The Recreance: A Theory

[Tglassy]

I don't look through WoB's or anything, so this may have already come up, and it is a little...on the nose, so to speak, so it's possible others have thought of it as well.

 

My theory is that the old Knights Radiant and their Spren found out about how Ashyn was destroyed.  Honor told them they'd do the same thing to Roshar.  

This puts them in a horrible situation.  On the one hand, Odium wants to destroy them all, make everyone fight until dead, and the Fused keep coming back, trying to murder all the humans.  They obviously can't let Odium win.  

But on the other hand, the very powers they're using to fight Odium are going to destroy the world one day.  Which is...you know...just as bad.  Or worse.  

So they, and their spren, sat down and talked.  And I think the Spren came up with a compromise.  The Radiants could summon their blades and plate...and then break their bonds.  This would lock the blades and plate in the physical realm, as blades and plate.  Why would they do this? 

So humanity could still have weapons capable of fighting the Fused.  The powers would be gone, but Shardblade and Shardplate would still be available.  Men could gain the supernatural strength from plate, and have swords long enough to slice through the Thunderclasts.  

Of course, there were no more Returns.  So men just killed each other with said blades and plate.  Which, you know, is kind of par for the course.  

Anyway, I just thought I'd share.  I don't know many people who've read these books so I have no one to talk to, lol.

 

[Treamayne]

20 minutes ago, Tglassy said:

So they, and their spren, sat down and talked.  And I think the Spren came up with a compromise.  The Radiants could summon their blades and plate...and then break their bonds.  This would lock the blades and plate in the physical realm, as blades and plate. 

Except that we already know (RoW Spoilers):

Spoiler

That the Spren at the Recreance didn't know for sure what would happen after the bond broke. We can speculate that the result they expected was changed by the trapping of BAM. RoW Ch 94

Quote

 

“This truth, though, means a greater problem is. Thousands of spren chose death instead of letting the Radiants continue. Does this not worry you more? They truly believed that—as humans claimed at the time—Surgebinding would destroy the world. That the solution was to end the orders of Radiants. Suddenly, at the cost of many lives.”

“Did you know the full cost, Maya?” Adolin asked, the question suddenly occurring to him. “Did you and your Radiants know that you would become deadeyes?”

Adolin felt Maya searching deep, pushing through her exhaustion, seeking … memories that were difficult for her to access. Eventually, she shook her head and whispered, “Pain. Yes. Death? No. Maybe.”

 

 

 

[Tglassy]

They didn't know they would die, but they knew the blades and plate would remain.  That's shown by Dalinar's vision of the Recreance, when all those Knights dropped their blades and plate and left.  Everything was summoned, dropped, and stayed.  

I don't think the Spren knew they would become dead eyes.  I think they were, basically, volunteering to stay behind and continue the fight, and let the Knights they bonded to leave.  That way, the powers wouldn't destroy the world.  

[CMac716]

My theory is that Honor died shortly before the False Desolation, his cog shadow and the largest portion of his power go to Stormfather as we know, but I think BAM scooped up the next biggest portion, enough to also ascend and become "a little god."

 

I think she was already the spren of Roshar before she was Unmade and thus connected to everything native (strictly going off the result of her imprisonment). She then binds herself to all the singers and tries to take her planet back from humans and Gods alike. Knights decide they have no choice but to lock her up in order to protect humanity.

 

Afterward, the guilt, fear, and the lack of Honors guidance all added up to abandoning their oaths as well. 

[Treach]

23 hours ago, CMac716 said:

My theory is that Honor died shortly before the False Desolation, his cog shadow and the largest portion of his power go to Stormfather as we know, but I think BAM scooped up the next biggest portion, enough to also ascend and become "a little god."

 

I think she was already the spren of Roshar before she was Unmade and thus connected to everything native (strictly going off the result of her imprisonment). She then binds herself to all the singers and tries to take her planet back from humans and Gods alike. Knights decide they have no choice but to lock her up in order to protect humanity.

 

Afterward, the guilt, fear, and the lack of Honors guidance all added up to abandoning their oaths as well. 

I have a different but similar theory. Honor didn’t die, exactly, but Odium overtook him as a rhythm of Roshar. Futher speculation being a bondsmith took that bond from him.  At this point, part of Roshar’s nature shifted from Honor to Odium. But, we know Odium’s soul is splintered, so he isn’t the sole source of his connection on Roshar. So, after, the imprisonment of Mishram was similar to what locking honor off from Roshar would have been prior to that point. 
 

Further theory: El was Tanavast, and has been stripped of, or separated from, his rhythms and titles (his shard). Ishar is the binder of gods (plural). The Oathpact wasn’t just meant to confine Odium, it was to confine both Honor and Odium. This is why both Heralds and Fused are bound to Braise. The Recreance didn’t happen just because of knowledge of Ashyn, but because they learned this and that the conflict was both of them trying to break free of that bond by pushing one or the other into a contract. They realized, as Wit explains, they can only win by not playing.