Speculation pre odium Roshar

[Mileswasbestcharacter]

Hey all,

its been awhile since I've lurked on these forums, but I had a thought about civilization pre-odium on Roshar. I think it obvious that the heralds came from a Roshar population that predates odium's arrival on the planet and thus too the desolations. Meaning the heralds likely have a slightly different genetic and spiritual make up from the current inhabitants of Roshar.

 

What I'd like to see discussed is how the current populations differ from the heralds:

are the heralds beings created solely from honor an cultivation, and immune to influences like the thrill?

 

are the heralds immortal because of residual after effects of the oath pact.

 

spren are shattered pieces of honor, that emulate the honorblades and make up a newer magic system on Roshar. Do the heralds know of older magic that came exclusively from cultivation and/or honor, and if so does this constitute the 'old magic' of the night watcher?

 

I'd like to hear what you guys think about these topics, or if a similar thread exists I'd love links

Edited August 29, 2016 by Mileswasbestcharacter

[VladJunior]

I get the impression that most people theorize that the Heralds come from off-world (not Roshar), and that they are mainly Returned or from another shard world that Honor recruited for the express purpose of keeping Odium from interfering with Honor and Cultivation's attempt to place humanity on Roshar. I have read theories on several different worlds of origin. That is why they are "immortal" because they have a significant amount of investiture already and are provided additional means to prolong their lives through the cloud of investiture that circles Roshar (stormlight). It is probable that Odium also provides them with a trickle of investiture to sustain them while on Braize. When they "die," they go back to Braize to be tortured by Odium until one of them breaks and a desolation begins. They wouldn't be able to withstand years (not to mention millennia) of torture if they didn't have the ability to heal via investiture of some kind.

[Mileswasbestcharacter]

I suppose that could be possible I haven't read up on that specific theory, but it would make sense for the Herald's to go to Braize while waiting for the next desolation as odium would be the one to torture and break them. However, when odium first came to Roshar I would think he'd have been stronger than either cultivation or honor because they gave away some of their essence to create sentient life, but not both. For honor to leave Roshar and go searching for assistance on other shard worlds prior to odium's arrival would mean leaving cultivation open to attack by odium. I'll admit it's possible this occurred before odium arrived, especially if cultivation foresaw it, but regardlessI don't think honor would leave a civilization he created in the hands of other shardworld people. I'd really appreciate a link to that theory.

 

Getting away from the nature of Shards for a little bit, at the end of WoR when Dalinar is talking to the storm father, the storm father says the everstorm will change all of the 'old people' with its coming. A reference to the parshmen, who will be compulsed by odium's void spren to become voidbringers. This makes me wonder why the parshmen are the 'old people,' and then who are the new people?  

I wonder if odium had a part in the creation of the peoples currently on Roshar, and if earlier peoples, contemporary to the heralds' taking up the honorblades and the oathpact, were mutated into something else by odium's influence or as part of the oathpact that binds him.  I'd definitely like to ask Brandon if the parshmen existed before the coming of odium and the oathpact.

[Spoolofwhool]

59 minutes ago, Mileswasbestcharacter said:

Getting away from the nature of Shards for a little bit, at the end of WoR when Dalinar is talking to the storm father, the storm father says the everstorm will change all of the 'old people' with its coming. A reference to the parshmen, who will be compulsed by odium's void spren to become voidbringers. This makes me wonder why the parshmen are the 'old people,' and then who are the new people?  

I wonder if odium had a part in the creation of the peoples currently on Roshar, and if earlier peoples, contemporary to the heralds' taking up the honorblades and the oathpact, were mutated into something else by odium's influence or as part of the oathpact that binds him.  I'd definitely like to ask Brandon if the parshmen existed before the coming of odium and the oathpact.

The Listeners, whom the Parshendi are a group of, is the old people who were on Roshar before humans arrive. Humans are the new people. I believe all the sentient species (though technically there is only one since they can inter-breed) were setup before Odium arrived. Parshmen were technically not around before the Oathpact, since at that point all Listeners were bonded to a spren. Parshmen are Listeners without a spren.

It's possible that Odium changed the Rosharans, though I think Honor and Cultivation has more of an effect. Odium had more of an effect on Listeners by giving them the voidspren after they came to him for power.