[OB] Where is their music?

[Calderis he/him]

Kaladin has found the terrible Voidbringers. Oh so terrible. And they speak unaccented Alethi that, if he closed his eyes, would be indistinguishable from the people of Hearthstone. 

The Parshmen have been freed of slaveform, but they still don't know how to access the rhythms. I imagine that this is something that most Listeners learn as infants or toddlers. It's so heavily ingrained into the culture of the Parshendi that they don't consciously teach it. I see this continuing a schism between the Parshmen, and the non-Voidform Parshendi. 

And it implies more. If the rhythms are learned as a part of the cultural development of young listeners, then these parshmen, who have lived their whole lives in servitude know the cultures in which they served intimately, and it explains much of the previous chapters. 

The Thaylen ships were taking by normal Parshmen who have been used on ships. The Azish Parshmen negotiating have been been present for countless contracts and witnessed unending bureaucracy. 

These parshmen are all products of the cultures that produced them.

The Azish told us that some are different, with strange powers, so the Voidforms are probably present, gathering and guiding these Parshmen, but they have to be subtle, because although an obviously powerful leader, explaining what's happened to them and most likely taking credit, is a strong motivator, but people as a whole are usually hesitant to engage in wholesale slaughter until they've been worked up into a mob. 

This little snippet of information in the Kaladin chapter explains so so much about what we've read previously. 

[TheDarkDesperado he/him]

Interesting thought, if you're right then hopefully they can be saved rather than becoming slaves of Odium. Poor Parshmen have gotten the short end of the stick for a while (read: forever)

[ChazBolt]

We didnt even see a Voidform parshman in the area Kaladin was scouting. We know the townspeople saw a few "red lights" but could that have been something else?

What forms are these parshmen holding anyway? It wasnt warform, but could it have been workform? I remember we had a theory running that the Everstorm doesnt necessarily bestow Stormform and could just give any of the basic forms if the parshman resisted.

[Daishi5]

I originally thought that the everstorm broke whatever they used to enslave the Parshmen.  But, you bring up an interesting point about their songs.  When Eshonai goes out into the storm, she attunes rhythms and they all become the same thing when it is time for her to change.  Maybe whatever was done to the Parshmen is still in effect, maybe they took away their ability to hear the music and the Parshmen still can't hear it.  If that is true, then how the everstorm changed them, and how it gave them forms may still be a mystery.

[redbishop]

So the Rhythms are an ability the Listeners may possess (unless blocked), but requires training.  That would explain why they use the word "attune" rather than some other term.

It seems implied that this condition was not unknown to the Parshendi.  From the prologue:

Quote

When Eshonai had first met the humans, she’d seen the little listeners they had with them. A hapless tribe who were trapped in dullform. Eshonai had assumed the humans were taking care of the poor souls without songs.

Whether being trapped was an effect of not having the Rhythms, or a matter of coincidence, is thus far unclear.

[Subvisual Haze]

22 hours ago, TheDarkDesperado said:

Interesting thought, if you're right then hopefully they can be saved rather than becoming slaves of Odium. Poor Parshmen have gotten the short end of the stick for a while (read: forever)

They can, but many will choose to join Odium and the power he offers now that they have the freedom to choose.  They've known nothing but oppression from humans, and soon will likely be attacked by fearful humans.

Kaladin is really the perfect person to help the Parshmen.  In addition to his oaths to protect, he also completely understands the hatred oppressed Parshmen feel towards humans due to his own experiences and hatred toward light eyes.

[Sparkrunner he/him]

9 minutes ago, Subvisual Haze said:

Kaladin is really the perfect person to help the Parshmen.  In addition to his oaths to protect, he also completely understands the hatred oppressed Parshmen feel towards humans due to his own experiences and hatred toward light eyes.

Hence the unboiled tallew paragraph.

[Yezrien]

It's like we're seeing the rise of new parsh-nations, each the shadow of a human kingdom, inheriting that kingdom's best qualities. It's like a new form. The form that Kaladin saw was not what the Listeners call "warform," but it did look combat-oriented. Like Alethkar itself. Maybe this new form is Alethform.

And the one that negotiates is Azishform. And the one that sails is Thaylenform.

 

Edited September 27, 2017 by Belzedar

[Ciridae]

@Calderis You're right and I'm glad its a cultural thing instead of Odium simply mind controlling all of them. I was scared they were all on auto pilot doing what Odium needed them to do. 

They're still probably doing it at the direction of some voidforms, but these first steps are probably the result of a desire for self-preservation, guided by strategically inclined, Odium-guided voidforms.

Kaladin's listners just needed food. The Thaylen listeners ended up crippling the navy of one of the most powerful seafaring nations, probably suggested and coordinated by those under Odiuns influence, but now I think your average listener was just doing what they were told and trying to get away.

I am a little more worried about the negotiations, that's clearly a step above raiding food stores for survival. It seems like a stalling strategy to muck the Azish down in paperwork while preparing for an assault.

I'm excited to learn about the command structure. The voidforms seem like they get to say what goes, knowing exactly what to do like Eshonai did in stormform. But how do sapient undbonded (at least not trapped in a gemheart) spren like that yellow ribbon factor in?