Rand-Al-Thaidakar Posted August 4, 2024 Posted August 4, 2024 (edited) Hello all! This is my first real post here (so I'm not sure how/if I need to block out text that is spoilery- let me know if/how to do that if so). I'm sure this has been spoken about before, but I wanted to talk about it because I've been thinking about it a lot. I'm re-reading Stormlight in preparation for SLA5 in December, and I'm currently about 3/4 through Oathbringer. I'm in the part currently where Highmarshal Azure (who we know is Vivenna from Warbreaker) joins the gang and helps storm the palace at Kholinar. I've been trying to pay special attention to her sword this readthrough. (I read SLA 1-4 first, then Mistborn 1-3, all the other Cosmere novels, and then Mistborn 4-7 last on my first Cosmere readthrough, so I didn't clock anything at all about Azure or her sword the first time.) This time, with the knowledge I have about Vivenna/Azure, Warbreaker, Nightblood, and all of the interlinking parts between Roshar and Nalthis (including Zahel and his role in all of this), I have both been really enjoying and wishing I had more information about Azure and her sword (can't wait for the Warbreaker sequel!). Kaladin, Adolin, and everyone else who sees it being used describes it as a Shardblade (Rosharan bias, obviously), but because of who she is and where she is from, alongside the fact that her blade is so different than all the other Shardblades, I feel that it's safe to assume that it's another Awakened blade, similar to Nightblood. I assume there's a WoB that confirms this, but I don't have the willpower to dredge it up currently. I've seen some speculation about how she Awakened her blade, and the Command used to do so- some simple things like "be a sword" being an option, although I believe Brandon probably wouldn't go so simple. I'm not ultra concerned about the Command right now, (but I'll talk a little about this at the end of the post) though I do think that it's a super interesting dialogue and that Nalthians (esp. ones who know/are associated with/are a member of the five scholars) probably learned to go with simpler things after Nighblood's creation, but anyway- to the meat of the post and my question. In Chapter 83 "Crimson to Break," Adolin describes Azure using her blade thusly: Quote Azure had cut down her door, but her Shardblade wasn't as long as the other two. She was leading a more conservative attack, cutting the ends off spears as they rammed out toward her men. As he watched, she stabbed an enemy soldier who tried to push through. Remarkably, his eyes didn't burn, though his skin did go a strange ashen grey as he died. Blood of my fathers, Adolin thought. What's wrong with her Blade? This is why I came to create this post: it seems to me that her Blade is turning the people she kills with it into Drabs as they die. I think there's one of two things that could be happening here- either the sword is using/consuming that investiture to increase in strength, similar to Nightblood, or that Vivenna is somehow using the sword as a conduit to transfer the investiture from the people she kills into herself to power her other Awakening abilities (she uses her Awakened cloak in the fighting at the palace on the page following the quote above). But here's my question- how would that work? I believed that only people who had BioChromatic Breath, given to them by Endowment, could become drabs, due to them having a higher-than-average (at least on a Cosmere-wide average) amount of investiture, and due to Endowment giving them BioChromatic Breath. Anyone with a normal amount of Breath on Nalthis can use the Commands to give away their breath, and they do, but would that work with native Rosharans too? If not, how is her sword seemingly making them drabs? Would that have to be in relation to her Blade's Command? "Consume the Breath of the people you impale?" Do all awakened blades need to keep consuming investiture to stay "alive," similar to the Returned? Anyway- let me know what you think! Edit: 6 minutes ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: Do all awakened blades need to keep consuming investiture to stay "alive," similar to the Returned? I should also say- I know that Awakened objects (specifically Type III invested entities), as a rule, consume investiture to follow out their Commands, and that acting uses investiture, which runs out over time and as the objects do things. I assume that it works similarly with the swords (but I guess none of us really know how it works with Type IV invested entities, which I am posturing that Azure's sword is) but I'm interested to see what everyone has to say about it. Edited August 4, 2024 by Rand-Al-Thaidakar 4
Trusk'our he/him Posted August 4, 2024 Posted August 4, 2024 (edited) 1 hour ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: Hello all! This is my first real post here (so I'm not sure how/if I need to block out text that is spoilery- let me know if/how to do that if so). Nice to meet you! 1 hour ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: This is why I came to create this post: it seems to me that her Blade is turning the people she kills with it into Drabs as they die. I think there's one of two things that could be happening here- either the sword is using/consuming that investiture to increase in strength, similar to Nightblood, or that Vivenna is somehow using the sword as a conduit to transfer the investiture from the people she kills into herself to power her other Awakening abilities (she uses her Awakened cloak in the fighting at the palace on the page following the quote above). But here's my question- how would that work? I believed that only people who had BioChromatic Breath, given to them by Endowment, could become drabs, due to them having a higher-than-average (at least on a Cosmere-wide average) amount of investiture, and due to Endowment giving them BioChromatic Breath. Anyone with a normal amount of Breath on Nalthis can use the Commands to give away their breath, and they do, but would that work with native Rosharans too? If not, how is her sword seemingly making them drabs? Would that have to be in relation to her Blade's Command? "Consume the Breath of the people you impale?" Do all awakened blades need to keep consuming investiture to stay "alive," similar to the Returned? Firstly, I think that it is likely that Azure's sword is consuming their Investiture, though you're right, it's not BioChromatic Breath; while only Nalthians are born with Breaths, every person born on a Shardworld (any planet with a Shard of Adonalsium present) will have an extra bit of Investiture, known as Innate Investiture. This is what the sword is likely consuming, as well as the rest of their Spiritweb. Spoiler https://wob.coppermind.net/events/224-words-of-radiance-san-francisco-signing/#e6881 Questioner On all the cosmere worlds, it seem as if-- do all the humans have what you call innate Investiture? Brandon Sanderson Let's see... *thinks* I believe that they all do. I don't think that you've seen anyone without innate Investiture yet. Questioner Because when they don't have Breath anymore, they would get Drabs, and those don't have innate Investiture? Brandon Sanderson They don't have innate Investiture. And on Scadrial they have the pieces of Ruin and Preservation in them. And they do have it on Roshar. Questioner Which Shard is that? Brandon Sanderson You'll have to read and find out. *gives card* So yes, I don't think you've seen any worlds where they don't. Spoiler https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100-rbooks-ama-2015/#e3458 KingSloth Doesn't all 'extra' investiture require a cracked soul? How are Nalthians born with extra breath, if so? Brandon Sanderson No. The Scadrians have extra investiture too, on a lesser scale. 1 hour ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: Do all awakened blades need to keep consuming investiture to stay "alive," similar to the Returned? Nightblood specifically needs to use up some Investiture to use all its powers, but this is not strictly necessary to consume their souls or destroy decently; Spoiler https://wob.coppermind.net/events/509-youtube-spoiler-stream-5/#e16019 bubblebooy Could one negate the negative effects of wielding Nightblood with an aluminum gauntlet? Brandon Sanderson *hesitantly* This is theoretically possible, but you also wouldn't get some of the benefits. But many of the benefits are not being utilized by people who draw Nightblood. So to some of them, it would be... you wouldn't be able to notice the difference. This isn't to say Azure's blade needs to do this necessarily, but it leans into the idea that at least some of the Investiture it consumes is used to perform this feeding. As to whether the blades need to consume Investiture to stay alive, no, it's very, very unlikely that this is the case; Returned need to consume Investiture (which in most cases are Breaths) to stay alive, but this is a function of them being Cognitive Shadows, not because they're Invested with a Divine Breath. Minor Hero of Ages spoilers (not sure if you've read it yet, but better safe than sorry); Spoiler https://wob.coppermind.net/events/406-general-reddit-2020/#e14149 Haverworthy Just had a question, when a Returned consumes a Breath, is it a property of their body that does so or the Divine Breath itself? It's been contentious in the community. If it's specifically just their body and a hemalurgist were to spike a Divine Breath as indicated was possible here*, would the hemalurgist not need to consume a weekly breath? *https://wob.coppermind.net/events/364/#e11389 Brandon Sanderson That's a very interesting question. The thing that requires the Returned to continue gaining investiture is their nature as cognitive shadows--they are dead, and in this case, need a power source to continue persisting in the physical realm. The Divine Breath is part of this. Imagine the Divine Breath as the thing that Infuses their soul, making it persist initially, and then and sticks it to the body. So if you stole it, but you yourself were not in need of being kept alive, I would say that you wouldn't need to be fed a new breath each week to maintain the Divine Breath. It is also worth mentioning that you do not need to give up Breath to become Drab, or at least Drab-like; More HoA spoilers; Spoiler https://wob.coppermind.net/events/39-sandersonchat-twitter-qa-with-audiblecom/#e12097 Volratho If someone was tapping gold, would spiking a separate ability out of them kill them? Or would it work at all? Brandon Sanderson It is possible to spike someone without killing them. But they'd never be the same. It would be worse than being a drab. TLM spoilers; Spoiler When Telsin died from her loss of Autonomy's Investiture in TLM, she turned grey, appearing to have become Drab somehow, perhaps because of a Savantism-like change made to her from the massive influx of Investiture suddenly being removed. Hope this helps! Edited August 4, 2024 by Trusk'our 2
alder24 Posted August 4, 2024 Posted August 4, 2024 9 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: I feel that it's safe to assume that it's another Awakened blade, similar to Nightblood. I assume there's a WoB that confirms this, but I don't have the willpower to dredge it up currently. Truthfully we don't have any direct confirmation from Brandon, it's invested, similar to Nighblood yet created specifically not to be Nightblood. I think we can safely assume it's a type 4 Awakened entity, like Nightblood is. Spoiler LeFlshe At Dragonsteel this year, you confirmed that Nightblood is not a Dawnshard. However, its abilities seem to be far greater than that of Vivenna’s blade, presumably made with the same method. This disparity may be due to the person who originally Awakened the swords and leads one to believe that Nightblood, despite not being the Dawnshard, had a Dawnshard involved in its creation. Therefore, is Shashara, the person who Awakened Nightblood, a Dawnshard? Brandon Sanderson Excellent questions. You’ve got one faulty premise: Vivenna’s sword was intentionally designed differently to not get another Nightblood. So let’s keep that in mind. That said, I don’t know that they could make another Nightblood if they wanted to. But she definitely did not want to, and there’s a different process that they use nowadays for safer swords. Questioner 2 Is Vivenna’s sword better or worse than Nightblood? Brandon Sanderson Depends on what you want from the sword. Vivenna’s sword does not automatically suck the soul and Investiture out of anything it touches, disintegrating that which it touches, which is both a plus and a minus. YouTube Spoiler Stream 6 (Dec. 19, 2023) Spoiler Questioner The sword with which Azure fights? Is it a lot like Nightblood, maybe? Brandon Sanderson It shares some features, but is different. Orem signing (Dec. 21, 2017) Spoiler Questioner Does Vivenna/Azure's sword have a name? Brandon Sanderson Yes. Asterisk*. Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018) Spoiler Questioner Are there other objects that we've encountered like Nightblood? Brandon Sanderson Nothing quite like Nightblood, though Azure's sword is Invested. FanX 2021 (Sept. 18, 2021) 9 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: I've seen some speculation about how she Awakened her blade, and the Command used to do so- some simple things like "be a sword" being an option, although I believe Brandon probably wouldn't go so simple. I'm not ultra concerned about the Command right now, (but I'll talk a little about this at the end of the post) though I do think that it's a super interesting dialogue and that Nalthians (esp. ones who know/are associated with/are a member of the five scholars) probably learned to go with simpler things after Nighblood's creation, but anyway- to the meat of the post and my question. Personally I believe that just like with creation of Lifeless, type 4 entities need 2 Commands. First one gives them sentience and makes them type 4 entities (like the Lifeless Command "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and my word"), the second one gives them a Command to fulfill and creates their personality. 8 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: This is why I came to create this post: it seems to me that her Blade is turning the people she kills with it into Drabs as they die. I think there's one of two things that could be happening here- either the sword is using/consuming that investiture to increase in strength, similar to Nightblood, or that Vivenna is somehow using the sword as a conduit to transfer the investiture from the people she kills into herself to power her other Awakening abilities (she uses her Awakened cloak in the fighting at the palace on the page following the quote above). Divine Breath needs to feed on investiture because it keeps Returned body alive - if you were to spike that Breath out and give it yourself, you would not need to feed it with investiture because your body is alive. Nightblood doesn't just feed on investiture, he consumes it as much as he can and leaks it out. We don't know if he uses that investiture to sustain his original Breaths that make up his soul (just like Returned do), or if this investiture powers some of his abilities when he's unsheathed, but he needs them. Vivenna's blade probably works the same as Nightblood, but on a lesser, safer scale. Spoiler Haverworthy Just had a question, when a Returned consumes a Breath, is it a property of their body that does so or the Divine Breath itself? It's been contentious in the community. If it's specifically just their body and a hemalurgist were to spike a Divine Breath as indicated was possible here*, would the hemalurgist not need to consume a weekly breath? *https://wob.coppermind.net/events/364/#e11389 Brandon Sanderson That's a very interesting question. The thing that requires the Returned to continue gaining investiture is their nature as cognitive shadows--they are dead, and in this case, need a power source to continue persisting in the physical realm. The Divine Breath is part of this. Imagine the Divine Breath as the thing that Infuses their soul, making it persist initially, and then and sticks it to the body. So if you stole it, but you yourself were not in need of being kept alive, I would say that you wouldn't need to be fed a new breath each week to maintain the Divine Breath. General Reddit 2020 (Oct. 4, 2020) Vivenna is unable to utilize innate investiture of Rosharans for several reasons. Those aren't Breaths, they don't work like them, they aren't keyed to Endowment but to Honor, Cultivation and Odium and she doesn't know any way to use Stormlight (and thus Rosharan's innate investiture) to Awaken. Spoiler Ilkhan2016 Breath and Stormlight are both forms of Investiture. AFAIK you can power any of the magic systems from any form of Investiture. Zahel is on Roshar, I believe, primarily due to how easy Investiture (Stormlight) is to come across. AFAIK the form of Investiture doesn't change anything about the abilities. For example, Szeth was sucked out of Stormlight when he drew Nightblood; and Azure used Stormlight to Awaken in Shadesmar. /u/mistborn is that right? Brandon Sanderson A lot of this depends on the Investiture and the magic in question. Azure was legit using Breaths, for example--ones she'd brought with her. But Szeth was able to feed Stormlight to Nightblood, much as Vasher uses Stormlight to keep himself alive. To Awaken with Stormlight, the easiest thing to do would be to first change Stormlight into Breaths--something that Azure doesn't know how to do. (Admittedly, Hoid doesn't either, so it's not like it's a simple thing to achieve.) You could also theoretically use some magical (or mechanical) means to power your Awakening with a different form of Investiture. Extesian This is very interesting. Is it possible then in the Cosmere for the 'intent' (spin or however described) of Investiture to be changed? And I mean within reasonable limits (not the powers of six shards or any of that). Can a Shard effectively grow in power in a place (e.g. toward an avatar) through another Shard's Investiture being changed (not just corrupted)? Or is it just making one type ('intent' - you should canonize a word for this :D) of Investiture mimic the properties of another? Brandon Sanderson Most of the ways of accomplishing what you're talking about would involve either 1) fooling/overwriting your spiritual makeup somehow. (This is what Hemalurgy does, for example.) 2) Refining the power somehow into a more pure form. But there are a lot of variables. The way magic from Nalthis works, for example, the system is just looking for any available Investiture to power itself--and so basically anything will do, regardless of the source. This includes consuming your own soul, in some cases... You'll see terminology coming along eventually that facilitates talking about all of this. I'm not yet decided on some of it. Celestial_Blu3 How many Breaths does [Azure] have by her final appearance in OB? Brandon Sanderson That's a RAFO, I'm afraid. General Reddit 2019 (April 25, 2019) 9 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: But here's my question- how would that work? I believed that only people who had BioChromatic Breath, given to them by Endowment, could become drabs, due to them having a higher-than-average (at least on a Cosmere-wide average) amount of investiture, and due to Endowment giving them BioChromatic Breath. Anyone with a normal amount of Breath on Nalthis can use the Commands to give away their breath, and they do, but would that work with native Rosharans too? If not, how is her sword seemingly making them drabs? Drab is a term for everyone across Cosmere that lacks innate investiture, that additional investiture in their soul. On Scadrial they have Preservation's fragment, they have something like that on Roshar. On Nalthis it's a special thing because you can freely give it away - no other can do that. But if you were to spike someone out of their innate investiture it would make them drabs, even worse than drabs as spikes take more. Everyone can be drab if you take their innate investiture. The reason Nalthians become dull when they are drabs is because they power the Command "my life to yours" with their own color. When a color is drained out of an object to Awaken something, it's a spiritual change reflected in the Physical Realm. We still don't know what it does, but Azure's blade does something similar. Spoiler Chaos Why does giving your Breath to another person not require color? Every other Command does. Brandon Sanderson I thought I answered this in the book. You use your own color. /r/fantasy AMA 2013 (April 15, 2013) Spoiler tallakahath So, on Nalthis, in the Warbreaker universe, when the color's pulled out of something, is that a physical or chemical change or is that a perceptual change? Brandon Sanderson It is actually a physical change, but the spirit of the thing is changing, and it's filtering through to the Physical Realm. tallakahath So, if I do that on a carrot, I can break beta carotin? If I do that on a piece of metal, I can reduce it and charge my battery that way? Brandon Sanderson Potentially, yeah! Yeah, that would work, you're changing it's Spiritual nature. DragonCon 2019 (Aug. 29, 2019) 9 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: I should also say- I know that Awakened objects (specifically Type III invested entities), as a rule, consume investiture to follow out their Commands, and that acting uses investiture, which runs out over time and as the objects do things This is questionable. Breaths in type 3 objects aren't kinetic - they are either static or innate - because a Seeker can't detect them. That means they shouldn't need to consume any investiture to work. Spoiler Questioner Would a Seeker know if something's endowed with Breath or if someone was holding it? Brandon Sanderson Seekers have a lot of trouble with just detecting Investiture that isn't being used in some way. They could catch Stormlight that you've breathed in, because it's starting to do stuff. If just something has Stormlight, like a gemstone or something like that... Questioner I meant from Warbreaker. If you'd endowed like, a large thing with that, could you see that? Brandon Sanderson Oh, something with Breath, could they find that with a Seeker. That's right. There are theoretical applications of this, but I would say your average Seeker, no. There is a way to get there but if you just took a Seeker from - and said do you - they would not be able to do that. DragonCon 2019 (Aug. 29, 2019)
Rand-Al-Thaidakar Posted August 4, 2024 Author Posted August 4, 2024 Thanks for the insightful comments, Trusk'our and alder24! 17 hours ago, Trusk'our said: Firstly, I think that it is likely that Azure's sword is consuming their Investiture, though you're right, it's not BioChromatic Breath; while only Nalthians are born with Breaths, every person born on a Shardworld (any planet with a Shard of Adonalsium present) will have an extra bit of Investiture, known as Innate Investiture. This is what the sword is likely consuming, as well as the rest of their Spiritweb. Yes! I know that people born on shardworlds all have innate investiture. Nalthians simply have more investiture than people native to other shardworlds due to Endowment's endowment. I agree that the sword is consuming their innate investiture, although I hadn't considered that it would also consume their spiritweb. Good thing TLR didn't have one! Spoiler Questioner In the last panel we talked a lot about people from different planets using magic systems on other planets, one of the things I've been thinking about, we've been thinking about, talking about Breath, and people being born with Breath, is that something specific to Nalthis or do, technically, other people on other planets have a Breath as well? Brandon Sanderson Good question and that is a Nalthian thing. Now, everyone in the cosmere to an extent has Investiture, the Nalthian Breath is part what everyone has and then a little extra, plus the ability to share it around. So a person who gives up their Breath on Nalthis is actually going below what a normal person has. But a normal person on Nalthis has more than somebody-- So if you were for instance to pick a world like Sixth of the Dusk, where there's not a Shard in residence, and you compared them to a Nalthian, Nalthian has an Investiture advantage over them. When they've given up their Breath, they have an Investiture disadvantage. Bystander So we're not Drabs? Brandon Sanderson So we're not Drabs. That's exactly it. We're not Drabs. JordanCon 2016 (April 23, 2016) 9 hours ago, alder24 said: Drab is a term for everyone across Cosmere that lacks innate investiture, that additional investiture in their soul. On Scadrial they have Preservation's fragment, they have something like that on Roshar. On Nalthis it's a special thing because you can freely give it away - no other can do that. But if you were to spike someone out of their innate investiture it would make them drabs, even worse than drabs as spikes take more. Everyone can be drab if you take their innate investiture. I just simply didn't realize that people across the Cosmere could even become Drabs- I guess I just thought that was a Nalthis only occurrence, and was about their Breath, not just about their innate investiture. 18 hours ago, Trusk'our said: When Telsin died from her loss of Autonomy's Investiture in TLM, she turned grey, appearing to have become Drab somehow, perhaps because of a Savantism-like change made to her from the massive influx of Investiture suddenly being removed. 10 hours ago, alder24 said: 20 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: I should also say- I know that Awakened objects (specifically Type III invested entities), as a rule, consume investiture to follow out their Commands, and that acting uses investiture, which runs out over time and as the objects do things This is questionable. Breaths in type 3 objects aren't kinetic - they are either static or innate - because a Seeker can't detect them. That means they shouldn't need to consume any investiture to work. This is super interesting- I didn't make this connection when reading TLM. I'm coming to the conclusion that the removal of investiture at a large (for that person) scale also removes color (of a person/object) across the Cosmere. I wonder if the opposite could be true- could the addition of investiture to a person increase their vibrancy/depth of color outside of Nalthis? This obviously happens on Nalthis, exemplified by Susebron's color aura, but I'm questioning it on a larger scale now! If that does happen, it also makes me wonder if people of the perfect color recognition (third) heightening could act similarly to seekers then- seeing if someone is more or less colorful than they should be or than they were yesterday, and tracking investiture in that way? Obviously when a Radiant intakes a lot of Stormlight they glow, but there are many times when Kal or Shallan only take in a little bit so that they don't glow or so that they glow so little that people don't notice. I wonder if someone of the third heightening could see the change!
alder24 Posted August 5, 2024 Posted August 5, 2024 (edited) 14 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: I wonder if the opposite could be true- could the addition of investiture to a person increase their vibrancy/depth of color outside of Nalthis? This obviously happens on Nalthis, exemplified by Susebron's color aura, but I'm questioning it on a larger scale now! I believe so. And I believe we've seen this happening in WoA ch 59: Quote Then, oddly, the color seemed to return to his cheeks. Vin knelt, confused, watching him. The look on his face, the way he lay, the color of his skin. . . She burned bronze, and with shock, felt pulses coming from Elend. He was burning pewter. He just swallowed a Lerasium bead, he became a Lerasium Mistborn which invested him significantly. But this could be just an effect of burning pewter and healing, not necessarily investiture. 14 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: If that does happen, it also makes me wonder if people of the perfect color recognition (third) heightening could act similarly to seekers then- seeing if someone is more or less colorful than they should be or than they were yesterday, and tracking investiture in that way? As Seekers? Not really. Seekers detect kinetic investiture. But they would be able to detect static investiture. However if they already have the perfect color recognition, they are 60% the way up to the perfect life sense (the 4th Heightening), which would allow them to recognize any innate investiture (even in grass). But even without 4th Heightening, their life sense is already quite good. Moreover the 1st Heightening allows you to recognize invested auras and judge how invested a person is. So you don't even need the 3rd Heightening, just the 1st one will suffice. 14 hours ago, Rand-Al-Thaidakar said: Obviously when a Radiant intakes a lot of Stormlight they glow, but there are many times when Kal or Shallan only take in a little bit so that they don't glow or so that they glow so little that people don't notice. I wonder if someone of the third heightening could see the change! Keep in mind, while a Radiant is naturally more invested due to their Nahel Bond, thus having much greater levels of innate investiture (enough so it can be mistaken for Heightening), breathing in Stormlight doesn't contribute a lot to their investiture levels. It's not a lot of investiture. Glowing is just a result of Stormlight leaking through pores of your skin. OB ch 97: Quote “How? Impossible. Unless … you’re Invested. What Heightening are you?” He squinted at Kaladin. “No. Something else. Merciful Domi … A Surgebinder? It has begun again?” Spoiler tskyeguye From Rysn's observations in the epilogue, it seems like she has a lot of the same aspects of a Fifth Heightening/Returned at the least. Is this because her Dawnshard is particularly connected to Endowment or because the effects of a certain level of Investment result in similar effects? Brandon Sanderson The latter. Skrimyt Interesting. So are actively Surgebinding Radiants or metal-burning Allomancers just not Invested enough to gain those passive effects, or do they not experience perfect pitch/color/etc. because their Investiture is just not as tightly bound to their Spiritweb as Endowment's Breaths or a Dawnshard would be? Brandon Sanderson Be aware that the two groups you mention don't generally hold much Investiture themselves, at least not in large quantities over time. More in Surgebinding. Almost none in Allomancy. But RAFO to specifics. Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A (Nov. 6, 2020) Edited August 5, 2024 by alder24
a Faceless Immortal he/him Posted August 6, 2024 Posted August 6, 2024 (edited) Welcome to the Shard! I personally love the idea that she went with a really simple command, given that Nightblood has a really dramatic command and she doesn't want another Nightblood. Something like 'Cut Things Well' seems like it would be the somewhat obvious choice, although it's been a while since I read Warbreaker so it could be a non-viable command (I remember them being finicky as to what works and how much breath it consumes). At first glance I don't think a simple command would necessarily make it steal investiture from people like we see it do, but upon further reflection (Yumi spoilers): Spoiler I wouldn't exactly expect that a machine instructed to stack rocks would interpret that as 'steal, consume, and then blend all of the souls of every living inhabitant on the planet to make Investiture Jet Fuel'. Granted, we don't know the exact wording the machine was given to make it act, but I doubt it would have been explicitly about turning into a paper-shredder for souls. Maybe sentient invested objects are just naturally predisposed to steal people's souls? Regardless, I certainly hope Azure and Zahel show up a bit more in Stormlight 5, like how we had the big cosmere reveals in The Lost Metal. Edited August 6, 2024 by a Faceless Immortal 1
PanicPug Posted August 11, 2024 Posted August 11, 2024 I think Shardblades turning skin grey isn't that out of the ordinary, right? Quote The silvery weapon sheared through the remnant of Kaladin’s spear, then through Kaladin’s right arm, just below the elbow. A shock of incredible pain washed through Kaladin, and he gasped, falling to his knees. Then . . . nothing. He couldn’t feel the arm. It turned grey and dull, lifeless, the palm opening, fingers spreading as half of his spear shaft dropped from his fingers and thumped to the ground. And if I remember correctly the Nalthian blades were inspired by Shardblades in the first place. So maybe, just like those, the commands for Azure's blade lead to it cutting in all three realms (PR, CR, SR)? 2
Dalluminum he/him Posted August 26, 2024 Posted August 26, 2024 On 8/10/2024 at 7:33 PM, PanicPug said: And if I remember correctly the Nalthian blades were inspired by Shardblades in the first place. Wait, where does it say that? I can't find anything.
alder24 Posted August 26, 2024 Posted August 26, 2024 10 hours ago, MindMeltingMistwraith said: Wait, where does it say that? I can't find anything. WoBs. Lots of WoBs: Spoiler Questioner One question I've been thinking about a lot, and that is the black-bladed sword. Is there just one sword, or is there one for each world, that works with different...like Shard powers, or is it just one sword that can work with all? Brandon Sanderson [Nightblood] is something special. A long time ago, some people from the Warbreaker world came to Roshar, saw Shardblades, thought, "We can do this," went home and tried to make one. And that is Nightblood. And it went horribly horribly wrong. And so they didn't make any more, except now, Azure's sword is somewhat related. But that is the origin of Nightblood. Trying to make a Shardblade out of a different magic system. Idaho Falls signing (July 21, 2018) Spoiler Questioner I have a question about Nightblood. I think I heard that-- Something you said in a Q&A that it is related to a Shardblade, or was a Shardblade? Brandon Sanderson Yeah… So Nightblood. Vasher visited Roshar, saw Shardblades, came back and tried to make one. With what he knew of his magic. That's the short version of it. Kind of simplifies things, but yes. Holiday signing (Dec. 12, 2015) Spoiler Questioner Can I ask you real quick: Where Warbreaker falls in Stormlight Achive? Brandon Sanderson Warbreaker is before Stormlight Archive. Vasher, before Warbreaker, had been to Roshar. Questioner Okay, that's what I needed to know. Nightblood. Brandon Sanderson Nightblood was patterned off of things that Vasher and the others saw on Roshar. Oathbringer Chicago signing (Nov. 21, 2017) Spoiler Questioner With Warbreaker and Stormlight Archive, Vasher and Zahel. How does that transition occur? Brandon Sanderson He went to Roshar because he knew ahead of time, that you could get Stormlight, and how easy it was. So he made his way there because he was tired of sucking people's souls to stay alive. Questioner How did he know? Brandon Sanderson He, as part of a group of scholars, stumbled upon the nature of worldhopping long ago. Questioner Could he be the same group of scholars as Jasnah? Brandon Sanderson No, it's a group of scholars on Nalthis who were studying magic, Investiture, and stumbled upon the means by which you transition into the Cognitive Realm. So, he actually had experience with Shardblades before, and that was part of how he built... well, he was part of it, but really... Questioner So, is Nightblood kind of like a Shardblade? Is a Shardblade? Brandon Sanderson Nightblood is an attempt to make a Shardblade using a different magic. And it turned out poorly. Questioner Speaking of Nightblood, how did that transition from Nalthis? Brandon Sanderson I have not answered that yet. Eventually, you will find out how they ended up on Roshar. Arcanum Unbounded release party (Nov. 22, 2016) Spoiler Fluffy (paraphrased) When the Five Scholars traveled to Roshar, this happened post Recreance, so most Shardblades would have been dead, how did Nightblood gain sapience? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Shardblades weren’t the only Blades around that were active, there were Honorblades. Honorblades are self-aware, but do not manifest a spren in the Cognitive Realm. Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 15, 2022) 1
Dalluminum he/him Posted August 26, 2024 Posted August 26, 2024 Ah, thanks. A lot of things make sense now.
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