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Shadesmar

Shadesmar
Artwork by Isaac Stewart

Shadesmar is a plane of existence. It is the Cognitive Realm, and binds the other two Realms of existence (Physical and Spiritual) together.[1]

Shadesmar can be visited by those with an inherent Soulcasting ability, or those who have a Soulcasting fabrial. So far, the only known characters to travel there are Shallan, Jasnah, Kaladin, Adolin, Azure, and Mayalaran.[2][3][4][5] Among these few, Shallan and Jasnah are the only ones to travel there on their own as a result of each their abilities.[2][3][4]

Most people only interact with Shadesmar subconsciously through intuition or artistic expression, but Shadesmar is all around everyone all the time. It is the way that the cognitive self - unconscious self - experiences the world. Through hidden senses touching that Realm, one makes intuitive leaps in logic and forms hopes. Created by the deep, profound thoughts of people, it is then shaped by spren.[6]

Lay of the Land

Geographically, it appears to be a reflection of Roshar, with its inland seas corresponding exactly to the shape of the land of Roshar (i.e., therein, land and sea are reversed). Within it - alphabetically - are:

  • Expanse of the Broken Sky
  • Expanse of the Densities
  • Expanse of the Vapors
  • Expanse of Vibrance
  • Nexus of Imagination
  • Nexus of Transition
  • Nexus of Truth
  • Sea of Lost Lights
  • Sea of Regret
  • Sea of Souls

However, the endpapers of The Way of Kings (as depicted above) shows the Expanse of the Broken Sky (Sel), the Expanse of the Densities (Nalthis), and the Expanse of the Vapors (Scadrial). The Expanse of Vibrance is - as yet - an unknown world location in Shadesmar.[7] Still, this map displays the direction of these other worlds within the cosmere.

Roshar

To Jasnah, this place is so alien, with ridges and mountains of pure black obsidian, and a landscape that is perpetually dim. Small beads of glass roll about her feet - representations of inanimate objects in the Physical Realm.[8]

Lost Lights

A Portion of the Sea of Lost Lights
Drawing by Isaac Stewart[9]

Shallan eventually convinces the Oathgatespren to afford her party passage across the Sea of Lost Lights aboard the Honor's Path, their own vessel.[10]

Shallan's Experience

Jasnah's Experience

Jasnah is able to locate the Wind's Pleasure with ease, but since within Shadesmar, land and sea are reversed, where she stands there on solid ground, in the Physical Realm, Shallan and the sailors are still onboard their ship. They manifest within Shadesmar as lights, similar to candle flames, and Jasnah thinks of them as representations of each person’s soul, despite that Ivory told her that such was an extreme simplification.[11]

Further, for years she'd been trying to get Ivory to bring her into his world. Though she could peek into Shadesmar on her own - and even slip one foot in, so to speak - entering fully required his help.[12]

She used an outpouring of Stormlight and thrust into Shadesmar; a lash which had pulled her, like gravitation from a distant place, unseen.[13]

Azure's Experience

When team Shallan drops into Shadesmar, Azure says, "Damnation. I hate this place."[5] "I passed through it when I first came to your land about a year ago. I had guides then ... ."[9] "I'm from a far land, and I came to Roshar by crossing this place ... . I used a portal between realms. Cultivation's perpendicularity ... ."[14]

Theory

Since Shadesmar is a representation of the Cognitive Realm, it exists in the same time and place as the Physical Realm. It's all around all the time, but people don't really see it because they are firmly rooted in the Physical. It has been theorized that those people who do see parts, are typically only doing so subconsciously. Strong emotions and thoughts seem to make that easier. For example, when Shallan is drawing, she can see Cryptics because she is more connected to the Cognitive Realm while she is creating art. The same is true of Elhokar, who is so severely paranoid that he can see Cryptics over his shoulder when he looks into mirrors.[15] They aren't actually 'in' the Cognitive Realm, they're just glimpsing it. Then, there's Soulcasting. When Shallan Soulcasts, she certainly 'seems' to be in Shadesmar; she's floating in the ocean of little beads, but she has very little control over what goes on, and is told by Jasnah that what she did is incredibly dangerous.

Suppose that most people who 'go' to Shadesmar don't really go there, per se. Even Jasnah herself says that Shadesmar is not really a place because it's the same place in which one already is, just a different representation of it. Most of the time, the difference is where one's consciousness is. Think about spren. Spren are from the Cognitive Realm, and that is where they really exist. Spren like Pattern look completely different in the Physical Realm than they do in the Cognitive Realm because it is unnatural for them to be in the Physical. It is only their bond with humans that allows them the ability to think outside of the Cognitive Realm, just like the bond with the spren allows humans to have consciousness in the Cognitive. Still, in both cases, neither is actually fully 'there'. That's why spren can't really move things in the Physical Realm, and it's why Shadesmar is so dangerous for people. While Shallan 'sees' and 'feels' Shadesmar, her body remains in the Physical Realm. When Soulcasting, people only travel to the Cognitive Realm mentally, not physically. This is known because neither Shallan nor Jasnah disappear when they Soulcast; only each their consciousness shifts completely into the Cognitive Realm, not their bodies.

However, Jasnah is an Elsecaller. While using one of her two abilities (i.e., Transformation), she is just glimpsing the Cognitive Realm the same way that Shallan does, in order to Soulcast. Her other ability is Transportation, though, and that allows her to actually, physically go to Shadesmar.

The difference is made visible when Hoid is waiting for Jasnah and she suddenly appears. She was fully in the Cognitive Realm and then returned from it to be fully in the Physical Realm. This is something that Hoid, as a Worldhopper, can also do (and without a bond with a spren).[4]

So, Jasnah may have faked her own death in two parts: first, she Soulcast her blood to save her life after being stabbed. Then, in the confusion, she Transported herself to the relative safety of the Cognitive Realm and stayed there until everyone was sure she was good as dead.[16][4]

References

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