Do Awakened Objects have Heightenings?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

I just had a question in my mind, how do Awakened objects see? Because the prologue of Warbreaker, with the little straw-doll moving around outside of Vasher's line of sight, proves that they have some ability to examine their surroundings. How do they do that?

Then it came to me, Heightenings, Awakened Objects almost always possess enough Breath for at least the first Heightening which would give them access to Lifesense, so that's how Awakened Objects see the people around them.

There's probably more to this though, considering that they can react to their non-living environment though that might be explained by the visualization of their Command.

Though I'm guessing that Awakened Objects wouldn't get much use from Perfect Pitch or Perfect Colour Recognition, but I still think it's remarkable if this were true.

[Returned]

I don't think we have a clear answer on this yet. I presume that Awakened objects' ability to navigate the world is related to the cognitive realm, which is why the visualization and precision of the Command are so important to the Awakening working properly (or at all). I wouldn't expect the straw poppet to know what keys are, and Sanderson has said that's one of the most difficult Commands we've seen, but it still accomplished its task even though Vasher probably didn't know exactly what the right keys looked like (and so couldn't visualize them).

I'm not convinced that Awakened objects can generally achieve Heightenings, but I can't rule it out. Interesting thought, and I wonder what implications it would have with certain appropriately Awakened items if true.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Returned

[teknopathetic he/him]

As a similar question, what if you use a divine breath to give a regular command? First off, can you? And second off, what would happen? 

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, teknopathetic said:

First off, can you?

Nope - WoB (Technically Warbreaker annotation to the Prologue pt 3):

 

Spoiler

 

Brandon Sanderson

Also, if you look, I've inputted in the last drafts a little hint here of Vasher being a Returned. He says he could have the Fifth Heightening if he wanted it, which is true. He has his Returned Breath suppressed, but if he let it out, he could instantly have the Fifth Heightening. However, he'd be instantly recognizable as Returned the moment he did that. Plus, he couldn't use that Returned Breath for Awakening things.

 

 

On 9/28/2022 at 3:35 AM, JustQuestin2004 said:

I just had a question in my mind, how do Awakened objects see?

It's not the whole story (because Nightblood is unique), but there was a hint of an answer in Warbreaker (ch 21):
 

Spoiler

 

Some said that before a man died, his BioChromatic aura flared with sudden brightness. Like a heart giving its last beat, like the final surge of a wave before the tide retreats. Vasher had seen it happen, but not with every death. The event was rare, much like a perfect sunset.

Dramatic, Nightblood noted.

The sunset? Vasher asked.

Yes.

You can’t see it, he said to the sword.

But I can feel you seeing it. Crimson. Like blood in the air.

Vasher didn’t respond. The sword couldn’t see. But with its powerful, twisted BioChroma, it could sense life and people. Both were things Nightblood had been created to protect. It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren’t really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy the pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil.

Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.

 

But I would guess that you are at least close to correct. It might not be lifesense per se, but most Cosmere investiture has "Secondary powers" that enable it to achieve the investiture's intent; so I would guess that Investiture+Command conveys enough Connection for them to "see" their surroundings. Another good example was when Vasher used the straw constructs to find the thieves' tunnels in Ch 49.

Spoilers for SA and Mistborn

Spoiler

For example: Sanderson has said that Atium also conveys enough mental acquity to process the information from Atium shadows, F-Iron gives enough strength to not collapse under your own weight when tapping, and Windrunners don't get chapped and burned from windshear when falling with style.

 

[Spearguy]

2 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Nope - WoB (Technically Warbreaker annotation to the Prologue pt 3):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Brandon Sanderson

Also, if you look, I've inputted in the last drafts a little hint here of Vasher being a Returned. He says he could have the Fifth Heightening if he wanted it, which is true. He has his Returned Breath suppressed, but if he let it out, he could instantly have the Fifth Heightening. However, he'd be instantly recognizable as Returned the moment he did that. Plus, he couldn't use that Returned Breath for Awakening things.

 

 

This is only because said Divine Breath was keeping him alive, and since we know that it is possible to spike away a divine breath with Hemalurgy  and then it might be possible to us it for awakening, but as to what that would do I have no idea.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Spearguy

[Treamayne]

8 minutes ago, Spearguy said:

This is only beacuse said Divine Breath was keeping him alive,

Take that first sentance further. . . The Divine Breath keeps a Returned alive. If the Divine Breath leaves (either being consumed, expended for healing, spiked away - or - used to Awaken) the Returned dies. I very much doubt a Returned could Awaken with a Divine Breath and survive; if it was just a matter of having other breaths to consume then Vasher could have done so in the Prologue (he had enough breath to Awaken the straw construct and the cloak). Since he could not have used the Divine breath to Awaken then, it follows that a Returned cannot use a Divine Breath to Awaken. 

Do you mean then, that a Divine Breath spiked away might be used to awaken by a Hemalurgist?

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Spearguy]

23 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Do you mean then, that a Divine Breath spiked away might be used to awaken by a Hemalurgist?

 

Yes, maybe, It might take some weird hacking to get it to separate fully from the spike.

Wait does anyone know if spiked breaths can be used to awaken? or do they stick to the Hemalugic spike and only grant Heightenings?

[teknopathetic he/him]

2 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Nope - WoB (Technically Warbreaker annotation to the Prologue pt 3):

 

Well, the wording here is odd. Is it "couldn't" as it is not possible in any way and that it physically couldn't happen ever under any circumstance?Or Brandon might mean that a Returned couldn't use their breath for a command because the Returned would die (and that would be bad so no one would do it)

I know using a divine breath for a basic command would kill a returned, but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't eventually try it despite the consequences. Since the exact exact same consequences exist for a returned using their divine breath to heal, I don't discount it based on the consequences thing. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by teknopathetic

[Treamayne]

6 minutes ago, teknopathetic said:

Well, the wording here is odd. Is it "couldn't" as it is not possible in any way and that it physically couldn't happen ever under any circumstance?Or Brandon might mean that a Returned couldn't use their breath for a command because the Returned would die (and that would be bad so no one would do it)

I know using a divine breath for a basic command would kill a returned, but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't eventually try it despite the consequences. Since the exact exact same consequences exist for a returned using their divine breath to heal, I don't discount it based on the consequences thing. 

I took it to mean "can't or you die" with a possible side of "When a Divine Breath is used with a command, it is expended" (people healed with Divine Breath do not gain the Divine Breath) - so 80% "die if you do" but possibly "Could do it, but the object awakened would not gain the Divine Breath - just any effects of it's being expended." Stormlight Spoilers:

Spoiler

If there is a way to Awaken with Divine Breath, I'd think Azure's Sword is a likely example candidate 

 

[Returned]

On 10/26/2022 at 9:34 AM, Treamayne said:

I took it to mean "can't or you die" with a possible side of "When a Divine Breath is used with a command, it is expended" (people healed with Divine Breath do not gain the Divine Breath) - so 80% "die if you do" but possibly "Could do it, but the object awakened would not gain the Divine Breath - just any effects of it's being expended."

Interesting. My immediate read of sentence was that it's a continuation of the hint that Vasher is Returned. He could immediately have the 5th Heightening if he wanted to (hint part 1), and he couldn't use the the Divine Breath to Awaken things (hint part 2), though that wouldn't clarify if it's impossible to use the Divine Breath that way or just a very final decision to do so. But looking at it again I see a possibility that if the Divine Breath is not suppressed it cannot be used to Awaken, with the implication that if it were suppressed it could be.

The only real example we have of a Divine Breath leaving a Returned is Lightsong, and it killed him even though he (presumably) had other Breaths to live off of. But Returned themselves are sort of Awakened, not unlike a super-high-quality Lifeless, and Divine Breaths seem categorically different from regular ones. Maybe an Awakening of an object like Nightblood, but using a Divine Breath instead of a lot of regular Breaths, has a similar effect that produces a categorically different result. Like a Returned compared to an ordinary Nalthian. Though I maintain my belief that Nightblood is the way that he is because the metal used to make the blade is atium or an atium alloy, and not just a product of the Command used or Investing lots of Breath into material that never lived.