I want to talk about astronaut Radiants.

[+ShardlessVessel]

Spoilers for the Sixth of the Dusk sequel excerpt.

 

 

Specifically, this:

Quote

The two men at the door, with security Aviar on their shoulders and wearing feathers on their military caps, stepped out. He returned shortly with an incredibly strange figure. The other aliens wore uniforms and helmets; unfamiliar clothing, but still recognizable. This creature stood seven feet tall and was encased entirely in steel. Armor of a futuristic cast, smooth and bright with a soft violet-blue glowing at the joints. The helmet glowed at the front with a slit-like visor, and an arcane symbol, remind Dusk vaguely of a bird in flight, etched the front of the breastplate.

The ground shook beneath this being's steps as it entered the room. That armor, it was surreal, like interlocking plates that somehow produced no visible seam. Just layered pieces of metal, covering everything from fingers to neck. Obviously airtight, with a rounded cast to it. The outfit had stiff iron hoses connected helmet and armor.

And this:

Quote

The colored portion of the creature's armor started to glow more brightly, a deep violet that seemed far too inviting a color to come from this strange being.

And for some context, this:

Quote

"Tell me, President," the alien said to Vathi, "what are your local laws regarding challenges to my life? Do I have legal justification to shoot this man?"

"No," Vathi said, firm, though her voice was audibly shaken. "You may not."

"I do not play games," the alien said. "I will not dance with words like the others do. You will accept my offer, or you will not. If you do not, if you join them, then I will have legal right to consider you my enemies."

 

What in the world is this? He behaves like a Skybreaker, but he glows violet. The color of Willshapers and Voidlight. What is going on here? Does Skybreaker plate glow violet instead of gray or is this Radiant - assuming he is a Radiant - using Voidlight?

[+Invocation]

Personally I'm expecting it to be a Venli situation, only Skybreaker instead of Willshaper.

[Eternal Khol]

19 minutes ago, Invocation said:

Personally I'm expecting it to be a Venli situation, only Skybreaker instead of Willshaper.

Yeah,  i think so too.

Brandon has stated that in the future, we are going to be seeing "a lot" more of the Venli Willshapers and not as much of the regular ones.

I bet the same might go for some other orders too.

 

RoW spoilers?

Spoiler

or maybe its Warlight? I had a random thought that maybe if Dalinar did become a "fused" at the end of book 5, the Stormfather might end up getting Unmade and start only spitting out Warlight in Highstorms.

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Eternal Khol

[DiePie]

I took the violet as proof that"Enlightened Radiant Spren are going to become a lot more common in the future of SA, and that the person in Shardplate is a Skybreaker with an Enlightened Spren.

I also remember a thread on a similar topic a while back where someone pointed out that Voidlight lasts longer than Stormlight does, making it ideal for use in long voyages

[Eternal Khol]

10 minutes ago, DiePie said:

I took the violet as proof that"Enlightened Radiant Spren are going to become a lot more common in the future of SA, and that the person in Shardplate is a Skybreaker with an Enlightened Spren.

It definitely could be.

 

10 minutes ago, DiePie said:

I also remember a thread on a similar topic a while back where someone pointed out that Voidlight lasts longer than Stormlight does, making it ideal for use in long voyages

Im pretty sure it doesnt last longer, the Singers just dont really leak investiture like humans do, so the Investiture last longer in them.

if you gave a singer and human the same amount of Stormlight, the singer should be able to make it last longer

Edited January 23, 2022 by Eternal Khol

[+ShardlessVessel]

2 hours ago, Invocation said:

Personally I'm expecting it to be a Venli situation, only Skybreaker instead of Willshaper.

This is a pretty interesting possibility, especially given that the "alien" is described as sounding "strange". Not like an accent but the way his voice sounded, which I assumed meant he spoke through speakers of some sort due to the suit being airtight for space travel, but he could also be speaking to a Rhythm.

Quote

The voice had an unnatural cast to it; not an accent, like someone from a backwater isle. But a kind of... unnatural air.

 

1 hour ago, DiePie said:

I took the violet as proof that"Enlightened Radiant Spren are going to become a lot more common in the future of SA, and that the person in Shardplate is a Skybreaker with an Enlightened Spren.

I also remember a thread on a similar topic a while back where someone pointed out that Voidlight lasts longer than Stormlight does, making it ideal for use in long voyages

I wonder if Enlightened Radiants can use Voidlight. Renarin doesn't display that ability, as far as I'm aware.

[Wandering Shade]

2 hours ago, ShardlessVessel said:

What in the world is this? He behaves like a Skybreaker, but he glows violet. The color of Willshapers and Voidlight. What is going on here? Does Skybreaker plate glow violet instead of gray or is this Radiant - assuming he is a Radiant - using Voidlight?

Honestly, I didn't notice anything wrong with that description at first. But that might just be because I'm too used to seeing this picture when I think of Skybreakers and it has them glowing vaguely purple-ish. But you're right in that it really shouldn't be described as a "deep" violet, it should be more of a grey color. I do think that that violet color has something to do with voidlight or warlight though. 

[+Invocation]

35 minutes ago, ShardlessVessel said:

This is a pretty interesting possibility, especially given that the "alien" is described as sounding "strange". Not like an accent but the way his voice sounded, which I assumed meant he spoke through speakers of some sort due to the suit being airtight for space travel, but he could also be speaking to a Rhythm.

That was my first thought I saw that. My second thought was that maybe the voice was speaking via Connection and because First of the Sun's magic system appears to involve Connecting to the birds to use their powers it left them sensitive to things like that. My third thought was that the armor was amplifying their voice somehow and it got that audio-level-distortion that speakers can do sometimes.

38 minutes ago, ShardlessVessel said:

I wonder if Enlightened Radiants can use Voidlight. Renarin doesn't display that ability, as far as I'm aware.

I don't know if they could use Voidlight, but I would be very surprised if they didn't reach maximum effectiveness with Warlight.

[Frustration]

4 hours ago, Eternal Khol said:

Im pretty sure it doesnt last longer, the Singers just dont really leak investiture like humans do, so the Investiture last longer in them.

if you gave a singer and human the same amount of Stormlight, the singer should be able to make it last longer

Voidlight lasts longer in gems than Stormlight does.

[+Oltux72]

3 hours ago, Frustration said:

Voidlight lasts longer in gems than Stormlight does.

You need to go full out. What happens if Renarin takes a dun sphere and sings the Song of Prayer?

[Humble_Knight]

One thing to note is that the one time we see gravitationspren they are described as purple. This is similar to how windspren are blue, or flamespren are red. Our most common guess for edgedancer plate spren are lifespren, which are green, but their plate is white. It may be that plate is mostly the gemstones color, but it's tinted the color of the specific spren.

THAT SAID, my wild theory is that everyone uses Warlight in the future, as it travels better than stormlight, but standard radiants can still use it. This is not confirmed, and is highly speculative, but it gives a mechanical purpose for hybrid lights. Hybrid light allows you to substitute  other forms of investiture so you do not need to acquire the standard amount of a given type to use your magic. This would mean the violet blue glow would be warlight.

[+ShardlessVessel]

26 minutes ago, Humble_Knight said:

THAT SAID, my wild theory is that everyone uses Warlight in the future, as it travels better than stormlight, but standard radiants can still use it. This is not confirmed, and is highly speculative, but it gives a mechanical purpose for hybrid lights. Hybrid light allows you to substitute  other forms of investiture so you do not need to acquire the standard amount of a given type to use your magic. This would mean the violet blue glow would be warlight.

It would make sense that standard Radiants could use it, as it would be similar to a Misting burning a godmetal alloy. It's similar enough to let you use it, but has different properties.

31 minutes ago, Humble_Knight said:

One thing to note is that the one time we see gravitationspren they are described as purple. This is similar to how windspren are blue, or flamespren are red. Our most common guess for edgedancer plate spren are lifespren, which are green, but their plate is white. It may be that plate is mostly the gemstones color, but it's tinted the color of the specific spren.

That's a nice catch, I hadn't realized that. The colors have to come from somewhere.

[DiePie]

On 1/23/2022 at 10:48 AM, Humble_Knight said:

THAT SAID, my wild theory is that everyone uses Warlight in the future, as it travels better than stormlight, but standard radiants can still use it.

My wild theory is that all radiant Spren are going to be corrupted by Sja Anat at some point allowing them to use Voidlight.

 

On 1/23/2022 at 3:38 AM, Oltux72 said:

You need to go full out. What happens if Renarin takes a dun sphere and sings the Song of Prayer?

Assuming Renarin could sing to one of Odium’s rhythms, Odium would probably go, “why would I give you Voidlight lmao.”

On 1/22/2022 at 8:53 PM, ShardlessVessel said:

I wonder if Enlightened Radiants can use Voidlight. Renarin doesn't display that ability, as far as I'm aware.

It’s not confirmed either way if he can use Voidlight, but Venli can because of her bond to a corrupted spren so I’m making the assumption other Radiants with corrupted spren could do the same.

[+ShardlessVessel]

1 hour ago, DiePie said:

It’s not confirmed either way if he can use Voidlight, but Venli can because of her bond to a corrupted spren so I’m making the assumption other Radiants with corrupted spren could do the same.

Venli's case is different because she has a full-on voidspren which makes her capable of using Voidlight. Her Radiant spren, Timbre, is a perfectly normal lightspren.

Are Enlightened spren a type of voidspren? I'm not sure, but I don't think so.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

2 hours ago, ShardlessVessel said:

Are Enlightened spren a type of voidspren? I'm not sure, but I don't think so.

Characters sometimes lump them together, but generally a distinction is drawn between the Voidspren that are fully of Odium and the Enlightened spren. So not the same thing, no.

On 1/22/2022 at 7:53 PM, ShardlessVessel said:

I wonder if Enlightened Radiants can use Voidlight. Renarin doesn't display that ability, as far as I'm aware.

Hm, not sure. Depends on whether normal Radiants can use Lifelight or Towerlight, I feel like.

[CryoZenith]

7 hours ago, DiePie said:

Assuming Renarin could sing to one of Odium’s rhythms, Odium would probably go, “why would I give you Voidlight lmao.”

My impression has always been that the way the Song of Prayer works is that you're tapping into Odium and the voidlight acquisition is semi-automatic. He can see you tapping, and he can stop you from getting the voidlight, but he has to know to look in the first place in order to do that. I doubt that even a Vessel has an expansive enough mind to literally consciously take in every single person who uses the Song of Prayer. At least not all the time.

[+Child of Hodor]

Since Sixth of the Dusk takes place long after the Stormlight Archive back 5. I would expect the "Odium is trying to splinter all other Shards" plot to be resolved. I wouldn't be surprised if Odium is merged with Honor or Cultivation. If something like that happened I would expect voidbinding to be more common than it is now and for Radiants to be able to use voidlight.  

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

I think that if personalities had been different, Honor and Odium, there would have been a very natural pairing, not that they’re opposites but they would have attracted. [...]

Calamity Seattle signing (Feb. 17, 2016)

"Armor of a futuristic cast, smooth and bright with a soft violet-blue glowing at the joints." This could be warlight or a Radiant whose plate naturally glows blue using voidlight. 

On 1/22/2022 at 10:58 PM, Frustration said:

Voidlight lasts longer in gems than Stormlight does.

That's a good point, it would be useful on a long trip to other planets. 

[Ixthos]

On 1/23/2022 at 1:25 AM, ShardlessVessel said:

Spoilers for the Sixth of the Dusk sequel excerpt.

 

 

Specifically, this:

And this:

And for some context, this:

 

What in the world is this? He behaves like a Skybreaker, but he glows violet. The color of Willshapers and Voidlight. What is going on here? Does Skybreaker plate glow violet instead of gray or is this Radiant - assuming he is a Radiant - using Voidlight?

Fun fact, but if you listen to the audio when Brandon says the colour again, he actually starts to say blue but then corrects himself to violet. Listen here at 14:40

https://wob.coppermind.net/media/snippets/501/11197_1411.mp3

I covered this in a theory previously (here), but my own theory is this is possibly a combination of either a Skybreaker and a Windrunner as a new spacefaring organisation - so a new order of Knight - and or powered by a hybrid light. So either a new order, a new light, or a combination of the two.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Ixthos
fixed timestamp

[HSuperLee]

I am convinced there is more to this than it just being one of the orders we've seen before. One of my major reasons for believing this is that Sanderson gave warnings before the reading about it containing "end of the Cosmere" level spoilers. Now, if you've paid attention to the WoBs, you'd know about the coming space age, so what exactly are the big spoilers here? That Rosharans and Scadrians seem to be on opposite sides of some kind of conflict? There's not exactly much there to spoil or speculate on. We don't even know the exact nature of the interaction and whether the "aliens" presented represent their respective home-worlds or merely different organizations. That Radiants eventually figure out shardguns? Okay, I'll give you that, that's pretty big. But it seems to me, especially remembering the discussions we had when this reading first dropped, that the biggest question is what is up with the light. Especially as stormlight, regardless of the orders using it, is white with a nearly imperceptible amount of blue. Then of course in RoW we have the reveal of combination-lights, and suddenly I'm convinced that all isn't as it seems. My suspicion has been and will continue to be warlight, with the belief that it acts as a bridge between surgebinding and voidbinding and can be used to power either magic system, albeit with its own unique properties.

[Ixthos]

27 minutes ago, HSuperLee said:

Especially as stormlight, regardless of the orders using it, is white with a nearly imperceptible amount of blue.

Maybe I'm misremembering things, but shardplate for any given order does glow with the light of that order, so the colour isn't fully dependent on the light used but on the order, though we don't know how non-stormlight investiture interacts with different orders in terms of the colour of the light their shardplate produces.

 

24 minutes ago, HSuperLee said:

My suspicion has been and will continue to be warlight, with the belief that it acts as a bridge between surgebinding and voidbinding and can be used to power either magic system, albeit with its own unique properties.

It likely is warlight, or a light with a similar composition, but we've seen voidlight power surgebinding if the surgebinder can access it as Venli did with her trapped voidspren, so it probably isn't necessary for the investiture used for any system to be the right kind, only that the invested individual can access it as a source of power. 

[HSuperLee]

1 minute ago, Ixthos said:

Maybe I'm misremembering things, but shardplate for any given order does glow with the light of that order, so the colour isn't fully dependent on the light used but on the order, though we don't know how non-stormlight investiture interacts with different orders in terms of the colour of the light their shardplate produces.

 

It likely is warlight, or a light with a similar composition, but we've seen voidlight power surgebinding if the surgebinder can access it as Venli did with her trapped voidspren, so it probably isn't necessary for the investiture used for any system to be the right kind, only that the invested individual can access it as a source of power. 

You certainly could be right on both accounts. Unfortunately my books are unavailable to me at this time, so I can't go back and check. I definitely think that you're right about being able to power either system with any investiture that the binder has access to, but I'd add that I believe that both voidbinders and surgebinders will have an innate access to warlight, without needing to gain any kind of "key" to access it as a power source.

[Ixthos]

3 minutes ago, HSuperLee said:

You certainly could be right on both accounts. Unfortunately my books are unavailable to me at this time, so I can't go back and check. I definitely think that you're right about being able to power either system with any investiture that the binder has access to, but I'd add that I believe that both voidbinders and surgebinders will have an innate access to warlight, without needing to gain any kind of "key" to access it as a power source.

That does make sense  and if Stormlight ends with Honour and Odium merged ... well ... I could definitely see Mistborn Era 4 involving a shard called War.

[+Bzhydack]

Voidlight is always desceibed as Black- Violet or Dark- Violet, and here we have Violet- Blue (of course if this is not a mistake or misdirection). So my assumption always was that it is Warlight, can be use by normal Radiants and is used because can last longer in space.