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Difference between revisions of "Herald"
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|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
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{{quote
|The Heralds, they were honorable. Perhaps not as divine, but I may even like them more, to know they were once just normal men and women.
|[[Dalinar]] about the Heralds{{book ref|sa3|38}}}}
The '''Heralds''' are servants of [[the Almighty]] worshipped
== History ==
The appearance of the Heralds is known to announce the coming of a [[Desolation]]. Between Desolations, the Heralds are trapped in [[Braize]], or Damnation, being tortured by [[voidspren]]. Heralds that die during a Desolation are sent back to Braize; those that survive are supposed to go back voluntarily. The Heralds being there, as established by the [[Oathpact]], prevents the voidspren from returning to Roshar and inhabiting the parshmen, turning them into Voidbringers.
==
=== Resurrection ===
Heralds are [[cognitive shadow]]s capable of repeatedly returning back to life.{{wob ref|4024}} While alive, they do not age, allowing them to live for millennia.{{book ref|sa3|117}} Upon death, they are transported to [[Braize]], when they are tortured until one of them breaks. When that happens, they are returned back to life on [[Roshar]].{{book ref|sa3|38}} This process isn't well-understood, though one thing that is certain about it is that unlike the [[Fused]], the Heralds do not hijack human bodies to resurrect.{{wob ref|12029}} Unlike similar resurrected entities, like the [[Nalthis|Nalthian]] [[Returned]], the Heralds don't have to consume [[Investiture]] in order to remain alive.{{wob ref|10581}}
This ability to resurrect makes the Heralds essentially immortal. Until very recently, there was no way to kill them permanently; as of right now, the only weapon known to be able to put them down for good is [[Vyre's knife]].{{book ref|sa3|121}}
On the other hand, their nature as cognitive shadows ties the Heralds to Roshar -- while they can travel between Roshar and Braize, they cannot leave the greater [[Rosharan system]].{{wob ref|1537}}
=== Surgebinding ===
In addition, each Heralds wields an [[Honorblade]], a sword similar in function to a [[Shardblade]], albeit far more powerful.{{book ref|sa|part=prelude}} Honorblades can be bonded with like regular Shardblades, and allow their wielders to utilize two [[Surge]]s each.{{book ref|sa3|16}} As such, each Herald had access to two Surges. Occassionally, they would swap their Honorblades between each other, allowing them to use other Surges for some time.{{wob ref|3564}}
[[Spren]] would later copy this ability, thus creating the [[Knights Radiant]], with each order matching the powers of one of the Heralds.{{book ref|sa2|87}} The Radiants have some powers that the Heralds lack -- for example, the Heralds did not have [[squire]]s.{{wob ref|3958}} However, unlike the Knights, the Heralds were powered directly by [[Honor]], and had access to raw levels of power that no Radiant could possibly match.{{wob ref|1572}}{{wob ref|10331}} Additionally, they didn't need to draw Stormlight from gems, which implies they could've drawn it directly from their bond with Honor.{{wob ref|2549}}
=== Other ===
Apart from the Surges, Heralds get a number of other advantages, although what precisely they are is uncertain.{{wob ref|3623}}{{wob ref|6898}} It's possible that those include superhuman speed and reflexes.{{book ref|sa2|88}} However, they are also said to have no innate powers, suggesting that whatever they can do is the result of either their connection to Honor or their own experience.{{wob ref|1050}} Moreover, each Herald had their own field of expertise, such as medicine or smithing, and the knowledge of how to teach those skills to others.{{book ref|sa3|47}}
Some
== Heralds of the Almighty ==
== Trivia ==
* In ''[[The Way of Kings Prime]]'', the Heralds reincarnated by taking the body of a Rosharan, similar to the [[Fused]], but this is no longer how they return.{{wob ref|12029}}
* Also in ''[[The Way of Kings Prime]]'', the Heralds were capable of sensing the location of the Honorblades, although that ability appears to have been dropped when the story changed into its current form.{{wob ref|11609}}
== Notes ==
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