"i Bind Things," A Realmatic Hypothesis

[Shardcellist]

“I Bind Things”

A Realmatic Hypothesis of the Potential Ramifications of Connection in the Spiritual Realm

Introduction:

I was contemplating the following quote by Sylphrena in The Way of Kings,

 

 

"Syl still stood beside him, facing eastward. It made his very soul twist in knots to see that look of despair on her face. “Are windspren attracted to wind,” she asked softly, “or do they make it?”

“I don’t know,” Kaladin said. “Does it matter?”

“Perhaps not. You see, I’ve remembered what kind of spren I am.”

“Is this the time for it, Syl?”

“I bind things, Kaladin,” she said, turning and meeting his eyes. “I am honorspren. Spirit of oaths. Of promises. And of nobility.” 

[1]

 

when I was struck by an interesting disparity. Why would Syl state binding things as a distinguishing attribute of honorspren?

 

The obvious answer, the one that I had previously assumed, is that she referenced the Adhesion-like ability she shares with windspren [2]. But the context of Syl’s declaration shows the fallacious nature of this assumption: Syl and Kaladin had both originally assumed that she was a windspren. Yet, when she first mentioned “binding things,” it was as she was discovering – indeed, telling Kaladin – that she was not, in fact, a windspren after all [3]. Thus, whatever Syl’s “binding things” attribute is, it is almost certainly not an attribute of common windspren.

 

 

 

This line of thinking led me to the following conclusions:

Potential Postulates of the Spiritual Realm

The Spiritual Realm is a Realm of Ideals and Connections [4]. In my studying, I have come to believe that these Ideals are something akin to Kurkistan’s Forms [5]. (I had come up with a similar model independently, but Kurkistan explains it better.) I propose that Ideals are the Spiritual Realmatic aspects of everything. Much as everything has a “bead,” a mind, conscience, or whatever you prefer you call it, in the Cognitive Realm [6], everything has a similar aspect manifesting in the Spiritual Realm as an Ideal. I will also go one step farther and declare my second proposition: Interactions between beings and their Spiritual Ideals (whether natural or Investiture-related) creates Connections.

 

Potential ramifications of these postulates are extensive, and I shall avoid wasting this opportunity by discussing minor, trivial possibilities. Certainly they lend merit to ideas such as Shaggai’s idea of Allomantic steel [7], and explains what, exactly, Feruchemical duralumin may store.

 

 

Speculation on Shards and Shardworlds:

(I will make a bit of a leap here; please understand that the spoiler section is much more speculative, pending further references.)

 

Speculation

It could be that Intent is the Spiritual Ideal of a Shard. While Intent sounds Cognitive, Shards seem to have little mind of their own, relying upon the Cognitive aspect of the Shardholder. It would also fit with this new quote:

 

“Q: Stormlight, I know it heals wounds and stuff like that but can it heal illnesses like colds?

B: Yes it can.

Q: So if Kaladin suddenly contracted brain cancer...

B: It’s plausible-- it depends, see what it does is it takes your body and makes it align with your spirit, and partially through the filter of how you view yourself. So if you view yourself as sickly, then you won’t.” 

[8]

 For, as we know, an individual’s Cognitive functions can guide and, to an extent, shape the Intent into the actions affecting the Physical Realm [9], while the Intent is the main thing doing said aligning.

 

As for Shardworlds, their Spiritual Ideals seem to be able to Bond with the local Shard (or Shards) to produce another Ideal, that of the “magic system.” This magic system Ideal, then, is what the Spiritual aspects of individuals bond to, resulting in their “extranatural” capabilities.

 

 

“The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.”

[10]

Application to Investiture and the Laws of Magic

The most important application of these statements of conjecture, I believe, is their potential applicability to Investiture and its interactions in current canon.

 

And so I return to my analysis of Sylphrena’s statement. As Syl’s binding ability is likely not the Adhesion (for lack of a better term) demonstrated earlier in The Way of Kings, I present that Syl – and, by extension all Radiant spren – is binding Spiritual Ideals.

 

• As a spren begins to form the Nahel bond with an individual, the spren is using itself, a Splinter of Adonalsium, to create a Spiritual Connection between the Radiant candidate and the Ideal of the Radiant Order that the spren is associated with [11].                                                                                     
• The candidate’s Spiritual Ideal must already be similar in nature to that of the order he/she will join for a spren to be able to start the bond.

Example: (spoilered for length)

Take, for instance, Kaladin. Originally in Hearthstone, Kaladin gradually became a person who would protect others at his own expense. Perhaps the best example of this is his final day in Hearthstone when he stood and volunteered in Amaram’s army solely to protect his brother. Following Tien’s death and Kaladin’s “breaking,” Syl was able to fully begin bonding to him as he began protecting other young boys in the Alethi army [12]. Kaladin was already a person willing to protect those who could not protect themselves before swearing the Second Oath of the Windrunners.

 

• Acting in accordance with the Radiant Oaths aligns the candidate’s Spiritual Ideal more closely to the Ideal of the order he/she will join, allowing the spren to gradually bond the individual closer to the Ideal.                                                                                                                                           
• Speaking the Oaths is an essential part of the bonding process, markedly increasing the strength of the spren’s Connection. Much of the growth of the Connection is done over this series of five “steps.”                                                                                                                                               
• Breaking Oaths and misaligning the candidate’s Ideal from that of the Radiant Order strains and eventually breaks the Connection, effectively killing the spren [13].                                                    
• The Connection between the Spiritual aspect of the candidate and the Spiritual Ideal of the Radiant Order allows the individual’s Ideal to become more like the Ideal it is Connected to; in effect, this allows the candidate to gain the Surgebinding abilities.

 

On Roshar, this system would have been begun initially by Honor. By making the ten Honorblades, the Spiritual interaction between Honor and Roshar created the ten Spiritual Ideals of the ten Orders. The Heralds then were able to bond to these “magic system Ideals” through the Honorblades to create their Connection; the Spren, imitating the Honorblades, began doing the same process with other individuals – Surgebinders [14].

 

While the other Cosmere “magic systems” clearly differ from this Spren-Binding Process, there are certain similarities that indicate that all seem to rely on Connection to function. This has led me to develop my Connective Law of Magic:

 

All Investiture-Related Phenomena are facilitated through Connections between Ideals in the Spiritual Realm.

 

Through simple observation, with the aid of this Connective Law of Magic, it is easy to see how similar Connections between the Spiritual aspects of individuals and “magic system” Ideals are formed.

 

Scadrial: Much of Scadrial’s magic is based on genetics, due to the extra bit of Preservation in each individual [15]. This is talked of as a connection to Preservation, allowing  access to his (or her, depending) “body” or power. It seems that the innate pieces of Ruin and Preservation create a Connection to the power of these Shards.

 

Nalthis: A WOB from Kurkistan [11] indicates that each Breath carries with it the Ideal of being given power from Endowment. The ability to give Breaths allows Nalthians to pass on this Connection to another individual (Heightening) or an object (Awakening).

 

Sel: Every type of Selian magic seems to require not only the mandatory Spiritual Connection to the planet, but also to a specific region. Each regional Connection then grants access to the Dor in its own way: AonDor for Arelon, Dakhor for Fjordell, ChayShan for Jindo, Forgery for MaiPon, etc.

 

Conclusion

To summarize, I presented a potential Connective Law of Magic: All Investiture-Related Phenomena (“magics”) are made possible by Realmatic Connections between Ideals (the Spiritual aspects of people and objects as per Realmatic Theory) in the Spiritual Realm. This concept was based off of two postulates about the nature of Ideals: First, that Ideals are, as stated above, Realmatic Spiritual aspects; and second, that interactions between beings and Ideals create Connection.

 

I hope my thoughts are intriguing, or, at the least, thought-provoking. Thank you for taking the trouble to read out my ideas!

 

 

(Note: This is a rough draft; I still have some work that I need to do. I just think that it is time to begin discussion so I can progress my ideas. Thank you.)

 

Sources

[1] The Way of Kings, page 913

[2]The Way of Kings, page 48

[3] The Way of Kings, page 796

[4] The Emperor’s Soul, Day 12 (Sorry, I will find a page number later; I don’t yet own this book.)

[5] http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3033-nature-of-forms-forgery/; http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3319-forms-simplified/

[6] Words of Radiance and The Way of Kings, (Page numbers to come)

[7] http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/16930-on-the-nature-of-the-spiritual-realm-and-its-interactions/

[8] http://www.17thshard.com/news/events/giant-transcription-of-slcc-audio-r201

[9] Hero of Ages annotations, Chapter 81 Part 4, brandonsanderson.com

[10] http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt=%27realmatic%20theory%27, 50

[11] http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt=%27spiritual%20realm%27, 14

[12] The Way of Kings, (Will find page reference later)

[13] Words of Radiance, as shown through Kaladin and Syl

[14] Words of Radiance, Page number to come (one of Dalinar’s visions)

[15]Hero of Ages annotations, Chapter 70 brandonsanderson.com

[Kurkistan]

Interesting theory. Myself I'm currently toying with how exactly to relate human souls to broader ideals: the soul-healing WoB here in particular has Brandon saying outright that souls are ideals, but I'm more than a little suspicious that they are of a different class than the more generalized ideals that spren represent: otherwise we seem to lack a template to tell Investiture how exactly to go about healing the soul.

 

As a criticism, I think you may be misinterpreting the WoB about how Breath works. It's rather clear that this ideal of being endowed is properly within the Breath, rather than simply being a connection to some external thing.

 

--

 

P.S. Just some editorial stuff, but I'd advise against this footnoting citation system, going forward. It's all quite a bit easier (less back and forth and the like) if you just inline the hyperlinks, or parenthetical citations, or quote the WoBs directly if they're that crucial. Also, you're going to want to change your theoryland links: right now you're linking to searches, which are volatile and so don't provide permanent, reliable links to find specific WoBs. I happen to have a little how-to on linking to specific interviews/WoBs in the database, if you don't know how.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Kurkistan

[skaa]

As a criticism, I think you may be misinterpreting the WoB about how Breath works. It's rather clear that this ideal of being endowed is properly within the Breath, rather than simply being a connection to some external thing.

 

I think what Brandon was saying was that Breaths contain an ideal of endowment that is inherent to them, being small pieces ("shades") of the Shard personifying endowment. He didn't say they don't grant a Spiritual Connection to the Shard Endowment. In fact, I think it makes sense that the more Breaths one has, the more he shares in Endowment's divinity, the stronger his Spiritual Connection would be to Endowment. And this Connection is transferred every time you transfer Breath.

@Shardcellist: Great job! I think this is a reasonable analysis of the concept of Connection in a Cosmeric context. I hope to see more from you in the future. (Edit: Whoops, you've apparently been a Sharder for some months now. I mistook you for a newbie. Sorry.) Also, I think Kurk's editorial suggestions are valuable and are worthy of consideration.

Edited February 26, 2015 by skaa

[Blaze1616]

Nice, solid theory! I have one request; would someone do me a favor and explain the differences between the first half of this theory, about the Spiritual Ideals, and Kurkistan's form theory? From the sounds of it, you think they are different, Shardcellist? But to me they seem nearly identical...I assume I've misunderstood one of them.

[Kurkistan]

I think what Brandon was saying was that Breaths contain an ideal of endowment that is inherent to them, being small pieces ("shades") of the Shard personifying endowment. He didn't say they don't grant a Spiritual Connection to the Shard Endowment. In fact, I think it makes sense that the more Breaths one has, the more he shares in Endowment's divinity, the stronger his Spiritual Connection would be to Endowment. And this Connection is transferred every time you transfer Breath.

 

Perhaps Breaths do grant some degree of Connection to Endowment—in fact it's likely they do, as a mechanism to explain why Drabs can't Return. But unless I'm misunderstanding, Shardcellist is equating the ideal that Breaths contain to a connection to Endowment, and attributing the effects of Breath to that connection rather than to some ideal that is wholly contained within the Breath.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Kurkistan

[Shardcellist]

Thanks, Kurkistan; I'll fix the links and citations when I have a minute.

I would agree that there likely are different "classes" of Ideals, much as how the mind of an object (a ship, castle, or stick) manifests as a bead in the Cognitive Realm, while a living thing (a fish or person) manifests as a light. (Not, of course, that the same classifications would apply in the Spiritual Realm, merely as an example.)

As for the WOB, I also understood that the Ideal was "part of the Breath." I tried to put it as the Breath holding the Ideal, but that the Connection to the Breath was passed between people and objects.

@Skaa: I think you put it better than I did. The Ideal is (probably) the Spiritual aspect of the Breath, carrying the concept of being blessed by Endowment. The Connection, then, is to the Breath, and the more Connections to Breaths one has, the stronger their (lowercase) connection to Endowment.

@Blaze1616: The two theories are nearly identical. What I tried to say is that I came up with this idea on my own, but then found Kurkistan's better written, better cited, more expansive, all-around better theory, and I put it in to include the better information and to help it make sense with those already familiar with Forms. Do you have any suggestions for me to convey that better?

"A scholar knows not to waste time rediscovering information already known. It’s a lesson I sometimes forget."

[kari-no-sugata]

The obvious answer, the one that I had previously assumed, is that she referenced the Adhesion-like ability she shares with windspren [2]. But the context of Syl’s declaration shows the fallacious nature of this assumption: Syl and Kaladin had both originally assumed that she was a windspren. Yet, when she first mentioned “binding things,” it was as she was discovering – indeed, telling Kaladin – that she was not, in fact, a windspren after all [3]. Thus, whatever Syl’s “binding things” attribute is, it is almost certainly not an attribute of common windspren.

 

I would note that windspren actually can bind things. From WoR "Middlefest" chapter there is this line:

 

They passed a merchant cursing as a windspren darted through his enclosure, making objects stick together.

This is not to say this invalidates your theory, just that certain things are less absolute. btw, I tend to think of honorspren as windspren who were "uplifted" by their interaction with humans. So, windspren can bind things as a minor side-effect while in honorspren this developed into their primary feature, hence "bindspren".

[Kurkistan]

@Shardcellist

 

Ah, I see now; my apologies for misunderstanding you about Breath. I find, however, that I still disagree with this clarified formulation.

 

I find it highly suspect to discuss Breaths as if they are so very separate from the people/objects that they, by all appearances, fully inhabit. The Breath of a 1-Breath Nalthian is simply a part of their everyday soul: similarly, I would say/guess that the Breaths of a 500-breath Awakener are all similarly tightly integrated with his self. So I can't say I approve of saying that the relationship between the Awakener and their Breaths is a "mere" connection, rather than a nearly full integration. Unless you mean to describe such integrations as merely kinds of connections, in which case our conversation might have to be about how to go about defining/limiting what a "connection" is.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Kurkistan

[skaa]

An integration is a form of connection, Kurk. Connection is relationship, and even a compositional relationship (X contains Y) is still a connection. It's like how the heart pumping blood inside you is connected to you in a very real and very important way, and you certainly don't want it to be "disconnected".

Besides, Breath can be given away. It's obviously not something inseparable (either literally or metaphorically) from the person holding it.

Edit: Also, why phrase it as "mere connection"?

Edited February 27, 2015 by skaa

[Kurkistan]

Such talk smells of obfuscating semantics to me. 

 

I'm sure we can bend over backwards to say all relationships are technically "connections", but that's really not all that helpful.

 

If I have a power screwdriver that's plugged into the wall, I'd say it's "connected" to its power source. If I have one with a battery, I'd say that the screwdriver has its own power source. Yes both are a matter of sending some electrons down some wires to make things go whirr, but I think we can all agree that the Screwdriver::Wall-socket relationship is of a very different kind from the Screwdriver::Battery relationship.

 

Regarding the ability to take Breath away, I don't see that as really mattering all that much. I'm talking about how the level/way that it interacts with its holder while it's there, not about whether it has to be there.

 

---

 

Re: "Mere"

 

Mainly I was juxtaposing the somewhat surface-level concept of a connection with the more in-depth idea of full integration. I don't have a problem with "connections" going deep, but I'm also not going to really buy the idea that Kaladin's relationship with Syl is on the same level of "togetherness" (for lack of a better word I can think of) as Vasher's relationship with his oodles of Breath, or his Divine Breath.

[skaa]

If I have a power screwdriver that's plugged into the wall, I'd say it's "connected" to its power source. If I have one with a battery, I'd say that the screwdriver has its own power source.

Or you could say it's connected to an internal power source.

Re:obfuscating semantics, I sort of resent that, Kurk. I thought the OP's message was pretty reasonable and clear, and his use of the word "connection" was pretty valid. You, on the other hand, seem to have an objection to this word, and this objection seems to rest on a rather limiting mental model that you conceived.

But hey, we don't know how Brandon himself thinks. Perhaps in the end you might turn out to be right. I guess we'll see eventually.

Edited February 27, 2015 by skaa

[Kurkistan]

First of all, I'm sorry for offending you by saying "obfuscating semantics". The ninja-face was meant to soften the blow a bit, but clearly that failed so I apologize.

 

--

 

Regarding the topic at hand:

 

Let me try one more time to see if an example might bring our views into alignment: How would you describe the way that a hemalurgic spike interacts with the spiritweb of a recipient?

 

Myself, I would say that the spike grafts some stolen piece of soul onto the recipient, not that the recipient is "connected" to a piece of soul that's "connected" in turn to the spike. Hemalurgy "rips off a piece of one person's soul and spikes it somebody else", which all sounds quite direct to me.

[skaa]

Those are two ways to say the same thing, Kurk. If I were to read a list of instructions that says "Step 1: Graft X to Y; Step 2: Connect X to Y," I'd be baffled, because Step 2 would appear to be the same instruction as Step 1.

Edited February 27, 2015 by skaa

[Kurkistan]

Hm. I suppose we suffer a simple conceptual disconnect, then, as I disagree.

[skaa]

I'll try to meet with you half way and acknowledge that "graft" is a more useful term than "connect" because it specifies the kind of connection intended.

[Kurkistan]

Good enough I guess.