List of Oaths?

[FXL3 he/him]

Hi all,

I had a question about the what we currently know about each of the radiant Oaths.

 

Is there a good resource on what oath we believe each known radiant is on (shallan is wonky but is there a consensus about what oath she's on? What about the non-kaladin windrunners?),

what powers are associated with said oath (when does their order grant shardplate, etc), 

 

And a timeline of when we think they achieved each oath level?

 

I know some (shallan) are inherently confusing. But I'm also curious about more straightforward oaths- like lopen and sigzil.

[NameIess]

The Coppermind has the information you want, although I would be very careful of spoilers if you haven't read the whole Cosmere. You can use the time machine to go back to a version of the Coppermind from before any books you haven't read came out.

[FXL3 he/him]

53 minutes ago, Nameless* said:

The Coppermind has the information you want, although I would be very careful of spoilers if you haven't read the whole Cosmere. You can use the time machine to go back to a version of the Coppermind from before any books you haven't read came out.

Thanks for the response! I'm fully caught up in the cosmere- is there a specific page on the Oaths themselves, or only histories of each character?

 

I've tried looking for a collection in the Oaths but it I haven't quite found what I'm looking for, and the character history pages aren't quite as detailed for what I'm looking for.

[NameIess]

13 minutes ago, FXL3 said:

Thanks for the response! I'm fully caught up in the cosmere- is there a specific page on the Oaths themselves, or only histories of each character?

 

I've tried looking for a collection in the Oaths but it I haven't quite found what I'm looking for, and the character history pages aren't quite as detailed for what I'm looking for.

I don't think there's a single page with a list of oaths sworn, although I could be wrong as I don't spend a ton of time on the Coppermind. The pages for the orders of KR have a list of oaths sworn onscreen by the different characters, but it looks like not all of the orders have a completed list.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Nameless*

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, FXL3 said:

Thanks for the response! I'm fully caught up in the cosmere- is there a specific page on the Oaths themselves, or only histories of each character?

I've tried looking for a collection in the Oaths but it I haven't quite found what I'm looking for, and the character history pages aren't quite as detailed for what I'm looking for.

1 hour ago, Nameless* said:

I don't think there's a single page with a list of oaths sworn, although I could be wrong as I don't spend a ton of time on the Coppermind. The pages for the orders of KR have a list of oaths sworn onscreen by the different characters, but it looks like not all of the orders have a completed list.

Known Ideals (or concept) are collected on Radiant Order's pages, such as Windrunners and Dustbringers (as two examples - one well known, one not-so-much)

Excerpt:

Spoiler

The Third Ideal

“I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right.”

— The Third Ideal of the Windrunners (as spoken by Kaladin)[10]

“I will protect those I hate. Even...even if the one I hate most is... myself.”

— The Third Ideal of the Windrunners (as spoken by Teft)[12]

“I've got to protect people, you know? Even from myself.”

— The Third Ideal of the Windrunners (as spoken by Lopen) [13]

This oath focuses on protecting others despite one's caveats, but the exact wording varies from individual to individual.[14] It must be spoken before a Windrunner can manifest their honorspren as a Shardblade.[10]

Information on Ideals that have not been shown in-book, mostly comes from the Kickstarter "Radiant test" and the Order summaries there (example):

Spoiler

Truthwatchers

I Will Seek Truth

Truthwatcher oaths are themed around seeking to find ultimate truth and sharing it. They are very concerned with knowledge and the proper exploitation of it. Note that this should not be confused with the Lightweavers, whose oaths are themed toward personal truths about themselves, said for reasons of self-actualization. Truthwatchers are more concerned with the fundamental truths of the universe, and whether or not those in power are being truthful with the people they lead.

The Truthwatchers are seen as quiet, largely known as the most scholarly Order of Knights Radiant. They tend to attract scientists primarily, but also scholars or thinkers of all types. This extends to some who might not normally be known as scholarly but instead as someone often consumed by their own thoughts. In general, they tend to be reserved, particularly in person, though a small minority of Truthwatchers are greatly concerned with the actions of the powerful and might be likened to investigative reporters. These make their opinions known loudly and forcefully, particularly if they think someone in power is abusing that power or lying about fundamental truths. Note that, as with all Knights Radiant, there is great disagreement within the Order about what is the truth. However, Truthwatchers tend to approach these discussions with enthusiasm, even if they generally prefer to write their opinions rather than speak them. Among the Knights Radiant, the Truthwatchers tend to be those who hold the knowledge and secrets of Surgebinding and are the ones to discover many of the newer advances in things like fabrial technology.

Hope that helps.

[alder24]

12 hours ago, FXL3 said:

Hi all,

I had a question about the what we currently know about each of the radiant Oaths.

 

Is there a good resource on what oath we believe each known radiant is on (shallan is wonky but is there a consensus about what oath she's on? What about the non-kaladin windrunners?),

what powers are associated with said oath (when does their order grant shardplate, etc), 

 

And a timeline of when we think they achieved each oath level?

 

I know some (shallan) are inherently confusing. But I'm also curious about more straightforward oaths- like lopen and sigzil.

Yup, Coppermind is the best source for this. 

But short answer, we know only 2 Radiants that are on 4th Ideal - Kaladin and Jasnah. We don't know when Jasnah swore her Ideal, it might be even before the events of WoK as she began to bond Ivory around the time of Gavilar's assassination. We don't know what her ideals are.

Many bonded Windrunners are on 3rd Ideal, some newer on the 2nd (there was one woman who swore her 3rd Ideal during the battle of Hearthstone). IIrc, there were about 300 Windrunners in RoW, but only 50 were bonded with spren. I would expect the similar distribution of Ideals among Edgedancers, who are the second most numerous order.

Shallan is tricky, we don't know if "I killed my spren" counts as a Truth or not:

Spoiler

enceladus_47

Does Shallan's "I killed my spren" count as a truth?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna leave up to theorizing, figuring out the timeline that's going on with Shallan. What we can say is that Shallan is reconstructing, in many cases, oaths she has said before. And it is working slightly differently than someone who is saying new oaths. And indeed, saying she killed her spren is one of those steps. I'll leave it to you to try and parse through that. It's actually pretty complicated. We have a nice big page explaining all of this stuff internally, to make sure that we're keeping it all straight. Because she has violated oaths and reconstructed them, is basically what's happening. And she is regressing, and she's doing a... 1.1 steps forward, 1 step back, sort of thing, kind of frequently.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 1 (Dec. 17, 2020)

Each order gets their Shardblade after swearing 3rd Ideal (that probably includes Lightweavers, as I believe that every time Shallan summoned her Shardblade in WoK/WoR, it was Testament, not Pattern), and they all get their Shardplate after 4th Ideal. Bondsmiths do not get Shardblades, but will get Shardplates.

It also seems that only Skybreakers have their access to Surges limited - they can use the Surge of Gravitation only after swearing the 2nd Ideal, and the Surge of Division is open to them after the 3rd one. For comparison, Kaladin was using Reverse Lashing, a combination of the Surge of Gravitation and Adhesion, before he swore 2nd Ideal, and later Bridge 4 had free access to both of those Surges before each of them swore the 2nd Ideal. Dustbringers apparently too have their access to Surges limited:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Dustbringer

I will seek self-mastery

Dustbringer oaths were themed toward responsibility. They were led to understand that the powers they used needed to be properly channeled, much as their own desires and wills needed proper form and shape. As a Dustbringer moved through the oaths, they were taught greater powers of destruction—and are one of the only orders where their abilities weren’t all available at the beginning, but instead were delivered slowly, as they made the proper oaths. Each oath led to a greater understanding of power, the nature of holding it, and the associated responsibility.

Dustbringers—though they sometimes objected to the common name for their order, preferring instead to be called Releasers—are living contradictions among the Knights Radiant. They believe great power requires a strong will to control it. They often attract tinkerers who like to dig down into the shape and soul of a thing, break it, and see what makes it work. However, their oaths are themed toward control—that they need to be able to control, contain, and channel the terrible power inside them. They tend to object to those who focus only on their destructive sides, as they argue that in order to create, one must understand the pieces of the thing they are trying to make. They don’t see themselves as being about destruction—though their powers are the most destructive of any order of Knights Radiant. They instead see their nature as being about control, precision, and understanding. In the Knights Radiant, they tend to act as the equivalent of artillery in a modern army. If you want a large swath of land destroyed or burned, you call in the Dustbringers. However, they were also often used as sappers, engineers, and strategists.

They attract anyone who likes to take things apart, who likes to know how things work. They also attract those who are a little foolhardy at times—brave soldiers who see themselves as containing and controlling terrible destruction so it won’t get out of hand and hurt innocents.

The Ten Orders of Knights Radiant (June 9, 2020)

A timeline of future Ideal swearing is impossible to create, as that depends solely on individual and their readiness to swear the next Ideal - Kalaind was stuck on the 3rd Ideal for a year despite the fact that he knew the Words but couldn't say them. But we know that we can expect Szeth to swear the 4th Ideal of Crusade at the beginning of KoWT as he is ready and will be going to Shinovar with Kaladin in that book.

Edited October 10, 2023 by alder24