Where are the Honorblades?

[Ralph Elorim]

So, I haven't done much research on this but I wanted your guys thoughts on where the other honorblades are. I know nine of the Heralds left theirs when the Oathpact was abandoned, with Taln keeping his. Szeth has an honorblade, Nale has his own (presumably) that he uses to hunt people bonded with spren, and Taln brought his own with him when he returned. Thats three of the ten, do the rest reside with the Shin?  And if they do why are the Shin in control of 7 honorblades? 

 

Another thing on dawnshards, I was reading another thread about how the Parshendi could be dawnsingers due to their singing language and the fact they predate humans on Roshar (I think). If so could Eshonais shardblade be a dawnshard? 

[The Sovereign]

1 hour ago, Ralph Elorim said:

So, I haven't done much research on this but I wanted your guys thoughts on where the other honorblades are. I know nine of the Heralds left theirs when the Oathpact was abandoned, with Taln keeping his. Szeth has an honorblade, Nale has his own (presumably) that he uses to hunt people bonded with spren, and Taln brought his own with him when he returned. Thats three of the ten, do the rest reside with the Shin?  And if they do why are the Shin in control of 7 honorblades? 

The Shin Shamanate have 7, Dalinar currenty has Jezerian's blade in Urithiru, & Nalan has his blade. The only unaccounted for blade is Taln's. He had it at the gates of Kholinar but it has since disappeared.

Quote

 

INTERVIEW: Nov 29th, 2016

Old Firehouse Books-AU tour (Paraphrased)

QUESTION

Is Nalan using his original Honorblade, or did he bond a spren?

BRANDON SANDERSON

He's using his original Honorblade. But there's an asterisk here that will come up in Oathbringer.

TAGS

nale, honorblade,

 

 

Edit: We know that Hoid does not have Taln's blade, but he may know what happened to it.

Quote

 

INTERVIEW: Jan 17th, 2015

Firefight Tour - El Cerrito, CA (Paraphrased)

QUESTION

The Shardblade that Dalinar had at the end of Words of Radiance, was that the Honorblade?

BRANDON SANDERSON

The Shardblade that Dalinar had at the end of Words of Radiance that he gave up?

QUESTION

Yeah, that he gave up.

BRANDON SANDERSON

No it was not.

QUESTION

It was not? So what happened to the Honorblade that the Herald had?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Nobody kno- Well, somebody knows, but it is not known to the main characters.

QUESTION

Can I ask if uh, Hoid-

BRANDON SANDERSON

If Hoid knows?

QUESTION

Yeah.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Hoid did not take it, but I’m not answering whether he knows.

TAGS

dalinar, hoid, taln's honorblade,

 

 

Edited October 27, 2017 by The Sovereign

[Bean Delphiki]

Don't they only have 6? If I remember correctly one of the honorblades that gives regrowth is missing. 

[AbsentKeeper]

3 minutes ago, Bean Delphiki said:

Don't they only have 6? If I remember correctly one of the honorblades that gives regrowth is missing. 

That was what Taravangian told Szeth to explain why Kaladin could heal a Shardblade wound. As far as we know, it's not true though.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Cowmanthethird

[Bean Delphiki]

That does make sense. 

[specialNEDstark]

38 minutes ago, Bean Delphiki said:

That does make sense. 

Love your screen name. Gonna name my first child Achilles Flanders just so everytime it's spoken I can get on my high horse about how stupid they are because it's pronounced A-Sheel in Belgium, and only a moron would get it wrong. Sorry I couldn't resist the bad inside joke.

So the conventional wisdom that Hoid swapped the blades before scurrying across the Shattered Plains waving it in the air yelling whoop whoopa whoop whoop whoop like Dr Zoidberg is officially debunked?. Is  that relatively new information? First I've heard it mentioned, but that in itself doesn't mean a thing. Yet another mystery to solve. Great catch whoever discovered that tidbit. 

[CaptainRyan]

8 minutes ago, specialNEDstark said:

Is  that relatively new information?

 

3 hours ago, The Sovereign said:

INTERVIEW: Jan 17th, 2015

Just over two and a half years new.  

[specialNEDstark]

29 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

 

Just over two and a half years new.  

Aha I see. I gotta admit that while I'm not new to the Cosmere,  or Roshar itself, but only recently began trying to educate myself on the nuisances needed to be a true uber fan. Spent almost a decade turning over every tiny detail of Westeros, and with the delays of book 6, and the tv show passing the books ect ect I reached my limit and knew it was time to move on. I mean 7 years? Really? Plus there's no reason to believe it won't be 7 more. It's become disrespectful to a very fervent and loyal community. Brandon handles the pressures of a complex universe even larger than ASOIAF, and always gives us something new to chew over, proving a massive series can be done well within less than half the time. 

Sorry to rant, just frustrated, but lucky to discover the Cosmere, and soon enough I'll know enough that my friends will ban me from discussing the books all day every day lol

Edited October 27, 2017 by specialNEDstark

[CaptainRyan]

2 minutes ago, specialNEDstark said:

Aha I see. I gotta admit that while I'm not new to the Cosmere,  or Roshar itself, but only recently began trying to educate myself on the nuisances needed to be a true uber fan. Spent almost a decade turning over every tiny detail of Westeros, and with the delays of book 6, and the tv show passing the books ect ect I reached my limit and knew it was time to move on. I mean, damnation I don't mind being patient for the next book, but it's about be 7 years with no reason to believe it won't be 7 more. It's become disrespectful to a very fervent and loyal community. Brandon handles the pressures of a complex universe even larger than ASOIAF, and always gives us something new to chew over, proving a massive series can be done well within less than half the time. 

Sorry to rant, just frustrated, but lucky to discover the Cosmere, and soon enough I'll know enough that my friends will ban me from discussing the books all day every day lol

I hear you loud and clear. There are a couple of series I follow that have been stalled for awhile. I completely respect that the author has no responsibility to write me books but, yeah, it can still be so frustrating wanting more but knowing that the next book might never be written.

Also, always feel free to rant! If you keep it bottled up you'll end up like poor Szeth or Shallan haha  

[specialNEDstark]

5 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

I hear you loud and clear. There are a couple of series I follow that have been stalled for awhile. I completely respect that the author has no responsibility to write me books but, yeah, it can still be so frustrating wanting more but knowing that the next book might never be written.

Also, always feel free to rant! If you keep it bottled up you'll end up like poor Szeth or Shallan haha  

I'll always prefer quality to quantity, but unfortunately my writing, no matter what the medium, naturally gravitates towards "being wordy". Used to worry about grrm not being around to finish it himself, but at this point I'm worried that I won't be around either lol

 

[CaptainRyan]

1 minute ago, specialNEDstark said:

I'll always prefer quality to quantity, but unfortunately my writing, no matter what the medium, naturally gravitates towards "being wordy". Used to worry about grrm not being around to finish it himself, but at this point I'm worried that I won't be around either lol

I think A Song of Ice and Fire is forcing a lot of people to confront their mortality haha

[specialNEDstark]

Oh, I also wanted to say that while these forums are much less populated than ASOIAF forums, I've found the fans here to be exponentially more intelligent, insightful, friendly, and knowledgeable than the song forums. It's appreciated. 

[thejopen27]

Is it possible Taln still has his blade, it's just not summoned? I don't know why it wouldn't have disappeared at the end of WoK but now has. It may be a false mystery, a misdirect. The only other possibility I see, if Hoid doesn't have it, is that Hoid hid it. 

[Calderis]

3 hours ago, thejopen27 said:

Is it possible Taln still has his blade, it's just not summoned? I don't know why it wouldn't have disappeared at the end of WoK but now has. It may be a false mystery, a misdirect. The only other possibility I see, if Hoid doesn't have it, is that Hoid hid it. 

The Honorblades don't function like Shardblades. When dropped, they don't puff away to smoke, they stay solid, and they bond with whoever is holding them. For Taln's blade to still be bonded to him, it would have to have never been picked up after we saw it hit the ground and stay. 

[Yata]

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

The Honorblades don't function like Shardblades. When dropped, they don't puff away to smoke, they stay solid, and they bond with whoever is holding them. For Taln's blade to still be bonded to him, it would have to have never been picked up after we saw it hit the ground and stay. 

And of course this is impossible as the Kholin Soldiers found the Blade and carries It (until was swapped).

If the Blade was de-summoned and therefore never found, there will no need to replace a Blade

[thejopen27]

On 10/27/2017 at 11:15 PM, Calderis said:

The Honorblades don't function like Shardblades. When dropped, they don't puff away to smoke, they stay solid, and they bond with whoever is holding them. For Taln's blade to still be bonded to him, it would have to have never been picked up after we saw it hit the ground and stay. 

That's true for the blades of the Heralds who abandoned them. But Taln is still bound to the Oathpact. I'm also not sure what you mean. Kaladin holds the Honorblade of Jezrien but isn't bonded to it, so does Dalinar. Why would you assume Taln wasn't already bonded to his blade? Maybe he can summon it back at any point? Hoid may have included the new Shardblade just to stop questions from being asked about what happened to the shardblade he had originally. Few ask questions when the answer seems obvious.

[Calderis]

7 minutes ago, thejopen27 said:

That's true for the blades of the Heralds who abandoned them. But Taln is still bound to the Oathpact.

You assume that they're free of the Oathpact completely. I doubt this is true. 

Quote

Questioner

With the Heralds we know that there's only one left... one Herald that's still bound to the Oathpact--

Brandon Sanderson

OK, only one Herald was about, was abandoned-- You'll find out the mechanics of that in the next book.

Questioner

So are we going to see more of Taln...

Brandon Sanderson

You will see more of-- the Oathpact is not completely broken, the others are still bound to the Oathpact.

Questioner

Even though they kind of sort of said they were abandoning it?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, so there's still connection there, so you'll find out more about all of this and how it works

 

9 minutes ago, thejopen27 said:

Kaladin holds the Honorblade of Jezrien but isn't bonded to it, so does Dalinar.

Holding an Honorblade is enough for it to have granted the surges. "bonding" an Honorblade is not like bonding a spren. Dalinar hasn't tried, but while holding the honorblade he would have access to the surge of gravitation. 

11 minutes ago, thejopen27 said:

Why would you assume Taln wasn't already bonded to his blade? Maybe he can summon it back at any point?

He was bonded when he arrived with the blade. He dropped the blade, and someone else unaware of its power picked it up. The Honorblades do not function like Shardblades. 

If Taln can just summon his Blade back, so could any of the other Heralds. As per that first WoB, they are not free of the Oathpact. 

14 minutes ago, thejopen27 said:

Hoid may have included the new Shardblade just to stop questions from being asked about what happened to the shardblade he had originally. Few ask questions when the answer seems obvious.

Hoid did not steal/swap the blade. 

Quote

Questioner

At the very end of Words of Radiance, Dalinar touches a Shardblade and it screams at him. Shouldn't that particular Blade have been safe?

Brandon Sanderson

No it should not have. It's a clue that something has happened.

[...]

[This is] a question that the subtle reader should be asking. And there are other clues that something is wrong with what the story you've been told is.

Questioner

Because Option 2 is that it's unsafe to touch an honorblade, but there's no evidence of that.

Brandon Sanderson

There is no evidence of that. In fact there's much stronger evidence that something else is going on.

Questioner 2

Did Hoid switch out the blades?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid did not switch out the blades, but good question.

 

[The One Who Connects]

On 10/27/2017 at 11:32 AM, Ralph Elorim said:

why are the Shin in control of 7 Honorblades? 

The Heralds left the Honorblades in the ground somewhere. The Shin live somewhere.

The most common theory(which may/not have been started by me) is that modern day Shinovar is built around where the Circle of Blades(term that was coined by me) was.

[thejopen27]

4 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

The Heralds left the Honorblades in the ground somewhere. The Shin live somewhere.

The most common theory(which may/not have been started by me) is that modern day Shinovar is built around where the Circle of Blades(term that was coined by me) was.

I just think that the last desolation's final battle took place in Shin Kak Nish. I would bet that the sword circle is somewhere in the mountains on the border of Shinovar. 

[The One Who Connects]

5 minutes ago, thejopen27 said:

I just think that the last desolation's final battle took place in Shin Kak Nish. I would bet that the sword circle is somewhere in the mountains on the border of Shinovar. 

That's essentially what I'm saying, just with different details.

We think that the Heralds were in modern day Shinovar during Aharietiam, so the Circle of Blades is there. When the Shin people were rebuilding after the Desolation, the blades were found, the Shamanate made a few decisions(some of them bad ones), and the rest, as they say, is history.

Edited November 5, 2017 by The One Who Connects

[specialNEDstark]

I'm still relatively new to the Cosmere, finished reading about 80% of the novels but haven't done the multiple rereads needed to take in every little detail, yet, and I was wondering where your knowledge of the Shin came from? Did I miss it in WoK/WoR, or is there ancillary material I'm unaware of? This is the first time I've seen references that I didn't have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about. I want to know the Cosmere the way I know Asoiaf. Took about 20 rereads of the main series and the multiple short stories to get to the point where I know everything there is to know, and I won't be happy until I can say the same thing about the Cosmere. 

 

 

[thejopen27]

3 hours ago, specialNEDstark said:

I'm still relatively new to the Cosmere, finished reading about 80% of the novels but haven't done the multiple rereads needed to take in every little detail, yet, and I was wondering where your knowledge of the Shin came from? Did I miss it in WoK/WoR, or is there ancillary material I'm unaware of? This is the first time I've seen references that I didn't have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about. I want to know the Cosmere the way I know Asoiaf. Took about 20 rereads of the main series and the multiple short stories to get to the point where I know everything there is to know, and I won't be happy until I can say the same thing about the Cosmere. 

 

 

Most of it seems to be scattered around the books. I try not to use the questions people ask Brandon at signings and Q&As because I think that Brandon isn't always as open as people think he is and he misunderstands questions, and people assume his words mean more than I think he meant, but some if from Brandon's sayings. 

We know the Shin have the Honor Blades and that the Stone Shamanate guard them (we don't really know what the Stone Shamans are, but they seem to be some kind of warrior monks, possibly descended from one of the orders of Knights Radiant after the Recreance)

I think that Szeth was a member of the Stone Shamanate

It seems that Szeth was banished and made Truthless for suggesting that the Voidbringers were returning at least six years before the main events of the books.

Shinovar seems more earth-like than the rest of Roshar, it has soil, non-reactive plants, no Spren, horses, birds, and maybe other traditional animals, it is protected from Highstorms from massive mountains and possibly some magical protection from Cultivation.

 

[The One Who Connects]

On 11/5/2017 at 7:36 AM, specialNEDstark said:

I was wondering where your knowledge of the Shin came from?

If you meant what I said about them "finding the Honorblades" in my prior post, that was supposed to have been framed as an assumption, not a fact. I've better explained it in the past, so I'll let April Me explain:

On 4/11/2017 at 3:02 PM, The One Who Connects said:

Popular opinion is that the Circle of Blades were at the center (or at least near the center) of modern day Shinovar. I myself have even speculated that they made their first village/temple after the Desolation at that exact spot. 

It makes more sense that the Blades were left near where the Shin set up their villages, because anywhere else would require some sort of LotR-esque quest to get them.

There was also a WoB where Brandon said that "Historically, they were with the Shin." Granted, that one is getting a bit old so asking for an updated clarification isn't entirely unwarranted.