Radiant spiking

[NiceDoughnut991]

Could you Hemalurgically spike a full knight radiant and steal their bond to gain their powers and Shardblade? Or would something else happen? 

[Calderis he/him]

You could... And then unless you were holding to all of the oaths you'd kill the spren and end up with a shardblade. 

Not the best of plans. 

[The Ryshadium]

1 minute ago, Calderis said:

You could... And then unless you were holding to all of the oaths you'd kill the spren and end up with a shardblade. 

Not the best of plans. 

But at least you would get a shardblade. After you killed the spren you could just take the spike out right? There are probably easier ways to get a blade though to be honest....

[RShara she/her]

1 hour ago, NiceDoughnut991 said:

Could you Hemalurgically spike a full knight radiant and steal their bond to gain their powers and Shardblade? Or would something else happen? 

You could, but the spren could also choose to break the bond and leave. Or it might die and become a deadeye. Either could happen, depending on various factors. But I'm betting the spren would survive long enough to say screw you and leave.

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Questioner

I was wondering if a bond to a spren, a Nahel bond, may be taken with a Hemalurgic spike.

Brandon Sanderson

This is possible but it's gonna-- Since the spren has free will it's going to be-- Yeah it's going to have weird ramifications but it is a possible thing.

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 (Sept. 23, 2017)

 

[Weltall]

Yeah, the most likely outcome of spiking a Radiant and then using the spike on yourself is that you kill the spren and the Radiant and end up with a deadeye Shardblade, which would make you a grade-A chull. And it would probably not be all that easy to do in the first place as Radiants have a very strong healing ability which can definitely repair spiritual damage.

The next most likely outcome is that you end up bonded to a very angry spren who will tell you to storm off, break the bond and possibly do unpleasant things to you before leaving if they're able to, hope you didn't try spiking a Dustbringer. On top of that, you now have a useless bit of metal stuck in you that can't feel good and Harmony might just start lecturing you.

The least likely outcome by far is you becoming a Radiant yourself, since you need to match the Ideals (or the bond will break regardless of intent) and the spren has to be okay with what you just did. None of that is especially likely and Brandon's said that hemalurgy would drive most spren away by itself.

Oh, and having a spike might make it it easier for Odium to mess with you...

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Djarskublar (paraphrased)

So I could be wrong, but a Hemalurgic spike, when you use it and become a savant it does damage to your Spiritweb, right?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes Hemalurgy always hurts you.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

So say you go to Roshar and you give somebody a Hemalurgic spike for some Allomantic power, don't care what, and you use it to become a savant. Does that qualify them as 'broken' enough to become a Radiant? As long as they are also following the Ideals to attract a spren.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

So becoming a Radiant is a spectrum of terminologies. It... probably, but you would have to find a Radiant who would, or a spren who would be willing to touch that, okay? It's going to drive them back.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

So would it also affect your probability of becoming an Elantrian?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah it would affect your ability to become anything else, yes.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

Okay, so would it be a positive effect, negative effect...? Because I was like, it gives you cracks in your Spiritweb.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It does give you cracks in your Spiritweb.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

So it's easier for Investiture to get in. Does it make it easier for other Investitures to get in?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It would make it... yes. It's going to drive spren away. So what it's really going to make easier for, there, is spren and Investiture that doesn't care.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

Okay, so Investiture doesn't care but spren do.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Investiture might care depending on if it's part of a Shard-- if it has intent and things like this.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

So it might let Stormlight in easier than a Breath, type thing.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I'm saying it might let Odium in easier than Syl. Because Syl would care, and Odium would not care.

Djarskublar (paraphrased)

Okay cool.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Alright, so it could be a really bad thing, is what I'm trying to say to you.

Dark Talent release party (Sept. 6, 2016)

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Weltall

[Lightblood]

I'm pretty sure to be able to get the radiants powers you need to spike the spren and the person bonded to the spren. A pretty hard accomplishment when you see how fast syl can move when she wants to.

But the spren would then be trapped in the bond as it's the investiture that was ripped away and it's connection keyed to the person who has the spike inserted

Quote

Jack Eaton

Can Hemalurgy steal a Nahel bond? And if so, would that bond be unbreakable for as long as the spike was implanted.

Brandon Sanderson

This is a very dangerous and frightening thing in the cosmere, but it is possible--and the implications of it are something I intend to cover eventually in the books.

General Twitter 2018 (May 25, 2018)

I don't know how the sanity of the spren would work but you can do this and the spren would be forced into an "Unbreakable bond"

Edited March 25, 2019 by Lightblood
added information

[Calderis he/him]

@Lightblood spiking a spren would need to be done in the Cognitive, where spren are pretty much just people.