Command Breaking Theft?

[Trusk'our he/him]

I know this was never explored much, but a thought just occurred to me-

You can break the Command on a Lifeless, overriding its orders.

But what if you do this to a standard item, like a rope? If you break it in, could you also take counter Command it to come to you?

Maybe steal Breath by hacking others' objects essentially?

 

It would require, I suppose, that you can actually change its Identity or convince it to flow into you and align with your Identity then, but maybe, just maybe you could get loads of Breaths this way.

 

As an aside, I wonder if anyone's tried Command breaking on a human or Returned before? I bet it might do something like emotional nudging at the very least (Nalthian Soothing and Rioting? Returned already can do something like this passively).

Edited September 18, 2025 by Trusk'our

[Treamayne]

8 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

But what if you do this to a standard item, like a rope?

Unlikely - It's implied that Command Breaking works because the Animating Breath is matched to the Identity of the Lifeless (not the Awakener) but there is just not enough Identity there to "protect it." For example, WoB:

Spoiler

Storming Radiant

Can Susebron break Nightblood's commands?

Brandon Sanderson

Nope.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Susebron just isn't strong enough.

ICon 2019 (Oct. 17, 2019)

So, if Susebron, with all of Lifegiver's treasure, would not be able to Command Break Nightblood - then it is likely that either being a Type IV changes things, or having a solid Identity changes things (or both). There are no indications of Type I being Command Broken, but being a Splinter means that is probably at least as hard as Nightblood, if it is possible at all. There are no Indications of a Type III being Command Broken, and I think that would have happened a lot in the Manywar, if it was possible. My conclusion is that Identity is the primary factor - leaving the Lifeless susceptible for the reason mentioned above. 

I would not say impossible, because we just do not have enough data - but it seems unlikely to me. 

Hope that helps.