So is Syl a kid, then?

[The Night Watcher]

Notum says that Syl is young of mind because of how long she's been asleep. Is that why she acts like a child? I always assumed the whimsy and child-like curiosity were either personality traits true to Syl or honorspren in general, but after seeing how serious Notum is, perhaps that's just her age? Does this mean she will mature as books pass?

[Bigmikey357 he/him]

Syl is more mature in CR where she has the access to all her experience. She's less aware in the PR but gains awareness as Kal progresses in Ideals. We see the same with Pattern as Shallan reestablishes her bond. As far as her childishness, I see at least some of that as her natural personality.

[Quantus he/him]

She's actually one of the oldest Honorspren around, as one of the few that were alive pre-Recreance.  It's why she gets the moniker of 'Ancient Daughter'.  She is from the first generation of Spren that the Stormfather created directly after Honor gave him that power (honor did it himself prior to that).

[Calderis he/him]

Considering that Spren are Cognitive entities, I think all that time in a coma means that yes, she's still young as Notum says. 

The lifespan of Spren though, being essentially infinite, means that I doubt we'll see her change all that much beyond what the Bond would do in itself. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Calderis

[The Night Watcher]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

Considering that Spren are Cognitive entities, I think all that time in a coma means that yes, she's still young as Notum says. 

The lifespan of Spren though, being essentially infinite, means that I doubt we'll see her change all that much beyond what the Bond would do in itself. 

And will the Bond promote indefinite changing of character over the course of her life, just as a human change over the course of their own? Or do you think there will be a limit to her knowledge? It seems like there are certain concepts that will always be outside the realm of spren understanding.

[+Invocation]

Just now, The Night Watcher said:

And will the Bond promote indefinite changing of character over the course of her life, just as a human change over the course of their own? Or do you think there will be a limit to her knowledge? It seems like there are certain concepts that will always be outside the realm of spren understanding.

I think the spren will lose the ability to change once the bond is gone, i.e. the Radiant dies. I think they'll be able to either recover those advances with a new bond or keep those and that becomes their new base.

[The Night Watcher]

1 minute ago, Invocation said:

I think the spren will lose the ability to change once the bond is gone, i.e. the Radiant dies. I think they'll be able to either recover those advances with a new bond or keep those and that becomes their new base.

Makes sense since even though spren are fearful of the Bond because of man's supposed dishonesty, they also seem to revere it for what it provides.

[Quantus he/him]

18 hours ago, Invocation said:

I think the spren will lose the ability to change once the bond is gone, i.e. the Radiant dies. I think they'll be able to either recover those advances with a new bond or keep those and that becomes their new base.

There will always be fundamental things that wont change, at the level that an Honorspren and a Highspren and a Cryptic will always have fundamentally different viewpoints.  But there's also definitely a process of learning and growth and maturity that is happening, and the Bond is very likely the mechanism that makes it possible.  In syl's case, she was changed by her first Bond (and the tragedy/pain of it) and I think that all the different moral conundrums Syl and Kaladin are facing are causing her to mature in her nuanced Understanding.  I don think that will go away or be reversed once the Bond goes away.  Granted she likely wouldnt remember any of it if she tries to stay in the material world without a Bond to support her mind, but if the Bond ended and she went back to Sahdesmare she'd be the new, more mature/experience version of herself.