Theory. The pashendi are Honor made adaptive servants

[Nepene]

Brandon Sanderson

Here's a summary of the important things he said.

There are six forms for Pashendi. Warrior form, lithe form, mating form, dull form, worker form, base form. These are generated by bonding with spren which causes them to have a soul, have some sort of hive song mind, and a new physical form. To put it another way, they have spiritual changes (soul), cognitive changes (perceive themselves differently) and physical changes (a new form). There are hundreds of other forms which can be generated by bonding with various spren. They can transform from form to form. They are seeking some new forms to help survive. The shattered planes that the Pashendi and the humans fight over are the ruins of an ancient city.

Some have theorized that the Dawnsingers were Pashendi. What are these Dawnsingers you may ask?

"They were healers, They were kindly Spren sent to care for humans once we were forced out of the tranquil halls."

"Kind of like the opposite of Voidbringers"

"You could say that."

A brief diversion- what is honor?

Based on this, honor can be defined on as a code of conduct among equals which you face shame for if you fail to adhere to. Honor is a massive theme in the series and so understanding this is important. At the end of the book Dalinar, seeing the bridgemen as his equals, gives away a priceless piece of wealth to save them showing his great honor.

If the Pashendi can transform into whatever form is necessary that seems like the sort of thing honor would value- a group of people stratified into equals by magic with a shared cognitive component and a limited form of hive mind. They could be servants which Honor made to help humans survive in the new land after they were forced out of the tranquil halls. Need a soldier? Turn them into a warform. Need some builders? Turn them into a builder spren. They can transform into whatever you need. This would also match with what Cultivation might value, cultivating the humans that remained.

If, as some believe Pashendi are the void bringers perhaps Odium infected them with some of his own spren, transforming them into evil beings.

http://stormlightarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Midnight_Essence

The Pashendi are currently seeking new spren forms, as noted above. Perhaps Odium will offer them some new powerful combat forms that can destroy the humans. They will accept, thinking they will still have control after accepting Odium's gift. Odium will then control them and make them do evil things.

This sort of ploy has precedent in Cosmere history. Ruin in the mistborn trilogy gave people the evil magic system of hemalurgy which transforms humans into powerful monster forms such as kandra and koloss. It also gives him some degree of control over whoever uses his magics.

I would guess that Odium did something similar with some form of spren and Pashendi, transforming the healers into murderers and making them their opposite. I would also guess that there's a reasonable chance that just as Marsh briefly broke free of Ruin's control to save the day, some Pashendi is going to break free of Odium's control to save the day.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Nepene

[CabbageHead]

I like this. Effectively, you are saying that the Parshmen are not voidbringers, but the voidbringers were Parshmen. Kind of like saying all the mass murderers in history were human, but most humans are not murderers.

[Nepene]

I like this. Effectively, you are saying that the Parshmen are not voidbringers, but the voidbringers were Parshmen. Kind of like saying all the mass murderers in history were human, but most humans are not murderers.

Yes, I see the Parshmen as an honorable and good race on a whole. It is only when dark and evil magics are used to corrupt them that they become mass murderers.

The Pashendi, being formless, are likely especially vulnerable.