Singer forms

[Grubfriend He/Him]

Why is it that when a singer takes a new form their body is drastically changed? Does this have something to do with why they have to be in the Highstorm to experience the change?

[Treamayne]

55 minutes ago, Through The Living Grub said:

Why is it that when a singer takes a new form their body is drastically changed? Does this have something to do with why they have to be in the Highstorm to experience the change?

Yes. It is related to how a Radiant heals as well.

By accepting a spren into their gemheart, they form a Nahel bond with the Spren - this changes/alters their Spiritual Identity (and sometimes other SR traits) and the infusion of Investiture from doing this in a Highstorm is what allows their body to "heal" itself to match their new SR identity (like Lopen healing his missing arm because Lopen's SR Identity never accepted that he was disadvantaged).

WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

AhoyMatey (paraphrased)

Why didn’t Kaladin’s brand heal if Lopen can regrow an arm?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It comes down to how one views oneself. It is the answer that you think it is. So really what that’s saying is Kaladin sees himself as branded.

Words of Radiance Seattle signing (March 8, 2014)

Quote

Questioner

 Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?

Brandon Sanderson

Because *photo pause* a lot of the healing in the Cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself. 

Questioner

So Kaladin has accepted the scars.

Brandon Sanderson

Kaladin has accepted the scars, and Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's a good question, it's one I am hoping people will ask. [...] It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, that there will be consistency among them, that so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, for instance, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker-- What you want to have happened influences what does happen, the expectation, the way you are thinking about things. Very important for most of the Cosmere magics.

Words of Radiance Chicago signing (March 22, 2014)

Quote

Krios (paraphrased)

If you have a form of manipulating your Identity and a form of healing, are you able to shapeshift or even evolve your body like growing wings?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You'd have to do some real work on your Spiritweb to make that work. It'd take more work than you're implying, but the [singers] for instance are doing this. It'll take a little more work, it's not just blanking your Identity. Hemalurgy would make it very easy, but also very evil. But what you want to achieve is possible.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

Quote

Tom Goldthwait

At any point in the Rosharan history, was it possible to form a Nahel bond without swearing oaths?

Brandon Sanderson

"Nahel bond" is the phrase used for a bond between a spren and a being from the Physical Realm. That is the definition of it. So the answer to that is yes; it's currently possible right now. It's how greatshells exist and grow to the size they do. It's how Ryshadium exist. Those are Nahel bonds also.

What you're asking is if a sapient spren, a spren and a sapient individual, forming what we currently call the Radiant bond, which has access to much greater power; was that possible without swearing oaths? Yes and no. The formalization of the oaths and the Orders aligned with certain spren did take a little bit of time to come together. It was possible to form a Nahel bond before that, but it was not a Radiant bond accessing the levels of powers that are currently possible. So it's another one of these "yes and no" answers, if that makes any sense.

You could find a Nahel bond... In fact, many would call the bond between the singers and the spren that give them forms Nahel bonds. It may not fit fully into the categorization that most people would use it for, but you could kinda call that the same thing.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 1 (Dec. 17, 2020)

 

Hope that helps

Edited April 30 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Fizz9]

I don't have specifics but certain spren inhabit the gemstone hearts (forgive me if that is not the correct term) and allow the singer to change forms. Depending on the spren the singer will change into different forms. I don't know why the High storm would be needed to experience the change, it could just be the amount of Stormlight? 

Hope this helps a little, it probably doesn't.

[GG0z He/Him]

It also has something to do with the singer’s cognitive aspect, which is how said Regrowth and other forms of healing in the Cosmere works. I think the Spren adds something to the Singer’s cognitive aspect through the Nahel bond

[Nitpicking]

The Singers, to draw another comparison, change forms the same way that Reshi king sex-changed. The spren in their gemhearts changes their self-image, and the power of the Highstorm lets them "heal" to their correct shape, as they now see it.

Note that the enormously more powerful Fused spirits (Cognitive Shadows of dead Singers with additional power granted by Odium) can continue to change the forms of the bodies they wear over time, gradually becoming more like the Shadow's original body. Kaladin comments on noticing this in Leshwi. Fused can continuously draw Voidlight directly from the Spiritual Realm without needing a Perpendicularity, exactly the way the Heralds can draw Stormlight (but apparently more slowly). One wonders if the Heralds also shift, if maybe Kelek looks wimpier than he did 5,000 years ago because of his mental issues.

One also wonders (or I do) if the Singers could literally heal in a Highstorm, if a gravely wounded Singer should be left out in the storm in the hope of "changing form" to a healthy Singer. And it's clear in retrospect, that's what pre-Oath Kaladin did to survive his punishment waaay back in Way of Kings.

Edited May 1 by Nitpicking
Thought of something to add

[Deception He/Him]

On 4/30/2026 at 5:07 AM, Fizz9 said:

I don't have specifics but certain spren inhabit the gemstone hearts (forgive me if that is not the correct term) and allow the singer to change forms. Depending on the spren the singer will change into different forms. I don't know why the High storm would be needed to experience the change, it could just be the amount of Stormlight? 

Hope this helps a little, it probably doesn't.

I think that the sheer amount if concentrated energy in the Highstorm would require a ton of stormlight to replicate, but it could be possible. However, the Highstorm isn't just Stormlight but a focus of Honor's power itself, so if that is needed then no amount of normal Stormlight could cause a form change.