Does the Everstorm force parshmen/parish end to change into void bringers?

[deadspyder88]

So I just got done listening to WoR, and have so many questions in my head. I didn't know whether to create one topic with all of them, or a few topics about my most pressing questions. Every forum etiquette is different.

At the end of WoR, everybody on the Shattered Plains leaves their Parshmen, because Shallon says the Everstorm will turn them into voidbringers. Is transformation that is forced upon the race, or will the individual be able to deny the influence?

The main reason I ask this is because I like the character potential of Railene, and don't want to see him forced into becoming a monster.

I want to assume no because the faction of Parshendi who left instead of transforming into storm form. The willing transformation idea also works for me because I can see all the Parshmen want to transform to be released from captivity.

[DreamEternal]

I assume that the parshmen can be forced to transform because their current state is the lack of a form and a spren. Parshendi in other forms should be able to resist.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I think it is a tricky one. We haven't really seen anything in-book of what happens when a Parshmen is around normal Spren (have we even seen any Parshmen in a highstorm at all?) +  I think one of the songs from the epigraphs (or it might have been in-book dialogue) was that Parshendi in whatever Voidform willingly (however much willpower it may have took to resist Odium's influence, going from Eshonai's POV) forsook them to become Parshmen so as Pulse said, it could be their lack of bond will make it easier for Voidspren to force their way into the 'lock mechanism' that allows the Listener's to bond with Spren, whereas if the Listener has a form already, it looks like it has to be a conscious choice.

[natc]

If spiritual bonds work anything like chemical ones between atoms, you will need more energy to break the existing bonds before forming a new one.

Rlain looks fine, so that's some evidence towards bonded Listeners with forms being safe. Which leaves Rlain, and possibly that group of escapees, assuming they somehow survived.

[Shardbearer he/him]

I don't know. I'm in the middle of a reread right now. Eshonai changed her mind at the last minute, attempting to refuse the bond. But the spren struck her in the chest and forced the transformation on her, against her will.

[natc]

She did pretty much ask for it by showing up though. The process could've already reached the point of no return as soon as the gem broke. Parshendi had a tendency to bond the wrong spren before they learned to trap them, so perhaps once attraction is achieved there's really no stopping the spren from smashing into your chest.

[The Honor Spren she/her]

I have my own little pet-theory that, if a parshendi was bonded to a different spren already, (if they were in a form besides slave form) then they would be able to not be void-bringerized.

This seemed like a good place to post it.

Rip it to shreds.

Edit: Storm it. I should really read a thread before I post on it.

Edited July 16, 2015 by The Honor Spren

[Alfa he/him]

But it seems, that the Parshmen were an "invention" after the 99th Desolation and before there were only Listeners - with forms, of course. Also, they seemed not to be exactly voidbringers between the former desolations. So I assume, that the Everstorm could also transform Listeners into voibringers, probably just not as easy as Parshmen.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Alfa

[Oudeis he/him]

But it seems, that the Parshmen were an "invention" after the 99th Desolation and before there were only Listeners - with forms, of course. Also, they seemed not to be exactly voidbringers between the former desolations. So I assume, that the Everstorm could also transform Listeners into voibringers, probably just not as easy as Parshmen.

 

You do realize there's never been an Everstorm before, so we can't go by old Desolations.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I don't know. I'm in the middle of a reread right now. Eshonai changed her mind at the last minute, attempting to refuse the bond. But the spren struck her in the chest and forced the transformation on her, against her will.

 

My understanding of the situation is that by the time she tried to "refuse" the bonding was already starting to take place, at which point it was too late for her to do anything.

[Seloun]

 

She focused on the rhythm in her head, clinging to some rocks as the wind tried to push her back off the plateau. Demid, Venli’s once-mate, had started a movement where people who wanted to transform waited inside buildings until the storm had been going for a while. They only stepped out once the initial burst of fury was past. That was risky, as you never knew when the point of transformation would come.

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 396). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

 

which seems to imply that simply being indoors or sheltered may prevent the change. Also

 

 

She placed the base of the shield against a ridge of rock on the ground, then turned her shoulder against it, lowered her head, and braced herself with one foot back. Her other hand held the stone with the spren in it. She’d have preferred to wear her Plate, but for some reason having it on interfered with the transformation process.

Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 395). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

 

suggests there might be other things that prevent the change (e.g. being somehow bonded or protected by another spren, maybe, or wearing Shardplate counts as being 'indoors').

[Alfa he/him]

You do realize there's never been an Everstorm before, so we can't go by old Desolations.

Yes, but there was Something that changed Listeners into Voidbringers before, at least because there were multiple desolations. And I think that this Something was less powerfull then the Everstorm.

[natc]

Then it must've been pretty weaksauce, because even with n entire Everstorm passing through Rlain is perfectly fine.

[Alfa he/him]

Either that or there is some probability, that a Listener is forced to change (by the Everstorm and/or the voidbringer-transfomation-process of the former desolations), based on things like its actual form, mental strength etc.