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The Hardest Choice


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Since you are friends with a ligh eye who recently won a duel you are given some shards, the catch? You can only have either the plate or the sword. If given the choice which would you choose and why?

P.s. my choice would be plate, because if I had a shareholder I'd cut off either my hand or a friends hand, in three hours tops

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Yes, but Shardplate is so heavy and bulky that it would seem it would be easy for someone to steal it if you don't have the resources to guard it. Or to convince the guards to not guard it.

 

No, I would say that a Shardblade would be better. Much more portable, and a better weapon. You could make some half-shards for defense- there isn't ANYTHING that matches a Shardblade. Plus- you get an instant status bump as well. That's nice.

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Blade. The shardplate currently in circulation can't be dismissed, and it takes ages to put on so will not protect me in an emergency at all unless I'm paranoid enough to live with it on 24/7. Which I am not.

The blade is a portable instant-kill weapon that can also block any other blade, and makes me impossible to physically imprison at that. Appears almost on demand. Perfect for self defense as well as engaging in combat.

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Yes, but Shardplate is so heavy and bulky that it would seem it would be easy for someone to steal it if you don't have the resources to guard it. Or to convince the guards to not guard it.

 

No, I would say that a Shardblade would be better. Much more portable, and a better weapon. You could make some half-shards for defense- there isn't ANYTHING that matches a Shardblade. Plus- you get an instant status bump as well. That's nice.

 

That's a good point, but I think that being a Shardbearer would already entitle you to a higher rank so assuming you weren't a lighteyes of sufficient wealth to maintain Shards before you receive them, you likely would be after.

 

After all, it is the interest of Highprinces to keep their shardbearers in tip-top fighting condition.

 

I think it would depend on the situation.

 

If you were going to say, the Shattered Plains, Shardplate would be my choice for a number of reasons but mainly that Shardbearers are already well powerful enough with shard hammers and bows and survival is going to be more important than raw killing power.

 

That is, being a Shardbearer with just blade is less useful for your army and you. Sure, you can fight with regular armour...but you can't cross chasms as easily as a Shardplater or Parshendi and yet you still have to fight like a Shardbearer (withiout close-in support from your fellows.)

 

I mean, really, being a decent archer and having a Shardbow would be hieous for anyone on the receiving end. 

 

If you were going to stay back in a city or at court, a Shardblade is probably more useful as it's always around and equally potent (a mere ten beats away) and you're not dealing with scenarios where it is likely dozens of enemies will attempt to isolate an overrun you (hopefully!)

 

If you were wandering the world a blade is probably the better as well, for much the same as the above reasons.

 

I also object to Blades on moral reasons.  

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I would take Shardplate. One, I still plan on bonding a spren so... Two, the one thing I don't get is why Dalinar says that no prison will hold a shardbearer, just force the shardbearer to break the bond or cut off his hands or something. Three, Dalinar is right, Shardplate is a useful tool, more versatile, lethal without even being armed, a blade is only useful for killing and mining/quarrying.

 

I wouldn't paint my plate either as I prefer the look of clean metal. I would use it to blacksmith a real shardbeaer weapon, the Donkey Kong Hammer.

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Blade, no doubt about it. It'll be always with me, just ten heartbeats away. I wouldn't even need to be very good with it and along with no blood when killing, those are enough pros for me. (Yeah, I don't deal with blood very well :ph34r: )

 

Besides, it's possible to revive a Blade, if we're going as far as imaging winning Shards, why not take the next step?

 

edit: It's never too late to improve you spelling

Edited by Aleksiel
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I would take Shardplate. One, I still plan on bonding a spren so... Two, the one thing I don't get is why Dalinar says that no prison will hold a shardbearer, just force the shardbearer to break the bond or cut off his hands or something. Three, Dalinar is right, Shardplate is a useful tool, more versatile, lethal without even being armed, a blade is only useful for killing and mining/quarrying.

 

I wouldn't paint my plate either as I prefer the look of clean metal. I would use it to blacksmith a real shardbeaer weapon, the Donkey Kong Hammer.

Not a hammer. A axe. Shardbearer executioner. Sounds awesome.

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Not a hammer. A axe. Shardbearer executioner. Sounds awesome.

 

Say, like an Obsidian ax or two?  :D

 

i'd have to go with Plate as it kind of turns you into Ironman (without flight and/or missiles/lasers), and that is all sorts of cool.  Plus if you can bond a spren, you're good until you get to the point where you can make your own plate (if that is how it works). 

Edited by Green Hoodie Mistborn
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I would take Shardplate. One, I still plan on bonding a spren so... Two, the one thing I don't get is why Dalinar says that no prison will hold a shardbearer, just force the shardbearer to break the bond or cut off his hands or something. Three, Dalinar is right, Shardplate is a useful tool, more versatile, lethal without even being armed, a blade is only useful for killing and mining/quarrying.

 

I wouldn't paint my plate either as I prefer the look of clean metal. I would use it to blacksmith a real shardbeaer weapon, the Donkey Kong Hammer.

 

Yea I don't get the either. In every instance of summoning Shardblade they open their hand and it drops into it. So to imprison them all that the prison would have to do is chain their arms above their head and bind the hands closed. If they still want to summon the Shardblade, well the cost of imprisoning them just got significantly cheaper. As they just got hit in the head by a Shardblade.

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Yea I don't get the either. In every instance of summoning Shardblade they open their hand and it drops into it. So to imprison them all that the prison would have to do is chain their arms above their head and bind the hands closed. If they still want to summon the Shardblade, well the cost of imprisoning them just got significantly cheaper. As they just got hit in the head by a Shardblade.

I'm not sure that will work, at least if you want to keep the possibility of releasing the Shardbearer later.  First, I'm not sure how long one could keep someone's hands chained above his head before lack of blood flow became a serious issue (I just held one of my hands above my head for about a minute and it started to fall asleep.  I imagine permanent damage would be swift and severe).  Binding the hands closed would likely have similar issues with fungus, rot, and, if bound tightly, necrosis.

 

Also bear in mind that, if they're a Shardbearer, you can't ever let them free - not for more than ten heartbeats, anyway, which in practice means never.  That means you'd need someone on standby to feed them at meal times, give them water to drink, and, uh, help them with the chamberpot.  The issues are complex enough that "kill them or let them go" seems like a reasonable simplification.

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It comes down to if your aggressive or passive. That being said if there was a way to put on shardplate like Tony Stark does his armor then shardplate would be my choice. Since such speed is not available for the armor I have to go with the Shardblade. There is no piont in having a suit of armor that I cant use on hand, and takes as long as a medieval knight does to put on. Without help it would be impossible to put on because of the sheer weight. Whereas a shardblade is quite light and extremely useful other than being able to he carried ANYWHERE without taking up any space at all. To sum it up Shardblade definitely.

p.s. Tony Stark Shardplate Mark 1,000,000. MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.

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Insert tangent Here:

 

Also bear in mind that, if they're a Shardbearer, you can't ever let them free - not for more than ten heartbeats, anyway, which in practice means never.  That means you'd need someone on standby to feed them at meal times, give them water to drink, and, uh, help them with the chamberpot.  The issues are complex enough that "kill them or let them go" seems like a reasonable simplification.

 With 2 or 3 shardblades at your throat, if someone ordered you to summon your blade and break the bond, would you? Adolin did that at the end of a duel. Dalinar had Amaram beat, sword to his throat, Amaram was too slow. Why didn't he order him to break the bond?

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Shardplate, hands down. You put it on and you gain super human strength and near-invulnerability. Yes, it might take a while to put on but it is worth it. 

 

I can imagine wearing the Plate and just yelling out, "Faster than a speeding spren! More powerful than a chasmfiend! Able to leap wide chasms in a single bound!" 

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Knowing where Blades come from?  I'd go with Plate.  Probably.  Like, 90% chance.

 

Not knowing?  I'd choose the Blade.

 

I'm already a walking contradiction--I'm loud, noisy, annoying, and for some reason absolutely no one ever, ever notices me coming up on them (also happened more than once when I happened to literally be driving a tank at the time on multiple occasions, so I just assume everyone is unobservant as all get-out, but whatever).  I figure with a Blade I'd just finally quit my dayjob and make the transition into uber assassin/serial-killer. 

 

I also wonder how much of the Blade appearing/dropping into someone's hand is due to the expectation that that would happen, and how much is the necessity.  Some people are able to will their Blade to stay after they've set it down, or thrown it, and stuff after all.  Makes sense that I should be able to will it into my teeth so that I can swing my head around and just lop off everyone's heads even while tied up.  Or maybe just in front of my foot as I kick it and send it flying through someone before it dissipates and I do it over and over again.  That'd be funny!

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I also wonder how much of the Blade appearing/dropping into someone's hand is due to the expectation that that would happen, and how much is the necessitySome people are able to will their Blade to stay after they've set it down, or thrown it, and stuff after all.  Makes sense that I should be able to will it into my teeth so that I can swing my head around and just lop off everyone's heads even while tied up.  Or maybe just in front of my foot as I kick it and send it flying through someone before it dissipates and I do it over and over again.  That'd be funny!

 

This is an interesting one you are bringing up as I have been giving this specific topic some thoughts recently. We have been giving the impression willing the Blade to remain material is hard, very hard and yet we have barely trained Renarin casually doing it while being half traumatized, we have Dalinar willing his new Blade to stay in a far-away location without apparent effort, we have Aladar handing over his Blade to his champion for every fight without any stress, we have Elhokar giving his Blade to whoever ask for practice, we have Adolin giving his Blade to Shallan to try unlocking the Oathgate while being half trashed down...

 

Where have we gotten the notion it is difficult? This is baffling as all clues we have indicates new to the Blades trainee such as Renarin can easily manage and yet... Oh yeah right, we had Adolin pathetically failing at throwing his.... but he strangely is the only character we have seen struggling with the commands to his Blade.

 

So handing the Blade over, hard or not so so hard? And if not hard, then how come we all believe it is?

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NO! Don't take Shardblade guys its a trap! 

Why take weapon that requires skill, knowledge and experience to be of any use. And don't forget about possibility of injuring yourself with it and losing limbs or life. Oh and almost every person(who would benefit from having it) on the planet with power to kill you and steal it from you is out to kill you and steal it from you!

Even with powerful allies it would be dangerous enough and not worth the risks. Giving it to someone who can actually use it would be best decision but can you trust them with it? 

Shardplate on the other hand requires much less skill, knowledge and experience. Basic movement skills, coordination, balance, endurance and stamina combined with knowledge of Shardplate's abilities and limitations would be enough. Just spend weak or two wearing it and you're good to go. Obviously you wouldn't be an mvp but you would take out any Shardbearer(blade only) that has no magical abilities and isn't on master swordsman/Shardbearer level.

Not to mention that you wouldn't have that many people out for you. About time it takes to equip Shardplate, help needed and weight. Those are some problems that can be solved just by possessing Shardplate. Getting a job that pays well would be easy when you have Shardplate > finding people to help you with it, drag it around for you and even offer some additional protection would be easy with that money.

So in the end:
Shardblade = More risk, less efficiency(if you aren't going to sell/trade it the second you get your hands on it of course).

Shardplate = Less risk, more efficiency(AND fun! think about it, Shardblade lets you cut stuff clean and kill people. Shardplate lets you jump higher, run faster, faceplant into earth from scary heights and walk away unscathed!)

Edit: ALMOST FORGOT TOUGH GUY LOOKS!!

Edited by Cracknut
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At a recent sanderson class he stated that he wanted to write a series about power armor. He wanted to create a world where there were creatures that required power armor to fight. Thus the way of kings was born. That is my new reason why I pick shardplate. It is why we have the stormlight archive.

Edit: odd auto correct

Edited by Dihatimus
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