Herald Theories

[SteelShaper]

So, this is probably just conjecture on my part, and may or may not have been said before, I don't know, but my theory is that as a part of gaining the time break between books 5 & 6, Dalinar is going to assume enough of Honor's power to forge a new (or at least rebrand the existing) Oathpact. Since I think I remember that Brandon has said Kaladin won't be a major character in the second arc, my theory is that he and some of the other new radiants will sacrifice themselves to become cognitive shadows/heralds and give humanity a breather.

I say sacrifice in part because I did see a Brandon quote that said that in order to become a cognitive shadow, a person's physical body has to die. Since the heralds are confirmed to be cognitive shadows returned to physical form by an unknown mechanism, something is going to have to kill the new heralds. Though this raises questions for me like: Does the herald speak oaths before they die and become a shadow? What happens to a bonded spren if the person they're bonded to becomes a shadow immediately upon their death? Would the bond be renewed? Because we know from that pesky Nale that cognitive shadows can forge a Nahel bond with spren. And frankly, I don't think Kaladin would do well as a Herald without Syl to back him up. Thoughts?

[Solant he/him]

I just want to note that you can't read too far into the part about Kal . The front five and back five are supposed to have distinctly separate arcs, with separate main characters. The same could be said for say, Szethe  or Shallan etc

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Welcome to the forums!

This idea has been quite popular with some (while others like @RShara kind of doesn’t really like it very much ). 

I can personally see merits with it, but I also remember reading Sharas thread and seeing her points. 

As for Nale, I think he bonded his spren after the (not so) Final Desolation, and thus it never had to transition with him to Braize. Wether or not Syl would be able to join Kaladin on such an endeavor is unclear.

[SteelShaper]

9 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

As for Nale, I think he bonded his spren after the (not so) Final Desolation, and thus it never had to transition with him to Braize. Wether or not Syl would be able to join Kaladin on such an endeavor is unclear.

True, I'm just wondering how the process would affect the bond if it happened to one our radiants. Since the Nahel bond is a Spiritual aspect, would something of it survive? Or would the whole bonding process have to start over?

However, it does raise another disturbing idea. If they have to die first, does that mean Honor/Dalinar would have to kill them, or do the Heralds commit suicide the first time? Because I think suicide would basically violate the First Ideal so thoroughly that it would kill any bonded spren.

[RShara she/her]

17 hours ago, SteelShaper said:

So, this is probably just conjecture on my part, and may or may not have been said before, I don't know, but my theory is that as a part of gaining the time break between books 5 & 6, Dalinar is going to assume enough of Honor's power to forge a new (or at least rebrand the existing) Oathpact. Since I think I remember that Brandon has said Kaladin won't be a major character in the second arc, my theory is that he and some of the other new radiants will sacrifice themselves to become cognitive shadows/heralds and give humanity a breather.

I say sacrifice in part because I did see a Brandon quote that said that in order to become a cognitive shadow, a person's physical body has to die. Since the heralds are confirmed to be cognitive shadows returned to physical form by an unknown mechanism, something is going to have to kill the new heralds. Though this raises questions for me like: Does the herald speak oaths before they die and become a shadow? What happens to a bonded spren if the person they're bonded to becomes a shadow immediately upon their death? Would the bond be renewed? Because we know from that pesky Nale that cognitive shadows can forge a Nahel bond with spren. And frankly, I don't think Kaladin would do well as a Herald without Syl to back him up. Thoughts?

Welcome to the Shard! This is a pretty popular theory that a lot of people like. And I can see the thematic appeal of ending book 5 on a, "The Oathpact was renewed."

Honestly, though, I don't really like it as an ending, and I think that it'd be a really bad bandage over a major problem. I think the problem of the Fused will be resolved in the first five, and the problem of Odium will be in the back five. I elaborate on my reasons here if you're interested:

 

[KandraAllomancer he/him]

6 hours ago, SteelShaper said:

True, I'm just wondering how the process would affect the bond if it happened to one our radiants. Since the Nahel bond is a Spiritual aspect, would something of it survive? Or would the whole bonding process have to start over?

We have some clues - when Nale revives Szeth at the end of WoR he mentions that his bond to Jezrien's Honorblade ha been broken. I would assume that becoming a Herald (or Cognitive Shadow in general) is likely to break the bond with a spren; subsequent resurrections (if the bond is renewed) are probably much easier in that regard

6 hours ago, SteelShaper said:

However, it does raise another disturbing idea. If they have to die first, does that mean Honor/Dalinar would have to kill them, or do the Heralds commit suicide the first time? Because I think suicide would basically violate the First Ideal so thoroughly that it would kill any bonded spren.

Honor probably could separate the soul from the body, replace some parts with Investiture and return it to the body in a blink of an eye - which is technically killing, but more in line of clinical death. Or at least that's how I imagine it

[Elegy he/him]

There are two reasons why I personally dislike this theory. The first is the thing about the first five being a somewhat concluded story.

Quote

Questioner

I'm 66 in a couple months and I want to make sure I live long enough to read the whole Stormlight--

Brandon Sanderson

Alright.

Questioner

Am I going to?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll definitely make it through the first five. The thing about it is I'll break in the middle, but the first five come to a natural climax, and then there's an in-world break of 15 years. Not 15 years away for us but an in-world break. And then I'll do another trilogy. I think you'll make it through them all. I think you'll easily make it, you look very hale and healthy.

Firefight Chicago signing (Feb. 20, 2015)

It would be very odd to comfort someone with what would basically be: "Well, you'll live to read the first 5 and will have an ending that is some of what might be your favorite characters being tortured for what could be the rest of eternity, so don't you worry."

The second reason is storytelling-related and has been touched upon many times: Aside from being predictable, it would also set the situation on the same level as it was before the saga even began, there would be a lack of progress and it wouldn't feel like anything has been achieved at all since it's back to square one. It doesn't fit with how important progress and change are to Brandon's writing philosophy. Even in the very first Mistborn book alone, we get a stronger sense of moving forward in the setting than we'd get for the whole front five of extra long Stormlight books in this case.

[SteelShaper]

R'Shara and Elegy, you both make good arguments. You have converted me. I acquiesce that while the idea of reforging the Oathpact is a romantic notion, BS is more likely to conclude the front 5 in some other way. It's not really his style, and besides, he always finds some way to surprise me. I suspect the predictable plot lines of Terry Goodkind have rotted my brain.

[Elegy he/him]

5 minutes ago, SteelShaper said:

R'Shara and Elegy, you both make good arguments. You have converted me. I acquiesce that while the idea of reforging the Oathpact is a romantic notion, BS is more likely to conclude the front 5 in some other way. It's not really his style, and besides, he always finds some way to surprise me. I suspect the predictable plot lines of Terry Goodkind have rotted my brain.

Not at all, that theory is actually the logical conclusion, I think . . . After reading chapter 38, my initial thought was something like "Oh no, he's going to do that to his characters", and that haunted me for hours afterwards. That's actually why I thought so much about it and came to believe that this wouldn't really be Brandon's way of storytelling, and in my opinion generally not a good way to do it. But I believe a lot of other authors would do it. I personally just hope that he doesn't.