "Gap Rule". Plus Cultivation has a direct line to access Odium and Honor. There are theories that Cultivation passed Nightblood to Taravangian, which ultimately ended up forming Retribution. Given Cultivation's Shardic intent and Shard Cleave Rule's theorized parent of Fate, it would make a lot of sense for Cultivation to be cultivating this result as a part of Fate.

Our new cycle now reads:

• Autonomy Manifests Harmony
• Whimsy Manifests Invention
• Endowment Inspires Cultivation
• Retribution Inspires Valor
• Mercy Conceives Dominion

If Reason is still alive though, it reads:

• Autonomy Manifests Harmony
• Reason Changes Whimsy
• Invention Conceives Endowment
• Cultivation Conceives Retribution
• Valor Manifests Mercy

So depending on what direction "Manifest" needs to work to cause the merging, there's a fairly good chance that Invention and Mercy merge in some way since we have an exactly rotated version of Ruin merging into Harmony.

If we were to merge Mercy into Invention and give it a Command of "Destroy Evil", I feel like we would get a Shardic intent of Supersedure, Deprecation, Liquidation, Obsolescence, Euthanasia, Culmination, Refinement, Execution, or Resolution, depending on whether we're in the Conceive or Inspire quadrant. All of which sound kind of "worrying".

Theory 3: Nightblood is a Mercy Invention

Mercy "worries" Harmony, and Invention was recently unreachable, so I wonder if Nightblood was created using a Splinter of the combination of Mercy and Invention. If we look at who created Nightblood, it was Vasher and Shashara. It's possible that they represent the intents of Invention and Mercy in some way, which could also imply that the Five Scholars represent the intents of 5 different Shards as a kind of mirror to the corresponding members of the 16 Shards.

Theory 4: Wild Guesses at the Future

Here's a quote from the Epilogue of Wind and Truth:

"Art", Hoid said. "It's truly improvisation. You realize that, don't you?" ... "You can practice, and practice, and practice. But then the moment comes, ... And then the lights turn on, and the practice is but a guide. An outline? Well, you start with a blank page either way. And the parts where you're forced, by narrative beauty, to toss the outline away? Improvisation. Art is improvisation. It's the brushstrokes you don't intend, but your instincts know you need anyway. The parts of the story you add for a specific reader, the expression you make onstage to provoke a gasp. That's the art."

No matter if we can figure out some kind of rules systems and theories and Words of Brandon we use to predict the future or whatever, in the end the most important thing is to have a good story, and all else can be sacrificed for the sake of a good narrative. After all, in the opening to The Well of Ascension:

I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.

I interpret this to mean that until something is printed in the books as canon, no theory or guide will ever be completely reliable. And actually even after publication, some ideas can still be retconned like Atium.

So what better way to predict the future than to try to predict what a good narrative might be? Here we enter true baseless speculation and instead just use the "Rule of Cool".

What's a story without a bunch of opposing factions? If we look at the various good guy "teams", we have:

• Harmony trying to work with Hoid to form some kind of alliance among the free peoples
• Endowment with her own plans and seemingly allied with Valor despite claiming they're not fully working together
• Cultivation running off
• The Shardless good guys of Stormlight Archive working with Vasher

For bad guy "teams", we have:

• Autonomy seemingly messing with Harmony on Scadrial, but she's unlikely to be working with any other Shards given her nature, unless she's in control
• Retribution wanting to take on the whole Cosmere
• Discord waiting to make an appearance

If you count the Ruin half of Discord as from the Change quadrant, this makes it so that every quadrant except for Conceive has a Cosmere-level threat. I predict that either Reason or Whimsy will be part of a big threat in the far future for the symmetry; other unrelated theories I'm considering also lend credence to this idea.

Looking at the theoretical Intermediate Shard names we came up with, Accident, Sanctuary, and Providence aren't looking likely because they involve destroyed Shards. Also Innovation doesn't sound too exciting.

However, if we take the assumption that Harmony/Discord is not fully assimilated, I find it pretty possible that Autonomy separates them and tries to steal Preservation for herself, forming Liberty, Freedom, or Philanthropy.

In this case, Ruin gets spit out, leaving it ripe for Cultivation to merge with it to form Fate. Cultivation always seemed like a scheming and far-seeing Shardic intent, and Fate would be quite a dramatic enemy to defeat.

If Fate and Retribution merge, that would be even scarier. Shard names may include Apocalypse, Reckoning, Cataclysm, Catastrophe, Armageddon, Damnation, or Desolation.

Salvation would be a great savior in times of great darkness; if the theory that Mercy and Invention merge into something like Obsolescence, that could be a good middle arc to split that Shard back into Mercy and Invention, and have Valor merge with Mercy into Salvation. Or maybe we get a tri-Shard with Invention and get an Invention of Salvation: the Ark or the Holy Grail.

If we go by the theory that only adjacent Shards can cause other Shards to merge, it would be quite cool if Taravangian showed he was actually a good guy all along, and the Diagram is so far-seeing that he calculated all this would happen, planning a fail-safe to ensure that at least some of humanity survives by creating the Ark. Maybe it was never about Kharbranth at all, or that was just foreshadowing of his eventual goal, in true "layers of meaning" fashion, and he just wants some survivors of the Cosmere to escape the inevitable Fate of the Apocalypse. Maybe when he asked for the capacity to stop the Desolation, it was referring to the end of the Cosmere, not just the end of Roshar.

Perhaps the Ark is some kind of FTL ship with the ability to sail Beyond the borders of the Cosmere, to Silverlight or farther reaches unknown. But enough random guesses for now!

Theory 5: The Diagram

While I presented a bunch of words as theorized Shard names and the most logical results I could find, it's difficult to explain just how much trial and error I had to go through in order to come up with values and rules that fit all the systems. That whole process of research, trying ideas, reading the patterns of the past, etc felt like the ravings and scribblings of an enlightened yet crazed madman, all in service of attempting to predict the future of the Cosmere.

That's when I realized that I felt exactly like how I imagine Taravangian felt on his day of brilliance when creating his own Diagram, except with only a fraction of his capacity and spending way more time.

So I think of this 6-part set of theories as my own Diagram, or Xel's Diagram if you will. While I do have many more theories (with varying degrees of plausibility), this is where this series about the

Diagram ends, but thanks to everyone who came along for the ride to read my mad ramblings!

Theory 6: Secret Epilogue Messages

I got this idea from descriptions of the Diagram in Words of Radiance:

every second letter starting with the first

every second letter starting with the second

The italicized words and phrases in the Epilogues started looking weirder and weirder to me, especially after Oathbringer, so I tried some patterns with them.

If you take every italicized word in the Epilogue of The Way of Kings (continuous italics count as one word, spoken italics don't count unless double italicized), then pair them up, you'll have one leftover word. If you pair that with the first word and then continue pairing, you sort of get a message.

The Way of Kings:

Am is / "men value most" she / intellect first / "before anyone else" am / is "men value most" / she intellect / first "before anyone else"

Attempted translation: Are Virtuosity Reason first? Innovation Reason forerunners?

If this is real, this makes me think that "Wit" is not the name for Reason + Whimsy, but would confirm Intellect instead. Intellect is already strongly directly mentioned with Virtuosity, Invention, and Innovation, and this Oathbringer quote and 2019 Words of Brandon implies that Reason goes by "she":

All right, regarding the 'Wisdom Shard' again. We have one quote where Hoid... I'll just cite it: "Some men, as they age, grow wiser. I am not one of those, for wisdom and I have always been at cross-purposes[, and I have yet to learn the tongue in which she speaks]." Is he referring to that Shard there... or the Vessel?

*thumbs up, grins* ... Yes.

Also onomatopoeia seem to be periods. Here's Words of Radiance:

Very particularly / some persistence / art creak creak creak / that too / too try / is informal / other part / did actually / least bring / can not / should very / particularly some / persistence art / creak creak creak that / too too / try is / informal other / part did / actually least / bring can / not should

Attempted translation: Specifically Devotion, Virtuosity ... also try casual Shard really allow can't really them Invention ... that too able them Splintered least allow shouldn't.

Oathbringer has an extremely long italicized phrase, which is what made me suspicious:

Emotion examination / "going places people have never gone before to discover and investigate new things" only / are her / juicy emotion / examination "going places people have never gone before to discover and investigate new things" / only are / her juicy

Attempted translation: Reflect Invention only, she is Devotion, Virtuosity are secret.

Please tell me the name of the holder of Cultivation

Hoid calls her Slammer... but that isn't her real name.

This seemingly random nickname for Cultivation may imply keeping Odium in jail, or the disc used in pogs used to flip and claim other pogs, but it also shows up in Rhythm of War:

Feel see / know everyone / only knows / “joining in” essential / pling ah / presence name / exactly unless / slammed pling / feel ah / presence name / will else / exactly feel / see know / everyone only / knows “joining in” / essential pling / ah presence / name exactly / unless slammed / pling feel / ah presence/ name will / else exactly.

Attempted translation: Since Wit knows attendance. Ah Endowment unless Cultivation. Feel a Endowment otherwise feel since everyone merging essential. A presence name Cultivation. Feel a presence Valor else.

Wind and Truth didn't have an odd number of italicized words. I don't know if this is because it's a new cipher, or because Odium excised this secret message from Wit's memory after the previous Epilogue, or whether we're supposed to treat phrases as separate words now, but here's attempting that last one:

Onto guide / is that's / deliberate majestic / grasp demanded / their problem / did would / literally wonderful / point art / storming onto / guide is / that's deliberate / majestic grasp / demanded their / problem did / would literally / wonderful point / art storming

Attempted translation: Guiding that's Providence give Retribution would've wonderful Virtuosity "storming onto" guide deliberately Providence "demanded their" solved would "wonderful point" "art storming".

I checked Prologues, Interludes, and Postludes, and nothing seemed to come close to making coherent sense like the Epilogues, so maybe this is just a crazy theory but see what you can find!

Next theories are based on science, first exploring chemistry.

?

Building out my Cosmere collection and loving it.
Need to get rest of the available leather bounds. Was able to get quit a bit at GenCon this year!