Bonding Lesser Spren

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

So what would happen if a human did actually Bond with a Lesser Spren? What could they do?

It's quite clear that they wouldn't gain Surgebinding but perhaps they could gain some kind of lesser abilities?

Like if someone bonded to a Windspren could they gain some kind of small-scale wind manipulation or perhaps they could gain the ability to sense the wind and 'see' everything around them without using their eyes?

Or if someone managed to form a Bond to a Stormspren, could they gain the same Red Lightning Powers as a Stormform Regal?

Or maybe they'd just gain the power to materialize a Lesser Spren as a Mini Shardblade? Shardknife?

[Frustration]

The question is can they?

The answer probably not. If they could it would probably be something close to singer forms or something like that.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

22 minutes ago, Frustration said:

The question is can they?

The answer probably not. If they could it would probably be something close to singer forms or something like that.

Oh I thought I put the Spoiler thing up, guess not.

Spoiler

Fantasy Faction

Could any type of spren bond with a person (even if the results wouldn't be a Knight Radiant)? Or only the ones associated with a branch of the Knights?

Brandon Sanderson

Ooh, that's an excellent question. This is something theoretically possible for a lesser spren to achieve.

So it's possible, but would probably require some external aid such as a Bondsmith or something.

[alder24]

I expect it would be something similar to what already exists in nature with animals or Singers, e.g. bonding Gravitationspren would make you lighter, or stronger (Workform), Windspren would make you a bit faster (Nimbleform), etc. However because humans don't have a gemheart, there would be no physical changes, and the benefits of those bonds won't be that dramatic like in case of Singers. They won't be able to access any form of Surgebinding, even on a smaller scale - like Singer's forms of powers wouldn't be something humans would have.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

I expect it would be something similar to what already exists in nature with animals or Singers, e.g. bonding Gravitationspren would make you lighter, or stronger (Workform), Windspren would make you a bit faster (Nimbleform), etc. However because humans don't have a gemheart, there would be no physical changes, and the benefits of those bonds won't be that dramatic like in case of Singers. They won't be able to access any form of Surgebinding, even on a smaller scale - like Singer's forms of powers wouldn't be something humans would have.

So it'd be mild, subtle boosts at the most, nothing big or flashy.

It'd probably take the power of a Bondsmith to make anything big out of Subspren Bonds. Though that likely goes without saying.

Perhaps a benefit would be that it'd be easier to bond with multiple Lesser Spren at once? Gravitationspren don't seem to mind sharing a Bond with Greatshells after all.

[Quantus he/him]

2 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

So it'd be mild, subtle boosts at the most, nothing big or flashy.

It'd probably take the power of a Bondsmith to make anything big out of Subspren Bonds. Though that likely goes without saying.

Perhaps a benefit would be that it'd be easier to bond with multiple Lesser Spren at once? Gravitationspren don't seem to mind sharing a Bond with Greatshells after all.

Yes, probably effects on on the general scale of Aviar, at most, thought Aviar lean toward Cognitive & Sensory effects but a lot of Rosharan spren represent more physical things (though they have cognitive fabrial expressions too, so who knows?)

Now, as a tangent, what if they manage to Get a Gemheart analogue.  Hemalurgy can theoretically do it, but would be distasteful to most spren per WOB.  Eating a Gem has one precedent but that "spren" was powerful enough to drive a lot of physical changes with what is probably a tiny foothold (and soulcasting was likely involved at the realmic level).  

[Trusk'our he/him]

10 hours ago, Frustration said:

The question is can they?

The answer probably not. If they could it would probably be something close to singer forms or something like that.

Rock seems to have done so.

Dawnshard spoilers (is it necessary to put it in a spoiler box?  Better safe than sorry).

Spoiler

In Dawnshard, Cord mentions that Spren empowered him with extra strength, and Rock used a Shardbow to kill Amaram- something that should have required far more strength than a normal human could have achieved.

This seems like a pretty strong indicator that he has bonded Spren of some kind to grant him that power.

 

Quote

Now, as a tangent, what if they manage to Get a Gemheart analogue.  Hemalurgy can theoretically do it, but would be distasteful to most spren per WOB.  Eating a Gem has one precedent but that "spren" was powerful enough to drive a lot of physical changes with what is probably a tiny foothold (and soulcasting was likely involved at the realmic level).  

Oooof. I had only applied that to Radiant Spren before, but yeah, lesser Spren would likely have an issue Bonding a Gemhearted human Hemalurgist as well.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Trusk'our

[Frustration]

25 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Rock seems to have done so.

Rock isn't entirely human though.

25 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Dawnshard spoilers (is it necessary to put it in a spoiler box?  Better safe than sorry).

No.

[Trusk'our he/him]

6 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Rock isn't entirely human though.

Alright, fair enough.

6 minutes ago, Frustration said:

No.

Nice 

[Kendelian he/him]

I’d imagine it would be possible for something like that to happen, because of the different forms. For a human to do it, I’m not sure. You may also require a gemheart to hold the Bonded spren, like with the Listeners. But, maybe the Listeners are some sort of organic fabrial, so I don’t know.

[Marabout]

Isn’t it a theory that Horneaters have gemhearts or something similar? (Gem pebbles?)