[OB] Consequences of Honor

[Nashan’Elin]

This topic’s called Consequences of Honor, but I think we should really be looking at the consequences of a lack of honor. Well, a lack of Honor. 

Let me explain. We all know that Honor was splintered, and that Honor used to have certain ‘checks’ on Surgebinding. These checks, along with Honor himself, are gone after the Splintering. What were these checks, though? I think we may have already seen a few things Honor might not have wanted to happen. 

Example 1: Kaladin and his magical highstorm-stopping wall. We’ve theorized that this was a use of his Adhesion Surge, maniplulating pressure to divert the highstorm around himself. I do think that is probably true, but the important thing that I noticed was that Syl had never heard of anyone doing that before. It’s a new, scarily powerful thing. 

Example 2: Unity. Dalinar’s moment of Ascension was awesome, and true, it’s most likely due to his bonding a big piece of Honor’s power, but that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Having a Perpendicularity on call? That’s scary. 

Example 3: Shallan’s Lightweaved army. She’s still only at her 4th Oath, as far as we know, and it’s surprising she was able to summon that ridiculous number of illusions out of nowhere. It’s a huge power boost from what she used to be at. Also, I’d like to talk about how her illusions had mass, and splattered illusions of blood, too, even though she’s not at all practiced with Soulcasting, which is what she assumed was going on.

There might be other examples that I missed, or there might be perfectly reasonable ideas for why these types of powers seem to be new, surprisingly powerful manifestations of Surgebinding. 

I invite you all to try and tear my theory apart! 

[TheOneKEA]

I think the Nahel bond is deeper and more complex than Ishar allowed it to be, and that there are actually ten Oaths that a a Radiant can swear to bond their spren. The numerology of Honor on Roshar makes me think that there are things about Nahel bonds that were suppressed because of the higher powers they granted, and that this suppression was effected by making everyone think that there are only five Oaths. With Honor shattered now I think we will see the original Nahel bonds return, and see just how powerful a Radiant can become.

[Irregular]

The Dalinar thing is pretty much confirmed by Dalinar in-world so I'd agree with that.
With Kaladin, I don't think it was as much stopping a highstorm but making a break in it winds - probably by neutralizing them - only right around him.

Quote

 he opened a pocket in the storm, creating a calm wake behind him

it doesnt look like it would require a lot of pare - it was in my opinion just a clever usage of the surge.

For Shallan, considering amount of stormlight at her disposal, her artistic skills, memory, and sheer desperation of the battle, I don;t think it's a stretch she could make ilusions in that number (she was also exhausted at the end of it) - the soulcasting thing is weird though, she's not experienced and didn't dip into CR ( though Jasnah mentions that the borders were rather thin), but sheer power wouldn't be replacement for skill.

The power buff seems to hit only Dalinar in my opinion, the rest are not nearly as powerful nor is the power buff required to explain their achievements.

[Heir of the Void]

19 minutes ago, TheOneKEA said:

I think the Nahel bond is deeper and more complex than Ishar allowed it to be, and that there are actually ten Oaths that a a Radiant can swear to bond their spren. The numerology of Honor on Roshar makes me think that there are things about Nahel bonds that were suppressed because of the higher powers they granted, and that this suppression was effected by making everyone think that there are only five Oaths. With Honor shattered now I think we will see the original Nahel bonds return, and see just how powerful a Radiant can become.

This actually calls to mind the first of Dalinar's vision of Nohadon in The Way of Kings, where he mentions that the world was plunged into war prior to a Desolation by a Surgebinder named Alakavish. This was prior to the institution of the Knights Radiant, and seems to indicate that surgebinders were both rarer and more powerful then, if he presumably needed no qualifications other than that to steer the world into war.

I would not be surpised if the power of human Surgebinders was somehow restricted, but I think the more likely scenario is that when Honor was shattered, his power coalesced into/around its existing concentrations; the Stormfather, the existing Honor-based Spren, and so forth. This could be why all sorts of new things are happening.