Shallan Soulcasting

[Hyper129 He/Him]

Other than the initial "ah crap it probably looks like I'm bleeding out cause I soulcasted this thing into blood" moment, what are some times when Shallan soulcasts? I feel like she doesn't take advantage of it as much as she should.

[Quantus he/him]

She soulcast a ship, failed to soulcast a stick, and almost fell into shadesmar without a way to return. Per WOB Lightweavers can send themselves there as a function of Soulcasting, but cannot bring others or Return the way Elsecalling allows.  I assume we'll see her (an/or the other Lightweavers) doing more as things go on, it's just a Surge that takes a lot of training and practice and has a lot of potential for big bad mistakes.  

Edited July 17 by Quantus

[Hyper129 He/Him]

Cool, I forgot about the ship XD

[Returned]

She also soulcast her illusory fighters to have some degree of substance in the battle at the end of Oathbringer. At least potentially, if I remember correctly it was guessed at as a possibility but not explicitly confirmed, nor was the feat repeated.

Edited July 17 by Returned

[alder24]

9 hours ago, Hyper129 said:

Other than the initial "ah crap it probably looks like I'm bleeding out cause I soulcasted this thing into blood" moment, what are some times when Shallan soulcasts? I feel like she doesn't take advantage of it as much as she should.

That's because Shallan had a great trouble with Soulcasting, even when she tried to learn it in between OB and RoW, she failed and often when she was able to Soulcast something, it wasn't into what she wanted to make. It's not that Shallan ignores it, for some reason she's just bad with it. RoW ch 21:

Quote

Though by far the most talented at illusions among her people, Shallan’s own abilities in Soulcasting had proven … erratic. Adolin had peeked in on her sessions to see only occasional lumps of grain. Other times, she accidentally created twisted things: flames, sometimes pools of blood, once a translucent crystal.
[...]
Though mastery of Soulcasting eluded her, she had improved over the year.

In WoK she soulcasted a goblet into blood - and that was most likely a power from Testament, not Pattern. If Shallan didn't start to summon Testament as a blade, she wouldn't have been able to Soulcast. This suggests that her troubles with Soulcasting are because of Testament and her broken bond. WoK ch 45:

Quote

She began the process anyway. Ten heartbeats, to bring forth the fruit of her sin, the proceeds of her most horric act. She was interrupted midway through by a voice, uncanny yet distinct:
What are you?
She clutched her hand to her chest, losing her balance on the soft bed, falling to her knees on the rumpled blanket. She put one hand to the side, steadying herself on the nightstand, ngers brushing the large glass goblet that sat there.
“What am I?” she whispered. “I’m terried.”
This is true.
The bedroom transformed around her.

 

Spoiler

Havoc (paraphrased)

In Way of Kings, Shallan is being chased by Cryptics. She begins to summon her Shardblade, stops and then Soulcasts for the first time. We know from Words of Radiance that it's her bond to Pattern, her Shardblade that allows her to Soulcast. So my question is, if Shallan had not begun to summon her Blade, would she have been able to Soulcast?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

She would not have been able to. Good question! Wow. No one has ever asked me that before.

GollanczFest London (Oct. 17, 2015)

And when she was Formless in CR, trying to kill Kalak, she easily soulcasted a door knob with barely any resistance. She attributed it to the fact that it's so easy in CR, RoW ch 93:

Quote

She opened her eyes, strode up to the door, and grabbed the knob with her freehand. It vanished beneath her touch. Soulcasting really was easier on this side. The knob barely cared that she asked it to change

 

1 hour ago, Returned said:

She also soulcast her illusory fighters to have some degree of substance in the battle at the end of Oathbringer. At least potentially, if I remember correctly it was guessed at as a possibility but not explicitly confirmed, nor was the feat repeated.

True. OB ch 120:

Quote

“It is well, Shallan,” Jasnah said. “I merely wanted to see, as it seemed you were Soulcasting to give your illusions weight. But then, concentrated Stormlight has a faint mass to it. Either way, up the steps, child.”