Listener

Butte ate the fried penguin leg.

Welcome to the Shard! There's nothing you need to do here but all contribution is welcome. What's your favorite Cosmere book?

I think the reason they are so evenly matched now is because of the coordination and technology. Humankind had, at the best, a few hundred years between Desolations but this time they had millennia. They discovered all sorts of fabrials, created much better weapons and armor and invented new battle strategies. In the previous Desolations, they barely had any armor at all and methods of forging were almost nonexistent. And back then, the Unmade were loose. And there are no Heralds this time and the tactics and problems that the enemy faces are different. They have a whole host of untrained singers who've spent years in slaveform and a lot of their Fused are going insane.

I agree. This was originally a topic on Navani, though. Its amusing to see how far it's strayed.

Leaving the sword in Radiant hands is an incredibly costly decesion. It doesn't matter how strong Nightblood is if the wielder isn't strong enough! Its not some sort of super-weapon that always ensures victory. Szeth almost died in OB when they took the sheath. Its just not probable that by permanently killing a few Fused a day, they would win the war. The enemy would catch up soon and throw everything they have at him. And Odium's air forces outnumber the Windrunners. And there's a thousand other littler problems since if there was an alternate, better way to win the war, BS would put in some variables that would make it impossible. There's probably a lot of ralkalest, and probably in more convenient shapes, and I don't even remember them trying to parry with it. Renarin was near Szeth and so Odium couldn't see the sword. They have a lot of ralkalest, and probably in more convenient shapes. I don't remember Fused who went after him even trying to block, he was specifically focused on the sheath. Raboniel, Leshwi. Maybe some are dense but a lot of Fused are smart. All it takes is one Fused to figure it out, and, anyway, its obvious so they wouldn't even need anyone particularly smart. We saw in his mind for, maybe, 5 minutes. Tell me why he wouldn't focus on the weapon that killed his predecessor.

They could probably pass it around or find some unfortunate singer who is good and lash him or her to the air via Heavenly One. My point is that if someone killed Szeth, his attacker is likely right next to him. I don't know what it is but we all know its there. It would keep them from being destroyed, of course they would care. Some Fused are very bright, plus, don't forget, Todium now leads them and he knows about the sword. They didn't kill him since Lift was there to help. One of them stole the sheath.

Nightblood was sucking his soul, what do you expect him to do? They didnt die, Szeth surprised him by cutting the Connections. Judging by OB, I'm pretty sure it gets worse the further it goes. And its beside the point sine it'll probably be a Fused who grabs it. Rayse couldnt see Nightblood very well because of Renarin. He will be interested now since he knows from personal experience that the sword can kill a Vessel. Also, sorry for the double post but I still haven't figured out how to add quotes while editing my previous posts.

The heralds would be surprised at first and if he strikes quickly, he has a chance at succeeding. But once they see what it can do, they can just evade the blade and stab him. Nightblood gives a strong advantage, but no matter how good Szeth is, its unlikely he can beat a Herald. It'll be time consuming for a Radiant to survive that and if Szeth does fall, he's likely surrounded. A Fused can just take it or use a pair of aluminum tongs and flee back to Kholinar or somewhere equally inpenetrable. Encasing it with aluminum would interfere. Even if only a few Fused have it, a couple of those combined with some heavy Skybreaker support could take Szeth down with some time. Faster, if a Herald is there. Szeth isn't the best fighter in the Radiants by far, and even with Nightblood as an equalizer and Windrunners alongside him, he will eventually fall. How would I know? BS definitely has some master plan that will blow my mind and I doubt I can figure it out. They aren't stupid enough to leave the sheath behind. Back in the Battle of the Thaylen Field, a Fused stole the sheath so the sword started consuming Szeth. So they probably know. I think he means there as in in the vision. If not, then Renarin was in the tower near Szeth and, anyway, they couldn't exactly break in.

Yes, it is. Whatever the reasons are, he's going to do better than Rayse and he can come up with a better plan. Fused have the number advantage since the Skybreakers aligned with them, and it says so as early as the preview chapters that they are more Heavenly Ones than there are Windrunners. They probably already know they need the sheath considering how they stole it in OB. They'd have to get it back from Szeth's corpse but then they can tuck it away safely and they wouldn't even need to use it. Again, unknown advantage. Rayse didn't know that Nightblood was there and was taken by susprise.

Read back to the early chapters in Rhythm of War. Its implicated there that all the Heavenly Ones have it. It was implied in the book tha he's smarter. BS wouldn't have made him a Vessel in the twist if he didn't pose a much greater threat to Team Radiant than Rayse ever did. I'll look for it when I reread OB When he dies, a Fused probably kills him and he's surrounded so one of them will get it. Heralds are simply too good to be beaten unless you have an unknown advantage. Ishar was caught off gaurd with Szeth but its unlike that's going to happen again. Edit: Thanks for the passage by the way, @mdross81

The book talks of it as if most of them has it. I don't know why Taranvangian is smarter or if Cultivation's boon lasts if he Ascends but the fact remains that he is smarter. Could you tell me when we saw it? The books are huge so my knowledge of the details are sketchy. And they've been largest historically. The Skybreakers never betrayed their oaths in the first place and it does not seem as if the highspren has issues the honorspren do, though they are coming around. It would have a larger number of willing spren as well as centuries of practice in the training new Radiants. No matter how powerful he is, he's one person. Unless he has a reserve of Feruchemical speed, he can't keep himself covered at all sides and sheer numbers would eventually overwhelm him. Ishar is faster and has centuries of practice. Szeth is skilled but I doubt even Kaladin could face a Herald. Unless Szeth can surprise him, there's little chance of beating him. When they faced each other Ishar was confused since Nightblood chipped his blade. But a chip isn't a break or a crack and wouldn't be enough to stop him. These are highly optimistic and best-case scenarios, and unlikely to happen. Nale wasn't really interested in killing anyone, he just went to talk to Dalinar.

If its Raysium then its pretty common. All of the Heavenly Ones carry them. Taravangian is still smarter. My point is just because Rayse couldn;'t figure something out doesn't mean Taravangian can't either. Its mentioned a lot in this thread, read back. And I dont think her getting credit is unimportant, everyone keeps bringing up the Anti-Light thing. To be honest, I'm getting confused- I only mentioned it because someone was saying she shouldn't get much credit for her Anti-Light work since she didn't discover it first. But how do you know that its less than Windrunners? He chipped it, he didn't break it. Though maybe that would give him an edge. But even if there wasn't Nale, there'd still be a lot of other Fused. And Nightblood is both very dangerous and very unpredictable. I thought Ishar's lucidity happened when Oaths were said near him.

Not the Raysium ones, the ones given to the Heavenly ones. It said possibilities, multiple. Why do bragging rights matter?! She never actually bragged about it, anyway. How would I know how many Skybreakers there are? Maybe Nightblood can kill Nale but Szeth is still unlikely to score a hit. What does Navani's Ideal have to do with this? Also, in that scene, no one even scratched Ishar, Ishar fled because of something.

Those Stormlight sucking ones are pretty useful. He was smarter. It says so, he saw possibilities even Rayse hadn't. If its bragging right then it doesn't really count for anything. It doesn't prove he's more deserving than who did it later. How far do you think they'll go? Did you miss all the other things? I wish I could list all the problems for you but that list would be endless. Its a thousand to one odds they'll make it even halfway through the city. There are three hundred Windrunners, counting squires. When has Nightblood last killed a Herald. Szeth severed the Connection and Ishar was stunned. Then Dalinar opened a perpendiculartity and that gave him a few moments of lucidity. Or maybe not in that order, it's been a while. Either way, Szeth isn't a match for a herald and Nale is probably even more skilled than Ishar since he spent the whole Era of Solitude fighting. When did Dalinar land a hit?

They can just stab Szeth in the back. Or shoot an arrow. He's not of the 4th Ideal, the can't avoid openings. How many people in their right minds would judge Nightblood as good? The whole point is Taravangian is smarter than Rayse which is why he makes such a good Vessel Why does doing it give you credit? There are definitely insane security measures in that city since its their base. A lot of Fused work there full time, its probably filled with regals and they cant use their powers unless they are attacking because of the secretspren. Thunderclasts and Unmade definitely live there and its unlikely that they dont count the humans. And a hundred more little ways to keep intruders out. Last time, there was still a human resistance there and very little Fused. And they cant even use spanreeds without drawing attention. A retrieval mission there would be extremely unlikely to occur or succeed. Aren't the highspren willing and the honorspren are just coming around. They haven't even reached Urithiru yet and it'll take time to train. Plus, there's always Nale who is close to unbeatable on the battlefield Nale is a CS, so its not certain how that might play out. Has a CS ever been scratched by Nightblood before? And that's assuming Szeth can even land a hit. I know it says that he didn't use Nightblood the last time he faced him but Nale is a Herald and definitely better than Szeth.