Could Honor build a Death Star with Battar?

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Dumb idea, but hear me out:

We know that Soulcasting can be used to turn things into other things. Example rocks to smoke. We also know that Honor could fuel the Heralds directly through Honorblades, which made them super-powerful. What stops Honor from taking Battar, fueling her through the Blade, and starting to turn planets to smoke? Is it not honorable enough, or are there limitations I have missed?

[Elsecaller_17.5 he/him]

Off the top of my head I see two limitations. Firstly identify, a planet (I would argue) doesn’t see itself as a planet but rather a massive collection of things that would each have to be transformed independently. Secondly I suspect that there’s a cap on how much investiture even a shard can produce and how much can be channeled through one source.

[SwordNimiForPresident he/him]

Why would he need Battar for this? He could just destroy the planet himself.

[+Harrycrapper]

29 minutes ago, Toaster Retribution said:

Dumb idea, but hear me out:

We know that Soulcasting can be used to turn things into other things. Example rocks to smoke. We also know that Honor could fuel the Heralds directly through Honorblades, which made them super-powerful. What stops Honor from taking Battar, fueling her through the Blade, and starting to turn planets to smoke? Is it not honorable enough, or are there limitations I have missed?

I know it's not very helpful to answer a question with a question. But doesn't this question make a little more sense when you ask "why stops Odium from doing this?" I don't see how destroying planets fits into Honors game plan at all while destroying Roshar like that would definitely benefit Odium. I'm guessing Honor/Cultivation along with the Radiants were too strong and omnipresent for Odium to pull something big like that, he is only one Shard to their two. 

32 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

Off the top of my head I see two limitations. Firstly identify, a planet (I would argue) doesn’t see itself as a planet but rather a massive collection of things that would each have to be transformed independently. Secondly I suspect that there’s a cap on how much investiture even a shard can produce and how much can be channeled through one source.

Technically, it's not how the planet sees itself, it's how its inhabitants view it. Just like the Kholinar palace was one thing Jasnah found in WoR prologue, it wasn't just a collection of walls and doors, it was one cohesive whole because it was viewed that way. Now that doesn't mean the collective inhabitants of Roshar are savvy enough to know they live on a single planet in the vastness of space. There's also the question of how the cognitave aspect of a planet appears in Shadesmar. Is it just another sphere or is the environment itself in Shadesmar the cognitive representation of that planet? I think you're right on the limit in how much investiture a shard can channel through a single person and I also think that that person's will has to be greater than the object they are changing, especially if it doesn't want to, it's why Jasnah is so much better at Soulcasting than Shallan. So, yea I don't think even Jasnah could match wills with a whole planet and that woman is stubborn. 

[Karger he/him]

1 hour ago, Harrycrapper said:

I know it's not very helpful to answer a question with a question. But doesn't this question make a little more sense when you ask "why stops Odium from doing this?"

Odium is shackled to Braize by the powers of Honor and Cultivation.  Odium is not going to grant anyone the power to destroy a planet because then they would probably be a shard too and Odium wants to decrease the number of shards not increase it.

 

[RShara she/her]

Honestly, if he were unopposed and wanted to, Honor could vaporize the planet all by himself, no Battar needed. Fueling Battar to do it would likely weaken him in the same way, so he either can do it and face the consequences without her, or he can't do it with or without her because he would be too weakened by it.

[DocHoliday he/him]

Leras and Ati created Scadrial from scratch. Presumably they would have the power to destroy it in the same capacity.