Vyre's knife

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Vyre's knife
Mad Herald by Xabi Gazte.jpg
Type Weapons
Owner Vyre
World of Origin Roshar
Universe Cosmere

Vyre's knife is a bright golden raysium blade with a sapphire set into the pommel, used to kill the Herald Jezrien and trap his soul so that he couldn't be reborn.[1][2]

HistoryEdit

 
Hnanan giving the knife to Moash/Vyre

The circumstances of the knife's creation are unknown. It was given by the Fused Hnanan to Moash (later known as Vyre). Hnanan told Moash that Odium had tasked him with killing a god; Moash noted that the Fused appeared to be afraid of using the knife on Jezrien themselves. Moash then used the knife to kill Jezrien. After the murder, Moash removed the knife from Jezrien's body, but the subsequent fate of the knife is unknown.[1]

MechanicsEdit

The knife can kill a Herald by trapping the soul, preventing the Herald from returning to Braize as a "conventional" Herald death would.[3] Jezrien, while initially in a drunken stupor, quickly realizes that something about this death is different and claims to feel the knife drawing something from him into itself. Shalash and Kalak likewise instantly distinguishes it from previous deaths, as they could no longer sense Jezrien's soul.[1][4]

The knife "traps" the soul so it can't be reborn.[3] It functions by absorbing all of the Investiture that makes up the Cognitive Shadow of a Herald, running it down the length of the blade and into the gemstone set into the pommel.[1][2] This process operates under similar principles to the Scadrian manifestation of Investiture known as Hemalurgy,[5] where practitioners are able to steal part of an individual's spiritweb using metal spikes.[6] It would cause debate among cosmere philosophers whether the knife's magical properties are in fact Hemalurgy or rather a related, but distinct, phenomenon.[7]

Following Jezrien's death, the sapphire set into the knife takes on a "subdued glow". The sapphire in the knife's hilt is specifically for Jezrien.[8] Whether the use of that specific polestone is mechanically relevant or only symbolic is unknown.

The knife shares characteristics with Nightblood, as they both bleed black smoke and leave blackened wounds.[9][1]

NotesEdit

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This article was complete and reviewed prior to Rhythm of War, but now needs to be updated.