Animal Gemhearts

[Walter The Moral]

I was under the impression that all animals native to Roshar have gemhearts, like Chulls, Cremlings, Singers, etc. The reason animals in Shinovar don't have Gemhearts is because the humans brought them with them from Ashyn. But, there are animals that seem to be domesticated outside of Shinovar that don't have Gemhearts. My main question is pigs and hogs, they seem to be domesticated outside of Shinovar, but without Gemhearts.

Were they possibly orignially from Shinovar, but enough were bred outside that they are commonplace in most of Roshar?

[alder24]

29 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

I was under the impression that all animals native to Roshar have gemhearts, like Chulls, Cremlings, Singers, etc. The reason animals in Shinovar don't have Gemhearts is because the humans brought them with them from Ashyn. But, there are animals that seem to be domesticated outside of Shinovar that don't have Gemhearts. My main question is pigs and hogs, they seem to be domesticated outside of Shinovar, but without Gemhearts.

Were they possibly orignially from Shinovar, but enough were bred outside that they are commonplace in most of Roshar?

All soft-skinned Earth-like animals came with humans from Ashyn. Birds, chickens, horses, pigs etc. They were placed in Shinovar. But humans invade the rest of Roshar. They would take their livestock with them, their horses, pigs and minks (also partially domesticated) and other domesticated animals. They keep caring for them and make them safe during Highstorms. That's how they spread across the whole of Roshar. Other animals, like moles (?), minks and rats just left Shinovar on their own, as few resilient wild animals for example moles (were those moles or something different?) settled around Urithiru using snow as a soil.

But all of those still don't have any gemheart. Horses evolved into Ryshadium and they do have gemheart (not confirmed) and a spren bond. But there are very few Earth-like animals that evolved like that. I'm not sure if Ryshadium isn't the only example of that. Horses being highly intelligent might be the reason for that, but Ryshadium intelligence is the result of a spren bond.

There is a WoB confirming that from all non-native species on Roshar, only Ryshadium has a spren bond. Only they adapted, rest of Earth-like animals just were strong enough to spread across Roshar and live in that harsh environment, not all were able, like there are almost no wild birds.

Spoiler

asmodeus

The humans on Roshar have a lot of holdover terms from... before, like chicken, soil, wine, etc.

Is "mink" another of those holdover terms, where they are calling something a mink that we may call something else?

Is it, mayhaps, actually a lion?

Brandon Sanderson

No, minks actually are one of the mammals who managed to get a foothold on Roshar, so they know what minks are. (They are mentioned other places in the text.) Good question, though!

General Reddit 2020 (Aug. 31, 2020)

 

Spoiler

EHyde

On Roshar, do they have an equivalent for cats, like how they have axehounds instead of dogs?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they do not. Though there are various domesticated animals fulfilling a similar role across the planet. (Domesticated minks and pigs come to mind.)

Goodreads: Ask the Author Q&A (Aug. 13, 2014)

 

Spoiler

Leinton (paraphrased)

Are there birds outside of Shinovar on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There are, but very few and they are all in the west. So you're not going to find birds in Alethkar for instance. Unless they're chickens that have been brought, or something like that.

Words of Radiance San Diego signing (March 4, 2014)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

Will we be finding out more about the Ryshadium?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but it's one of those things we're gonna find out in little bits here and there. I mean, I think I've told people they are animals that have managed to form a spren bond, which has given them more-than-animal intelligence. It is the symbiosis there that is letting them. So if they did not have the spren bond, they wouldn't be--

Skyward San Francisco signing (Nov. 8, 2018)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

I'm really curious about Ryshadium. Is there something bigger about them?

Brandon Sanderson

It's not super-huge. They are non-native species who have started to form spren bonds like native species do. So, a symbiotic bond with a spren has started happening. Ryshadium are horses that have done that, basically. You could say that humans have done the same thing. Non-native species that have started to form spren bonds. The Ryshadium are the only other non-native species that that has started happening. Like the chasmfiends have a symbiotic relationship with the spren that they have, the Ryshadium have a spren.

It's not as visible, but it is there.

Idaho Falls signing (July 21, 2018)

 

Spoiler

Sweetness

Were the Ryshadium artificially created or enhanced, or are they natural?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, RAFO! Good question!

Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing (March 21, 2014)

[Walter The Moral]

 

On 6/3/2023 at 9:22 AM, alder24 said:

All soft-skinned Earth-like animals came with humans from Ashyn. Birds, chickens, horses, pigs etc. They were placed in Shinovar. But humans invade the rest of Roshar. They would take their livestock with them, their horses, pigs and minks (also partially domesticated) and other domesticated animals. They keep caring for them and make them safe during Highstorms. That's how they spread across the whole of Roshar. Other animals, like moles (?), minks and rats just left Shinovar on their own, as few resilient wild animals for example moles (were those moles or something different?) settled around Urithiru using snow as a soil.

Thanks for your thorough answer. I wonder if bringing all of those aninals was intentional, since some probably weren't very useful. In my copy of WoR, Shallan mentions jellyfish, so I wonder if they were brought with the humans from Ashyn as well.

[alder24]

10 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

Thanks for your thorough answer. I wonder if bringing all of those aninals was intentional, since some probably weren't very useful. In my copy of WoR, Shallan mentions jellyfish, so I wonder if they were brought with the humans from Ashyn as well.

It's hard to say. We know that Ashynites brought with them their livestock animals, as Raboniel mentioned her grandmother saw them terribly burned. We also know Honor and Cultivation terraformed the region of Shinovar to resemble Ashyn. It's likely many of those animals, particularly wild ones, were made by Shards to create an Ashyn-like environment for humans to live. Jellyfish, and other marine species might be just native to Roshar. There is nothing particularly different in Rosharan oceans compared to Earth one.

[Treamayne]

On 6/3/2023 at 10:30 AM, Walter The Moral said:

Were they possibly orignially from Shinovar, but enough were bred outside that they are commonplace in most of Roshar?

On 6/3/2023 at 11:22 AM, alder24 said:

There is a WoB confirming that from all non-native species on Roshar, only Ryshadium has a spren bond. Only they adapted,

Note: It might not be just adaptation. We know that Herdazians (crystal fingernails) and Unkalaki (jaw bones) have Listener blood somewhere in their heritage giving them some of their "adaptations." In Oathbringer Ch 10, Renarin (talking with Adolin) mentions that Ryshadium have "stone hooves" - the similarity possibly implies that it was a combination of adaptation and interbreeding (not sure what Rosharan species they might have interbred with though) that has brought the Ryshadium far enough along to develop a gemheart and form spren bonds. 

Spoiler

“Ryshadium have stone hooves,” Renarin said, “stronger than ordinary horses’. Never need to be shod.”

3 hours ago, alder24 said:

It's likely many of those animals, particularly wild ones, were made by Shards to create an Ashyn-like environment for humans to live. Jellyfish, and other marine species might be just native to Roshar.

Also note, that Shallan mentiones Jellyfish when observing the Santhid. There are already examples of people using "old" nouns for similar things (an Axehound isn't really anything like a Hound - but the name "hound" carried over from Ashyn) - so, without seeing a Rosharan jellyfish we can't know if it is really like a "traditional" jellyfish, or just a name that Rosharan humans called it because it was similar to a Jellyfish.