Parshendi, the Listeners

[cris34b]

In Chapter 11 of Words of Radiance, Eshonai refers to the Parshendi people as listeners. And this gets me thinking.

 

Not only are the Parshendi able to see how the spren appear, zipping at lightning speeds from the Origin, but they can also hear music, playing at the same speeds.

 

This brings to mind Odium. I'm not sure where I heard this, but one post I saw related Odium as a sort of Musical Shard. This might make sense, since he is also connected to the colors black and red, both of which are noticeable on Parshendi.

At one point, Eshonai mentions that she is trapped in the Plains, away from the Parshendi gods. Gods being plural. This begs the questions; Are the Parshendi actually creations of Odium? And if so, do they know it? Or do they worship something else they found on Roshar, maybe some other powerful spren being, since they can see spren more, and so might worship them more? Or perhaps this spren-vision they have is similar to what Rock experiences?

 

One quote I believe incredibly important is "Instead, she and the others had ordered the murder of the Alethi king in a desperate gambit to stop the listener gods from returning." The listener gods? This brings up an enormous amount of questions. The Parshendi are the listeners... and they have their gods... so are the listener's gods different than the listener gods? Perhaps the listener gods are Honor and Cultivation, so perhaps both of them are splintered? Maybe they are called the listener gods because the Shards are in a sort of mental states, capable of entering minds as shown with Wax and Sazed/Harmony, and so the Parshendi, servants of Odium, prefer them dead, so they cannot mess with the whole hive mind mental music thing going on? 

 

I really don't know, since there is so much speculation here, but opinions would be appreciated.

[hoser]

I believe there is WoB that Cultivation is unsplintered.  The Lift interlude refers to the Nightwatcher and mother, which seem to overlap and might be the same. 

Speculatively, but stealing ideas freely and without attribution, I believe that the Parshendi are native to Roshar.  I think they may have been influenced by cultivation or Adonalsium, but that Odium's Unmade found a way to influence/control some of them through corrupted spren.  I think that the Unmade are the dark gods they fear.