[OB] The Girl Who Looked Up, and what she stole

[Wandering Investor]

This thought occurred to me whilst browsing the wiki. I saw that Shinovar has no spren, so it occurred to me that what if the girl didn't steal stormlight, she stole a spren?

This would explain why the Parshendi think the spren betrayed them. The girl comes along and find a spren. The spren realize the emotions humans feel are much much stronger, on account of Parshedi emotions partially coming from the Rhythms. So the emotions the parshendi feel are only partially theirs, and they're largely artificial due to the Parshendi attuning what they want to feel. This would by comparison make the human's emotions much stronger and more primal/real. The spren then come to the humans en mass. 

This may have been seen as a betrayal from the spren on top of a Human going where she wasn't allowed, and could be one of the things that led to the original conflict. Thoughts?

[MountainKing]

That's a ready great idea, but it doesn't explain why there Soren aren't in shinovar know after meeting the humans

[Wandering Investor]

A good point. It could be that men starting adventuring out to see the spren. This would also increase the conflict by humans leaving their designated area.

[StormingTexan he/him]

I like it. I assumed it was Stormlight she somehow brought back but a spren makes a lot of sense as well as the catalyst to make the highspren change sides. 

[Wandering Investor]

I've been looking for something that sparked the conflict because a few things didn't add up. Why create Shinovar for people if you're at war, and in the epilogue of OB Hoid talks about dancing with one of the Voidbringers a long time ago. To me this indicates that humans settled peacefully, at least for awhile. The story seems to tell of a time when something major changed, and the spren changing sides could be a major game changer. Also, higher* spren. Highspren are a specific sub race of higher spren. 

[Strifelover]

I think it's safe to assume that the humans and singers/parsh weren't initially at war. In Eila Stele it says that they didn't want to take the humans in, but were commanded by their gods, and that they're traitors with tongues of sweetness but minds that lust for blood. To me, that sounds like the singers were reasonably distrustful of humans but took them in and gave them Shinovar. The humans initially played nicely, but subsequently betrayed the singers' reluctant trust.

To go a bit further on the OP's idea of the girl who looked up, the story could be almost literal. Some human ventured beyond Shinovar and formed a bond with a Spren, which allowed them to draw in Stormlight. Thus that human brought light into their world of darkness, which also gave them the power to conquer and expand beyond Shinovar which is what their minds lusted for.

The singers feel totally betrayed by their gods, because they did everything asked/commanded of them and yet Spren chose to bond with humans because they're more conducive to bonding for whatever reason. That led directly to the humans being able to attack the singers, and they had no choice but to turn to Odium seeking the power to fight back.

[Cognitive Shadow he/him]

I think this has merit, although I would wait for a little more information about what happened leading to the start of the desolations and the betrayal of the spren. This strikes me as a good idea though, and I cant wait to see how it turns out,

[Willshaping Crasher]

To be honest, this makes little sense to me. Steal a spren?  I don't think you could steal a cognitive realm being.  In addition, the spren don't start bonding with humans until after the first desolation and the creation of the heralds.  The spren mimic the surges given by the honorblades.

 

[Strifelover]

5 hours ago, Willshaping Crasher said:

To be honest, this makes little sense to me. Steal a spren?  I don't think you could steal a cognitive realm being.  In addition, the spren don't start bonding with humans until after the first desolation and the creation of the heralds.  The spren mimic the surges given by the honorblades.

 

Well remember this is in the context of a story, so it's intentionally written for dramatic narrative. I figure that 'stealing' a Spren is more like attracting one to bond with you when it's supposedly forbidden, not like a human is just throwing a burlap sack around a Spren and dashing off. 

You make a good point about the Spren only granting access to the surges after the creation of the Honorblades, which presumably would be after the first 'desolation' where humans are the Voidbringers and into the next one when the Singers are. I wonder though if this would still allow for Spren to bond with people and grant them access to drawing in Stormlight. We see that Kaladin is still pretty potent before he ever starts accessing the surges.

So given what you point out, maybe as the humans start to expand out of Shinovar they attract Spren, who want to bond with them because it gives them greater sapience. This in turn gives humans access to investiture and the ability to draw in Stormlight, but not yet surges. Even with that the humans become a much bigger threat and are now able to capitalize on their 'lust for blood.' Then the Singers feel betrayed, turn to Odium and blah blah desolations, etc.

[StormingTexan he/him]

8 hours ago, Willshaping Crasher said:

To be honest, this makes little sense to me. Steal a spren?  I don't think you could steal a cognitive realm being.  In addition, the spren don't start bonding with humans until after the first desolation and the creation of the heralds.  The spren mimic the surges given by the honorblades.

 

I agree with @Strifelover that "steal" was probably used from drama. I do not think the girl had to bond a spren merely attract one to cause curious humans to want to expand out of their land and see the world. Unfortunately just like the real world exploration often leads to conquering.