Nightbloods gender

[High prince of geeks he/him]

Is NIghtblood a guy because swords are usually seen as something masculine. If he had been awakened on a planet where females are the warriors would he be a her?

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

it is an interesting question... Mostly Nightblood's a "guy" because that is how his voice sounds to those to whom he speaks. 

 

I think it plays into the concept of Identity, perception, the Cognitive Realm, and such at a deeper level. 

 

When Shashara used the breath to awaken Nightblood... what was her perception of the concept of destruction of evil? Since nightblood is essentially a spren and they are formed by the cognitive ideas of humans. Perhaps if Nalthis had an "amazonian" warrior culture in Hallendren when Nightblood was created, it would be a "she" in tone. 

 

Very interesting question!

[High prince of geeks he/him]

If Nighblood was held by somebody pure of heart, but viewed swords as feminine, would he still be a guy. Basically is Nighblood's gender locked?

[Melaan]

Interesting. I know in Warbreaker they refer to it as male, but when i first read it I always thought the voice pattern sounded more feminine, teasing, eager to please, "Aren't you proud of me?' sort of thing.

[Argent he/him]

Interesting. I know in Warbreaker they refer to it as male, but when i first read it I always thought the voice pattern sounded more feminine, teasing, eager to please, "Aren't you proud of me?' sort of thing.

 

This could pass for either feminine or childish, and Nightblood has been established to be morbidly playful.

 

I imagine he is, indeed, "gender locked." I feel it's pretty safe to bet that it was Vasher's and Shashara's (sub)conscious belief that the Awakened weapon should be a male that gave Nightblood his gender. And like so many, if not all, other things from his early hours?days?years? he is unable to change this. We had a WoB recently that explained why Nightblood keeps "thinking" that Shashara is alive and that Vasher and Denth - VaraTreledees - are still friends, and it's essentially because Nightblood's first moments of "life" are practically immutable in his mind. Gender would probably be one of those things.

[Newan he/him]

We still don't know everything about how Nightblood was created.  Some people believe that at least one divine breath was used.  Maybe it was just one divine breath (along with a bunch of normal breaths) but that divine breath came from a dude.  

[killersquirrel59 he/him]

I agree that it is likely tied into the cognitive nature of Nightblood. And since Cognitive Identity is largely based on how a thing is seen in the material world, Nightblood as a thing of destruction, justice, war and death is quite definitely male. If cultural stereotypes had been different on Nalthis, perhaps so would Nightblood. However, once created, it is very unlikely its Cognitive Identity would undergo such a massive change even if moved to a society of warrior women. Remember how hard it is to change the identity of a simple stick.