+Aletus he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) So, before I let this ship sail - until I have read WoR, I'm still standing on the side of chaotic neutral concerning Szeth's blade. The Parshendi revealed that Kaladin's surgebinding could very well have been an honorblade, in the prerelease materials. Unless the entire thing has been taken out of context by every reader - everywhere - that leads us to believe that the Honorblades can grant certain surgebinding abilities to the wielder, if they are not already a surgebinder. (So far as we know - there could be requirements, but that will likely be revealed later) Up until the last pages of WotK, there were only 9 Honorblades in existence, make that 10 now. That means, providing Darkness has killed more potential slayers - radiants, that Honorblades are rarer than bondspren. SO, this is the big question. Do the Parshendi simply have extremely carefully tended oral/written legends passed down through the generations concerning ye olde stuff, or how the storms did they know that Kaladin COULD have had an honorblade in order to surgebind. How would they have known the capabilities of the Honorblades, when your average Alethi or other, would simply think an honorblade to be a regular shardblade. My theories are as thus: They don't know, or only think they know - and thus, have mislead a BUNCH of readers as to the nature of honorblades. As I mentioned - they are speaking from hand-me-down lore - which, at least in our culture, gets mottled as it goes down the bloodlines. (Their song culture could be strikingly different and more Feruchemy like though) They have previously fought with Honorbearers, or have one themselves. (This one is the most baseless, but most probable in my mind. It would demonstrate knowledge without a doubt) Thoughts? Edited February 28, 2014 by Blackwood 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaring at the Survivor he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 If Taln died, his honorblade - and him - should have gone back, as it said in the prelude/prologue. I'm pretty sure he had just a normal Shardblade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 What if, should a Herald die, their Honorblades stick around until the end of the Desolation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondMind he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) They know that Honorblades can grant Surgebinding capabilities because Szeth was in their service, and he told them what he was capable of and why. I think it's just that simple... Edited March 1, 2014 by DiamondMind 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavien Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 What's interesting to me is that the Parshendi thought Kaladin may have had an Honorblade even though every single one of them, including Eshonai, saw him fighting with a spear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 What's interesting to me is that the Parshendi thought Kaladin may have had an Honorblade even though every single one of them, including Eshonai, saw him fighting with a spear. I thought that the conversation was more sarcastic. Like, Venli saying something like "What, you think he had an Honorblade when he stabbed you with a spear? Don't kid yourself, Eshonai. The Surgebinders are back." “Venli,” Eshonai said, grabbing her sister by the arm. “Our gods!” Venli didn’t flinch. “The humans have Surgebinders.” “Perhaps not. It could have been an Honorblade.” “You fought him. Was it an Honorblade that struck you, wounded your leg, sent you limping?” “I…” Her leg ached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMnke she/her Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Just because he was fighting with a spear would not rule out him having an unsummoned honorblade. Also i don't think the person that offered that as a possibility actually saw Kaladin with the spear so they may not have known specifically what weapon he was using. Edit : oops was Eshoni that said that about the honorblad Edited February 28, 2014 by CodeMnke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesomeness Summoned he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) What's interesting to me is that the Parshendi thought Kaladin may have had an Honorblade even though every single one of them, including Eshonai, saw him fighting with a spear. I think that was more wishful thinking on their part. They'd prefer the KR and their old gods didn't come back so, despite the fact that he fought with a spear, they are hoping his surgebinding comes from an honorblade and not a spren. It was more of a could have been.... possibly.... maybe.... edit: ninja'd... by two people... that's a first Edited February 28, 2014 by Awesomeness Summoned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Aletus he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 OK, not getting into the argument of the ages - but I will, for the sake of this question, pretend that Szeth's sword is a 100% confirmed honorblade. Does he know that it is an honorblade? We haven't had confirmation from his numerous PoV's. He has intimate knowledge of the physics of his power, but that likely stems from teachings, from someone in the know, or similar. He was contracted by the Parshendi to kill Gavilar, but even towards the goals of the Parshendi, wanting everyone to know they had him murdered, by their assassin in white, I doubt the few select Parshendi who dealt with him would openly share the mysteries of his weapon and abilities, even if he revealed that to them. Regardless of all that - I feel that the Parshendi knowledge of honorblades comes from somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavien Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Ah, I forgot the context. I have forced myself to not reread the excerpts (again) before the book release so I won't be tempted to skim them on Tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Aletus he/him Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Ah, I forgot the context. I have forced myself to not reread the excerpts (again) before the book release so I won't be tempted to skim them on Tuesday. Same here - I just have trouble forgetting things xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyleaffan he/him Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 (edited) OK, not getting into the argument of the ages - but I will, for the sake of this question, pretend that Szeth's sword is a 100% confirmed honorblade. Does he know that it is an honorblade? We haven't had confirmation from his numerous PoV's. He has intimate knowledge of the physics of his power, but that likely stems from teachings, from someone in the know, or similar. He was contracted by the Parshendi to kill Gavilar, but even towards the goals of the Parshendi, wanting everyone to know they had him murdered, by their assassin in white, I doubt the few select Parshendi who dealt with him would openly share the mysteries of his weapon and abilities, even if he revealed that to them. Regardless of all that - I feel that the Parshendi knowledge of honorblades comes from somewhere else. Ok. this quote is from I-6 in WoK: He (Makkek) hadn't yet demanded that Szeth relinquish the Blade--if he did so, he would discover the second of Szeth's two forbidden actions. He was required to carry the Blade until his death, after with Shin Stone Shamans would recover it from whomever had killed him. So from this, I think he got the blade from the shamans rather than from the parshendi, since they would take it back when he was dead. I think the blade imparts the knowledge and the powers, since Jasnah mentioned (in the WoR preview chapters) the Heralds (who bore the Honorblades) trained the KR, so they must have had the powers to train them and I think it's possible the blade is powerful enough to impart the knowledge of the powers as well. EDIT: And I just noticed you haven't read the preview chapters. I hope what I stated is not too spoilery but I'll still put it in spoilers for you. Edited March 1, 2014 by flyleaffan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_karma_II he/him Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 So from this, I think he got the blade from the shamans rather than from the parshendi, since they would take it back when he was dead. There is info about this from an yet to be released Eshonai interlude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondMind he/him Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 (edited) Why are we suddenly putting everything in spoiler tags? We've been discussing the eshonai interlude since the beginning of this thread. Anyway... Does he know that it is an honorblade? We haven't had confirmation from his numerous PoV's. He has intimate knowledge of the physics of his power, but that likely stems from teachings, from someone in the know, or similar. How could he not know? Assuming all our assumptions about honorblades are correct, Szeth's powers appeared soon after he took up the blade. Did he not connect the two? And if someone taught him, it must have come up once in discussion where his powers came from. Since he doesn't ever think of his Sugebinding as mysterious or coming from an unknown source, I think that Brandon just didn't write it in yet in order to keep it a secret. He was contracted by the Parshendi to kill Gavilar, but even towards the goals of the Parshendi, wanting everyone to know they had him murdered, by their assassin in white, I doubt the few select Parshendi who dealt with him would openly share the mysteries of his weapon and abilities, even if he revealed that to them. I don't see why the Parshendi would keep it a secret from each other, especially once the assassination was made and there was no need for secrecy. Remember, Parshendi seem to know Surgebinding on site, so they must have some knowledge of its capabilities. Second, even assuming that it was kept secret, the people in the scene are a top researcher and the general of their armies. If there is a need-to-know basis for this information, I think these people would be in the "know" category. Regardless of all that - I feel that the Parshendi knowledge of honorblades comes from somewhere else. You'll need to have more than a feeling to convince us, though! Edited March 1, 2014 by DiamondMind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngy he/him Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 I was under the impression that "do you think that was an Honourblade" was a sarcastic comment because it didn't cut off the feeling to her leg. However, I also took that to mean that the Parshendi know Honourblades come in different forms - or change form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly he/him Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Or, you know, it was clearly a spear. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenith Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Or...Honorblades can change to other forms like spears, but they knew it wasn't an Honorblade because it didn't kill the limbs it pierced. I can dream...right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMnke she/her Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 One interesting note, I ran across this while rereading WoK. Shallan ( in response to Jasnah about "intelligence without ignorance" ) "A Mythological treasure, Brightness, much like the Dawnshards or the Honorblades. Certainly worth seeking but only with great caution" So apparently some others have heard of honorblades, there are legends about them for the Alethi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondMind he/him Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 I'm guessing that the Hierocracy (sp?) purged information about the Honorblades since they were connected to the KR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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