The True Nature Of Spren?

[vijay059]

Hey guys,

 

So re-read WoR for like, the fifth time today... and I was wondering about Moelach and spren in general.

 

Moelach sounds like a spren that makes people see the future, right? So the same way the stormfather is Syl's father, could Moelach be the parent spren to a truthwatcher, like Glys? 

 

Also, I have a general question about parent spren..... it sounds like the more powerful spren establish nahel bonds with bondsmiths only.... is that right?

 

Also, since spren are from the cognitive realm, I'm guessing they are just ideas given form by the humans living on Roshar.... I got that idea from that interlude chapter where they measure spren characteristics, and found that spren can be defined indirectly, after the measurements were stored. So can one argue that the more powerful an idea, the more powerful the spren? Something like the stormfather is what pretty much every human on Roshar visualises highstorms as.... so is my rationale behind spren right? 

 

Hence, can one argue that spren can be destroyed when the idea created, like Syl for Honor, is discarded? Is that what happened in the recreance? maybe some spren ('wicked thing of eminence) related to Odium convinced the Knights to abandon their ideals, 'killing' their spren, so to speak?

 

I'm sorry if my questions are all over the place  

 

[skaa]

Moelach sounds like a spren that makes people see the future, right? So the same way the stormfather is Syl's father, could Moelach be the parent spren to a truthwatcher, like Glys?

 

Moelach is one of the Unmade (a.k.a. the Parshendi gods), who we've been led to believe are of Odium. The Listener Song of Secrets does imply that the Unmade are indeed spren:

 

Our gods were born splinters of a soul,

Of one who seeks to take control,

Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite.

They are his spren, his gift, his price.

 

 

As for Moelach being the parent of Truthwatcher spren, I don't think that's likely. We have Word of Brandon that all spren of the Knights Radiant are either from Honor, from Cutivation, or from both:

 

So there has been dissension among them about who gets to call themselves honorspren, if that makes sense, and there is some disagreement among scholars about which ones are really, you know "This is what defines an honorspren".

But the spren you are running into are all (something) of either Honor or Cultivation, or some mixture between them. And you can usually tell the ones that are more Honor, and the ones that are more Cultivation.

 

I think it's more likely that Truthwatcher spren come from the Nightwatcher, who seems to be the parent of Edgedancer spren as well (as implied by Wyndle who calls her Mother).

 

 

Also, I have a general question about parent spren..... it sounds like the more powerful spren establish nahel bonds with bondsmiths only.... is that right?

 

The idea of "parent spren" in general (instead of just the Stormfather in particular) being the spren of the Bondsmiths is an often repeated theory, but it's still up for debate. Some people here, for example, believe that the Bondsmiths only bonded with the Stormfather.

Edited March 4, 2015 by skaa