Does Dalinar Have Radiant Shardplate?

[joesleepsalot he/him]

I’m sure someone’s noticed this before, but I finally caught it so my apologies for being late to the party. The recent post that I just saw about Bondsmiths made me curious. 
 

We all know Brandon has said that certain people in the story already have their plate... I know Jasnah has strong hints in the battle for Thaylen City, and presumably all the level 4 Skybreakers that are training Szeth have it, as they directly tell him that he gets his plate at level 4. (But I also believe they have a weird deal with Shardblades, as Nale implies to Szeth that the blade only comes to a level 5 Skybreakers.) Also Kaladin might have something going on with the windspren, but what about Dalinar? 
 

“You’ll be a radiant without shards”. - the Stormfather.... but he does have shard(s). There’s the obvious example of Dalinar using the stormfather as a sword to activate the oath gate (see pics), but what about the swirling light patterns around him that we see in the Oathbringer chapter titled Neshua Kedal? (Pic also) No glory spren are present here as we see in the battle, and the description of the light patterns around him make me think of an over shield in Halo or something when you take a hit. Definitely similar to the part with Jasnah.
 

Part of me thinks the Stormfather’s shard line is simply him being bossy/a bully, and that Bondsmiths have always had access to normal shards the whole time. 
 

Thoughts??

[Aminar]

He doesn't use the Stormfather as a Sword. He slams raw investiture/stormlight in the Oathgate and makes it work. (Possibly with a form of Adhesion given the connection mentioned) 

 

And yes, the stormfather is saying no Shardblade because it makes him vulnerable to being killed and he won't do that. It's him saying, Nope, won't do that. And so far as I can tell it's worked. It's not that no Bondsmith have ever had Shards. It's that being a Shard is a vulnerability for the Spren. 

Edited June 12, 2020 by Aminar

[+robardin he/him]

When Dalinar accidentally made a motion to summon "his" Shardblade after bonding the Stormfather, he got an immediate response of "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". aND What he LATER did in Thaylen City, actually pulling the Stormfather as a Physical presence (if not as a Blade) to make the Oathgate work seemed to hurt the SF, and not just his pride (though that, as well). I think pulling a "godspren" into the Physical Realm as a Blade is much, much harder (on the spren) that it is for a typical Radiant spren.

As for the swirl of gloryspren being like nascent Shardplate to Dalinar, that is interesting. But Dalinar hasn't sworn the Fourth Ideal yet.

Then again he hadn't sworn the Third Ideal yet ("I will take responsibility for what I have done; if I must fall, I will rise each time a better man") when he did the Oathgate trick, either.

[Honorless he/him]

Yeah, the secondary spren form shardplate is a popular theory right now (Windspren for Windrunners, Gloryspren for Bondsmiths) but there are problems with it.

Also, huh I didn't notice that pulling The Stormfather closer to the Physical made the Thrill withdraw for a sec there, interesting.

I don't think that we have confirmation that what Dalinar used was a Shardblade

The second instance, in the vision with Venli, I think that was a manifestation of the Surge of Tension

Edited June 12, 2020 by R J

[joesleepsalot he/him]

Hmm... I could see it being tension, but if the armor is from secondary spren, then I don’t see how that would be a problem—- as the Stormfather isn’t the one morphing into the armor. Of note though, there are no gloryspren present in the vision with Venli and the description of the light forming around him matches what is said about Jasnah. 

[The Sovereign]

Apologies, please disregard my post, my phone is acting up...

Edited June 12, 2020 by The Sovereign
Stupid phone...

[cfphelps he/him]

The time when Dalinar pulls Venli into the vision and Odium breaks in strongly hints at Dalinar having plate, since he uses his hand against stone to slow his descent down a rock wall when the area is crumbling down around them,which Venli notices.

[Aminar]

37 minutes ago, cfphelps said:

The time when Dalinar pulls Venli into the vision and Odium breaks in strongly hints at Dalinar having plate, since he uses his hand against stone to slow his descent down a rock wall when the area is crumbling down around them,which Venli notices.

That implies adhesion and stormlight healing just as much, if not more. His surges cover it all just fine. 

[Honorless he/him]

"lines of light, like framework" I would say that's different, I think that's Spiritual Tension+Adhesion because it matches with the rest of things he's doing in the vision, keeping his part of the vision whole, plus the mechanics matches up with what he did at Taln's temple in Thaylenah. He seems to be using it to prevent injury and as makeshift bracer for better strength & grip

As for the problems with secondary spren theory:

The Nahel Bond is between the Radiant and the high spren; lack of any indication that Shardplates are made of spren; how would one form Shardplate if the requisite secondary spren aren't near, would the Bond(s) be with the same minor spren every time or new ones, how would either work? 

I'm not against this theory, mind you but a lot of people are.

Investiture mechanics aside, I think the secondary spren theory is narratively viable. The scenes where Kaladin & Dalinar were surrounded by Windspren & Gloryspren were powerful and both approaching their respective Ideals where they should be able to summon Shardplate (assuming Bondsmiths can or usually do)

I've never been asked to dismantle the problems with secondary spren theory, only what the problems were, but I'll see if I can do it. Let's see...

The high spren itself transforms into Shardblade (or spear or fork) so Shardplate is unlikely to be formed from the body of the high spren.

That doesn't preclude Shardplate from being formed of solid Investiture or indeed, minor spren

We've seen temporary Bonds with Aviar & white sand lichen, it stands to reason that minor spren could do something similar. We already know that minor spren can be Bonded.

A Spiritual Bond might be able to overcome the problem of distance but the thing is that Shardplate being summonable in all situations isn't a prerequisite.

Edited June 13, 2020 by R J

[cfphelps he/him]

4 hours ago, Aminar said:

That implies adhesion and stormlight healing just as much, if not more. His surges cover it all just fine. 

I'll have to go back to that section then, but I thought the description was similar to how they had described dead plate crunching rock.