Is stormlight dangerous to surgebinders?

[krill]

I noticed this from Syl:

 

"No. But Kaladin, you have to understand. With this sword, someone can do what you can, but without the ... check a spren requires." She touched it, then shivered visibly, her form blurring for a second. "This sword gave the assassin power to use lashings, but it also fed upon his Stormlight. A person who uses this will need far, far more Light than you will. Dangerous levels of it."    

 

page 1059

 

It seems that the forums have focused on the difference in efficiency in honorblade vs Nahel bond but that last sentence has stuck with me since me since i read it. I don't seem to remember anything referencing Stormlight being dangerous anywhere else.

 

The only other use that seems to effect the user negatively is the soulcasters that Adolin sees that have stonelike skin but i feel we don't know enough to make a connection there. That could be from the fabrials or the prolonged use. Either way its creepy.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[JamHeretic]

Reminds me of Allomantic savants; I think that  comparison has come up a few times as well.  I for one wouldn't want to be a tin savant, and who knows how massive amounts of Stormlight can affect you?

[RIT]

In the answers given at signings Brandon has linked Stormlight and Breath as being close. It could be that the sword needing dangerous levels of Stormlight could be referencing that if he doesn't maintain an adequate amount when holding the sword it will feed off his own Investiture killing him.

[Observer]

Brandon has mentioned that Nightblood is built identically to an Honorblade, which means that Honorblades likely do unhealthy things to the people who wield them.

[marianmi]

I will say this again: Callandor

[Yamahako]

We've seen evidence of this - when Kaladin used a ton of stormlight and went into massive shock in WoK. I don't think Syl was acting as a good buffer then.

[Tarion]

I think there's a good example of the potential harm shown in the books.  Chapter 35, the Alethi Soulcasters

 

That included the five Soulcasters. Each stood with right hand to breast, displaying a sparkling fabrial across the back of the palm. One of the ardents glanced at Adolin. Stormfather—that gaze wasn’t completely human, not any longer. Prolonged use of the Soulcaster had transformed the eyes so that they sparkled like gemstones themselves. The woman’s skin had hardened to something like stone, smooth, with fine cracks. It was as if the person were a living statue.

Now, they're not directly drawing in Stormlight, but they're still using it far, far more than anyone else in the series so far.  

 

I'm tempted to say that using Stormlight from gemstones carries something of the essence of the gem itself into you.  Not normally a problem for Radiants (See how much juice Kaladin is able to get from even small numbers of low denomination spheres) but if Szeth were Surgebinding more, maybe he'd have taken on a gem-like appearance too.  

[kaos]

I also took it as a bit like a drug. Dalinar mentions when he sucks in some stormlight at the climax how easy it would be to get used to the feeling, and Shallan and Kaladin have taken to drawing in stormlight for little to no reason (Shallan to keep from feeling cold when like a paragraph earlier she says they need to ration stormlight and Kaladin trying but failing to draw in some when he was running the bridge).

[adbf]

Additionally, can it have something to do with the problem of shattering gems? As in fabrial using, Shardplates often losing gems in fight, Jasna having one of her stones shattered in the first soulcast scene. If human body can be seen as a less perfect vessel for Stormlight than gems, what would happen if a sudden "Stormlight debt" couldn't be met by a gem, but only by the body of the surgebinder?