Supercharged Kaladin

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Since Kaladin picked up Jezrien's Honorblade that Szeth left and he is already a third-level Windrunner, will he have extra powerful Surgebindings? I'm trying to figure out how having both sources of the powers would combine. I think that the surges may become stronger and more powerful while leveling out the efficiency of Kal's Stormligt. It'll be somewhere in the middle of what it takes to power the Honorblade's surges and what he is currently at.

[Guest]

Actually, all clues point towards him leaving the blade behind... He most likely left it with the bridgemen or Dalinar directly. I would not be surprised if Elhokar ends with it, for the worst

[Patrick Star]

Kaladin:

 

 

Kaladin With Honorblade:

 

 

Kaladin with 5 Oaths:

 

 

Edit: Revised to be more accurate

Edited September 19, 2014 by Patrick Star

[Savanorn he/him]

Actually, I think WoB is that the difference in strength is not really pronounced. Surgebinding is more dependent on how much energy (Stormlight) you put in, rather than how strongly you can bind. 

[kaellok he/him]

Actually, I think WoB is that the difference in strength is not really pronounced. Surgebinding is more dependent on how much energy (Stormlight) you put in, rather than how strongly you can bind. 

Correct!

 

And the relevant WoB:

 

 

 

Q:  If a non Windrunner picked up Jezrien's honorblade would they gain Windrunner powers as well?

A:  Yes

Q:  If a Windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?

A:  There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebinding as is the strength of the spren bond and how much Stormlight you are using

[kari-no-sugata]

I just suddenly remembered a theory I'd had but never posted:

 

The basic idea is that there's something similar to "electrical resistance" going on with Radiants, in how terms of how they can hold Stormlight: the stronger the spren bond becomes the more the "resistance" falls. When the spren bond becomes strong enough the "resistance" falls to zero - ie a full Radiant is sort-of like a super-conductor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity

 

This would help explain why Radiants can't keep swearing more and more Oaths and get increasingly stronger. If this theory is correct then a "full" Radiant should be able to hold Stormlight indefinitely with no loss. However, that doesn't mean that they can store infinite amounts of Stormlight, in the same way that super-conductors cannot handle infinite current.

[Moogle]

This would help explain why Radiants can't keep swearing more and more Oaths and get increasingly stronger. If this theory is correct then a "full" Radiant should be able to hold Stormlight indefinitely with no loss. However, that doesn't mean that they can store infinite amounts of Stormlight, in the same way that super-conductors cannot handle infinite current.

 

This is an interesting idea. Would you suspect that a full Radiant would not glow while holding Stormlight, then? There's no leakage, so it seems like that should maybe be how it works to me. Each oath would then make you glow less and less.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Moogle

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

This is an interesting idea. Would you suspect that a full Radiant would not glow while holding Stormlight, then? There's no leakage, so it seems like that should maybe be how it works to me. Each oath would then make you glow less and less.

 

I don't have time to check right now, but in Dalinar's visions, I don't remember the Radiants themselves glowing. Their Shardplate, yes, Blade, yes, when they arrive falling out of the sky using Stormlight, yes. But once they are on the ground, I don't recall glowing or Stormlight leaking from them. 

 

if So, that would kind of confirm this thought or theory.

[kari-no-sugata]

This is an interesting idea. Would you suspect that a full Radiant would not glow while holding Stormlight, then? There's no leakage, so it seems like that should maybe be how it works to me. Each oath would then make you glow less and less.

 

Yes, "leakage" (ie glow) would be inversely proportional to Radiant level. Unless Brandon wants a glow just for effect then a full Radiant should be able to hold Stormlight (doing nothing with it) indefinitely and without glowing.

 

Would rather neatly upturn the convention where "more glow = more power"

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

Yes, "leakage" (ie glow) would be inversely proportional to Radiant level. Unless Brandon wants a glow just for effect then a full Radiant should be able to hold Stormlight (doing nothing with it) indefinitely and without glowing.

 

Would rather neatly upturn the convention where "more glow = more power"

 

It's not necessarily a theory killer, but re-reading Starfalls, both of the knights seem to leak Stormlight at different points, even when not surgebinding. If we assume it takes a fully bonded KR to create/bond/use Shardplate to full effect, then they should be 5 Oath Radiants and not leak any stormlight. 

 

The Windrunner is noted as having Stormlight leak from his eyes after they are done fiighting. 

[KasA97]

Is there any direct textual evidence or WoB that those two figures in Dalinar's vision have sworn all of their oaths?  I would look it up myself, but I do not have a copy of the book available.

[Moogle]

Is there any direct textual evidence or WoB that those two figures in Dalinar's vision have sworn all of their oaths?  I would look it up myself, but I do not have a copy of the book available.

 

No. They've obviously sworn some oaths (they had Blades), but we don't know they had sworn all of them. If I had to guess, I'd say they probably had because you'd send your strongest fighters to defend a place unless you had none available, and it was not the middle of a Desolation yet.

[Patrick Star]

This is an interesting idea. Would you suspect that a full Radiant would not glow while holding Stormlight, then? There's no leakage, so it seems like that should maybe be how it works to me. Each oath would then make you glow less and less.

 

Please don't tell this to Lopen.  He'll be really upset about not being able to glow.

[Localconfusi0n]

plus, Brandon has said a Radiant can swear more than 5 Oaths, but theirs only 5 for any single Order. So if you bonded multiple Spren then you can say more Oaths and hold Stromlight better. However, he also said that's theirs"a cap" to how many Oaths a single radiant could swear. So maybe the point where you hold Stormlight perfectly is the "cap"

[kaellok he/him]

Sanderson has said that he's tried to keep the physics in his magic system as much as possible.  I think this means that we can assume that basic laws of thermodynamics apply, and so there won't be a truly 'perfect' transfer of energy; there's always going to be some leakage.  Nothing at all to indicate that swearing more oaths won't decrease the leakage though; I actually really like the theory, even if I don't buy into it.  It's got that "Wow!  That makes total sense, but I would have never considered it!" appeal.

[sun tzaro]

Please don't tell this to Lopen.  He'll be really upset about not being able to glow.

 

On the contrary, I think he'd be quite pleased. Following this theory, the followers of a Radiant could very well glow more than the Radiants themselves.

 

 

As far as the Surgebinder wielding Honorblades scenario goes... what about a Surgebinder wielding two Honorblades at once?

 

Potentially six surges could be used, but at the cost of an incredible amount of Stormlight - more than any amount of gems could provide, I'll bet. But, at the end of WoR, Szeth and Kaladin have access to near infinite stormlight when fighting in the highstorm itself...

[Moogle]

Regarding the brighter-means-less-efficient-because-of-more-leakage theory, I can think of two points of evidence against:

 

1) Kaladin glows brighter than Szeth, but is also more efficient than him.

 

2) Dalinar's vision:

The knight stood before the rising creature, which stood thirty feet tall, dripping water . A calm, white light began to rise from her. It reminded Dalinar of the light of spheres. Stormlight. She raised her Shardblade and charged, stepping through the water with uncanny ease, as if it had no purchase on her. Perhaps it was the strength of Shardplate.

...

Soldiers approached bearing hammers , and unexpectedly, these men now also glowed with Stormlight, though far more faintly.

 

It's possible they just took in less Stormlight, though. But if you're fighting a thunderclast, there's no point to holding back with Stormlight usage...

Edited September 28, 2014 by Moogle

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

It is interesting that the Knight Radiant in that vision didn't start glowing with stormlight until the Thunderclast appeared. I wonder if she was perfectly holding it in until then or if something else is going on there? Maybe she was chewing some food to make some

[Savanorn he/him]

Well, that's actually a really good point (if she wasn't glowing until the thunderclast appeared) Mistborn, but I would guess the simplest answer is that she and and her crew probably just had spheres in their pocket/about their persons. 

 

If not, it's really interesting.