New Info on Honorblades

[EmagSamurai]

A trend seems to be developing with regard to getting new info from Brandon by way of signed books. Well, I'm not above that either, so here's my contribution

 

I asked Brandon for something about honorblades that we don't already know. His response was, "One Herald (other than Taln) kept his honorblade (or, at least, took it back).

 

 

 

What is implied here is interesting. Can we assume that only two Heralds now have their honorblades? Is someone or something forcibly keeping the other blades, or is this just a reference to how the blades were originally left. And if we assume the other heralds have NOT also recovered their blades, we can eliminate female characters with a blade as a herald (not that we really thought that was the case, but I thought it worth mentioning).

 

EDIT: Fixed a spelling error. I sure hope no one read that before I fixed it 

Edited December 18, 2013 by EmagSamurai

[Shardlet]

Whoosh, that is freaking awesome!  The question is, who?  Jez is the obvious choice since he was the last one at the circle of blades.  But that doesn't preclude the possibility of one of the others having come back and retaken theirs.

 

Edit: I liked Brandon's clarifying afterthought, 'What, wait, did I just essentially tell him that Jezrien picked up his blade and walked off whistling after Kalak left?' 

Edited December 18, 2013 by Shardlet

[Gamma Fiend]

Whoa! Nice. Upvote! I'm going to have to do this sometime soon.....

What if it was Kalak? O.o

Brace yourselves.... Speculation is coming.

[Shardbearer]

Awesomesauce.

 

Szeth is the herald who still has his honorblade. (Joke)

[Cortez]

Jez seems the most likely. He certainly had the best opportunity to do so.

 

The next question for me is, does the herald who took back his blade still have it?

[EmagSamurai]

 

Edit: I liked Brandon's clarifying afterthought, 'What, wait, did I just essentially tell him that Jezrien picked up his blade and walked off whistling after Kalak left?' 

 

Haha! Yeah, I thought it was telling that it was added at the end. Although I must admit your imagery certainly makes the situation more entertaining

 

 

Whoa! Nice. Upvote! I'm going to have to do this sometime soon.....

What if it was Kalak? O.o

Brace yourselves.... Speculation is coming.

 

I've been chewing on this for a bit, and it's impressive how Brandon can give away such a huge piece of information, and still not tell us much! The man deserves mad props!

[WeiryWriter]

A trend seems to be developing with regard to getting new info from Brandon by way of signed books. Well, I'm not above that either, so here's my contribution

 

Well it is the holiday season, a perfect time to splurge and get a book personalized with an answer you are dying for.  (I'm certainly not above it either as well...)

[Shardlet]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Emag for sharing with us.

[EmagSamurai]

Well it is the holiday season, a perfect time to splurge and get a book personalized with an answer you are dying for.  (I'm certainly not above it either as well...)

 

 

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Emag for sharing with us.

 

 

Just trying to spread a little Christmas cheer

 

 

Jez seems the most likely. He certainly had the best opportunity to do so.

 

The next question for me is, does the herald who took back his blade still have it?

 

I hadn't considered that. You would think by now I wouldn't take anything for granted where Brandon is concerned, but I certainly assumed that it would be very difficult to part a Herald with his blade. 

[hoser]

Whoosh, that is freaking awesome!  The question is, who?  Jez is the obvious choice since he was the last one at the circle of blades.  But that doesn't preclude the possibility of one of the others having come back and retaken theirs.

 

Edit: I liked Brandon's clarifying afterthought, 'What, wait, did I just essentially tell him that Jezrien picked up his blade and walked off whistling after Kalak left?' 

An excellent first next question: The question is, who?

 

Jez seems the most likely. He certainly had the best opportunity to do so.

 

The next question for me is, does the herald who took back his blade still have it?

An excellent second next question: does the herald who took back his blade still have it?

 

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Emag for sharing with us.

What he said!

 

My candidate for third next question:  Did the herald who took back his blade take any others?

 

Do the green upvote arrows ever wear out from overuse?

Edited December 18, 2013 by hoser

[Jeckal]

Oh wow, really cool piece of info, thanks for telling us!

[cem]

So, it's not Taln. I think Nalan was using a regular Shardblade, so it's probably not him. That leaves Jezrien, Kalak and Ishar.

 

Most people assume Nalan's companion in WoR prologue is Kalak. I'm not sure if that's true myself, though I believe he is one of the Heralds. Whoever he is, the guy said this:

 

“I don’t like this. What we’ve done is wrong. That creature carries my lord’s own Blade. We shouldn’t have let him keep it. He—”

Seems agitated about it. Maybe he decided to get it back.

[Natans]

Top candidate Nalan =)

 

Great work friend =)

[Bloodfalcon]

My first thought was Nalan. Why do we think he has a regular one? If he is Darkness, that dude seems like he'd want his stuff back. Jez would also mean Szeth doesn't have an Honorblade, so I hope it isn't him, personally. 

Thanks for sharing!!!!

[Shardbearer]

My first thought was Nalan. Why do we think he has a regular one? If he is Darkness, that dude seems like he'd want his stuff back. Jez would also mean Szeth doesn't have an Honorblade, so I hope it isn't him, personally. 

Thanks for sharing!!!!

Jez could have given his blade to Szeth.

[Bloodfalcon]

Jez could have given his blade to Szeth.

Solid counterpoint. Maybe he is in league with Taravangian. Maybe he IS Taravangian!!! Duh duh DUHHHHHH!!!!

[Shardbearer]

Well, look at this quote again:

 

“I don’t like this. What we’ve done is wrong. That creature carries my lord’s own Blade. We shouldn’t have let him keep it. He—”

 

This implies that the speaker is part of a group of heralds who chose "that creature" (Szeth, most likely) to carry Jezrien's (my lord's) blade, probably with Jezrien as a part of the group included in the "we".

[marianmi]

Easy peasy.

 

Nalan.

 

Darkness.

 

EDIT:

 

I don’t like this. What we’ve done is wrong. That creature carries my lord’s own Blade. We shouldn’t have let him keep it. 

 

This can be understood as:

 

I don't like that the assasin has the blade. What we have done, manipulating the Parshendi to hire Szeth to kill Gavilar, is wrong. That guy has Jezrien's own blade. We shouldn't have let him keep it. We should have taken it away from him.

 

Now, why is Brandon tight-lipped about the last surge? What does it do?? My guesses: mind control or change of appearance.

 

I bet the other Herald with Darkness is Ishar.

 

PS: look very very closely at Nalan's right eye.

PSS: Now, doesn't the war with the Parshendi looks like Darkness's hand in stopping Gavilar recreating the KR orders?! What was Darkness doing there, if not making sure the war was started and Gavilar killed?

 

ANOTHER EDIT: Discussions about this here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4887-darkness-manipulated-the-parshendi-to-kill-gavilar/

Edited December 18, 2013 by marianmi

[Mailliw73]

Maybe Jez is Taravangian, like Bloddfalcon said, he seems to be protecting and leading, albeit a very twisted version of those words, so it seems to fit. To me, at least. I just would hope that at least one of the Heralds left(excluding Taln) is honorable. Maybe the person who took their Honorblade is.

[Moogle]

Nalan's Shardblade was not remarked upon as being particularly special. Lift was in a bit of a pickle at the time, but I trust the Herald of Justice to keep his word about not coming about for his Blade.

 

Jezrien, Kalak, and Ishar... Jezrien had the best position, Kalak's broken attribute of Resolute might have meant he changed his mind and went back for it, Ishar might have kept it because of his faith...

 

Tough. Great piece of info though. Tentatively going with Kalak second-guessing himself, though I'm very very lacking in confidence. I'd give him a 40% chance, Jezrien a 35% chance, and Ishar a 25% chance with my current information.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Moogle

[The Count]

There are so many questions and implications!

 

who took their blade back?

why? Did they hope to stop their descent into madness? did they take off of someone else who had found it?

 

Did they also take up the burden of the oathpact? Did they hope to do that out of guilt but it didn't work?

 

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

 

Mind = blown

[duladen]

Whoosh, that is freaking awesome!  The question is, who?  Jez is the obvious choice since he was the last one at the circle of blades.  But that doesn't preclude the possibility of one of the others having come back and retaken theirs.

 

Edit: I liked Brandon's clarifying afterthought, 'What, wait, did I just essentially tell him that Jezrien picked up his blade and walked off whistling after Kalak left?' 

 

I think Kalak and Jez would be equally likely. Kalak is hesitant to go along with the plan and he shows remorse for what they're doing to Taln. Also, Jez actually walks away before Kalak. But they leave in opposite directions, so either could have doubled back without the other knowing:

 

 

 

Kalak watched Jezrien depart across the burned landscape. Finally, he summoned his own Blade and slammed it into the stone beside the other eight. He turned and walked in the direction opposite from Jezrien.

 

If Darkness = Nalan, and I agree that it seems to fit (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4346-the-fallen-heralds/ convinced me), then there is a pretty good chance that he took back his Honorblade. No one remarks that his Shardblade looks special or different, but would any of these modern Roshar folk know the difference? I think I remember reading that most of the known Shardblades are in Alethkar and Jah Keved, so these people in Iri or Emul probably haven't seen many.

 

Maybe all 3 of these Heralds are too obvious though, and we won't find an answer until book 5...

[KiManiak]

If Darkness = Nalan, and I agree that it seems to fit (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4346-the-fallen-heralds/ convinced me), then there is a pretty good chance that he took back his Honorblade. No one remarks that his Shardblade looks special or different, but would any of these modern Roshar folk know the difference? I think I remember reading that most of the known Shardblades are in Alethkar and Jah Keved, so these people in Iri or Emul probably haven't seen many.

 

I'm not (necessarily) refuting the theory that Nalan took back his Honorblade, but I think that whether/not the people in Iri or Emul have seen many Shardblades, the bureaucrats of Azish may have (at least in comparison to the vast majority of folks in the Stormlight Archive, let's say).  

 

In the recently updated Lift Interlude (there were slight edits to the one in the Steelhunt; check the recent one on Tor.com for the changes), after Darkness is prevented from killing Lift one of the viziers comments on how a constable could requisition a Shardblade.  As I mention in my post on a different topic on this forum here, an argument could be made that the government of Azish owns and controls a number of ShardBlades, and possibly Plate as well.  

 

I think the gathering of government officials at the selection of a new Prime would have someone who is as likely to identify a strange looking Shardblade as your average Alethi highprince would.

[Looter]

What about the face in the storm? Could that be jezrien trying to undo some of his actions by becoming the stormfather again?

If it is or another Herald maybe the honorblade let's him be one with the storms that way.

[duladen]

I'm not (necessarily) refuting the theory that Nalan took back his Honorblade, but I think that whether/not the people in Iri or Emul have seen many Shardblades, the bureaucrats of Azish may have (at least in comparison to the vast majority of folks in the Stormlight Archive, let's say).  

 

In the recently updated Lift Interlude (there were slight edits to the one in the Steelhunt; check the recent one on Tor.com for the changes), after Darkness is prevented from killing Lift one of the viziers comments on how a constable could requisition a Shardblade.  As I mention in my post on a different topic on this forum here, an argument could be made that the government of Azish owns and controls a number of ShardBlades, and possibly Plate as well.  

 

I think the gathering of government officials at the selection of a new Prime would have someone who is as likely to identify a strange looking Shardblade as your average Alethi highprince would.

 

Ah, great point! I did not get that upon my first read, but he does seem to imply that they give Shardblades to some people, but not typically constables.

 

Apologies for my ignorance here - but where do we have any indication that Honorblades are visibly different from Shardblades? Could it be that both come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and that the only difference is in their abilities and source of creation? Wouldn't it be likely that the Radiants created their Shardblades in the image of the Honorblades they saw the Heralds weilding?