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Found 394 results

  1. In the coppermind, I found this: 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. ” —Hoid implying the existence of another Shard Any ideas on what this shard is or it's Intent could be? (kind of the same thing)
  2. Hi, i'm new here but I have a crazy theory so I made an account so that I could share it. I have talked over this theory with some friends that are big fans of The Cosmere and we believe that it is possible. I have seen the theory that Hoid will become the new Adonalsium a couple times, but I believe that he already is/was. The theory in its simplest form is that Hoid is/was Adonalsium. First off, we know that Hoid was present at the shattering of Adonalsium, but nothing I have seen states in what form or fashion. We also know that all the shards have vessels, those that hold them. It stands to reason that Adonalsium also had a vessel that held all his power. It would also explain why Hoid is world-hopping around collecting magic systems, he's trying to put himself back together. I know that supposedly Adonalsium was killed when he shattered, but what if Adonalsium is the name of the power and not the name of the vessel. The death of Adonalsium could be referring to the death of the power when it shattered, but not the death of the vessel that held it. In conclusion, Hoid is what was leftover at the shattering of Adonalsium; he is now searching out the shards and learning all he can about them in the hopes of stitching himself back together. What do you think of my theory? I don't know the most about The Cosmere so there could be things that i'm not aware of that disprove my theory. If any of you have any evidence for or against this i would love to see it. Thanks for reading my theory, ~TheVillageIdiot
  3. The flute I'm refering to is the flute that Hoid gives to Kaladin and he leaves in the camps. This question was prompted by this WOB So do we know anything about this? Can someone find where TLR is described?
  4. Just a funny thought, then I got to thinking Brandon is Hoid. The collector of stories. The one that was there for the shattering but not one of the shards. Who, Travels to all the worlds and interjects as only an author would (kinda like the neverending story). Whether it is written into the books at some point or not, the two are connected for me now. What do you think? Or is it deeper, in all actuality is Brandon Sanderson really a worldhopper? That's why his books are so good. It's just history, not fantasy.
  5. I drew Wit again. He is definitely my favorite male character in Stormlight Process: + + + Wit genderbend + + + Szeth and Nightblood GrumpyKaladin.gif
  6. Though I've lurked often on this forum, I have been less than thorough so if the theory below has already been posted… please give me a link (if you'd be so kind) as I'd love to read the discussion! And if this would be better posted elsewhere, please let this newbie know how Also yes, starting off my forum theorizing with a Hoid theory? Clichéd, but I never claimed to be cool. Like many, I often think about Hoid. What does he want? What are his motives? What is his favourite food? All vital cosmere questions. We know Hoid is gathering different kinds of investiture in the cosmere. At first I thought that maybe he wants to achieve a certain level of power to achieve a specific aim. But this has problems: I don't see Hoid using the investiture-equivalent of using an atomic bomb… nor do I know whether he'd have access to all the invested arts he collects if he's off-planet from these shards. So my mind travelled to the beginning, prior to the Shattering. We know Hoid was alive in Yolen pre-shattering and we know he has certain magical powers such as lightweaving in Yolen or his agelessness. If he had this magic prior to the shattering, then it's possible that the magical signature (is this a correct term?) of his power is of Adonalsium. That's to say, the investiture within his spirit web is pure undiluted Adonalsium. So then the shattering happened, and the power got divided. We know that Hoid has certain restrictions/conditions - such as not being able to hurt others, or that he always appears where he's needed (or so he thinks). We don't know how these restrictions came to be, but a reasonable guess would be that they are conditions set by an oath he took. I do believe he mentions an oath of a sort to Shallan. Why would an oath restrict him so if he isn't a shard? This I don't know, but maybe it has to do with his original Adonalsium magic-system. If we consider the idea that the shards, as pieces of Adonalsium, have their rules and magic based on that template then the fact they're bound by oaths could also extrapolate to the original magic users. If Hoid, by the time of the shattering, was already relatively old (a couple of centuries maybe?) then it's possible he was some kind of priest/advanced mage of Adonalsium and therefore had made his oaths as a way to advance in the magical ladder. These oaths cannot be broken. This could also explain why Honour uses oaths: it's an adaptation of the ancient system… and since he really likes oaths then it suited him just fine instead of coming up with something new. This could also explain Honour not being able to foresee the Heralds breaking the oaths: maybe the oaths made to Adonalsium were more binding and impossible to break than those made to Honour. So, what if Hoid isn't happy with these restrictions/conditions of existence? Then he would try to change them. But if the oath took place pre-shattering, then the investiture binding it would be of Adonalsium within his spirit-web. While his innate investiture might be of Adonalsium, he might not have enough juice to make the changes. Therefore, to change his spirit web, he would need to access all the 16 shards magic in order to make the necessary changes. To me, this explains why he's gathering investiture and possibly why he's so concerned about Odium. Maybe it's harder to gather or use the investiture of a splintered shard. The more shards Odium destroys the more difficult it's for Hoid. In fact, I think that given his line to Dalinar about him being ok with seeing Roshar burn to achieve his goals this makes sense. He's selfish in terms of what he hopes to achieve rather than being a good person who's concerned about the well-being of the Cosmere. Now why does he want to change his spirit web? Maybe if not to release him from his oath, there could be any other number of reasons. Maybe, he just wants to die… or maybe he wants to save/bring back someone (as hinted by epigraphs) but to do so he'd have to break his oaths so he's trying to get rid of them. I don't know what his ultimate goal is, but this theory seems to be a plausible way to achieve them. What do you think?
  7. Still trying to get Brandon to send out book 4 early. I loved the response to my previous post Blackmail Theory: Lift's Gifts. Brandon send me book 4 or I'll just keep reading your books and talking about how much I like them. ... Do it. Blackmail Theory #2: Hoid's Holiday "Tell me what you know, Wit. (Jasnah) I once spent the better part of a year inside of a large stomach, being digested." (WOR Epilogue, 1094). Also there was a good find of a reference to Hoid in Edgedancer from Skaa, that has him winking at Lift and then jumping into a Marabethian Greatshell's mouth. So what was Hoid doing on holiday in a greatshell's stomach? Why did he chill out there for the better part of a year? Has he been eaten by more than one nightmarish crab creature? Hoid has the skills to hide without being digested, nor is he simply crazy no matter how he may sometimes act. I suggest that he is doing what he often does, searching for rare and powerful magical artifacts. In this case perfect gemstones. The greatshells must feed on all the things littering the floor of the reshi sea, lesser greatshells, the rotting carcases of the tai na, each other. The stomach of each must be littered with thousands of undigestable gemhearts, grisely trophies of past meals. Why bother? Hoid doesn't want wealth and he can pickpocket Shallan whenever he feels like it. He wants a perfect gemstone, so he can he capture an unmade (Sja-Anat?) and add to his ever growing collection of magical artifacts. Hoid gave Jasnah a valuable piece of information, while making it look like he was giving Jasnah a bit of useless nonsense, knowing that Jasnah would dismiss it because he's a clever boy. Brandon gave us a valuable piece of information, while making it look like he was giving us a bit of useless nonsense, knowing that we would dismiss it because he's a sadist of questionable parentage.
  8. Hi everyone, I'm new and excited to get started! So Hoid is not a shard, that's always made me think, what can he do. Hoid has an assortment of powers but I have a feeling we don't know of them all, for example Hoid is both a mistborn and a light weaver but when Yasna threatened him with a shard blade he said that he doubted it could kill him, but from what I know with only the powers he has, a shard blade would still be very deadly. So from what Hoid implied he is much more powerful then we know, so that raises a question what are those powers and also where would Hoid fall on the power scale, he would come up higher then a radiant and an allomancers for sure but would he be higher lower or equal to a shard? Could Hoid be more or just as powerful as Adonalsium?
  11. Hoid is now a Lightweaver. He now needs to implement, maybe even research, a method to leave Roshar. In any case he seems quite interested in the conflict with Odium. So he probably does not even want to leave. Nor would that be easy. Hoid has been observed to use a perpendicularity. He would need to travel to the Horneater Peaks. So we can reasonably conclude that he is staying on Roshar. Where? Does he have a Fortress of Hoiditude? If so, where? Or does he dress up as a beggar? There will be a lot of refugees. It is possible. Living in the wilderness on Roshar on the other hand is problematic. Hoid likely would survive a Highstorm out in the open, but it would be anything but comfortable. Yet he bomded a Cryptic for a reason. Hence he would now be training Lightweaving, Soulcasting, fencing with a Shardblade or any combination of that. Doing that near any Fused or screamer spren is not a good idea. Especially as he likely does things like (Scadrial) will do. And we have to ask ourselves, whence did he get a number of aluminium sheets sufficient to shield a whole room before becoming a soulcaster. I would say he has some kind of depot or base near Kholinar.
  12. So... Where's Hoid? Has anyone spotted him in White Sand? I know he has a grudge against Bavadin but that couldn't possibly stop him from visiting his planet, right?
  13. "the story of Hoid, if you don't know, is... he's the character that connects all the Cosmere. When I first started writing, Elantris was the first book ever I put him in and then he appeared in Dragonsteel, which is an unpublished novel, and in White Sand and in Aether of Night, but just little, tiny cameos." -WoB 2019 this is just a small chunk of a much larger WoB, but this is what i found the most relevant. so we know Hoid makes a appearance in AoN, but its just a cameo. i searched for Hoid, Midus and Topaz in the text and found nothing. from his other roles in the published books, i bet he would either be playing the role of a beggar, thief, or informant. this doesn't narrow it down very much, but its something. i just recently read the book and didnt even think to keep an eye out for him. anyone have any ideas as to who he is?
  14. We know several dead shards now, mostly killed by the joint effort of Odium and Autonomy: Devotion, Dominion, Honor and Ambition. Now, I think they're all pro unshattering of the Aldonasium by their intent. Ambition: it is a proper ambition for a shard to want to be the whole, and the only whole Adonalsium. For a shard, he is almost at the top of the hierarchy of sentient beings. If he can have any real ambition to go up, it should be to be the only one at the top. Dominion: being at the top he can dominate his now peers. Devotion: well, it requires devotion to sacrifice your shardity to make a whole Adonalsium. Honor: he was all about uniting the others when he was talking to Dalinar. Strictly speaking, we don't know who he wanted Dalinar to unite, the Rosharians, or the other shards. In my opinion, it is very cultivating to grow a new Adonalsium from 1 or a few more shards. I think before Odium killed Honor, and the other dead shards, Honor was working with Cultivation to try to grow back Adonlsium, probably from Honor himself, without shardic investiture from other shards. The other dead shards may have helped, but in other ways. Odium and Autonomy don't want a whole Aldolnasium, understandably, so they killed Honor, and other shards who was sympathetic to the effort. Endowment should not care much about the growing back, but she will definitely give help if asked. Ruin will definitely not help, and may work with Odium to do damage if he had the time. Preservation should want to preserve the current situation, which is a shattered Adolnasium. But Harmony, though, may want a whole Adonalsium, as his intent is different from Ruin and Preservation both. So after he was in power for some time, an attack from another world began.
  16. So I came across this: and I know the name Hoid itself is an alias. Im wondering if there is more that we should look for.
  17. I have a friend telling me that ultimately the cosmere is an overarching story of how one man (Hoid) goes on to become God by uniting all if the shards. He said it'll be similar to Harmony but on a larger scale. He also said that by collecting different types of investitures, this will ultimately allow him to re unite the shards into 1 vessel, himself. I've not been able to see or find anything to confirm or deny what he is telling me. Any help from you guys would be appreciated!
  18. So in HoA Vin is supposed to go see hoid about something but as she's walking up she gets a sense that something is wrong so she turns around and leaves without a word. This scene mirrors the one is Secret History when Kelsier finds Hoid and touches him and gets jolt through his "body" I just realized that the reason Vin turned around was because Kelsier got through to Vin's mind/subconscious and told her not to talk to him I love how much foresight Brandon has when it comes to things like this. This WoB is relevant: Brandon Sanderson No, that was something I wanted to do from the beginning. I was inspired by Isaac Asimov combining his Robots books and his Foundation books, and he did it late in his career. It kind of felt a bit hacked together a bit, but it blew my mind when he did it and, as a writer, I always thought, what if somebody did this from the get-go. The actual origins of the kind of worldhoppers for me was reading books as a teenager and inserting Hoid into them. I really did this.... Do you read books and you like change what is happening in the book, or maybe it's just a me thing? I would have my character interacting with the characters in the books, in my head, as I played the movie of that book in my head, while I was reading it, and there was this character hopping between worlds, with this knowing smirk on his face. And so, when I was working on Elantris I said, "OK", I knew I had something in that book that was good, that was important, that was relevant, I was very confident in that book. It was my sixth novel, by the way, so I kind of had a handle on these things, and so that's when I decided I'm going to start doing some of this, I'm going to insert Hoid into this and I'm going to start planning this larger epic. It was particularly important to me because I knew I was not going to write a sequel to Elantris immediately, but I wanted to be writing epic stories, and the reason I didn't want to write a sequel to Elantris is because, if an editor rejected Elantris I wanted to be able to send them another book, because when you're getting close to publishing you'll start getting rejections that are like "This is actually a really good book, it doesn't fit our line, you just wrote a great mystical llama book but we just bought one of those, do you have anything else?". I wanted to be able to send them "here's my next thing" rather than "oh, I've got a sequel to the one you just rejected". And so I sat down and wrote the sequel, which was not a sequel, it was called Dragonsteel, which was Hoid's origin story. And then I jumped forward and I wrote White Sand which is another book connected to all these things and it went on, you know, it went crazy from there. And then when I actually sold Elantris it was already going and already in there, and I was able to sit down and write Mistborn, well in hand, knowing what was going to happen. That's why you find Hoid in Elantris and Mistborn and the sneaky, the scary-- well, it's not sneaky and it's not scary-- the moment in the third book when Vin gets creeped out by Hoid is a very important moment, Cosmerologically, but I'm not going to tell you why! Shadows of Self Newcastle UK signing (Oct. 20, 2015)
  19. I know I’m far from the first person to postulate a theory about Hoid, or the Survival Shard, but... hear me out: Hard facts: - confirmed to be virtually unkillable - confirmed to be present at the shattering of Adonalsium - confirmed to be hated by Kelsier (aka the self-proclaimed “Survivor”) - known by the Shards as “Cephandrius, bearer of the first gem” - preternatural knowledge of “where he’s supposed to be” - incapable of direct interference Implied facts: - confirmed that Nightblood might be able to kill Shards, and confirmed that Nightblood might be able to kill Hoid - Shardic intent eventually overrides the impulses/personality of the Ascended person (e.g. Ati/Ruin, Sazed/Harmony), Hoid is by nature a “pot-stirrer” - Shards are aware of the relative locations of other Shard’s singularities, Hoid world-hops at an alarming rate that puts Khriss to shame - cognitive investiture is non-dilutable/non-transferable; spheres in the cognitive realm are not re-charged, shardblades cannot be summoned in the cognitive realm, cognitive shadows are immortal unless either their bond with the physical realm (abandoned shardblades at the aharietum, Returned who surrender their breath to a human) or their bond with the spiritual realm (shades of Threnody countered with silver, Heralds of Roshar countered with “awakened” metal—Nale refuses to draw Nightblood himself, and black smoke pooled the wound when Vyre stabbed Jezrien), and to date Hoid can only invoke harm in the cognitive realm - Hoid moves to accelerate Ruin’s return on Scadrial (not only does he pose as an informant for Kelsier, but also steals one of the last two beads of Lerasium which he then takes off-world AND steals an Taln’s Honorblade, both of which would dimish there respective shards abilities to coalesce their presence in the physical realm), but moves against the Odium/Autonomy team-up; equally potent shards in combat are net neutral (e.g. Ati sans Atium pitted against Vin sans Lerasium); Odium’s success in defeating co-habitating shards lies in pitting them against each other (e.g “WE killed you”-Roshar, dominion vs. devotion-Sel) - Hoid inspires the actions of Invested humans, but invokes vexation from Invested others (court of gods, shards, autonomy’s splinters, the unmade, frost) AND shards (edgli, autonomy, odium, cultivation) **EXCEPTION: Sazed/Harmony; however, this makes sense as Saze’s opposing intents would keep him from attacking another Shard. Therefore, he is the ultimate “whale” for Hoid’s sales-pitch. - the Survival Shard would by nature be an “investiture chameleon”, Hoid collects investiture in the physical realm - Hoid understands the metallic arts to such a degree that he can intuit which will hold their power across shard realms - the “Shardpact” explicitly forbade Shards settling a world together, but did not forbid Shards traveling between worlds THEORY: Hoid engineered the shattering of Adonalsium, presumably because he’d drawn the malice of God for an act of pot-stirring. However, when he met Frost (an immortal dragon, who presumably hoards metals based on genetic tendencies, from interactions with whom he may have realized there was a metal that allowed him to hide from God), he spent his adulthood on Yolen attempting to hide from and eventually overturn Adonalsium. He gathers the 16 plus Frost, using the heuristic threat of Godly intervention while promising them “unimaginable power” [#sheevpalpatine]. They plot the shattering. They succeed. As engineer of the Shattering, he is granted first choice of the “gems” aka shards. Because he spent his life hiding from God, he opts for Survival. However, over time his Shardoc intent precludes him from proactively protecting himself. After Odium makes quick work of D and D in Sel, however, he begins to get “buyer’s remorse”. He realizes that while his Shardic intent will keep him from diluting his own investiture, he does have two other avenues for proactive protection. Therefore, he starts worldhopping, still within the bounds of the Shardpact as he is the omnipresent Bedouin who never settles, collecting mild levels of investiture from as many different Shards as he can. This both bolsters his own power level and diminishes the actionable power of his peers, while giving him insight into the forms of magic chosen by his peers. Kelsier and his Ghostbloods are chasing him because through Kelsier’s interactions with Saze in the cognitive realm he realizes there is a Shard perfectly molded to his modus operandi. The 17th shard is chasing him because Kelsier’s loyal disciple/priest Captain Demoux is conducting a sting meant to utilize Frost’s resources to gain knowledge, and during his infiltration Demoux has convinced his compadres that Hoid is up to no good.
  20. From the illustration right before chapter 15 of the Dragonsteel Edition. is this supposed to be hoid?
  21. Though I feel like he has been discussed and dissected more then even 7th grade biology class would have, I'm surprised that we haven't gotten a shardcast specifically on Hoid. I mean he may be something of a minor character so far but he does spark Some interest amoung the readership
  22. so im hoping someone here will be able to help me. im looking for a specific quote from Hoid. its in one of the stormlight archive books. its during a highstorm and Hoid says something along the lines of "filled to the brim, and looking for a place to put it all" its important for a Highstorm Theory im working on.
  23. so i know its far from Canon but in the Chapter one version of Liar of Partinel, near the end of the chapter Hoid/Midius lets us in on something important 'Midius had only just begun to learn how to Lightweave. Not a week had passed since its greatest secret had been revealed to him--the only secret, really. i know Brandon could've easily change the mechanics of it by now but what do you guys think "the only secret" is? we know that Rosharan Lightweaving is the most similar to Yolen Lightweaving and that the Roshar variant relies heavily upon the Spiritual Realm and Connection 'Unlike the variations present on Sel, however, this method has a powerful Spiritual element, requiring not just a full mental picture of the intended creation, but some level of connection to it as well. The illusion is based not simply upon what the Lightweaver imagines, but upon what they desire to create." I feel that the Yolish variant also heavily uses the Spiritual realm and Connection but while the Rosharan variant Creates what the Radiant alone wants, the Yolish variant relies heavily upon Connecting to others. so instead of Hoid directly shaping the image, hes using the subconscious of others to help him shape it .that's why hes usually telling a story when he Lightweaves. I always got the feeling that when Hoid is using his Lightweaving, he doesn't have full control of the images he makes. its like he Connects with the audience or whoever is listening, and lets their subconscious shape the image to help him fully create what he intended.
  25. Greetings, everyone. Could someone point me in the right direction to where I can read the sample chapters of Liar of Partiniel? I've found this link (, and this another one ( from Brandon's page, but it looks like the pages are offline. Is there any other official place where I can get it from? Regards.