Jump to content

The Nature of Highstorms


Kyzkle

Recommended Posts

So I'm not sure where I got this idea in my head, but it seems to be pretty common: most people believe that the highstorms are somehow related to Honor (or in the case of vorinism, Jezrien). I think it's been thrown around that it's the remains of his shard's investiture raining back to Roshar and recharging spheres, because Dalinar only has his visions (sent by Honor) during highstorms. While this is certainly a reasonable assumption, I was just thinking today: what if the highstorms are actually caused by Cultivation?

 

I always found it strange that stormlight (investiture from the storms) could be so easily stored in gemstones, which have nothing to do with binding, oaths, or honor of any sort. (Words of Radiance preview spoilers!)

Honor even states in the WoR chapters that he had nothing to do with the creation of the Radiants; it was all the spren.

 

On the other hand, Almost every aspect of the surgebinding process seems to relate to Cultivation. The storms themselves are nourishing to plants, the investiture accumulates in gemstones (which are grown over long periods of time) and promotes vigor and healing in whoever holds it. Soulcasting is the closest it comes to Honor, with bargains being struck. Overall, the flow of power in the surgebinding system seems like a very Cultivation type thing to do: The world is showered in stormlight, which increases the amount of life and energy available to the people it affects. 

 

So what if Honor's only contribution to magic on Roshar is the Nahel bond, while the actual economy of magic is powered by Cultivation? I think the coppermind says that Honor, Cultivation, and Odium all have their own planets in the greater Roshar solar system, so that would imply Cultivation has her own world to manage. From descriptions of life just after a highstorm, though, I'm inclined to think it's really her doing. Thoughts?

 

Edit: Also, it may be the case that Cultivation is broadcasting Honor's message, which explains why Dalinar only gets them during highstorms. It could be Odium, but I don't think Sanderson would use the same Ruin/Preservation trick again.

Edited by Kyzkle
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting idea for certain.  I think the highstorms nourishing plant life makes sense.  I don't know about Honor only contributing the Nahel bond though. Why would Odium go through the trouble to destroy Honor if he didn't contribute much to Roshar. Maybe Honor and Cultivation both used stormlight as their investiture to some extent?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that it's safe to assume that Honor was not entirely responsible for all the magic. I'm not sure why the highstorms would be of Cultivation, though - don't they take a lot of power to do? Mistborn's mists were essentially the entirety of Preservation, and we know that the highstorms are similar. I'm iffy.

 

I'd go so far as to say that Shardblades were of Honor and that Shardplate was of Cultivation though. (Maybe vice versa?) I expect we'll find other such splits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the coppermind says that Honor, Cultivation, and Odium all have their own planets in the greater Roshar solar system, so that would imply Cultivation has her own world to manage. From descriptions of life just after a highstorm, though, I'm inclined to think it's really her doing. Thoughts?

 

Actually, Roshar is the homeworld to both Honor and Cultivation, they settled there together.  Odium does have his own world, Braize, but the third shardworld in the system plays host to a currently unknown Shard or Shards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, Roshar is the homeworld to both Honor and Cultivation, they settled there together.  Odium does have his own world, Braize, but the third shardworld in the system plays host to a currently unknown Shard or Shards.

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

I'm not sure why the highstorms would be of Cultivation, though - don't they take a lot of power to do? Mistborn's mists were essentially the entirety of Preservation, and we know that the highstorms are similar. I'm iffy.

 

I'd go so far as to say that Shardblades were of Honor and that Shardplate was of Cultivation though. (Maybe vice versa?) I expect we'll find other such splits.

 

If I recall correctly, the mists were created by Preservation while he was holding Ruin. This could be a similar situation, where Cultivation is desperately trying to hold off Odium, sending the storms as a last-ditch effort to get Humanity to help.

 

I was just bored and digging through an old Q&A when I found this gem: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/2383-qa-with-brandon-sanderson/?p=42206

 

If Fabrials are really part of another magic system on Roshar, it seems like the most likely to be powered by Honor. While modern fabrials operate by capturing spren, what if the ancient fabrials simply bonded the spren? That would imply that of the 30 types of magic on Roshar, the 10 surgebinding abilities are of Cultivation, the 10 voidbinding abilities are of Odium, and the remaining 10 have some relation to fabrials, and operating using spren bonds.

Edited by Kyzkle
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Chaos locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...