Arondell Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) As I was re-reading the scene where Dalinar is standing atop the city/tower of Urithiru and is looking down at the ten oathgates. I had a mental hickup at this line. The one to the Shattered Plains flashed , and a large group of people appeared on it. They flew Hatham’s flag. It takes a radiant to operate the gate. Both to infuse the spheres and to provide the shardblade. As we see though both Kaladin and Shallan were apparently waiting for Dalinar to finish his conversation with the Stormfather one floor down. The conversation didn't appear to last more then a few minutes at most. So who was operating the gate? Edited March 21, 2014 by Arondell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Could be Renarin. Or Kaladin flew up. It seemed to me the conversation took some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeployParachute Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 It is more likely that Shallan has placed Pattern on loan to someone to turn the gate mechanism. (much like she loaned him to Kaladin during the chasm scene). She doesn't seem particularly squeamish about letting others use him. As for the infused spheres, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since i read that part, but shouldn't they be able to be swapped in and out of the machine with other spheres by just anyone? It was my understanding upon first read that the machine ran on spheres that could be swapped out by any Tom, Dick, or Harry. I can see needing a Radiant Shardblade to "turn the key in the lock" so to speak, but to require a Radiant to perform the maintenance of keeping the thing infused seems like a waste of a Radiants time and very impractical. Again, maybe i misread... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junior Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Could be Renarin. Or Kaladin flew up. It seemed to me the conversation took some time. While possible, I'd be surprised if Renarin's spren turns into a shardblade at this point. Given that it appears he's only been aware of the bond for a short time, I suspect that he's still got a little more work to do before his spren grants him the blade. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arondell Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) It is more likely that Shallan has placed Pattern on loan to someone to turn the gate mechanism. (much like she loaned him to Kaladin during the chasm scene). She doesn't seem particularly squeamish about letting others use him. As for the infused spheres, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since i read that part, but shouldn't they be able to be swapped in and out of the machine with other spheres by just anyone? It was my understanding upon first read that the machine ran on spheres that could be swapped out by any Tom, Dick, or Harry. I can see needing a Radiant Shardblade to "turn the key in the lock" so to speak, but to require a Radiant to perform the maintenance of keeping the thing infused seems like a waste of a Radiants time and very impractical. Again, maybe i misread... The gems by the description were in an "enclosed latticework" at least implying they couldn't be easily removed. On top of that if she loaned the blade out it would still have to be many hundreds of miles away to bring people in from the other side. I had the impression from Syl back in Way of Kings that that much distance was potentially harmful to the nahel bond. Edit : Also back when the gates were built the Knights Radiant were actually a fairly large body of people. It wouldn't surprise me if they had the equivalent of "oathgate duty" or something. After all to serve the people is one of the general virtues that has been expressed in The Way of Kings. Particularly in what was the headquarters of the entire organization. Edited March 21, 2014 by Arondell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seloun Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 I actually put this in the typos thread, thinking it might have been a continuity error (no reactions though). Leaving Pattern in place seems like the easiest canon explanation, though personally it still seems a bit weird she'd be so casual about letting someone else handle her Shardblade. I almost favor the 'Kaladin flies really fast' explanation more since it doesn't explicitly say how long Dalinar is on the roof or how long it takes for him to get to the meeting chamber. One last possibility is that the Honorblade can do the same thing, and someone else is using that. I'm not sure if that's more or less horrifying that someone operating it with Pattern, though. Both of those possibilities doesn't answer the literal wording of the question though (who is borrowing the Blade in those scenarios?). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirron Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 The spheres could also have been recharged by bridge 4. I imagine the task of repairing, growing, and other stuff being done by squires using their surges or fabrials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejopen27 Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 I would guess that Kaladin did it then just flew up. I also think it takes Dalinar longer than it seems to talk to the Stormfather and then walk to the throne room. I agree with Junior about Renarin, I don't think his spren even showed up until after Ym dies between part 1 and part two and the Spren that create Truthwatchers needed to select a new knight candidate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snote Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 (edited) The gems by the description were in an "enclosed latticework" at least implying they couldn't be easily removed. On top of that if she loaned the blade out it would still have to be many hundreds of miles away to bring people in from the other side. I had the impression from Syl back in Way of Kings that that much distance was potentially harmful to the nahel bond. Edit : Also back when the gates were built the Knights Radiant were actually a fairly large body of people. It wouldn't surprise me if they had the equivalent of "oathgate duty" or something. After all to serve the people is one of the general virtues that has been expressed in The Way of Kings. Particularly in what was the headquarters of the entire organization. I also had the impression that the gems were not easily removed from their housing. Otherwise some jackass would likely steal them. Even if the people who owned them are superhumans with impenetrable armour and a weapon that cuts through anything, including your soul. So it would have to be a person standing by with the ability to infuse them and then operate the keyhole with a living blade. I can see where the OP has the impression of it being someone we aren't familiar with as the person who opens the portal. I just doubt that it was. I'd say it was ole Kaladin, who probably knew that group was coming. Then fell to the penultimate room. I don't think any other explanation makes sense with our current understanding of what's going on. I also think it's funny to think of a Radiant who has all this power and ability, just standing like Heimdall from Thor with his hands resting on the hilt of his sword, or sitting in a "Shardchair", while he waits on random people who want to journey to the tower city. Like the Epic Fantasy Elevator Attendant. The mental image makes me laugh. The Knights Radiant watchman goes up to his commanding officer. "Come on Captain, all I did was release the Voidbringers onto Roshar.. Do I have to stand outside of Shinovar for the rest of the year. Their eyes creep me out. Plus the last time I had to watch the Stormseat gate, the world ended around me. I barely got out with my life, isn't that penance enough for releasing Odium onto the world, where he killed Honor and Cultivation. Therefore damning mankind to endure millennia of hellish despair and pain, I mean, COME ON!" Edit: removed a naughty word. Edited March 22, 2014 by snote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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