Knights Radiant

The Knights Radiant were an organization of Surgebinders on Roshar. Their Orders were centered at Urithiru, but they lived all across Alethela, the Silver Kingdom who had to maintain the arts of war. They considered it their duty and privilege to stay vigilant for Desolations. It is commonly believed that they betrayed mankind on the Day of Recreance, and were then referred to as the Lost Radiants. Their symbol was golden hourglass shape, of eight spheres connected with two at the center.

History

The first Surgebinders came to be as a result of spren trying to imitate what Honor had given his Heralds. The spren formed bonds with the mankind to give them Surgebinding abilities. At a much later date, these Surgebinders adopted the ideas Nohadon laid out in his book The Way of Kings, and formed the ten orders of Knights Radiant, with the purpose of watching for the coming Desolations, and helping men fight, then rebuild the society from the destruction of the Desolations. Honor was surprised by their coming, because he hadn't taught it to his Heralds. For a long time, they maintained their duty, until eventually they abandoned it on what is now known as the Day of Recreance, and possibly even turned against their wards, as some legends say. This betrayal caused many spren to be hurt and possibly die, and as a result they stopped granting humanity Surgebinding. For centuries, all that remained of the Radiants were legends and their Shardplates and Blades.

In recent times, sensing an impending danger, the spren started returning to mankind as an act of self-preservation. Jasnah Kholin became the first known Surgebinder to form a Nahel bond with a spren since the Recreance in 1167 . Others all around Roshar gained powers in the following years. In 1173, Dalinar Kholin decided to refound the Knights Radiant in response to his visions from Honor, and as a defense against the True Desolation.

Radiant Orders and Powers

Symbols of the Ten Radiant order and their Surges

The Knights Radiant comprised of ten different Orders, some of which had several hundred members. Each Order had two Surges associated with it, and each Surge was used by two different Orders. Scholars associated the ten Orders with the Ten Essences as well.

Order of Windrunners

The first Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges gravity and atmospheric pressure. The combination of these two Surges resulted in three separate powers which were known as the Three Lashings.

Order of Skybreakers

The second Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges gravity and division.

Order of Dustbringers

The third Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges division and friction. They could apparently burn things.

Order of Edgedancers

The fourth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges friction and growth.

Order of Lightweavers

The sixth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges illumination and transformation. They could create illusions and had the inherent ability to Soulcast.

Order of Elsecallers

The seventh Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges transformation and transportation. They had the inherent ability to Soulcast.

Order of Stonewards

The ninth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surge surface tension and, presumably, transportation.

Order of Bondsmiths

One of the Orders of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges that are currently unconfirmed. It is assumed they can bind surface tensions and atmospheric pressure.

The Knights Radiant also used Shardblades and Shardplates, which were etched with glyphs and glowed a different color according to the Order they were a part of. Although this was not true for every Radiant as not all of them were fighters.^{[citation needed]}

Ideals

For more information, see Immortal Words.

The Ideals by which the Knights Radiant lived, known as The Immortal Words, serve as a guide to them for how they were to live their lives. The First Ideal was the same for every order, while the four later Ideals were said to be different for every order. These Ideals were based off of the book Way of Kings.

First Ideal

“Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.”

—The First Ideal of the Immortal Words

As explained by Teft:

Life before death

The Radiant seeks to defend life, always. He never kills unnecessarily, and never risks his own life for frivolous reasons. Living is harder than dying. The Radiant’s duty is to live.

Strength before weakness

All men are weak at some time in their lives. The Radiant protects those who are weak, and uses his strength for others. Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.

Journey before destination

There are always several ways to achieve a goal. Failure is preferable to winning through unjust means. Protecting ten innocents is not worth killing one. In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.

Second Ideal

“I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

—Second Ideal of the Order of the Windrunners

These words were spoken once, by Kaladin, during the Battle of the Tower after Sadeas's betrayal. Syl prodded Kaladin almost desperately begging him to say them, and Kaladin thought, "[He] was amazed to realize he did know [them], even though they had never been told to him." What caused his spontaneous knowledge of the words is not clear. The sentiment of the Second Ideal seems to be the main driving force behind Kaladin's personality and decisions. Most choices made by him seem to satisfy this concept.

“I will remember those who have been forgotten.”

—Second Ideal of the Order of the Edgedancers

These words were spoken by Lift when she was she was kneeling beside Gawx. Wyndle was unsure if she would be able to save him. but after uttering these words she was able to use Regrowth. As with Kaladin and the Second Ideal of the Windrunners the source of her spontaneous knowledge of the words is not clear, however the sentiment and the occasion seem to be related to the knowledge.

Vorinism

In Vorinism, the fall of the Knights Radiant was called the Day of Recreance.

Vorinism taught that the Knights Radiant betrayed the people. It was taught that their powers were not real, but elaborate tricks, and that they only pretended to have a holy calling. The "evidence" for this was that the powers could not be reproduced.