Localconfusi0n Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 So, we all know that Kaladin healed from being cut with a Honorblade, but does that mean he can also heal from a cut by a regular Shardblade or that since an Honorblade is different he can only heal from that? I think that I remember reading a WoB that could be interpretted to mean that he cant heal from a regular Shardblade cut, but I might be interrpretting it wrong or maybe i didnt actually read that. So any ideas?
Kurkistan he/him Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) There's no reason as of yet for us to think that the two types of Blades cause different types of wounds. I don't recall any such WoB. We had from Szeth in WoK's prologue that he couldn't use Stormlight to heal from a Shadblade cut, but apparently that's just because Szeth is all fake and whatnot, if we look at Syl's comments and the Taravangian interlude. EDIT: Also, Brandon does not make a point of distinguishing between the two: "honorblades are shardblades" Edited June 13, 2014 by Kurkistan
Moogle Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 Szeth says he can't use it to heal from his wounds, which is likely because he can't use Stormlight that efficiently. Kaladin uses a lot of Stormlight to heal his wound, and it's established that Szeth can't hold as much as Kaladin due to his Honorblade constantly eating his Stormlight. 1
hoser he/him Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 This is certainly a possibility. But there are others. Szeth says he can't use it to heal from his wounds, which is likely because he can't use Stormlight that efficiently. Kaladin uses a lot of Stormlight to heal his wound, and it's established that Szeth can't hold as much as Kaladin due to his Honorblade constantly eating his Stormlight. The struggle I have with this is that we don't really know the relative capacity. At third Oath Kaladin is referred to as being much brighter, but at second oath, not so much. When he heals at the king's palace in the warcamp, he is not fully charged, IIRC. It seems awkward for Szeth not be able to heal shardblade wounds unless he is fully charged, but not have it limited by charging in Kaladin's case. This discussion seems to be leading to a unified shardhealing theory and special cases kind of ruin it, IMO. The other possibilities I see are: Szeth was told that it can't be healed, but he has never tried it and it does heal it. I don't like this one. The Stone Shamans have had these things for centuries to millenia and would have had experience. They seem to have trusted Szeth w/all the information and training they had. The infusing and shardhealing are abilities of the Nahel surgebinders. They mimic the abilities of the Heralds. Heralds could have an independent shardhealing ability that doesn't come from the Honorblades (there is WoB that Heralds are special w/out the blades and they don't seem to age). So when a non-Herald weilds an Honorblade, no shardhealing. This is interesting. An inherent Heraldic shardhealing seems either synergistic or redundant with the relive on death ability they already have. I don't know if this makes sense. The Heralds can't shardheal even with an Honorblade. I don't like this one either, as the Heralds seem like they should be more powerful than single Radiants. 1
Localconfusi0n Posted June 13, 2014 Author Posted June 13, 2014 Q: What about Kaladin getting sliced with the Shardblade and then being able to rejuvenate. A: That is a clue for what is going on with Szeth and his understanding of Shardblades and the Shardblade he has. Q: Which is an Honorblade, right? A: I can't say, but Szeth says in book one you can't heal a Shardblade wound with Stormlight. There are other very big but subtle discrepancies between what Szeth does and what Kaladin does I think that this is what i was refering to, but it could have been another quote. I see when Brandon says there are very big but subtle discrepancies between what szeth does and what kaladin does as him refering to the difference between their powers, i.e. kaladin having a Nahel bond and szeth having an Honorblade. Or it could be as hoser suggested and Heralds/Honorblade wielders cannot heal from Shardblade/Honorblade wounds.
Terisen he/him Posted June 13, 2014 Posted June 13, 2014 The infusing and shardhealing are abilities of the Nahel surgebinders. They mimic the abilities of the Heralds. Heralds could have an independent shardhealing ability that doesn't come from the Honorblades (there is WoB that Heralds are special w/out the blades and they don't seem to age). So when a non-Herald weilds an Honorblade, no shardhealing. This is interesting. An inherent Heraldic shardhealing seems either synergistic or redundant with the relive on death ability they already have. I don't know if this makes sense. This makes a lot of sense to me. Stormlight is "shaped" into the surges by the bond differently for each order. This could be a global ability the spren have mimicked and are able to "shape" the Stormlight into healing the wound. The Heralds have to be able to heal these types of wounds, in my mind, otherwise they're once again worse off than the Radiants and that doesn't sit right with me.
Fifth of Daybreak he/him Posted June 14, 2014 Posted June 14, 2014 My personal thought is that Kaladin is special in his ability. He can direct the stormlight to heal that effectively because of his training as a surgeon. His cognitive definition of himself as a healer is what enhances his ability to recover. I know it's a shaky theory.
Localconfusi0n Posted June 14, 2014 Author Posted June 14, 2014 I actually really like that theory, and it kind of makes sense as Brandon has repeatedly stated that your belief about yourself and such things as that affect a magic system a lot. I still kind of hope that all Radiants can do it though as that would be an extreme benefit to the KR.
Jaaxter he/him Posted June 14, 2014 Posted June 14, 2014 (edited) Shardblades and Honorblades are not really differentiated between, as was stated by Kurkistan. I can't provide a citation at this point, but I think Brandon pretty clearly said that the healing abilities of Stormlight are limited by what the wielder believes about him or herself. Hence why Kaladin cannot heal his slave brand- he sees it as part of himself. In sharp contrast is the Lopen, who is regrowing his freaking arm because he never really accepted that he was a cripple. Szeth couldn't heal from a Shardblade wound for the simple reason that he didn't think it was possible. Hoser brings up an interesting point- why wouldn't the Stone Shamans tell him the full capabilities of the blade? Well, they clearly didn't. That said, they probably didn't do a lot of experimenting with cutting on people with Honorblades. They may not have discovered it, themselves. When Luke sees his X-Wing rising out of the swamps of Dagobah, he says he didn't think it was possible. Yoda tells him, "That is why you fail." Same concept here, which seems to be a common one in fantasy fiction. Easy example- Perrin deflecting balefire in Wheel of Time because he believes it is "just another weave." Edited June 14, 2014 by Jaaxter 1
Localconfusi0n Posted June 14, 2014 Author Posted June 14, 2014 Shardblades and Honorblades are not really differentiated between, as was stated by Kurkistan. I can't provide a citation at this point, but I think Brandon pretty clearly said that the healing abilities of Stormlight are limited by what the wielder believes about him or herself. I know Brandon constantly says belief is a huge factor in magic systems, but a Shardblade is a pretty devistating wound, and maybe it can only be healed in certain situations, such as when it is an Honorblade cut rather than a Shardblade cut. I know there isnt a huge distinction between Honorblades and Shardblades, however ther is bound tp be some differences since the Spren just copied the Honorblades. All I'm saying is that its possible that being able to heal from one and not the other might be one such difference.
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