Obviously I'm talking about Taln. I'm also specifically asking about the period of time in between the forming of the Oathpact and Aharietiam/shattering of the pact - I could have sworn I remembered a line from the prologue that stated that each of the heralds had at some point broken but Taln never had, which was part of why they took advantage of Taln being the only one to die since he had the best chance of sticking around the longest on Braize without immediately breaking like many of the others would.

I can't find any actual reference to this in the prologue though, so did I just make up that reasoning on my own? Was this really only confirmed by WOB up until WaT or was there an earlier reference in-text that I'm remembering?

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

I really enjoyed Wind and Truth overall but I think some modern language writing choices genuinely made the world a lot less immersive. Sure, if it comes from characters like Hoid that's one thing, but the following joke has really stuck with me as being emblematic of a larger problem with the book.

It's when Syl and Kaladin are talking to Szeth's highspren and realise its name is a series of numbers. (Paraphrasing the following) Kaladin says 'like a cryptic?' to which Syl replies 'Kaladin- that was racist.' Now, on its own the joke is kind of funny, but the more I think of it the more I hate it. Syl was JUST being 'racist' to the highspren, who she's insulted through the past four books, along with other types of spren. Also... RACISM???! This is a world where the principal form of discrimination is eye colour.. not race?? And also, there's been like no indication of a social movement around 'racism' where it's acknowledged as a thing- these people have literally barely abolished slavery and now apparently it's a taboo to be racist???

You can't rationalise this with 'maybe racism is a taboo in the spren world though' - first of all, spren are super 'racist' all the time, and second of all, Syl makes the joke to Kaladin expecting him to get it, so apparently he should realise what racism is. I keep thinking of how to make sense of this and just can't- it really would have been easier to just not include this in the book since it's not even that funny and AAHHH I hate it so much.

was an amazing idea and great plot, i liked every part of it, however, it felt like it was executed not too well compared to previous books. I loved every plot point, but not the execution.

Compared to earlier books it was even more winded, too much time was spent focusing on explaining the same things over and over again, everything was simplified, every feeling very apparent, and that's why I didn't feel any depth to the characters this time around. It was very obvious that X wants Y and feels Z and it was shown and told to us multiple times.

Does anyone else feel this way? If yes, why do you think this could be?

I still loved the book, and I did not at all mind the length of it, but it felt a bit shallow at times.

Ok to preface this discussion is intended to be full Cosmere spoilers as I've read everything but White Sands and a handful of novellas, but spoilers will be especially prevalent for Mistborn Era 1 (+ Secret History), Stormlight (through WaT), and Yumi. You have been warned, click off if you don't wanna get spoiled but if you clicked on the Cosmere spoiler post I assume you're here on purpose so let's get started.

I recently saw a comment referencing the in-universe belief by some (I believe Khriss and Vasher to be precise but correct me if I'm wrong here) that cognitive shadows are not literally the same person as they were before their physical death, but rather a replica formed from investiture. I got to thinking about this because I still see it referenced occasionally in discussions among Cosmere fans and I thought it had been thoroughly disproven some time ago so I'm wondering if I'm missing something key here.

My understanding is this in-universe theory has been thoroughly disproven at least four times: directly through character POV, indirectly through the continuation of connection after physical death, directly through explicit explanation by the most knowledgeable in-universe source we have (Hoid), and indirectly through the existence of an actual investiture copy of a deceased character that is explicitly not a cognitive shadow.

1. The first is Kelsier's death in Mistborn. I dug out my copy of secret history to confirm this - we witness Kelsier's death at the hands of Rashek in real time and there is no break in the continuity of his experience from the moment of his physical death to his first moments as a cognitive shadow. He experiences terrible pain, a tearing sensation, and then he's kneeling there as a spooky ghost.
2. Secondly: Kaladin's ascension to a Herald. This one is arguably less bulletproof, but I believe we can be reasonably certain that Kaladin's bond to Syl remains unchanged before, during, and after the death of his physical body and his awakening within the herald therapy bubble in the spiritual realm. We know that physical death breaks nahel bonds, so I think this one is pretty concrete too but I suppose a bunch of weird stuff is happening on Roshar during this sequence what with the whole Retribution thing so fair enough if this alone doesn't convince you.
3. The third is Hoid's narration in Yumi on what the whole deal with the Yoki-Hijo and Father Machine actually is. Hoid explains under no uncertain terms that the Yoki-Hijo, hugely invested as they are, are able to reconstitute themselves despite the Father Machine's initial efforts to absorb/destroy them. This one is certainly the least concrete of the four in my opinion, as Hoid is notably not always correct and we are getting a narration of what happened 1700+ years ago from someone who wasn't there rather than a direct POV of their reconstitution, but given the repeated confirmation in that book that Yumi is in fact still Yumi despite the whole being dead for almost 2 millennia thing (it's kind of a key plot point) I'm reasonably sure we can call this confirmation as well.
4. Finally, the Blackthorn spren. To me this is the smoking gun, as explicit confirmation as we'll ever get that Vasher is full of shit (or maybe he's just supernaturally jaded) and cognitive shadows are literally the continuation of a sufficiently invested person's soul after death. We know for a fact that Dalinar is dead. We get this out of universe from Brandon, and we get this in universe from the POV of a bishardic vessel as he tries and fails to lay claim to Dalinar's soul. Taravangian realizes he cannot claim Dalinar, so what does he do? He creates an invested copy and shoves him full of Dalinar's memories and experiences (albeit tailored to fit his needs). This is, very literally, the Vasher/Khriss hypothesis on what a cognitive shadow is laid bare in front of us - and it is not a cognitive shadow. To me this is Brandon showing us an instance of what Khriss and Vasher are talking about, and very conspicuously confirming that it is not actually Dalinar, but rather a spren copy of Dalinar.

So my question is this: Do y'all agree that there's no actual grounds for this in-universe theory anymore? Am I missing something and there are other reasons why people still share this as if it may be true? Was it necessary that I take 30 minutes to write out this half-baked rant on this fine Wednesday evening?

I look forward to reading your thoughts (and perhaps prayers for my sanity) below!

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?

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!

Ok so we know that the fused can't use Adhesion cause it's "Honor's truest surge" or whatever, but why can they use Progression? Wouldn't that be Cultivation's truest surge? I mean, Adhesion is accessible through honorspren (and the bondsmith sprens), Progression is accessible through cultivationspren, so shouldn't that make it her surge the way Adhesion is his?

In Mistborn: Secret History, after Kellers Ascends, he tries to approach Marsh in Fadrex. Ruin blocks him, but he’s able to hear Marsh’s thoughts and sense his rebellious spirit. How is this possible? How come Kelseir can hear the thoughts but Ruin can’t?

Note on spoilers: I’m caught up on Cosmere so if the answer needs something from another book, hide it in a spoiler tag and I’ll read it

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

So I have read MB era 1, Secret History, the Selish system stories (Elantris, Emperor's Soul, etc.), Warbreaker, Way of Kings, and Shadows for Silence. My questions have to do with shades. So I learned about Cognitive Shadows while reading Secret History, and I know the Returned in Warbreaker are CS's "stapled" to their physical bodies (but no idea if they're the actual soul of the person or an Investiture copy). Kelsier's CS is the "soul" of Kelsier that is anchored to the cognitive realm because of Preservation. That leaves me with shades. What the hell are they? So they're cognitive shadows that exist in the Physical Realm without a body. How is that possible if I have learned (so far) that cognitive shadows are of the cognitive realm and need a body to exist in the Physical Realm? Also, why don't Breaths from Nalthis become cognitive shadows when a person dies? The Threnodite System essay explains that some people from Threnody are invested, and that extra Investiture is what becomes the shade at death. So, why doesn't Investiture connected to any person become a CS on other planets (like Breaths)? Is it strictly a Threnody phenomenon? If so, why?