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Following are my thoughts on this matter: (started form Argent's post about Spren History.) I realize little of this might not be new for some of you, I am sorry if nothing here is novel for the group. A quick search for Nahel brings up the Arabic name which loosely translates as "[One/He/She] who quenches its thirst". As the spelling is exactly the same I am inclined to believe this is a clue as to why the bonds are formed. ALL spren thirst for physical experience. It was discovered that by connecting themselves with physical beings they are able to get those experiences. I disagree with the common thought that the bond brings them closer to the physical realm. I believe that spren can jump into the physical as wind spren don't seem to have a bond but they are in the the physical realm to some extent and able to minimally interact with physical things. The bond allows them to experience it in a very different way then just observing and minimal interactions. BTW I am on board with Argent's postulate that ALL bonds grant surgebinding especially in context that a Selish person with a bonded Aon (that was able make the jump to Roshar) would have access to some form of Surges. The higher spen is the higher a creature needs to be to fill this need. The Radiant Spren NEED more then a skyeel, cremling, or greatshell to quench their thirst. They need something intelligent and self aware. I suspect they couldn't bond with the listeners until the Shards came and the ambient magic system (think of the birds on First of the Sun) moved into a actively wielded magic system. Then the Radiant Spren started bonding with the native race, but then moved on to humans when they were shown they could get better experiences from more physical beings possibly from seeing how much more powerful the Heralds were. They may have surmised that Humans could wield the surges more powerfully and deduced that meant they would get better/stronger experiences. Following this I believe that a human will always outstrip a Listener in power because as the Spren gets more it can give more. The only reason Void spren are not bonding forcibly with Humans to get the better/stronger experiences is the fact that the further from the cognitive realm a being is the more free it will be to reject the bond. but this gets off topic slightly. TLDR: Spren thirst for physical experience, they can get minimal experience just by interacting with the world, but get more by bonding with a physical being. The word Nahel is used to hint at this relationship as the bonds quenches this thirst. It is easier to bond with unintelligent / unaware creatures, but less is gained for the spren and less is granted in return.