Stormlight in a gemheart?

[Ook]

When gems are left in highstorm, they become charged with stormlight.
Lots of species like cremlings or chulls (or maybe all the original creatures from Roshar) have a gemheart in them.
So, for example, if a cremling is outside in highstormstorm, does its gemheart charge up with stormlight?

I'm probably not the first who think of this, but it sounds interesting to me.
I'm new here so sorry if I did something wrong...

[cosmeredoug_30]

1 hour ago, Ook said:

I'm new here so sorry if I did something wrong...

Hi, welcome to the shard! I'm new here too and have no idea what I'm doing so don't worry. This is my first time answering someone's theory so we'll see how this goes

1 hour ago, Ook said:

if a cremling is outside in highstormstorm, does its gemheart charge up with stormlight?

Presumably yes. We know that greatshells form bonds with spren to decrease their weight, thereby ignoring laws of physics that would usually cause their own weight and carapace to crush them.

If fabrials are anything to go by, stormlight may be needed to power gemstones, even if there are spren bound to the gem. Just a thought, it may be different in nature, but even Knights Radiant need stormlight to power themselves, could be the same for all living creatures? 

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'greatshells maintain their enormous size through Nahel bonds with mandras, a type of spren also known as 'luckspren'.^[10] Mandras decrease the animal's weight, allowing them to exist and move their bulk'

1 hour ago, Ook said:

Lots of species like cremlings or chulls

I know chulls do and greatshells are the main ones we see with gemhearts. I believe cremlings and other animals like axehounds don't have gemhearts. I may be wrong but since they are small enough to not be crushed by their own weight, they have no need for a spren bond so never evolved a gemheart. I can't remember it being mentioned if they have gemhearts or not, if they do, perhaps it isn't considered important as the gems would be too small to be of value?

This thread from years ago has some good ideas about it:

https://www.17thshard.com/forums/topic/7095-pupation-of-great-shells/

There are quite a few reddit threads that suggest, due to the size of greathshells, it would be difficult to oxygenate the body, so gemhearts are needed to absorb stormlight to supply oxygen, in the way that radiants don't need to breathe when wielding stormlight. Don't know how valid that is though, we haven't been told if greatshells have regular hearts or not.

[Trusk'our he/him]

1 hour ago, cosmeredoug_30 said:

There are quite a few reddit threads that suggest, due to the size of greathshells, it would be difficult to oxygenate the body, so gemhearts are needed to absorb stormlight to supply oxygen, in the way that radiants don't need to breathe when wielding stormlight. Don't know how valid that is though, we haven't been told if greatshells have regular hearts or not.

Greatshells have regular hearts as well as Gemhearts; 

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YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 - Arcanum (coppermind.net)

edgwardoe

Physiologically speaking, does a gemheart have a purpose? Beyond the Investiture/spren-related functions. Do creatures with a gemheart also have a regular, meat-heart?

Brandon Sanderson

They do have a regular meat-heart.

The gemheart--the function is Roshar-related. It is Investiture and spren-related. That's why things have a gemheart. Resonating with the tunes of Roshar, that sort of stuff. So that is the physiological function of it. That's why they exist. So the answer is, "no, they don't have a physiological function beyond that," but that's like saying, "no, the meat-heart does not have a function beyond pumping blood through the body." I mean, that's why it's there.