Sentient Awakened Sword Commands

[BlackYeti he/him]

How about: "Love People".

To my mind this might potentially be the scariest possible Command that a Type 4 Awakened sword could possibly have.

[kenod]

"Return on my call." Throw your sword at people and get it back by calling it, basically a Shard Boomerang. Although it possibly will cut off your arm if you catch it wrong.

[Unodus he/him]

"Reveal Lies" would be handy

albeit perhaps a little annoying after a while, if it can't understand sarcasm

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Y'know, more and more I see the similarity between Sumebrandr, the sword of summer and Nightblood.

"Fly up peoples noses"

 

[averyp1017 she/her]

On 12/10/2016 at 0:27 AM, miner3203 said:

"Become as a switchblade and extend on my call." Bam, instant shard-lightsaber. Or close enough, anyway. 

It would be fun in theory, but imagine if you talked in your sleep at night. Also, the command seems too complex.

 

Mine would be "Create Peace" to get rid of all the chaos. But, I can already see how it would backfire as the "good guys" may be trying to do something right with violence, but who can say?

[Exalted]

On 12/13/2016 at 0:58 PM, averyp1017 said:

It would be fun in theory, but imagine if you talked in your sleep at night. Also, the command seems too complex.

I'm away from book right now, but doesn't Vasher Command his sleeve tassels to "Become as my fingers and grip on my call"? Although "extend" may be too foreign of a concept for a Command (since "grip" mimics a human function, while "extend" doesn't).

[Spoolofwhool]

5 minutes ago, miner3203 said:

I'm away from book right now, but doesn't Vasher Command his sleeve tassels to "Become as my fingers and grip on my call"? Although "extend" may be too foreign of a concept for a Command (since "grip" mimics a human function, while "extend" doesn't).

It's really a matter of how you mentally visualize it when you perform the awakening. If you could somehow clearly visualize it, it might work, though I think it would require more breaths.

[DarkJester]

I doubt it would work, but I'd have to give it a try. "Heal, don't kill." I'd basically be attempting to turn it into Wound Healer from the Books of Swords series by Fred Saberhagen.

[Elenion he/him]

Do you think you could give the sword a Lifeless-esque Command that allows you to change its Command at your leisure?

[Oversleep]

How about "Protect those who cannot protect themselves"? Results could be interesting but it also opens a field of experiments where we take it to Roshar...

[Unodus he/him]

36 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

How about "Protect those who cannot protect themselves"? Results could be interesting but it also opens a field of experiments where we take it to Roshar...

have you read the Eragon series? You're going to have a sword that's going to freak out when around elderly and ill people n stuff :3

[Oversleep]

46 minutes ago, Unodus said:

have you read the Eragon series? You're going to have a sword that's going to freak out when around elderly and ill people n stuff :3

I've read but you cannot really protect someone from old age or protect them from their illness.

Also, in Eragon it was because wording allowed for that and magic worked mindlessly to fulfill that but in cosmere intent of the Awakener would kick in - when you think of protecting you don't think about illnesses and stuff...

[Eki]

27 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

I've read but you cannot really protect someone from old age or protect them from their illness.

Also, in Eragon it was because wording allowed for that and magic worked mindlessly to fulfill that but in cosmere intent of the Awakener would kick in - when you think of protecting you don't think about illnesses and stuff...

Well, in the case of Nightblood, the sword itself got to somewhat interpret the Command as well, since it was its own Cognitive entity. I doubt Shashara intended for Nightblood to turn out the way it did (even if she did seem pleased with the result).

And I would definitely say you can interpret protecting as including illnesses, and even age to some extent.

[marsoupial they/them]

1 hour ago, Eki said:

Well, in the case of Nightblood, the sword itself got to somewhat interpret the Command as well, since it was its own Cognitive entity. I doubt Shashara intended for Nightblood to turn out the way it did (even if she did seem pleased with the result).

And I would definitely say you can interpret protecting as including illnesses, and even age to some extent.

If that were the case, what would happen if Nightblood, under that Command, traveled to Ashyn?

[Exalted]

9 hours ago, Oversleep said:

How about "Protect those who cannot protect themselves"? Results could be interesting but it also opens a field of experiments where we take it to Roshar...

Oh, no. A Surgebinding sword? That can alter its gravity to fly directly at other people?? It wouldn't even need a wielder to do anything, because it could absorb Stormlight for Investiture on its own!

[The One Who Connects he/him]

On 12/21/2016 at 9:28 AM, Eki said:

Well, in the case of Nightblood, the sword itself got to somewhat interpret the Command as well, since it was its own Cognitive entity

I believe Brandon said that it interpreted for itself becasue the sword had no concept of "Evil." Something with a less.. conceptual command might have less gray area to misinterpret in the Command. It'll still interpret it in some fashion due to having a mind, but perhaps with less extreme results

[Spoolofwhool]

On 12/21/2016 at 3:31 PM, miner3203 said:

Oh, no. A Surgebinding sword? That can alter its gravity to fly directly at other people?? It wouldn't even need a wielder to do anything, because it could absorb Stormlight for Investiture on its own!

A question though would be whether Nightblood would be able to absorb stormlight. Nightblood is already insanely invested, and I think has been described as one of the most, if not the most, invested object we've seen in Cosmere so far. Add to that the interference between types of investiture and it might be fairly unlikely that stormlight could be held.

[Exalted]

4 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

A question though would be whether Nightblood would be able to absorb stormlight. Nightblood is already insanely invested, and I think has been described as one of the most, if not the most, invested object we've seen in Cosmere so far. Add to that the interference between types of investiture and it might be fairly unlikely that stormlight could be held.

Well, we know he'd be able to absorb it through a wielder (WoR spoilers):

Spoiler

Because Nale gives him to Szeth, who could power Nightblood if he still had Stormlight access.

So I guess the question would be whether he could gain Stormlight fast enough to overcome his rate of Investiture-corruption so that he could actually use it.

[Spoolofwhool]

1 hour ago, miner3203 said:

Well, we know he'd be able to absorb it through a wielder (WoR spoilers):

  Reveal hidden contents

Because Nale gives him to Szeth, who could power Nightblood if he still had Stormlight access.

So I guess the question would be whether he could gain Stormlight fast enough to overcome his rate of Investiture-corruption so that he could actually use it.

Nightblood can consume the investiture the holder holds to power itself, but that's not the same as actually being able to hold the investiture for use for certain abilities, which was the point I was trying to make. 

Stormlight Archive Spoilers

Spoiler

So yes, Nightblood can consume the stormlight directly from the user, but in order to actually infuse this through surgebinding, the stormlight would actually have to be in Nightblood, something which I doubt is possible. With Nightblood consuming investiture, the investiture doesn't appear to ever transition to Nightblood, it's consumed and the power drawn directly from the holder or targets. 

 

[Exalted]

1 minute ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Nightblood can consume the investiture the holder holds to power itself, but that's not the same as actually being able to hold the investiture for use for certain abilities, which was the point I was trying to make. 

Stormlight Archive Spoilers

  Hide contents

So yes, Nightblood can consume the stormlight directly from the user, but in order to actually infuse this through surgebinding, the stormlight would actually have to be in Nightblood, something which I doubt is possible. With Nightblood consuming investiture, the investiture doesn't appear to ever transition to Nightblood, it's consumed and the power drawn directly from the holder or targets. 

 

Ah, yeah. In that case, "Protect those who cannot protect themselves" probably wouldn't work differently on Roshar even if the sentient awakened sword could bond a spren. Darn.

[DarkJester]

On 12/9/2016 at 10:17 PM, Ironeyes said:

How about "You Are A Stick?"

Or on that note, why does it have to be a sword? Why can you awaken a Stick?

 

[Ethan_sedai he/him]

how about "necro threads"

(oh, wait, I can do that myself.)

what would probably then happen:

"I felt a great disturbance in the Shard, as if millions of threads suddenly cried out, and were silenced"

Edited December 20, 2017 by ookla the aes sedai

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

I know what I would command a magical Awakened blade to do "Keep the yard tidy".

Then I can lay back in my hammock, drinking something strong out of a hollowed out coconut and think about how wonderful it is to have an awakened Landscaper.

[The Allomantic Metalhead he/him]

Why a sword?

I'd just awaken a frying pan and give it the command "make me bacon and eggs".

[Walin he/him]

"Be Sharp."

Then it would study and possibly become another Awakening Scholar. I want to have a sword smart enough to understand words with multiple definitions. So it would cut real well, but it can also cut to the point. And it's the sharpest knife in the drawer. This Sentient Awakened Object is going to be a pretty sweet sword. Hopefully it's actually smart and not just a pun master, because then it'll just meme poorly until it gets Investiture.

But if it does get Investiture...hahahaha creator of puns we cannot dream of. Stab it through a dictionary, or just let it listen to an audio reading of a dictionary (if it can't destroy like Nightblood can). Then unleash it on your foes.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Walin
changed "possible" to "possibly"