Parshendi hybrids

[Pathfinder]

Well people are assuming what causes the blood of parshendi to be orange is a fundamental change in the DNA, like how we are carbon based, they would have to be silicon based or some such. But the fact of the matter is we DON'T know what is causing the orange colored blood in the parshendi at this point. Human blood is blue till it is oxygenated. There is nothing saying that the cause of the listener's orange blood isn't the result of a different diet, or evolutionary environmental feature in their history. Compare some breeds of dogs for instance. Some look so different, you would almost think they were completely different species, yet they all have four legs, and share traits that imply canine, just like the parshendi and humans have humanoid traits. Despite some breeds of dogs looking so completely different, they can still interbreed for the most part. Yes they still have the same blood color, but again I refer you to my earlier point, we don't know WHY it is orange. In fact out of curiosity, I did a search on orange blood, and anemia can cause that in some cases. It is a general google search, for facts are loose and easy, but the point is you don't need completely alien physiology to manage orange blood. 

Edited August 24, 2014 by Pathfinder

[Robot Aztec]

 

Because biologically it wouldn't work.  Significant gross differences in the color of the blood is evidence enough that there are major differences in biochemistry between humans and parshendi.

like i said my aunt had green blood because of too much migrate meditation it is in humans too

[BlackYeti]

Human blood is blue till it is oxygenated. There is nothing saying that the cause of the listener's orange blood isn't the result of a different diet, or evolutionary environmental feature in their history.

 

This is not true. Human blood is red because of the iron bound to the haemoglobin molecules: this does not change when the blood becomes deoxygenated. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, not blue. 

http://chemistry.about.com/od/biochemistry/a/Is-Deoxygenated-Human-Blood-Blue.htm

 

The colour of human blood can be changed by conditions such as iron deficiency, but this is atypical. The parshendi blood colour does not appear to be atypical and it is implausible to suggest that the blood colour for the entire species could change based on their diet (except perhaps on evolutionary timescales). It therefore implies an entirely different blood chemistry, and by extension a radically different biology to humans. 

[Pathfinder]

This is not true. Human blood is red because of the iron bound to the haemoglobin molecules: this does not change when the blood becomes deoxygenated. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, not blue. 

http://chemistry.about.com/od/biochemistry/a/Is-Deoxygenated-Human-Blood-Blue.htm

 

The colour of human blood can be changed by conditions such as iron deficiency, but this is atypical. The parshendi blood colour does not appear to be atypical and it is implausible to suggest that the blood colour for the entire species could change based on their diet (except perhaps on evolutionary timescales). It therefore implies an entirely different blood chemistry, and by extension a radically different biology to humans. 

Evolution is mutation, whether beneficial or detrimental. The only determining factor is the success of the organism in that environment. Not the strongest, nor the fastest, but the most amendable to change. One could argue a lizard's loss of limbs would be detrimental, yet we have a whole species that resulted from it and thrived, snakes. So again, we do not know. The orange blood may very well be due to anemia, but given the environmental features, that could have been beneficial to them and bred true. 

[nimvin]

Not to mention we've seen species intermingle in our FICTION for many many years. Blade and Spock just being two examples I think we can accept it on a general level.

That said we have made the evolutionary argument for and against but why do the Parshendi of today have to be the same as they were 4500 years ago? Maybe their blood and physical makeup changed since the last "known" interbreeding happened. Thats a long time for a species to have walled itself off from all outside influences and these differences everyones talking about may be relatively new on the evolutionary scale.

Just sayin. Carry on.

[BlackYeti]

Evolution is mutation, whether beneficial or detrimental. The only determining factor is the success of the organism in that environment. Not the strongest, nor the fastest, but the most amendable to change. One could argue a lizard's loss of limbs would be detrimental, yet we have a whole species that resulted from it and thrived, snakes. So again, we do not know. The orange blood may very well be due to anemia, but given the environmental features, that could have been beneficial to them and bred true. 

 

I think it would be probably be plausible for the blood to change colour because of evolution given a long enough timescale, however this would have resulted in a new species with a very different biology. My earlier comments would still apply here: they would be unable to mate with with humans.

 

Not to mention we've seen species intermingle in our FICTION for many many years. Blade and Spock just being two examples I think we can accept it on a general level.

That said we have made the evolutionary argument for and against but why do the Parshendi of today have to be the same as they were 4500 years ago? Maybe their blood and physical makeup changed since the last "known" interbreeding happened. Thats a long time for a species to have walled itself off from all outside influences and these differences everyones talking about may be relatively new on the evolutionary scale.

Just sayin. Carry on.

 

Given that Jasnah was able to identify the Parshendi as the Voidbringers from fragments of information from that time it seems unlikely that they have significantly changed in that time (it would also be an implausibly short timespan for such significant evolution to have taken place in). Moreover if we were to accept this hypothesis, this would imply that Horneaters share a common ancestor with the Parshendi, not that they are hybrids of humans and Parshendi.

 

Just because there are examples of interbreeding between very different species in other fiction, does not mean that this would be possible here. The cosmere has been shown to stay very true to our own science, except for where magic interferes with it; the same cannot be said for the examples you gave.

[Pathfinder]

I think it would be probably be plausible for the blood to change colour because of evolution given a long enough timescale, however this would have resulted in a new species with a very different biology. My earlier comments would still apply here: they would be unable to mate with with humans.

Again, I don't feel it is so certain, so cut and dry. As far as we know, there could be a food stuff, or a digestive track that takes in more iron than humans, and is directly absorbed into the body rather than distributed by blood which results in an iron deficient blood content yet still thrive. I feel there are a lot more factors that go into that, that we don't know and prevents us from refusing the possibility out of hand. That simply because we cannot explain it NOW, then it MUST be magic that made it possible. In the end I guess I will just agree to disagree. 

[navybrandt]

This is not true. Human blood is red because of the iron bound to the haemoglobin molecules: this does not change when the blood becomes deoxygenated. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, not blue. 

http://chemistry.about.com/od/biochemistry/a/Is-Deoxygenated-Human-Blood-Blue.htm

Thank you!  I don't know how the whole blue-blood thing started, but it always bothers me just a bit when I hear it.  I was waiting for someone to mention that deoxygenated blood was blue and I'm glad you were able to provide a link with the facts.

[WeiryWriter]

On the topic of the listeners' orange blood Tor.com did an article about it a while back that posited the use of orange hemolymph as the culprit.  It isn't the most scientifically rigorous piece of writing but it is an interesting read.

[Dahak]

Allowing viable offspring from direct interbreeding between two different species without magical intervention pretty much discards that particular guideline. 

 

Parshendi Mate form, along with assuming the other forms, involves magical intervention so that isn't a reason to object.

 

Especially given the major physiological changes Parshendi form shifting involves and the fact we have an example of at least one other form with active magical abilities.

We also have the implication that the spren involved with Mate form are of Cultivation.

 

Interestingly there is no mention of the colour of parshmen blood so far [even in the one scene with the pile of dead parshmen when Shallan is being hunted or the scene where Rlain is tattooed], all the references to orange blood specify Parshendi, and by implication are Warrior or Storm form.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Dahak