What happens if a singer's gemheart breaks?

[Trusk'our]

If a singer's gemheart breaks, do they automatically change to slave form? Can their gemheart heal with time, or is it a permanent injury?

[Honorless]

Huh, I don't think their Gemhearts would just heal with time, no. I think they would turn to Dullform though, not Slaveform. Slaveform isolated them from the Rhythms too somehow.

[+Bzhydack]

I would go further - I think when gemheart breaks, Singer would die. This is one of the way to kill (temporarly) Fused. Seems like Singer needs a little of Stormlight (or Voidlight, maybe simply Investiture) in his gemheart to live, even if he doesnt have spren inside.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Bzhydack

[Frustration]

On 1/19/2022 at 8:08 PM, Bzhydack said:

I would go further - I think when gemheart breaks, Singer would die. This is one of the way to kill (temporarly) Fused. Seems like Singer needs a little of Stormlight (or Voidlight, maybe simply Investiture) in his gemheart to live, even if he doesnt have spren inside.

There's nothing special about a gemheart other than its function in changing forms.

Spoiler

edgwardoe

Physiologically speaking, does a gemheart have a purpose? Beyond the Investiture/spren-related functions. Do creatures with a gemheart also have a regular, meat-heart?

Brandon Sanderson

They do have a regular meat-heart.

The gemheart--the function is Roshar-related. It is Investiture and spren-related. That's why things have a gemheart. Resonating with the tunes of Roshar, that sort of stuff. So that is the physiological function of it. That's why they exist. So the answer is, "no, they don't have a physiological function beyond that," but that's like saying, "no, the meat-heart does not have a function beyond pumping blood through the body." I mean, that's why it's there.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

 

[NameIess]

13 hours ago, Frustration said:

There's nothing special about a gemheart other than its function in changing forms.

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edgwardoe

Physiologically speaking, does a gemheart have a purpose? Beyond the Investiture/spren-related functions. Do creatures with a gemheart also have a regular, meat-heart?

Brandon Sanderson

They do have a regular meat-heart.

The gemheart--the function is Roshar-related. It is Investiture and spren-related. That's why things have a gemheart. Resonating with the tunes of Roshar, that sort of stuff. So that is the physiological function of it. That's why they exist. So the answer is, "no, they don't have a physiological function beyond that," but that's like saying, "no, the meat-heart does not have a function beyond pumping blood through the body." I mean, that's why it's there.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

 

That WoB just says that there is no physical purpose in a gemheart. It says nothing about whether a Singer needs the gemheart's investiture functions in order to live. I would say that we don't know enough to say whether or not breaking a gemheart would kill a singer. At the very least it would put them in slaveform.