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[OB] Eyes


thegatorgirl00

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Eyes are referenced a lot in the Rosharan magic systems. 

  • Bonding a Shardblades lightens a darkeye's eyes
  • Darkeyed Radiants get lighter eyes at a certain ideal when using a Shardblade
  • Killing with a Shardblades burns out the eyes
  • Deadeyes have scratched out eyes
  • Regaos and Fused have eyes that glow red
  • Timbre allows Venli to change her eyes from red to normal at will

I have no idea why there are so many connections to eyes in the magic. I don't remember if there is any reference to the eyes of a soulcaster being unusual or significant. Knowing could help to figure out how widespread this is in relation to all Rosharan magics. 

If there are any instances I've forgotten, please let me know. I don't want references to eyes that are cultural, only things Realmatic in nature. 

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1 hour ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

Eyes are referenced a lot in the Rosharan magic systems. 

  • Bonding a Shardblades lightens a darkeye's eyes
  • Darkeyed Radiants get lighter eyes at a certain ideal when using a Shardblade
  • Killing with a Shardblades burns out the eyes
  • Deadeyes have scratched out eyes
  • Regaos and Fused have eyes that glow red
  • Timbre allows Venli to change her eyes from red to normal at will

I have no idea why there are so many connections to eyes in the magic. I don't remember if there is any reference to the eyes of a soulcaster being unusual or significant. Knowing could help to figure out how widespread this is in relation to all Rosharan magics. 

If there are any instances I've forgotten, please let me know. I don't want references to eyes that are cultural, only things Realmatic in nature. 

I do seem to recall that the use of soulcasters impact all parts of the body of the soulcaster including the transformation of the eyes.

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Eyes are said to be a window to the soul. I think on Roshar this is literal. I think somehow the color and brightness of rosharan eyes actually reflect investiture in a person's spirit web, both amount and type, and that eye color and brightness is passed down hereditarilly because a person's spirit web reflects the type of investiture in their parents' spirit webs. Possibly because the realms there are closer to each other than on other planets. 

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What a great topic!  I love it!

I have a quote from the Arcanum:

Quote

Argent

When a Surgebinder's eye color changes when they Surgebind or have a Blade [out], is the color of their eyes corresponding to their Order? So Windrunners would do blue, and then--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. 

Argent

So each Order gets a different eye color?

Brandon Sanderson

Each Order does indeed have an eye color representation.

I suspect that eye color matches the color of the bonded spren because the bonds - both Gemheart and Nahel - attach the spren to their soul.  And, as @Extesian just said, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

From WoR back cover:

Quote

A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit.  Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves; they can brace a broken soul, but they can also widen its fissures.

The powers of Surgebindings comes from the bond with spren.  That bond can only be formed when fissures already exist in the soul in order to be able to bind the the soul of the person to the spren. Or that's my interpretation of the quote.

Fused spren already are the souls of the Ancient ones permanently fused to corrupted spren, which is why Fused eyes glow red from the corrupted spren and why Parshendi lose their souls when bonding with Fused spren that come pre-attached to souls, such as when Demid lost his soul to the Ancient One and Venli almost lost her soul.  That Fused bond can't be broken, it seems, since the ancient soul and spren are permanently fused together, which is what gives sentience to these hostless Fused spren and what allows them to be reborn in new host bodies anytime their current host dies.

Venli's Regal spren is corrupted, which makes her eyes glow red as well, but the Regal spren seems unattached to an Ancient soul, allowing Venli to keep her soul but have red eyes and an almost-Fused form (of power).  When Venli bonds with Timbre, Timbre holds the Regal spren captive so Venli can keep her form and can turn her eyes red at will.

Perhaps the burned out eyes of the spren-killed folks reflect that the spren burns their souls when touching them as a Shardblade?

Perhaps scratched out deadeyes represent the broken bond that breaks the spren's soul but can sometimes be repaired (Maya!!!!).

What do Sja-anat's eyes of glowing white holes represent?!!!

And, equally fascinating to me, what do the larkin's eyes of silver (one of the few substances that seem immune to Investiture) mean for a creature who eats Investiture?  What do Nale's larkin's sickly eyes mean?

There are some yellow Voidspren in Kholinar who attack anytime fabrials (descending as streaks of yellow light) and who lead Parshendi toward Kholinar.  And as others have pointed out, the Voidbinding chart shows yellow lightning.  So if we ever do see Parshendi with yellow eyes, I am thinking run, run, run!  

Edited by Wit Beyond Measure
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