[OB] Atypical Surges

[OTC]

Not sure if any of this has been brought up before, but I was thinking about the new crop of Radiants, and I think at least 4 have developed or will develop atypical surges, or expanded scope for their surges.

The obvious two are Dalinar and Renarin.

Dalinar is the first to bond the Stormfather since he became a splinter of the Honor, and the conclusion of Oathbringer shows him speaking an oath which, based on the reaction of the Stormfather, was different to what had previously been accepted, and then creating a perpendicularity and super charging the other Radiants with stormlight, which is a not a typical Bondsmith power.

Remain has bonded a corrupted Spren, and is being granted some type of future sight, instead of lightweaving. I get the feeling that this will be further explored and developed.

The two possibly less obvious are Kaladin and Venli.

Kaladin has shown 2 powers that I do not think are standard for a Windrunner, riding the storm in his dreams, and creating a calm in the middle of a Highstorm.

I think these powers are due to his bond with Syl, and Syls heritage. We know that Spren are created by other Spren, who as far as we have seen can only produce more of the same type. Honor Spren had been created directly by Honor, but Syl is the only surviving Honor Spren to be created by the Stormfather before he recieved the Splinter of Honor. I think this has influenced Syl, and the way in which the surges her bond grants can be used.

Venli is just pure speculation at this point. Surges being used by the Singers appear to function differently, but that could also be a stormlight vs voidlight difference.

[+ElephantEarwax he/him]

This is a heck of a first post. Welcome to the shard.

[Elanmorin]

8 hours ago, OTC said:

Kaladin has shown 2 powers that I do not think are standard for a Windrunner, riding the storm in his dreams, and creating a calm in the middle of a Highstorm.

At one point the Stormfather tells Kaladin, "Men ride the storms no longer." Which seems to indicate they did at one point, so I doubt it's unique. Adhesion is defined as the surge of pressure and vacuum, so all Kaladin did during the highstorm is create a high pressure bubble. There's not really any reason yet to believe that isn't part of the standard windrunner kit.

[AluminumGnat he/him]

6 minutes ago, Elanmorin said:

At one point the Stormfather tells Kaladin, "Men ride the storms no longer." Which seems to indicate they did at one point, so I doubt it's unique. Adhesion is defined as the surge of pressure and vacuum, so all Kaladin did during the highstorm is create a high pressure bubble. There's not really any reason yet to believe that isn't part of the standard windrunner kit.

@OTC Welcome! Great post. 

To Elanmorin, IIRC Syl does comment on the pressure bubble, which I take to mean that it is unusual. 

Concerning Dalinar and the Perpendicularity, The Stormfather tells Dalinar that his “is the power of Connection, of joining men and worlds...”

I take this as foreshadowing the creation of the Perpendicularity, where Dalinar Connects the realms, though there are other reasons to believe something else is happening (Odium’s dialogue in particular). The power seems to be a larger use of the usual Surges for Bondsmiths, rather than an atypical usage. 

Renarin on the other hand is a total wildcard. Who knows how that will end up working. I’m not sure we have seen enough of Venli and her surges to tell any differences. 

Welcome to the Shard!

[OTC]

3 hours ago, Elanmorin said:

At one point the Stormfather tells Kaladin, "Men ride the storms no longer." Which seems to indicate they did at one point, so I doubt it's unique.

That's a good point.

I had always interpreted that as referring to lashing during storms, rather than the dream experiences that Kaladin had. I considered those to be somewhat related to to Dalinar's visions, in relation to how they work rather than the content. Kaladin was even walking around during one and had to be restrained by bridge 4 so he wouldn't go out in the Highstorm.

Really though, all I've got is speculation on this and the part you quoted suggests that it may just be a Windrunner ability that hasn't been explored fully yet.

3 hours ago, Elanmorin said:

Adhesion is defined as the surge of pressure and vacuum, so all Kaladin did during the highstorm is create a high pressure bubble. There's not really any reason yet to believe that isn't part of the standard windrunner kit.

I actually really like that explanation of the mechanics of how Adhesion was used to create the effect that it did, but as AluminumGnat already mentioned, Syl commenting on it marks it as unusual.

We already have examples of surges functioning differently for fused, why not for a bond made with a Spren that has an unique heritage?

It is possible that Syl is just unaware of this use of the surge, though Spren knowledge has seemed pretty comprehensive and reliable in relation to what has historically happened with surge development and abilities.

It could also just be Kaladin just fluked onto a new use for Adhesion that no previous Windrunner had stumbled upon. I would consider that unlikely, personally.

I acknowledge that there are other explanations, but I like the idea of Syls status as the Stormfathers only surviving pre-splinter child granting Kaladin storm specific applications of the Windrunner surges.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome.

[The Thinking Herald he/him]

There was a thread about this a while back, discussing things similar to this, ie. what made our Radiants special. It wasn't in as much detail as your post, however, and could do with a good necro and update based on your ideas.

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/64496-ob-the-five-pillars-of-the-stormlight-main-characters/#comment-662883

[Storms! he/him]

The powers all make sense, but the spren seem surprised by them.

 

I'm thinking these are effects of Honor being dead. Someone (I think it was Nale) said something about there not being checks on the Radiants' powers now that Honor is gone. Likely related to the fall of Ashyn as well