Bonded Spren Capabilities

[garganium]

Upon my re-reading of Words of Radiance something specifically stood out to me. How useful Pattern was to Shallan: he picks locks, translates dead languages, and breaks Ghostblood codes in seconds. So this got me thinking about a lesser discussed tool in a Knight Radiant's arsenal, their spren partner.

So specifically, what are bonded spren capable of? To constrain this topic some, let's focus on their abilities in the physical realm. Additionally, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to shardblades, shardplate, surges, and the Nahel bond, but all of that could be many topics themselves. I'd like to collect examples of other things these spren can (or can't) do, and speculate on their utility. I've always wondered things like, how well could a spren be used to spy on others? How far can a spren stray from their bonded person?

General Bonded Spren:

• Granting access to surges, becoming a living shardblade, and other perks of the Nahel Bond like plate and stormlight.
• Telepathic communication with their bonded person while a shardblade, possibly limited to when in contact.
• Extremely minor physical manipulation, Syl can carry a leaf with great effort, Pattern can push lock tumblers.
• Controlling who can hear and see them, most bonded spren seem to have a limited ability to hide themselves from others besides their bonded person. This is different than telepathy, Brandon says their voices could be picked up by a recorder. This may not work as well with people who are more connected to the cognitive realm, like singers and Rock.

 

Sylphrena/Honorspren:

• Shapeshifting, Syl and Rua both show the ability to take a variety of forms, even multi-part forms like gusts of leaves. Sylblade can also take many different forms quickly, which while a property of all living shardblades might be assisted by her affinity for taking different forms.
• Flight, hovering, invisible 'platforms', gravitation?, Syl can stand on seemingly nonexistent platforms as well as fly at will. Not only can she fly, but she has no problem keeping up with Kaladin. Sometimes it seems like she's changing the direction that gravity affects her, but it's just as possible she's not constrained by gravity at all.
• Adhesion, Syl can use some sort of adhesion to play pranks on people like windspren.
• Storm sense, after the Weeping Syl knows when the next highstorm will arrive.
• Superhuman ability to spot or locate objects?, Syl helps multiple times to locate knobweed and corpses for the bridgemen.
• Appearance similar to a windspren, when people do see her, she's mistaken for a windspren, and she even uses this to hide from the voidspren in OB.

 

Pattern/Cryptics

• Lack of ability to hide form and voice. Pattern can't seem to hide his presence like other bonded spren can, he can blend in to surfaces but can be spotted. This may be due to Shallan/Pattern's unique situation of oath regression?
• Pattern recognition, cryptography, computational power, Pattern translates the Dawnchant and breaks the Ghostblood code effortlessly, this may not be a factor of 'intelligence' so much as Cryptics thinking in a more 'computer-like' way, though it's also possible Pattern is just a particularly intelligent cryptic, as he is a scholar.
• Voice mimicry, Pattern shows the ability to eavesdrop and perfectly recreate what he hears like an audio recorder.
• Lockpicking, Pattern unlocks a door for Shallan, being able to fit into the lock, understand its workings, and manipulate the pins. 
• Surface-limited movement, Pattern can crawl along floors or up walls, but he is mostly constrained to sticking to surfaces, though he has floated as a three dimensional figure briefly.

 

The Stormfather

• There's almost too much unique about the Stormfather to get into in detail. He's a fairly large splinter of Honor and his cognitive shadow, whatever that entails.
• Telepathy, the Stormfather can speak into Dalinar's mind seemingly whenever. Though there may be interference in the communication when Dalinar thinks the Stormfather is ignoring him?
• If there's any sort of constraints on the distance between the Nahel bond pair on a planetary scale (not going off-world), it doesn't seem to matter for the Stormfather
• Knowledge, the Stormfather didn't seem to need to make a transition when he bonded Dalinar, so he kept all his memories and knowledge from before the bond. 

 

Wyndle/Cultivationspren

• Another unique situation due to Lift's weirdness. Would be nice to see another cultivationspren bonded to someone.
• Difficulty appearing to others, Wyndle says he has difficulty making himself seen or heard by others, though he is capable.
• Vine growth, while not capable of shapeshifting Wyndle can do a lot with the way his vines grow, but his movement could also leave a trail for someone able to see him since his vines need time to crystallize and disappear.
• Knowledge, Wyndle seems to have made the cognitive to physical transition without losing many of his memories and knowledge. Not that Lift makes much use of it.
• Size, may seem like a weird one, but aren't most Spren about hand to head sized? Admittedly how spren look doesn't seem to be very important, but it does help Lift use him as a footstool/ladder/whatever since she can physically interact with him.

 

Timbre/Lightspren

• Yet another unique situation being bonded to a Listener could mean any number of things work differently.
• Flight, Timbre seems to be able to fly to move around.
• Can hide in Venli's gemheart, other spren can enter a Listener's gemheart, but it is notable that a bonded spren could. Might have to do with Listeners being 'more cognitive' though, could a human bonded spren enter a gemheart?
• Granting void-form control to Venli, no idea how this works, I guess Timbre can bully the related spren and somehow suppress them while they're in Venli's gemheart?

 

Ivory/Inkspren

• Knowledge, like Wyndle, Ivory kept plenty of information after bonding to share with Jasnah. It's telling that Ivory and Jasnah as a team seem to be in the know about a lot.
• Size changing, can change his size but not his shape.

 

I'd like to collect more examples from the books or WoBs about what these spren are capable of. Hopefully RoW can provide us with more examples of Knights in the same order, or just any sort of information on Spark, Timbre, or Szeth's elusive spren.

[Honorless]

This brings up the question of how much Lift's Boon/Bane may have affected Wyndle.

 

Cryptics seem to be more in the Physical than the Cognitive in general, I think, judging by Syl & Pattern's comments and the Cryptic that was trying to Bond Elhokar

Edited April 20, 2020 by R J

[Karger]

1 hour ago, garganium said:

Sylphrena/Honorspren:

Also one of the few types of spren who somewhat get people.

[Frustration]

4 hours ago, garganium said:

Granting void-form control to Venli, no idea how this works, I guess Timbre can bully the related spren and somehow suppress them while they're in Venli's gemheart?

I mean Gyls sort of hangs out inside Renarin

[Quantus]

Not all bonded spren can control who can see and hear them the way Syl and Windle can, it seems to vary by spren race.  Ivory, for example has to hide by changing size to be too small to see, and Pattern has to hide on surfaces and hope nobody notices.  

[Karger]

19 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Ivory, for example has to hide by changing size to be too small to see

We don't know that.  I find it difficult to believe that Shallan never noticed Ivory if that were the case.

[Quantus]

Just now, Karger said:

We don't know that.  I find it difficult to believe that Shallan never noticed Ivory if that were the case.

Thought it was confirmed in OB, but Ill see if I can find the passage

[Eternal Khol]

16 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Thought it was confirmed in OB, but Ill see if I can find the passage

Im pretty sure it was confirmed

[Honorless]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

I mean Glys sort of hangs out inside Renarin

Source? 

[+asmodeus]

Relevant quote for the spren being able to appear and talk to people:

Spoiler

“They can’t see me,” Wyndle said, growing up beside her to create another line of handholds, “because I exist mostly in the Cognitive Realm, even though I’ve moved my consciousness to this Realm. I can make myself visible to anyone, should I desire though it’s not easy for me. Other spren are mores skilledat it, while some have the opposite trouble. Of course, no matter how I manifest, nobody can touch me, as I barely have any substance in this Realm.”

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by asmodeus

[Frustration]

7 minutes ago, R J said:

Source? 

Well Jashna See's him poking out of his back, and Rock can't see him, I thought that was just the logical conclusion.

[Honorless]

4 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Well Jashna See's him poking out of his back, and Rock can't see him, I thought that was just the logical conclusion.

I read that as him hiding

[Frustration]

24 minutes ago, R J said:

I read that as him hiding

And Rock?

[Honorless]

7 hours ago, Frustration said:

And Rock?

Hiding, by some method 

[Frustration]

26 minutes ago, R J said:

Hiding, by some method 

Methods that even Syl fails to do? Gyls is inside Renarin.

[Honorless]

46 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Methods that even Syl fails to do? Glys is inside Renarin.

Every Nahel spren is different, Glys is even more different

[TheWadehart]

I would like to suggest that (admittedly not all evidence is in) that spren to the right of Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers on the double eye are invisible.  While those to the left are visible and employ different means to hide.

Syl and Wyndle are invisible  and no one has mentioned noticing Malata's Dustbringer spren.

Pattern  remains visible and hides on objects. Ivory changes size to hide.  Timbre at first has to hide in pouch.

[Karger]

2 hours ago, TheWadehart said:

Syl and Wyndle are invisible  and no one has mentioned noticing Malata's Dustbringer spren.

Lift does not notice the Truthwatcher spren sent to bond the Stump. 

2 hours ago, TheWadehart said:

Syl and Wyndle are invisible  and no one has mentioned noticing Malata's Dustbringer spren.

Syl is not invisible to Rock and since Timbre is surrounded by listeners we don't know if she is visible or not.

[TheWadehart]

16 hours ago, Karger said:

Lift does not notice the Truthwatcher spren sent to bond the Stump. 

Correct,  But then I made no inferences about Truthwatcher Spren.

 

16 hours ago, Karger said:

Syl is not invisible to Rock and since Timbre is surrounded by listeners we don't know if she is visible or not.

Rats you're right! I didn't remember the Listener ability to see spren.   Rock, however, is a special case as he is able to see her even when others cannot.

[Karger]

1 minute ago, TheWadehart said:

Rock, however, is a special case as he is able to see her even when others cannot.

His ability is generally believed to be a function of his singer heritage.