[Theory] The Voidbringers Explained

[Argent he/him]

Ever since we discovered that the small circles on the rear endsheet of The Way of Kings (what I call the Voidbringing chart) are symmetric around their centers, I've been looking for things to help me figure out how Voidbringing works - because it felt clear to me that there should be strong parallels with what we see on the front endsheet (the Surgebinding chart). The two are far too similar, so I believe they must be opposite in many ways. I think I finally have an elegant solution. But before I present it to you, a quick primer.

 

Surges and Surgebinders

We now know a lot about what the Surgebinding chart illustrates. There are ten Heralds around the borders. Each Herald corresponds to a big circle, enclosing a glyph - an Order of the Knights Radiant. Each big circle is connected to two small circles - the primal Surges members of that Order have access to. We now know the names of all the Heralds, all the Orders, and all the Surges, so there is no point talking about them, you can find the information elsewhere. I will provide only a list of all the Orders and Surges for quick reference.

 

Orders

Windrunners: Adhesion & Gravitation

Skybreakers: Gravitation & Division

Dustbirngers: Division & Abrasion

Edgedancers: Abrasion & Progression

Truthwatchers: Progression & Illumination

Lightweavers: Illumination & Transformation

Elsecallers: Transformation & Transportation

Willshapers: Transportation & Cohesion

Stonewards: Cohesion & Tension

Bondsmiths: Tension & Adhesion

 

Surges

Adhesion: The Surge of Pressure and Vacuum

Gravitation: The Surge of Gravity

Division: The Surge of Destruction and Decay

Abrasion: The Surge of Friction

Progression: The Surge of Growth and Healing, or Regrowth

Illumination: The Surge of Light, Sound, and Various Waveforms

Transformation: The Surge of Soulcasting

Transportation: The Surge of Motion and Realmatic Transition

Cohesion: The Surge of Strong Axial Interconnection

Tension: The Surge of Soft Axial Interconnection

 

Voids and Voidbringers

The most important part of my theory lies here.

 

At this point it's pretty reasonable to say that the Voidbringers are the Parshendi. Or, more specifically, the creatures of destruction remembered by the people of Roshar are the Listeners when they embrace certain forms. In other words - and this is a part of my claim - when we saw Eshonai take on stormform, we only saw one type of Voidbringers, the same way Kaladin is one type of the Knights Radiant. Windrunners are an Order of the Radiants; stormforms are a... something... of the Voidbringers. 

 

If this is true, then there are nine other types of Voidbringers we are yet to see - one for each big circle on the rear endsheet. Eshonai represents one... let's call them Voidorders (we really need some words other than "void"...) of the Voidbringers, but unlike the Knights Radiant, she has the option to switch her Voidorder. She can go out during a highstorm, discard her stormform, and embrace decayform, nightform, or smokeform, for example. So far those are the only voidforms we have seen, I believe, but my gut tells me there should be a total of ten of those.

 

So far so good. Now, let's tackle the small circles on the Voidbringing chart. Just like the big ones stand for Voidorders and are the opposite of the Radiants' Orders, the small ones are probably the powers, the Voids, each Voidorder has access to. These Voids would have to be something similar to the Surges, but can't be the same - but like much else, they can be their opposites. In fact, the way the Voids' glyphs are written supports this even further. Those glyphs are not just some asymmetric shapes, they are the Surges' glyphs, broken in half, and then put back together with one of the halves inverted, made its opposite. Considering how much emphasis is put on symmetry in Roshar, this looks like a pretty powerful symbol of not asymmetry, but of anti-symmetry instead. We've taken the Surges, something divine (as represented by their symmetry) and natural, and have turned them into an anathema. 

 

Still with me? Good. I won't speculate on what the Voids might be, though I suspect they will somehow end up mirroring the Surges. Instead, I will look at the different voidforms and make the claim that they stand opposite of the Radiants' Orders.

• Stormform, with its control over the winds (and lightning), sounds like the more hateful counterpart of the Windrunners.
• Nightform shares some of the future-telling capabilities Renarin, as a Truthwatcher, exhibits.
• Smokeform, "for hiding and slipping 'tween men," seems very similar to what Shallan can do with her Lightweaving.
• Decayform... will have to be put on hold for now. The Listener Song of Secrets is not very clear on what this form does, but it's possible that it opposes the Edgedancers ("watch where you walk, your toes to tread") or the Willshapers ("destroys the souls of dreams"). The Edgedancers are a good candidate because of Nale's remark about member of that Order gracefully running along ropes, but the Willshapers' name is more appropriate for the good counterpart of something that destroys the souls of dreams. Whatever that means.

The colors on the two endsheets' big glyphs also match, so we could treat that as a piece of extra evidence that we are thinking along the right lines.

 

So there you have it, folks. Voidbringing. I wish I could figure something out about the Voids, because they feel like I should be able to see them... but I can't. Not fully, at least. If Stormform is the counterpart to the Windrunners, then its powers should be somewhat similar. And in a way they are - we see Eshonai & co. call a highstorm (which involves strong winds, which are created by - among other things - difference in pressure; so there's a different form of Adhesion) and throw lightning around (which could be the Voidbringers' answer to gravity - Windrunners get Gravitation, Stormforms get Electromagnetism). The other Voidorders' Voids kind of sound similar, yet opposite, to their respective Orders' Surges, but we haven't seen enough for me to come to a conclusion. Is Smokeform (anti-Progression & anti-Transformation) the form creating illusions, blinding enemies, and summoning darkness? And even if it is, how would the Transformation Void even work? This is not to say that I don't like those anti-Surges, but we really need more information for a more conclusive theory.

 

TL;DR

The forms of power the Parshendi received from their gods are what transforms them from Listeners to Voidbringers. Each form (stormform, smokeform, etc.) opposes one Order of the Knights Radiant; Stormform, for example, seems to share the same abilities theme as the Windrunners. The powers those anti-Orders, Voidorders as I call them, also seem opposite to the Surges, but we don't have enough evidence. The term "Voidbringer" is about as descriptive as the term "Knight Radiant" - both are used to denote only one type of the entire category (all Windrunners are Radiants, but not all Radiants are Windrunners; all Stormforms are Voidbringers, but not all Voidbringers are Stormforms). 

 

I keep wanting to rename this thread to something more descriptive, but everything I come up with sounds like the name of a research paper. Voids, Voidbringing, and Voidbringers: The Nature of Odium's Investiture and its Applications to and by the Listeners...

Edited March 19, 2014 by Argent

[Ryshadium she/her]

I like this idea. It makes a great deal of sense. I don't have much to add, just that the Voidbringing chart has line connections that look like lightning, which connotates storms, obviously, so I see a correlation there too.

Any ideas on the identity of the woman on the chart and how she might relate?

[Argent he/him]

I deliberately left her out. If I continue the parallels, she would have to counter the Heralds, which would make her the Unmade (collectively), as I understand things right now... I just don't know enough to make a guess that's both reasonable and educated. I have plenty that are only reasonable or educated, but not both though

[Ryshadium she/her]

It's late, my kids are asleep, and the sky is awake, so I'm awake. And in the mood for both unreasonable and uneducated conjecture.

[Seloun]

Seems pretty reasonable. Couple of notes:

- Since the original Surge symbols have horizontal symmetry, it's really just that one half of the Surge symbol is inverted vertically.

- The color of the void Orders corresponds to the KR order colors.

- Some of the void Surges do not have linking lines to their adjacent surges (though this might be simply due to the Order lines having priority).

- The two center void Orders do not have a linkage to their correlated void-Surges. This is harder to explain than the previous as artistic license (in the other cases, the lines are over the background 'splash' graphics).

[Chaos he/him]

Awesome theory. I like it. Makes a ton of sense to me. I think I will espouse this one. Nicely done.

[Ryshadium she/her]

Any thoughts on the large red gem in the center and how it correlates to the center of the surge binding chart?

[banestar]

Any thoughts on the large red gem in the center and how it correlates to the center of the surge binding chart?

 

Well, there's the possibility that it refers to how spren need to be captured in some way in order to access the different forms. For the first stormform, Eshonai needed to break the gem with the trapped stormform voidspren in order to make the change.

[The Count he/him]

So how would Thunderclasts and Midnight essence fall into this?

 

It has never been explicitly stated that Thunderclasts are a type of voidbringer but most, I think, assume that they are. They clearly are not a Listener form though.

 

Similarly the midnight essence are not Voidbringers (according to the KR in Dalinar's Starfalls vision from tWoK).

 

Could both of these monsters be created by one of the Voidforms you mention above?

[Senor Feesh]

- Some of the void Surges do not have linking lines to their adjacent surges (though this might be simply due to the Order lines having priority).

- The two center void Orders do not have a linkage to their correlated void-Surges. This is harder to explain than the previous as artistic license (in the other cases, the lines are over the background 'splash' graphics).

 

That's pretty interesting actually. Also worth noting that the bottom two and top two Voidsurges have a line connecting them, as well as connecting each with the next Voidsurge in the sequence. Compared with the rest of this chart and the KR chart this is unusual, as all other surges are linked only to Orders.

It may or may not also be relevant that these four Voidsurges are surrounded by spiky-bubble-things extending from the central gemstone where the two 'surgeless' Orders are on the diagram.

[Lightflame he/him]

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6844-how-do-the-parshendi-forms-connect-to-the-surgesdivine-attributes/

 

I posted something like this a few days back.

 

Anyway, I'm going to give my thoughts on a small piece of this.

 

I don't think the Voidish forms are Voidbringers. Rather, I think that only Stormform Parshendi are Voidbringers. The Stormforms create the Everstorm, which makes the other Parshendi Voidish. Thus, they "bring the void". The other Voidish Forms are the main warriors of Odium, and each of them is a counterpart to a Radiant Order.

 

This is somewhat compounded by the Epigraphs of Part 2. Decayform, Smokeform, and Nightform are sung of in the Song of Secrets, but Stormform is sung of in a different song, the Song of Winds. As well, the songs refer to Decayform, Smokeform, and Nightform as forms of the gods, but of Stormform merely says that it "brings the gods their night".

 

Also, it's mentioned in The Way of Kings that in superstitions, it's said that Voidbringers enter a man's heart and turn him evil. If humans and Parshendi used to coexist with knowledge of each other and possibly in peace, then the Voidbringers would have been seen as the agent that changed the Parshendi into the evil warriors of the void. However, as humans forget about the Parshendi, they still remembered the Voidbringers turning friends evil, so they thought Voidbringers turned you evil.

 

So once again, I think that the Voidbringers are Stormform, and the rest of the Voidish forms are the counterparts to the Radiants.

[Argent he/him]

Seems pretty reasonable. Couple of notes:

- Since the original Surge symbols have horizontal symmetry, it's really just that one half of the Surge symbol is inverted vertically.

- The color of the void Orders corresponds to the KR order colors.

- Some of the void Surges do not have linking lines to their adjacent surges (though this might be simply due to the Order lines having priority).

- The two center void Orders do not have a linkage to their correlated void-Surges. This is harder to explain than the previous as artistic license (in the other cases, the lines are over the background 'splash' graphics).

 

Hmm, yes. I will update the original post to describe the Voids' summetry better and to make note of the matching colors. I am pretty stumped about why there seem to be missing lines... 

 

Any thoughts on the large red gem in the center and how it correlates to the center of the surge binding chart?

 

At this point I am treating it as an artistic thing. It's probably not one, but we don't really know anything about the presumed connection between the larkin Surgebinding, so it's kind of hard to draw a parallel to the gemstone and Voidbringing. @banestar, the part about needing a gem to capture the voidspren, and then breaking that gem, it's not necessary. The Parshendi can change forms by simply attracting the spren they want, the gem Eshonai used is a convenience. 

 

 

So how would Thunderclasts and Midnight essence fall into this?

 

Could both of these monsters be created by one of the Voidforms you mention above?

 

I always assumed both creatures were artificial constructs. The form that represents the anti-Stonewards could be the one to create the Thunderclasts, at least. Either that, or one of the forms with access to the anti-Transformation surge. 

 

 

I posted something like this a few days back.

...

 

I think I remember seeing that thread. I obviously see and explain things a little differently, but I have to agree that stormform does feel a little weird. On one hand, I don't see any noteworthy problems with your idea. On the other, I don't see any (more significant ones) with mine. So it's very likely that we both have incomplete, but somewhat overlapping pieces of the entire picture. 

Edited March 19, 2014 by Argent

[Edgedancer he/him]

The theory sound good overall.

However I would map the Stormform as the "anti-Bondsmiths." By summoning the Everstorm they are somewhat of the Odium equvialent to the Stormfather. Furthermore, stormform-Eshonai turns into a tyrants, which is exactly what the Bondsmith Dalinar wants to avoid. So guiding turns into enslaving.

This also brings me to an interesting contrast between Surgbinders and Voidbringers. Nahel-spren get attracted by a persoanlity type, while the odium-spren force a personality on their host.

[Argent he/him]

Yea, it looks like I missed a parallel or two - though the personality thing and the colors are supporting evidence, not establishing. 

 

Regarding the Bondsmiths, I wanted to stay away from them. We don't know anything about their powers, and while you argue your case well, my entire theory is based on (displays of) power. And from the surges' perspective, I think anti-Windrunners makes more sense.

[Magnanimous Taz]

I agree with all of this argent. I do feel however that we should make a distinction between the parshendi and the voidbringers. The parshendi were able to choose to take stormform and become "the voidbringers" while others (rlaine et al) declined to do so. We still haven't seen what effect the everstorm will have on the parshmen but I don't have any doubt that they will be forcibly transformed. So maybe I just talked myself out of my own opinion lol. At any rate we should remember that there is a section of the parshendi who still resist the old gods and I feel that saying that they are ALL voidbringers is inaccurate. They do all possess the capacity. We still have yet to see what happens to eshonai and whether or not she will be able to cast off the stormspren.

[Argent he/him]

Oh, naturally, I am not saying that the Parshendi are the Voidbringers. That's not the point I am trying to make at all, I completely agree with you. The Parshendi are no more Voidbringers than the humans are Radiants.

[Crysanja]

if the stormform parshendi summoned the everstorm, then i think they are not the voidbringers.

 

the voidbringers seem to be some kind of creature, which was encountered in the past.

if thouse stormform parshendi were the voidbringers, they could have summoned the everstorm in the past.

 

 

so this stormform is either something new or the number of parshendi in stormform was never high eough to summon the everstorm

[Grayv he/him]

Could the "large Spren" in Dalinar's vision be a parshendi in smokeform? Could the bigger symbols in the voidbinding chart be an Odium Spren that grants two forms depending on the song/rhythm they sing? This train of thought has a lot of holes, I know, but the stanza for smokeform talks about being able to spy, and Dalinar himself says that what that creature in his vision did was amazing because it allowed you to get behind enemy lines.

[Eejit]

I agree with some of this, but I suspect the voidbinding chart may be broader and it may in fact be a "type of Parsh" chart.

 

Perhaps half of the forms are the "mundane" ones like numbleform, warriorform, scholarform - all of which are of Cultivation and spren associated with her. The other half would then be Stormform, smokeform etc which are of Odium and spren associated with him.

 

We know that the Parsh bond with spren when assuming different forms. So far only one has shown any kind of "magical" ability, Stormform. However, the "natural" forms (other no-form, the Parshmen slaves) than could pre-date Odium's arrival, and be a result of the Parsh's ancient relationship with Cultivation and the Spren in general.

[Magnanimous Taz]

@Eejit I definitely agree that the other "magical" forms that the parshendi can take will follow a similar pattern to the radiants but with a mixture of cultivation and odium. I'm conflicted on whether or not the mundane forms are a part of that. I feel as though those forms (war, scholar, etc) are due to bonding with the mundane spren we see like glory spren, creation spren, and the like. That may contradict the "betrayal" of the spren that the parshendi allege.

[Eejit]

@Eejit I'm conflicted on whether or not the mundane forms are a part of that. I feel as though those forms (war, scholar, etc) are due to bonding with the mundane spren we see like glory spren, creation spren, and the like. That may contradict the "betrayal" of the spren that the parshendi allege.

 

Do we know that the spren of the "mundane" forms are mindless if in Shinovar/bonded? There could be a situation similar to windspren/honorspren where "cousins" with different potentials are almost indistinguishable when in the physical world.

[Rybal]

I think we're looking at Voidbringers in the wrong way. So much in Roshar (particularly in Vorinism) is based on symmetry and I think that the Parshendi are just one faction of Voidbringer, similar to the way that Windrunners are one Faction of Radiant. I would equate the Unmade as relatively equal to the Heralds in this hierarchy. (So Heralds/Unmade and KR/Voidbringers)

 

I think that we've been pushed so hard into thinking of the Parshendi as the Voidbringers that we are also missing the big picture. I'm reasonably certain that it is at least a partial misdirect.

[grinachu]

There is also mention in WOR of Flameform as one of the levels of Voidbinding.

 

I also think we need to think about the change in the rhythyms of the Parshendi and how that fits into the change brought about by Odiumspren.  

[Argent he/him]

so this stormform is either something new or the number of parshendi in stormform was never high eough to summon the everstorm

 

I've been working under the assumption that it's the latter. It's been 4,500 years since the last Desolation - plenty of time for the Parshendi population to grow to large numbers. Previous Desolations did a wonderful job at keeping both human and Parshendi population low and technologically stagnant. This time things are different.

 

 

Could the "large Spren" in Dalinar's vision be a parshendi in smokeform? ... ... ...

 

Maybe, but I don't think so. The Radiant in the vision was pretty confident they were dealing with a corrupted spren. 

 

 

I agree with some of this, but I suspect the voidbinding chart may be broader and it may in fact be a "type of Parsh" chart. ... ... ...

 

I think it mirrors the Surgebinding chart far too closely for this to be the case. If I read the songs epigraphs right, the Parshendi had no form other than dullform and slaveform before their "gods" helped them out. Some of the forms they gave them were pretty safe, presumably because they didn't come stuffed with power - warform, for example; others gave the listeners power similar to the Surges human Surgebinders had access to, but cost them their freedom, essentially - see stormform. So I don't think any forms could've predated Odium's arrival.

 

I think we're looking at Voidbringers in the wrong way. ... ... ...

 

I see where you are coming from, but I think I address this appropriately. I use the word Voidbringers the same way I use Knights Radiant - an umbrella label, if you will. So just like the Windrunners are members of the Knights Radiant (who are not composed entirely of Windrunners), the Stormform Parshendi are members of the Voidbringers (who are not composed entirely of Stormforms).

 

 

There is also mention in WOR of Flameform as one of the levels of Voidbinding.

 

I also think we need to think about the change in the rhythyms of the Parshendi and how that fits into the change brought about by Odiumspren.  

 

I'll take a look at this Flameform. As for the new Rhythms, I had a theory somewhere (EDIT: here it is!) about what I called "Shardic wavelengths" - I believe all Rhythms would fall under that.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Argent

[Grayv he/him]

The riverspren was corrupted, but they called the bigger shadow an "escort" and it looked like "a swimming person, but like a shadow".

Edit: spelling

Edited March 19, 2014 by Grayv