Dawnshards

[Blightsong]

What exactly the Dawnshards are has been quite the mystery since the Way of Kings was released. I think I figured out an easy answer to what they actually are.

Dawnshards are simply the canon in-world term for live Sprenblades. Below I have sources, annotated by myself.

From Jasnah's notes:

“Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish [we know that Radiant Spren are descended from Spren that bonded with Listeners, and this seems to be refrencing the very earliest of Radiants] or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece [metaphorical mumbo jumbo meaning Oathgates (very, very minor Oathbringer spoilers

Quote

Or the tiers to Uritheru

], toward the grand temple above [Urithiru].”

Makes sense, seeing as how a live spren blade is needed to work an Oathgate

 

—From the Poem of Ista. I have found no modern explanation of what these "Dawnshards" are. They seem ignored by scholars [because they didnt exist during the era of solitude], though talk of them was obviously prevalent among those recording the early mythologies [because Dawnshards were the overwhelming majority of Shardweapons out there during that time].

From Dalinar's final vision.

The figure was silent for a moment. Then he spoke in a clear, crisp voice. “Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. Speak again the ancient oaths and return to men the Shards they once bore.” He turned to Dalinar, meeting his eyes. “The Knights Radiant must stand again [stresses the need for Radiants].” .... “Men must face them together,” the figure said, stepping up to Dalinar, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You cannot squabble as in times past. He’s realized that you, given time, will become your own enemies. That he doesn’t need to fight you. Not if he can make you forget, make you turn against one another. Your legends say that you won. But the truth is that we lost. And we are losing.” … “I wish I could do more,” repeated the figure in gold. “You might be able to get him to choose a champion. He is bound by some rules. All of us are. A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain. And … without the Dawnshards [stresses that these Dawnshards are essential].

 

Let me know what you guys think!

Edited September 6, 2017 by Blightsong

[Overlord Jebus]

The dawnshards = honorblades theory still works if Ista is Ishar and that poem is describing him and his honorblade as the item that can "bind any creature, voidish or mortal" (Referencing surgebinders and their spren, possibly even voidbinding but that theory is still in it's infancy in my head...)

Don't know why the Honorblades would be needed to defeat Odium though. But there's so much we don't know about those things anyway...

[Blightsong]

4 minutes ago, overlordjebus said:

The dawnshards = honorblades theory still works if Ista is Ishar and that poem is describing him and his honorblade as the item that can "bind any creature, voidish or mortal" (Referencing surgebinders and their spren, possibly even voidbinding but that theory is still in it's infancy in my head...)

Don't know why the Honorblades would be needed to defeat Odium though. But there's so much we don't know about those things anyway...

And the Honorblades aren't even lost to humanity. It doesn't make sense that Honor would think that they couldn't be used.

[Irregular]

20 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal

The living Shardblade doesn't bind anything though, it's a result of strong bond between KR and their Spren ( unless he meant to destroy, or whatever happens when your eyes get burnt out)

 

 

20 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

The Knights Radiant must stand again

 

20 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

And … without the Dawnshards [stresses that these Dawnshards are essential].

In the vision, Honor talks about refounding Knights Radiant - that would include the living Shardblades they would have (as they so far are formed before the last oath is said).  I don't think we saw Dawnshard yet and it seems to me that it would be something from Honor himself rather than created by Spren who imitated Honorblades to create bond with KR.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Irregular

[StormblessDave]

7 minutes ago, Irregular said:

The living Shardblade doesn't bind anything though, it's a result of strong bond between KR and their Spren ( unless he meant to destroy, or whatever happens when your eyes get burnt out)

 We haven't seen the full potential of a live shardblade yet, and 'bind' might be allegorical and not necessarily literal. However based on what we know so far, I don't believe it confirms anything. 

[Blightsong]

3 minutes ago, StormblessDave said:

 'bind' might be allegorical and not necessarily literal.

Agreed. That's the way I interpret that passage, at least.

[Velvet Thunder]

8 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

Agreed. That's the way I interpret that passage, at least.

It's actually some exceptionally sturdy rope combined with a deviously complex special knot.

[Zeldan]

If you read the Oathbringer installments posted on TOR.com, particularly the one with Gavilar and Eshonai, some light is shed on the matter.

Spoiler

I think the black orb may be a Dawnshard based on this line, and I believe it bound Odium himself.

“My ancestors,” he said, holding up the fabrial, “first learned how to hold a spren inside a gemstone. And with a very special gemstone, you can hold even a god.”

 

[Calderis]

As I mentioned on the discord, I have to agree with this I think. 

In one of the visions Tanavast states that he doesn't know if anyone will actually hear the messages he's recorded. So his regret at the loss of the Dawnshards is not a separate fact from his desire to see the Radiants return, but (if you are correct) a fear that they will not and that his message will have been unheard. 

It would be a natural Progression linguistically for "Dawnshard" to be shortened to Shard. And then Shardblade to differentiate it from Plate. 

I like this idea a lot. I still question the binding any creature voidish part, because in world knowledge says that Parshendi cannot bond a Nahel Spren, but it's my only qualm, and still leaves this as the best explanation of the Dawnshards I've seen so far. 

[Lightflame]

Absolutely have to disagree with this one. I felt a deflating feeling reading this theory because it's terrible from a narrative perspective. A good twist changes things in the story, raising the tension by making things more urgent or complicated for our protagonists. I'll give examples from the well known Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Harry Potter: Harry is a Horcrux, which means that Voldemort can't die as long as he's alive. If Harry wants to defeat Voldemort and save the Wizarding World, he has to die.

Star Wars: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. How is Luke supposed to fight and kill his own father?

Those are good, because they add new challenges for the characters to overcome. However, this is the complete opposite of that.

Tanavast told Dalinar that the Radiants needed to be restored, and the Dawnshards needed to be found. Thus, the readers are expecting to see the characters restoring the Radiants and finding the Dawnshards. If the Dawnshards are the Spren Shardblades, then it means that the characters don't have to worry about finding the Dawnshards, since they were already doing that by becoming Radiants. It's a total cheat, because it promises the reader a challenge (finding the Dawnshards) and then snatches it away from them. We were just being told what we already knew, that restoring the Radiants was important.

Would anyone have been impressed by Darth Vader being Luke's dad if Obi Wan had told him that his dad was a Jedi who betrayed the Order and turned to the Dark Side? Absolutely not. We would have already known that Luke's father was an evil Sith Lord that Luke would one day fight. It hardly changes anything for it to be the one he's already fighting.

That's why this would just be lame. As a reader, I have every reason to want to see the protagonists' quest to find the Dawnshards, and no reason to want to find out that they magically had them all along.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Lightflame

[Stormfather-in-Law]

I think Lightflame is right on, but also want to add one piece. These things are called "Dawnshards" - which rather strongly implies they came first. The sprenblades were imitations of the honorblades - meaning they came after. Sure, the honorblades could have come before dawnshards, but then why the name? So beyond just literary/narrative reasons, that alone to me suggests the dawnshards are not the same as shard/sprenblades.

Disclaimer: as a member of the "No Oathbringer Spoilers Support Group", I haven't read one word of that book, so any illumination that text brings is as lost to me as the dawnshards themselves.

[Wreith]

I'm not really sure you can have a standalone discussion of the Dawnshards. I think the Dawnchant, Dawncities, and thus Dawnsingers will all have to be taken together to sort this out.

Along those lines, as I was thinking about this, I remembered the line from Hoid/Kal's story of fleet in WoR.

Quote

His body dead, but not his will, within those winds his soul did rise.

It flew upon the day's last song, to win the race and claim the dawn.

emphasis mine.

 

"claim the dawn" is a rather curious expression here because racing a storm would mean Fleet was running East to West, toward dusk, not dawn. Hard to tell if this is actually relevant or just poetic license. It is, however, Hoid.