Jace21 he/him Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 Hello Fellow Sharders! This is a dual purpose post, one part theory and one part information request. I know there has been a lot of discussion about who swapped out Taln's Honorblade for a regular Shardblade and we have yet to find out, but I had an idea. What if someone stole the Honorblade but the Shardblade already belonged to him? We know Nale says "as far as he knows" he is the only Herald to bond a spren, but that's ambiguous enough to give us something to work with. Now I know we, know essentially nothing about Stonewards and Taln's personality but the little we have indicates he would have been a perfect fit. In WoR one of the epigraphs says Quote Now, as each order was thus matched to the nature and temperament of the Herald it named patron, there was none more archetypal of this than the Stonewards So if the Stonewards were like Taln, it stands to reason Taln could attract a Stoneward Spren. Now we don't know for sure, but an ideal Brandon has revealed looks like it could fit the Stonewards, which is Quote "I will stand where others fall" Now, what if by breaking on Braize, returning from Damnation and failing to prepare people for the desolation he broke his Oaths and "killed" his own Spren. Could this have locked the hypothetical Spren in Blade form? If so, the Blade Dalinar takes could be the deadblade of Taln's Spren and the only mystery is who stole his Honorblade. This also fits with things such as Taln being the series' Stoneward and allows for a Blade revival story line where the knight is still alive (WoB says this would be really helpful), allowing it to happen even if Adolin/Maya doesn't happen. I am not the best with WoBs and suchlike, so any one want to come shoot this down? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naurock Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 10 minutes ago, Jace21 said: Could this have locked the hypothetical Spren in Blade form? I highly doubt it. The Recreance as we've seen it are Radiants renouncing their oaths and leaving their spren behind. I don't see why breaking due to torture would equate to renouncing his oaths. Stealing the Honorblade points towards a group like the Ghostbloods or Stone Shamans with a better understanding of what it is. I think it was just as simple as he was seen with a Shardblade, so it had to be replaced by a Shardblade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use the Falchion Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 I don't have anything to shoot it down - and this is indeed a very interesting idea! - but I think the simplest explanation is that he isn't a Radiant yet. Once we get to his flashbacks, we'll have a LOT of history to cover (especially since we're only getting two of the Heralds), so seeing him gain his oaths throughout the books beforehand might help us cheat in that since. I think the switch was simply done by the Stone Shamans. They seem to have a way to know if and/or when Szeth died in order to get his Honorblade back, so they probably have a way of tracking all the blades. A new one appears, they switch it out thinking no-one is the wiser (because who actually knew the difference between Honorblades and dead-Shardblades?).. But overall, your theory is pretty cool! I just think we have too much history to cover to let that happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRioter she/her Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 I think Nale can probably be taken as correct in this instance. I see no reason why Taln would keep having bonded a spren secret from the other Heralds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace21 he/him Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 14 minutes ago, Naurock said: I highly doubt it. The Recreance as we've seen it are Radiants renouncing their oaths and leaving their spren behind. I don't see why breaking due to torture would equate to renouncing his Oaths. As far as Honor and Oaths seem to be concerned, I don't think the reason for breaking an oath matters. Broken is broken. Especially for the Stonewards, who seem to prefer death to failure. 8 minutes ago, CrazyRioter said: I think Nale can probably be taken as correct in this instance. I see no reason why Taln would keep having bonded a spren secret from the other Heralds. Secret or they just didn't know. It's possible the Heralds were rarely in each others company on Roshar, or Taln bonded the Spren more recently when their minds were cracking and they missed the signs. I agree Nale is likely correct, but possible alternatives together with his qualification that "I believe I am the only one" makes me think someone else may have. Personally, if I am using the phrase "I believe" in this situation, it means I think I'm right but accept the very real possibility that I am mistaken. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Wouldn't Taln have his blade? It wasn't in the cave at Aharietiam. Assuming that it's still bonded to him, we haven't seen it because he hasn't summoned it. No clue where he got the second one though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara she/her Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 4 minutes ago, SwordNimiForPresident said: Wouldn't Taln have his blade? It wasn't in the cave at Aharietiam. Assuming that it's still bonded to him, we haven't seen it because he hasn't summoned it. No clue where he got the second one though. We saw it when he arrived in Kholinar, and it was still next to him when he passed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 5 minutes ago, RShara said: We saw it when he arrived in Kholinar, and it was still next to him when he passed out. Oh that's right. I wonder where it was waiting for him if it isn't bonded to him. Would it have been where ever he was when he died? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis he/him Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, SwordNimiForPresident said: Oh that's right. I wonder where it was waiting for him if it isn't bonded to him. Would it have been where ever he was when he died? It would have been with him. He was bonded to it and never left it behind. He had it when he returned because he was still bonded to it. That said, at this point I don't think there was a blade swap. I think that Taln summoned his blade back and dismissed it, and Hoid planted the other blade to protect him. It doesn't contradict any of the other WoBs, and it's the most straightforward answer that still easily overlooked. As much as I still want it to be my Stone Shaman theory, at this point I think it's most likely that as soon as Taln is functional, he'll be able to summon it back. Edited March 26, 2019 by Calderis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Hmmmmm, I never considered that option. And looking at this WoB and Brandon's exact wording, I could totally see him pulling that on us and having a good laugh at our expense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRioter she/her Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 I don't know if I believe it or not, but it's absolutely something he would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZenBossanova Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Also, I would not rule out Ishar. His insanity seems just a bit more twisted and/or traitorous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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