Questioner
In the original Knights Radiant, when they had squires, were all of the squires destined for bonding spren?
Brandon Sanderson
No... Many stayed squires forever and that was okay.
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In the original Knights Radiant, when they had squires, were all of the squires destined for bonding spren?
No... Many stayed squires forever and that was okay.
Do squires always bond the spren of their Knight's order? Or can they attract a different type of spren?
Also, was it normal for someone to serve their whole life as a squire?
They can attract a different spren.
It was indeed normal, depending on the order and the person.
Would you be willing to confirm if Skar is a proto-Radiant (on the same level as The Lopen?)
It is implied by his statement of "We protect those who cannot protect themselves", which is obviously an affirmation of the oath, if not an outright swearing of it. I could see it being either/or. He's a good man that did what he thought the order, and he himself, wanted or he just became a Radiant on the same level as Kaladin during the Battle of the Tower.
Thanks for your time. I understand if you can't/won't answer that at this time. It's simply a curiosity, so I get it if you're a bit too busy to answer. :p
By the end of Book Three, I'd put Skar very close to (though not quite at the level of) Lopen along the way toward full Radiant-hood.
Was Elhokar going to be a Windrunner squire or was he going to be a different Order?
He was actually going to be a Lightweaver.
Interesting.
Yes. And some interesting story with him because--here's a little tidbit for you... In the original draft that I wrote in 2002 I pushed him far enough that Dalinar had to kill him. It came to blows. And I never quite liked how that turned out, so in the 2010 version we had a different path for Elhokar. But he's been doomed from a long time ago, poor guy.
Frustrated with the editing/beta readers for not noticing Brandon leaving out a character.
The character I'm talking about is Rlain. An entire part of the book was spent with every single member of Bridge Four talking about how Rlain wasn't really a part of things, and even more so Rlain himself in his POV chapter. And then nothing! We get a conclusion to the whole buildup of Bridge Four, but Rlain is nowhere mentioned in the last half of the book. Nevermind that we've all spent an entire book (and the three years since WoR) wondering if Rlain will become a squire, and nevermind that we get an answer to whether a Parshman can become Radiant in the first place. We just get nothing! No resolution.
Everyone noticed this. I noticed it even before the beta read started. Brandon was well aware, and this was all intentional. I'll bet you can think of some reasons for it.
Throughout TWoK, Kaladin complains that he is cursed. When others call him lucky, he thinks about all the times he has failed to protect people and considers himself unlucky. Everyone around him dies.
His Journey in that book takes him to Bridge 4, the bridge team that has the most losses, that everyone knows is a death sentence. Death being the end of every journey, this is appropriate.
But what I've never really noticed before is the importance of the bridge number. 4 is, in East Asian cultures, considered unlucky or cursed. In Chinese 4 is nearly a homophone to the word death. Buildings will skip the 4th floor, companies will skip from version 3 to version 5 of their products (Palm, OnePlus, I'm sure there are other examples but I can't think of them right now).
We already know that The Stormlight Archive finds some of its inspiration in anime/manga. We know that the Alethi are what we would consider ethnically East Asian. Dark hair, tan skin, and they don't have the large, round eyes of the Shin. It seems very fitting that the least lucky bridge, the one responsible for the most death, is Bridge 4.
Of course, Kaladin comes to believe he isn't cursed as he uses his powers to defend his bridgemen. 4 becomes the most envied bridge as they suffer the fewest deaths, have camaraderie, and eventually become squires to a radiant.
They are numbered unlucky and cursed, but turn out to be the most "lucky" of the bridge crews.
This all struck me today because at the end of Oathbringer, Dalinar casually mentions that his personal guard from Bridge 13 isn't there because that bridge crew became Teft's squires. 13 is the number in Western culture that we consider "unlucky" or "cursed," so fitting that it would be the second bridge crew to become squires of a Radiant! With that realization, everything about Bridge 4 clicked in my head.
Did anyone else catch this, or notice anything else cool with these numbers?
A lot of things fans find are coincidence...but neither of these are, actually. Those are both intentional, as are a few other little numbers things.
Numerology has not become a big thing in Stormlight during the development of it, but original (2002 version) The Way of Kings leaned a lot more heavily on numerology (gematria style word/number interactions) and that's still around in the world.
Could a listener be a squire?
That is a RAFO.
Does Vasher have a different way of getting access to Stormlight than everyone else? Given that he has no spren, no honorblade and he isn't a squire?
Yes. He can use Stormlight to stay alive, but it doesn't let him Surgebind.
Could Szeth get access to this method?
Yes
And use it to fuel Nightblood?
Yes he could.
Can you tell me what that method is?
*smiles*
Lopen. Is he a squire, or does he actually have a spren?
He’s a squire. You’ll find out a lot more about what the squires are in the upcoming book. For most orders, squire were knights radiant potentially in training, so you can see what happens in the next book.
I asked about The Lopen, and it was a public Q&A, so I was trying not to be spoilery. But some of the things he said at the end of Words of Radiance, where he knew a lot about background processes. I asked if I should be suspicious of it, and you said, "Yes." Was that in reference to him becoming the king, that you revealed? Or is it because of something else that he knows about?
Background processes of...?
It seemed he knew more about the squires, the process of being squires
Oh, Lopen. Lopen knowing more. No, that's not about being the king. You are supposed to be suspicious of it because Lopen has been paying a lot of attention. He didn't have foreknowledge. It was completely accidental he ended up in Bridge Four. But once he did, he decided, "I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna learn about it." And he has been the one actively pursuing becoming a full Knight Radiant. He's the only one of the team who's actively been doing that. That's why you are supposed to be suspicious. There's not an ulterior motive. He is proactive.
Is Teft going to become a squire?
Well, the next book will involve all of Bridge Four trying very hard. But, I can't promise that anyone specifically... but, Teft has had a viewpoint in the first book. Teft did get his viewpoint in the second book. He will have one in the third book, also.
You have stated that each Knights Radiant Order gets their own unique ability, for lack of a better word, due to the combination of their Surges. For instance, you have stated this ability for the Windrunners is strength of squires. My question - is this due to the Nahel bond, or just inherent in the Surges combining. Would a non-Radiant get these abilities from the Honorblades, or would they be out of luck due to no Nahel bond?
Good question! The unique abilities have more to do with the powers interacting, same as how Twinborn will often manifest some odd side effects of the powers interacting. But there are limitations. For example, Jezrien didn't actually have any squires, as none of the Heralds did.
Since Order of the Windrunner has many members apart from the knights can the other non-knights member also possibly use gravitation ?
RAFO
The man speaking with Nale in the Words of Radiance prologue--the one talking about Ash getting worse--which is he: a Herald or a Squire?
Um… He is not a Squire.
So in The Stormlight Archive, they have the two Surges, and they have a third power effect, right?
They have kind of effects on each other, like a reverberation. Yes. I wouldn’t call it expressly a third power, I’d call it interactions.
So, it seems like...you don’t have to confirm anything, but it seems like Kaladin is able to transfer his powers to his men following him…
The Windrunners are known for having lots of squires.
That's the one I thought was really compelling. And the Skybreakers seem like they’re really good at hunting people down.
I’m not going to answer any of those! But good questions!
At the end of Words it was talking about--I think, Teft was talking about how Bridge 4 was lighting up during the battle. So are they affected by Kaladin? Or are they going to become...
So, they are what we call squires right now.
Okay, so they are squires.
So yes. They are affected by Kaladin, right now.
Did Lopen bond a spren or is he a squire?
As of right now, Lopen is a squire.
Okay, as of right now. So it's a potential RAFO.
Uh, I answered your question exactly. *questioner laughs* That's not a RAFO, that's an exact answer to the question you asked.
You've previously mentioned that someone bonded to a Seon would get some benefits if they went to Roshar , basically that it would be treated sort of like a Nahel bond. This implies to me that something about Roshar likes to give powers from bonds. (Hi there, Honor...)
Should this be taken to mean that spren-bond based Surgebinding won't work off-world, as it's a benefit Roshar gives from having a bond? Or would it be more specific, and mean that some of the passive benefits Radiants get (visions, Windrunner squire strengths) would be lost, but Surgebinding retained?
Mainly I'm interested in whether or not we can reach maximum Jasnah levels and have the possibility of her appearing in non-SA books. I don't think she'd be much into worldhopping if she couldn't get back with the Travel Surge...
Surgebinding will work off-world.
Since Shallan has a unique ability of memory from her blended surges, is fighting what Kaladin has?
No. His unique ability is "strength of squires".
And Jasnah?
RAFO.
Is Lopen a squire?
Lopen is a squire. Good question! That'll probably settle some debating on the website.
There is a person on the forums who noticed that Shallan has this awesome Memory thing going on, Jasnah seems to have a really powerful, kind of, geolocation thing going on, Kaladin is a really good fighter - are those just their traits, or is there something supernatural going on?
There is something supernatural going on. Each Order... Well, how about this. If you look at the scholar interpretations, there are some scholars who think that these things are not supernatural, in the past, and some who said they definitely are. But many, if you look, many Lightweavers had powerful mnemonic abilities.
So it's definitely tied to the Orders?
It's tied to the Orders. Now, I am not going to say that you've got them all 100% correct, but each Order, there are things that come with Order, things that do not add up from simple the "you get this power plus this power," there is something else going on. And I would say that for Windrunners, watch the number of squires and the power of the squires... is abnormal for the Windrunners.
And each Order's squires are somehow different from the other Orders'?
Yeeeaaaah... some Orders don't have them, [that] is the difference.
But some have more?
Yeah.
How about the other way around? Can a Parshendi bond a Knights Radiant spren?
Historically, the Parshendi were not made Knights Radiant, or the parshmen weren't.
Can they become squires maybe?
Historically they did not, but it's not impossible.