Kaladin's Fingers

[Friendly Moss]

Quick question.

Any ideas?

Spoiler

Do we know if Kaladin has lost the fingers that Nightblood absorbed forever? When he returns to Roshar and forms a body again will he have all his fingers or will his ability to hold a spear and play the flute be impended? Nightblood has always appeared to have a more permeant effect on people/deities than usual weapons though I know people can heal somewhat from his touch. 

[Treamayne]

56 minutes ago, Friendly Moss said:

Quick question.

Any ideas?

  Hide contents

Do we know if Kaladin has lost the fingers that Nightblood absorbed forever? When he returns to Roshar and forms a body again will he have all his fingers or will his ability to hold a spear and play the flute be impended? Nightblood has always appeared to have a more permeant effect on people/deities than usual weapons though I know people can heal somewhat from his touch. 

In WaT CH 144, Ishar implied that Szeth's arm would be restored once he was a Herald. The same should apply to Kal's fingers.

Spoiler

“Szeth lives,” Nale said, “but he needs Regrowth. I have a fabrial—”

“But no Stormlight,” Ishar said.

“No Stormlight.” Nale deflated. During the confrontation, either Ishar, the sword, or Stormblessed had consumed it.

“Once Szeth is a Herald, this body will be meaningless anyway,” Ishar said. “We proceed.”

Possibly, more telling, in the Postlude Kalak takes Kaladin's hand, but there is no mention of missing fingers anywhere in that scene. So, no guarantees, but the implication is that it is at least possible.

[Leuthie]

He exists as Investiture in the Spiritual Realm as of the end of WaT. That Investiture wasn't missing fingers long enough to "want" to remake itself without fingers. The loss of fingers will never be mentioned again.

[alder24]

This is all based on Kaladin's self-perception. If he now considers himself as missing fingers, he won't have them, if he considers his ideal self as having fingers, he will have them. This is the same as it was with his scars and tattoo - for such a long time he was unable to heal his brands because he saw himself as deserving them, until he finally let go of his guilt and realized he can't save them all. He's a Herald now, a Cognitive Shadow, more like a spren than a person, but the same rules still apply. It's still a form of healing and it will all depend on how he views himself. 

Because he just lost his fingers a few minutes ago, it's highly unlikely that his mind incorporated that loss with his image of himself. Additionally, he's not at his darkest moment anymore so he won't feel like he deserves this wound. He probably already has his fingers back when investiture recreated a body for him in the postlude vision based on his self-perception.

Spoiler

Questioner

I notice that Stormlight seems to be a bit volatile in how well it heals or who it heals. Because it seems like Renarin's eyesight would have been a long term problem, kinda like Rysn's legs maybe and Lopen's arm. But Lopen's arm got healed, Rysn's legs didn't and Kaladin's scars didn't. So I didn't know if there was a reason for those things.

Brandon Sanderson

So Stormlight healing, there's a couple things that have to be considered. But in reference to what you're saying, the person's perception of themselves is a huge part of it.  The way healing works in the cosmere is, you've got the three versions of yourself. You've got your Physical version, your Cognitive version, and your Spiritual version, And a lot of Stormlight is taking your Physical version and matching it to the Spiritual version which is your ideal self.  But it has to be filtered through the lens of your mind, and things like this.

I almost always--probably should say always--am using it to reinforce some sort of character attribute. The fact that Lopen never saw himself, even though he only had one arm, as being disabled, as a big influence, versus whether Kaladin feels deserves his brands or not. Does that makes sense?  And those are two very different things that influence how the healing works. And you will see that as a metaphor and theme, if you watch what heals and what doesn't.

Orem signing (March 10, 2018)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

 Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?

Brandon Sanderson

Because *photo pause* a lot of the healing in the Cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself. 

Questioner

So Kaladin has accepted the scars.

Brandon Sanderson

Kaladin has accepted the scars, and Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's a good question, it's one I am hoping people will ask. [...] It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, that there will be consistency among them, that so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, for instance, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker-- What you want to have happened influences what does happen, the expectation, the way you are thinking about things. Very important for most of the Cosmere magics.

Words of Radiance Chicago signing (March 22, 2014)

 

[dezaS Hᴇ/Hɪᴍ]

You can heal sharddead and missing body parts with Investiture

I think you should be able to heal the nightblood wound.

If not, just cut off the whole hand to remove the scars.

Just my $0.02.