Darkness' surgebinder radar

[Awesomeness Summoned]

This is my first topic and definitely nothing profound, just something I found curious when reading the WoR interludes. It seemed like darkness has an uncanny ability to identify and locate surge users over wide areas of Roshar. Any ideas on how this is possible?

Ym I can sort of understand because he was healing kids, though very secretly, and rumors might have gotten around of how quickly kids healed after getting some shoes.

It was apparent from lift's interlude she had been giving him the slip for a while but not only did he know she was at the place but he also knew exactly where to find her under the dinner table.

In Jasnah's prologue he frowned at her when he saw her which I took to mean he recognized there was something "off" about her, possibly that he could even tell she had a budding nahel bond. (On a side note, if that is the case, why did't hunt her down sometime in the last seven years?)

So, do you think he can actually see surgebinders? Maybe he can see their spren? Can the Larkin not only absorb stormlight from someone but also track people that can invest?

Edited January 18, 2014 by Awesomeness summoned

[don_karma_II]

Considering that Darkness seems to need a moral justification for going after people with surge binding capabilities(Ym's past, Lift's thefts), there's a better chance that he will be going after Shallan rather than Jasnah, given her mysterious dark past. 

 

He might have realised her abilities but going after the royalty of a Kingdom with no justification whatsoever when you're an invited guest of a peace treaty seems like stupidity, something no one in their right minds will ever try. It can never happen! oh.. Wait.. it did happen didn't it? On the Same night! Well what are the odds of two royalties dying in the same night huh? Also Jasnah is hiding her abilities with a broken soulcaster or so I think.

I don't think darkness is able to see the sprens as he doesn't seem to be aware of or doesn't seem to mind Wyndle talking to lift and epping her out.  

[DocHoliday]

I think Awesomeness has some good points actually. While not a complete Theory,there are some holes, Darkness does appear to have an uncanny ability to locate Surgebinders. Can anyone point to what surge he is suspected of having?

 

I'd also like to point out that Darkness would likely have NO qualms about executing Jasnah. She delves into intrigue like a fish to water. She clearly had employed assassins before. Thanks to Ym we know ANY involvement, besides a state sanctioned execution, in a murder is enough in his eyes to kill. 

[don_karma_II]

If darkness has some method of tracking storm light usage or investiture. He would likely have found kaladin earlier itself while he is doing his bridge runs. Or at least now after his shenanigans near the tower while saving dalinar.I believe he has some other method of tracking people.

If he sees any involvement in a murder as justification enough then he will have tracked kaladin much earlier when he was siphoning off stromlight even without his awareness and killed him. I think he tracks people who are considered strange and different by others. I think he considers banding with a spren as crime enough to warrant an execution. So maybe he doesn't need a moral justification as it has been pointed out in Ym's interlude.

[don_karma_II]

If darkness is a herald then he is or at least was well acquainted with knight radiants of old. So he actually knows a lot about each of the 10sects more accurately than anyone else right now (Brandon and Peter not included and I have a feeling good shouldn't be included either). It would make tracking a lot easier if he knows what to look for and where as he would know how exactly a surgebinder would act in a particular situation. In Ym's interlude that boy might have been actually sent by darkness to authenticate before executing. Only time darkness darkness was caught unaware was when Lift used food to process stromlight.

[hoser]

Even though Darkness was surprised when Lift invested, he detected her investing before she took action.  I think he can detect investing and surgebinding.  The surgebinding detection would be similar to the way Kaladin detects Szeth's surgebinding in the highstorm stormriding dream. 

 

The interesting thing about Darkness to me is how he knows that Szeth's surgebinding is not via the Nahel bond (assumption made here) and so he lets him go. 

 

Why not go after Jasnah? 

• Can't find an excuse to kill her?
• Doesn't want to get the attention? 
• Fooled by the story about a Soulcaster? 
• She teleports away from him whenever he attacks? 
• Jasnah has learned to hide the signs of magic use from Ivory?

[Scott]

Darkness needs the proper paperwork to execute Lift.  I suspect that Jasnah would be immune to legal prosecution given that she's the sister of the king, and so she is currently out of reach for Darkness regardless of his ability to find her.

[Awesomeness Summoned]

Darkness needs the proper paperwork to execute Lift.  I suspect that Jasnah would be immune to legal prosecution given that she's the sister of the king, and so she is currently out of reach for Darkness regardless of his ability to find her.

I'd agree except for the fact that he tells the head vizier that no one is beyond his reach. I don't think he'd hesitate to eliminate Jasnah as long as he could find a legal justification for it (such as slaying a few men in a dark alley in another monarch's kingdom).

[11thorderknight]

So far, we haven't ever seen surgebinders do their thing in the presence of another surgebinder. It's possible that all surgebinders can sense Stormlight in others if they're holding it. (like male channelers in Wheel of Time). One thing that's important to note is that Darkness CAN'T necessarily sense surgebinding capacity, only active surgebinding. It's only after he sees Lift use Regrowth that he knows she's a Edgedancer (he says "I'd wondered which of the two you would be"; he's seen her use Friction, so he knows she's either an Edgedancer or a Dustbringer, but doesn't know which one until she used either Growth or Division). Therefore, unless he can see Nahel spren (and he doesn't seem to be able to see Wyndle), he wouldn't know that Jasnah's a surgebinder just by seeing her in the hallway. Although, the sudden discovery of a high-level Soulcaster for the first time in centuries would certainly have tipped him off. He probably hasn't come after Jasnah yet because she's not high on his list, and on a meta level, because he's not the center of the story and Brandon doesn't want to focus on him yet.

Edited January 19, 2014 by 11thorderknight

[shadewolf]

So far, we haven't ever seen surgebinders do their thing in the presence of another surgebinder. It's possible that all surgebinders can sense Stormlight in others if they're holding it. (like male channelers in Wheel of Time). One thing that's important to note is that Darkness CAN'T necessarily sense surgebinding capacity, only active surgebinding. It's only after he sees Lift use Regrowth that he knows she's a Edgedancer (he says "I'd wondered which of the two you would be"; he's seen her use Friction, so he knows she's either an Edgedancer or a Dustbringer, but doesn't know which one until she used either Growth or Division). Therefore, unless he can see Nahel spren (and he doesn't seem to be able to see Wyndle), he wouldn't know that Jasnah's a surgebinder just by seeing her in the hallway. Although, the sudden discovery of a high-level Soulcaster for the first time in centuries would certainly have tipped him off. He probably hasn't come after Jasnah yet because she's not high on his list, and on a meta level, because he's not the center of the story and Brandon doesn't want to focus on him yet.

 

There's  one thing I'd like to point out, the popular theory is that Darkness is a herald, would the same exact rules of the KR apply to him, if he was in fact a herald. Should we treat anything that he does as an ability of the KR.

[.S.A.M.K.M]

is the sphere gavilar had a way to track surgebinders?