Shallan's ideals

[AquaRegia he/him]

The OB Chapter 120 passage doesn't indicate Radiant's Shardplate is any more than an illusion, just as the image of Radiant herself is.  I still have not seen anything to make me consider that Shallan already has Plate.

3 hours ago, crème de la crèmling said:

I mostly tend to think that Testament is the Blade that killed Tyn and it's Pattern everywhere else, including the chasms. But I revise my opinions on Shallan just about every week, so I have been contemplating the "Testament All Along" theory, and putting together my thoughts on that.

Roger that.  Just part of the Shallan deal.

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In discussing Shardblades in another thread, I found something in the text which suggested to me that it could have been how Shallan would have had a Blade that could change shape in the chasms: this is Navani's observation that the gemstones in Shardblades were introduced to the Blade, and that there was some textual evidence in-world that suggested that the Blades changed shape to accommodate them. 

It goes on to say that bonding them was impossible before the gemstones were added, though they were still supernaturally sharp and light. Combining that with the Testament reveal seems to suggest that dead Blades might still be able to change shape somehow...

I had forgotten this!  OBVIOUSLY if those deadeye Blades were retrofitted with gemstones, their shape must have changed... and it seems clear that magic is by far the most likely way for that to happen.  We've never seen any humans who knew how to manipulate deadeye Blades - the Blades themselves must have been willing to cooperate in some way.  Strong evidence, I think, for the idea that deadeyes are not so "dead" as many think.

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Shallan's assertion that she didn't mean to make the strike that killed her mother, and that it was the first time she had ever summoned her Blade (RoW Chapter 93). So in WoR, when Shallan confesses to the murder of her mother, that the little Shardblade that is inside the illusory vault could in fact be Pattern's first Shardblade appearance on the page. These could be the words that Pattern felt she had yet to say in Chapter 75, and there's a horrible parallel in having Shallan recreate the incident of her first Shardblade summoning to summon her second Blade. Just more thoughts on Shallan! I love to think about her and her entire storyline.

That is a terrific observation!  I'm not sure I'm sold, but it's a really interesting thought.  I completely agree that unraveling Shallan's past is fascinating.

I re-read the chasms scenes in WoR, and was struck by the fact that Pattern is COMPLETELY absent the entire time.  He never speaks, is never seen, Shallan never speaks to him; the only time she even THINKS about him is when she wishes she could have used him to attach illusions to, "but that was problematic because - " (WoR Ch. 72).  If the Blade being used was Testament, wouldn't Pattern be around helping save Shallan's life?  I think this may be the most convincing reason to believe that it IS Patternblade in the chasms.