What would Scadrian Hordelings look like? And have we seen them?

[Skylano]

We've been told that there are Sleepless on other planets, and that the Hordelings that first arrived on Roshar looked more similar to spiders before they evolved over time. So, I was wondering, if we know that Sleepless are on Scadrial, what would they replicate? Basic insects are always an option, but I haven't found any out of place mentions of odd ones like we see in the Stormlight Archive. Also, could the original Sleepless be from First of the Sun? The spider-like nature would fit with the ecology, and it's a planet with a Shardpool but no Shard so odd things could have happened to the Investiture there to form them/give them sentience.

[SpartanBrigade He/Him]

2 hours ago, Skylano said:

We've been told that there are Sleepless on other planets, and that the Hordelings that first arrived on Roshar looked more similar to spiders before they evolved over time. So, I was wondering, if we know that Sleepless are on Scadrial, what would they replicate? Basic insects are always an option, but I haven't found any out of place mentions of odd ones like we see in the Stormlight Archive. Also, could the original Sleepless be from First of the Sun? The spider-like nature would fit with the ecology, and it's a planet with a Shardpool but no Shard so odd things could have happened to the Investiture there to form them/give them sentience.

I don't think we've seen any Scadrian Sleepless as of now. They would probably take the shape of normal insects since Scadrial is essentially Earth. With Era 3 being a Cold War spy thriller we can probably expect to see some Sleepless show up since they would fit the theme well and we know there's at least one Sleepless Ghostblood.

[alder24]

On 4/25/2025 at 4:08 PM, Skylano said:

We've been told that there are Sleepless on other planets, and that the Hordelings that first arrived on Roshar looked more similar to spiders before they evolved over time. So, I was wondering, if we know that Sleepless are on Scadrial, what would they replicate? Basic insects are always an option, but I haven't found any out of place mentions of odd ones like we see in the Stormlight Archive. Also, could the original Sleepless be from First of the Sun? The spider-like nature would fit with the ecology, and it's a planet with a Shardpool but no Shard so odd things could have happened to the Investiture there to form them/give them sentience.

Sleepless aren't native to Roshar, but they evolved to fit in. The first Sleepless that came to Roshar had hordlings looking similar to spiders and considering that Scadrial is an Earth analog (with many animals from Earth being named in Era 2), it seems reasonable to say that Sleepless on Scadrial would look like spiders, unfortunately. But we don't know if any Sleepless are present on Scadrial at all. 

As for where the first Sleepless came from, we don't know. There is no information about it anywhere. The Shardpool on the First of the Sun is Autonomy's Shardpool and Patji is Autonomy's Avatar. There is no known connection between Autonomy and Sleepless, however we do know that Sleepless have an origin planet, which we haven't seen yet. It's not the First of the Sun.

Spoiler

SamsonOption48

They are not native to Roshar and yet they fit among the Rosharan cremlings so perfectly... So was Rosharan fauna based off of another planet? Or are the crab species on Roshar invasive and from wherever the Sleepless are from? Or are only Rosharan sSleepless made up of crabs because they melded with the local species? Or do living things in the Cosmere evolve into crabs alarmingly often just like in our universe and its a coincidence?

Brandon Sanderson

The ones on other planets will look less like cremlings. Realize that a swarm is always evolving. The first swarm's hordelings were more spider-like when it first came to Roshar.

therealdavegreen

The theme of generations is also a thing we see with the Kandra, who can also disguise themselves. Were the Kandra perhaps modeled after the Sleepless? Or is there any relation at all between the two?

Brandon Sanderson

No direct relationship here.

Phantine

Was Aimia originally terraformed to be more like their home ecosystem (just like how Shinovar is like the human home ecosystem)?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO!

Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A (Nov. 6, 2020)

 

Spoiler

Wyndlerunner

The Sleepless. They’re not from Roshar. Do they have a single origin point in the cosmere? And if so, have we seen it?

Brandon Sanderson

They do have a single origin point in the cosmere. You have not seen it.

Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 14, 2022)