[OB] Building Alethkar without Shards

[kwirked]

This alludes to some of the pre-release chapters in Oathbringer, but I don't think it involves any spoilers - the question came up as early as WoK.  BUT, just giving fair warning.

We know that in the early years Gavilar had a plate and blade, Sadeas had a plate, and Dalinar had nothing. Even in WoK the only difference is that now Dalinar has a full set and we learn he got his plate from his wife, though the sword is not discussed.  And yet, still in WoK, we learn that Alehtkar has more shards than any other kingdom - about 20 blades actually. (ASIDE - Technically, that passage in WoK says the numbers are comparable to Jah Keved, but I feel like somewhere else it's implied Alethkar has more... I could be wrong on that point since I can't point to the passage).  

Based on averages, each princedom should have 2, but between Gavilar and Sadeas they only have 1, and when Oathbringer starts out Dalinar still doesn't have plate.  This means that Gavilar and Sadeas have 1 blade and 2 plates between them.  If we still average out the remaining blades Alethkar has, then 3 princedoms would have 3 blades each.  Assuming the number of plates isn't vastly different from blades (I haven't been able to find anything on that one way or the other), then a similar imbalance presents itself, making it worse for G/S/D.

Now, throwing away the assumption of averages and putting the princedoms of a statistically normalized curve, it's highly likely that there was one or two overpowered princedoms which had way more than their fair share. What if they had four or five blades and plates? I think too many more would invite the other princedoms to gang up on the overpowered one(s), but four or five is manageable and doesnt tip the scales too far.  However, based on the way the society and combat are described, it seems unlikely that G/S/D would be able to defeat an army with five full shard bearers and that their meteoric rise would prompt retaliation (all in all, the Alethi nobility seem to favor the worldview that nails which stick up should be hammered). 

So... who has all those shards and how come they didn't decide to stop Gavilar's advance? Also, to forestall the argument, I'm not sure I buy the whole "they couldn't work together" bit.  Yeah, the high princes quibble and bicker, but in the face of an existential threat (or opportunity to put an upstart back in his/their place(s)) I would think that two of them, maybe two with higher than average numbers of shards, would get together to take on a threat to their independence which the books claim they value so highly.  

 

edits - just noticed a few errors. 

Edited October 9, 2017 by kwirked

[Pagerunner he/him]

Moved to Oathbringer Spoilers. Oathbringer content is not currently allowed outside the spoiler board, no matter how minor.

It's an interesting question, and one that would make sense to address further along in the flashback sequence. A couple of points:

• The Alethi won a number of Shards from the Parshendi while fighting for the Vengeance Pact. So that will inflate the modern numbers a bit.
• If I recall correctly, the Shardbearer we just saw in our most recent flashback was a highlord in control of a city, not a highprince with an entire princedom. So even if a single princedom was wealthy with Shards, that might not mean they'd bring them all to bear at the same time.
• Gavilar's conquests were not all through military might. Highprince Yenev was defeated in a duel with Sadeas, and Aladar took over his princedom.

It might be an interesting project to track the Alethi Shards we know about, and who has them. See if we can figure out where these Shards have been over the course of recent history.

[SilverTiger she/her]

If Aladar had Shards before he became highprince, could he have been a lord in Gavilar or Sadeas's princedoms? That would give them another set of Shards (total of 3) to begin with. And if we are tracking the locations of Shards, how many of the highprinces have them? Also, if we are tracking Shards, it could be worthwhile to track the ones outside of Alethkar as well. Adolin's came from Rira, apparently, so Shards can pass between nations.

Edited October 9, 2017 by SilverTiger

[Wreith he/him]

28 minutes ago, kwirked said:

Even in WoK the only difference is that now Dalinar has a full set and we learn he got his plate from his wife

Adolin wears this plate. Dalinar's is from somewhere else.

and like Pagerunner said, not all of them were won by conquest. We know duels and advantageous marriage were both involved at least

[DiamondMind he/him]

In addition to what everyone else said, I would not take the Kholin's (and maybe even Sadeas') number of Shards at the beginning of the unification as a barometer of the number of Shards. Apparently they were a backwater family and then conquered the main Kholin branch in some fashion.

[Blacksmithki]

1 hour ago, Wreith said:

Adolin wears this plate. Dalinar's is from somewhere else.

and like Pagerunner said, not all of them were won by conquest. We know duels and advantageous marriage were both involved at least

He comments he won it by forcing a shardbearer off a cliff if I remember correctly

[Hyarmenatan]

This is a really good question. Even now, in modern times, Kholin princedom was only a bit above-the-median when it comes to the number of Shards. What we can count now are:

- Dalinar's Blade - Oathbringer - and Plate

- Adolin's Blade - unnamed -  and Plate. Note that he won his blade quite recently, it was nowhere around during the Gavilar's conquest

- Elhokar's Blade - Sunraiser -  and Plate

- Old Gavilar's Blade - Firestorm - and a Plate (not sure about the Plate, Elhokar's might be wearing it).

So Kholins and the king had at least eight Shards or four full sets of Blade + Plate at the beginning of the War of Reckoning. Not an overwhelming power I'd say. 

IIRC, Dalinar also won additional set in the Shattered Plains, increasing this number to five full sets. Still, it's not that impressive when compared to remaining princedoms. If pushed, they could have easily combine a force that could counter that as we during in Adolin's duel. This leads to a conclusion that Gavilar's conquest was conquest only at the beginning. Politics was involved later on and still is until this day.