Honorblade

The Coppermind has spoilers for all of Brandon's published works, now including The Sunlit Man. Information about books that have not yet been released, like Stormlight 5, is allowed only on meta-pages for the books themselves. For more details, see our spoiler policy. To view an earlier version of the wiki without spoilers for a book, go to the Time Machine!

Honorblade
Broken Oath by Antti Hakosaari.jpg
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[1]

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.[2]

MechanicsEdit

 
Szeth using Jezrien's Honorblade

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

Syl [1]

There are ten Honorblades total, one for each Herald. Every Honorblade is unique, covered in various glyphs and patterns.[3] They are technically a type of Shardblade; they were prototypes of the Knight Radiant Shardblades, and share many qualities with them.[4] Among others, they can be bonded, summoned and dismissed much like a Shardblade can.[5] Like living Shardblades, they can be used to operate Oathgates.[6] Unlike living Shardblades, they cannot change shape.[7] 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.[7][8][9] They are near-indestructible, with the only thing known to be capable of damaging them being Nightblood.[9] Honorblades are made out of the God Metal of Honor.[10]

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.[6][10] Honorblades are self-aware, but it is currently unknown to what extent.[11] In this sense, Honorblades are comparable to the blade wielded by Azure, which is also known to posses an unknown level of sapience.[12][13]

One does not need to be a Herald in order to use an Honorblade.[14] Likewise, a Herald dying does not cause the Honorblade to be destroyed or vanish.[15] 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.[3]

SurgebindingEdit

Holding an Honorblade inherently grants the ability to Surgebind without a Nahel bond.[16][17] This ability is similar to that of unsealed metalminds, though they rely on different magic systems.[18]

Honorblade Surgebinding is in many ways inferior to Radiant Surgebinding; among others, the Surgebinding healing bestowed by Honorblades is less efficient than Radiant healing.[5] Additionally, Surges require more Stormlight as fuel to power them, up to dangerous levels.[19][20] While the latter still applies to the Heralds, they were once powered directly by Honor, which made the issue of Stormlight consumption irrelevant.[2]

If a Surgebinder uses an Honorblade that matches the power they already have, their powers will be slightly enhanced.[21]

HistoryEdit

 
by Micah Epstein
The Heralds leaving their Blades behind at Aharietiam

Heralds and ShinovarEdit

Our Blades must be left. The Oathpact ends now.

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.[22] Talenel's Honorblade disappeared back to Braize along with him.[3]

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.[23][24] Over the millennia, they retained the Blades, and even occasionally used them, most notably during the Shin invasions.[25] Even after the invasions failed, they would still train some of their people in the use of the Blades and the associated Surges.[19]

At some point, the Herald Nale reclaimed his own Blade from the Shin, leaving them with eight.[24]

War of ReckoningEdit

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.[26] Upon becoming the Truthless, Szeth kept his blade.[5][27][26] 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.[5][28][29]

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.[30] 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.[31] 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.[1]

The True DesolationEdit

Kaladin later passed the Honorblade to Dalinar, who hid it in one of the vents in Urithiru.[6] After a while, he gave it to Bridge Four, to use for training and Oathgate operation in absence of their leader.[32] The bridgemen would swap the Blade among themselves every once in a while in order to hide who currently had it and remain unpredictable.[33]

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.[34] 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.[15]

At some point very recently, Ishar killed Neturo-son-Vallano and took back his Blade.[35][9]

BladesEdit

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.[24] At some point Nale returned to reclaim his Blade.[36]
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.[37][38] 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.[39][38] 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.[40][38] None
Talenel Unknown Cohesion & Tension Long, molten, and nail-like[41][42] The Blade Taln returns with is not the same one he has later.[23]
Ishar Ishar (reclaimed) Tension & Adhesion Sinuous and lined with glyphs[9] Previously kept by Neturo until his death.[9]

TriviaEdit

  • In The Way of Kings Prime, Honorblades allowed their wielders to locate other Honorblades.[43] This has since been removed.
  • Honorblades are somewhat self aware,[11] though they lack a spren manifestation and have never been noted to talk to people.

NotesEdit

  1. a b c Words of Radiance chapter 87#
  2. a b Boskone 54
    Arcanum - 2017-02-17#
  3. a b c d Prelude to the Stormlight Archive#
  4. Oathbringer Chicago signing
    Arcanum - 2017-11-21#
  5. a b c d The Way of Kings prologue#
  6. a b c Oathbringer chapter 16#
  7. a b Rhythm of War interlude I-4#
  8. Orem Signing
    Arcanum - 2019-03-16#
  9. a b c d e Rhythm of War chapter 111#
  10. a b San Diego Comic-Con@Home 2020
    Arcanum - 2020-07-23#
  11. a b Dragonsteel 2022
    Arcanum - 2022-11-15#
  12. Orem signing
    Arcanum - 2017-12-21#
  13. Oathbringer chapter 108#
  14. Goodreads WoK Fantasy Book Club Q&A
    Arcanum - 2010-12-01#
  15. a b Oathbringer chapter 122#
  16. A Memory of Light Milford Signing
    Arcanum - 2013-02-16#
  17. Words of Radiance interlude I-1#
  18. Orem signing
    Arcanum - 2018-03-10#
  19. a b Oathbringer chapter 98#
  20. General Reddit 2017
    Arcanum - 2017-09-08#
  21. Words of Radiance Houston signing
    Arcanum - 2014-03-11#
  22. Dragonsteel 2023
    Arcanum - 2023-11-21#
  23. a b Oathbringer chapter 38#
  24. a b c Oathbringer chapter 106#
  25. Stuttgart signing
    Arcanum - 2019-05-17#
  26. a b Rhythm of War interlude I-7#
  27. Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017
    Arcanum - 2017-09-21#
  28. The Way of Kings interlude I-9#
  29. Words of Radiance interlude I-9#
  30. The Way of Kings epilogue#
  31. Words of Radiance chapter 76#
  32. Oathbringer chapter 64#
  33. Oathbringer chapter 96#
  34. Oathbringer interlude I-14#
  35. Rhythm of War interlude I-9#
  36. Arcanum Unbounded signing Fort Collins
    Arcanum - 2016-11-29#
  37. Chanarach Endsheet.png
  38. a b c Broken Oath by Antti Hakosaari.jpg
  39. Pailiah Endsheet.png
  40. Kalak Endsheet.png
  41. YouTube Livestream 3
    Arcanum - 2020-01-25#
  42. Taln Endsheet
  43. Skyward San Diego signing
    Arcanum - 2018-11-07#
This article is still missing information. Please help The Coppermind by expanding it.