Where is Szeth's spren?

[Aluminum Misting]

After re-reading Oathbringer I realized that we never actually see a spren bonded to Szeth (maybe I just missed it but I'm pretty sure). Szeth also swears the third ideal thus becoming a full knight radiant, but he doesn't use a shardblade, rather he uses nightblood instead. I'm just wondering if I missed something, because it seems that Szeth has bonded night blood, and somehow gotten skybreaker abilities. Does anybody know why this is?

[Quantus]

When he swore the 3rd Ideal to follow Dalinar, he felt a sense of Approval from his spren but said it "rarely showed itself to him, even then." (OB Ch.121)

[goody153]

That giant blade that bleeds black smoke on his back that is his spren.

Ok serious answer. The skybreakers have the same squire system as the windrunners so he got squired at the beginning as to how he initially is able to use skybreaker abilities. He got spren around the 3rd ideal after he swore infront of Nale to serve Dalinar. The highspren only showed itself once in the readers pov and to szeth it occasionally pops up but doesn't really show himself/herself/itself most of the time. 

Ok technically nightblood is a spren so he does have a spren aside from the skybreaker spren.

[Aluminum Misting]

So I 

5 minutes ago, goody153 said:

That giant blade that bleeds black smoke on his back that is his spren.

Ok serious answer. The skybreakers have the same squire system as the windrunners so he got squired at the beginning as to how he initially is able to use skybreaker abilities. He got spren around the 3rd ideal after he swore infront of Nale to serve Dalinar. The highspren only showed itself once in the readers pov and to szeth it occasionally pops up but doesn't really show himself/herself/itself most of the time. 

Ok technically nightblood is a spren so he does have a spren aside from the skybreaker spren.

So I must have just missed seeing the other spren, wouldn't that mean he has two sharblades now?

[goody153]

Just now, Aluminum Misting said:

So I must have just missed seeing the other spren, wouldn't that mean he has two sharblades now?

Yeah. Assuming he currently spoken enough words to summon a shardblade as a skybreaker but yeah. Two shardblades. One from Endownment and another from Honor

[Aluminum Misting]

Alright Thanks!

[Scion of the Mists]

8 hours ago, goody153 said:

He got spren around the 3rd ideal after he swore infront of Nale to serve Dalinar. 

I don't think this is true.  As @Quantus pointed out, he must have already bonded the highspren prior to the Ideal, as at that point the spren "rarely showed itself to him," which implies that it's been around for a while.  

[Quantus]

26 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

I don't think this is true.  As @Quantus pointed out, he must have already bonded the highspren prior to the Ideal, as at that point the spren "rarely showed itself to him," which implies that it's been around for a while.  

In all fairness, Szeth is specifically called out as being unusual, and per the normal (and very regimented) process described by Ki, a skybreaker would only bond their own spren at the 3rd Ideal (as we've been seeing with Bridge four, for that matter), while at the 2nd they are squires to an existing Skybreaker.  Ki said that Nale had thought Szeth could skip straight to the 3rd Ideal (something they did not proceed with because Nale was gone and they didnt want to alter the process without his authority), so I suspect that was because Szeth had attracted the attention of a Highspren on his own.  That was possibly what had brought him to Nale's attention in the first place. 

As a comparison, Teft had been interacting with his own spren prior to actually saying the Words.  I tend to think that will be the normal order of things, as there'd have to be a spren present to "make the offer", so to speak. 

[+Invocation]

I'm still a subscriber to the theory that the reason Szeth was kicked out from Shinovar in the first place was because he had begun bonding with that same highspren, but upon becoming Truthless, he was going against the Oaths he had made and he killed it (similar to Shallan) before the whole Nale thing happened.

[Quantus]

18 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I'm still a subscriber to the theory that the reason Szeth was kicked out from Shinovar in the first place was because he had begun bonding with that same highspren, but upon becoming Truthless, he was going against the Oaths he had made and he killed it (similar to Shallan) before the whole Nale thing happened.

I definitely think he had bonded a spren, he even mentioned to Nightblood that once upon a time he heard a single voice like his.  It could easily be the same spren, though Id also be pleased with him becoming an example of a person that went through large enough personal changes that he attracted a new type to fit a different Order.

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, Quantus said:

I definitely think he had bonded a spren, he even mentioned to Nightblood that once upon a time he heard a single voice like his.  It could easily be the same spren, though Id also be pleased with him becoming an example of a person that went through large enough personal changes that he attracted a new type to fit a different Order.

On one hand, that would be cool, but on the other, I don't think highspren would be the kind of spren to bond someone who had a bond with another order's spren, especially if they killed that other spren.

[Nathrangking]

There is the theory that the spren is more than a little afraid of Nightblood and not willing to show itself.

[Quantus]

1 hour ago, Nathrangking said:

There is the theory that the spren is more than a little afraid of Nightblood and not willing to show itself.

Proof that Highspren are not stupid 

Seriously, if he drains the Investiture of the wielder to the point of killing them, I have to assume that same process would extend to a Living Investiture Symbiote bonded to a radiant's spiritweb.  Lift might be able to work up a bit more of a buffer if she started pounding bacon-cheeseburgers for every meal, but that's about it.  

[goody153]

12 hours ago, Nathrangking said:

There is the theory that the spren is more than a little afraid of Nightblood and not willing to show itself.

I would be a little afraid of nightblood too. Anybody with a sane mind would even the most familiar with it (Vivienna or Vasher) but i don't think this might be the case.

 Endowment and Honor/Cultivation aren't natural enemies as shown so they might just ignore each others presence tbh

13 hours ago, Quantus said:

I definitely think he had bonded a spren, he even mentioned to Nightblood that once upon a time he heard a single voice like his.  It could easily be the same spren, though Id also be pleased with him becoming an example of a person that went through large enough personal changes that he attracted a new type to fit a different Order.

Yeah he might have a similar case with Shallan. And the highspren would never die considering he never broke the law of his land.

Edited January 18, 2019 by goody153

[+Invocation]

12 hours ago, Nathrangking said:

There is the theory that the spren is more than a little afraid of Nightblood and not willing to show itself.

That's fair, a being made entirely of Investiture would be a little afraid of a sword that eats Investiture as it's primary function if it had any sense.

[Lightblood]

Nightblood is scary. I wouldn't want to be cozying up to it anymore than I have to. I'd just wait and hope he loses it or gives it away before making myself known

[Weltall]

3 hours ago, nicolascribbles said:

Nightblood is a weapon from the standalone series of Warbreaker AND is not a spren. There are two other characters from there.

First off, welcome to the Shard! Please do not eat the hemalurgic cookies no matter how delicious they look

Second, this topic was eighteen months dead.

Third, Nightblood actually could be considered a spren.

Quote

Boogalyhu34

Can Nightblood be considered a Splinter and does it function like a spren realmatically, are there distinct differences is what I'm asking.

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood is kind of his own strange thing. He's an attempt to use one magic to replicate something in another. He's closest to a spren, but kind of like a...robot spren, for lack of better words to use.

/r/books AMA 2015 (July 25, 2015)

He's sapient Investiture, has his own intent separate from the Investiture that created him and he was patterned after the Shardblades which are, wait for it, spren.

[nicolascribbles]

3 hours ago, Weltall said:

First off, welcome to the Shard! Please do not eat the hemalurgic cookies no matter how delicious they look

Second, this topic was eighteen months dead.

Third, Nightblood actually could be considered a spren.

He's sapient Investiture, has his own intent separate from the Investiture that created him and he was patterned after the Shardblades which are, wait for it, spren.

Thank you kind stranger! Didn't realize he was patterned after shard blades!

[Kirby]

On 1/17/2019 at 5:29 AM, goody153 said:

That giant blade that bleeds black smoke on his back that is his spren.

Ok serious answer. The skybreakers have the same squire system as the windrunners so he got squired at the beginning as to how he initially is able to use skybreaker abilities. He got spren around the 3rd ideal after he swore infront of Nale to serve Dalinar. The highspren only showed itself once in the readers pov and to szeth it occasionally pops up but doesn't really show himself/herself/itself most of the time. 

Ok technically nightblood is a spren so he does have a spren aside from the skybreaker spren.

Nightblood isn't a spren. Have you read Warbreaker? Nightblood is a sword created with Breath, Awakened and given the Command to destroy evil. My only question is how he got transferred from Vasher's possession to Szeth's.

I know that Nightblood is a sword, and technically genderless, but it's less offensive to think of Nightblood as with a gender, and based off the description of the voice, I'd say Nightblood's male

Edited June 30, 2021 by Kirby
Explanation

[nicolascribbles]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:29 PM, goody153 said:

That giant blade that bleeds black smoke on his back that is his spren.

 

On 1/16/2019 at 10:29 PM, goody153 said:

Ok technically nightblood is a spren so he does have a spren aside from the skybreaker spren.

 

 

Nightblood is a weapon from the standalone series of Warbreaker AND is not a spren. There are two other characters from there.