Honor's mistake.

[Dofurion]

I've been reflecting on the situation of the former Knights Radiant recently, and I think that Honor made a mistake when it came to organizing the different orders.

We know that the different orders of radiants continually suffered from internal conflicts due to the different positions of each one, so much so that for example: the order of the Windrunners came to have altercations with the Skybreakers during certain situations. And this despite the fact that several characters who saw the situation thought that the orders were very similar, although those same orders did not want to recognize it.

We can guess that these disputes were mediated by the Bondsmiths, but as we all know and as Senne Khald observes in-world, there are only 3 of them. This is not enough for an organization of such magnitude to survive.

In short, the different orders became echo chambers that prevented the creation of a true unity.

What could have been done to avoid this situation?

Considering that the positive reinforcement of these ideals must have been important to cement the Radiants in formation, the squires and Radiants of the 1st and 2nd ideals would continue under the organizational structure of orders already established, but once the 3rd ideal was pronounced, they would form small teams of 9 radiants of each, these composed of members of each of the orders (obviously they will not be 10 due to the situation of the Bondsmiths) so that they begin to interact with each other.

Finally, if the 4th ideal is indeed a delimiter of the primary mission of the order, it is very likely that these groups would help the Radiants understand that reality and end up advancing more quickly towards higher ideals.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Dofurion said:

I've been reflecting on the situation of the former Knights Radiant recently, and I think that Honor made a mistake when it came to organizing the different orders.

Keep in mind that Honor did not form the Knights Radiant - Spren mimicked the Honorblades, creating the Raditant form of a Nahel Bond to grant Surgebinding, and it was Herald Ishar that organized the Radiant orders. Coppermind with references:

Spoiler

The first Surgebinders came to be as a result of spren trying to imitate what Honor had given his Heralds. The spren formed bonds with the mankind to give them Surgebinding abilities.^[6] Honor was surprised by their coming, because he hadn't taught it to his Heralds.^[6] These Surgebinders were later formed into the ten orders of the Knights Radiant by the Herald Ishi'Elin, for the purpose of watching for the coming Desolations, and helping men fight, then rebuild the society from the destruction of the Desolations, and they adopted the city of Urithiru as their center of power.^[7] This formalized system was in place by at least the Sixth Epoch, Year 31.^[8]

• 6 - Words of Radiance chapter 4
• 7 - The Way of Kings chapter 60
• 8 - #SayTheWords
  — Arcanum - 2023-12-20

Then, of course, between Desolations the Heralds were absent, so much of the Structure of the Orders in Urithiru was self-made by the Radiants themselves. 

Hope that helps