So much fun! I’m glad that you are re-entering the world of CZcams, without worrying about all of the wild graphics and amazing sound effects. Sometimes just sitting and chatting and nerding out is perfect.
Please dont worry about putting things out that are half-baked. Personally I just enjoy the quality of your videos and the way you present your thoughts! Whether theyre “correct” never really mattered.
Crackpot Theory Time: We presume that Dead eyes spren were created at the Recreance and that they chose it so maybe the sun being above the horizon relates to whatever they were trying to prevent by becoming dead eyes. Now that Radiants are returning (and maybe Adolin fixing deadeye spren in Maya), the sun is getting closer to the horizon to free that thing (Night Of Sorrows) again. The hole in this is that the sun in Shadesmar is Cosmere wide not just Roshar.
I like the idea of fleshing out half there theories as a series, but I don't think I have much idea where this could lead. The only thing that springs to mind is that we don't know exactly how humans escaped Ashyn to Roshar. A 'highway' through Shadesmar (perhaps directly between perpendicularities) could make sense.
There's a definite chance that escaping Roshar will be something people want to do in the future, I don't think it has a particularly positive future ha
I think that humans traveled from Ashyn to Roshar through the use of an unchained bond smith’s power( Ishar) used in tandem with multiple of whatever the Ashyn equivalent of an elsecaller was. This could probably allow for the transportation of thousands of humans all at once. Also I think Odium had a hand to play in it, as this ultimately did lead to war and death of honour.
The two big uses of "highway" here makes me really think about Sanderson saying that the key to the ending is in the first two books--what if you need both books to see it? See a connection that can only form with pieces of context from both books, but which cannot be seen while looking at just one. Also I'm really curious to see how the leatherbound decides to add color to each of the chapter icons, and whether that small additional element can at all help us decipher their meanings
Great work my friend. I absolutely love all things Sanderson! I haven't listened to all of his works...I only do audible these days as I'm a cancer patient and love listening to books during my treatments... I have listened to all of this particular series. The books are so damn big and there's so much going on, it's easy to forget a lot of the details you're expanding on. Big props to u for putting ur thoughts and theories together in this format. I find that I go back and listen to the last book right before the new one drops so everything is fresh in my head. Keep up the great work as you're helping me keep things in perspective so I don't feel so lost when the next one drops. Lastly, with all the garbage coming out of Hollywood these days, I'm so over the MCU. Why haven't they made any of this man's works into a movie yet?! I'd love to see Vin and Kaladin on the big screen! Thanks again and keep the vids coming sir! 😊
My attempt to piece the puzzle together :) In Secret History, souls stretch towards the sun before going towards the beyond. It makes sense that the point on the horizon represents the Spiritual Realm or the Beyond. My theory is that, if Odium wins in SA5, Dalinar and some people of Roshar will not go to the Beyond/Spiritual Realm when they die, but they will instead become Fused. The sun is not visible because they are shut off from the Spiritual Realm. This is relevant to the Recreance because they will stop being Knights Radiant. And if some Knight Radiant have to abandon Roshar to escape this fate, they will have to abandon their oaths to sever their connection to Honor's Investiture (Secret Project #4 is relevant here). The clouds remind me of Ruin's investiture appearing as black mist in the Cognitive Realm. I think some of Honor's investiture does not return to the Spiritual Realm because Honor's is splintered and appears as clouds on Shadesmar. A Highway to the Sun might refer to the Human Fused being reconnected to Honor in the second part of the Stormlight Archive and gaining access to the Spiritual Realm again TLDR: Odium will seal off Roshar in SA5. Honor's investiture will become a highway for people to move off Roshar, or gain access to the Spiritual Realm in SA6-10. PS: we see Skybreakers off world after SA5, but that would be possible as the Skybreakers are on Odium's side.
Oh, and why the Spiritual Realm appears like a sun? Because a mass of investiture is stuck between the Cognitive and the Spiritual Realm (Dominion & Devotion). Investiture glows in the Cognitive Realm, and the two shards' investiture is so bright it can be seen from both Roshar and Scadrial :)
Dead eye spren spiritual essence heading to the spiritual realm out of the cognitive? That whole chunk of investiture from the dead shard(s?) killed off by odium? Who knows? That’s what’s so good about your channel :). Point is Christian this is 100% the best way to return to videos, classy presentation as always, engaging, well done sir. You could tie in your span read questions from the podcast into this video series too. For example here’s some future theory question for book 5: shinovar is so “earth” like, and doesn’t have spren, because of the shins Connection to their homeland, Ishar moved them there from Ashyn when their surgebinding shenanigans destroyed their home land, the ones that wanted to continue to do that went off and lived in Roshar, the spiritual ones that didn’t formed shinovar and using their connection found Cultivation, creating what ashyn, and possibly roshar, looked like before honour and surgebinding took over? Honour, the heralds, spren and odiums parshendi fight on to till the recreance. Crackpot, crazy I know, but I’m looking forward to more of these vids mate 10/10
Im so glad you have a leather-bound now! It looks amazing in your videos! One of the things ive thought the 'sun' could be is the body of Honor. My stronger and more recent thoughts are that its the cognitive manifestation of the Tranquine Halls. i think this is different from the Beyond and could be a separate sub-realm, like the cognitive realm of Ashyn, or shadesmar level 2. The sun cold be a left over reminent of the portal that allowed the humans to escape to roshar too.
Hey my Goodman. Your videos are so fantastic. You’re one of the only stormlight CZcamsrs I can find that actually talks about new interesting theories and are just a likeable personality. I know you don’t get millions of views but the people that do watch honestly think you deserve more viewers and I can’t wait to see the destination of your journey my Goodman.
Personally I love these open theories, I think they are more fun as we can think on it more. Let em loose! Don't worry about cracking a theory for a video, it's fun to keep it open ended
This is great, it definitely inspired me to go back and read this chapter again. The death rattle at the start of A Highway to the Sun goes, “I’m standing over the body of a brother. I'm weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?” This is completely your of nowhere theory, but I think this might be hinting at Adolin’s death and it could be from either Renarin or Kaladin’s perspective. Or if your in a glass half full kinda mood, it could be Kaladin standing over Moash 🤞
Awesome video man loved it. Feel free to keep releasing little ideas even if they arnt complete. And stop apologizing about when you upload. We are just happy to get what we do.
The highway was a triangle because Honor, Cultivation, and Odium all existed. The sun in Shadesmar is like the life force of Roshar. When all three of the shards were there, it was a stalemate and the essence of Roshar was protected from any shard having direct claim on it. Rhythm of War and the vibrations should have pinged your attention. Not just that, but the resonance and shattering of the plains. both Cultivation and Odium make claims on Roshar now so their “highways” actually go into the sun. I think this is what drew Hoid there to begin with. Hoid was able to become a Knight Radiant only because the recreance happened, breaking that stalemate, then Dalinar becoming the next shard without the stalemated DMZ blocking him. After the battle of champions, the new terms for Roshar will be set. Then the clouds in Shadesmar and the Sun of Shadesmar will reflect the “deals” made (for the clouds) and the state and health of Roshar as the sun. Those highways going into that essence? That IS the spirit realm where the essence of the planet lies. And those highways are how people planet jump. I don’t think Hoid COULD get to Roshar before the recreance because of this. Source: probably all made up. It’s just my headcanon that you could probably poke holes into. I have only listened to the books twice and never seen the chapter arts or illustrations.
Well, let's speculate! What if the sun represents Ba-Ado-Mishram (hence the recreance reference, hence clouds towards it- all spren and humans connected to it), and it counting down to... One of two, I'm not ready to commit: 1. Mishram release 2. Mishram imprisonment becoming eternal, which means she can't be release and the recreance effects will be permanent. Or maybe the Shadesmar' sun is just where the prison is.
love your vids and glad to see you coming back! i have a thought about the highway episode in TWOK. if i`m remembering correctly we never fighurded out were that chapter took place, were in roshar is feversrone keep. now, maybe i`m going way of but could it be in the shadezmar sun? meybe the sun is some kind of huge Perpendicularity?
Love the videos and the podcast. Great job with both, man. Are there any future plans for uploading full video recordings of Lost in Roshar episodes to CZcams? I think it would be quite entertaining to be able to watch you guys have those conversations .
This is so strange that I am just now seeing this video. I finished Rhythm of War last week and have been re reading The Way of Kings and the chapter “a highway to the sun” did stand out to me. With the knights radiant returning to the keep they all seem to moving as a unit or a group all sort of connected. It felt like they were being described in a manner similar to the Parshendi when they fight. When the Radiants start breaking their oaths only then do they seem to act as individuals and don’t have any sort of unity to their actions. Now we also know that the trapping of a certain Spren during the false desolation seemed to be the catalyst for the day of Recreance and the reduction of the Parsh into a slave caste. Humanity abandoned their original planet because the use of Surges led to its destruction and Odium wants to use humanity to conquer the cosmere, I believe he states something about the other planets discovering surges. This has been very unorganized but I’m wondering if the use of surges was possible on the human world without Spren, only the heralds could use them without Spren on Roshar and perhaps the sun in shadesmar is a black hole or some entropic force that is growing as the Spren are used to channel the surges for humanity, that discovery being the reason why the Spren agreed to break their oaths. The clouds in shadesmar stealing towards the “Sun” could be matter from shadesmar being drawn into the black hole.
I am rereading Rhythm of War and stumbled onto something that might help with this theory? Obvious spoilers for if you haven't read it. In chapter 89 Voices of Light Raboniel and Navani talk about other worlds. Below is the snippet in question: "Could... I visit them" Navani Asked. "These other worlds?" "Likely--though I would stay away from Braize. You'd have to get through the storm to travel there anyway." "The Everstorm?" Raboniel hummed to an amused rhythm. "No, no, Navani. You can't travel to Braize in the Physical Realm. That would take... Well, I have no idea how long.... (cutting out a little)... One instead travels to the other worlds through Shadesmar. But again stay away from Braize. Even if you could get through the barrier storm, the place is barren devoid of life... (cutting out some more.)" She is confirming there is a different storm than the Everstorm and it is implied it is in Shadesmar near the border of Braize. Maybe the chaotic clouds in Yasnah's icon is the storm in shadesmar? Maybe this storm is let loose and it ravages Shadesmar like the Everstorm is ravaging the physical realm Just some ideas on where this theory could go (no further research done on this): Could a third storm be ravaging in the Spiritual realm? If all 3 sync up it would be catastrophic? Just thin-foiling this up, seems like a cool direction to me. I remember vaguely that Odium was making a storm, and it helped a lot of voidspren cross before the everstorm was released or something? Was this storm in Shadesmar the actually storm and not the Everstorm? It would seem like a Brando thing to do to add another storm secretly and then on rereads people can see that it was not the Everstorm that was mentioned in some spots. Hope this could help with theorizing. I literally stumbled across this 10 minutes and thought back to your video, cheers!
I really enjoyed this theory video and how you connected the pieces, nice work. I do have a suggestion, I feel like right now your thumbnails for LiD content and LiR content are somewhat hard to tell apart. I feel like if you want to juggle both audiences you could make the thumbnail styles more visually distinct, e.g. maybe add a more visually apparent corner graphic to your podcast content, or funamentally redesign the thumbnails so that maybe LiR has a minimalist design with episode numbers, and the LiD thumbnails exclusively use the nice artwork. Maybe it is not a big deal, but I feel it's worth consideration. Thanks for the awesome content.
Super valid point, thanks for sharing. I may need to do some sort of redesign like you’ve outlined here if the videos keep flowing. Thanks for your support!
Small thought: but when I think of “highway” and “first 2 books”, my mind goes straight to King Nohadon and his journey along a “long road” to urithuru.
Adolin thinks the shadesmaar clouds look like roads in the sky in Oathbringer chapter 87. I think they’re gonna end up walking on the clouds all the way to the “sun” because water in shadesmar is actually rock
maybe the sun in roshar is a gateway to the rest of the cosmere. would be ironic seeing as how odium wants to escape and the means to do so is so close. what also kind of makes this cool is when the sun is on the horizon it looks like a portal you could walk too.
I think the sun going below the horizon inshadesmar is probably something like a deadline between odium and honor because as Shards that have been around so long would know shadesmar 'sun' cycles etc.
Those Shadesmar clouds always bugged me, they are definitely of some sort of plot or backstory related purpose. But I didn't notice the significance of "the sun approaches the horizon". Which makes me think is the Shadesmar sun something like our "Doomsday Clock" and the closer it comes to setting, the closer we are to the end of (Human? Singer? Shard? All three?) cognitive activity on Roshar... and then we have to think are the "clouds" merely pointing at it or *moving* it closer to the horizon, like giant cognitive levers...
All of your content is so good ! Keep going and congratulations on making. Videos even when ur in that spot! I am a Christian I love LORD JESUS- And your videos have taken my mind of anxieties and brought me joy! Thank u!
Love it! Keep the theories coming! there's a fun one I love and subscribe to about Adolin, born under the sign of the 9, becoming Odium's champion. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
BTW, abut the "sun" (spoilers to mistborn era 2 and secret history) i have been concting dots for some time now and im pretty sure its not fixed in place, my main proof is from scadrial, in secret history kelsiar describes the sun as in the middle of the sky but in era 2 it's described as "just below the horizon", assuming its the same sun everywere it means that by the end of book 5 the sun crossed the horizon. I personally don't yet understand why but someone here may be able to connect dots between the 2 theories
Now that you mention it, why is death in the cognitive realm on Roshar different from how it is depicted on Scadrial in SH? There is no stretching toward a single point.
Forgive me if this has already been theorised. But the chapter picture of the sun and clouds, does it look to anyone else like a humanoid outline? If we're expecting this to be revealed in book 10, could this possibly be prophesising the reforming of adonalsium? In the video you mentioned this is featured in both Shallan and Jasnahs chapter perhaps if these two along with maybe a couple bondsmiths were invested with great power or dawnshards they could reform the shards into a whole again?
Great initiative to start up again! On many an occasion, I've wanted to hear more details about the theories you tease us with in Lost in Roshar :) After watching your video and having just finished re-re-listened to Oathbringer earlier today, I got a distinct feeling that "the sun approaches the horizon" could be referring to Odium escaping whatever prison it was Honour put it in (maybe he imprisoned Odium in Shadesmar?). And the fact that Odium escaping its prison is actually visualized in Shadesmar as a sun approaching the literal horizon?? I mean, in Dalinar's visions he (and Venli on one occasion) talk about the "intense heat" radiating off Odium, a common trait that stars (like the sun) share, so maybe it's not too far off? *crackpot mode disabled*
Brandon was was quite blatant about acknowledging the beyond in Mistborn era one... Just not saying anything much about it... Beyond characters stretching out and going there. Sazed even acknowledged some sort of communication to there....
Isiah 43:19 New King James Version Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert
So much fun! I’m glad that you are re-entering the world of CZcams, without worrying about all of the wild graphics and amazing sound effects. Sometimes just sitting and chatting and nerding out is perfect.
Please dont worry about putting things out that are half-baked. Personally I just enjoy the quality of your videos and the way you present your thoughts! Whether theyre “correct” never really mattered.
I appreciate that, thank you!
Crackpot Theory Time:
We presume that Dead eyes spren were created at the Recreance and that they chose it so maybe the sun being above the horizon relates to whatever they were trying to prevent by becoming dead eyes. Now that Radiants are returning (and maybe Adolin fixing deadeye spren in Maya), the sun is getting closer to the horizon to free that thing (Night Of Sorrows) again. The hole in this is that the sun in Shadesmar is Cosmere wide not just Roshar.
I like the idea of fleshing out half there theories as a series, but I don't think I have much idea where this could lead. The only thing that springs to mind is that we don't know exactly how humans escaped Ashyn to Roshar. A 'highway' through Shadesmar (perhaps directly between perpendicularities) could make sense.
There's a definite chance that escaping Roshar will be something people want to do in the future, I don't think it has a particularly positive future ha
I think that humans traveled from Ashyn to Roshar through the use of an unchained bond smith’s power( Ishar) used in tandem with multiple of whatever the Ashyn equivalent of an elsecaller was. This could probably allow for the transportation of thousands of humans all at once. Also I think Odium had a hand to play in it, as this ultimately did lead to war and death of honour.
Pretty sure it was confirmed that they did it with Bondsmith-supercharged Elsecalling
The two big uses of "highway" here makes me really think about Sanderson saying that the key to the ending is in the first two books--what if you need both books to see it? See a connection that can only form with pieces of context from both books, but which cannot be seen while looking at just one. Also I'm really curious to see how the leatherbound decides to add color to each of the chapter icons, and whether that small additional element can at all help us decipher their meanings
This is great! I definitely think the clouds in Shadesmar are significant. Great theory
I always thought the odd sun in shadesmar is the shard of Honor. It appears like a sun because it is a high amount of investiture.
Isn't the sun like that in all the cognitive realms, though? Maybe not...
i thought the odd sun was "the beyond" where souls go after they die.
Great work my friend. I absolutely love all things Sanderson! I haven't listened to all of his works...I only do audible these days as I'm a cancer patient and love listening to books during my treatments... I have listened to all of this particular series. The books are so damn big and there's so much going on, it's easy to forget a lot of the details you're expanding on. Big props to u for putting ur thoughts and theories together in this format. I find that I go back and listen to the last book right before the new one drops so everything is fresh in my head. Keep up the great work as you're helping me keep things in perspective so I don't feel so lost when the next one drops.
Lastly, with all the garbage coming out of Hollywood these days, I'm so over the MCU. Why haven't they made any of this man's works into a movie yet?! I'd love to see Vin and Kaladin on the big screen!
Thanks again and keep the vids coming sir! 😊
My attempt to piece the puzzle together :)
In Secret History, souls stretch towards the sun before going towards the beyond. It makes sense that the point on the horizon represents the Spiritual Realm or the Beyond.
My theory is that, if Odium wins in SA5, Dalinar and some people of Roshar will not go to the Beyond/Spiritual Realm when they die, but they will instead become Fused. The sun is not visible because they are shut off from the Spiritual Realm. This is relevant to the Recreance because they will stop being Knights Radiant. And if some Knight Radiant have to abandon Roshar to escape this fate, they will have to abandon their oaths to sever their connection to Honor's Investiture (Secret Project #4 is relevant here).
The clouds remind me of Ruin's investiture appearing as black mist in the Cognitive Realm. I think some of Honor's investiture does not return to the Spiritual Realm because Honor's is splintered and appears as clouds on Shadesmar. A Highway to the Sun might refer to the Human Fused being reconnected to Honor in the second part of the Stormlight Archive and gaining access to the Spiritual Realm again
TLDR: Odium will seal off Roshar in SA5. Honor's investiture will become a highway for people to move off Roshar, or gain access to the Spiritual Realm in SA6-10.
PS: we see Skybreakers off world after SA5, but that would be possible as the Skybreakers are on Odium's side.
Oh, and why the Spiritual Realm appears like a sun? Because a mass of investiture is stuck between the Cognitive and the Spiritual Realm (Dominion & Devotion). Investiture glows in the Cognitive Realm, and the two shards' investiture is so bright it can be seen from both Roshar and Scadrial :)
Wow you put a lot of thought into this, most of it does sound pretty plausible!
Appreciate it ^^@@elisaarends7276
Dead eye spren spiritual essence heading to the spiritual realm out of the cognitive? That whole chunk of investiture from the dead shard(s?) killed off by odium? Who knows? That’s what’s so good about your channel :). Point is Christian this is 100% the best way to return to videos, classy presentation as always, engaging, well done sir. You could tie in your span read questions from the podcast into this video series too. For example here’s some future theory question for book 5: shinovar is so “earth” like, and doesn’t have spren, because of the shins Connection to their homeland, Ishar moved them there from Ashyn when their surgebinding shenanigans destroyed their home land, the ones that wanted to continue to do that went off and lived in Roshar, the spiritual ones that didn’t formed shinovar and using their connection found Cultivation, creating what ashyn, and possibly roshar, looked like before honour and surgebinding took over? Honour, the heralds, spren and odiums parshendi fight on to till the recreance. Crackpot, crazy I know, but I’m looking forward to more of these vids mate 10/10
Pumped to see you back! Cheers Christian!
Thanks man!
You’ve gone mad!! But I’m right there with ya!
Im so glad you have a leather-bound now! It looks amazing in your videos!
One of the things ive thought the 'sun' could be is the body of Honor.
My stronger and more recent thoughts are that its the cognitive manifestation of the Tranquine Halls. i think this is different from the Beyond and could be a separate sub-realm, like the cognitive realm of Ashyn, or shadesmar level 2.
The sun cold be a left over reminent of the portal that allowed the humans to escape to roshar too.
IMO this is the best theory you've ever come up with and I've been convinced there's at least SOME meaning to it since you thought it up.
Loved the video, loved the theory! Please keep it going!
I love this theory! Nothing to add to it unfortunately, but glad to see you back in the Stormlight world :)
There might be something related to traveling towards the sun in shadesmar. Thank you for sharing your theory. I am going to think about this one.
Hey my Goodman. Your videos are so fantastic. You’re one of the only stormlight CZcamsrs I can find that actually talks about new interesting theories and are just a likeable personality. I know you don’t get millions of views but the people that do watch honestly think you deserve more viewers and I can’t wait to see the destination of your journey my Goodman.
Personally I love these open theories, I think they are more fun as we can think on it more. Let em loose! Don't worry about cracking a theory for a video, it's fun to keep it open ended
You have such a calming voice! I could listen to your theories all day. Haha.
Welcome back Christian! I'm so bad at theorizing, but I love hearing other people theorize. Haha
Same!
This is great, it definitely inspired me to go back and read this chapter again.
The death rattle at the start of A Highway to the Sun goes,
“I’m standing over the body of a brother. I'm weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?”
This is completely your of nowhere theory, but I think this might be hinting at Adolin’s death and it could be from either Renarin or Kaladin’s perspective.
Or if your in a glass half full kinda mood, it could be Kaladin standing over Moash 🤞
So glad you're back! I have really enjoyed your videos.
Thanks!
I’m definitely going to have to reread that part! I love hearing this unfinished theory
just finished RoW and your videos have been so fun to look into.
Thanks!
So excited for Stormlight 5 and love this videos as always
Awesome video man loved it. Feel free to keep releasing little ideas even if they arnt complete. And stop apologizing about when you upload. We are just happy to get what we do.
THE BOY IS BACK LETS GOOOO
Love this. We want YOU, not the slam dunks
love the video idea! great way to connect with audience too.
Great stuff man! I'm almost caught up again on Lost in Roshar podcast, love the content!
The highway was a triangle because Honor, Cultivation, and Odium all existed.
The sun in Shadesmar is like the life force of Roshar.
When all three of the shards were there, it was a stalemate and the essence of Roshar was protected from any shard having direct claim on it.
Rhythm of War and the vibrations should have pinged your attention. Not just that, but the resonance and shattering of the plains.
both Cultivation and Odium make claims on Roshar now so their “highways” actually go into the sun.
I think this is what drew Hoid there to begin with.
Hoid was able to become a Knight Radiant only because the recreance happened, breaking that stalemate, then Dalinar becoming the next shard without the stalemated DMZ blocking him.
After the battle of champions, the new terms for Roshar will be set.
Then the clouds in Shadesmar and the Sun of Shadesmar will reflect the “deals” made (for the clouds) and the state and health of Roshar as the sun.
Those highways going into that essence? That IS the spirit realm where the essence of the planet lies.
And those highways are how people planet jump.
I don’t think Hoid COULD get to Roshar before the recreance because of this.
Source: probably all made up. It’s just my headcanon that you could probably poke holes into. I have only listened to the books twice and never seen the chapter arts or illustrations.
I do enjoy your videos very much.
Well, let's speculate!
What if the sun represents Ba-Ado-Mishram (hence the recreance reference, hence clouds towards it- all spren and humans connected to it), and it counting down to... One of two, I'm not ready to commit: 1. Mishram release 2. Mishram imprisonment becoming eternal, which means she can't be release and the recreance effects will be permanent.
Or maybe the Shadesmar' sun is just where the prison is.
Hands down the best Stormlight channel on yt
That’s huge praise, thank you!
love your vids and glad to see you coming back! i have a thought about the highway episode in TWOK. if i`m remembering correctly we never fighurded out were that chapter took place, were in roshar is feversrone keep. now, maybe i`m going way of but could it be in the shadezmar sun? meybe the sun is some kind of huge Perpendicularity?
Love the videos and the podcast. Great job with both, man. Are there any future plans for uploading full video recordings of Lost in Roshar episodes to CZcams? I think it would be quite entertaining to be able to watch you guys have those conversations .
There is a visual upgrade in the works, jury is still out whether we do full video recordings. I hear you though!
This video rocks. Style, and theory. Can’t wait for more to come!
This is so strange that I am just now seeing this video. I finished Rhythm of War last week and have been re reading The Way of Kings and the chapter “a highway to the sun” did stand out to me. With the knights radiant returning to the keep they all seem to moving as a unit or a group all sort of connected. It felt like they were being described in a manner similar to the Parshendi when they fight. When the Radiants start breaking their oaths only then do they seem to act as individuals and don’t have any sort of unity to their actions. Now we also know that the trapping of a certain Spren during the false desolation seemed to be the catalyst for the day of Recreance and the reduction of the Parsh into a slave caste. Humanity abandoned their original planet because the use of Surges led to its destruction and Odium wants to use humanity to conquer the cosmere, I believe he states something about the other planets discovering surges. This has been very unorganized but I’m wondering if the use of surges was possible on the human world without Spren, only the heralds could use them without Spren on Roshar and perhaps the sun in shadesmar is a black hole or some entropic force that is growing as the Spren are used to channel the surges for humanity, that discovery being the reason why the Spren agreed to break their oaths. The clouds in shadesmar stealing towards the “Sun” could be matter from shadesmar being drawn into the black hole.
I am rereading Rhythm of War and stumbled onto something that might help with this theory? Obvious spoilers for if you haven't read it.
In chapter 89 Voices of Light Raboniel and Navani talk about other worlds. Below is the snippet in question:
"Could... I visit them" Navani Asked. "These other worlds?"
"Likely--though I would stay away from Braize. You'd have to get through the storm to travel there anyway."
"The Everstorm?"
Raboniel hummed to an amused rhythm. "No, no, Navani. You can't travel to Braize in the Physical Realm. That would take... Well, I have no idea how long.... (cutting out a little)... One instead travels to the other worlds through Shadesmar. But again stay away from Braize. Even if you could get through the barrier storm, the place is barren devoid of life... (cutting out some more.)"
She is confirming there is a different storm than the Everstorm and it is implied it is in Shadesmar near the border of Braize. Maybe the chaotic clouds in Yasnah's icon is the storm in shadesmar? Maybe this storm is let loose and it ravages Shadesmar like the Everstorm is ravaging the physical realm
Just some ideas on where this theory could go (no further research done on this):
Could a third storm be ravaging in the Spiritual realm? If all 3 sync up it would be catastrophic? Just thin-foiling this up, seems like a cool direction to me.
I remember vaguely that Odium was making a storm, and it helped a lot of voidspren cross before the everstorm was released or something? Was this storm in Shadesmar the actually storm and not the Everstorm? It would seem like a Brando thing to do to add another storm secretly and then on rereads people can see that it was not the Everstorm that was mentioned in some spots.
Hope this could help with theorizing. I literally stumbled across this 10 minutes and thought back to your video, cheers!
I really enjoyed this theory video and how you connected the pieces, nice work. I do have a suggestion, I feel like right now your thumbnails for LiD content and LiR content are somewhat hard to tell apart. I feel like if you want to juggle both audiences you could make the thumbnail styles more visually distinct, e.g. maybe add a more visually apparent corner graphic to your podcast content, or funamentally redesign the thumbnails so that maybe LiR has a minimalist design with episode numbers, and the LiD thumbnails exclusively use the nice artwork. Maybe it is not a big deal, but I feel it's worth consideration. Thanks for the awesome content.
Super valid point, thanks for sharing. I may need to do some sort of redesign like you’ve outlined here if the videos keep flowing. Thanks for your support!
Small thought: but when I think of “highway” and “first 2 books”, my mind goes straight to King Nohadon and his journey along a “long road” to urithuru.
Adolin thinks the shadesmaar clouds look like roads in the sky in Oathbringer chapter 87.
I think they’re gonna end up walking on the clouds all the way to the “sun” because water in shadesmar is actually rock
Finally found my people - good content
Cheers!
maybe the sun in roshar is a gateway to the rest of the cosmere. would be ironic seeing as how odium wants to escape and the means to do so is so close. what also kind of makes this cool is when the sun is on the horizon it looks like a portal you could walk too.
I think you should callthisseries "the diagram"
I think the sun going below the horizon inshadesmar is probably something like a deadline between odium and honor because as Shards that have been around so long would know shadesmar 'sun' cycles etc.
Those Shadesmar clouds always bugged me, they are definitely of some sort of plot or backstory related purpose. But I didn't notice the significance of "the sun approaches the horizon". Which makes me think is the Shadesmar sun something like our "Doomsday Clock" and the closer it comes to setting, the closer we are to the end of (Human? Singer? Shard? All three?) cognitive activity on Roshar... and then we have to think are the "clouds" merely pointing at it or *moving* it closer to the horizon, like giant cognitive levers...
Welp, guess it's time to listen to all 4 audiobooks again ... I'll check back with you in about 200 hours
All of your content is so good ! Keep going and congratulations on making. Videos even when ur in that spot! I am a Christian I love LORD JESUS- And your videos have taken my mind of anxieties and brought me joy! Thank u!
kudos for actually getting content out lol keep persevering 👍
Love it! Keep the theories coming! there's a fun one I love and subscribe to about Adolin, born under the sign of the 9, becoming Odium's champion. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
The front page of 17th shard has a depiction eerily similar to what you are describing . . .
Woo, Stormlight content!
And the night shall reign for the choice of honour is life.
The "sun" could be Braize, and the "highways" could be what humans used to travel to Roshar.
BTW, abut the "sun" (spoilers to mistborn era 2 and secret history) i have been concting dots for some time now and im pretty sure its not fixed in place, my main proof is from scadrial, in secret history kelsiar describes the sun as in the middle of the sky but in era 2 it's described as "just below the horizon", assuming its the same sun everywere it means that by the end of book 5 the sun crossed the horizon. I personally don't yet understand why but someone here may be able to connect dots between the 2 theories
I mean, its a cosmere wide situation not just something in roshar
Now that you mention it, why is death in the cognitive realm on Roshar different from how it is depicted on Scadrial in SH? There is no stretching toward a single point.
You have such a great voice.
Forgive me if this has already been theorised. But the chapter picture of the sun and clouds, does it look to anyone else like a humanoid outline? If we're expecting this to be revealed in book 10, could this possibly be prophesising the reforming of adonalsium?
In the video you mentioned this is featured in both Shallan and Jasnahs chapter perhaps if these two along with maybe a couple bondsmiths were invested with great power or dawnshards they could reform the shards into a whole again?
Perhaps the sun represents a portal to the tranquiline halls
Great initiative to start up again! On many an occasion, I've wanted to hear more details about the theories you tease us with in Lost in Roshar :)
After watching your video and having just finished re-re-listened to Oathbringer earlier today, I got a distinct feeling that "the sun approaches the horizon" could be referring to Odium escaping whatever prison it was Honour put it in (maybe he imprisoned Odium in Shadesmar?). And the fact that Odium escaping its prison is actually visualized in Shadesmar as a sun approaching the literal horizon?? I mean, in Dalinar's visions he (and Venli on one occasion) talk about the "intense heat" radiating off Odium, a common trait that stars (like the sun) share, so maybe it's not too far off? *crackpot mode disabled*
Brandon was was quite blatant about acknowledging the beyond in Mistborn era one... Just not saying anything much about it... Beyond characters stretching out and going there. Sazed even acknowledged some sort of communication to there....
Ps I havnt read any of
The books and I love watching your videos! Ur awesome! What a beautiful mind u havw
Jesus is LORD!
Nobody really wants slam dunk theories anyway! Who wants it spoiled. Give me those tin hat 2% chance theories over the 99% any day!
Aeone lines from Yumi?
Do you post on 17th shard? If so what’s your handle?
iirc Sandersons wife Emily picks the chapter titels for the stomlight books
I'm not very good at putting together theories. I just read the books and take things as they come. I like to hear other people's theories though.
Sounds like our boy here has himself a bad case of Rothfuss syndrome. :)
shock
Isiah 43:19
New King James Version
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert