What happens kandra vs shardblade

[Stormgate]

My brother, who just finished reading Mistborn/Wax & Wayne, has just started reading The Way of Kings. He just asked the question of what happens if a kandra is cut by a Shardblade. For example, if one cuts off a kandra's arm, can't they grow a new one? If their head is cut off, does it actually kill them?

Forgive me if this has already been answered. 

[Weltall]

Relevant WoBs:

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greaterbookwyrm

What happens when you cut a kandra with a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

So a kandra is going to react basically the same way, in that the Shardblade's going to be hitting at the soul and severing it and things like that. They are not immune to Shardblades. But because they have mutable shapes, there will be a little bit of weirdness involved in that. You'll get to see that happen eventually.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

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NeedsAdjustment

If a kandra's limb was cut by a Shardblade, would it be able to heal/regrow?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Stormlight Three Update #4 (Oct. 5, 2016)

 

[Kingsdaughter613]

If it cut their brain they would die. If that was avoided they’d be fine, but they would probably lose that part of their ‘flesh’.

[Chasmgoat]

this is a good question, if they have their arm cut, they can't use that arm because it is no longer connected to their soul (or something like that). But, they could just make a new arm and use that one. A kandra could keep their brain in any part of their body. so If it were placed in an unusual spot, As long as the person does not pass the sword through that spot, I don't think the kandra would die from it. I do think that they would lose part of their body and no longer use it to grow a new part, but they could find food and regrow. I hope this helps.

[Aspiring Writer]

1 hour ago, Stormgate said:

My brother, who just finished reading Mistborn/Wax & Wayne, has just started reading The Way of Kings. He just asked the question of what happens if a kandra is cut by a Shardblade. For example, if one cuts off a kandra's arm, can't they grow a new one? If their head is cut off, does it actually kill them?

Forgive me if this has already been answered. 

Shardblades don't actually slice through them, they slice through the soul, so they would not be physically harmed. They would have nothing to regrow.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Aspiring Writer

[Eri]

I agree that the kandra will regrow the body part, because while Shardblade cuts soul, or maybe more precise would be to say it cuts the Cognitive idea of one's body, kandra body in its natural state is indifferentiated. So even if you cut through an arm, it wouldn't cut a idea of an arm, it would cut just part of the kandra. And kandra can deal with their bodies losing and adding mass, do I don't think it would do anything permanent.

The funny part that everyone misses and which I just realized while reading about chasmfiends, is that bones in kandra are objects, not living matter, so the Blade would physically cut the bone into two parts.

Which means it would be noticeable (the arm getting another point where it bends instead of just going dead) and in many cases a Shardblade cut will reveal that something's of with that person.

Harder question: a Shardblade cutting a Sleepless (mimicking a human) through "arm"... I have no idea.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Eri
spelling

[BenduLuke]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:03 PM, Stormgate said:

My brother, who just finished reading Mistborn/Wax & Wayne, has just started reading The Way of Kings. He just asked the question of what happens if a kandra is cut by a Shardblade. For example, if one cuts off a kandra's arm, can't they grow a new one? If their head is cut off, does it actually kill them?

Forgive me if this has already been answered. 

I think you could almost presume they would react like Radiants full of stormlight. They are by nature an invested being like Spren, and Aeons and so damageable but hard to kill. In addition I suspect since they can replace any damaged flesh that would only need to connect healthy flesh on one side of the cut to the other side and expel only the actual cut flesh. So long as their spikes aren't damaged I am not sure you can cause permanent damage to them with a shard blade.

Edited January 13, 2021 by BenduLuke

[Honorless]

The real question is, what would happen if a Shardblade separated a Kandra's two Blessings? Or cut through a Blessing?

[+Bzhydack]

5 minutes ago, Honorless said:

The real question is, what would happen if a Shardblade separated a Kandra's two Blessings? Or cut through a Blessing?

Blessings should resist Shardblade, more or less. Also, Invested metal has magical properties even molded and alloyed, so I thing cutting Blessing in half would not destroy it. But if part of body with Blessing will be killed, this Blessing should lose Connection to the Kandras soul, so Kandra should go mad.

[Honorless]

1 hour ago, Bzhydack said:

Blessings should resist Shardblade, more or less.

Not very well, I'd reckon, but yes. Shardblade is made of godmetal, Blessings are just Hemalurgic spikes.

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Questioner

You've said that Shardblades can be made in other magic systems. So if it's not like a Shardblade from Roshar, what makes it a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

The "Shard" refers to the heavy Investiture of a Shard of Adonalsium. Most of what you’ll see will see are the Roshar ones, but it is technically possible to make them out of the other magic systems. It's going to be a heavily invested magical weapon, is kind of how I would define it.

Questioner

So are the Bands [of Mourning] one?

Brandon Sanderson

I would not call them one, but they are close. They're not Invested enough.

Calamity Austin signing (Feb. 25, 2016)

The Bands of Mourning apparently aren't enough to compare to a Shardblade

But there's also this:

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Questioner

If something is heavily Invested, it's harder for a Shardblade to go through it, right?

Brandon Sanderson

Kind of. It depends on the kind of Investiture and things that are going on. But yes. If you want to block a Shardblade... Like a metalmind would be a good thing to use to fight a Shardblade.

Questioner

A person with a lot of Breath, like the God-King, would you be able to chop them with a Shardblade or no?

Brandon Sanderson

It's going to get very tricky on that, so I'll RAFO that for now. Let's just say that there are things. For instance, a Shardblade excising someone who's been Hemalurgically spiked is a theoretical possibility. 

Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)

While this one supports the initial conclusion that Metalminds and Hemalurgic spikes don't compare to Shardblades and Shardplates:

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Trae Cooper (paraphrased)

Why are Invested objects like metalminds and Hemalurgic spikes able to be Pushed and Pulled on, but Shardblades and Shardplate, which are also invested, are not susceptible to Pushing and Pulling?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There were a few concepts that he outlined in answering this question.

1.) The ability to Push/Pull an Invested object is predicated to the amount/power of the Investiture.

2.) Further, Invested objects also gain resistance to pulling/pushing based on proximity to soul possibly via the soul. An example given is that a Hemalurgic spike touches the blood of the person, and from there is now part of both the Spiritual Realm and the Physical Realm. This provides what Brandon termed a kind of "soul interference," based on its proximity to the soul.

This further explains why Vin required more than normal power to Push/Pull the metalminds from the Lord Ruler, because of their proximity to his soul, via the Spiritual Realm.

3.) The amount of Investiture is relatively low on Scadrial, whereas worlds like Sel and Roshar are pushing around "high power" according to Brandon. I interpreted this to mean that Hemalurgic spikes and metalminds have low amounts of Investiture compared to Shardplate and Shardblades.

Brandon said that theoretically you can Push/Pull Shardblades and Shardplates but you would need to wield an incredible amount of power. One example he gave that could so such as a thing is that if you were a Mistborn wielding the full power of the Well of Ascension, you could Push/Pull Shardblades/Plate.

DragonCon 2012 (Sept. 4, 2012)

This WoB supports you:

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Questioner

So we know that Shardblades can't cut through other Shardblades because they are Invested objects, right?

Brandon Sanderson

That is definitely-- Yes, that's part of it.

Questioner

So could a Shardblade cut through other kinds of Invested objects like--

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on how Invested it is.

Questioner

--like a Hemalurgic spike?

Brandon Sanderson

A Hemalurgic spike would resist being cut.

Holiday signing (Dec. 12, 2015)

There's this list of how Invested things are:

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Questioner

I've got a list of various Cosmere bits of metal and I was wondering if you would rank them from like one to ten or just easy to difficult on how hard it would be to steelpush on them. So with one being just a regular coin, ten being like when the Lord Ruler was moving bits of glass on the floor, so like metal inside a person's body.

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on how strong the Investiture in them is.

Questioner

Is that gonna be the answer for all of these?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably!

Questioner

How about a spike charged with Hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

A spike charged with Hemalurgy... that depends on...

Questioner

Not in a person.

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on how strong, yeah, a spike is moderately, (in the realm of these kinds of things) moderately easy to push on because a spike does not rip off very much Investiture. Only enough to short circuit the soul, and less it over time. I would put that at the bottom, with the top being very hard, to be one of the easier things.

Questioner

How about a metalmind that is full?

Brandon Sanderson

That is full? That is going to be middle of the realm of the, yeah. Generally easier than, for instance, a Shardblade which is going to be very hard.

Questioner #2

A Shardblade is [inaudible] actually metal? [metal]-ish?

Brandon Sanderson

Ish. Is Lerasium a metal? Yeah.

Questioner

So that'd be the same for Shardplate too?

Brandon Sanderson

Shardplate and Blade are very hard. Blade is probably gonna be a little harder.

Questioner

A Half-shard?

Brandon Sanderson

A Half-shard shield? That's gonna be moderate.

Questioner

Nightblood? I imagine that being hard.

Brandon Sanderson

Hard, of all the things you've listed, that is going to be the hardest. Far beyond even a Sharblade.

Questioner

Far beyond metal inside a person? 

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, yes. Depending on how invested the person is.

Questioner

If somebody was invested as much as Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, for instance the God King, right. At the end with all those Breaths. Pushing something inside of him, getting through all of that? Gonna be real hard. Average person on Scadrial? You've seen how hard that is. A drab? Much easier.

Questioner

That was my next one, or no, sorry not a drab. A lifeless?

Brandon Sanderson

A Lifeless, yeah. Even... yeah. Lifeless are kind of weird because they've had their soul leave but then they've had a replacement stuck in in the form of Breath which leaves them in a very weird position compared to a drab which has had part of their Investiture ripped away but a majority remains, so, anyways. I'm going to give you one more. Pick your favorite.

Questioner

A soulstamped piece of metal?

Brandon Sanderson

A soulstamped piece of metal is going to be on the lower, easier side. Not a lot of Investiture going on in a soulstamp.

Salt Lake City signing (March 29, 2014)

tl;dr: contradictory WoBs, we'll know the answer when we see something like that happen in a book

Edited January 23, 2021 by Honorless