SingTheSorrow Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Hello! Just joined the site today as i just finished WoR!! Glad to see there is such an active and passionate fanbase for Sanderson's books! Here's my question/thoughts:So why do I see so many people saying Skybreakers don't have spren? Maybe I am completely missing something obvious so forgive me if that is the case.For starters, Syl makes a comment to Kaladin concerning the difference between Windrunners and Skybreakers, quote: "Sylphrena, an honorspren, mentioned to Kaladin that "Laws don't matter. Whats right matters." Highspren, and through them, the Skybreakers, judge and dispense justice according to the letter of the law and what may make logical sense to them" (17th shard wiki)" I remember Syl talking about the difference between how Highspren and Honorspren distinguish what should/should not be done. To me this all implies Skybreakers have Highspren.Also, when Szeth meets Nale, Nale asks him to join the Skybreakers. Then Nale throws him a shard blade and the blade seemingly talks to him. Again, I feel this indicates it is a spren.Would love to get clarification on all of this! Cheers! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamEternal Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 That shardblade is not a spren, it is Nightblood, a magicaly created weapon of mass destruction from Warbreaker, set in a completely diferent planet. But you are right, Skybreakers bond Highspren. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Awesome. I haven't read Warbreaker yet but I just bought it yesterday and will read it once I finish Elantris. Just curious, how do you know it is Nightblood? Is it made obvious from reading Warbreaker? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamEternal Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 (edited) Nightblood is a longsword that bleeds black smoke and is terribly eager to obey its command of destroying evil, but being a sword it is very bad at grasping morality and very good at grasping destruction. It used to belong to Vasher, who: is know as swordmaster Zahel on Roshar Edited June 24, 2015 by CognitivePulsePattern 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindel Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 To clarify your main question, the Order of the Knights Radiant called the Skybreakers do bond Highspren. However, it's unknown at the moment whether Nale's Skybreakers are actually Surgebinders, or simply a group named after the Order. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kestrel Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 I have the personal headcanon that I read somewhere that Nightblood is an awakened shardblade. In any case, welcome to the Cosmere! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Awesome. I haven't read Warbreaker yet but I just bought it yesterday and will read it once I finish Elantris. Just curious, how do you know it is Nightblood? Is it made obvious from reading Warbreaker? Thanks! Very, very obvious. Once you read Warbreaker you'll understand. FYI: There is also a WoB confirmation that the sword is Nightblood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Honor Spren Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Nightblood is a longsword that bleeds black smoke and is terribly eager to obey its command of destroying evil, but being a sword it is very bad at graping morality and very good at grasping destruction. It used to belong to Vasher, who: is know as swordmaster Zahel on Roshar Wow. I never knew that, but looking back it makes sense. Could you possibly link or quote the WoB this was found in so that I can read it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 (edited) To clarify your main question, the Order of the Knights Radiant called the Skybreakers do bond Highspren. However, it's unknown at the moment whether Nale's Skybreakers are actually Surgebinders, or simply a group named after the Order.Never considered this, thanks for the clarification! I have the personal headcanon that I read somewhere that Nightblood is an awakened shardblade. In any case, welcome to the Cosmere! So by this, Nightblood IS a spren, because aren't all shardblades spren? Its just those that were abandoned by/had their oaths broken by the knights radiant are "broken" somehow? And thank you! Glad to have found this awesome site it will help me pass time as I impatiantly await the next Stormlight book. Cheers!EDIT: One clarification: I get that Honor Blades aren't spren, I meant all Shardblades that aren't Honor Blades. Edited June 22, 2015 by SingTheSorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaspin Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Nightblood wouldn't be a spren because he did not originate on Roshar, but from Nalthis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 I suspect that Nightblood is more like a Honorblade Shardblade than like a Sprenblade. I read something recently (I think from the AMA) that said Honorblades feed on Investiture like Nightblood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Nightblood wouldn't be a spren because he did not originate on Roshar, but from Nalthis Good point. However, are there theories as to why Nightblood can speak and is sentient? Or is that explained in Warbreaker (which I will be reading very soon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Good point. However, are there theories as to why Nightblood can speak and is sentient? Or is that explained in Warbreaker (which I will be reading very soon). Explained in Warbreaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Explained in Warbreaker. Thank you! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kestrel Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Just go read all the other Cosmere novels (warbreaker, mistborn, elantris) and then report back. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindel Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Nightblood is not an Awakened Shardblade, he's essentially a Shardblade created through a very different process. Going into too much detail would be spoilers for Warbreaker, though, so I'll leave it at that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Just go read all the other Cosmere novels (warbreaker, mistborn, elantris) and then report back. Nightblood is not an Awakened Shardblade, he's essentially a Shardblade created through a very different process. Going into too much detail would be spoilers for Warbreaker, though, so I'll leave it at that. I started Elantris yesterday and am almost done Warbreaker will com right after, then Mistborn. Cheers again! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bort Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 I suspect that Nightblood is more like a Honorblade Shardblade than like a Sprenblade. I read something recently (I think from the AMA) that said Honorblades feed on Investiture like Nightblood Honourblades require more stormlight to get the same affects as a bonded Sprenblade. Syl comments on it the first time Kaladin fights Szeth, then explains in more detail later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaa Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Good point. However, are there theories as to why Nightblood can speak and is sentient? Or is that explained in Warbreaker (which I will be reading very soon). There is a Warbreaker-centric explanation, but the general explanation is that it's possible for a piece of a Shard's power to gain sentience on its own. Such a sentient piece of Shardic power is called a Splinter. You can find Splinters in Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Stormlight Archive. And yes, highspren being the traditional spren of Skybreakers is the most sensible conclusion we could make based on Syl's words, but I don't think any of Nale's current minions actually bonded with one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 While I agree with the majority opinion that Nalan's Skybreakers probably haven't bonded any spren (Nalan would probably want to kill them), Taravangian seemed to think that Helaran might have taught Shallan some Surgebinding. Why he thought this, I can't say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondesu Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 Nightblood is not an Awakened Shardblade, he's essentially a Shardblade created through a very different process. Going into too much detail would be spoilers for Warbreaker, though, so I'll leave it at that. More specifically, he's not a "Shardblade" in the Rosharian usage of the term, though he's still (maybe, not entirely sure) a shard of a Shard imbedded/imbued into a sword. That gives him some shared characteristics with the Shardblade, and some very different ones (no sign he can be dismissed and recalled like an Honorblade/Shardblade, for instance). Is that confusing enough? jW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 I think of it this way. Shardblades are spren, and spren are splinters of a shard. Syl with the whole tiny piece of a god thing. Shardblades on Roshar occur when you take that big piece of a god and solidify it into a sword. Nightblood is the reverse. You take an existing sword, then you force feed shard pieces into it until it fills to bursting. It's still an invested sword with splinter-level power (literally a large portion of a Shard in the form of a blade, hence shardblade), but it's metal rather than spren-stuff. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiosity Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Could we tag this topic with serious spoilers? I know that, for me and more than a few people, the moment with Nightblood at the end of WoR was a huge, crazy moment. Please don't ruin that kind of thing for other people who just wandered into the forum and may have only read WoK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Could we tag this topic with serious spoilers? I know that, for me and more than a few people, the moment with Nightblood at the end of WoR was a huge, crazy moment. Please don't ruin that kind of thing for other people who just wandered into the forum and may have only read WoK. This is a good point. The mentions of Nightblood should definitely have gone under spoiler tags. Rather than go through every post, I added a note to the title. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingTheSorrow Posted June 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Sorry about that, how would I go about hiding spoilers?I do all of my posting from a cell phone so idk if that limits my options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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