Voidbringers are Parshen with Fixed Forms

[Swimmingly]

Surgebinders are bound to a spren or specific type of spren, giving them special abilities
Sentient beings attract spren with acts of emotion and creation
Parshmen use spren to temporarily change themselves
Voidbringers are bound to spren (presumably), changing themselves / giving them special abilities
We are led to believe that the Parshen are Voidbringers
 
My tenuous conclusion:
 
Voidbringers are Parshen in any of 10 Forms. These forms, instead of granting abilities like the Surges, change the Voidbringer's Cognitive and Physical aspects entirely to represent one of the 10 deaths - these correspond to the 10 elements. For example, thunderclasts correspond to essence number 9 - rock, stone, midnight essences are smoke, etc. From here on, I have no evidence at all, but I believe going into a Voidform is permanent, and opens one up to corruption from Odium. Perhaps it is possible, then, to be a Voidbringer, but also resist Odium's call for a time.
 
Edit: Credit to @Argent for coming up with this independantly and before me. I thought I was having an original thought

Edited December 1, 2013 by Ookla the Defenestrated

[Windrunner]

My problem is that the Radiant from Dalinar's vision in Starfall was pretty certain that the Midnight Essence had been "released" and was not one of the Voidbringers.

[Swimmingly]

My problem is that the Radiant from Dalinar's vision in Starfall was pretty certain that the Midnight Essence had been "released" and was not one of the Voidbringers.

Maybe the Voidbringers are the spren themselves, who can bond with a Parsen host, change them irrevocably, and move on. Or perhaps the Voidforms give the power to animate the essence they are connected to. Or perhaps I'm entirely wrong on all counts here.

[Oudeis]

We've been told that Midnight Essences are not voidbringers. We've also seen a Thunderclast arise from the earth beneath the purelake. It didn't seem to have been a Parshen beforehand.

[Swimmingly]

The latter option, then. Oh well

[Aether]

It is a really cool idea, though, and it might not be entirely wrong. We'll see when WoR comes out.

[Gloom]

I would agree that Thunderclasts are related to Voidbringers in the same way as Midnight Essence. I think the Parsh are separate from both.

[Oudeis]

I would agree that Thunderclasts are related to Voidbringers in the same way as Midnight Essence. I think the Parsh are separate from both.

Interesting phrasing, and I agree with you. I'm not certain and I have no proof from the text, but I'm not sold that the Parshen are entirely non-Voidy.

If the real Voidbringers can corrupt Spren to make thunderclasts, and they can use corrupted spren to corrupt the Parshen, might they be able to corrupt fabrials?

[Gloom]

Interesting phrasing, and I agree with you. I'm not certain and I have no proof from the text, but I'm not sold that the Parshen are entirely non-Voidy.

If the real Voidbringers can corrupt Spren to make thunderclasts, and they can use corrupted spren to corrupt the Parshen, might they be able to corrupt fabrials?

 

I don't see any reason why someone couldn't create fabrials using corrupted spren. I would hesitate to say that it would be equally safe to use these fabrials, since I believe the level of investiture in spren corrupted by the minions of Odium has to be increased by the corruption. A more highly invested spren may lead to fabrials with greater capabilities, but they may also have side effects. At the least, a spren corrupted by the power of Odium will be hateful and should it escape will likely use whatever investiture it has been endowed with to cause harm.

 

I was intentionally vague on where the Parsh stand in my previous statement. My personal beliefs are closely aligned to those of Jasnahs. If I'm wrong I'm in good company. I feel the ties between Thunderclasts and Midnight Essence are much clearer. These appear to be incarnations of the ten essences summoned into existence through Voidcraft.

 

I don't see why you couldn't create a fabrial that would summon these creatures, but if you did, I would hope that you had the ability to summon them far away from where you currently stood because I don't believe that a fabrial would grant you control over them.

[Oudeis]

Not sure if you went off on a bit of a tangent (an interesting one, let me say) or if you're confused as to what I meant... I wasn't talking about someone deliberately crafting a fabrial to use corrupted spren, I meant that a Voidbringer might corrupt a spren, send it to a fabrial, and have it take over the fabrial, wresting control away from the human who thought he was operating it. Your idea of using artefabrianism in an attempt to counter the Voidish ability to corrupt spren by trapping (maybe even controlling) corrupt spren is a fascinating one I hadn't considered...

[Gloom]

Corrupting an existing fabrial? I'm not sure that this would be possible. A fabrial already has a spren, unless you are talking about an ancient fabrial like a Shardblade or Soulcaster fabrial. In the later case, I think the inherent investiture locked into these artifacts would be difficult to overcome by such a crude means. In the case of the former, it should be easier to overcome the investiture of these devices. They are quite a bit less powerful, but I'd like to think that a spren that is trapped is also protected. Sort of like being in a bank vault during an earth quake, the building may fall down around you but, provided someone is around to dig you out, you should be okay. Add enough investiture to crack the gem and the fabrial stops functioning.

 

On the other hand, a skilled artifabrian working for the ten anti-Heralds could quite possibly create some very nasty fabrials that do some unpleasant things. Consider a fabrial that when activated sparked hatred and rage in those around it for a hundred meters in all directions? Even if this fabrial could only function for a short time before cracking and releasing the Midnight Essence trapped within it, some serious damage could result. Then of course their is the Midnight Essence that escapes after the fabrial fails. Compound mayhem.

[Oudeis]

Brainstorm... what if the people who enslaved the Parshmen aren't as bad as we think?

 

All I say is largely speculative, so I warn you I cannot defend my points: I'd welcome anyone who can offer concrete proof that anything I say is wrong.

 

Posit this scenario: The Parshen and the humans live in peace. Everyone know about forms and spren and songs. Odium corrupts spren and turns Parshen into Voidbringers, a form of evil they cannot (or now don't want to) leave.

 

The humans have the option to simply slaughter their friends, former allies, and now innocent victims of Odium. What if they found another way? From a Parshen perspective, it would probably be worse than death to lose your song, but I can see how humans would believe survival was sufficient. What if humans learned how to sever the bond with the corrupted spren? Leaving the Voidbringers with no form, no song whatsoever. Perhaps at first they didn't realize the process was irreversible. Now all of a sudden their former allies are not much better than beasts. They take these people in, taking pity on them, giving them jobs to do to make them feel useful. As time goes on, the respect fades, as generations later the noble Parshendi are nothing but a myth your grandfather heard from his ancestors, and for decades, maybe centuries, they've been nothing but near-mindless servants. The disdain sets in, they start being taken for granted, losing respect, and becoming nothing but property.

 

Thoughts?

[Aether]

I like this scenario. It fits with what we know and explains some of the discrepancies. Time will tell if it's Brandon-y enough of a twist.

 

EDIT: But if it is irreversible, then where did the untainted Parshendi come from? 

 

Also, if this is close to the truth, then maybe the Parshendi killed Gavilar because he wanted to let the Parshmen bond Spren again? I am not sure how the Black Sphere fits into this, though. Unless that was what he planned to bond them with.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Aether

[Swimmingly]

Perhaps not all of the Parsh were corrupted,so not all were severed?

[Oudeis]

Perhaps not all of the Parsh were corrupted,so not all were severed?

 

This is what I'm thinking. Perhaps some avoided corruption and formed the base of the Parshendi we know now; might explain their lengthy exclusion from the rest of the world, not to mention how they lost their forms; perhaps for generations they were afraid to change forms and give evil a chance to corrupt them.