Honor's Death, Mishram, and the Recreance

[Darth_Hel]

Been trying to work out in my mind how all of these can be connected, and have a basic idea I think that could work. Please correct me if anything is clearly wrong, or couldn't work this way.

It would all start with the breaking of the Oath Pact, which considering Honor's basic ideal would be anathema to him. Since they were heavily invested by Honor, this could have dealt some damage to him but not enough to really kill him. But, he would have lost at least some trust in humans.

Then the False Desolation happens. There's two basic ways I could see it starting that would highly damage Honor.

1. Humanity has advanced enough that they can really wage war again and declares war on the Singers. This may have devastated Honor because the powers he had inspired and were being used in his name (using the Oaths devised by his Heralds to bind the Radiants) were being used to attack another group that could not defend themselves against the onslaught, and might seem to Honor like a repeat of the destruction the surges caused.

2. Ba-Ado-Mishram connected the Singers and started back the desolations from previously without provocation. Humanity then needs to defend itself, and the false desolation occurs.

Where does the major damage to Honor come though in both these situations? It would lie in the mystery of how Mishram gained the ability to link to the Singers.

In the first scenario, upon seeing the Singers being slaughtered, Honor could have felt compelled to aid them, and gave Heraldic Bondsmith powers to Mishram. Greatly wounded by the humans actions using his power he would start his ranting and raving that surges would destroy the world again.

In the second, perhaps after losing faith in humanity, or seemingly no desolations, Honor could have decided on his own to try to end the desolations or that it would be Honorable to extend the surges to the Singers as well. Ba-Ado-Mishram then using them to start the desolations again would greatly wound Honor. He again starts his ranting and raving stage.

Finally, the humans capture Mishram, taking a huge piece of Honor's power as well as having Honor's actions basically labotomize an entire people. The Radiants discover Honor's actions and feel betrayed, leading to all but the Skybreakers deciding to be done with their connection to him. These two actions are the death wound for Honor. It was protracted, but like Preservation, Honor died.

 

Just an additional piece of information. Brandon has been cagey about Bond Spren. He has been clear there have never been more than three (at one time), but refuses to go further. If the three were once the sibling, the nightwatcher, and mishram during this period it would still fit. As long as the Stormfather was made a bond spren after Mishram was captured and severed from Honor then there would still only ever have been three.

[NameIess]

I'm pretty sure that Honor died because Odium killed him. 

6 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

1. Humanity has advanced enough that they can really wage war again and declares war on the Singers. This may have devastated Honor because the powers he had inspired and were being used in his name (using the Oaths devised by his Heralds to bind the Radiants) were being used to attack another group that could not defend themselves against the onslaught, and might seem to Honor like a repeat of the destruction the surges caused.

Humans and Singers had been at war for generations, and the Singers at least had considered and attempted genocide as a means to end it, so I don't think that the Singers being slaughtered would have made Honor all that horrified.

10 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

In the first scenario, upon seeing the Singers being slaughtered, Honor could have felt compelled to aid them, and gave Heraldic Bondsmith powers to Mishram. Greatly wounded by the humans actions using his power he would start his ranting and raving that surges would destroy the world again.

In the second, perhaps after losing faith in humanity, or seemingly no desolations, Honor could have decided on his own to try to end the desolations or that it would be Honorable to extend the surges to the Singers as well. Ba-Ado-Mishram then using them to start the desolations again would greatly wound Honor. He again starts his ranting and raving stage.

I don't see either of these scenarios as remotely possible. Why would Honor give Mishram, a servant of Odium, any powers? He would be much more likely to simply refuse the humans access to his powers. As for giving the surges to Singers, we have no evidence that such a thing ever happened. Spren would never agree to bond them. And a desolation starting would not bring Honor into his ranting and raving stage. Fighting among humans has no effect on Honor. So neither would fighting between powered Singers and powered humans.

17 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

Finally, the humans capture Mishram, taking a huge piece of Honor's power as well as having Honor's actions basically labotomize an entire people. The Radiants discover Honor's actions and feel betrayed, leading to all but the Skybreakers deciding to be done with their connection to him. These two actions are the death wound for Honor. It was protracted, but like Preservation, Honor died.

Honor would not be killed by the humans forsaking their oaths. Nor would he be killed by Ba-Ado-Mishram being captured. That's like saying that if the Stormfather died, it would kill Honor too. Doesn't work that way. Preservation was killed by Ruin. Honor was killed by Odium. The Radiants abandoned their oaths because they feared they would destroy the world with their now-unbound surges.

[Darth_Hel]

 

29 minutes ago, Nameless said:

I'm pretty sure that Honor died because Odium killed him. 

Humans and Singers had been at war for generations, and the Singers at least had considered and attempted genocide as a means to end it, so I don't think that the Singers being slaughtered would have made Honor all that horrified.

I don't see either of these scenarios as remotely possible. Why would Honor give Mishram, a servant of Odium, any powers? He would be much more likely to simply refuse the humans access to his powers. As for giving the surges to Singers, we have no evidence that such a thing ever happened. Spren would never agree to bond them. And a desolation starting would not bring Honor into his ranting and raving stage. Fighting among humans has no effect on Honor. So neither would fighting between powered Singers and powered humans.

Honor would not be killed by the humans forsaking their oaths. Nor would he be killed by Ba-Ado-Mishram being captured. That's like saying that if the Stormfather died, it would kill Honor too. Doesn't work that way. Preservation was killed by Ruin. Honor was killed by Odium. The Radiants abandoned their oaths because they feared they would destroy the world with their now-unbound surges.

WoB is that there wasn't that much fighting between desolations because of how far society falls. So, humans on their own deciding to lash out in a genocidal way could make someone like Honor horrified. Previous desolations had humans playing defense against Odium's forces in an actual war where humans were generally at a disadvantage. The current Singers at that point were not responsible for the attempted genocide over a thousand years prior.

We see with Sja-Anat that not all servants of Odium seem to truly want to serve Odium, and Honor had once been a God of the Singers. He might feel responsible for them still even if they had turned to Odium and still wanted to help them. He didn't need to get current spren to bond them, just give power to Mishram to enable voidspren to bind them again. Two groups that Honor had given power to and tied himself up in doing dishonorable things could be considered dishonorable by him and thus weakened/wounded him. Ruin needed Preservation weakened in order to kill him, and Odium would have theoretically needed a way to weaken Honor before he could do so if he did deal the final blow.

The problem with the Stormfather comparison is that Honor already seemed to know he was dying when he created him. But, had he created him earlier, tied a ton of his power into him, then had him captured and severed I think that would have also weakened him. 

There's still some secret there about Mishram. The Radiants of the time were confused about how she manifested this new power, and after capturing her they quit being Radiants and laid down their blades. They still seemed bound by oaths, and the spren seem to consider breaking the oaths a major part of becoming a deadeye, so not sure why the surges would be considered "unbound". I'm also not buying that 7 orders suddenly all decided they were too dangerous. It feels like another secret behind a secret that Brandon does. A cover that only sorta holds up but serves to hold that space as a filler to blindside you with the actual answer later. Kind of like the parsh as the voidbringers, then no wait it was the humans.

 

 

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, Darth_Hel said:

WoB is that there wasn't that much fighting between desolations because of how far society falls. So, humans on their own deciding to lash out in a genocidal way could make someone like Honor horrified. Previous desolations had humans playing defense against Odium's forces in an actual war where humans were generally at a disadvantage. The current Singers at that point were not responsible for the attempted genocide over a thousand years prior.

I doubt it. The current Singers might not have been directly responsible for the attempted genocide, but once the fused returned, they would have started right up again. In addition, everything we've see implies that the Singers started this desolation. More importantly, the Stormfather didn't tell Dalinar "the ancient radiants, they betrayed Honor and slaughtered the Singers. So Honor took measures to stop them, which resulted in his death". He told Dalinar "Odium killed Honor."

45 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

We see with Sja-Anat that not all servants of Odium seem to truly want to serve Odium, and Honor had once been a God of the Singers. He might feel responsible for them still even if they had turned to Odium and still wanted to help them. He didn't need to get current spren to bond them, just give power to Mishram to enable voidspren to bind them again. Two groups that Honor had given power to and tied himself up in doing dishonorable things could be considered dishonorable by him and thus weakened/wounded him. Ruin needed Preservation weakened in order to kill him, and Odium would have theoretically needed a way to weaken Honor before he could do so if he did deal the final blow.

'Honor' seems to be about oaths. Not about doing what is right, but about keeping your word. The humans and Parshendi made no promises to each other that we know of, and I don't see why Honor would be dumb enough to give power to someone, knowing they'd use it to fight and knowing that them using it to fight would hurt him. As for Odium needing a way to weaken Honor, he killed Dominion, Devotion, and Ambition without that. Although Mercy did help Odium with Ambition, or at least with splintering him.

49 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

The problem with the Stormfather comparison is that Honor already seemed to know he was dying when he created him. But, had he created him earlier, tied a ton of his power into him, then had him captured and severed I think that would have also weakened him. 

Honor made the Stormfather far before he died. There were three Bondsmiths for as much of Radiant history as we know of. And anyways, why wouldn't capturing Ba-Ado-Mishram, a spren of Odium, hurt Odium just as much as Honor?

51 minutes ago, Darth_Hel said:

There's still some secret there about Mishram. The Radiants of the time were confused about how she manifested this new power, and after capturing her they quit being Radiants and laid down their blades. They still seemed bound by oaths, and the spren seem to consider breaking the oaths a major part of becoming a deadeye, so not sure why the surges would be considered "unbound". I'm also not buying that 7 orders suddenly all decided they were too dangerous. It feels like another secret behind a secret that Brandon does. A cover that only sorta holds up but serves to hold that space as a filler to blindside you with the actual answer later. Kind of like the parsh as the voidbringers, then no wait it was the humans.

The unbound Surges destroyed Ashyn. Melishi, the last Bondsmith, had unbound powers. The shattered plains were not broken by the Singers powers. Unbound surges are extremely dangerous, and with the addition of whatever negative effects came from Mishram's capture, perhaps the Radiants saw the error of their ways. Additionally, this WoB says that the Recreance happened years after the Parshendi enslavement:

Quote

Questioner

How close is the enslavement of the parshmen to the Recreance, timeline-wise? 

Brandon Sanderson

Um, fairly close, as timeline issues go, but still many decades.

Questioner

Did it play any kind of factor in the decision?

Brandon Sanderson

Absolutely. But we're not talking about it happening next year. But it was a factor, how about that?

Skyward Houston signing (Nov. 19, 2018)

 

[Returned he/him]

I'm pretty sure there is a WoB somewhere that describes Honor's death as the result of a direct onslaught by Odium, not an indirect consequence of Rosharan humans changing, becoming less honorable, or undermining him in some way. I'll see if I can dig it up. Further, we know that Honor died defending humanity (from something the Stormfather said), which implies that there was a direct, specific struggle against Odium that led to his demise.

One of the biggest things that jumped out at me from your theory is this section:

5 hours ago, Darth_Hel said:

2. Ba-Ado-Mishram connected the Singers and started back the desolations from previously without provocation. Humanity then needs to defend itself, and the false desolation occurs.

I don't think that this sequence is quite correct, specifically because it seems that the False Desolation wasn't an actual Desolation. We know that, to everyone's surprise, Ba-Ado-Mishram somehow Connected with Singers and allowed them forms of power, but this strikes me as Regals, not Fused. Nothing I've seen suggests that Braize was opened, and we know that Taln was still there holding the line. Instead, the Singers just got some of their surge-wielding forms back and waged a more conventional war. People just called it a Desolation (and even described it as a false one).

 

I will definitely grant, though, that "Honor was changing" (I forget the exact quote and reference) before he died. Something significant happened which led him to focus more on oaths than the meanings behind them, and led him to rave about surges destroying the world. We've got some hints about what changed the Heralds that led them to bend the Oathpact, and we've got some solid information on what caused the Radiants to abandon their oaths. But what might change Honor so drastically?

 

4 hours ago, Darth_Hel said:

There's still some secret there about Mishram.

3 hours ago, Nameless said:

And anyways, why wouldn't capturing Ba-Ado-Mishram, a spren of Odium, hurt Odium just as much as Honor?

I agree that there is more to Ba-Ado-Mishram than we know. I'm not sure that attribution of Ba-Ado-Mishram to Odium is correct. I mean, Ba-Ado-Mishram is of Odium now, but Sja-Anat says of the Unmade "we were made, and then unmade", and is not of Odium but is "[...] of me. Now, only of me" (Oathbringer, chapter 84, page 817). What does being made, then unmade mean? We can interpret the "now" in the second quote to be that Sja-Anat's switched away from Odium's side, but that's not the same as being "of Odium" in the way that Shallan was describing in their conversation.

There is more to this, and I've wondered if the Unmade are powerful spren of Honor and Cultivation, in the vein of the Stormfather, Nightwatcher, and Sibling, who were then corrupted in some way by Odium. We do know that Odium has his own spren, like those that provide Regal forms for Singers, but the secret of the Unmade is tantalizingly unclear.

 

4 hours ago, Darth_Hel said:

I'm also not buying that 7 orders suddenly all decided they were too dangerous.

You don't necessarily need to buy it, as the Recreance was a drawn out event. Also, we have an intriguing epigraph in WoR:

Quote

[...] but this was only nine of the ten, as one said they would not abandon their arms and flee, but instead entertained great subterfuge at the expense of the other nine. (WoR, chapter 41, epigraph)

There is a lot that is obscure about that section and what it references, but my running interpretation has been that the Skybreakers were working to undermine the other orders. They, perhaps, were behind the Recreance, or at least influenced the other orders towards their ultimate end there. As to the shattering of the Shattered Plains... well, Skybreakers have access to the surge of Division. Just saying...

 

3 hours ago, Nameless said:

Melishi, the last Bondsmith, had unbound powers.

Did he? I might have missed where this is stated or implied, but I'd thought that Melishi was bound to the Sibling. If you have a chance, could you provide a reference for this?

 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Returned

[NameIess]

13 minutes ago, Returned said:

Did he? I might have missed where this is stated or implied, but I'd thought that Melishi was bound to the Sibling. If you have a chance, could you provide a reference for this?

Here you go, from Chapter 66 of RoW, where Dalinar just figured out how to see the connection lines:

Quote

The Stormfather rumbled in the back of his mind. I was not certain it could be done, he said. The power of Bondsmiths was tempered by Honor, for the good of all. Ever since the destruction of Ashyn. "How did you know about this ability?" Dalinar asked, eyes still closed. I heard it described before I fully lived. Melishi saw these lines. "The last Bondsmith," Dalinar said. "Before the Recreance." The same. Honor was dying, possibly mad.

 

[Returned he/him]

Thanks, @Nameless! That's a bit I'd glossed over. Very interesting... I'd been thinking in terms of being bound by the Radiant oaths, which presumably still applied, but the Bondsmiths' surges in particular had other restrictions imposed directly by Honor. And since Ashyn, no less! Honor must have locked that down immediately upon humans' arrival on Roshar. Before Knights Radiant, before Heralds... there is a lot to unpack here.

[+robardin he/him]

Expanding somewhat on the OP, here are the relative timing we know about these and related events in chronological order, as far as I can make out:

• At Aharietiam, 9 out of 10 Heralds agree to leave Taln holding the bag while the rest of them unbond their Honorblades and walk off the job.
• Thousands of years after that, Ba-Ado-Mishram somehow gains the ability to Connect to the parsh
  • Becoming a "mini-god" that can grant Voidlight and Regal forms of power to them via Voidspren
  • But, not able to bring back the Fused (still held back by Taln's upholding of the Oathpact)
  • She enables the "False Desolation" - no Heralds or Fused, but Radiants against the Unmade leading the parsh with forms of power
  • Come to think of it, what does it mean that B-A-M was able "to provide Voidlight" to the parsh people ("drawer 30-20, fourth emerald")?
    • There are no Regal forms that use Voidlight, right? Only the Fused are able to use it for Surgebinding or healing?
  • How this was suddenly possible is not yet known, not even to Ulim... Did another Shard do something? (Cultivation? Autonomy?)
• The False Desolation is what caused the Radiants - led by Melishi the Bondsmith - to capture Ba-Ado-Mishram to stop it
• At some point during or before the False Desolation, Honor stopped creating honorspren Himself, delegating that to the Stormfather
  • Sylphrena and her siblings are the first and only generation he creates before the Recreance
  • Syl had a Radiant before Kaladin, a kindly old man who "had fought and died", presumably in the False Desolation
• B-A-M was imprisoned by Melishi, the only Bondsmith of that generation. That required a spren bond (to be a Bondsmith).
  • At least one Herald, Kalak, by now of suspect sanity as well as integrity, was involved and present
• As a side effect, the capture of B-A-M entraps the singers' Connection/Identity to Roshar
  • It also somehow affected the mechanics of the Nahel bond...
• The Sibling broke off their bond with Melishi before the Recreance, as they were not "killed" in that event.
• Honor wasn't dead yet by the time of the Recreance either, as he was able to record an Honorvision showing it happening at Feverstone Keep.
• The Stormfather says that when "that generation of Radiants" learned the truth about the roots of the singer/human conflict - that the humans had broken an agreement to limit themselves to Shinovar - Honor did not support them, instead he "raved, speaking of the Dawnshards", and "promised that Surgebinders would do the same to Roshar".
• And now, the Recreance!
  • Mayalaran says that the spren decided along with their Radiants to break off the bond - not knowing "deadeyes" would result.
  • Those Radiant spren knew something and agreed with their bonded humans that Nahel bonds were "too dangerous" to continue with (related to Honor's "promise" that Surgebinders would rend Roshar as had happened to Ashyn?)
  • However, neither the highspren nor the Skybreakers were in agreement (were they already led by Nale at that time?)
  • If the Stormfather knows what this is, and one would think that he does, he has not told Dalinar.
• Some time AFTER all of this, Honor is fatally wounded by Odium.
  • He doesn't die immediately - He's able to make the Honorvisions, and charge a Splinter of himself to graft to the SF with them.

Edited April 13, 2022 by robardin

[Morningtide she/her]

Cool theory. I don't know if I believe it or not, but your evidence is good. 

[nehalem]

This seems very similar to my theory.  Even our thread titles are almost the same!

 

[TruthwatcherDan he/him]

On 14/04/2022 at 6:16 AM, robardin said:

Ba-Ado-Mishram somehow gains the ability to Connect to the parsh

This is a really good summary, I think the only thing to clarify is BAM gained the ability to Connect to spren, and as a consequence Connected with the the singers (via their gemhearts). As you mentioned it effects the Nahel Bond as well... Deadeyes didn't exist before the Recreance either.. (RoW, Chapter 115, per Kalak)

On 14/04/2022 at 6:16 AM, robardin said:

It also somehow affected the mechanics of the Nahel bond...

Creating Deadeyes when a bond is broken...

On 14/04/2022 at 6:16 AM, robardin said:

The Sibling broke off their bond with Melishi before the Recreance, as they were not "killed" in that event.

Which makes me think that Melishi knew, or had some insight, as to what effects trapping BAM would have on Connection in Roshar (Singers and Humans) and went through with it anyway... that's such poor form Melishi! 

By extension, if this is the case, it also explains why The Sibling was so angry at humanity and why the Sibling's fabrials started "failing" prior to the their slumber... I'd certainly be angry if I was a spren and my Bondsmith was planning genocide! 

[KaladinWorldsinger]

4 hours ago, TruthwatcherDan said:

I think the only thing to clarify is BAM gained the ability to Connect to spren, and as a consequence Connected with the the singers (via their gemhearts)

Why do you think BAM didn't directly connect with singers?

[Proletariat]

5 hours ago, TruthwatcherDan said:

This is a really good summary, I think the only thing to clarify is BAM gained the ability to Connect to spren, and as a consequence Connected with the the singers (via their gemhearts).

Where do we learn this? My understanding was that BAM on her own subbed in for the spren in basically all the gemhearts of the species as there were no voidspren before the Everstorm. I thought that's why trapping BAM put all the parsh into slave form as it stripped their gemhearts of spren all at once.

[+robardin he/him]

1 hour ago, Proletariat said:

Where do we learn this? My understanding was that BAM on her own subbed in for the spren in basically all the gemhearts of the species as there were no voidspren before the Everstorm. I thought that's why trapping BAM put all the parsh into slave form as it stripped their gemhearts of spren all at once.

Hmm, that is actually the first time I've read or thought about that angle: that B-A-M granted "forms of power" not by making Voidspren available to parsh on a one-to-one basis but proxying herself as the voidspren in a one-to-many bond, which is why trapping her had that effect. (Which would also mean ALL the parsh who hadn't fled as "listeners" had done so.)

I think that's very plausible, as the earliest sentient voidspren we see to reactivate for the Final Desolation (Ulim) had to be brought to the gathering "storm" of voidspren in the Cognitive Realm across to Roshar in a gemstone, in the Venli flashback in Ch. 57 of Rhythm of War (where the Ulim-bearing gemstone was given to her by Axindweth in the Ch. 52 flashback):

Quote

"...Here's the deal. I'm going to take up residence inside of you, and together we're going to do some incredible things."

"We will bring useful forms to my people?" Venli asked, her teeth chattering.

"Well, yes. And also no. For a while, we'll need you to appear as if you are still in workform. I need to scout out how things are on old Roshar these days. It's been a while. You think you can get into Shadesmar, if we need to?"

"Sh-Shadesmar?" she asked.

"Yes, we need to get to the storm there. The newer one in the south? Where I entered that gemstone... You have no idea what I'm talking about. Delightful."

And Ulim clearly had no idea what B-A-M had done to achieve what she had before getting trapped. It hadn't involved Odium or the Voidspren.

Yes, the more I think about it the more I think that is how it worked. If that had been spelled out somewhere in RoW I missed it entirely!

Which means B-A-M also "granting Voidlight" is even more mysterious - what "forms of power" (Regals) make use of that? Even Venli wondered if her ability to draw in Voidlight was due to her being Regal, or being a Surgebinder with a bond to Timbre who could also use Voidlight due to the Voidspren trapped in her gemheart. We never see any other Regal drawing in Voidlight.

Edited April 20, 2022 by robardin

[TruthwatcherDan he/him]

3 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

Why do you think BAM didn't directly connect with singers?

I say this on the assumption it affected the Nahel Bond as well, as Deadeyes didn't exist before the Recreance, which happened shortly after to the capture of BAM. However thinking about it now, the Listeners also have spren in their gemhearts and weren't affected, nor were any of the fauna with gemhearts... so there's something not right about the logic there. Maybe BAM does connect directly with the Singers, and the Deadeyes were a separate phenomenon (but IMO it's related based on Melishi's actions described in my post earlier). 

I always interpreted the quote below as hinting that there was more at stake than just denying the Singers forms of Power... 

Quote

"We are uncertain the effect this will have on the parsh. At the very least, it should deny them forms of power. Melishi is confident, but Naze-daughter-Kuzodo warns of unintended side effects." - Oathbringer, Chapter 81 

 

[+mdross81 he/him]

2 hours ago, Proletariat said:

My understanding was that BAM on her own subbed in for the spren in basically all the gemhearts of the species as there were no voidspren before the Everstorm. I thought that's why trapping BAM put all the parsh into slave form as it stripped their gemhearts of spren all at once.

 

1 hour ago, robardin said:

Hmm, that is actually the first time I've read or thought about that angle: that B-A-M granted "forms of power" not by making Voidspren available to parsh on a one-to-one basis but proxying herself as the voidspren in a one-to-many bond, which is why trapping her had that effect. (Which would also mean ALL the parsh who hadn't fled as "listeners" had done so.)

 

13 minutes ago, TruthwatcherDan said:

However thinking about it now, the Listeners also have spren in their gemhearts and weren't affected, nor were any of the fauna with gemhearts... so there's something not right about the logic there. Maybe BAM does connect directly with the Singers, and the Deadeyes were a separate phenomenon (but IMO it's related based on Melishi's actions described in my post earlier)

I'm loving this discussion. I've generally been of the opinion that BAM Connected to the singers through their Connection to Roshar and the rhythms. This is because of this conversation between the Sibling and Navani in RoW 49:

Quote

I have … been wounded. Thousands of years ago, something happened that changed the singers. It hurt me too.

Navani covered her shock. “You’re speaking of the binding of that Unmade, which made the singers lose their forms?”

Yes. That terrible act touched the souls of all who belong to Roshar. Spren too.

“How have now spren mentioned this?”

I don’t know. But I lost the rhythm of my Light that day. The tower stopped working. My father, Honor, should have been able to help me, but he was losing his mind. And he soon died …

But that doesn't provide a full explanation because, as this discussion above illustrates, it's not clear whether that Connection was through the spren in the singers' gemhearts, an independent singer Conection to Roshar, or both.

But I'm coming around to the view that @Proletariat and @robardin expressed above that BAM "proxied" herself to the singers in a one-to-many bond, either by displacing or overwhelming the spren that gave the singers common forms. Those spren would not have been able to do anything with Voidlight, so she served as a spren to all of them and facilitated the use of Voidlight.

This explanation actually tracks pretty well with how Ulim describes what happened in RoW 73:

Quote

Eventually, the Unmade decided to start a war without us. That turned out to be exceedingly stupid. In the past, Odium granted forms of power, but Ba-Ado-Mishram thought she could do it. Ended up handing out forms of power as easily as Fused give each other titles, Connected herself to the entire singer species. Became a little god. Too little.

“I … don’t understand.”

I’ll bet you don’t. Basically, everyone relied way too much on an oversized spren. Trouble is, spren can get stuck in gemstones, and the humans figured this out. End result: Ba-Ado-Mishram got a really cramped prison, and everyone’s souls got seriously messed up.

I never really understood the "too little" line, but it makes sense if what we're talking about is a one-to-many bond where she's the proxy Voidspren for all of them.

There's further support for this idea in the SA 5 prologue, but I'm putting my discussion of that in a spoiler box.

Spoiler

I'm keeping both the excerpt and my discussion of it in the spoiler box.

Here's the excerpt - and a second warning - here be spoilers for SA 5 prologue

Spoiler

She created your parshmen, he said. On accident. Long ago, after the Heralds’ final visit but before the Recreance, Mishram tried to rise up and replace the God of the Voidbringers. She gave the common voidbringers forms, Voidlight, abilities. To fight for themselves.

“Curious,” Gavilar said. “And then?”

And then…she fell. She was too small a being, not strong enough, to uphold an entire people. It all came crashing down, and so some brave men and women—Radiants—did something that had to be done, trapping Mishram in a gemstone to prevent her from destroying all of Roshar. The side effect of that event created the parshmen.

This idea that BAM was too small, not strong enough tracks with what Ulim said and with the idea of a one-to-many proxy Voidspren Connection. What's really had me intrigued though is the line here about how trapping Mishram was necessary to avoid destroying all of Roshar. What's the deal with that? How was what she was doing threatening the entire planet?

My best guess is that she used an anti-tone/rhythm to push out the spren that gave the singers common forms so that she could insert herself. Given the line we get in the last Eshonai POV in RoW 117 (The entire world. She saw it. Every little piece was a part of the rhythms. The world was the rhythms.), I could see the use of anti-tones or rhythms damaging Roshar itself if Roshar is the rhythms.