Szeth and Screaming-Spren-Swords (spoiler-y ness)

[KnightRadiant]

Hey Sharders!

 

Sorry about the title, it just feels right though. I know this theory has some holes in it. I can see some main ones myself. But I'm still going to post it.

For me it started like this: Could the screams that Szeth hears be related to the screams of the dead Shardblades? I then thought that Szeth could have already been bonded to a spren, and that was why he heard screams. One of the things that go against this is that his Blade is not a spren, and therefore would not scream when he touches it. I also found a WoB that says directly that Szeth isn't bonded to a spren, so...

 

Obviously, Szeth has had some emotional and mental trauma. (Hearing screams whenever you blink can do that to a person.) Anyway, his Honorblade once belonged to a Herald who had to go to a place of pain and torture between Desolations. Could this mean that his Blade "remembers" the pain and makes it's wielder hear screams? That's one idea.

 

Another is that when Honor died, the Honorblades suffered and now scream, or something like that.

 

In short it's like this:

1. He hears screams because he's already bonded to a spren. (I'm pretty sure this one is false)
2. He hears screams because he mentally unstable and his Blade had decided to be reminiscent. (More plausible than the first one)
3. The Honorblades were somehow broken or are suffering now that Honor is dead. (Also plausible)

Let me know what you guys think.

[Alfa]

I'm sorry to disagree withe you - i like that theory - , but aren't there WoB that say, that anyone in the Cosmere would hear Screams had he done the same things as Szeth (can't acess Theoryland). Has something to do with the Cognitive Realm, IIRC.

[CaptainRyan]

Not to mention that Kaladin held the Honorblade without hearing any screams.

[KnightRadiant]

Not to mention that Kaladin held the Honorblade without hearing any screams.

Which is why the first one is very much not plausible. I meant to mention that, but forgot.

[CaptainRyan]

Which is why the first one is very much not plausible. I meant to mention that, but forgot.

 

I think that also makes 3. implausible as well no? If the Honorblade was suffering wouldn't Kaladin have heard it?

 

Personally, I think Szeth is simply mentally broken from being forced (well, sort of) to do really terrible things that went completely against his nature. His mind has cracked under the weight of his guilt.

Edited June 3, 2016 by CaptainRyan

[ParadoxicalZen]

There was an idea floating around that the screams were a result of the black sphere he was given by Gavilar

[Zathoth]

Maybe Secret History spoilers as I cant remember how much it was touched on in Mistborn.

We know that mental damage leaves holes in the soul which cognitive entities can speak through. Maybe Szeth is actually hearing the screams of the ones he kill?

[CaptainRyan]

Maybe Secret History spoilers as I cant remember how much it was touched on in Mistborn.

We know that mental damage leaves holes in the soul which cognitive entities can speak through. Maybe Szeth is actually hearing the screams of the ones he kill?

 

While I find the idea intriguing, I would bet against it because (M:SH spoilers)

we see that almost everyone who dies goes to the Great Beyond rather quickly - this would include all of Szeth's victims most likely.

[Three1415]

I'm pretty sure there was a WoB that said that he's not insane, and that the screams are due to some external entity. One of the Unmade (Blightwind/Yelig-Nar) reportedly has a voice "accompanied by the screams of those he had devoured"; it's quite possible he/she/it was trapped in that black sphere and somehow became attuned to Szeth as he was pursuing his victims.

Edited June 5, 2016 by Three1415

[Argel]

The only WoB I recall basically said the magic involved with the voices was so common/ordinary that a typical Rosharan would not see it as magic though we would. Is there a new WoB?

[Eki]

The only WoB I recall basically said the magic involved with the voices was so common/ordinary that a typical Rosharan would not see it as magic though we would. Is there a new WoB?

I guess that's how Rosharans (at least Athlethi) would see the Thrill too, so that seems to fit the Unmade theory.

[Rasarr]

I can't access Theoryland right now, but the WoB Argel refers to said that screams were a side effect of some element of Realmatics and that anyone in Cosmere would hear those screams if they did what Szeth did, regardless of which planet they were on. A typical Rosharan wouldn't find it magical because it's part of physics of this universe.

[Argel]

I guess that's how Rosharans (at least Athlethi) would see the Thrill too, so that seems to fit the Unmade theory.

 

Actually not, unless people hear voices after killing someone all the time.

 

I can't access Theoryland right now, but the WoB Argel refers to said that screams were a side effect of some element of Realmatics and that anyone in Cosmere would hear those screams if they did what Szeth did, regardless of which planet they were on. A typical Rosharan wouldn't find it magical because it's part of physics of this universe.

 

Thanks for explaining it better than I could!!

[Eki]

Actually not, unless people hear voices after killing someone all the time.

Well, more like slaughtering indiscriminately. I don't think Szeth heard voices after just killing once.

[Jondesu]

Well, more like slaughtering indiscriminately. I don't think Szeth heard voices after just killing once.

Plenty of Shardbearers have done that, it seems, based on the descriptions we have. I suspect it's more that he did it when it's so antithetical to his view of himself as a peaceful nonviolent Shin, but he's been forced to do it by his culture's laws.

jW

[Eki]

Plenty of Shardbearers have done that, it seems, based on the descriptions we have. I suspect it's more that he did it when it's so antithetical to his view of himself as a peaceful nonviolent Shin, but he's been forced to do it by his culture's laws.

jW

yeah, that's a good point.

[Argel]

And I don't think Szeth ever experienced the Thrill.

[Faccio237]

Shouts can maybe come from the honorblade. As it's from a Windrunner, acting by the opposite way the sword was made for can cause the shouts. That way, Kaladin won't hear them, because he only hold the sword.

[Pathfinder]

Shouts can maybe come from the honorblade. As it's from a Windrunner, acting by the opposite way the sword was made for can cause the shouts. That way, Kaladin won't hear them, because he only hold the sword.

Thing is Syl stated that honorblades work differently, and do not have the same rules as sprenblades. You do not have to hold to oaths or ideals to wield them. So I believe this extends to screaming as well. 

[Blightsong]

I asked Sanderson about this and he said that the Screams would not happen on earth, but that if someone else in the Cosmere had done what Szeth had done they would also hear the screams and that it has to do with the spiritual realm. My guess is that when you kill someone with a Shardblade part of their sheared soul affects you, thus you hear the screams of the dead.

[Pathfinder]

I asked Sanderson about this and he said that the Screams would not happen on earth, but that if someone else in the Cosmere had done what Szeth had done they would also hear the screams and that it has to do with the spiritual realm. My guess is that when you kill someone with a Shardblade part of their sheared soul affects you, thus you hear the screams of the dead.

Thing is Jondesu already commented that if that was the reason, then why haven't all the other countless shardbearers that have killed people whole sale gone insane like Szeth?

[Faccio237]

Thing is Syl stated that honorblades work differently, and do not have the same rules as sprenblades. You do not have to hold to oaths or ideals to wield them. So I believe this extends to screaming as well. 

I don´t think shouts come from the honorblade, but with the information we have now we can´t totaly discard the idea.

 

That´s the point, honorblades are different. You need to follow ideals with the sprenblade, or you lose the capacity of absorbing.

But maybe Honorblades only shout. That way you can actuate in a opposite way to the ideals if you want, but with the price of hearing the shouts.

[Pathfinder]

I don´t think shouts come from the honorblade, but with the information we have now we can´t totaly discard the idea.

 

That´s the point, honorblades are different. You need to follow ideals with the sprenblade, or you lose the capacity of absorbing.

But maybe Honorblades only shout. That way you can actuate in a opposite way to the ideals if you want, but with the price of hearing the shouts.

The quote still says to me that honorblades do not hold the limitations of a sprenblade, and that would include the shouting. I have copied the quote below and bolded what I feel is the relevant part:

 

With this sword, someone can do what you can, but without the....checks a spren requires." 

[Argel]

Thing is Jondesu already commented that if that was the reason, then why haven't all the other countless shardbearers that have killed people whole sale gone insane like Szeth?

 

Maybe shardblades offer some form of protection to the bearer that honorblades do not? It could be a byproduct of the spren (living or dead).

[Alfa]

Could also have something to do with the fact that all the other shardbearers see their kills as kills, ans Szeth sees it as murder ("...but the sin is mine"). Difference is not big, but perhaps it's all the point. To compare we need another POW-murderer with a shardblade.