Honor
| Honor | |
|---|---|
 by botanicaxu
| |
| Vessel | Tanavast |
| Slivers | Stormfather[1] |
| Splinters | Spren |
| Status | Splintered |
| Perpendicularity | Honor's Perpendicularity |
| Magics | Surgebinding[2] |
| Residence | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
“I am . . . I was . . . God. The one you call the Almighty, the creator of mankind. And now I am dead. Odium has killed me. I am sorry. ”
Honor is one of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium, and one of the three, alongside Cultivation and Odium, present in the Rosharan system. The original Vessel of Honor was called Tanavast. Following his death at the hands of Odium, Honor was Splintered.[4] Honor’s Investiture is typically associated with the color blue-white.[5]
Intent[edit]
Honor seeks to uphold oaths and agreements, and to bind things together. Many, such as the Fused, consider it to extend to a cosmic sense of justice and order, as well as the natural laws of the universe.[6][7][expand]
Associated magic[edit]
Stormlight[edit]
Stormlight is a gaseous form of Investiture associated with Honor. It was not created by him, as a proto-version of it existed prior to his arrival on Roshar, but in the present day, it has been subsumed into him.[8] The largest Splinter of Honor, the Stormfather, is responsible for creating and maintaining the highstorms that bring stormlight.[9][10]
Stormlight is crucial to the Rosharan ecosystem. Numerous animals form bonds with lesser spren, which most likely require Stormlight as fuel. Moreover, large quantities of Stormlight are necessary for singers to change forms.[11] In Shadesmar, spren derive sustenance from Stormlight.[12] While humans do not normally utilize Stormlight themselves, its presence makes them significantly healthier.[13]
God Metal[edit]
Honorblades are made out of the God Metal of Honor.[14]
Shardblades and Shardplate are both made out of a mixture of the unnamed God Metals of Honor and Cultivation. The precise proportion of the two differs depending on the type of spren that forms the Blade, or the order to which the Plate belongs; as such, there are at least ten alloys.[15][16][17]
Surgebinding[edit]
Surgebinding is a magic system derived from both Honor and Cultivation.[2] To utilize it, a person must bond a higher spren, which allows them to inhale Stormlight and use it to control Surges, a set of ten fundamental forces, although a single spren bond allows access to only two of them.[18] Some Surges favor Honor, and others Cultivation, although only Adhesion is 'purely' of Honor.[19]
Apart from spren bonds, Honor can also grant the use of Surgebinding through the Honorblades, weapons made out of his Investiture.[20] Like spren, each Honorblade grants access to only one pair of Surges; in fact, Surgebinding came about as spren attempted to imitate the Honorblades.[21]
Spren[edit]
Spren are Splinters holding the Investitures of both Honor and Cultivation, though in different proportions depending on the type of spren. Some spren are of pure Honor or pure Cultivation, though which type gets to call themselves "closest to Honor" is a matter of some debate among their society.[22]
The most notable spren of Honor is the Stormfather. Unlike most other spren, Stormfather was created by Honor intentionally; moreover, he has merged with Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow, granting him greater access to the Spiritual Realm.[10][23]
Direct intervention[edit]
Honor's particular intent lends itself well to binding and forming bonds. Among others, he bound Heralds to himself and tied them to the cycle of Desolations, creating the Oathpact to protect Roshar.[24] He also tied Odium to the greater Rosharan system through some other means, making it impossible for Rayse to depart unless either the planet is destroyed or whoever holds the largest remnant of Honor's power willingly releases him.[25][26]
History[edit]
Creation[edit]
The Shard of Honor was created, like all others, at the Shattering of Adonalsium, and picked up by Tanavast. Though the Shards had an agreement to go their own separate ways, he and Cultivation traveled together to the Rosharan system.[27][28] However, whatever the actual text of the agreement, Honor did not consider his actions to be breaking it, or exploiting a loophole in it.[29] The reason for that could be that Tanavast and Koravellium Avast were romantically involved.[30]
God of Roshar[edit]
On Roshar, Honor and Cultivation became the gods of the singers, a native Rosharan species. An unknown period of time later, human refugees arrived from Ashyn, seeking help after accidentally destroying their own world, and the two permitted them to settle on the planet, likely in the region now called Shinovar. Unfortunately, along with them came Odium, who by that point had murdered three other Shards -- Dominion, Devotion and Ambition -- and was now gunning for either Honor, Cultivation, or both.[31][32] When the relations between humans and singers of Roshar broke down, singers turned to Odium to help them, leading to the creation of the Fused, Cognitive Shadows of singers who could be reborn into the bodies of their kinsmen every time they died.[24]
To help the people of Roshar, Honor created the Heralds, binding ten people to himself and giving them similar resurrective ability, although one that did not require body snatching.[24] Moreover, he bound Odium to the Rosharan system, making it impossible for him to leave.[21] Unfortunately for him, the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact after numerous Desolations in the event known as the Aharietiam.[33] Sometime afterwards, Odium succeeded at Splintering him.[4][34]
Death[edit]
“I remember at the end Honor was more obsessed with oaths. There were times when the oath itself was more important than the meaning behind it. But he was not a passionless monster. He loved humankind. He died defending you. ”
—The Stormfather[31]
Honor's death, however, was a protracted event.[35] Before passing away fully, Honor took some measures to help Rosharans in the future. Chief among them was leaving behind a series of visions to warn of the possibility of the True Desolation, and to leave behind some information that might be helpful.[3] He prepared the Stormfather to be his inheritor, and gave him the task of choosing the possible recipients of the visions.[36] At the very end of his existence, Tanavast was still capable of communicating with humans, but by then he was raving and no longer supported the Knights Radiant.[37]
He died and his Shard was Splintered shortly after the Recreance.[37] Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow merged with the Stormfather, along with the largest portion of Honor's remaining power.[23] That remaining power is sufficient to keep Odium bound to Roshar, and the Oathpact ongoing.[26][38]
Influence[edit]
“The Almighty accepted the excellence of any man or woman, regardless of what they did. ”
Honor is well known among the Rosharan people, and worshiped as a god.[3] Vorinism calls him the Almighty and claims that he's the only deity, considering worship of Cultivation to be pagan.[40] He's believed to be the creator of both Roshar and mankind.[41] In the Vorin tradition, he has ten names, the last of which, Elithanathile, is only used by ardents, the Vorin priests.[41] It's said he resides in the hearts of all people.[42] As it's commonly believed that perceiving him directly would cause one to burst into flames from his sheer glory, he's typically represented by a divine prism with ten facets.[41][43]
Vorins believe that the Almighty is also responsible for sorting out the dead and deciding on their afterlife. The best possible outcome is to be sent to battle in Tranquiline Halls, the lost paradise, and reclaim it from the Voidbringers. To achieve this, one has to pick a Calling - a purpose in life - and a Glory, an aspect of the Almighty that one strives to emulate.[39]
Honor is also worshiped in Azir and the surrounding countries, though there he's known simply as God.[44] The singers worshiped him and Cultivation once, before the arrival of Odium.[31]
Trivia[edit]
- According to Brandon Sanderson, in Magic: The Gathering colors, Honor would be mono-white.[45]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ JordanCon 2016
— Arcanum - 2016-04-23# - ↑ a b Boskone 54
— Arcanum - 2017-02-18# - ↑ a b c The Way of Kings chapter 75#
- ↑ a b Google+ Hangout
— Arcanum - 2012-04-17# - ↑ ICon 2019
— Arcanum - 2019-10-15# - ↑ Rhythm of War chapter 31#
- ↑ YouTube Spoiler Stream 5
— Arcanum - 2022-12-02# - ↑ Emerald City Comic Con 2018
— Arcanum - 2018-03-01# - ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 83#
- ↑ a b Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing
— Arcanum - 2016-12-01# - ↑ Words of Radiance interlude I-5#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 101#
- ↑ Firefight Phoenix signing
— Arcanum - 2015-01-21# - ↑ San Diego Comic-Con@Home 2020
— Arcanum - 2020-07-23# - ↑ Skyward Pre-Release AMA
— Arcanum - 2018-10-12# - ↑ Skyward Denver signing
— Arcanum - 2018-11-15# - ↑ Arcanum Unbounded signing Hoboken
— Arcanum - 2016-12-03# - ↑ Stormblessed.com interview with Brandon Sanderson
— Arcanum - 2010-12-25# - ↑ FanX 2018
— Arcanum - 2018-09-06# - ↑ Boskone 54
— Arcanum - 2017-02-17# - ↑ a b Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing
— Arcanum - 2014-03-21# - ↑ Writing for Charity Conference
— Arcanum - 2012-03-17# - ↑ a b /r/books AMA 2015
— Arcanum - 2015-03-12# - ↑ a b c Oathbringer chapter 38#
- ↑ Shadows of Self Lansing signing
— Arcanum - 2015-10-13# - ↑ a b Oathbringer chapter 57#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 39 epigraph#
- ↑ 17th Shard Forum Q&A
— Arcanum - 2012-09-26# - ↑ Legion Release Party
— Arcanum - 2018-09-19# - ↑ Rithmatist Albuquerque signing
— Arcanum - 2013-05-22# - ↑ a b c Oathbringer chapter 111#
- ↑ Skyward Seattle signing
— Arcanum - 2018-11-10# - ↑ Prelude to the Stormlight Archive#
- ↑ Alloy of Law Los Angeles signing
— Arcanum - 2011-11-10# - ↑ Oathbringer release party
— Arcanum - 2017-11-13# - ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 89#
- ↑ a b Oathbringer chapter 113#
- ↑ Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017
— Arcanum - 2017-09-23# - ↑ a b The Way of Kings chapter 18#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 29#
- ↑ a b c The Way of Kings chapter 7#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 45#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 33#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 122#
- ↑ Skyward Pre-Release AMA
— Arcanum - 2018-10-05#