Illumination and its other uses

[Thom Mayvin he/him]

The Surge Illumination on the Ars Arcanum of WoR is said to be the Surge of Light, Sound and various waveforms. We´ve already seen the manipulation of light to create illusions, and Pattern has said that Shallan could use sound to make her illusions talk for themselves, also possibly letting Shallan alter her own voice just as Pattern does. But these are only two uses of a power that should be able to control many different types of waveforms.

 

So my theory is that this Surge can manipulate mechanical and electromagnetic waves such as microwaves, X-rays, ultraviolet, and even maybe shock waves.Giving the Lightweavers and Truthwatchers more abilities that are less passive such as  being able to manipulate these weaves to magnify shocks waves to create (small) earthquakes, use sound to shatter objects (like the thunderclasts rock bodies and the carapaces of voidbringers) by reaching the frequency that the atoms of the object vibrate, and microwaves to possibly communicate between Knights of the two orders or create heat to warm people or objects .

 

However even if this is possible I reckon it would only be seen by the time the Scadrians have FTL travel and visit Roshar, since now the Rosharans knowledge in physics seems not advanced enough for them to be able to access this part of the surge without just stumbling upon it.

 

Any thoughts?

[Landis963 he/him]

If any Lightweaver gets the ability to convert Stormlight into death rays, it will have to be long after the Desolations are dealt with.  Because grinding everything back to the stone age is part of the point.  

[Thom Mayvin he/him]

Yes, but since the True Desolation already started and that's theoretically the last one, once it's over they will be able to rebuild and finally study without a desolation showing up and throwing them back to the Stone Age once in a while. And depending on how this desolation ends they may not be set far back too much on the state of humanity and civilization.

[blad3mast3r he/him]

I can see microwaves or ultraviolet being a thing. 

 

my only concern would be the power output.... illusions don't take that much stormlight, but the more lethal wave uses you suggested might require so much it would be easier just to use the blade/extra strength.......

[Warpsmith]

I agree, I also think the Ilumination Surge might enable all these things even though I think that most of those would consume quite a lot of Stormlight and knowledge not present on Scadrial at the moment(as pointed out in the OP)though some of the brightest of the ancient Radiants might have been capable of some of these feats.

 

Now as interesting as this theory is you left out another application that might be quite useful: the use of the different waves for scouting and spying purposes. This could be particularily useful when working with Elsecallers and willshapers in order to be sure to appear somewhere safe for instance, in fact I would not be surprised if that specific thing was not one of the Truthwatchers' duty.

[AerionBFII he/him]

There seems to be a lot of similarities between Hoids Lightweaving and Roshar Lightweaving almost like they are cousins,

i read in a WOB that Hoid uses a form of Magic to convert languages. It doesn't enable him to speak a language or the other person merely alter it so he can understand and vice versa this could possibly be a variant of 'Sound' that involves Lightweaving possibly Shallan will also be able to use it...

 

 

(trying to find the wob, i will insert it once i find it...)

 

**EDIT** Took me 38 minutes to find that...be grateful ;P

 

Q: So in Words of Radiance you’ve got a character named Wit [Yes], who has a conversation with Kaladin in which he uses the phrase “bunny rabbit” which obviously doesn’t exist in the language that Kaladin exists.  So my question is where and when did the language he used come from?

 

A: So Hoid, or Wit, is actually using magical means to communicate and so when he says a word it just transliterates it or just doesn’t translate it into anything in that language.  So you’ll notice him slipping up on a number of occasions, because he is the only one who uses certain words in the course of-- That’s not the only one in The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, because he’s just speaking normally and allowing his other means to translate for him.  And that’s a sign, a symbol, of that happening.

 

Edited October 2, 2015 by WEZ313