Voidbringer theory

[Xero stormz he/him]

I may have missed a few things so if I'm completely off I apologise. What if the reason the parshendi and parshmen get so offended by the bodies of their dead being defiled is because even after the body is "dead" they can be transformed into the voidbringer by the storm? It would make sense considering how long the war has been raging and if they can be brought "back" to the right after death then they're almost impossible to defeat. 

[dayman]

1 hour ago, Xero stormz said:

I may have missed a few things so if I'm completely off I apologise. What if the reason the parshendi and parshmen get so offended by the bodies of their dead being defiled is because even after the body is "dead" they can be transformed into the voidbringer by the storm? It would make sense considering how long the war has been raging and if they can be brought "back" to the right after death then they're almost impossible to defeat. 

Not entirely inconsistent with the other theory that claims Odium ****ed up the afterlife in Roshar system and blocks souls from passing to the Beyond.

[skaa he/him]

Whether or not dead Parshendi can be resurrected to become Voidbringers, why would the Parshendi pre-WoR want that to happen, when the very reason the war started in the first place was because they didn't want to return to the gods that once turned them into Voidbringers?

I mean, sure, the Stormform Parshendi would probably want their dead resurrected in the service of the Unmade, but I doubt Rlain (for example) would want that. And we know from WoK that Rlain was also affected by what Kaladin was doing to Parshendi corpses.

My point is that the reason they don't like their dead being defiled is probably much less sinister than you think. "Don't defile the dead" sounds like a pretty normal part of a moral code to me, even if the Parshendi's reaction to Kaladin was a bit extreme.

Edited April 5, 2017 by skaa

[Krandacth]

My personal headcanon (with, I've realised, very little foundation) is that this prohibition is the result one of the forms of power only being possible after death (specifically, in my head, Decayform), and so a general wariness of the dead moving.

At any rate, it does seem a more fervent, almost desperate need than most cases of cultural respect for the dead, and I can only imagine it has to do with either a post-death form or a danger of inviting such.

[skaa he/him]

1 hour ago, Krandacth said:

My personal headcanon (with, I've realised, very little foundation) is that this prohibition is the result one of the forms of power only being possible after death (specifically, in my head, Decayform), and so a general wariness of the dead moving.

At any rate, it does seem a more fervent, almost desperate need than most cases of cultural respect for the dead, and I can only imagine it has to do with either a post-death form or a danger of inviting such.

Yeah, sorry if I seemed to imply that it was completely natural. I just meant that I somewhat sympathetize with the Parshendi in this regard and I do not feel comfortable assigning sinister reasons for their reaction. But yeah there's probably some mystical thing going on there.

Edited April 5, 2017 by skaa

[Doomquill he/him]

On 4/5/2017 at 1:06 AM, Krandacth said:

I can only imagine it has to do with either a post-death form or a danger of inviting such.

It's an interesting thought, though I don't think it's very likely, given that even normal Parshmen get similarly offended when you move their dead. It's mentioned that it's the only thing Parshmen seem to really care about, which implies it's universal. So it may still be form related, but not specifically related to the Listeners and their avoidance of said form.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Doomquill

[swieczq he/him]

Welcome to the forum @Xero stormz! Have an upvote and a cookie!

In my opinion Parshmen/Parshendi (before Stormform) would fear the dead, rather than show respect to their bodies if death would cause voidspren to appear. I had an idea that maybe death somehow allows dying Parshendi to pull voidspren out of his friends, but that wouldn't explain Parshmen reaction. Do we actually know what Parshendi do with the bodies of the dead? Their burying rituals?

Edited April 8, 2017 by swieczq

[Farnsworth]

It says in WoK though that they leave the bodies of the dead on the battlefield, even after a victory. Maybe it has something to do with dying in battle?

[mapledonut]

We also know that the Parshmen are allowed to dispose of their own dead, and they are wrapped in white linen and left on stone slabs. The Parshendi on the battle field are also left on stone. The Shin find stone holy (Urithiru being the one place it is acceptable to walk on stone). Could it have something to do with this. So much of the planet is stone, it has to mean something.