Theory: The Stonewards went into hiding

[Galavantes]

We know that at least one order of KR did not abandon their oaths, and that they in fact went into hiding. Due to what we presume to be Nalan's continued activity as Darkness, some have postulated that it was the Skybreakers who went into hiding and continued work behind the scenes to halt the Desolations before they begin.

 

I theorize that it was in fact the Stonewards who went into hiding, in Shinovar. There are several small hints that lead me to this conclusion:

 

1. The traits associated with Stonewards are Dependable/Resourceful. It makes sense that the order which is specifically described as dependable would be the one most likely to maintain their vows.  

 

2. The essences associated with Stonewards are Stone/Rock, which the Shin treat as holy.

 

3.  In WoR we see the following quote from Szeth:

He had fought an impossibility. A man with Stormlight, a man who knew the storm within. That meant . . . problems. Years ago, Szeth had been banished for raising the alarm. The false alarm, it had been said. The Voidbringers are no more, they had told him. The spirits of the stones themselves promised it. The powers of old are no more. The Knights Radiant are fallen. We are all that remains.

 

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 709). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

The "we are all that remains" is the part that I find interesting here. In the same breath that he mentions the KR.

 

4. The Shin seem to posses if not all, then probably MOST of the Honorblades. They also seem to have pretty extensive knowledge of surgbinding in general. SOMEONE likely trained Szeth after all. It seems apparent that they went through a lot of effort to preserve their ancient knowledge, and to keep track of the honorblades.

 

5. Szeth states that the stone shamans would recover his blade if he lost it. As if it were a certainty. The stone shamans must be quite powerful. Simply another sign that they have preserved their knowledge of surgebinding.

 

6. The Shin are stated as being highly Xenophobic. Which makes perfect sense, because if your entire nation is in fact harboring the last of the lost Knights Radiant, you wouldn't want to encourage outsiders to visit.

[Arondell]

Actually the Stonewards are one of the two orders we explicitly see abandoning their shards in Dalinar's Feverstone Keep vision.

 

“…the Order of the Stonewards, my lord,” the still-mounted scout was saying. “And a large number of Windrunners. All on foot.”

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive) (p. 729). Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

 

 

 

[Moogle]

Seems more likely to be the Skybreakers. Szeth is (going to be?) one, and his ability to hold to his oaths despite anything seems like it would be a shared characteristic of those in the order.

 

And, er, they obviously still exist with a Herald leading them.

 

 

Also, though it seems likely, we don't know that one order didn't disband. We only know that "one in ten" might not have forsaken their oaths, which might mean a smattering of every order.

[Seloun]

The specific quote strongly implies it is one of the orders rather than just one in ten:

 

 

“This act of great villainy went beyond the impudence which had hitherto been ascribed to the orders; as the fighting was particularly intense at the time, many attributed this act to a sense of inherent betrayal; and after they withdrew, about two thousand made assault upon them, destroying much of the membership; but this was only nine of the ten, as one said they would not abandon their arms and flee, but instead entertained great subterfuge at the expense of the other nine.”

 

In particular it says 'nine of the ten'. Though I'm not sure anyone seriously considered otherwise. So Stonewards are highly unlikely to be the remaining Order given the Feverstone keep quote.

 

Skybreakers are probably the most likely candidates at this point for the ones that did not abandon their arms, though this is mainly due to the existence of Nale's organization. We can rule out with pretty high certainty many of the other orders - Windrunners, Edgedancers, Lightweavers, Elsecallers, Bondsmiths and Stonewards are probably safe to rule out, leaving Dustbringers, Truthwatchers, Skybreakers and Willshapers.

 

Truthwatchers are arguably the least likely of the likely candidates, since Renarin is a Truthwatcher, but the behavior described in the quote above seems Truthwatcher-ish to me, and we actually have no idea what Renarin has been told (unlike the other Radiants, who have explicitly been told by their spren that they are the only representative of their spren in the Physical - of course, it's not impossible that they're wrong or lying). We've also possibly have seen 'on-screen' two Truthwatchers (Renarin and Ym), which is so far unique. I don't think it would be a big surprise if it turned out that the Truthwatchers are the ones that remained.

[kaellok]

The specific quote strongly implies it is one of the orders rather than just one in ten:

 

 

“This act of great villainy went beyond the impudence which had hitherto been ascribed to the orders; as the fighting was particularly intense at the time, many attributed this act to a sense of inherent betrayal; and after they withdrew, about two thousand made assault upon them, destroying much of the membership; but this was only nine of the ten, as one said they would not abandon their arms and flee, but instead entertained great subterfuge at the expense of the other nine.”

 

In particular it says 'nine of the ten'. Though I'm not sure anyone seriously considered otherwise. So Stonewards are highly unlikely to be the remaining Order given the Feverstone keep quote.

 

Skybreakers are probably the most likely candidates at this point for the ones that did not abandon their arms, though this is mainly due to the existence of Nale's organization. We can rule out with pretty high certainty many of the other orders - Windrunners, Edgedancers, Lightweavers, Elsecallers, Bondsmiths and Stonewards are probably safe to rule out, leaving Dustbringers, Truthwatchers, Skybreakers and Willshapers.

I agree that the quote from the WoR epigraph is referring to 1 in 10 of the orders did not disband.  The semicolons indicate that each is a separate, yet closely related thought. If it is referring to killing off 90% of the membership of KR, rather than 9 of the 10 orders, then it's using really clunky language to do so.

 

Shinovar  seems a likely place for this Order to be found.  I also think that looking at the behavior described, as well as the behavior of the orders of the KR, can help to rule out who remained and who did not.  There's also other clues to be looked at.

 

1.  It cannot be Stonewards, because we see them abandoning their oaths on screen.

2.  It cannot be Windrunners, for the same reason.

3.  It cannot be Lightweavers, because Pattern said that all of they Cryptic-spren who were bonded are now dead.

4a.  It could be the Skybreakers.  They will hold to their oaths even to their own detriment. 

4b.  The Skybreakers could easily have been reformed when Nalan decided to take an active hand in the world again, and he does not seem happy with the Shin at all. 

5a.  It could have been the Bondsmiths.  This would explain why the Stormfather still exists / is alive.

5b.  That one multi-faced huge spren we see in the Axies Interlude might be what happens when a god spren has its Nahel bond broken, and the other Bondsmiths managed to simply die

 

I don't remember any other specific clues right now, alas.  Anyone care to add to the list, based on textual evidence?

Edited June 3, 2014 by kaellok

[jefftucker0525]

Also, it isnt specifically stated that every single member of the orders betrayed their oaths, yes, 1 entire order probably remained true, but that doesnt exclude members of other orders from also remaining true, just not in large numbers.

[Kelek's Breath]

Hi, new member and first time poster.

I think that the order that went into hiding were the Skybreakers, for the reasons mentioned above, and also from what Jasnah mentions in the Epilogue of WoR. When she comes back from Shadesmar, she tells Wit, that what she learnt might all be false. The words of the highspren could be inaccurate.

If the highspren were bonded to Radiants that didnot die, it would make sense that they would be the spren with the most knowledge of the previous Desolations.

[Moogle]

Hi, new member and first time poster.

I think that the order that went into hiding were the Skybreakers, for the reasons mentioned above, and also from what Jasnah mentions in the Epilogue of WoR. When she comes back from Shadesmar, she tells Wit, that what she learnt might all be false. The words of the highspren could be inaccurate.

If the highspren were bonded to Radiants that didnot die, it would make sense that they would be the spren with the most knowledge of the previous Desolations.

 

This is a great point. Welcome to the forums.

[name_here]

It's pretty strongly implied that the Bondsmiths did break their oaths, given how touchy the Stormfather is about bonding Dalinar. He likely survived by virtue of both power and being the highstorm spren.

 

It's presumably not the Edgedancers, because Wyndle implies there weren't any spren of his type in the physical.

[maxal]

I like the idea it is the Truthwatchers. It would explain why we got to see two of them unlike the other orders.