Where do Breaths end up if an awakened object is dissassembled?

[+Oltux72]

Suppose I make a cloth figure by sewing together gloves. socks, a shirt and trousers. I awaken it and give it a command like "stand there and scare birds waving your arms".

Now I undo the seams. I suppose at some point the Breath in the object no longer supports the command. Where is the Breath at that time? Is some Breath in the parts I detached before rendering the object inoperable? Is it split between the the parts I last separated? What happens if I separate further? Is Breath lost?

[Dancer]

Once the object is damaged enough and can't perform its commands the Breath will return to Endowment. 

[GoWibble]

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little_wilson

Mi'chelle is wanting to know for a fanfic she's wanting to write if when you cut/break an object that has been Awakened if the object then "dies", or if the pieces will try to carry out the command. Also, either way, can the breaths be recovered from it?

Brandon Sanderson

The object does not die, and will try to continue its purpose. The level of damage will determine just how well it can continue. The Breaths are recoverable. (Though there could be some loss of Breaths, depending on how the item is destroyed.) There's a scene near the end where Vasher Awakens some clothing, then it gets cut down and he recovers the Breath.

Barnes and Noble Book Club Q&A (July 8, 2009)

 

[Honorless]

I remember Vivenna salvaging her Breath from damaged articles of clothing. The Breaths get divided between the pieces if the object is torn or broken. The object continues to try to fulfill its Command, we see this twice iirc, with Vasher & Vivenna.

[PiedPiper]

It's similar to how spren work on Roshar -- bear with me. If you remember the Kaladin flashback where they talk about spren, Hessina mentions that if you cut something up, each piece just has a smaller bit of spren. So if, for example, you gave a shirt 100 Breaths, then cut it in half, each part would have 50 Breaths. If you cut those halves in half, each part would have 25 Breaths, etc. I wonder if something can have a fraction of a Breath?

[Weltall]

The self-Awakening that Vasher knows how to perform to alter memories (which we see him teach the priest's daughter and he offers to Denth) presumably has some cost since Vivenna thinks she saw a flicker in the girl's aura when she did it, but one that must be a tiny fraction of a Breath.

Regarding the original question, we know that the Breaths held by living beings return to Endowment when the people die so there's presumably a similar mechanism at work for Breath in an Awakened object to return once the object is damaged enough. We see an example of how this would probably work with the Lifeless, since they need to remain in good condition for the Breath to sustain them (otherwise they lose the resemblance to a living thing) and we know their bodies eventually decay past the point the Breath can keep them alive, even with ichor-alcohol helping prolong their existence.

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Yata

When someone dies on Nalthis, their Breaths: go away with the soul, or remain in the corpse?

Brandon Sanderson

Breaths return to Endowment.

Yata

Together with the soul? Or remain in the corpse?

Brandon Sanderson

The soul--

Yata

Passes away?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, unless it turns into a Cognitive Shadow. Then, the soul goes into the Beyond. And so the actual essence of the soul, the Investiture of it, does return to Endowment.

Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017)

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Weltall