(Spoiler-y) What the Chasm Fiend need for birth!

[snote]

I am going to bet that this has been brought up before. As it is more about what goes on in TWoK rather than WoR, but do any of you think that the Chasmfiends need Stormlight to aid in their gestation process or even just life in general? I'm not sure if that's what you call the growth of an offspring with that type of reproduction. Anyways, if Shallan was right, and the CF's don't live on the Shattered Plains, but instead come there to pupate. Why? There would have to be a reason, so let me state what I can think of, with my limited understanding of biology and evolutionary imperatives.

-They know there won't be any predators. Before there was a war there, for presumably 4,500+ years, no one came that way. They were able to go into what is essentially the wilds and lay their eggs. Then wander back to food sources. Knowing that no other animal could or would disturb them.

-They need the forces of the High Storm to crack them out of their shell, once they get to that point. Meaning that it takes more than just the strength the baby chasmfiend has to escape its baby house. In order to reliably get them out, without having to sit there and watch them, they let the High Storm they know will path that way and allow for the birth to happen naturally.

-They need Stormlight. It has been stated a few times now that the CF's have a weird Spren around them. Just like the Sky Eels do. Not to mention their big ole' gem hearts! You know, the thing that everyone and their brother uses to hold Stormlight? Szeth-son-son-Vallano states at the beginning of WoK that Voidbringers were able to hold Stormlight perfectly (or much better, at least). Well, if you have a big Gem Heart, it's pretty easy to hold your Stormlight without losing any. This leads me to personally believe that they are transformed Voidbringers and that if you look at the Voidbringer symbols that are illustrated in the book. I can see the shapes of chasmfiends in the place where either Else Callers or Light Weavers would be, if you imagine you're both standing on the group facing each other from a slight distance.

Even if that's not the case, they may be going to the SP to ensure they are infused with the Stormlight they need. Since it is a place often hit with storms it would make sense they go there, if it's an important resource to them. Which would explain why Kaladin thinks, "Nothing this large should move so quickly." because they are using Stormlight to aid in locomotion and reflexes. Also, they stick their chrysalis on top of the plateaus. Why would they do this, if not to ensure it drinks in as much storm light as possible? If they were just looking for a place with storms and isolation, why not go into the chasms but above the waterline? It would be safer. High on a hill out in the open speaks to specific reasons in my mind.

-Reasons! It may have just been an evolutionary imperative, like Monarch Butterflies, who will fly South and then North, taking multiple generations to make their destination. Each going to the place they know they need to go, without having ever been there. None having a reason to speak of, just doing what nature is telling them to do.

Finally,
-They are lost residents of Storm Seat! Hey, they can't all be winners, now can they?
 

Edited September 7, 2014 by snote

[Flywinged he/him]

So I really like this theory. I was actually about to post my own theory on this (which I'm still going to do after I talk about yours) when I found this. I agree with there not being predators, at least prior to the war. And I'm almost 100 percent sure there is a WoB somewhere which says the spren in Chasmfiends are what assists them in growing so large. Or something like that. It helps their bones support their frame. In that sense, maybe they do need the storm light in order to help those spren help them? Some sort of weird symbiotic relationship like that. Anyway, I like this theory, I'm not feeling as good about mine anymore.

 

My thought was, after reading the Eshonai chapters in WoR, what if the chasmfiends bond with a spren during the high storm? Potentially maybe every great shell is the same species, like the Parshendi and they just change form in a similar manner. What really got me thinking this was the similarities between the description of the thunderclast in the prologue and chasmfiends. If chasm fiends are just waiting on the Shattered plains to bond with a voidspren, that could spell trouble in the future.

 

I like your thought too! And to answer your first question, I'm on the fence on whether or not I think they require storm light to aid the gestation process. It seems likely, but spren have weird properties, and the spren seen around chasm fiends might be exhibiting the affects storm light might otherwise have.

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that greatshells shouldn't be able to stand, since they'd be so heavy (as you increase an organism's size, its mass is increased disproportionately to its strength). Those spren, I bet, are what keep them on their feet. The fact that they follow skyeels too is probably a hint that they let their hosts defy gravity just a bit (since inflatable bladders or no inflatable bladders, those guys shouldn't be able to fly). Perhaps their gemhearts are intended to collect stormlight which they can feed to those spren in return for the ability to walk. They're symbiotes. Too bad we don't know a lot about shadesmar yet, though Stones Unhallowed will probably offer a better description than what we have so far.