Knights Radiant

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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. Honor was surprised by their coming, because he hadn't taught it to his Heralds. These Surgebinders were later formed into the ten orders of the Knights Radiant by the Herald Ishar'Elin, for the purpose of watching for the coming Desolations, and helping men fight, then rebuild the society from the destruction of the Desolations, and they adopted the city of Urithiru as their base. 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 die, their corpses becoming tools of destruction, and as a result they stopped granting humanity Surgebinding.

In recent times, sensing an impending danger, the spren started returning to mankind as an act of self-preservation. People all over Roshar started gaining Surgebinding powers by forming Nahel bonds with the spren in the following years. At the beginning of the year 1174, Urithiru was reclaimed, and the Knights Radiant were re-founded with initially four members; Kaladin, Shallan Davar, Dalinar Kholin, and Renarin Kholin.

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 Adhesion and Gravitation. 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 Gravitation and Division.

Order of Dustbringers

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

Order of Edgedancers

The fourth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges Abrasion and Progression.

Order of Truthwatchers

The fifth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges Illumination and Progression.

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 Willshapers

The eighth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surge Transportation and Cohesion.

Order of Stonewards

The ninth Order of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surge Cohesion and Tension.

Order of Bondsmiths

One of the Orders of the Knights Radiant with the ability to bind Surges Tension and Adhesion.

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]}

Immortal Words

This section deals with the First Ideal shared by all orders. For a full discussion of all the Ideals, 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.

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

—The First Ideal of the Knights Radiant

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.

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.