How did you picture shardblades and shardplate when you first read SA

[EMB1981]

So when I first read the books I pictured shardblades as these thin and long crystalline blades that elegantly cut through everything. As for shardplate I always pictured it as this bulky interlocking medieval armor, but instead glowing with constant stormlight.

how did you guys picture them when you first read the books?

[The Sovereign]

6 hours ago, EMB1981 said:

So when I first read the books I pictured shardblades as these thin and long crystalline blades that elegantly cut through everything. As for shardplate I always pictured it as this bulky interlocking medieval armor, but instead glowing with constant stormlight.

how did you guys picture them when you first read the books?

I pictured Shardblades like the Ultima Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts. The Shadeplade I more or less pictured as a very crisp and shiny Alphonse Elric
 

Edited March 5, 2020 by The Sovereign
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[Quantus]

Basically like Final Fantasy swords.  FFX, specifically, since they were particualrly elemental themed:

[Karger]

I pictured them is these huge grey blades that seem almost crude.

[+ILuvHats]

I've never played FF, but I basically imagined them how Quantus said. Proportionally, the blades were much wider than normal swords, and the coloring had a special sheen. Shardplate was basically like power suits. Very bulky, and clearly impossible to move in if they didn't enhance one's strength.

[The Deity]

I always pictured Shardblades like large blades, that had some ornate designs or effects to them. Some were described as quite thick, so I always imagined them as bulky at times.

For Shardplates I thought of them as uniquely designed pieces of armor something similar to the Crest of Alpha Lupi from Destiny 2 (a little less ornate though):

[Retrac]

I have always pictured the swords like Legends of zelda swords.

[ToaCalune]

I pictured shardblades like big, extra-wide swords.

For some reason, and despite my best efforts, I always pictured plate making you like twice as big. I know.

[GoWibble]

Well, I started reading on the E Book, so the picture on tWoK really set what they looked like

[FeatherWriter]

Funnily enough, despite having never played Halo, my mental picture for shardblades was that they were ethereal and translucent like the energy swords from Halo. I was quite confused when I started my first reread of WoK and finally noticed the description that they were metal.

Also @The Deity wooo fellow Guardian. I definitely have a post floating around about how Destiny and Stormlight are actually really similar!

[Truthless of Shinovar]

I didn’t have any specific image in my head for any of the swords except for Oathbringer, which looked like (and still looks like in my mind) Ganondorf’s sword from SSBU. Oh and I always picture Nightblood as Cloud’s Buster Sword, from SSBU. Smash Bros definitely influenced my reading

For reference:

Oathbringer:

 

Nightblood:

Edited March 15, 2020 by Truthless of Shinovar

[Impact]

As just overly large, ornate swords, I guess.  Kind of like some of the weapons in RWBY, but bigger.

 

The Plate I just pictured Medieval armor, but like, fancy as storms

[SwordNimiForPresident]

I imagined it as medieval style armor. I was very surprised by the animu style in Shallan’s drawings.

I’m hoping that since living blades can change their shape the plate can too. I wanna see a Radiant running around in the Doom Marine’s armor.

[The Deity]

@FeatherWriter That's awesome dude, I haven't played D2 in a while but I always liked the way certain armor looks. And yeah I always imagined Ghosts and Spren to be sorta similar, but I'm a bit impartial to spren.

[Frustration]

I thought of Plate as almost scaly, Blades where almost surfboards but sharp

[Weltall]

On 3/5/2020 at 5:05 AM, Quantus said:

Basically like Final Fantasy swords.  FFX, specifically, since they were particualrly elemental themed:

Given that Brandon has admitted being a huge fan of that game in the franchise in particular, I'm pretty certain he had those in the back of his mind when designing at least some of the swords. Like Oathbringer, whose description sounds ever so slightly like Tidus' Brotherhood except with the hook on the dull edge of the blade. It's pretty much how I pictured the sword even before I found the WoB where he mentioned liking FFX a whole lot.

[Skaromas]

Big fancy swords and very fancy plate armor

[cometaryorbit]

I originally mentally pictured the Shardblades as being crystalline rather than metal (like the Crystal Swords in Diablo 2)... maybe because of the importance of gems? I was surprised when I finally noticed that Shallan's drawings made them look basically like normal swords, though large (I read the books on Kindle so the pictures were maybe not as immediately prominent as in the hardback book).

The Plate in my head looks more "gonzo" than it's probably really supposed to look (though Shallan's drawings aren't in color), super brightly painted with the gems being hugely obvious blazing light sources.

[Bookish Ocelot]

In my head, plate looked like iron man armor. 

Shardblades looked like really big swords. Meat cleavers, but big? 

[Harbour]

Always imagined them consisting of huge bulky metallic plates with visible power lines of glowing light that allow the stormlight to circulate around the whole armor, powering it up. When BS described the fight scenes, every time Shardbearers crushed each other Shardplates, i imagined them destroying those power lines so the stormlight leaked out of them.

 

Something like this:

Edited March 9, 2020 by Harbour

[Elend Venture]

     I imagined the plate to look like 15th Century Gothic armor but with all around coverage and many smaller interlocking plates instead of mail. And perhaps a great helm instead of a sallet. So a bit like this but with a dull grey sheen and stormlight shining through the seams:

     I imagined the blades to look like longer, broader, longswords and groß messers however colored in flat anodized aluminium-like shades, for example dull reds, blues, greens, silvers, tans, etc. Much like more massive versions of these weapons. Still elegant but far reaching and possessed of some heft.

In colors such as these.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Elend Venture

[Kalaksbreath]

I imagined them as XL medieval broad swords that had odd shapes.

[Thrand_Antharo]

similar to this, except bulkier and without boob armour because sculpting like that adds unnecessary weak points to the armour.

The artist is Mike Franchina

[Hoid the Former Drifter]

Oversized broadswords and mountain sized armor that is made of small interlocking plates. The only unusual thing is size, I guess. Maybe like a more elegant version of a koloss sword?

[EggArdent]

I like many other people on this thread imagined the shardblades as final fantasy swords. But for the armor, before I saw any of Shallan's drawings, i pictureed them looking like armor that stormcast eternals in warhammer wear but with a more traditional helmet.

Edit: I also thought they might have looked like Reinhardt's armor.

Edit 2: I saw someone talking about how they saw Nightblood and I always imagine it as just a longsword with a hooked guard and an ornate silver sheath.

Edited October 6, 2020 by EggArdent