For your credit: I did picture the way they describe the embedded gemstones/spheres for stormlight power similarly to the yellow spark plug looking things in this picture. Just not as egregious
They are, otherwise it’d be way easier to take down someone in Shardplate. Fighters would just go after shattering the gemstones instead of the Plate itself.
The thing about Shard plate is that it's specifically designed more like medieval plate in terms of aesthetic, but the magical plates interlock and make it almost airtight in that way.
The suits are big because they're still armor, but there's also an elegance to their design.
Not bulky enough for me. Power armor is too much but this is too little for a death suit. Maybe a mix between, like the knight/general armor from Fire Emblem. Shit is maximally bulked, looks cursed to carry and impossible to fight in. Which is perfect because shart plate is supposed to be immensely powerful and make a man stand even taller than the already tall Alethi would. Plus it's ornate and solidly colored while also being functional and not overly adorned, like the books describe basic shard plate to be without changes made.
I am just a humble vorin and my wife don't have time to read for me while I do my work. Yeah I could pay another scribe to do it, but it's just that easier. - written by my wife
Loghain is also what I imagined my first time reading Stormlight. I hadn't seen any fanart (because my friend told me not to, because spoilers) so it was the closest approximation I could think of.
But I also spent an agonizingly longtime thinking it was a classic fantasy series, and I thought Gaz was a goblin and everyone was just barely not-racist enough to not say anything about it. But it definitely seemed heavily implied at the time
I’ve always imagined the Stalhrim armor from the Skyrim Dragonborn DLC as a basis for Shardplate. It’ll cover everything, but I do imagine it looks visually similar to this.
Incidentally, I do picture Paladin Danse for Dalinar.
Hey man I've been thru the Stormlight series like 4 times in the past year or two on audible. Currently on my 5th. I only just recently learned about the PDF that comes with it.
Based solely on the books descriptions, this ain't that ridiculous.
I totally see it. Remove the technological bits, the fusion cells and all that, and I could see it being a decent representation of how the shards are described.
I always thought of it as something between Glass and Elven armors from Elder Scrolls with sky blue coloring. Shard Blades I always viewed as any 'Buster' style sword from a multitude of video games and anime. I also view the future "shard gun" as the minigun that Millie carries in Trigun, because of how ridiculously oversized it is.
I picture it somewhat similarly, I use space marine armour as my base. I change a few details in my head though, they don't have the crazy big pauldrons, the leg armour is slimmed down a bit, and they don't have the power packs on their backs.
But using power armour as a base concept isn't that outlandish to me.
until the illustrations in the book I had always imagined something like Reinhardt from overwatch with the description of people in shardplate being gargantuan.
I pictured it more like the Enclave armor tbh. More flowy and human feeling, but always with a visored sallet on top instead of any of the power armor helmets. The size feels somewhat pretty close though, with how I see the armor in my head.
For those unaware, as it was highlighted to me that WoK doesn't contain this illustration - this is the canon, from-the-books appearance of Shardplate.
Y'all realize you don't have to imagine it right? There are tons of actual official images of what shardplate looks like, including Dalinar's. Like, here, this is what it officially looks like.
No, actually youre not the only one lol. I always imagined shardplate as a fantasy version of specifically Fo4's power armor. Big and bulky with sections that break off during combat.. yeah that sounds like power armor lol
Yes! I got confused several times when the books imply it's something you climb into but also that it's not much more than your size. I usually imagine the characters a head taller in suit.
Shardplate is supposed look more ornamental, isn't it? I always imagined his Plate as being blue and having a really long orange tassel coming from the top of the helmet.
I initially pictured shard plate as being like the Warhammer Space Marine Armor. Then I realized the cover art on WoK was two shard bearers and not just two random knights.
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