[OB] The Voice

[IllNsickly he/him]

3 hours ago, Vortaan said:

How does the phrase "distant but demanding" put anyone in mind of Tien? He wasn't demanding in the least. I wonder if the voice was another potential windrunner somewhere else

Just an aside here, but I remember going to an Opera in Denver, CO. YEARS ago...

Absolutely the most beautiful singing i have ever experienced in person. To my untrained ear, every single note perfect. Start to finish, demanded every moment of my attention.

Demanding does not necessarily carry negative connotations.

[Wandering Investor]

Tien makes the most sense, which the demand part being Syl's nature compelling her in such a way that she couldn't ignore Tien. 

Manipulation by Cultivation comes in second, although I don't feel that there is groundwork in place for that to make a good story. 

[Subvisual Haze]

On 4/18/2018 at 9:18 PM, ZenBossanova said:

Consider the description of the voice. 

How does this sound like Tien?

Little brothers, even Tien, don't sound like that. 

Syl's reference to a song here is in the same paragraph as her teasing Kaladin for being too literal in his interpretation of her "blood" comment.  "Song" here doesn't necessarily mean a literal sound wave, Syl's probably using "song" as a reference to someone's spirit/soul/personality/etc.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Subvisual Haze

[Thunderclast]

I'm pretty sure it was Tien, because in the letter Mraize sends to Shallan about Helaran he states that the only member of Amaram's army to bond a spren had been eliminated. Tien and Cenn are really the only people we read about before Kaladin's enslavement.

[Just another guyn he/him]

1 hour ago, Thunderclast said:

I'm pretty sure it was Tien, because in the letter Mraize sends to Shallan about Helaran he states that the only member of Amaram's army to bond a spren had been eliminated. Tien and Cenn are really the only people we read about before Kaladin's enslavement.

What about Amaram, members of kaladins squad, and the other captain who were all mentioned by name?

[Jofwu he/him]

I just skimmed through all of this and I don't think I saw what is, in my opinion, the most obvious answer.

Quote

OB ch. 6

Syl walked up to him in the air. “They’re like I remember them.”

“Remember them?” Kaladin whispered. “Syl, you never knew me when I lived here.”

“That’s true,” she said.

“So how can you remember them?” Kaladin said, frowning.

“Because I do,” Syl said, flitting around him. “Everyone is connected, Kaladin. Everything is connected. I didn’t know you then, but the winds did, and I am of the winds.”

[...]

She landed in the air before him and became a young woman. “Besides, there was . . . another voice. Pure, with a song like tapped crystal, distant yet demanding . . .” She smiled, and zipped away.

I think the voice is Oroden's.

The connection Syl is referring to is Spiritual. Time has little meaning in the conversation. That's kind of the point really--that Syl knows these people even though she's never actually met them.

When she smiles and zips away it's because she goes looking for him.