Difference between revisions of "Shardblade"

Shardblades also seem to have a unique interaction with the Innate Investiture. When a Shardblade cuts a living being, it seems to sever the [[Spiritweb]] of the being it is used on. It is uncertain how a Shardblade would behave if it was used on a post-[[Reod]] [[Elantrian]], as they are simultaneously living and dead, so it is possible that it would cut the Elantrian's flesh or merely leave the limb dead, depending on when the Elantrian is struck by the Blade.{{wob ref|date=2014-12-06|1363|Orem signing 2014}} Shardblades of all types also seem to be bonded directly to a person's Spiritweb. [[Hemalurgy]] could be used to steal a Shardblade from someone, although it is unknown how Hemalurgic decay would impact this.{{qawob ref|977date=2012-09-25|421153|A17th novelShard useForum of Hemalurgy which is not outside the sphere of its powers.|date=September 2012Q&A}} As heavily Invested objects,{{qawob ref|1086date=2014-03-04|35799|LikeWords aof ShardbladeRadiance isSan anDiego Invested object|date=4 March 2014signing}} Shardblades would be mostly immune to [[Allomantic]] Pushes and Pulls.{{qa ref|593|10|Szeth's Shardblade would be mostly immune to Pushing and Pulling, as it's an Invested object.|date=28 February 2011}} People from off-world are able to use Shardblades.{{qawob ref|977date=2012-09-25|1091180|Is17th itShard possibleForum for a non-native being to use a shard blade?|date=September 2012Q&A}}

Forgery could be used to gain a Shardblade, with some restrictions.{{qawob ref|1099|3| Now rewritingdate=2015-01- yes, that would be a lot easier than just rewriting herself so that she had a Shardblade.05|date=57235|Firefight Januaryrelease 2015party}} The Investiture is not powerful enough to temporarily create a new Shardblade, and if it somehow could it would be terribly inefficient.{{qawob ref|1152|50|Any kind of Investiture to make a Shardblade?|date=2016-02-17|4859|Calamity FebruarySeattle 2016signing}} Instead, if a person had once held a Shardblade and gave it up, a Forger could rewrite their past to make it that they had never given up the Blade, and they would then be able to summon that same Shardblade.{{qawob ref|1099|3| Now rewritingdate=2015-01- yes, that would be a lot easier than just rewriting herself so that she had a Shardblade.05|date=57235|Firefight Januaryrelease 2015party}} This would have the effect of tricking a Blade into believing that it is bound to two people at once and could be summoned by both of them. It is theoretically possible for the [[seon]]s and [[skaze]] of Sel to take the form of a Shardblade, but something would need to pull them more fully into the Physical Realm, like the Nahel bond does for the spren.{{qawob ref|1108date=2014-03-13|76197|Could a Seon, or a Skaze, could they turn into a, some sortWords of ShardbladeRadiance onOmaha their own planet?|date=13 March 2014signing}}

While there are only three known ways to heal from a Shardblade wound on [[Roshar]], it seems likely that other magic systems would also allow for that same healing. On [[Scadrial]], [[Gold#Feruchemical Use|goldminds]] of [[Feruchemy]] could be used to heal Shardblade damage.{{qawob ref|979|166|Does a limb that has been "severed" by a Shardblade have any Hemalurgic bindpoints? If the same limb was then cut off more conventionally, would a Bloodmaker ferring be able to grow it back?|date=2013-04-15|4111|/r/fantasy AprilAMA 2013}} The [[BioChromatic Breath|Divine Breath]], the Breath of the [[Returned]] of [[Nalthis]], able to heal any typical wound or illness,{{annotation ref|wb|12}} is also a possible solution for repairing the damage. On [[Sel]], the [[Aon]] [[Aon#Ien|Ien]], used for healing,{{book ref|elantris|19}} could potentially heal a Shardblade wound as well.

While most Shardblades originate on Roshar and seem to be ultimately derived from the power of [[Honor]] and possibly [[Cultivation]], this is not true of all Shardblades. The technical definition of a Shardblade is a heavily Invested weapon,{{qawob ref|1151|9|It's going to be a heavily invested magical weapon is kind of how I would define it.|date=2016-02-25|4878|Calamity FebruaryAustin 2016signing}} so Shardblades can be crafted with any manifestation of Investiture from any Shard, although some methods are far more difficult.{{qawob ref|1152|50|Any kind of Investiture to make a Shardblade?|date=2016-02-17|4859|Calamity FebruarySeattle 2016signing}} For instance, the sentient sword [[Nightblood]], created by [[Vasher]] and [[Shashara]] of [[Nalthis]] using [[Awakening]] and [[Investiture]] derived from the [[Shard]] [[Endowment]],{{book ref|wb|51}} is also considered a Shardblade.{{qawob ref|1076date=2014-03-06|346892|HeWords isof aRadiance ShardbladeSan thatFrancisco is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal.|date=6 March 2014signing}}{{qawob ref|1152|70|Can you create a shardblade with Breath?|date=2016-02-17|5152|Calamity FebruarySeattle 2016signing}} However, it is no ordinary Shardblade. While he cannot be summoned or take other forms like a [[spren]] can,{{book ref|sa2|86}} he is in fact several orders of magnitude more powerful than the Shardblade of a Radiant.{{17s ref|post|8896|Nightblood is "several orders of magnitude more magical than a shardblade.|date=27 April 2011}} It is unknown, but possible that he is on a similar power level to the Honorblades. It is also unknown what would occur when he is struck against a Shardblade or Honorblade, whether it will be destroyed or damaged in any way. Like the Honorblades, he consumes far more Investiture than a Radiant Shardblade, which does not require any fuel,{{book ref|sa2|87}} and typically would feed on Breath{{book ref|wb|56}} or a person's soul.{{qawob ref|1086date=2014-03-04|165813|Does Nightblood rip souls outWords of bodies,Radiance bySan chance?|date=4Diego March 2014signing}} Now that he has arrived on Roshar, it seems that he can also use [[Stormlight]] as fuel for his abilities.{{qawob ref|1088date=2014-03-22|236631|NightbloodWords willof drainRadiance anyChicago Investiture, so yes.|date=22 March 2014signing}}

{{sidequote|Can I make a situation where these oversized, over-stylized blades are actually practical? Why in the world would you need a weapon like that? And how do you actually use one?|Brandon Sanderson{{qawob ref|944date=2013-01-01|269020|JustGeneral realized what Shardblades remind me of...|date=3 JuneReddit 2013}}|right|250px}}[[Brandon Sanderson]]'s inspiration for Shardblades came out of the books, art, and video games in the fantasy genre during the 80s and 90s. He was a big fan of the [[Wikipedia:Final Fantasy|Final Fantasy]] games on the [[Wikipedia:NES|NES]], in which there are oversized swords.{{qawob ref|944date=2013-01-01|269020|JustGeneral realized what Shardblades remind me of...|date=3 JuneReddit 2013}} Impractically large and ornate swords were common in other fantasy art during this time period as well. Brandon began to think about the circumstances in which these swords would be actually be practical and the kinds of enemies that they would be useful in combating. He also began to wonder how he could even make these swords useful, and came to the conclusion that they would have to be summoned. Brandon also felt that lightsabers are the coolest magic sword, but because Star Wars is science fiction, he wanted to come up with a cool magic sword for the fantasy genre.{{qawob ref|1094date=2014-09-04|191005|HowSalt didLake you come up with Shardblades?|date=4City SeptemberComic-Con 2014}}

Over the years, Brandon's concept of the Shardblade has grown and evolved in small ways that sometimes he still struggles to keep straight.{{urlwob ref|urldate=https://www.reddit.com2017-02-10|1844|/r/Fantasy/comments/5t9nyy/iamonce_againa_novelist_named_brandon_sanderson/ddl9vwp/|text=Brandonfantasy Sanderson reddit response - 10 FebruaryAMA 2017|site=reddit: r/fantasy}} For instance, Shardblades originally could be stolen from their owners by knocking the gemstone off of the hilt. Eventually Brandon decided that other methods of stealing a Shardblade were more dramatic, so he altered the way that bond with a Shardblade worked. Even still, he occasionally forgets about this change in the Shardblade bond when drafting new books in the Stormlight Archive.

*In the initial draft of [[The Way of Kings]], Kaladin earned a Shardblade while defending [[Elhokar]] from an assassin, and kept it instead of giving it up.{{qawob ref|590date=2011-01-10|504650|You'veTor.com saidQ&A youwith liftedBrandon the Shattered Plains from Dragonsteel, what would Kaladin have been doing if not running bridges and what will happen to Dragonsteel without the Plains?|date=10 January 2011Sanderson}}

*Brandon had a character dual wield a pair of Shardblades in the initial draft of [[The Way of Kings]] from 2002.{{qawob ref|977date=2012-09-25|1631234|You17th saidShard thatForum a person can have more than one Shardblade--can they be dual-wielded?|date=27 October 2012Q&A}}

*Hoid cannot be injured by a Shardblade,{{book ref|sa2|epilogue}} because it damages the soul and Hoid's healing method repairs the soul.{{qawob ref|1071date=2014-03-03|25606|WhatWords ifof HoidRadiance gotrelease cut by a shardblade?|date=4 March 2014party}}

*There is no theoretical upper limit to the number of dead Shardblades a person can bond, and a person may have multiple living Shardblades, but it would be difficult to obey the oaths of multiple orders at the same time.{{qawob ref|1088date=2014-03-22|386647|IsWords thereof aRadiance limitChicago to how many Shardblades one person can have?|date=22 March 2014signing}}