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Theory: The reason Shardblades cannot cut through Shardplate is that just the amount of investiture in the plate stops them. I think that Shardplate is more than just a tool to stop Shardblades. We know that it grants phenomenal strength and speed to wearers even when they don't know what to do with it. As well, we see many of its other magical properties in the form of its transparent helmet and its auto re-sizing to fit the wearer. Now, all of this requires constant Stormlight infusion, which means that Sharplate needs to be powered at all times so as not to lock up. I think it is the investiture more than the plate that gives it its resistance to Shardblades Think of Nightblood. He is definitely going to need to be able to fight against Shardblades, but he is only a regular sword with an incredible amount of breaths. I think this investiture alone will protect him. If my theory is correct I wonder if a person sufficiently invested (a full KR with as much Stormlight as he could hold, maybe the Lord Ruler or the God King) would be immune or at least resistant to a Shardblade's cut. What do you all think? Some related topics which would be helpful to this discussion are: -How does a Shardblade fair against cutting a fabriel? -Why does a Shardblade slow when entering a body? -Has a Shardblade ever cut a gemheart?

The following is a fan fiction I wrote about some the known members of the 17th Shard: Galladon and Captain Demoux. It occurs somewhere in Roshar after their meeting with Ishikk in Way of Kings. I don't know much about the 17th shard or the cosmere theories, but I don't think I made any blaring mistakes. "I'm kind of glad that this entire land will get obliterated like he said," said Temoo in the usual grim tone that seemed to be his normal speaking voice, "these people deserve it. Understand?" His bowl of soup sat cooling on the table in front of him. He had meticulously stirred through it with his knife to observe its contents and had apparently disapproved of them. Captain Demoux did not recognize any of the ingredients in the soup, but his soldier's training kicked in and he ate anyways. As a soldier, you needed to keep yourself fueled at all times, no matter how bad the food tasted. "If it were up to you Temoo," Demoux replied, "every land we visited would get obliterated." He did not know if Temoo was this man's real name, nor did he know where he came from. In fact, of the few members of the secretive seventeenth shard he had met so far, there was not a single person whose identity he could be sure of. But, he did know two things about Temoo that the man could not conceal: the man was a cynic and he had a secret power that involved drawing symbols in the air. Those symbols were the means by which they could travel between worlds. He knew far less about the other man on the mission with them, Vao, who was currently in a different part of town picking up some supplies. Sometimes Temoo's pessimism could make him quite angry, mainly because it was one of the main things that Kelsier had fought against when he was alive. Kelsier always had a smile and an optimistic attitude, even when the rebel army that he had been building for months was nearly destroyed in a day. However, Demoux was the leader in this mission, and he would not let the attitudes of his subordinates get the better of him. "Okay friend, maybe I do have a strong bias about what makes a good land good, but you have to admit that this place is just pitiful. Understand?" Temoo made a wide gesture at the bar they were sitting in. It was true; the place fit Temoo's description. Everything was carved out of grey stone, from the tables to the chairs. Even the mugs were of a greyish color. The other patrons sat at tables with grim expressions that fit the grey atmosphere. The only color in the place came from the sphere lanterns behind the main bar; they gave off dull reddish light that also seemed very gloomy. "The land that I came from was once very similar to this," replied Demoux. "We were once oppressed by a tyrant emperor who enslaved most of us and created large ashmounts everywhere that spewed ash onto the land constantly. However, we killed him and eventually fixed the land so that everything was colorful and full of life. These people are oppressed, but by their own tradition. They can't simply kill someone and-" He was interrupted by a loud crash as the door to the bar burst open and five men aggressively walked in. They had the look of warriors; four of them had leather armor and various weapons. The fifth man made a sight that immediately made Demoux forget about the gloominess of this land. He was armored in majestic crimson and gold armor from head to foot, and there were no gaps, just smaller interlocking plates. This man spoke to the bartender from behind his greathelm, ornamented with spheres on the outside that gave a bright golden glow, "Where are those foreigners I asked you to tell me about?' "Th-there," the nervous bartender was pointing straight towards them. "Idos Domi!" exclaimed Temoo, "they're after us!". He immediately drew one of his magic symbols in the air. It grew brighter and brighter until it exploded outward towards the soldiers. The four in standard leather armor were thrown across the room and hit the wall with such force that they were probably dead. The man in the majestic armor took a step back to steady himself, but was otherwise unaffected. Temoo swore again as the man in armor laughed and brought his hand to the side as if grabbing an invisible pole. "Let me take care of this one," said Demoux as he grabbed his knife from the table. He also drank a vial of atium. He had been given many of those in the black space between worlds, they seemed to have a lot there. He burned the atium and world became alive with shadowy specters resembling people and moving objects, showing him where everything would be a few seconds in the future. He started to approach the man in armor. Suddenly, the man's specter thrust at him with the hand that he had been holding out. A shadowy sword appeared in that hand which pierced his heart. What the-? Demoux thought. But he took a step back anyways to clear the blade. Sure enough, the man made the same motion with his hand and a real sword appeared out of nowhere. The blade misted on the sides and was unusually long and bright looking. The end was just an inch from his chest; it was a good thing that he had stepped back. The man grunted in surprise, but stepped forward and continued his attack with barely a moment of hesitation. Demoux saw the next swing long before it actually came and easily dodge it, the blade passing within inches of him. The man then took the sword in two hands and aimed a powerful downward swing at him. Demoux used the time bought by this costly swing to spin around to the man's back. There's not even a weak spot in the back. I guess I'll have to go for the eyeslit, he thought. The man's spectral image swung around and slashed at him, so he ducked before the real sword came around in the exact same motion, passing over his head with an inch to spare. Demoux jumped up and tried to thrust his knife into the eyeslit, but the man tilted his head back and avoided the knife. Demoux made another dodge and another thrust for the eyeslit but was again unsuccessful. I can dodge quickly, but my attacks are not helped by the atium at all. He is too good to let me stab him through the eyeslit. I need a better weapon. Knowing his opponent's next swing, Demoux took a step back and actually turned his back to the man in armor. He was looking at the four dead men on the other side of the room for a reliable weapon. The man swore as his blade passed by Demoux's back. "Fight me you cremling coward," he yelled as he tried to thrust at Demoux's back. Demoux simply rolled and ran over to where the other four soldiers had fallen. He picked up a heavy metal mallet and slammed it into the man's back with all his strength after dodging and spinning around another attack. The mallet barely affected the armor at all, but he thought there was a slight crack. From there on the battle consisted of Demoux dodging and spinning around to the man's back where he would slam in the mallet. The other bar patrons had mostly fled by now, but there were a couple gawking in open amazement. The man swore often, but did not change his tactics, he did not know what to do with an atium misting. There really wasn't a whole lot he could do. After about twenty hard swings of the mallet and downing two more vials of atium as his level got low (all while dodging the strange sword), a hole finally appeared in the armor on the man's back. Demoux grabbed his knife and then stabbed the man in the back through the hole. The man gasped and fell forward. He dropped the strange sword and it disappeared. Demoux quickly rolled him over onto his back, dodged a slow punch, and then stabbed him through the eyeslit with a powerful thrust. The man died and his sword appeared at his side. "Way to not show off your powers, friend" said Temoo from the back corner. "You're the one who made a magic symbol in the air that killed four men" said Demoux, through gasps. The fight had left him quite out of breath. "Oh well, I guess we're both in the wrong here then. Are you going to take that armor and sword? I'm pretty sure those are some of the legendary shards of this land." "Yeah, I guess they could be pretty useful," replied Demoux.

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!

This is my first post, and I apologize for its tongue in cheek nature. Here goes: I thought it was cool that Syl took the form of a spear during Kaladin's fight with Szeth. But as the fight went on, I felt like the shardblade-can-take-whatever-form-you-want ability seemed like a little too much. It reminded me of She-ra. My kids like watching the He-man and She-ra cartoons. So in episode 18 of the first season of She-ra, she goes into space and has her sword of protection turn into a space helmet so she can breath. Later while saving the unconscious villain Hordack's life, She-ra re-enters the atmosphere by having her sword turn into a heat shield (thus avoiding a severe burn to her bottom -- which made me laugh quite a bit). I'm just wondering if Brandon Sanderson got his shardblade shape changing ideas from She-ra, and if so, will we be seeing similar outer space adventures from the knights radiant in future books. Could a spren turn into two blades for one trained in 2-bladed combat or a sword and a shield?

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.

Title says it all, really. I was wondering if the references to cutting off the 'spirit' of a limb and such are actually accurate, or if it is actually cognitive damage, as someone (can't remember who) theorized that it was, and thus Nalan brought back Szeth by reconnecting his Cognitive aspect to his physical one. If it is Spiritual, it brings up an interesting possibility: if a Compounding bloodmaker can heal Shardblade wounds, one type of Spiritual damage, then perhaps they can heal another type: Hemalurgy, thus creating an infinite source of Allomantic gold spikes.

To be a Knight Radiant and gain a Shardblade, you need to bond a spren. To gain a Shardplate, does that mean you need to bond another spren again, or your single spren will just expand to include a Shardplate? Seems to me that a Shardblade and a Shardplate is independent from each other. Say for example the modern Shardbearers who are using the Blades and Plates discarded by the Lost Radiants: It's not necessary that you're a Full Shardbearer. Some has only the Blade others only the Plate. I've read in the thread, Words of Brandon (compiled) that multiple spren bonding is possible. If a Knights Radiant bond different sprens, for example an honorspren and a cryptic, does that mean he's both a Windrunner and a Lightweaver or he'll just have to choose one order? If it's the latter option, I think a lot of politics will come at play. The orders will convince the Surgebinder to join their order... Any thoughts on this?

Hello all. Long time stalker, new poster. I was listening to the beginning of chapter 14, the second time through, and a theory formed. Knowing what shardblades are, this scene seemed to be rich with foreshadowing. Adolin may be bonding with, and eventually reawaken, the dead spren that is his shardblade. The scene is of Adolin kneeling, with his summoned weapon, before his first duel to win shards. He shares a quiet moment with his "spren" and confides in it. He seems to honor and respect his blade. He knows a Radiant once held it, understands it once had a name. He doesn't know it's a spren, but still seems to have a bond with his weapon. He just doesn't know his bond may be reciprocal. Adolin confides in his shard. He personifies it and imparts an identity to it. Adolin could have been pouring life into his blade for years, growing the Nahel Bond with this spren trapped in it's tortured state of unending non-sentient pain. Maybe one day, very soon.... BOOM! Adolin has powers. Just a thought that I wanted to share. Thanks.

I finally decided to make an account after reading this site for a few months and being thoroughly impressed by the intelligence and politeness on these forums. Here are three questions I asked Brandon today in Seattle as he signed my books (I am shocked he didn't RAFO me): Question 1: Shardblades vs Hoed (Major WoR + Elantris Spoilers): Question 2: Function of the Skybreakers (Minor WoR Spoiler): Question 3: Adolin and the Knights Radiant (Major WoR Spoiler): My thoughts and Interpretations (Major WoR Spoiler): Thanks for Reading! Jerich P.S. It was nice to meet several of the 17th Sharders like Trickonometry and a charming Superfan who gave me her name which I promptly forgot... I will add it here if she posts to this thread:))

I have seen many theories of where Shardplate and Shardblades are. We know that there once were many, many sets of Plate and Blades, right? Well, what if most of them were destroyed? Certainly, there are many sets of Shardplate and Shardblades in Urithiru, of course. And the Shin almost certainly have plenty of sets of their own. However, chances are there were still dozens, perhaps hundreds of sets of Plate and Blades left unaccounted for. My theory here then is that most of the sets have been destroyed. If there were many mini-wars during the Recreance in which normal people took Shardplate and Shardblades and fought each other for it all, one would assume that many, many sets would have been utterly ruined. In addition, we cannot assume that it was common knowledge that inserting gems into newly-given Shardplate would make it "regenerate" the broken portions of it. I am assuming that this was knowledge receive much later on - at least after a fair number of sets of Shardplate were smashed to bits and then scattered. And then these broken, shattered, scattered pieces of Shardplate, over the course of four thousand five hundred years, got buried in the sands of time and... sand. Y. Ness. Stuff. Apologies if this has been suggested before. I (1) didn't know what to search, and (2) didn't find anything when I tried to search... Now... tear me down and point me to the light! Hahaha.

First off, seeing as this is my first post on here, I'm not really sure if someone else has already expounded this (frankly fairly weakly conjectured) theory, so if they have, sorry about that. Anyway, both Shardblades and Hemalurgy work with Spiritwebs, yes? And we know that Shardblades create a bond with the Spiritweb. So what I was thinking is that maybe instead of simply creating a bond, Shardblades (the present-day versions, not Radiantblades), they work more like Hemalurgy and tear off a part of the Spiritweb to create said 'bond', something that could have changed after the Day of Recreance. It would explain why spren, or at least Syl, dislike the blades, as rather than them being representative of Odium or something like that, they are simply fundamentally broken.

The theory I have here isn't too backed up, but I have a feeling I'm at least close. And the next feeling I get is that it's horrible. Anyway, I think that the reason Shardblades and Shardplate glow has something to do with spren. So far, the only people we've seen with glowing shardblade are/were the Knights Radiant, and as soon as they left their Plates and Blades, they lost their glow. And they also were no longer "owned" by the Knights, whom we know had Spren due to their Surgebinding capabilities. My guess is, if a Surgebinder holds a Blade and/or is wearing a set of Plate, it will glow again. So if Kaladin does end up with a Shardblade, it'll glow. I hope.

I don't know if this has already been dicussed or if it has any merit at all, But I was looking through some other forums about spren creating, or developing plate, or shardblades. Could Szeths blade be an honor spren that has been transformed into a blade? And because It is an honor spren it allows him to have the abilities of a windrunner while he has it.... no blade, no powers It would explain why his is so unique and different from other blades feel free to tear this apart

So, I've been thinking a lot about the different Surges and Altering Fabrials recently while developing my general theory on fabrials, when I realized something: Shardplate and Shardblades are deeply connected with the Division Surge. Shardplate is a Division Diminisher, while a Shardblade is a Division Augmenter. Except they don't strictly require gemstone fabrials. Sure, Shardplate can be powered by infused gemstones, but those gemstones aren't fabrials, and they won't even be necessary once a Stormlight-wielding Surgebinder wears it. Similarly, we've recently seen that the gemstones in some Shardblades can be removed without destroying the Blade; they are not necessary. The gems are probably just bonding fabrials added by modern Shardbearers to "improve" their bond with the Shardblade. Yet, somehow, these magical armor and weapon combo act like fabrials. Sharplate resists being damaged (damage=division) and will eventually reform even when it does get damaged. In the same manner, Shardblade does almost nothing but divide things, even souls, and even itself (whenever it disintegrates into mist upon dismissal). So, it appears that living beings and fabrial gemstones are not the only things on Roshar that can access Surges. What's so special about the Plate and the Blade that they can do this? If only we have a clue... like, if there was a Essence that's associated with metallic weapons and armor that might suggest an explanation for it. Oh wait, we do have one: the Essence of Foil, the Essence of Kalak's Order, the Order that can access the Transportation Surge and an unknown Surge. (They are also connected to the Dustbringers who, interestingly enough, can access the Division Surge, but that's just an aside.) I highlighted the Transportation Surge because I believe it is central to learning about why some Foil-based objects can access Surges. I theorize that just as gemstones are used to store Stormlight and add Intent to it, metals can be used to transport this Intent-laden Stormlight. Metals are Stormlight conduits and transmitters. This is why all fabrials we've seen so far are attached to jewelry or machines that are metallic. It's not just to make them look cool or pretty. Those fabrials simply won't work without metal. And this is why Shardplate and Shardblade can use the Division Surge. I believe that the members of the Kak Order were capable of molding Stormlight into complex "Surge spells" (possibly using their unknown Surge) that they could then program directly into metallic objects (using the Transportation Surge) without the need for gemstones. So, they simply infused each Plate and Blade with Stormlight with "Surge spells" that target the Division Surge. Perhaps they had help from Dustbringers (who can, I believe, share their Stormlight with other people) for that task. That's my theory! Now, two questions: Wouldn't you bet that the Oathgates were made of metal? What would you think if the spell-making-related Surge required the Surgebinder to say their spells out loud (similar to Awakening), or perhaps required to draw markings on the metal using Stormlight-filled fingernails (similar to AonDor)? Edit: Reworded some things for clarity.

Okay this is probably a crazy theory and I may be off base but I have been thinking about this for days. What if Spren transformed into shardblades when needed? Like as the bond develops, the Nahel spren becomes more and more developed physically and eventually turns into the shardblade. The reason I came up with this is that Syl is becoming more entrenched in the physical world and Kal can actually feel her standing on his hand now. The 10 heartbeats for a blade to appear could account for the time it takes for a spren to pop over to the cognitive/spiritual(??) realm and transform into a blade and pop back into the physical realm. This would also explain the great betrayal of the KR to the spren. When the KRs laid down their swords, they were actually giving up their bond to their spren. That is why the spren screamed and would also explain why Syl doesn't like Dalinar's shardblade. It is essentially a comatose spren. Okay. I am at work so I can't cite passages to back up my theory but I thought I would hear what you all think. Feel free to blow massive holes into my theory.

I'm sorry if this all comes out as rambling, it goes against several other theories about shardblades, and may be a bit weak, but I'm sort of just building off something I came up with. *Spoilers follow* We know from the Well of Ascension plot twist, that Brandon Sanderson likes a good plot twist, especially in relation to corruption, so is it possible we're meant to have one here? The Knights Radiant wielded shardblades given to them by the heralds (agents of Honor) in the last desolation, but yet Syl (and Honorspren) in referring to Dalinar's forfeited shardblade remarks: "It just feels wrong to me. I hate it. I'm glad he got rid of it. Makes him a better man" Now is it just me, or is hate a fairly strong emotion, an emotion that would be more at home with someone affiliated with Odium rather than Honor? Now I understand that Odium provokes hatred from others, so if the Shardblades are of Odium, they would provoke hatred from someone affiliated with honor, like Syl and like Kaladin when he passed up on the blade earlier. But in the alternative could Odium seek to triumph on Roshar by corrupting the now splintered Honor to make the spren of the Knights Radiant 'hate' the shardblades the Knights Radiant so effectively wielded, and separate the Knights Radiant from their weapons.

So when I read WoK I thought the shard blades were summoned out of Shadesmar. Did Brandon ever comment on this?

I have been mulling over how shardblades behave recently. The basic issue was that Honorspren bind things while Shardblades separate things. It struck me as weird that the weapons of the followers of Honor seemed to be so different from the behavior of that Honor seems to encourage. The other thing that struck me is that sharblades don't really cut. When you cut something, you are really forcing a wedge into the object and using the wedge to force the two pieces apart. On a slight tangent, this is why a sword is never sharp enough to cut through a tank, in order to cut through something large like a tank with a sword, you need use enough force that the wedge can lift the upper part of the object you are cutting. In contrast a shardblade effortlessly passes through things, and where it passes, the object is no longer connected. The effortless part is important, because it shows that the blade is not lifting the things it cuts to make room for the blade to pass through. If it passes through person, that persons (mind or soul, unclear which) is no longer connected to the body. If it just hits a limb, that limb no longer functions as part of the body. My theory is that shardblades exist in the cognitive realm, and when they cut things, they cut the actual cognitive aspect of things. Whatever a shardblade passes through, that object no longer sees itself as a singular thing, its cognitive aspect is split and the two new objects don't see themselves as connected, so they are no longer connected. If I am right, that means that blades can probably kill spren. I am not sure exactly what my theory would mean for where blades are stored when they are not in the owners hand. This also might mean that in the past spren gave the KR blades and plate. This also gave me a wild idea about the recreance.

I believe I may have brought this up at some point long long ago, but here is my theory: No one knows the process of making a Shardblade, but we know that Syl hates them. I believe that Shardblades are Spren that have been trapped into a Shardblade (I believe by choice). I believe that the KR final stage to become a full KR involved them no longer needing the guidance of their Spren, so their Spren became Shardblades to assist them, making them a full KR. The reason Syl hates Shardblades so much is because they are Spren trapped in a shard that is held by someone who hasn't earned it. I believe something happened with Szeth that made his Spren get trapped in his blade, which is what made him become Truthless. This is just a theory, but I feel a lot of the underlying evidence is there to make it at least somewhat plausable. The biggest flaw in this for me is Shallan's Shardblade (how she got this is 'technically' still unknown). I did some cursory research to see if this was out there, and I may be missing some answers from Q&A's or Readings that debunk this. Let me know! P.S. If we know how Shardblades are made and I just missed it somewhere, please let me know.

This may have already been theorized. But, if not - I could use some help fleshing it out. I believe that the way that Shards are created is by a sacrifice from the Spren to become the Shardblade for their Surgebinder. I'm still undecided on whether or not the Surgebinder, knowing the correct way, could release the Spren from the ShardBlade though. This would make sense for me on why Szeth doesn't have a Spren and also why Shallan has a blade but has had no Spren show up for her (other than Cryptics, which I'm not convinced count as Nahel-bond spren). I know this would Debunk a few theories related to Szeth and the Honorblade among others - but I feel it has some credence. Please - pick this apart and hopefully make it better. *Note* Every surgebinder we have met that doesn't have a Spren, has a Shardblade from an Unknown source. (This includes information from the readings). *EDIT* I just did some more research on Cryptics and it appears they are Shallan's Spren, but I still feel this theory holds water, just not as much as it used to.

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.

I like Gloom's theory that the shardblades of today are different than the shardblades before the recreance, and that event is what created our third type of blade (honorblade, radiant shardblade, modern shardblade). Stealing his quote, this is from the recreance: This also helps explain why Syl seems to hate a weapon that probably used to belong to a Knight Radiant. Shardblades seem to be "off" in modern Roshar, however no one seems to question shardplate. Looking back at Dalinar's flashbacks, modern shardplate seems to be less capable than the radiant's shardplate. The radiant's plate was covered in glowing glyphs and the helms at least seemed to disappear and reappear whenever the radiant wanted. During the chasmfiend fight it seems that Dalinar's plate may have glowed a bit. Szeth thinks he can't use his lashings while wearing plate because he thinks it will interfere with the gemstones in the plate. In Dalinar's vision, one of the radiants "falls upward" back to the town. It seems like he is lashing himself in order to fly. I think there was a theory that only people in plate felt the "Thrill" but I think that was debunked as not being only limited to plate. Looking over the Recreance vision again, the swords were glowing and faded, but there is no mention of armor glow or any change. Kaladin didn't just reject a blade, but also the plate. However, he only thinks about the blade. So, is anything up with shardplate? If something is wrong with shardblades, and it was caused by the Recreance, would it have also affected the plate? Maybe the Recreance only corrupted (or allowed a certain odius presence to corrupt) shardblades. We don't seem to have any indication that shardplate is bad in any way, no recreations or revulsion to it. But, if it doesn't elicit the same reactions as the shardblades, can we assume that whatever causes Syl and Kaladin to hate the blade did not happen to the plate (IE, if Syl and Kaladin hate blades, but not plate, can we assume the Recreance didn't cause the issue with shardblades?) I thought that maybe shardplate was just not working because no one in modern Roshar seems to be able to make it glow or disappear, so its corruption just wasn't seen. However, when Kaladin kills the shardbearer, Amaram states that the shardbearer is dead: It looks like shardplate is bonded to its wearer in some form, and when the wearer dies, it just falls off. So, it seems that shardplate is still working, at least in some minimal form. We also have Dalinar, who seems to almost glow when protecting Elhokar from the chasmfiend, so the shardplate seems like it might still be connected to the ideals of honor, and it might still work if worn by a KR. Where does that leave my ideas when it comes to shardplate? Confused! The quote from the Recreance makes it seem like something really bad happened there, but it doesn't seem to have done anything to shardplate, and I like the idea that it is the cause of modern shardblades being disturbing to Syl. I also like the idea that shardplate and shardblades are related to the oaths of the KR, but modern shardplate seems to be just waiting for honorable people to pick it up and put it on, while the shardblades are being rejected by our two main honorable characters. It would make more sense if both plate and blade were corrupted, or if both plate and blade could be made to work properly by an honorable person. Am I missing something that might imply plate is also bad in some way? Could the difference between the two mean something important?

Ok, this theory combines several others and makes several (mostly baseless) assumptions: 1/ Ishar is in Shinovar and is responsible for the cultural developement of the Shin. Discussed here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4406-introduction-and-a-convoluted-theory/ 2/ Ishar's Order in the KR table is that of Bondsmiths Discussed here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4323-seattle-signing-report-out-101413/ 3/ Bondsmiths were able to forge shardplate and shardblades Discussed here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4396-do-bondsmiths-create-shardblades-shardplate/ Basically the theory is: Assuming the above are true (big ask + not supported by any real evidnece) Szeth commited some transgrassion, Ishar created his Sharblade and made him trutheless by giving it to him. Really, I appreciate this barely qualifies as a theory and with the little information we have we can make any theory fit the data. Thematically though this kind of ties in with the corrupted / Fallen Heralds idea as well as being a pretty plausible explanation for Szeth that does not require him to carry an Honorblade (which I am still not convinced by).

Just a thought, Dalinar mentions that he and Adolin are trained in Wind stance. He also mentions in one of his visions about switching to Smoke stance. He also remarks that Adolin' s opponent in a duel was using Rock stance. Is it possible that the stances reflect orders of the Knights Radiant? Wind Runners (Wind stance) Stone Wards (Rock stance)?

Anyone know what the three different types of Shardblades, said to be in TWoK, are. I know Szeth's blade is different from say Oathbringer, but I'm not sure why it is different. Is there any information out there on the different types or is it all just speculation for the moment. And whats the third type of Shardblade we've seen?