Editing Thunderclast

{{lifeform
|image=Thunderclast Matthew Johnson Inktober2018.jpg
|type=Animated stone
|sapient=y
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}
{{spoiler|sa4}}
{{update|sa4}}
{{quote
|Those aren’t stones. They’re creatures.
|[[Dalinar]]{{book ref|sa1|60}}
}}
'''Thunderclasts''' are giant stone monsters from [[Roshar]] that serve [[Odium]] during the [[Desolation]]s.{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}}{{book ref|sa3|115}}

== Appearance and Nature ==
{{quote
|Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver.
|[[Kalak]]{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}}
}}

Thunderclasts are enormous stone beasts, easily five or six times larger than a person, with their hands alone being six feet long.{{book ref|sa1|60}}{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}} They take a skeletal, humanoid form, with long limbs that end with spiky, clawed fingers. On their chests, they have rib-like protrusions, and there are ridges running along their backs.{{book ref|sa2|4}} Their heads are narrow and arrow-like, with glowing red eyes.{{book ref|sa2|4}}{{book ref|sa3|84}}

The thunderclast proper, however, is a [[singer]] soul. The potential thunderclasts are far more powerful than their [[Fused]] kinsmen, and much more twisted, to the point where they barely resemble their species. When they desire to take on a physical form, they sink into the stone and animate it, ripping themselves out in the humanoid form.{{book ref|sa3|115}} As such, they retain some qualities of the material they take on, like the color or a covering of moss or fungus.{{book ref|sa2|4}}

It's possible that there are other types of [[Cognitive Realm|Cognitive]] entities that can create thunderclasts, as a [[spren]] is also seen at one point plunging into the ground right before a thunderclast rips itself out.{{book ref|sa2|4}}

<gallery caption="Images of thunderclasts">
Oathbringer full cover art.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Michael Whelan}}</small></center> On the cover of ''[[Oathbringer]]''
Thunderclast.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Sheep}}</small></center> [[Shardbearer]]s fighting a thunderclast
Thunderclast Matthew Johnson Inktober2018.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Matthew Johnson}}</small></center> Rising from the ground
Thunderclast Bota.jpg | <center><small>by {{a|Botanicaxu}}</small></center> [[Renarin]] confronting a thunderclast
Attack on Roshar by Connor Chamberlain.jpg | <center><small>by {{a|Connor Chamberlain}}</small></center> Attacking [[Kholinar]]
</gallery>

== Abilities and Attributes ==
{{image|Thunderclast Bota.jpg|side=right|width=300px|[[Renarin]] confronting a thunderclast at the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]].}}
{{quote
|Thunderclast! Hammers! Ready hammers!
|Soldiers hunting thunderclasts on the [[Purelake]]{{book ref|sa2|4}}
}}

Despite their enormous size, thunderclasts have no problems staying upright, and can swing their body around with incredible force, easily toppling regular fortifications.{{book ref|sa3|116}} Though brute force is their greatest strength, they're also capable of precise actions such as throwing boulders,{{book ref|sa3|83}} or carrying regular [[Fused]] in their hands without crushing them.{{book ref|sa3|116}} 

Although warped and twisted, thundercasts seem to retain some level of personality, enough so to answer to names and have a concrete sense of their gender. While they can obey commands, however, they do not seem capable of communicating themselves.{{book ref|sa3|117}} They are capable of making earth-shaking roars and trumpeting sounds to express their emotions, though.{{book ref|sa3|120}}

Despite being made of the same material as their targets, they do not crack, and it seems they cannot be destroyed by ordinary means, although hammers are given as a viable option for combating them.{{book ref|sa3|116}}{{book ref|sa2|4}} Another viable way to deal with them is to cut them up with [[Shardblade]]s to the point where they're no longer mobile, although this carries significant risk to both people and their surroundings. [[Nightblood]] can kill them for good.{{book ref|sa3|117}}

== History ==
While it's unknown for how long they've been in [[Odium]]'s service, thunderclasts date back to the [[Desolation]]s of old, even back to [[Nohadon]]'s times.{{book ref|sa1|60}} People back then knew to look out for them, and sent out hunting parties, although only [[Knights Radiant]] were capable of fighting them.{{book ref|sa2|4}} They were powerful enough to pose dangers even to the [[Herald]]s, with [[Kelek]] in particular dying to them several times.{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}} After the [[Aharietiam]], however, thunderclasts passed on into myths. By the [[Era of Solitude]], there were numerous stories about [[Voidbringer]]s with bodies of stone, likely as a cultural memory of the thunderclasts.{{book ref|sa1|3}}{{book ref|sa2|51}}

Thunderclasts appeared a few times in [[Dalinar's visions]]. When he met [[Nohadon]], he saw numerous corpses of them littering the battlefield and, in a separate vision in which he participated in a hunt for a corrupted spren on the [[Purelake]], he witnessed one rip itself out of the ground.{{book ref|sa1|60}}{{book ref|sa2|4}} However, they didn't make their proper debut in the modern era until the [[Siege of Kholinar]], when at least one thunderclast participated in the main attack, easily breaking down the city wall and decimating numerous buildings in its wake.{{book ref|sa3|83}}{{book ref|sa3|epilogue}}

In the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]], Odium called two singer souls -- [[Kai-garnis]] and [[Yushah]] -- to create thunderclasts. After Yushah broke through the wall, he sent her after the [[Thaylen Gemstone Reserve]] while Kai-garnis went assist the [[Fused]] in taking the [[Thaylen City]] [[Oathgate]]. Both were eventually taken down; Yushah is killed by [[Szeth]] and [[Nightblood]], while Kai-garnis is banished by [[Renarin]], with [[Adolin]]'s and [[Hrdalm]]'s assistance.{{book ref|sa3|117}}{{book ref|sa3|120}}

== Known thunderclasts ==
* [[Kai-garnis]]
* [[Yushah]]

== Notes ==
<references />
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{{Stormlight}}
[[Category: Myths and Legends]]