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So I don't think this would actually happen, but can you imagine how funny and awesome it would be if Kaladin took Nightblood from Szeth? I shall prepare a scenario: Kaladin walked through the crowded streets of Kholinar, Nightblood in his hand. The stupid sword hadn't shut up since he took him from Szeth. You should kill him. The sword told him. It could have meant any single person down the street. They've probably done something to hurt someone. Anyone could hurt someone. You should stop that from happening. Syl zipped down from her unseen place in the sky as a little ribbon. "Don't listen to him Kaladin. You need to protect the people. Lead them and train them to be honourable." Kill him. Kill him. "Don't kill them Kaladin!" "Would you two shut up! I'm not going to kill anyone!" You're no fun. The sword seemed to be pouting at him somehow. Syl stuck her tongue out at it. End scene...

So. We know that at least part of Nightblood's wonderfully terrifying personality is that it was given a very vague Awakening command ("Destroy evil"), and if I remember correctly another part of it is that it's a sword, and there's really only one thing that you *do* with a sword, so that shaped its mind, too. What sorts of effects might you get out of an Awakened item with a different shape and command? A shield instructed to "Defend the innocent" or a pen told to "share knowledge," for example?

So I found this interesting gem: Note that this is before Szeth has either met Nin or picked up Nightblood. So a)from Adolin's perspective, Szeth is Commanding objects. b)It sounds awfully like Breath - in particular could command inanimate objects, and we all know how careful Brandon is with his wording. (Or at least, how careful we THINK he is. *ahem* Gibletish ) However a)It could have just been the wind, and generally Adolin freaking out about the Assassin in White. b ) Szeth wouldn't have had time to give a verbal command, even if he could use Stormlight to power and Awakening. c) It seems a bit much to me that on top of Vasher and Nightblood, Brandon would then cross over an entire magic system from Nalthis - especially since we're not supposed to need to have read any particular Cosmere book to understand the others. IF however, Szeth can Awaken, the only way I think he could learn it is from Vasher. 99% chance he's not a worldhopper, since we KNOW he's from Shinovar, plus it would make flashbacks very messy. I'm not sure I can see Vasher teaching him anyway, unless he learned Awakening in his past, before or in his early days of being Truthless. Which is doubtful because flashbacks. So I open the question to the rest of you theorisers and obssessors. What doth 17th Shard think?

So just for saftey, I will put the following discussion in a spoiler...

For the past 24 hours I have been scratching my head about Zahel, in theory, actually being Vasher. While I'm not totally against this fact and would not mind it in the least of ways but I feel like there is something that is pointing to a Dalinar/Vasher tie-in. At first I was trying to tie the two characters together (Dalinar = Vasher), it sounded good in my head but Dalinar's background can easily be argued against, the tie-ins would become to complicated, plus I do not think Sanderson would make things that crazy, it is just not his style and then it hit me, Dalinar's wife. "Navani settled back, sipping her wine, safehand lying across her lap. 'Dalinar, your sons told me that you once sought the Old Magic. Why? What did you ask of the Nightwatcher and what curse did she give you in return?' 'I told them that shame is my own,' Dalinar said. 'And I will not share it." Here's the fun part, Shashara is a Returned. Prior to her Return, there is no record of her past life which makes me wonder, aside from Nightblood being on Roshar what else could possibly bring Vasher to Roshar? Maybe trying to figure out Shashara's past or maybe he does know and he wants to be around someone that knew her during a "simpler" time in her life? Yes, I agree the timelines would be and are different for each world within the cosmere but lets be real, that is the interesting part. Let me know what you guys think.

So a few questions regarding Nightblood. I am inviting more theories, questions, etc... So first, how the hell did nightblood even get to Roshar? Does that make Nightblood a Shardblade? Are Nightblood's usual powers all the same? How will Sazeth wield a sword that consumes BioChromatic Breath? Can Nightblood hold up against a Shardblade? On that note does Nightblood have a soul?

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'...

Is Nalthis the only place where people are born with a Breath? Is it possible that people on other worlds are born with Breath but nobody on that world knows about it and how to use it? I was curious about this before but now that Nightblood is on Roshar it seems to be a much more important question. If there is no Breath on Roshar how will anyone be able to wield it? I doubt Szeth is just going to carry it around and not wield it. Do you think that maybe Nightblood can feed off of Stormlight like it does Breath?

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.

Just for the Rule of Cool: who would you (most) like to see with our favourite sociopathic Awakened sword in their hands and why? Including the original owner. My personal choice is Lift, because a ) they have kinda similar style of dialogue/humor, b ) she's awesome and c ) it could lead to some Realmatic mess, because of her peculiar abilities. Also, she'll feed him. With food.

This is a pure speculation thread about everybody's favorite psycho/sociopathic evil-killing sword. So, we know that Nightblood is an awakened sword who is unique due to his sentience and large investiture. We also know that he is practically the same as a radiantspren, as they are both slivers of a shard. My question is: Will Nightblood fall in love with a radiantspren? I think he will. As of this thread, I'm officially shipping Nightblood and Syl (Sylblood? Nightsyl?). What do you guys think?

I was just sitting around thinking about our pal nightblood and had this thought. What if nightblood is a lifeless shardblade. WoB stated that nightblood is exactly the same as a shardblade. I need to reread warbreaker for some names and a refresh of events. From WoR we know Zahel/Vashar is a worldhopper. In warbreaker we learn at the end he is the king from the past who caused a major war and stopped it. Then he gave his massive store of breath away to the god king left his stone army and vanished. During his absence Him and his lady friend I dont remember her name created nightblood. What if during that time they worldhoped over to Roshar and got their hands on a shardblade, possibly a skybreakers old blade and awakened it. Thus creating a lifeless spren. With the command destroy evil complimenting the skybreakers. The spren awakens with limited intelligence like a human lifeless but is no longer in a state of agony. Also giving him such a large amount of investiture and from 2 different worlds, therefore different shards makes him something more. This would also open the door to him giving szeth surgebinding and the ability to draw stormlight without the honour blade. His power being born of 2 shard worlds would explain why WoB ay hes so much more then a shardblade. This probably isn't true but was fun thinking about but I there i the slim chance I might be on to something. What do you guys think, Any other ideas about how some of the worlds magic systems could cross like this. I just found this thought i would add it. Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade? A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal.

WoB Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade? A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal. Brandon has also commented that Nightblood could consume storm light as he consumed breath, but it is a little more difficult when crossing magic systems. So let's have it! What are your theories on how Nightblood will be changed in adapting to life on Roshar? Of course he won't be a 'normal' shard blade because he isn't just a spren, he's fundamentally different; infused with shard power, but not wholly made of it. I think first of all he will keep his intent to 'destroy evil' (which will lead to some very conflict-ridden scenes with Szeth, who isn't sure what to believe anymore and is somewhat of a wild card - even thinking of himself as evil most of the time). Secondly, he will be able to cut and be blocked physically due to his physical nature, but will retain the ability to drain the shardic portions of people (like spren cutting the soul, Nightblood will drain it from a distance), thus making him more powerful than a regular shard blade As a side note: I find it fascinating that Nightblood is able to drain shardic powers like Breath and storm light, and also feed on life-force, which is somewhat different (drabs are still alive without Breath, but the life force of humans on Nalthis, for one, was created with a little bit of a shard (Preservation)). What does that say about the relationship between life and shards? Finally, he will not have the ability to disappear into the cognitive (or wherever the shard blades go) realm and be summoned back like a regular spren. He's an originally physical creation, and must remain that way. I say all this mostly because I think Nightblood is going to remain mostly the same as we know him from Warbreaker, because Brandon originally wrote Warbreaker with the intent of providing us with an introduction to Nightblood and Vasher. His powers will probably remain familiar, but just tweaked to the new magic system of storm light. This said, he is infused with shardic power. Spren of Roshar are basically living ideas that are given life by shardic power. Spren become more cognizant the longer they are bonded to a human. If Nightblood can bond with Szeth (a pretty big if) the way spren bond with Radiants, I think he would follow the pattern of becoming more aware and cognizant due to the permeating influences of Cultivation and Honor. That would make for a fascinating character development!

The title essentially says it all, so I'll get to the why. We know that Shards require a sentient mind to be attached to their power, whether it's that of another being or one it created on its own. Well, I think that Nightblood essentially requires the same. Shashara tried to give it the ability to rationalize and think, but it didn't work because the invested Breaths gave it more of a Spiritual, rather than Cognitive presence, which I think could have been the original intent. Thus, you end up with a extremely powerful sword that lacks the context to fulfill its intent - destroy evil. This is where the cognitive mind of another sentient being comes into play. Like Shards require holders to bear their power, Nightblood does too - the mind of its current holder focuses the intent and provides a context to the concept of evil. Simply put, every time someone picks up Nightblood, we're witnessing (on a much tinier scale) something not so different from what Vin or Sazed did when they ascended. Simple, I know, but it just struck me and I had to share.

Ever since I read Warbreaker I have been a huge Nightblood fan. Now, with it being in Szeths possesion at the end of Stormlight 3, Does anybody else believe that shardblades will not be a match for it? This may just be my hopeful superfan mind hoping, but I believe Nightblood will be too much for anybody to handle, and Zahel will be forced to Awaken Nightblood2.0 (Stormlight Edition) to take it down. Possibly Awaken a dead shardblade and create something new?

There have been a lot of Topics comparing Nightblood to other Magic Swords from other Worlds, But I don't think Nightblood can manipulate, or be used by, People from other Worlds. Because they don't have breaths that he can take. Not sure if this should go here or in the Cosmere topics. Also, How do you mark this as a Theory?

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!

The following is a fan fiction I wrote about how Zahel became known as a swordmaster. It is set in Alethkar before the death of King Gavilar. This story is probably more wrong than my other one, according to cosmere theory, but at least I spelled the title correctly. Vasher wanted to tell Dalinar that he was a stupid, stubborn drunkard that was too concerned with his own reputation. The man was brother to the king and he should be more concerned with helping him in the impossible task of uniting Alethkar, rather than trying to compete for glory as a great warrior, the Blackthorn. Yet Vasher found himself sitting on a stool across from Dalinar, in a private room of the Kholin palace, listening to his concerns about his reputation. It was one of his duties as a house ardent. “Even you have to admit the child isn’t anything like my other son, nor even like any other lighteyed child I have ever met,” said Dalinar. Vasher suppressed a disgruntled grumble and replied, “Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that your cloak is the wrong color and wear it anyways.” “What?” Dalinar looked very confused. I have to stop using analogies like that, Vasher thought. “What I meant is that maybe Renarin isn’t Called to be a warrior like you and Adolin. There are many other noble Callings, I think, and he still has a while before he has to pick one. So just be patient and don’t drive him too hard in one direction.” “You are the worst ardent I have ever met Zahel. Sometimes I wonder if you even know what Vorinism is about.” “Yes, a lot of people say that about me,” replied Vasher, “so the question is, why did you send for me?” Dalinar picked up the Shardblade that had been resting on the ground beside him; it was from the King’s collection, meaning anyone could use it with permission. “You were once a warrior, and you seem to have quite the knowledge about many different kinds of swords,” he nodded pointedly to Nightblood, the black sheathed sword that rested by Vasher’s own chair (it had taken a lot of effort to get the head ardents to allow him to keep it), “and I can trust you to keep this matter and the conversation to yourself, being my ardent. My problem is this: I’ve been trying to get Renarin to hold it and feel its power, so that he’ll be inspired to work harder in his training, but he’s afraid of it. He says that it hurts his ears to touch it. Have you ever heard anything like this before? Is this Blade defective?” He handed the Blade to Vasher, who took it and started to study its surface. “Just think about it for a little while and we can talk again after my duel. I’m sure you can return the Blade yourself.” After Dalinar left, Nightblood’s voice spoke up in his head, I think she used to be like me, but it’s like she’s dead now. You mean this Blade? asked Vasher. How do you know it’s a she? Can’t you feel her? She’s not completely dead. Do you think you can wake her up with a Breath? It would be like having my own sister. That might be pretty cool You know we have to return it eventually. Yet, I could ask it about how it was made, that could be interesting, I guess that would be worth one Breath. He grabbed a ruby sphere from a bracket on the wall, and with it one hand and the Shardblade in the other, he said “My breath become yours”. The red light coming from the sphere became duller, and he felt a Breath escape him. Suddenly, a new feminine voice spoke up inside his head. What? Where am I? Who are you? Where is my master? What happened? Nightblood responded through Vasher, your old master is probably dead. This is my master. He just awakened you with a Breath. Get Away! Get away from that whoever you are, that blade is evil. Hey, I’m not-, Nightblood was interrupted by Vasher, that is Nightblood. I practically made him. He has been commanded to destroy evil. He will do me no harm. What he meant was that a long time ago, your master broke his oath with you and- Hey, that man looks like a Returned, interrupted Nightblood. What? Vasher looked up at a group of armed men walking through the hallway just past the doorway. There were five of them. Four of them had on leather armor and held various weapons; Vasher knew by instinct that the fifth man was the one Nightblood had mentioned: he wore a black and silver uniform and had a strange crescent moon shaped scar on his face. They look evil, we should destroy them, said Nightblood. They look like they are going to hurt people who can’t protect themselves, said the Shardblade, you should kill them so they can’t do it. I’m beginning to like this Shardblade better than you already Nightblood, Vasher thought as he stood up and strode off toward the group, a sword in each hand. A quick look proved that there was no one else around. “Hey,” he called to them, “what is your business here?” The group stopped and turned around. The man with the scar on his face said “we have come for the life of Renarin Kholin. He is wanted for reasons that I don’t have to explain to you, ardent.” “I’m sorry but I don’t believe you, and my friends here don’t either.” Vasher tossed Nightblood onto the ground before the five men. As usual, it started a bloodbath as one of the men took the blade and started to kill his friends with it. However, it didn’t end up with everyone dead as usual. The scar-faced man summoned a Shardblade and killed the man with Nightblood in his hand, just as he finished off the third warrior. He was now the last man alive out of the five. He turned and charged at Vasher, wielding his Shardblade with expert skill. Fortunately, Vasher was able to parry, using his borrowed Shardblade with equal skill. However, the fight ended abruptly after a couple of minutes when the scar-faced man touched his pants and he found himself stuck to the ceiling with Stormlight leaking from the pants. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you for the cool new sword. I must be going now.” The scar-faced man stooped to pick up Nightblood and then dashed off down the hallway towards the living chambers. I can’t let him get to Renarin, thought Vasher, but I don’t know what to do. He examined his pants with the Stormlight leaking out of them, and an idea came to him. He put a hand on his pants and commanded “Let go of things”. The red light in the hallway, which came from some ruby spheres placed in brackets along the hallway, became much duller, and some of his breath left him. His pants straightened and made themselves loose, so that his legs slipped through them and he fell onto the floor. His pants were still stuck to the ceiling by the Stormlight. He could hear the screams and calls of alarm as people witnessed the unknown Shardblade-wielding assailant dash through the halls. He focused on his life sense to tell him where the killer was. He could sense the servants milling around in hysteria, the guards running in groups down various hallways, and—there! The scar-faced man was in a hallway directly above him, running back in his direction. Okay friend, Vasher said to the Shardblade in his hand, I’m going to throw you, and I want you to maintain your form, all the way through the ceiling. I really shouldn’t listen to you, because you’re not my master, but I guess you are trying to protect people. I’ll do as you say this once, just let me chance my shape. The Shardblade shifted, so that the crossguard disappeared and the sides became narrower at the tip and broader at the base, like a viciously long spearhead. Just as the scar-faced man was approaching the point just above him, Vasher threw the Shardblade at the ceiling. It went all the way through. Vasher sensed the man stop, he was not dead, but had probably been injured. He stayed there for a while as a large guard group approached him, and then suddenly whipped down the rest of the hallway with incredible speed. Vasher could no longer sense him with his life sense. Vasher dashed up to the hallway where the scar-faced man had been. There was a group of guards by the spot where he had thrown the Shardblade and another group looking out a window at the far end of the hallway. Dalinar was with them. He approached Vasher with the Shardblade in his hand; it had gone back to its previous shape. “Zahel, did you throw this through the floor?” Dalinar asked. “My men here said that there was a man running through the hallway with a Shardblade in one hand and your black sword in his other hand. They said this Shardblade came through the floor and struck his leg. Unfortunately, the man flew out that window before we could get to him though.” “Maybe,” replied Vasher. “That is the most incredible feat I have ever seen done with a Shardblade before. Were you a swordmaster before you became an ardent?” “Maybe” “Huh. A swordmaster ardent who takes his pants off in the middle of a battle,” Dalinar looked pointedly at Vasher’s bare legs, “you are an interesting person Zahel. I want you to take over Adolin’s sword training from now on. Also, I’ll talk to the head ardents about letting you keep this sword, since you lost your other one.”

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!

Alright guys, I went to the signing and have a good three and a half hours of audio. If anyone wants to transcript, be my guess. So. Asked a few things: First of, Warbreaker was written as a sort of prelude to the character of Zahel. Aluminum does not give an atium shadow (Whoo!) Nightblood is a Shardblade, that is super powerful and twisted. If Kelsier's Cognitive Shadow went to the Forests of Hell, he would be a shade. If Laras's Cognitive Shadow went, he would be a shade. If a Seon went, they would be a Shade. Will post audio when I figure out how.

This is a question that I never really considered, it just wasn't something that occurred to me to ask. That is, until I had to answer this. As I was going through the WoBs, it struck me that Brand had RAFOd what would happen if a shardblade were to strike Nightblood. Now this was not new to me, I was already familiar with this WoB. I had just always figured Nightblood would block the blade, after all it is "magnitudes more invested". Now however, I'm not so sure. As we know, shardblades interact differently with living targets than they do with non-living ones. Which makes me wonder, would a shardblade consider Nightblood to be alive? I think it is an interesting question, but one that we obviously can't definitively answer at this point. Perhaps though, some light can be shed on it by discussing spren. (source) According to this sentient objects and spren share some important similarities, but what are they? Neither spren nor Nightblood need to sleep, but what else is the same? We know spren can die, does that mean Nightblood can too? If he can die, that would imply he is alive... So my question is thus: If a shardblade were to strike Nightblood, would it be blocked/deflected as I had always assumed, or would it sever Nightblood's soul instead? If so how would that even work?

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.

Okay so lets say for instance that Szeth decided to go after Dalinar again. What do you think would happen if the Stormfather did choose to become a blade for him? Personally I think if he did, then it would likely be a blade of such power that it would make Honorblades act like twigs. Originally it made me wonder if all of the Honorblades were spren as powerful as the Stormfather etc but that doesnt feel right, there is no scream when Kaladin handles Jezriens blade. It is still a powerfully invested object though, just as Nightblood is. But I wonder just how much investiture the stormfather has, my bet would be in the order of 100 the magnitude of Nightblood. Im not sure if even an Honorblade would be able to do more than fend off Nightblood which is why I think there has to be some sort of checker on its power, the only thing I can think of would be the father of all blades

Ok, so I was thinking about invested objects we have seen in the Cosmere to try and find some commonalities in order to gain some insight into the construction and nature of Shardblades and Shardplate. The big headline invested objects we know of are: Nightblood Metalminds Hemalurgic Spikes Fabrials (modern) Making Invested ObjectsFirstly, we know how Nighblood, Metalminds, Spikes and Fabrials are made: Nightblood was a regular sword invested with a huge number of breaths (1000?) and given a Command. The breaths provide the investiture and the Command is the focus of Nalthian magic. Metalminds - The Feruchemist 'saves' an attribute into the appropriate metal for use later. The investiture comes from the Feruchemist and the focus is the metal. Hemalurgic Spikes – the appropriate metal is stabbed into (or through?) an individual with the appropriate power, in the correct location and therefore gets charged with the power. This can them be grafted onto the recipient by stabbing them with the spike (again on the correct location). The Investiture comes from the donor and the metal is again the focus. Fabrials (modern) – A spren is trapped in a gem that is cut in a certain way and mounted in a framework. The cut and type of gem determines the species spren that is trapped and the framework determines the final application of power available. In this case the Spren seems to be providing the investiture and focus seems to be the gemstone. (I am far less certain about this as the metal framework seem to have an impact on the application of the final fabrial). In all the cases above, the common theme is that they all began life as mundane objects, even if specific materials or shapes were required. This may seem obvious but I think it is worth noting. Invested Objects in ActionWhen we look at the various types of invested objects in use, there are also some general commonalities. Nightblood – Acts as a self aware sword and consumes breath from the wielder. In this case, I believe the Breath is acting as a power source for Nightblood’s abilities. Fabrials (modern) – Have a single function as defines by the makeup. IT is not explicitly stated I the book but I have always assumed that the gemstones in the fabrial must be infused for them to work. This would be consistent with our knowledge of how magic works on Roshar. Therefore the Stormlight is acting as a power source for the fabrial’s abilities. Metalminds – Returns stored attributes for use. No real power source here, I think, due to the end neutral nature of Feruchemy. You can only use what you store so there is no need for a power source. Spikes – Imbue recipient with power though spiking. Again no power source required since it is end negative. The maximum you could graft to the recipient is the total of what you stole from the donor. This is more shaky ground but I believe each end positive result requires an active power source to make the objects function as required. Shardblades and ShardplateSo now I come to the theory aspect of my post. First, I believe that both Plate and Blade are end positive as we do not see any diminishing qualities in either of these. Neither do thay seem to have a trade off of power with the holder / wearer. So looking at the above discussions I have come to the following conclusions. Plate / Blade started life as regular swords / armor and were invested afterwards making / forging. (Given the ornate nature of many blades, they may have been carved in wood and then soulcast into metal before being invested). Given this is it logical that different weapons could be invested in the same manner. So swords were merely a convention with the KR rather than a necessity of construction. By the same logic a ShardShield (along similar lines to Plate) would also be possible. Blades draw power / stormlight from somewhere*. Plate is clearly powered by stormlight in the form of gemstones (if it was powered differently in the past, I believe it still required a power source). I am not going to theorise about how this investiture occurs. Maybe one of the Surges / Orders we have not yet seen allows the constriction of the Blade / Plate. Maybe only a full KR is able to make them. Maybe a spren needs to sacrifice itself to make them. Maybe the Heralds made them. Maybe a wizard did it! The big question to answer this is: What is the focus of magic on Roshar? Either way I think the above are fairly logical conclusions Why do you guys think? (* I suppose a possible work around to this could be that the investiture of the blades makes it special abilities properties of the blade rather than abilities. However given that the Plate does not behave this way, I think it unlikely)

Pokémon X/Y info under the cut. Not spoilers, but I know people are sensitive to that kind of stuff. Okay, I knew Honedge was Nightblood-esque, BUT THIS IS GETTING A LITTLE RIDICULOUS.