Chrystoff Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 The parshendi men wear the gem hearts of their ancestors. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 Maybe? I though it was for the same reason humans used them for currency - they're so ridiculously prevalent on Roshar, and you've gotta use them for something 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrystoff Posted March 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 It makes perfect sense. It is why the parshmen tend their own dead. They don't want humans to find out they have gem hearts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baine Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 Wow. That is an excellent Theory! Upvotes to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightsworn Panda Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 Nah. Probably just fashion. Would you turn down a glow-in-the-dark beard-bead/ring/bracelet? Wait, a glow-in-the-dark beard-bead!? I just realized how strange that sounded. Or maybe an innovative Surgebinder thought it would be funny to have their possible enemies wear a Knight's Radiant's source of power on their bodies. Or maybe the Parshendi have nothing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ati Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Not sure if it's an ancestral thing, would definitely be in keeping with their culture, I think. Strongly agree that Parshendi likely have gemhearts though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Words of Radiance spoilers! Given that the spren used to turn Eshonai into stormform was trapped in a gemstone, I'd say it's probably a cultural thing. The Parshendi have lost a lot of their culture (like the different forms they can take), so my guess is that tying gemhearts in their beards and hair is something dating back to, or related to, keeping spren in them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandi Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 I thought it was to have storm light handy for power ups to whatever form they are using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrindIf Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Quiver, in WOR we learn that they figured out how to capture sprens in gemstones after having met with humans. I would bet on an ignorance of what stormlight can do and a way of showing off riches or reward bravery, whatever jewelry is used for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NutiketAiel Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 I thought they just wanted to feel pretty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Thorn Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Quiver, in WOR we learn that they figured out how to capture sprens in gemstones after having met with humans. To change forms the parshendi need to achieve an appropriate mindset to summon a specific spren. In a Highstorm. This is not a sure think even in the best case scenario. In the worse not possible at all; no living parshendi has yet attracted a creation spren, because the form best able to summon them requires them to become that form... From hunmans is how the current generation learned it was possible. Their ancestors intentionally purged much of their knowledge in an attempt to free themselves of the influence of their gods. Including all but two of their forms. Knowledge of spren capturing would have logically been relinquished as contrary to their goal. Being able to use trapped spren make it a 100% instead of hit or miss, and allows transformation to forms that the transformee cannot currently summon himself. I thing that is why the gems were originally worn, but currently the reason is lost. Also possibly unrelated, Eshonai's sister seems to know more than she is letting on. She could have known the trick from another source she did not want her countrymen to know about, and knew to look for the spren trapping technique among the humans so she could use it without having to answer difficult questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightsworn Panda Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 I thought they just wanted to feel pretty... That explains their lack of clothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstSelector Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Though I am loathe to refer to this extensively over-used example from Mistborn, Ruin and Preservation were effectively unable to interact with metallic objects. Perhaps in the same fashion, Odium (and by extension, Honor and Cultivation) were somehow inhibited by the presence of trapped Stormlight. This filtered down to the Parshendi as "surround your head with infused gems," but as a full-head gemstone helmet is ineffective they instead put the gems in their beards. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lopen Skybreaker Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) Didn't read the last post properly. Whoops. Edited April 3, 2014 by Lopen Skybreaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maffu17 Posted April 21, 2014 Report Share Posted April 21, 2014 (edited) Nah to all the poo-pooers, i've always thought they were the gemhearts of their ancestors. That's why both the Parshmen and Parshendi are so fussy about taking care of the corpses of the fallen. Throughout most of my re-readings of the Way of Kings I had the idea that the war to decimate the population of the Parshendi was futile, judging by how crabs breed with thousands of offspring each. I had assumed the Parshendi were harvesting the Gemhearts so they could cut them down to 'Parshendi' size and use them to create new members of their own race. Making the humans believe they were having an impact on their population when really they were able to keep their numbers stable. Obviously most of that got shot down with the release of the WoR Eshonai chapters. However it still remains that Brandon has seemingly deliberately avoided telling us anything at all about how the Parshmen and Parshendi propagate their species, which should make us all very interested in why that is. Since they are very expensive and exceedingly useful we should have heard something about Parshmen breeding programs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_breeding_in_the_United_States. Sorry to bring up such a grisly matter but it's important to note that Parshmen are considered "subhuman chattle" and any human species would seek to modify them to suite their own ends, proven on Roshar with Balat and the breeding of the Axhounds. edit added spoiler thingy Edited April 21, 2014 by Maffu17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted April 21, 2014 Report Share Posted April 21, 2014 There is a WoB that Parshendi have live birth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalepiphany Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 (edited) It makes perfect sense. It is why the parshmen tend their own dead. They don't want humans to find out they have gem hearts. How can you be certain that a parshman has never died, with only humans to tend to? I'm sure there have been scholars that have dissected one. In all the time that's passed since the last Desolation, there is no way that every dead parshman/parshendi was properly tended to by another parshman/parshendi. It could be how they're able to communicate over vast distances. Edited April 22, 2014 by digitalepiphany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalepiphany Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 Nah to all the poo-pooers, i've always thought they were the gemhearts of their ancestors. That's why both the Parshmen and Parshendi are so fussy about taking care of the corpses of the fallen. Throughout most of my re-readings of the Way of Kings I had the idea that the war to decimate the population of the Parshendi was futile, judging by how crabs breed with thousands of offspring each. I had assumed the Parshendi were harvesting the Gemhearts so they could cut them down to 'Parshendi' size and use them to create new members of their own race. Making the humans believe they were having an impact on their population when really they were able to keep their numbers stable. Obviously most of that got shot down with the release of the WoR Eshonai chapters. However it still remains that Brandon has seemingly deliberately avoided telling us anything at all about how the Parshmen and Parshendi propagate their species, which should make us all very interested in why that is. Since they are very expensive and exceedingly useful we should have heard something about Parshmen breeding programs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_breeding_in_the_United_States. Sorry to bring up such a grisly matter but it's important to note that Parshmen are considered "subhuman chattle" and any human species would seek to modify them to suite their own ends, proven on Roshar with Balat and the breeding of the Axhounds. edit added spoiler thingy He hasn't revealed yet how they transform to mateform. It could be that parshmen can do it as well. Or, it could be that they can still mate, just not as efficiently. Also, I don't recall reading anything about how long they live. Obviously, they can be killed, but do we know how long they live? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wherethewindgoes Posted April 23, 2014 Report Share Posted April 23, 2014 How can you be certain that a parshman has never died, with only humans to tend to? I'm sure there have been scholars that have dissected one. In all the time that's passed since the last Desolation, there is no way that every dead parshman/parshendi was properly tended to by another parshman/parshendi. It could be how they're able to communicate over vast distances. Small WoR spoiler: I believe Dalinar mentions that Parshendi have never been thoroughly studied, so it's plausible that no one has ever dissected one. On the main topic: We know that the Parshendi don't like humans touching their dead, but they don't touch their own dead either, correct? I think Dalinar mentions that they step over the bodies as they retreat. I doubt they would be willing to cut open other Parshendi and pull out their gemhearts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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