Siah Aimians are former Dawnshards?

[Lightspine]

No real evidence here besides immortality, but i wanted to suggest the idea. I was wondering how Siah Aimians fit in with the puzzle when I realized they might have the same immortality as Hoid. Also, some of their abilities are reminiscent of the Returned (changing appearance) and Rysn seems to have Heightening. So there’s a tenuous link there. Thoughts?

Edited November 6, 2020 by Lightspine
Typos

[Criggleworth]

26 minutes ago, Lightspine said:

No real evidence here besides immortality, but i wanted to suggest the idea. I was wondering how Siah Aimians fit in with the puzzle when I realized they might have the same immortality as Hoid. Also, some of their abilities are reminiscent of the Returned (changing appearance) and Rysn seems to have Heightening. So there’s a tenuous link there. Thoughts?

Hm. An interesting idea. I suppose we can't dismiss it. 

But, I hold to the theory that the Siah are actually half human, half spren. By being partially Cognitive beings, I think it explains their immortality and their Returned like ability to change their appearance.

[FidesFortuna]

From the Picture on the wall I think that there are only 4 dawnshards

[Lightspine]

15 hours ago, FidesFortuna said:

From the Picture on the wall I think that there are only 4 dawnshards

Hence why I said former. Maybe you haven't seen Brandon's annotation for Dawnshard? (It's on Reddit!)

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid was a Dawnshard at some point in the deep past, and the reason he (even still) cannot physically harm people, or even eat meat, is related to the changes this made to his spirit. (Consider this the same fundamental principle as savanthood.) The few of you who have read Dragonsteel know that him being a Dawnshard was also the source of his immortality in that book, though the terms were different back then. (The word Dawnshard was never mentioned, for example--though the primary story of Dragonsteel (which is no longer cannon) was about several people who unwittingly become Dawnshards.)

And a preemptive RAFO to all questions on this point.

Dawnshard Annotations (Nov. 6, 2020)

I'm just saying that the Siah Aimians are people who, like Hoid, once held a Dawnshard but no longer do. I'm not implying that these Dawnshards were destroyed or their numbers otherwise being reduced. This WoB also mentions "several" people becoming Dawnshards besides Hoid.

On 11/6/2020 at 9:02 AM, Criggleworth said:

But, I hold to the theory that the Siah are actually half human, half spren. By being partially Cognitive beings, I think it explains their immortality and their Returned like ability to change their appearance.

I completely agree with them being partially Cognitive because of they have backwards shadows. I'm just not so sure about the "half spren" part of that. Like, how would that... happen? There are other ways to be closer to the Cogntive realm—Shallan, Jasnah, and (probably) Venli can use their powers to draw just as close. (Jasnah also had backwards shadows in the WoB prologue) (Also, WoB about backwards shadows here)

As for the changing appearance, I honestly have no idea. Some spren in the physical realm can change their appearance freely, like Syl, but others are more limited. I don't think Pattern can really change shape besides hovering and becoming a ball. Ivory can only change in size, Wyndle seems to change by growing and moving his vines around, and Timbre has never changed their appearance at all.