Who/What are the Heralds?

[VirtuousTraveller he/him]

What do we know about the origin's of the Heralds (pulled from the Coppermind)?

• They are servants of The Almighty (Honor)
• There are 10 of them in total, each with an Honorblade given by the Almighty
• They are not Slivers (having never held the power of an entire shard)
• If they die, they return to what we assume is Braize to be tortured
• If they don't die, they are supposed to return to the place of torture on their own
• In the last desolation, Taln died and returned to torture, but the other 9 remained on Roshar, but gave up their Honorblades

I have some questions that I'm curious for feedback about.  It's a running list and some of it just might not be known right now, but I believe in the power of the 17th Shard - you all help me gain so much insight into this amazing cosmere Brandon has created for us!

1. Did the Heralds have to give up their Honorblades to stay on Roshar (instead of returning to torture)?
2. Are the Heralds always the same spiritual being (but change bodies each time they return)?
3. Why and how did the Shin come into possession of the Honorblades?
4. Do the Honorblades normally go back to the place of torture with the Herald?
5. Are Honorblades splinters of Honor?  Do they have any sentience of their own?

[Pagerunner he/him]

I can't answer all your questions; Brandon has RAFOd whether Honorblades are splinters and what happens to the Heralds when they leave and return. But One of the Heralds did go back and retrieve their Honorblade; this was mostly likely Nale. Also, Brandon said the Shin have 'historically held' the Honorblades, so they most likely picked them up after the Heralds abandoned them (or maybe the Heralds abandoned them in Shinovar in the first place).

Brandon has said that the Heralds will play a major role in the second half of the story, with two of them (Taln and Ash) getting flashback books. So, I expect a lot of your questions, and the specifics behind them, will go unanswered until that point. Unfortunately.

[tobar14 he/him]

3. Perhaps the patron of the Stonewards, Talenel/Stonesinew, the one who did not abandon the oathpact influenced the shin, who revere stone. Something like that..

Maybe all the other heralds were like "yo, shin, you like stones right? Wanna guard the honorbaldes for when your herald returns while we go do whatevs?"

[Eki]

5 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

They are not Slivers (having never held the power of an entire shard)

You don't need to hold the power of an entire shard to count as a sliver, just a significant amount of Investiture. There probably isn't any sharp border though.

Mistborn spoilers:

Spoiler

The Well only holds part of Preservation's power, but that was enough for TLR to count as a Sliver.

 

5 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

Did the Heralds have to give up their Honorblades to stay on Roshar (instead of returning to torture)?

I think this is likely. At any rate, the swords seem to follow them to Braize (or they follow their swords), since Taln arrived with his Blade, despite having died at the last Desolation. This was one of the questions that lead to my Recreance theory.

5 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

Are the Heralds always the same spiritual being (but change bodies each time they return)?

I think they are the same spiritual being. I don't see any reason why that would change between Desolations. About the actual bodies... I think they keep how their body looks, at any rate. But that's possible even if it's "remade" every time they return, by modelling it on their Cognitive image of themselves.

5 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

Why and how did the Shin come into possession of the Honorblades?

I have a feeling this will become very important fairly soon in the story. But there could be a more boring answer, like Pagerunner says: Maybe Shinovar was just where they left them in the first place. Regardless, they will probably have a very important role in the Shin culture and history.

5 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

Do the Honorblades normally go back to the place of torture with the Herald?

Like I mentioned earlier, Taln (or to give his formal title, the-man-who-thinks-he's-Taln) returned with his Blade, so I can only assume it goes with them, or at least is automatically deposited into the spiritual realm when they die (unlike deadblades).

3 hours ago, tobar14 said:

3. Perhaps the patron of the Stonewards, Talenel/Stonesinew, the one who did not abandon the oathpact influenced the shin, who revere stone. Something like that..

I dunno... Very few people know that nine of the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact. The Heralds just told them that they had won.

By the way, slightly different question: Do you think the surviving Heralds worldhopped away after giving up the Pact? They must have done something during those thousands of years...