It is likely that the extremely unpleasant physical manifestation of painspren is due to the fact that they are shaped by unpleasant emotion.
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA SPREN
There are many spren who are formed by human perception of natural events, which help humans understand phenomena that they couldn’t otherwise perceive with the naked eye.
Groundspren
The Alethi believe that things fall towards the ground instead of floating away because groundspren pull them downwards. This is fundamentally interchangeable with a working theory of gravity. Brandon Sanderson has said that groundspren pull with a force equivalent to .7g.
Rotspren
Rotspren manifest as small red bugs. Their existence has given the people of Roshar a working germ theory of disease and allowed them to develop sophisticated surgical hygiene routines.
Lifespren
“Tiny lights rose around the plants. Lifespren. They looked like motes of glowing green dust or swarms of tiny translucent insects.”
Lifespren are most likely to appear in the blossoming stage directly after a Highstorm, when plants hungrily drink in stormwater. This might highlight the fact that spren are tied to the storms, especially considering how both spren and storms are absent from Shinovar.
Judgmental Spren:
Some spren seem to pass judgment on how well humans are succeeding at their performative tasks. Some of these appear at moments when a person is performing before a large crowd, but others can appear privately.
Creationspren
“Creationspren were of medium size, as tall as one of her fingers, and they glowed with a faint silvery light. They transformed perpetually, taking new shapes. Usually the shapes were things they had seen recently … they imitated shapes exactly, but moved them in strange ways. A table would roll like a wheel, an urn would shatter and repair itself.”
Alethi scholars believe that creationspren are drawn to skillful acts of creation, so art that attracts creationspren must be finer than art that does not. It is more likely that they are drawn to accurate representations of shapes in nature.
Gloryspren
“Gloryspren—like tiny golden translucent globes of light—began to pop into existence around him, attracted by his sense of accomplishment.”
These spren show that, on Roshar, glory is conceived of as an internal attribute, rather than one that is granted by general approval.
Logicspren
“There were said to be logicspren—in the form of tiny stormclouds—who were attracted to great arguments, but Shallan had never seen them.”
It is unknown what aspect of great arguments attract logicspren or why they take the form of stormclouds.
NAMED SPREN
Some spren have gained such power, such prominence, or such personality, that they’ve taken on lives of their own. This is especially true of spren who have formed a Nahel bond with a human to allow them to Surgebind. Such spren gain identity as they grant power to their Surgebinders and can lose that personality if their bond is broken, causing them to die as individuals.
Sylphrena
Sylphrena, better known as Syl, is an honorspren bonded to Kaladin. She embodies the charateristics of her type of spren, being changeable and playful, while also urging Kaladin to embrace the ideals of the Windrunners. She bears some relationship to the Stormfather, who seems to feel responsible for all windspren and to have forbidden them from entering into bonds and making new surgebinders.
Pattern
Pattern is a Cryptic spren whose bond with Shallan strengthens after she tells the symbolheaded figures who had haunted her an important secret. He manifests as a raised pattern on surfaces. He loves lies, especially lies people tell themselves. Unlike most spren, Pattern cannot hide himself from human perception.
Cusicesh the Protector
“At precisely seven forty-six in the morning—the locals could use it to set their timepieces—an enormous, sea-blue spren surged from the waters of the bay. It was translucent, and though it appeared to throw out waves as it rose, that was illusory.… They called it by name, Cusicesh the Protector. Some worshipped it as a god.”
Cusicesh is a deeply mysterious spren, one of the largest and most powerful we’ve seen. It may be a shadow of some greater being, as the Stormfather is.
Stormfather
The Stormfather is in fact a massive and powerful spren who exist within the Highstorms. The Stormfather appeared to Kaladin when he was left out in a Highstorm, and Kaladin sees him again in dream. As one of the three spren who can bond with humans to create a Bondsmith, he accepts Dalinar’s oath at the end of Words of Radiance.
THE KNIGHTS RADIANT
The First Surgebinders and the Foundation of the Knights Radiant
At the beginning of his ancient war with Odium, Honor shared his power with his ten Heralds. Wanting to aid in this battle, the spren decided to imitate the Heralds by bonding with humans to grant them surges. Such were the first Surgebinders created, each having access to two surges and a wide range of powers. The Surgebinders were unexpected allies of Honor and had enormous potential. The Herald Ishar’Elin, Herald of Luck, organized the Surgebinders into ten orders, with each Herald patronizing one group of Knights. Thus were formed the Knights Radiant.
The Glory of the Knights Radiant and the Last Desolation
For many ages the Knights Radiant battled for the people of Roshar, keeping peace among the kingdoms and weathering the Desolations. They established the city of Urithiru and created portals from there to many major cities. They went into battle alongside the Heralds in the Last Desolation, known in Vorin tradition as Aharietiam. Vorinism teaches that they helped the Heralds banish the Voidbringers into the Tranquiline Halls, ending the cycle of Desolations. In fact, all but one of the Heralds abandoned their battle at this point, leaving the Knights Radiant to pick up the pieces of a shattered world.
The Day of Recreance
Vorinism teaches that, after years of defending humanity, the Knights Radiant grew tired and corrupt. On what is known as the Day of Recreance, the Knights Radiant all over the world cast off their Shardplates and Shardblades and abandoned their vows, turning their backs on humanity. It is not known why the Radiants made this drastic decision, betraying their vows both to humanity and to the spren they’d bonded.
The Immortal Words
“Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.”
This is the first ideal of the Knights Radiant, the code every Radiant lived by. Each Order shared the first Ideal, with four later Ideals to guide the individual Orders.
The Orders and their Surges
ORDER OF WINDRUNNERS: The first Order, following Jezrien, had the ability to bind Adhesion and Gravitation. Kaladin is an incipient Windrunner.
ORDER OF SKYBREAKERS: The second Order, following Nale, had the ability to bind Gravitation and Division. Szeth is an incipient Skybreaker.
ORDER OF DUSTBRINGERS: The third Order, following Chanarach, had the ability to bind Division and Abrasion. There are no known Dustbringers at this time.
ORDER OF EDGEDANCERS: The fourth Order, following Vedeledev, had the ability to bind Abrasion and Progression. Lift is an incipient Edgedancer.
ORDER OF TRUTHWATCHERS: The fifth Order, following Paliah, had the ability to bind Progression and Illumination. Renarin Kholin is an incipient Truthwatcher.
ORDER OF LIGHTWEAVERS: The sixth Order, following Shalash, had the ability to bind Illumination and Transformation. Shallan Davar is an incipient Lightweaver.
ORDER OF ELSECALLERS: The seventh Order, following Battar, had the ability to bind Transformation and Transportation. Jasnah Kholin is an incipient Elsecaller.
ORDER OF WILLSHAPERS: The eight Order, following Kalak, had the ability to bind Transportation and Cohesion. There are no known Willshapers at this time.
ORDER OF STONEWARDS: The ninth Order, following Talenel, had the ability to bind Cohesion and Tension. There are no known S
tonewards at this time.
ORDER OF BONDSMITHS: The tenth Order, following Ishar, had the ability to bind Tension and Adhesion. Dalinar Kholin is an incipient Bondsmith.
FASHION
Male fashion
Male fashion in Alethkar has long been shaped by military uniforms, favoring sharp lines and a minimum of frivolity. The long and lucrative campaign at the Shattered Plains, however, has led to flamboyant evolutions of that aesthetic, incorporating more elaborate collars, colorful scarves, and open coats.
Female fashion
Female fashion is far more restrictive. Vorin tradition demands that women restrict themselves from the manly arts of combat and Vorin Lighteyes women to wear long, closed sleeves over their left hands, which are called safehands. High-class women can use their safehands to balance easels while drawing or books while reading, but must perform any tasks requiring more complicated fine motor skills with their right hands.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS (R.A.F.O)
• How will access to easy transportation via Urithiru change Alethkar?
• Why did Dalinar go to the Nightwatcher, and what boon did she grant him in exchange for his curse?
• Who or what is the Nightwatcher?
• What are the Ghostbloods planning?
• Where is Cultivation?
• Can Roshar survive the Everstorm?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRANDON SANDERSON
Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah, and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; The Stormlight Archive novels The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance; and other novels including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013 he won a Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor’s Soul, set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time® sequence. For behind-the-scenes information on all of Brandon Sanderson’s books, visit brandonsanderson.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Publication Facts
Characters
Locations of Interest
Ecology of Roshar
The Knights Radiant
Fashion
Unanswered Questions
About the Author
Copyright
The Stormlight Archive Page 2