Is Szeth's Shardblade the equivalent of a spren? [Warbreaker Spoilers]

[Plaeggs he/him]

So I don't really have much time, and I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but is Nightblood the spren that bonded with szeth to make him a Skybreaker? Because Nightblood doesn't really seem the highspren type. I mean, "destroy evil" doesn't really sound like you'll be following the cold hard law most of the time. Just tell me what the deal is here.

 

[Moogle]

Szeth is not a Skybreaker (as in, a Surgebinder) as far as we know. He'd need to attract the right kind of spren (which we theorize is a highspren), and he has not done so yet to our knowledge. Since he lost his Honorblade, he should not be able to take in Stormlight.

 

The Skybreakers, as in the organization lead by the Herald Nalan, are not Surgebinders as far as we know. They might have descended from the Radiant order by the same name, but just because they use the same name doesn't mean much.

 

Nightblood is a sort of "robot spren" but you shouldn't expect him to act like a regular spren and grant Surgebinding powers.

 

Edit: Given the direction this thread is going in, I added [Warbreaker Spoilers] to the title and removed the word Nightblood.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Moogle

[SweetLift she/her]

Didn't Vasher (and what's her name?) create nightblood? And he uses breath when he is unsheathed. Because he is created and contains some sort of investiture I think that means he cannot be a spren. It will be interesting to see how he works on Roshar where, presumably there is no way to obtain breath. I agree that he won't grant Surgebinding abilities, but how will Szeth survive using him?!

[Moogle]

Didn't Vasher (and what's her name?) create nightblood? And he uses breath when he is unsheathed. Because he is created and contains some sort of investiture I think that means he cannot be a spren. It will be interesting to see how he works on Roshar where, presumably there is no way to obtain breath. I agree that he won't grant Surgebinding abilities, but how will Szeth survive using him?!

 

Vasher didn't create Nightblood (one of the other Five Scholars called Shashara did).

 

The creators were (presumably) trying to replicate Shardblades. He is indeed a sort of "robot spren". You might find this WoB explaining things (make sure you read the followup questions!) to be super interesting.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Vasher didn't create Nightblood (one of the other Five Scholars called Shashara did).

 

Technically while Shashara was the one to actually come up with the process they used, Vasher was involved in Nightblood's creation.  They decided on its Command (Destroy Evil) together.

[natc]

A certain someone else has been infusing stormlight without a nahel bond for a decent while now, presumably, so I hope Szeth can come up with something or else Nightblood is just good for throwing

[Yata he/him]

A certain someone else has been infusing stormlight without a nahel bond for a decent while now, presumably, so I hope Szeth can come up with something or else Nightblood is just good for throwing

Brandon stated that on Roshar also other type of Bonds could gain new powers. One it's been confirmed to be the Seon-Bond (that is actually quite similar to the Spren-Bond), probably the Nightblood-Bond could grant some ability (but there isn't a 100% sure proof).

 

This new "powers" aren't the 10 Surges (probably something linked to the bond's origin) but I think that could give the ability to assimilate Stormlight (maybe not through breathing).

[yafeshan he/him]

I think Szeth will gain some powers but those powers will not be the ones Roshar is familiar about. Nightblood is sort of spren for roshar but surges in roshar determined specifically by the spren types. Nightblood will be counted as a completely new kind of spren so it iwll grant different powers. Powers can be even related to its homeworld and awakening kind of powers.

[TwelfthOfSnackTime he/him]

The possible powers the hypothetical Nightblood bond could give to Szeth should be linked to Nightbloods own abilities (like Honorspren bind things). So IF Nightblood gives powers I think it will be the power to consume Investiture as well, or use the Investiture that Nightblood consumes for something. whatever way Brandon does it it will be really cool, I don't think he'd bring Nightblood into the story just so Szeth can chunk it at his enemies. 

[Ari he/him]

The possible powers the hypothetical Nightblood bond could give to Szeth should be linked to Nightbloods own abilities (like Honorspren bind things). So IF Nightblood gives powers I think it will be the power to consume Investiture as well, or use the Investiture that Nightblood consumes for something. whatever way Brandon does it it will be really cool, I don't think he'd bring Nightblood into the story just so Szeth can chunk it at his enemies. 

Pffft, Nightblood is clearly a Robotspren, and will give Szeth the power to generate investiture from electricity.

[Evil_Reptile]

I think Szeth will gain some powers but those powers will not be the ones Roshar is familiar about. Nightblood is sort of spren for roshar but surges in roshar determined specifically by the spren types. Nightblood will be counted as a completely new kind of spren so it iwll grant different powers. Powers can be even related to its homeworld and awakening kind of powers.

Actually, come to think of it, in Warbreaker, when Nightblood was unsheathed, he consumed investiture to do all of the slaughter-fifty-lifeless stuff. That may well be one of the Surges that Nightblood grants.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Evil_Reptile

[natc]

Kinda a useless surge when it seems to be his base shardblade functionality.

[Evil_Reptile]

Kinda a useless surge when it seems to be his base shardblade functionality.

A basic Shardblade's functionality is cutting through anything and severing souls. Nightblood, when unsheathed, obviously consumes investiture. It's not exactly explained in detail in Warbreaker what exactly it does, other than "kills a bunch of stuff and lets off black smoke, but it strikes me as useless if the makers of Nightblood had prior knowledge of Shardblades, it would be useless to try to replicate a Shardblade by making a sword that consumes investiture to be a Shardblade. Somehow it seems that someone able to make a sentient sword would probably make it do more than just what a standard Shardblade does when consuming investiture, instead of some crazy Surge.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Evil_Reptile

[Ascendant Warrior he/him]

My understanding is this: Nightblood was created to imitate Shardblades and/or Honorblades. However, Shardblades are Splinters in physical form.  I don't know much about Breath, but I don't think it's possible to make Breath coalesce into something tangible, so the Scholars had to use something already physical, and put the Splinters into it. The intricacies of Awakening meant they had to give the Breaths a Command, and Nightblood was "born". I don't personally think that Nightblood will give Szeth a Surge of any kind, mainly because his sentience does not come from Honor, Cultivation or a combination of the two.