Nightblood has a divine breath?

[Steeldancer he/him]

I’ve seen a million theories about Nightblood, but a new WoB just gave me a new idea. 

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Questioner[PENDING REVIEW]

When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

Brandon Sanderson[PENDING REVIEW]

Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

Questioner[PENDING REVIEW]

Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

Brandon Sanderson[PENDING REVIEW]

I would say, there is something special.

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In essence I think the 5 scholars used a divine breath (with additional breath as well) when they made nightblood. This is why nightblood is weird. Meanwhile, Vivennas sword might just be made by normal breath. 

[soulcastJam he/him]

Maybe Vivenna was more careful with the command she gave it.

"Be a sword," to avoid any failure to interpret correctly.

 

Edited September 26, 2018 by soulcastJam

[Steeldancer he/him]

Ok a bit of WoBing found this little quote

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Viridian's eldest daughter

Did it take a life to create Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Did it take a life to create Nightblood. It did not. It just required a lot of Breath, which you could assume each one is a little piece of a life so maybe. Multiple lives in that way but no one actually had to die. Good question.

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And since giving away a divine breath for sure kills a returned, if a divine breath was involved, then that would mean endowment might have directly returned nightblood, whatever that would mean. 

Instead, a bit of discussion of Nightblood on discord has led me to some thoughts about breath, so expect a thread about the specifics of breath later today. 

[Quantus he/him]

On a purely technical side, we know Nightblood has a Divine Breath in there because he's been used to kill at least one Returned (Shashara). 

[Journey Before Pancakes]

14 minutes ago, Quantus said:

On a purely technical side, we know Nightblood has a Divine Breath in there because he's been used to kill at least one Returned (Shashara). 

Nightblood doesn't actually keep the investiture when he's destroying things.  It feeds his abilities somehow, but it is consumed, not stored.

[RShara she/her]

27 minutes ago, Journey Before Pancakes said:

Nightblood doesn't actually keep the investiture when he's destroying things.  It feeds his abilities somehow, but it is consumed, not stored.

Some of it, I think, is stored, and some of it leaks away. Because NB is more powerful now than at his creation.

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Mason Wheeler [PENDING REVIEW]

Nightblood is the most ridiculously over-invested thing in the Cosmere, second only to the Shards?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes.

Mason Wheeler [PENDING REVIEW]

Was this true from the moment of his creation, or did it grow in power over time.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Grew in power over time. Kind of answers a question that people have been wondering. But, yes.

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[Yata he/him]

7 hours ago, RShara said:

Some of it, I think, is stored, and some of it leaks away. Because NB is more powerful now than at his creation.

 

Yeah but I doubt it would mantain the former structure. Probably it is dismantled into the basic components.

I think, the Breath he feeds and the Divine Breath of Shashara aren't in a too different states into Nightblood.

 

By the way, there is a lot of talking of Nightblood be used to kill Shashara, but we don't know if Nightblood was unleashed during the murder

[Quantus he/him]

7 hours ago, Yata said:

Yeah but I doubt it would mantain the former structure. Probably it is dismantled into the basic components.

I think, the Breath he feeds and the Divine Breath of Shashara aren't in a too different states into Nightblood.

Oh I entirely agree, he's "digested" that and any other Investiture he's taken since his creation and made it part of his own Self.  Though I think the same could be said for the initial breaths that created him as much as for the Breaths, Stormlight, and 'souls' he's absorbed since then. 

7 hours ago, Yata said:

By the way, there is a lot of talking of Nightblood be used to kill Shashara, but we don't know if Nightblood was unleashed during the murder

 Vasher says they both (him and Nightblood) killed her, so unless he stabbed her with the sheathed sword I think Nightblood would have had to be unleashed. 

[Calderis he/him]

13 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Vasher says they both (him and Nightblood) killed her, so unless he stabbed her with the sheathed sword I think Nightblood would have had to be unleashed. 

Even sheathed, the wounds Nightblood makes blacken, and the skin around them drains of color. We don't know anything about the situation. And Nightblood's refusal to believe she's gone isn't even a sign of him being drawn at the time because of the way his initial memories are fixed. 

Nightblood is weird. 

[Quantus he/him]

15 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Even sheathed, the wounds Nightblood makes blacken, and the skin around them drains of color. We don't know anything about the situation. And Nightblood's refusal to believe she's gone isn't even a sign of him being drawn at the time because of the way his initial memories are fixed. 

Nightblood is weird. 

Really?  I missed that entirely.  It kills my entire point on the face of it then: Vasher told Nightblood they'd killed Shashara "just like [they] killed Arsteel", and per Jewels there was no blackness around his wounds. 

[Yata he/him]

@Calderis to be honest I think the Blackenend wounds happens with Nightblood unclipped but still mostly in his coverage (like Vasher uses it most of the time).

[+ElephantEarwax he/him]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

Even sheathed, the wounds Nightblood makes blacken, and the skin around them drains of color. We don't know anything about the situation. And Nightblood's refusal to believe she's gone isn't even a sign of him being drawn at the time because of the way his initial memories are fixed. 

Nightblood is weird. 

Just an odd thought, could he believe that she is not gone because he has her breath? (Her being in him still...)

[Calderis he/him]

12 minutes ago, ElephantEarwax said:

Just an odd thought, could he believe that she is not gone because he has her breath? (Her being in him still...)

Nah, it's just how he works. That's not the only memory that's fixed. 

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Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood was interesting to write in this book as he makes a very nice contrast to Vasher. Vasher doesn't want to say anything about his past; he's so tight-lipped about it that he rarely even spends any time thinking about it. Nightblood, however, dwells quite heavily on the past. Though in some ways his mind is very capable, he has the quirk of being an Awakened object. The first hours of his life—during which time he met Shashara, Denth, and Vasher—imprinted heavily on him. It's like . . . a part of his mind is hard forged in that moment with read-only memory that cannot be changed. Much of him can learn and grow, despite what Vasher says, but he cannot overwrite those initial concepts, states, and understandings that were burned into him during his birth. Shashara was alive then, so he will always think of her as alive, even if thousands of years have passed. Denth will always be pleased with him. Vasher will always be friends with the other two. Those things were some of Nightblood's first impressions.

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