How could Nightblood be used in the future?

[Through The Living Grub He/Him]

This is just a place to theorize on how we might see Nightblood change and interact with the the cosmere.

In WaT, nightblood suggests that they learned how to grant surges from the Honorblades, but what side affects would that have? Could the weilder use Stormlight or the black smoke that leakes out of the sword? Could they also grant individual resonances if those were known? It is not confirmed if a bond could be made, but suggested.

As a continuation to this, could Nightblood be taught to grant other MoIs? Could an Awakened metalmind teach it to grant the metalic arts?

Would Nightblood require oaths to grant these abilites, or just Connection from being weilded for a while...or eaten.

How much could Nightblood limit themself from eating people? They refrain from killing people in the end of WaT, probably because Kaladin saw it as a person who could choose, and beings with a lot of Investiture (like the entities) are susceptible to human perception. Could they be trained to only consume kinetic Investiture, or pick to choose useless stuff like F-aluminum and not Light?

Wob:

Spoiler

uchoo786

I know that Nightblood is technically a shardblade (invested sword), but can one use it without being bonded to a Spren since on Roshar the only way to breathe is stormlight and use it is by being bonded to a spren? Would Nightblood also work like a shardblade, in that it severs the soul instead of consuming it when it touches a person?

Brandon Sanderson

Remember that the Honorblades do not require one to be bonded to a spren to use, or gain access to powers. Nightblood goes one step further, vaporizing and destroying on all three realms.

uchoo786

So, if I understand this correctly, Nightblood will act like an Honorblade and allow Szeth to breath in Stormlight? Will his surges be completely different than anything Roshar has seen before, or will his surges be those of the Skybreakers since Nightblood's purpose is pretty similar to theirs?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to wait and see.

Spoiler

Nightblood is able to better sense where those are that have bonded more deeply with it.^[22][34] This is normally done by having it absorb a large amount of their Investiture.

Random other theory: could Nightblood use the Surges on its own? It has the Investiture necessary and the ability to grant it.

Now it can be drawn whenever it wants!