Fused/Radiant Romance?

[Trusk'our he/him]

Okay, so I purchased the digital book Stormlight Scenarios from Demiplane.

For one of the quests, a big factor is that one of the high-ranking Fused grew romantic feelings for a Radiant and vice versa, causing them to betray Odium.

This feels. . . off? They're literally millennia old, have been fighting, killing, and dying to humans and later Radiants for ages, and are permeated with Odium's essence of loud, selfish emotions.

 

I mean, I guess it's not impossible- people have their own agency and uniqueness. But this just feels too implausible in my opinion, and may have been shoehorned in for the sake of the RPG. Would anybody care to show me a different (or aligning) perspective? I would actually like to hear what other people think of this scenario.

Edited February 10 by Trusk'our

[Frustration]

... What?

I mean, Fused must have betrayed Odium in the past given the Rhythm of execution and all, but for this reason?

I feel this was done to appeal to some RPG fandoms by someone who either disregards or doesn't know the lore.

[Argenti he/him]

2 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

Okay, so I purchased the digital book Stormlight Scenarios from Demiplane.

For one of the quests, a big factor is that one of the high-ranking Fused grew romantic feelings for a Radiant and vice versa, causing them to betray Odium.

This feels. . . off? They're literally millennia old, have been fighting, killing, and dying to humans and later Radiants for ages, and are permeated with Odium's essence of loud, selfish emotions.

 

I mean, I guess it's not impossible- people have their own agency and uniqueness. But this just feels too implausible in my opinion, and may have been shoehorned in for the sake of the RPG. Would anybody care to show me a different (or aligning) perspective? I would actually like to hear what other people think of this scenario.

Are we pretending Leshwi and Kaladin don't kinda have something going on there? It's probably not going to happen, but it definitely did plant the idea in a number of people's heads. 

Hell, raboniel and Navani had a weird sort of doomed, toxic care for each other. 

[Frustration]

6 minutes ago, Argenti said:

Are we pretending Leshwi and Kaladin don't kinda have something going on there? It's probably not going to happen, but it definitely did plant the idea in a number of people's heads. 

Hell, raboniel and Navani had a weird sort of doomed, toxic care for each other. 

*Slowly turns head*

No.

Two people who don't hate each other with all of their guts are not by default automatically romantically interested.

[Argenti he/him]

4 minutes ago, Frustration said:

*Slowly turns head*

No.

Two people who don't hate each other with all of their guts are not by default automatically romantically interested.

Say what you like, but there was some level of love (perhaps not romantic) between Raboniel and Navani.

But hey, it's better than syladin. 

Spoiler

People try to get with thousand year old traumtized immortals every third Tuesday. There's a whole genre about it. Something Something enemies to lovers.

 

[Dancer]

I can understand a Human and Parshendi getting together somewhat. There is always some people out there that will be attracted to the strange. The Fused however I have a really hard time believing. These people have been fighting the same enemy for 7000 years. It's not like the Fused are being replaced each Desolation, its the same people. That type of dedication takes a special type of hate. Brandon did not do anything in the story to convince me that love for humans by the Fused was on the table. Grudging respect, yes. Weariness of the war, yes. But overcoming 7000 years of hate, no. 

[Jult]

Doesn't really strike me as any less likely than BAM loving a Radiant. And I love playing devil's advocate. So, I've got 4 points I can think of in favor of this romance:

One- As stated already, we've seen that Fused are capable of respecting and genuinely caring for humans through Leshwi and Raboniel. I don't think we saw love from either of them towards humans, but love doesn't seem like a huge leap from care and respect.

Two- It also might be worth noting that the Fused in this RPG Scenario is a Masked One. We haven't interacted with many of them, but I suspect the Masked Ones might tend to be a bit more sane than some of the other brands of Fused. Being reborn over and over is one of the biggest contributors to the madness we see in the Fused. But Masked Ones aren't usually combatants. I'd wager that they, on average, have far fewer rebirths under their belts than say a Devastating One.

Three- Odium's influence over the emotions of the Fused and Unmade seems far from absolute unless he really focuses in on them. Just from their general vibe, I think a Masked One would be good hiding his feelings and avoiding that focus.

Four- The Era of Solitude lasted a looong time. The Fused talk about 7,000 years of war, but it was more like 3,000 years of Desolations and then a 4,000-year break. Maybe 4,000 years is enough time to re-evaluate your hatred of humanity?

Is it a likely scenario that a Fused would love a Radiant? Probably not. But this is one outlier in millions of combatants. It doesn't bother me much.

[Duxredux he/him]

Fused culture is by no means monolithic and some joined because they saw no better alternative, not for hatred toward the Humans. Learning and behavioral changes in ancient Cosmere beings in general doesn't seem to inherently imply calcification as to my eyes they seem to be adapting remarkably well to fabrials and technological advancements. Raboniel's mind was still sharp enough to quite adeptly trick Navani, grasp the methodology used to create Anti-Light, and understand the ramifications of its existence. Leshwi successfully leveraged her position and defected from Odium. For romance specifically, Leshwi notes the Singers laud Passion, even Passion that is counter to Odium's agenda.

Any other details on time frame or region for this? As far as I know, we don't have a solid confirmation on when the Singers and Humans produced the Herdazians and Unkalaki - though the Coppermind puts Herdaz being created during the era of the Silver Kingdoms and after the Scouring of Aimia. Fused and Radiants, Singers and Humans were likely actively at war when this group intermingled. Figuring out how they managed to coexist and survive long enough to create a full kingdom... probably becomes more plausible if someone from both sides was keeping that community under wraps. 

 ¯\_(-_-)_/¯ 

Even if I'm not particularly happy about it, looking at these pieces, particularly Kaladin shielding Leswhi with his own Plate and then basically offering to ensure a home for her even during a war and if we saw an echo of that anciently where the Fused stayed and extrapolate that out to years of clandestine protection... I'm not surprised someone interpreted this as plausible room for a romance. My question is if this seems in the same level of plausibility as the Herdazians and Unkalaki existing in the first place. I don't think this precludes the lore, rather is highly unprobable, not implausible. Depends on the time frame the two were involved.

[Jult]

20 minutes ago, Duxredux said:

Depends on the time frame the two were involved.

The book doesn't give an exact timeline. But I'd place it somewhere between Oathbringer and the end of Wind and Truth. All it really establishes is that a Fused betrayed Odium's forces to help a Lightweaver that he fell in love with. Location-wise it takes place in Marabethia (that narrow strip of land between the Purelake and the Reshi Sea).

Another hint about the timeline is that the Skybreakers are still aligned with Odium.

[Frustration]

2 hours ago, Jult said:

Doesn't really strike me as any less likely than BAM loving a Radiant.

Well, she doesn't.

2 hours ago, Jult said:

One- As stated already, we've seen that Fused are capable of respecting and genuinely caring for humans through Leshwi and Raboniel. I don't think we saw love from either of them towards humans, but love doesn't seem like a huge leap from care and respect.

I wouldn't call anything Leshwi does for Kaladin care. She has a level of basic decency and doesn't like slaughter, and she's very interested in Kaladin's spren. There isn't any level of particular interest in him however.

2 hours ago, Jult said:

Two- It also might be worth noting that the Fused in this RPG Scenario is a Masked One. We haven't interacted with many of them, but I suspect the Masked Ones might tend to be a bit more sane than some of the other brands of Fused. Being reborn over and over is one of the biggest contributors to the madness we see in the Fused. But Masked Ones aren't usually combatants. I'd wager that they, on average, have far fewer rebirths under their belts than say a Devastating One.

One of, but not the only. The Heralds died fewer times than any of the Fused, but they're also crazy. I feel like there was also a quote from somewhere about the most violent Fused being the ones to stay sane, but I can't find it right now, so I could just be delusional.

2 hours ago, Jult said:

Is it a likely scenario that a Fused would love a Radiant? Probably not. But this is one outlier in millions of combatants. It doesn't bother me much.

There are only a few thousand Fused, by the time of the Night of Sorrows there are maybe 3,000 total sane fused.

[Jult]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

3 hours ago, Jult said:

Doesn't really strike me as any less likely than BAM loving a Radiant.

Well, she doesn't.

Truly no idea why I wrote BAM. I was thinking of Shmone. Got a wire crossed in my brain somewhere.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

I wouldn't call anything Leshwi does for Kaladin care. She has a level of basic decency and doesn't like slaughter, and she's very interested in Kaladin's spren. There isn't any level of particular interest in him however.

There's something stronger than basic decency there. She risks her status for him several times by just kind of letting him go during battles. Plus, she challenged the Pursuer in front of the Nine just to protect Kaladin.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

One of, but not the only. The Heralds died fewer times than any of the Fused, but they're also crazy. I feel like there was also a quote from somewhere about the most violent Fused being the ones to stay sane, but I can't find it right now, so I could just be delusional.

The Heralds may have died less, but they also had to deal with thousands of years of being tortured until they broke - something the Fused are exempt from. I don't remember the quote about violent Fused staying sane and can't find it either - but it does sound like something someone would say about the Pursuer. I did find a quote about rebirths causing madness while looking:

Spoiler

Quote

"They are the spren of parshmen long dead. They are their kings, their lighteyes, their valiant soldiers from long, long ago. The process is not easy on them. Some of these spren are mere forces now, animalistic, fragments of minds given power by Odium. Others are more… awake. Each rebirth further injures their minds.

They are reborn using the bodies of parshmen to become the Fused."

-Stormfather, Oathbringer Chapter 38

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

There are only a few thousand Fused, by the time of the Night of Sorrows there are maybe 3,000 total sane fused.

Oh wow. I really imagined there being more. If anything, you're being generous with 3,000 sane Fused. Sigzil notes in WaT 47 that the Heralds state there are about 4,000 total Fused in existence. And Raboniel tells Venli in RoW 51 that no new Fused have been added since their initial creation. So, it's really just been the same 4,000 the whole time.

Even so, I still think the love story thing is okay. Not great, but okay. At the end of the day, the Fused are just people. 

[bmcclure7]

On 2/10/2026 at 6:38 PM, Frustration said:

... What?

I mean, Fused must have betrayed Odium in the past given the Rhythm of execution and all, but for this reason?

I feel this was done to appeal to some RPG fandoms by someone who either disregards or doesn't know the lore.

I mean, we’ve seen fuse for betray odium for less important matters than romance I’m not sure it’s so far-fetched. 

[Returned he/him]

It's a trope, which makes it easily understandable and accessible for writing which was likely done because something needed to be written (to sell), rather than out of inspiration or a meaningful extension of the themes, lore, and details of a setting. That it may not be conceived or written particularly well is common to most writing (for evidence, refer to any of my posts here).

I don't think it's necessarily bad (I haven't read it, so it could be done well even if it's an awkward prompt). It's not hard to imagine a Fused betraying Odium, or at least grasping for their own advantages or preferences. I wouldn't expect a random Fused's concept or expression of love to be something we would describe as romantic. Instead I would think it more likely to be possessive, dominating, and cruel (an angle I've used for romantic relationships in my own tabletop games for similarly aligned characters)-- but still an expression of feelings (Passions, perhaps?) for another person. Passion as a motivator seems on-theme for a Fused even if a romance doesn't.

Love strong enough to cause such a betrayal doesn't need to be romantic, though apparently that's the angle this story took. Some people read romance into absolutely everything involving any two characters and refuse to even imagine they could be mistaken. I do not perceive that there is anything romantic between Leshwi and Kaladin, nor between Navani and Raboniel. Both relationships feature emotional connections which could potentially dovetail into something more romantic, and there are traits between them that might resonate. But I don't think that anything along the lines of a romance was actually written into their stories thus far.

[Schizoposting]

1 hour ago, Returned said:

It's a trope, which makes it easily understandable and accessible for writing which was likely done because something needed to be written (to sell), rather than out of inspiration or a meaningful extension of the themes, lore, and details of a setting. That it may not be conceived or written particularly well is common to most writing (for evidence, refer to any of my posts here).

I mean, everything is a trope; the problem is when people care more about the tropes than the story itself. There's nothing inherently wrong with "enemies to lovers" if it's done well; the reason why it has such a bad reputation, is because it's often used as cheap wish fulfillment at the detriment of the story (although, misogyny certainly plays a part here as well). I haven't actually read the book referenced by the OP, but I see no inherent reason why the premise would make it bad.

1 hour ago, Returned said:

I don't think it's necessarily bad (I haven't read it, so it could be done well even if it's an awkward prompt). It's not hard to imagine a Fused betraying Odium, or at least grasping for their own advantages or preferences. I wouldn't expect a random Fused's concept or expression of love to be something we would describe as romantic. Instead I would think it more likely to be possessive, dominating, and cruel (an angle I've used for romantic relationships in my own tabletop games for similarly aligned characters)-- but still an expression of feelings (Passions, perhaps?) for another person. Passion as a motivator seems on-theme for a Fused even if a romance doesn't.

Well, they're not a random Fused—they're a Fused that fell in love with a Radiant; this automatically differentiates from the others. Given that there are ~4000 Fused, some of whom have rebelled against Odium, I think that it's perfectly plausible that one of them could act this way. It's not like Singers don't have a conception of romantic love.

1 hour ago, Returned said:

Love strong enough to cause such a betrayal doesn't need to be romantic, though apparently that's the angle this story took. Some people read romance into absolutely everything involving any two characters and refuse to even imagine they could be mistaken. I do not perceive that there is anything romantic between Leshwi and Kaladin, nor between Navani and Raboniel. Both relationships feature emotional connections which could potentially dovetail into something more romantic, and there are traits between them that might resonate. But I don't think that anything along the lines of a romance was actually written into their stories thus far.

That's because the story is first and for most a love story, taking away the romantic element would neuter it. This is not necessarily a bad thing; Yumi is one Brandon's best received works, and it's romantasy. Just because you're not the target audience, doesn't mean that it's bad.

[Returned he/him]

1 hour ago, Schizoposting said:

I mean, everything is a trope; the problem is when people care more about the tropes than the story itself. There's nothing inherently wrong with "enemies to lovers" if it's done well; the reason why it has such a bad reputation, is because it's often used as cheap wish fulfillment at the detriment of the story (although, misogyny certainly plays a part here as well). I haven't actually read the book referenced by the OP, but I see no inherent reason why the premise would make it bad. [...]

The trope I was referring two was "any two major characters who have interacted with each other should get together", though your point is still valid. That it isn't necessarily a bad story was explicitly stated in my post, including a portion that you quoted. That most writing is rather cheap and flimsy, regardless of genre, type, or focus was also plainly stated.

1 hour ago, Schizoposting said:

Well, they're not a random Fused—they're a Fused that fell in love with a Radiant; this automatically differentiates from the others. Given that there are ~4000 Fused, some of whom have rebelled against Odium, I think that it's perfectly plausible that one of them could act this way. It's not like Singers don't have a conception of romantic love.

The reason I described the Fused as a random one is because they almost certainly were created after the plot was arbitrarily conceived, as opposed to an existing character with details that might naturally lead into this (or any) story; their identity and traits as a character are secondary to the role they were created to fill (assuming, of course, that that was the writing process here, which I think likely but do not know). Any character traits will do, as long as they have this particular one.

Some of the arguments presented upthread suggest that such behavior seems highly uncharacteristic of any of the Fused, who are distinct from the Singers due to their millennia of permeation in Odium's essence and frequent/constant participation in torture and war. I think of their general mindset (to the extent that ~4,000 individuals will have one mindset) in terms of broadly rejecting rhythms other than Odium's, how they attune Craving rather than Curiosity, and other more dominance-and-aggression sorts of rhythms like Derision, Spite, etc. None of that means that no Fused could ever act differently (and as an example, Leshwi more than suggests that many do, for at least some values of "differently"). My comment was that a romance plot might well fit entirely within what we know of the Fused, especially if the concept of romance takes inflections that we already associate with them. Romance doesn't have to be flowers and chocolate.

1 hour ago, Schizoposting said:

That's because the story is first and for most a love story, taking away the romantic element would neuter it. This is not necessarily a bad thing; Yumi is one Brandon's best received works, and it's romantasy. Just because you're not the target audience, doesn't mean that it's bad.

I never said it was bad, nor that I would not be the target audience for such a story. I am confused as to why you assume so. The section the above quote responds to was meant to address comments that Leshwi and Kaladin's or Navani and Raboniel's relationships were clearly romantic. Relationships can be and generally are much richer than "romantic or totally non-romantic", something which factors into many romance stories as well.

I'm not entirely sure why you have so thoroughly quoted my post in disagreement, as it does not seem that we disagree. Maybe I (also? uniquely?) am misunderstanding. If you're looking to quarrel with people who think this plot is bad and/or inappropriate you'll have to look to someone else.

Edited February 13 by Returned

[Schizoposting]

@Returned, I (perhaps wrongly) interpreted your post as condemning the narrative as being a cheap money grab that is exploiting the "enemies to lovers" trope to get people to read it—my response was that you should not judge a story simply based on the inclusion of a trope, but instead, on how well it uses said trope.

But, if this is not the case, then I legitimately don't understand what you're trying to say; you seem to be just saying random, vaguely critical things, without connecting them into a coherent point. But perhaps, this is a just a problem with my comprehension, and not with your post.

[Returned he/him]

On 2/13/2026 at 5:16 PM, Schizoposting said:

@Returned, I (perhaps wrongly) interpreted your post as condemning the narrative as being a cheap money grab that is exploiting the "enemies to lovers" trope to get people to read it—my response was that you should not judge a story simply based on the inclusion of a trope, but instead, on how well it uses said trope.

But, if this is not the case, then I legitimately don't understand what you're trying to say; you seem to be just saying random, vaguely critical things, without connecting them into a coherent point. But perhaps, this is a just a problem with my comprehension, and not with your post.

Random, certainly not. Cryptic, not by intention (but maybe otherwise unclear). I had thought it was clear enough, or at least not impenetrable, but if someone needs it the Cliff's Notes explanation is more or less:

1. Some scenario had to be written because they were releasing a commercial product, and so a writer reached for a common trope to build the (or a) conflict. If the angle is an enemies-to-lovers one, then it hasn't yet been used much as a major story in the setting. So the sentiment expressed in the OP (this is a sop to some slice of the fandom) may be a significant element of how this story came to be in the product, but may not be strictly about that.
2. "Traditional" romance doesn't need to be the angle on a romance story, and a romance could focus on what a Fused-flavored version of romance might be. That would not only be in-character and lore-appropriate, it could also be interesting to people who find the lore and background of the Fused interesting (whether they are broadly interested in romance stories or not). This one is the most direct response to the OP.
3. Love of any type is a sufficient motivation to drive virtually any story in which a Fused might betray Odium, and romantic love isn't a better or worse approach than any other. SA readers have accepted such non-romantic motivation before, so there's little reason to reject a romantic version as well. Or at least little reason to reject it out of hand.
4. Most writing is mediocre (it's hard to be inspired all the time, and there are other factors which weigh on creating and publishing creative writing, especially in a commercial project). So even if one feels that this is a bad writing project (in concept and/or execution), it's unreasonable to suggest that that is only because it's a romance story-- romance stories can absolutely be done well, and in any number of ways. "We go to print in X weeks and need another story so that we can charge $20 (or whatever)" is a prompt that leads to writing being finished, not necessarily any other standard of "good".

Edited February 16 by Returned

[ParaTulip fae/faer (declines as she/her)]

On 2/10/2026 at 8:00 PM, Argenti said:

Are we pretending Leshwi and Kaladin don't kinda have something going on there? It's probably not going to happen, but it definitely did plant the idea in a number of people's heads. 

Hell, raboniel and Navani had a weird sort of doomed, toxic care for each other. 

Yeah, I felt like either of those were about as plausible as the other. Leshwi and Kaladin do actually share a decent amount in common and they basically just do weird little dates that end in Leshwi being killed during battle. 

On 2/13/2026 at 4:16 PM, Returned said:

The reason I described the Fused as a random one is because they almost certainly were created after the plot was arbitrarily conceived, as opposed to an existing character with details that might naturally lead into this (or any) story; their identity and traits as a character are secondary to the role they were created to fill (assuming, of course, that that was the writing process here, which I think likely but do not know). Any character traits will do, as long as they have this particular one.

Okay, so I looked into the context on this, and the big of ad copy I found was

Quote

Stormlight Scenarios includes seven easy-to-run adventures in tiers 1, 2, and 3 of the Cosmere® Roleplaying Game. From the Herdazian countryside to the depths of Urithiru to the cliffs of Marabethia, these adventures feature a wide range of characters, challenges, tones, and scenes. Each scenario is balanced for four player characters to complete within two or three hours, perfect for a one-shot or to drop into an ongoing campaign as a side quest.

• Includes scenarios ranging from high drama to cozy romance, there’s something here for every group!

So, what I would imagine a story teller/game master would read the scinerio, figure out if there is a good existing character in their roleplaying game to be either part of the romance, and then either make up a new character who is suitable or use that existing character? Roleplaying game content is a bit hard to compare to something like a novel; The person buying the novel is not expected to modify it to be used in a sort of improvised theater game with friends.

[Returned he/him]

2 hours ago, ParaTulip said:

So, what I would imagine a story teller/game master would read the scinerio, figure out if there is a good existing character in their roleplaying game to be either part of the romance, and then either make up a new character who is suitable or use that existing character? Roleplaying game content is a bit hard to compare to something like a novel; The person buying the novel is not expected to modify it to be used in a sort of improvised theater game with friends.

That would be unusual for TTRPG supplements I've seen, though I'm only minimally familiar with the Cosmere set of games so maybe they have a different style. Typical TTRPG published supplement scenarios are complete adventures, not just outlines of themes and ideas. So I would expect each of the scenarios in this book to include locations where events take place (including descriptions, notable features, etc.), NPC characters (including backstory, role, and stat blocks where applicable), and a plot (usually broken out into distinct sections for the players to work through), plus plot hooks so that existing player characters might naturally start the adventure even if they're already situated in a different, larger campaign.

Though with seven adventures listed and only 27 pages it seems likely that this book really has taken a different approach; not quite four pages per adventure (at most) isn't a lot of room. If it's 3-4 pages of mostly considerations about how such a romance might play out in this setting and with this mix of characters then it could be a really good supplement! I probably wouldn't describe something like that as an adventure for players to experience in the game, and the ad copy does promise seven complete adventures, so it's probably not so narrowly focused as that.

For sure game masters often do (and should!) tweak the details of a supplement to work for them and their players, but I would be very annoyed to pay money for a supplement and get something like "what if there were a Fused character, and a Radiant character, and they had a romance that required the Fused to betray Odium?". The OP's description of the Fused in question as a "high ranking" one suggests to me that this is the case here and this character is an NPC (so it's not intended to be a romance between two player characters). Regardless, if the supplement doesn't provide the Fused character for this story then I think that reinforces the randomness of the Fused's identity and nature; whatever else they are, if you want to use the romance story they'll have to be ready to engage in the romance. Though, as above, that doesn't mean that the romance story can't be both good and also appropriate for the Fused thematically and in terms of lore.

Edited February 16 by Returned

[ParaTulip fae/faer (declines as she/her)]

12 hours ago, Returned said:

Typical TTRPG published supplement scenarios are complete adventures, not just outlines of themes and ideas.

The book is selling itself as a bunch of single session situations that can be worked into an existing game. I think what you are used to reading is Adventures books, things meant to take characters through several "levels" over multiple sessions. Module books tend to be more about being fit into an existing game.

Sure, it would be nice to include example NPCs for either end of the romance, in case this is a relationship between NPCs and the players will just be fujoing Shallan style, but I would find it weird to run that way unless I knew my players were into it.

[Returned he/him]

4 hours ago, ParaTulip said:

The book is selling itself as a bunch of single session situations that can be worked into an existing game. I think what you are used to reading is Adventures books, things meant to take characters through several "levels" over multiple sessions. Module books tend to be more about being fit into an existing game.

Sure, it would be nice to include example NPCs for either end of the romance, in case this is a relationship between NPCs and the players will just be fujoing Shallan style, but I would find it weird to run that way unless I knew my players were into it.

It would be a big swing to devote one seventh of the book to a PC-PC relationship which might not even potentially fit a lot of groups-- how many even have one Radiant (probably most, lol), one Fused, and a romance between them, and another two players who are open to the story not really including them? I would find it weirder to have that setup than a story that any group could participate in, interest permitting.

I have read dozens upon dozens of TTRPG supplements of all types, from mega-campaigns to smaller adventures to one-shot adventures to supplemental lore to prompts that inspire other dimensions for existing games to lists and generators of thematic names/objects/books/organizations to include. I haven't seen everything there could be but I have seen a lot. The book bills this as an adventure for four players, so that's how I'm interpreting it, but with not quite four pages to cover it maybe it's closer to the "here are some prompts on a theme" variety of book. It's not an expensive book, so that would fit. At this point I'm tempted to buy it just to see what it really is, after all this chat around just the (brief, vague) advertising copy!

[Mattel]

Something that still isn't clear to me even after several reads of the five books, is how similar the mind of a Singer and a Human is. Sapience does not equal human-ness, in terms of fiction and Fantasy worlds like Roshar. I like how C.S. Lewis wrote out this distinction in his Ransom Trilogy. The main character goes to different planets in the three books and encounters sapient life in a form entirely unlike a humans. These races of sapient life all think vastly different from the protagonist, and think he's totally weird for how his mind works.

Now I have seen signs that either possibility is the case on Roshar. Rlain does think rather differently, but still very similar to a human. Eshonai gave a similar vibe. So this is something that in my mind really changes how compatible a human and Singer can be, depending on (as a whole as a species) how similar their sapience is.

Also I would not be surprised if each Form played a big part in whether or not this might occur. A Masked One I could see (and this is just conjecture) potentially having a greater need to have one person that knows them better than anyone else, more than another form might. 

[Nitpicking]

On 3/20/2026 at 5:27 PM, Mattel said:

. I like how C.S. Lewis wrote out this distinction in his Ransom Trilogy. The main character goes to different planets in the three books and encounters sapient life in a form entirely unlike a humans. These races of sapient life all think vastly different from the protagonist, and think he's totally weird for how his mind works.

This Hideous Strength takes place entirely on Earth?

[Mattel]

5 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

This Hideous Strength takes place entirely on Earth?

Sure, and I'm literally about to start reading that for a class I'm in, but for Perelandra and Out of the Silent Planet he is on two planets that are very much not Earth, and encounters forms of intelligent life, some that resemble humans and some that don't, that think very differently from how humans do. 

Nitpicking at its finest 

Edited March 22 by Mattel