I'll give you the best explanation I've been able to come up with for why the knights betrayed their spren, and similar surrounding mysteries. A lot of it is speculation, and with speculation on this magnitude, some of it -- likely most of it -- is almost certainly wrong. That said, you guys all seem to like speculation, and it all seems to hang together reasonably well, at least in my mind. I kind of hope Brandon has something better planned, but if I were him, these are the reasons I'd use: Main question: Why did the K.R. abandon their oaths? Potential answer: The K.R. patterned themselves on the Heralds, who they considered some sort of demigods. Upon discovering that the Heralds had actually abandoned their oaths, leaving their blades behind, the K.R. followed in their footsteps and also abandoned their oaths, leaving their blades behind. Basically, they're just doing what the Heralds did -- isn't that what a good Knight Radiant is supposed to do? Surely the Heralds must have had a good reason for it. I think this answer could work. That being said, if I were writing the books, the above answer would be the reason that I'd have the characters come up with first (after all, we know the ex-Heralds are still running around; the characters are likely to discover this sooner rather than later. Szeth and the reader already know, so there's no real use in keeping it secret from Kaladin et al. My money's on around the two-thirds point of the next book), but it wouldn't be the true answer. It makes enough sense to be believable to both the reader and the characters, I think, but 1) Brandon seems to like a good twist, and 2) it doesn't explain... Question: Why did the Knights Radiant become corrupt? We know, for instance, that they became greedy and started charging usurious tolls to use their portals. But why? Aren't the K.R. supposed to be ultra-honorable? A: My best guess? Passage of time, mostly, and power attracting people willing to jump through hoops for it. The original K.R. would have been moral people, much like the batch of upcoming K.R. in the present day. But as time goes on, and as it becomes widely known that in order to gain super powers you have to follow a particular moral code, you get people following the code not because it's the right thing to do, but because they want super powers. Theory: The K.R. of the Recreance aren't particularly moral people, they're people who've learned how to game the system. This observation/theory seems to invalidate the previous answer to the main question. If the K.R. at the time of the Recreance were only in it for the powers, they wouldn't be likely to surrender them because of some sort of crisis of faith or idealistic and slavish adherance to the actions of their demigods. If corrupt K.R. are to abandon their oaths, it must be for some more personal advantage. Observation: Perhaps because of the foibles of being human, perhaps just as a natural effect of the Nahel bond, one seems to be required to keep swearing oaths/progressing the bond in order for the bond to remain intact. We've seen in Kaladin's case both how easy the bond can be to break and how swearing a new oath can fix the bond after a past transgression. Question: Are there really only five oaths? Ten seems to be the magic number for this series. Just sayin'. Speculation: There are more than five K.R. oaths. Taking the above speculation as fact (not because I have any real evidence that Brandon is thinking the same way, just because it's likely what I would do if I were him, and because it seems like a reasonable twist for the series. There are ten books, after all), what would be the effects of swearing more oaths? I don't have the quote handy, but someone -- I think it's Syl -- explains that the Nahel bond and the Shardblades were a result of the spren imitating what Honor had done with the Oathpact. The reason that the spren form Shardblades is because they're imitating the Honorblades. The bond itself is imitating the Oathpact. The bond gets stronger the more oaths you swear. Ergo... Even wilder speculation: Swear a few oaths, and your spren becomes a Shardblade. Swear a few more, and your Shardblade becomes an Honorblade. Congratulations, you've just joined the Oathpact! Oh, and as a Corollary: Congratulations, when you die, you get to spend thousands of years being tormented! In an agony so great it eventually broke even the wills of your heroic demigods! That's your prize for being such a good Knight Radiant for so long! Well, it's either that or abandon your oaths... Main question: Why did the K.R. abandon their oaths? Actual answer: Because the alternative was holding to them and suffering near-endless torture at Odium's hand. And as previously mentioned, the K.R. of the Recreance weren't exactly the most noble and self-sacrificing of souls. Anyway, that's what I've got on the topic. I almost think I should start a new thread for the idea, since it's in some ways a bunch of different theories rolled into one (and I have more theories that could play off this one; I'm half-convinced that Brandon intends to do a character resurrection thing later on, and the Oathpact provides the perfect vehicle to do it with), but it seems to fit well enough in this one, so I'll leave it here for now. Let me know if there are any glaring holes in my logic.
