Magnanimous Taz

@Argent I stand corrected. Thx for the info.

Iirc TLR was never a sliver. He had use of the well but he never held preservation's power. Vin became a sliver when she absorbed the mist, not when she was at the well. Or did I miss something. Cool theory btw. Not sure I buy into the symmetry of the unmade vs ???, but it does make me wonder if we are missing something.

@Cheeky-eyes I agree that there are stormlight savants. I don't necessarily think that the effects are as traumatic as those seen in mistborn, because stormlight and the surges function in a different manner than allomancy. I also think that surgebinders growing a gemheart would be a little out there. Do the greatshell gemhearts still function as part of their circulatory system? I mean, they still have blood. How could a crystalline structure operate? Perhaps brandon was hinting at some kind of internal stormlight retention mechanism. Even tho we have yet to see a fully bound radiant, it still seems that they use up stormlight pretty quickly in combat. Maybe they develop some kind of gemheart equivalent to store greater quantities in. *shrugs*

We did see those soulcasting ardents with the crystalline eyes. Using stormlight definitely appears to have a physical effect on the user in the long term.

The full lashing was where he sealed the door shut against the guards in kholinar. We also have WoB that he is not bonded to a spren.

@Wolven That's true but to truly become a skybreaker, szeth will need to attract a high spren and we don't know what the qualifications for that are.

Certainly it's true that stormlight is far more available on roshar than breaths on nalthis. What is also true is that nightblood burns up investiture very quickly. I think that he will use up stormlight at an even greater pace, my assumption being that one breath is equivalent to a pretty hefty measure of stormlight. That may not be a valid assumption. Argent is right, we really need to find a way to compare quantities of investiture on different worlds.

I agree, and iirc nightblood went through several hundred breaths over the course of the few minutes that vasher was wielding him unsheathed. If we assume that nightblood can absorb stormlight (as vasher is able to), but likely at a less efficient rate, even if szeth becomes able to infuse again, I see him burning through stormlight far more quickly than ever before. That's going to be a difficult balance. Nigtblood is still pretty effective while sheathed tho. Wonder if he would interact differently with a shardblade while sheathed vs bare...

Thanks for the info. I'll agree that there must be a bonding going on. I still wonder if, since the bond will be different on roshar, will that affect nightblood's feeding and Its cost on the user. Maybe nightblood, cognitively speaking, is the equivalent of a high spren? Obviously not a splinter like the nahel spren, but possessing sufficient investiture and a similar cognitive intent.

I'm really excited to see how this will play out. I wonder if nightblood is actually able to "bond" with anyone. I don't think his telepathic communication is any evidence of bonding. and the stormfather communicates with dalinar well before he showed any signs of radiantness. But if he did bond with szeth, would that protect szeth from the "cost" of wielding nightblood?

That's exactly how I feel about his ability. Also, could the sunmaker have been one of the heralds, maybe ishi? Or whichever one was the herald of wisdom? They oppressed knowledge and altered recorded histories. Seems to fit their penchant for perverting their duties. Just throwing it out there.

Well from the quote above she says it's dangerous, not evil. Perhaps literal clairvoyance is of odium, but I don't really think so. Honor posessed that ability as well. He just wasn't veey goos at it.

That doesn't mean it's necessarily of odium. Cultivation is evidently pretty good at it according to Tanavast. Renarin's spren is at least partially of cultivation so I wouldn't be surprised if they have some foretelling ability. I see it as more knowing when/where something bad will happen, not actual visions of the future. Kind of like hoid knowing where to go and when to be there.

I didn't mean to imply that nalan would want/intend for szeth to become a surgebinder. I just think that he is very aware of the qualities that skybreakers generally possess. I think that szeth is going to get the attention of some spren quite soon.

@Eejit I definitely agree that the other "magical" forms that the parshendi can take will follow a similar pattern to the radiants but with a mixture of cultivation and odium. I'm conflicted on whether or not the mundane forms are a part of that. I feel as though those forms (war, scholar, etc) are due to bonding with the mundane spren we see like glory spren, creation spren, and the like. That may contradict the "betrayal" of the spren that the parshendi allege.