Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Would Woundhealer fix everything that was wrong about a person (such as a genetic disposition towards hypertension) or did it just work on active illnesses/ailments (such as fresh wounds)? If so, could it be used to reattach limbs? I am sorry if the question is a little basic, but I've actually just started reading the series. Thanks!
EDIT: As an add-on, would Woundhealer be able to cure mental illnesses as well (such as madness)?
There is at least one instance where the Sword acts on a wound that is not fresh, albeit something that was acquired a long time ago.
In the Third Book of Swords
Jord's arm is regrown after it was cut by Hephaestus when the swords were created many years before.
It is shown in later books that Woundhealer will essentially heal anything, but that it will not give knowledge. It might heal a person who cannot walk, but they will still have to learn to walk after receiving their healing.
It is less clear on long term non-life threatening things, such as hypertension, madness, etc. I believe it would head a major case of blindness, but as hypertension is only something known to relatively modern medicine, and the books primarily consist of non-modern medicine, it is really impossible to know.
Woundhealer would most likely rejoin a severed limb if it were available and in close proximity when used (say, less than a quarter inch away).
If the limb has been severed for too long, it would most likely just cause a new one to slowly grow.
It would certainly fix hypertension, but it's unclear if this would be a permanent effect.
