The problems with Recreance

[Sunmaker]

So in the book Oathbringer, it is revealed that the Recreance happened in part due to finding out that this land was rightfully singer (Parsh), but more due to the fear that surgebinders would destroy Roshar, just as they destroyed the Tranquiline Halls - presumably Ashyn, or whatever planet they previously came from.

However, why did the Radiants not think that they destroyed that planet due the influence Odium had on their surgebinding? - and I assume in that age they were doing voidbindings instead of surgebindings. They survived millennia on Roshar with their surgebindings as they were under the influence of Honor and Cultivation. Why would they think that they were still somehow going to destroy it?

Now back to the 1st point - rightful parsh land. I think it is correctly assumed that this in whole wouldn't and didn't cause the Recreance. Humans generally don't feel remorse over the fact that they are defending invaded land - they do it all the time against other humans (and this is in real life, and on Roshar). Humans are greedy like that, even if they are 'noble' Radiants, as their spren themselves didn't view it in a bad light. 

[Calderis]

The Recreance was a multi-part problem. The presented reasoning is only a part of it. 

First you have the discovery of their past, which Oathbringer tells us had happened previously, and Honor assured the Radiants and set them at ease. 

This time, Honor did nothing to help, and he is the one who told them they would destroy Roshar like they had previously destroyed Ashyn. 

Then you have the severing of the Parsh. 

All of these thing in rapid succession, culminating in the seeming lobotomization of an entire sapient species... And yeah, it makes sense that they'd question themselves. 

Furthermore, I don't think it was the betrayal that the Spren all believe it was. There is absolutely no way that the Recreance could have been planned and executed in the way that it was without the Spren being complicit in the act. Personally, I think they were more than complicit, and that it was their idea to begin with. 

There's a lot of good discussion about this here. 

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Calderis

[Caevita]

To be fair, this wasn't some vague fear that they might destroy Roshar, based on past experience. Honor straight up told them they were going to. That's going to be terrifying no matter who you are, when your god announces you're going to destroy everything you love.

[Solant]

This is more of an idle thought than a full fledged theory, but I've sometimes wondered if there is a correlation between Honor's raving toward the end of his life and the Heralds' insanity, and if so, which came first, and how it plays into the Recreance.

[Yata]

Like Cal said the Recreance was the result of multiple factors:

- They re-discovered they were the Invasors and their enemies are the descendants of the Roshar's natives.

- They discovered the magic (associated with their Surgebinding) destroyed the mankind's homeland and once done they conquered another planet.

- The god they followed instead of mitigating this fears and doubts.... Enchanced them stating they will destroy Roshar too.

- They (or the Heralds using Surgebinding) shattered the Shattered Plains, an explic demostration of the danger in the power wield by them

- They lobomized a whole species

All this stuffs were the Recreance's seed and once a strong doubt arose in them, the decision to break their Oaths was just a matter of time.

Much more if you consider the Desolations were over and the menace of future ones was gone too.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Yata

[Solarserpent]

It makes me wonder if the Recreance's cause was similar to the issues of the 3 laws of robotics from Isaac Asimov. Having oaths that depending on belief and circumstance can turn against themselves. I can see Odium orchestrating this over millennia and the Recreance as the final stroke against Honor. Honor probably saw it coming but could not change.