How Vasher Acquires Stormlight

[Underwater_Worldhopper]

It's been mentioned by Brandon that Vasher has a way of getting Stormlight into himself that's different from how Squires, Radiants, and people with Honorblades do it, and that's how he's keeping himself alive on Roshar. I have a theory about how he does it.

Spoiler

 

R.E. (paraphrased)

Does Vasher have a different way of getting access to Stormlight than everyone else? Given that he has no spren, no honorblade and he isn't a squire?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes. He can use Stormlight to stay alive, but it doesn't let him Surgebind.

R.E. (paraphrased)

Could Szeth get access to this method?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes

R.E. (paraphrased)

And use it to fuel Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes he could.

R.E. (paraphrased)

Can you tell me what that method is?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

*smiles*

Supanova 2017 - Sydney (June 18, 2017)

 

So, my first thought upon seeing this was that he swallows the gems. A bit blunt, but we see that in Mistborn, having at least a part of something inside you makes the object act as though it were Invested due to your Spiritual Aspect. That idea went out the window nearly as soon as I'd thought of it. Swallowing the sphere doesn't suffuse its Investiture into your soul, which is required for what Vasher is doing. Besides, things in your body resist Invesiture more because the presence of your SA is interfering, rather than the object becoming part of your SA.

After that, I landed on a much better idea. Vasher can, as a Returned, have access to the first 5 Heightenings whenever he pleases. One of those Heightenings is perfect pitch. What if Vasher collects a mound of Stormlight-Infused spheres, then sings Honor's Pure Tone, loud or intense enough to the point that Stormlight actually leaves the spheres and enters his body? That way, the Investiture will have actually entered his body and soul properly, which he could feed on to stay alive, and it's something regular people can learn (As evidenced by Navani). It seems to tick all of the boxes Brandon outlines in the WoB. I have some questions though. Would having Stormlight in your body that way trigger Stormlight healing, even a bad version of it? If a Scadrian learned to replicate this, could they burn the Stormlight similar to the Unkeyed Dor in TLM as a hyper-efficient replacement for metals without needing a Spren bond? 

[Quantus]

Fwiw, assuming he still has the sufficient Heightening to affect minerals, I thought he was using some abstract Command to put in a breath and pull out the breath plus the stormlight Investiture.  That wouldnt be counter to the WOB that Szeth could use the same method.  

The biggest hangup for any of these idea's is that he has to survive the 4 week stretch of the weeping, when only perfect gems will still be infused by the end of it.  Whatever his method, it has to provide some sort of storage/containment against the innate stormlight leakiness.  .  

[Isilel]

6 hours ago, Quantus said:

The biggest hangup for any of these idea's is that he has to survive the 4 week stretch of the weeping, when only perfect gems will still be infused by the end of it.  

Airtight aluminum containers? Though I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to squirrel away a perfect gem. Also, the monasteries are bound to have really big decorative gems which retain stormlight for most of the Weeping and that he can secretly siphon it off.

[Underwater_Worldhopper]

6 hours ago, Quantus said:

Fwiw, assuming he still has the sufficient Heightening to affect minerals, I thought he was using some abstract Command to put in a breath and pull out the breath plus the stormlight Investiture.  That wouldnt be counter to the WOB that Szeth could use the same method.  

The biggest hangup for any of these idea's is that he has to survive the 4 week stretch of the weeping, when only perfect gems will still be infused by the end of it.  Whatever his method, it has to provide some sort of storage/containment against the innate stormlight leakiness.  .  

He still has regular Breaths, so he isn't in any immediate danger during the Weepings, but good point. Your idea could work too, although I doubt he has nearly that many on him. I'm not sure if it was ever stated in the text, but I thought for some reason he only had about 2-3 hundred Breaths. I may be confusing him with Hoid though.

3 minutes ago, Isilel said:

Airtight aluminum containers? Though I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to squirrel away a perfect gem. Also, the monasteries are bound to have really big decorative gems which retain stormlight for most of the Weeping and that he can secretly siphon it off.

Depends on how much Stormlight A Returned would need to consume each week to live, but that can certainly be a possibility

Edited June 2, 2023 by Underwater_Worldhopper

[Quantus]

4 hours ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

He still has regular Breaths, so he isn't in any immediate danger during the Weepings, but good point. Your idea could work too, although I doubt he has nearly that many on him. I'm not sure if it was ever stated in the text, but I thought for some reason he only had about 2-3 hundred Breaths. I may be confusing him with Hoid though.

He was kinda low (for him) in Warbreaker but we really don't know how many he took with him on Roshar.  If it's a ton he might just accept the yearly attrition for the weeping.  If not he's probably taking extra steps to bridge the time.

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Depends on how much Stormlight A Returned would need to consume each week to live, but that can certainly be a possibility

That's a good point!  One Breath is the smallest unit on Nalthis, but it will take a whole divine breath too if that's what's available.  It would be funny if it really only needs a tiny bit.  

 

Dark thought: what if he's not feeding it stormlight, but is feeding it spren?

[Underwater_Worldhopper]

 

On 6/2/2023 at 2:07 PM, Quantus said:

Dark thought: what if he's not feeding it stormlight, but is feeding it spren?

Oh, now that would be a good reveal. How would he get a Spren into a form that he could consume it though? Could a Returned consume a Spren through their bond? If that's the case, I could totally see him bonding one, maybe by trapping it in a Polestone first (using Honor's pure tone, given the reasons above. He'd have figured that out by now) and then consuming it to keep himself alive when his time of the week strikes. 

The only problem I'm seeing with this theory is that Spren may not count as Stormlight, given that Brandon specifically mentions it by name.

Also, for clarification, I meant (and am assuming Quantus also meant) lesser Spren, not True, sapient Spren, although those could work too.

[Duxredux]

On 6/2/2023 at 7:07 AM, Quantus said:

Dark thought: what if he's not feeding it stormlight, but is feeding it spren?

I doubt it. He basically considers himself a spren, and he came to Roshar in part so he could stop feeding on souls. Cognitive beings, similar to himself with some measure of intelligence does not seem at all better than eating Breaths.

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Questioner

With Warbreaker and Stormlight Archive, Vasher and Zahel. How does that transition occur?

Brandon Sanderson

He went to Roshar because he knew ahead of time, that you could get Stormlight, and how easy it was. So he made his way there because he was tired of sucking people's souls to stay alive.

Questioner

How did he know?

Brandon Sanderson

He, as part of a group of scholars, stumbled upon the nature of worldhopping long ago.

Questioner

Could he be the same group of scholars as Jasnah?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's a group of scholars on Nalthis who were studying magic, Investiture, and stumbled upon the means by which you transition into the Cognitive Realm. So, he actually had experience with Shardblades before, and that was part of how he built... well, he was part of it, but really...

Questioner

So, is Nightblood kind of like a Shardblade? Is a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood is an attempt to make a Shardblade using a different magic. And it turned out poorly.

Questioner

Speaking of Nightblood, how did that transition from Nalthis?

Brandon Sanderson

I have not answered that yet. Eventually, you will find out how they ended up on Roshar.

Arcanum Unbounded release party (Nov. 22, 2016)

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Duxredux
clarity

[Quantus]

1 hour ago, Duxredux said:

I doubt it. He basically considers himself a spren, and he came to Roshar in part so he could stop feeding on souls. Cognitive beings, similar to himself with some measure of intelligence does not seem at all better than eating Breaths.

 

Fair point, thought if he keeps himself to the animalistic ones that even Syl's aunt hunts, he might consider it more like eating meat than cannibalism.