Oathgates Construction Material

[Senor Feesh]

So, the 'lock' in the Oathgate (by which I mean the slot that fits a Shardblade) - what's it made out of?

 

It isn't cut by Shardblades, and reacts (changing its shape) to fit a Shardbade being inserted. Shallan Even thinks something along the lines of 'its made of the same material' when Renarin's blade fails to mark it.

 

Are the locks Spren? Or just Invested metal?

[Blaze1616]

Given the shape changes, I don't think it's simply invested metal. Nightblood is invested metal, but it cannot change shape. It would be interesting if it did turn out to be a spren, though. Were there Knights who willingly kept their spren at the gates to act as locks? Or are these spren "self-sacrificing" themselves for the sake of convinience?

[natc]

What if it's shardplate material? They're bladeproof and can conform around human shapes, and we don't know for sure if they even contain spren.

Which really just shifts the question to "what is shardplate?" but eh.

[dvoraen]

I think it's a spren, myself.  Why?  Both the fact that the keyhole is made of the same material as a Shardblade (which are spren) and the fact that it doesn't work if a dead spren Blade is inserted.  Therefore, I think that the Oathgate spren bound to it communicates only and directly with a live spren via the Shardblade keyhole.  Pattern himself states that in Shadesmar, spren communicate in a completely different way than they do with humans -- my personal bet there is via Investiture-waveforms, as we saw with Ruin and Vin after she became Preservation -- so it stands to reason that the Oathgate is a 'live' spren that can only communicate in this manner, which is why a dead/mindless spren doesn't work.  It's kind of like a live spren is saying 'Unlock the Oathgate!' in a manner that can be understood by the Oathgate.

 

In other words, Oathgates don't speak human.  Only Nahel spren do.

Edited March 6, 2015 by dvoraen

[VladJunior]

The spren idea seems consistant with the notion that the other gates (besides Stormseat) are "locked." How exactly do you lock a live spren from acting, unless you have killed that spren by abandoning oaths. Perhaps that is why Stormseat's oathgate still works? It was forgotten after the last desolation. Although the city was destroyed, the spren operating the gate lived through the destruction. I imagine there will be some re-discovery that helps the current Knights replace the old gate locks with new spren.

[Patrick Star]

Vibranium.  Dalinar's going to become Captain Alethkar, Kaladin's going to become Thor, Shallan will become Scarlet Witch, and Lopen will be One-Armed Herdazian Man.

 

On a serious note.  It's probably some form of Aluminum.  Brandon has already said that Aluminum has weird effects on Cosmere magic, and it's likely the unforgeable metal from Elantris (relatively low melting point).

Edited March 6, 2015 by Patrick Star

[hoser]

Vibranium.  Dalinar's going to become Captain Alethkar, Kaladin's going to become Thor, Shallan will become Scarlet Witch, and Lopen will be One-Armed Herdazian Man.

 

On a serious note.  It's probably some form of Aluminum.  Brandon has already said that Aluminum has weird effects on Cosmere magic, and it's likely the unforgeable metal from Elantris (relatively low melting point).

Dawnshards.

 

Stick.

 

What was the question again?

 

Oathgate lock material?  Some form of aluminum?  Aluminum foil!  Reynolds Wrap that changes shape to fit the Shardblades. 

[Betrail]

The ardents have put the keyhole into religion, Therefore could the locked oathgates (Which might be spren) be locked in place and be unable to act as a gate till all figures of "how it represents how the all-mighty must look at the hearts of men" Is removed from text?

(Thought there was a mural with that depicted on the wall)

[Natans]

In sum

- To be able to act as a teleport the Oathgate must be some kind of fabrial.
- Modern Fabrials are spren powered
- We know that at least another tow object that have similar characteristics:
1 - Change form and be shardblade resistant.  Tthe Shardplates.
2 - A metal object without trapped spren that have surge characteristics. The Soulcaster 
- Navani allude dream is build up modern shardplates. Speculation: Brandon wouldn't highlight this if her dream her impossible  

- We know it's possible lock some spren by measuring them in a "Quantum Fabrial Science" stable form.


So to me, both shardplate,oathgate and soulcasters are advanced fabrials created by "Quantum Fabrial Science". How come?

 

Lets take for example the plates. What happen when them broke? They fix themselves to a defined previous state correct ? If so, this is to me evidence that they are locked in a predefined state and the act of fix themselves by feeding stormlight are just this fabrial achieving a quantum state of equilibrium pre-defined. 

And more If is possible to turn(fix in a quantum state) some kind of spren so that them take a physical form, mimicking what the upper spren do when they turn in a blade, we could have the solution from this problem.

Basically the oathgate, the shardplate and the soulcasters are both similar things. Spren turned material e gived some kind of characteristic by locking them in pre-set state by quantum fabrial science. 

Evidence of this in the soulcaster is that unlike all the other modern fabrials where the desired affect are given by a gem trapped spren, there is no spren trapped in  the soulcaster, what make it work are the "metal setting/casing" (or by my theory the spren turned metal  by quantum locking).

=)



 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Natans

[Patrick Star]

@Natans

 

So, basically unobtainium.  Right?

[Natans]

Pretty much =)

[kari-no-sugata]

I could write a long version of this if there's interest but here's what I think:

 

I think of Shardblades as "magical metal" rather than something "living" - I don't see it as a physical manifestation of a spren itself but something by a spren. Putting it another way, it is possible to make something of the same "material" artificially and is not something tied to Roshar.

 

I think of Shardplate as a complex magical device with multiple features. I think the Shardplates we see took a long time to make and a lot longer to develop. I think it's made in stages: first the individual sections are Soulcast one by one, then those sections are magically bound together and various extra features added, eg, force enhancement, auto-adjustment, self-repair, translucent faceplate etc.

 

I think of Shardplate, the Oathgates and Soulcasters (the devices) as different applications of the same technology. Note that all 3 require infused gems while "dead" Shardblades only need a gem to summon and otherwise work fine without.

 

 

PS Anyone know if Shardblades get heavier/lighter as they become bigger/smaller (eg when Pattern shrunk when Shallan was cutting out the "cubby")? I suspect the weight stays the same.

[dvoraen]

They're made of the same metal that Honor's godmetal would be on Scadrial!  In other words, a Physical aspect of Honor, much as atium is a Physical aspect of Ruin, lerasium is one of Preservation's, and so forth.

 

I'm being serious, here.  Typically, spren are Cognitive beings, but* based on the epigraphs in the in-world Words of Radiance and comments from Syl and Pattern, Nahel spren manifest more strongly in the Physical Realm as the bond/Words progress, which leads to them becoming able to take on Shardblade/Physical form at their bound human's behest.  Based on that, and since Nahel spren are fragments of the power of Honor (and/or Cultivation), it makes sense that their Shardblade form is therefore their actual Physical form.  Thus, they're made of godmetal.

 

So, the Oathgates are formed from a godmetal.  I still assert that the Oathgates are actually a spren, though, considering that they're fabrials, which by definition seem to require a spren's involvement and/or enslavement.

 

* (If we assume the epigraphs are all actually factual, and not based on hearsay.)

Edited March 11, 2015 by dvoraen

[Dahak]

Vibranium.  Dalinar's going to become Captain Alethkar, Kaladin's going to become Thor, Shallan will become Scarlet Witch, and Lopen will be One-Armed Herdazian Man.

 

On a serious note.  It's probably some form of Aluminum.  Brandon has already said that Aluminum has weird effects on Cosmere magic, and it's likely the unforgeable metal from Elantris (relatively low melting point).

 

Aluminium is my thought as well. especially after considering the characteristics of the guards they used when sparring with shardblades.

[bunyip99]

I don't think the oathgate locks are spren, or made of shardblade material. Rather they are made of the same material as honorblades.

The oathgates are ancient and in my opinion were created by Honor himself or the heralds perhaps.

IIRC honorblades were given to the heralds by honor, and the spren imitated them.

[hoser]

I don't think the oathgate locks are spren, or made of shardblade material. Rather they are made of the same material as honorblades.

The oathgates are ancient and in my opinion were created by Honor himself or the heralds perhaps.

IIRC honorblades were given to the heralds by honor, and the spren imitated them.

Spren are made of investiture.  Some spren have developed sentience.  Honorblades are invested magical objects, presumably created by a Shard, that do not seem to be sentient.  What are they if not at least partly investiture?  So Honorblades are made of the same material as Shardblades.  What am I missing?