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WARNING The following contains spoilers about Parshendi anatomy & Oathbringer. You have been warned Do Parshendi have gemhearts? If they did, it would explain a LOT of things. For one, at the beginning of "The way of Kings" Szeth says that "Voidbringers could hold [stormlight] perfectly". Now, if we assume that this refers to the Parshendi, this could be because of Parshendi anatomy. OR, it could be because they store it in a gemheart. Parshendi can also switch forms by bonding with spren. Most assume that this is because of a form of nahel bond. BUT, what if the spren ACTUALLY went into their gemheart, and turned them into some kind of "Living fabrial". This would also explain how the Fused posses the Singers in oathbringer.

Parshendi. Listeners. Singers. All the same? When'd the names "listeners" and "singers" divide? So they lived on Roshar with Cultivation and Honor. Then humans brought Odium with them to Roshar after destroying their last home with Surgebinding. Parshendi gave them Shinovar. Then...what? Used Surges forbidden to the Parshendi? When did the humans start fighting the Parshendi? I seem to remember something about the humans gradually taking over the homes of the Parshendi. And what's the deal with the spren abandoning the listeners for humanity? I don't remember any of the spren saying anything like that. From what I remember of Syl and Pattern, it seems like they fear the Parshendi and seek to eradicate them for fear of being forced into bonding with them.

I've been thinking for a long time about possible origins of the Listener's tradition of not touching their dead. Maybe it is only in there because it is a convenient plot point in Way of Kings, but Brandon likes depth to his cultures so I think this was thought out a little more than that. I suspect it is related to the Fused essentially being body snatchers. Maybe they refuse to touch their dead out of respect to their gods. Based on a history of the Fused inhabiting Singer bodies then when those bodies were killed they didn't touch them out of reverence or fear of their gods. The tradition continued after the desolations had ended and remains part of even the parshmen's cultural memories. Has anyone else been thinking about this? Anyone have some good theories and/or juicy WoBs?

So I'm rereading OB and I'm coming across Szeth and his whisperers. Then Dalinar is only aware of his once he knows he should, after the memories come back. And the Singers are hearing their rhythms now that they are allowed the connection. How related are these 2? Is it a Rosharan thing? I know the rhythms "permeate" the cosmere and can be heard anywhere by listeners. What about Szeth? If he left roshar would the voices subside, or is his connection to the Spiritual real going to stick regardless of where he is? Are there any other instances where people are gaining this connection without extreme death dealing? If not, is this then of Odium? Or another shard of equal anti-hero ness?

Already posted on the Reddit, but wanted to hear the ideas that people have on here too! In my Development Biology class, our final project is to make a presentation on our favorite humanoids, focusing specifically on 3 morphological differences between the humanoid and humans. I chose the Parshendi as the focus of my project - I want to talk about (1) their ability to grow carapace (when in Warform), (2) the red-black patterning that they have as skin, and (3) their gemhearts. I think I have a fair idea how and what I want to write about for the first 2 things (think of turtle/crab carapace development!), but I am a bit stumped on how to approach the third. Does anyone have any insight into how their gemhearts are formed? Also, anything about how they are born/develop that is in the books would also be appreciated!

This is... not exactly a deep question, but, Are Parshendi teeth covered in white enamel, the same as humans? Or does the color match their red bones? Yeah, it's silly.

Apologies if this has already been discussed and I missed it, but do we know why the Listeners were hunting chasmfiends so vigorously on the Shattered Plains? We know they have been experimenting with capturing spren in gems, but that doesn't seem to account for why they would need greatshell gemhearts. And it can't be just about killing them, because then why bother fighting pitched battles with the Alethi? I have a vague sense it has something to do with thunderclasts, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe I'm just missing something obvious. (I've only just crawled out of the woodwork because I'm re-listening to the series from the beginning.) Anyway, hi folks!

I'm curious which side people would choose, Mankind or the Singers?

At the beginning of WoK the Alethi first encountered the Listeners, who they dubbed the parshendi . At this time the parshendi had no shardbearers. Jasnah confirmed this by her conversation with Dalinar in WoK . In WoR we find out after 6 years of battle Eshonai is the last Parshendi shard bearer.. so sometime after Gavilar death and the beginning of the Vengence Pact the Singers found a cache of shardblade . If you remember the Singers learned Alethi rapidly and the first question they asked was to see the Alethi maps. So did Ulim Who was around back then “ he was the voice that told Klade to buy Szeth. Tell the singers about a city where they could find shards? The most obvious answer is Urithiru . The Singers beat them ( alethi their long ago ) and took all the shards . Szeth could of took them thru the Oathgate. Maybe that is what he meant when he said he had seen this before when shallan activated the Oathgare. I assumed it was someone in Shinovar that went there but it could of been the singers guided by Ulim . What do you guys think ? Where did they get all those sets of shards??

Hey, remember reading in one of the posts on this site that in the Arcanum voidbinding has 10 forms. This got me thinking though, because in OB Moash said that he had seen 9 types of fused. What if voidbinding is not the surge system granted by the fused, but the surge system granted when a high spren enters a parshendi gem-heart, and the fused system is different entirely? Venli would be a true voidbinder, and Renarin is simply a human with the voidbinding surges?

On the Coppermind Wiki entry for Unkalaki, it says that they "are one of several races on Roshar with Listener blood in their ancestry." Which other races are these "several races?"

Did Roshar originally have Spren? Sylphrena indicates 4 genders of spren. 2 for the Parsh, 2 for the human. I don't think Roshar was formed like other Shardic worlds. No other Cosmere world has spren like Roshar, so far. It would seem that the Parsh thought of their objects being Malen and Femalen, voila SPREN! Perhaps? Maybe? Did the way they think or sing create the spren way back then? Shard worlds seem to have the 3 realms setup. Roshar wasn't created by a Shard (that I'm aware of.) The way I understand the history is that Odium saw the existing native Parsh and decided to become their god. He got invested to that Solar System. Along comes the human Voidbringers to settle around Shinovar (initially.) Honor and Cultivation either settled with them or decided to call it home at a later time. Introducing Honor's high storms, Odium's Everstorm (old in design) and the Cultivation's/Nightwatcher's Old Magic. When I read TWoK, I assumed Honors' death and Splintering brought about the spren. I have now been proven false. So, I suspect Roshar was similar to an Earth like world and topography. The Parsh evolved naturally and all was pleasant until Odium rolled on in. My question is HOW and WHEN do you think Roshar got spren? A certified timeline of these early events would be great to read. Thank you.

Is it possible for a spren to travel between systems if bonded to a Parshendi, and residing in its gemheart? I know they can't normally travel outside the rosharian system, but would this be a special case or would they still be stuck?

So at the end of Words of Radiance all the Parshendi took up stormform or fled into the chasms, but what happened to the children who were too young to transform. Did they join the elders, were force into stormform, or were they hidden? In Oathbringer they take all the Parshmen children away, but it was never mentioned what happened to the Parshendi children.

Rlain, bridge four's dawnsinger, is in Urithiru right now. He probably knows how to capture spren, and a great variety a new spren the Parshendi haven't been able to catch yet. So basically as Rlain bonds all these new spren, what kinds of new forms will he discovered? Do you think he can find non-Odium forms of powers?

Is the transformation of the Parshendi similar to the process of soulcasting? Could the Parshendi be a sort of living fabrial? They both use/trap spren in a gem or gemheart.

Parshendi Forms: From Eshonai's prologue, after Gavilar explains the fabrial: When Venli first meets Timbre, at Eshonai's body: And then Venli bonds with Timbre: And then when talking with the Fuzed named Rine: So the Nahel bond is more powerful than the Parshendi forms bond from capturing spren inside their gemhearts during highstorms to transform, presumably because the only stormlight needed for the Parshendi bond to work is during the bonding itself but not for any of the surges that come after the bond. When Aesudan and Amaram bonded with the Unmade spren, that seems to be a Parshendi bond since they swallowed gems (spheres) to make the bond, with Amaram's purple gemheart glowing in the end and Aesudan's gemheart glowing through her dress. Thunderclasts From the Thaylen City battle: So the stone has gemhearts that, when inhabited by Voidspren, transform the stone into something else. No wonder Szeth's people aren't stonewalkers, right? Does stone have other forms? Chasmfiends Chasmfiends obviously have gemhearts. I think they must have other forms, too. We know chasmfiends, skyeels, and greatshells all have the same spren. From the Kaza interlude, we know that greatshells do also have gemhearts. Are these three different forms for the same being? Do chasmfiends have other forms? Are they also thunderclasts? From Adolin's fight with the thunderclast: Urithiru And then: So we wake it just as the Fuzed woke Thunderclasts from stone, right? We bond Urithiru with a spren. Or multiple spren. Spren that can be trapped in a heart of emerald and ruby. And from the gem library: Dude, is Urithiru the Sibling?!!!! Sibling to the Nightwatcher and the Stormfather? So the Sibling was stolen away? And from the Stormfather's conversation with Dalinar: Slumbering! Sleeping! Just like Dalinar said Urithiru was! And this is why the Radiant says goodnight to Urithiru, goodnight to the Sibling! So we need to find the slumbering Sibling spren and restore her (or probably "them" because the Stormfather refers to the Sibling in the singular and the plural) to Urithiru's heart to waken Urithiru, right? And what will a wakened Urithiru be like? Will she move? Will she protect? Will she destroy? *************************** Related ideas: Fabrials are similar but not as alive as it would seem Urithiru will be and certainly not as alive as Parshendi, chasmfiends, or great shells. Parshmen may not have had gemhearts until the first Everstorm, which restored their gemhearts and thus enabled them to now have forms, including Voidforms. Different Parshendi forms likely come from different types of spren, with Voidform (forms of power) coming from corrupted or Unmade spren. Dullform might be having a gemheart with no spren bond since dullform is so close to parshmen. Are there secrets to other cities, not just Urithiru? Kabsal draws Kholinar as a triangular shape with three outlying wings and a peaked center (Pg 510 of WoK), which incidentally is the symbol on Gavilar's shardplate (Pg 29 of WoK), saying that the city was built on a rock formation already there. The stone windblades of Kholinar seem particularly significant, where Kaladin says the interior corridor of the windblades reminds him of the strata at Urithiru (Pg 785 of OB). I'm equally interested in the City of Shadows and even the City of Bells, but perhaps these cities are special in different ways.