Goodreads Interview and 3 Types of Shardblades Question (WoR spoilers)

[hoser]

In the Goodreads interview discussed here, Brandon provided the following answer:
 

* You've said that there are three types of Blades in The Stormlight Archive. We've seen "dead" Shardblades, Honorblades - is the third type the "living spren" Shardblades, or is there another type we haven't seen?
...

Nightblood is a very unique kind of Shardblade, but IS a Shardblade.

 

 

The quote from the interview database says that there were three different kinds of Shardblades in tWoK. 

 

mycoltbug

Is there any ramifications to the holder of a shard blade for using a blade in a manner that it wasn't intended?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on the type of Shardblade. (You have seen three different kinds in TWoK.) For most, no. For some, most certainly.

Did we see Nightblood in tWok?  Are kinds different from types?

 

If not, then have we learned anything about the three kinds, or were we just totally trolled?

I realize that much of the interest in the original quote was about figuring out whether Szeth had Jezrien's Honorblade, but here are the possibilities we've come up with for the meaning of the original quote:

1. Live sprenblade, dead sprenblade, Honorblade; pro: fits what we know; con: his answer at Goodreads is misleading or uncomprehending of the original quote. 
2. Sprenblade, Honorblade, Awakened blade; pro: Goodreads quote works with original hint.  If Wit's sword is an awakened blade like Nightblood or yet another kind of Shardblade we are getting actual information.  con: Since Nale is not described as having a blade, then we haven't "seen" Nightblood (as Moogle suggests) and there is no evidence to support the notion that Wit's sword is special except Wit's magical acquisitiveness. 
3. Honorblade in muggle hands, Honorblade in Herald hands, sprenblade; pro: fits what we know; con: Goodreads answer is not helpful, Is a blade a different kind if wielded by a different person?

Edit: Original quote says kinds, not types, list possibilities from thread

Edited August 26, 2014 by hoser

[cem]

Hoid's sword is probably an Awakened sword like Nightblood. I'm guessing that's what Brandon refers to.

 

Which, if true, would make Nightblood not quite so unique anymore.

Edited August 26, 2014 by cem

[Patrick Star]

Maybe the three types in TWoK are:

 

An Honorblade when held by a herald.  So maybe a live honorblade.

 

An Honorblade when held by a normal human.

 

A normal shardblade - dead spren.

 

Did Shallan summon Pattern in TWoK?  I forget.  That would make the 3 types Shardblade - Honorblade - Sprenblade.

 

And I don't think that Hoid's sword is awakened.  He doesn't have the breaths or knowledge to know how to do it (only Shashara did).

[BlackYeti]

And I don't think that Hoid's sword is awakened.  He doesn't have the breaths or knowledge to know how to do it (only Shashara did).

 

I don't think that we should assume that his sword is awakened, for one thing I don't see why he would need one.

 

However Vasher knows how to do it, and he does know Hoid. I doubt he would tell Hoid, but that doesn't mean that Hoid couldn't figure it out for himself. Also Hoid does have Breath, though we don't know how much, so he could potentially have awakened his sword.

[Moogle]

Nalan was in TWoK, talking to Elhokar. It's possible we missed him carrying Nightblood, though looking at the passage in question I don't think so.

 

Elhokar, the king’s son and heir, sat at the high table, ruling the feast in his father’s absence. He was in conversation with two men, a dark-skinned Azish man who had an odd patch of pale skin on his cheek and a thinner, Alethi-looking man who kept glancing over his shoulder.

 

I'm all for the Awakened sword theory. Seems like something Hoid would like to have.

 

Though he wore a long, thin sword tied to his waist, as far as Adolin knew, the man had never drawn it. A dueling foil rather than a military blade, it was mostly symbolic.

 

If he never draws it, well, there could be a good reason for it. Or it could just be as Adolin assumes. Kaladin also later notes that it has a black sheath, which matches Nightblood (though Nightblood has a metal sheath, I think?).

Edited August 26, 2014 by Moogle

[name_here]

There were Radiants in the visions in TWoK, so those give us live blades if we're counting them as a separate type.

[Moogle]

There were Radiants in the visions in TWoK, so those give us live blades if we're counting them as a separate type.

 

The WoB implies that they're not counted as a separate type. He would have said so. Instead, he gave an indirect answer involving Nightblood.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Moogle

[GreyPilgrim]

Maybe the three types in TWoK are:

An Honorblade when held by a herald. So maybe a live honorblade.

An Honorblade when held by a normal human.

A normal shardblade - dead spren.

(Emphasis mine.)

I don't think that group of three works; understanding is that Honorblades are totally different from Shard/sprenbaldes. Didn't the book say that the sprenblades modeled themselves after the Honorblades? Plus the fact that we know the Heralds summoned their Honorblades. I feel like they wouldn't use them like that if they alive like living sprenblades. I could he wrong, though. I haven't exactly researched how the Blades worked in the Prelude to the series and in Dalinar's visions. (Blades are not my specialty...)

[Fatebreaker]

It could be that Honor blades are non-sentient Splinters of Honor, or maybe even combined splinters of Honor and Cultivation. It could be part of why the spren, sentient Splinters, modeled themselves after them, and why they use so much Stormlight.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Fatebreaker

[Patrick Star]

I feel like they wouldn't use them like that if they alive like living sprenblades.

 

I more meant it as on-off rather than live-dead.  Like a live wire vs a wire with no current going through it.

 

 

But I forgot about the radiants in Dalinar's visions, so the three types are probably Honorblade-sprenblade-shardblade.

 

If the WoB is implying that sprenblades and shardblades are the "same", then it's Honorblade-sprenblade-awakened blade.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Patrick Star