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So I was thinking on the Lift interlude and a thought came to me. It's probably not quite right, but it could be a possible explanation. In this part Wyndle says, "Mother has given up on your kind. I can feel it. She doesn't care any longer. Now that He's gone..." Now my first thought was that He is Honor. But after reading WoR I came to wonder if He is actually the man (bondsmith) that Nightwatcher bonded with. If this were the case then one reason for her strange actions would be that she became broken like all the other spren who broke when the KR broke their oaths. And because bondsmith don't have shard blades we get a broken spren who gives strange blessings and even weirder curses.

Natans sponsored a theory on Gavilar's death over in the WoR forum that got me thinking about the relationship between spren, Parshendii, and Gavilar's stone. I'll make this as quick as I can as it was a pretty quick thought. Is it possible that Navani's (or was it Jasnah's) theory on the ability to capture spren is really the cause of the murder, and not the stone itself? What if there really is a spren, just any spren, in that stone, and the murder was misdirected b/c the Parshendii thought Gavilar was the brains behind it? It would mean that Gavilar knew how to trap spren, which might be the key to wiping out the Parshendii on a massive scale. Consider the possibility of Jasnah walking onto a battlefield with a bag of spheres (not suggesting this is specifically what is required, just run with it for a moment) and then sucking the spren out of the Parshendii warriors and turning them into Parshmen on the spot. I don't think this theory fits as well as some of the others, but it seems possible to me. Thoughts?

OK, tell me if this sounds crazy. There are two kinds of spren, nature and emotion. or (natural forces and concepts) Forces of nature spren are of Cultivation? and emotion/concepts are of Honor? Each Herald get's their abilities from a bond to Honor and each represents an ideal. (a concept) Each ideal granted the Herald two Surges divided up between spiritual and cognitive surges. Four got access to two spiritual surges, Four got access to two cognitive surges, and two got access to one of each. Spren were attracted to each ideal and because each ideal was a bond to Honor the spren "fed" of that bond and achieved sentience by becoming Splinters. These spren, that now each represented an ideal, started to bond with humans giving them surgebinding abilities like the Heralds whose ideal/Order they represent. (Surprising the Almighty) This would suggest that the power of Surgebinding comes from Honor. So what about Cultivation? Well I think her magic system is Voidbinding. (Binding spren that represent natural forces) I don't think that the spren involved in Voidbinding are Splinters, but I suppose they could be, but for now I'm going to assume they're not. So while Surgebinding involves sentient spren who make the decision to bond to a human who represents their ideal. I think Voidbinding works by binding a non-sentient spren that represents a force of nature to them (like stormspren) giving them abilities. =============================== OR The ideals the Herald swore bound them to both Honor and Cultivation (and the Herald's surge abilities, depending upon the Herald, are either of Honor, Cultivation or a mix of both) giving the spren that were attracted to that ideal access to the power of both Shards, becoming Splinters that way. Which would mean that Voidbinding is something else entirely. =============================== This is just something that I started to think about while reading Brandon Q&A's and I thought I share it to see what you guys think. So tell me what you think, feel free to added to it or tear it apart.

First of all, something of a warning. There is no hard evidence to be had here, as this is an entirely subjective interpretation of a character - one that I feel is almost certainly opposed to Mr. Sanderson's intentions, and contrary to what most people believe. I hope there is room for something like this here. I believe Syl is at worst actually malevolent - and I'm thinking of the indirect, insidious type, not the 'torture kittens and murder everything' version - or at best morally neutral and extremely creepy. As soon as I started reading WoR, I immediately felt something was wrong with her. It took me a long time to put what my problem is into words, and I also find it difficult to make a case for it, due to the nature of the wrongness. You see, my argument is top down, not bottom up. What I mean by that is that I am not finding clues, and then coming to a realisation based on them. Instead, I have a sense of evil that is present in virtually every scene with Syl, but is rather formless. The only thing I can do is to point out what seems off every time. However, taken individually, all of these concerns are weak and very easy to accept, explain, or dismiss. What I consider to be the true picture is only apparent if you take all of it together, in context; this is why I name it insidious. Before I get to the point, I have to make two assumptions about the nature of Syl clear. She is a character in a meaningful way, and she has a level of control over the bond. Everything else is based on this, therefore if I am wrong here, I am wrong in everything. Syl is a character: it is not uncommon in fantasy (typical examples include the sidhe and divine beings, like angels) and science fiction (shackled AI, for instance), that a being is bound by rules, cosmic or otherwise, or their own nature, very, very tightly. Specific examples would be the Mothers from the Dresden files, or Sazed from the Cosmere. The latter holds two shards, so he should be a force to be taken seriously, yet because those shards are opposites, he finds it hard to act. The point here is that these beings will normally have a personality, yet it is practically irrelevant. What they are allowed to do and say is controlled to such an extent, that the personality is little more than a coat of paint. These individuals can be recurring, or supporting cast, if used sparingly, but they can't function as a focus for a story. Based on what we know of how spren work, it isn't impossible that they fall in this category, but I doubt it. To say nothing more, it is mentioned that Syl came to our realm despite what her people thought, which clearly shows she has a certain level of freedom, and that not all honourspren will make the same decisions. Syl's control of the bond: I don't think this is like flipping a switch, or even necessarily deliberate on her part. Furthermore, it seems clear that she can't advance the bond on her own. At the same time, I get the impression that breaking it, or weakening it, is something she can very much do - perhaps through how she views Kaladin. If she strongly disapproves, the bond weakens. There is no explicit mention of this in the text, but several conversations imply it. For instance, at the duelling grounds when Kaladin attacks Adolin for the second time, and Stormlight leaves him, or at the end when Syl speaks about how spren require checks. Finally, though this is an outside view, if this is not the case, then Syl doesn't have agency, which would significantly reduce her value as a character. Lastly, before I get into what I've seen in WoR, I have to point out a few things from WoK. Back then, Syl was by far my favourite character, and the reveal at the end that she is honourspren fit everything perfectly. In no particular order: 1. She was acting in every way like Kaladin's equal. They had conversations, and they even made some decisions together. She advised him, and helped him, but didn't order, or require. 2. Syl genuinely and passionately cared about Kaladin. Not merely about what he was doing, but about the man himself. Her concern for him practically shone through the pages. She 'held off' the highstorm to protect him, and 'fought off' the deathspren. How much practical effect either of those had is irrelevant, the gesture was clear. 3. She had initiative. She was doing things on her own, creatively even. The most obvious example would be fetching the poison leaf for Kaladin. 4. She was considering things, and making decisions. This is very important. She didn't have knee-jerk reactions. With the bribe for Gaz, for instance, she ended up making the obvious choice, but it was a choice. 5. She was fairly tolerant. When Kaladin explained what was happening with the apothecary she accepted it. Kaladin didn't immediately want to go back to help Dalinar on the Tower. When he hesitated, Syl made her opinion clear, yet didn't mind the fact that he had to think about it for a moment. I think at this point it is fairly obvious what I'm getting at, so I won't pick apart every single scene with Syl in WoR, but I will highlight the most important ones. There are three primary changes, once again in no particular order (all of this is before their bond ever starts to weaken): 1. Life leaves her. She largely stops making observations, comments, decisions. She becomes shockingly passive and numb to what's around her. Example: Kaladin attempts to have a serious conversation with her about what is right, most notably regarding fighting the listeners. Syl has nothing to add. The problem here isn't that she can't come up with a good answer, it's that she ignores the issue completely. 2. Her relationship with Kaladin changes. She no longer acts like a friend/companion/partner. She starts to have requirements for Kaladin, without in any way working with him. She declares that he needs to stop being depressed and be happy, yet she doesn't show a fraction of the empathy and understanding she had in the previous book. She doesn't in any way try to help him in this. She makes her will known, and gets increasingly annoyed when it doesn't magically happen. Example: She knows exactly what Amaram has done and what Kaladin feels, but never tries to help him get over it. She wants him to stop dwelling on it and not to seek revenge, which is fair enough in and of itself, but she handles is horribly. She offers no alternative, or support. She tells him how things will have to be, and that's that. This is especially worrisome, because even if he managed, by some inhuman effort, to live up to this, that would definitely harm him more than practically anything else before. 3. Something of a combination of the previous two, yet essential, and deserving special mention. Her passionate concern for Kaladin is gone. She says she is worried, and she says she wants him to be happy, but her actions never back this up. Indeed, she doesn't seem to get nearly as emotional as before. The only time she becomes animated is when she talks of Dalinar. If I wouldn't know better, I could think she is bonded to him, not Kaladin. Example: Syl insists that Kaladin should tell Dalinar about Amaram, however her priorities are in the wrong place. This isn't important to her because she believes this is the best for him, or that this is their best chance to seek justice, but rather it's about how awesome and great and trustworthy Dalinar is. Even after Dalinar dismisses it and pretty much says to their face that he doesn't believe it, Syl still defends him. She clearly isn't interested in helping Kaladin, she is cheerleading for Dalinar. Finally, let's talk about what happens when the bond starts to weaken, and then break. There are three possibilities offered for why this happens, and it is never made explicitly clear which is the real reason. It could be any, or a combination of any. 1. Kaladin betrays his oath to protect. 2. Kaladin has made two conflicting promises, and will have to break one for sure. 3. Kaladin is acting differently from what his conscience says. 2. Either this is not resolved in any way, since he does break one promise, if we look at it this way; or speaking the Words somehow frees him from this issue. The latter option seems more likely, especially since the idea that conflicting promises are a problem is introduced by Syl, who then uses this to push for speaking the Words. It seems clear that Kaladin made a mistake here, but what is more noteworthy is that Syl immediately jumped on this, and used it as leverage to further pressure him towards speaking the Words, which was her agenda for the entire book. As for the other two, we have to consider what Kaladin is actually doing first. Up until the duel when he had to help Adolin, Kaladin showed remarkable restraint, both with Amaram and the king. Asking for a boon was stupid and wrong, yet it must be said that he did this after Dalinar apparently failed him, and he was trying to work within the legal system as much as possible. At this point, the king did something incredibly petty and idiotic - as he himself later admits -, which made Kaladin go into brooding overdrive. In his dark mood, he decided to off the king. At this point the bond starts to break, rapidly. This might sound logical, but it isn't. We need to keep going. Kaladin gets out of prison, tells Moash that he is with them... and then nothing happens. This is the crucial thing to understand. While he was in prison, he was angry enough to seriously consider killing the king, and then made a promise to that effect. Except you have to remember, Moash is his only friend, and by now, as I pointed out, even Syl is acting all wrong. In hindsight, it's clear he is just blowing off some steam. Consider: he never in any way acts on this. He doesn't change guard rotation, doesn't do anything to increase the chance of success of an assassination attempt. More tellingly, he spends the entire rest of the book thinking on this, and trying to rationalise it. It's clear even he knows this is wrong - when Dalinar's force is moving out, and he learns Moash is in charge of the king's guard, he becomes nervous and agitated, and not with anticipation. This is days before he finally fully decides where he stands, by the way. Now that we know this, let's address 1 and 3. 1. This is pretty straightforward, he has some thoughts that go against it, but it never at any point manifests. It could be argued that even internal wavering is too much, but that's part of the creepiness, and I'll address that scenario later. 3. This is even better. All of his wavering, doubt, and attempts at rationalisation are the work of his conscience. This is exactly what it means to have one. The statement 'he isn't doing what he thinks is right' is only possible because of all the uncertainty. If he just 100% decided to kill the king and never thought about it again, that might break the bond, but the not because of what is written in 3. Syl: I don't want to force you to do anything. You have to do what you think is right. Kaladin: That's what I'm trying to do! Syl: No. I don't think you are. This exchange is nonsense. The operative word is trying. Syl isn't saying what is on the page. What she expects isn't for Kaladin to simply do the right thing, he has to do it without doubt, without thinking through the problem to come to a decision, and with utter conviction. And that is what I wanted to get to. That is what I find downright scary, and evil. Just look at what Syl is saying. 'Force' is emphasised. She doesn't want to force him. Forcing him would be wrong, and very similar to what happened to the listeners, but at least it's honest, in a way. No, what is happening here is much worse. His will is being subverted. He has to become fanatical in his compliance with her values, a zealot. He has to be unwaveringly loyal to a set of standards, and it isn't even a rule set he can choose, but rather one that is already determined. With the overall idea in mind, even innocent and supposedly cute scenes become horrifying. At one point she says she is a god, and Kaladin can bow to her. Then she says, stunningly arrogant, 'I'm not the one we've been waiting on'. And it ends with Kaladin trying to praise her and be nice, which she accepts as 'fact' and 'lets it slide'. They had very similar exchanges in WoK, but because the dynamic of their relationship was completely different, these worked. Here, it just seems awful. Worst of all is when she tells Kaladin, 'That's what they all were, silly.', [broken], it sounds straight up psychotic. As I said at the start, I know this is wildly different from what most everybody sees, and I recognise my explanation leaves much to be desired, and isn't convincing at all, but this truly is what I've felt throughout the book, and how it reads to me. As an interesting bit, I have to say, in preparation of writing this post, I reread all the Kaladin bits from WoK, and even now the Syl presented there is my favourite character in the Stormlight Archive. Some final, and rather random, thoughts. These are only slightly related to my point, but thinking on Syl in WoR made me think of these: 1. All the spren we see for any length are creepy. Wyndle says 'the Ring said we should choose you. (...) 'She will be young and we can mold her'. How is that not creepy? Unlike the things with Syl, where I had to think long and hard, this was so bad, it made me put down the book in shock, and then read that paragraph three times to finally accept it. Pattern. Funnily enough, he is the one who took me the longest time to see as suspect, because of his honesty about his values. What made it click finally was stating the situation, which I see as such: 'An impressionable, impulsive young woman, just becoming an adult meets a much older man, who introduces her to the world of lies and deceit, and encourages her to immerse herself in it.' To me, that sounds like a bad thing. 2. Opposing the bad guys doesn't make you the good guys. Being good does. 3. Syl barely acts as a honourspren. The only thing she cares about is that Kaladin doesn't lie to her. Past that, her priority is only the literal, physical protection of everybody. She is more like a proterctionspren. 4. The only thing that changed between books that we know of is that Kaladin took the oath to protect. After that, at the end of WoK, they have no meaningful interaction. What if the oath has a profound effect on the spren, and not just that she can be present in this realm more strongly, but that it is somehow responsible for the change. 5. As far as the honour thing goes, I thought the logic was: Kaladin is honourable -> he wants to protect others, not Kaladin protects other -> he must be honourable. As such, honour should involve more things than just protecting lads. WoR seems to work more along the lines of the second option, which I find strange. This should be obvious, but I love the series and have immense respect for Mr. Sanderson. None of this is meant to imply poor writing or continuity in any way. The vast majority of this is from an in world perspective, and the bits that aren't are general tropes, I guess I'd call them, I picked up, that just influence how I experience fantasy literature.

This is a question that I never really considered, it just wasn't something that occurred to me to ask. That is, until I had to answer this. As I was going through the WoBs, it struck me that Brand had RAFOd what would happen if a shardblade were to strike Nightblood. Now this was not new to me, I was already familiar with this WoB. I had just always figured Nightblood would block the blade, after all it is "magnitudes more invested". Now however, I'm not so sure. As we know, shardblades interact differently with living targets than they do with non-living ones. Which makes me wonder, would a shardblade consider Nightblood to be alive? I think it is an interesting question, but one that we obviously can't definitively answer at this point. Perhaps though, some light can be shed on it by discussing spren. (source) According to this sentient objects and spren share some important similarities, but what are they? Neither spren nor Nightblood need to sleep, but what else is the same? We know spren can die, does that mean Nightblood can too? If he can die, that would imply he is alive... So my question is thus: If a shardblade were to strike Nightblood, would it be blocked/deflected as I had always assumed, or would it sever Nightblood's soul instead? If so how would that even work?

On thought has been bothering me Shadesmar. Does it touches (and connects) all Systems on Cosmere (like the Ethereal Plane) or do each System (or even planet) have it´s own Shadesmar version and theese Shadesmar connnects between themselves (like train hubs). Why this question is bothering me? Because of the Spren. It is said that Shadesmar is the congnitive realm and home to the Spren (that even buits cities there). If there is just one Shadesmar that connects all, shouldn´t other Systems be influenced by the Spren as they are the masters of the cognitive realm? At least until now, the Spren are tied just to Roshar.

To be a Knight Radiant and gain a Shardblade, you need to bond a spren. To gain a Shardplate, does that mean you need to bond another spren again, or your single spren will just expand to include a Shardplate? Seems to me that a Shardblade and a Shardplate is independent from each other. Say for example the modern Shardbearers who are using the Blades and Plates discarded by the Lost Radiants: It's not necessary that you're a Full Shardbearer. Some has only the Blade others only the Plate. I've read in the thread, Words of Brandon (compiled) that multiple spren bonding is possible. If a Knights Radiant bond different sprens, for example an honorspren and a cryptic, does that mean he's both a Windrunner and a Lightweaver or he'll just have to choose one order? If it's the latter option, I think a lot of politics will come at play. The orders will convince the Surgebinder to join their order... Any thoughts on this?

So, this is my first "official" theory, and to be honest, it's not completely formed yet. I'll try to add/update as it solidifies in my brain and as I find supportive quotes. At this point, it's more of a gut feeling, but I could be WAAYYY off LOL. In a nutshell, I believe one of two things. Either a) that each/all of the KR will end up ultimately bonding 2 spren. The next question would seem to be, which ones? And, how would they do it? Or b ) that KR will be paired and bonded in some way. If we take option a, it may be that in order to bond a second spren, the specialized skills of the Bondsmiths may be needed. Not sure what that would be or how it would work yet, but it could be an additional meaning to the "unite them" message that Dalinar is motivated by. We know there is conflict among the KR, and also the spren. We don't know yet exactly what the tension is between them, but we can deduce (and it's been mentioned by others here) that it's because of conflicting ideals such as with Syl and Pattern. In this theory, the KR would quite literally bond two different spren. With option b, which I'm tending to like much better than a, the Bondsmiths would be able to create a link between two Radiants, by creating some sort of bond between their spren. I don't know if it would cause the spren to quite literally "merge" in some way, or if it would be more along the lines of an oath. I tend to think oath. I also feel like the Parshendi are involved somehow since they can bond with spren as well, but I haven't quite figured out how. Have to chew on that a bit more I suppose.

So, I've been doing my TWoK reread, and found this interesting connection to Jasnah/Shadesmar: From TWoK Axies Interlude: And from Jasnah's perspective the night Gavilar was assassinated in WoR: Granted, Jasnah's shadow was pulling towards Stormlight, whereas Axies was casting his shadown the wrong way in sunlight, but I still think there is some sort of connection here. Possibly because Axies is studying the spren? Does the fact that he is so "involved" with them provide him with some sort of access to Shadesmar? Do you think he might have his own spren bond starting? I wonder if this is an Axies trait, or an Aimian one? Just wanted to throw this out there and see what y'all think?

Theory: The Dawnshards are powerful spren: the splinters of Adonalsium hanging out on Roshar. Sub-theories: Dawnsingers are spren-symbiotes with the Adonalsium spren Dawnshards may be physical spren-blades I’ve seen this idea floated around the forums lately, namely here, and since I tend to agree with it I wanted to give it a home First of all, I want to compile the little that we know of Dawnshards and Dawnsingers. Dawnshards: This remark by Shallan is, I think, the basis for the assumption that Dawnshards are some kind of shardblade. Not only does it have “shard” in the name, but the first time we are introduced to the term it is linked to honorblades as a comparable item of value. This may or may not be a valid assumption. I originally read this as the Dawnshard being a physical object, though this is not necessarily the case. Lately I try not to be too literal in reading Jasnah’s notes. I draw your attention to the word BIND in this quote. Perhaps similar in nature to a nahel bond? Spren symbiosis? And not just bind, but bind any creature. Voidish I imagine refers to the listeners, and mortal to humans. So far we have seen nahel spren bind humans, and nonsentient (assumedly) spren bind listeners, as well as distinctly odious spren bind listeners. However, there has been no overlap in the type of spren that will bind humans/listeners. Dawnshards could bind both. This would imply the Dawnshards no longer exist, or at least are no longer able/willing to help. I also read this as the Dawnshards having had sentience--thus leaving the humans “alone” in the present. Dawnsingers It is possible that the Dawnshards have no relation to the Dawnsingers, but that would strike me as an odd worldbuilding—err, worldnaming?—choice. I assume—and I think it is a fairly common assumption—that the Dawnsingers are whoever/whatever hold/wield/bind the Dawnshards. In Vorin culture at least, Dawnsingers are given credit for creating the dawncities, great works of architecture including the Palanaeum, and glyphs and letters. Of note is this quote from Kabsal (possibly an unreliable source, admittedly) This suggests there is a relation between Dawnsingers and spren. From what we know of spren, they have a very difficult time interacting with the physical world. In order to perform the wonders ascribed to the Dawnsingers, these “kindly spren” likely would need some kind of physical bond. Adonalsium Spren Now time for a little Word of Brandon Source Apparently there are (or were) spren that are splinters of Adonalsium. The spren we have seen so far have been splinters of Honor and/or Cultivation and/or Odium. So, how would these Adonalspren be different? My guess: moar power. Power of creation itself. So, binding one of the Adonalspren could provide access to more surges or different surges than what nahel spren offer. My pet theory is the Adonalspren might provide access to all the surges, though I have no real basis for that. Whatever the distinction between Adonalspren and other shardspren, I get the impression their power may be in line with that of the Dawnshards/Dawnsingers of lore. One last WOB, which I don’t yet know how to interpret: Source Note the present tense. So, these dawnshards still hanging out? It is possible that these spren have also been trapped into blade-form. That would, essentially, have killed them and prevent them from actively helping in the upcoming desolation. Yet they would still be present. That begs the questions, how would one bind and Adonalspren, and how would one sever that bond?

Hello all. Long time stalker, new poster. I was listening to the beginning of chapter 14, the second time through, and a theory formed. Knowing what shardblades are, this scene seemed to be rich with foreshadowing. Adolin may be bonding with, and eventually reawaken, the dead spren that is his shardblade. The scene is of Adolin kneeling, with his summoned weapon, before his first duel to win shards. He shares a quiet moment with his "spren" and confides in it. He seems to honor and respect his blade. He knows a Radiant once held it, understands it once had a name. He doesn't know it's a spren, but still seems to have a bond with his weapon. He just doesn't know his bond may be reciprocal. Adolin confides in his shard. He personifies it and imparts an identity to it. Adolin could have been pouring life into his blade for years, growing the Nahel Bond with this spren trapped in it's tortured state of unending non-sentient pain. Maybe one day, very soon.... BOOM! Adolin has powers. Just a thought that I wanted to share. Thanks.

There are obviously WoR spoilers, as well as some content from Warbreaker. If you have not read either, GO AND READ THEM NOW. Anyway, I had a theory as to how one might go about reviving a dead spren, assuming their ex-Radiant is dead and decomposing. As I understand it, the spren is dies essentially because when the Radiant breaks his/her oaths, the bond is broken, thus removing whatever part of the spren is granting sentience. So what other magic system is known to have sentience-granting capacity, of which we have a lovely example right in WoR? Awakening. (As a side note, I did consider Hemalurgy, but it does't take long to realize all the problems associated with that particular method). I bet the key to reviving dead spren lies in Breath. We know all it takes to restore a dead human to some semblance of their old life is one Breath, and a thousand can make even an inanimate object sentient. I am completely sold on this idea. The only questions I see are how much Breath would actually be need, and whether the spren would regain its memories. I'm thinking it wouldn't require much, the spren isn't actualy dead, just stuck, and since Syl regained her personality and memories without issue, i don't expect the latter to be a problem either. If you still don't like the idea, just imagine Adolin holding his shardblade, preparing to duel Odium's champion, when he softly says: "Life before death. My life to yours, my breath become yours." Flash! Whoosh! Ta-dah, brand new radiant! Edit: Here is the relevant WoB

This isn't exactly a theory per say, but over the last few days I've been mulling over how Nahel Bonds develop, and compiled what we know about it in this list. I've tried to provide examples from the books for everything, but some stuff is a little iffy. Stages in the Nahel Bond: 0.5. Person goes through a traumatic (soul-breaking) experience that allows them to form a nahel bond. (Kaladin losing Tien, Shallan killing her father.) 1. Something about a person's cognitive aspect attracts a spren that is capable of bonding to them. a. At this stage, some very limited surgebinding ability develops. (Shallan’s first journey to Shadesmar.) 2. Inciting incident that solidifies the bond. (Kaladin rejecting the Shardblade (Maybe), Shallan admitting that she killed her father.) a. Spren begins to assume a Physical form. (Shallan begins seeing her Cryptic soon after this.) 3. Continued behaviour in line with what originally attracted the spren. a. Spren gains more control over its form, and starts to become more cognizant. (Syl making herself known to Kaladin.) Surgebinder slowly gains some increased skill and manipulating their Surges and utilizing Stormlight. (Kaladin begins to instinctively discover new abilities.) 4. Internalization/Vocalization of the Ideals a. Each one grants some sort of boost to the Surgebinder’s powers; greater Stormlight retention, more control over surges, perhaps even giving them access to Shardplate/blade. (Kaladin post Battle of the Tower) 5. Full Knight Radiant, fully bonded to their spren, having spoken all the Ideals for their order. Going by this, Elhokar (and maybe Dalinar) would be at one, Shallan at two, Ym at three, Jasnah would be four (maybe three, we don't know for sure if she's spoken any Ideals), Lift at four, and Kaladin would also be at four. Anything I missed? Anything I have completely wrong? Any crazy theories people want to make? EDIT: Ouch, just fixed the typo in the title now. That's embarrassing. EDIT #2: Made some changes based on the suggestions below.

So, this post will contain references to both WoR and WoK, though only one major spoiler, and that will be in spoiler brackets, so don't look at that if you haven't read THE ENTIRE WOR BOOK. Literally, this spoiler is from the very end and I will -not- have it ruined for someone. The rest will be tiny minor spoilers that aren't consequential to your reading. _________________________________________________________________ Now, on to the post. During the series, several spren have been encountered or mentioned that are extraordinary. I shall list them thusly. 1. Cusicesh the Protector- This spren is an enormous one that rises out of the waters in a city whose name I have forgotten every day at the same time. It then looks at the Origin and changes appearance rapidly, making those around it tired. This spren appears to be bound to this area somehow, likely due to the way it is viewed by people as being the protector of the city. 2. The Nightwatcher- This strange spren gives out boons to those that request them of her, giving out curses in return as well. Not too much is known about her except that she is responsible for the Old Magic, which is likely not magic at all, but just a strong spren's manipulation of the cognitive aspect of the world. She is likely a spren of Cultivation, as I'm sure I heard Lift's spren talking about her at some point... Reference needed. She seems to be bound to some sort of valley in the same way that Cusicesh is bound to the city, by the way she is viewed by humans. Perhaps, if they viewed her as not giving curses, then she would only give boons? This must indeed be researched eventually. 3. The Stormfather- This immensely powerful spren is a spren that appears every time a Highstorm passes. He is responsible in some way for the release of Stormlight into gemstones during this time. This spren seems somehow trapped by the thoughts of man as being confined to the Highstorm. 4. Moelach- This spren, mentioned briefly by Tanavast on page 906 of the hardback version,is apparently responsible for the Death Rattle. When nearby (range unknown) This spren causes dying people to glimpse at something, powered by their life energy, past present or future. Unlike the other spren above, this one is cable of moving about, as it is so unknown by mankind that it is not bound by their perception of it. 5. Nergaoul- This spren, also mentioned by Tanavast, is responsible for the Thrill. It is considered an ancient evil spren that Tanavast does not yet have the resources to tackle. Aka, this thing is too strong for a kingdom that leads one of the most powerful cults in the world. This makes me believe it is an Unmade or Voidspren, a spren of Odium. He, like Moelach, is not bound by man's perception of him, and can move about, as he is so unknown. 6. Lunu'anaki- This spren appeared before rock from the depths of the Horneater Peak's "Oceans". Not much is known of him, save that he is considered to be a very very powerful god. He is the god of travel and mischief, looks like a lighter skinned Alethi with white hair. Possibly not a spren at all, but it is unknown. [Edit] This is most likely Hoid.

According to Hoid in the Ars Arcanum: "I am more and more convinced that the creation of these devices [fabrials] requires forced enslavement of transformative cognitive entities, known as “spren” to the local communities." Now we know that touching Shardplate does not cause the Nahel bonded to hear screaming, so they aren't dead spren. We also know that the ancients, at least the Radiants, had fabrials of some kind. The Oathgates operate like fabrials and Nale used the KR Regrowth fabrial on Szeth. Shardplate has gemstones in it that must be "fed" stormlight to repair it. They seem to operate the same way. But would spren, particularly honorspren, be ok with imprisoning their compatriots? Do you guys think there is a major difference between the "fabrials" of old and the modern fabrials? Something to ponder.

I'm trying to track how many oaths each Knight Radiant has made, and what the benefits were at each point. In particular, at what point do Knight Radiants acquire shardblades, shardplate, and control of their powers? First, Shallan: To the best of my knowledge, we have never actually SEEN Shallan take the First Oath, ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.") However, we now know that Shallan possessed an active shardblade as a child, and that her spren, Pattern, was apparently present in a limited way when she was a child. I believe this indicates that Shallan must have spoken the First Oath as a child, and that her order, at least, recieves their shardblades after the First Oath. Shallan spoke a 'Truth' at the end of Way of Kings, which i believe counted as the Second Oath. The second oath seems to have granted her access to soulcasting, lightweaving, and absorbing stormlight. Shallan spoke another 'Truth' at the end of Word of Radiance: I THINK that counts as the Third Oath, but we haven't seen any special benefit of progressing that far. I would have thought that Knights Radiant would acquire Shard Plate by the time they speak the third oath, but apparently not. Second, Kaladin: Kaladin speaks the First Oath during Way of Kings. ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.") I'm working from memory, but i believe that speaking that oath seemed to give him more reliable access to stormlight, gravity, and adhesion. Kaladin spoke SOMETHING else during Way of Kings, but I'm not certain that it counted as an oath. "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves". this MIGHT be the second oath, but i don't recall Kaladin gaining any special powers when he spoke it. it's also very similiar to what WAS an oath at the end of Words of Radiance: "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right." Either those two sentences together constitute the second oath, or they are the second and third oaths, respectively. Either way, Kaladin recieved HIS shardblade AFTER speaking the oath in WoR. this seems to imply that different orders recieve shardblades at different times. If Kaladin still has a third oath to speak, that would be the logical time for him to recieve shardplate. We don't know how many Oaths Renarin has spoken: so far, we only know that he can heal his eyesight, and can apparently communicate with his Spren. Dalinar has spoken two oaths at the end of WoR: It's implied that he MIGHT be due a shardblade after two oaths, but the Stormfather has refused to become one. Can anyone else comment on what milestones each of the knights radiant have reached at this point, and what benefits they recieved at each point? It's also possible that my notes could be incorrect, since I'm working from memory. Feel free to correct me.

So Dalinar bonded the Stormfather. Quite awesome of him. But more importantly is the following quote. "But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds....Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of other orders was seen as seditions. Words of Radiance, Chapter 16, page 14." I propose that a bondsmith must bond with a spren that has authority in the spren world, like the Stormfather's authority over Honorspren. So the limitation to only a few bondsmiths is a result of their only being a few spren that are splinters of that magnitude. So since the Stormfather is already taken, for a new bondsmith to arise he/she would have to bond with someone like the Nightwatcher, or that spren in the Axies interlude. As to why it would be seditious to have many Bondsmiths, I propose that each Bondsmith was related to a specific type of spren: Honorspren, Cultivationspren, or ?Adonalsiumspren". The bondsmith would then have some influence over the formation of bonds, through the authority of their spren, and thus influence on who became a radiant. Syl had to defy the Stormfather after all. To have two Honor Bondsmiths would create division. Evidence of the ability for Spren to be "forced" against their choosing comes from Lift's interlude and how the Ring gave him to Lift.

I finally decided to make an account after reading this site for a few months and being thoroughly impressed by the intelligence and politeness on these forums. Here are three questions I asked Brandon today in Seattle as he signed my books (I am shocked he didn't RAFO me): Question 1: Shardblades vs Hoed (Major WoR + Elantris Spoilers): Question 2: Function of the Skybreakers (Minor WoR Spoiler): Question 3: Adolin and the Knights Radiant (Major WoR Spoiler): My thoughts and Interpretations (Major WoR Spoiler): Thanks for Reading! Jerich P.S. It was nice to meet several of the 17th Sharders like Trickonometry and a charming Superfan who gave me her name which I promptly forgot... I will add it here if she posts to this thread:))

I was looking at the Knights Radiant chart and thinking about the two pupils. They represent orders 5 and 10 of the Knights Radiant. I started wondering about why they might be offset the way they are. If the Surges are shared between the Orders circularly, why not just use a circle? My thought was that the spren used by Order 10 had the most Honor while the spren used by Order 5 had the most Cultivation. We know that all spren are composed of some mixture of the two. However, assuming that 5=Renarin=Truthwatcher and 10=Dalinar=Bondsmith, we now potentially have some clues about the orders themseves. Dalinar is bound to a spren who is literally the spren of the Almighty, Honor. Renarin, besides the fact he'd have access to the very Cultivation-like Growth Surge, can to at least some extent see the future, not a talent of Honor: If the theory is correct, a spren would have more or less of one Shard depending on how close their order is to the pupil; Windrunners and Stonewards would be the next nearest to Honor, Lightweavers and Edgedancers the next nearest to Cultivation, and the last four Orders would be more balanced, leaning a little one way or the other. I could be looking too hard at a symbol -- the KR may have appropriated it from existing imagery or may have just created an abstract symbol themselves -- but I don't think so. I tend to feel that symbolism comes from somewhere.

I'm new here so this may have been discussed before, but one of the things I am most curious about is how the different Spren in the book will get along. Will they become friends, rivals, something more...? Here are some of my thoughts. Syl Pattern Glys Ivory Wyndle Stormfather Nightwatcher How do you think these Spren will respond to each other? Do you think we will have a Spren POV in the next book?

So now we know what Shardblades (and maybe Plate too), actually are. You can take this one of two ways, as the Blade is the physical representation of the Oaths a Radiant takes, or the Blade is the actual body of a spren.... which raises an interesting debate for our heroes. They know the Blades that they've traditionally used are effectively corpses, whether of promises or spren it doesn't really matter. The symbolism behind those Blades is terrible, and using them is likely to anger any spren that cross over from Shadesmar. So... do the new KR allow Shardbearers to join their fight? Or do they insist that these people give up very powerful weapons in the name of Honor?

So in the WoR Syl refers to the mega-spren,stormfather(the one Dalinar bonds to) as father, and the Spren that Lift is bonded to refers to Night Watcher as his mother. I am rather confused by these associations. Does any body know exactly what they mean when a spren refers to a Spren as a parent.

My signed copy of The Emperor’s Soul came in that I ordered on my birthday! In the personalization box, I asked for some new info about Renarin, and this is what Brandon wrote to me! To Alyx, Renarin sees a spren that nobody else does.Theorize, freak out, squee as you will. I’ll just be over here melting into a puddle of Renarin feels and occasionally making high pitched noises of glee. ALSO: Obligatory link to the ongoing discussion over on tumblr involving this new info. I am very much a fan of Emma (lunarubato)'s theory that Renarin might become a Skybreaker based on the idea that Radiant canditates exemplify one of their attributes and must learn to grow in terms of the other attribute. Really good stuff. I may just espouse that one.

Okay, so we know that Roshar has three magic systems, right? Surgebinding, Voidbinding, and something to do with Spren and Fabrials. Surgebinding seems like a pretty physical power system. Whatever the magic system with Fabrials is, it uses Spren, which are cognitive aspects. And the Void is often used as a reference to the afterlife, which i think will make it a spiritual power. Will Brandon make 3 sets of powers, one for each physical, cognitive, spiritual aspect, but with similar outcomes? Or will the outcomes be completely different? I don't know, but I like the idea of each one working with only one aspect.

So a few months ago lunarubato over on tumblr posted a theory, and although I disagreed with it, it did spark a theory of my own and I'm finally sharing it with y'all. Thesis: The Dawnsingers are the spren that grant surgebinding abilities through the Nahel Bond. Article One: What are the Dawnsingers? We don't really know, due to lack of information. The following, from Chapter 45, is one of the only bits we have: Now I must admit, I was always rather skeptical about them being spren, because I thought Rosharans might just refer to beings they don't really understand as "spren" even if that's not really what they are. But now I am arguing that they are spren, specifically spren who are Splinters of Honor and/or Cultivation. Personally, I think it would make a lot of sense for the two of them to create beings to act as "intermediaries" so-to-speak, beings that can interact with humans on their own level. Where the Heralds take care of things during the Desolations, these spren would take care of things between Desolations. Article Two: Granting Surgebinding Part of my narrative for this theory is that as the Desolations the Dawnsingers saw how the Heralds were not enough, that humanity was losing. And so they started to Nahel bond "worthy" individuals, granting them surgebinding abilities. Part of this comes from this bit. Which unfortunately is somewhat apocryphal. Basically it mentions that the radiants were a surprise to Honor, and that the spren formed them in the same way he formed the Heralds. (On a side note, so perhaps the heralds are Nahel bonded to the shards themselves in some way?) This could all be just rampant theorycrafting, but I think it holds water. What do you all think? Edit (1): Here is the quote in question about the Radiants being a surprise, from Chapter 4 of Words of Radiance: So I'm not really sure how I want to interpret this quote. I could definitely see it supporting my above theory though. Or perhaps the theory I mention in post 4 about how the spren used The Way of Kings as a model to form the Radiant Orders, and that that is why Honor was surprised. Really, either one would work with the main part of this Theory.