Jasnah soulcasting question

[bobsaveg]

So in WOK when Jasnah soulcasts the rock into smoke to save that little girl her smokes stone cracks and is drained of stormlight. Also in her other soulcasts she uses the corasponding spheres to preform the soulcast. My question is do you guys think this is necessary even as a surgebinder or that she was only doing it to look legit, or perhaps a surge binder can soulcast with any type of stormlight but is just more efficient when using the right spheres for different soulscasts. It takes less stormlight to turn something into smoke with a smoke stone then a sapphire or what ever.

Your thought...

Edited January 25, 2015 by bobsaveg

[Aleksiel]

Here:

 

"Why Can Kaladin Surgebind with any gem type but Jasnah and Shallan need specific types?"

BRANDON SANDERSON

A lot of that will be explained as the series comes along. It is really the difference between Soulcasting and the other forms of Surgebinding. It's more a quirk of Soulcasting than it is something that is different about about Kaladin. So you've kind of got it reversed a little bit though; Soulcasting has this additional restriction that the other ones don't.

 

source

 

edit: I wonder if there's an in-world reason for that.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Aleksiel

[Kurkistan]

edit: I wonder if there's an in-world reason for that.

 

If we take the parallels with how the metals work with Allomancy far enough, then "The chemical and color signature needs to be of a specific variety to provide the proper key to accessing the power of transformation" could be read as telling us that soulcasting in particular needs this "key" to further focus its power.

 

It makes a certain amount of sense if we're to assume that soulcasting accesses some external set of ideals for what "meat" or "stone" or "metal" is: that would be the only surgebinding so far that either wasn't pretty one-note conceptually (see: Windrunning) or based more fully in the spirit/mind/visualizations of its user (see: Lightweaving). Soulcasting is the one that needs to go pretty much entirely to an outside source, assuming that any given soulcaster doesn't know the actual chemical makeup of "meat" or "smoke" themselves.

[Oudeis]

Wait... you mean all of Jasnah's studying wasn't to memorize the chemical structures of everything ever? Man, boy did I read that passage entire book wrong.

[rjl]

I actually though a particularly interesting factor was that Jasnah seemed to soulcast with stormlight still in gems as opposed to breathing it in then using it.

[dvoraen]

I actually though a particularly interesting factor was that Jasnah seemed to soulcast with stormlight still in gems as opposed to breathing it in then using it.

Shallan did the same as well, when she Soulcast the ship into water.  There was explicit mention of the gemstones cracking from her "withdrawing so much Light".

[rjl]

I wonder what the difference is between using internal stormlight and external stormlight, whether certain powers require the right one of the two, or whether some powers can work with either.

[Oudeis]

Shallan did the same as well, when she Soulcast the ship into water.  There was explicit mention of the gemstones cracking from her "withdrawing so much Light".

 

...which totally confused me, because she expressly Invests first. Before she Soulcasts, she inhales a ton of Stormlight from the gems she found. Was it not enough? Did it take the gemlight rather than her light? Was her internal Stormlight just to get her safely to Shadesmar? What exactly went on there?

 

I wonder what the difference is between using internal stormlight and external stormlight, whether certain powers require the right one of the two, or whether some powers can work with either.

 

We do have WoB that Soulcasting is the only (or at least a rare) Surge that cares which gem you get your Stormlight from. Also recall, most of the time Jasnah is Soulcasting, she's pretending that she's using a fabrial. She has much more practice than either of the two Surgebinders we've seen so far, and for all we know Ivory is a more knowledgeable teacher, so she might know how to at least make it look like the light is going straight from the gems into the Casting, and does so to maintain the illusion.

[Calderis]

...which totally confused me, because she expressly Invests first. Before she Soulcasts, she inhales a ton of Stormlight from the gems she found. Was it not enough? Did it take the gemlight rather than her light? Was her internal Stormlight just to get her safely to Shadesmar? What exactly went on there?

We do have WoB that Soulcasting is the only (or at least a rare) Surge that cares which gem you get your Stormlight from. Also recall, most of the time Jasnah is Soulcasting, she's pretending that she's using a fabrial. She has much more practice than either of the two Surgebinders we've seen so far, and for all we know Ivory is a more knowledgeable teacher, so she might know how to at least make it look like the light is going straight from the gems into the Casting, and does so to maintain the illusion.

Or the nature of soul casting requires the gemstone to maintain the proper essence and there is no illusion.

All modern fabrials are based off of gemstones. Soul casters on the other hand merely consume them. They in essence grant a non-surgbinder the ability to use the surge. This is why soul casters (like shardblades/plate) cannot be created through fabrial science. They understand the use of gems, but the soulcaster merely uses the gems for fuel.

Jasnah's fake soul caster was no trick. It was a price of jewelry used to hold the gems needed for soulcasting. People merely assumed it was the device granting the ability because it is what they expected.

[Patrick Star]

edit: I wonder if there's an in-world reason for that.

 

Probably some law that the Sticks thought up in order to stop the firebringers.

[Cactuschef]

I've got it. Sticks only like certain colors of stormlight.

[Patrick Star]

I've got it. Sticks only like certain colors of stormlight.

 

Thank you for allowing me to enlighten you.

[bobsaveg]

this makes more sense why Jasnah was wearing a bandolier at the end of book 2, it could hold an assortment of different gems in an organized manner for her to soul cast from.

[Bort]

I believe that they use their own stormlight to contact Shademar, and the gem stormlight is what is offered to make something change.

 

I have no evidence to back this up, but I think it makes sense. You will need a source of power to contact Shadesmar, and the gemstones ein Jasnah's soulcaster don't dim until the soulcasting is complete.

 

I also think it is possible to soulcast entirely using stormlight the caster has inhaled, it just requires a lot more because you are drawing your 'bribe' from your internal source instead of a gemstone.

[neuxue]

I believe that they use their own stormlight to contact Shademar, and the gem stormlight is what is offered to make something change.

 

 

Or perhaps the stormlight provides the power for the soulcasting, but the specific gem acts as a 'focus' of sorts. Which might partially explain the issue of Shallan investing stormlight first, and then the stones cracking later.

 

Then again, I have no evidence to expressly support this, so it could very well be entirely wrong.

[Bort]

That's ok, Neuxue. I have no evidence to support my theory either. I think that is the point of speculation though

 

What you say may well be true.

[Dahak]

Wait... you mean all of Jasnah's studying wasn't to memorize the chemical structures of everything ever? Man, boy did I read that passage entire book wrong.

 

"Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And fifteen other elements. Those are the elements to make an average adult human body. You can buy these elemental ingredients at the market with the pocket money of a child. Humans are made so cheaply."

[Aleksiel]

"Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And fifteen other elements. Those are the elements to make an average adult human body. You can buy these elemental ingredients at the market with the pocket money of a child. Humans are made so cheaply."

 

The Voidbringers are homunculi