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What would happen if Nightblood and a Shardblade hit each other?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
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What would happen if Nightblood and a Shardblade hit each other?
RAFO.
Can Nightblood damage or kill a Shard? Is he that powerful?
Nightblood is not powerful enough for-- *makes weird/hesitant ehhh sound*
Can it damage?
Damage? Yes. How damaging? Is a subject to discussion. Nightblood contains a lot of Investiture.
What would happen if a Forger got their hands on Nightblood and they Soulstamped Nightblood?
Nightblood is so heavily Invested that it would be like trying to freeze the ocean with an ice cube. *crowd wows* Maybe not that scale, that's your metaphor.
If one were to have an unlocked metalmind, nicrosil, and held it while wielding Nightblood what would happen? Would he be taking Investiture from the--
That is a RAFO... you will start to find answers to these sorts of things as more people are involved with Nightblood.
...So, if it was like a coppermind would the information be destroyed?
That is an excellent question, what I've said before is that Nightblood will feed on whatever Investiture he can gain access to. He will start with the easiest Investiture to reach. He will eventually turn to converting matter into Investiture and eating that.
You said that every rational being in the Cosmere who knows about Nightblood is terrified of him. Does that include Vessels?
There are Vessels who are scared, yes. That does include Vessels. Terrified might be a strong term, but yes.
How is it that Nightblood, who is merely a near-sentient awakened object, was able to read minds, something a Shard like Ruin was unable to do?
It requires bonding (with the person whose mind is to be read) to read minds.
What’s your most terrifying character, and why is it Nightblood?
Ha. Nightblood is pretty terrifying… You know, an object created to destroy evil but doesn’t know what it is?
When you brought it back...I had <to like shut the book> a little bit and like, scary.
I wanted you to think that Nightblood in the hands of Szeth should be one of the most terrifying things that you have ever contemplated.
Szeth, can he or will he use both a spren Shardblade and Nightblood at the same time?
He will be using Nightblood, the rest is a RAFO
Is there a finite amount of Investiture?
Yes.
So is Nightblood consuming it?
Yes. Very, very slowly.
Could two kinds of <spren> talk to each other. So, could Syl talk to Nightblood?
Yes, that is possible, definitely.
Can Nightblood attract spren?
Nightblood could theoretically attract spren. I don't think he really does yet, but I think this is theoretically possible.
So at the end of [Oathbringer], how aware is Odium of what Nightblood is and can do?
Modestly.
Taking the sheath, that kind of thing?
He knows. I would say more than modestly, he is well aware.
We know that the effects of various magic systems are changed by their interactions with metals (Scadrial’s three obviously, as well as fabrials on Roshar). So my question is: when a piece of metal is Awakened, does the type of metal change the nature of the Awakened object in any meaningful way?
For example, If Nightblood had been made of iron or tin rather than steel...
It would most likely change what is happening with Nightblood to use different materials, and that includes different types of metal.
So at the end of Words of Radiance, was that Nightblood?
It is Nightblood! Vasher is in there too if you look for him.
Are they going to be in the next--
You will see a lot more of Nightblood, you'll see a little bit more of Vasher.
We see Nightblood consuming both Breaths and Stormlight. Earlier you've mentioned conversion between types of Investiture. Is Nightblood doing that?
Nightblood can feed off of any source of Investiture. If you're a Mistborn, burning a metal while wielding Nightblood would directly feed him. So you stay alive for as long as you have metal left.
Can I ask you real quick: Where Warbreaker falls in Stormlight Achive?
Warbreaker is before Stormlight Archive. Vasher, before Warbreaker, had been to Roshar.
Okay, that's what I needed to know. Nightblood.
Nightblood was patterned off of things that Vasher and the others saw on Roshar.
We were wondering about Nightblood, if he's sort of out-of-place on Roshar? 'Cause he's sort of the opposite of change, right?
He is supposed to be really out of place. He is a messed-up, messed-up... sword thing.
Are we ever going to find out who brought Nightblood to Roshar?
Yes.
Peter said if we did enough begging, we could see some Nightblood replicas. Can you give us more details? And exactly HOW much more begging would be necessary (Mi'chelle says keep it below $100...I say below $50, but I suppose if you must go higher, I might be able to compensate...)?
I've had an offer from a swordsmith who was at JordanCon. These would be more expensive replicas, though, as they be hand-made by the swordsmith himself. He does very good work, but the price he mentioned was $200, I believe.
I've put Peter in charge of looking into this and seeing how viable it is. The cost might be too high for the readers to want to buy them. What we'd do is take pre-orders, and then do a limited edition run of maybe ten or twenty swords, hand-made by the swordsmith. If we had ten or so preorders, we'd be able to do it.
Is the sword at the end of Words of Radiance, is it the actual Nightblood from Warbreaker?
It is, actually. It's fun because when I first wrote Way of Kings in 2002, Vasher was one of the main characters. And then when I wrote Warbreaker in 2006, I wrote a book about him to do his past. And then when I re-wrote Way of Kings it's like, "Well, time for Vasher to come back." So he's been in Roshar, in my head, since the beginning, for some 20 years. But he wasn't-- He didn't originate there, but... He was one of the worldhoppers that I hid in the very first version. Which was a lot of fun to then be able to go write a book about him and come back.
Now that Nightblood is on Roshar, can it use Stormlight the same way is would use Breaths?
I'll just tell you "yes." I was gonna RAFO that, but I think everyone's figured that out by now.
A friend wants to know exactly how you can go between types of Investiture. You've said that you can before.
It just depends on the Investiture. Some are much easier to use than others. Like, running Aons with other Investiture, very hard. Just the nature of the magic makes it very hard. But, Nightblood? He'll feed on whatever he can get. So, it's really easy to fuel Nightblood.
Does Feruchemy have anything to do with that? Converting into Investiture?
Not gonna say.
What would happen if Nightblood was drawn in the Spiritual Realm?
Trademark, REALLY bad thing.
A while back someone asked if Hoid's sword is Nightblood, you said that was interesting. Is it similarly Invested?
I'm going to RAFO that. It is a very interesting question.
Can you become a Nightblood savant?
Um... No, I don't think that would work. Just the way that things are working, probably not. Whether Nightblood is savant or not... But you probably could not become a savant of Nightblood.
What would happen if you released Nightblood in a highstorm?
I'll RAFO that for now. It's an intriguing question though, I approve of that question.
Would you yourself be able to wield Nightblood?
Anybody can wield Nightblood for a short, short time.
So, if Nightblood, unsheathed, killed someone, would their soul still go to the Beyond?
So, that's gonna be a matter of-- There's gonna be disagreement in the cosmere about that. Nobody has been able to actively test it, because there are certain things you can see, but there are people who are actively discussing this concept.
So, no one knows for sure?
Nobody knows for sure. And I'll just leave it at that. It's an astute question that even Vasher has-- Vasher has his thoughts, but he does not have a definitive answer, and others disagree with him.
Did Nightblood cause the Cognitive Anomaly?
*Hems and haws*
I'll give you a RAFO card.
I'm assuming RAFO but [Brandon] any words of wisdom for us on Nightblood's ability to learn?
The only clues I'm willing to give on this right now are the ones that are in Oathbringer.
Timeline-wise will Warbreaker 2 come before Stormlight Archive or is it after?
Before the end of the Stormlight?
So Warbreaker 2 would it take place before the start of...
Oh, before. Yeah, Warbreaker 2 chronologically is pre-Stormlight. Before Stormlight 1, yeah.
Pre-Stormlight. Okay.
I'm excited for that.
In fact, chronologically I think it's the exact book before Stormlight 1. I don't think there's anything in between there.
Will the book say why Nightblood's on [Roshar]...
It will at least hint at it. I mean the book is called Nightblood. If it doesn't I'll write a bridge novella to kind of do that.
Bridge the gap?
Bridge the gap. Because the story-- I'm not sure if I can work in everything. Because the story isn't about Nightblood leaving. It's about-- yeah.
Yeah, it's not about that. It's just kind of like a... how did that transition happen.
I mean, yeah. Vasher's cosmere-aware, and so the more you talk to him the more some of this stuff will come out.
In London I wanted to ask about Nightblood. The way he is Invested, is that a one-off-case kind of thing, or is it possible to do another of that level?
It was really bizarre, and I will explain it eventually and that will let you know why. It's theoretically possible to do almost anything so it's theoretically possible to do what he did but it'd be very hard.
Are there other objects that we've encountered like Nightblood?
Nothing quite like Nightblood, though Azure's sword is Invested.
So Nightblood drains investiture from people. How would it operate on Sel?
Oh yeah, because the investiture's in the ground, practically.
...On Sel-- I mean Investiture is in everything, right? So I don't imagine it having a difference on Sel in the Physical Realm from what you normally see.
When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?
Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.
Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.
I would say, there is something special.
One question I've been thinking about a lot, and that is the black bladed sword. Is there just one sword, or is there one for each world, that [works with?] different...like Shard powers, or is it just one sword that can work with all?
[Nightblood] is something special. A long time ago, some people from the Warbreaker world came to Roshar, saw Shardblades, thought, "We can do this," went home and tried to make one. And that is Nightblood. And it went horribly horribly wrong. And so they didn't make any more, except now, Azure's sword is somewhat related. But that is the origin of Nightblood. Trying to make a Shardblade out of a different magic system.
What does Nightblood look like in the Cognitive Realm?
RAFO. Let's just say this has been a topic of much interest to myself and some others.
Hypothetically could Nightblood Splinter a Shard?
Uh, Splintering a Shard takes more power than Nightblood has.
Does Nightblood have a favorite flavor or type of Investiture? In addition, does different Investiture taste different?
Yes it would, but the thing is, when Nightblood is eating Investiture, he is generally not in a mental state to really pay attention to that. He's not what you would call a connoisseur, he is a glutton. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but kind of making a distinction there. Because of that, if you asked him, he wouldn't even really be able to remember. Because that time when he's really drinking it in, he is not himself, so to speak. But it would taste different to him, if he were able to pay attention and to eloquently speak about those experiences.
So at the end of Words of Radiance Szeth gets Nightblood. But Nightblood on Nalthis will suck your Breath until you die.
Yes.
So how can Szeth-- like presumably it takes whatever Roshar's form of Investiture is.
Yes.
So how-- but wouldn't it kill Szeth?
So that's-- First off let's make-- let's mention this: no spoiler questions. That spoils the end of Words of Radiance.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You're okay, but let's avoid spoiler questions. That one will specifically be answered in the next book. So you don't have to worry about that as much. That is a read and find out. That one-- but it's a read and find out that's very obviously the answer is coming.
So the Threnodites are described as having a smokey shadow something to their soul; we don't really know what that is. Is it more similar to the black smoke that comes from Awakened objects in Yumi and Nightblood? Or is it more like Midnight Essence in Tress?
It is more like Breath than it is like either one of those. More like Breath, but something's a little wrong with it
Will Vivenna, Vasher and Nightblood reunite?
RAFO
I am curious about, if sprens are pieces of the god power, and investiture is the power of the god, then can Nightblood consume spren?
He could theoretically -- yeah, he could totally consume spren. There's not even any “theoretically” to that.
Why did you put Nightblood in The Stormlight Archive?
Nightblood and Vasher were in the original version of The Way of Kings before I wrote Warbreaker. Warbreaker in a way was actually introducing those two characters I'd already created.
If a [Vessel] were to hold Nightblood, who would give up first?
RAFO.
In Warbreaker, Vasher makes the claim that Nightblood's personality is essentially static, that he'll never change. How true is that? Assuming Nightblood managed to stick around for thousands, or millions of years, could he grow in even the smallest of ways; develop a legitimate sense of right and wrong and figure out what's really going on around him?
Vasher believes it's true. Vasher has been wrong on occasion, but he is a fairly authoritative source.
Was Sword-nimi based on its creator replicating a Living blade, Shardblade or Honorblade?
I plan to answer this in the text of the books eventually...so RAFO. :)
Can Hoid be killed by Nightblood?
RAFO.
Are you going to explain how Vasher gets to the Stormlight...
I will.
Is that gonna be Warbreaker 2?
Warbreaker 2 is where I'm looking to do it.
Okay, cool.
Yep. *pause* I will at least give hints.
With Nightblood. Was the sheath part of its construction when he was Awakened? Or was that kinda afterward?
The sheath is not part of its construction. Good question.
So... when the intent was placed on it, was the sheath there?
So-- The sheath was not relevant to that. The sheath was not part of the original Awakening, and it's not part of the intent or anything like that. I'm not saying it wasn't there ready for it, but it is not part of the sword. In the same way.
So, at some point we'll figure out why it learned to stop once its in the sheath?
Yes, kind of. It's a function of the sheath.
As I understand it, Nightblood is most comparable to a Shardblade. However, unlike a Shardblade, Nightblood requires constant input of Investiture in order to realize his full destructive potential. Why is this?
Vasher kind of hacked in order to imitate another magic system. Shardblades are organic parts of the world they are on, but Nightblood is a bunch of souls stuffed into something. Nightblood is like a Frankenstein.