How many sapient spren are there?

[+Oltux72]

We have seen cities. How many inhabitants do they have? Lasting Integrity has so many people that they can fill an arena, but not so many that it would overflow. So I would think in the thousands. If the other kinds of spren are similar and we have a few dozen cities, they should be numbering in the tens of thousands, them having no agriculture, hence little reason to have a farming population.

But why are the Shardblades numbered in the hundreds? Were so many lost or has Shadesmar undergone an increase in population after the Recreance?

[Frustration]

23 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

But why are the Shardblades numbered in the hundreds? Were so many lost or has Shadesmar undergone an increase in population after the Recreance?

Well, in human populations immediatly following a tradgety similar to the recreance, populations skyrocket.

[Zapata]

6 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

But why are the Shardblades numbered in the hundreds? Were so many lost or has Shadesmar undergone an increase in population after the Recreance?

Well, most dead Shardblades are lost, considering there should have been hundreds or thousands of Radiants, but only around 80-100 Shardblades are known in the present day. There were more Radiants in the Feverstone Keep vision then there are Shardblades in the modern day, so it's assumed that most shardblades are lost or hoarded by some group or another (the Skybreakers, the Shin, etc.)

[+Harrycrapper]

3 hours ago, Bearer of Agonies said:

Well, most dead Shardblades are lost, considering there should have been hundreds or thousands of Radiants, but only around 80-100 Shardblades are known in the present day. There were more Radiants in the Feverstone Keep vision then there are Shardblades in the modern day, so it's assumed that most shardblades are lost or hoarded by some group or another (the Skybreakers, the Shin, etc.)

The Skybreakers definitely have some, they gave Helaran a set that no one had ever seen or heard of. 

[Jozomby]

I wouldn't anticipate shardblades having much to do with current Spren population numbers - all those 80-100 dead shardblades will represent deadeyes, who don't seem to be a part of normal spren society.  The "tens of thousands" number would be for regular non-deadeyes spren, meaning that they're not connected to a shardblade in the physical realm.  So if anything it just means that there's potential for there to be a LOT of radiants if all the spren ever decide to form bonds.