Sabrina Stormshard (paraphrased)
Could an awakened sentient object (e.g Nightblood) bond a spren?
Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)
Technically but the specific circumstances you would need are so bizarre, in practice no.
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Could an awakened sentient object (e.g Nightblood) bond a spren?
Technically but the specific circumstances you would need are so bizarre, in practice no.
3 inaudible RAFOs [58:08-58:10: "Does Nightblood <know that?> Vasher <is there? level?>"]
Will the next book explain how that sword [Nightblood] got there, and why that guy [Zahel/Vasher] isn't with that sword?
The next book will give you some hints.
Why didn't Kaladin seek help from Zahel during the occupation of Urithiru?
Zahel... At some point I'll tell you what he was doing, but he was not available. That is a RAFO.
It came up multiple times, and there were various points where I was going to delve into it, and it just was one of those things that I just could not fit in. It is a thing that I wanted to, because we have this foreshadowing that Zahel's there; like, we have a scene with him and Kaladin to remind everyone that Zahel's around. And then we don't even bring him up. Alpha readers asked about it, beta readers asked about it. I could not find time for it. So maybe you'll get a deleted scene that is not a deleted scene, that's just a scene that I eventually write, showing what he's doing. This is one of those things like: what happened with Elhokar and the Herdazians and why does Lopen think he's a king? That scene just never fit into the books either.
Maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't. It's entirely possible, both options are possible. If I eventually never do it, I'll talk about it, but we are gonna have a little more Zahel in an upcoming volume of the Stormlight Archive, where some of these things coming out might fit into the story, to the point that your answers will come in that volume. There's a lot of various moving parts on what's going on with Zahel, and with Azure as well, and their relationship to Nightblood that there's just not space in the Stormlight Archive to talk about.
If a person in the Cosmere built a fully sentient and sapient robot would that robot have a soul? How would it interact with Shardblades?
Yes. It would interact with Shardblades the same way that Spren do.
How does a Shardblade interact with a Spren?
Shardblades cut on all three realms. I'm not going to say too much here, though I might note that it's possible a robot like you say would act more like nightblood than anything else--depends on what is involved in the creation, and how you determine the difference between a robot and a golem for these purposes.
The history of Nightblood, we know that it's created by knowledge of the Shardblades. Would you say that Vasher's first trip to Roshar coincided with a certain individual that tried to take over all of Roshar?
You're talking about Sadees?
The Sunmaker?
...I'd have to look at the timeline, but it was not-- it is not something I have present in my mind. It could have overlapped. So, it might overlap, but there's not a cause-and-effect there.
So, Sunmaker and Vasher are sep--
Are not the same people, good question. Sunmaker is legitimately Dalinar's ancestor.
What I'm probably going to be doing next is: Stormlight Four. Wax and Wayne. If I can sneak in a standalone of something new in there, I'll do it. Then we'll do Stormlight Five. And after that, it's Mistborn Era 3. And the Elantris sequels.
And Nightblood?
Warbreaker sequel in there too, yeah, probably.
Several fans asked whether there would be a sequel to Warbreaker.
Nightblood will be released after The Wheel of Time
On Nalthis, can aluminum prevent somebody from Returning? So if you kill somebody with aluminum and leave the weapon in them?
I don't think that's going to be enough. I think that…
Different way then?
Yeah there are totally ways. I don’t think that that’s going to be enough. There's a difference between being inert and blocking Investiture, and actually sucking out Investiture. If you stuck Nightblood inside of a corpse; there are certain things… if you had a larkin or whatever sitting there that ingests the Investiture as it was coming in, that would prevent [Returning]. I think with aluminum you would just have somebody that comes alive with a wound, so maybe... But I think it would just heal around [the aluminum] and you'd just have a spike in you, kind of like Hemalurgy—but not like Hemalurgy. It's inert, but you know what I mean.
Which suggests you can't actually Awaken aluminum.
No. It's not going to hold a charge.
I assume you can't Forge it, either.
No. In fact the unForgable metal-
Ralkalest?
There's an unForgeable metal mentioned.
Could we call it aluminum if we wanted to?
Let's just say that aluminum through most cultures was considered a mythological metal, and when people could actually find some, they considered it more valuable than gold, in our culture. So just sayin'...
Why would anyone give Szeth Nightblood?
Hahaha, hehehe.
He had to so we could make this shirt.
You will learn a lot more about Nale in future books. He's not all there. So you're asking the right question.
*referring to a personalization request* That is a R A F O, but you do earn a card for your RAFO... Now let me just say--
I'm not asking about Nightblood, I'm asking about the Shardblades.
Yeah-- Oh, OH. You're asking-- okay. You're not asking what other Shardblades made, but if somebody brought a Shardblade to another pl--
Like if Kaladin went to Nalthis.
Okay, his Shardblade would manifest exactly-- it would do exactly the same thing.
So, if a Type 4 BioChromatic entity like Nightblood was created with a different Command, would it still draw in or feed off of somebody's Breath when they drew it?
It is possible to create one that wouldn't. But it is a dangerous thing to do.
I think [Brandon] would benefit a lot from finding some kind of way in-universe to convey when we can be certain that the character is dead. Something like what we see of Vin and Elend in Secret History after they die. I think that he was trying to prove how definite their death was.. I don't know how he could realistically or smoothly accomplish this, but I think that until we see some proof beyond what is normally expected to see for a death, we can't be 100% sure that anyone is dead.
Yes, I've been thinking about this. Spoilers below.
The issue is, resurrection is a major theme of the cosmere. The very first line of the first chapter of the first cosmere book starts with someone dying. The story is about his return to life.
The death of Adonalsium, and the questions surrounding the persistence of his power, is THE single pervasive theme of the works. And so, I've returned to this theme multiple times--from Sazed's more metaphorical rebirth in Mistborn Three to Syl's more literal one in Words of Radiance.
At the same time, the more this theme continues, the more it undermines the reader's ability to believe someone is really dead--and therefore their tension at worrying over the safety of characters. So we need a better "Dead is dead" indication, otherwise every death will turn into Sirius Black, with readers being skeptical for years to come.
So, let's just say it's something I'm aware of. Josh, of the 17th Shard, was the first one to raise the issue with me years ago. We need a balance between narrative drama and cosmere themes of rebirth.
I figured Nightblood was your answer to dead is dead.
He's certainly AN answer. But there are way more ways to kill someone in the cosmere--I just need to be more clear on how that works, giving the right indications to readers.
My editor tried to take out the shot of the final man, slumping back but remaining kneeling, staring up into the sky with Nightblood rammed through his chest and propping him up from behind. But I think it's one of the more powerful ones in the book, so I fought for it. (He didn't think it was realistic that the body would just remain there kneeling.)
Doesn't Zahel mention that he has 'Lost a Friend' maybe in a worldhop he dropped it, or nightblood has grown in power since landing on roshar and was able to move enough on his own that Zahel didn't notice til it was too late and he had already been identifed by Nalan.
RAFO.
Is it possible to turn Breaths into... how does Awakening work on Roshar and Shadesmar?
You can still use it normally, as you would expect it, as the magic works. People are trying to figure out how to turn one type of Investiture into another, and it it is harder than it seems. They haven't cracked it yet.
So they always have to bring their own form of Investiture?
A Returned can feed off of other Investiture, just like Nightblood can. One of the reasons to move to Roshar is: it's easier to get Stormlight than it is Breaths.
That makes sense why Zahel, then.
That explains Zahel, right.
Does Nightblood think when he's on his own, or is it only when he's next-
He does think when he's on his own.
Okay. I thought that maybe he was like the Spren.
There might be a connection, but he does think on his own.
Vasher and Denth's Climax
I wanted to offer Denth the chance for redemption here, though there was no way he was going to let himself take it. His response is honest. He doesn't feel he deserves it. He has done terrible things; to wipe away the memory of them would be cheating. Better to just get it over with.
There's a very good chance that after killing Vasher, Denth would have walked over, picked up Nightblood, and let the sword drain his life away. He wouldn't have been able to live with the guilt.
But that doesn't happen. When I first designed this magic system, I added to it the idea that taking a lot of Breath shocks you and sends you into a small seizure of pleasure. This is lifted from the magic system in Mythwalker, the story from which I drew Siri and Vivenna. I added the component to Awakening not only because it fit, but because I liked giving one more little nod to Mythwalker.
However, the moment I began writing it, I knew that this twist of giving someone Breath, then killing them, would be an awesome way to pull a reversal with the magic. So I built into the story the entire arc of Vasher beating Arsteel mysteriously, and Denth wanting to duel him to prove that he couldn't win a duel.
Denth was right. Vasher cheated.
The Diagram didn't anticipate Nightblood, so Taravangian had to send "agents" to interview one of its former bearers. Did the agents talk to either Vasher or Vivenna?
No.
I know Nightblood was written specifically as a sort of prequel, but isn't that a bit of a violation of keeping them self-contained?
It is. Warbreaker has always been a little bit of a special exception, because of the circumstances of writing it.
What would happen if Alcatraz tried to wield Nightblood?
They would get in a long conversation about random things and the book would just be those two having a discussion, and then the entire world would break probably.
So White Sand [then Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Khriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flippin' immortal?
There is some time-dilation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.
Implying that some are actually immortal? :D
Depends on which definition of immortal you mean.
Doesn't age, but can be killed by conventional means. (You've seen some of these in the cosmere, but I'll leave you to discuss who.)
Heals from wounds, but still ages. (Knights Radiant with Stormlight are like this.)
Reborn when killed. (The Heralds.)
Doesn't age and can heal, but dependent upon magic to stay this way, and so have distinct weakness to be exploited. (The Lord Ruler, among others.)
Hive beings who are constantly losing individual members, but maintaining a persistent personality spread across all of them, immortal in that as long as too much of the hive isn't wiped out, the personality can persist. (The Sleepless.)
Bits of sapient magic, eternal and endless, though the personality can be "destroyed" in specific ways. (Seons. Spren. Nightblood. Cognitive Shadows, like a certain character from Scadrial.)
Shards (Really just a supercharged version of the previous category.)
And then, of course, there's Hoid. I'm not going to say which category, if any, he's in.
Some of these blend together--the Heralds, for example, are technically a variety of Cognitive Shadow. I'm not saying each of these categories above are distinct, intended to be the end-all definitions. They're off the cuff groupings I made to explain a point: immortality is a theme of the cosmere works--which, at their core, are experiments on what happens when men are given the power of deity.
Heals from wounds, but still ages.
Would Bloodmaker Ferrings exist in this category as well? If not, what about someone Compounding Gold?
Yes, you are correct.
As a Bloodmaker ages, what keeps them from healing the damage and carrying on as a very old, but very healthy person? Do they come to a point where they can't store enough health to stave off the aches, pains, diseases, and other things that come with old age?
This makes sense for traditional Feruchemy as it is end-neutral, so storing health becomes a zero sum game - eventually, you're going to get sick and you're not going to be able to overcome it with your natural healing ability no matter how much you manipulate it with a goldmind.
...Unless you've got a supply of Identity-less goldminds lying around. Would a Bloodmaker with a sufficient source of Identity-less goldminds (or the ability to compound, thus bypassing the end-neutral part of Feruchemy) eventually just die from being too old?
Basically, yes. They can heal their body to match their spiritual ideal, but some things (like some genetic diseases, and age-related illnesses) are seen as part of the ideal. Depends on several factors.
I expect just a RAFO for this, but would we see any interesting effects if someone were to Awaken a Shardblade? Because I am honestly starting to think that might be close to what Nightblood is.
Depends on the type of Shardblade you're trying to Awaken.
How did Vasher/Zahel and Nightblood get separated?
Uh, how they got separated is part of the story and so it will come up, that's a RAFO.
We'll eventually find out though?
You will eventually find out, that is a part of the story that is relevant.
For Brandon, any ETA for Nightblood? Would love to know more about how that thing ended up with Szeth.
I'm working on my State of the Sanderson blog post for this year, which will cover most of these things. But...don't hold your breath. That one's pretty low on the list, I'm afraid. I need to do the Elantris sequels first, as they're far more cosmere relevant.
So we already know that Vasher was Kaladin's trainer with a Shardblade, 'cause you told me that last time I asked you. So does Vasher just have a large mass of Biochromatic Breaths and that's how he's surviving, or is he somehow feeding off Stormlight while he is there?
He is feeding off of Stormlight, which is the primary reason why he came to Roshar. Investiture is easy to access in plentiful amounts.
How did he know how to use Shardblades so well when he got there, is that related to how they created Nightblood
Yes, he has experience with Roshar from hundreds of years ago.
I want to know exactly what happened to Szeth with Nightblood.
There's some good stuff. His scenes don't start until about three-quarters of the way through. But there's a lot to them when they do.
Who would win in a fight? Vin, or Vasher, or the Nightblood?
And who would win in a fight between Vin and Vasher? It would probably depend on who got the jump on who. Vin's a bit more sneaky, so I have the feeling that Vasher would be in trouble if it involved sneaking, but Vasher is... he only has to get one little cut on you and you're gone so it, it would probably... my money would be on Vin.
What happens to the investiture that nightblood 'consumes'?
RAFO.
Lol I had assumed it [a Shardblade from the Words of Radiance illustrations] was Oathbringer, it looks like massive and ends like a hook? I am intrigued, which one do you think it is?
It's not a named Blade, just a random one that I designed it for the Shallan page. To my inifinte embarassment, it is often mistaken for Oathbringer just because of that spike on the tip, despite none of the other details matching.
Oathbringer has a canon shape, though it's not often seen outside of merchandise which sourced their designs through Dragonsteel (like Badali jewelry). This bit of fan-art is off a bit in proportions, but gets it mostly right.
Some image of the Blade should probably appear in the tenth anniversary edition of The Way of Kings, much as we now have a canon design for Nightblood which appears on the tenth anniversary cover of Warbreaker.
Chapter Seventeen
Siri and Lightsong Interact
This chapter has our first real melding of several viewpoints. In a way, it's a focus chapter for that reason. All four viewpoint characters, who have been off doing other things, congregate here, meeting and mixing. Lightsong and Siri, whose plotlines influence one another a fair amount, sit and talk for the first time. Vivenna and Vasher, who are far more intertwined through the story, meet eyes for the first time.
Vasher shouldn't have brought Nightblood. But he's always a little afraid to leave the sword alone for too long. That can have . . . consequences.
Anyway, it was good to be able to show an interaction between two of the viewpoint characters in the form of Siri and Lightsong. This lets us see how Siri acts through the eyes of another, and I think this scene here is one of the first where we really get to see into Lightsong's soul.
Is there a standard unit of measure for Investiture?
Not yet, but people are working on defining that right now.
As a follow up, does it take the same amount of Investiture to satiate Nightblood each time he becomes satiated?
RAFO
I'm looking for a Nightblood drawing for a tattoo but i can't find any official artwork.
We don't have any official artwork. Ben McSweeny may have made some sketches of his own, so if you contact him on reddit he is 'Inkthinker'. He does a lot of the sketchbook pages. If you look in this for the one who did Shallan's sketchbook he might have one that he's done on his own, tell him he can send it to you if he has one, I think he might have one but we don't have an official yet.
So Nightblood. Is it going to go into maybe in the next book how Vasher loses him, because I'm assuming that's what [Szeth] gets at the end of the book?
*Coyly*
Oh you assume that this is uh yeah...
So far as we know that's the only sentient sword...
You will find answers to these questions eventually.
At the end of Oathbringer, Kaladin says that the Oaths are about perception. So, what would happen when a crazy person bonds a crazy spren? Is there a hard limit to what the Oaths allow or could they just go on a John Wick style rampage?
Perception will get you a very long way, like Nightblood proves. So you can go beyond the Oaths, but there will be a hard limit. Although it will be hard to find a such fitting pair of human and spren.
Speaking of sending Stalins to jail, will Dalinar ever face any consequences for his act of genocide in Rift?
Unfortunately, no. (Other than his strained relationship with Adolin and his own personal guilt.)
Problem here is that by our standards (and now, Dalinar's own) this was a terrible act of destruction. But by the standards of his society, this was just business as usual. A city in open rebellion against the crown? That's basically an invitation.
It's a tricky scene because the awful truth is that in our world, these sorts of things were extremely common in warfare--even up to and including the modern era. It wasn't until very recently that this sort of action was seen as a the war crime that it is.
To be more accurate, I probably should have had this sort of thing happen dozens of times in Dalinar's past. But I felt that wouldn't have made the point any stronger, and felt that one time was bad enough. That said, however, it's not the sort of thing that most rulers through history would have to bear any consequences for.
Has Vasher/Zahel done anything like this? Is that why he is as we see him in the Stormlight Archive?
RAFO for now, but the responses below this do have valid points [Manywar and Nightblood].
Would something like the 1474 trial of Peter von Hagenbach be possible on Roshar? And if yes, would this be something Skybreakers would get behind? It always seemed to be that they'd be interested in the idea of 'make law, not war' (I got that quote from Ben Ferencz).
This sort of thing would have been possible (and indeed inevitable in a situation like that) during the days of the Radiants. Not so much in recent history. Old Skybreakers would have been behind it entirely, new ones have some...different ways of looking at things.
If you made a sword-shaped nicrosil metalmind, and dumped a lot of unkeyed Investiture into it, could you make a Nightblood-esque Shardblade? And if you actually didn't go to the trouble and just dumped a lot of keyed Investiture into it, would that change the outcome?
You're getting close to how this type of thing works but you're missing a few things. Keep working on it.
Is Vasher aware of Vivenna's sword?
Vasher is aware of Vivenna's sword by now.
And does he approve of it?
Vasher needs more information. I'm going to say his initial response is, "That's stupid, never do things like that." But I haven't written the Nightblood book yet, so when I write the book, it might turn out that I need to accelerate some of that, so he might actually have known by then. Right now, in the timelines, he didn't know, it happened after. Big asterisk on book that's not written yet, that the outlines could change on.
The man that gives Nightblood to Szeth at the end of Words of Radiance, I don't understand who he is.
...Oh Nale, oh you mean Nale. Nale's one of the Heralds.
But I thought that those guys left? At the be-- In the prequel, at the beginning of The Way of Kings.
They abandoned their swords and went about the world, but did not return to the place where they were supposed to go, which was off-world.
So they just die?
They did not die.
So they're all still out there? Somewhere in the cosmere?
It can be assumed that they are all still out there unless some of them died since then. It was 4,000 years ago.
But the one guy that stayed, went crazy because--
The one guy they abandoned was left in their version of hell, and the rest of them were supposed to return and didn't.
Every day?
Every time they die they're supposed to go back. Or every time the war is over. You are asking good questions, they're questions that will make more sense as the book progresses.
How important are bonds like the Nahel Bond and a seon bond in the Cosmere?
I'd say very important.
Is this kind of bond relatively common or is what seons, spren, and Nightblood do little more rare among Splinters. I'm specifically talking about the act of making bonds not a giving of magic powers really, that appearing to be function of Roshar. Also regarding your post about Stormlight 3 I am personally okay with 2000 pages if need be so make the chapters as long as you want.:)
The bonding is basically the same mechanic, regardless of the world, just with different flavoring. Roshar isn't the only place where the bond gives powers; it's a matter of what's stuffed into the soul, and how.
Can a Returned gain a Nahel bond?
It is not outside the realm of possibility. Much more easy than Nightblood [gaining a Nahel bond]. Invested things resist other Investiture and so it depends on amounts of Investiture and it depends on a lot of factors. But that one's a mixing that could happen.
Originally, you RAFO'd information about whether or not Vivenna and Vasher got together as a couple. But with the fact that the Nightblood story has kind of been put on hiatus, is there any way you're going to unRAFO that information?
Nope.
Vasher Uses Straw Figures to Find the Tunnel
I wanted to bring the straw men back into the book, as I felt I needed to show you—and Vivenna—just how capable Vasher is with Breath. He's leaps and bounds above most people. I think this book gives a skewed perspective, since we don't see any ordinary Awakeners. We see those just learning (Vivenna) and we see one of the greatest masters of the art to ever live (Vasher).
With his practice and years of Awakening, he's able to get Awakened objects to do things that others wouldn't be able to. The straw men are a good example. As for why he apologizes, well, he doesn't even know that himself. I think it's because he realizes that Breath can make something sentient and aware, like Nightblood, and worries that the straw creatures become (even just slightly) more than just mindless automatons.
Objects with almost sentient behavior like Nightblood in Warbreaker share important links with the spren from The Way of Kings. If you understand the spren you will understand a lot about the connection between the books.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Vivenna Meets with the Beggar, Then Goes to Get Nightblood
She lays it on a little thick here. But hey, if you're a beggar, sometimes you like to be brownnosed. Plus, she's new to this kind of thing, and she did give him a very pretty handkerchief. . . .
Something that i've been wondering, you said before that Nightblood was modeled after Shardblades intentionally so my question is, did Vasher create his Phantoms with Shardplate in mind?
He was aware of Shardplate, but I wouldn't call them a conscious influence.
Any sort of influence from the Soulcasting-to-Stone burial customs?
(If Vasher were a little more sneaky I'd think he had created the custom in case he needed a ready supply of Phantom material)
Let's say that yes, Soulcasting was very interesting to Vasher.
Can you tell me anything about Zahel / Warbreaker / Vasher? I was very disappointed I didn't see him in Oathbringer. I was waiting for him.
He's in there. Briefly.
I'm waiting for him-- Him and Vivenna and Szeth. I want the three of them and Nightblood together. I want that scene, I'm waiting for it.
You will see some good things from him.
I was thinking about how Shardblades are essentially invested swords. Now, the investiture' source does not necessarily have to come from Roshar, as we have seen with Nightblood, which is a sword invested with Endowment's investiture.
So I was wondering if, say, a feruchemist decided store a LOT of investiture into a large block of nicrosil and fashioned a sword out of it, or at least made part of the blade out of it, would this essentially act as a Shardblade?
RAFO! (Did you expect anything different on this one?) :)
1) Will we see more Lift or Rysn in Stormlight 3? 2) Will Stormlight 3 have a main interlude character similar to how Eshonai was in Words of Radiance and Szeth was in The Way of Kings?
1) Yes. 2) Yes.