Theory: Fabrials and Geranid [Possible Spoiler]

[EmagSamurai]

Has any connection been made between the creation of fabrials and Geranid's discovery that measuring and documenting a spren causes it to become "stuck"? My thought is that the artifabrians may be documenting the process they are using to trap a certain spren to produce specific effects with a fabrial, and the act of documenting this is what actually forces the spren to do something. I'm thinking about the Navani's drawings of her fabrial as an example. Could that be in some way related to making them work.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Given that spren are apparently, to various degrees, Cognitive beings, this is a very valid theory.

[name_here]

I've theorized about the writing being used to control spren for magical purposes before. Pretty plausible that fabrials are an example, although there is a slight potential causality problem. The documentation of measurements has to be accurate, so they'd have to get a spren into a fabrial in the first place to get it to work. However, the act of writing could keep a spren in the fabrial. It's possible that a spren can be locked in a gem containing Stormlight, and documenting that it's in the gem keeps it there once the Stormlight runs out.

[Aether he/him]

If writing is what locks a Spren down, or at least what permits the manipulation of them, then wouldn't this give the Shards of Roshar a rather unfair way to hijack the process? Granted that Odium/Cultivation can change writing much in the same way as [someone] did in Mistborn: WoA.

 

Or would this end up freeing the Spren, as the values of the measurements would have to be specific to the Spren in question, as shown in the Geranid/Ashin Interlude?

Edited November 24, 2013 by Aether

[makromag he/him]

I believe that if that is actually the case, the shards would be unable to affect the writing, much like the shards on scadrial

were unable to affect metals.

It would also make sense, seeing as how people on Roshar believe they have to burn prayers to "send" their soul to the almighty; the shards are simply unable to see them in written form.