Search the Community

Hey 17th Shard, My best friend shared with me an interesting theory that I wanted to run past you. He is not much for the forums but he did say he would be OK if I shared it here. I took his idea and built up a quick assumption list to help solidify his insight. Assumptions: 1. Bondsmiths can make and break Nahel, and other, bonds between a person and a spren. This assumption is not, necessarily, pivotal to the theory but perhaps the Bondsmiths are the ones who figured out what to do. 2. There is some sort of fundamental, underlying principles that dictate how these bonds are formed. Perhaps it is the innate system of the Rosharan system that makes the rule, perhaps Honor/Cultivation have a hand in it, perhaps it is a mix of those two, or perhaps it is something else altogether. Whatever the reason is, I do not think it is too big of a stretch to say that Brandon would create governing principles for the Rosharan magic systems. 3. The Knights Radiant of old (pre-Recreance) knew that Parshendi (or Parshmen) were Voidbringers. Or, since there is some debate about what a Voidbringer actually is, we might say that the Knights Radiant of old were aware that Parshendi/Parshmen were involved, somehow, with Desolations and Voidbringers. Theory: The Knights Radiant, knowing that Parshendi were related to the Desolations/Voidbringers (see assumption 3), discovered a way to break (see assumption 1) the underlying magical principle (see assumption 2) that allowed Parshendi to bond with Voidspren. In doing so, however, they also had to break their own bonds as well because the underlying principle applied to both their Nahel bond and the Parshendi bond. The Recreance was a direct result of the Knights Radiant deciding to give up their bonds because they thought it would forever prevent the Voidspren from bonding with the Parshendi again. We know that one Order of Radiants (possibly the Skybreakers) secretly kept their bonds which means that whatever a Bondsmith (see assumption 1) did to break the underlying principle (see assumption 2) was not completely successful - either due to the Order that secretly refused or perhaps because the Bondsmith just did something wrong. This mistake/accident/betrayal meant that some of the Parshendi remained Parshendi (Eshonai's people) and most turned into the Parshmen. This also means that the line in the Diagram about Taravangian possibly reusing the secret that broke the Radiants before could be referring to this. If the current Radiants were told that they could break all of the Voidspren's bonds with Parshendi by sacrificing their spren what would Kaladin, Shallan, and the others do? Could they justify to themselves not doing this? If they could save the world by sacrificing their spren... well, I think it would be hard for them to refuse. What say you Sharders? Is it possible that the Recreance was caused by the Knights Radiant delibrately trying to break the bonding process so that Parshendi could never again join with a Voidspren?

I came up with this yesterday in Discord, and many people really seemed to like it, so I've been encouraged to post it here to share. I don't really post (or even come up with) theories, so I'm a bit nervous. I hope you guys like this one. My theory is simple: Dalinar essentially healed himself. He used Navani's fabrial, unwittingly, to do so. Basically, the fabrial she created was both a TIME fabrial and a PAIN fabrial. Due to his unique abilities as a Bondsmith, he created a resonance between those to heal the missing memories of his past. Fabrials are powered by stormlight-infused gemstones, much like surges are powered by stormlight. We've seen Dalinar unwittingly create resonance before in the situation room when he tugged Shallan and created the map. I believe that was a set-up to show what he's capable of, and that is what happened with the fabrial. He does not need to have invested himself to do this; we have seen Shallan use her mnemonic abilities without being invested, and Kaladin has squires without having to constantly be invested, so it stands to reason he can create resonances without himself having to be invested as well. Simply wearing the fabrial on his person was enough for that resonance to occur. That's it. Pretty simple theory.

Mr T is a very interesting character; in a way it's hard to classify him as a "bad guy" or a "good guy". List of pertinent facts I can think of 1. He wants to save the world - this is fairly clear from his private thoughts. 2. His plans were born out of Gavilar's visions -> ostensibly a source of good ideas 3. His apparent objective is to unit the entire world under him to fight Odium -> sounds Bondsmith esque 4. He has had lots of people assassinated and has generally sown chaos across large parts of the world on face value this seems Odium esque 5. He kills invalids/poor people in order to extract information -> doesn't seem to fit with Life before death 6. He has one or more soulcasters and two or more shardbearers under his command 7. He apparently has one or more radiants working for him 8. He has conquered Jah Kavad 9. He knew that Surgebinders would be returning 10. He wants to kill Dalinar Trying to put all of this together... His basic plan appears to be: 1. I need to unite the whole world to fight Odium BUT 2. Diplomacy would take too long SO 3. Kill all the other leaders He seems to know a lot of stuff that most people don't and even with the large library in Kharbranth the level of knowledge he has (knowing new Knights are coming and how the bonds work, knowing that the parshendi were potential voidbringers, knowing what broke the Knights before) it seems suspicious implying that he has access to a privileged source of some kind, could this be a spren? Why does he want to kill Dalinar? It seems that it may just be that he wants the whole world united under him and doesn't want a rival as fighting a war (against Odium) would be harder with mixed leadership, but in that case is he about to flip? Is he now going to throw his lot in with Dalinar to unite the world or is he still worried about competition? Ultimately I see 4 possible end results for Mr T OPTION 1: Mr T the ally - Mr T allying with Dalinar working with him to save the world, most likely as a second Bondsmith bonded to the cultivation super spren -> the one thing I don't like about this idea is that as a reader it will feel quite unsatisfying if Mr T's evil actions are never publicly revealed/punished; maybe he will be a Bondsmith but will end up being killed by Dalinar for what he's done after they work together for a little while? OPTION 2: Mr T the unintentional villain - think of Pedron Niall from Wheel of Time - a very competent character trying to do bad things for good reasons but with an end game based on having misunderstood what's actually going on who ends up doing more harm than good - this version of Mr T probably tries to kill Dalinar possibly by using another assassin; he's ultimately trying to do good but is so muddled up about how to do it that it's all a disaster - this version of Mr T would most likely seriously hinder the "good guys" plans but may ultimately have some kind of redemption scene. OPTION 3: Mr T as a pure villain - Mr T is being controlled/manipulated by Odium into doing what he's doing he doesn't know this but he's preparing the world for Odium to destroy it. OPTION 4: Some kind of hybrid, two out of the above 3 or one turning into another. So, what do you think? So, what do other people think, OPTION 1? to me that seems to be where things are hinting at the moment, I did think Option 2 for a while but there are several hints that I think make Option 1 more likely, the bondsmith like characteristics and having a radiant; though with OPTION 2 the radiant could be a fake or a dupe... Or is there something I've missed that adds another option or removes one of these?

Just rereading the Bondsmith page, and I noticed an error. Essentially, something that is pretty much just a theory is being stated as a fact. From the Coppermind: From WoB: This strongly implies three members, but the line "which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds" makes it seem like the "members only three" refers to a specific set of Bondsmith, and that the number three was common, but that it would be possible for it to be a little higher, maybe reaching as high as 5. This is up for discussion, and there are theories on the subject. As for a single spren that they share, it is speculation based on the usage of the singular word "was" in "Their spren was understood to be specific". Though the use of the singular "was" could also mean that there is one type of spren, (not just one spren) as with the other orders. It's very plausible that Bondsmith share a spren, but not canon yet. Essentially, some of this info needs to be clarified and broadened, and other parts need to be in the Theories and Speculation section.

The recent Oathbringer prologue and it's subsequent discussion got me thinking on a theory I had way back when WoR was released, and I think I have some pretty convincing evidence in its favor now. I think that the Bondsmiths are able to directly and purposefully affect the spiritual realm and the spiritual aspect of individuals. A relevant quote on the Bondsmiths is as follows: "So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Herald and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address." - WoR Chapter 58 Epigraph This Epigraph heavily implies that this Bondsmith created Parshmen out of Listeners, that the method used is specific to Bondsmiths, and that it relates to "the very nature of the Herald and their divine duties" which I strongly suspect is referencing the Spiritual Realm. I think that this power would function similarly to the effects of hemallurgic chimeras, but dependent on the Bondsmith's will rather than knowledge of spiritual bind-points and a physical spiking. If my theory is correct then it makes the below Hoid conversation much more intelligible and slightly prophetic, especially since Brandon has said that everything Hoid says in this conversation is significant: "[Wit] looked directly at [Dalinar]. "Adonalsium." Dalinar frowned more deeply. "What?" “Nothing,” Wit said. He seemed preoccupied, unlike his usual self. “Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak. Isn’t it odd that gibberish words are often the sounds of other words, cut up and dismembered, then stitched into something like them—yet wholly unlike them at the same time?” Dalinar frowned. “I wonder if you could do that to a man. Pull him apart, emotion by emotion, bit by bit, bloody chunk by bloody chunk. Then combine them back together into something else, like a Dysian Aimian. If you do put a man together like that, Dalinar, be sure to name him Gibberish, after me. Or perhaps Gibletish.” I also think that it explains what Dalinar is seeing in WoR in the below passage: "Dalinar stood in darkness. He turned about, trying to remember how he’d come to this place. In the shadows, he saw furniture. Tables, a rug, drapes from Azir with wild colors. His mother had always been proud of those drapes. My home, he thought. As it was when I was a child. Back before conquest, back before Gavilar . . . Gavilar . . . hadn’t Gavilar died? No, Dalinar could hear his brother laughing in the next room. He was a child. They both were. Dalinar crossed the shadowed room, feeling the fuzzy joy of familiarity. Of things being as they should be. He’d left his wooden swords out. He had a collection, each carved like a Shardblade. He was too old for those now, of course, but he still liked having them. As a collection. He stepped to the balcony doors and pushed them open. Warm light bathed him. A deep, enveloping, piercing warmth. A warmth that soaked down deep through his skin, into his very self. He stared at that light, and was not blinded. The source was distant, but he knew it. Knew it well." Let me know what you guys think and what the implications could be if this theory turns out to be correct.

Some friends and I have been discussing the probability of reviving a dead spren, and came up with a theory, and a little short story for kicks and giggles (Sorry if it's terrible!) Our theory is that a Bondsmith's (Dalinar) hidden ability is to Rebond "Dead" spren (Shardblades) to a worthy person, which restores their cognitive abilities, and forms a new Knight radiant. The theory is partially brought to light by this passage: So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address. As well as to their name itself: "Bondsmith". We know the bond that creates a Knight Radiant is called the "Nahel Bond". With this in mind, and other discussions around the matter, we wholeheartedly belive that it is possible for a "Dead" Spren to be rebonded, restoring it. We believe the process would occur as such: (Short story written to explain) Dalinar and an Unknown wielder of a dead spren shard blade are sitting in Urithiru, in a dark room. The unknown person (Probably a young lady, because... yeah) sitting there with the blade across their lap, eyes closed, and focusing. This goes on for days, as Dalinar trains them. Dalinar: "In order for your bond to be forged, you must determine the nature of this spren, and align yourself to it. You will make changes that will alter the very way you live and think, but if you work hard, and are truly dedicated, I will grant you the bond, and repair that which has been severed. This blade, no, this Spren shall be your partner, and you will unite together to help save our world from the darkness that has arisen." After a long while of training, they both begin hearing a heartbeat from inside the now glowing blade, and she (the wielder) begins to feel strange. She begins hearing a small broken voice repeating the same words in her head. "Honor...." "Strength..." "Courage..." "Devotion..." "Duty...". Suddenly Dalinar opens his eyes, and a burst of stormlight leaves him and enters into the meditating person, who opens their eyes, shining bright. Words spew from her mouth. "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination" as the blade slowly disolves into mist, and begins reforming in the shape of a small, young woman in front of her newly glowing eyes. "Hello, I'm (some spren name), I've been calling out for so long... Thank you for hearing me!". Dalinar stands, and places a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her. "Welcome, to the Knights Radiant. From henceforth you shall be a member of the order of Wind Runners, under your new leader, Kaladin Stormblessed. Congratulations, young one." He turns and smiles, and introduces himself to the Newly resurrected spren, Then leaves the room to allow them to become better aquainted. So... yeah! Hope you enjoyed our theory, and short story. Please proceed to tear it to shreds if we overlooked something!

Reading across a recent thread on the abilities of Bondsmiths gave me a fun idea, but I didn't want to hijack that thread, so here goes... It seems possible to me that Bondsmiths can strengthen the bond between man and spren. I'm not sure about forging completely new bonds, but at least increasing the power of existing ones. The quote about readily understanding the implications of the surges being granted to men, and binding the radiants to a set of rules and precepts, or else he would destroy them all might in this context be referring to destroying the actual spren, not the knights. We've already seen that a spren's connection with the physical realm is jeopardized when the radiant acts in opposition to their ideals (the spren also seem to undergo cognitive regression if they dont withdraw to shadesmar). Bondsmiths could have been the ones to make the nahel bond so strong that when the radiant acted in opposition to the spren's ideals, the spren would effectively 'die a little'. Alternatively this could be a natural danger of the nahel bond. What I'm really interested in is 'Destroying every last one of them'. If Bondsmiths can strengthen the Nahel bond, perhaps they could make it so strong that when the radiant physically dies, the spren would effectively die with them (note that I'm assuming that spren normally have the capacity to survive the radiants' deaths and continue on to eventually bond another radiant... This is supported by syl remembering other battles and helping other radiants). But if the spren were to be so tied to the radiant that the spren died physically and cognitively when the radiant went beyond, then it could potentially retard or even permanently cease the growth and bonding of surgebinders en masse. Basically it would be a threat to the spren of 'if you let your radiants go bad, I will personally ensure the permanent destruction of all of your kind'. That kind of ability could also go a long way to explain the 'related to the unique abilities of bondsmiths' quote to deal with the voidbringers: Perhaps the bondsmiths found a way to more permanently bind voidspren to their hosts, such that when the host died, that spren was also as good as destroyed (I'm trying to be careful to follow the law of conservation of investiture haha). Once the voidspren saw what was happening, they abandoned the parshendi (making them parshmen) rather than suffer certain doom. Because think about it, even odium is going to pause if all of his spren (and future warmaking ability) can be killed in just one generation, no matter how much devastation he could cause in that relatively short time... The only option would be to wait until all the bondsmiths and their secrets died out, and then try to win before they could rediscover it. There are many other potential ramifications of this ability, but I'm going to leave it at those ones. Additional thought: I've been trying to reconcile 2 things that seem related to me: First, the secret that broke the knights radiant - I find it unlikely that the bondsmith ability would be the sole reason for breaking the knights. Second, the way to resolve the war related to the unique ability of the bondsmiths. I know this is baseless, but I feel like these are connected...

I speculate that before the end of SLA Dalinar will assume Honor’s power and become Honor himself. My reasons: Dalinar is the Bondsmith, currently the only one. His spren is the Stormfather. I’ve stated elsewhere that Bondsmiths are the purest expression of Honor among the KR orders. They “bind” like Honor himself. After Honor’s death, the Stormfather assumed Honor’s power. The Stormfather has yet to manifest itself in the Physical Realm. He refuses to be a “Shard” for Dalinar. Dalinar is the first character Brandon thought of who is in SLA. If Odium is ever to be defeated, Honor’s ability to re-bind Odium seems like it would be important. That means his power, now held by the reluctant Stormfather, will have to be exercised as a whole by someone else. Add it all up, Honor will need to re-appear before the end. Who is a better candidate that Dalinar? Edited to reflect Matt Snow's correction.

Weee, random theory time. I've been in the mood for a reread recently, and though I have not yet gotten around to going through WoK and WoR, I have been thinking about a few things that I wanted to keep an eye out for. That carried me through to thinking about the ending of WoR, and the scene where the Stormfather bonds with Dalinar. ...[We don't need to tag WoR spoilers, it being the last released book and all, do we? I would have posted this later, but the quote I was after was actually brought up in another topic by Moogle. In particular, I was focusing on the underlined parts below. And while it is highly likely that I am merely seeing what I wish to see here, I think the wording does leave the Stormfather with some wriggle room, in terms of alternate interpretations. From how I am reading it, there are two possible interpretations, excluding the "I'm not gonna be a Shardblade, deal with it" one. First, the Stormfather could be saying that, if he becomes a Shardblade, it will not be a "normal" variant, and while he can take sword form, it would be his choice, not Dalinar's, though I deem this one somewhat unlikely. Second, a more likely variant, is that his Shardblade form is normal, but again, he will take it on his terms. So I am hoping, though I think it may be unlikely, that we will get another "Stretch forth thy hand" moment, albeit with less awkward Old English, and the full dramatic effect of the Stormfather entering the fray, rather than merely hurling Stormlight from the sidelines. ... It would appear that there is a similar topic in existence, though it has a slightly different spin on it. Not sure if I should have created a new one, or Necro'd the old one, but it is a good time to find out.

So in one of the recent Q&As for the Firefight release, Peter made a sly post about how there's a character in the Stormlight Archive who he guessed correctly, without external help, was going to eventually become a Knight Radiant, and that he hadn't seen much talk about them in particular on this site. It got me to thinking what characters I think have enough evidence to be considered, that no one has talked about much prior to his post. After thinking about it for a few days, I came across Sebarial. Oh how I love Sebarial. In snooping around for info in the book, I came across two passages. The first is in Chapter 63. "Actually, she hadn't been to visit Sebarial's ardents very often either -- though when she had gone, she'd found them surprisingly devout, considering who owned them" - Words of Radiance, Kindle edition, page 759 The second is in Chapter 81. "Teleb was supporting them with some of Sebarial's troops, who were surprisingly good. The man himself was practically useless in battle, but he knew how to hire the right people -- and that had always been his genius." - Words of Radiance, Kindle edition, page 984. Both of these passages tell of Sebarial as a leader. Though he often comes off as obnoxious and apathetic, he is very serious about his people. This is evident in his warcamp and it's construction, as well as his economic policy and foresight. These two passages show that Sebarial pays attention to who he hires for various jobs. He wants the best for his people, as any good leader does. Particularly when you take into account that Sebarial has a strong military force, when he himself despises war, and he avoids it whenever he can. So what does this mean? Well, as the title to this thread says, it means I think Sebarial is Knight Radiant material, specifically Bondsmith material. Bondsmiths are leaders, and particularly effective ones, so Sebarial fits right in. But what of his spren? Well, Dalinar bonded the Stormfather. Many people on here seem to be thinking that Bondsmiths had such low numbers because they each bonded special spren, such as the Stormfather and his ilk. Well, that allows Sebarial to fit in too! Daliner is a very honorable leader, leading by example and such. He bonded the Stormfather, a special spren with ties to Honor. I think Sebarial will bond a spren tied to Cultivation, as he leads in a much more cultivating way. He cultivated his warcamp so that his people could live in relative comfort. He cultivated his employees so that his people would have the best services. He cultivated his economic policy to ensure his camp would see plenty of cash flow. ultimately, he has cultivated life for his people. No good theory, though, is complete without it's share of doubts. Mine come in the unlikely hood of two Bondsmiths being so close to each other. Considering how small their numbers, in comparison to the other orders, and how large Roshar is, it strikes me as odd that two would appear so near each other. In addition, outside of the Nightwatcher (possibly), we have yet to be introduced to a spren similar to the Stormfather which corresponds to Cultivation. If it is the Nightwatcher, what will cause Sebarial to go to her? Now, I'm not sure if that is who Peter was talking about, and I have seen people mention it since his post, but I didn't see anything about it before he did. EDIT: Due to discussion below, I've changed my mind. I now think Sebarial will become a Willshaper. For reasons, see ensuing discussion.

The Stormfather seems pretty irritated and unwilling to help Dalinar with being a Bondsmith. He said that he won't become a sword for him. Was the Stormfather just as annoyed back in the days of the KR? If so, the Bondsmiths never had Shards of their own. Even if the Stormfather was willing to help, how would he be the Shards for all three Bondsmiths?

I was thinking that Taravangians goals seem in a way to fit with the bondsmiths ordeal. He is trying to unite all humanity.If bondsmiths do indeed each bond a "Godspren" then Taravangians might be the one bonded to the Odium spren, which would help account for his more twisted means of achieving unity. He is trying to save Roshar using sometimes evil means. This seems to be something a knight radiant bonded to an evil or destructive spren might do. Not to sure about this just thought that I would get some opinions about it.

My theory is that the Bondsmith were exclusively bonded to the Stormfather. Obviously we know from Dalinar that the Stormfather can be bonded to a Bondsmith. I'm basing this idea on the epigraph of Chapter 44. Since my theory gets into semantics, here's the whole epigraph for reference. "But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. —From Words of Radiance, chapter 16, page 14" (I don't know how this forum's formatting works) It says "Their spren was understood to be..." instead of "Their spren were..." implying that their was only one spren shared between all of them. My reading of the epigraph also rejects the idea that there was some specific pairing between the Bondsmiths and the spren of the Shards, since it says that "they did not seek to increase this by great bounds." If it had meant that they never increased past three, it would have simply said that they did not seek to increase this at all. This seems to imply that they only meant that they never went into the hundreds of Knights of the other orders, not that they had a very specific on to one correspondence with certain powerful spren. I think that it is writing about a specific time period (possibly immediately before the Recreance?) and stating how many they had at that time, not at all times. This lack of a one to one correspondence also shows that they were probably all bonded to the Stormfather, since if they were bonded to some other unique spren there would almost always be a specific number, and the phrase "which number was not uncommon for them" would never be used. Some other thoughts: 1. Looking at translations of the book in other language might help clarify since English pronouns aren't very good at specifying things like this. 2. If there are any WoB about multiple people bonding a single spren, that would probably help prove or disprove this.

So, this is my first "official" theory, and to be honest, it's not completely formed yet. I'll try to add/update as it solidifies in my brain and as I find supportive quotes. At this point, it's more of a gut feeling, but I could be WAAYYY off LOL. In a nutshell, I believe one of two things. Either a) that each/all of the KR will end up ultimately bonding 2 spren. The next question would seem to be, which ones? And, how would they do it? Or b ) that KR will be paired and bonded in some way. If we take option a, it may be that in order to bond a second spren, the specialized skills of the Bondsmiths may be needed. Not sure what that would be or how it would work yet, but it could be an additional meaning to the "unite them" message that Dalinar is motivated by. We know there is conflict among the KR, and also the spren. We don't know yet exactly what the tension is between them, but we can deduce (and it's been mentioned by others here) that it's because of conflicting ideals such as with Syl and Pattern. In this theory, the KR would quite literally bond two different spren. With option b, which I'm tending to like much better than a, the Bondsmiths would be able to create a link between two Radiants, by creating some sort of bond between their spren. I don't know if it would cause the spren to quite literally "merge" in some way, or if it would be more along the lines of an oath. I tend to think oath. I also feel like the Parshendi are involved somehow since they can bond with spren as well, but I haven't quite figured out how. Have to chew on that a bit more I suppose.

So Dalinar bonded the Stormfather. Quite awesome of him. But more importantly is the following quote. "But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds....Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of other orders was seen as seditions. Words of Radiance, Chapter 16, page 14." I propose that a bondsmith must bond with a spren that has authority in the spren world, like the Stormfather's authority over Honorspren. So the limitation to only a few bondsmiths is a result of their only being a few spren that are splinters of that magnitude. So since the Stormfather is already taken, for a new bondsmith to arise he/she would have to bond with someone like the Nightwatcher, or that spren in the Axies interlude. As to why it would be seditious to have many Bondsmiths, I propose that each Bondsmith was related to a specific type of spren: Honorspren, Cultivationspren, or ?Adonalsiumspren". The bondsmith would then have some influence over the formation of bonds, through the authority of their spren, and thus influence on who became a radiant. Syl had to defy the Stormfather after all. To have two Honor Bondsmiths would create division. Evidence of the ability for Spren to be "forced" against their choosing comes from Lift's interlude and how the Ring gave him to Lift.

So, I know a lot of people aren't going to like this - but here we go. Let's start off with the reasons people think that Dalinar is becoming a Radiant: The back cover implies about a Bondsmith whom many feel is the name of the last unknown order of the KR. He is acting more Honorably something we associate with KR His visions His obvious desire to reform the KR OK, I'm probably missing a few in there, but that's the gist of it. Now take a step back from your bias and your love for Dalinar (he is a bleeping amazing character). While I agree he is the Bondsmith (WoB have confirmed t he 5 PoV characters, and it would make sense if they matched up with the 5 titles on the cover) I personally believe that Bondsmith has a different meaning and is not an order of the KR. I think Dalinar is taking over for his brother and leading the front to reforging the Bond with the spren. What is another for when you forge something? You Smith something. This making me feel he is more playing the roll of Nohadon in the creation of the KR. I believe that he is the Bondsmith for the radiants and his actions are helping unite the world in preperation for the Everstorm. *Caveat* if there is a WoB stating he has a spren, just go ahead and tell me so I know my last 30 minutes looking up stuff was wasted for nothing. Pick it apart ladies and gentlemen!

Pitching my first theory (of the crazy kind) here on 17thshard; let’s see how this goes. (Disclaimer 1: I’ve been through the forums and I don’t think this theory has been pitched before; I haven’t seen anything like this since the Seattle signing post, where I first saw the term Bondsmith) (Disclaimer 2: As we all know there is very little information on the 10 orders of Knights Radiant, the creation of Shardblade & Plate; and to be even more specific, all we know about Bondsmiths are the name, and the presumption that that is the name of Kalak’s Order. But hey, that’s why this is a loony theory! ) I propose that Shardblades (and therefore most likely, Shardplate) are created/generated/called-into-being initially by BondSmiths. Brandon has given to us (or confirmed) the names for 8 of the 10 orders, and given/confirmed the location of 7 of the 8. Bondsmith has to fit the position of either Kalak’s (builder/resolute), Ishar (pious/guiding) or Palah (learned/giving) order, and the predominant belief on this forum (which I share) is that Bondsmiths are in Kalak’s order, which… makes the most sense, given the options. So working off the assumption that Bondsmiths are in between Elsecallers and Stonewards, a few supporting points to this loony theory: 1) Transportation Surge. Shardblades are theorized to rest in the Spiritual realm until they are summoned. Summoning clearly involves some aspect of transportation from the Spiritual realm to the Physical realm (I have another loony theory where I propose that Elsecallers can summon things –and possibly beings/creatures- from or through Shadesmar/Cognitive realm that I may write up soon), and there needs to be some way in which the blades have some kind of connection (or bond, if you will) established between the 2 realms that allows them to travel back and forth when called and released. There needs to be another bond between the wielder of the blade and the blade itself (still need to read that book and series, someday). There also needs to be the disruption of the target-of-the-blade’s soul (maybe severs the connection of a being’s soul (spiritual) with their body (physical) or some other effect; I’m still working on this). All of this requires some type of interaction between the spiritual and the cognitive realms that Transportation may provide. It’s possible that Bondsmiths are able to invest the Blades with these types of attributes. 2) Surface Tension-like Surge. Shardplate has been shown to adjust adapt to the size of the person that wears it. It also fits seamlessly on the wearer, but allows a freedom of motion and agility to the wearer that normal, stiff armor doesn’t allow. It’s possible that the Bondsmith’s control over the Surface Tension-like force that Brandon described (allowing for things that are flexible to become rigid on command) plays a role in making Shardplate flexible for the wearer while still maintaining its structure and solidity. It’s also possible that when proper Knights Radiant are wearing the Plate, they are able to retract the helm and visor at will, as we saw in Dalinar’s flashback with the Knights in Starfall (although this has even less basis in what we know then the rest of my theory; just pure speculation on my part). Perhaps Bondsmiths are able to invest the Plate with these types of attributes. 3) Name of the Order. They are called Bondsmiths. The implication that they make tools, weapons or armor is kind of inherent in the name. Also that they forge some type of bond between things. Kelek has the attributes of Resolute and Builder. Who knows, he could have even shown the first Bondsmiths how to create the Shardblade and Shardplate. And to go even loonier with this theory, Kelek’s body focus are the nails, which by extension is the hands. One summons the Shardblades and they land in the summoner’s hands. Again, this is highly likely to be coincidental, but you never know, right? 4) Knights Radiant composition. If we accept that the Knights Radiant is a complete fighting force, it would make sense that there are different divisions and specialties among the Radiants. Some of the folks here have theorized that the Windrunners and Stonewards would be like shock troops, and that Palah’s order could be like medics, and that other orders would provide some type of direct combat or support role. Every army also needs specialists who focus on weapons and armament. It would be logical that a Knights Radiant Order would specialize in the creation and maintenance of the army’s primary offensive and defensive equipment. And possibly be able to cater those weapons to a specific fighting style or strength of each individual. Maybe that's why each Shardblade appears to be different; they are designed especially to the strengths and specifications of the weilder. So there we are; my first theory on 17thShard. Is it fairly unsubstantiated, with wild speculation and very little hard evidence? Sure. But is it possible? (And more importantly, did you have fun reading it?) I look forward to any feedback. I don’t know every theory that has been submitted and debunked out there, so it’s possible that a lot of this could be off, and I'd be happy to hear what does/doesn't work in this theory. But wouldn't it be cool if this was one more piece to the puzzle?