Nahel bond

Nahel bond
Related to	Surgebinding, Honor, Cultivation
World of Origin	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

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The Nahel bond is a connection between a sentient spren and a human or singer. This bond is a symbiotic relationship, granting the human participant the power of Surgebinding and the spren participant the ability to manifest into the Physical Realm and retain their mind. At least part of the bond is dependent on the use of Connection and Identity, since storing those attributes into a metalmind will affect the bond.

Originally, the Nahel bond granted power to individuals with no affiliation with one another. Eventually, the Knights Radiant were formed and the Surgebinders were gathered into ten different Orders of Knights, each Order's members bonded to the same type of spren.

A Nahel bond can theoretically be passed from one person to another, similar to that of a seon. In fact, this has happened a few times in the past.

Formation of the Bond

Spren seem to bond with people who share in their perspective or personality. However, some types of spren are more discerning than others when choosing their human partners. Additionally, some types of spren are more free-spirited and choose the humans that they bond with individually. Others are more organized and will choose a human to bond with by committee, then send one of their members to the chosen human.

Limitations of the Bond

Spren bond with people that share beliefs similar to the spren's own concept. As the bond progresses, the holder of the bond will move along a path bringing the holder's thinking more in line with the spren they are bonded to. Each Ideal said by the Radiant progresses the bond. Only the first Ideal is said by all Radiants, as the later ideals are Order specific. Lightweavers say Truths rather than Ideals. Without saying the words, the Radiant's ability to use Stormlight will not increase. If the Radiant stops acting according to their oaths, they will weaken or completely destroy the bond, which can result in killing the spren.

Powers Granted by the Bond

The Nahel bond grants the human the ability to Surgebind. Surgebinding allows one to use Stormlight, which grants superhuman abilities to the user, such as increased strength, agility, and healing abilities. It also perfects innate skills of the user but does not grant additional skills; for example, an expert spearman will become a spearman without equal, but will not become a master swordsman.^{[citation needed]} In addition, Stormlight fuels the primary magic of Surgebinding: the usage of Surges.

Each type of spren will grant its human Surgebinder two different Surges. Which two is decided by the type of spren to which they are bonded, and thus, which Order of Knights they belong to. There are ten different types of surges, and ten different Orders of Knights, so each Surge is used by exactly two different Orders. The people who bond spren share a Cognitive connection with their bond partners, which allows them to recognize each other and communicate telepathically.^{[citation needed]}.

Some Orders have additional, unique abilities known as resonances, that occur due to the combination of their Surges, such as the Windrunners increased number of squires and Lightweavers mnemonic abilities. This is a result of the two Surges interacting to producing an effect rather than being directly caused by the Nahel bond. However, as Herald's such as Jezrien did not have access to the Windrunner resonance, the bond may facilitate access to this resonance.

When the Nahel bond is at a sufficient strength, the bonded spren can instantly manifest itself as a Shardblade, in any number of forms. For example, when Kaladin and Syl are in battle, Syl is able to manifest herself as a sword, a spear, and a shield. Lift proved during Edgedancer that spren can manifest as non-weapons, when Wyndle manifested as a fork. A human using a Shardblade without a Nahel bond (these Shardblades are dead spren) must wait ten heartbeats before the summoning will take place, and are limited to using the Shardblade in the form of a large sword, as Shardblades were patterned after the original Honorblades.

The Nahel Bond also grants the ability for spren to manifest themselves into the Physical Realm, outside of the form of a Shardblade. Additionally, the spren gains greater self-awareness, intelligence, and access to their memories the stronger their bond is with their human.

Severing the Bond

The only known way to sever a Nahel bond is for a Surgebinder to act in a manner contrary to the limitations of the bond.^{[disputed][citation needed]} This can kill the spren, sending them back to the Cognitive Realm. Revival is possible, but difficult. It is even more difficult for the spren to bond with a different person after severing the bond, and they will only do this if the person they originally bonded with is dead.^{[citation needed]} While difficult, it is possible for a spren to safely break the bond on their own.

Notable Surgebinders and Spren

Surgebinder	Order	Spren type	Spren
Kaladin	Windrunner	Honorspren	Syl
Shallan	Lightweaver	Cryptic	Pattern
Jasnah	Elsecallers	Inkspren	Ivory
Renarin	Truthwatcher	unknown	Glys
Dalinar	Bondsmith	unique	Stormfather
Lift	Edgedancer	Cultivationspren	Wyndle
Stump	Truthwatcher	unknown	unknown
Malata	Dustbringer	Ashspren	Spark
Lopen	Windrunner	Honorspren	Rua
Teft	Windrunner	Honorspren	unknown
Drehy	Windrunner	Honorspren	unknown
Szeth	Skybreaker	Highspren	unknown
Hoid	Lightweaver	Cryptic	unknown
Venli	Willshaper	Lightspren	Timbre
Tien	Lightweaver	Cryptic	unknown
Ki	Skybreaker	Highspren	Winnow
Warren	Skybreaker	Highspren	unknown
Nale	Skybreaker	Highspren	unknown

Quotes

“Alakavish was a Surgebinder and yet the Nahel bond gave him no more wisdom than a regular man”

—Nohadon on the bond

“The responsibility of what we've been given — whether it be the crown or the Nahel bond — needs to make us better”

—Nohadon on the bond

Trivia

• The word "Nahel" is a Rosharan word that means "the bond to divinity", while the word "bond" was added to the term to avoid confusing readers.

Notes

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