Breeze Posted June 8, 2023 Posted June 8, 2023 (lots of spoilers) Ok, I don't have any concrete proof, but the reason for my argument is that I refuse to believe that something that only requires 1000 breaths, and is relatively easy to create (with a wide perspective) could ascend to the spiritual realm and kill a god. There has to be another answer. if this could be done so easily, the 16 would have reacted somehow, instead of refusing to acknowledge the swords existence. So I thought about it, and came up with a possible theory; Nightblood is a dawnshard, specifically the dawnshard of destruction (I have another theory about what all 4 dawnshards are, but that is for another time.) You may say, "Oh but Shashara and Vasher made it with just breaths, and Vasher would not have killed shashara if it was a dawnshard, because he knew it could not be re-created." While that is all true, it can be thwarted with a simple fact. Vasher and Shashara did not know it was a dawnshard. "Oh but how would they have accidentally got ahold of one of the most powerful forces in the cosmere?" Think about it. The Shard that abides on Nalthis is the Shard of Endowment, whose intent is believed to be bestowing gifts and talents upon people. My theory is this: Endowments saw Shashara desperately trying to make a breakthrough about investing steel, likely in emotional distress because of how envious she is of Yesteel, after he invents ichor alcohol. She hits a roadblock unable to do anything, so Endowment, true to her Intent, decided to bestow her a gift, a dawnshard, which maybe she has held since the shattering, or maybe she found it later. Endowment places the shard in the sword. Shashara does not know this happened, and just believes she got this effect through investing the sword with 1000 measly breaths. Possible right? I believe it is the most possible reasoning. But it does make things kind of sad, because it means that vasher killed Shashara for nothing, as re-creating the sword would have been impossible. Anyway, that's my theory! I'm excited to hear what yall think!
alder24 Posted June 8, 2023 Posted June 8, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, Breeze said: (lots of spoilers) Ok, I don't have any concrete proof, but the reason for my argument is that I refuse to believe that something that only requires 1000 breaths, and is relatively easy to create (with a wide perspective) could ascend to the spiritual realm and kill a god. But he didn't do that. Nightblood cannot kill a god. He's too small for that and already too full. He can't kill a Shard. Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood. Rayse on the other hand had a bad day. But Rayse is a Vessel, who used to be a human. He represent only a marginal fraction of Shard's power. Spoiler Questioner Nightblood has more Investiture than any other being, right? Brandon Sanderson Not every other being, but definitely one of the most highly Invested individuals that we have seen. Questioner So Nightblood, he was used to wound Odium. Is Odium now weaker than he was before? Brandon Sanderson Not in a relevant way. Technically, yes. Not in a relevant way. The amount taken, compared to how much there is, is pretty small. And a whole bunch of what happened there was focused on the Vessel, not on Odium itself. Questioner Could Nightblood consume Odium? Brandon Sanderson Nightblood would get full before consuming even the smallest fraction amount of Odium. As you saw, Nightblood kind of got full in that instance. Actually, it was with the perpendicularity, it would be similar to that. So for those who are wondering, no, you can't stab Nightblood into the planet and absorb the planet. Nightblood is really dangerous, as we've seen, but we're not talking "absorb planets" dangerous. Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021) Moreover Nightblood didn't "ascend to the spiritual realm" whatever it means. He is like a Shardblade and exists in all three realms at once. Nightblood is essentially a god metal now. He is like a mini black hole piercing through the realms. So when Odium came and created that Vision for Taravangian (wherever it exists), Nightblood pierced through it and was there, as he is in CR and in SR at the same time. He holds a lot of investiture, he is the most invested object in Cosmere. But even 1000 Breaths alone would give similar results (of existing in all 3 realms at once) as Nightblood, Vivenna sword's proves this. So recreating Nightblood is already proven to be possible. Spoiler Kael_the_Adventurer Did Nightblood's Awakening transform it into a God Metal? Brandon Sanderson *hesitant* Yes, you could say that. Adam Horne Was that a permanent change, or was that just while... Brandon Sanderson You can argue that Nightblood is a God Metal. Is he? You could argue otherwise as well. How about that? YouTube Spoiler Stream 4 (June 16, 2022) Spoiler Chaos Is atium Invested? Brandon Sanderson Is atium Invested? Atium is Investiture distilled into the Physical Realm, right? So is electricity electric? Or is it-- Chaos Well I think the question Sharders had was if it's Invested, how can people Push and Pull on it. That was the struggle. Brandon Sanderson Atium breaks a lot of rules, in the same way that you will see other things break rules. Atium plays weirdly. When you get distilled Investiture, you're starting like-- My kind of rule for myself is it's kind of like when you start going on the quantum level, the rules just start playing weirdly. Because it's like, what Realm does atium exist in-- is another thing. Because-- Pure Investiture like that is like a mini black hole, right? It's like existing in three Realms at once. Kind of, and things like that... There's lots of weirdness. The writerly answer is there is lots of weirdness because when I built atium, I didn't have the rest of the cosmere built, right? And so it breaks a lot of rules that I later set up that everything else has to follow, right? So the writerly answer is we just have to accept that atium and lerasium and some of these other distilled Investiture things are going to play very weirdly with the magic systems. But that's okay. Nightblood will too, and some of these things that were built even after the cosmere was coming together. Salt Lake City signing (Dec. 16, 2017) 9 hours ago, Breeze said: So I thought about it, and came up with a possible theory; Nightblood is a dawnshard, specifically the dawnshard of destruction (I have another theory about what all 4 dawnshards are, but that is for another time.) I think if Nightblood was a Dawnshard he would be able to destroy the whole planet or even a Shard. Dawnshards are ridiculously powerful. One destroyed a planet, 4 destroyed a god. A single Dawnshard with that Awakening would likely be able to seriously mess up a Shard, Shatter it or fully destroy. But Odium barely even felt Nightblood and Nightblood can't destroy a planet. I think the Dawnshard Destroy would be too close to the existing one that is Change. That's why I don't think this Dawnshard exists as there is already one like that. There are 4 Dawnshards, each should fit to Intents of 4 Shards, more or less, 2 Dawnshards doing the same is too much, there isn't enough Shards for that. Nightblood is like a Returned on steroids. Returned needs to feed his Divine Breath otherwise it will feed with itself, Nightblood does the same, he needs to feed himself with investiture but he has no restrain, he constantly grasps for any investiture he can find and pulls it into himself until he gets full. That's the nature of the Endowment magic system, it needs to be feeded with investiture. Nightblood is just an extreme example. While there were some shenanigans during his creation, as he is right now I don't think he is any different from what we know about him. Edited June 8, 2023 by alder24 2
Underwater_Worldhopper he/him Posted June 11, 2023 Posted June 11, 2023 Is it weird that I also thought of this exact theory a few months ago? I didn't exactly come up with it, but I made these exact connections. It was on the Arcanum, when I saw this WoB: Spoiler SoupOrMan692 I'd like to solve the puzzle. "Unite Them with Passion to Destroy Evil and make Positive Change." Did I do the thing? Brandon Sanderson RAFO. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/444/#e14377 Looking at this, new to the forums, I was starstruck. It made so much sense. Of course Nightblood would be a Dawnshard, just because of how powerful it is. And then I realised a Dawnshard would be far more powerful than anything Nightblood can do. It was a cool idea, but it just isn't the case unless the Dawnshard is dormant in some way, and it isn't actually being used in any capacity beyond giving it the ability. How Vasher or Shashara would have gotten their hands on a Dawnshard, I couldn't guess. It seems very unlikely to me that Endowment would give someone a whole Dawmshard unless it was for a very, very specific reason. Nightblood is strong, yes, but he can't even affect a Shard in any quantifiable capacity. That can't be the case for a Dawnshard, which was 25% of the weapon that Shattered a being exactly 16 times more powerful than any Shard that exists right now. Especially if it was such a destructive Intent. Nightblood has a power threshold which he cannot cross. On 08/06/2023 at 1:35 PM, alder24 said: I think the Dawnshard Destroy would be too close to the existing one that is Change. That's why I don't think this Dawnshard exists as there is already one like that. There are 4 Dawnshards, each should fit to Intents of 4 Shards, more or less, 2 Dawnshards doing the same is too much, there isn't enough Shards for that. I disagree. There was a theory that if there's one Command that's specifically about Positive Change, then the whole structure could be something like this: Something from Nothing; Creation Something to Something Better; Positive Change. Nothing from Something; Destruction Something that stays the Same; Stasis Personally, I like this idea a lot, and Destruction wouldn't be that similar to Positive Change.
alder24 Posted June 11, 2023 Posted June 11, 2023 15 minutes ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said: I disagree. There was a theory that if there's one Command that's specifically about Positive Change, then the whole structure could be something like this: Something from Nothing; Creation Something to Something Better; Positive Change. Nothing from Something; Destruction Something that stays the Same; Stasis Personally, I like this idea a lot, and Destruction wouldn't be that similar to Positive Change. Yes, that's one theory. But there are many others. So many. We suspect 1 Dawnshard corresponds to 4 Shards, just like on the Allomantic table. I don't see 8 Shards that could fit to 2 Dawnshards that are more or less about change (positive or negative). We clearly has something about emotions (Odium, Devotion, Valor, Mercy, Whimsy, Ambition), binding (Honor, Dominion, Autonomy, Ambition), change (Ruin, Cultivation, Invention, Preservation, Endowment) - this is not the theory, I don't remember, I didn't make it, don't try to criticize any categorization done by me here, I'm just listing some similarities an hour after midnight, to support my words. But that's just my opinion, I know about this theory written by you, I just don't feel it, because for me Shards don't fit. It sounds nice, yes, categorization is very clear and logical.
Underwater_Worldhopper he/him Posted June 11, 2023 Posted June 11, 2023 2 minutes ago, alder24 said: Yes, that's one theory. But there are many others. So many. We suspect 1 Dawnshard corresponds to 4 Shards, just like on the Allomantic table. I don't see 8 Shards that could fit to 2 Dawnshards that are more or less about change (positive or negative). We clearly has something about emotions (Odium, Devotion, Valor, Mercy, Whimsy, Ambition), binding (Honor, Dominion, Autonomy, Ambition), change (Ruin, Cultivation, Invention, Preservation, Endowment) - this is not the theory, I don't remember, I didn't make it, don't try to criticize any categorization done by me here, I'm just listing some similarities an hour after midnight, to support my words. But that's just my opinion, I know about this theory written by you, I just don't feel it, because for me Shards don't fit. It sounds nice, yes, categorization is very clear and logical. What turns me off of the 'Shards correspond to the Dawnshards' theory is that the Shards could have had different Intents, or been broken down into a number other than 16
alder24 Posted June 11, 2023 Posted June 11, 2023 Just now, Underwater_Worldhopper said: What turns me off of the 'Shards correspond to the Dawnshards' theory is that the Shards could have had different Intents, or been broken down into a number other than 16 We don't know what circumstances could change Intents or number of Shards. But we do know that Dawnshards are the remnants of the weapon that Shattered Adonalsium and that original weapon no longer exists - Shattering might have changed Dawnshards to those we don't know today. Basically we know too little about the Shattering to say anything specific. Spoiler imriel452 My request for Brandon was "for information on the current status of the weapon that was used to kill Adonalsium, including the current possessor". Brandon Sanderson The weapon was expended, and no longer exists in its original form. General Signed Books 2016 (Feb. 25, 2016) Spoiler Valhalla So, you talked about a weapon made by the enemies of Adonalsium, and you said it doesn't exist in it's original form. Do any remnants of it still exist in the Physical Realm? Brandon Sanderson Yes. Valhalla Have we seen any of those remnants on-screen? Brandon Sanderson *pause* RAFO. In current continuity (and people would know this), Hoid's immortality comes from this. People who have read Dragonsteel know that. Idaho Falls signing (July 21, 2018) Spoiler Brandon Sanderson Hoid was a Dawnshard at some point in the deep past, and the reason he (even still) cannot physically harm people, or even eat meat, is related to the changes this made to his spirit. (Consider this the same fundamental principle as savanthood.) The few of you who have read Dragonsteel know that him being a Dawnshard was also the source of his immortality in that book, though the terms were different back then. (The word Dawnshard was never mentioned, for example--though the primary story of Dragonsteel (which is no longer canon) was about several people who unwittingly become Dawnshards.) And a preemptive RAFO to all questions on this point. Dawnshard Annotations (Nov. 6, 2020) 1
Underwater_Worldhopper he/him Posted June 11, 2023 Posted June 11, 2023 1 minute ago, alder24 said: We don't know what circumstances could change Intents or number of Shards. But we do know that Dawnshards are the remnants of the weapon that Shattered Adonalsium and that original weapon no longer exists - Shattering might have changed Dawnshards to those we don't know today. Basically we know too little about the Shattering to say anything specific. True, guess we'll have to wait
Breeze Posted June 12, 2023 Author Posted June 12, 2023 On 6/8/2023 at 6:35 AM, alder24 said: But he didn't do that. Nightblood cannot kill a god. He's too small for that and already too full. He can't kill a Shard. Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood. Rayse on the other hand had a bad day. But Rayse is a Vessel, who used to be a human. He represent only a marginal fraction of Shard's power. Reveal hidden contents Questioner Nightblood has more Investiture than any other being, right? Brandon Sanderson Not every other being, but definitely one of the most highly Invested individuals that we have seen. Questioner So Nightblood, he was used to wound Odium. Is Odium now weaker than he was before? Brandon Sanderson Not in a relevant way. Technically, yes. Not in a relevant way. The amount taken, compared to how much there is, is pretty small. And a whole bunch of what happened there was focused on the Vessel, not on Odium itself. Questioner Could Nightblood consume Odium? Brandon Sanderson Nightblood would get full before consuming even the smallest fraction amount of Odium. As you saw, Nightblood kind of got full in that instance. Actually, it was with the perpendicularity, it would be similar to that. So for those who are wondering, no, you can't stab Nightblood into the planet and absorb the planet. Nightblood is really dangerous, as we've seen, but we're not talking "absorb planets" dangerous. Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021) Moreover Nightblood didn't "ascend to the spiritual realm" whatever it means. He is like a Shardblade and exists in all three realms at once. Nightblood is essentially a god metal now. He is like a mini black hole piercing through the realms. So when Odium came and created that Vision for Taravangian (wherever it exists), Nightblood pierced through it and was there, as he is in CR and in SR at the same time. He holds a lot of investiture, he is the most invested object in Cosmere. But even 1000 Breaths alone would give similar results (of existing in all 3 realms at once) as Nightblood, Vivenna sword's proves this. So recreating Nightblood is already proven to be possible. Reveal hidden contents Kael_the_Adventurer Did Nightblood's Awakening transform it into a God Metal? Brandon Sanderson *hesitant* Yes, you could say that. Adam Horne Was that a permanent change, or was that just while... Brandon Sanderson You can argue that Nightblood is a God Metal. Is he? You could argue otherwise as well. How about that? YouTube Spoiler Stream 4 (June 16, 2022) Reveal hidden contents Chaos Is atium Invested? Brandon Sanderson Is atium Invested? Atium is Investiture distilled into the Physical Realm, right? So is electricity electric? Or is it-- Chaos Well I think the question Sharders had was if it's Invested, how can people Push and Pull on it. That was the struggle. Brandon Sanderson Atium breaks a lot of rules, in the same way that you will see other things break rules. Atium plays weirdly. When you get distilled Investiture, you're starting like-- My kind of rule for myself is it's kind of like when you start going on the quantum level, the rules just start playing weirdly. Because it's like, what Realm does atium exist in-- is another thing. Because-- Pure Investiture like that is like a mini black hole, right? It's like existing in three Realms at once. Kind of, and things like that... There's lots of weirdness. The writerly answer is there is lots of weirdness because when I built atium, I didn't have the rest of the cosmere built, right? And so it breaks a lot of rules that I later set up that everything else has to follow, right? So the writerly answer is we just have to accept that atium and lerasium and some of these other distilled Investiture things are going to play very weirdly with the magic systems. But that's okay. Nightblood will too, and some of these things that were built even after the cosmere was coming together. Salt Lake City signing (Dec. 16, 2017) I think if Nightblood was a Dawnshard he would be able to destroy the whole planet or even a Shard. Dawnshards are ridiculously powerful. One destroyed a planet, 4 destroyed a god. A single Dawnshard with that Awakening would likely be able to seriously mess up a Shard, Shatter it or fully destroy. But Odium barely even felt Nightblood and Nightblood can't destroy a planet. I think the Dawnshard Destroy would be too close to the existing one that is Change. That's why I don't think this Dawnshard exists as there is already one like that. There are 4 Dawnshards, each should fit to Intents of 4 Shards, more or less, 2 Dawnshards doing the same is too much, there isn't enough Shards for that. Nightblood is like a Returned on steroids. Returned needs to feed his Divine Breath otherwise it will feed with itself, Nightblood does the same, he needs to feed himself with investiture but he has no restrain, he constantly grasps for any investiture he can find and pulls it into himself until he gets full. That's the nature of the Endowment magic system, it needs to be feeded with investiture. Nightblood is just an extreme example. While there were some shenanigans during his creation, as he is right now I don't think he is any different from what we know about him. I loved your response, but I have just a few details that I think disprove your arguments: 1. You said that "Nightblood cannot kill a god. He's too small for that and already too full. He can't kill a Shard. Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood." While this is understandable, I think the most important part is the "almost". "Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood". Sure Nightblood barely scratched Odium, but this still has huge implications. NIghtblood was able to damage a Shard. He subtracted from infinity! This means that, even if it took 1000 years of just straight stabbing a shard, Nightblood could completely destroy one! It is stated somewhere in Stormlight that Shards pay no heed or worry about the passage of time, as they are infinite beings. This means that to them, there would be little apparent difference between a weapon that could kill a shard over 1000 years, and one that could kill a Shard instantly. 2.You said that if Nightblood was a Dawnshard he would be able to destroy the whole planet or even a Shard. We have seen in the past the enormous power that dawnshards have, and compared to that Nightblood is extremely weak, but I think this is explained by this quote from the Dawnshard novella: The most powerful forms of Surgebinding transcend traditional mortal understanding. All their greatest applications require Intent and a Command. Demands on a level no person could ever manage alone. To make such Commands, one must have the reasoning—the breadth of understanding—of a deity ” —Nikliasorm This quote says that all the Dawnshards greatest and most powerful applications can only be accessed by someone who is basically a deity. As Nightblood is just wielded by mortals in all the books he appears, this explains why his power is so weak, compared to that of a Dawnshard in the past. He is powerful, but to access the true, world destroying type power, one needs a wider understanding than any of Nightbloods wielders have had yet.
Underwater_Worldhopper he/him Posted June 12, 2023 Posted June 12, 2023 4 hours ago, Breeze said: I loved your response, but I have just a few details that I think disprove your arguments: 1. You said that "Nightblood cannot kill a god. He's too small for that and already too full. He can't kill a Shard. Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood." While this is understandable, I think the most important part is the "almost". "Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood". Sure Nightblood barely scratched Odium, but this still has huge implications. NIghtblood was able to damage a Shard. He subtracted from infinity! This means that, even if it took 1000 years of just straight stabbing a shard, Nightblood could completely destroy one! It is stated somewhere in Stormlight that Shards pay no heed or worry about the passage of time, as they are infinite beings. This means that to them, there would be little apparent difference between a weapon that could kill a shard over 1000 years, and one that could kill a Shard instantly. Technically, the black smoke Nightblood leaks is Investiture it absorbed returning to its Shard. He isn't subtracting so much as he is borrowing. And Shards do pay attention to time, especially something like a thousand years. They just think very quickly, I believe the exact quote is "Moments pass like years". Quote 2.You said that if Nightblood was a Dawnshard he would be able to destroy the whole planet or even a Shard. We have seen in the past the enormous power that dawnshards have, and compared to that Nightblood is extremely weak, but I think this is explained by this quote from the Dawnshard novella: The most powerful forms of Surgebinding transcend traditional mortal understanding. All their greatest applications require Intent and a Command. Demands on a level no person could ever manage alone. To make such Commands, one must have the reasoning—the breadth of understanding—of a deity ” —Nikliasorm This quote says that all the Dawnshards greatest and most powerful applications can only be accessed by someone who is basically a deity. As Nightblood is just wielded by mortals in all the books he appears, this explains why his power is so weak, compared to that of a Dawnshard in the past. He is powerful, but to access the true, world destroying type power, one needs a wider understanding than any of Nightbloods wielders have had yet. That's a bit of a misinterpretation. Nikli is talking about Surgebinding, not a Dawnshard. He says that the more powerful applications of Surgebinding are only possible if you have "the reasoning—the breadth of understanding—of a deity". The Dawnshard is the breadth of understanding, which is why Nikli doesn't want Rysn to get ahold of the Dawnshard. If she becomes a Surgbinder, she can then access those more powerful applications, which we've seen can destroy entire planets.
alder24 Posted June 12, 2023 Posted June 12, 2023 8 hours ago, Breeze said: I loved your response, but I have just a few details that I think disprove your arguments: 1. You said that "Nightblood cannot kill a god. He's too small for that and already too full. He can't kill a Shard. Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood." While this is understandable, I think the most important part is the "almost". "Odium was almost untouched by Nightblood". Sure Nightblood barely scratched Odium, but this still has huge implications. NIghtblood was able to damage a Shard. He subtracted from infinity! This means that, even if it took 1000 years of just straight stabbing a shard, Nightblood could completely destroy one! It is stated somewhere in Stormlight that Shards pay no heed or worry about the passage of time, as they are infinite beings. This means that to them, there would be little apparent difference between a weapon that could kill a shard over 1000 years, and one that could kill a Shard instantly. It isn't possible. Nightblood killed Rayse, the Vessel, not the Shard. Nightblood is already full, he can't hold that amount of investiture. Because of laws of thermodynamics, investiture, like energy, can't be destroyed, even if Nightblood command is to destroy. He doesn't destroy investiture. He corrupts it, and then leaks it, returning it back to SR. Nightblood can't consume a Shard, because everything he consumes will return back to SR and to that Shard eventually. Moreover his "mouth" isn't wide enough to consume even a noticeable fraction of Shard's power - for that Shard it would be like a fed mosquito was trying to suck even more blood - the amount of blood you lose is insignificant and unmeasurable. Even with infinite amount of time Nightblood won’t destroy a Shard. Then there is a problem with Shard's behavior. Shard's power is everywhere. He isn't in any specific place. Vessel's mind provides a focus to that power, that can be in a specific place. That's what happened to Rayse - his mind was where Taravangian was, but Shard itself was everywhere at the same time. Nightblood killed the Vessel, but didn't touch that Shard. For a moment, the power's own mind was there, talking to Taravangian. But if Taravangian didn't Ascend, it's likely that the power and the mind of that power would just go away. So you can't stick Nightblood and hold it infinitely in a Shard, because it would just retract. Likely - that is speculation on my part. I think so because Shards are shown to have some limited mind and can make decisions, and because the power left alone would eventually develop a full sentience. That's enough for infinite power to just avoid Nightblood. And on top of that we have WoBs literally saying that Shard's power can't be killed and that Nightblood can't consume the whole Shard. So no, even with infinite time, Nightblood won't kill a Shard. But there is also math: infinity - 1 = infinity. Whatever you subtract from infinity it is still equal infinity. Spoiler lucagreene18 If Szeth were to have drawn Nightblood immediately after he had consumed Rayse, would he still have drained Szeth's Stormlight? As it said he seemed like he had eaten as much as he could. Brandon Sanderson At that point, Nightblood had entered into essentially a food coma... Well, no, the food coma one came when he was drawing from the perpendicularity. I don't think he was in food coma mode at that point. I think that he could still have drawn more at that point, I'd have to go look at exactly what I wrote, if I'd put him into food coma mode or not. It is possible. This is one of the things I wanted to answer with the book. A lot of people have been theorizing, could Nightblood eat an entire Shard? And indeed, Nightblood could not eat an entire Shard. That is not within his capability. In fact, one of the reasons that he leaks Investiture is: he's too stuffed full of it. There is more Investiture in the sword Nightblood than it can actually hold, it's supersaturated. And it leaks Investiture (that it's done some weird things to). But it is constantly hungry for more and constantly leaks it, but it definitely can get full for a time, and it could not eat an entire Shard. I did see questions about that from people floating around, and it's something I'd been meaning to get to eventually. Nightblood is definitely relevant to things that are happening in the Cosmere, but it is not as simple as grabbing the sword, sticking it into a Shard, and defeating the Shard, unfortunately. Though, as you see in this book, there are reasons for a Shard to still be afraid of Nightblood. It didn't destroy Odium, but Rayse still really had a bad time. YouTube Spoiler Stream 1 (Dec. 17, 2020) Spoiler Questioner Is Nightblood more or less susceptible to damage and/or death when he's satiated on Investiture? Brandon Sanderson Satiated, he's much less dangerous. More susceptible, I would say by technicality, yes. When he's full, it's gonna be harder for him to pull in things, so all sorts of things could happen. So yes. But it's not that he's weaker, it's not like the metal is easier to break or bend, it's more that he's not as likely to suck your soul. Questioner So he behaves more like a regular sword. Brandon Sanderson Yeah, a little bit more. Still, for human levels of Investiture, still really dangerous to touch him. He's satiated, but if he's at 100%, and the amount of you he could eat represents 0.001%, the moment a little of that wears off, you're gone. So still would not be picking him up in most cases, just out of that, "Oh! He got a little hungry again!" But in terms of larger, grand scale Shard stuff, much safer to handle. Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021) Spoiler Questioner For Adonalsium to create the universe, therefore he must have infinite power to create an infinitely sized universe. Therefore, infinity divided by sixteen is equal to infinity. Therefore, why don't the Shards have infinite power, which they clearly don't, because they can be killed? Brandon Sanderson The power can't be killed. The entity controlling the power can. Infinite power existing and being able to access the infinite power are different things, and a finite mind, even added to a very powerful sense of power, isn't necessarily able to tap all of that. Questioner What about Ruin and Preservation in Well of Ascension? We hear about Ruin using some of its power. Therefore, it must not have infinite power, because if you minus something from infinity, it's still infinity... Brandon Sanderson So, infinite power is changing forms. It's not going anywhere, right? So, the Investiture, the power, is becoming energy, which is doing work, which is being released back into the system. Nothing's growing or shrinking. It is simply changing forms, and potential energy is becoming kinetic. Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017) 9 hours ago, Breeze said: 2.You said that if Nightblood was a Dawnshard he would be able to destroy the whole planet or even a Shard. We have seen in the past the enormous power that dawnshards have, and compared to that Nightblood is extremely weak, but I think this is explained by this quote from the Dawnshard novella: The most powerful forms of Surgebinding transcend traditional mortal understanding. All their greatest applications require Intent and a Command. Demands on a level no person could ever manage alone. To make such Commands, one must have the reasoning—the breadth of understanding—of a deity ” —Nikliasorm This quote says that all the Dawnshards greatest and most powerful applications can only be accessed by someone who is basically a deity. As Nightblood is just wielded by mortals in all the books he appears, this explains why his power is so weak, compared to that of a Dawnshard in the past. He is powerful, but to access the true, world destroying type power, one needs a wider understanding than any of Nightbloods wielders have had yet. That's Nikliasorm talking about Dawnshards. Dawnshards are The Command. They are the Demand. They grant that reasoning of a deity, allowing the person holding a Dawnshard to make such Command. It's not that only gods can access that power (Adonalsium was somehow Shattered by people who weren't gods themself), it's that a person holding a Dawnshard has a mind so expanded that they can understand Dawnshard's Command. Dawnshards are the will of a god, they give the reasoning of a deity and don't need a god to achieve their full potential: Quote The Dawnshards are Commands, Rysn. The will of a god. - Nikliasorm to Rysn I don't have Dawnshard novella to quote it, but you should read that full quote because it was explained there what it means. Therefore no again, Nightblood isn't a Dawnshard, because Nightblood as a Dawnshard would have that understanding of a deity, and a form of Surgebinding (Awakened command to destroy evil), which would allow him to destroy a planet and a Shard without any effort.
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