Origin of Humans and Voidbringers

[Observer]

What if VoidBringers are a distraction from the real threat, like the mists and the ash? While everybody's focusing on them, even going as far as to put Shallan and Jasnah right in the middle of the action, (Where Odium might want them) I think something nasty's gonna happen. Once Jasnah's gone, a few pushes from Szeth and a few others could easily topple the already unstable governments left weakened by the lack of any real presence there.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Observer

[Straff Venture he/him]

What if VoidBringers are a distraction from the real threat, like the mists and the ash? While everybody's focusing on them, even going as far as to put Shallan and Jasnah right in the middle of the action, (Where Odium might want them) I think something nasty's gonna happen. Once Jasnah's gone, a few pushes from Szeth and a few others could easily topple the already unstable governments left weakened by the lack of any real presence there.

That might be what the everstorm is, similar to how the ash in HoA started coming all the time and blocking out the Sun and choking the plants, where there will be a highstorm that simply doesn't end. In this case only surgebinders with a lot of spheres would be able to move around.

[Observer]

Ah yes, the final desolation, the everstorm. Almost forgot about that, which, I suppose, is the idea.

[Elwynn]

What if VoidBringers are a distraction from the real threat, like the mists and the ash? While everybody's focusing on them, even going as far as to put Shallan and Jasnah right in the middle of the action, (Where Odium might want them) I think something nasty's gonna happen. Once Jasnah's gone, a few pushes from Szeth and a few others could easily topple the already unstable governments left weakened by the lack of any real presence there.

That's kind of what I thought would be happening ever since BS said it was sort of a two part 5-book sequence. I always thought they'd be uniting and thinking they're fighting the desolation when end the end of the 5th book rolls around and they realize things aren't what they thought...the real problem shows up.

[Observer]

Everstorn, Voidbringers, what's there besides that?

I wholy expect another line like this

...burst of pain, as if from her ear to her head...

that is a dead giveaway to something greater. For the sake of spoilers, I won't say where from. Any full-cosmere readers know what I mean.

[hoser he/him]

On the flipside, the Parshendi could be humans that HAVE adapted to the environment. Or at least a branch on the family tree. The question would be whether shard-powered evolution could work so quickly, but we already have an example of a shardholder doing instant changes to human physiology. Would it be so much of a stretch to say that Odium did exactly the same as Rashek?

...

If any shard could develop a race adapted for an environment, it would be Cultivation. What if the Parshendi are evolved by Cultivation to survive the highstorms? Maybe even make use of the flash of energy from the spiritual realm with something like a gemheart. Maybe their strange ability to communicate and sing in unison could be linked.

[Straff Venture he/him]

If any shard could develop a race adapted for an environment, it would be Cultivation. What if the Parshendi are evolved by Cultivation to survive the highstorms? Maybe even make use of the flash of energy from the spiritual realm with something like a gemheart. Maybe their strange ability to communicate and sing in unison could be linked.

I think thats something people, including me, have really been ignoring about Roshar: cultivation's presence. When talking about spren, highstorms and the voidbringers, most people focus on Honor and Odium, as they are the most present in the environment. What we really have to remember is that cultivation, too, is a sixteenth of the power of creation, and is therefore also going to have a large effect on her home planet.

[Observer]

The problem is, we don't even know if Cultivation is alive or not! We know so little about that shard, it's hard to say much.

But we're almost guaranteed that Shallan has something to do with the shard (Not really, but close), so maybe...

[Aethling he/him]

Rashek drastically altered humans using Preservation's power.

Devotion altered people to Elantrians and Dominion is probably behind the physical changes of the monks.

Endowment has Returned.

I wouldn't think that Odium would be all that hampered in making changes. Cultivation might be better at it than some or all, but it appears to be a universal shard power to change humanity.

I wouldn't be surprised at all of we have already seen major examples of Cultivations actions or goals on Roshar. One of the sub-definitions of Cultivation concerns knowledge. Two of the major characters have set themselves to gathering knowledge, and another two minor characters can be linked to a learned lifestyle. Also, Kaladin was all set to become a surgeon before the draft. Throw in Jasnah's mother and Renarin as possibles, and plenty of the characters could be linked.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Aethling

[Observer]

I supposed Cultivation might be more of a "Behind the scenes" type shard, as he/she has been much less obvious than the others so far. And BTW, I'm pretty sure the monks changed via Dominion, not Devotion.