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This is a pretty straightforward theory. As far as evidence, I don't have any text released yet, but here are the two relevant WoB: Basically, I believe that if a Surgebinder were to pick up an Honorblade of a different order, she/he would be able to have access to those surges but at a reduced capacity, because in those two surges they are limited by the Honorblade. So if Shallan were to pick up Jezrien's Blade from Kaladin, she would only be as skilled as Szeth was as far as Stormlight use for Windrunning surges. Her enhanced physical abilities and healing factors would still be as strong as her Spren bond, but because she can only access those surges through the Honorbade, she'd be Windrunning at the reduced capacity that Szeth was.

This idle musing has been bubbling in my head for about half a year now, but it's only today that I've felt the absolute need to share it: What would happen if you were to Awaken a sword using one of the Immortal Words? For instance, what would happen if Vasher had awakened Nightblood, but instead of using the command 'Destroy Evil' he used the command 'Protect those who cannot protect themselves'. Would we simply get an awakened, sentient sword that would try (badly) to fulfil its command, or would we get something a little more... magical...? honourblade? BONUS FAR FETCHED-NESS: What if one of the Skybreaker's oaths had something to do with 'Destroy Evil'...

Hey guys, first post and first topic here. I was reading all of the awesome theories here, combined with a Stormlight Archive re-read, and had an interesting thought. Tell me what you guys think. Just a heads up, I didn't exactly do my due diligence with the WoB quotes. I'm quoting mostly from memory, but if you guys think there is potential to this theory then I'll come back and flesh this out with links quotes and such. Okay, so we have WoB that, on Roshar, Nightblood behaves very similarly to Shardblades. I think there is more to it than that. I think Nightblood behaves similarly to an Honorblade. (This may already be the prevailing theory, but I don't know if there is actual WoB to that effect.) For one, Honorblades have more in common with Nightblood than they do with Shardblades. Honorblades are actual physical objects that are heavily invested; same as Nightblood. Shardblades, however, are Spren, which are mostly cognitive entities, that are mimicing the effects of Honorblades. Between Honorblades, Shardblades, and Nightblood, Shardblades are the odd ones out. There is also the obvious similarity in their destructive potential. Honorblades and Nightblood are all very powerful tools. This is the superficial similarity that everyone makes and takes for granted. After that conclusion is reached, it's easy to stop thinking about it. But what if the Honorblades made the Heralds instead of the Heralds simply being matched with the Honorblade that best suited them? In The Way of Kings CHAPTER 18: HIGHPRINCE OF WAR, there is an interesting piece of information. That sword of retribution line really caught my eye. I guess it's a "what came first, the chicken or the egg" dilemma, but what if Nalan, who's Divine Attributes are Just / Confident which could easily lead to Retribution, became that way by holding the Sword of Retribution rather than the nameless Honorblade that Nalan wields having become known as the sword of retribution simply because it was Nalan wielding it? I propose that the Honorblades are so heavily invested that they have a sort of Intent of their own, much like Shards of Adonalsium, that shapes the personality of their bearers. For example, if Jezrien and Nalan had initially been given each other's Honorblades, then perhaps Jezrien would be Just / Confident and Nalan would be Protecting / Leading. This is where Nightblood comes in. Nightblood, like Honorblades, consumes Investiture in order to fuel the powers it uses to perform its Command. I'm proposing that, on Nalthis, Honorblades would have their own Commands. In this case, "Command" is what Nalthians call "Intent." In fact, I believe Vasher explicitly describes the process of giving a Command as visualizing the intent behind the Command. In other words, endowing something with an Intent. So if, on Roshar, Nightblood is using Investiture to perform its intent, that would mean that "Destroy Evil" would translate into an unknown Primary and Secondary Divine Attribute. This is a rough draft of a theory, but I hope with some input from the community it can be fleshed out and formalized into a working theory to describe the relationship between invested objects, Intent, and Commands.

Hear me out here: At the beginning of WoK during Gavilar's assassination, Szeth notes that he has a choice between surgebinding and shardplate, that something about shardplate prevents/interferes with his surgebinding (likely specific to surgebinding granted by an honorblade as we see other KR surgebinding in shardplate in Dalinar's flashbacks). Gavilar always wore his plate while wielding his blade (on screen at least) and so would not be able to surgebind. I think it's likely he didn't even realize exactly what he had given the apparent conflict between plate and honorblade-surgebinding. Also, when on the practice grounds training under Zahel in WoR, Kaladin hears no screams while holding and practicing with a blade similar in description to Gavilar's old blade. We know Kaladin is between oaths 2 and 3 at this point, and that he hasn't progressed any further during the full disadvantaged duel in which he first heard the screams when touching an enemy shardbearer's blade - so it's unlikely that during training he would not have heard screams if he were using a deadspren-blade. He also cannot use Syl as a blade yet as he hasn't given the third oath. This leaves only 2 options - he's using someone else's KR spren-blade (though this seems doubtful as I can't see a KR leaving their spren around a training ground for others to use as practice) OR he's using an honorblade. Thoughts? Contradictions? Figgledegrak?

Whose Blade did Dalinar bond in WoR? I think it is unlikely that he did in fact bond Talenel'Elin's Honorblade as we were led to believe. We know that at the end of TWoK Hoid shows up to meet Talenel'Elin. I think it's likely that at this point Hoid swapped the Honorblade for a regular Shardblade. The only reason I say this is because when Dalinar bonds with The Stormfather he has to get rid of his blade and after summoning it hears the screams. If it really were Talenel'Elin's blade then there would be no Spren involved and no screaming. I guess my question really is, what happened to Talenel'Elin's Honorblade and why was it taken? Did Hoid take it? If so, then why? ~sbi

This is a theory that I believe is almost certainly true: Nightblood is an Honorblade (or the same class of weapon. Not one of the Heralds' weapons). It's essentially an Honorblade, only with different powers and restrictions. But it follows the same scheme. At the San Francisco signing, I asked Brandon if Nightblood would function as a Shardblade on Roshar. He said that Nightblood wouldn't just function like one, but that it was one. And, coupled with Nightblood's nasty habit of consuming Investiture when in use, and how it needs a variable precondition before use (in this case, it judges purity of heart), and how it is "Orders of Magnitude more powerful than a Shardblade", Nightblood is an Honorblade. Honorblades consume Investiture, which is why Kaladin is more efficient than Szeth. Syl says, Also, Honorblades (I think) must be given for use. I remember a quote for that, but I can't find it. Sorry. Finally, Honorblades have numerous quotes stating how they are more powerful than Shardblades. So, there you have it! Nightblood is in the same class of weapon as the Honorblades! Poke holes in this theory, if you dare!

On Page 912 of Words of Radiance (my brother has the book so I can't give an exact quote until he gives it back), Taravangian says, "One of the Honorblades has been taken." Szeth replies, "Another one of the seven?" (Taravangian is lying though.) Let's do some super easy math. The Shin have the Honorblades. There were 10 Honorblades. Taln never relinquished his blade, so the Shin would only have 9 Honorblades. They gave one of the 9 to Szeth, to make him Truthless. That should leave 8 Honorblades. But Szeth says that the Shin only have 7 Honorblades. One of the Honorblades is unaccounted for. Where is it? Was there another Truthless? (Unlikely, because Szeth said in The Way of Kings that the Stone Shamans would be able to get his Honorblade back if he died.) Or did someone take it? And if so, who has the unaccounted for Honorblade? (It would be really interesting if Helaran's blade was the missing Honorblade.)

So, as I expect most of you did, I concluded fairly solidly as I read that Szeth held an Honorblade (likely Jezrien's) and that was the source of his surgebinding ability. There are a number of passages to put that on a pretty strong foundation. Perhaps most notably, Syl tells Kaladin that she "thinks" that Szeth's former blade is an Honorblade and that it was the source of his abilitries. And then I read this WoB from the San Diego signing: source Then I recalled reading where Nalan told Szeth that he had died long enough to break the bond to his blade. I thought to myself: I have arrived at a few possibilities here: 1) Brandon misunderstood the question and/or mispoke/tricky-spoke. 2) Talenelat misunderstood Brandon's answer. or 3) Szeth actually did not have an Honorblade and Syl was/is mistaken. While I am leaning towards door number 1) or 2), I find door number three rather compelling. Here's why: 1) Szeth leaked Stormlight like a sieve. He needed to consume far more Stormlight than Kaladin. 2) We never saw Szeth's blade shift to better suit his situation. 3) So far, we have no indication that the Heralds had shardplate and Szeth indicated that he could not use plate and effectively surgebind (seems pretty obvious that he would suck out all the Stormlight from his gemstones that powered the plate). For at least those three reasons, it seems that each KR (at least modestly progressed in the ideals) was more powerful than the Herald associated with their order. Now, could perhaps the proper Herald wield their Honorblade in a more Stormlight efficient manner? Could they actually have a form of plate which pops in and out fairly instantaneously? Could Jezrien's Honorblade change shape according to Jezrien's desires/needs while using it? Sure. It is quite possible that we simply have not had the opportunity yet to see these things. But I find it compelling nonetheless. Even if all these things were in play for the Heralds, is the only functional difference between the Heralds and the KR then the Heralds' funky immortality? Let's hash this out a bit. Could there still be some life in the idea that Szeth's blade may actually have been the third type? Parting thought, if Szeth's blade is an Honorblade: Could the three types of blades be the Honorblades, the dead KR blades, and the vital KR blades?

This may have been brought up before, but I didn't see anything specific in a search so sorry if it's duplicate. I just re-read the WoB thread and found lots of interesting comments about our favorite crossover sword that appears at the end of WoR. So I'm of the belief that he's actually an honorblade...or rather more accurately, the Odium influenced/version of an honorblade For now, I'm sticking with honorblade though for lack of a better/known term. Based on WoB, there's some conflicting Q&A's, so thought I'd compile them here for your review and ease of viewing. Has someone made this "official" theory already? Do you all agree or have other ideas? Some additional comments/observations/questions... 1. As far as I know, this sword doesn't have a gem like other shardblades, thus supporting the fact that he's something special/different than a shardblade (although we know that shardblades/living spren as blades don't have them either). 2. If he "eats" investiture and souls, similar to the Larkin, how is Szeth going to wield him? I get the impression that emotions are more of a spiritual realm thing, and thought that I remember seeing that written somewhere, not sure if on a forum or in the book. If that's the case, since Darkness doesn't have emotion, does he know of a way to "supress" them or rather, be in the spiritual realm as little as possible without losing his soul? Can something even survive without a soul? Didn't think so, but not sure if that's been asked/confirmed before. I assume that you can't since severing the soul with a shardblade kills. Sorry these last couple questions were more my thinking out loud. I get the Cosmere stuff, but I don't *GET* it...ya get it? Basically I'm saying that I'm just not that smart LOL....think Taravangian on an average day. Thanks all! Edited to add a few more Q&A..couldn't get the quote thing to work right with the edit! Sorry!

Sorry if this is a double post, but i'm at least 71% it's not. I haven't seen anyone ask this question and i think it could be somewhat important. What are the affects on him from him wielding the Honorblade? I ask this question because the Honorblade forced him to consume a greater quantity of Stormlight. So what were the affects of that on his SDNA? Did the extra Stormlight going through him cause him to get more 'cracked' thus allowing him to gain a bond easier or did the Honorblade consume it? If it was the Honorblade consuming the extra Stormlight then what was it using it for? Because that makes the Honorblade seem much weaker than a Spren bond and that doesn't make sense because we know that the Heralds were a lot more powerful than the Knights radiant. We know this because when the Knights were being made Ishar said they must have controls or he would destroy them one and all. This makes little sense for him to say seeing as Kaladin put a major beat down on Szeth and the fact that Szeth had difficulties with just a Shardbearer ( Gavilar ). So why was Ishar so confident in his abilities that he could, presumable, fight a large number of Surgebinders and beat them? Is this an inherent ability or was it because the Honorblades a were just that powerful? If anyone help me to makes sense of these discrepancies because i don't get it. Sorry if this post doesn't make sense but I'm so f**king tired and i haven't been able to sleep for the last several days. Stupid insomnia.

Firstly, this theory has many holes, so feel free to pick on them, or fill them in. We know that Szeth is a Surgebinder with Gravitation powers, but (as far as I know) we never see his supposed Windrunner Adhesion powers in use. Perhaps this is because he was a Skybreaker from the start. This would be a good reason for Nalan to 'retrieve' him. But you say, "Szeth has Jezrien's Honourblade!" Perhaps not. Maybe he had Nalan's Honourblade from the start (This is the hole). We know Syl thinks that It is an Honourblade, but I think that Kaladin getting Jezrien's Honourblade would be redundant. MUCH cooler for him to have a third power. There's also a lot of confusion with Taln and Dalinar, so there's a lot we don't know about them. Brandon says that you can't bond with them, and yet Szeth can summon/dismiss his (This is another hole), which may imply that he doesn't even have Nalan's. AND he doesn't have a spren, which means that he doesn't have Skybreakers' powers naturally. Am I missing anything? Now that Szeth UNBONDED his blade (according to Nalan) when he died, does that mean he lost whatever powers he had? Let's hope we get more information in book 3!

Well I was thinking about the shard blade that Dalinar gets from Taln and mainly how it's not an honor blade as you would expect Taln to have, him being one of the Heralds and all. Dalinar's shardblade screams like normal shardblades do(when held by radiant) which means that it is [spoiler] A dead spren [/spoiler] and it does not give him any surgebinding powers. Now very interestingly the Taln has at the end of the way of kings is described as a large spike while the shard blade that Dalinar ends up with is described as cleaver like so I thought maby they aren't the same blade right? and that somehow Taln had managed to get a second shardblade while wandering around and mostly insane and I thought "well maybe that's just something Hearlds can do and they can just summon extra shard blades or something." But then I had a better idea So Hoid is known to swipe various objects that can grant magical powers, like that Lerasium bead, and an unknown quantity of breath and stuff like that right? and Hoid was the guy who met with Taln first, immediately after he showed up. So what if Hoid swiped Taln's honorblade, swapped it out with a regular shardblade so that no one asked questions, and made of with stone-warden powers free of any oaths and all those normal surgebinder/spren bond restrictions.

I fear that this might be lost in the noise, so I'd like to bring some new WoB to everyone's attention: Source: So that. I suppose we were all too quick to assume that Hoid was carrying around a second sword. And now I must say that I'm scared. Hoid might not be the most fuzzy of people, but I generally trust his intentions, or at the very least his general inactivity so far as potentially derailing plots and murdering main characters with super-weapons goes. I would have far preferred for Hoid to have added "Honorblade" to his list of powers and then called it a day, versus the disturbing possibility that some unknown party now possesses it. Alternatively, as I believe someone suggested on another thread, the Blade could be misty at the moment and Hoid still put in a regular Shardblade so that no one would be tempted to do evil unto Taln in order to get his.

Szeth must have an honor spren because he doesn't get his powers from the honorblade. Here is why it makes sense; Szeth is labeled Truthless because he had his powers when his people thought that either the final battle was already won and over, or that it wasn't time for the next desecration. He simply wasn't supposed to have those powers but he did. So the definition of Truthless is being an anomaly and having Radiant powers when it shouldn't exist in the world. Now after meeting Kal and concluding that KR powers were returning to the world Szeth fled back to his master Taravangian because he was beginning to think maybe he himself wasn't really Truthless. Taravangian then told Szeth that Kaladin was using an Honorblade and that the KR powers weren't really returning to the world, Szeth was still an anomaly and therefore still Truthless. Now knowing that Szeth knows what an honorblade is and what it bestows upon its weilder, we can conclude that he wasn't slipped the honorblade and tricked into thinking himself Truthless. He saw Kal was more or less a KR and realized he wasn't alone, so not Truthless. This all means that Szeth wouldn't be Truthless if he had gotten his powers from an honorblade. He was Truthless because he popped up with powers out of no where thanks to an honor spren as if the next desolation was coming around the corner --------------- Some facts: 1.Weird rock used to control Szeth is very important. They are said not to sell themselves to slavery often. Perhaps this is a very unusual ritual, seems like most people don't know what to think of that rock until Szeth explains himself. This would mean a whole lot more if it contained his honor spren in one form or another. 2.Szeth is very honorable. He follows what he believes is right and doesn't bend at all. When he is proved wrong by Kal at the very end he accepted punishment unto himself without any further hesitation. It would make sense that he could have attracted an honorspren himself. Some probably-reasonable ideas: Pretending Szeth did have an Honor Spren when he was younger, I don't know and doubt if Szeth ever got so far as to give his second oath which could have been likely broken and lead to his spren dieing, but I have had a strong feeling there is more to Szeth's rock than Sanderson has been telling us. I think his spren was somehow captured and stored in that rock. After Kal kills Szeth and catches his falling sword, Syl says that she "thinks" Szeth's weapon is an honorblade. Though it would be natural to use the word "think" in English in her position as her memories return to her and what not but I doubt this is a coincidence and I doubt it was a mistake on Sanderson's part. It would be the perfect hint to slip most people's minds. Szeth has to have some kind of KR ability. That helmet that Kaladin put on his fist in his 3v4 bout sucked the stormlight out of him. The armor can't take stormlight out of gems around the room because it needs to be directly hooked to source; you have to hold gems up to the plate's innards to get anything to happen. Chances are when Szeth uses Nightblood he is going to have to have stormlight within himself since having infused gems on his belt won't be good enough to fuel his newfound sword unless he uses a bag of gems for a sheath lol. Last and not least, Szeth's whole combat presence was based around his ability to surgebind and such with extreme skill. I don't think he would be very effective or interesting if he was to lose his whole skill set that made him who he was. Being unable to heal himself as he collects minor wounds would make him feel like a martyr as he would be widdled to death from minor scrapes in the story. It would be awful.

So, at the end of the book, team Dalinar/Kaladin has Szeth's honorblade. Who do you think is going to end up with it? No obvious answers spring to mind. Bridge 4 seems like they're already going to get Windrunner powers through their connection with Kaladin. Adolin, not being bonded to a spren seems like an okay candidate, but the Honorblade wouldn't work while he's in plate, and that's one of his main assets - being a Plate and Blade duelist. Dalinar, Shallan, Renarin and Kaladin are all Radiants with their own spren/blades. Wouldn't stop them I guess. Kaladin could bond with it just to keep it safe, but it seems like a wasted resource. Who's left? Navani? Shen (I forget his new name)? Man, Shen with an honorblade might be a force.

From this quote This definitely supports the theory that Szeth carries an honor blade. Does this also mean that Heralds cannot surgebind without their blades?

I have had this theory for quite a while. I have not got a chance to go through the theories, so if it sounds that I started repeating something you have seen before, just skip it. It begins with this: Shardblades does not cut in the reality realm, but cuts things in the congnitve realm - Shadesmar. Thats could be why it can't be stopped by anything only has realitive realm quality, and can only be deflected by weapons which has the same attribute (i.e. has the properties of shadesmar ). The part of the being that was cut by shardblades is broken congnitively, and cease to being in the realitive realm. Thus rocks disspears where the blade past, hand stopped being hand but a useless piece of bone and meat, and life cease to be life if the body is cut. Another interesting fact is that the shards appears wherever the owner is. It is always there by your hand, only takes a bit of time to materilize. If where the blade normally is was explained in the novel, I can not remember. But to me I always think that it exists in the shadsmar (which is not a place, is around us ), waiting to be called, and the 10 heartbeat is the time it takes to crossing that veil. So.. Does it also takes 10 heartbeats for Shallan / Jasnah to cross the veil to Shadesmar? Will Shallan be able to locate her shardblade bead in shadesmar? Or, will Shallan be able to find her shardblade nearby materialized already, not as a bead in shadesmar? ( or how else could she cut? ) And if she does find the blade, will she be able to use it to cut through the surrounding beads and initialiate a point blank massacre to beings not directly close to her? ( Think of the possibilities.. Shallan the mountail killer, who removes the whole mountain and all life in it in one blow, because she accidently swung her blade in shadesmar ) OK. These are old news, I just re-think them again as I read the teaser. Here is where things starts to get interesting with the info from the WoR prview.. As sperns are the citizens in shadesmar and shardblade is cutting things in shadesmar, shouldn't shardblades be able to kill spern? ( Syl does not like shardblades at all, so that has a high possibility, but now it almost seems like we are only only waiting for a confirmation ). And, there's more.. How does Shardblades come to be if it is able to cut in shadesmar? Are shardblades forged by Spern? Of Spern? Or just reality realm substances infused with spern ( or lots of sperns )? I am leaning toward the later idea, as the shardblade materializes after bearer is dead. It belongs to the reality realm therefore it stays here when not binded. Being a knockoff of honorblade ( who else but the people in reality realm needs the knockoff? ), it seems to make sense that it was initially made in realityrealm and somehow gained the shadesmar cutting ability. However honorblade... It dissappears from reality realm when bearer is dead. Could that be because the honorblade origins from shadesmar? ( or even spiritual realm while we are at it ) Now the final blow.. If shardblades's shadesmar qualities comes from adding spern power to the blade, wouldn't it make sence that 'honor" blade, if it is made similarly, is made of / by / given by "honor" spern? Or at least honor spern is somewhat attached to honorblade ( like, only the one binded with spern could retrieve it in shadesmar where the honorblades went missing? ) Could it be that Honor spern is special in the world and there are only 10 honor spern in it, each binds an honorblade? ( explains why honor spern is never witnessed, and why they are soo smart and seems to lived for soo long ) Where are you Shallan? Come take Kaladin's hand and go to shadesmar to find those darn blades! Or Syl, just give Kaladin some blade so he can fight Szeth! But don't you sacrifice yourself while doing so! ( Why do I see Mr Sanderson smiling in a mean way? Someone go rescue Syl! ) Well. these were my musing. What do you think?

I'm sure it has been discussed to death but... Having looked around and seen nothing I can agree with I wanted to kick around my initial thought on Sly's reaction to Dalnar's blade. Contrary to popular thought I don't think the problem is with the blade per say. Syl: "He's a good man. I've watched him. Despite that thing he carried." Kaladin: "That thing?" Syl: "The shardblade." Kaladin: "What do you care about it?" Sly: "I don't know. It just feels wrong to me. I hate it. I'm glad he got rid of it. I think what she hates the is the wrongness of it. She is still remembering more about her true self and her nature. I think deep down for her to see a shardblade used by one who has not KR is a perversion, more than tragic a mockery of what has been lost. Therefor in keeping with being a good man she is glad to see him give up something he (for the moment) has no right to have.

After reading the prelude again, I noticed we were given references to rocks and things coming from rocks and formations of rocks quite a bit. Thinking on this for a quick 20 seconds provided me with this theory that, right now, is still in rambling, bullet-point format: The Heralds left their Honorblades in the stone on the battlefield. Some Shin (or the people that would become the Shin) discovered the blades, and a select few set to keeping them a secret. The method for doing this was simply to tell the people around them that stone was sacred, and not to be walked upon. Maybe this rule turns into legend, myth, religion, whatever. Szeth is "Truthless" because he violated this law, walked on the stone, and took one of the Honorblades. That, or he is Truthless for some other reason, and thus considered hopeless enough to go take an Honorblade. Maybe the Honorblades cannot be bound to a person other than a Herald, or there is some other stipulation, and the means by which they are recovered is that they poof back over to that stone when the person dies. These ideas may be basic points of a complex system I can't guess, but the point was to find a relationship between rocks, the Shin, Truthless, and the Honorblades. Thoughts?

After re-reading The Way of Kings again, making likely a dozen times now, something leaped straight out of the pages and slapped me across the face that I had never considered before, and judging from a cursory search has not been brought up yet. (If I'm wrong and it has, which I hope I am not, feel free to tell me.) It was an epiphany, of sorts. So let me lay it out. It's been confirmed that there are 3 types of Shardblades, yes? Dawnshards, the 10 blades of the Heralds, Honorblades of the Knights Radiant, and Shardblades (which Syl hates and is evidence enough that they aren't good, whether or not they are of Odiuum or not.) Here is a description of Oathbringer, Dalinar's Shardblade : "Oathbringer—formed in his hand, coalescing from mist, appearing as the tenth beat of his heart thudded in his chest. Six feet long from tip to hilt, the Blade would have been unwieldy in the hands of any man not wearing Shardplate. To Dalinar, it felt perfect. He’d carried Oathbringer since his youth, Bonding to it when he was twenty Weepings old. It was long and slightly curved, a handspan wide, with wavelike serrations near the hilt. It curved at the tip like a fisherman’s hook, and was wet with cold dew." And here is one of Elhokar's blade : "Elhokar bellowed, his Shardblade—Sunraiser—springing from mist into his hand. It was long and thin with a large crossguard, and was etched up the sides with the ten fundamental glyphs." Here's where the epiphany comes in. Check this out : "an enormous Shardblade six feet long with a design along the blade like burning flames, a weapon of silvery metal that gleamed and almost seemed to glow. A weapon designed to slay dark gods, a larger counterpart to the one Szeth carried." That is the description of Gavilar's blade, which is clearly not the same as Elhokar's blade. It is also described entirely different from any other Shardblade in the book -- with the exception of the blades carried by the Knights Radiant in Dalinar's vision. It is repeatedly stated that Gavilar began to change towards the end of his life, taking lessons from the Way of Kings and generally being far more honorable than he was normally. His last words for Dalinar perhaps are a clue as well. While Shardplate can be repainted, and Elhokar could indeed possess Gavilar's suit, there is a missing shardblade here -- Gavilar's. Here is where I may be stretching it. I am confident that Gavilar's shardblade was an Honorblade, or becoming one at least (much as Honorblades lost their glow and became Shardblades in Dalinar's vision), however this next bit requires a leap. Gavilar's blade is never mentioned again. It is tradition that, if defeated, the opponent has claim over the defeated's shards. Perhaps, upon finding Gavilar's body, they assumed that the assassin took Gavilar's blade. Szeth, however, did not. Is it not so that Dawnshards vanish upon the death of their wielder? (Hence Taln being alive at the end of WoK, since his blade remains.) Is it possible that Gavilar possessed a Dawnshard? Perhaps. Did he at least possess an Honorblade? Absolutely. Anyway! Let me know what you think!