#skybreakers

[cosmerestuffgoeshere]

Does anyone else buy into the theory that Szeth & Jasnah *could* switch orders (so Szeth becomes an Elsecaller and Jasnah a Skybreaker)? I know it's kind of out there but I feel like we genuinely have a few indications there's something there.

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

The audacity of the fucking Skybreakers... everyone who is close to Radiant powers must be killed to stop a Desolation. What the fuck do you think you assholes are? Only Nale is immortal, the rest, for generations, had been budding Radiants first.

Also, why in the Final Desolation do they suddenly decide that singer law must be followed but never before that? Nale always knew that Roshar belonged to them first. And that Desolations had occurred long before the Knights Radiant had ever been founded, so clearly not the cause.

The absolute audacity.

[natavinsmoke06]

Are Skybreakers the best judges for a Tournament of Magic The Gathering and similar games? Like they will know the rules plus the sprens have wonderful memory

[surgeknight]

Here’s a thought: what could Sigzil and Nale’s 4th Ideals have been? Skybreakers must take on and complete a personal mission in order to progress in their oaths, and we know both of them at least got this far. Nale’s is particularly interesting to me, in his immortal lifetime what could have been a quest so significant that it was worth an ideal? Was it merely surviving a Desolation to the end for the first time? I’ve considered it but it feels a bit like a cop-out. Any ideas for either of them?

[lyudisvicbebe]

Windrunners vs Skybreakers

[theedgeofoblivion]

Szeth and Kaladin parallels / Windrunner and Skybreaker parallels because "there is no right way". To both of them, there is no clear path. There is no solid answer.

When Kaladin faces his conflicts with Ehlokar he wants to be told what the more honorable path is but not even Syl can do that for him because morality and honor are completely individual. No one can tell you what is right.

And Szeths whole story is basically about how he can't accept that there is no right way and he that has to do what he personally thinks is best. +Their final ideal being that they become their own moral compass.

[cosmereplay]

(Thanks to @priscellie for the idea!)

[little-cute-pink-horrible-being]

I love the Skybreakers

I think the ancient Skybreakers recognised a lot of problems in the structure of the knight Radiant and tried to fix them and I respect them for it.

As much as the idea of the Nahel being a two-sided, symbiosis kind of thing is popular, the honourspren in ROW had a point. It is perilously easy for a Radiant to fuck up their spren. We see in WaT that it takes a few words and a lot of determination to actually do the thing. A spren already has to take an enourmous risk, losing their mind and memories for a while with their only hope of regaining it is finding the right person (sooo many delicious codependance thoughts here). The idea that the spren also takes oaths and can (presumably) also break them adds accountability tot his relationship and I think that's a good idea. And it makes sense! What better order to care about accountability than the order that cares about laws a lot!

I also love how the Skybreakers structure their oaths. Now, do I think that their oaths solve all the problems with balancing the laws with a an understanding that they aren't always right and sometimes you have to follow your own concience? No. Nale's skybreakers are a mess. But I do like that their oaths are very customisable to each person and don't force everyone to have to come to the same nessesary realisation which may not come up naturally in their lives, in order to progress. I loooove the idea of a personal quest, that you need to accomplish something that is very personally important to you at the time and then seeing what will come of it.

And combining the previous two ideas we have one, which honestly should be the norm in every order: a person's spren accepts or doesn't accept their ideals. To me this makes much more sense than having the Stormfather or Cultivation be responsible for all the order. Yes, this creates problems of its own (ahem 12124 ahem), but I still think the risk of The One Person Who Is Allowed To Accept Oaths is worse than a person's spren deciding what goes on their shared extremely intimate bond that they both depend on. Once again, Nale fucked that up and it is also the reason why it was so important for Szeth to kick 12124 out, but I love when essentially good ideas get used for bad, so more juicy stuff for me I guess!