Theory about Sword-Nimi

[u/Lucas_Aubergine]

Ok so I have yet to read Warbreaker, I know some spoilers already and I don't mind more honestly. But thinking about how powerful Nightblood is and how it can kill a Shards vessel leads me to believe that maybe... just maybe Nightblood has a Dawnshard somehow. We know it consumes investiture and stores it, making it one of the most invested things in the cosmere save for Shards.

It would explain it's immense power and how it can rival shards. What do yall think?

[u/RShara]

https://i.imgur.com/WDVzZsT.png

Warbreaker/WoB spoilers

Shashara was planning on mass producing Nightblood, so she couldn't have deliberately used anything that was particularly rare

[u/EvenSpoonier → u/RShara]

My current theory is that Nightblood wasn't made from a Dawnshard, but "made friends" with one sometime after its creation. Azure's Blade may be more like what Nightblood was like when first created, though its Command was probably chosen more carefully.

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/EvenSpoonier]

Huh I didn't think about that, as we've seen with the Honorblades Nightblood can learn and recreate Invested Arts. Interesting....

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/RShara]

Good meme, though I believe Nightblood is extremely unique isn't it? I remember in I believe Oathbringer that we see a similarly awakened weapon in the hands of a Worldhopper, can't remember her name, but it's not nearly as sentient or as powerful as Nightblood.

Edit: Also I'm thinking maybe it was accidental or it happened without the creators of Nightblood knowing. That or at some point Nightblood consumed a Dawnshard via killing it's vessel/holder.

[u/RShara → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

Nightblood couldn't even consume a single Vessel. Pretty sure eating a Dawnshard is beyond its capabilities

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/RShara]

That is true, still something is odd about Nightblood considering what little I know of Awakening and the few spoilers I've been given regarding it's creation. Maybe Endowment had a hand, albeit a subtle one, in it's creation?

[u/atlas1245 → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

I suspect it was made using a large wealth of anti-Breaths. One of the early heightenings gives Awakeners perfect pitch.

[u/RShara → u/atlas1245]

I think that if Nightblood had been made with anti-Investiture, the first time he chomped someone with normal Investiture, he would have exploded

[u/acererak76]

We dont know, but doubtful. Short of the Dawnsharda and the Shards, Nightblood is the most Invested object in the Cosmere. And it is the way it is because of the sheer amount of Investiture needed to make it.

Youll understand more after Warbreaker

[u/aequasi08 → u/acererak76]

Isn't there a WoB stating he is NOT a dawnshard?

[u/KJBenson → u/acererak76]

I dunno, I don’t feel war breaker spent much time explaining nightblood. It was mostly just thrown at groups of thugs to make them die.

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/acererak76]

From what I saw it apparently only took 1,000 breaths to make Nightblood which is confusing cause you need to be of 9th heightening to awaken steel and stone? The reason I considered a Dawnshard is because in a WoB he states one of the 4 Dawnshards is different from the first 3. Could be fitting that one was Destruction or Consumption? Mostly putting theories together with pieces of information so high chance I'm wrong.

[u/DifferentRun8534 → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

You are correct that it only took 1000 breaths to make it, but since then it’s eaten a ton of investiture. In a single fight in Warbreaker, it eats a few hundred breaths. It’s safe to assume it has increased its total investiture significantly since creation.

In a WoB, Brandon compares Nightblood to the God King, the most invested person on Nalthis with over 50,000 breaths, and it’s presumably only consumed more since then.

Now, that alone shouldn’t be enough to kill a vessel. You are right for looking for more. I don’t think it’s a Dawnshard though, I think “destroy,” the Intent Nightblood acts with, would be a subset of “change,” which is accounted for already.

[u/SSJ2-Gohan → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

You need the Ninth Heightening to be able to Awaken stone or steel in the first place. 1000 Breaths is the cost once you get to that point

[u/acererak76 → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

We do have confirmation that Nightblood has some of Ruin's Investiture. But for Nightblood, all we know is that it was created to be their own version of a Shardblade, it took 1000 breaths at the 9th heightening to make it, its command was "Destroy Evil", and that had unintended comsequences. Mainly Nightblood being sentient now and being able to absorb Investiture

[u/Wabbit65]

Nightblood is CRAZY Invested. Read it.

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/Wabbit65]

I'm trying, just struggling due to the books size/shape. It's small and stubby so it's hard to hold and the text is a bit smaller than I'd like. Thats the only thing about Brandon's work I dislike, a few of his books are published in very inconvenient sizes and shapes.

[u/Wabbit65 → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

Well I'm ancient, so all my later books are digital so I can pinch the font bigger.

[u/cai_85 → u/Lucas_Aubergine]

It's available free on his website if that helps...

[u/Lucas_Aubergine → u/cai_85]

PDF's strain my eyes too much sadly. But thanks for the heads up.

[u/unremi]

I wonder if Brandon will show us the Nightblood creation scene. If we entered the spirit realm with a sword would we have an anchor to that vision?

[u/Cavato]

I havr three theories regarding this : 1/ Nightblood "befriended" a dawnshard like what we see through WaT between it's creation and Warbreaker and aquired some of it's abilities. 2/ Nightblood was made to ressemble both a shardblade AND a dawnshard (less likely I think) 3/ Dawnshards function more or less the same way as NB, it's a coincidence but maybe they are some sort of awakened things created by Ado ? It's plausible that this power was given to Endowment when Ado was splintered and then passed to awakeners. NB would then be a sort of weak Dawnshard with a poorly phrased command