The stone shamans and the Honorblade

[lordofsoup]

I've been wondering about this for the last few days, and since no one has posted about it I figure I should.

I think that a major plot point in the next book or next two books will be the Shin stone shamans attempting to regain the Honorblades from Kaladin. His exsistance as a Radiant is in direct conflict with their belief that Szeth was wrong and as punishment had to be made Truthless, so I can't imagine that they will be too happy to see him. That being said I don't know how they expect to take it from him short of an all out attack from multiple Honorblades. Even then, I suspect that the Honorblade will increase Kaladin's natural surge binding talents like Hemalurgy can increase an allomancer's abilities. Either way by the end of WoR everyone who is interested knows that the Assassin in White has been defeated, so the stone shamans are probably making for Kaladin This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules all haste.

This battle will most likely erupt around Hearthstone because that seems like the next place where Kaladin is going to touch the ground.

However Szeth and Nightblood are also comming for the stone shamans and when they get there I don't expect many survivors.

Edited March 11, 2014 by lordofsoup

[name_here]

Kaladin himself won't be keeping the Honorblade; it chews through stormlight very quickly. My money is on it going to Dalinar, since he doesn't have a Shardblade. If they want it back they'll need to storm Urithiru.

[Daishi5]

The stone shamans coming for the blade could get really interesting.  They condemned Szeth because they think the KR can't return.  If they face just Kaladin, they could just assume he has the blade.  But, when Dalinar/Shallan/Renarin comes out to help him, the Stone Shaman's could be facing a huge crisis of faith.

[kkchaitu]

Kaladin himself won't be keeping the Honorblade; it chews through stormlight very quickly. My money is on it going to Dalinar, since he doesn't have a Shardblade. If they want it back they'll need to storm Urithiru.

I completely agree with this. I had the exact same thought when stormfather said he is not going to be a shardblade for Dalinar.

 

 

The stone shamans coming for the blade could get really interesting.  They condemned Szeth because they think the KR can't return.  If they face just Kaladin, they could just assume he has the blade.  But, when Dalinar/Shallan/Renarin comes out to help him, the Stone Shaman's could be facing a huge crisis of faith.

Yes, it would be interesting but I am not sure how the blade would be tracked. I am assuming that there would be a way for the stone shamans to track the blade and not the person who picked it up first. So that means they might go to Urithru since that looks like the place for everyone to crash during the desolation.

 

But since at the very end of WoR, Darkness and Szeth set out to Shinovar to take care of their leaders, I am not sure if the stone shamans will get a chance to go after the blade.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Could it be that the stone shamans are bound to the Honorblades and that Szeth was a stone shaman before he got turned thruthless? After all he was a respected member of society. This would mean that all the Shamans are trained fighters on Szeth level, which would explain why they are confident that they can take a Honorblade back. For tracking down the blade, maybe by using their Truthwatcher?

Furthermore, it might be that their purposse is to be able to replace the Heralds or otherwise protect Rhoshar (well given how nonchalant they are about Szeth´s killing Spree maybe just Shinovar) when the next Desolation hits but the other ones are just pansies that don´t do theire job properly. Alternatively, what Szeth did see was just a fake by Mr T and the Desolation just so happens to come at the same time.

[marianmi]

Nobody is bound to the honorblades. There are no bonds there.

I think the stone shamans are "keepers of the past", kind of. They "have the truth", and know stuff people have forgotten.

This truth is about the Desolations, and how the heralds won the Last Desolation, and maybe even about the Recreance.

When Szeth, a respected scholar, come up with the theory that actually that was not the Last Desolation, and Voidbringers are coming back - probably saw the same signs as the spren - the stone shamans rebutted him, based on the whisperings and promises of their sacred stone  (they might have a speaking stone thing, maybe or not connected to Taln in some way).

Thus, they declared him "truthless" (as in not accepting the truth that voidbringers are destroyed forever), and sent him away with an honorblade, bound as a warrior to a stone.

I am eager to see the reasoning behind that decision (giving him an honorblade). Maybe he was given the blade before (so maybe there was a council of 8 shamans, each carrying a honorblade, and Szeth was one of them?)... we'll have to wait for the next book for these details.

I am not sure they have a Truthwatcher... I don't think the wearer of a blade gets all the benefits of a surgebinder - e.g. the lightweaver blade won't give Memory, but just the Illumination and Soulcasting. Also, keep in mind stormlight is rare in Shinovar, and honorblades need a lot of it - so I don't think they are really that well trained.  Initially, Szeth almost lost to Gavilar. Now, he can go through many shardbearers without a sweat.

[Guest Shash]

The two lies people fall for the most readily are the lies they are afraid are true and the lies they want to be true.

With that in mind, the Stone Shamans will see Kaladin, a Windrunner, with Jezrien's Honorblade, which grants Windrunner powers, and just assume that he gets his Surges from the Blade. They'll refuse to acknowledge that his Surgebinding is independent of the Blade.

That doesn't mean the encounter won't be interesting. It just means they won't immediately realize that they owe Szeth an apology.