Dustbringers and Bondsmiths

[Jonathon]

So I was thinking about the orders of KR and what we don't know about them, and I just noticed a few things. 

Firstly i was reading the article about dustbringers on the coppermind and noticed that it said they called themselves the releasers (which I already knew) and hated when they were called dustbringers which was a name created for them by the public. That's the part I didn't know, I had assumed that they were just given that name or something but it turns out the only reason they were called Dustbringers is because the people likened them to voidbringers. The ACTUAL name of the order is the releasers. And that got me thinking. They're called the Releasers but what are they releasing? It made me think about how another order is called the Bondsmiths -- but what are they bonding? 

So along with this relation between these two orders -- one creating the bonds and one releasing them -- there's also the fact that we know that Brandon has said there's something weird going on with this order. Not only that but one of the only heralds we haven't found mention of is Chana, the dustbringer. 

We know that the surges of Releasers are Divison and Abrasion and we know this quote from the prelude 

Quote

Smoke curled from the occasional patches of growth or heaps of burning corpses. Even some sections of rock smoldered. The Dustbringers had done their work well. ”

But other than that we know very little about the Releasers and their powers. 

It is heavily implied from this quote that their abilities had something to do with fire and we already know what the surge of abrasion does so that leaves division to be the one creating this fire. What are they dividing though, where is this fire coming from? Well if you wanna be scientific about it, they could be dividing the molecules of people/things and thus creating a nuclear explosion making fire. Perhaps this is why people compare them to voidbringers -- because of destruction.

This, however, is if we are thinking scientifically, and this is the cosmere so that's the opposite of what we want to do. We know that the cosmere has a third state of existence. Matter, energy and investiture. In our world you split matter to create energy through the reaction. But what if the dustbringers can use their surge of division to split the inherent investiture inside of a person? Or if they could perhaps separate the person and the investiture rather than just splitting it inside of them. 

I believe that this is why they are called Releasers because they can release a person or creature from investiture perhaps from a spren bond or, hmm... let's see... from an odium spren. Now we know that the bondsmiths did something to the voidbringers to make them into the parshmen so perhaps they bonded them to something to stop them from being able to change forms. The Releasers, as per the name, likely have the ability to release them from this bond and let them become the voidbringers once again. This last part probably will never be addressed however as the everstorm is doing that job anyway. 

 

This "theory" is really all over the place so I'm sorry about that I just made a few connections that I wanted to put out there before I forgot them so that they could be discussed. So who wants to discuss them with me?

[+Extesian he/him]

I like this theorizing! A couple of points. It seems the Bondsmiths were responsible for stopping Listener / Spren bonds. 

Quote

 

So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address. ”

— From Words of Radiance, chapter 30, page 18^[1]

We know that Division splits molecules, not atoms. 

Quote

Q: The Division Surge: does it actually split atoms or does it split the bonds of molecules?
A: It splits the bonds of molecules, it does not split atoms.
Q: That would be completely overpowered.
A: I have done an atom splitting magic originally in Dragonsteel. And wooow it was overpowered. So really, this is fiddeling... You'll see what it does when I use it, but we'll not be splitting atoms. There won't be nuclear reactors, nuclear fission, so.

I'm inclined to think the true power of the Releasers is in their resonance, but it could just be the Division surge in combination with uses of Aggression we haven't seen. 

But I do like the line of thinking and some of it may be spot on. 

Edit - sorry Jonathon I didn't read that part properly, you acknowledged the Bondsmiths stopped the bonding. Maybe there's something to the idea the Releasers can undo that. It feels wrong? But you may have something there. I do find the idea of separating investiture from matter and energy, rather than just dividing matter, whether or not it's right. 

Edited August 10, 2017 by Extesian
didn't read properly

[Jonathon]

Thanks for the corrections, Im not exactly very good at locating WoBs when I'm gathering info, so sometimes my logic is iffy at best. 

I agree that it feels wrong in a way for an order of the KR to have the ability to reverse whatever process the Bondsmiths did, but at the same time that's the only mention of the Bondsmiths doing something notable that can be called bonding and what else would the Releasers be releasing things from? Perhaps whatever the Bondsmiths did to the voidbringers was a power they already knew they had but they just had never thought to try it on beings before, and the Releasers have some kind of opposing power to them. After all it seems like the orders work with a tight balance around them. Whilst one order may be very strict about the law (skybreakers) another believes in staying true to yourself whether that's legal or not (lightweavers). 

Oh and in regards to their resonance I didn't think it would be right to start theorizing about that when we've never seen a dustbringer and don't fully know how their surges work (after all each order uses the surges differently -- i.e. Shallan's soulcasting compared to jasnah's)

Also that post was literally something I threw together in my head and immediately posted so when you say "some of it may be spot on" we'll have to agree to disagree  

[Calderis he/him]

40 minutes ago, Jonathon said:

This, however, is if we are thinking scientifically, and this is the cosmere so that's the opposite of what we want to do.

This is both incorrect and correct at the same time. The Cosmere relies heavily on science. You followed that statement up with this though, 

40 minutes ago, Jonathon said:

We know that the cosmere has a third state of existence. Matter, energy and investiture.

Which shows your thinking along the right lines. Brandon even has laws akin to those governing physics and thermodynamics (and won't tell us what they are) 

Extesian covered most of the points I wanted to make, but when it comes to their fire, we've seen abrasion lower friction, but it should also be capable of increasing friction to create heat. Combine this with splitting molecular bonds... And there are plenty of flammable elements everywhere. 

Edit: and resonances seem so random compared to the powers in question, that any guess at one we haven't seen is complete spit balling, so I'm with you there. 

Edited August 10, 2017 by Calderis