The Cosmere is a Videogame - Realmatic Theory Explained

[@adamrbuchanan]

I've read all the Cosmere works, and this was still very helpful at helping me understand these realms. I had to go back and rewatch a few parts, because this is one of Brandon's more complex parts of his books.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! It is a sorry if weird concept that took me a while to fully understand, and even longer to figure out a decent analogy for it.

[@callianr6980]

I am a stick!

[@chronicles2613]

but you could be FIRE

[@davidsandlin9686]

Chronicles of McBitchery I will change.

[@jonathankreitler5045]

Callian r we are a stick

[@ryanratchford2530]

Chronicles of McBitchery I am a stick!

[@molliethomas2585]

I am a stick.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

If the Cognitive Realm is like game code, then Soulcasting is injecting your own code.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

That's perfect!

[@canaDavid1]

Arbitrary code execution!

[@Jordan-kh2ww]

I think in this analogy the spiritual realm could be compared to the person playing the game

[@TheCosmerenaut]

That makes sense, though I think the player is more like the God Beyond - outside the actual world of the game but still influencing the workings within it.

[@ellehjames5809]

You have earned yourself a subscriber. I enjoyed your Cosmere Explanation, specifically how you explain the spiritual realm!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you!

[@nicolasfernandez5496]

I NEED like... 30 more videos. Please

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Haha, I'm working on it!

[@FallenFromGlory]

30? I NEED ∞

[@noelhann5262]

I'd argue for switching the code vs electricity metaphor for the spiritual realm being code and the coginitive realm being electricity or something else. The emperors soul and Mistborn both have magic systems which cause changes to the spiritual manifestation of something to affect its physical interpretation. Hemalurgy lets you basically steal parts of someone else's spirit web (I think thats how it works at least) and attach it to someone else's to steal powers or attributes from them. That affects what you can do, and how your body works with constructs like koloss. The emperors soul has forging, which uses stamps to dictate changes to an objects history to affect how it manifests physically. These both seem like changing the spiritual form of something affects its physical and cognitive form. In addition, stormlight healing heals your body to what it spiritually thinks it is, not cognitively, and Bondsmiths can affect how stormlight flows by causing spiritual changes to connection, like Ishar bonding a radiant's body to the ground so the stormlight thinks the earth is part of its body

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Not exactly. Consider what happens when a soulstamp is broken or removed - the piece reverts back to its original form, because its spirit knows what it's supposed to be. Similarly with stormlight healing: Kal's brands don't heal until he no longer considers them as part of himself - his cognitive view was overriding the spiritual in attempting to heal the physical. Hemalurgy is messy because it does steal chunks of spiritweb, which forces change to the cognitive and physical, and removal of the spikes doesn't necessarily revert that change.

[@insanedragongirl]

Those shades though 🤣

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Ladadadada!

[@user-cx9nc4pj8w]

even if people found out exactly how far away the planets of the cosmere are, it probably wouldn't matter to much to the cognitive realm, because humans can't comprehend such MASSIVE distances.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

To quote a wiser man than I: "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."

[@Jevaughn]

Brandon himself could hardly have explained the Realms in a non-spoiler way better than you have here. Bravo!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you sir!

[@megancamp4854]

I'm so glad I found your channel! Although, this doesn't bode well for my Cosmere obsession...😄😄

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I'm definitely going to be an enabler for you in that way...

[@Sanntii7]

Hey, nice video and channel. The analogy has its merits and it I really like it but I'd add a few things. The spiritual analogue with electricity is a bit trickier cause there you'd need every electron that represents something in the physical to "know", independently from the others (if that even makes sense given that spirtual realm is both time and space independent), exactly and perfectly (like in and idealistic sense) what they are. Also the code being the cognitive would mean that interface that you play could also change the code so is more like a symbiotic code that can rewrite itself, or be forced to by other bits (haha). Also, Shadesmar is the name given to the cognitive realm by Rosharians. I mean, you are not wrong as you can call it that: Same way you could say that an apple is called an apple but I would call it a manzana. Cheers!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Those are great points. Glad you liked it!

[@canaDavid1]

Sel dor analogy: If you make a game that is incredibly hard to hack, mod, glitch etc, the resulting hardware (cognitive realm) will be complex and dangerous to touch, because of all the antivirus-implementations and similar.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I like it!

[@laurenroundy4717]

I love your videos. I would love it even more if you mimicked AltShiftX's video style to explain things like the Cosmere and the different books and characters. Have you watched his videos? A lot of work goes into them, but they are hugely helpful in following the Game of Thrones TV show and books.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I haven't seen his stuff, but I'll definitely take a look. Thanks!

[@percula1869]

Another awesome video. You certainly have a knack for explaining things cosmere related. Happy to hit subscribe!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you!

[@kylepask4989]

wait, when have we seen the cognitive realm of scadrial?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

It's a Secret. History.

[@noam9665]

Realyl good example to explain the difference between realms. Keep up the good work!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@phillipj1135]

I feel like you could just inch around the dor and throw it a thumbs up as you pass.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

As long as the Dor doesn't hit you on the way out.

[@CptRennier]

My take on realmic theory is that the phsyical realm is comparable to our real world, baseline observable reality. The cognitive realm is a reflective of Carl Jung's idea of the collective unconscious, a "place" where shared ideas and ideas "come from" basically explaining how/why so many cultures have similar symbols and stories. And the spiritual realm corresponds with Plato's world of forms, wherein non-physical Forms represent the most real and true version of reality, basically every physical object is an imitation, or flawed representation of its Platonic Form.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I totally agree about the Cognitive Realm and Platonic forms, but I'm not familiar enough with Jung's collective unconscious. I'm planning a "Philosophy of the Cosmere" video at some point, highlighting real-world ideas that are the basis for in-world metaphysics, so I'll definitely check it out!

[@animalia5554]

Agree on Plato

[@fireguardianx]

Since the spiritual realm is where the ideals live, wouldnt it be something like: Physical Realm: the game application Cognitive Realm: the code that is running in the game Spiritual Realm: where class definitions, global variables and preprocessed information is stored

[@TheCosmerenaut]

If I was more familiar with coding, definitely.

[@ericswearingenmusic9967]

Great analogy!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you!

[@alskjflah]

Kalad’s Ghosts! Vasher is also a “K” name.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

IT NEVER ENDS

[@MarioLopez-cn4kr]

Does poop have a cognitive/spiritual image? If that is the case, when does it gain it, inside the intestine or when it is expelled? Questions that can keep you up at night. Love your videos!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

It must! Though we don't really consider poop as POOP until it's out of the body, so that's probably when it gains its Identity. Thanks!

[@Albumancer]

Nice analogy! I would've thought that the spiritual aspect, rather than being the electricity, would have been represented by the player. Although, that makes it a bit concerning if Bowser should ever get hold of Nightblood...

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I dunno; Bowser seems like the kind of guy who would want to actually use Nightblood, and so would end up getting stabbed through the chest by the scabbard.

[@Albumancer]

Probably for the better, given the alternative ;) Although, now that we're talking Cosmere powers in video games, I can't help but feel like the Master Sword in The Legend of Zelda is somewhat similar to a type IV awakened entity and an honorblade. It is sentient (Fi, Skyward Sword), literally a shard of a goddess (Hylia), and grants access to special magic (time travel, OoT)... It'll never happen, but I may dream of crossovers all the same :) Makes you wonder, where else could we find links like this?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Oh totally! I'm actually planning on making a video discussing Cosmere crossovers in other books and universes; would you mind if mentioned this?

[@Albumancer]

By all means, go ahead! One more example, a world that I feel would have fit right in with the rest of the Cosmere, is the universe from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, it feels like that magic system has proto-Brandon written all over it.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I totally agree, though they mislabel Shadesmar as the Spirit World. XD

[@colemiller9629]

Could we also extend the spiritual realm to the cloud? You mentioned mario dieing and I feel like that could be connected to the internet.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I think that would work, yeah!

[@kenmathewson8972]

Oooh, I got the devil's like on this one

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Sign of the Chasmfiend!

[@Jaryth000]

Another good video. Any plans in the future of a higher quality camera? Enjoying the content, but the video quality is a tad low for modern standards. In the end though,the quality content will keep me coming back!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

As soon I can get a DSLR I'll switch, but right now I can't really afford one.

[@beerivers9322]

Actually try lighting yourself better. May take care of the video quality.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I'll look into that. Thanks!

[@whyonthefall5373]

Forget angerspren, what about deathspren?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I don't think we've seen deathspren in the Cognitive Realm yet. Not sure if they'd be SUPER scary, or just tiny and annoying.

[@whyonthefall5373]

@@TheCosmerenaut it would be quite funny if they were tiny and annoying. But, Sanderson is great at foreshadowing, even from the first book. I'm sure the future books will answer this. PS, these videos really help to contextualise the Cosmere, especially to less versed readers. Great work 👍

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Yeah, I'm sure we'll eventually meet them. Glad you're finding them useful! Thanks!

[@tritonneptune3834]

Wait, what the hell is the beyond then? is it just the spiritual realm?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Interestingly, no it's not! If it were the Spiritual Realm, ascended Shards would be about to see into it to a point, which we've seen that they can't. The Beyond is either the afterlife, or simply non-being, depending on who you ask in the Cosmere.

[@tritonneptune3834]

@@TheCosmerenaut Thanks for the response man! hope you return to make more vids and get more views.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! Got a new video out today!

[@kalebcox7107]

Great video keep it up

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@Adam-sh8vf]

the cognetive realm is more like the dark world in "a link to the past" the spiritual realm is the code

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Being a big Zelda fan myself, that totally makes sense.

[@aka_nox]

I see TARDIS 👀

[@TheCosmerenaut]

VWORP VWORP VWORP!!!

[@aka_nox]

The sound brings hope to whoever hears it :")

[@joshphillips5238]

This is the 10th time I’ve watched this hahaha, I’m still a bit confused as to why “Vasher” and “Raoden” means “cheating” 2:53 I’ve read all the books but can’t figure it out •_•

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Taken in the context of the videogame metaphor, using magic in the Cosmere is akin to exploiting a glitch in the game code.

[@LunaUlysses]

Great explanation and video, but the constant visual cut-too's are distracting and make it a little difficult to want to watch.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Yeah, I ended up shifting the organization of this video midway through editing, so it became a lot choppier than I wanted. I'll make sure my future videos are better. Thanks!

[@laurenroundy4717]

I liked that stuff!

[@LavaSaver]

I am a stick

[@TheCosmerenaut]

But you could be fire...

[@kakerake6018]

0:38 you're damn right 😤 I am very beautiful

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true.

[@bobmrf]

“Where there’s a *Pond* in the physical realm…”

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I couldn't resist. :D

[@jkyarr]

Sorry as a software industry professional this analogy failed hardcore for me. Earnest effort. Please do carry on. Can't win em all.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

That's fair. I can understand how this explanation would break down with anything much more than a layman's understanding. Thanks for the view!