[DragniRake]

I am currently in the middle of my re read of MOI, and i am STILL confused as to the actual duties of the Mortal Sword, Destriant, and Shield Anvil. It seems clear to me that the Destriant is the highest priest, so no confusion there. But what is the discerning difference between Shield Anvil and Mortal Sword? Itkovian spends a lot of time embracing people and whatnot, but he also takes control of the defense of Capustan, and Brukhalian doesn't seem to do much other than wield a fancy sword. Whereas Stormy later does little to nothing concerning disposition of troops in battle, but also doesnt really do much embracing. Gesler did the majority of the commanding.
In short, is there really a difference in the command structure? Or are they simply titles? If there IS a difference in each specific duty, does anyone know what it is?
Gracias for your thoughts!

[Defiance]

Mortal Sword: The god's wrath incarnate, his mortal weapon.

Shield Anvil: Healer of the soul.

Destriant: Healer of the flesh. Also, the priest figure of the religion.

As for who commands, it's up to the companies/armies, rather than being a specific duty of one of the three aforementioned titles.

[Salt-Man Z]

I don't think the titles are at all related to any sort of command structure; in MoI, the Grey Swords were a military force that just happened to have Fener's D/MS/SA leading it.

A Destriant has access to his god's magic (usually seen used for healing purposes, but surely not relegated to just that.)
A Mortal Sword is precisely what it sounds like; a weapon to be wielded, a focal point for the god's power in the mortal realm.
Shield Anvil is the trickiest, but if I recall he essentially protects the god from the suffering of its worshipers.

[D'rek]

Salt-Man Z, on 15 February 2012 - 09:00 PM, said:

I don't think the titles are at all related to any sort of command structure; in MoI, the Grey Swords were a military force that just happened to have Fener's D/MS/SA leading it.

A Destriant has access to his god's magic (usually seen used for healing purposes, but surely not relegated to just that.)
A Mortal Sword is precisely what it sounds like; a weapon to be wielded, a focal point for the god's power in the mortal realm.
Shield Anvil is the trickiest, but if I recall he essentially protects the god from the suffering of its worshipers.

MoI (less so the other books) seems to indicate that the D/MS/SA titles are used in Fener's religion as titles and/or ranks without corresponding to the "actual" titles that would be conferred by Fener himself. Brukhalian, Karnadas and Itkovian were the real deal, actually chosen by Fener to have those titles and given the power and responsibilities they entail. But it seems like there are plenty of other Destriants in the Fener religion who are not the true chosen of Fener, hence Rath'Fener saying "my rank is as Destriant".

In the case of the Grey Swords we see - Bruk, Karn and Itko - they were the true chosen of Fener, but the Grey Swords may have used the titles for their three highest-ranking commanders before those three took command I.E. fifty years prior to MoI the Grey Swords might've been commanded by a "Mortal Sword", "Destriant" and "Shield Anvil" that were not the true chosen of Fener, just like Rath'Fener or some other high-ranking priest being appointed Destriant by the priesthood. So there is a lot of ambiguity there in what the titles really mean. Some parts of the role we associate with the title come from the responsibilities set by the god themself, some parts come from the priestly responsibilites and others come from the Grey Swords' military command aspects of it, too.

And of course that makes it hard to tell sometimes if someone is really chosen by their god or just claiming the position without really being backed by the god.

---

Do we have a MS/D/SA list yet? Here's all the ones I could think of:

Fanald of Cawn Vor - "The Last Mortal Sword of Fener's Reve, who was killed in the Chaining" according to Birrin Thund

Tulgord Vise - Mortal Sword of the Sisters

Narkal, one of the souls in Quick Ben - "sworn to Fener and aspirant to the god's Mortal Sword"

Ipshank - Destriant of Fener, according to Birrin Thund and some other sources
Heboric - according to Rake and Birrin Thund, would have become the next Destriant of Fener after Ipshank disappeared. From HoC onward, Destriant/Shield Anvil to Treach.

Rhulad Sengar - Mortal Sword of the Crippled God up to MoI, after which the House of Chains is formed and he becomes the King in Chains

Brukhalian, of the Grey Swords - Mortal Sword of Fener during MoI
Karnadas, of the Grey Swords - Destriant of Fener during MoI
Itkovian, of the Grey Swords - Shield Anvil of Fener during MoI

Gruntle - Mortal Sword of Treach from MoI to TCG

Toc-Anaster, of the Grey Swords - Mortal Sword to the Wolves of Winter from MoI to RG
Velbara, of the Grey Swords - Destriant to the Wolves of Winter from MoI, presumably until they all die before RG
Norul, of the Grey Swords - Shield Anvil to the Wolves of Winter from MoI, presumably until they all die before RG

Krughava, of the Grey Helms - Mortal Sword to the Wolves of Winter from tBH to TCG
Run`Thurvian, of the Grey Helms - Destriant to the Wolves of Winter from tBH to DoD
Tanakalian, of the Grey Helms - Shield Anvil to the Wolves of Winter from tBH to TCG
Setoc - Destriant of the Wolves of Winter in DoD and TCG

Redmask - Mortal Sword of Gunth'an Acyl/Gunth Mach
Gesler - Mortal Sword of Gunth'an Acyl/Gunth Mach
Kalyth - Destriant of Gunth'an Acyl/Gunth Mach
Stormy - Shield Anvil of Gunth'an Acyl/Gunth Mach

[Use Of Weapons]

Mortal sword: a god's fist
Shield anvil: a god's heart
Destriant: a god's head

[DragniRake]

Thank yall much for the clarification!