Shardblade

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Shardblades are magical weapons that can be found on Roshar. People who possess a Shardblade are called Shardbearer. They are generally associated with Shardplate, its armor-complement.

Description

There are at least three types of Shardblades. Out of those, two types have been identified. Shardblades of the first type are about six feet long and a handspan wide and have only one edge. Those are the more common Shardblades. The second type-Blades are also long, but thin and edged on both sides. They are smaller than the others. A Blade of that type is carried by Szeth.

Often, the Shardblade is somehow ornamented along the blade.

One can possess more than one Shardblade. It's also possible to dual-wield Shardblades, though the two cannot be summoned concurrently.

Magical abilities

Shardblades can cut easily through anything inanimate, like stone or steel. In contrast to this, they cut through flesh without leaving a mark or spilling blood. However, when passing through the spine of a human, his eyes smoke and burn, blacken and shrivel up in their head. It is said to sever the soul itself. However, once a creature is killed, the remains interact with the Shardblade like any other non-living material. Also, when the Shardblade cut through a limb rather than the spine of a creature, the limb is "killed" and is paralyzed beyond the point of healing, except to someone who has the ability to absorb stormlight, as this ability was not just limited to the Radiants. Healing a severed limb by stormlight required massive amounts of stormlight forced into the limb to reconnect that limb to the soul as was performed by Kaladin in both of his fights with The Assassin in White. Other types of magic could potentially heal such damage, though.

The weapon can only be blocked by another Shardblade, by Shardplate or by Half-shards.

When needed, the Shardblade can be summoned from an unknown place to appear in the hand of its Shardbearer. The process of summoning takes exactly ten of its wielder's heartbeats. When summoned, it forms as if condensing from mist, water beading along the metal length.

When the Blade is dropped, it disappears unless it is willed to stay; this is a protection from being the Blade being taken by the enemy during battle.

When the Shardbearer dies, the weapon appears next to the dead Shardbearer. When taken up by someone different, the Shardblade bonds with the person who picks it up. The bonding usually takes a week.

When the Knights Radiant abandon their Shardblades, the Blades continue to glow for some time before going dull.

History

Much is still unknown about the origins of shardblades but at some point in the past the Spren began forming Nahel Bonds with humans in an attempt to copy what Honor had done when he created the Heralds. This bond not only granted the humans access to Surges but also allowed their spren to become shardblades when the bond had strengthened to a certain point. These surgebinding shardbearers later becoming known as the Knights Radiant.

A sword was the base form for a shardblade since they were fashioned after the Honorblades but they could become any shape the shardbearer needed such as a spear, hammer, or shield. It is currently unknown exactly why shardblades cut the way they do but legend said that they were "gifts of their god, granted to allow them to fight horrors of rock and flame".

At the Recreance the Knights Radiant, for unknown reasons, abandoned their Oaths which broke the bonds with their spren. This action resulted in the spren losing their sentience in the physical realm and eternally locked them in the form of blades. The knights then abandoned both their plate and blades allowing soldiers who were present at the time to claim them. At that moment, at least 200 shardblades are believed to have existed.

Later the Shardblades became objects of power and immense value. Wars were fought for them and a kingdoms power rose and fell with the number of Shardblades possessed.

When the War of Reckoning was fought, there were an estimated twenty Shardblades held by Alethkar, another twenty for Jah Keved, and approximately another forty spread out among the rest of the world. Those forty include five Blades held by Thaylenah, some by Selay and one held by Herdaz. Some Shardblades are held by the Parshendi. Kharbranth and the Unkalaki do not have any Shardblades.

Known Shardbearers

Name	Owner	Notes
Stormfather	Dalinar Kholin
Syl	Kaladin
Glys	Renarin Kholin
Pattern	Shallan Davar
Ivory	Jasnah Kholin
Firestorm	training sword	Gavilar Kholin's until his death, it is now used as a training sword[citation needed]
Oathbringer	unclaimed	previously Dalinar Kholin, Torol Sadeas[citation needed]
Sunraiser	Elhokar Kholin
unnamed	Adolin Kholin
unknown	Meridas Amaram
unknown	Eshonai
Nightblood	Szeth	he previously had one of the honorblades
unknown	Hanavanar	prior to his death at least

Cosmere Background

This page or section deals with theories or speculation.

Please read carefully and note that this is not necessarily canonical.

Shardblades are Invested objects. It has been theorized that they are stored in the Spiritual Realm when not used. They also seem to "cut" in the Spiritual Realm, killing the soul of people and not their bodies. A Shardblade bonds with its bearer. This seems to indicate a connection with Honor. It has been theorized that they have been created by the Almighty who himself is known to be Honor. They also seem to have a connection with the Honorblades carried by the Heralds.

It is thought that Helaran Davar owned a Shardblade, until his death at the hands of Kaladin. His blade would be the one now owned by Amaram.