Honorblade

Honorblade
by Antti Hakosaari
Related to	Heralds, Oathpact
World of Origin	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

“Honor gave these to men, and those men gained powers from them. Spren figured out what He'd done, and we imitated it. ”

—Syl

The Honorblades are the magical swords carried by the Heralds to fight the Voidbringers during the Desolations. They were pieces of Honor's soul that gave their wielders access to his essence.

Mechanics

by Ari Ibarra

Szeth using Jezrien's Honorblade

“With this sword, someone can do what you can, but without the . . . checks a spren requires. ”

—Syl

There are ten Honorblades total, one for each Herald. Every Honorblade is unique, covered in various glyphs and patterns. They are technically a type of Shardblade; they were prototypes of the Knight Radiant Shardblades, and share many qualities with them. Among others, they can be bonded, summoned and dismissed much like a Shardblade can. Like living Shardblades, they can be used to operate Oathgates. Unlike living Shardblades, they cannot change shape. It's unclear if they require ten heartbeats to be summoned, like dead Blades, or if they can appear instantly; this is likely tied to their wielders' perception. They are near-indestructible, with the only thing known to be capable of damaging them being Nightblood. Honorblades are made out of the God Metal of Honor.

Unlike Shardblades, however, Honorblades do not manifest as spren in the Cognitive Realm. Rather, they are made of Honor's own Investiture, which he deliberately splintered off himself and crystallized into metallic form. Honorblades are self-aware, but it is currently unknown to what extent. In this sense, Honorblades are comparable to the blade wielded by Azure, which is also known to posses an unknown level of sapience.

One does not need to be a Herald in order to use an Honorblade. Likewise, a Herald dying does not cause the Honorblade to be destroyed or vanish. However, the Honorblades do go with the Heralds when they travel to Braize, and they appear to have a crucial role in the Oathpact, as nine of the Heralds leave them behind in the Aharietiam.

Surgebinding

Holding an Honorblade inherently grants the ability to Surgebind without a Nahel bond. This ability is similar to that of unsealed metalminds, though they rely on different magic systems.

Honorblade Surgebinding is in many ways inferior to Radiant Surgebinding; among others, the Surgebinding healing bestowed by Honorblades is less efficient than Radiant healing. Additionally, Surges require more Stormlight as fuel to power them, up to dangerous levels. While the latter still applies to the Heralds, they were once powered directly by Honor, which made the issue of Stormlight consumption irrelevant.

If a Surgebinder uses an Honorblade that matches the power they already have, their powers will be slightly enhanced.

History

by Micah Epstein

The Heralds leaving their Blades behind at Aharietiam

Heralds and Shinovar

“Our Blades must be left. The Oathpact ends now. ”

—Jezrien

It's unknown at what point the Heralds received their Honorblades, although it likely happened during the creation of the Oathpact. They used them throughout the Desolations until the Aharietiam, whereupon nine of them left them at the site of the final battle before walking away from the Oathpact, feeling that as they had broken it, they no longer deserved the Honorblades. Talenel's Honorblade disappeared back to Braize along with him.

After the Heralds departed, one of the Shin soldiers who participated in the battle stumbled upon them. Likely because of this, the nine Honorblades ended up in Shinovar. Over the millennia, they retained the Blades, and even occasionally used them, most notably during the Shin invasions. Even after the invasions failed, they would still train some of their people in the use of the Blades and the associated Surges.

At some point, the Herald Nale reclaimed his own Blade from the Shin, leaving them with eight.

War of Reckoning

A few years before the War of Reckoning broke out, Szeth's family was given to the Honorblades. Szeth became the bearer of Jezrien's; his father Neturo-son-Vallano became the bearer of Ishar's. Upon becoming the Truthless, Szeth kept his blade. The Blade would go on to cut a swath through the Rosharan leadership as Szeth became the infamous Assassin in White. Among others, Gavilar Kholin, Hanavanar of Jah Keved and two Prime Aqasixes of Azir fell to Jezrien's Honorblade.

At roughly the same time, the Herald Talenel returned from Braize, carrying his own Honorblade. He dropped it upon entering Kholinar, but for unknown reasons, it didn't vanish. Talenel was later collected by one of Dalinar Kholin's soldiers, Bordin, to be brought to the Shattered Plains. The Blade was taken along with them; however, at some point during the transit, it was swapped out for a regular Shardblade. It's unknown at this point who performed the swap and where the real Honorblade is currently located.

During the Battle of Narak, Szeth used Jezrien's Honorblade to battle Kaladin above the Plains. At the end of the fight, Szeth unbonded it and it ended up in Kaladin's hands.

The True Desolation

Kaladin later passed the Honorblade to Dalinar, who hid it in one of the vents in Urithiru. After a while, he gave it to Bridge Four, to use for training and Oathgate operation in absence of their leader. The bridgemen would swap the Blade among themselves every once in a while in order to hide who currently had it and remain unpredictable.

Despite that, agents of the Diagram managed to figure out the time when Eth held the Honorblade and attacked him. They snuck up to him with Teft's sold-off uniform coat, then killed him with a Shardblade and stole the Honorblade before running off. Taravangian later gave the Blade to Odium at the latter's demands. The Blade was later given to Leshwi, who passed it onto Moash to allow him to join the Fused in the skies.

At some point very recently, Ishar killed Neturo-son-Vallano and took back his Blade.

Blades

Original Herald	Current Owner	Surges Granted	Appearance	Notes
Jezrien	Moash	Adhesion & Gravitation	Short, thin, & double-edged	Formerly held by the Stone Shamans, Szeth, and various members of Bridge Four.
Nale	Nale (Reclaimed)	Gravitation & Division	Straight and unornamented, with two slits down its length.	At some point Nale returned to reclaim his Blade.
Chanarach	Stone Shamans	Division & Abrasion	Medium-long and thin, with a single slit down its length all the way to the tip. The area just above the hilt is heavily ornamented.	None
Vedel	Stone Shamans	Abrasion & Progression	Unknown	None
Pailiah	Stone Shamans	Progression & Illumination	Very slender and curved, with large ornamental flairs, including a small hole, near the hilt.	None
Shalash	Stone Shamans	Illumination & Transformation	Unknown	None
Battar	Stone Shamans	Transformation & Transportation	Unknown	None
Kalak	Stone Shamans	Transportation & Cohesion	Flat and wide, with several roughly circular holes along the length. Examples of in-world art sometimes depicts these holes as holding gems. The blade's tip is semicircular and the hilt is meant for wielding with both hands.	None
Talenel	Unknown	Cohesion & Tension	Long, molten, and nail-like	The Blade Taln returns with is not the same one he has later.
Ishar	Ishar (reclaimed)	Tension & Adhesion	Sinuous and lined with glyphs	Previously kept by Neturo until his death.

Trivia

• In The Way of Kings Prime, Honorblades allowed their wielders to locate other Honorblades. This has since been removed.
• Honorblades are somewhat self aware, though they lack a spren manifestation and have never been noted to talk to people.

Notes

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