Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

WoR Signing Report - Bartbug (Verbatim)

If Kelsier's Cognitive Shadow or a Seon went to the Forests of Hell, would they be shades?

Yes, that is the same thing. The people on that planet; their Investiture; the lack of shard means that their cognitive shadows react differently. The ghost of Leras is the same thing too.

threnody, shades, cognitive shadows, seon,

Idaho Falls Signing Report - Lady Radagu (Paraphrased)

Were there Cadmium/Bendalloy and possibly Chromium/Nicrosil mistings in the Final Empire? If yes, were the mists Snapping those too?

Um, yes, there were, but since the mists were trying to create a pattern to be a sign, and people didn't know all the metals, they [the mists] had to use substitutions. They were acting the way we've seen other cognitive shadows, who are deceased, act.

allomancy, cognitive shadows,

Orem Signing Report - Zas678 (Paraphrased)

Did Kelsier chose not to move on after he died? Or did he want to move on but couldn't for some reason?

RAFO!

The thing is, Kelsier's wife, Mare, had certainly moved on, and that would be motivating him to go on to the next life.

kelsier, cognitive shadows,

Orem Signing Report - Zas678 (Paraphrased)

So what happens when Shards die?

Well, it depends on how long the Shardholders have held the Shard. After they dies, the Shard is often able to continue acting, a kind of "Cognitive shadow". For example, the mists were able to continue doing what Preservation wished in helping out Vin and snapping people. With the Stormfather, he is that Cognitive shadow, and he's semi sentient. It's that power, but no one is actually holding it. We also see this on Threnody.

In this case, shardholder means vessel.

shards, cognitive shadows, stormfather, vessel,

Brandon Sanderson - /r/books AMA March 2015 (Verbatim)

Hey Brandon! So glad you are doing another AMA!

1. Could you explain a little more about Cognitive shadows? When you first mentioned the name and gave the examples of Kelsier and the Shades from Threnody you kind of gave the impression that they were kind of like ghosts. But this past December at the Orem signing you mentioned that the Stormfather and the mist were also Cognitive shadows. The first makes sense to me, I had an entire theory about that (although I argued he was specifically Tanavast's and not Honor's). The second however really doesn't make sense to me, unless it was actually the mist spirit that is the shadow and that got missed in the report (it wasn't verbatim), but even still Preservation is still alive at that point so how can he have a "ghost"? (Unless him sacrificing his mind to form Ruin's prison counts as "death" in this situation?)

The rest of these feel free to pick and choose which ones you want to answer (I'm finding it difficult to narrow things down, so I figure I'll leave it to you to decide which ones you want answered).

2. Are the Unmade Splinters of Odium?
3. Is the Well of Ascension Preservation's Perpendicularity? Or at least related to it (i.e. one is in the Physical Realm but the other is in the Cognitive but are still essentially different aspects of the same "thing")?
4. What if the Throne of Idris passed to someone who was not the child of the monarch? Like if they were the niece or nephew of the previous monarch. Their parent would not have passed on the Royal Locks to them, but if they gained the throne would they spontaneously manifest the Royal Locks? Would their children if they were born before?
5. Does hair that is still attached to a person's head get cut if a Shardblade passes through it? If not, if that person had the Royal Locks could they change the color of the hair "below" the cut?
6. You've mentioned there is a big Hint in Elantris, and later clarified that the hint is an Aon that Raoden mis-interprets. Is Aon Rao the Aon that Raoden mis-interprets? Is its true meaning something closer to "Investiture"?
7. According to Peter, Mraize is from Thaylenah, does Shallan just never mention his eyebrows or is he not ethnically Thaylen?
8. What are your current plans with regards to the Jasnah novella you wrote last summer?
9. Honorspren and windspren have been described as "cousins"; do Cryptics share a similar relationship with creationspren?

Anyway, thank you so much for answering any of my questions!

On the first question, I did not say the mists themselves were a cognitive shadow. That must have been a misunderstanding. The Stormfather totally is, though. Cognitive shadows are basically ghosts, which can take a lot of different forms in the Cosmere, but follow general rules.

2. Yes. Good guess.
3. You're on the right track.
4. This will be discussed in the Warbreaker sequel, most likely.
5. Yes, hair gets cut. It counts as dead in my mind--but not to someone who has the Royal Locks. They could only change below, as you state, and wouldn't get their hair chopped off. (I'm not 100% sure on this, but I Think I've mentioned in Stormlight before that you can cut things like shells on living animals with a Shardblade, but then it doesn't cut the flesh.)

Lots of questions here. More to come, if I find time.

stormfather, cognitive shadows, well of ascension, perpendicularities, shardpool, royal locks, unmade, shardblades,

Calamity-Austin

Are the shadows, are the physical ghosts in Threnody, the same as Cognitive Shades?

They are a very, very similar breeds.

shades, cognitive shadows,

OdysseyCon 2016

Is it normal for people to become connected to an area after being there for a bit, like with Kel and wherever he was when he found the Ire, or is something special going on?

It is normal for a cognitive shadow to get stuck to places, because they exist through investiture it is normal for them to get tied to an area. Kelsier was still in Scadrial when he found the Ire. This happened with Odium and the two shards on Roshar, Preservation to Ruin, and the Heralds (To Roshar? Braize?). (I think this is basically what happens with shards when they invest on a planet, so this same thing happens at smaller levels than shards.)

(After about an hour and a half he started answering more questions, so I sat nearby and wrote the gist of the questions and answers he was getting. Thsi next part is going to be paraphrased, but fairly accurate. It wasn't as rapid fire as it had been, as I and other people didn't want to keep interruption him while he was playing magic.)

Kelsier, cognitive shadows, investiture, cognitive realm, Scadrial, IRE, Odium, Cultivation, Honor, Preservation, Ruin, Heralds,

Calamity-Philadelphia, PA

If a Cognitive Shadows travels to Threnody, does it automatically turn into a shade?

No.

cognitive shadows, Threnody, shades,

Old Firehouse Books-AU tour (Paraphrased)

Are the Svrakiss cognitive shadows?

RAFO. But you expected that.

svrakiss, cognitive shadows,

Little City Books-AU Tour (Paraphrased)

Are the Cognitive Shadows on Braize the mythical Shades of the Knights Radiant?

RAFO Card

cognitive shadows, braize, knights radiant, shades,

Harold Washington Library Center-AU Tour (Paraphrased)

Have we seen cameos of Heralds on other Shardworlds?

The Heralds are tied to the system by the magic that permeates them. They could not leave. It’s part of the magic. Some would call them Cognitive Shadows, right? Whether they are or not. ‘Cognitive Shadow’ is a very ambiguous term in the Cosmere. It means, basically your soul-- Investiture replaced your soul, and permeated your soul, and your soul continues to exist, but you are usually Invested with something, that’s tied, and you’re basically like pure Investiture then. You’re tied to the thing you’re Connected to. Most of the things that you’re gonna see like that, traveling is going to be very difficult, unless you know how to do it. You have seen people do it.

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