WindrunnerRadiant he/him Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 If you have not read Words of Radiance, stop reading here. So, after reading a post about how the Listeners (or Parshendi) could have been the inhabitants of Roshar Pre-Shattering (found here), and thinking about the fact that Shards have been known to make humans (Mistborn - I don't have the exact reference, as I'm at college and don't have my books), I figured that it is likely that either Honor or Cultivation made humans. (I couldn't see Odium doing it) Then I remembered that in Words of Radiance, the Listeners seemed to believe that the spren left them for the humans or the humans stole them (again, I can't don't have the specific reference, but I will put them in ASAP). This makes it seem like they were able to surgebind the way the Knights Radiant can once upon a time. But now, they instead have the Voidspren. In another topic, I mention how the magic systems existed without the influence of the Shards (cite here, last thing Brandon says #5), but have since been modified by the Shard's intent, (found here). So here is my theory: Pre-Shattering, the Listeners lived on Roshar and were able to surgebind, or something similar. Then, after Adonalsium shattered, the shards of Cultivation, Honor, and Odium made ended up on the Greater Roshar System. Here, their influence, (specifically Honor and Odium as we don't have examples of Cultivation yet) changed the spren into the Surgespren (as I refer to Honor's spren), Voidspren, and possible some Cultivation version. Most likely, Cultivation, with some possible influence from Honor, made humans on Roshar. Honor became associated with humanity, Odium chose the Listeners. He drastically changed the spren the Listeners could bond, but Honor's spren still granted very similar powers, making the Listeners think that the spren betrayed them and that they had to turn to the Voidspren. Let me know what you think, and I'll work on getting those references in there. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrian Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 Nice theory, Windrunner. I agree with most of what you're saying. My take on the listener/spren relationship is that the listeners previously joined with all sorts of spren to make all sorts of castes, but after humans came to Roshar, the spren bonded with humans in a way that was more pleasing to them. Syl gets to maintain her freedom while bonded to Kaladin, but the spren bonded to the listeners seem to be captive within the form of the listener. Considering the listeners are symbiotic with the spren, they could see the change in the status quo as a betrayal. My assumption is that spren are a pre-Shard phenomenon, but that the arrival of Honor, Cultivation, and Odium changed or caused different types of spren to manifest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 All spren are splinters of shards, but I believe the original spren population of Roshar were born from Adonalsium and were likely different from the currently prevalent ones made from Cultivation, Honor, and Odium. Something about the realmatic properties of the planet apparently causes any shard attempting to invest in Roshar to splinter and create spren, IIRC. So theories usually seem to assume at least. Haven't looked into the possible existence of concrete proof much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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