The Limitations of Spren Becoming Physical (Metal)

[Trusk'our he/him]

Spren- at least the Spren that can bond to create Radiants and Lesser Spren that are associated with their Orders- under the right circumstances are capable of turning into Godmetals in the Physical Realm with Invested properties, ranging from creating power armor to vorpal blades to Surgebinding Fabrials.

I had been wondering what the limitations of this might be, but I think that the existence of the Unoathed give us a clue. 

If I recall, the Unoathed Blades and Plate were Deadeye Spren and Plate Spren that had been buried in crem or otherwise lost to the ages, vanishing into Shadesmar after people stopped thinking about them, severing their ties to the Physical Realm. They were found in Shadesmar by Maya and asked to become tools for Adolin and company to repel the invasion of Azir, saving the day.

 

I think, then, that you probably don't need a special circumstance to get a Spren to become an Invested Godmetal. I think you might just need to convince them to move to the PR and take that form. If they're a Radiant Spren, they might be able to become a Blade or Fabrial because of their nature. Lesser Spren I'm a little more skeptical on, since they don't feel particularly tied to Plate's power innately, though that's just my current hypothesis, and if so they might need to have once been bound to a Radiant to have that sort of "code" in their Spiritwebs.

Certain Surge Fabrials that appear much grander, such as the Oathgates, I think may need some extra help to get there, probably via Bondsmith bolstering the amount of Investiture they have.

 

In any case, I no longer have access to WaT, so if anybody can correct me on any parts I may have gotten wrong about the Unoathed when crafting this hypothesis I'd be quite happy to hear them so I may refine it into a true theory.

 

[Treamayne]

11 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

I think, then, that you probably don't need a special circumstance to get a Spren to become an Invested Godmetal. I think you might just need to convince them to move to the PR and take that form.

YNP Spoilers

Spoiler

Was this not already shown to be the case in Yumi?
Including negotiating how long they remain the fabrial form before returning to the cognitive. 

 

[Trusk'our he/him]

14 hours ago, Treamayne said:

YNP Spoilers

  Hide contents

Was this not already shown to be the case in Yumi?
Including negotiating how long they remain the fabrial form before returning to the cognitive. 

 

 

Spoiler

Yeah, I suppose that the normal people could do it and not just the Yoki-Hijo. I'd forgotten about that, though the WoB on the matter brings up that "things have changed" somehow.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/526-youtube-spoiler-stream-6/#e16408

thegatorgirl00

How were the people of Komashi able to negotiate the spirits to remain as hion if they didn’t have any yoki-hijo? Was it just a myth that only the yoki-hijo were able to negotiate with them to begin with?

Brandon Sanderson

It wasn’t a complete myth. They were more interested in people with this Investiture and this Connection to them. The yoki-hijo were far, far more effective. But they weren’t the only ones who could theoretically negotiate with them. Plus, after what everybody had been through, some things have changed.

This still supports my idea though, which is pretty good. Thank you for bringing it up.

 

Edit: I'd like to reiterate just how big a deal I feel Spren being able to become magical items is. I know convincing one probably isn't technically easy, but plenty of sapient Spren are friendly and they could presumably change back into their old forms in time (except maybe for those like Oathgate Spren, which appear to need an external source).

Even training a Lesser Spren is probably viable once you know it's possible, which could lead to an enormous level of Godmetals and Fabrials and such that can more or less spring into existence in the PR to be used, then released.

It feels. . . too easy. But I am looking at things from a Scadrian's point of view like usual, so maybe it's just me.

Edited January 8 by Trusk'our

[Nitpicking]

This seems to be a difference between spren and Cognitive Shadows: to the best of my recollection, we've never seen a Shadow turn into a metal.