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[[File: Shardblades by Marianne Eie.jpg|300px|thumb|right|<center><small>by [[Coppermind:Artists/Marianne Eie|Marianne Eie]]</small></center>Blade designs]]
Dead Shardblades are blades that were once owned by members of the Knights Radiant.{{book ref|sa2|87}} If a Radiant that has a Shardblade betrays their oaths, their spren is killed and its body is trapped in the shape of the Blade. Dead Shardblades have lostlose some of the functionality that they once had. The Blades have lostlose most of their ability to change into different weapons, although the shape of the Blade may change slightly to accomodate its owner after being used for a long time.{{wob ref|7728}} The dead Shardblades are nearly identical to how they appeared while still wielded by the Radiants, but there are two small differences. Each dead Shardblade has a [[Polestone]] attached to its pommel or crossguard,{{book ref|sa3|73}} whereas the the Shardblades wielded by Radiants do not.{{book ref|sa2|67}} These gemstones allow for a newernew bond to be created between a person and a dead Shardblade.{{book ref|sa3|16}} They also lack the subtle glow possessed by the Blades of active Radiants.{{book ref|sa1|52}} Another difference between the two is that dead Shardblades do not automatically remain summoned when dropped or placed somewhere by their owner.{{book ref|sa1|13}} If a Shardbearer does not intentionally command their Blade mentally to remain, the Blade will automatically be dismissed and will have to be summoned all over again.{{book ref|sa2|8}} When a Shardblade is not actively summoned, the spren appear within Shadesmar as a [[deadeye]], where their eyes take on an appearance of having been scratched away, like scraping paint off a painting.{{book ref|sa3|89}} The deadeyes have no apparent personality or autonomy, instead wandering Shadesmar following the shadow of the person who has bonded their Blade.{{book ref|sa3|101}}
As the [[Nahel bond]] with the original Radiant seems to have been severed, a new bond has to be formed in order for a Blade to be summoned and dismissed. When a new owner touches a Shardblade for the first time, the gemstone on the pommel flashes.{{book ref|sa1|51}}{{book ref|sa2|66}} The person who wishes to bond with the Blade must keep it in close quarters to ithis or her self for five days before the bond is set.{{book ref|sa2|5}} At that point they can summon and dismiss it.{{book ref|sa3|16}} The spren inside the Blades are not completely dead, just mostly.{{book ref|sa2|87}} As they are a little alive, they can sync a heartbeat to their [[Ten Essences|essence]]. It takes ten heartbeats for a dead spren to be revived and summoned as a Shardblade. If a person attempts to summon a dead Blade while in Shadesmar, the deadeye will turn their head to them in an unnatural way and begin screaming.{{book ref|sa3|89}} Once a person is bonded to a dead Shardblade, their eyes do lighten if they are not already lighteyes.{{book ref|sa2|68}} Since the gemstone on the pommel is the basis for the bond between a Blade and its owner, if the gemstone is removed or damaged, its owner will be unable to summon or dismiss the Blade{{book ref|sa3|75}} until the gemstone is replaced.{{book ref|sa3|76}}{{wob ref|1844}}
When the holder of a dead Shardblade is killed, the Shardblade appears on the ground next to them. A dead Shardblade may also be given up willingly. This process of breaking the bond requires willing the bond to break{{book ref|sa3|43}} with intense concentration while touching the gemstone of the Blade.{{book ref|sa2|89}} When the bond is severed completely, the gemstone on the pommel flashes,{{book ref|sa2|14}} and the former wielder feels a sensation of icy cold wash through their body.{{book ref|sa3|43}} If someone who was previously a darkeyes breaks their bond with a Blade, their eyes return to their original coloration.{{book ref|sa3|43}} A person may be bonded with multiple dead Shardblades but they have to be summoned individually.{{wob ref|1260}}
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Dead Shardblades also have one other unique trait. When touched by a Radiant or Radiant-in-training, the Radiant will hear the agonizing screams of the sprendead insidespren.{{book ref|sa2|57}} If the Radiant touches the dead Blade of another, the person it is bonded to will also hear screams and be accused of murdering the spren{{cite}}. This experience is terrifying. There is no known way to free the spren trapped within dead Shardblades,{{book ref|sa3|28}} they have been so severely damaged that it would require their original knight{{wob ref|6937}} to repair them in almost all cases.{{wob ref|7137}} These deadeyes do have some measure of awareness of their surroundings in the Physical Realm, and may grow to hate some wielders less because they approve of their actions, screaming more quietly in their hands.{{book ref|sa3|28}} Other living true spren that are capable of forming the Nahel bond will sometimes express dislike and revulsion for anyone wielding a dead Shardblade, no matter the character of the person bound to the Blade.{{book ref|sa1|73}}{{book ref|sa3|18}} They consider these Blades to be abominations,{{book ref|sa2|16}} and distrust those that use the corpses of their relatives as mere objects.{{book ref|sa3|10}} Other spren have managed to understand the reasons humans still make use of the Blades.{{book ref|sa3|18}}
Spren of dead shardblades manifest as spren "where the eyes had been scraped off"{{book ref|sa3|89}} in Shadesmar, named "[[Deadeye]]s" by other spren.{{book ref|sa3|101}} Deadeye spren will wander to the location that corresponds with the location in the Physical Realm of their corpse, or the person bonded to it unless prevented from doing so. If the person it is bonded to is themself in Shadesmar the spren will follow them around within Shadesmar.
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