Does anybody wonder just how different the Heralds are

[SzethIsBadAsHell]

During my recent reread of Oathbringer, I came across the section where Jasnah confronts Ash. Ash was reeling from the death of Jezrien, and it said for the first time in 1000 years Ash feel unconscious . This got me to thinking  how different the heralds actually are.  At first I thought heralds were normal humans without there honorblades . But they have deeper abilities that make them intriguing . For one. They do not require sleep as we discovered from Ash . They are immortal .  When Honor was alive they had a direct conduit to him and didn’t require stormlight. I’m not sure if that persist to this day or if Dalinar can fuel them as Honor representative. But just the fact that they are thousands of years old and don’t require sleep is amazing. Think of this they could theoretically. Master several skills over that length of time . Become surgeons , scholars , metalsmiths for example and have had long enough to prefect the skill to a level of mastery to surpass anyone alive. They also have some level of control of their physical appearance . Jezrein appeared as a feeble old man, but I’m sure if he wanted to he could make himself appear younger and in physically fit shape. Taln reflexes were so fast he could snatch an assasins blow darts out the air . So I imagine it would take a significant overwhealming force to defeat one if the herald had his honorblade and a source of stormlight. Any other observations about the Heralds you guys want to add?? I imagine with 1000 of years to practice their. Surges they know tricks no one else knows .

[Overlord Jebus]

This is one of my favourite hints at the Heralds abilities in the books:

Quote

The Herald’s hand snapped up in front of him.

Amaram started, freezing in place, as he saw something in the Herald’s fingers. A small dart, the tip dripping with some clear liquid.

Amaram glanced at the opening, which spilled sunlight into the room. A small figure there made a puffing sound, a blowgun held to lips beneath a half mask that covered the upper face.

The Herald’s other hand shot out, quick as an eyeblink, and snatched the dart from the air mere inches from Amaram’s face. The Ghostbloods. They weren’t trying to kill the Herald.

Taln caught not one but two darts midflight. That's an astonishingly level of reflexes. There's something about these Heralds and I have a feeling we are going to see something special when we see them let loose.

[Scion of the Mists]

It's interesting because we have a WoB that they have no innate powers and another that they may have "other things they can do" which doesn't make it sound like they have a lot of strong supernatural abilities.  

[SzethIsBadAsHell]

27 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

It's interesting because we have a WoB that they have no innate powers and another that they may have "other things they can do" which doesn't make it sound like they have a lot of strong supernatural abilities.  

Thing about WoB is Sanderson tends to say one thing at one time , then contradict himself later on . He says that WoB could be the current ideology but until it’s written in a book it’s not cannon . A perfect example of this is when he said aluminum was capable of blocking a shardblade and then said it wasn’t . 

     Anyways I think they do have several innate abilities . Perhaps he meant they had no innate surges!! Immortality is innate ability , the fact they do not need sleep , the fact they change their appearance according to how they feel are all innate. 

      And then there are benifits to being 4000 years old . Nale has been an investigatitor for millennia’s , just imagine how masterful he is at detective work and interrogation . It’s on a level to surpass Batman times 10 

[cfphelps]

Nale is the only one who has reclaimed his blade though, violating the agreement of the Heralds to leave them, right?  And that was fairly recent (seems like within Szeth's lifetime since he seems to recall Nale's going missing, but that might be historic knowledge that was passed down amongst the Shin) So the others wouldn't have really been practicing with surges.  Plus their all insane in some way or another, so I don't know that they necessarily spent their time with productive training/practice, but it's certainly interesting to think about.

[tmnsquirtle]

To be honest, a lot of what shows up in the OP seems like conjecture. With the exception of the immortality, blow dart catching*, and lack of sleep**, they display no inherent abilities, I think.

*I did some research, and it's possible to catch arrows, which travel at around 225 feet/second, depending on where you look. This difficulty boils down to the length of the arrow and how fast it's travelling, but is ultimately kind of possible. Darts travel much faster but also probably takes practice to get it going that fast. So, depending on how skilled the blow dart gunner was, the shape of the bullet (air resistance is a huge factor here), the distance between the gunner and their target, and a bunch of other factors, I could see it being possible for Taln to have caught those with training alone.

**Can someone find a source on this? I don't recall seeing the heralds not having to sleep.

[MountainKing]

Brandon said that aluminum can block shardplates if the aluminum is thick enough as the shardblades are skill sharp blades without their magic cutting abilities.

I don't think Jezrien died at the end of Oathbringer, Brandon said that what they did to Jezrien was similar to Hemalurgy, Hemalurgy steals a specific apart of the soul, so one of the difference between the two arts could be the blade steals the whole soul, not a single part. Also how Ash and Taln react to Jezrien's death reminds mean of what happened to the Dawnsingers when the Knights Radiants trapped Ba-Ado-MIsram. I think that they trap Jezrien's whole soul in a gem, and that caused his part of the oathpact to be ripped out of all the heralds, similar to how Ba-Ado-Misram was ripped out of all the Singers' souls, when she was trapped in a gem.

[Szmit]

2 hours ago, Scion of the Mists said:

It's interesting because we have a WoB that they have no innate powers and another that they may have "other things they can do" which doesn't make it sound like they have a lot of strong supernatural abilities.  

I would assume that "no innate powers" mean no superpowers like lasers from eyes or flying, but because they are cognitive shadows in respawning body, their soul and flesh is easier to modyfy with training and power of will, and possibly can aqquire some quirks like Horneaters' seeing of spren, or Shallan's personalities.