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Speculation: Adolin the Edgedancer


Elder

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I just got to that part of RoW for the second time, and I’m given to idle fancy.  Adolin has a bond with Maya, both as a Shardblade and as a person.  He is remembering someone who has been forgotten, as the Radiant Spren of old were forsaken by their Radiants and their identities lost to time, treated as unthinking beings, while Adolin treats Maya like a beloved companion, a sister in arms.

I can envision a future where Adolin leads the rehabilitation of deadeyes.  He’s the Grand Master Duelist or some other some such after RoW.  Shardbearers may be wondering where they stand in a world of Radiants.  Adolin can teach them how to truly bond with their blades, how to get to know the Spren behind them.  Duel unworthy shardbearers and rescue the Spren.  
 

and maybe….. just maybe….. if Adolin says the Words it might heal Maya.  I think he’d be overjoyed at that, moreso than if it involved him getting powers.  
 

Part of me thinks it’s good to have compelling characters who don’t have power, and Adolin fills that role well.  But something like this would be beautiful.

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10 hours ago, Elder said:

I just got to that part of RoW for the second time, and I’m given to idle fancy.  Adolin has a bond with Maya, both as a Shardblade and as a person.  He is remembering someone who has been forgotten, as the Radiant Spren of old were forsaken by their Radiants and their identities lost to time, treated as unthinking beings, while Adolin treats Maya like a beloved companion, a sister in arms.

I can envision a future where Adolin leads the rehabilitation of deadeyes.  He’s the Grand Master Duelist or some other some such after RoW.  Shardbearers may be wondering where they stand in a world of Radiants.  Adolin can teach them how to truly bond with their blades, how to get to know the Spren behind them.  Duel unworthy shardbearers and rescue the Spren.  
 

and maybe….. just maybe….. if Adolin says the Words it might heal Maya.  I think he’d be overjoyed at that, moreso than if it involved him getting powers.  
 

Part of me thinks it’s good to have compelling characters who don’t have power, and Adolin fills that role well.  But something like this would be beautiful.

Not to mention that he pays specific attention to others around him that other Lighteyes would ignore. He jokes around and cares about darkeyes. 

He's like a perfect candidate for Edgedancers, as I've thought for a long time

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Adolin's sensibility to people around him has been a recurrent theme since book 1 and it's why I love him in spite of his flaws and... over-flamboyance.
I used to think a bond with a ressurected deadeye was unlikely, because of previous trauma, and that they'd have to build a different relationship towards the new radiants- But that changed with ROW. I think its likely, and we might see a different type of bond

First there's the part 1 descriptions of fabrials say "First you must lure the spren with something it loves". Bit cruel, sure, but it got me thinking. Dead Blades need gemstones to operate and be bonded. every fabrial shares at least 1 common trait, the presence of a gemstone containing a spren, that was supposedly trapped after being lured by something it "loves". Well. What if what it loves is the bond? We know now that deadeyes retain, at least Maya, some aspect of their previous self, so maybe, big maybe... the Intent to Connect is still there. 

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I am, on the other hand, a full fanboy of reverse-bond theory. During the trial it was Adolin who gave Maya strength and breath that made her speak. I suspect that Maya would take more and more from Adolin which would make her stronger, maybe even give her unique abilities, and create a new type of bond. In this case it would be spren who is "the Knight" and Adolin who "fills the cracks in Maya's soul".

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We do have this WoB on the subject:

Spoiler

Kaladin al'Thor

You mentioned before that it would be possible to revive a dead shard[blade], but it would be very difficult--

Brandon Sanderson

Very difficult.

Kaladin al'Thor

Like I think what you said is that it would have to be the same person that broke the bond?

Brandon Sanderson

That would be the-- Yeah.

Kaladin al'Thor

So if it was an Edgedancer's blade if he made those same oaths could potentially he…

Brandon Sanderson

That would most likely not be enough. Something else would have to happen. Good guess though.

So, something more than new Oaths would be needed, which begs the question if Adolin's growing Connection to Maya is the "something else."

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2 hours ago, Treamayne said:

We do have this WoB on the subject:

  Reveal hidden contents

Kaladin al'Thor

You mentioned before that it would be possible to revive a dead shard[blade], but it would be very difficult--

Brandon Sanderson

Very difficult.

Kaladin al'Thor

Like I think what you said is that it would have to be the same person that broke the bond?

Brandon Sanderson

That would be the-- Yeah.

Kaladin al'Thor

So if it was an Edgedancer's blade if he made those same oaths could potentially he…

Brandon Sanderson

That would most likely not be enough. Something else would have to happen. Good guess though.

So, something more than new Oaths would be needed, which begs the question if Adolin's growing Connection to Maya is the "something else."

This is how I have interpreted it

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8 hours ago, Treamayne said:

We do have this WoB on the subject:

  Reveal hidden contents

Kaladin al'Thor

You mentioned before that it would be possible to revive a dead shard[blade], but it would be very difficult--

Brandon Sanderson

Very difficult.

Kaladin al'Thor

Like I think what you said is that it would have to be the same person that broke the bond?

Brandon Sanderson

That would be the-- Yeah.

Kaladin al'Thor

So if it was an Edgedancer's blade if he made those same oaths could potentially he…

Brandon Sanderson

That would most likely not be enough. Something else would have to happen. Good guess though.

So, something more than new Oaths would be needed, which begs the question if Adolin's growing Connection to Maya is the "something else."

I think the connection would count as part of the oaths and the something else is different - probably Ba-Ado-Mishram related, since capturing her is what caused the spren to become deadeyes when the oaths are broken.

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3 hours ago, offer said:

I think the connection would count as part of the oaths and the something else is different - probably Ba-Ado-Mishram related, since capturing her is what caused the spren to become deadeyes when the oaths are broken.

Yeah, it might help if they find Mishram.  That seems to be where Shallan’s going next, so that makes sense as part of his story.

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I think they're forming a bond, but not identical to a normal Radiant bond, so I don't think Adolin will become an Edgedancer - at least not a conventional one. His personality fits, but I think the bond is doing something different. A regular Radiant bond gives the spren fuller access to the Physical and gives the Radiant Surgebinding and the ability to take in Stormlight. Maya is (when a Blade) already in the Physical; what she needs is her Cognitive sapience back.

I'd think the original part of Maya that was torn out when her bond broke would be gone (it would have died with the original Radiant). That hole would have to be filled with something.

BAM may be relevant, but Maya has already regained the ability to speak (some), so something else is happening.

I'm thinking Adolin's spiritweb/soul/mind is somehow filling the hole in Maya, in the way a Radiant bond fills a human's "cracked soul" with Investiture. I think what comes out won't be identical to the Mayalaran that existed before. With her memories, but with some of Adolin included.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/12/2023 at 11:36 PM, Elder said:

I just got to that part of RoW for the second time, and I’m given to idle fancy.  Adolin has a bond with Maya, both as a Shardblade and as a person.  He is remembering someone who has been forgotten, as the Radiant Spren of old were forsaken by their Radiants and their identities lost to time, treated as unthinking beings, while Adolin treats Maya like a beloved companion, a sister in arms.

I can envision a future where Adolin leads the rehabilitation of deadeyes.  He’s the Grand Master Duelist or some other some such after RoW.  Shardbearers may be wondering where they stand in a world of Radiants.  Adolin can teach them how to truly bond with their blades, how to get to know the Spren behind them.  Duel unworthy shardbearers and rescue the Spren.  
 

and maybe….. just maybe….. if Adolin says the Words it might heal Maya.  I think he’d be overjoyed at that, moreso than if it involved him getting powers.  

I think that this would be really nice to watch, and that it would help progress Adolin's character. 

On 1/12/2023 at 11:36 PM, Elder said:

Part of me thinks it’s good to have compelling characters who don’t have power, and Adolin fills that role well.  But something like this would be beautiful.

I also think that having characters without mighty magical powers is nice to see, since we have so many Radiant characters in SA now. I was actually kind of sad when Navani got a Spren Bond to be honest, as I really liked seeing her use her intellectual abilities to overcome obsticals rather than just using Stormlight to fix the situation. Don't get me wrong, the magic powers are awesome, but having some variety is nice.

With that all said though, I would make an exception for Maya and Adolin, as I would love to watch them grow into something greater together, and becoming a Radiant with a healed Spren would be well worth the trade.

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On 2/1/2023 at 1:47 PM, Trusk'our said:

I think that this would be really nice to watch, and that it would help progress Adolin's character. 

I also think that having characters without mighty magical powers is nice to see, since we have so many Radiant characters in SA now. I was actually kind of sad when Navani got a Spren Bond to be honest, as I really liked seeing her use her intellectual abilities to overcome obsticals rather than just using Stormlight to fix the situation. Don't get me wrong, the magic powers are awesome, but having some variety is nice.

With that all said though, I would make an exception for Maya and Adolin, as I would love to watch them grow into something greater together, and becoming a Radiant with a healed Spren would be well worth the trade.

I agree completely.  I think it's better to have characters that are significant even without having powers, such as Doxon in MistBorn.  It's a way of showing someone doesn't have to have special powers to make a difference.

That said, I'd also be willing to make an exception if it means restoring Maya.  I believe Sanderson has confirmed that Adolin is the kind of person that Maya would have wanted to bond to make an EdgeDancer, and I'm convinced this played a part in the recovery she's made so far.  What I'd really like to see is for Adolin to restore Maya, and then struggle with the decision of whether or not to say the oaths and become a radiant.  He's had doubts about his usefulness, thinking that Roshar needed radiants, not princes, which suggests he'd want to become a radiant. On the other hand, he's said that he's fine with his life as it is, and doesn't want to add on the burdens of being a radiant and living to a spren's ideals. But I think this might be something similar to how Kaladin has always panicked or hesitated when presented with shardblades before his third ideal, but has never had a problem use Syl as a shard weapon.  I suspect it would be something similar for Adolin bonding Maya.

Of course, I also worry it might take more than bonding Adolin to restore Maya. Judging by how things worked for the seons and Ellantris, I think it might take repairing the damage done to Roshar to heal the dead-eyes.

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11 hours ago, Letryx13 said:

What I'd really like to see is for Adolin to restore Maya, and then struggle with the decision of whether or not to say the oaths and become a radiant.  He's had doubts about his usefulness, thinking that Roshar needed radiants, not princes, which suggests he'd want to become a radiant. On the other hand, he's said that he's fine with his life as it is, and doesn't want to add on the burdens of being a radiant and living to a spren's ideals. But I think this might be something similar to how Kaladin has always panicked or hesitated when presented with shardblades before his third ideal, but has never had a problem use Syl as a shard weapon.  I suspect it would be something similar for Adolin bonding Maya.

I agree completely. I think that Adolin't next step in character progression needs to be Bonding further Maya, and swearing the Oaths, as it will push him to do the hard things that will make him into an even better person.

11 hours ago, Letryx13 said:

Of course, I also worry it might take more than bonding Adolin to restore Maya. Judging by how things worked for the seons and Ellantris, I think it might take repairing the damage done to Roshar to heal the dead-eyes.

 

On 1/15/2023 at 6:08 AM, offer said:

I think the connection would count as part of the oaths and the something else is different - probably Ba-Ado-Mishram related, since capturing her is what caused the spren to become deadeyes when the oaths are broken.

I think that you guys are probably right. It likely won't be enough for Adolin to swear the Oaths in order to fully restore Maya, and it very well may be that Ba-Ado-Mishram will need to be restored before the healing can be completed.

Edited by Trusk'our
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