Samuel Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Spren are shardblades Seons/Skaze could be shardblades, if they were more firmly anchored(?) in the physical realm Nightblood is a shardblade Could one of the Returned, capable of changing his form, also become a shardblade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Nightblood is not actually a Shardblade - he is similar enough so that Nale either doesn't know better or doesn't feel the need to bother explaining the differences to Szeth. The Returned are even further from this - they contain Splinters of Endowment, which is why their transformative abilities in the physical realm are limited to humanoid shape roughly their size. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 It sounds... unlikely to me. Returning seems to be a reflection of how someone see's themselves, and even that is only within a certain range limit. I can't imagine someone dying and Returning as a Weapon to begin with, and changing themselves into a sword sounds even more of an extreme change than anything we've seen so far. After all, Vasher might see himself as a scrawny, rugged vagabond... but that's still a human form. I can't imagine someone being able to convince themselves "I am a Shardblade" enough to make an actual change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted March 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Nightblood is not actually a Shardblade - he is similar enough so that Nale either doesn't know better or doesn't feel the need to bother explaining the differences to Szeth. The Returned are even further from this - they contain Splinters of Endowment, which is why their transformative abilities in the physical realm are limited to humanoid shape roughly their size. From the San Francisco(?) signing: Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade? A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal. I take your point about being a splinter, vs. containing a splinter. But again, we've also been told that Seons are not splinters. They contain splinters (the Aon inside the Seon is the splinter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 (edited) Nightblood is not actually a Shardblade - he is similar enough so that Nale either doesn't know better or doesn't feel the need to bother explaining the differences to Szeth. The Returned are even further from this - they contain Splinters of Endowment, which is why their transformative abilities in the physical realm are limited to humanoid shape roughly their size. Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade? A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal. From the San Francisco Signing. This seems to indicate that the definition for Shardblade is wider than we think– that is, it's a more generalized, Realmatic definition. But I agree that Returned probably aren't capable of bladifying themselves, since the Splinter has a physical aspect already unlike Seons and Spren. However, I do think their Divine Breath, which is the actual Splinter anyways, could be formed into a shardblade.Edit: Storming Ninjas! Edited March 22, 2014 by PorridgeBrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Eh, fair enough. I've been going with the Rosharan definition, not the Realmatic one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 After a little more thought, I think another big reason Returned can't be Shardblades is that they are completely different Realmatically from the other three. Spren, Seons, Skaze, and Type 4 Awakened Objects are all Cognitive aspects– pure ideas– given life through Investiture. Spren all have their associated idea, Seons/Skaze all have their Aon/Fjordell character at their center, and Nightblood has his Command to "Destroy Evil". But Returned aren't ideas, they're humans brought to life again. Their Splinter is bound to their physical bodies, while the rest have the Investiture bound to the Cognitive aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 I am not sure. The Returned are said to return with a purpose - healing the God King in Lightsong's case. So there is purpose. Intent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 They have a purpose, but they're not that purpose literally personified. Just because Dalinar wants to unify Alethkar doesn't mean he is the living idea of unity. Nightblood, however, is just that– he is "Destroy Evil"+Investiture to make him alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turos Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 + Awesome. Don't for get that. Did I hear somewhere that Warbreaker 2 is going to be titled Nightblood? Sounds like some back-tracking and perhaps explanations on how he ends up on Roshar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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