Why do higher Spren like humans ?

[Friendshipspren]

So the Listener songs say thay Spren betrayed them for humans. 

But why ? 

I mean I see why  emotion Spren which are basically analogues to the animal kingdom would like humans better.

But why would higher sapiant civilizated Spren do that ? 

They are attracted to concepts like honor , lies/truth , love of novelty , justice , etc. 

The Parshendi are just as good as humans there. 

From the povs we have seen that Eshonsi was as honorable as kal and that Venli is a Willshaper at the first ideal . 

We have met other parshendi who were just as complex as humans. 

So what does that listener song mean ? 

[Honorless]

I think it has something to do with the Rhythms. The Parsh people attune to a Rhythm corresponding to their emotion and it somehow makes them less open to spren or the Cognitive in lieu of the Spiritual perhaps? "Though broth are we, their meat is men" indicates something about human emotions was more compelling to the spren, and not just the non sapient lesser spren. The Listeners remark on this too, feeling humans are very open with their emotions whereas they are more controlled. The Parshendi can attune to different Rhythms to affect their emotions.

Fascination could've also played a role in it. Humans would've been new and different, presumably. Plus, for whatever reason the Honor-Odium switch happened with the humans and the Dawnsingers, which we don't know much about.

[+Krox]

I think Eshonai at some point noted that the humans wear all their emotions more than Singers, and thinks it is due to their lack of rythms. Humans needs to smile, laugh, emote more bodily than the Parsh who can just attune to a rythm to convey their emotion.

Edit: Found the quote.

Quote

Humans didn't have a choice. They hadn't lost their forms as she'd first assumed; they only had one. Forever in mateform, workform, and warform all at once. And they wore their emotions on their faces far more than listeners. Oh, Eshonai's people would smile, laugh, cry. But not like these Alethi.

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Krox

[CodeMnke]

Quick question on that, I am trying to think back through the scenes .... have we seen Timbre outside the gemheart since the bonding at all? Now even if not that might just be because of the situation but would certainly be interesting if they were trapped 

[Friendshipspren]

4 hours ago, CodeMnke said:

Quick question on that, I am trying to think back through the scenes .... have we seen Timbre outside the gemheart since the bonding at all? Now even if not that might just be because of the situation but would certainly be interesting if they were trapped 

Ah yeah. That could be possible. Although it could be that Venli and her are being cautious is all or that she needs to actively suppress the voidspren. 

 

Hmmm it would be interesting if singers couldn't manifest Shardblades 

[CodeMnke]

More random thoughts on this .... Thinking along this line assuming they can’t leave it may not even be permanent, and that may also be part of the issue. The singers change forms anytime they want (with the right conditions of course), meaning rebonding is common. This might not necessarily mean ‘deadeye’ spreen it might just mean the bond itself with singers is weaker allowing them to change bonds. BUT that would still leave the spree without a host and ‘mindless’ on this side if they decided to change.

Even if they are not ‘trapped’ this could still be the issue, and might be why we haven’t seen shardblades. IF they are trapped it certainly adds another layer of undesirability

Edited October 11, 2020 by CodeMnke

[Wandering Investor]

I think the issue may be that human's have much deeper and larger emotions, or maybe a larger cognitive/soul aspect. Singer's aren't a single being, look at how much of a change the spren has on them, and even the tones abilities to change their mood. Singers are part singer, part spren, and part Roshar/tones. But spren are bonding to just the singer part, so its bonding to a person vs bonding to 1/3 of a person (probably larger than a third, but a smaller than what a human could offer).

Quote

"Though broth are we, their meat is men." (Song of Spren, 9th stanza)

And another point to support this theory is that the two singer that attracted spren, Eshonei and Venli, both show a larger degree of personality (maybe 'self' would work better) then the other singers (they are main characters, but still). Eshonei talks about activity challenging the built in impulses of the various forms, and Venli seems pretty much Venli in the three forms we see her in.