Sheathing the Sword

[Joe ST he/him]

So, after a quick reread of Warbreaker, I thought of an interesting idea. According to Vasher there's 4 types of Investure:

• Awakening takes breaths to do things but can be retrieved (the color cannot)
  
• Lifeless consume breath(s) to reanimate things
  
• Returning consume breaths to stay animated
  
• Nightblood consumes breaths when unsheathed but is still 'sentient' and still influences when sheathed
  

So maybe Nightblood is 'animating' when unsheathed (creating the smokey stuff). But the really interesting thing is the scabbard. It stops the sword from consuming breaths. I was wondering if the same could be applied to Returned, removing the necessity of the weekly breath.

[Musicspren he/him]

Lightsong, you know you can change your appearance? We need you to shrink so you're less than a meter tall. And you need to be really thin, so you'll fit in a scabbard. We'll drop fruit down to you periodically. But you won't need more Breath this way. If you get bored, Allmother suggests we tie the scabbard to a squirrel and say "Almond Grass."

In all (okay, at least somewhat more) seriousness, Nightblood may only draw Breath when he's in contact with someone. The scabbard could just be a way to keep Nightblood convenient (and safe) without Vasher touching him physically.

[Aeshdan he/him]

I think that the sheath blocks Nightblood's power to destroy things. Since he isn't executing his command when Blocked, he doesn't need breath. So i don't think this would work with Returned, at least not very well.

I suspect it would put them in a coma until you took off whatever you put on them.

[fiveAM he/him]

It could also be a part of Nightblood's program to not activate when inside the sheathe rather than the sheathe having special functions on its own.

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

To clarify: Lifeless don't consume a breath. They're just so "sticky" that you can't get their breath out of them again. The breath isn't consumed the same way it is for Returned or Nightblood.

[Aeshdan he/him]

The real question is whether the sword was part of Nightblood or created separately. If Vasher/Glorysinger created the Sheath after Nightblood was made, then that means that Vasher knows how to block the absorption of Breaths. If the sheath is part of Nightblood, created with him, then it is quite probable that only Nightblood can be blocked in this way.

[nikomis he/him]

May I just mention that my first read of this topic made me link Warbreaker with WoT?

"Sheathing the Sword" being a sword technique and metaphor Lan teaches Rand early on.

[Joe ST he/him]

May I just mention that my first read of this topic made me link Warbreaker with WoT?

"Sheathing the Sword" being a sword technique and metaphor Lan teaches Rand early on.

That was the idea ¬.¬ lol

[nikomis he/him]

That was the idea ¬.¬ lol

Then I'm glad it didn't go over my head! (Also I'm still only near the beginning of WoT)

[KChan she/her]

I totally thought the same thing. XD

My interpretation of it was always that Nightblood, when sheathed, was in a functionally "dormant" state and thus didn't require Breaths. When drawn, however, that's when a weapon becomes "active" and, in this case, is when Nightblood would be consuming Breaths in order to do things. After all, a sheathed sword isn't good for much, except as a bludgeoning weapon.

Besides, anyone smart enough to create Nightblood in the first place would probably be smart enough to make it so that he's not constantly drawing Breaths every second of every day.

[FaeMofo]

'A sheathed sword=a blunt weapon'

I've only read warbreaker twice but doesn't Nightblood effictevely stab many people in the chest even when he's sheathed, e.g. When he's stolen near the beginning of the book, Vasher looks down an alley and sees Nightblood protruding from a mans chest while it's sheathed, the only difference being that the clasp on the sheath is undone.

[Straff Venture he/him]

I know this is ultra late, but I'm glad to see another mention (albeit indirectly) that biochromatic manifestations that are sentient expend breath because of their sentience.