Knights Radiant
The Knights Radiant are the orders of Surgebinders who serve as the champions of humanity on Roshar, wielding magical powers granted through bonds with Spren to defend the world against Odium and the Voidbringers. Founded in the distant past and reborn during the events of The Stormlight Archive, the Knights Radiant are organized into ten orders, each tied to a particular pair of Surges and a particular kind of spren.
The Ten Orders
The Knights Radiant comprise ten orders, each associated with one of the Heralds and a pairing of Surges:
- Windrunners -- Adhesion and Gravitation
- Skybreakers -- Gravitation and Division
- Dustbringers -- Division and Abrasion
- Edgedancers -- Abrasion and Progression
- Truthwatchers -- Progression and Illumination
- Lightweavers -- Illumination and Transformation
- Elsecallers -- Transformation and Transportation
- Willshapers -- Transportation and Cohesion
- Stonewards -- Cohesion and Tension
- Bondsmiths -- Tension and Adhesion
Ideals and Oaths
A Knight Radiant gains and grows their powers by swearing and living the Ideals, the Immortal Words. All Radiants share the First Ideal -- Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination -- and each order has its own further oaths. Advancing through the Ideals strengthens the Nahel bond with the Radiant's Spren and unlocks greater command of their Surges, living Shardblade, and living Shardplate.
History
The orders were founded under the inspiration of the Heralds to carry on the fight when the Heralds could no longer bear it alone. For ages the Radiants defended Roshar, until the Recreance, when they abandoned their oaths, killed their bonded Spren, and dissolved the orders. After millennia of absence, the Radiants began to return as the Desolations reawakened, with figures such as Kaladin, Shallan Davar, and Dalinar Kholin among the first of the new orders.
Significance
The Knights Radiant are the heart of humanity's defense against Odium and the central institution of The Stormlight Archive, embodying the union of Spren, Surgebinding, and sworn oath.