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Udhay

Herald is the level just below monarch but in skysworn it is shown that the gatekeepers of akura castle are remnants matching herald in power and it makes it seem like herald is not a big deal since herald level powered remnants are used to just guard gates was it because at the time you intended to be a few more levels between herald and monarch or some other reasoning?

Will Wight

Good question. I admit that that was more of a presentation problem than anything else. The reason why I did that is just to show that the resource reach of the Akura family and also to show that even the most advanced remnants still do, remnants do weird things, so that's kind of part of what I was trying to show there. I did intend them to be Heralds because what I intended was the Akura have virtually unstoppable guards at their gates. The reason why they are doing mundane guard duty despite being as powerful in combat as heralds is...so, that's kind of why I had them be Heralds, but its also, remnant behavior is really simplistic, they're almost like, not robots because robots make it seem like they follow a specific set of programming. It's really more like there are only certain aspects of a person where you remove the rest of the aspects and then you kind of stitch the remaining aspects together, so they are not full people. They are not fully what we would call sentient, aware, or intelligent in most cases. So, therefore, its difficult to say that they are aware, these particular remnants, just by being as powerful as Heralds are also, they just guard things. That's what they do. So, they are compulsive about guarding things. They will just stand there and guard it as the world crumbles around them. So that's what I was trying to illustrate about remnants, but I didn't go into that at all so, you didn't even miss anything, I just didn't convey it.

IrishNerdDnD

The gap between these stages of advancement is HUGE! people are trying to scale Lindon and the gang and it seems people think sage/Herald are closer to monarchs than they actually are.

The 8 man empire are the equivalent of one monarch. That's not because any 8 sacred artists at the level of sage/Herald (S/H) are the equivalent of a monarch, they need the help of special magic space armor to combine their significance to reach that level. This fact alone means that without the magic space armor, that I would take over 8 S/H to rival one monarch. The way the story talks about the 8 man empire I would guess it would take many more that 8 S/H to rival a monarch.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to estimate exactly how few S/H it would take to match a monarch.

That being said, the fact that Lindon and Yerin could push back against Malice, with the help of Mercy, is huge. To say Lindon is just a Sage with the raw power of a Herald is a joke. Our boy could spank any Herald or sage level sacred artist low dif.

Will Wight

My view of Yerin in this fight is that she’s roughly the equivalent of a normal Herald. She has some unique advantages, but so do many Heralds.

Fury, for instance, could have beaten her.

But she’s at the level of being able to participate in this fight while Lindon puts the lion’s share (tiger’s share?) of the pressure on.

That’s my general thought process, anyway.

Will Wight

Let me take a few minutes to address the 8ME.

A group of 4 Sages and 4 Heralds all fighting a Monarch together could win. And probably would, all other factors being equal.

The disadvantage is that none of them could 1v1 the Monarch, so they’re prone to getting picked off and defeated separately. Are you going to stand there and fight eight guys? No, you run and pick your moment later.

The advantage of the 8ME is that they don’t need to be together to combine powers. And that they can fuse their power to perform Monarch-level feats, which Sages and Heralds can’t normally do.

How does a Monarch beat a Sage? Engage them physically or in a straight-up power fight. How do they beat a Herald? Keep throwing workings at them they can’t match and make them waste willpower and concentration shutting them down.

An 8ME member can draw on the power of the others to remove those weaknesses at will.

How would you defeat the 8ME? Force them to spread out. They have a finite pool of power to draw on, so if three of them (for instance) need to draw on Monarch-level power at once, what does that leave for the rest?

Problem is, no faction has two Monarchs. So let’s say Reigan Shen wanted to take them down. He engages Larian in combat, and he assigns or hires a Sage or Herald for each of the other seven.

How does that actually play out?

They don’t pump Larian up to Monarch-level. She flees and runs and hides and does anything she can to survive with only her own power, and they pump whoever has the weakest opponent.

Suddenly, the person facing down a single Sage has Monarch-level power. The enemy is crushed. Then they move on to the next-weakest enemy, and so on.

Larian might die. Maybe she couldn’t hang on either.

But it’s still WAY faster and easier for the 8ME to pass power between each other than it is for Shen to travel through the Way to face the other members. So, in all likelihood, they become the Six-Man Army but all their non-Monarch opponents are dead.

Then they replace the lost two members and now they’re gunning for Shen.

And that’s the story of why the 8ME still exists.

Questioner

If you had to pick between Sage first or Herald before Monarch which would you choose and why?

Will Wight

A Herald. I'd pick Herald. As much as I think Sage is the, I guess, more optimal option just because you gain access to abilities you didn't have and as Herald you don't exactly, like it's sort of you are like you were before but just kind of better at it. Uh, Heralds get a few things that I think are really important. And this I think is mentioned in Reaper but I don't think it gets fully explained but Heralds are effectively immune to any attack or attempt to harm them that doesn't have intention behind it, doesn't have will behind it. So, therefore, they can't drown unless someone drowns them. So they can just lay there at the bottom of the ocean and just sit there forever. And that would suck, they wouldn't have a good time but they wouldn't die. So they could fall from any height and be fine. They would have to be thrown into something to be hurt by it. So just for the sake of improving yourself-

Questioner

Only Will can kill a Herald? I see what you did there.

Will Wight

*laughs* For the sake of survival, if you're picking superpowers you always pick the one ensures your survival first. And yeah, that's my answer, I guess.

Questioner

How do spirits reach herald? 

Will Wight

Ah, good question.  How do spirits reach herald?  Because the only way we've seen someone reach herald is to separate from your remnant, so how does someone who starts off as a spirit, basically just a remnant, how do they advance to herald?  I'm trying to remember what I've established in the books already, dang it.  Why haven't you guys read Reaper?  I don't remember how many things I've established, and how many I haven't established yet.  Well.  So...  What can I say?  Spirits, remnants, anything that is going to advance to herald, they develop a physical body first.  So they are spirit, and they develop a body around themselves.  Then they still have to separate the two entities out and advance to herald normally.  It's just that they get to that point, they get to the peak of archlord, with a developed enough spirit to separate, well it's more like they developed enough of a body that their spirit can then separate.  So it's almost the reverse of how a sacred artist would do it, where they have got to get to where their spirit has a clear and firm enough existence to separate, this is the spirit's body has to be real enough for their spirit to separate out.  So their you go.  

Questioner

What other names were you considering for advancement stages?

Will Wight

Boy, there was a lot. I went real back and forth on those. One of them was Highgold was initially going to be the highest level of Gold and I was going to put something like Lowgold, something/Midgold, and we even went back and forth on Truegold being the middle but that ended up sounding like it was better than Highgold so we switched it up to where it was.

We also had, I think I tried out colors as the Foundation stages instead of materials. But because I wanted to the badges as a physical thing that's why they're physical materials.

Questioner

Superhighgold.

Will Wight

That's what it was. It was Lowgold, Highgold, Superhighgold. Like your hair turns gold and your eyes turn green.

So then for the Lord realm and higher I went back and forth on so many things. So many. I ended up really liking the sound of the word Underlord, that's why I kept that as the thing. I liked Underlord, I liked Archlord, and I didn't want to use the term Overlord again because I'd used it in Traveler's Gate. So I did not want to do that but, of course, I gave in because it made sense. You know, Underlord Overlord, right? Makes sense. So, because of that [trails off into Stardew Valley game play].

Questioner

Did you do a poll for the Overlord thing?

Will Wight

Yeah, I think I did.

Questioner

Ultra Instinct Gold.

Will Wight

I actually really liked, I'm going to spoil Dragon Ball Super a little bit for those who aren't caught up on the manga. So Dragon Ball Super, everybody probably knows this by now who cares but Goku got a power up a few years ago called Ultra Instinct and the idea behind that is it's skill taken to the highest expression. It is your instincts are perfected to the point you no longer need to think and I thought that was a really cool power up. I thought that was neat. I was not a fan of Super Saiyan Blue. I think they ended up making it look cool but it's just another Super Saiyan, right? But Ultra Instinct I thought was really neat. And then Vegeta did something in the anime that was kind of the opposite path and I liked that idea. And they expanded on that in the manga and in even more detail in the last couple of months. So that Vegeta has his own like different path he's embarking on and it really was similar to Sage and Herald and I thought that was really fun. So I really liked that.

For Herald and Sage and Monarch, I had a lot of different ideas. And that's honestly one of the reasons I don't talk about the advancement stages until later in the series. One is I don't like overwhelming the reader with terminology as much as I do. Like I'm already doing it more than I want to. But another one is because I wanted to be able to change my mind on the cultivation rank names. And then I didn't. I especially didn't like Herald because it implies that they have to be attached to a Monarch in order to get that rank. And that's not true. So what I did instead was because of that, because I ended up using the name, I invented this kind of cultural concept that most Heralds only advance because they are sponsored by someone which makes sense. So, therefore, they became known as Heralds of a Monarch. And that was something that was already kind of true. So I sort of just brought it out to explain the name. So that was how that went.

SirMisterGuyMan

Lindon fighting Malice amp can reasonably be explained with his with Silent King amp. How about Yerrin? The two have always been able to fight above their weight class but she's still "just" a newborn Herald. In previous books they said they'd need to reach peak Archlord to be a true Herald/Sage so she's not really even a real Herald yet.

In my head I just assume that Malice must be really exhausted from her continuous fights. I'm not totally happy with that explanation but it's all I've got at the moment.

Will Wight

My view of Yerin in this fight is that she’s roughly the equivalent of a normal Herald. She has some unique advantages, but so do many Heralds.

Fury, for instance, could have beaten her.

But she’s at the level of being able to participate in this fight while Lindon puts the lion’s share (tiger’s share?) of the pressure on.

That’s my general thought process, anyway.

irishNerdDnD

The gap between these stages of advancement is HUGE! people are trying to scale Lindon and the gang and it seems people think sage/Herald are closer to monarchs than they actually are.

The 8 man empire are the equivalent of one monarch. That's not because any 8 sacred artists at the level of sage/Herald (S/H) are the equivalent of a monarch, they need the help of special magic space armor to combine their significance to reach that level. This fact alone means that without the magic space armor, that I would take over 8 S/H to rival one monarch. The way the story talks about the 8 man empire I would guess it would take many more that 8 S/H to rival a monarch.

Will Wight

Let me take a few minutes to address the 8ME.

A group of 4 Sages and 4 Heralds all fighting a Monarch together could win. And probably would, all other factors being equal.

The disadvantage is that none of them could 1v1 the Monarch, so they’re prone to getting picked off and defeated separately. Are you going to stand there and fight eight guys? No, you run and pick your moment later.

The advantage of the 8ME is that they don’t need to be together to combine powers. And that they can fuse their power to perform Monarch-level feats, which Sages and Heralds can’t normally do.

How does a Monarch beat a Sage? Engage them physically or in a straight-up power fight. How do they beat a Herald? Keep throwing workings at them they can’t match and make them waste willpower and concentration shutting them down.

An 8ME member can draw on the power of the others to remove those weaknesses at will.

How would you defeat the 8ME? Force them to spread out. They have a finite pool of power to draw on, so if three of them (for instance) need to draw on Monarch-level power at once, what does that leave for the rest?

Problem is, no faction has two Monarchs. So let’s say Reigan Shen wanted to take them down. He engages Larian in combat, and he assigns or hires a Sage or Herald for each of the other seven.

How does that actually play out?

They don’t pump Larian up to Monarch-level. She flees and runs and hides and does anything she can to survive with only her own power, and they pump whoever has the weakest opponent.

Suddenly, the person facing down a single Sage has Monarch-level power. The enemy is crushed. Then they move on to the next-weakest enemy, and so on.

Larian might die. Maybe she couldn’t hang on either.

But it’s still WAY faster and easier for the 8ME to pass power between each other than it is for Shen to travel through the Way to face the other members. So, in all likelihood, they become the Six-Man Army but all their non-Monarch opponents are dead.

Then they replace the lost two members and now they’re gunning for Shen.

And that’s the story of why the 8ME still exists.

Questioner

Who has stronger willpower between a Herald and a Sage, since they both require heavy willpower? Or does it just depend on the sacred artist?

Will Wight

In general it depends on the sacred artist. In terms of what they can do with just eye contact, Heralds get the muscle and Sages get the technique, so that's just the whole general split. Sages can do cool stuff that Heralds cant do, but Heralds can beef it up.

kcudlow

If it's easier to become a Herald than a sage, and a Herald is more powerful, why would anyone choose to become a sage besides the cool name?

Will Wight

The Abidan like Sages better.

Also, Sages have certain advantages that Heralds don't have. And generally, Sages are people who are focused on exploring the depth of their Path rather than advancing for the sake of power.

Questioner

It seems like Dreadgods and Dreadbeasts have their spirits fused with their flesh comparative to heralds.

Will Wight

That's a question that gets asked a lot, Dreadgods and Dreadbeasts have their spirits fused with their flesh, Heralds do too, what's the difference? Difference is, Heralds do it correctly, they do it when their bodies and spirits can handle it, and Dreadbeasts do it when their bodies and spirits can't handle it. The Dreadgods are what happens when that is taken to absurd ridiculous extremes, then they mutated into something else entirely and became an exception to the rule.

Chris646

If all Monarchs can travel like Northstrider and at least Heralds have a gate key why don’t they run whenever they are in danger? Is it just pride/reputation? Or can someone sufficiently skilled follow them? I’m asking because at one point you mentioned Reigen Shan killed his biggest rival, and people thought Northstrider was dead. Is it just that the rival wasn’t losing but was suddenly overwhelmed or is teleporting way not an option or..? Also, would the trick Jai Daishou used to remain alive work at higher ranks or would that person either be too strong to bring back or would someone better immediately see through it?

Will Wight

That's a lot of questions, but I'm boiling it down to what I think you're asking: >Why do Monarchs and Heralds not just teleport away when they're about to die? They do. But anyone capable of killing a Monarch or Herald can follow them.

JM-SL

Who is stronger... a Sage or a Herald?

Will Wight

The reason it's an endless discussion is because there's not much of a clear answer to that question.

In pure power, Herald. But Sages can do some things Heralds can't.

Anonymous

It seems like dreadbeasts have their spirits fused into their material flesh as they grow more powerful, is this meant to be diametrically opposed to how the heralds do it? 

Will Wight

Yeah, so the end result is kind of similar, of dreadbeasts and Heralds, the point is that Heralds do it when both are stable and ascended, successfully I mean they're merging their spirit and body correctly, and dreadbeasts and dreadgods are doing it incorrectly. Now the dreadgods do it incorrectly, but they do it so synergistically that it ends up being correct, like loops around in on itself. It's, it's like doing it wrong so much that it becomes right, but dreadbeasts have done it wrong and they suffer for it. 

Mike

Why do Sages get titles, but Heralds don't?

Will Wight

Heralds do. They just are unofficial. Sages get titles because, they do. It's cultural. I don't know. It's to indicate what kind of Icon they manifested. So, it's more individual whereas Heralds are less defined by what exactly they can do. So that really is the answer. 

Questioner

There is a lot of debate between the fanbase about the height of power that the original Blackflame Empire reached. Can you confirm if the original Blackflame empire had any of the following: Monarch, Sage, and/or Herald?

Will Wight

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the original Blackflame Empire had a monarch, maybe two monarchs, I'm not actually sure about that off the top of my head; I'd have to go back and check my notes.  But I think it's probably one.  That would be my reasonable guess there.  I think that's true.  They had at least a couple of heralds for sure.  And I think probably a monarch.

Questioner

This is probably too spoilery, but in Blackflame Jai Daishou (I forget how to spell his name) mentions how the the six or so truegolds he brought probably could have killed Eithan without him. So, it is possible for truegolds to gang up on an Underlord and kill him. Is this possible with higher ranks too with sacred artists ganging up on those above? For example, could a bunch of sages kill a herald? And could a bunch of heralds kill a Monarch? It seems the gap between ranks gets bigger and bigger so I’m just curious.

Will Wight

As the gap between ranks gets bigger, this possibility gets less likely. One of the reasons Jai Daishou believes this strategy could work against Eithan is because the Truegolds had set up a trap that he believed would work.

Questioner

What would the emperor from Asylum be ranked comparatively in Cradle?

Will Wight

This is one of those questions that I’ve been asked before and it's hard to answer because relative to his world he’s a monarch, obviously. He's a global spanning superpower that manipulates reality directly. But relative to Cradle, all monarchs in Cradle have specifically designed combat powers and he doesn't. So, he would be much better at fighting on a conceptual level or creating artifacts - stuff that his magic system is better at - but in a straight-up fight, anybody from Cradle would annihilate him. 

It's kind of like - is this person stronger than Goku? I mean... no, that’s what Goku's good at, it's the one thing he does - So that's the difference between Cradle and... virtually anywhere else. So, it's hard to say but in terms of his authority and his control over reality and his ability to manipulate things, I would still say he is monarch-level or close to it.

Questioner

Would he be especially effective against a herald because of his intent? 

Will Wight

Yeah, if you ever got into a direct Will-to-Willpower confrontation with him he would be able to crush pretty much anybody - monarchs, probably not, monarchs would be on the level with him - but your average herald or a sage for sure. Again, presumably. It's a case-by-case basis

Questioner

What Iron body does Cassius have?Edit: Also, since I don't think it's a spoiler at this point, is there a stage between Lord and Herald?

Will Wight

I don’t remember. I do have a name for Cassias’ Iron body, I just don’t have my notes with me and I can’t remember.

It goes Archlord—Herald, unless you’re awesome enough to be titled a Sage.

Questioner

When are you functionally immortal?

Will Wight

I may change this, as with anything that hasn't happened in the books yet, so take it with a grain of salt.But Sages almost don't age, and Heralds and Monarchs do not.Most Heralds and Monarchs, I should say.

Questioner

Will Wight

No.

Questioner

I'm going to assume that means it only applies to Sages

Will Wight

Yes.

Zane

What is the biggest jump from a single advancement? Ex: Copper to Iron

Will Wight

Copper to Iron is big because there is not a whole lot of difference because you didn't have a lot of abilities at Copper and then you get a lot more at Iron. I would say the biggest jump is from Truegold to Underlord, if I'm being honest. Truegold to Underlord is a huge jump and Archlord to Sage is a huge jump, Archlord to Herald is a huge jump, Herald to Monarch is a big jump. Either Archlord to Sage or Truegold to Underlord I think would be the bigger jumps. I think, probably Archlord to Sage because that's a whole extra thing.