Mailliw73 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Theory: there are specific stances that were preferred by or named after the Orders of KR. Windstance- Windrunners, as The main soulcasting properties associated with Jezrien and the WR is air Smoke stance- Nan's order, smoke being an essence of the soulcasting properties of Nalan Stonestance- Tanat's order for the same reason So is it safe to assume that the others have their own stances? For example, Chach's order's preferred stance being Firestance and Shash's being Bloodstance. Is this a plausible theory? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 I'd buy that. Good eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted February 28, 2013 Report Share Posted February 28, 2013 Well when Dalinar tries using the forms in his vision the KR don't recognise it, but it could be based on their styles and just have changed over the years I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner Posted February 28, 2013 Report Share Posted February 28, 2013 I've always thought this could be the case. It would be more interesting if they'd been eventually developed to work in concert with different types of Surgebinding abilities. Like how the Windrunners are always moving, so Windstance doesn't have any need of parrying motions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anakm Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Or it could be that each of the stances are named after one of the ten essences, since they (along with other ars arcanum parallels) are ingrained into the culture of Roshar. Maybe a bunch of Alethi duelists got together, and came up with 10 (arc number) stances, then named them after the essence that they matched, or perhaps they based them off of the essences from the start. I guess the question is, is it just a coincidence, and each stance corresponds with an essence and the connotation attached to it? Or are the stances based on the way would fight if you were radiant in order to maximize your abilities? (Is Windstance named so because of its quick, gusty style? Or because as a Windrunner that's how you would fight while using your abilities?) I think it would be really cool if it was the former, but I don't have enough information to know. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanderfan Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 I always assumed they just named the stances after the essences for cultural reasons. I think it's unlikely (buy hey what do I know, still totally possible) that they're actually based on how the KR fought or that they're designed to be more useful to a particular order, especially since most of the orders didn't really do a lot of fighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaa Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 (edited) If each Order only used a single stance when swordfighting, they'd be predictable and easier to beat by smart Voidbringers. Even if the Knights Radiant used the Essence Stances (which I doubt), I think they were obviously meant to be learned in their entirety and used as needed, though each individual may have his own favorite Stance. I always thought that the Stances were invented post-Recreance as the need for top-class non-Radiant fighters emerged in Alethela (soon to become Alethkar), and that the association with the Essences was cultural, though that kingdom's long history with the Radiants might've had something to do with it as well. As for what swordfighting technique the Knights Radiant actually used, it would have to have been something that utilized the adaptability of their spren-weapons and the benefits of Stormlight. They would probably be almost useless to a non-Radiant. Edited January 27, 2015 by skaa 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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