Usuario:Windrunner/ShardbladeFacts
Modern Shardbearers predominantly male, arts and majestry written to gain control over Shardblades for men
Prelude - Honorblades weapons beyond Shardblades, flowing, inscribed with glyphs, unique, had to be left behind by Heralds at end of the oathpact
Prologue - Alethi close to creating new Shardblades, Honorblades take ten heartbeats smaller than others, description of Shardblade cutting: "According to legend, the Shardblades were first carried by the Knights Radiant uncounted ages ago. Gifts of their god, granted to allow them to fight horrors of rock and flame, dozens of feet tall, foes whose eyes burned with hatred. The Voidbringers. " Shardbearers count too much on their Blades. Blades priceless, reappear after death. Look for Shardbearer combat techniques
Chapter 5 - Kharbranth has no Shardblades
Chapter 9 - “Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.” --Collected: Jesachak, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death. Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments.
Interlude 3 - The moment he summoned his Blade, his eyes would turn from dark green to pale--almost glowing--sapphire, a unique effect of his particular weapon.
Chapter 12 - no fabrial scientists can approach Shardblades
Chapter 13 - Regular Shardblades take ten heartbeats, unweildy in the hands of those not wearing plate, sense of energy in the blade, cuts chitin, hair, nails, blades revert to mist unless intentionally given away for protection, can stop internal organs,
Chapter 15 - Used to cut out chasmfiend hearts
Chapter 16 - Legends say that eye color changes, RARELY win shardblades, still major reason people go to war, people make up lies, such as Josts father, Shardbearers only go to important battles, Reshi have no Blades
Chapter 18 - Officers want to be in battle to gain glory and be rewarded with Shardblades, Parshendi have few Shards, Dalinar won two full sets during first year of war, gave to Elhokar for war effort, Shardblades are light
Chapter 19 - Shardblade won't come during highstorm visions, Honorblades legendary
Chapter 22 - Halfshards block Shardblades. Men were always claiming to be close to creating new Shards, yet the promises were never fulfilled.
Chapter 23 - “This thing is not true,” Rock said. “Thaylenah has five blades and three full suits of plate, all held by the royal guards. The Selay have their share of both suits and blades. Other kingdoms, such as Herdaz, have a single blade and set of plate--this is passed down through the royal line. But the Unkalaki, we have not a single Shard. Many of our nuatoma--this thing, it is the same as your lighteyes, only their eyes are not light--” Unite Peaks, considered to be holy by Unkalaki. Idea of people keeping Shards and becoming lighteyes is *deeply* ingrained in Alethi culture
Chapter 24 - Shardblades are used to win more Shardblades We fight to get Shardblades, then use those Shardblades to fight to get more Shardblades. It’s a circle, round and round we go, chasing our tails so we can be better at chasing our tails.” It was the great problem of Shardblades and Shardplate--winning either was highly unlikely unless you already had Shards yourself. In fact, having only one or the other often wasn’t enough. Sadeas had faced Parshendi Shardbearers on the field, and had hallways been forced to retreat, lest he be slain himself.
Chapter 26 - Shardblade summoned by urgency of danger corellating to heartbeat? Blade cannot be stopped while it is in motion
The two Shardbearers fought, still near the lip of the chasm, cutting down the Parshendi who tried desperately to push them backward by sheer force of numbers. This was their best chance to defeat the Shardbearers. Dalinar and Adolin were alone, without their honor guard. A fall from this height would certainly kill even a man in Plate. Used to create landing spot for bridges and other openings in enemy lines
Dalinar and Adolin risked themselves, taking a dangerous leap across the chasm. An assault after the type Sadeas had pioneered would cost more lives. But how many lives would Dalinar’s army lose if one of its Shardbearers was pushed into the chasm?
Chapter 28 - The Kholin army only had two Blades, and while Shards were incredibly powerful, they needed proper support. An isolated, outnumbered Shardbearer could be tripped or toppled by his adversaries. In fact, the one time Adolin had seen a full Shardbearer fall to a regular soldiers, it had happened because he had been swarmed by spearmen who broke his breastplate. Then a lighteyed archer had slain him from fifty paces, winning the Shards for himself.
Parshendi kept Shardblades hidden until after Recreance. Possible motivation for Gavilar's treaty
Dalinar tossed aside his hammer--his pounding had bent the haft a good thirty degrees and the head was a misshapen lump--and jumped out of the ditch. He’d have a new weapon forged; that was not unusual for Shardbearers.
Chapter 29 - Honorblades are considered to be dangerous mythological treasures. Lack of Shardblades makes waging war difficult
Chapter 36 - More Gavilar treaty stuff, prevented Parshendi from trading blades without Alethkar's permission
Chapter 45 - Gavilar's interest in Parshendi predates Shardblades. "We had to be given Shardblades to fight, otherwise we would have had to resist the voidbringers with clubs.”
Chapter 46 - Moash went to war to win Shardblade. Shardblades can be placed down in ground
Chapter 51 - Gem on pommel flashes. I killed a Shardbearer today, he thought, mind numb. Like Lanacin the Surefooted, or Evod Markmaker. Me. I killed one.
Interlude 7 - Baxil's mistress thinks she could easily procure a Shardblade
Interlude 9 - Hanavanar and his men, some keep Shardblades a secret, check Shardbearer combat techniques, Shardbearers don't know how to fight together
Chapter 52 - The scout outside backed his horse up. There looked to be a good two hundred Shardbearers out there. Alethkar owned some twenty Blades, Jah Keved a similar number. If one added up all the rest in the world, there might be enough total to equal the two powerful Vorin kingdoms. That meant, so far as he knew, there were less than hundred Blades in all of the world. 300 abandoned at Feverstone Keep. A single man with Plate and Blade was almost an army unto himself. Radiant Blades had a soft glow that faded, screams could almost be heard, terrible feeling sense of pain and betrayal. Men seize Blades and begin killing one another
That seemed to worry his father. Jah Keved was the only other kingdom in Roshar that owned a substantial number of Shards, nearly as many as Alethkar. Shardblades can be deterrent or escalate a conflict. EVERY Alethi Shardbearer is on the Plains
Chapter 55 - As they began to work, something decidedly strange happened: two Shardbearers, likely Dalinar and his son, leaped across the chasm and began attacking the Parshendi. The distraction let the soldiers get the large bridges into place, and some heavy cavalry charged across to help. It was a completely different method of doing a bridge assault, and Kaladin found himself considering the implications.
Chapter 56 - They came at him in pairs, each team trying to hit him from a different direction, keeping him busy and--they hoped--disoriented. If a pair could rush at him while he was distracted, they might be able to shove him off his mount. Those axes and maces--swung repeatedly--could crack his Plate. It was a very costly tactic; corpses lay scattered around Dalinar. But when fighting against a Shardbearer, every tactic was costly. Dalinar kept Gallant moving, dancing from side to side, swinging his Blade in broad sweeps. He stayed just a little ahead of the line of his men. A Shardbearer needed space to fight; the Blades were so long that hurting one’s companions was a very real danger. His honor guard would approach only if he fell or encountered trouble.
The Blade was enormous, yet remarkably light. There was never recoil; landing a blow felt nearly like passing the blade through the air itself. The trick was to control momentum and keep the blade moving. Four Parshendi threw themselves at him; they seemed to know that working into close quarters was one of the best ways to drop him. If they got too close, the length of his Blade’s hilt and the nature of his armor would make fighting more difficult for him. Dalinar spun in a long, waist-high attack, and noted the deaths of Parshendi by the slight tug on the Blade as it passed through their chests. He got all four of them, and felt a surge of satisfaction.
More intentional placing
The hammer working better in such close quarters; the Blade would simply have killed the men, dropping their corpses to the ground, leaving him still pressed and pinned. The hammer, however, flung the bodies away
A Shardbearer wasn’t just a force of destruction; he was a force of morale and inspiration. The men fought more vigorously as they saw their Brightlord felling foe after foe. Shardbearers changed battles
Few men dared assault a Shardbearer directly--at least not without the entire weight of their army forcing them forward, almost against their will.
Chapter 58 - Brightlord Resi was the only full Shardbearer in Highprince Thanadal’s army--though their warcamp had three men who carried only the Blade or the Plate. Thanadal himself had neither. It wasn’t uncommon for a highprince to rely on his finest warriors as Shardbearers; it made sound sense, particularly if you were the sort of general who preferred to stay behind the lines and direct tactics.
Read the chapter for feel of Shardbearer duels
Fighting with Shardblades, though, that could be like a dance. The large weapons took a great deal of skill to swing properly, and Plate was resilient, so exchanges were generally drawn out. The fights were filled with grand motions, wide sweeps. There was a fluidity to fighting with a Shardblade. A grace.
By tradition, the King’s own Shardplate and Blade were available for a large fee to those who both had his favor and the wish to duel a Shardbearer. Dalinar shivered at the thought of someone else wearing his Plate or holding Oathbringer. It was unnatural. And yet, the lending of the King’s Blade and Plate--or before the kingship had been restored, the lending of a highprince’s Blade and Plate--was a strong tradition. Even Gavilar had not broken it, though he had complained about it in private.
you didn’t need that much power behind a Shardblade on the battlefield, though it was helpful against other Shardbearers.
Chapter 60 - “Well, no,” Navani said. “The design and workings of Shardblades and Plate are completely different from everything we’ve discovered. The closest anyone has are those shields in Jah Keved. But as far as I can tell, they use a completely different design principle from regular Shardplate.
Chapter 65 - Blades do not get dirty, mentioned elsewhere too. Dalinar waded into the battle, breaking enemy ranks as only a Shardbearer could. He tore pockets through the Parshendi front lines, like a fish leaping from a stream, cutting back and forth, keeping his enemies disorganized. Corpses with burned eyes and slashed clothing made a trail behind him. More and more Alethi troops filled in the holes.
Chapter 66 - Shardblade condensation, certainly mentioned elsewhere
Chapter 67 - They focused on Dalinar and Adolin; with Shardbearers on the front line, any breach would soon be patched by a man in gleaming armor and a deadly Blade. The Parshendi had to bring him and Adolin down first. They knew it. Dalinar knew it. Adolin knew it. Stories spoke of battlefields where the Shardbearers were the last ones standing, pulled down by their enemies after long, heroic fights. Completely unrealistic. If you killed the Shardbearers first, you could take their Blades and turn them against the enemy.
Dalinar swung again, staying at Adolin’s side, fighting in that just-out-of-reach tandem way of two Shardbearers.
Chapter 68 - Shardblades shower sparks like any blades, can be used to manipulate ground and terrain to advantage. This was the type of battlefield maneuver that would have been impossible without Shardbearers. A rush against superior numbers? Made by wounded, exhausted men? They should have been stopped cold and crushed. But Shardbearers could not be stopped so easily. Their armor leaking Stormlight, their six-foot blades flashing in wide swaths, Adolin and Dalinar shattered the Parshendi defenses, creating an opening, a rift. Their men--the best-trained in the Alethi warcamps--knew how to use it. They formed a wedge behind their Shardbearers, prying the Parshendi armies open, using spearmen formations to cut through and keep going forward.
Chapter 69 - Dalinar's trade This weapon is worth fortunes. Cities, palaces, kingdoms.”
Chapter 73 - Alive spren don't like Shardblades
Chapter 75 - Speak again the ancient oaths and return to men the Shards they once bore.” He turned to Dalinar, meeting his eyes. “The Knights Radiant must stand again.”
Look up gtet
Words of Radiance
Prologue - “I don’t like this. What we’ve done was wrong. Th at creature carries my lord’s own Blade. We shouldn’t have let him keep it. He—
He was dead— indeed, his Shardblade had appeared beside him, as they all did when their Bearers died.
Chapter 4 - Shardblades. Makes me wonder if these are the things the weapons were truly designed to fi ght.”
Chapter 5 - “I have to have some place to put the storming thing,” he said. It would take fi ve days— a full week— of carry ing the thing about before he bonded it properly and could dismiss it.
Dalinar wants to control all the Shardblades in the kingdom
Th ere are thirty Shardbearers in the army, not counting our own.
Chapter 8 - Aladar was a Shardbearer, though he commonly lent his Plate and Blade to one of his offi cers during battles, preferring to lead tactically from behind the battle lines. A practiced Shardbearer could mentally command a Blade to not dissolve when he let go of it, though— in an emergency— Aladar could summon it to himself, making it vanish from the hands of his offi cer in an eyeblink, then appear in his own hands ten seconds later. Loaning a Blade required great amounts of trust on both sides.
Interlude I-1 Venli didn’t fl inch. “Th e humans have Surgebinders.” “Perhaps not. It could have been an Honorblade.” “You fought him. Was it an Honorblade that struck you, wounded your leg, sent you limping?” “I . . .” Her foot ached.
Interlude I-4 “We don’t know any of this. Who knows if men even have Surgebindings— it might be one of the Honorblades. We left one in Alethkar that night.” 4
Chapter 14 - Shardbearer duel - Read for more tactics and traditions
Adolin had never named his Shardblade. Some did, some didn’t. He’d never thought it appropriate— not because he didn’t think the Blade deserved a name, but because he fi gured he didn’t know the right one. Th is weapon had belonged to one of the Knights Radiant, long ago. Th at man had named the weapon, undoubtedly. To call it something else seemed presumptuous.
If he’d lost, he would have had to give Tinalar his Plate, which he’d inherited from his mother’s side of the family
Adolin had been forced to bet both his Plate and his Blade against just Salinor’s Blade. As if Adolin weren’t worthy, and had to off er more potential spoils to justify bothering Salinor
Salinor let the Blade slip from his fi ngers. Adolin took it and knelt beside Salinor, holding the weapon with pommel toward the man. “Break the bond.” Salinor hesitated, then touched the ruby at the weapon’s pommel. Th e gemstone fl ashed with light. Th e bond had been broken..
Renarin gets Blade
Adolin had lost his former edge, bouts for Shards were very, very rare. Th is would be the fi rst in over a year’s time.
Chapter 16 - Ardents train Shardbearers - Process of Swordbearers
One blade was long and thin, with a large crossguard, while the other was wide and enormous, with wicked spikes— slightly fl ame- like— jutting out of both sides at points. Both weapons had a protective strip on the edged side, like a half sheath. - King's Blades
“It is a grand tradition,” the ardent said, seeming annoyed that she had to explain. “Th e highprinces used to do it in their own princedoms, before the reunifi cation, and now it is the king’s obligation and honor. Men may use the King’s Blade and Plate to practice. Th e lighteyes of our armies must be trained with Shards, for the good of all. Blade and Plate are diffi cult to master, and if a Shardbearer fell in battle, it is important that others be capable of their immediate use.”
Wooden practice Shardblades
Th e ardent huff ed and walked away. Kaladin watched the Shardblades fl ash in the air. Th e men using them barely knew what they were doing. Th e real Shardbearers he’d seen, the real Shardbearers he’d fought, hadn’t lurched about swinging the oversized swords like polearms. Even Adolin’s duel the other day had—
“You called the Blades abominations before,” Kaladin said. “But the Radiants carried them. So were the Radiants wrong to do so?” “Of course not,” she said, sounding like he was saying something completely stupid. “Th e Shards weren’t abominations back then.” “What changed?” “Th e knights,” Syl said, growing quiet. “Th e knights changed.” “So it’s not that the weapons are abominations specifi cally,” Kaladin said. “It’s that the wrong people are carry ing them.” “Th ere are no right people anymore,” Syl whispered. “Maybe there never were. . . .” “And where did they come from in the fi rst place?” Kaladin asked. “Shardblades. Shardplate. Even modern fabrials are nowhere near as good. So where did the ancients get weapons so amazing?” Syl fell silent. She had a frustrating habit of doing that when his questions got too specifi c. “Well?” he prompted. “I wish I could tell you.” “Th en do.” “I wish it worked that way. It doesn’t.”
Chapter 18 a metal guard over the sharp edge, one of the ones the king provided for training use. Zahel took the Shardblade from the ardent, holding it up. Kaladin nodded his chin at it. “What’s that on the Blade?” “Nobody’s sure,” Zahel said, swiping with the Blade. “Fit it to the front of a Blade and it will adapt to the shape of the weapon and make it safely blunt. Off the weapons, they break surprisingly easily. Useless in a fi ght on their own. Perfect for training, though.” Kaladin grunted. Something created long ago, for use in training?
Which Blade is this? Even with it blunted— even knowing the man wasn’t going to really attack him— Kaladin felt an immediate moment of panic. A Shardblade. Th is one had a slender, sleek form. Th e fl at sides of the blade had a swirling pattern along the side. It was a handspan wide and easily six feet long, yet Zahel held it with one hand and didn’t seem off balance.
In fi ghting a Shardbearer, everything became about that Blade. Th e Blade that nothing could stop, the Blade that didn’t just kill the body— but severed the soul itself. Th e Blade—
Chapter 19 Helaran's Blade
Chapter 22 “I’m going to try Talanor,” Adolin said, “and then Kalishor.” “Neither full Shardbearers,” Navani said with a frown. “Both have only one of the two, Blade or Plate.”
“Most of the territory that Amaram oversees would remain with Sadeas, but he could bring his personal land to my princedom— along with his Shards. Usually it requires a land trade with a princedom bordering the one a highlord wishes to join.”
Chapter 23 “What cuts steel so cleanly?” Dalinar leaned down, inspecting the cut, then took out a sphere for more light. He grunted. “It’s supposed to look like the joint came apart, I’d guess.” “And does it?” Kaladin asked.
Chapter 26 All right, Adolin thought, holding his hand to the side— clinging to the rocks with the other— and summoned his Blade. He slammed it directly into the rock wall with the fl at of the blade facing upward. He climbed up beside the Blade. Th en he stepped onto the fl at of the blade. Shardblades couldn’t break— they could barely bend— so it held him.
It was still crazy; they’d end up surrounded. However, two Shardbearers could do amazing things when supporting one another.
Chapter 32 Th e silvery weapon sheared through the remnant of Kaladin’s spear, then through Kaladin’s right arm, just below the elbow. A shock of incredible pain washed through Kaladin, and he gasped, falling to his knees. Th en . . . nothing. He couldn’t feel the arm. It turned grey and dull, lifeless, the palm opening, fi ngers spreading as half of his spear shaft dropped from his fi ngers and thumped to the ground. Th e assassin kicked Kaladin out of the way, slamming
Dalinar did not dodge. Instead, he caught the Blade. Dalinar brought the heels of his palms together as the Blade fell, and he caught it just before it hit.
lastclap
Chapter 33 Shardblade healing, leaves ache
Interlude 7 “Where did you get the Shardblade, madman? Tell me. Most Blades are accounted for through the generations, their lineage and history recorded.
Chapter 35 Wielding the weapons was about more than just practicing stances and growing accustomed to the too- light swordplay. A master of the Blade learned to do more with the bond. He learned to command it to remain in place after being dropped, and learned to summon it back from the hands of those who might have picked it up. He learned that man and sword were, in some ways, one. Th e weapon became a piece of your soul. Adolin had learned to control his Blade in this way. Usually. Today, the weapon disintegrated almost immediately after leaving his fi ngers. Th e long, silvery Blade transmuted to white vapor— holding its shape for just a brief moment, like a smoke ring— before exploding in a puff of writhing white streams. Blade commands
Chapter 37 “It’s protocol, Adolin! I’ll duel you once you fi ght up through the brackets for a year or two. I can’t just take on any old challenger, particularly not in a bout with our Shards on the line!”
Th ree of the highprinces wore their Plate, and the others had Shardbearers in attendance. Abrobadar, Jakamav, Resi, Relis, Ruthar himself . . . Adolin had rarely seen so many collected together at once.
More explanations of dueling
Chapter 39 Th e boys got daggers, very fi ne pieces engraved like Shardblades.
Chapter 44
Ivis gave them lengths of wood that, weight and balance wise, were
decent approximations of a Shardblade.
Th en she put them through several routines, demonstrating the ten Shardblade sword stances.
“She wishes to update the royal record of Shardplate and Shardblades in the warcamps with new sketches,” Nall said. “Th is seems wise. Th e king’s current accounting of the Shards includes many rough sketches, but few detailed drawings.”
“Actually, the sketches of your Plate are quite complete,” Shallan said, “thanks to your mother. I’ll focus fi rst on the King’s Plate and Blades, which nobody has thought to sketch in any detail.”
“I saw Dalinar Kholin, while unarmed and unarmored, catch a Shardblade in midair with the fl ats of his palms.” Zahel grunted. “Old Dalinar pulled off a lastclap, eh? Good for him.” “Can you teach me?” “It’s a stupid maneuver,” Zahel said. “When it works, it’s only because most Shardbearers learn to swing their weapons without as much force as they would a regular blade. And it doesn’t usually work; it usually fails, and you’re dead when it does. Better to focus your time practicing things that will actively help you.”
Chapter 45 Two men with swords, no shields, harking back to classical ideals. Th eir sweeping methods of fi ghting were said to be an imitation of fi ghting with a Shardblade
Chapter 49 “Yes, but we’re Shardbearers. We have strength and power granted by the Almighty. It’s a great responsibility, and it’s our duty to use it for the protection of our men. We save hundreds of lives by going across fi rst. Lets us lead the army, fi rsthand.”
Chapter 50 Adolin summoned his Blade, then dismissed it, then summoned it again. A ner vous habit. Th e white fog appeared— manifesting as little vines sprouting in the air— before snapping into the form of a Shardblade, which suddenly weighed down his hand.
Chapter 52 Th e Blade is still new to me. I fi nd excuses to summon it.” Shallan was barely listening. A Blade with the back edge ridged like fl owing waves. Or perhaps tongues of fi re. Etchings all along its surface. Curved, sinuous. She knew this Blade. It belonged to her brother Helaran.
“wants to make certain the rec ords are all correct and that the histories of the Blades and Plate in the Alethi army have been properly traced. Your Blade is not in them. She asked if you would mind sharing the origin of your Blade, in the name of scholarship.”
“Th ey’re evil,” she said in a small voice. “Because they’re symbols of the Knights’ broken oaths,”
Chapter 53 Shardbearer duel “Six Shards, Relis,” Adolin said. “Mine, those of my brother, Eranniv’s Plate, and your cousin’s Plate. I wager them all on a single bout. You and me.”
A gamble. Most contests against Plate were won by breaking sections, but at times you could drive the point of your Blade through a joint between plates, cracking them and scoring a hit. It was also a way to try to wound your opponent, more than just defeat him.
Chapter 55 “Yes,” Shallan said, “though, by this tradition, Sadeas could appoint a champion to fi ght on his behalf, so Adolin might not get to duel him personally. He’d still win Sadeas’s Shards, though.”
Chapter 56 Final Shardbearer duel
I’ll work better as an object lesson with Blade-dead legs than I would as ashes.”
“Oh, wow. . . . Ha! I think I just won three full suits of Plate and two Blades, bridgeboy.
Iinterlude 9 Nalan & servant have Shardblades
Shardblades,” Lift said. “Worth a whole kingdom. Built to kill Voidbringers.”
Interlude 11 Eshonai strode into a city that was now hers, fl anked by soldiers in the new form. She summoned her Blade for eff ect, the last one her people owned, resting it on her shoulder.
Chapter 63 Th e Heralds glow like the sun, wield the Honorblades, and speak with the voices of a thousand trumpets. Th ey could cast down buildings with a command, force the storms to obey, and heal with a touch.
Chapter 64 “He truly spoke of Shardblades?” “Yes,” Bordin said. “A whole cache of them.” “Th e Honorblades,” Amaram whispered. “Great prince, please, give me the same words you spoke to this one.”
Chapter 66 “It turns out,” Adolin said, “that I’m in possession of not one, but two new Shardblades and three sets of Plate. Th e Kholin princedom now owns nearly half the Shards in all of Alethkar, and I’ve been named dueling champion. Not surprising, considering Relis was on a caravan back to Alethkar the night after our duel, sent by his father in an attempt to hide the shame of being beaten so soundly. “One complete set of those Shards is going to General Khal, and I’ve ordered two of the sets of Plate given to appropriate lighteyes of rank in my father’s army.” Adolin nodded toward the sheets. “Th at leaves one full set. Personally, I’m curious to know if the stories are true. If a darkeyes bonds a Shardblade, will his eyes change color?”
Th e armorers removed the sheets, revealing a shimmering silvery blade. Edged on both sides, a pattern of twisting vines ran up its center
“Moash. Take these. You’re now a Shardbearer.”
“Even if it didn’t change your eye color, you’d count as one. Shardbearers are immediately of the fourth dahn. You could challenge Amaram. Your whole life would change.”
I guess those Shards are yours, now. Congratulations. You now outrank ninety percent of Alethkar. Pick yourself a family name and ask to join one of the houses under Dalinar’s banner, or start your own if you are inclined.”
He ran those fi ngers all the way down to the hilt, then seized it, lifting the Blade in awe. Like most, it was enormous, but Moash held it easily in one hand. Th e heliodor set into the pommel fl ashed with a burst of light.
“I wouldn’t suggest selling the Shards, at least not to a foreigner,” Kaladin said. “Th at sort of thing can be considered treason.”
Chapter 67 “Just seeing if you are still you,” she said. “Our breakthrough was realizing that the gemstones in the Blades— used to bond them— might not have originally been part of the weapons.” He frowned. “Th at’s important?” “Yes. If this is true, it means the Blades aren’t powered by the stones. Credit goes to Rushu, who asked why a Shardblade can be summoned and dismissed even if its gemstone has gone dun. We had no answers, and she spent the last few weeks in contact with Kharbranth, using one of those new information stations. She came up with a scrap from several de cades after the Recreance which talks about men learning to summon and dismiss Blades by adding gemstones to them, an accident of ornamentation it seems.”
“We had been assuming that somehow, the strength and lightness of the Blades was a fabrial construct powered by the gemstone,” Navani said. “Th is might not be the case. It seems the gemstone’s purpose is only used in initially bonding the Blade— something that the Radiants didn’t need to do.” “Wait. Th ey didn’t?” “Not if this fragment is correct. Th e implication is that the Radiants could always dismiss and summon Blades— but for a time the ability was lost. It was only recovered when someone added a gemstone to his Blade. Th e fragment says weapons actually shifted shape to adopt the stones, but I’m not certain if I trust that. “Either way, after the Radiants fell but before men learned to put gemstones into their Blades and bond them, the weapons were apparently still supernaturally sharp and light, though bonding was impossible. Th is would explain several other fragments of rec ords I’ve read and found confusing . . .”
He narrowed his eyes and found Ruthar’s coach approaching. Th e highprince had been stripped of Shards, all but his own Blade.
Th e plot to undermine Sadeas had to a large extent failed— but that was in part because the damage and shame had been defl ected to Ruthar and Aladar, who had suff ered the loss of Shardbearers in the men who had dueled Adolin.
No sign of Teshav or Khal yet— they would undoubtedly make an appearance, now that he was a Shardbearer.
Chapter 68 He pointed toward a burrowed- out section of rock, cut with hammers or a Shardblade, at the base of the stone formation.
“So far as I know, he hasn’t summoned his Shardblade in weeks.” (Renarin)
His eyes . . . they were lighter in color; tan instead of deep brown as they’d once been. He wore his Shardblade strapped across his back in a guarded sheath. Only one more day until he had it bonded.
“Secret?” Kaladin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Th ey’ve probably heard about you all the way in Iri by now, Moash. You’re the fi rst darkeyed man to be given a Blade and Plate in over a lifetime.” Dalinar had even granted Moash lands and a stipend from them, a lavish sum, and not just by bridgeman standards.
Chapter 72 aladin stared at the glistening length of metal, which dripped with condensation from its summoning. It glowed softly the color of garnet along several faint lines down its length.
He twisted his head toward her, and in so doing, his cheek brushed the fl at of the blade. No screams. He froze, then cautiously raised a fi nger and touched the cold metal.
“You’re not supposed to let people use your Blade,” Kaladin said. “By tradition, only the king and the highprinces do that.”
She started climbing them. Hanging on one and clinging to the highest one, she summoned the Blade again and tried to cut a step even higher, but the thing was just so blasted long. Obligingly, it shrank in her hand to the size of a much shorter sword, really a big knife.
Interlude 14 “You fought a Surgebinder?” Adrotagia said, glancing at Taravangian. “Yes,” Szeth said. “An Alethi man who fed upon Stormlight. He healed a Blade- severed arm. He is . . . Radiant . . .” Th at strain in his voice did not sound safe. Taravangian glanced at Szeth’s hands. Th ey were clenching into fi sts time and time again, like hearts beating. “No, no,” Taravangian said. “I have learned this only recently. Yes, it makes sense now. One of the Honorblades has vanished.” Szeth blinked, and he focused on Taravangian, as if returning from a distant place. “One of the other seven?” “Yes,” Taravangian said. “I have heard only hints. Your people are secretive. But yes . . . I see, it is one of the two that allows regrowth. Kholin must have it.”
Valam’s life faded away until he was simply meat. A Shardblade appeared from vapor beside the bed, then thumped to the wooden fl oor of the wagon.
Chapter 76 “A few weeks ago,” Dalinar said, “I received two special visitors in camp. One was a trusted servant who had come from Kholinar in secret, bringing a precious cargo. Th e other was that cargo: a madman who had arrived at the gates of Alethkar carry ing a Shardblade.” Amaram paled and stepped back, hand going to his side. “I told my servant,” Dalinar said calmly, “to go drinking with your personal guard— he knew many of them— and talk of a trea sure that the madman said had been hidden for years outside the warcamp. By my order, he then placed the madman’s Shardblade in a nearby cavern. After that, we waited.” He’s summoning his Blade, Kaladin thought, looking at Amaram’s hand. Kaladin reached for his side knife, but Dalinar was already raising his own hand. White mist coalesced in Dalinar’s fi ngers, and a Shardblade appeared, tip to Amaram’s throat. Wider than most, it was almost cleaverlike in appearance.
With all of these Shardblades fl ying around lately, I fi gured having one myself made too much sense to ignore.” He narrowed his eyes, turning eastward. “Even if it feels . . . wrong somehow to hold one. Strange, that. Why should it feel wrong? Perhaps I just miss my old Blade.”
“And we will try him fairly,” Dalinar said, “once I return. I can’t imprison him— Shardbearers are above that, and he’d cut his way out anyway. Either you execute a Shardbearer or you leave him free.”
Chapter 81 Serugiadis and Rust to join him. Your men will fi ght better against these things with a few Shardbearers at their command.” All three were men who had been given Shards following Adolin’s dueling spree.
“Light infantry reserves,” General Khal said, wearing only his uniform. His son wore his Shards, fi ghting with Roion’s army.
Chapter 82 Another Shardbearer accompanied him, Blade up on the shoulder of his Plate, faceplate down. Graves.
Chapter 83 Captain Khal on foot— General Khal’s son wore his own Plate and bore Teleb’s Blade, which he’d blessedly recovered from the corpse after the other man had fallen.
Chapter 84 He did so, wincing as it appeared. Shallan pointed at the slot like a keyhole in the wall— acting on a hunch. “See if you can scratch that metal with your Blade. Be very careful. We don’t want to ruin the Oathgate, in case I’m wrong.” Renarin stepped up and carefully— using his hand to pinch the weapon from above— placed the tip of the blade on the metal around the keyhole. He grunted as the Blade wouldn’t cut. He tried a little harder, and the metal resisted the Blade. “Made of the same stuff !” Shallan said, growing excited. “And that slot is shaped like it might fi t a Blade. Try sliding the weapon in, very slowly.” He did so, and as the point moved into the hole, the entire shape of the keyhole shifted, the metal fl owing to match the shape of Renarin’s Shardblade. It was working! He got the weapon placed, and they turned around, looking over the chamber. Nothing appeared to have changed.
Wind blew in the opening in the wall, and Syl’s ribbon of light became mist, a form she often took. Silver mist, which grew larger, coalesced before Kaladin, extending into his hand. Glowing, brilliant, a Shardblade emerged from the mist, vivid blue light shining from swirling patterns along its length.
Chapter 85 Charge and mob a Shardbearer. Hope for a lucky blow. It was the only way.
“Haven’t you seen?” Teft said. “What am I saying? Ain’t no mirrors out on the Plains. Your eyes, son. Pale blue, like glassy water. Lighter than that of any king.”
Chapter 86 His Shardblade shattered into mist and Syl zipped out, becoming a ribbon of light that spun around him as he fl ew.
Syl formed into the Blade immediately. “Not ten heartbeats?” he asked. Not when I’m here with you, ready. Th e delay is primarily something of the dead. Th ey need to be revived each time.
Oh. Th at’s right. You probably want me to be a spear, don’t you? Th e weapon fuzzed to mist, then elongated and grew into the shape of a silvery spear, with glowing, swirling glyphs along the sharpened sides of the spearhead.
Mist formed in Kaladin’s left hand as he raised it to ward, and a silvery shield appeared, glowing with a soft light
Kaladin dropped the spear and swung his hand in a great arc. Syl formed an axehead halberd. It came within inches of Szeth’s face.
Th e assassin seemed to be using it up at a much faster rate than Kaladin, judging by the decreased glow around him.
“Th ere is something wrong with your Blade, and with all Blades.” She hesitated for just a second. “All but mine. Pattern!” He formed in her hands, the Blade she’d used to kill. Th e hidden soul. Shallan rammed it into the slot, and the weapon vibrated in her hands and glowed. Something deep within the plateau unlocked.
Now the mechanism’s operation became clear to her. Shallan threw her weight against the sword, pushing it before her like the spoke on a mill. Th e inner wall of the building was like a ring inside a tube— it could rotate, while the outer wall remained in place. Th e sword moved the inner wall as she pushed on it, though it stuck at fi rst, the fallen blocks of the cut doorway getting in the way. Adolin threw his weight against the sword with her, and together they pushed it around the circle until they were above the picture of Urithiru, half the circumference from Natanatan where she’d begun. She pulled her Blade free.
As Kaladin chased Szeth spun and fell backward, attacking, though Syl became a shield to block. Kaladin swung down and a hammer appeared in his hand, crashing against Szeth’s shoulder, breaking bones. As Stormlight tried to heal the assassin, Kaladin pulled in close and slammed his hand against Szeth’s stomach, a knife appearing there and digging deeply into the skin. He sought the spine.
Kaldin dove after the Blade, dropping Szeth’s corpse, letting it fall backward into the stormwall. It vanished among the wind, the rain, and the lightning, trailing faint wisps of Stormlight. Kaladin grabbed the Blade just before the storm consumed it.
Chapter 87 “So they’re all spren,” he said. “Shardblades.” Syl grew solemn. “Dead spren,” Kaladin added. “Dead,” Syl agreed. “Th en they live again a little when someone summons them, syncing a heartbeat to their essence.”
“What about this?” he asked, looking over the thin, silvery weapon. An unornamented Blade. Th at was supposed to be odd. “It doesn’t scream when I hold it.” “Th at’s because it’s not a spren,” Syl said softly.
She stopped just before the sword. “I think this is one of the Honorblades, the swords of the Heralds.” Kaladin grunted. He’d heard of those. “Any man who holds this weapon will become a Windrunner,” Syl explained, looking back at Kaladin. “Th e Honorblades are what we are based on, Kaladin. Honor gave these to men, and those men gained powers from them. Spren fi gured out what He’d done, and we imitated it. We’re bits of His power, after all, like this sword. Be careful with it. It is a trea sure.” “So the assassin wasn’t a Radiant.” “No. But Kaladin, you have to understand. With this sword, someone can do what you can, but without the . . . checks a spren requires.” She touched it, then shivered visibly, her form blurring for a second. “Th is sword gave the assassin power to use Lashings, but it also fed upon his Stormlight. A person who uses this will need far, far more Light than you will. Dangerous levels of it.”
Th ey’d tried other Shardblades; none were eff ective at making the ancient fabrial work.
His eyes had become a pale blue.
Th e Blade and Plate might be his in name, but he had no illusions as to what would happen if the Alethi elite noticed him trying to fl ee with it.
Chapter 88 A small Shardblade. Th rust into the strongbox hastily, tip piercing through the back, hilt toward her.
“I waited until you crashed to the ground,” the man said, “until you were broken and mangled, your soul cut through, dead for certain. Th en, I restored you.” “Impossible.” “Not if it is done before the brain dies. Like a drowned man restored to life with the proper ministrations, you could be restored with the right fabrial. If I had waited seconds longer, of course, it would have been too late.”
“You did, and you died. Your bond to your Blade severed, all ties— both spiritual and physical— undone. You are reborn
“My people have the other Honorblades, and have kept them safe for millennia. If I am to bring judgment to them, I will face enemies with Shards and with power.”
Chapter 89 He’d left his wooden swords out. He had a collection, each carved like a Shardblade. He was too old for those now, of course, but he still liked having them. As a collection.
Dazed, he stared at that weapon. Neither man had summoned their Blades for the fi ght. Th e weapons might be worth a fortune, but they’d do less good than a rock in such a close- quarters fi ght. Th oughts coming more clearly, Adolin picked up the weapon and stumbled away. He ditched the Blade out a window, dropping it down into one of the planterlike outcroppings of the terrace below. It might be safe there
I will not be a simple sword to you, the Stormfather warned. I will not come as you call, and you will have to divest yourself of that . . . monstrosity that you carry. You will be a Radiant with no Shards. “It will be what it must,” Dalinar said, summoning his Shardblade. As soon as it appeared, screams sounded in his head. He dropped the weapon as if it were an eel that had snapped at him. Th e screams vanished immediately. Th e Blade clanged to the ground. Unbonding a Shardblade was supposed to be a diffi cult pro cess, requiring concentration and touching its stone. Yet this one was severed from him in an instant. He could feel it.
Epilogue He looked down as she twisted her Shardblade, rotating the tip, still pointed at him. “I’d be surprised if that little knife of yours poses me any real threat, Kholin. You can keep waving it about if you want, though. Perhaps it makes you feel more important.”
Amaram and Adolin's shardblade habits, use in assassination
Need to discover how many sets of Plate Dalinar won from the Parshendi
Hammers and heavy weapons used against Shardbearers