callumke Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) This involves a lot of speculation, as well as reiterating the Shardblades are corrupted idea. Here we go. I am assuming that Blade and Plate are manifestations of some Spiritual part of a Radiant, perhaps a manifestation of the Nahel bond. As such, Blade and Plate have a spiritual connection with their radiant, allowing them to be summoned and banished at will. We see evidence of this in Dalinar's vision with the Midnight Essence; he sees the helmets of the radiants appear and disappear, and gets confused. But in the present day, only Shardblades are summoned and dismissed at will. Plate cannot be, otherwise Dalinar would not have been surprised, and wouldn't have to put on his Plate is is described. Thus the difference between Blade and Plate is that a Blade can form a new spiritual connection with someone, where the Plate cannot. This might be the reason the Plate requires stormlight to function; it doesn't have a spiritual source of energy like Blades do. Anyway, the corruption of Shardblades that we talk about might be this; Shardblades are a Spiritual Manifestation, and so someone possessing one who did not originate it it akin to having a piece of someone else's Soul attached to them. This would be unnatural, and (Mistborn series spoilers) Akin to Hemalurgy Evidence for this is that Syl doesn't dislike Plate, only Blade. "He's a good man." Syl said. "I've watched him. Despite that thing he carried.""That thing?" "The Shardblade." So the difference between balde and plate (forming new spiritual bonds) is the reason Syl hates one not the other. I should not that I have already thought of a problem with this; if only Blades are corrupted, why did the Radiants abandon both Blade and Plate? But I digress. What do people think? Edited December 11, 2011 by FireArcadia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yados Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 More than just why did they leave the plate too, but why would the radiants' blades be corrupted? I The corruption that you're speaking of would come from the others picking up the blades after they were abandoned, not out of anything about the radiants that had previously used them. I think you're onto something about the blades being spiritual manifestations though. On the back cover, shard welding seems to be portrayed as a magic system all its own. I wonder if Kalidin will forge his own shardblade. Would it have to be a sword? Could Kaladin forge a Shardspear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiveAM Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 I'm not sure if i'm reading this right but could you clarify on what makes the Blades and Plates different? You start by saying that it seems as of the Blades AND Plates have some Spiritual connection to the wearer, which I agree with, as supported by the summoning of the Blades and helms. Then you go on to say, "Thus". You mention how they are similar then say because of this similarity they are different? It's a bit confusing.. Also, I don't know if I'd say that the Plates cannot form a new spiritual bond with someone. If you say the Radiants had a proper bond with the Plates, the differences we see between the Plates then and now is that (1) they glow with glyphs and (2) the helm can be summoned/banished. However, there is evidence of this sort of 'proper' Plate wearing in current times, Dalinar. Here's a thread with some citations on the matter: So it appears that Dalinar is/was creating this spiritual bond, although he just gave his Plate away to his son so who knows what we'll see on that. So I think it's more that people have forgotten how to bond with the Plate then it not being possible at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj26792 Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 People keep saying the glyphs but im pretty sure the glyphs are carved in, I think it says etched, in Dalinar's vision, Dalinar has the glow, the glyphs might mean something but they aren't spontaneous, they get etched in. The only real question about the connection to the armour is if Dalinar had the full glow or if he was only halfway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiveAM Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Ah. good point dj25792. I just checked the other thread i mention in my previous post and it DOES say etched. The Plate glowed with an even blue light, and glyphs--some familar, others not--were etched into the metal. They trailed blue vapor. From what i recall though, all the description of Dalinar's Plate glow is mentioned with like "almost" or "seems". Considering the full out bright glowing from of the Radiants from the visions I would say Dalinar has only achieved partial glow. Dalinar held back the claw and matched its strength, a figure in dark, silvery metal that almost seemed to glow [Dalinar] turned, armour seeming to glow as he raised his Blade in a salute of respect toward the bridgemen. Here's an interesting observation the glyphs are ETCHED and not something that just shows up... Isn't it interesting that none of the current day Plates have glyphs etched on them? The vision of the Recreance (Hardcover page 731) shows the Plates discarded there had glyphs on them. So it's not as if some of the Plates didn't have glyphs and those were the ones abandoned As they drew closer, Dalinar could see that their Plate was unpainted, but it glowed either blue or amber at the joints and across glyphs at the front, as with other Radiants he'd seen in his visions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj26792 Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 They were probably removed the same way dalinar removed the paint and other ornaments whoever gave him his plate had on it. After all everyone else uses plate with paint and ornaments, and no two people have armour the same, so it must be modifiable in some fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRioter Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 how would you remove etchings without reforging the metal, which I don't think they can do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callumke Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 I'm not sure if i'm reading this right but could you clarify on what makes the Blades and Plates different? You start by saying that it seems as of the Blades AND Plates have some Spiritual connection to the wearer, which I agree with, as supported by the summoning of the Blades and helms. Then you go on to say, "Thus". You mention how they are similar then say because of this similarity they are different? It's a bit confusing.. Sorry, have adjusted the first post; hopefully it is more clear now. The issue of etching is interesting, but I don't think we have seen enough of glowing plate to know if the glyphs were etched in a real-world way, or if they are etchings based on some part of the magic system. Buy couldn't they remove etching with acid or something? The extent to which Plate owners decorate their armour would suggest Plate is more malleable then we are giving it credit for being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj26792 Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Depending on how deep it is they could potentially just polish the etching out. And I'm inclined to believe that if Brandon says something is etched on, its etched on. He might say something that doesnt mean what we think it does, but it will mean what it says. Etched, means Etched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wispsy Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 You can regrow an entire plate from one little piece, wonder if it would grow with or without etchings if it had them when it broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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