Windrunners

The order's two Surges: Adhesion (top left), Gravitation (bottom left) and Ideal/Essence.

Windrunners are one of the ten orders of Knights Radiant. They share Surges with the orders of Bondsmiths (Adhesion) and Skybreakers (Gravitation). The combination of these two Surges results in three separate powers which are known as the Three Lashings. Further, Windrunners exemplify the virtues of Protection and Leading. Jezrien was the patron of this order.

History

Windrunners
Artwork by Steve Argyle[1]

In a vision experienced during a highstorm, Dalinar witnessed hundreds of Radiants - including the Windrunners - on the Day of Recreance, abandoning their Shardblades and Shardplate.

The following may be related to Dalinar's vision:

“	Now, as the Windrunners were thus engaged, arose the event which has hitherto been referenced: namely, that discovery of some wicked thing of eminence, though whether it be some rogueries among the Radiants’ adherents or of some external origin, Avena would not suggest.	”
–From Words of Radiance, chapter 38, page 6

This, too, may be related to Dalinar's vision:

“	There came also sixteen of the order of Windrunners, and with them a considerable number of squires, and finding in that place the Skybreakers dividing the innocent from the guilty, there ensued a great debate.	”
–From Words of Radiance, chapter 28, page 3

Characteristics

The Windrunners' Nahel bond is with honorspren, who are inclined toward truth and justice. These spren can be killed, as can other spren, by those to whom they are bonded should they break their vows. Regarding this bond, the synergy between the behavior and the relationship is one of constructive interference - but it goes both ways. The desired behavior reinforces the budding relationship, and the strengthening relationship reinforces the desired behavior, and it's just not possible to have one without the other. But "constructive interference" can be a two-edged sword - when the results are undesirable, it's also known as a vicious cycle.

There are some Windrunners who are afraid of heights.

The glow of their Shardplate is blue, and is made up of windspren, which are lesser spren than honorspren.

Technicalities

Windrunners use two primary types of Surgebinding. The effects of these Surges were known - colloquially among the members of the order - as the Three Lashings.

Basic Lashing: Gravitational Change This type of Lashing was one of the most commonly used Lashings among the order, though it was not the easiest to use. A Basic Lashing involved revoking a being’s or object’s spiritual gravitational bond to the planet below, instead temporarily linking that being or object to a different object or direction. Effectively, this creates a change in gravitational pull, twisting the energies of the planet itself. A Basic Lashing allowed a Windrunner to run up walls, to send objects or people flying off into the air, or to create similar effects. Advanced uses of this type of Lashing would allow a Windrunner to make himself or herself lighter by binding part of his or her mass upward. (Mathematically, binding a quarter of one’s mass upward would halve a person’s effective weight. Binding half of one’s mass upward would create weightlessness.) Multiple Basic Lashings could also pull an object or a person’s body downward at double, triple, or other multiples of its weight.

Full Lashing: Binding Objects Together A Full Lashing might seem very similar to a Basic Lashing, but they worked on very different principles. While one had to do with gravitation, the other had to do with the force (or Surge, as the Radiants called them) of Adhesion—binding objects together as if they were one. This Surge may have had something to do with atmospheric pressure. To create a Full Lashing, a Windrunner would infuse an object with Stormlight, then press another object to it. The two objects would become bound together with an extremely powerful bond, nearly impossible to break. In fact, most materials would themselves break before the bond holding them together would.

Reverse Lashing: Giving an Object a Gravitational Pull This may actually be a specialized version of the Basic Lashing. This type of Lashing required the least amount of Stormlight of any of the three Lashings. The Windrunner would infuse something, give a mental command, and create a pull to the object that yanked other objects toward it. At its heart, this Lashing created a bubble around the object that imitated its spiritual link to the ground beneath it. As such, it was much harder for the Lashing to affect objects touching the ground, where their link to the planet was strongest. Objects falling or in flight were the easiest to influence. Other objects could be affected, but the Stormlight and skill required were much more substantial.

Known Windrunners

• Kaladin has bonded with the honorspren (Syl), spoken and embraced the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Ideals.
• Teft has bonded with Phendorana and has spoken the First, Second and Third Ideals.
• Rock has spoken at least the Second if not the Third Ideal.
• Skar has spoken at least the Second if not the Third Ideal.
• Drehy has spoken at least the Second if not the Third Ideal.
• Lopen has bonded with Rua and has spoken the Second and the Third Ideal.
• Relador was the elderly Windrunner to whom Syl was bonded before the Recreance.

By the beginning of Rhythm of War, Kaladin has three generations of Windrunners numbering well over 100: his Bridge Crew being the first generation; their squires (many of which, from other bridge crews) the second; and theirs, the third. The majority of the first generation, and even many of the second have said their Third Ideal, but the third lacks the spren partnership required to make their words count, even if they are emotionally/mentally mature enough to say them. This is because the majority of honorpren are opposed to helping humans given their previous betrayal.^{[citation needed]}

Notable Characters with Windrunner Abilities

Szeth was able to use the powers of a Windrunner by bonding with an Honorblade (not with an honorspren) and without having spoken or embraced the Ideals.^{[citation needed]}

Various members amongst the Fused.

Motto

Oaths

Windrunner oaths are themed toward protection, particularly defending innocents or those who are unable to protect themselves.

The Windrunners tend to attract "big sibling" types, who seek to protect the defenseless, but also enjoy action and fighting for what they believe in. They're primarily scouts, though they often work as special forces groups, able to deliver teams of Radiants behind enemy lines for secret missions. They tend to be the most like conventional soldiers, believing in structures of command, team dynamics, and the importance of a squad of brothers and sisters. They often have larger numbers of squires than other orders and focus more than any other order on mastering their weapons.

Immortal Words

Fan art by botanicaxu[2]

Every Windrunner must speak the Immortal Words of the Knights Radiant, which are a set of rules by which Radiants live. The First Ideal, identical for all orders of the Radiants, is used as their motto. Each of the Radiant orders then had an additional number of Ideals that were unique to each order. For the Windrunners, these Ideals are as follows:

The First Ideal

Also known as the Ideal of Radiance.

“

"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."

”

The Second Ideal

Also known as an Ideal of Protection.

“

"I will protect those who cannot protect themselves."

”

The Third Ideal

Also known as an Ideal of Protection.

“

"I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right."

”

The Fourth Ideal

The Fourth Ideal grants Shardplate created from hundreds of windspren.

It was almost spoken by Kaladin while he was in Shadesmar after the fall of Kholinar, but he wavered as he spoke it for not being able to live up to the oath. He finally did speak the Fourth Ideal after leaping after his father from a tower in Urithiru, which granted him his armor.

“

I accept that there will be those I cannot protect.

”

Resonance

Windrunners' Resonance has to do with the number and power of each their squires. (The divine attributes of Windrunners are Leadership/Protection, which fit their squires' protection.)

Notes

According to Brandon, Kaladin founded the [new] Windrunners. This doesn't mean that the other orders of Radiants aren't growing, but that Kaladin has a special relationship with the narrative in that he's the reason a lot of other characters in The Stormlight Archive are Radiants. Likewise, Dalinar (as a Bondsmith) has a very different relationship with the narrative than someone such as Lopen.

Q&A with Brandon

Q. For a Windrunner, if he had enough heating fabrials and enough Stormlight, how high up could he get?

A. You could exit orbit. Windrunners, remember they're gravitation and pressure. So if he knew what he was doing, we have actually factored how long it would take to get to the various moons.

Q. What's with Kaladin being special with his oaths that he explodes with power every time he says it?

A. That is a function of Windrunners being very close to Bondsmiths, which has certain effects.

Q. Would other Windrunners also do that, as well?

A. Yep.

Q. Is the important part of the fourth oath of the Windrunners forgiving yourself? Kaladin had to accept that it wasn't his fault for the people that died, and it seemed that Teft was going down a similar path.

A. Yes. I can expand on this one, it doesn't mean that every one of them will take exactly the same shape, but that is a major component in that oath. Speaking those words involves that for most Windrunners. How about that?

I like the oaths being a little more flexible along those lines, just because they work for more people that way. I like that the oaths express the individuality of the person, and the specific things that they are working on, and getting better at, and learning through the process.