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So Who is our new Bondsmith?


Goatbringer

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So artist Steve Argyle released this fantastic artwork today with this caption:

Quote

"Bondsmiths"
The Way of Kings Leatherbound Edition Kickstarter reward print.

Behold the rough-hewn pillar of meat and awesome that is Dalinar. 

I'll be honest, every one of these pieces is a journey of elation and anxiety. The Stormlight characters are so inspiring and epic that the whole time I'm painting them I'm like "I'm never going to do them justice." I mean, that's neither going to stop me from trying, nor be selfless enough to bow out and recommend a better artist take the reins. I'm greedy like that. These have been difficult because they're more personal to me than most of the art I make, but they've also been an unequivocal joy. 

Thanks to Brandon, Isaac, Kara, and all the fine folks at Dragonsteel. You're seriously the best.

When asked on Twitter who the character on the right was, he simply said that she was a Bondsmith and gave a winky face, explaining that he couldn't elaborate.

So what are our guesses? She's got a safehand sleeve but her skin looks significantly darker than Dalinar's Alethi tan. 

While it is more than likely some character we haven't met yet, I'm gonna go ahead and give a real left field prediction that it's going to be Khriss. She comes to Roshar, adopts the local customs, is chosen by the Nightwatcher due to her desire to bond the Cosmere together through her research: pow! Second Bondsmith. 

Who do you guys think?

FB_IMG_1595355430428.jpg

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6 minutes ago, Mage of Lirigon said:

Maybe Nightwatcher or Sibling is not against being a Blade like the Stormfather is?

WOB confirms that historically none of the Bondsmiths had Blades:

 

Quote

 

Questioner

And there's one last question if I may: I'm really into swords and such. I couldn't help but notice king Elhokar's Blade. It's just... All the others are ornamented, and they may have some glyphs, but it is the only one where it is explicitly it is told that there are ten fundamental glyphs on it which are the glyphs of the orders. I read some of the chapters from Dalinar from Unfettered II, and I know how he got it for Elhokar. Is there also some more backstory to this Blade?

Brandon Sanderson

There's a backstory to every Blade and every one of them is special, that's the problem. But I will be exploring the origins of some of the Blades. Eventually. Not a ton, but a little bit.

Questioner

As it is ornamented in such a way... Could it be related to a Bondsmith?

Brandon Sanderson

Bondsmiths didn't have Blades.

Questioner

All of them? It's just... Maybe it was just the Stormfather...

Brandon Sanderson

No. That's a really good guess. Really good guess. I'm gonna RAFO Bondsmiths because you gonna learn a lot about them in the next book because it's the Bondsmith's book. That's a really good theory, but it's not true. 

Questioner

But maybe there is at least something to it.

Brandon Sanderson

But there's a reason to it, why it has all the 10 orders.

Leipzig Book Fair (March 24, 2017)

 

 
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It looks like other fanart I have seen of Navani.

 340?cb=20200512014100

 

Her skin my imply Azish but different skin tones are common in Alethkar and she has a safehand sleeve meaning she is Vorin.

Edited by Karger
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2 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Side question, are the boots and tiara and whatnot with all the glowing bits a bunch of fabrials, or are we looking at a really courtly but mostly fabric-analog Shardplate?

It could be that or it could just be that Alethi woman often where infused gemstones.  In that context Navani(or whoever this is) would just be a snazzy dresser.

Edited by Karger
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22 minutes ago, Karger said:

It could be that or it could just be that Alethi woman often where infused gemstones.  In that context Navani(or whoever this is) would just be a snazzy dresser.

Haha, oh right, non-functional fashion is a thing. 

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58 minutes ago, Karger said:

It looks like other fanart I have seen of Navani.

 

43 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Side question, are the boots and tiara and whatnot with all the glowing bits a bunch of fabrials, or are we looking at a really courtly but mostly fabric-analog Shardplate?

Navani does seem the most likely candidate, and I just thought about this looking at the painting, if it is Navani then Roshar has the ultimate power couple.

The blade could definitely be an honorblade, maybe even Ishar's. It would be interesting if that could give her the ability to power Urithiru without actually bonding the Sibling.

Fabrial speculation, what if the boots are gravitation surge boots, that would be sweet. And the tiara she's wearing might be a special application of the surge of illumination, allowing her to spy on conversations from a distance like Moraine's diadem trick. The back of the hair ones might be illumination surge fabrials to make her hair look shinier?

And the loopy belt thing, maybe it's a detachable bolo with painrials to stun enemies.

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Well we know Alethi women wear gemstones in their hair, right? Also, is this an 100% canon drawing, or is there artistic license? 
Also the symbols - is Dalinar wearing House Kholin and she's wearing the bond smith symbol?

Also can I just say how gorgeous the image is??

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If it is Navani then (I’m my opinion) she’s likely a squire (though that doesn’t explain the blade). 

If it’s Not navani I would think it’s just someone we haven’t met yet. (Or Ash, that might be interesting).

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40 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Fabrial speculation, what if the boots are gravitation surge boots, that would be sweet. And the tiara she's wearing might be a special application of the surge of illumination, allowing her to spy on conversations from a distance like Moraine's diadem trick. The back of the hair ones might be illumination surge fabrials to make her hair look shinier?

And the loopy belt thing, maybe it's a detachable bolo with painrials to stun enemies.

That sounds like a video game or anime character but I do agree that Navani would make an interesting one.

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If I had to guess of the characters we've met it's Navani. The blade is either an error, an honorblade or a spren from a different order if this isn't Navani. Someone could bond two spren, but I wouldn't think Navani would bond both in one book. 

Could also be an ancient Bondsmith, but again with the blade.

Remote chance that Dalinar can share the bond with another person who already has a blade making them Co-bondsmiths of the same spren. Doubt that it's this, in the past the limit has always been three bondsmiths, one per spren.  

Edited by Child of Hodor
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6 minutes ago, Child of Hodor said:

If I had to guess of the characters we've met it's Navani. The blade is either an error, an honorblade or a spren from a different order if this isn't Navani. Someone could bond two spren, but I wouldn't think Navani would bond both in one book. 

They could be restoring the blade.

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My first thought was an Honorblade, quickly replaced by a far creepier idea: Rayse appears to the Singers as an ancient singer with gold and white marbled skin, holding a golden sceptre. Is it possible that he started borrowing tricks from Bavadin? Because her clothes and blade match Odium's colors more than Bondsmiths', in my opinion:

10_bondsmith_placard.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1

Edited by KandraAllomancer
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Aside from who the lady is... what intrigues me in this art are Dalinar's arms.  In particular, a quote from one of his flashbacks comes to mind where he states something like 'I'd check the guys eyesight for not knowing how big my biceps are' (totally butchered, but you know the one).

And yeah, I'd need to get my measuring tape out, but the circumference of his biceps looks bigger than that of his head!

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FB_IMG_1595355430428.jpgBroken Oath by Antti Hakosaari.jpg

Assuming that you can see these pictures I believe that the blade shown by Lady X is either not an Honorblade or its Pailiah's blade. If, like me, you have no idea who Pailiah is she was the Truthwatcher patron and might be in the Palanaeum of Kharbranth. Her blade is the one in the back right. The blades look kind of similar around the hilt and I think that blades adjust slightly to suit their wielder. If Lady X is Navani it makes sense that she would gravitate to the Truthwatcher herald. Alternatively it's not an honorblade and something else is going on here.

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So got two comments 

1. If you look real close, i dont think her left arm is covered by a safe hand sleeve. I think its just her cloak. That one arm is out and pushing the cloak back while the other is at rest, and thereby covered by the cloak

2. I dont think the scene is depicting a shardblade being revived. From what we saw of the other one (wind runner and i could have sworn we also saw skybreaker), it looks like a general pose. Not necessarily a scene out of the books. So although it does seem they are taking characters from it, i dont think this is a "snap shot" of a real scene taking place

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