Difference between revisions of "Thunderclast"

Jump to navigation Jump to search
195 bytes removed ,  5 months ago
/* History / Cognitive Shadow's but they are not confirmed to be Singer souls.
(Undo revision 133874 by Niser Resin (talk) Let's keep it to observations from the book this addendum isn't necessary)
Tag: Undo
(/* History / Cognitive Shadow's but they are not confirmed to be Singer souls.)
 
(18 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown)
|image=Thunderclast Matthew Johnson Inktober2018.jpg
|type=Animated stone
|sapient=yYes
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}
{{update|sa4}}
{{quote
|Those aren’t stones. They’re creatures.
 
== Appearance and Nature ==
{{image|Thunderclast Bota.jpg|side=rightleft|width=300px250px|[[Renarin]] confronting a thunderclast at the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]].}}
 
{{for|/Gallery|more images}}
{{quote
|Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver.
Thunderclasts are enormous stone beasts, easily five or six times larger than a person, with their hands alone being six feet long.{{book ref|sa1|60}}{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}} They take a skeletal, humanoid form, with long limbs that end with spiky, clawed fingers. On their chests, they have rib-like protrusions, and there are ridges running along their backs.{{book ref|sa2|4}} Their heads are narrow and arrow-like, with glowing red eyes.{{book ref|sa2|4}}{{book ref|sa3|84}}
 
The thunderclast proper, however, is a [[singerCognitive Realm|Cognitive]] soul.entity Theof potentialsome thunderclastskind, aresignificantly farlarger and more powerfultwisted than theira [[Fused]] kinsmensoul. When seeing one in a vision, andDalinar muchassumes morethat twistedit is a spren{{book ref|sa2|4}}, tobut during the pointBattle whereof theyThaylen barelyField resemble[[Venli]] theirassumes speciesit to be a [[singer]] soul. She was not entirely correct, as thunderclasts are different from Fused.{{wob ref|15730}} When they desire to take on a physical form, they sink into the stone and animate it, ripping themselves out in the humanoid form.{{book ref|sa3|115}} As such, they retain some qualities of the material they take on, like the color or a covering of moss or fungus.{{book ref|sa2|4}}
 
It's possible that there are other types of [[Cognitive Realm|Cognitive]] entities that can create thunderclasts, as a [[spren]] is also seen at one point plunging into the ground right before a thunderclast rips itself out.{{book ref|sa2|4}}
 
<gallery caption="Images of thunderclasts">
Oathbringer full cover art.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Michael Whelan}}</small></center> On the cover of ''[[Oathbringer]]''
Thunderclast.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Sheep}}</small></center> [[Shardbearer]]s fighting a thunderclast
Thunderclast Matthew Johnson Inktober2018.jpg|<center><small>by {{a|Matthew Johnson}}</small></center> Rising from the ground
Thunderclast Bota.jpg | <center><small>by {{a|Botanicaxu}}</small></center> [[Renarin]] confronting a thunderclast
</gallery>
 
== Abilities and Attributes ==
{{image|Thunderclast Bota.jpg|side=right|width=300px|[[Renarin]] confronting a thunderclast at the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]].}}
{{quote
|Thunderclast! Hammers! Ready hammers!
Despite their enormous size, thunderclasts have no problems staying upright, and can swing their body around with incredible force, easily toppling regular fortifications.{{book ref|sa3|116}} Though brute force is their greatest strength, they're also capable of precise actions such as throwing boulders,{{book ref|sa3|83}} or carrying regular [[Fused]] in their hands without crushing them.{{book ref|sa3|116}}
 
Although warped and twisted, thundercaststhunderclasts seem to retain some level of personality, enough so to answer to names and have a concrete sense of their gender. While they can obey commands, however, they do not seem capable of communicating themselves.{{book ref|sa3|117}} They are capable of making earth-shaking roars and trumpeting sounds to express their emotions, though.{{book ref|sa3|120}}
 
Despite being made of the same material as their targets, they do not crack, and it seems they cannot be destroyed by ordinary means, although hammers are given as a viable option for combating them.{{book ref|sa3|116}}{{book ref|sa2|4}} Another viable way to deal with them is to cut them up with [[Shardblade]]s to the point where they're no longer mobile, although this carries significant risk to both people and their surroundings. Indeed, [[Adolin]] theorizes that killing thunderclasts was in fact the original purpose of Shardblades, an idea mirrored by Szeth's thoughts on them.{{book ref|sa1|prologue}}{{book ref|sa3|120}} [[Nightblood]] can kill them for good.{{book ref|sa3|117}}
 
== History ==
{{image|Killing Thunder.jpeg|side=right|width=350px|[[Szeth]] attacking a [[Thunderclast]]}}
While it's unknown for how long they've been in [[Odium]]'s service, thunderclasts date back to the [[Desolation]]s of old, even back to [[Nohadon]]'s times.{{book ref|sa1|60}} People back then knew to look out for them, and sent out hunting parties, although only [[Knights Radiant]] were capable of fighting them.{{book ref|sa2|4}} They were powerful enough to pose dangers even to the [[Herald]]s, with [[Kelek]] in particular dying to them several times.{{book ref|sa1|part=prelude}} After the [[Aharietiam]], however, thunderclasts passed on into myths. By the [[Era of Solitude]], there were numerous stories about [[Voidbringer]]s with bodies of stone, likely as a cultural memory of the thunderclasts.{{book ref|sa1|3}}{{book ref|sa2|51}}
 
Thunderclasts appeared a few times in [[Dalinar's visions]]. When he met [[Nohadon]], he saw numerous corpses of them littering the battlefield and, in a separate vision in which he participated in a hunt for a corrupted spren on the [[Purelake]], he witnessed one rip itself out of the ground.{{book ref|sa1|60}}{{book ref|sa2|4}} However, they didn't make their proper debut in the modern era until the [[Siege of Kholinar]], when at least one thunderclast participated in the main attack, easily breaking down the city wall and decimating numerous buildings in its wake.{{book ref|sa3|83}}{{book ref|sa3|epilogue}}
 
In the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]], Odium called two singer[[Cognitive soulsShadow | Cognitive Shadows]] -- [[Kai-garnis]] and [[Yushah]] -- to create thunderclasts. After Yushah broke through the wall, he sent her after the [[Thaylen Gemstone Reserve]] while Kai-garnis went to assist the [[Fused]] in taking the [[Thaylen City]] [[Oathgate]]. Both were eventually taken downdefeated; Yushah iswas destroyed killedpermanently by [[Szeth]] andwith [[Nightblood]],{{wob ref|10440}} while Kai-garnis iswas banishedimmobilized by [[Renarin]], withand [[Adolin]]'sfled andher [[Hrdalm]]'sstone assistancebody.{{book ref|sa3|117}}{{book ref|sa3|120}}
 
== Known thunderclasts ==
== Notes ==
<references />
{{completepartial}}
{{Stormlight}}
[[Category: Myths and Legends]]
Anonymous user

Navigation menu