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Hi, everyone! Had no clue this community existed, so this is neat!

Would it be possible to use a shardblade as a hemalurgic spike? The coppermind says that the shardblades are a godmetal and another godmetal works as a spike (atium), so logically, it should be able to work as a spike. What would that do to the spren and the blade wielder?

Is Azure’s blade actually a shardblade? It doesn’t seem to act normal, due to the nature that it is unable to be dismissed and it’s strange size. I’ve come to think that it’s an awakened sword, due to Azure being Vivenna. If it is awakened, what command do you think it has? Is it sentient?

So yeah. We've seen a bunch of Radiants use different weapons, from Shardforks to Shardblades to Shardspears. So why are all of the Shardweapons from the Recreance in blade form? It stands to reason they also would have had their weapons of choice. What is the reason that all of their Shards turned into blades, then? Is sword-form some kind of a basic spren form? Is it cultural (and why would there be such an overpowering cultural influence on swords opposed to other weapons, with no room for deviation?) Did the spren revert to sword-form when the bond was broken?

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Shardblade 1) On the main shard blade page it says that the "Wider than average - cleaver-like" shardblade that Dalinar had and gave up in WoR was "Talenel - Unbound" as the "Previous Holder", isn't that very misleading? That blade was never owned or held by Talenel, but people pretended it was. 2) For Talenels Honorblade it says it was stolen by Taravangian, is their citation for that? Thanks.

Something interesting that I noticed while read Arcanum, and if this has been talked about already I apologize. In the "Knight Radiant" symbol or the "Double Eye" for the Rosharan system it has multiple swords and dead down the middle is unmistakably Sunraiser, Elhokar's shardblade. We know from pictures and descriptions that it also has all of the basic A.K.A. Radiant glyphs etched onto it. We know this wasn't done later because it's a storming shardblade. So I raise the question, who's blade was it? My first thought was Melishi, the last Bondsmith, but I then remembered that Bondsmiths don't get shardblades (Assuming Dalinar isn't weird) and if it has enough importance to be the symbol for the Radiants and Roshar as whole, why is it so significant and who's blade is it????? Just throwing something out there, but maybe it was made by Honor. Thoughts? Edit: This is what I'm rambling about

So it's a trope in anime that their massive swords break at least once. Tetsusaiga breaks in Inuyasha, Guts' sword breaks in Berserk in the battle of Doldry. So what if a Shardblade broke either in half or was shattered worse than the plains? How could this happen? My best guess would either be Nightblood, Odium or a Fused. Would an Honorblade break differently from a Shardblade? What if Syl was broken in blade form? Or Maya, what would happen to them?

Brandon’s explanation for “corrupted” Investiture – a “mixing of different Shards” – raises a question about Nightblood’s history. How could Nightblood acquire another Shard’s Investiture before he left Nalthis? Warbreaker occurs before WoK. Following is speculation built on “black smoke.” I think Nightblood isn’t some piece of “steel” shaped like a sword. I think Shashara took a “dead” spren Shardblade from Roshar when the Five Scholars visited. Honor and Cultivation are the other Investitures comprising Nightblood. Here’s the text description of Nightblood’s creation from Vasher’s point of view (Warbreaker, Kindle p. 569-70, emphasis added): Brandon further addresses this last bolded statement in his Warbreaker Annotations (emphasis added): Analysis Vasher suggests Shashara competed with Yesteel for scholarly preeminence. I think she borrowed one of Vasher’s “tricks” – she took a Shardblade home from Roshar to experiment on and told the other Scholars it was “steel.” The Scholars were among the earliest Worldhoppers. They may have heard stories of Shardblades, but didn’t know what Shardblades actually were: “Nightblood is an attempt by someone who didn’t know how Shardblades were made to create a Shardblade using a different magic system.” The other Scholars wouldn’t recognize Nightblood as a “god metal” made from a spren of Honor and/or Cultivation. They’d just accept that an unrustable hard metal is “steel.” (Or maybe Shashara shouted to her colleague, “Yes – steel!” and they misunderstood her? Da-dum…) Every other source stating Nightblood is Awakened “steel” derives from the quoted text, including fan questions and Brandon’s responses. If Nightblood really is steel, that forecloses my speculation. But maybe Shashara felt shamed Yesteel had “shown her up.” Maybe she found her own “trick” to prove herself. Consider the following evidence. 1. Brandon says Nightblood needs to feed on Investiture because he is “leaky.” But Endowment’s Investiture “sticks.” Stormlight “leaks.” Nightblood’s “black smoke” looks like the black smoke streaming from the eyes of those killed by a Shardblade. 2. 1,000 Breaths seems too few to Awaken and give consciousness to “steel.” “This process shouldn’t have worked…. Nightblood should not be alive.” Maybe 1,000 Breaths IS enough to Awaken the “dead” – unconscious – spren that comprises the Shardblade. There are two paraphrased WoBs about this that may refer to the same conversation. One says “a piece of stone or wood or cloth or plain metal” with 1,000 Breaths “needs more” to be as Invested as Nightblood. The other RAFOs a similar question. 3. “Nightblood is one of the most heavily Invested things in the cosmere that is not a Shard.” If I am right, Nightblood permanently holds the Investiture of a full Radiantspren plus Breaths equivalent to half a Returned. Radiantspren themselves constitute a large amount of Investiture: “The Investiture in a Shardblade is much greater than your average Allomancer.” Shardblades also exceed the Investiture in the Bands of Mourning. Radiantspren and Breaths both naturally bond with humans and should have no problem bonding with one another. Breaths adjust to their holder’s Identity, even when the holder is a barely Awakened spren from Roshar. Brandon says he can’t accurately compare Nightblood’s power with a Shardblade’s power, but “when he is fully consuming Investiture he can do some really freaky things.” A footnote to that WoB says, “In the past Brandon has described Nightblood as being ‘magnitudes more invested than a shardblade’.” I’ve not seen that description. “Magnitudes” implies logarithmic orders of ten. That seems unlikely unless some of the Investiture Nightblood consumes adheres to him – making him “fatter” as one poster puts it. Without seeing Brandon’s description, I’m inclined to discount the footnote. Even without absorbing new Investiture, holding a Radiantspren and half a Returned would still make Nightblood “one of the most heavily Invested things in the cosmere….” Brandon RAFOs questions about what happens to the consumed Investiture. 4. Nale treats Nightblood as the equivalent of a highspren Shardblade. Nightblood might have started as a highspren, a Skybreaker’s spren. But Shashara’s Awakening command to “Destroy Evil” permanently overwrites the spren’s original “ideal.” Discerning “evil” is Nale’s primary Divine Attribute – “Just.” “Justice” is a moral judgment, the weighing of good and evil. Nale attunes to an Investiture that wants to “Destroy Evil.” He wouldn’t have kept or given Szeth the sword if he didn’t sense the spren – and not just the Breaths or Awakened “steel” – inside Nightblood. Taln recognized Pattern inside Shallan when she visited him in the ardent hospital. 5. Nightblood “speaks” like a child, much like Syl did before her bond with Kaladin developed more fully. Vasher notices incipient maturity in Nightblood, as if Nightblood’s bond were also developing. I speculate below that Nightblood and Szeth will bond fully now that Nightblood’s back on Roshar. 6. The Frankenstein image of Nightblood as a patchwork of magics fits nicely. The full WoB is ambiguous. “A bunch of souls” might refer only to Breaths, but the "something" they are stuffed into could be a "dead" Shardblade - a spren. Szeth Will Bond Nightblood-Spren The spren constituting Nightblood is sufficiently Awake as to bond with its holders. Szeth’s soul is more broken than most – he’s been wrongfully made Truthless and then killed. Lift sees his soul’s “after-image.” This opens opportunities for Nightblood to begin a more intrusive bonding process. I believe he will learn morality from Szeth – a warrior-priest turned unwilling assassin. Szeth has lived evil. He will know how to direct Nightblood to destroy it. In Szeth’s hand, Nightblood will become the “Sword of Retribution” pictured in WoR. Can he direct Nightblood to consume only the voidspren inside the listeners? Nightblood will tell Szeth his spren-name. On Roshar he can form a Nahel bond with Szeth and give him the Skybreaker power to bind the Gravitation and Division Surges. Szeth will become a Knight Radiant, and Nightblood will be his Shardblade. “Nightblood can feed off Stormlight, but Szeth can't draw in Stormlight right now. So Szeth better not draw that sword, for a while at least. [Emphasis added.]” * * * * * That’s a lot of speculation to build from “black smoke.” Is there any fire there?

As I was perusing through Reddit, I found this this comment by /u/pervyfguy69 about abusing the magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy to create a Nightblood or Shardblade-like weapon. I thought that these fine forums, being the obviously more cosmereically (???) enlightened portion of the interwebs would like to take a gander at his thought experiment. Also please note that there are some mild spoilers for OB within that comment, and the thread. (Hopefully) you have been warned. Here's an edited version without these mild spoilers, for those still not inished the book: Also importantly: according to Brandon himself this "shoots past RAFO territory so far, it can't even see the line from where it's now standing". Thoughts?

Ok, friends, I apologize if this has already been discussed before. I searched for a post about it and couldn't find one, so I figured I'd open the discussion if it doesn't already exist. I've been noticing what I feel to be a quiet trend going on in the Cosmere - Silver. I would like your opinions on what this could mean or if i'm just plain crazy. Silver is not always in a meaningful spot within the Cosmere (clothing, decor, etc)... but when it does appear in a meaningful role, it seems to work the same way throughout the Cosmere. Considering how often Silver makes an appearance, it seems apparent that the metal is present on all of the cosmere worlds... some of those worlds seem to have discovered its very special uses and effects. Just to name a few key examples of silver making notable appearances within the Cosmere: Nalthis - Nightblood's sheath. To contain Nightblood's immense powers and abilities, he is kept within a silver sheath. When Nightblood is even slightly released from this sheath, his power is also released and he influences his surroundings. Like taking the cap off of something that kept him "bottled" up. Threnody - Silence Montane's dagger. Silver (weapons/dust) is the only thing on Threnody known to touch/harm/ward against shades... hence Silence's silver dagger. Silver can even heal a whither wound that has recently been caused by a shade. Silver on Threnody is widely known and coveted because of its effectiveness against shades. This is important because shades are, presumably, connected to/from/part of the spiritual realm. And yet silver is the one known defense that can touch/fight/resist them without ill effect. Scadrial - Electrum. I've always wondered why silver itself wasn't technically an allomantic metal... it seems like it should be. It does, however, show up in the Silver+Gold alloy known as Electrum. As near as I can tell, Electrum is the only metal of the 16 metals that is powerful enough to neutralize a God Metal (Atium) in another allomancer. "Thank you, Silver... because without you, Gold alone would only let me see my possible past self. With you, however, I can see all of my future selves - disabling Atium's advantage for its user. Whew!" Silver saves the day again! Roshar - Shardplate, shardblades, (and half-shards?). The shardplate(s) and shardblades of Roshar are repeatedly referred to as silver. Let's start with a few quotes. WoK Prologue mentioned Szeth's honorblade: "Szeth turned and continued on his way, slippered feet falling on the soft red rug. The Shardblade, as always, glistened silver and clean." ... and before that, the WoK Prelude mentioned shardplate itself: "Juxtaposed between them were others in gleaming plate armor. One group walked past, four men in their ragged tanned skins or shoddy leather joining a powerful figure in beautiful silver plate, amazingly intricate. Such a contrast." Along with many MANY other examples and quotes throughout WoK and WoR that (other than paint and ornamentation) repeatedly refer to Shardplate and shardblades as silver or "silvery metal." Crazy questions: In keeping with this silver theory here, is this what spren become when they transform into shardblades?...do they imitate/become silver? Could this be why shardblades can block/hit other shardblades and yet cut through everything else as if it wasn't even there? When the Vedens manufactured "half-shards," were they made of silver? Shallan encountered a keyhole at the Oathgate (at the end of WoR) that was "made of the same stuff" as a shardblade, as she put it. It doesn't seem implied that a spren had transformed into said keyhole... but rather unlike shardblades, no spren was involved. I theorize that no spren is necessary for this "stuff" (silver?) to exist in the physical realm. Therefore, the keyhole could possibly be made of simple silver. It's possible that the Vedens have managed to create their half-shards simply by discovering the proper metal to use when forging them. 1.) Have some Veden smiths forge shields of silver. 2.) Power the shield with infused gemstones (just like shardplate). 3.) and VIOLA! ...Half-Shard? ... Crazy crazy questions bouncing around my head. At any rate, one thing that seems certain to me is that silver is very special within the cosmere. It's possible that its effects and influence span across all three realms at once! I'm not saying that everything described as "silver" or "silvery" has some profound meaning behind it... but there might just be a bit of a cosmere-sized trend here. To me, if there really is a trend, it seems that silver can "counter" powers within the cosmere. Like shielding nightblood, touching/harming shades, mixing with gold to allow an allomancer to negate the effects of atium, stopping/blocking a shardblade's attack, etc... If anyone in the Cosmere knows what's going on, it's Hoid... and even he keeps a silver sword handy. "Wit picked his way through the groups of attendants, holding a cup of wine in one hand, silver sword belted at his side." "Wit sat on a raised stool at the end of the bridge leading onto the island. Wit actually dressed as a lighteyes should—he wore a stiff black uniform, silver sword at his waist." Seems like Hoid knows something about the benefits and usefulness of silver that we don't. Can you guys think of anymore examples? ...or am I crazy? What does silver mean to the Cosmere?

In the Epilogue to The Way of Kings I noticed that Wit refers to "Talenel's" (ugh. Brandon you cagey weasel) Blade as a Shardblade instead of an Honorblade. "And then a bright, silvery blade rammed between the massive doors, slicing upward, cutting the bar that held them closed. A Shardblade." Wouldn't Wit know that this was no mere Shardblade? Wouldn't he know it was an Honorblade?

I just wanted to make sure everybody will notice this piece of art based on WoK. It's not mine, but it's so awesome!

From what I understand, a Shardblade can cut straight through pretty much everything mundane in the world. But when a shardblade goes through a human, it leaves no physical damage, but severs the soul instead. When Szeth cuts off Kaladin's hand, it makes me wonder what makes that particular cut go through his physical body instead of his soul. I assume that the reasoning is that the cut removes only a small part of Kaladin's body, leaving him mostly intact. But that begs the question, where is the line? What does the severity of the wound need to be in order for the Shardblade to cut the soul instead of the flesh?

Spren need to be resurrected, hence the 10-second wait for "regular" shardblades. But these blades never act as spren - for all intents and purposes, they remain lifeless constructs that merely seem to feed on the spren's power. Why don't the spren speak? Could it be said that 'resurrection' isn't really a good term for describing what happens when a Shardbearer summons his Blade? What term, then, should we use - what exactly is going on here?

So, if a Shardblade cuts through the spine it's fatal, and if it cuts through the core of a limb that limb becomes "killed"/permanently paralyzed. If it cut through an individual finger, would that finger be "killed", or is it major limbs only? If someone were stabbed in the stomach with a Shardblade, but not deeply enough to reach the spine, would it "kill" the internal organs or would it do nothing?

At the end of WOR Seth is given a black Shardblade by Nin and is sent to bring justice to the leaders of the Shin. When he picks up the blade: "Hello, a cheerful voice said in his mind. Would you like to destroy some evil today?" This idea of a higher power influencing the characters through a voice in their head seems eerily similar to Mistborn's Ruin. Could this be Odium or another God guiding Seth?

Ok, my first post. MISTCLOAKS Since the first time I read about mistcloaks they seemed... unnecessary. The explanations to their existence are tenuous at best - 'It's colored and constructed to hide you in the mist,' Kelsier said. 'And it warns city guards and other Mistborn not to bother you.' He spun, letting the cloak flare dramatically. 'I think it suits me.' ” —Kelsier[1] First of all - we're talking about mists. they hide and obscure shape anyway. At night, in the mists, I don't think the color or exact shape of the garment will make much difference. Secondly, if the reason is to give warning - that this is a full mistborn and should not be trifled with - than we are talking about the exact opposite of camouflage. The explanations contradict one another. They sound like rationalizations of a tradition with obscure beginning. However... the design would be extremely useful to an awakener. Vasher is kinda like Hoid, thousands-of-years-old worldhopper, one the cosmere elite magic users. We know that he can use Stormlight instead of Breath to sustain himself and Nightblood... Could he also be an "ancient" allomancer? Maybe he started the mistborn fashion of wearing Awakener's cloaks. What do you think?