Nightblood Question

[Andy92]

I just finished reading Warbreaker last night, and I remembered Nightblood was the weapon Szeth gets at the end of WoR. I've tried searching around but haven't ran across this yet so I figured I'd ask here. Can Szeth power Nightblood with Stormlight the same way Vasher powered the sword using Breath? I know both Stormlight and Breath are forms of Investiture, so it seems like they could work similarly to power the sword (unless if Nightblood can only be powered by the Investiture native to Nalthis?). 

What I'm trying to work through in my head is if Szeth will experience intense pain in his arm while wielding Nightblood similar to what Vasher felt when the sword was unsheathed. I assume Szeth would have to keep the weapon sheathed most of the time like Vasher did, but I didn't know if the sword would actually drain Szeth's Stormlight while he was using it or not. 

[The Sovereign]

46 minutes ago, Andy92 said:

I just finished reading Warbreaker last night, and I remembered Nightblood was the weapon Szeth gets at the end of WoR. I've tried searching around but haven't ran across this yet so I figured I'd ask here. Can Szeth power Nightblood with Stormlight the same way Vasher powered the sword using Breath? I know both Stormlight and Breath are forms of Investiture, so it seems like they could work similarly to power the sword (unless if Nightblood can only be powered by the Investiture native to Nalthis?). 

What I'm trying to work through in my head is if Szeth will experience intense pain in his arm while wielding Nightblood similar to what Vasher felt when the sword was unsheathed. I assume Szeth would have to keep the weapon sheathed most of the time like Vasher did, but I didn't know if the sword would actually drain Szeth's Stormlight while he was using it or not. 

Yes, Nightblood will feed on any Investiture.
Relevent WoB:

Quote

 

INTERVIEW: Mar 22nd, 2014

WoR Signing Report - Argent (Verbatim)

QUESTION

Will Nightblood drain Stormlight?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Nightblood will drain any Investiture, so yes.

TAGS

nightblood,

 

As for the pain while wielding Nightblood, we don't actually know for sure as we haven't seen him wield NB yet. With that said, we can make a reasonable assumption that it would indeed hurt him but probably not as much as having breath removed as Stormlight doesn't "stick" to a person in the same way.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Iron Eyes
typos X_X

[Pagerunner he/him]

Yes, Nightblood can feed off Stormlight. It might not be as painful as it was for Vasher and his Breath; Breath appears to 'stick' to people better, since it doesn't run out. Stormlight, on the other hand, is constantly leaking away from whoever's holding it. Vasher's intense pain might have been because the Breath was being ripped from him to feed Nightblood, something that won't necessarily happen for Szeth and Stormlight. But we won't know for sure until we see Szeth actually wield the sword.

[Landis963 he/him]

There's actually two parts to your question.  

1) Can Nightblood be powered by Stormlight instead of Breath?  Yes.  

2) Can Szeth currently absorb Stormlight?  No.  

Which means Nightblood is a death trap in addition to a WMD.  (I suspect that Nale was not aware of this, or disregarded it, prior to handing it to Szeth)

[Andy92]

Thanks, guys! Will be interesting to see how the weapon impacts Roshar now. 

[soulcastJam he/him]

Does Nightblood need to drain the investiture from a person? Can he just drain spheres that Szeth is holding?

[Themasterhunter]

Night blood can drain investiture from any source, in most forms. You probably could, with a fabrial, have it drain spheres.(or if you're fancy, use the Dor) however, night blood "eats" investiture faster than you could probably supply with a carriable amount of spheres, unless he takes night blood out for a very short period of time.  

Also, nightblood does drain investiture differently than the honor blade, or most forms of "magic". If you run out, and he isn't sheathed, he steals investiture from the nearest object, usually through touch, though i have ideas of other ways. 

This presents another problem, that we don't know if Nale doesn't know, or has already solved this. If its not solved, Szeth could possibly die. 

(I don't believe Nale is that ignorant, however.)

[Weltall]

Brandon has confirmed that Nightblood will feast on your delicious soul (which is, after all, Investiture) once you don't have anything left to feed him with and it's not limited to Breath. So at this point drawing the sword would be as fatal to Szeth as anyone he was trying to fight and even if you could convince it to go after sphere-held Stormlight first despite it not being a part of you, there wouldn't be the feedback you get with inhaled Stormlight or Breath to tell you when you really need to sheathe the sword again if you want to remain among the living.

Fortunately for Szeth, he can still use it like Vasher does for most of Warbreaker and just chuck it at anyone he needs to fight. Whether he knows this is another matter but since it would be rather silly to introduce this whole plot thread only for it to end the first time Szeth tries to draw his new sword, I think we can assume he'll figure it out.

[Themasterhunter]

but you dont think that nightblood could be convinced to eat from spheres? not even with a fabrial gauntlet? so he isnt touching you're skin?

 

[The Sovereign]

8 minutes ago, Themasterhunter said:

but you dont think that nightblood could be convinced to eat from spheres? not even with a fabrial gauntlet? so he isnt touching you're skin?

 

While I'm sure Nightblood will be able to feed off of the Stormlight in spheres, I think you are vastly underestimating the rate in which he can consume Investiture.