karaokeang she/her Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Okay this is probably a crazy theory and I may be off base but I have been thinking about this for days. What if Spren transformed into shardblades when needed? Like as the bond develops, the Nahel spren becomes more and more developed physically and eventually turns into the shardblade. The reason I came up with this is that Syl is becoming more entrenched in the physical world and Kal can actually feel her standing on his hand now. The 10 heartbeats for a blade to appear could account for the time it takes for a spren to pop over to the cognitive/spiritual(??) realm and transform into a blade and pop back into the physical realm. This would also explain the great betrayal of the KR to the spren. When the KRs laid down their swords, they were actually giving up their bond to their spren. That is why the spren screamed and would also explain why Syl doesn't like Dalinar's shardblade. It is essentially a comatose spren. Okay. I am at work so I can't cite passages to back up my theory but I thought I would hear what you all think. Feel free to blow massive holes into my theory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 That kind of plays into the theory that a Knight Radiant created his or her shardblade/plate after saying the last Oath. It's a pretty popular one. However, I don't see Brandon doing that because Syl is too much of a real character to end up as just a silent, powerful weapon. More likely, the spren were the source of the shards but didn't actually become them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaokeang she/her Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 I don't think she would be silent though. I think she would be her regular bad chull self until he needed a weapon and then she would pop over. It also makes sense why all the shardblades have names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yeah, but they're "sword" sort of names like Oathbringer and Sunraiser, not "name" sort of names like Sylphrena and Wyndle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heir of the Void he/him Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 That kind of plays into the theory that a Knight Radiant created his or her shardblade/plate after saying the last Oath. It's a pretty popular one. However, I don't see Brandon doing that because Syl is too much of a real character to end up as just a silent, powerful weapon. More likely, the spren were the source of the shards but didn't actually become them. When a Radiant and a Spren love eachother very much... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.S.A.M.K.M Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Fabrials are made via captured Sren. What if the Shards are captured/trapped, dead/undead spren? What would happens if the 5 ideals are said wearing the armor. That would turn every shard beared into one of the knight radiants, so useful in the future when the important battles come.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iarvos Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Why would shards come from the spiritual realm though? I think this theory would make much more sense if shard blades were stored in the cognitive realm - but I believe we reliably know that they are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuantumHarmonix he/him Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 (edited) I like this theory, but I prefer a slight modification. I think it's the oaths themselves that are transformed into the blade. I think that the blades are a physical representation of the ideals of the knight, and they are created in much the same way that human personification of physical forces created spren. I think that once the knight has realized all of the oaths for their order, their spren helps them transform those cognitive oaths into a physical object. Of course I don't think there is much evidence for this theory, I just like it thematically and don't think anything rules it out. But it could explain why Sly seems to remember being bonded before, but is not currently stuck as a sword somewhere. Edit: Extra thought this could be thought of as turning part of your soul into the sword, and might explain the spiritual aspects of the shardblades as well. Edited January 25, 2014 by QuantumHarmonix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocHoliday he/him Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I think the Nahel spren do become the Shardblade, though maybe not a mute one. Nightblood anyone? My reasoning is Dalinars vision from WoR. Honor is saying how he surprised that the Spren IMITATED what he had done with the Heralds. Now we know Nahel spren grants access to Surges. What did Tanavast give the Heralds? Honorblades. Not Nahel-bonds, they didn't exist yet. Now who do we know that has Surge-binding, but NO Nahel-bond? And what creature is bearing my Lords own Blade? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuantumHarmonix he/him Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I need a little help with this theory, but I think there is a reference to needing a broken soul in order to have access to the magic systems. If this is correct this is what I think happened. Before they became Heralds something happened to them that resulted in them having broken souls. After they agreed to the oath pact, Honor bonded them as his Heralds which gave them access to surges. This oath pact was now part of them, which let Honor turn that broken part of their soul into their Honorblade. In this way the Honorblade is part of the Herald and represents the oath pact. The spren then duplicated this process by bonding with people who had broken souls to give them access to surges. Then after the Radiant made their oaths apart of themselves, the spren were able to turn that part of their souls into a shardblade. This would make the shardblade, a shard of your soul that represents your oaths. If Szeth has Jezrien's Honorblade he would in essence have a part of Jezrien's soul, which could explain the eye color change and access to his surges. Then giving up your oaths would entail giving up your blade, part of your soul, and possibly your surgebinding ability. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macen he/him Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 This is simular to a theory I have been spouting in different threads. I like it. Side note: it makes the most sense that the shard blades would be stored in the spiritual realm. Brandon states they sever a part of the soul. Sounds spiritual to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortaan he/him Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Hm. That could explain the voice Dalinar hears while using Oathbringer. I wonder if Sadeas will have a similar reaction while wielding it, or if it was just Dalinar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dros Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I've often wondered why some Shardblades have names and some do not. It could be something as simple as people not remembering or never knowing what all the Blades are named, though. Or maybe some of them were just never given some arbitrary names like the rest. Anyone ever see any discussions of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaokeang she/her Posted January 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I just want to thank everyone for such interesting discussion. I don't have solid basis for this theory but it is more of a gut instinct. You all have given me much to think about. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin Kal he/him Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 I am not sure Syl has anything to do with becoming a sharblade or help kaladin to get one... As of what I saw till now she is pretty much against the concept of violence and killing. She didn’t like violence. He wasn’t certain if, even now, she understood death. She spoke of it like a child trying to grasp something beyond her. I even think she even loaths shardblade too. “He’s a good man,” Syl said. “I’ve watched him. Despite that thing he carried.” “That thing?” “The Shardblade.” “What do you care about it?” “I don’t know,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “It just feels wrong to me. I hate it. I’m glad he got rid of it. Makes him a better man.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuantumHarmonix he/him Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Syl is against modern shardblades and them being used to kill people. If modern shardblade's represent the Radiant's broken oaths, I could see why a "Spirit of oaths. Of promises." wouldn't like them. I doubt she would have a problem with a true shardblade since it wouldn't represent the Radiant's failure, and would be mostly for destroying Thunderclasts not killing people. Plus she is not entirely against killing, she says at one point he helped men kill but thought it was right at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin Kal he/him Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 @QuantumHarmonix ... Thank you:). I wonder what happened on The Day of Recreance.did they/some KR killed a spren or did something else with the shardblade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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