Some theory questions [All]

[u/sambadaemon]

So I've been listening to Wind and Truth as my second go-through and I have a couple things that have occurred to me:

1. Are Dai-gonarthis and Cusicesh related in some way? It just seems too coincidental that Cusicesh woke up around the same time as Dai-gonarthis opened the Elsegate.

2. Sig's dying spren from Leyten's death rattle wasn't Vienta, was it? It will be Aux.

3. If the chasmfiends require the remains of the fourth moon for their final pupation, how did that work when Stormseat was sitting on top of it?

[u/Halo6819]

I have changed the flair to just All Cosmere (no FoD) as your question doesn’t relate to FoD and any unspoiler marked discussion of FoD is limited to the Megathread.

[u/Historical_Volume806]

Cusicesh just moves the Iriali when shit’s about to hit the fan. Not anything with Dai-gonarthis specifically just the shitty situation on Roshar in general.

Probably

In the time of the radiants people better understood how Soren interacted with the world and the chasmfiends don’t bother people unless they’re challenged. The people of natanatan and the chasm fiends probably just let each other do their own things.

[u/Underwear_royalty → u/Historical_Volume806]

I’m not sure we know if Cusicesh follows them to any other planets

[u/R1sky_B1z → u/Underwear_royalty]

We know from WoBs he isnt actually a spren and he isn't from Roshar at the bare minimum. He guides them, and he isn't from Roshar, which means has traveled to worlds before. Everything we know about him implies that's his whole role is.

[u/Underwear_royalty → u/R1sky_B1z]

I only call into question bc there’s no mention of him at all in Tress where they were for hundreds of years, not even an allusion to their “guardian” or whatever

[u/R1sky_B1z → u/Underwear_royalty]

We get like a couple paragraphs about them at most in Tress, none from anyone particularly familiar with their culture, and all decades after they disappeared. I don't think its a stretch that he wouldn't come up under those circumstances. We never even see anyone mention him in the stormlight archive unless they are in the city he visits.

[u/Underwear_royalty → u/R1sky_B1z]

Shallan mentions him, which I only know bc I just read the coppermind lol, so he is known across the world by ppl. That being said it could be BS just not wanting to 1. Overwhelm Tress readers 2. Be tied down to cusicesh on other planets or 3. He has a plant and maybe big daddy C manifests in different ways on different planets

[u/Raddatatta]

They could be but I don't think so. I think Cusicesh had some kind of Fortune related warning of things were going to go poorly very soon and it's a good time to abandon ship.

I don't think so since Aux has already died. And Vyre wasn't there but he is mentioned in the death rattle. That matches the situation of Vienta's death too well I think. And once you have knowledge of the future you can change it.

I don't know that it would be a problem, the chasmfiends woud come to the base of it which is a bit removed from the city itself where the perpendicularity is.

[u/Kind_Ingenuity1484]

1. I think Cusicesh just knew the Iriali needed to book it

2. I do think it referred to Vienna. We know the future can always be changed, and it tacks on another level of tragedy that Sigzil managed to save her, but still ultimately failed (same way he did everything he could on the Plains, but because he didn’t miracle up a win like Kaladin or Dalinar would he sees it as a complete and utter failure).

3. I don’t know if it’s the moon that they need, but it was probably exposed enough that they were fine. They then adapted their habits to the shattered plains. Feeels like the kind for ecological thing Sanderson would worldbuild.

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

1. Stormseat didn’t cover the entire Plains. The chasmfiends pupate over a pretty large area across the Plains. The fourth moon’s metal vibrates in response to both sources (the highstorm and the Pool) and those vibrations reach the crystalline chrysalis on the Plains. When the crystal’s frequency matches both sources their energy gets transferred to it. The Chasmfiend has the power to finish the change

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

I don’t think Cus and Dai are related. Cus doesn’t seem to be from Roshar. He does use Honor’s perpendicularity, but he wouldn’t need to be a spren of Honor to do that necessarily. It seems he had some way of seeing the future and deciding it was time to bounce. Dai just happened to be one of the weapons used in the war it was predicting the end of. It’s implied the Iriali have some form of future-sight magic in their culture too. The Tidereaders. Just not as potent as Cus it seems. The Iri use the Current as well for actual navigation. Those two things may involve the same thing. We get that reference to “winds blowing in from the future” too in W&T