Stormfather Theory (Spoilers included)

[Lightning]

I just finished Words of Radiance and had a theory I thought I'd present.  (I haven't seen anyone else put this one forth, but if I missed it I'm sorry.)

 

We know that most spren gain sapience as they bond with humans.  There are some noted exceptions to this, such as the Nightwatcher and and the Stormfather.  In the Stormfathers case, it seems to be due to his being a remnant of Honor.  But bonding adds something to the spren in the physical realm.

 

Could it be possible that by binding with Dalinar the Stormfather will start growing back into Honor?  That Honor's splintering will be fixed as Dalinar performs his oath to bind things together?

 

Along those lines, could the Nightwatcher be a splinter of Cultivation?  (And could someone bond with her?)

Edited March 17, 2014 by Pace Nielsen

[teonvin]

I highly doubt it. I still don't think Stormfather is just a splinter of Honor. From his words, he's who he is not because he's some leftover part of Honor, he is who he is because the humans on Roshar share a certain belief in their concept of "the Almighty", and this powerful belief created a powerful spren in the Cognitive realm that is kinda like Honor himself but not quite.

 

When Syl talked about how Honor himself gave the Heralds the Honorblades to give them his power, she mentioned the sprens then tried to imitate the powers. This means sprens exist even when Honor himself is around and they are not splinters of a Shard. I highly doubt that Stormfather, who in the end is just a spren can become a Shard of Adonalsium.

[Lightning]

Good points.  I'll have to look it up when I get back, but my impression was that the Stormfather himself does say something to Dalinar (near the end of the book) about being what is left of Honor who died.

[taxilian]

I'm not sure that "just" is a good description when you're talking about a splinter. Stormfather seems pretty obviously to be a splinter of honor, and WoB tells us that honorspren are also a splinter of Honor. Obviously Syl is a much smaller splinter than StormFather, as evidenced by their relative power. Still, Stormfather is constrained by the oaths or whatever else was set up by (Honor? Bondsmiths? The bondsmith herald? All of the above?)

*All* spren seemed to be influenced by the belief of people. See the experiment measuring the flamespren -- and Brandon said at the WoR release signing that if they had written down a value that they believed to be true, even though it wasn't, that value would constrain the spren. However, it seems to me that the more powerful the spren the less it is influenced by those outside factors. Stormfather is a very powerful spren, so I'm sure that while he is influenced he still keeps mostly his own characteristics.

[Lightning]

Here is the quote I was looking for:

 

 

I was required to send those visions once the time arrived.  The Almighty demanded it of me.  I could no more disobey than I could refuse to blow the winds.

 

This seems to suggest that the Stormfather is bound by certain laws, which may be why he accepted Dalinar's oaths even though he didn't want to bond.

 

 

"You said that you were a fragment of the Almighty."

 

I am his...spren, you might say.  Not his soul.  I am the memory men create for him, now that he is gone.  The personification of storms and of the divine.  I am no god.  I am but a shadow of one.

 

A shadow true, but perhaps with the potential to become more?

[loganmathewjohnson]

Maybe... It kinda feels like a reach to me. But it's certainly possible!  

I think... I don't know. Does anyone have WoB about a shard coming back from Splintering??

[Frostlander]

"You said that you were a fragment of the Almighty."

 

I am his...spren, you might say.  Not his soul.  I am the memory men create for him, now that he is gone.  The personification of storms and of the divine.  I am no god.  I am but a shadow of one.

It makes sense that having millions(?) of people believing in a concept would create a megaspren for that idea. I do wonder what Stormfather gets out of the bond, though.

 

Do the different branches of Vorinism--for example the worship of Jezrien in Sesemalex Dar in Emul that Sigzil talks about--have megaspren? Perhaps not as large as Stormfather, but still substantial?

[Lizzardborn]

The more and more I read - I have a hunch that the splintering of Honor was not a defeat, but a stratagem.

He was prepared, he send a visions, he left his shadow and he did not sound desperate or defeatist in the Dalinar visions. So after some of the events Cultivation reforging Honor with the Stormfather at its core is something that would not surprise me a lot.

[The Count]

It makes sense that having millions(?) of people believing in a concept would create a megaspren for that idea.I do wonder what Stormfather gets out of the bond, though.

I have also wondered this. Normally, Spren get consciousness in the physical realm in exchange for surgebinding. However, the Stormfather seems to have physical manifestation in the form of highstorms as well as a well established consciousness already.

I this maybe Dalinar's bond will cause the Stormfather to align more closely with Dalinar's sense of honor rather that the slightly more corrupted version caused by the collective consciousness of humans.

In that way I think the Stormfather will heal from being the broken individual he is currently. Maybe this will also lead to him trusting men again and allowing the spren to bond.

My guess is that Dalinar's interaction / Bond with the Stormfather will be crucial when whatever the secret that caused the Recreance comes to light (I assume from the code epigraph translation that Mr. T knows what it is and will use it to try to destroy the new Radiants in future books).

[Aoibheann]

I like this idea. It seems to me there's quite a bit of healing for the Stormfather to do. He is rather defeatist at this point. Maybe that comes from Honor's death, maybe it's from sending the visions for 7+ years with no one getting the right idea.