Theory on Shardplate/Shardblades (Possible Spoilers)

[Satsuoni he/him]

Brandonothology says:

SORT-OF DEFINITION OF A SPLINTER

17S How is a Splinter different from a Sliver?

BS: "Let me see... You have met splinters in Elantris, Warbreaker, and in Way of Kings. You have not met them in Mistborn."

17S: "I feel like we know that. So, qualitatively, what's the difference?'

BS: "Qualitatively, they're reverses of one another. A Sliver is a human intelligence who has held the power and released it. A Splinter has never been human."

So, Returned's Breath is splinter, glowing balls in Elantris are possibly splinters, etc. Also, to those who ask whether splintering makes the Shard unusable - have you ever considered that you can get a splinter off a tree without destroying the whole tree? On the other hand, if you do reduce a tree to splinters, nobody will be able to climb it anymore.

As to the glowing plates: I think that the Radiants were originally named that way because they glowed (by themselves and in the shardplate), when using Stormlight. So, only a Radiant may make the plate glow, by somehow fusing to it, and maybe there are different kinds of shardplates (different glyphs?) for different Surgebinders - note that Szeth can't use Shardplate effectively:

Szeth didn’t own a set of Plate himself, and didn’t care to. His Lashings interfered with the gemstones that powered Shardplate, and he had to choose one or the other.

As a possibility, it may be that the plates served as a house for the spren bound to Surgebinder (see my theory), creating the link.

As an aside, a shardblade does have some sort of gem in it, although it does not seem to need infusion:

“This is for my men,” Amaram said. He took the Shardblade from the cloth, holding it in his hand. The gemstone at its pommel let out a flash of white light.

[Asha'man Logain]

I agree with the infused-gems-are-the-fuel theory, and that the glowing effect with the Plate was unrelated.

Hmm. Assuming that, at the very least, the Plate is (or was) of Honor, what caused them to stop glowing? Perhaps it was his death, but I don't think Honor had been killed quite yet.

I think it might have more in common with Scadrial's pact - as in, Preservation is allowed to create humanity with the promise that Ruin will later be able to destroy them. Of course, Preservation did end up double-crossing Ruin anyway, but that's beside the point. Perhaps Honor agreed to withdraw his own essence from the Plate (and perhaps the Blades, maybe even "converting" them to be of Odium, thus the Thrill), and sacrifice himself, in exchange for the end of the Desolations. It would tie right in with his Intent also; possibly the highest honor one can give you is to die for your sake. Dalinar would also be some nice foreshadowing; giving up his Blade for the lives of his people. (That's called a stretch, ladies and gentlemen.)

Obviously just conjecture, but in terms of an inter-deity pact, that's the best I've got.

I believe in the visions Honor says that he didn't see Odium killing coming. that would have to mean it was not a part of a bargain, at least not that Honor knew about.

[Unworldly]

I believe in the visions Honor says that he didn't see Odium killing coming. that would have to mean it was not a part of a bargain, at least not that Honor knew about.

Or alternatively, it means that it was part of the deal, but Honor did not forsee a time when his end of the deal would not be held up.

For example, if the Oathpact was that Odium would not kill Honor in return for being able to torture the Heralds whenever they died (and in return they are sent back to life to fight in the Desolations) perhaps Honor did not forsee that the Heralds would walk away from the deal? (Edit: Yes, this still seems like a terrible deal for everyone except Odium)

It's possible that his Shard had twisted his mind so much that the idea of anyone with any honour making an oath and then breaking it was beyond his ability to understand?

Edited September 19, 2011 by Unworldly

[hoser he/him]

That line convinced me that their betrayal directly followed the breaking of the Oathpact.

The Radiants did not fight in human wars-they were meant to assist the Heralds in the Desolations.

Side note: Both the Pashendi and the Knights Radiant have been shown in male-female pairs.

This seems to me like a reasonable interpretation from the text.

According to this interview with Brandon, there was an event following the Heralds leaving that triggered the Recreance. Further, and particularly relevant to your theory, the Heralds quit before Honor died. Since we know from the Prelude that there were KR and Shardblades when the Heralds packed it in, they are not pieces of Honor from after he packed it in. Of course, they could still be pieces of Honor from before he packed it in. The rest of this post will assume that you have not read this spoiler.

It also seems possible that the Radiants quit sometime after the Heralds quit. As for the reference to "devils", I imagine that there could have been Desolations after the Heralds quit or the person making the reference could be demonizing the current non-Desolation opponents.

It is possible to imagine honorable reasons for the Recreance that would still have the KR abandoning their oaths. Their purpose is to fight Desolations and protect the Silver Kingdoms. If there are no more Desolations, what are they supposed to do? It seems that this is Book 1 of 10. People universally admire the Heralds, who did abandon humanity. It seems appropriately Brandonish that the generally reviled Radiants will turn out to have had good reason for their actions. But I am afraid that I may be going off-track for this thread.

As for the Blades and Plate, they seem evil now, but they could function (as others have suggested) differently in the hands of Radiants, or Odium could have corrupted them somehow. I don't see that this civilization ever had the capability to modify them, but as-is they might have really cool interactions that we can barely imagine in the hands of 5-oath Stormlight-infusing Radiants.