Moogle Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) The enemy troops were parting. There, standing among them, was a seven-foot-tall giant of a Parshendi in gleaming silver Shardplate. It fit as only Plate could, having molded to his large stature. His Shardblade was wicked and barbed, like flames frozen into metal. He raised it to Dalinar in a salute. “Now?” Dalinar bellowed incredulously. “Now you come?” Here, we see Dalinar fighting Eshonai. Her Blade is described as "wicked and barbed, like flames". It seems like Eshonai's Blade is one of the Dustbringers' spren (because of the fire imagery). (Edit: Or Skybreaker spren!) Eshonai has an issue with a spren. Eshonai waved her hand as she climbed the central spire of Narak, trying to shoo away the tiny spren. It danced around her head, shedding rings of light from its cometlike form. Horrid thing. Why would it not leave her alone? ... She sat down, then gasped. That rhythm! It sounded like . . . like her own voice yelling at her. Screaming in pain. What was that? She shook her head, and found that she had reflexively pulled her hand to her chest in anxiety. When she opened it, the cometlike spren shot out. So, massive speculation and whatnot, but I've said previously that I think the screaming Eshonai hears inside her head is her Shardblade. Like a Radiant, she's now Invested (though by Odium), so she can likely sense other Investiture, or have it react to her. In this case, I think being in Voidbringer form lets her hear her Shardblade, like becoming a Surgebinder does. Kaladin describes the voice he hears from another Blade as Syl's voice. We have precedence for people mistaking the voices of screaming spren. Eshonai hearing her own voice screaming at her is not sufficient evidence for it to be herself trapped inside her own head. So, speculation: I think this cometlike spren is the spren of the Shardblade, and she temporarily woke it up by becoming a Voidbringer. It tried to flee, but it couldn't. Or perhaps it is trying to bond her and put her in an honorform as opposed to an odiumform. In any case, it appears to have stopped by the end of the chapter, and she's got her Shardblade out so much that it wouldn't be able to move around in her duel against Adolin anyways. Thoughts? I know this one's a bit of a stretch. Someone should really ask Brandon if the Dustbringers' spren is cometlike. Edited March 12, 2014 by Moogle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taveren Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 seems to me that the scream is her true self trying to stop the terrible stuff she is doing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seloun Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Eshonai doesn't have her Shardblade out in that passage, though, unless I'm missing something. The Parshendi seems to be somehow symbiotic with the spren, similar to the Nahel bond; I assumed the comet-spren was whatever she had been bonded to before. Sort of off-topic, but regarding the same Interlude - does it seem like Eshonai was unconsciously trying to undermine the Stormforms' plans? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Yea, I'll have to agree that the screaming Eshonai hears is her... subconsciousness? humanity? soul? The fact that she only hears it when she attunes to the Rhythm of Peace is a decent giveaway, though not a big one. I originally assumed that the comet-like spren was her stormspren, but now I think it might be whatever spren was the one giving her warform; so once she embraced stormform, her warform spren lingered for a while. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 I agree, the screaming is Eshonai's former self, her conscience maybe, reacting to the horror she's become. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synobal Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 I'm with Argent on this. It makes the most sense with the information we have at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlehrma Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 There was a scene where Eshonai heard screaming and when she removed her hand from her breast a small orange spren was released and started hovering around her. When I think happens to listeners when they bond a odium spren is that their cognitive element gets pushed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted March 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Not a single person supports the idea that the screaming inside Eshonai's head could be her Shardblade? I'm absolutely crushed . At least I can keep all the glory to myself when I'm proved right. Also: it occurs to me that where there's smoke, there's fire, so this cometlike spren could easily be a Skybreaker spren. I think it would be very appropriate for the Skybreakers to have meteors as their spren. Actually, that's so appropriate that I'm going to go add it to the Questions list. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numb Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 It takes away from Eshonai's personality if it isn't her own self that's screaming. That would mean that her old self is completely dead and there is no redemption possible for the Voidbringers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aminar Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Not a single person supports the idea that the screaming inside Eshonai's head could be her Shardblade? I'm absolutely crushed . At least I can keep all the glory to myself when I'm proved right. Also: it occurs to me that where there's smoke, there's fire, so this cometlike spren could easily be a Skybreaker spren. I think it would be very appropriate for the Skybreakers to have meteors as their spren. Actually, that's so appropriate that I'm going to go add it to the Questions list. I can see it. i mean, their minds are closer to the realms of the Spren. We'll find out more in book 4, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted March 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) It takes away from Eshonai's personality if it isn't her own self that's screaming. That would mean that her old self is completely dead and there is no redemption possible for the Voidbringers. Mistborn spoilers: Marsh never screamed in his own head. Eshonai does hear screams. The difference seems suggestive of the Shardblade being the thing screaming at her. Marsh was still his own man, though when Ruin directly possessed him, it altered his view of the world to be more Ruinous. It just seems like Eshonai is permanently having her view made more Odious. She, like Marsh, can very very likely take control of herself. She's shown herself to be strong-willed by controlling the urges of her previous forms. All she needs is one moment of clarity in a highstorm, and she can rid herself of her stormspren. I fully expect Eshonai to make a comeback. She just needs one second when her gods are distracted and she's in a highstorm. Edited March 12, 2014 by Moogle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlight Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Mistborn spoilers: Marsh never screamed in his own head. Eshonai does hear screams. The difference seems suggestive of the Shardblade being the thing screaming at her. Marsh was still his own man, though when Ruin directly possessed him, it altered his view of the world to be more Ruinous. It just seems like Eshonai is permanently having her view made more Odious. She, like Marsh, can very very likely take control of herself. She's shown herself to be strong-willed by controlling the urges of her previous forms. All she needs is one moment of clarity in a highstorm, and she can rid herself of her stormspren. I fully expect Eshonai to make a comeback. She just needs one second when her gods are distracted and she's in a highstorm. Does anyone think Adolin killed Eshonai when he pushed her off of the ledge? I don't think she died, being she is going to have a book of her own. She was a character I really liked. I was bummed when she couldn't stop her transformation to stormform. Maybe the trauma of falling into the chasm was enough to allow her to take control of herself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taveren Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 don't forget she fell in there in that super storm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavien Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Something I missed before but see now in the quotes is Eshonai's able to hold a spren. Whenever humans talk about spren they move right through them but Eshonai trapped one in her hands. Humans can trap them in fabrials, Parshendi can trap them in rocks, but grabbing and holding one in your hands? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numb Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 The fall and the super storm sets her up nicely to change forms. Don't see any other reason why she would not die "on screen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 First, I asked if Hoid has been to Braize and he laughed, smiled, and gave me a RAFO. Second, I asked if a Seon/Skaze could become a Shardblade or something similar. He said it is theoretically possible but it would need something else to bring it more fully into the physical realm. Last I asked if the comet Spren was a Highspren. He was coy and said it is very important to one of the orders of Knights Radiant. So the cometspren is some form of nahel spren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 So we don't know what type of spren they are, but we are pretty sure they are Nahel. Good info on the Seons too, it helps me understand how the spren work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seloun Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 So the cometspren is some form of nahel spren. I have to imagine that Eshonai is going to be one of the ten principle Radiants, given that she's getting a PoV book and every other book PoV we know of is a Radiant. It might not be her Shardblade that she hears screaming; maybe it's her proto-Surgebinder bonded Spren... The only question is, Willshaper or Releaser? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Parshendi can't be Radiants. Whether they have some Honorform equivalent remains unseen, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted March 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 So the cometspren is some form of nahel spren. YESSSSSS MY THEORY WAS RIGHT. EVERYONE DOUBTED BUT I HELD FIRM. Capitals alone cannot contain my joy! Not a single person supports the idea that the screaming inside Eshonai's head could be her Shardblade? I'm absolutely crushed . At least I can keep all the glory to myself when I'm proved right. Also: it occurs to me that where there's smoke, there's fire, so this cometlike spren could easily be a Skybreaker spren. I think it would be very appropriate for the Skybreakers to have meteors as their spren. Actually, that's so appropriate that I'm going to go add it to the Questions list. I feel so vindicated arguing that Eshonai's voice could have been a spren. Plus: imagine a cometspren bumping into a piece of bread to move it around. It is the most adorable thing ever and I hope this is a highspren and Szeth gets one and I really want book 3 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaos Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Even if spren can't nahel bond to parshendi it's likely that the spren is still attracted to whatever is happening to Eshonai. Maybe it's some kind of resistance spren or something? Either way, it might make it possible for her to morph out of stormform if it's been following her around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 We still don't know if the screaming was her or the spren. I'm still inclined to think it's her own voice, but your theory is much more plausible now that we know the other half of it is right. It is strange that this is a comet-like spren. That sounds like Skybreakers or Dustbringers, but the epigraphs make it sound like Eshonai would be a Parshendi Willshaper analogue personality-wise. I guess it could be she revived her shardblade, but WoB is that that is very difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesomeness Summoned Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) Parshendi can't be Radiants. Whether they have some Honorform equivalent remains unseen, however. Unless you have a WoB about this, I don't think this is 100% fact. Perhaps they wouldn't be bonded the same way but they might be able to join the Radiants. From the Houston signing: Q: How about the other way around? Can a parshendi bond a KR spren? A: Historically, the parshendi were not made knights radiant, or the parshmen weren't. The way he answered it (I heard it first hand) sounded like he was hedging and he put emphasis on saying historically they weren't made Radiants and didn't say they couldn't be.Edit: oh no! I'm the broken one now. Nor sure I'm evil enough to play that role Edited March 14, 2014 by Awesomeness Summoned 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Oh, thanks for correcting me before I misled too many people then. I must have misremembered the WoB. However, I do think the bond will be different. The Listener Song of History has that bit about how the spren abandoned the Parshendi because humans give them what they want and Parshendi can't. So the spren will probably remain stupid in the physical realm or be unable to manifest physically as a Shardblade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seloun Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Oh, thanks for correcting me before I misled too many people then. I must have misremembered the WoB. However, I do think the bond will be different. The Listener Song of History has that bit about how the spren abandoned the Parshendi because humans give them what they want and Parshendi can't. So the spren will probably remain stupid in the physical realm or be unable to manifest physically as a Shardblade. One of the Parshendi epigraphs say: "But it is not impossible to blend / Their Surges to ours in the end. / It has been promised and it can come. / Or do we understand the sum? / We questioned not if they can have us then, / But if we dare to have them again." Given that kind of set up I have to think that the narrative practically demands that there be a Parshendi Radiant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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