Taln's blade

[Calderis he/him]

7 minutes ago, windrunningmistborn said:

Heralds could easily be an exception - they sorta don't die, after all.

I don't know if my idea is a good one, I was more curious about if it had been ruled out. 

As much as I don't think Taln has his blade, we know that it didn't stay behind when he went to Braize. 

I don't think a sprenblade, living or dead, would function the same way. An Honorblade is not sentient so it's bond to it's owner may survive the transportation to Braize. A sprenblade on the other hand is a sentient being and would most likely have to be directly effected by the oathpact to effected. 

In addition, Taln "died" before the recreance, so even if a shardblade could undergo the translocation, their availability would have been much much lower. 

[+Extesian he/him]

This is a good point @Calderis and @windrunningmistborn. Taln's presumably was not on Roshar for 4000 years. And surely they all weren't between Desolations. Which makes me interested in the mechanics. 

We know Honor Gabe direct access to his investiture to the Heralds, through the Honorblades. I'd suggest when a Herald dies the Honorblade basically returns to Honor in the form of Investiture and maybe the Oathpact worked so that as soon as the Heralds return (whether directly or but having them stapled onto a new person's body) the Honorblade returns to them. I think firstly that by leaving them behind when they abandoned the Oathpact they severed that connection and enabled the Honorblades to stay. Secondly, perhaps Honor's splintering now affects this as the Honorblades, I guess made of Investiture, don't have that integrated source to return to. 

[Radiant_Jaeger he/him]

56 minutes ago, Extesian said:

This is a good point @Calderis and @windrunningmistborn. Taln's presumably was not on Roshar for 4000 years. And surely they all weren't between Desolations. Which makes me interested in the mechanics. 

We know Honor Gabe direct access to his investiture to the Heralds, through the Honorblades. I'd suggest when a Herald dies the Honorblade basically returns to Honor in the form of Investiture and maybe the Oathpact worked so that as soon as the Heralds return (whether directly or but having them stapled onto a new person's body) the Honorblade returns to them. I think firstly that by leaving them behind when they abandoned the Oathpact they severed that connection and enabled the Honorblades to stay. Secondly, perhaps Honor's splintering now affects this as the Honorblades, I guess made of Investiture, don't have that integrated source to return to. 

I think the blades hold their cognitive shadows and that's why they're all insane

[Calderis he/him]

37 minutes ago, Radiant_Jaeger said:

I think the blades hold their cognitive shadows and that's why they're all insane

But they are arguably Cognitive Shadows in a physical body. If the blades held their Cognitive Aspect, then walking away from the blades would have severed their connection to their bodies and then we'd have no Heralds walking around. 

[Radiant_Jaeger he/him]

8 minutes ago, Calderis said:

But they are arguably Cognitive Shadows in a physical body. If the blades held their Cognitive Aspect, then walking away from the blades would have severed their connection to their bodies and then we'd have no Heralds walking around. 

Isnt the cognitive shadow more your subconscious then your soul and sapience though?

[Calderis he/him]

2 minutes ago, Radiant_Jaeger said:

Isnt the cognitive shadow more your subconscious then your soul and sapience though?

You're Cognitive Aspect is your conscious and unconscious mind as it exists between your physical form and your spiritual self. 

A Cognitive Shadow has had their cognitive aspect become the dominant portion of their being through investiture suffusing and expanding it. I don't know the circumstances with the Heralds but

Mistborn and Warbreaker spoilers:

Spoiler

Both the Returned and Kelsier died before becoming Cognitive shadows. We don't know how Kelsier returned to the physical realm, but the Returned were placed back in their bodies by Endowment. 

Because of the nature of Cognitive Shadows, the idea of them being separated from their cognitive aspect is seemingly impossible,at least if I understand it correctly.

For even normal people, removing their cognitive aspect feels like it would remove the ability for their minds to function at all, not just cause insanity. 

If I've misunderstood this though, I'll gladly defer to those with a greater understanding of Realmatics.