Order of Bondsmiths
| Order of Bondsmiths | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| |||
| Herald | Ishar | ||
| Spren | Unknown | ||
| Surges | Tension & Adhesion | ||
| Plate spren | Unknown | ||
| World of Origin | Roshar | ||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||
The Order of Bondsmiths is an order of the Knights Radiant on Roshar.[1]
The Bondsmiths are Surgebinders who use the Surges of Tension & Adhesion[2] and absorbed Stormlight from gems. Adhesion gives the power that Windrunners such as Kaladin call a full lashing (per the WoR appendix), but otherwise it is not known what powers the Bondsmiths had.[1] The exact nature of the Nahel bond that Bondsmiths share with their specific spren is unclear, as it may or may not be similar to other orders of the Knights Radiant.
Historical
In the time before the Recreance the order was very small and likely the smallest with only 3 members.
Known Bondsmiths
- Dalinar Kholin has been confirmed to be a member of this order.[3]
Ideals of the Bondsmiths
The Ideals of the Knights Radiant, also known as the Immortal Words, are a set of rules by which the Radiant lived. The First Ideal, identical for all orders of the Radiants, is used as their motto. Each of the Radiant Orders then had an additional four ideals that were unique to each order.
The First Ideal
“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination. ”
—The First Ideal of the Knights Radiant[4]
The Second Ideal
“I will unite instead of divide. I will bring men together. ”
—The Second Ideal of the Bondsmiths[3]
Powers
The Bondsmiths use the Surges of Tension and Adhesion.
Adhesion is what Windrunners call a Full Lashing. The powers of Tension have not yet been unexplained.
Speculation on the powers of Bondsmiths
While Bondsmiths' exact powers are unknown, clues from the text make it obvious that the Bondsmiths' powers involve binding things. Additionally, some ideas about their powers can be inferred from their Surges.
Binding people → The text suggests that this applies to oaths and the bonds between people (presumably with with oaths). This would make the Bondsmiths an integral part in the efforts to unify all the different surgebinders under the banner of the Knights Radiant; indeed, Ishar, the Heraldic patron of the Bondsmiths, is said to have been the one who originally forced organization on the early surgebinders.[5] Some theories suggest that the Bondsmiths' power to bind others may compel its them to obey their oaths in a manner similar to the Oath Rod from the Wheel of Time series (see reference for a description of an Oath Rod and its abilities)[6].
Other Abilities → Bondsmiths probably have other powers in addition to their ability to bind people with oaths. Hints at what these powers might include are given by the Surges available to Bondsmiths:
Adhesion: the property of different molecules (or surfaces) that causes them to cling to one another. So, adhesion "binds" two unlike things together.
Tension: Tension is the force that is transmitted through a string, rope, cable or wire when it is pulled tight by forces acting from opposite ends. The tension force is directed along the length of the wire and pulls equally on the objects attached to opposite ends of the wire. So, tension is the force (applied along a connection) that holds two objects together.
Tension grants the ability to connect objects and adhesion grants the ability to attach one object to another; any physical application of these two abilities could conceivably be in the Bondsmiths' toolbox.
Adhesive Abilities → For example, it is noted above that Bondsmiths share the surge of adhesion with Windrunners, so Bondsmiths are probably capable of using full lashings.
Tensional Abilities → These are the abilities that allow Bondsmiths to unite others; tension grants the ability to connect people through a common bond or oath. Presumably tension would also grant a Bondsmith the power to connect things through adhesion.
Combined Abilities → It is also possible that Bondsmiths will have powers similar to those of Lurchers from Mistborn. Since lurchers essentially use investiture to connect themselves to metallic objects and then pull - or affix - that object to themselves, it makes sense for Bondsmiths to be able to do something similar. These "lurcher" powers would not be limited to metal, but their applicability would presumably be limited to objects of different kinds (since tension is paired with adhesion - the ability to affix unlike objects to one another - for Bondsmiths).
Shards & Spren → The Bondsmiths are unique in that they have a maximum of three members, and all three are bonded to a single spren (presumably the Stormfather given Dalinar's experience). The Stormfather told Dalinar that he would be a knight without shards which would make sense in an order where multiple knights were bonded to a single spren; such an order would either have no shard or would have to share the same set of shards.
Quotes
“But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. ”
“So Melishi retired to his tent, and resolved to destroy the Voidbringers upon the next day, but that night did present a different stratagem, related to the unique abilities of the Bondsmiths; and being hurried, he could make no specific account of his process; it was related to the very nature of the Heralds and their divine duties, an attribute the Bondsmiths alone could address. ”
Theories and Speculation
It has been theorized that each Bondsmith shares a Nahel bond with a specific "godspren" -- in other words, the cognitive representation of the people of Roshar's gods. This might explain why Bondsmiths are said to have bound such "specific" spren, and also why there were always so few Bondsmiths at any given time. Presumably, this would be due to that fact that there would only be as many powerful "godspren" at any given time as there were heavily worshipped gods on Roshar. Honor (i.e. The Almighty) and Cultivation are two obvious candidates for having "godspren." Indeed, The Stormfather is already confirmed to be the "godspren" of Honor.[citation needed] Who the other worshipped god could be on Roshar is unclear at this point.
It should be noted that "pious" is the primary divine attribute of Ishar, the Herald of the Order of Bondsmiths. This would seem to fit with the idea of Bondsmiths sharing a Nahel bond with "godspren."
Notes
- ↑ a b there is an order called Bondsmiths
— 17th Shard forums - 2013-10-14# Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "17s-topic-4258" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Seattle Signing Report
— 17th Shard forums - 2013-10-14# - ↑ a b Words of Radiance chapter 89#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 59#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 42 epigraph#
- ↑ [wot.wikia.com/wiki/Binding_rod Oath Rod]
— {{{site}}} # - ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 44 epigraph#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 58 epigraph#