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All Lights share some characteristics with regular light (i.e. electromagnetic radiation) and matter - specifically gases and liquids - though they are neither one of these.{{book ref|sa4|65}}
The comparison between light and Light is, in some ways, the easiest to make - regular light cannot be captured in gems, and it appears to be emitted by any one of the Lights (specifically, the Lights allow the Spiritual Realm to "shine through"{{wob ref|6389}}). There are some subtle differences, however. When refracted through a prism, regular light forms a rainbow, with all colors getting an even share in the band, smoothly transitioning from one to the next; the illumination given off by the Lights, however, forms a physical impossibility - a rainbow with specific colors (e.g. blue for Stormlight) getting a larger share of the overall band.{{book ref|sa4|65}} Hybrid Lights, such as Towerlight, behave even more strangely - they split into ''two'' rainbows, matching their constituent Lights. For example, Towerlight will split into one rainbow with a wider blue band, and one with a wider green band, matching the rainbows produced by Stormlight and Lifelight.{{book ref|sa4|65}}
The similarity with liquids is more subtle, and manifests most clearly when transferring Light between gems using sound vibrations, where it behaves similarly to the way liquids can be siphoned from one container into another (though the actual mechanics behind this are different). Once the transfer begins, the Light will follow the source of the sound, much like how a liquid will flow through a siphoning tube or hose.{{book ref|sa4|42}} This parallel holds even when transferring Light directly from one gem to another using [[#The Arnist Method|the Arnist Method]], though the process there is more akin to osmosis.{{book ref|sa4|65}}
=== Interaction with Gems ===
All Lights can be stored in gems. How long a given quantity of Light will remain in a specific gem depends on the type of Light and the quality of the gem.{{book ref|sa4|16}} The rate at which a Light leaks from gemstones is not constant either - it appears slow at first, but accelerates rapidly near the end, making gems that begin to dim, dim ''fast.''{{
Light can also be transferred between gems. Prior to the occupation of Urithiru during the True Desolation, the methods of transferring Light - only Stormlight at the time - from one gem to another were closely guarded secrets of the different artifabrian communities.{{epigraph ref|sa4|3}}
There exists at least one alternative to the Arnist Method, and while it doesn't have a formal name, it is known to the Vriztl Guild of Thaylenah - and it traditionally involves tuning forks and sound. If a gem can be made to vibrate at a frequency matching one of the pure tones of Roshar, it will draw nearby Light corresponding to that Tone (e.g. a gem vibrating to Honor's tone will draw Stormlight in). To transfer Light from one gem to another, the artifabrian would first use a tuning fork matching the desired tone, and touch it against the full gemstone, making it vibrate with the same frequency. The gem and fork vibrating at a matching frequency allows the artifabrian to lead a line of Light from the full gemstone to an empty one, which - when touched by the tuning fork and also made to vibrate at the matching frequency - would proceed to siphon the Light from the originally full gem, though a small amount of Light is lost in the transfer.{{book ref|sa4|42}}{{book ref|sa4|69}}
The [[Fused]] use a similar technique to drain Stormlight from enemy Radiants.{{
=== Intent ===
== The Tones ==
One of the most unique ways the Lights of Roshar behave unlike regular matter is in the way they naturally vibrate.{{book ref|sa4|89}} Each Light vibrates at - and responds to - not only a specific frequency (matching the pure tone of its Shard), but also to a specific ''rhythm.'' For example, when singers listen to a Stormlight sphere, they can faintly hear Honor's pure tone wavering and pulsing to a stately rhythm - Honor's rhythm. Hybrid Lights, such as Towerlight and Warlight, complicate this further, as they have ''two'' tones (e.g. in the case of Towerlight, Honor's and Cultivation's), somehow different from what they would be in the constituent Lights, changed to be in harmony with one another; both tones adopt a rhythm, once again different from the rhythms of the hybrid's "components" - for example, both of Towerlight's tones vibrate to the Rhythm of the Tower.{{book ref|sa4|76}}{{book ref|sa4|110}} The combination of a Shard's tone and rhythm is sometimes referred to as the Shard's ''song.''{{book ref|sa4|83}}{{book ref|sa4|97}}{{book ref|sa4|110}}
The relationship between Lights and their tones goes in the other direction as well. The same way the harmony of a Light's tone and rhythm can be felt and heard, one can create this harmony using musical instruments, or even one's voice, and thus draw the Light in.{{book ref|sa4|69}} In fact, [[Raboniel]] speculates that the reason Light responds to sound, and the combination of a specific tone and rhythm, is because it is reminiscent of the "voice" of the Light's Shard.{{book ref|sa4|76}} The Vriztl Guild of Thaylenah, likely unaware of the Realmatic reasons behind it, has been making use of this property of Light to transfer Stormlight between gems - in their case, using tuning forks matching Honor's tone.
=== Stormlight ===
{{for|Stormlight|more information}}
Honor's Light has been a core part of life on Roshar, both literally in the renewing and refreshing energy it provides to the planet's flora and fauna, and figuratively - in the numerous ways it is being used by people in their everyday life. It is delivered primarily through the highstorms, and glows with a steady white light, with a slight, nearly imperceptible blue tint. When its illumination is split through a prism, it produces a rainbow with a larger blue band.{{book ref|sa4|65}} When drawn in and held by a Surgebinder, it encourages motion and action. Stormlight's - Honor's - rhythm is a stately one.
{{image|Rasodonar_glyph.svg|"Rasan's light"|width=130px|side=right}}
=== Towerlight ===
Towerlight is the very substance of the spren known as the [[Sibling]], and as they are the child of Honor and Cultivation, so is Towerlight the product of the melding of these two Shards' Investitures, tones, and rhythms.{{book ref|sa4|69}}{{book ref|sa4|61}} It can only be created by the [[Sibling]] and their [[Bondsmith]], though the imprisonment of [[Ba-Ado-Mishram]] rendered them unable to produce more than small amounts - enough to power only the most essential of [[Urithiru]]'s [[fabrial]]s;{{book ref|sa4|69}} a deficiency that appears to have ended when [[Navani Kholin]] became the Sibling's current Bondsmith. A key factor in the creation of Towerlight is the Sibling's ability to hear both of their parents' songs - Cultivation's, which they could hear and sing on their own, and Honor's, which Navani had to provide for them.{{book ref|sa4|110}} Because of this, it is unclear whether the Sibling is truly "healed", or losing the bond - and Navani - would mean that they lose Towerlight once again.
In appearance, Towerlight resembles both Stormlight and Lifelight, as it glows with a soft blue-green light.{{book ref|sa4|61}} When split through a prism, it produces two rainbows of color, one with a wider blue band, and one with a wider green one.{{book ref|sa4|65}} Towerlight's rhythm - the Rhythm of the Tower - evokes the "boundless energy of Cultivation, always growing and changing, and the calm solidity of Honor - organized, structured."{{book ref|sa4|110}} The psychological effects of holding Towerlight are unknown.
=== Warlight ===
Unlike Towerlight, which has been known to humans and singers alike for millennia (even if knowledge of it was largely lost on Roshar after the [[Recreance]]), Warlight - the hybrid Light of Honor and Odium - is a recent discovery, one that even renowned singer scholars like [[Raboniel]] thought an impossibility. During the occupation of Urithiru Navani discovers that a human and a singer (or at least she and Raboniel) can create Warlight by allowing Stormlight and Voidlight to combine inside a gem made to vibrate to the Rhythm of War - a rhythm created by the harmony of Navani singing Honor's song and Raboniel singing Odium's; a rhythm Raboniel didn't know existed prior to these events,{{book ref|sa4|76}} and whose emotional influence she notes will be of particular interest to [[El]].{{epigraph ref|sa4|59}} It is seemingly impossible to create without both a human and a singer.{{book ref|sa4|84}}
Warlight glows with a vibrant black-blue light, and its rhythm is a burst of chaotic notes, bounded by a regular, orderly pulse. When contained in a gemstone the Light can be seen oscillating between swirling like a raging storm and then falling into a peaceful calm.{{book ref|sa4|76}}
Anti-Voidlight is the first anti-Light to be discovered on Roshar, initially discovered by King [[Gavilar Kholin]] not long before his death. His research into the Lights of Roshar and the ability to transport them between planets in the system allowed him to obtain a sphere of anti-Voidlight, which he gave to Szeth moments before dying. The sphere, and the anti-Voidlight within it, eventually lead [[Navani]] to also discover how to create anti-Light.
Anti-Voidlight glows faintly violet-black and appears to faintly warp the air around itself.{{book ref|sa4|16}} Its tone - and song - sound identical to those of Voidlight, but they induce an adverse reaction in the Fused, and presumably other creatures heavily Invested by Odium, such as Voidspren. When made to touch the soul of such creature, anti-Voidlight reacts violently with the Voidlight there, resulting in permanent death.{{book ref|sa4|97}}
=== Anti-Stormlight ===
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