WoR: Dalinar's (new) Shardblade... Taln's honorblade??

[michaelmj11 he/him]

Ok in the Prelude to TWoK Talenel (Taln, Talenelat, Talenel'Elin) dies and his honorblade vanishes, so that there are only 9 left in the circle. In Words of Radiance, doesn't Dalinar bond Talenel'Elin's honorblade? And if Dalinar DID bond the honorblade, as WoR mentions in multiple places that Dalinar had bonded "that madman's blade". Why,  at the end of WoR, does the blade that Dalinar has bonded start screaming inside his head after Dalinar swears his second oath, and The Stormfather refer to the blade as a "monstrosity"?? Especially if Szeth had an honorblade, and it did not scream in Kaladin's mind.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Well caught.

 

Source:

QUESTION

At the very end of Words of Radiance, Dalinar touches a Shardblade and it screams at him. Should that particular Blade have been safe?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

No it should not have. It's a clue that something has happened. There are other clues that something is wrong with what the story you've been told is.

 

QUESTION

Because Option 2 is that it's unsafe to touch an honorblade, but there's no evidence of that.

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

There is no evidence of that. There's much stronger evidence that something else is going on.

 

QUESTION

Did Hoid switch out the blades?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

Hoid did not switch out the blades, but good question.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Kurkistan

[Moogle]

The descriptions between the two Blades are different. "Taln" has a Blade that is long and like a spike, while Dalinar's is described as wide and like a cleaver (paraphrased). It does seem they were switched at some point. The list of candidates is enormous, and we worked to construct a list here. (The top candidates in my opinion are Bordin and the Diagramists.)

 

Further confusing the matter is that "Taln" did not have tan eyes while holding his supposed Honorblade. Szeth's eyes changed to Windrunner-blue (an exact match of Kaladin's) while holding the Windrunner Honorblade, which seems like a hint that all the Honorblades will have a similar effect.

 

This had lead to my current (slightly ridiculous) shaky belief that "Taln" is not in fact Taln, and in fact did not have an Honorblade, but someone else thought he was Taln and had an Honorblade, and swapped the Blades and ended up with a regular Shardblade. I recognize that this is unlikely, but it was either this or else come to the conclusion that Heralds are immune to eye color changes, and given the choice I find fallibility of humans more palatable than a magic system with more-complex-than-necessary rules.

[michaelmj11 he/him]

Well, at the end of WoR, when Dalinar is fighting Szeth Adolin says/thinks "Bless the man [Dalinar] for listening to reason and bonding that madman’s Blade." I can sort of get behind the, it isn't Taln theory, except for Wit/Hoid's presence at "Taln's" arrival. 

 

I tend towards Kurkistan's  comments about Something else having happened. Like Odium sucked all the magic Herald juice out of Taln, and thus Taln has the knowledge/longevity of a Herald, but not the powers...... or something like that. Otherwise I just see Hoid spitting out a different wise quip, about how he only THINKS he's Taln, or "my poor confused space traveling alien......" ..... You know?

 

And yah the discrepancies about the blade appearances bother's me as well, especially given Adolin's thoughts at the end of WoR.

Edited April 24, 2015 by michaelmj11

[Moogle]

...

 

I don't think many people are denying that "Taln" is special or supernatural in some way. His ability to catch darts mid-air suggests supernatural speed (much like a Returned?). Because of this, Hoid's presence makes sense - the question is who or what he is. If he was actually Taln, he should have had an actual Honorblade, and I lean towards him not having one due to his eye color (though many argue that Heralds may not gain the eye color, I am against this).

 

My current (also faintly ridiculous) shaky belief is that Taln is another Herald with serious mental issues. Perhaps caught up in their guilt over abandoning Taln, they've convinced themself that they are Taln.

 

Also, Hoid did call him confused:

“What is it we value?” Wit whispered. “Innovation. Originality. Novelty. But most importantly… timeliness. I fear you may be too late, my confused, unfortunate friend.”

 

Adolin's thoughts regarding him bonding the madman's Blade strongly suggests that the switch happened before he arrived at the warcamps.

[Elsecaller3414 she/her]

Well, either way, the man thinks he is Taln, as the interlude from his point of view had the same name as the Herald.  So... either he really is Taln, or he has a major sense of identity crisis.  Though there is considerable evidence of him being Taln.  Not everybody agrees, but he does have a knowledge of what Surgebinding is, when almost nobody else on Roshar does.  He even prevented Shallan from making an illusion in his presence.

[dyring]

"taln" might not be taln, but he is a worldhopper, or atleast shadesmareuser.

 

(Unless I remember way wrong he is glistening like a summoned shardblade all over, indicating he is coming from somewhere else)

[michaelmj11 he/him]

I was re-reading Wor and thought up some more questions about this.

From some of the interludes, especially Taln's, it sounds like the Herald's all show up at different places "the others should be arriving soon". Maybe since Taln's blade is the only one not left in the circle when the other heralds abandoned the pact, and thus (guess) it has been with Taln wherever he's been being tortured, maybe the blades gain some extra spiffy powers (i.e. get recharged) while their herald's are being tortured and one of the heralds who stayed behind found a dazed and confused Taln and stole his recharged Honor Blade,but didn't want him left defenseless, and so left him a different (unbonded) shardblade?

Also on a related note, since Storm Father said he would not become a simple blade for Dalinar, I bet Dalinar ends up bonding the windrunner honor blade and thus gains only one additional surge, since Bondsmiths already share one surge with Windrunners.