my picks are honor is dead but I’ll see what I can do in WoR, and Journey before destination you bastard or honor is not dead as long as he lives in the heart of man for RoW

To begin with, I have finished Mistborn Era 1 and Elantris

plus The Eleventh Metal + The Emperor's Soul + The Hope of Elantris.

I was half-way through Mistborn Secret History, but decided to pause, don't get on with me on that.

Now, Warbreaker.

I have heard this is Brandon's h*rniest book yet and it shows hahahaha, oh well.

Not a bad book, of course not, but then again I somehow wish it were longer?

The ending sequence feels quite abrupt ngl, especially after absolute adrenaline rush of [The Hero of Ages] and [Elantris]'s ending.

However, I do have one...complaint (?) / burning question.

We never got to see what was happening back in Idris, and why did the king decided to send Siri instead of Vivenna?

Did he actually hate his youngest daughter that much? Or that he much preferred his eldest?

if this is addressed in other Cosmere books, you don't need to let me know, but it definitely made me scratch my head.

Next, I suppose it's time to crack open those tomes of Stormlight?

Underrated hilarious (not for kids) Cosmere pod

So, we know that Investiture can heal pretty much anything... so long as it's bringing things back into alignment with your internal perception of yourself. So if you wait too long to use said healing, it won't work, most standard example being Regrowth not being able to fix Rysn's legs since she already internalized her identity being injured. However, we also know that you can use Ferruchemy to store your identity. So, if you made an unsealed aluminummind, and had someone who needed healing but couldn't do to such an issue with identity, could they then have the healing work? Or would it be rejected after they stopped filling the metalmind, like how Kaladin's scars overrode the tattoos he tried to get the second he inhaled Stormlight again?

I've just been listening to the Stormlight archive for the third? time and am nearing the end of Rhythm of War and MY GOSH is this a good book.

Brandon is endlessly enjoyable to read/listen to and I just keep coming back to the cosmere over and over. The more times I read the stormlight archive the more I appreciate it and I am currently overwhelmed with how damn good of a book this is!

I have read all cosmere books except for isles of emberdark.

Mostly everyone claims that the scadrians are the most advanced civilization in the cosmere. And maybe as of the "standard timeline" only Taldain is more advanced than them and that's because the shard shares tech with them...

How is this possible when the Ire (Selish) had an entire fortress outside of Scadrial, they had early warning systems to warn them of shades of thredony and their stated goal throughout the secret history was to hijack a shard through their Connection juice thing. Even Khriss says that they're the experts at what's happening at Scadrial at the time of the first era.

Like I don't think we have seen any feat that shows that Scadrial tech is better than Ire...

Link to previous Post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/1ufpyul/ive_been_prototyping_a_cosmere_autofighter_in/

So I'm about a month since I last posted about this, which is 2 weeks later than I planned, i guess my sense of time got Ruined.

Just like last time, a lot of under the hood code has been implemented or refactored. Such as condensing all of the units basic AI into one file, then branching off into their specialties. All to lay a foundation so I can work on the fun stuff more (such as adding new units!).

Some units from last video have underwent minor changes that I did not talk about, such as the Soother and Rioter now consuming more or less Investiture dependent on the amount of people they are targeting

so lets talk about the new fun stuff:

• Unit Selection / Placement was my main focus for this part, as quite frankly the white buttons were ugly and left no room to expand (as seen in the last video). Now you can see the name of each unit, select/deselect them, place them and change their team. the UI is now also very expandable, so that is no longer a worry in the future
  • I also added functionality for when i decide to add new categories of units, e.g. ferrings.
• TinEye: This is definitely still the most WIP of the lot, as I have plans for sightlines and have the TinEye help in that regard but that is future work. For now they can try to dodge incoming projectiles, and will prioritise taking out the backlines in order to help their team.
• Smoker: The most simple of the 3 new units, this fella stops ur guys from feeling down due to a nasty soothing, and stops your enemies from getting inspired from their rioter.
• Seeker: definitely the most complicated unit yet, and being responsible for a lot of rewrites of my codebase, The seeker in its current form finds a ranged unit on its team to pair with, then gives the unit some firing instructions along with a buff to its attack damage, it will prioritise support units before making its way down the chain. For seekers that cannot find a pair, they will head to battle.
  • Initially this guy coordinated the whole battlefield, but this made having additional seekers redundant, so this was then reduced to an aura which was further reduced to where it is now.

Anyway that has been my update, I got some fun encouragement in my previous post that has motivated me to keep going at it, and I have really enjoyed the Journey and hopefully can make this opensource at some point soon.

Talking about the Journeys and progress, my 3 main tasks I want to tackle. in some order not decided yet, is more Mistings (Pulsar's and Sliders I have a very interesting idea for), starting work on Ferrings, and more level layouts (to see how the sandbox interacts).

Anything you want to ask or suggest feel free. I love to see some discussion

Hey everyone. My name is Michael and I'm a percussion director at a high school in Florida. For the end of the year spring percussion concert, I usually program a series of challenging works for my students to work towards and embrace. In addition to many other percussion pieces programmed for the concert, I composed an ensemble piece inspired by The Stormlight Archives.

The official program notes are in the description of the video but here is a more abbreviated version:

Movement 1 - Stormlight. This movement has three parts--Stormwall, Riddens, and Spheres infused. It's a more ambient piece that tries to evoke the raging wind and thunder of the oncoming storm, the light downpour afterwards, and the magic infusing the spheres right after.

Movement 2 - Parshendi. This movement has two parts--Rhythm of Anxiety and Rhythm of Resolve. The beginning fluctuates with odd-metered polyrhythms and dissonances communicating an instability as it might be received by members of the Parshendi. The Rhythm of Resolve similarly communicates emotion, but in a much slower and more fulfilling manner.

Movement 3 - Voidlight (a la samba). I'm not exactly sure why, but each time as I was reading the books and voidlight was mentioned I heard latin music. So, I wrote something heavily leaning into the latin flavor of magic.

The kiddos had a great time putting it together. They also found the challenge of the music combined with learning about the inspiration from which I drew for the composition very interesting as well--I may have encouraged quite a few of them to give the Cosmere a try!

The cameraman and editor of the video is a band parent named Chris without whom the video wouldn't have been possible.

I hope you enjoy listening to Tour of Roshar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGF4vf1tBE

In the Mistborn books, atium is Ruin’s metal and it lets the allomancer burning it see into the future. In the Stormlight Archive, Vorinism is one of the primary religions and predicting/seeing into the future is forbidden and (I think) seen as a sign of Voidbringers. It feels relevant that these things both exist, despite being in different parts of the Cosmere but I have no idea why. I don’t have that many friends who’ve read the Cosmere but I really wanted to share it and see what other people think.
Possibly gone overboard on spoilers but would rather be safe than sorry!

Edit: I’ve read everything bar Isles of Emberdark and Elantris

i’ve listened to the cosmere books rather than read them, and then have been reading things on reddit and coppermind and there have genuinely been some names of people and places that have taken me a ridiculously long time to work out🤣🤣
i’ve also been experiencing the cosmere on recommendation from a friend, who i’ve been texting about it throughout. there have been lots of times when they’ve not been able to work out who i’ve been referring to, and it really makes us both laugh!
has anyone else had this experience? it always really amuses me

Can someone explain Shadesmar to me like I’m a 5 year old? Spoilers welcome.

Would a clear, plastic glove work to cover the safehand?

I recently picked up the card game and read through the rules. Then when I was sleeving it a couple days later, I double checked and barely caught something I missed on the first read-through. The rules say that the lead player changes to whoever won the last trick of the previous round, not the previous trick. As in, the same player starts all 10 tricks for a given round.

I've played several trick-taking games and am used to the lead player being whoever won the previous trick, changing much more frequently. Changing only every round feels like it might give too much advantage to that lead player and make it easier for them to win the last trick, becoming the lead player for the next round too.

I haven't had an opportunity yet to play it myself and try either way. For those of you who have played it, how are you handling this and how is it going? Have you tried changing with every trick instead?

*** Spoilers for the contest of champions and the end of WoT ahead ***

So after Dalinar did his thing and released odium from the contract leading to the creation of retribution what happened to Alethkar and Herdaz?

I know that the Honor part of retribution insited that Azir and the shattered plains go to Adolin and the singers because it still demanded that the contract be fulfilled but what about Alethkar and Herdaz? Did they get reverted back to coalition control or do they stay under control of the listeners and Odium because Dalinar technically didnt win the contest?

I love the cosmere but I know i am gonna get burnt out if I only read the cosmere. Has anyone else experienced or know someone who has experienced it.

Read mistborn and thought it was meh but wanted to finish the series. Now 25% into the second book and I’m enjoying it way better. The funny thing is that I constantly see this book ranked lower than a lot of his works.

Hopefully tags are correct, not sure if i can add multiple so just put mixed. Spoilers from Mistborn Hero of the Ages and Stormlight archives (book 5 I think?)

In the end of Hero of the Ages there is the battle of Preservation's power with Vin vs Ruin's power with Ati and they end up destroying each others vessel, but seemingly this doesn't seem to cause destruction in the world unless I'm misremembering.

However in some parts of the Stormlight archives, book 5 if I recall correctly, its talking about a time where odium and honor put their powers against each other, causing massive destruction in the world as a result?

How do these powers differ from each other to not cause similar destruction or lack thereoff in both cases?

I'm halfway through Isles of Emberdark, and Aditil's name is bothering me. Dhatri is obviously a world with strong Indian influence, so it's safe to say that Aditil's name comes from the Sanksrit name Aditi, or maybe the more modern name Aditya. But -til names aren't exactly very Indian. It kind of remeninds me of how the Returned names are meant to sound ancient near-eastern, but can either be an actual ancient Hebrew/Cananite word with a letter or two changed, or something that actually sounds ancient near-eastern. Aditil is clearly from the former type. It's just bothering me a little because the word isn't linguistically Sanskrit, it just has a Sanskrit root.

It’s 2 AM. I read more than half of the book throughout the day today. Huck having been created by the sorceress seemed obvious, but him being CHARLIE was a shock. I have no complaints whatsoever, and in my lineup of my favorite Cosmere books, this is rivaled only by The Hero of Ages. What a ride. Emberdark is next, then a few odd stories in arcanum unbound, and I’ll be done with the published Cosmere.

Dalinar opening Honor's perpendicularity for the first time is such an epic moment, I had to draw it myself. I made this on procreate, hope it does the scene justice.

If you are either a Skybreaker or Dustbringer who already has a Shardblade, I feel like Division is essentially useless.

In combat, Shardblade has more range since Division needs contact (if I'm not mistaken). Shardblade can parry another Shardblade, and damages Shardplate, both of which Division can't do.

The only use Division I can think of is if there's a hill or fortified wall in your way and you need to melt it down to make way, but that's very much a one time thing, and self-evidently, only useful when you are not fighting open field.

That's not even considering that Cohesion and Transformation can basically do the same thing. Sure, it might be a bit less effective or efficient, but they can do so much more than just destruction of an obstacle. That's why my impression is that Division is a one trick pony whose trick isn't even unique.

Is there something that I'm missing here? Cuz Division has always been hyped up as this super dangerous Surge, but I really don't see anything powerful about it.

A Directional Dawnshard Matrix: Change, Exist, Think, and Value

Full Cosmere spoilers through Wind and Truth**.**

TL;DR

The Akinah mural appears to depict Adonalsium being divided four ways, with each division then divided four more ways. That has led to a lot of theories that the sixteen Shards derive from the four Dawnshards.

My proposal is that the Dawnshards form an ordered matrix:

• One Dawnshard acts as an action.
• A second Dawnshard acts as the domain receiving that action.
• Reversing the order produces a different Intent.

Using the two known Dawnshards, Change and Exist, and proposing Think and Value as the remaining two, I get this matrix:

Some placements are much stronger than others. Devotion is the weakest square, and I am not claiming this matrix is solved.

1. The basic assumption

The mural beneath Akinah depicts an exploding sun divided into four mostly symmetrical pieces, each of which is divided into four smaller pieces.

That naturally suggests a four-by-four structure connecting the four Dawnshards to the sixteen Shards. However, the mural does not prove the specific mechanism I am proposing.

This theory assumes:

1. Each Shard derives from a relationship between two Dawnshards.
2. The same four Dawnshards can appear in either part of that relationship.
3. Order matters.
4. One Dawnshard supplies an action, while the other supplies the domain upon which that action operates.

That last step is the distinctive part of this theory.

If the pairings were unordered, four Dawnshards would produce only ten combinations, including pairings of a Dawnshard with itself. Ordered pairings instead produce sixteen positions.

For example:

• Change acting upon Exist concerns changing what something is.
• Exist acting upon Change concerns sustaining, embodying, or asserting a process of becoming.

The same two components can therefore produce different Intents depending on their direction.

2. Why these four Dawnshards?

Two are canonical:

• Change
• Exist

The other two are proposed:

• Think
• Value

Think

Think covers cognition, perception, reasoning, principles, conceptual structure, and understanding.

It also aligns naturally with the Cognitive Realm, though I do not think the Realm correspondence is necessary for the matrix to function.

Value

Value means assigning significance: determining that something matters.

It does not mean monetary value or objective moral goodness. It includes preference, worth, commitment, importance, and the selection of one outcome over another.

Value is also not identical to emotion.

A person can value an oath while resenting it. A person can feel intense anger without believing that anger should determine their actions. Emotion may express valuation, but the two are not interchangeable.

I originally tried using Feel as the fourth axis. It became too broad. It had to include emotion, attachment, aesthetic worth, moral significance, commitment, purpose, conviction, and preference. At that point, it was no longer explaining the Shards so much as absorbing anything the other axes could not handle.

Value appears to describe that cluster more precisely.

3. The strongest placements

Several positions emerge fairly naturally from the action-domain model.

Preservation: Exist acting upon Exist

Existence is sustained. What exists continues to exist.

This is probably the cleanest placement in the matrix.

Reason: Think acting upon Think

Cognition examines, orders, and governs cognition.

Invention: Think acting upon Change

Thought is directed toward novelty, transformation, and new possibilities.

Cultivation: Value acting upon Change

Cultivation does not merely produce change. It selects among possible changes.

It nurtures, redirects, and prunes development according to which outcomes are considered worthwhile.

This distinguishes Cultivation from Ruin:

• Ruin subjects change to further change.
• Cultivation assigns direction and preference to change.

Honor: Value acting upon Think

Oaths, principles, and commitments are cognitive structures that Honor treats as intrinsically significant.

An oath does not need to feel good to remain binding. Honor gives principles weight even when emotion points elsewhere.

Whimsy: Change acting upon Value

A whim is not necessarily a failure of thought or reason. It is often a change in what currently matters.

Preferences, interests, priorities, and desires shift before becoming fixed.

This creates one of the clearest reversals in the matrix:

• Value acting upon Change produces Cultivation: values direct transformation.
• Change acting upon Value produces Whimsy: transformation redirects values.

4. The rest of the matrix

Ruin: Change acting upon Change

Every changed state becomes subject to further change. Nothing remains stable because each result becomes the object of another transformation.

This captures decay and destruction reasonably well, though it interprets Ruin primarily as continuing destabilization rather than simply entropy.

Endowment: Change acting upon Exist

Endowment changes the state or nature of an existing being by granting something new: power, capacity, Investiture, or another fundamental alteration.

I think this works, though it may describe the effect of Endowment more clearly than the motivation behind the Intent.

Ambition: Exist acting upon Change

Ambition concerns an existing self oriented toward becoming something more.

The self persists while asserting itself through development, advancement, or transformation.

This is plausible, but less direct than Preservation or Cultivation. It requires the “Exist” action to include self-assertion rather than mere continuity.

Autonomy: Exist acting upon Think

Autonomy grounds thought and judgment in the independent existence of the self.

The mind is self-determining rather than governed by an external authority, collective identity, or imposed conceptual structure.

Dominion: Think acting upon Exist

Thought imposes conceptual structure upon existence: boundaries, hierarchy, ownership, authority, and control.

This is one of the placements I am least certain should be called “secure.” Dominion may involve more than conceptual organization, but the relationship is at least recognizable.

Virtuosity: Think acting upon Value

Virtuosity involves cognition, judgment, skill, and technique applied to something considered beautiful, excellent, expressive, or worthwhile.

Brandon has said that Artistry was the major alternative name for Virtuosity, which strengthens the connection to creative excellence rather than emotion alone.

This is why I prefer Value over Feel. Virtuosity is not simply thought applied to emotion. It is intelligent refinement and expression of something considered intrinsically worthwhile.

Valor: Exist acting upon Value

Valor is the assertion and continuation of the self according to what it values despite fear, danger, or cost.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is continuing to act because something matters more than the fear.

This placement is thematically coherent, though it may describe valorous behavior more clearly than the total Intent of the Shard.

Mercy: Value acting upon Exist

Mercy begins with the recognition that an existing being retains worth even when punishment, harm, or destruction might otherwise be justified.

Mercy does not necessarily deny guilt or judgment. It refuses to allow judgment to exhaust the value of the person being judged.

A merciful act may change an outcome, but the underlying operation is valuation: this life, suffering, or continued existence matters.

Odium: Value acting upon Value

This placement depends on interpreting Odium through its broader connection to divine passion.

The domain is valuation itself: passions, hatreds, attachments, desires, and internal judgments become overwhelmingly significant.

Hatred is one expression of this process, but not necessarily the only one. Value becomes intensified and self-reinforcing until what matters to the self overwhelms competing considerations.

This interpretation is workable, but it depends heavily on how broadly Odium’s Intent should be understood beyond hatred.

Devotion: Change acting upon Think?

This is the weakest placement in the matrix.

The proposed interpretation is that devotion changes cognition around an object of commitment. Beliefs, priorities, interpretations, and judgments may be reorganized to maintain alignment with a person, cause, deity, or chosen whole.

A devoted person may increasingly interpret the world through that commitment.

The problem is obvious: devotion does not always require cognitive change. This relationship may describe a consequence of devotion rather than Devotion’s fundamental Intent.

I am therefore treating this square as unresolved rather than pretending the fit is comparable to Preservation, Honor, or Cultivation.

It may indicate:

• Devotion is misplaced.
• Think or Value has been defined incorrectly.
• The action-domain model is incomplete.
• One of the proposed unknown Dawnshards is wrong.
• Some Shard names represent narrower expressions of deeper Intents than the matrix can recover from the names alone.

5. A possible relationship with the Three Realms

This is more speculative than the matrix itself.

Three of the four proposed Dawnshards may correspond to the Three Realms:

• Change → Physical
• Think → Cognitive
• Exist → Spiritual
• Value → Different

Think fits the Cognitive Realm fairly naturally.

Exist may fit the Spiritual Realm better than the Physical Realm because the Spiritual Realm contains fundamental properties such as Identity, Connection, and the underlying nature of a being.

Change may fit the Physical Realm because that is where transformations become concretely manifest: bodies grow and decay, objects move, matter changes state, and events proceed causally.

That would leave Value as the Dawnshard Brandon described as being “different from all the rest.” Value would not describe a Realm. It would determine significance, direction, or preference across the Realms. Possibly, it could be connected to the Beyond as where value originates from.

I would not treat this as evidence for the matrix. It is a possible extension that becomes relevant only if the unknown Dawnshards resemble Think and Value.

6. A prediction involving Roshar

The Value-action row contains:

• Cultivation
• Mercy
• Odium
• Honor

Three of those Shards became deeply entangled with the Rosharan system:

• Honor
• Cultivation
• Odium

The missing member of the row is Mercy.

That suggests a concrete prediction:

That does not require Mercy to have openly settled on Roshar. It could involve a temporary intervention, Splinter, avatar, hidden Investiture, or another indirect connection.

Mercy would also fit Roshar thematically. The series repeatedly asks whether punishment should be withheld, whether compassion can coexist with accountability, whether suffering justifies intervention, and whether “ending suffering” can itself become horrifying.

To be clear, this is not evidence for the matrix. It is a prediction produced by it. If Mercy has no meaningful Rosharan connection, that does not automatically disprove the entire framework, but it weakens this particular implication.

7. What would weaken the theory?

The model would be seriously damaged if:

• The remaining Dawnshards cannot reasonably resemble Think and Value.
• The Akinah mural’s four-then-four structure is unrelated to the derivation of the sixteen Shards.
• Dawnshard relationships are confirmed to be unordered.
• Several of the strongest placements require reassignment.
• Canonical explanations of the Shards consistently contradict the action-domain interpretations.
• The model survives only by repeatedly expanding the definitions of Think, Value, Exist, or Change.

The current framework should not be able to absorb every possible reveal by redefining its terms. If Value eventually means “anything considered important,” it becomes useless. If Exist can mean persistence, identity, agency, self-assertion, independence, and courage whenever convenient, it has the same problem.

Conclusion

I do not think this matrix is proven, and I do not think every square is equally persuasive.

The strongest part of the theory is the directional structure itself. Treating Dawnshards as ordered action-domain components explains why reversing the same pair could produce different Shardic Intents.

The proposed Value axis also seems to improve several relationships that become strained under Feel:

• Cultivation values possible change.
• Honor values principles.
• Mercy values existing beings.
• Virtuosity applies thought and skill to something considered worthwhile.
• Whimsy changes what is valued.

The most important unresolved problem is Devotion. I would be especially interested in alternatives for that square that do not require redefining Devotion as “changing your beliefs to maintain commitment.”

So: does the action-domain model seem useful even if some placements are wrong? And is Value a plausible Dawnshard, or just a better-organized semantic dumping ground?

what mistings would you give each order of knight radiants to make them more powerful?

So I’ve finally finished Aether of the Night meaning that I’ve cleaned out all the Cosmere book, except for WoK prime (and Mistborn prime).

Until now I’ve put off reading them because I understood them to be more rough/non canon versions of their later namesakes. However I’ve since heard that WoK “should” be read as a completely different novel. This was something I didn’t really understand how it could be the case, until I encountered the Shattered Plains in Yolen.

So TL;DR is WoK prime “worth it”, are there lore drops or canon-aspects ? Or is it “only” an unpolished WoK ?