Shardblades, spines, and cosmere healing

[DoctaDajman]

What in the cosmere can heal a shardblade through the spine? 

Once upon a time it was posed in some threads that a radiant would simply absorb stormlight even after dead and with no ability to breathe and they would be healed from any 1 shot mechanic later down the road. 

There are lots of WoBs out there about healing the soul and the like but not all of them cover the central nervous system. 

We know stormlight, not through an honorblade but for a radiant, can heal the soul in a way to heal a withered arm. 

Spoiler

Questioner

Szeth says in the first Stormlight book that he can't heal from a Shardblade--

Brandon Sanderson

He can't.

Questioner

So when he got cut he couldn't heal that...

Brandon Sanderson

No. Not with his powers.

Questioner

Not from an Honorblade.

Brandon Sanderson

Not from an Honorblade.

Firefight Chicago signing (Feb. 20, 2015)

I assume that heralds have a different interaction there perhaps? 

Here is one on a fabrial working to but regrowth not... interesting.  

Spoiler

BlackYeti

If you remember from the original version of Words of Radiance, Kaladin rammed a Shardblade through Szeth’s chest, after which Nale found Szeth and healed him with a fabrial. However in Edgedancer Lift tries to heal a girl who had also had a Shardblade rammed through her chest, and it didn’t work. Wyndle then explains that since she was killed by Shardblade, she cannot be healed at all, unless she is healed right after it happened. Since Nale was obviously not with Szeth and Kaladin to heal him immediately, this appears to be a contradiction.

Therefore, either Nale has some way to remotely heal someone (of which we have no evidence), "right after" is being used very loosely, or when Brandon changed the scene to have Szeth fall to his death instead, he also changed the rules governing what can or can’t be healed.

If so, what other rules could have been changed at the same time? Is there some additional significance to the change in wording from fabrial to Surgebinding for instance? Moreover this would be a somewhat significant precedent that Brandon is setting, and I’m not sure what to make of it.

Peter Ahlstrom

The way it worked in WoR's first draft is still canonical. There are subtle things that make the two situations different.

Miscellaneous 2016 (Nov. 22, 2016)

This WoB does deal with the central nervous system and is about a shardblade through the eye and I must assume into the brain. Gold feruchemy appears to be able to heal it. 

Spoiler

Questioner

If a Shardblade was put through Wayne's eye, would he able to use his ability to heal the wound?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he should be able to heal that.

Oathbringer Leeds signing (Dec. 1, 2017)

Here is another one on Hoid and beheadings as well as shardblade cuts. 

Spoiler

Pinpoint (paraphrased)

If Hoid got beheaded, would his body grow a new head?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

Pinpoint (paraphrased)

What if Hoid got cut by a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Shardblade cuts the soul and what Hoid does heals the soul.

Words of Radiance release party (March 3, 2014)

 

So with all of these WoBs. I am curious what is safely capable of healing a shard to the spine.  

Would Lifts own lifelight be enough to heal through a shard that cut her in half? 

Is there a level of oath that needs to be spoken before the lights can effectively heal someone like that?  

Very curious about what would be able to be relied upon. 

[Treamayne]

48 minutes ago, DoctaDajman said:

Would Lifts own lifelight be enough to heal through a shard that cut her in half? 

First, may I please clarify - you say "cut in half", so do you mean two cuts (the first to sever the spine and kill a being, the second to cut that corpse into two pieces)?

WoR Ch 72:

Spoiler

Storms, she was tired. She used the Blade to hack a vine off the wall. It took two hits to get it free, amusingly. The first severed its soul. Then, dead, it could actually be cut by the sword.

 

1 hour ago, DoctaDajman said:

What in the cosmere can heal a shardblade through the spine?

Any form of healing that also heals the Spiritweb and can be used by the person while being damaged or used by somebody else after being killed but before the Shadow departs for the Beyond (assuming the healing can also reattach the Cognitive Shadow to the Body). You can make a Lifeless from a blade-killed corpse, Sufficiently advanced Regrowth (likely Oath 4+ or Fabrial), Bloodmakers with enough storage in thier Goldmind, if they begin tapping before they die. Likely a being can Return into a blade-killed corpse (but not confirmed AFAIK).

Spoiler

Quote

PrncRny (paraphrased)

What connection is there between Lifeless and Shard-severed limbs?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They are similar, but different. With Lifeless it's due to the soul being drained away, shrinking to nearly nothing. With Shard-severed limbs, that portion of the soul is sheared clean away.

Idaho Falls signing 2014 (Nov. 29, 2014)

Quote

Darth Vizious

Could you make a Lifeless out of someone killed with a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

Shardblades sever the soul from the body, but Awakening makes a "fake" soul for a body, so how the soul left doesn't matter.

General Twitter 2015 (Nov. 1, 2015)

 

Hope that helps

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

1 hour ago, DoctaDajman said:

This WoB does deal with the central nervous system and is about a shardblade through the eye and I must assume into the brain. Gold feruchemy appears to be able to heal it. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I feel as if brandon was taking it more literally as just a 'shardblade through the eye' and not the brain also.

[DoctaDajman]

3 hours ago, Treamayne said:

First, may I please clarify - you say "cut in half", so do you mean two cuts (the first to sever the spine and kill a being, the second to cut that corpse into two pieces)?

WoR Ch 72:

  Hide contents

Storms, she was tired. She used the Blade to hack a vine off the wall. It took two hits to get it free, amusingly. The first severed its soul. Then, dead, it could actually be cut by the sword.

 

Any form of healing that also heals the Spiritweb and can be used by the person while being damaged or used by somebody else after being killed but before the Shadow departs for the Beyond (assuming the healing can also reattach the Cognitive Shadow to the Body). You can make a Lifeless from a blade-killed corpse, Sufficiently advanced Regrowth (likely Oath 4+ or Fabrial), Bloodmakers with enough storage in thier Goldmind, if they begin tapping before they die. Likely a being can Return into a blade-killed corpse (but not confirmed AFAIK).

  Hide contents

 

Hope that helps

Thanks. Yeah I didn't think about the beyond. Perhaps the descrepency was that Szeth was more obstinate and lingered longer before moving to the beyond meanwhile the youth that Lift tried to bring back had already moved along into the beyond.  

This explanation makes so much more sense. Thinking how Kelsier could have come back meanwhile Vin and Elend went quickly. Some characters are more ready and willing to accept their death and brave the Beyond. 

Even looking at Wax and Wayne... Wax lingered long enough for Marasi to get the bands to him. If I remember correctly he was flat out given the option to tap the bands or move on. That was his choice. This could make for a simple explination for anytime a character is unable to be resurrected such as the regrowth vs fabrial question. Others that would probably prevent it are when someone is incinerated and there just isnt enough left. Miles may have been able to heal through an explosion to the extent that he was already tapping all of his metalminds and his body healed faster through every moment that death could happen. 

As far as cut in half... yes I meant eyes burnt out severed soul at first. But given the Hoid question I imagine that if someone were still in the spirit realm they could probably get themselves healed back up and regrow half of their body given enough investiture. 

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, DoctaDajman said:

Thanks. Yeah I didn't think about the beyond. Perhaps the descrepency was that Szeth was more obstinate and lingered longer before moving to the beyond meanwhile the youth that Lift tried to bring back had already moved along into the beyond. 

It's not necessarily about "obstinate" - we know for Mistborn Secret History:

Spoiler

“This is the in-between step. After death and before . . .”

“Before what?”

“Before the Beyond,” God said. “The Somewhere Else. Where souls must go. Where yours must go.”

“I haven’t gone yet.”

“It takes longer for Allomancers, but it will happen. It is the natural progress of things

Anybody invested lingers before moving on - Szeth had been weilding Surges for a long long time.