theory [OB] Heralds and "that which comes next"

[Windrunner]

One of the things that has been clear throughout the course of the Stormlight Archive is that the Heralds will play a crucial role in this series, particularly in the back half of this story, when they begin to get POVs. A longstanding theory has been that the Heralds need to be restored and returned to their former glory. Without the Heralds, there seems to be no hope of preventing an eternal Desolation, as the Fused are no longer held back when they are killed as they once were. However, with the final death of Jezrien the hope that the original Heralds will all return to their former roles is dashed. So the question remains now, what is the significance of the Heralds now that we know they will not all return to the Oathpact?

The primary goal of this theory is to reconcile a few odd facts that appear unconnected but in actuality stem from the same issue. The first is Nale's assertion that Radiants will cause a Desolation.

 

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“Others may be detestable, but they do not dabble in arts that could return Desolation to this world.” His words were so cold. “What you are must be stopped.”

Words of Radiance Interlude 9

We now know the way that a Desolation is triggered. When any one the Heralds on Braize in the past yielded to the torture of the Fused a Desolation began. If they died during the fighting they returned to Braize instantly. Those who survive are required to return to Braize in a short period of time, otherwise the Voidspren and the Fused would no longer be held back and the Desolation would begin again. When the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact, they quit being Heralds and gave up their Blades. This trick worked since they all did it. Now there was only one Herald and he was in Damnation, so the Oathpact held barely, since technically all the Heralds were on Braize like they were supposed to be. Taln's eventual break is what allowed the Voidspren to return. But what does any of this have to do with regular Surgebinders? How could they have triggered a Desolation? Luckily, Nale gets a little more specific.

 

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Unfortunately, no,” Darkness said. “I once thought as you, but Ishar made the truth clear to me. If the bonds between men and spren are reignited, then men will naturally discover the greater power of the oaths. Without Honor to regulate this, there is a small chance that what comes next will allow the Voidbringers to again make the jump between worlds. That would cause a Desolation, and even a small chance that the world will be destroyed is a risk that we cannot take.

Edgedancer Chapter 9

My belief is that this evidence indicates that "which comes next" to a Radiant is ascending become a Herald. In order for this to happen, it would require that person to take up a Herald's Honorblade. This is the danger that Radiants once posed. If one of them had reached the fifth Ideal and somehow gained access to an Honorblade, they could have inadvertently taken that next step and become a Herald. The second that occurred, the Oathpact would have been violated, because not all the Heralds would have been on Braize like they were supposed to be. This would instantly trigger a Desolation. In the past, when Honor still lived, he prevented this from occurring. But now he is no longer around to mediate this. For this reason, Nale has been hunting down Surgebinders so that they cannot take this final step.

This brings us to another oddity, the Skybreakers themselves.  Nale's explanation does not explain why the Skybreakers are exempt from this campaign of murder. What prevents them from accidentally doing something to trigger another Desolation once they reach the power of the higher oaths? Well, no Skybreaker has gotten there in a while.

 

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There are five Ideals,” he said. “Nin told me of this. You have spoken them all?”
“It’s been centuries since anyone mastered the Fifth Ideal,” Ki said. “One becomes a full Skybreaker by speaking the Third Ideal, the Ideal of Dedication.”

Oathbringer Chapter 90

 

With the notable exception of Nale, no Skybreaker has gotten to the Fifth Ideal in quite some time. This is either a coincidence, or something is going on here. It is also worth noting while we are on the subject, that Nale has retrieved his Honorblade.

 

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He stopped at the top of the steps and looked down at his hand, where a glistening Shardblade appeared. One of the two missing Honorblades. Szeth’s people had care of eight. Once, long ago, it had been nine. Then this one had vanished.

Oathbringer Chapter 106

The reason he excludes the Skybreakers from his purge is that he is there to personally run that order. No one has reached the fifth Ideal in centuries, which is odd to me. I believe that Nale has either secretly come to some sort of accord with the highspren that they will not allow the bond to progress that far or he has been quietly ending the lives of Skybreakers who have approached the Fifth Ideal. Nale's other safeguard is that he himself holds the Honorblade of the Skybreaker Herald. He went back for it to be doubly sure that no one will be able to inadvertently take up the mantle of a Herald. Note though, that Nale has not taken up the burden of a Herald again fully, otherwise the Voidspren would have returned long ago, since Nale has been on Roshar. However, despite having access his Honorblade, Nale has also seen fit to bond a highspren and become a Skybreaker himself.

 

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Nin held out his empty left hand. A Shardblade appeared there, dif­ferent and distinct from the Honorblade he carried in the other hand. “I am not just a Herald, but a Skybreaker of the Fifth Ideal. Though I was originally skeptical of the Radiants, I believe I am the only one who eventually joined his own order.

Oathbringer Chapter 106

Jezrien is dead now, and it is clear the Heralds must rise again to trap the Voidspren and the Fused (although hopefully they come to a more permanent solution this time). I believe that our heroes, Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, etc, each one more or less from one order will eventually be the ones to take up their respective Herald's mantle. The only oddity here is that we have two Lightweavers in Shalash/Shallan and no Dustbringer, but perhaps that will be resolved in some other way. The reason that Brandon chose to have Nale have his Honorblade and a spren is to foreshadow that a Herald may also be a member of their own order, so we don't have to worry about our main characters losing their spren when they become Heralds.

There is one more thing I'd like to touch on, but it's ranging into the speculative for me. I feel very strongly about the theory as presented so far, but this last corollary of sorts is a little out there. The final oddity I want to point out has to do with the death of Jezrien. When he is killed, something strange and very specific happens.

 

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The man trembled for a moment more, then jerked once, going motionless. When Moash pulled the yellow-white knife free, it trailed dark smoke and left a blackened wound. The large sapphire at the pommel took on a subdued glow.

Oathbringer Chapter 121

And now we see his death from Shalash's perspective.

 

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Ash stopped in place as something ripped inside of her.
Oh God. Oh, Adonalsium!
What was that? What was that?
Taln whimpered and collapsed, a puppet with cut strings. Ash stumbled, then sank to her knees. She wrapped her arms around herself, trembling. It wasn’t pain. It was something far, far worse. A loss, a hole inside of her, a piece of her soul being excised.
“Miss?” a soldier asked, jogging up. “Miss, are you all right? Hey, someone get one of the healers! Miss, what’s wrong?”
“They . . . they killed him somehow . . .”
“Who?”
She looked up at the man, tears blurring her vision. This wasn’t like their other deaths. This was something horrible. She couldn’t feel him at all. They’d done something to Jezrien’s soul.
“My father,” she said, “is dead.”

Oathbringer Chapter 121

The Fused are doing something very specific here. They do something to Jezrien's soul, which allows them to kill him fully. However, at least some portion of the Oathpact must have remained attached to his soul, because the bond between the Heralds was still intact, as evidenced by Shalash and Taln's reaction to Jezrien's death. That there is still something supernatural about the Heralds is certain, as they remain immortal (or close to it) and ageless as well. I think perhaps in this moment they stole whatever that characteristic of "Heraldness" was and trapped it in that strange dagger (there may be some variant of Hemalurgy at work here, or perhaps not). Now Odium both pieces, an Honorblade and the quality of "Heraldness" and maybe can now craft something new. I think it possible that Odium intends to craft a new Herald, one that is on his side. If one Herald were to intentionally refuse to return to Damnation, a Desolation could never end. So if Odium were to somehow make one of his supporters a Herald, he could ensure his troops could never be trapped again. Moash is the obvious candidate for this role, holding the Honorblade himself, but we have yet to see how the dagger will play into this. Perhaps Moash is not ready or perhaps they are waiting to prove himself yet again before entrusting such a responsibility to him.

[Xenq]

2 hours ago, Windrunner said:

My belief is that this evidence indicates that "which comes next" to a Radiant is ascending become a Herald.

You could be right but think it's more likely he is referring to humanity destroying another planet, knowledge of the first destruction leading to the Recreance.

It's possible that more powerful surgebinding and ascending to herald-level might be one and the same.

2 hours ago, Windrunner said:

I believe that our heroes, Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, etc, each one more or less from one order will eventually be the ones to take up their respective Herald's mantle.

For a moment I thought this was going to happen in Oathbringer!

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Skybreaker, Dalinar thought, counting them off. Edgedanger. That was seven. He would have expected three more.
…
Those two only make nine, he thought to the Stormfather. Something told him there should be one more.
                I don’t know. Perhaps they haven’t been found yet. Regardless, even with the bond you are just one man. Radiants are not immortal. How do you face this army?

Definitely with the old heralds either dying, betraying humanity or being 100% useless it opens things up for a new batch, which would be awesome

[Steeldancer]

We still haven't seen a modern Stoneward. 

[Windrunner]

Well I also kind of don’t think that Taln will need to be replaced, I’m hoping he will recover in some way. So we may not need a modern Stoneward to be the Herald, although I’m sure we’ll see some modern Stonewards before long.