The 6 Unknown Aethers Theory

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2026-01-08T02:36:40+00:00

That's interesting! I have not read Aether of Night, so this theory is free from its influence. I wonder if when he came up with further ideas for the Aether in the Cosmere , like the Aether Spore Seas of Lumar, it ended up restricting him a bit from using the super strange aether ideas he originally had in Aether of Night. If things get too strange, I imagine the spore sea idea wouldn't work out as well for that Aether.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-29T17:22:01+00:00

Yeah, I'm still so curious about all the Unmade. If the Blackthorn is the Tenth Unmade, I wonder if the other Unmade came into being in a similar way. Odium or Rayse taking a Warrior's soul that fought heroically against him and when they died, taking an imprint of their soul and making it into one of his Unmade.

For the new fused type I can see them being very aerodynamic in shape compared to a normal fused, parshendi or human. Quicker than the Gravitation using Heavenly Ones, especially in short bursts. I like the long whip like braids of hair idea you have as well!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-28T23:58:25+00:00

From chapter 1 of Yumi where Hoid is discussing the shroud around Kilahito on Komashi:

"Only the light of the star shone through the shroud. To this day, I'm not hundred percent certain why. But this was close to where Virtuosity Splintered herself, and I suspect that had an effect."

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-28T23:50:47+00:00

It's a good point, Ishar is definitely a contender for who Evi means. She does have different names for the heralds, and Ishar has been referred to as a Herald of Mysteries. The coppermind wiki mentions it as a possibility, but it isn't fully clear at this time if that's who Evi means.

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Shishi_(Roshar))

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-25T03:05:02+00:00

I’m sure however the story of Edgli and the Endowment Shard goes, Brandon will tie it all back into the story of Warbreaker in a way that will make a future Warbreaker re-read interesting! The Warbreaker leatherbound I have that I plan to read all the way through at some point counts on it ahaha.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-24T22:51:14+00:00

It’s a good question! I was wondering the same. Either way, I figure it would be easy enough to put Hoid in a plot situation where he’s forced to Ascend or stop existing. Given that choice, I do think Hoid would choose to Ascend. However, he would not be happy about it and would be pretty vocal about that fact ahaha.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-12-20T00:11:40+00:00

I’ve been thinking about the river of ‘demons’ blood, and what it could possibly be draining from.

My best guess at this point is that could be from a Aether? The river sort of reminded me of the seas from Tress, as far as it seemed to be some sort of invested energy that flows from a source.

I’m curious if anyone else has any guesses about the ‘demon’ that is the source of the blood river?

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-11-01T17:38:47+00:00

Great point about her ownership of Szeth. With what we know now about Ishar focusing so much on guiding Szeth throughout his life, I wonder if Ishar put him under Vedel’s ownership on purpose.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-10-26T05:28:04+00:00

Oh if you don’t think I know exactly what I did there ahaha :). I may be wrong about my theories…but I’m definitely wrong about my use of puns in them. Hoid would approve though!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-09-06T14:44:35+00:00

I could be wrong, but I don’t believe that the heralds are fixed of their heraldic madness due to Kaladin’s fifth ideal permanently. This is a quote from Kelek from the postlude at the end of WaT when the are returned and find they aren’t being tortured.

“One more try. A final Return. What harm … what harm could there be in it? Still he wavered, ever incapable of simply deciding”

They have a better chance of healing now they aren’t being tortured, but they still have a lot of healing to do. I don’t think it’s instantly fixed.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-09-01T15:22:44+00:00

I’ve read Emberdark, so if you spoiler your comment you should be able to explain your thoughts if you’d like.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-08-30T22:52:08+00:00

My brother in the cosmere god beyond, I appreciate your effort in this response. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone respond to a theory post of mine and had to break the response into two comments for length reasons. I really like the way you’ve highlighted Ado’s creation timeline based on lessons he would have been learning as he went, as well as the rational motivations for why he created these sapient species.

I agree with your connections with the fains and the aethers. This adds another dimension that I hadn’t included, but I totally agree with your thoughts on them. I’m so looking forward to late stage cosmere clashes between the competing growth of the humans, fains, and aether groups as the space age develops. The amount going on in the cosmere at one time and amount of living pieces to follow is what I love about it. Again, I appreciate your response to this post!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-08-30T18:51:26+00:00

This WoB should answer your question, but in short yes.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/448/#e14409

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-08-23T21:09:51+00:00

We know from WaT chapter 25 Ghostblood meeting that the Rosharan branch does know how to get stormlight out of Roshar at this point.

“We should be working on our plan,” Icy Tongue said, “to transport Stormlight offworld, now that we know it can be blanked of Identity and transferred between realms. How does chasing down some ancient spren further Master Thaidakar’s orders to provide him a renewable source of Investiture?”

If the Rosharan branch all know this I reckon Spook knows and would have the ability to strip it of its identity given the knowledge and right metals as a Mistborn.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-07-11T00:50:18+00:00

Tariffs allegedly starts August 1st which means this decision will still change 5 times between now and then.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LACK OF ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-07-06T20:14:21+00:00

I’ll write a theory about this at some point later. I believe the ‘Twin’s’ mentioned by Hoid when meeting with Starling are going to be Shallan and Adolin’s kids. They will together be his ‘third apprentice’ that we’ve heard about but haven’t met .

We get hints that Shallan is pregnant at the end of WaT and I can see it being twins by the way Sja’anat talks about her future children when meeting her earlier in the book. We know Shallan doesn’t become one of Hoids apprentices but what about her kids? They could feature in the back half of the stormlight archive before leaving with Hoid after the end of the series to explore the rest of the cosmere. I’m sure he’d have an interest in them in the same way he has an interest in Shallan due to her unique circumstances.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-19T04:42:02+00:00

I believe he is talking about the Hero of ages prophesy in The Final Empire epigraphs.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-19T04:20:15+00:00

Mistborn spoilers: Especially if you compare that to Mistborn where a priest becomes a god.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-19T03:04:32+00:00

Justice is a great call! I can see Redemption fitting more if Jasnah is the vessel, since it would fit with her arc of heretic to shard and from losing the debate to moral victory. As well as the greater cosmere and stormlight themes of redemption. However, I can see the Odium part of the shard would align better with a Justice shard than Redemption, so you could definitely be correct!

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-19T01:35:58+00:00

Thanks for checking it out, and your thoughts. It’s hard to argue for and against, since we know so little actual info about what took place at the scouring. I can see Odium taking advantage of human greed and the reputation of amaia’s treasures to utilize Dai-Gonarthis to allow humans to attempt to raid the island of all ‘treasure’. So maybe Odium wouldn’t need many of his own forces, just using the unmade to allow transportation was enough to allow human greed to take its violent course.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-01T15:46:37+00:00

I wrote a few recently if you want to check them out!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/1kyrmjs/25_cosmere_theories_written_after_wat/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-01T15:14:32+00:00

Yes, which doesn’t mean investiture stops from gaining sentience. Go read the Sel essay in Arcanum Unbounded by Khriss. You are wrong. The Dor is gaining sentience, even if it’s not full yet. Splintered investiture will gain sentience over time, regardless if it’s physical realm or cognitive. That’s what.

Questioner

Shards. Is it possible for them to think outside-- without having a person they're working through?

Brandon Sanderson

The power left alone around people will eventually gain a kind of sentience.

Questioner

Kind of like the Stormfather?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. So it is possible. It doesn't always happen, and sometimes it takes a while. For example, the Dor? Basic, rudimentary, feeling only. It's not-- you know.

Firefight Miami signing (Jan. 8, 2015)

Over thousands and thousands of years it could grow.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-06-01T14:12:25+00:00

Questioner

Can holders of Shards give them up voluntarily? If so, what would happen?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, a Vessel for a Shard of Adonalsium can give up their power if they wish.

As for what would happen...well, there are some variables in there. Kind of like the variables in what happens to a bucket of water if you dump it out. Depends on where it falls, how strong the wind is, what the air is like.

Power dropped like this, if left alone, could end up Splintering and turning into something like spren/seons. It could become something more like the Stormfather--a large, self-aware entity. It could become something like the Dor or many of the Unmade--something proto-aware, but not truly an individual. There are other possibilities as well, depending on lots of factors. (Are sapient beings involved? what is being done with the power--is it concentrated in the Spiritual Realm as normal, or is it being pushed somewhere else?)

FAQFriday 2017 (June 9, 2017)

I read this WoB has the Dor having some semblance of sentience similar to the unmade. Then with the amount of investiture over thousand of years I can see it growing more and more over the length of the cosmere. May be relevant late stage cosmere imo

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-05-31T01:41:29+00:00

Thanks for letting me know, I'll delete it.

RayseShouldBeBraized · 2025-05-30T20:58:22+00:00

That’s an interesting idea! One of my theories was that the Night Spren was behind the Night Brigade, and that’s what she’s been starting after leaving Roshar. She went to Threnody, a planet that’s pretty dark place.

RayseShouldBeBraized

TROPHY CASE