Grandbows

Grandbows are massive steel bows designed to fire exceptionally heavy shafts, and they represent one of the clearest examples of modern Alethi fabrial science being adapted to warfare. Their importance lies not only in their destructive capacity but also in the boundary they expose: technological ingenuity can reproduce some practical effects associated with the relics of the past, yet it cannot recreate the ancient power and status of Shardblades or Shardplate.

Design and Operation

Grandbows have thick strings and an extraordinarily high draw weight. Ordinary soldiers cannot use them; only a Shardbearer possesses the strength required to pull one. Their ammunition is correspondingly large, with shafts described as being as thick as three fingers, making the weapon closer to a siege instrument in scale than to a conventional bow.

The bows are not powered by muscle alone. Each contains a small infused gemstone that preserves the strength of the pull without allowing the metal to warp. This fabrial mechanism turns a physically impossible weapon into a usable military device: the bow stores and maintains force through engineered interaction between metal and Stormlight, while the Shardbearer supplies the strength needed to deploy it.

Development and Military Use

Grandbows were recent creations devised by Alethi engineers through fabrial science. Their appearance during the chasmfiend hunt shows that they had already moved from experimental invention into organized field use. The hunting party brought several of them to a specially prepared plateau, where soldiers arranged four bows on a rack beside quivers of thick black shafts.

The planned hunt treated the grandbows as part of a coordinated attack rather than as independent weapons. Hog carcasses and blood were used as bait, and wild hogs were intended as distractions once the chasmfiend arrived. The hunters would then begin weakening the enormous creature with arrows. In this setting, the Grandbows supplied the ranged force necessary to confront a creature too large and dangerous for ordinary hunting weapons, while the surrounding soldiers and bait system formed the larger tactical arrangement.

Navani’s Contribution and Naming

The research that produced the bows was led by Navani Kholin, the widow of Gavilar Kholin and the mother of Elhokar Kholin and Jasnah Kholin. Her role places the Grandbows within the court-sponsored development of military technology and connects the weapon to the broader prestige of Alethi engineering. The device is therefore not merely a battlefield object: it is also evidence of the political and intellectual resources invested in fabrial innovation.

Some people began calling the weapons Shardbows. The name reflects their dependence on Shardbearer strength and their association with the elite martial culture surrounding Shardblades and Shardplate. Yet the designation is contested. Adolin Kholin rejects it because Shardblades and Shardplate are relics from the age when the Knights Radiant walked Roshar, whereas no amount of fabrial science has come close to reproducing them. The nickname thus creates an intentional ambiguity: the Grandbows resemble Shard equipment in function and exclusivity, but not in origin, mystery, or status.

Material Significance

The Grandbows make technology visible as a hybrid of human craft and nonhuman energy. Their metal, strings, gemstones, and Stormlight work together with the physical strength of a Shardbearer, so the weapon’s effectiveness belongs to an assemblage rather than to any single component. The infused gemstone is especially important because it is both a practical power source and a reminder that Alethi engineering depends on manipulating forces that remain closely connected to the world’s magical order.

Their contrast with Shardblades and Shardplate also gives the objects a historical function. The Grandbows point forward toward invention, standardization, and engineered force; the Shard relics point backward toward a lost civilization and the vanished Knights Radiant. Calling the new weapons Shardbows tries to bridge those eras, while Adolin Kholin’s objection preserves the difference. The result is a weapon that embodies modern ambition precisely because it cannot become the thing it imitates.