Mayalaran

[Mayalaran]

Any Ideas/speculations on Maya and her past/future would be much appreciated. Iḿ deeply interested in her, and will probably accept even the most stupid/wild sounding ideas.

One I liked was given by honorless and they put it as, ¨Maya will say the words and heal herself and learn to summon Adolin as a Shardblade! Adolin will be very confused about this development but very supportive.¨

Love this idea.

Again. More ideas/theories will be appreciated. Thanks!

[Haze]

Maya is going to turn out to be a classical chair gardener and wyndle freaks out when he meets his idol

[GroundPetrel]

Whatever happens, I bet it will be soft and gentle and beautiful and will involve Adolin supporting Maya as she regains her mind/sanity.  Hopefully there will be a trip to one of Dr. Kaladin's therapy sessions at some point!  

[Seloun]

Quote

Maya’s howls came to a crescendo of anguish, then she fell silent, gasping for breath. Weak. Too weak.

Take it, Adolin thought to her. Take some of my strength.

She looked right at him, and despite her scratched-out eyes, she saw him. Adolin felt something, a warmth deep within him. Maya drew in air, filling her lungs. Her expression livid as she gathered all of her strength, she prepared to shout again. Adolin braced himself for the screech. Her mouth opened.

And she spoke.

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

This feels highly reminiscent of the scene in WoR:

Quote

Kaladin felt exhausted. At least he’d stood up.

It was the end. The journey had come and gone.

Shouting. Kaladin heard it now, as if it were closer.

He is mine! a feminine voice said. I claim him.

...

“Kaladin!” Syl’s voice. “Stretch forth thy hand!” She zipped around him, suddenly visible as a ribbon of light.

“I can’t . . .” Kaladin said, drained.

“Stretch forth thy hand!”

He reached out a trembling hand. Moash hesitated.

...

Kaladin gasped a deep breath as if coming fully awake for the first time. The entire hallway went black as the Stormlight in every lamp down the length of the hall winked out.

For a moment, they stood in darkness.

Then Kaladin exploded with Light.

Sanderson, Brandon. Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 1015). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

I think that these scenes are parallels of each other, except the role of the donor/recipient (or spren/Radiant) are essentially inverted. The way the nahel bond and Investure in general appears to work is that it fills the broken gaps in the person (and this is why people have to be 'broken' to be able to bond); normally, spren are unbreakable in this regard, but something changed in the Recreance that allow spren (at least Radiant spren) to themselves also 'crack'.

Some references:

Quote

“We’re spren,” Syl said. “We’re forces. You can’t kill us completely. Just . . . sort of.”

“That’s perfectly clear.”

“It’s perfectly clear to us,” Syl said. “You’re the strange ones. Break a rock, and it’s still there. Break a spren, and she’s still there. Sort of. Break a person, and something leaves. Something changes. What’s left is just meat. You’re weird.”

Sanderson, Brandon. Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 1044). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

This is Syl's understanding, and for pretty much all of history, this has been accurate. But something changed during the Recreance that let spren die/break like humans:

Quote

It was coming to us, the Sibling said. Consequences once chased only humans. With the Recreance, the consequences became ours as well. You have simply sealed that truth as eternal.

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

Regarding the needing to be 'broken':

Quote

“They say you have to be broken,” Lopen said, glancing toward his spren, who made a few loops of excitement, then shot off to hide again. Lopen would need to go looking for the little guy—he did enjoy the game. “You know that tall woman, the king’s sister? The chortana with the glare that could break a Shardblade? She says that the power has to get into your soul somehow. So I’ve been trying to cry a lot, and moan about my life being so terrible, but I think the Stormfather knows I’m lying. Hard to act sad when you’re the Lopen.”

Sanderson, Brandon. Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive (p. 1208). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

So the Maya and the deadeyes are all 'broken' in a way spren couldn't break before the Recreance, because of something a Bondsmith (who are implied to be able to change fundamental laws of the world) changed by (or during) capturing BAM. What I believe is that the deadeyes require a reverse Nahel bond so someone else can repair their broken souls, in the same way the Nahel bond can 'repair' Radiants:

Quote

“Radiants break too,” Kaladin whispered. “But then, fortunately, we fill the cracks with something stronger. Come on. We need to protect the people in that tower. You in your way. Me in mine.”

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

The problem I think is that the Nahel bond isn't intended to flow in the other direction. This is I think the problem with Adolin trying to 'power' Maya - the connection just isn't efficient. The solution, I think, is Renarin: I believe that the corrupted Nahel bond does run the opposite direction:

Quote

“I’m not sure I should say. I know I told you to come talk to me, but … I vacillate. The things I see, they’re of him, right? I think he shows me what he wants. That’s why I saw you becoming his champion.” He glanced down at his bowl. “Glys isn’t convinced the visions are bad. He says we’re something new, and he doesn’t think the visions are specifically from Odium—though perhaps his desires taint what we see.”

...

Glys, who preferred to hide within Renarin, grew excited. He’d captured this vision as it came, so they could study it. Renarin wasn’t quite so enthusiastic. It would be so much easier if he were like other Radiants.

...

Around Renarin, the stained glass windows began to crumble. It took Stormlight and effort by Glys to re-create them—and he was plainly getting tired. Gradually, Renarin’s world became normal.

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

Note that it's Glys that captured the vision, and Glys is the one that is implied to have created the images using Stormlight. Note that Renarin can't create illusions like other Truthwatchers:

Quote

Renarin claimed the spren was trustworthy, but something was odd about his powers. They had managed to recruit several standard Truthwatchers—and they could create illusions like Shallan. Renarin couldn’t do that. He could only summon lights, and they did strange, unnatural things sometimes.…

Sanderson, Brandon. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive) . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

So I believe when Sja-anat corrupts Radiant spren, she makes them able to invert the bond so that Investure flows from the human to the spren. I think this is what will happen to Maya and Adolin - Sja-anat will be able to change the bond so that Adolin can 'power' Maya much as with Renarin and Glys, becoming an example of a Voidbound Radiant.

[Eldergod3]

What if Adolin seeks out the Nightwatcher to heal Maya?

[Leuthie]

Spren seek to bond Physical beings. Classical bonds involve a gemheart and lower level spren and result in large Physical changes and minor Cognitive ones (Warform makes one a bit more aggressive, Larkin gain a measure of intelligence when bonded, etc). Higher level spren seek bonds, too. Since they're much more complicated Cognitive beings, the bonds result in a much more complicated set of changes. With no gemheart, the Physical changes are mostly in the spren itself, allowing it more complicated Physical forms. Since high level spren are direct creations of Honor, Cultivation and Odium, they impart the ability to hold and use the Light that powers them (typically Stormlight because it's the most ubiquitous free Investiture on Roshar). They also impart access to the raw surges that the spren is a manifestation of.

This access to the surges had to be controlled, so Ishar and Tanavast placed a series of barriers and restrictions on it. These are the Nahel Bonds Oaths and Ideals.

But the Bonds themselves are natural and probably occurred prior to the creation of the Orders and Oaths.

And the Bonds work both ways. As Kaladin gets mired in depression, so does Syl. As Dalinar's bond has progressed, the Stormfather has become less and less anti-social (I also have a pet theory that Stormfather prefers Singers to humans due to him being theirs long before he was made a spren of Honor, which was supported by a few scenes with Venli and Eshonai in ROW) As they progress through the Ideals, the spren gain more Physical abilities, more access to themselves and their abilities while in the Physical Realm, and become more like their bondmates.

So a spren and a human in close proximity for a period of time will begin a bond by their very natures. Adolin has bonded Maya as a sword for a long time, and he reinforced this bond by actually interacting with his sword as though it was more than a sword. Maya's nature as a spren that wants to bond with a sapient Physical being resulted in as much of a bond as could be formed.

It's obvious to me that deadeyes aren't dead spren. They are the closest to dead that spren had believed possible (anti-Stormlight is coming). Syl's speech about spren dying ("You’re the strange ones. Break a rock, and it’s still there. Break a spren, and she’s still there. Sort of. Break a person, and something leaves. Something changes. What’s left is just meat. You’re weird.") still holds. Nothing left the deadeyes. There was no soul that went into the Beyond leaving a husk behind. There is simply a loss of Cognitive ability similar to parshmen. We are getting closer to knowing that a Connection was broken when Ba-Ado-Mishram was captured. This Connection exists naturally but is replaced by the Nahel Bond. When the Bond is broken, this Connection isn't replaced. It was replaced prior to the capturing of BAM.

So Maya is missing a Connection that was in place before the Recreance. This Connection is being replaced by the new bond with Adolin. The bond is being driven by the Physical participant rather than the spren, so it will progress slowly. But it's progressing. Also, Maya won't get huge bursts of light or amazing magical abilities because Adolin doesn't have access to those. But Adolin does have a Cognitive presence and a Connection to share. The big question is whether or not it's possible for Maya to share back. Will Adolin start getting some limited Stormlight usage when the bond progresses enough? Or will the progress be ruined by renewed Connection when Shallan frees BAM?

[Mayalaran]

I love what Iḿ getting. Thank you all! I love the idea about Sja-anat. Very meticulously put together and well though!. Can wait to see if it proves true! Hope it does. Also hope Maya becomes a wonderful gardener!

[Shob the Voidbringer]

i think that when BAM is freed, all deadeyes will be able to be revived, and Maya will have a strong enough bond to be revived virtually immediately

[Lightdancer]

On 12/9/2020 at 5:46 AM, Mayalaran said:

¨Maya will say the words and heal herself and learn to summon Adolin as a Shardblade! Adolin will be very confused about this development but very supportive.¨

I want this so much.

[Leuthie]

From tonight's livestream paraphrased:

"There should be a relationship here that reminds you of something you've seen in the Cosmere."

This was in relation to deadeyes and how something is going on with them.

My first thought was the Hoed and other Reod Elantrians:

Spoiler

A change in land shape resulted in a broken Aon and the magical Elantrians becoming, basically, zombies.

We've already been led to believe that the capturing of BAM created a situation where broken Oaths resulted in deadeye spren. Has the DisConnection of BAM from Roshar has led to the Roshar equivalent of a broken Aon, and the ReConnecting of BAM would fix the "Aon" and instantly bring back all deadeyes?

[Shob the Voidbringer]

i don't think all deadeyes would instantly be brought back, because when BAM was captured, not all spren were turned into deadeyes immediately 

[Leuthie]

4 hours ago, Shob the Voidbringer said:

i don't think all deadeyes would instantly be brought back, because when BAM was captured, not all spren were turned into deadeyes immediately 

Neither were all singers turned to parshmen. The Listeners were fine. The Listeners refused to bond spren and ran away. They lived in dullform for a long enough time to simply forget about forms.

Spren that were bonded weren't affected. Spren that were bonded weren't affected until those bonds were broken.

Only people that had undergone the Shaod were affected by the change in Aon Rao. They were all fixed as soon as the broken Aon was fixed.

In terms of Connection, there is a Connection issue with deadeye spren. There was a Connection issue with the Shaod after the Reod. When the Aon Rao was fixed, the Connection was fixed and the Elantrians were fixed. Brandon has hinted here that the same will occur with deadeye spren if the broken Connection is repaired.