[OB] Can shard blades permanently kill the Fused?

[Salayan he/him]

I'm a little (very) new to this, so I hope I'm doing it right. Please correct me if I've made a mistake.

So, I forget where, but at some point, it's mentioned that shard blades first cut and kill the cognitive body, the mind, and can then cut flesh.  However, aren't all of the fused spren?  Kaladin hears the men at Kholinar say that the fused fear Azure's shardblade, and he kills one as well, however, if the fused are permanently killed with a shardblade, how many were there originally?  I assume this is not a correct idea, but how does the shardblade-spren actually work?  Does the shardblade not kill spren on the cognitive side?

[RShara she/her]

Shardblades sever the soul from the body, but don't destroy it (I don't think).  Once freed from the body, I think the Fused would be able to take a new host.  But they do seem wary of Shardblades, so maybe I'm wrong

[CrazyRioter she/her]

Maybe being killed by a Shardblade just really really sucks. We know being cut with one hurts a lot.

Edited February 4, 2018 by CrazyRioter

[Weltall]

Shardblades damage the soul in some way but probably not enough (it only 'cuts' the soul until it's severed from the body and probably doesn't do too much damage to the overall construct) to permanently kill the Fused, though it might leave a lasting 'scar' of sorts unlike a purely Physical means of dispatching them. They're Cognitive Shadows stuck in a Physical body so to properly kill them you'd likely need to hit their Cognitive aspect as well, which Shardblades don't do. The thing that makes Nightblood special as a weapon vis a vis a 'normal' shardblade is that it damages on all three Realms simultaneously. This would also explain why the Fused are leery of Azure's weapon. We don't know exactly what it is but it's safe to assume that it's a weaker version of Nightblood and may retain the same 'cuts all three Realms' property.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

Possibly this is the explanation for the dun sphere Fuzed, the ones that stare blankly or smile creepily and who are obviously touched in the head. Maybe all deaths to the Fuzed aren't equal, maybe death by shardblade does more permanent damage to their spirit web than death by spear. Leshwi seemed pretty unaffected by her recent death by spear when she talked with Moash.

[Calderis he/him]

1 hour ago, Weltall said:

They're Cognitive Shadows stuck in a Physical body so to properly kill them you'd likely need to hit their Cognitive aspect as well, which Shardblades don't do.

I thought that as well. It seems Nightblood is achieving his total destruction some other way though. 

Quote

VindicationKnight

If a person in the Cosmere built a fully sentient and sapient robot would that robot have a soul? How would it interact with Shardblades?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. It would interact with Shardblades the same way that Spren do.

VindicationKnight

How does a Shardblade interact with a Spren?

Brandon Sanderson

Shardblades cut on all three realms. I'm not going to say too much here, though I might note that it's possible a robot like you say would act more like nightblood than anything else--depends on what is involved in the creation, and how you determine the difference between a robot and a golem for these purposes.

source

Personally, I think so many of the Fused are as insane as they are specifically because of repeated spiritual/Cognitive damage from Shardblade deaths. 

[Bort he/him]

Syl and Kaladin killed a Fused, by piercing the possessed's gemheart and killing the Fused spren inside.

[Salayan he/him]

@RShara I agree.  The Stormfather (I think) said that each time they return to Braize, they're minds are injured more and more.  Does this relate to their should being severed?  Does a piece of them stay when they are kill with a shardblade, leaving some more mentally injured than others, because Fused like Leshwi probably weren't slain as often by shard blades, but by common weapon's, such as a spear in Moash's case?

[RShara she/her]

13 minutes ago, Salayan said:

@RShara I agree.  The Stormfather (I think) said that each time they return to Braize, they're minds are injured more and more.  Does this relate to their should being severed?  Does a piece of them stay when they are kill with a shardblade, leaving some more mentally injured than others, because Fused like Leshwi probably weren't slain as often by shard blades, but by common weapon's, such as a spear in Moash's case?

Not sure on that one.  Maybe they experience the entire death of the physical body before they're released to find another, and that experience is so traumatic that it injures the soul as well? 

And I like the idea that the Shardblade deaths injure their souls more than regular deaths.

[Skybreaker156]

On 03/02/2018 at 8:22 PM, Weltall said:

Shardblades damage the soul in some way but probably not enough (it only 'cuts' the soul until it's severed from the body and probably doesn't do too much damage to the overall construct) to permanently kill the Fused, though it might leave a lasting 'scar' of sorts unlike a purely Physical means of dispatching them. They're Cognitive Shadows stuck in a Physical body so to properly kill them you'd likely need to hit their Cognitive aspect as well, which Shardblades don't do. The thing that makes Nightblood special as a weapon vis a vis a 'normal' shardblade is that it damages on all three Realms simultaneously. This would also explain why the Fused are leery of Azure's weapon. We don't know exactly what it is but it's safe to assume that it's a weaker version of Nightblood and may retain the same 'cuts all three Realms' property.

But couldn't the shardblade possibly kill a fused if it strikes twice in quick succession? Also I'm wondering how Nightblood would respond to shardplate, anyone else?

[+ILuvHats he/him]

Even though Nightblood can cut through all three realms, I doubt it can cut through Shard plate.  It seems equally as sharp as Blades, so in that respect it’ll react the same way to Plate as normal Shard blades, by being deflected.  Considering Nightblood feeds on investiture, maybe we could see it interact with the stormlight powering the Plate (i.e. slurping it up)?  I know that it consumes the investiture of the person using it, but idk if it consumes investiture any other ways, like investiture contained within its victims.  Can anybody fill in my gaps in knowledge?

[Skybreaker156]

7 minutes ago, ILuvHats said:

Even though Nightblood can cut through all three realms, I doubt it can cut through Shard plate.  It seems equally as sharp as Blades, so in that respect it’ll react the same way to Plate as normal Shard blades, by being deflected.  Considering Nightblood feeds on investiture, maybe we could see it interact with the stormlight powering the Plate (i.e. slurping it up)?  I know that it consumes the investiture of the person using it, but idk if it consumes investiture any other ways, like investiture contained within its victims.  Can anybody fill in my gaps in knowledge?

It consumes the investiture of anything that it touches, I think that is why the fused are afraid of it because if it touches them they can't 'respawn if you will' because their investiture enabling them to respawn will channeled to Nightblood, possibly?

[Calderis he/him]

Nightblood being what he is, I think plate is going to be pretty effectively obliterated. Much the same as the Thunderclast was. Nightblood definitely consumes what it strikes. 

Quote

Questioner

If one were to have an unlocked metalmind, nicrosil, and held it while wielding Nightblood what would happen? Would he be taking Investiture from the--

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO... you will start to find answers to these sorts of things as more people are involved with Nightblood.

Questioner

...So, if it was like a coppermind would the information be destroyed?

Brandon Sanderson

That is an excellent question, what I've said before is that Nightblood will feed on whatever Investiture he can gain access to. He will start with the easiest Investiture to reach. He will eventually turn to converting matter into Investiture and eating that.

source

When he turns things into smoke by hitting them, they're being turned into investiture.