Shardkeepers Podcast on Nightblood and Investiture

[Chaos]

Hey guys,

We're for realsies doing a theory podcast now. Our first episode is on Corrupted Investiture and Nightblood. Since we'll be doing deep dives into stuff, when it's relevant we were thinking of making a discussion topic so you too can dig into the conversation. Much better than comments.

You can check it out here: 

 

Feedback on it is also really good, content-wise or otherwise. The audio could have been better but in my other grand plan to do this properly, one person's audio was not of good quality. We're working out the kinks. Also, if you have any questions you want the podcast to discuss, feel free to also post and let us know.

Otherwise, let's talk some about Nightblood!

[illsmithyourbonds]

That was a really good listen, thank you for doing that y'all. I just wanted to mention that shardblades change form, definitely while the spren is alive, and I'm not entirely certain, but I think they can after death, as they mould themselves around the gemstones placed in their hilts, so that's a possible explanation for Nightblood looking so different to shardblades generally. It would seem reasonable to expect that, as Nightblood is very openly seen as a dangerous and deathly weapon, strongly associated with death, which, especially if Nightblood's own consciousness has an effect on their appearance, would make them look dark and evil. Basically, Nightblood would be a goth shardblade. 

[Apfoster]

Isn't it possible that Nightblood was based off of a Shardblade AND made with a dead Shardblade? If Vasher had visited Roshar before and somehow saw or heard of how Shardblades used to be alive and brought back a dead one, isn't it possible they were trying to restore the Shardblade to its alive state by awakening? Nightblood being the end result (an awakened dead Shardblade with the intent of restoring it to its life, but not really realizing what that life looked like). 

[Yata]

@Apfoster I think if that was the case, Vasher would not be so worried of a mass production of Nightblood-like. He killed his wife just because she didn't think it was a secret so important.

[Djarskublar]

On 11/23/2016 at 6:05 AM, Apfoster said:

Isn't it possible that Nightblood was based off of a Shardblade AND made with a dead Shardblade? If Vasher had visited Roshar before and somehow saw or heard of how Shardblades used to be alive and brought back a dead one, isn't it possible they were trying to restore the Shardblade to its alive state by awakening? Nightblood being the end result (an awakened dead Shardblade with the intent of restoring it to its life, but not really realizing what that life looked like). 

Also important to note: there is no way you could awaken a Shardblade. Dead or otherwise. It is simply too invested.

[ccstat]

So, this is a tangent but I think this thread is probably the best place for it. People like to theorize about Nightblood's black smoke, and we have topics comparing it to Gavilar's sphere, to stormlight, to mist, etc. But I found an interesting quote in secret history today that (as far as I can tell from searching) hasn't made it into the forum discussions yet. SH spoilers (we're still tagging those, right? I haven't been in Cosmere Theories in a while):

Spoiler

When Kelsier gives up the power of Preservation so that Vin can ascend, Ruin throws a fit and tries to destroy him. Since Vin distracts Ruin, he survives in pretty battered condition:

"His soul was distorted, mangled, like a body struck by a boulder. It leaked dark smoke from a thousand holes."

 

Now, this is viewed from the cognitive realm, so may not be directly comparable, but I think it is very suggestive that something similar may happening here.

Edited December 1, 2016 by ccstat

[Jondesu]

Considering Nightblood is basically a "broken Shardblade" in my mind (Brandon has called something like robot Spren, and being living but not really alive would qualify for me), that makes a lot of sense. He's like a broken bottle, so the Investiture leaks out (not as much the original breath, since it's "sticky", but everything else he's picked up definitely).

[Spoolofwhool]

I actually posited a quick theory on this during a moment of frenzied theorizing. Investiture composes the spiritual, but it is bound in all sorts of connections, creating difference entities. Further connections bind investiture into cognitive and physical aspects. However, what Nightblood does is sunder the connections of investiture, making it completely free, essentially annihilating entities, as has been described. However what you have left is unconnected investiture. It can't return to its source like most investiture, because it is no longer connected to a source. In this way, investiture isn't been destroyed, as Brandon has said cannot be done, but at the same time, Nightblood is removing usable investiture from the overall system, because it can no longer be retrieve, because there are no connections to it, from any other entity.