The Unique Nature of the 10 Signature Radiants [Spoilers for WoR, Oathbringer & RoW]

[athosdebro86 he/him]

Each of the 10 orders of Radiants was represented at the Battle of Thaylen City in Oathbringer.  Each of those representatives is definitely NOT a typical example of their Order.  Each is unique in a strange and fascinating way.

 - Kaladin: first Windrunner.  Mysterious "Son of Tanavast" title.  When he broke his oaths in Words of Radiance, Syl didn't become a deadeye the way Testament did when Shallan broke her oaths as a child.  Something wonderously strange going on here.  Also, he's the ONLY Windrunner with a bonded Honorspren that was alive before the Recreance.

- Shallan: first Lightweaver.  TWO BONDED CRYPTICS!!!  

- Dalinar: first Bondsmith.  The Stormfather is altered from what he originally was when he started bonding Bondsmiths, giving Dalinar a lot more access to Honor's powers than past Bondsmiths

- Venli: first Willshaper.  She's a REGAL RADIANT.  Having a voidspren in her gemheart (even if its impact on her is neutralized by her lightspren Timbre) lets her use VOIDLIGHT or Stormlight for her Surgebinding.

- Szeth: first of a new line of Skybreakers not bound to Naln.  While this is not as intrinsically or mechanically out of the norm from other Skybreakers, Szeth's highspren hasn't named itself to him, and Szeth has Nightblood and the whole situation of having his soul stapled back onto his body to be resurrected.  Not sure how that big gapping soul wound is going to impact his Skybreaker nature, or if he's become something like a Cognitive Shadow.

- Renarin: first Truthwatcher.  His mistspren Glys is "enlightened/corrupted."  He has only used Stormlight so far, but has access to Fortune-esque future sight through the spiritual affinity the 'enlightening/corrupting' gave to Glys.  Illumination is not working normally for him.  

- Lift: first Edgedancer.  She's...Lift.   Uses LIFELIGHT, not stormlight, and doesn't breathe either in, instead converting food into Lifelight.  She can touch spren in the Physical Realm, can enter Spiritual visions uninvited.  She's definitely unique

- Ash: Dustbringer (by default, this is the only Order left for her to have).  A HERALD.  That's got to do interesting things with the Nahel Bond.  She's also very different since the Order she guided was the LIGHTWEAVERS, but her madness takes the form of destroying idols and images of herself.  Feels like a good resonance (pun intended) for the Ashspren tendency to break things  

- Taln: Stoneward.  A HERALD.  And a Herald who has LIVED HIS ORDER'S VIRTUE for 10,000 years!!!  His Cognitive Shadow nature may do interesting things with the Nahel Bond.

- Jasnah: first, and so far ONLY, Elsecaller.  Oddly, Jasnah seems, as far as we know, to be the least unusual compared to other members of her Order, except for the fact that she is the ONLY member of her Order through the first 4 books, and the first Urithiru Radiant to reach the 4th Ideal (We know there are 4th Ideal skybreakers under Naln). I wonder if that vague reference we get from time to time of her childhood 'illness' and 'betrayal' of those who loved her could come into play here...

Edited December 5, 2024 by athosdebro86
fixing a typo

[Lord Spirit he/him]

LOL I love how there's all the cool first time things and then you get to edgedancers: She's...Lift.

I'm not sure either of the heralds have bonded spren. I agree that Ash is more in line with the dustbringers (which are the radiant order of her flashback book).

[athosdebro86 he/him]

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Violist said:

LOL I love how there's all the cool first time things and then you get to edgedancers: She's...Lift.

I'm not sure either of the heralds have bonded spren. I agree that Ash is more in line with the dustbringers (which are the radiant order of her flashback book).

lol She is a force of nature unto herself!  Like a very hungry Highstorm

 

True neither Herald has bonded a spren yet, but they were the two Dalinar was waiting for/looking for as the Radiants gathered to him after he declared himself UNITY, so I figured that was setting them up as future POV/Flashback Radiants in the back 5

Edited December 4, 2024 by athosdebro86

[Treamayne]

15 hours ago, athosdebro86 said:

Kaladin: first Windrunner.  Mysterious "Son of Tanavast" title.  When he broke his oaths in Words of Radiance, Syl didn't become a deadeye the way Testament did when Shallan broke her oaths as a child. 

That's because Kaladin did not break his oaths. He had two, contradictory Oaths and was considering breaking an oath. He then (possibly) burned part of his bond for Stormlight to survive the fall in the Chasm. At the least he strained it and caused damage similar to Dalinar tugging the Bond in Oathbringer to work the Oathgate when Stormfather tells him afterword "you hurt me."

To be specific:

Spoiler

• "I will Protect those that cannot protect themselves" - He had not broken this because Elhokar hod not been attacked yet, nor had Kaladin contributed to attacking Elhokar.
• Journey before Destination - He was stalled on the journey, but still on the Journey (as evidenced by many reapeated moral discussions with Syl)
• Strength before Weakness - Debatably, it may have been weakness to allow his personal feelings to influence his decisions more than his Oaths (as Syl Warned) - but he was still displaying Strength in his many protection duties. Damaged (maybe) but not Broken.
• Life before Death - Likely the Oath he was closest to breaking. And had he killed Amaram (in vengeance) or allowed Elhokar to be killed, this is probably what would have broken.

 

15 hours ago, athosdebro86 said:

Illumination is working normally for him.  

Do you mean Regrowth? We have not seen him use other aspects of Progression at all, and his use of Illumination is repeated said to be difficult and limited (not to mention abnormal in the Adolin and Moash scenes).

 

15 hours ago, athosdebro86 said:

She's definitely unique

It's also mentioned by her Voidbringer that she exists partially in the Cognitive (we don't know if that is similar-but-opposite to the Sja Anat PoV scene - where che is mostly CR and seeing PR at the same time)

 

Hope that helps

Edited December 5, 2024 by Treamayne
SPAG

[athosdebro86 he/him]

3 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Do you mean Regrowth? We have not seen him use other aspects of Progression at all, and his use of Illumination is repeated said to be difficult and limited (not to mention abnormal in the Adolin and Moash scenes).

Hope that helps

Thanks for catching my typo!!  I meant to write 'is not working normally for him;