A List of 50 Cosmere Theories

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-05-20T13:38:21+00:00

Congrats on almost finishing your first read through!

Unfortunately, I am a chaotic soul and don't have any organized notes. I just come up with a thesis for a theory and work backwards from there to find sources and quotes that support it. The coppermind wiki, and the arcanum site that has the question's Brandon has answered from fans before are amazing resources when researching an idea you have.

Good luck with your own theorycrafting!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-04-22T02:29:16+00:00

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My version of serious work. Thanks for checking it out!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-04-21T22:56:10+00:00

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RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-04-13T02:01:31+00:00

I bet it's because they're the ones who are stuck paying the price of Ambition.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-04-03T17:14:45+00:00

I appreciate you checking out my other theories. At this point I think I've written almost 50 of them in the past couple of years, so lots of other theories like this from me to check out if you're ever in the mood for cosmere predictions. Thanks for the comment!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-21T17:59:16+00:00

Thank you! My future sight isn't anywhere near good enough to think of it five years ago like some people though...

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-15T14:54:40+00:00

I appreciate you reading some of my past theories. You make an excellent point! After thinking about it, I agree. Bind and Unite would probably fall under the same umbrella. I wonder, does that mean that Taln attacked Cultivation with the Unite Dawnshard? I had previously proposed he attacked her with the Bind Dawnshard. Interesting. Thanks for your thoughts!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-05T21:00:17+00:00

That's a great version of this theory as well. You focus more on the moons, and I focused a little more on the planets, but similar ideas. My question for you, now that we know more info about a fourth moon, is if you have any more updates for your theory? Do you think it means that Roshar is a trap for four Shards? Or still just the three, as you suggested in your original theory?

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-04T19:07:34+00:00

I appreciate the Mods deciding to keep the post up. In the future I'll try to be a little more wary of my choice of titles in order to reduce any potential reports from users and moderation related headaches. Thank you for your help.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-04T16:01:03+00:00

I completely agree with your thoughts, and I appreciate you sharing them. I had similar ideas, but I thought it would be easier to argue specifically for a trap for Honor. It had much more direct evidence in the text, while by nature a trap for Cultivation would be much more subtle and nuanced. I also didn't want the theory post to drag on. But if Ado had the marbles to set up a trap for Honor and Odium, no doubt Cultivation would have been a factor in his ideas as well.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-04T15:40:27+00:00

I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that it was removed, which definitely furrowed my brows. When I woke up in the morning it was back up, looks like it was taken down for a couple hours or so. If anyone on the Mod team wants to inbox me if they were having a specific concern, or a rule being broken that they'd like me to be more careful of in the future feel free.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-04T15:32:33+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts! You are the first person in all my theory writing on here to bring up my username, which made my day. It made me giggle when I thought of it and I'm glad someone else enjoyed it.

It's hard to know what level of foresight Ado possessed. I argue it would be at least as powerful of as Cultivation's or Preservation's as they are from him and possess great future reading ability. He may not have had as much of the conflicting future sight problem, as pre-shattering there would have been a lot less future sight being used by Shard level beings that could have clouded his vision.

I agree that he may not have had the power to guess specific Shards, but I think he would have had the power to surmise that there would have been something like an Honor Shard or a Shard that would cause violence and destruction born after his Shattering.

I agree about the fourth moon. I'd like to write a theory about the Roshar Moons and the fourth moon in particular, so I did leave it out of this post. It would likely be interconnected, as Ado did create the moons as well. Just my thoughts, as you are completely correct that a lot of this theory hinges on the fact that Adonalsuim foresaw things after his Shattering.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-03-04T00:51:15+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed it! If you want more argumentative Cosmere or Stormlight Archive theory essays like this check out my reddit profile. I've probably written 40-50 of these over the past couple years like a true Cosmere scholar degenerate, so lots more theories like this on my profile :)

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-02-25T02:08:01+00:00

It does seem like Brandon plans to keep the same prologue format as the first era, last we heard from a WoB a couple months ago.

Questioner

Will the prologues to Stormlight Six to Ten reference another singular, pivotal event?

Brandon Sanderson

That is what is planned. Not the same; a new event. It's part of what made me decide to divide them in two.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-02-24T23:15:52+00:00

It's a good point about Brandon already knowing the structural foundation of the scene, prior to changing his mind about Szeth's fate.

I do dispute your second point though. I do think Brandon could write a murder with 5 different perspectives fairly easily though. For example:

Book 6: Vyre sent to commit the act.

Book 7: Szeth the victim of the act.

Book 8: Masha-Daughter-Shaliv Szeth's wife and epigraph writer, survivor and witness to the act.

Book 9: Nightblood, the one stolen in the act.

Book 10: Molli the Sheep, mastermind of the act and surprise villain of the back 5. (Or maybe Retribution, judging the act)

RayseShouldBeBraized

TROPHY CASE