Question, about Returned and Nightblood

[Thunder_93]

Hi everyone,

 

 

Qestions about Returned

1.) so, of course we know that the Returned consume 1 Breath per week, otherwhise they'd die. 

But, why exactly is that so? I know the divine Breath is definied as a Splinter. Is it of the nature of splinters, that they consume investiture (Sprens on Roshar might actually consume Stormlight, but how should we know that?)? I mean, they actually bear a piece of Endowment (or it's Investiture), why do they need an additional one each week (even if a way smaller one) to survive?

 

2.) Might it be, that a Returned kind of has a Bond with his Divine Breath (just like Knight Radiants with their Spren), and this gives them their power? Both cases are human beings together with a Spren. And if so, would that mean Kinght Radiants need to consume some Stormlight all couple of days, weeks or whatever, or their Bond would break just as it would at the Returned?

 

3.) Givving away their divine Breath heals a person. But does the person receiving it actually get that Breath as well, or is it lost?

 

Questions about Nightblood

4.) In Warbreaker, we learned that there's no way to force the breath out of somebody else. The only way is if the person is willing to and says the correct command. But regardless, Nightblood can just force the breath out of you, without the will of you. How can this be possible? And might there be a way, that a normal human (or Returned) can do just the same thing as Nightblood and actually steal breath?

 

5.) We know, when holding Nightblood (unsheathed), it consumes Breath/Investiture. When all of that is gone, it consumes your spark of life, and you die (this sounds to me not like "stabbing yourself with Nightblood". It sounds more like... just dying). So, of course Vasher could hold it for a while, as he held a lot of Breath. But when he throws it in to ordinary people, so they kill each other for it: wouldn't Nightblood just consume the breath of the holder and his lifespark, so he'd almost immediatly die? I'm not sure anymore, might it be that they never unsheathed Nightblood? Kinda can't imagine that...

 

6.) Type 1 BioChromatic entities (Returned) need that breath to survive. So, does a Type 4 (Nightblood) as well? Like, does it have to be drawn frequently or otherwhise it would die? I just imagine that, because this both Types are the only sentient BioChromatic entities.

[Yata]

I will try to answer:
1) Probably the Returned are pulled from the Beyond... they are dead man and everyone are pulled from the Beyond.... The Endowment's Splinter probably uses that Investiture to resist this cosmic Pull.

2)As said before, the Investiture need of a Returned are based on their effort to keep living instead of be pulled beyond the Realms. A living being have not this kind of problem.

3) No the reciver doens't gain a Divine Breath. It's like if the Divine Breath expend itself to generate a huge Healing to the reciver.... like a suicide, and of course its Investiture return to Endowment.

4) Nightblood may drain Investiture... all kind of Kinetic Investiture. Probably it's an uncounsous choise of the Helder, to give before his Breath instead of his Soul... or maybe the Breath are simply less merged with the guy. Nightblood in theory may creates some other oddly to get his own "food"... the Breath are the less strange.

5)In the whole book when Vasher throws Nightblood it's always unsheathed. The only time someone picked Nightblood with some inch of the Blade exposed (a priest) Nightblood began to drain his investiture. And Lightsong notice something strange with the guy.

6) about the Type 4 we know very little, therefore my answer is pure speculation.

I think that Nightblood need Investiture because it has not enough Investiture of his own. We know that Nightblood can't manifest both Mind and his Full Power at the same time... probably it try simply to fill the needed Investiture. But Nightblood is an Endowment's creature and take with force is something aganist his Intent... This is to me the reason of the Corrupted Investuture it leaked out...The Sword try to take Investure but it can't keep it and release it in a corrupted form.

[Nyali]

Type-1s are Splinters of Endowment. Type-4s are not. That's a significant difference.

 

I'll put the below behind a spoiler tag, because someone might consider some of this post a spoiler for other books. In my opinion, nothing in it is actually a spoiler.

Nightblood consumes investiture - it is unclear if that's unique to Nightblood due to how he was created, or if all Type-4s have that effect. When he strikes someone, he drains their investiture like a vampire - it doesn't matter what sort of investiture it is. The spark of life is a type of investiture from what I understand, it just isn't Breath, and Nightblood consumes that too. I'd expect Nightblood to consume metals in the stomach of an Allomancer, the charge inside a charged metalmind (though a metalmind with a very, very strong charge would resist and possibly be able to block the sword. Well, once or twice at least, with each blow draining massive amounts of charge), and the Stormlight inside a Surgebinder. It'd probably be able to kill a Surgebinder full of Stormlight, even though they could heal the wounds from normal Shardblades, because Nightblood would drain the Stormlight that they'd normally use to heal a Shardblade wound as it inflicts said wound. I'd expect it to also kill any Rosharan spren it touches, consuming them for their investiture. Bondspren may be able to resist though.

 

I'd expect Nightblood to also consume Shardblades and Soulstamps he touches, as well as drawn Aons in the air that he is swung through. Also any Shades he's swung through, and other Cognitive Shadows, though Shadows that are Splinters might resist. Slivers, probably not. If you touched him to a Stormlight-charged gemstone, including one in a fabrial, he would eat the Stormlight in it, probably cracking the gem as all the light leaves at once. If you hit someone's Shardplate with him, it would probably cause all of the gemstones to drain and the Shardplate to break, but I'd also expect the Shardplate to resist, possibly blocking the first swing. Maybe even two! Half-shard shields, not so much - I'd expect one blow to destroy the Half-shard, though it might give some resistance even if not completely blocking the attack.

 

I wonder if Nightblood could consume any metal on Scadrial, since it's all infused with Investiture there.

 

Now, what I really want to know is what would happen if someone drew Nightblood in the middle of a Highstorm. Would Nightblood eat the Highstorm? Well, I guess he might try, but I'd expect the Stormfather to resist it, and the Stormfather is almost certainly stronger than Nightblood. Drawing Nightblood in a Highstorm might cause spheres in the immediate area not to gain light from the storm though. Similarly, what if you drew Nightblood at night on Scadrial? Would he drink the Mists, or would the Mists resist him too strongly, especially post catascendre?

 

Related question - what would happen if Nightblood hit an Elantrian? Would it consume the investiture in the Elantrian, reverting her to a normal Selish woman, or would it tap into the Elantrian's conduit into the Dor and start drinking the Dor? Similarly, what would happen if you dumped Nightblood into a non-transient Shardpool like Devotion's?

[Magestar]

Now, what I really want to know is what would happen if someone drew Nightblood in the middle of a Highstorm. Would Nightblood eat the Highstorm? Well, I guess he might try, but I'd expect the Stormfather to resist it, and the Stormfather is almost certainly stronger than Nightblood. Drawing Nightblood in a Highstorm might cause spheres in the immediate area not to gain light from the storm though. Similarly, what if you drew Nightblood at night on Scadrial? Would he drink the Mists, or would the Mists resist him too strongly, especially post catascendre?

We have a WoB that he would try to eat the mists, but because they are somewhat sentient, they would draw back.

 

 

• 41

  INTERVIEW: Aug 20th, 2014

  Steel Ministry Report - PhantomMonstrosity (Verbatim) 

  PHANTOMMONSTROSITY

  Let's say some mistborn jerk tosses Nightblood into the mists. What happens?

  BRANDON SANDERSON

  I suspect the mists would pull away from Nightblood though he'd try to feed on them.

  TAGS

  nightblood, mists,

   

So, yes, he could probably eat the mists, if they did not draw back.   A highstorm is less sentient than the mists, in my opinion.  I think the idea is that Stormlight sorta floats around during, and/or is released during a highstorm.   In that way, I bet he could absorb the ambient stormlight. 

Sort of like Kaladin did when he was left out in the highstorm.  I know he absorbed it from the spheres he had on him, but maybe he absorbed it that way to.  Hmm. Something to think about. 

Edited May 24, 2016 by Magestar

[Nyali]

Oh right, I forgot that WoB. Thanks!

 

WoR spoilers:

What I really want to know is what'll happen if someone tries to use Nightblood to attack the Everstorm. It's evil, right? So Nightblood should try to destroy it in earnest? A storm can't exactly pull back like the Mists can.

[Eagle of the Forest Path]

Haven't you got Nightblood's power backwards? IIRC, he consumes the investiture from the wielder, not from the target.

[Landis963]

Nightblood, especially when fully drawn, draws Investiture from everything in the general vicinity.  

[natc]

Indeed. The rampant vaporizing is hard to overlook.

[iStarreh]

We have a WoB that he would try to eat the mists, but because they are somewhat sentient, they would draw back.

 

 

• 41

  INTERVIEW: Aug 20th, 2014

  Steel Ministry Report - PhantomMonstrosity (Verbatim) 

  PHANTOMMONSTROSITY

  Let's say some mistborn jerk tosses Nightblood into the mists. What happens?

  BRANDON SANDERSON

  I suspect the mists would pull away from Nightblood though he'd try to feed on them.

  TAGS

   

<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" data-cke-saved-href="http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt="href="http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt=" mists'"="">So, yes, he could probably eat the mists, if they did not draw back.   A highstorm is less sentient than the mists, in my opinion.  I think the idea is that Stormlight sorta floats around during, and/or is released during a highstorm.   In that way, I bet he could absorb the ambient stormlight. 

Sort of like Kaladin did when he was left out in the highstorm.  I know he absorbed it from the spheres he had on him, but maybe he absorbed it that way to.  Hmm. Something to think about. 

When you said Kaladin drained the Stormlight from the spheres while left out in the Highstorm as well as the Stormlight from the actual Highstorm I belive that is true because at the end of Words of Radiance

when Kaladin is fighting Szeth and they are both low on Stormlight they passed through the Highstorm and were completely recharged.

[Magestar]

When you said Kaladin drained the Stormlight from the spheres while left out in the Highstorm as well as the Stormlight from the actual Highstorm I belive that is true because at the end of Words of Radiance

when Kaladin is fighting Szeth and they are both low on Stormlight they passed through the Highstorm and were completely recharged.

Cool.  Nice to know I was right.  Probably.  So, depending on how similar the everstorm is to a normal highstorm, Nightblood would probably draw large amounts of investiture from it, because he does it constantly, and forcibly.  Also, if the everstorm is 'evil', then it is even more likely he would attempt to 'destroy' it.  

 Who knows, this may even be why Brandon put Nightblood on Roshar. 

However, we have to remember that Nightblood's definition of 'evil' is a little warped.  

Edited May 31, 2016 by Magestar

[Nyali]

However, we have to remember that Nightblood's definition of 'evil' is a little warped.  

 

Technically,

the Everstorm

isn't evil by Nightblood's metric. Isn't evil, to him, "someone who would wield him for evil purposes?" It'd be kinda hard for ^ to do that, given the lack of hands.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Nyali

[iStarreh]

Then again it would have to be a Surgebinder or another powerful being to hold Nightblood during the Highstorm. But at the same time they're holding it it would be without its sheath to absorb the Highstorm/Everstorm so it would drain their investiture while also draining the Highstorm but it would probably drain their investiture faster because they'd have less than a storm and would possibly kill them because they'd be drained of Stormlight and be killed by the storm and wouldn't be able to heal. That's just a theory of mine. Probably many faults but oh well.

Edited June 1, 2016 by iStarreh

[ParadoxicalZen]

1) & 2) Not sure

3) The energy of the breath is converted so it probably returns back to Endowment

4) Nightblood just drains/absorbs it, like when a nurse/doctor takes blood from a vain (I'm guessing it connects to the spiritweb, like Shardblades)

5) IIRC, the scenes where ordinary people use it show Nightblood sheathed but if he were to be used unsheathed, then yes they would die nearly instantaneously

6) given we don't know why Returned need the breath, it's hard to say.

[Yata]

5) IIRC, the scenes where ordinary people use it show Nightblood sheathed but if he were to be used unsheathed, then yes they would die nearly instantaneously

Probably in its Homeland, People may manage Nightblood better (= without die in an istant) after all Nalthis people have a Breath (or more) and this extra Investiture made them capable of holding Nightblood longer without die.

The have also less "soul" with them and also if they became Drab they may survive with that Soul alone quite at 100%... The rest of Cosmere's Human will probably die when their "soul" begin to be consumed and only a few may survive to the Spiritual wound as Drab.

 

PS: On Nalthis is also common to find people with more than a single Breath (for example the Priest)... They may use Nightblood longer (for example the priest who held Nightblood and end with his arm gray would probably survive some time thanks to his extra Breath)