More Esoteric than Voidbinding

[Criggleworth]

This may be an odd theory, but please hear me out. 

I think there is a third type of binding of Surges on Roshar, that I've been calling Lifebinding.

It hinges around a not uncommon theory that Voidbinding uses the Surges, but expresses them differently than traditional Surgebinding. The Voidbinding chart in Way of Kings shows the glyphs for the Surges, but has half of the glyph flipped upside down. To me, this suggests that Voidbinding uses the same Surges but that something about them is different.

Renarin is the closest we've seen to a Voidbinder, as far as I can tell. He's not a full Voidbinder, based on the below WoB, but seems to be half Surgebinder, half Voidbinder. 

Now, 

Argent

Let's talk about Renarin, and Voidbinding. So, with that page we talked about, Renarin Voidbinds. I asked about visions, you pointed to Voidbinding chart, he Voidbinds. Is that using Stormlight to power abilities different from the Surgebindings we've seen?  

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. 

Argent

Is that what voidbinding is? 

Brandon Sanderson

No, but close. You're on the right track. We are gonna get into that, I'm not gonna tell you what the chart means, and things like that. But yeah, something really weird is happening there. 

Footnote: The chart referenced is the back endsheet in The Way of Kings.
Oathbringer Chicago signing (Nov. 21, 2017)

Now, in the Ars Arcanum, Khriss notes that there should be something more esoteric than Voidbinding and that she did not think it is the Old Magic. Thinking of the other forms of magic we know about on Roshar, none of them fit as more "esoteric" than Voidbinding. Singer forms, Regals, Fused, Fabrials, Honorblades- none strike me as more esoteric. 

In my mind, that suggests that there is a third system that deals with the Surges, one that we've seen no hints of yet. I propose that this is Lifebinding- a different way of expressing the Surges, not matching traditional Surgebinding (Stormbinding?) or Voidbinding. 

Now, this is not to suggest that traditional Surgebinding is not of both Honor and Cultivation. Instead, I'm suggesting that it uses Honor's expression of the Surges, while Voidbinding is Odium's expression. That would make Lifebinding Cultivation's expression of the Surges.

Lift, note, is NOT a Lifebinder. She seems to fuel traditional Surgebinding with Lifelight, in the same way Venli fuels Surgebinding with Voidlight. Surgebinding doesn't seem too picky with what Light fuels it- as long as there is a connection to get the Light, the binder can use it as fuel. (This reminds me of how a Returned can survive on Investiture other than Breaths.)

Now, I admit, this is wildly speculative and relies on a theory of Voidbinding that is far from confirmed. But I think it's an intriguing possibility. 

[Ixthos]

I like this theory, but I wouldn't call it Lifebinding, as Surgebinding is a combination of Honour and Cultivation - the Surges are nature and so Culitvation, the Binding is Honour. Voidbinding I believe is the combination of Odium and Honour, the void Odium and binding Honour. So the third system, whether entirely of Cultivation or of Cultivation and Odium, shouldn't involve binding unless Honour is involved.

[Zapata]

I see we're bringing back the Lifebinding idea!

13 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

I like this theory, but I wouldn't call it Lifebinding, as Surgebinding is a combination of Honour and Cultivation - the Surges are nature and so Culitvation, the Binding is Honour. Voidbinding I believe is the combination of Odium and Honour, the void Odium and binding Honour. So the third system, whether entirely of Cultivation or of Cultivation and Odium, shouldn't involve binding unless Honour is involved.

I agree with that. I thought a hypothetical Life magic wouldn't interact with the Surges at all, but that depends on whether Voidbinding does, which it actually looks like is possible. I feel like Life Surges would be more wild than the Surgebinding we've seen so far, maybe influencing the surge spren (like gravitationspren) instead of controlling the Surges themselves.

[mathiau]

Quote

Lift, note, is NOT a Lifebinder. She seems to fuel traditional Surgebinding with Lifelight, in the same way Venli fuels Surgebinding with Voidlight. Surgebinding doesn't seem too picky with what Light fuels it- as long as there is a connection to get the Light, the binder can use it as fuel. (This reminds me of how a Returned can survive on Investiture other than Breaths.)

And the same way Fused use Voidlight for Surgebinding and Renarin uses Stormlight for Voidbinding

Quote

Renarin is the closest we've seen to a Voidbinder, as far as I can tell. He's not a full Voidbinder, based on the below WoB, but seems to be half Surgebinder, half Voidbinder. 

Everyone seems convinced this WoB says he's a half Surgebinder, half Voidbinder but I don't see why

 

Now on the topic of the Lifes (whether it's about binding them or not) it would explain why Stormform and Decayform both seem to use a power of destruction that's not the same, Stormform would use the Void of Division while Decayform would use the Life of Division

[Frustration]

43 minutes ago, mathiau said:

Now on the topic of the Lifes (whether it's about binding them or not) it would explain why Stormform and Decayform both seem to use a power of destruction that's not the same, Stormform would use the Void of Division while Decayform would use the Life of Division

actually Stormform seems closer to the suge of illumination

[mathiau]

Just now, Frustration said:

actually Stormform seems closer to the suge of illumination

I could see that being true, but anyway it neither works like the Surge nor the Void

[Criggleworth]

4 hours ago, Ixthos said:

I like this theory, but I wouldn't call it Lifebinding, as Surgebinding is a combination of Honour and Cultivation - the Surges are nature and so Culitvation, the Binding is Honour. Voidbinding I believe is the combination of Odium and Honour, the void Odium and binding Honour. So the third system, whether entirely of Cultivation or of Cultivation and Odium, shouldn't involve binding unless Honour is involved.

I definitely had been thinking about that. I went with Lifebinding to fit with the naming of Surgebinding and Voidbinding.