(theory) Shardplate is solid Stormlight

[signspace13 he/him]

The theory is rather simple, Shardplate is made of stormlight, made by the Radiants who use it but only available after a certain oath. I have a few pieces of evidence that support this theory, the first and in my opinion strongest, is that you can regrow shard plate using Stormlight, you can grow an entire set of plate from one piece of armour:

 

 

The Way of Kings- Chapter 69

 

It would take days to regrow Dalinar’s own gauntlet. Longer, if the Parshendi tried to grow a full suit from the one he had left. They would fail, so long as Dalinar’s armorers fed Stormlight to his suit. The abandoned gauntlet would degrade and crumble to dust, a new one growing for Dalinar.

 

 

This quote also shows that there can be only one complete set of each set of Shardplate. This supports the idea that each Radiant made their own plate, and that it is individual supports this again, it would probably also be able to reform into different kinds of armour depending on the radiant's wishes.

 

The second piece of evidence that supports this is from Dalinar's visions, he sees a Knight's helm just appear, or at least notices that it wasn't there and then it was, It is possible that the Knight just breathed it in converting it back to Stormlight before approaching, and then breathing it back out forming it back into a helm.

 

 

 

The way of Kings- Chapter 19

 

The female Shardbearer turned to Dalinar. She had her helm on now. When had she put it on?

 

 

 

With those two things established on with the theory, after a Radiant swears a certain oath, he or she is then told by their spren to breath in an exorbitant amount of stormlight, this will eventually burst out of them guided by their spren and will be formed into the plate. The plate would then remain that way permanently, the Knight would not be able to or ever want to hold that much stormlight ever again (in my imagination it is not a pleasant experience). I say above that the Knight breathed in her, helm banishing it, yes that would be possible as it is not that much Stormlight, but the whole suit is a completely different beast. 

 

In the chapter 69 quote it says it takes days to regrow even a gauntlet, that seems awfully in efficient, well of course it is, it isn't the way it was designed to happen. Shardplate on a Radiant would regenerate from the stormlight that leaks from the Radiant's body. In modern Roshar shard plate is powered by Gems like a fabrial, these gems were not there whit the Radiant's Shardplate, they were added as a substitute and are horribly inefficient. I say this as this was done to Shardblades also the gem was added so that a normal human could bond the blade.

 

We see Kaladin fuel Shardplate from his body in the duel, but it sucked all his stormlight this happened as it was not his specific set and followed the same rules as a gem fueling the plate.

 

This theory is a lot longer than I expected but if you read it all then thank you please reply and discuss feel free to tear it to shreds, I will be around to discuss.

 

 

[Patrick Star]

Do level 5 radiants leak stormlight? I'd think that they have perfect retention.

From what I understand, stormlight is just pure energy, and not actually of any single shard. This would make it a poor material for a radiant's armor. Fuel? Yes. Material? No.

[Aegolius.acadicus she/her]

I agree with you signspace13, I posted a similar theory several days back. 

@Patrick Star:  From what I understand Stromlight is pure energy, but we know there are different phases of magical energy.  Gas/Vapor, like Stormlight and Breaths, liquid in Shardpools, and solid like we see in Mistborn with the god metals.  So, if Stormlight was in a solid form it could be a material that could be crafted into Shardplate.