The Skybreaker

[boolamoo]

The Skybreaker in part one of IoE was said to have arrived on his own and under his own propulsion. 

Can Skybreakers somehow modulate air pressure the same way Windrunners can? I was under the impression it was a mix of Gravitation and Adhesion. I thought maybe he could be of both orders, but his threatening actions don't seem in line with Windrunners.

 

 

 

Very side note:

While I'm sure none of the Malwish present on FotS were full mistborn, him being unafraid to show up on his own while a whole ship of Scadrians was there leads me to give another point to Radiants beating Mistborn in a fight.

[Isilel]

57 minutes ago, boolamoo said:

The Skybreaker in part one of IoE was said to have arrived on his own and under his own propulsion. 

 

Rosharan spaceship could have landed on the uninhabited mainland with nobody the wiser, I am sure. The Skybreaker could have just flown over from there. 

[Treamayne]

7 hours ago, boolamoo said:

The Skybreaker in part one of IoE was said to have arrived on his own and under his own propulsion. 

Can Skybreakers somehow modulate air pressure the same way Windrunners can? I was under the impression it was a mix of Gravitation and Adhesion. I thought maybe he could be of both orders, but his threatening actions don't seem in line with Windrunners.

It was implied the Pressure and breathing air was a Fabrial, not a Surge. IED Ch 7:

Spoiler

The ground shook beneath this being’s steps as it entered the room. That armor…it was surreal, like interlocking plates with no visible seam. Just layered pieces of metal, covering everything from fingers to neck. Obviously airtight, the outfit had stiff iron hoses connecting helmet and armor.

Hope that helps.

[lacrossedeamon]

50 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

It was implied the Pressure and breathing air was a Fabrial, not a Surge. IED Ch 7:

  Hide contents

The ground shook beneath this being’s steps as it entered the room. That armor…it was surreal, like interlocking plates with no visible seam. Just layered pieces of metal, covering everything from fingers to neck. Obviously airtight, the outfit had stiff iron hoses connecting helmet and armor.

Hope that helps.

I dunno if either of those is a fabrial or a surge but just something living plate can do. Same with creating the hose, similar to the way Adolin's armor adapted itself to his needs.

[Treamayne]

On 7/15/2025 at 10:28 PM, lacrossedeamon said:

I dunno if either of those is a fabrial or a surge but just something living plate can do. Same with creating the hose, similar to the way Adolin's armor adapted itself to his needs.

Exactly, living armor can create the hoses - but the only reason to need the hoses is for pressure and breathable air - and the description specifically calls out "airtight."

That, to me, seems like the kind of detail Sanderson does not use without cause - hence, and implication that a fabrial* is providing air to the Skybreaker's Shardplate.

Note: I am using Fabrial in the Era 4 sense - which may or may not be based on Rosharan Gemstone/Spren Fabrials.
It could just be a version of using Zephyr Aether or something else. 

Spoiler

FirstSelector

So, do you have a name, like an in-world name for a large magical construction, like the things that picks Elantrians?

Brandon Sanderson

That was why I invented the term "fabrial." It will become widespread eventually, as the term for meaning, kind of, magic-type devices in the cosmere. That's not what you call it right now, but you can start calling them all fabrials.

FirstSelector

But what about something that isn't, like-- I always imagined that Aona left, like, a device, a magical device running--

Brandon Sanderson

I will have to RAFO that.

Oathbringer San Francisco signing (Nov. 15, 2017)

 

Edited August 14, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

8 hours ago, boolamoo said:

Very side note:

While I'm sure none of the Malwish present on FotS were full mistborn, him being unafraid to show up on his own while a whole ship of Scadrians was there leads me to give another point to Radiants beating Mistborn in a fight.

In a straight fair fight yes, we have a WOB that Kaladin would stomp Kelsier on the battlefield. Which is why Mistborn should never fight fair.

Anyway, slightly off topic but when the Skybreaker was talking about how the Eelakin need to make a decision on who to give their loyalty to, did anyone else get Taravangian vibes from the way he was talking? Because on a re-read it really felt like that was something Taravangian would say.

[Yvainnie she/her]

Are we sure it is a Skybreaker? May be it is Blackthorn invested by the Retribution the same that Heralds are invested by Honor?

[boolamoo]

It is highly implied by the gray armor, the questioning about laws regarding threats on his life, mention of legal justification to treat them as enemies, and though tenuous as many of the order glyphs could be described similarly, the description of the glyph as a bird in flight could be indicating Skybreaker. 

[Isilel]

28 minutes ago, Yvainnie said:

Are we sure it is a Skybreaker?

When I first read the transcript of the reading of an early version of this chapter, which was before WaT, I too thought that it was Dalinar, who had lost the Contest and had to become a servant of Odium. 

After WaT  Blackthorn spren might be an option... but the stress put on unusual intonations of the Radiant, even presumably in investiture-mediated translation, strongly suggests a singer to me. 

And he is a Skybreaker because he has Gravitation surge, asked about the lawfulness of shooting the general who had threatened him, his armour Glyph resembled "a bird in flight" and glowed grey, the color of a polestone and essence associated with the Order of  Skybreakers - Smoke and Smokestone respectively.

[Yvainnie she/her]

Do you think that Retribution invested his own "Heralds" for such tasks, even if it is not Dalinar or was it just a random skybreaker?

Edited July 17, 2025 by Yvainnie

[boolamoo]

Personally, I think this is likely far enough in the future that Retribution is no longer a problem and that Roshar is likely unified. Scadrial and Roshar are often talked about as singular powers.

[Nitpicking]

7 minutes ago, boolamoo said:

Personally, I think this is likely far enough in the future that Retribution is no longer a problem and that Roshar is likely unified. Scadrial and Roshar are often talked about as singular powers.

But the Scadrians we meet are specifically Malwish. All of them.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

11 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

But the Scadrians we meet are specifically Malwish. All of them.

I against my brother.
My brother and I against our cousins.
Our cousins and we against outsiders.

[+Bzhydack he/him]

4 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

But the Scadrians we meet are specifically Malwish. All of them.

Im with you here, we even get info that Malwish Empire is the strongest from Scadrian Fractions, but I dont think Scadrial is internaly divided. It can be something like Federation of few political Entities, with Malwish as leaders.

[bmcclure7]

On 7/17/2025 at 11:25 AM, boolamoo said:

Personally, I think this is likely far enough in the future that Retribution is no longer a problem and that Roshar is likely unified. Scadrial and Roshar are often talked about as singular powers.

I don’t know why you would think that. Given the imperialistic nature of Roshar they seem to be following the will of retribution since that was his plan this would definitely indicate that he is still around and still running most of Roshar 

On 7/17/2025 at 4:19 PM, Bzhydack said:

Im with you here, we even get info that Malwish Empire is the strongest from Scadrian Fractions, but I dont think Scadrial is internaly divided. It can be something like Federation of few political Entities, with Malwish as leaders.

Perhaps, but we could also be looking at a storm light situation where the bad guys won and the good guys are reduced to a small fact that is mostly irrelevant for the time being

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

Question, did anyone else get the feeling that the Skybreaker was a Singer? 
This is a tenuous assumption, but I am basing it off the fact that Dusk said he spoke with not quite an accent, but a strange pattern to his words, which would indicate Rhythms still being there while using a connection translator. 

[Yvainnie she/her]

5 hours ago, KnightSkye said:

Question, did anyone else get the feeling that the Skybreaker was a Singer? 
This is a tenuous assumption, but I am basing it off the fact that Dusk said he spoke with not quite an accent, but a strange pattern to his words, which would indicate Rhythms still being there while using a connection translator. 

Could be but we saw that even humans like Navani and Kaladin started to feel rhytms, so may be all Rosharans are this way.

[BinarySecond]

2 hours ago, Yvainnie said:

Could be but we saw that even humans like Navani and Kaladin started to feel rhytms, so may be all Rosharans are this way.

I think it's a real possibility for that to become innate for all Rosharans. Rock can hear them without outside assistance, if faintly.

He's got Singer ancestry though so I suppose it's hard to say for certain.

 

I do want the Skybreaker to be a Singer though because I think it would be cool.

[Elegy he/him]

Whether or not Roshar is unified at this point in time or not, it would take a lot of time dilation shenanigans for Stormlight 10 to take place after Embardark. And imagine five more Stormlight doorstoppers without the Roshar politics changing at all. Why would Brandon even write five more books if that was the case?

Edited August 14, 2025 by Elegy