Willshapers

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

Willshapers are one of the ten orders of Knights Radiant. Willshapers share Surges with the orders of Elsecallers (Transportation) and Stonewards (Cohesion). Kalak is the patron of this order.

History

“	And now, if there was an uncut gem among the Radiants, it was the Willshapers; for though enterprising, they were erratic, and Invia wrote of them, capricious, frustrating, unreliable, as taking it for granted that others would agree; this may have been an intolerant view, as often Invia expressed, for this order was said to be most varied, inconsistent in temperament save for a general love of adventure, novelty, or oddity.	”
–From Words of Radiance, chapter 7, page 1

Characteristics

Willshapers
Artwork by Steve Argyle[1]

As indicated above, the Willshapers were enterprising, though erratic. They were described as being capricious, frustrating and unreliable. However, they were also said to be most varied; inconsistent in temperament save for a general love of adventure, novelty or oddity.

They also had an affinity to act as liaisons with the great ones of the spren, but never were the true masters of that realm.

Though their spren are lightspren, the Shardplate of Willshapers is likely made up of lesser spren than lightspren.

Willshapers can form stones and make them liquid, similarly to those abilities of Stonewards.

Known Willshapers

• Venli was originally suspected to be a Willshaper. She is now a Willshaper.

Motto

Oaths

The Willshapers believe strongly that all people should be free to make their own choices. Their oaths are themed toward freedom and letting people be free to express themselves and make their own way in life.

The Willshapers have a reputation for attracting builders, craftspeople, and creators to the Radiants. However, while this aspect of them is accurate, the actual membership of the order is far more varied. Their powers lend themselves to creation, true, but their oaths are focused on freedom and personal fulfillment. Many among the Willshapers are warriors focused on freeing those who are captive, and others are focused on radical self-expression. The Willshapers contain many gregarious and even flamboyant characters who make their own way, taking the path they choose. They are united through a love of building, but some consider the building of society to be more important than the building of structures. Among the Willshapers, there are both those who dress very conservatively and those who wear very daring and original styles. The common ground is that both agree that freedom to express who you are is the important part. Among the Radiants, they are generally focused on building, training, and making infrastructure. In war, they might be sent to a town to fortify it against an oncoming invasion. Before or in the wake of Desolations, they would teach the people things like sanitation, bronzeworking, or other essentials. Anywhere one finds someone resisting tyranny or oppression, one will often find a Willshaper cheering them on.

Immortal Words

The Willshaper
Artwork by Nastya Lehn[2]

All Willshapers 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 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 Willshapers, 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

“

"I will seek freedom for those who are in bondage."

”

As sworn by Venli, though the words are not immediately accepted. They are accepted - without being respoken - later, on the Shattered Plains.

Notes

Brandon has stated that one of the first orders of Knights Radiant that he developed when he was building the magic systems of Roshar was the Willshapers.