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Those glowing giants no one seems to be talking about


BrightnessSamantha

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I was listening to Words of Radiance again on Audible and it was the scene where Kaladin and Shallan are in the chasm's during a high storm after falling in.  Kaladin talks about seeing giant glowing figures walking across the shattered plains.  Are they a type of spren?  Is it the Storm Father and a sibling going for a stroll?  I can't think of anything that large except for a Thunderclast, and I can't imagine them traveling during a high storm.  What are your theories??  I couldn't find anything on here or Arcanum when I tried searching but I know someone else has had to have noticed this!

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I'd have to go back and find the passage you're talking about (what chapter is it in?) but offhand I think my first guess would either be Chasm-fiends from afar, or else some of the higher spren like Phendorana, the big one Rock saw while Bridge Four was trying to gain stormlight and attract their own spren.

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It's Chapter 74 Striding the Storm.  It's page 875 on my Kindle.  

"Light came from above, too steady to be lightning. Something was glowing on the plateau. Something that moved. It was hard to see, since water streamed off the side of the plateau above, falling in a sheet before their refuge. He swore he saw an enormous figure walking up there, a glowing inhuman form, followed by another, alien and sleek. Striding the storm. Leg after leg, until the glow passed."

It comes after they kill the chasm fiend and dig an alcove into the side of a plateau for shelter from the high storm.

 

Edited by BrightnessSamantha
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Ya, Im guessing Spren (maybe one of the ancient ones Syl mentioned that are more Singer influenced, though the Sleek thing following sounds more like a glowing chasmfiend of some kind, almost like a pet hound of the spren?  They're a lot more Invested than the rosharans were giving them credit for, so glowing in the storms would make some sense, and we know their life cycle has been interrupted by being killed off before pupating. 

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@Quantus I don't know... they're depicted as walking on 2 legs and a chasmfiend has a lot more than 2 legs and would either be moving much faster or just being blown around in the storm. 

Edited to add: The chapter title is in the phrase as well....

Edited by BrightnessSamantha
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Dalinar also saw them in the flashback when he went for his knife.. As far as I know, we don't have much information on them. But WoB says those "stormstriders" are spren that move with the Highstorms.

Quote

GreenRover [PENDING REVIEW]

During the storm that Kaladin was in with Shallan in book 2; those two massive walkers we saw--are those Parshendi, Unmade, or spren?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Spren, with the caveat that might not mean they aren't Unmade, because that's not an either-or.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)
Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Can the Storm Striders move when a highstorm is not passing?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

No. Can is a strong term. They do not, how's that?

Skyward Atlanta signing (Nov. 17, 2018)

 

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29 minutes ago, BrightnessSamantha said:

@Quantus I don't know... they're depicted as walking on 2 legs and a chasmfiend has a lot more than 2 legs and would either be moving much faster or just being blown around in the storm. 

Edited to add: The chapter title is in the phrase as well....

The chasmfiend comparison was specifically referring to the second, following thing, the "Alien and Sleek" thing which had "leg after leg".  That sounds like it could be something Chasmfiend-esk that is following it's "inhuman" shaped master.  But @equinox's WOB's confirm that it's a Spren, not something native to the physical realm, which rules out anything in the Chasmfiend life-cycle unless it includes a Cognitive Shadow stage. 

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We've talked about them... We just know so little so there's not much to speculate on. :D

They also show up in one of Dalinar's OB flashbacks. His third? The one where he sees Evi the first time and kills the assassin. When he's on his way back to the feast after going out in the storm he sees one of these things and it chucks a boulder at him.

I think there may also be a (potential) vague reference to them in the Eshonai interlude where she swaps to stormform?

The general assumption seems to be that they're some kind of spren that follow along with the highstorm. I think there's another WoB out there where someone asks if their existence is known among the general population. Brandon said there are legends, and people just sort of expect weird things to happen in highstorms so they're no real surprise for Rosharans.

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This is a recurring theme on Shardcast (which you should definitely check out if you haven't - it's pretty awesome).  

The Stormstriders (a fan term) are known about in-world:

Quote

OrangeJedi [PENDING REVIEW]

In several instances of the highstorms, several characters mention seeing large creatures walking in the highstorms; they don't seem to be super fazed by this. Do they know these creatures exist, is it part of their lore?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes. But you've got to also remember that people who are out in highstorms, they expect it to be... they expect to see odd things. When you're out in a highstorm, it does not phase you in the same way that if you go to a horror movie, you expect something horrific to happen.

OrangeJedi [PENDING REVIEW]

Do they have a name for said creatures?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There are names in various parts of the lore, but there is no one name.

OrangeJedi [PENDING REVIEW]

Could you give us one of them?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

No.

Skyward release party (Nov. 6, 2018)

Edited by Scion of the Mists
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12 minutes ago, IllNsickly said:

Could they be the adult form of a Larkin?

As much investiture as Chiri-Chiri absorbs, it kind of makes sense to me.

I like this idea for the second thing kal saw in the storms walking with a storm strider, the alien and sleek one?

And remembering that spren are only partial manifestations in the physical realm, could stormstriders have another more true form?

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When I heard this excerpt I pictured 2 giant two legged creatures lumbering along through the highstorm. 

Thanks for all the WoB.  I guess searching highstorm+glowing figures isn't specific enough, lol.

7 hours ago, Scion of the Mists said:

OrangeJedi [PENDING REVIEW]

Do they have a name for said creatures?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There are names in various parts of the lore, but there is no one name.

OrangeJedi [PENDING REVIEW]

Could you give us one of them?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

No.

None of the WoB mention spren.....

I think they're something we haven't really come across yet, except for excerpts like this.  Or they're something we've come across but know by a different name...

Edited to add:

I know, that's such a specific theory! I'm not great with theories! :blink:

Edited by BrightnessSamantha
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I just reread Dalinar's scene in which he sees the figure in the highstorm (OB, ch. 19 "The subtle art of diplomacy", 31 years ago). 

Quote

An explosive burst of wind drove him against the wall, and he stumbled, then stepped backward, driven by instincts he couldn’t define. A large boulder slammed into the wall, then bounced away. Dalinar glanced and saw something luminous in the distance: a gargantuan figure that moved on spindly glowing legs.

Dalinar stepped back up to the feast hall, gave the whatever-it-was a rude gesture, then pushed open the door—throwing aside two servants who had been holding it closed—and strode back in. Streaming with water, he walked up to the high table, where he flopped into his chair and set down his mug. Wonderful. Now he was wet and he still couldn’t eat his pork.

Note the rude gesture Dalinar gave the thing :lol:. Hopefully this spren has a forgiving nature if it ever becomes more important... 

Now I have to look up the Eshonai scene. 

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I've been thinking of them as Highstormspren. The Stormfather is a spren of storms, but it's also the Cognitive shadow of a Shard, by way of human conceptualization of the Almighty, etc. etc. The gigantic, many-legged whatevers that live in the storms seem like more basic spren, the sort that accompany fire or rot. They are the storm as a great beast that strides over the land.

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20 minutes ago, insert_anagram_here said:

Isn't Nightwatcher a many-legged spren too? And Cusicesh has many arms too right?

Edit: There is also the top of the Sja-anat page.

5a7ae8029bc18_The_Taker_of_Secrets1.thumb.jpg.bfd36f9652b50e695471a8608fb83b6b.jpg

 

10 minutes ago, equinox said:

I always assumed those hands are the visible parts of corrupted painspren. 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Equinox is right, those are just the painspren. You can see the corrupted shamespren in the lower right corner, too.

I've always thought the stormstriders are a manifestation of the Sibling, along with Cusicesh possibly.

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1 hour ago, Invocation said:

I've always thought the stormstriders are a manifestation of the Sibling, along with Cusicesh possibly.

I totally bought this idea (read it in another thread which I can't find anymore - one of those many Sibling discussions). But what if we are overthinking them. @earthexile may be right in that the stormstriders are lesser spren accompanying the highstorm. Just because they are much larger doesn't mean they are more powerful or more intelligent than windspren. That would be a bummer :blink:...

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19 hours ago, equinox said:

I just reread Dalinar's scene in which he sees the figure in the highstorm (OB, ch. 19 "The subtle art of diplomacy", 31 years ago). 

Note the rude gesture Dalinar gave the thing :lol:. Hopefully this spren has a forgiving nature if it ever becomes more important... 

Now I have to look up the Eshonai scene. 

I'm still not convinced it's a spren.  Would a spren be able to manipulate the physical realm enough to throw a boulder?  Even if it is a huge one,  I wouldn't think size would effect it that much.

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1 minute ago, BrightnessSamantha said:

I'm still not convinced it's a spren.  Would a spren be able to manipulate the physical realm enough to throw a boulder?  Even if it is a huge one,  I wouldn't think size would effect it that much.

I don’t think the spren through the boulder, I think that was just the storm itself, and Dalinar assumed it was the weird spren.

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