Every Cosmere mention in Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson 

Ruin and Preservation definitely have a tone. Remember that Vin could hear Leras (preservation) through the mists and the distant "drums" of ruin calling her while burning bronze.

Stormfather: "Of course I knew Taravangian would Ascend to Odium's Shard, once he did it I always knew that he did it."

Taravangian taking wit's memory at the end gave me chills.

We actually get to see Allomancy in a way in RoW. In the beginning chapters pretexts where Navani is addressing the Monarchs of Urithiru concerning fabrials, she talks about how certain metals affect the spren within the gemstones. Everything like how Iron wire will pull things towards the spren such as pain. Or that Zinc will excite or *riot* the spren, and brass seems to calm or *soothe* them instead. It’s not directly Allomancy but it’s so fascinating to see that the physical metals themselves affect investiture the same way on Roshar s as they do on Scadrial

Another connection! The name “Ralkalast” the Singers use for aluminum is actually a Sel term originally mentioned in The Emperor’s Soul 🤔

We asked Brandon how many Cosmere references there were gonna be and he said "yes"

Navani: I’m not a scholar. *Navani bonds the Sibling* *Bookborn taking notes* Bookborn: hey guys, so I’m not a Cosmere scholar...

Stormlight is easiest gained and transported. With Navani's experiments it seems like stormlight can be converted into raw investiture and transformed into any given shard's power assuming the correct tones are found.

Vasher is going to be the key. Over and over again it's mentioned that Cognitive Shadows cannot leave their home world (system?) and that's why Kelsier can't appear in Roshar. But, not only has Vasher worldhopped as a Cognitive Shadow, he's also found a way to use another system's investiture. He also made the SuperSword (Nightblood) and both of those reasons are why everyone seems to be looking for him. If it's been done once, it can be again.

It was REALLY obvious that it was Sazed in the audiobook. Michael Kramer was doing his Sazed voice. And I LOVED that. As for Vasher, I thought what he was describing was that he had died and come back as a Returned before the events of Warbreaker. I also read it as Azure was tracking him down, but not hunting him. I assumed she was going to try and get him involved in some plot and he's just completely over being involved in anything anymore.

As an audiobook listener as soon as the Sazed pov started you could tell because of Michael Kramer's performance. It was awesome!

One thing I loved is Sazed name dropped FOUR new Shards that haven't been revealed up to this point. Invention, Mercy, Valor, and Whimsy. That means at this point there are only two Shards left that we have yet to get names for. And it makes me really curious what sort of magic system the world that Whimsy lives on has lol? First video I've found of yours, good stuff you have a new fan

Regarding the epilogue scene, I think the whole moment with the spren about sleight of hand and misdirection is there for a reason. Wit must have had his memories stored in his metalminds (which I think those coins he was playing with are), in case Todium would steal his breaths. I think Wit played Todium like a fiddle.

I am a good Vorin man and only listen to the audiobooks, so I found myself rewinding several times just to figure out what names you were dropping lol.

OK YALL. I KNOW VASHER IS A RETURNED. I just thought he died again. I realize that sounds stupid now but I thought something crazy new Cosmere-wise happened haha. In my defense....I have none.

Update to something Brandon actually said this past week. "destroyed" shards aren't actually destroyed. More like pulverized with the ability to reassemble over a period of time requiring Odium to "destroy" them again. This means Devotion, Dominion, Ambition, and Honor will eventually come back if not kept down by Odium.

"I didn't like 6th of the dusk very much" 😐 I cant even with you right now. 6th was the best.

Love seeing a video on Cosmere! So my thoughts: The coin Hoid was messing with at the end may have been a coppermind holding some of his memories. He may have also implemented some form of "backup" to tip him off if something went wrong. Everything done up to the meeting was un-repeatable. Complex shuffling of trick coins, sending his spren away, elaborate story... We don't know how many of Hoid's Breaths were removed. But we know he is now is down to under 200 Breaths, since he lost Perfect Pitch. Since we don't know how many Breaths Hoid actually had (though I would expect them to be in the thousands), he may have brought only 200 with him to the meeting, thus setting a safeguard to know if his memory was tampered with. Speaking of Perfect Pitch.. I never knew how important that was to the Cosmere until RoW! Being able to perfectly create anti-investiture seems like a great trick ;)

You missed, Gereh the steward in Kholinar palace, he is probably Terris, and the person who must have complained about Axindweth to Gavilar. He is also likely the person Lift found dead, the previous owner of the Aviar.

Once you hear it, you can’t go back: Tara van’ jee an ☺️

I love Taravangian and Kelsier the most in the cosmere. I am Hyped knowing that both will be playing huge rules in the future. By the way you did an amazing job thanks a lot.

Vasher can't use Stormlight to awaken according to brandon, he's still using his large collection of breath to awaken, since you can retrieve breaths from an awakened object after it's done with its job He can however use Stormlight to fuel his returned body, so none of his breaths are being used up permanently

The ending of rhythm of war Witt(hoid) says he lost his perfect pitch perfect pitch is 200 breaths in warbreaker. But he stores memories in his breaths like a keeper does in metal in mistborn.

Also at the end of Warbreaker, we find that Vasher is a returned. So he died way before events in Warbreaker

One of my favorite parts in the book was all the mentions of how the different metals react when used in fabrials and trying to connect them back to the Mistborn powers. Absolutely fantastic to see all the huge connections between his books. In regards to Wit he also has some White Sand. I think it only had a brief mention in RoW, but it was mentioned a few times in Oathbringer. So, that's another type of Investiture to add to the list.

Just finished RoW and I can finally watch these videos 🤣

Kelsier being Thaidakar and the leader of the Ghostbloods blew my mind!

I've always thought of the ghostboods as having overall good intentions just shady practices

well, vasher is a returned, that means he died and Edgli revived him, making him a cognitive shadow

I love the way you pronounce the names. Very organic and shows you didn’t do the audio book way

I love your enthusiasm for the cosmere. Makes me wanna reread Rhythm of War.

Great list! Along with Mercy we also learned the names of three other shards. Invention, Whimsy and Valor. I can't wait to see Invention, I'm sure they're gonna have made some really cool things and wonder if they'll be where the space exploration starts/started in the cosmere. Also whimsy will be fun. I knew Taravangian was going to take up the shard of Odium from the Chapter 42 heading. "In truth, it would be a combination of a Vessel's craftiness and the power's Intent that we should fear most." As soon as I saw "craftiness" I was like oh no, oh no..... haha I'm not sure if Kelsier will be a villain. I think they'll continue to clash but there is no way Kelsier will let Odium rule. So it might be conflict with the Radiants but then they team up to take down Odium. I was so gutted when Hoid got his investiture stolen. You're right it was horrifying. Hoid just seemed so untouchable. Since Vasher has Breath I wonder if he can restore Hoid's memories using his own or if those memories are just gone now. I don't know if you've read Way of Kings prime, the original draft before he wrote before Elantris was published, but Vasher is in that. Brandon mentioned that he felt Vasher needed to be fleshed out more so wrote Warbreaker as his back story. So I think Vasher will have pretty big implications going forward. Apparently, the next mistborn book is critical to Stormlight 5. I think the Sazed chapter headings are key here again. At the start of chapter 29 "I have begun searching for a pathway out of this conundrum by seeking the ideal person to act on my behalf. Someone who embodies both Preservation and Ruin. A... sword, you might say, who can both protect and kill." My theory is that he means Wax and in book 5 of Stormlight we are going to see Wax worldhop to Roshar to represent Sazed.

About the Seon and Elantris' geographically-locked magic: yes, Sellish magic is tied to physical place. We don't know specifics, but since this is a Connection issue, if you learn to manipulate that Connection then you should be able to bring Sellish Investiture off-world.

Vasher is a Returned, like lightsong. Revealed in Warbreaker.

this video is exactly what i needed!!! incredible work - love this!

Great video. I had been waiting for cosmere connection video and my wish is fulfilled. I found out about Kelsier being the leader of Ghostblood only after I finished Rhythm of War and watched couple of videos.

Based on the description of 16 he is an Elantrian and the fact that he doesn't eat and all that seems to make sense

5:30 That would be exactly why they're so excited to bring Stormlight elsewhere. If they can get Stormlight off-world, that's a major piece of the puzzle towards powering other magic systems. And I can think of more than a few which would be top-priority hacks: Stormlight-powered Elantrians, anyone?

Taraboi being the first one to be able to catch Hoid off guard was scary as HELL

I like to think your repeated "I'm not a Cosmere Scholar," despite clearly knowing your stuff, was your best effort at imitating Navani throughout RoW ;-)

Vasher dying may just be a reference to him being returned, there was a first time he dies to become returned before warbreaker

So many Cosmere tie-ins! I'm glad I did my homework and read everything in the Cosmere except Dawnshard before picking up OB and RoW. You're the first I've heard to mention the chicken might be from Sixth of Dusk.

Wow. this was a great video! Thank you for putting this together. I'm glad that you did not get every reference at first, as I did not either. Definitely subbed and looking forward to more content! My biggest "on no" moment was when Odium messed with Wit, he is my favorite!

Bwa ha! Your reaction when you remembered the Aviars was priceless.

Cool recap of the broader Cosmere ! Vasher died well before the Warbreaker story. When you discover he is a Returned in Warbreaker. As a consequence, you know also he died and Endowment turned him into a Returned. Same with all the other Five Scholars. Always on Vasher, we have confirmation he didn't discover yet how to power his Awakening with Stormlight, but he can use Stormlight to keep himself alive... any source of Investiture can be used for that. So he is really not expending Breath during his holyday on Roshar. Also in the fight with Kal, he wasted no Breath as he recovered them all after the sparring match

Nice job! Mraize also has Sand and an Aether as well. Wonder if/when we'll learn more about Aethers..

there are two things people are overlooking in taking stormlight to other planets 1. hemalurgy 2. the king's sceptor in EMPEROR'S SOUL

El replaces his carapace with metal horns, so maybe hemolergy?

Watching this video 2 years later wondering why you're surprised about things learned in lost metal 😂. I read that before row so I didn't think about it lmao.

Vasher? I have no memory of him in the book. I've read the mistborn, warbreaker, and the stormlight series. Somehow I didn't catch a single one of these points. My brain never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for sharing! That was a lot of fun.

Seons are like Sprens, and it could be possible to turn them into Shardblades

Brandon said recently that "surgebinding" is just what Rosharans call using powers, so that would consider allomancy surgebinding (in reference to what you said around 6 minutes).

Goodness. I read all stormlight thus far I’m sure I missed most of the references to other books and worlds. I just enjoyed the story.

If I remember correctly, 16 is a Kandra. I wasn't able to find anything else at the time I searched for it.

Brandon plans on releasing at least a novella about the humans left on Ashyn, called The Divine Silence. Apparently they contract diseases that make them lose their hearing and they gain powers from them.

We know a little more about Ashyn than you say - It's described as a world devastated by some great cataclysm with small pockets of human survivors. I always imagined it as some sort of hellscape, but that's probably just me equating it with Venus as it is closer to the Rosharan sun than Roshar or Braize. We also have WoB about Ashyn, as it is the planned setting for 'The Silence Divine', which takes place in one of the floating cities. The investiture in Ashyn is apparently disease-based, with no word on whether surge-binding works there (although it probably should, being part of the Roshar system and with it being almost destroyed by surgebinding and use of the dawnshards 7500 years before Way of Kings)

We knew Vasher died he is a return...

Another form of investiture Hoid has demonstrated is sand-mastery in Warbreaker.

I liked the video! Keep up the good work! This is my little theory on the investiture of surgebiding. 1) We know that each different shard develops investiture in a different manner, so I don't think surgebinding is universal, just that it's the process that Odium used to manifest investiture. We know that Ashyn was destroyed by the uncontrollability of surgebinding, specifically in Bondsmith it seems. Since the Stormfather tells Dalinar it was Ishar's curiosity and pushing of boundaries, which led to the destruction of Ashyn. 2) On Scadrial, we saw what happens when two shards, Ruin and Preservation, who manifested the investiture together, were combined to form Harmony, and how to our understanding as of yet, the investiture did not alter at all. I believe Roshar is the example of separate shards, from different planets, affecting how the investiture of other shards work. 3) Odium brings surgebinding, but does Honor put a limitation to the powers extent, such as the 5 oaths, and only the most honorable of individuals can obtain world killing strenght? Does Cultivation put the requirement of growth needed in the individuals to obtain those 5 powers of oaths. Were Culitvations and Honors investiture the spren and the stormlight/lifelight? We're those requirements they strapped onto Surgebinding as well, so that it could be harnessed and monitored? Just so many dang questions.

Enjoyed this video a lot. I haven’t read many other cosmere books aside from the Mistborn novels and stormlight archive but will be definitely adding warbreaker and Elantris to my tbr after this

I have a tiny Elantris related theory - You know how Rlain notices the shattered plains are broken in a pattern? What if... it's an Aon? What if... it's related to how humans first arrived in Roshar?

Wit told Thaidakar that he will come and hit him again, he referred to Secret History

I'm not sold either way about Vasher using Stormlight for awakening. It will definitely be possible, I don't doubt that, but I don't know if Vasher has figured it out. I DO think he has figured out how to pay the 1 breath per week that he uses up as a returned with stormlight (I seem to recall brandon suggesting that was the primary reason he chose to retire on roshar?) but as for awakening, with the exception of creating a lifeless, he can always get the breaths he used to awaken back, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out he's still using those to awaken Edit: Also, we definitely knew Vasher died, he's a returned? :P He reveals this at the end of warbreaker

Your camera is amazing.

9:22 _The Silence Divine_ is set on Ashyn, or rather on one of the arcology cities in low Ashyn orbit. All Sanderson has of that story is the opening scene and details on the magic system (basically: get sick, get superpowers).

Looking back at what vasher said about type 2 invested entities (RoW chapter 15), we need to ask what is/was Kelsier intent I don't know if 300ish years is enough to be consumed by it, but I think it would be a indicator of what the ghost bloods are after.

you should do this for the other books in the series

You’re right about the magic on Sel. We all want to know how that worked lol

His Mistborn trilogy was one of my favorites.

With Vasher awakening, last we heard he had figured out how to use storm light to survive, but not awaken yet.

I am more worried after Taravangian became Odium.

Fun fact: on the first page of the first chapter which had Sazed's epigraphs, Sanderson actually used the word harmony which is Sazed's Shard name lol

I've listened to all the cosmere books so hearing how different your pronunciations were was funny, except for Sazed and Axyndwith (idk how to spell it)

I may have to reread, but didn't Shallan say the Ghostbloods wanted to find Ba-Ado-Mishram to learn about binding the minds of a whole people like humans did to parshmen?

Vasher's death is in reference to him being a returned which was revealed in warbreaker.

Hoid had those breaths as a distraction, a misdirection.... he was talking exactly about that. he did magic by misdirecting Odium towards his breaths.

i love all the cosmere connections in rhythm of war!!!! so juicy hehe i think my favourites were zahel/vasher and his convo with kaladin as well as the kelsier reveal!!!

Loved the video and all the connections 👍! Don't worry about not pronouncing names right - I only now listened to an interview of Steven Erikson and found out that for all those years I, along with all the audiobooks, were pronouncing Malazan totally wrong... However, it sounds right in my head and since books give us the freedom to imagine the characters, places and interactions however our brains interpret the written ques, this should give us the same freedom of imagination when it comes to the names too... I am sure the authors are happy we actually are invested enough to have a personal relationship with their characters, and would not really mind us giving them our own twist on the names 😉. Glad to discover your channel and hope for many more book discussions 🙂🤓

Gonna watch this video later didn't finish the book yet! See you in a bit

I missed *sooooooooo* many of these Cosmere references! 😳😭 I guess it's time for yet another re-read(listen) 😁

Ashyn was destroyed by unoathed surgebinders. They essentially caused a climate catastrophe on their planet and had a mass exodus. Tanavast(Honor) is the one who created the Nahel bond and oaths so that those who needed access to surgebinding were limited to a specific surge, where before if you had the skill you could access any surge.

Okay, this is exaclty what I needed. I just finished RoW and my mind was drowning!! Couple questions - I only read the first Mistborn triology, how is Kelsier the leader of the ghostbloods, he's dead... or does he come back in the second triology? Is/was Azure actually Vivenna? How did Knightblood get away? I feel like I need to re-read (listen) to RoW but it's sooo long!!!

Nice work! (We gotta get you the audiobooks. Those pronunciations... ha)

It's not just that Seons are hard to take away from Sel, any heavily invested entity can't leave it's home system because it becomes too Connected to the system/planet. Same reason why spren can't leave Roshar or why Kelsier can't leave Scadrial, under normal circumstances. That's why the Seon box is so valuable, even according to Hoid.

Thank you for the video. I've read everything but it all gets foggy after reading so many books lol. This was great to snap everything back into focus.

Great breakdown of this I love this type of video. This is really good.

Indeed! When new grandpa Odium started rummaging around inside Hoid I honestly got more freaked than nearly any point in these books. I feel like Hoid will realize his perfect pitch is off and other effects etc. He will know he lost some Breaths somehow, wont know what he lost but I am praying he will at least know something was tampered with during their encounter.

Per some WoB (not sure which), but he has said that the rhythms are a central theme throughout the Cosmere magics. I can’t remember the exact phrasing, but yes, the other Shards presumably have tones and anti-Investitures.

i think stormlight can be really important for other planets to develop fabrial technology which would essentially give roshar a major monopoly on this eco friendly tech

Vasher is a returned which we learn in WarBreaker that's what he means when he says he died and came back

Ha! I've only read the Stormlight Archive series so I have no idea of any of the references to other worlds and their implications outside of being told what they are in this specific series.

Doing my RoW reread now, I think the implication with bringing stormlight elsewhere in the cosmere is that stormlight-as investiture-could potentially be unlocked and used to fuel other kinds of magic. One thing to note is that anyone with the ability to manipulate Connection (capital C) can do some pretty weird things. Bondsmiths and duralumin feruchemists have the potential to unlock new uses of investiture through connection and the creation of new "fabrials" incorporating multiple kinds of power. Think what an artifabrian from Roshar could do with access to the abilities that the southern Scadrians demonstrate. Lots of possibilities! An example I think could be the use of stormlight in place of something like ettmetal. Assuming you can transmute investiture, you go from being limited to the powers and abilities associated with that shard, to wielding the unmitigated powers that Adolnalsium once held.

Yes the aviar are from sixth of the dusk.

@bookborn I agree the last part with Hoid's memory was terrifying. However, the last thing Hoid said was "the meeting went exactly as planned" - this can be taken on its face value - hoid got beaten, his memory stolen. It could also mean that Hoid already knew what Cultivation was doing. He could have gone in with his coins and set Taravangian up for a test. It could be how he "wanted the meeting to go"

So much cosmere stuff in RoW. I loved it.

Everyone gets their own speculation. Hope you have yours. My speculation is that the Cosmere books are really about 'Unite them,' referring to the Shards. Szed united Preservation and Ruin, on a planet with 2 Shards. Shelan has found an equilibrium with three personas, and might be set up to unite the three Shards on Roshar with an equilibrium (plus, first main chapter in Stormlight is a Shelan chapter). The Ghost Bloods are capturing Heralds into gems, combined with Navani discovering how to unite previously split spren from their gemstones. So RoW may have initiated the technology for the next step beyond uniting spren, into the new goal of uniting Shards. using metal, sand, sound, light, map of the galaxy (e.g. Elantris used their local geography), etc.. Eventually Rosharans travel to other planets to use the technology to unite all the Shards back into a single Adonalsium. Here's to hoping some of your speculations and mine are true.

I have just discovered your Channel! Love this Video :D About Vasher - Vasher is a Returned - which is basically a very invested cognitive Shadow, that needs weekly investiture do keep living. On Nalthis, in that kingdom where the returned are worshipped, there are 5 legendary figures - the 5 scholars - who are all Returned and discovered a lot of the applications of breath and awakening. One of the other scholars is Shashara (no relations with Shalash) who created Nightblood :D

I'm not so sure about Odium taking Wit's memory at the end. A part of me wants to think it's a setup, that Wit wanted him to do it.

I just finished RoW yesterday, i vividly remember that sinking feeling I got when Taravangean bacame Odium and qudibly said 'No' repeatedly. Truly terrifying. Please don't kill my monarch Dalinar on Stormlight 5 please. Aaaaaaa

IIRC, in OathBringer Vivenna looks mid-30s where she was early 20s in Warbreaker. Though she appears to have gained some control over how she appears (in addition to her hair). Vasher also started teaching Adolin when he was young (12?), so both would line up to Warbreaker happening 10-15 years before Way of Kings. This is assuming no cognitive realm time shenanigans, which would explain how Felt is hanging around (unless he is a kandra or something). If Vasher or other Returned couldnt process stormlight like breaths, then I'd guess he went to the Nightwatcher and effectively traded Nightblood for that ability. Cultivation mentions Nightblood in one of Dalinar's flashbacks and Vasher has some foreknowledge of how powerful Dalinar will be long before he becomes a Bondsmith.