Question about a quote on the Dawnshards

[RazeU]

Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above.

 

has everyone always assumed this was speaking about one of the Sleepless? I just reread the quote in another post and it hit me with a completely different perspective than every other time I’ve read it. Heralds are normal sized folk lol... but maybe their steps are ten stride tall apiece for a cremling? Just a thought. Please correct me if I’ve missed something. 

[Steel Inquisitive he/him]

I always took it as artistic license, but I like your thought too!

[Karger he/him]

36 minutes ago, RazeU said:

has everyone always assumed this was speaking about one of the Sleepless? I just reread the quote in another post and it hit me with a completely different perspective than every other time I’ve read it. Heralds are normal sized folk lol... but maybe their steps are ten stride tall apiece for a cremling? Just a thought. Please correct me if I’ve missed something. 

I am with steel.  Especially since we have no idea what the Dawnshards are or how they work.

[IllNsickly he/him]

Have a cookie!!

Aimian’s are evidently the perspective we are hearing the story from...

I like it!!

[Renen]

While a veeeery remote possibility, I have the following theory:

Given that seeing the future is possible and in some instances in the cosmere that future gets seen reeeeeeeeally far in advance (Hero of ages prophecy), perhaps this quote can be talking about someone in the present. At the very end of Oathbringer we have Hoid walk into the ruined palace in Kholinar and rescue an unknown cryptic. Could the cryptic be the one with the dawn shard? It is certainly being looked for hard enough, and it'd be small enough that a normal staircase would look quite big to it (not sure about ten strides but...)

[RShara she/her]

11 minutes ago, Renen said:

While a veeeery remote possibility, I have the following theory:

Given that seeing the future is possible and in some instances in the cosmere that future gets seen reeeeeeeeally far in advance (Hero of ages prophecy), perhaps this quote can be talking about someone in the present. At the very end of Oathbringer we have Hoid walk into the ruined palace in Kholinar and rescue an unknown cryptic. Could the cryptic be the one with the dawn shard? It is certainly being looked for hard enough, and it'd be small enough that a normal staircase would look quite big to it (not sure about ten strides but...)

Nah, the Cryptic is the one that was trying to bond with Elhokar before he was killed.

 

Quote

R'Shara

The Fused were looking for something at the palace at Kholinar at the end. Were they looking for Hoid's Cryptic?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes they were. Good question! Did people think they were looking for the black gemstone? That would be the other big guess. But they were looking for the Cryptic.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

 

Quote

Hoidonalsium

Was Hoid's Cryptic the same one that was meant for Elhokar?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Hoidonalsium

Is there anything more to the Cryptic than Pattern? Like Shallan's Pattern?

Brandon Sanderson

There's more to every individual! But it is not a more powerful Cryptic or anything like that.

Oathbringer Glasgow signing (Dec. 2, 2017)

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by RShara

[Renen]

19 minutes ago, RShara said:

Nah, the Cryptic is the one that was trying to bond with Elhokar before he was killed

Yeh I know that. But as Sanderson says theres generally more to every individual. It may not be a powerful cryptic, but it may be one that has/knows location of the dawnshard. Because as much as the fused hate un-corrupted spren I doubt they'd be spending this much effort to hunt down one single cryptic. Though I do admit, my idea is very much out there.

[Karger he/him]

31 minutes ago, Renen said:

Yeh I know that. But as Sanderson says theres generally more to every individual. It may not be a powerful cryptic, but it may be one that has/knows location of the dawnshard. Because as much as the fused hate un-corrupted spren I doubt they'd be spending this much effort to hunt down one single cryptic. Though I do admit, my idea is very much out there.

I think the fused would work quite hard to hunt down a potential Radiant.  Also why would a supercryptic go on a dangerous mission to bond Elhokar?

[Renen]

1 minute ago, Karger said:

I think the fused would work quite hard to hunt down a potential Radiant.

A spren capable of the Nahel bond you mean. But then they'd better spend their time going to the cognitive realm and murdering several cities worth of them. 

 

3 minutes ago, Karger said:

Also why would a supercryptic go on a dangerous mission to bond Elhokar?

Well, simply having a dawnshard wouldnt make it a supercryptic. Its possible spren cant even do anything with them by themselves. Though I think we can freely assume that any type of spren can decide to go bond. By type I mean their err... position I guess? You can have a gardener go bond Lift, you can have "the last daughter" go bond some depressed bridge man, and I imagine you can have some super important spren also decide to go bond a king. If some spren royalty decided to go form a bond, who would stop them right?

[Karger he/him]

Just now, Renen said:

A spren capable of the Nahel bond you mean. But then they'd better spend their time going to the cognitive realm and murdering several cities worth of them. 

I am fairly certain this is what they are doing but spren seem pretty hard to kill.  They are ideas composed of pure investiture I don't think you can just hit them.

2 minutes ago, Renen said:

Well, simply having a dawnshard wouldnt make it a supercryptic. Its possible spren cant even do anything with them by themselves.

Sure but you don't have to be capable of using something personally to know that it is valuable and worth protecting.  Evi was important enough to marry Dalinar due to her plate even if she did not know how to wear it herself.

3 minutes ago, Renen said:

You can have a gardener go bond Lift,

Lift was chosen for several reasons that Wyndle lists if you pay attention.  He was given the responsibility by the ring.

7 minutes ago, Renen said:

"the last daughter" go bond some depressed bridge man, and I imagine you can have some super important spren also decide to go bond a king. If some spren royalty decided to go form a bond, who would stop them right?

She had to sneak away.  I don't think anyone new what she was planning.  Granted your hypothetical supercryptic may have also made such a decision but I have a hard time believing the Cryptic government would allow a rebellious teenager access to the equivalent of nukes or would leave him unsupervised long enough for him to sneak away.

[Renen]

11 minutes ago, Karger said:

I am fairly certain this is what they are doing but spren seem pretty hard to kill.  They are ideas composed of pure investiture I don't think you can just hit them.

Yeh I meant that as spren-kill. Obviously they are pretty durable but they can be broken up hard enough to be functionally dead. (Actually, is that what Kaladin does when he uses Sil to stab a voidspren?)

 

15 minutes ago, Karger said:

Sure but you don't have to be capable of using something personally to know that it is valuable and worth protecting.  Evi was important enough to marry Dalinar due to her plate even if she did not know how to wear it herself.

True. But we also know that unbonded spren arent very intelligent (in some aspects). So could be due to that?

17 minutes ago, Karger said:

Lift was chosen for several reasons that Wyndle lists if you pay attention.  He was given the responsibility by the ring

Yeh I know. I was more trying to point out that we have all sorts of spren making bonds. 

 

17 minutes ago, Karger said:

Cryptic government would allow a rebellious teenager access to the equivalent of nukes or would leave him unsupervised long enough for him to sneak away

Fair enough. Then again, this is the Cosmere. We have all sorts of folks getting access to all sorts of world shattering rust. I think w/o knowing what the dawnshards are though its nearly impossible to discuss them as we dont even know if they are pocket sized or skyscraper sized (granted highly unlikely but you know what I mean)