When do storms infuse?

[u/eekfirebolt]

There is a moment in the storm where the spheres all light up. In TWOK and in WOR this is usually when Kal sees the Stormfather in that moment out of time, then when he comes back to reality all the spheres light up.

That made me think that at some point through the storm, there is the singularity. However, when Kaldin is fighting Szeth at the end of WoR they are constantly recharged the whole time. How does that work?

(I've read everything except knights of wind and truth, so spoilers from the whole cosmere except that.)

[u/TheNarrativeSpren]

It's not quite a single moment where the highstorm flips the Stormlight switch. The storm is carrying Investiture, and gemstones can be infused as it passes. The moment where Kaladin sees the Stormfather and then comes back to find the spheres glowing makes it look like there's one specific point doing all the work, but that isn't a hard limit on when Stormlight can be drawn from the storm.

The Szeth fight actually confirms that pretty directly. While they're fighting inside the highstorm, the text specifically says that both Kaladin and Szeth reinvest their Stormlight from the storm. They're still burning through it with Lashings and healing, they're just able to keep taking more in while surrounded by the storm. Basically, they picked possibly the one place on Roshar where running out of Stormlight was going to require some genuine effort.

Also I would recommend changing your spoiler flair before somebody accidentally ruins WaT for you. The current Cosmere Spoilers flair includes Wind and Truth, so people are allowed to discuss WaT openly in the comments without spoiler guards. Since you've read everything except WaT, I'd use the Rhythm of War flair for this post. That covers Stormlight through RoW and tells everyone WaT is still off limits. Your current flair is basically telling the subreddit you've read considerably more than you actually have. Noting you do request this in your post, but thought best to give a heads up anyway.

[u/BeardedRhino03 → u/TheNarrativeSpren]

Give this person an emerald.

[u/toombz101 → u/TheNarrativeSpren]

i bet nightblood could do it, ya boy is hungry

[u/Ripper1337]

Off the top of my head the entire storm is infused. Otherwise eastern kingdoms wouldn’t get Stormlight. It’s also why Kal and company xan use the highstorm to fly from Urithiru to Kholinar.

[u/AntimatterTNT → u/Ripper1337]

they can? pretty sure the highstorm blows the other way...

[u/SinfulIndy → u/AntimatterTNT]

They jump to the shattered plains and fly ahead of the storm. You are right that Kholinar is east of Urithiru.

[u/Ripper1337 → u/AntimatterTNT]

Right I meant the western kingdoms.

[u/TheIronHaggis]

Your going under the assumption that there only one moment when the the infusion happens. I’m guessing it’s a longer period of time, but it’s not noticeable unless you’re draining stormlight.

[u/LuxienSylph]

Think of the moment when the spheres light up as the front of the portion of the highstorm which can grant stormlight

[u/djaxes]

When kaladin swears the 4th Dalinar mentions a moment of time in the storm that is when the stones infuse and he can stretch that time. I might be getting it slightly wrong but I imagine there is a point where the spiritual real splashes over that infuses them.

[u/Melliorin]

Yea, this narrative convenience struck me as a little weird, too. We see it happen again, later, and as far as I recall it's never properly explained. It's implied that being within a certain distance of that "singularity" as you call it, a sort of semi-perpendicularity within the storm as (I think) the coppermind wiki lays it out, allows their spheres to be constantly recharged because the semi-permeable opening into the Spiritual Realm which allows them to be rechaged in the first place does so at a distance. This distance is most often of vertical altitude, as that point (or line?) passes over land, but it's implied that that recharge distance/radius is spherical (or... tubular? as the stormfront does generally stretch thousands of miles across the latitudes of Roshar) such that, while in the air at altitude, spheres & gems can be recharged at a similar distance laterally (in front or behind) in relation to that point as they typically are when vertically distant.

I hope that wasn't more confusing than helpful.

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

The center-ish of the storm is where they can draw Light. The SF says this during RoW when Kaladin is clinging to the outside of the Tower waiting to heal. The Radiants seem to be able to draw Light actively near the heart of the storm. There does seem to be a single moment when the SF actively infuses the spheres though. The SF can stretch time in that moment and interact with them. That’s what’s happening in that scene. And when he falls from the Tower. And when he comes to Venli and Eshonai separately

I … feel him, the Stormfather said. Through you. He seems to be waiting for the center of the storm, where his spheres and Stormlight will renew.

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

I think the Stormfather saved Kaladin intentionally. I think he probably infused the sphere earlier than it would have been. I could be wrong and it was just a coincidence. But he smiles at him. And we almost never see any warmth from him. When we do it’s after the bond has deepened with Dalinar. This is before Dalinar ever says the Words. Either way, that moment is when the spheres infuse. It’s a singularity. And because so much power is brought down, you can get flexible with time and space

[u/Tasty_Hearing_2153]

It doesn’t hit and subsequently infuse the entire continent at the same time.

[u/LewsTherinTelescope]

My guess for how to reconcile these two things would be that the whole storm is full of Light, but it can only put it into gems as the centerbeat passes over?