Bloodfalcon

There is so much information on Shardblades that is hard to keep track of what we know and don't know, so I will phrase this theory as more of a question and request for information. If I'm correct, we see only a couple scenes where someone is using a shardblade that we know to be their own. For sure the prologue, where the Heralds summon their blades and drive them into the ground. Possibly the Feverstone Keep scene where the KR summon their blades to drive them into the ground as well. Every other Shardblade that we see in the series is borrowed/stolen/passed-down or whatever. A popular theory seems to be that new blades will be created through the Nahel bond after a certain amount of Ideals. If not that, the only other alternative is that Honor (+friends?) gave every Shardblade to mankind and that is the set amount that exist in the world - making them all hand-me-downs. My follow up thought is based on some pretty weak evidence, but was just a theory for sport: We see the Heralds summon their blades in the prologue, and the process seems instant. We are in Kalak's mind, and he does not give any hint of waiting for 10 heartbeats which is present in every other POV summon. The KR also seem to summon their blades instantly, though there is really no telling whether or not they were waiting 10 beats beforehand. The Heralds piece would lead me to suggest that maybe Honorblades don't have to wait 10 beats (I don't like this theory because I think Szeth has one). The KR portion opens it to all Shardblades - assuming they were created for the individual KR, perhaps shard-weapons only require those beats if they are borrowed or handed down from the individual that created them. There would no longer be a Nahel bond to speed it up (or whatever the Heralds have as well), and I'm not sure what would be occurring during those 10 beats, but it feels like it would be patching through some sort of work around bond. Do we have an explanation for any of these details? I know the evidence is weak, but that isn't the point of this one.

Haha, I cringe just a bit when I write it too. And I agree it is probably the same cause, but I can't think of an event that happens around then that would cause those things. All of those occurring around the same time may be something though.

That's what I thought. You would think Kaladin would have heard a good few of them. I don't know of any other major events that happened around one year before Gavilar's death, but here are a couple theories: - Around the time that the Parshendii were discovered by Gavilar was actually around the time that they "resurfaced" or something, and that is the cause of the death rattles. - That one year was the amount of time that Gavilar started his Way of Kings investigations - maybe because he too was seeing the visions around then. - It looks like that was also around the time that Jasnah started seeing her oil shadow - perhaps the same time Kaladin started not seeing signs of Syl (hah, he seems pretty oblivious of some of them, though there are signs particularly in Cenn's POV and I think also when he is fighting those other kids that work the fields). Perhaps that is around the same time the bondable spren started coming back, which I think would support a similar Spren-cause-death rattles theory, no?

Speaking of the timeline: where was Kaladin at the point in the story when the deathrattles started? He and Lirin were probably around dying people. I think we would have seen it in the flashbacks, but it would be interesting if he is connected to that plot line by the deathrattles he might have heard. I know the popular theory is that Lirin is going to end up doing some of this work, but perhaps some of those were recorded while Kaladin was still there? It doesn't feel like there has been enough time elapsed in Kal's life to date back farther than Gavilar's Parshendii studies.

Thank you. I almost feel bad ordering one when I think about how he'll have to sit down and personalize all of those. It can't be all that fun.

All you have to do to blind Odium is believe in the power of love. At least I've been assuming that...

Would you mind providing a link to where those signed copies can be purchased? I'll change my preorder...

I think you are thinking of the thread that I started that you linked above. I mentioned in my crazy rant that they are all flipped (most of them the same way except for 2 if I recall), but the images pasted above by Isomere are like 8000x better explanation than my quick note. And I don't think Lift is a Voidbrinder, I'm saying we are seeing what we have all assumed to be Cultivation's work being mislabeled as Voidbinding. It's possible we haven't seen any Voidbinding yet and it is whatever power produces Midnight Essences and Thunderclasts. I'm kind of starting to believe that.

She and Arya both seem like characters that are supposed to be useful in maybe the last half of the last book. They are developing so slowly.

I suppose they could fight each other. WOR content: I don't know how much more evidence we could pull in here. I would just guess yes.

I said something like this for Wheel of Time, but because we are so fresh into this series, I so desperately want to know how everything works that I think I'm more in favor of speed. This isn't even a joke: If Brandon published a 30 page pamphlet that explained how the magic system worked, threw in a few maps and drawings, and maybe gave a hint of Cosmere explanation, I would buy it right now for the price of a hard cover book. I JUST WANT TO KNOOOOOOOOW!

It's not a popular opinion, but I wouldn't mind if the anger from that taunt was redirected toward Sansa....

I'm tempted to put my money on anal sodium, but was it said to be a direct annogram? I thought he explained it was taking pieces of other words and making a new word?

When it was still raging, I decided not to keep up with this thread because, honestly, it would be quite a task to solve what OP was asking. I checked back once in a while to see if there was an update and noticed that someone brilliant had run it through a test. I considered it case closed. I convinced my girlfriend to listen to the WoK audiobook (she has never read it and was overwhelmed by the size of the book) and while she had it on tonight the quote in question came up. As I heard it read, I had a new thought on it that I haven't seen mentioned here yet (though I only skimmed). It sounds to me like Hoid is not talking about the word "balderdash" or that one that has all the f's. It sounds like he was referring to the word "Adonalsium." As though Adonalsium was the subject of conversation, and when Dalinar didn't know of the word, Hoid was saying "never mind, it is gibberish; isn't it funny to make up words?" Either that or he was actually saying that the word Adonalsium is the one that can be broken down into pieces of other words. Maybe it is just the way Michael Kramer reads it, but it sounded just like that.

You would know, I guess. What a relevant first post.

Consider the difference between a rapier and a broadsword. The rapier is definitely smaller without even considering length. On a Shardblade level, where the swords are huge, that would be a noticeable difference. If Szeth had a long rapier of sorts and everyone else was carrying what is basically a broadsword on a 2x scale or something like that, it would be noticeable. The fact that he said long in the quote is the only thing that would even have me consider it, but maybe that is exactly why it is there.

Totally agree on that last point. But the reason I think it is just as good or better is because it would have significance. There is nothing really significant or profound about Kaladin being over a chasm. Also, as I've pointed out, I don't think he was friends with the Kholin soldiers, I don't think that was the final physical chasm, and I don't think he is over his distrust of lighteyes. That being said, it being based on the Heralds seems to fit more of the lines than Kaladin would -- I definitely wouldn't say Kaladin is the only possibility at least. That was before I changed my mind. Now I think Kaladin is more likely, but if Brandon revealed that it was meant for the Heralds, I wouldn't be shocked. The before thing is.... a hunch. After quite a lot of Wheel of Time prophecy interpretation, I've found that the first guess is often assuming that each word is a riddle (often right) but the surprise is sometimes that they are extremely straight forward in their meaning. I think that is one of them. You want to think of it as friends behind, friends ahead, but I think the twist will show it to be the more common use of "before". What really makes me want to chase a theory like this is that I consider Brandon to be an author that prefers patterns and explanations. Some of those quotes must come directly from the Heralds, so it would mean more to me if the ALL come from the Heralds. I was surprised at how plausible it was after going to look at all the death rattles. You are right that I am chasing this theory, but I promise it is more out of my expectations of the author than it is anything else (as much as I do want users to reconsider what they have set in stone by popular vote).

I appreciate you trying to consider all of the possibilities for my reasoning, but you are wrong and I am not and I will tell you why. I changed my mind in the shower just now. The Heralds idea as it pertains to that quote makes just as much, if not more sense than the Kaladin evidence cited above. But I was thinking in the shower of all of the options and decided I like a Kaladin interpretation better, where: - The final void is the Parshendii. We have yet to truly see how, but there is evidence for them being connected to some pretty powerful stuff. - Friends behind is Bridge 4 as Kaladin defends them from the Parshendii at the battle for the Tower. - Friends before is also Bridge 4, as they were his friends before any of his powers started distinguishing him. Could also be he is citing an event that is yet to happen, especially considering the quote has something of an omniscient tone. - Feast to drink is stormlight, as mentioned above by Moogle. - Faces - Parshendii, as mentioned above by Moogle. - The words are obviously the Ideals A person suffering from confirmation bias doesn't change his mind in the shower within 5 minutes. I will give you this though, I'm often doing my best to challenge groupthink, which runs rampant here and is the reason I'm so excited for the "I told you so" threads by hoser. Sometimes I'm so desperate to reverse uncertain certainties that I stretch things. This isn't that though. Of course that still leaves me hoping that Kaladin and the other main characters will be filling in as Heralds at some point, and this will all come back to work. Just a hope, though; I think it would make for a great plot of replacing the Heralds.... forcibly.

I really hope it is Jasnah. Eshonai, I admit, is not a character I am looking forward to for any reason. She seems to me like a world building window for Brandon so far. Which is fine, but I haven't seen anything yet that I would consider main character material. Jasnah did travel from place to place before Shallan found her, and she does posses the Travel charge, so I'm guessing she is going to find a new means of getting around, and when she does, she will be allllllll over the place doing research and finding clues. That is my hope anyway. No offense to Eshonai! Just playing favorites!

I haven't looked at what thread you linked, Aether, but the problem we keep running into with this is that when people see it, they immediately consider his blade to be shorter than others. But it doesn't say "shorter," it says "smaller." Even with that distinction in mind, the blade can still be both long and shorter than others at the same time. But we keep getting "smaller" or "modestly sized" which don't describe any specific dimension of size.I can't decide if that was done purposely or not, but long is in that description, so it is longer than regular swords, which I think invalidates the idea that it is a short blade so it isn't an Honorblade.

Even for metaphors, that is pretty loose... Final implies metaphor to me, but there is definitely an implied "lastness" to it. Kaladin still seems to have a lot of his prejudice toward the light eyes if you ask me. Hence his second guessing every nice thing said about one, even now. It would be a major let down in the plot if that was Kaladin's final moment disliking lighteyes. Also wasn't the last chasm he will cross, so I don't think that holds much weight. I don't think a common foe would be enough for someone to say "Friends behind. friends before." As a metaphor all of this would actually make much more sense coming from a Herald. Final void being the end of their thought-to-be-eternal-lives. Friends behind is physical; they are with a group of friends, the Heralds they have known for quite a while. Friends before is referring to the same people, but referencing that they were friends the reincarnation aspect of the friendship. Maybe they have to speak the words every time they are reincarnated. Couldn't tell ya. But I think the first and last lines apply better to Heralds, and the "feast I must drink on their faces" line sounds like a Kaldin thing, though it may apply to any Herald around the Parshendii as well, considering the Parshendii may have a huge significance that we don't know the details of, and the Heralds might have had tons of interaction with them before. Anyway, if that is the only evidence for this quote being Kaladin specific, I don't think I'm buying, but I do think it is just as likely as the Heralds there.

I accept it, but it pains me b/c every time I hear death rattle I'm going to think of the term as it applies to Hearthstone.

Heralds can die and do all the time. Also, I thought it was pretty accepted that Heralds were seen as something like the head of each Order. I don't see a problem with Heralds identifying with the 10 Orders of Knights Radiant that I'm sure they had a part in founding.

I don't see it nearly as clearly as you do, I guess. I don't think that cliff is the "final" void. Kaladin also has really no friendship with Dalinar's army. The feast part is pretty convincing, so I can believe it as much as any other considering I don't have anyone else in mind. Either way, I have always been a fan of the hope that the main characters in the series would be promoted to the open Herald positions at some point, so it could be a sort of hint at that if Kaladin's thoughts are mixed with the thoughts of the old Heralds. This theory is pretty open right now to different paths, haha.

Can you link a thread or comment on why that one belongs to Kaladin?