Do Shin have Parshmen?

[SteelBagel]

Title basiaclly. Did the Shin have parshman slaves, or did they avoid that, either because they knew they were voidbringers, or simply for moral reasons?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

I don't think so, it never came up at any point.

They have human slaves and Truthless, but at no point was it said that they had Parshmen.

They were more aware of ancient history than other nations, so maybe they chose not to enslave Humanity's former enemies?

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, SteelBagel said:

Title basiaclly. Did the Shin have parshman slaves, or did they avoid that, either because they knew they were voidbringers, or simply for moral reasons?

It's unlikely, not just because of the legacy of knowledge (or beleived knowledge) in Shinovar - but because that area wasn;t contested during the Desolations. It's where humans were supposed to stay, and did not. It's unlikely any Singers were in Shinovar at all when they became the Parsh. So while one here or there may have gone over the mountains over the centuries, it's not likely there was any significant number. 

[SteelBagel]

2 hours ago, Treamayne said:

It's unlikely, not just because of the legacy of knowledge (or beleived knowledge) in Shinovar - but because that area wasn;t contested during the Desolations. It's where humans were supposed to stay, and did not. It's unlikely any Singers were in Shinovar at all when they became the Parsh. So while one here or there may have gone over the mountains over the centuries, it's not likely there was any significant number. 

if someone from Shin was traded / found some Parshmen, do you think they'd take them, or would they refuse?

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, SteelBagel said:

if someone from Shin was traded / found some Parshmen, do you think they'd take them, or would they refuse?

I think that would depend on what era of history since the recreance and what caste the person was (a "subtractor" - probably not, as they learn more in thier training; a farmer or merchant, possibly; etc.)

[Teravangian]

Not likely. The Shin are largely set apart from Rosharan society, and in addition, do not view the concept of slaves the same way. Slaves are soldiers in their society. I doubt that they would use parshmen

[The-Rizzler]

Nobody knows.  Instead of actually exploring these reasonable questions Sanderson never bothered to profile the Shin until WaT and then expected us to care about anything happening there.

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

On 8/18/2025 at 8:06 PM, The-Rizzler said:

Nobody knows.  Instead of actually exploring these reasonable questions Sanderson never bothered to profile the Shin until WaT and then expected us to care about anything happening there.

I think the fact that nobody knows and every option being explored is the point of a theory thread. I think part of it is that most of Roshar knows little about Shinovar, so we only know what the Characters know. I think it was more intentionally dramatic than lazy. I agree more info sooner is nice, but it sometimes mystery is fun.

[CoderDrag0n8 He/Him]

On 8/18/2025 at 5:06 PM, The-Rizzler said:

Nobody knows.  Instead of actually exploring these reasonable questions Sanderson never bothered to profile the Shin until WaT and then expected us to care about anything happening there.

Dude. If you want to have your opinions, you may, but those who are here are here to theorize, not listen to your opinions that they don’t agree with, and will end up arguing against.

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

I don't have the book right now, but I'm pretty sure there's a part of Szeth's flashbacks where he thinks "slave" and his mind instantly goes to Truthless, which seems like that would be illogical if Shin took Parshmen as slaves. 

[Jult]

I'd also vote that the Shin did not have any Parshmen. We know:

• there were no Singers in Shinovar when it was given to the humans
• the Shin are famously xenophobic and have been for millennia (WoB)
• Szeth doesn't seem very familiar with them Singers
• In Edgedancer there's a scene where Shinovar warns other nations of the Everstorm's first approach, but they don't confirm the presence of the red-eyed Voidbringers that Alethkar warned everyone about. Presumably because there were no Parshmen there to be awakened by the Everstorm
• No Parshmen showed up in Szeth's WaT flashbacks and he got around quite a bit. And moved pretty far down, up, and then down again in the social hierarchy.

[DSCrankshaw]

I will say that the section on Shinovar in the Stormlight RPG World Guide doesn't mention Singers or Parshmen. Most nations have a section called "After the Everstorm," and almost all of those have a separate section describing what their singers did when they regained their minds. The exceptions are the Horneater Peaks, the Purelake, and Shinovar. (Herdaz doesn't have a separate section, though it does mention the singers there in its "After the Everstorm" section.)