theory [OB] Crackpot Theory: Voidbinding, Surgebinding and Renarin

[Kk-]

First of all, Surgebinding as we see it from non-Renarin radiants is purely of Honour, and while certain spren that form the nahel bonds required for it are not of Honour, they are required to abide by his rules. Radiant Surgebinding is exclusively Honour’s magic system, based on the surges he found on Roshar.

All the Honour-derived surges behave within similar restrictions. Honour by intent was focussed heavily on oaths, which he saw as absolutely binding and therefore constant, and the past that caused them, and this is reflected in the surges of his Radiants.

For example, Radiant Progression can only grow within the expected life-cyle, or heal/restore to a past state, but cannot go beyond to cause new/unnatural growth, or heal you to a point later in your life.

When Shallan lightweaves, she requires a past image to draw upon, and she often takes memories to facilitate this. Her drawings and illusions are best when they are taken or crafted from memories, and therefore the past. Similarly to growth/regrowth with Progression or the multiple lashings for Gravitation, there will be at least one other thematic power other than creating the light/sound as she currently does  – perhaps something close to how Gold works in allomancy, showing some past or true version of the self, which would be integral to her getting over her current problems in later books, or else the ability to manifest visions of the past to mirror Renarin, possibly to reveal the full truth of the Recreance or early desolations.

-

Assuming that the core ideas here are correct, we can bring Odium in. We know from WoB that the red eyes of the parshmen and fused in WoR/OB are caused by one shard interfering with the magic system of another. I think that Voidbinding as Odium’s associated magic system will be revealed to manifest as a twisted version of whatever system is currently held in place by the shards of the worlds he invades. Odium does not wish to heavily invest where possible, and I think the idea of twisting the currently in place systems to suit his own needs fits this agenda well.

This also explains the apparent “truth” of the Recreance revealed in OB – the humans coming with Odium may have used a twisted version of their previous world’s magics, “Voidbinding”, causing it to be destroyed, before taking up a new form of Rosharan Voidbinding to face the parsh people. This also presents a reason as to why the earlier Radiants were not so affected by the truth: there was an understanding, thanks to Honour, that Surgebinding was the pure form of the Voidbinding they had used against the parsh people during the first desolation, and not the same art that had caused the destruction of their previous world. He failed to make this distinction as he began to grow more affected by his shard towards the end of his fight with Odium, eventually leading to the Recreance, when men no longer saw the distinction between the two.

The basis for this theory comes largely from the Surgebinding and Voidbinding diagrams – the Surgebinding glyphs are all symmetrical, and indeed the Vorins worship symmetry, which in essence is predictable and implies constancy. To me, the half-flipped open ended Voidbinding glyphs imply that they are warped from the original intention, or left open to new interpretation. As the self-proclaimed shard of Passion, and therefore emotion, it makes sense that Odium's magic system should be almost contemptuous of the already established systems, making mockery of other invested beings’ abilities. I also posit that the tenth, secret name for the Almighty, “he who transforms”, is actually a relic of Odium worship among the humans on their previous world – referring to his ability to warp the currently in place systems to his own ends.

-

Moving on to Renarin.

Renarin, who has bonded a Truthwatcher spren corrupted by Sja-anat, and therefore of both Odium and Honour, should exhibit at the very least one corrupted surge. Either he will have access to normal Progression and a warped version of illumination, or to all four.

So far, he has demonstrated similar regrowth to Lift, being able to heal the wounded. If he manifests some form of Odium influenced Progression, perhaps he will be able to force mutation in plants or animals, or artificially age people. I think it is more likely he will stick to normal Honour-derived Progression, although his other surge may interfere.

Renarin’s Illumination surge was the major giveaway that something was different about him, as it is repeatedly stated that seeing the future is of Odium. The future is illuminated for Renarin in visions of stained glass, allowing him to predict events, future change that Honour’s constancy could not reveal. He has also been proven inaccurate, which is due to his own nature as a sort of half-breed Radiant – as he is trapped between Odium and Honour, he is blind to himself in his own Odium based visions in the same manner as Odium fails to see him in the diagram, and as such any predictions he makes where he has personal involvement are unreliable, similarly to two Mistborn burning Atium. He also seems to be able to create images like Shallan’s, although his method, or when they take place, has not yet been revealed. Personally I think it will relate to his visions, allowing him to create illusions of the things he has seen in the future, or else imitate the present which I expect to be a common ground.

Renarin has also shown the ability to somehow finish off a wounded thunderclast using light, ostensibly from his illumination surge. Possibly he is using some form of progression and illumination to enforce his own truth on the thunderclast, or it may be related to his resonance.

Speaking of resonance, Renarin will probably display something unique as his combination of surges is new ground – an interaction between both two surges and two shards.

In conclusion, I think that Voidbinding is a generic art that manifests as a corruption of local magics, and on Roshar is related to the ten Surgebinding surges, but extrapolated towards change and the unknown to mock Honour's consistency. This explains the pre-Recreance stability, why the fused are able to imitate the Radiant surges to an extent, as well as the warping of Renarin’s abilities as a corrupted Truthwatcher while displaying some abilities more in line with the expected. Hopefully you enjoyed the sweeping assumptions made in this crackpot theory, and I hope that adherence to the Assuredness Movement has thoroughly convinced you of my correctness, although realistically I do think some of the ideas have merit.

[Blacksmithki]

The stormfather said that Honor told the radiants that surge binding would destroy the world (on mobile no quote sorry) when he was telling him about how Honor changed near the recreance. This doesn't quite fit with the idea of voidbinding destroying the world instead, but I like the rest of it.