Kobold King Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 I did a search, but I didn't find anything directly connected to this. Feel free to redirect me if I've missed something. We know of entities called Splinters--sapient fragments of one of the Shards of Adonalsium. We know of several varieties: Divine Breaths are Splinters of Endowment, Seons are believed to be Splinters of Devotion, Skaize of Dominion, and spren seem to be Splinters of Honor. I have been contemplating the possibility that Splinters, like the Shards they are derived from, possess Intents. A Shardic Intent is defined as the drive to act in accordance to the nature of a Shard. Thus, Ati was compelled to act according to Ruin's Intent, Tanavast was compelled to act according to Honor's Intent, and Rayse is compelled to act according to Odium's Intent. Each of the Shards has a purpose, and this purpose drives them to a certain type of behavior. The interesting thing is that Splinters behave in a way consistent with Intents as well--perhaps more specific Intents, but Intents nonetheless. Consider. When a Nalthian dies in a heroic way, a Divine Breath can inhabit his or her body and create a Returned. It is no secret that every Returned has a purpose for resurrection--every Returned comes back with an intent to perform a certain act. Seons stress the fact that they feel their purpose is to love and serve. This, to me, sounds like an example of entities acting according to Devotion's Intent. Transformative Cognitive entities (known locally as spren) also act according to Intents. Syl consistently keeps a firm stance about her status as an honorspren, constantly pushing Kaladin to act according to her own drive to behave honorably. Pattern is similarly fascinated by lies and truth, which could be related to an Intent towards honesty. And finally... Nightblood. Nightblood is considered a Splinter of Endowment, and he has the most conspicuous Intent of them all: destroying evil. So there. From my perspective, there do seem to be similarities in the ways Splinters act.. I don't know if there is a deliberate connection, or what it would entail if there was. But I thought it couldn't hurt to slam this observation on the table to be vivisected and analyzed in a cold, professional light. We're all professionals here, right? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 This might be of interest: JoshDo Splinters have their own Intent, in addition to the Shards'?Brandon SandersonSplinters often have their own intent. (source) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted May 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 (edited) This might be of interest: (source) Ah... thank you WeiryWriter. This is the first time one of my theories has been confirmed so quickly. Edited May 9, 2014 by Kobold King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 We know of entities called Splinters--sapient fragments of one of the Shards of Adonalsium. We know of several varieties: Divine Breaths are Splinters of Endowment, Seons are believed to be Splinters of Devotion, Skaize of Dominion, and spren seem to be Splinters of Honor. Weiry beat me to providing that quote, but I just wanted to point out that not all spren are necessarily Splinters of Honor. Some seem to be of both him and Cultivation, some of one or the other (Honorspren are just of him, I believe), and some are almost certainly of Odium, such as the voidspren we've seen this far. Not too important, but still. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Weiry beat me to providing that quote, but I just wanted to point out that not all spren are necessarily Splinters of Honor. Some seem to be of both him and Cultivation, some of one or the other (Honorspren are just of him, I believe), and some are almost certainly of Odium, such as the voidspren we've seen this far. Not too important, but still. That is true. Remind me to upvote you and WeiryWriter when my quota refills. Probably answered already, but are some spren Splinters of Cultivation and Odium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) That is true. Remind me to upvote you and WeiryWriter when my quota refills. Probably answered already, but are some spren Splinters of Cultivation and Odium? I don't know about that, but we have this interesting bit of info: Wetlander: So is that like the mists and the Well? Are they… A: They are not, because they have not attained self-awareness. But, the Seons are self-aware. So, any piece, for instance there were some spren on Roshar before Honor and Cultivation got there. Those were already splinters of Adonalsium where he had left power which attained sentience on its own. So, it can be intentional is what I am saying, does that make sense? You have seen other splinters. (source) Edited May 10, 2014 by GreyPilgrim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 My impression is that Intent replaces a conscious mind - unless the amount of Investiture is as huge as a Shard, in which case the Intent overrides the mind. So any character with an Intent instead of consciousness is going to have limited character development, because their mind's core principles are hard-coded so to speak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) My impression is that Intent replaces a conscious mind - unless the amount of Investiture is as huge as a Shard, in which case the Intent overrides the mind. So any character with an Intent instead of consciousness is going to have limited character development, because their mind's core principles are hard-coded so to speak Interesting idea. It seems to work with, for example, Nightblood. He is hard-coded to destroy evil. My first thought was that it wouldn't work with spren, but I guess those that are intelligent (Pattern and Syl being the main ones we've seen thus far, and Wyndle too to an extent) are also very clearly focused in a simple, childlike sort of way. Spren seem a bit more developed as characters than Nightblood, though. More three dimensional. I wonder if we'll see a bit more development from his character in Book 3. Edited May 10, 2014 by GreyPilgrim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 I think all of those do have intent, but the spren have a much bigger Cognitive Aspect in relation to their Investiture, and so the Intent is just less powerful. Nightblood, however, has thousands of Breath bent to his Intent, and a rather small Cognitive Aspect in comparison, and so it's much more likely to be overruled completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 I think part of the reason they're more developed is that they piggyback off of their Surgebinders consciousness and gain that element of complexity only humans have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 I think part of the reason they're more developed is that they piggyback off of their Surgebinders consciousness and gain that element of complexity only humans have. I was kind of thinking that too. I agree. In fact, going off of what PorridgeBrick said, maybe the reason they have such a greater Cognitive aspect is that they are using their Radiant's Cognitive aspect, thereby growing their own. Syl kind of fell apart when Kaladin left her, returned more to that windspren type consciousness level, but was overall left a little more intelligent, at least enough to desire to return to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 But they're entirely functional in the Cognitive, without any Radiant's Cognitive Aspect to bolster their own. So their Cognitive Aspect is normally big enough to not be overruled by Intent. It's just that when they're in the Physical, they can't really access that Cognitive Aspect on their own, and are more vulnerable to their intent taking over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 So I guess that bonding a human increases their Physical aspect to the point that they can better access their Cognitive aspect in the Physical Realm? Maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmurfAquamarineBodies Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 What would happen if Nightblood Bonded with Szeth? If that is even possible, but I believe I read something that implied that it would be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 What would happen if Nightblood Bonded with Szeth? If that is even possible, but I believe I read something that implied that it would be possible. Hmmm. If bonding Nightblood were possible, why didn't he bond with Vasher? Or perhaps he did bond Vasher, which will be a plot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Nightblood is confirmed to be fundamentally the same as a splinter, and able to bond (this is how he reads minds). I've theorized that any splinter bond is sufficient to form a nahel bond on Roshar, and allow access to Stormlight and some form of surge abilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Nightblood is confirmed to be fundamentally the same as a splinter, and able to bond (this is how he reads minds). I've theorized that any splinter bond is sufficient to form a nahel bond on Roshar, and allow access to Stormlight and some form of surge abilities. So a Returned could use Stormlight, as well as someone with a Seon bond? Ooh! If any concentrated amount of Investiture can become a Splinter, like Nightblood and his Breath collection, could a nicrosilmind become a self-aware entity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeBrick Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Nightblood is confirmed to be fundamentally the same as a splinter, and able to bond (this is how he reads minds). I've theorized that any splinter bond is sufficient to form a nahel bond on Roshar, and allow access to Stormlight and some form of surge abilities.Gah, you beat me to it. Oh well, here's a WoB anyways. QUESTION How is it that Nightblood, who is merely a near-sentient awakened object, was able to read minds, something a Shard like Ruin was unable to do? BRANDON SANDERSON It requires bonding (with the person whose mind is to be read) to read minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 So a Returned could use Stormlight, as well as someone with a Seon bond? Ooh! If any concentrated amount of Investiture can become a Splinter, like Nightblood and his Breath collection, could a nicrosilmind become a self-aware entity? We have WoB that Seons would work. I personally believe Returned would too (I made the first theory on this entire concept). As for nicrosilminds, unlikely, as they 'belong' to a person. Could be wrong, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 So a Returned could use Stormlight, as well as someone with a Seon bond? Ooh! If any concentrated amount of Investiture can become a Splinter, like Nightblood and his Breath collection, could a nicrosilmind become a self-aware entity? Hmmm. I don't think so. Consider that it took 1000 Nalthians worth of Investiture to make Nightblood. It would take a lot of Investiture to fill a nicrosilmind to that point. Also, part of the reason Nightblood became a Splinter is that he received an Intent along with all the Investiture. This most likely significantly aided/sped up the process of his gaining sentience and Splinterhood (?). The Investiture in a nicrosilmind does not have that same sort of focus, so indolent believe it would become a Splinter. Good thought, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmingly Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Wow. That would be cool. A kind of metalmind that speaks to it's holder, that is a separate consciousness. And that could be killed by tapping, made stronger by storing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 That... does sound cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyPilgrim Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Wow. That would be cool. A kind of metalmind that speaks to it's holder, that is a separate consciousness. And that could be killed by tapping, made stronger by storing. That... does sound cool. I kill your dreams! It wouldn't work! (I don't think; I'm often wrong.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 I kill your dreams! It wouldn't work! (I don't think; I'm often wrong.) Grellin-pilgras! The Grey Pilgrim holds my theory and consumes it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts