Earning Shardplate (spoliers)

[RadiantNights]

I read on here that some people think that shardplate is actually a spren like shardblades are but I have a different theory. My theory is that shardplate is actually made up of hundreds maybe thousands of lesser spren. Also that a radiant has to earn their plate with some serious surgebinding kung fu.

Here's my points:

-syl says that without the bond she would be just another windspren

- also we see that Kaladin attracts huge amounts of windspren when he's flying.

-when shallan was drawing pattern she attracted hundreds of creationspren (this leads me to believe without the bond pattern would just be a creationspren)

-in Dalinars visions he sees that the radiants of old could dismiss sections of their plate like a blade

-shardplate is made up of tons of tiny little pieces that interlock together

-shardplate can shatter and be regrown from nothing

-shardplate needs storm light to function

OK so heres what I'm thinking. When the radiants reach a certain level of oaths taken/truths revealed they can earn their plate by performing great feats that correspond to their order, like Kaladin protecting a huge number of people or something. When they perform these feats they will attract massive numbers of the lesser spren, wind and creation, and those spren will converge on the radiant and each spren will form into one little piece of the armor, possibly combine to form the bigger pieces like the helm or breastplate. Like this the radiant would be able to dismiss pieces of the plate individually because each piece is a spren and they would be able to regrow when they shatter because spren can't really die.

What do you guys and gals think? Plausible?

[Bloodfalcon]

Plausible or not, this sounds fun. 

[Aleksiel]

But why don't Shardplates scream like Blades then?

[Armless writer]

Because according to this theory the spren are not sentient and really bonded so the nahel bond would not be broken but something less might.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Armless writer

[duladen]

I really like this idea!

 

But why don't Shardplates scream like Blades then?

 

Assuming this theory is correct, my guess would be that it could have something to do with the lesser spren's far lower cognitive presence in the Physical realm or maybe a lack of the Nahel Bond with the Knight.

 

Edit: Ninja'd!

Edited March 26, 2014 by duladen

[Aleksiel]

Thanks for the answers! This would make Plate some sort of a fabrial then, considering the stormlight and the spren-catching required, right? Interesting.

[PudgyNinja]

I like it.  

[Swimmingly]

Like a chain-reaction fabrial, in that it requires a KR to catalyze it, but continues on it's own afterwards.

[Bloodfalcon]

Question: what would this theory propose is the reason for the plate staying around after the Recreance but acting differently than it did before? There's no bond, so it wouldn't really be like a dead spren body on the ground sort of deal as the Shardblades feel like, but it also does act differently in a lot of ways. 

[RadiantNights]

Question: what would this theory propose is the reason for the plate staying around after the Recreance but acting differently than it did before? There's no bond, so it wouldn't really be like a dead spren body on the ground sort of deal as the Shardblades feel like, but it also does act differently in a lot of ways.

I would say that since the radiant wasn't around to feed the plate stormlight anymore they just stopped being live spren and became more armor than spren. Yet when someone got the idea to put gems in the back and feed it stormlight again the armor began to regrow itself and be more like the real deal again. I bet it took awhile for that to come around though, just like the gems on shardblades took some time after recreance.

I think when someone does finally get some live shardplate it's going to be way cooler than just armor though.