Awakening

Awakening
Related to	Endowment
Type	End-Neutral
World of Origin	Nalthis

Awakening is the art of giving the semblance of life to an inanimate object by infusing it with Breath.^{[citation needed]}

An Awakener can release some of their stored Breath into an object at the same time giving the object a Command. The Awakener must also be in contact with a colored object which will be drained to gray in order to fuel the Awakening in addition to the infused Breath. If the Command is valid and correctly visualised then the object will attempt to carry it out. For example, an Awakener could give a piece of rope the Command "Hold things" so that, when infused it will wrap itself around objects close to it.

The amount of Breath required to Awaken something is related to the complexity of the Command used to awaken it, to its resemblance to the human form and also to the materials in its construction.

Color as fuel

Awakening object has the additional cost of draining the color of nearby objects. There must be a source of color to Awaken - an effective way to prevent an Awakener from using his art is removing all but grey or white objects in his vicinity. Contrary to popular belief in Idris, black is a very powerful source for fueling Awakening.

The Tears of Edgli are very potent sources of Awakening fuel on account of the fact that they produce very good dyes.

Commands

The Commands used in Awakening are crucial to its success or failure. Generally they are simple, concrete ideas expressed in phrases of two words or less, usually consisting of a specific verb and a general subject (Eg., "Grab things"). While more complex Commands can be used, the more complex the Command the more difficult the visualization of the Command becomes.

Advanced Commands tend to be jealously guarded by Awakeners.

Basic Commands

The first and most important Command is the one that allows any human being to give their Breath to another human being. This movement of Breath is not technically part of the art of Awakening, but it is a vocal Command that moves Breath, and is the foundation for Awakening. (Note that this Command transfers all of a person's Breath at once, whether the person holds only one Breath or a thousand)

• "My life to yours, my Breath become yours."

When an Awakener is done with an Awakened object, they must touch the object and speak this Command to retrieve their Breath. (Note that this Command may only be used by the Awakener who Awakened the object, no one else may retrieve Breaths from an Awakened object)

• "Your Breath to mine."

Simple Commands

Simple Commands are composed of a verb and a subject. Examples in Warbreaker include:

• "Grab things" "Hold things" (used most often on rope)
• "Protect me" (both Vivenna and Vasher are seen using this command on their cloaks)
• "Attack and grab Denth!" (while this contains two commands, one can easily see the visualization for both being rather the same, so this is probably a simple command. On the other hand, Vivenna is of the royal line and so Awakening is said to come easier to her; this command may have been more complex than it seems)

Advanced Commands

• "Upon call, become my fingers and grip that which I must"
• "Become as my legs and give them strength"
• "Fight for me, as if you were me"
• "Fetch keys" "Find tunnels" (both of these Commands appear simple, but the visualizations required are actually quite complex)
• "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and my word." (The Command to create Lifeless. Although it is not specifically identified as such, this is most likely the Command that was invented by the Five Scholars that allowed the creation of Lifeless with only one Breath, something Brandon Sanderson says was one of the events that led to the Manywar)