Nightblood versus the One Ring

[leafelf]

So I have been thinking about this today. What would happen if Nightblood met Sauron's Ring? Would Nightblood be able to destroy the Ring? Would the Ring corrupt Nightblood or his bearer? Would Nightblood's ability to make evil people kill themselves extended to someone wielding the Ring? Personally, I think the Ring would come out ahead in this scenario but I am curious about what other people think.

Also, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right thread, I wasn't quite sure where to put it.

 

 

[Trusk'our he/him]

4 hours ago, leafelf said:

So I have been thinking about this today. What would happen if Nightblood met Sauron's Ring? Would Nightblood be able to destroy the Ring? Would the Ring corrupt Nightblood or his bearer? Would Nightblood's ability to make evil people kill themselves extended to someone wielding the Ring? Personally, I think the Ring would come out ahead in this scenario but I am curious about what other people think.

Also, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right thread, I wasn't quite sure where to put it.

An interesting question.

I'd say it depends on which universe's rules we're playing by, as this is the kind of thing Brandon has been asked about before.

Steelheart spoilers:

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/475/#e15033

Questioner

Would a Shardblade be able to hurt Steelheart?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, I think it would.

Questioner

If the person feared him, would they still be able to hurt him?

Brandon Sanderson

Even if they didn't fear him, if you mashed Steelheart into the cosmere--which it's not, but if you did, the Steelheart magics would all have to work on the cosmere magics, which means that a Shardblade could hurt him. If you had a Shardblade, you could hurt someone even if you didn't know their weakness. That would be a way it would have to work. Now, if you were to mash them all into Steelheart's universe, then maybe not.

Wheel of Time and Mistborn spoilers:

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/188/#e4914

L0neGamer

*posting a thread in the "WhoWouldWin" subreddit titled "Randland vs Scadrial"*

Round 1: Zen Rand (after revelation, before last battle) vs Mist Vin (Feeding on infinite metal sources) - Both at their top tiers, they should, by my estimation, be matched because of the rays of power vs seeing the future.

Round 2: The armies of Randland vs The armies of Scadrial - Aes Sedai, Asha'man, dragons/cannons, vs koloss, mistings, mistborns.

Bonus round: The Lord Ruler and his armies have to take on the Dark One, and his armies. How well do they fare?

Other rounds would be cool if you come up with more.

EDIT: Since people seem to think that RandLand would stomp, how would Vin and crew, with/without the Lord Ruler, fare if they had full knowledge of Rand's abilities and 6 months to prepare?

Brandon Sanderson

I think that while Vin in the state you mention might be able to give a good fight to Rand, overall, Randland winds. Channelers are more powerful and versatile than most metalborn. Randland has far better generals; everyone on Scadrial is basically still winging it. I hand this one to Randland, unless Kelsier can pull off some improbable assassinations before the whole thing begins.

potentscrotem

Would the time reversing properties of balefire remove the ability [of atium] to see the future?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, this one is a tough call. Mixing cosmologies is tough. If we're IN Randland, then atium would work by reading the pattern--but in the cosmere, it looks into the Spiritual Realm--where all times, locations, and possibilities conflate. Either way, I'd say Balefire could counteract atium--but it would be tricky to use correctly, as you'd basically have to balefire some object that the atium burner was factoring into their plans very soon, tripping them up and catching them unable to adjust to the new futures quickly enough.

Argent

Not too long ago you told us atium works in the Cognitive - to quote you in reference to how stronger atium burns, "However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the cognitive realm, and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment."

Are the two replies still compatible?

Brandon Sanderson

I meant Spiritual there. Sorry. I deal with the cognitive so much in the books, and Spiritual so infrequently, I often have a silver/tin moment when my fingers just type the thing I'm used to typing.

Basically, if we're in Middle Earth and playing by its cosmology, I doubt Nightblood would be able to even scratch the Ring; the Ring is supposed to be completely indestructible except from the fires of Mount Doom. Weird things might happen between the Ring's corruptive influence and Nightblood's corruptive influence were used simultaneously on the same person though.

If we're going by Cosmere rules, Nightblood would totally be able to destroy the Ring (for reasons that should be obvious to any SA fan), though it may take multiple hits.

[alder24]

11 hours ago, leafelf said:

So I have been thinking about this today. What would happen if Nightblood met Sauron's Ring? Would Nightblood be able to destroy the Ring? Would the Ring corrupt Nightblood or his bearer? Would Nightblood's ability to make evil people kill themselves extended to someone wielding the Ring? Personally, I think the Ring would come out ahead in this scenario but I am curious about what other people think.

Also, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right thread, I wasn't quite sure where to put it.

Interesting. The ring was made by Sauron, who forged it by concentrating in it a part of his own soul, to make it more powerful. Translating it into Cosmere, it seems that Sauron, as Maiar, could be considered as a lesser Shard, maybe an Avatar (while Valar would be full Shards and Eru would be Adonalsium Unshattered), and thus the One Ring would be literally made out of the soul of a Shard itself. It certainly could be considered as one of the most invested object in the Cosmere, to the point where the metal of the ring would become a god metal of Sauron (Sauronium?), just like Nightblood could be considered as a god metal now (WoB). The One Ring would for sure be as invested as Nightblood, it might be even invested by corrupted investiture, just like Nightblood is (WoB), however because it was Sauron-the-lesser-Shard who made it with his own soul, I would argue that the One Ring would be even more invested than Nightblood.

The One Ring also has a will of its own, which would suggest a strong sense of self-awareness or maybe even sentience - this could be by design (sort of Awakening) or a side effect of putting so much investiture/soul into an object, that it gained sentience. 

Additionally the One Ring corrupts its wearer, just like Nightblood can do when thrown at people. The One Ring would corrupt everyone who dared to use it, which would be stronger than Nightblood (as even Gandalf or Galadriel feared its power). This takes some time however, I don't think it would immediately corrupt Nightblood's wielder and bend him to the ring's will. However the temptation could be a big problem and depending on circumstances, Nightblood's wielder might even abandon the sword in favor of the One Ring. And no, Nightblood would not consider his wielder, who picked up the ring, as evil, nor would it be powerful enough to force his control over the Ring's control - once Nightblood feeds on you, you are immune to sword's influence and "mind control" (WoB). People with a strong will can also resist Nightblood's temptation (said by Vasher in Warbreaker ch 51: "Unfortunately, Denth was far too strong-willed to be taken by the sword") thus the Ring bearer wouldn't be tempted by Nightblood to kill himself (the Ring would overwhelm Nightblood's influence even if the Ring bearer wasn't that strong willed to resist it himself).

What would happen, if the two were to collide? Investiture resist investiture, I doubt Nightblood would be able to consume even a part of it, despite his abilities. RoW spoilers:

Spoiler

I would suspect that a similar thing would happen when Nightblood struck Ishar's Honorblade but in reverse - an explosion (maybe?) where it would be Nightblood who would get chipped off, not the One Ring. 

If both Nightblood and the One Ring are invested to the similar level, then they would strike each other just like two Shardblades do, maybe also with an explosion, but neither of them would get damaged as they're equally as invested. However the first option seems more likely to me.

 

Overall, I think the One Ring would be victorious over Nightblood. Forgive me if I've made some LOTR lore mistakes, it's been a while since I've read it.