Squirehood and the organization of the Windrunners

[+Oltux72 he/him]

As a purely practicl matter, how do you remove Kaladin from field command? Aren't you grounding his squires? In Oathbringer Rock started healing only after the transfer through the Oathgate, although Teft had sworn the third oath and was with him very closely. How does squirehood work for Windrunners?

[Chiberty]

It's possible that all of Kaladin's squires have now bonded spren and that he didn't get any more squires after that happened.

[LuckyJim]

Any Windrunner with a bonded spren of the third ideal is capable of taking squires, the Windrunners may have been entirely dependent on Kaladin in Oathbringer, but at this point there's plenty that are at the same level as him. It's entirely possible that any squires dependent on Kaladin just moved to the command of a different Windrunner.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

2 hours ago, Chiberty said:

It's possible that all of Kaladin's squires have now bonded spren and that he didn't get any more squires after that happened.

Obviously that is possible. Yet it means that the Knights Radiant, who are pressed for man power, needlessly lower the number of Surgebinders they have. Why?

[ftl]

Well, the 'why' is the reasons Dalinar gave (and which we can see) - Kaladin is not a capable soldier right now. He freezes in key moments and is unreliable.

It's also possible that Kaladin didn't have useful squires to begin with. Since he's constantly flying around between places - Urithiru, the airship, the shattered plains - any squires of his would spend a significant amount of time too far away from him to have powers.

[Chiberty]

4 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

Obviously that is possible. Yet it means that the Knights Radiant, who are pressed for man power, needlessly lower the number of Surgebinders they have. Why?

I'm not saying that it's a decision he made. I'm saying he might not have been able to get more.