What are the limits to awakened objects as weapons?

[Sythrin]

Nightbloods ability is not something that the original Magic system seems to be capable of. But with enough breath, the right heigtneing and enough practice, appearently you can creat weapons/objects with mythological attributes.

Lets say the godking. Could he create a whole arsenal of legendary weapons potentially? Like creating a staff that can catch and release lightning. An Umbrella that can create huge gusts of winds when released. A cloak that can make you invisible?

What are your opinions?

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Sythrin said:

Nightbloods ability is not something that the original Magic system seems to be capable of. But with enough breath, the right heigtneing and enough practice, appearently you can creat weapons/objects with mythological attributes.

Lets say the godking. Could he create a whole arsenal of legendary weapons potentially? Like creating a staff that can catch and release lightning. An Umbrella that can create huge gusts of winds when released. A cloak that can make you invisible?

What are your opinions?

I think yes, but it would be hard and not as direct as you want. Nightblood is an attempt to replicate a Shardblade with another magic system. Lightning is created in Surgebinding via use of a specific Surge - Awakening might try to replicate that. Invisibility is just Lightweaving - Awakening might be able to replicate that (or instead just replicate octopus camouflage ability, which is spectacular). Gusts of winds are just a surge of Adhesion, Awakening might be able to replicate this. I say might because it's hard to say. However we have the Father Machine which is able to create machine parts out of raw investiture, command investiture across the entire planet, manifest it as objects, create physical walls, sky, heat and all of those other things - a machine that can create lightning, wind or illusion given enough investiture would be trivial in comparison. The hard part would be to find proper Command and visualization.

[+Lewis Nethur He/Him]

2 hours ago, Sythrin said:

Nightbloods ability is not something that the original Magic system seems to be capable of. But with enough breath, the right heigtneing and enough practice, appearently you can creat weapons/objects with mythological attributes.

Lets say the godking. Could he create a whole arsenal of legendary weapons potentially? Like creating a staff that can catch and release lightning. An Umbrella that can create huge gusts of winds when released. A cloak that can make you invisible?

What are your opinions?

I would offer the opinion that, if nightblood's ability to reach into the cognitive realm when cutting a target can be taken as precedent, then a cloak that can bend light around its wearer by manipulating one's presence in the CR should totally be plausible if it was endowed with enough Breath to achieve sentience. I'd guess that it would almost certainly blind the wearer though, so they would need to rely on other senses.

Others are a little more difficult to speculate on off the cuff...

[Sythrin]

 

4 hours ago, alder24 said:

I think yes, but it would be hard and not as direct as you want. Nightblood is an attempt to replicate a Shardblade with another magic system. Lightning is created in Surgebinding via use of a specific Surge - Awakening might try to replicate that. Invisibility is just Lightweaving - Awakening might be able to replicate that (or instead just replicate octopus camouflage ability, which is spectacular). Gusts of winds are just a surge of Adhesion, Awakening might be able to replicate this. I say might because it's hard to say. However we have the Father Machine which is able to create machine parts out of raw investiture, command investiture across the entire planet, manifest it as objects, create physical walls, sky, heat and all of those other things - a machine that can create lightning, wind or illusion given enough investiture would be trivial in comparison. The hard part would be to find proper Command and visualization.

I just thought of something. On 2 occasions, we saw special drawn paintings, that allowed a person (lightsong and Kaladin) to get a certain vision. Like if they are getting a glimpse into fortune.

The painter is probably capable of accessing that, but the question is, how does he put it into a painting for others to experience.

What if an awakend brush, with a powerfull command is the reason?

[alder24]

39 minutes ago, Sythrin said:

I just thought of something. On 2 occasions, we saw special drawn paintings, that allowed a person (lightsong and Kaladin) to get a certain vision. Like if they are getting a glimpse into fortune.

The painter is probably capable of accessing that, but the question is, how does he put it into a painting for others to experience.

What if an awakend brush, with a powerfull command is the reason?

Here is a WoB explaining mechanics behind those paintings. They were not Awaken, they were not created using an Awakened tool, the magic of Cosmere makes it so a small part of an artist's soul ends up in the painting, which allows a highly invested person to interpret it and see the Intent behind its creation.

Spoiler

Gordon

The paintings (I think there were at least two, right?) that remind Lightsong of his dreams and the Manywar etc. Is the artist someone we know? If not, will we eventually meet him/her in a later book? Does the artist hope to affect Lightsong this way, or is it just some guy giving abstract art to his God?

Jared

Is the artist that painted those paintings Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid did not make the paintings. The goal of those paintings—and this is spoilery, by the way—the paintings are actually what the text implies that they are. They are abstract paintings which Lightsong, having a touch of the divine, is able to see and read into things that aren't necessarily there.

Beyond that, art is a magical thing in the world of WARBREAKER. When an artist creates a work of art, part of the artist's soul ends up in the artwork. Someone who has many Breaths and who's Returned like Lightsong has the inherent ability to see into the art and perceive that. So Lightsong can interpret correctly an abstract piece, based on what the artist is trying to convey, in a way that a normal person couldn't.

I was not trying to make the artists anyone specifically important. In the case of those paintings, they are wonderful artists—I think they are two separate artists, if I'm thinking of the two paintings that you're indicating. As Lightsong has a splinter of divine nature inside him, he is able to interpret the paintings—to foresee, using them, and to see into the soul of the person who made them.

Goodreads Fantasy Book Discussion Warbreaker Q&A (Jan. 18, 2010)

 

[therunner he/him]

20 hours ago, Sythrin said:

Lets say the godking. Could he create a whole arsenal of legendary weapons potentially? Like creating a staff that can catch and release lightning. An Umbrella that can create huge gusts of winds when released. A cloak that can make you invisible?

Some of this might be feasible, as it is all manipulating or storing energy.

But items on level of Nightblood or Father Machine won't be possible. Nightblood required intervention of Shard, Father Machine was only possible because Shard in the system was splintered. So both required unusual circumstances.

[Sythrin]

1 hour ago, therunner said:

But items on level of Nightblood or Father Machine won't be possible. Nightblood required intervention of Shard, Father Machine was only possible because Shard in the system was splintered. So both required unusual circumstances.

Where do you have the part with, Nightblood required a Shards intervention. I hear that for the first time?

[therunner he/him]

17 minutes ago, Sythrin said:

Where do you have the part with, Nightblood required a Shards intervention. I hear that for the first time?

It's WoB, here

Quote

OrangeJedi

When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

OrangeJedi

Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

Brandon Sanderson

I would say, there is something special.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

So somehow, Endowment did something to help Nightblood get created.

Which would explain her attitude to Rayse in Oathbringer epigraph, she already did her part to help deal with him and thought it only a matter of time.

Edited October 28, 2024 by therunner