ByDanielD
The latest Stormlight Archive novel hit shelves and e-readers yesterday, December 6th, and there is a lot to take in. Major events occur, affecting not just the characters we know and love, but the Cosmere as a whole.
We aren’t here to talk about all that, however. In this article, we’re going forget about all the wild stuff that happened and focus on one of the coolest aspects of Roshar: its spren. A handful of new ones showed up in Wind and Truth, and we learned more about some specific, unique spren as well. Here are the new spren we spotted:
Below, you can learn more about the spren, and see where in the book they were spotted! We’ll also talk about what new information we got regarding spren we were already familiar with.
A lone Solemnityspren shows up when Kaladin is visiting the Windrunners he will no longer lead:
He surveyed the recruits again, feeling… not a sadness. A melancholy. One solemnityspren—rare indeed—spiraled up around him, like an almost invisible grey-blue serpent.
Ch. 9, page 80
Jasnah attracts an Irritationspren, due to her discomfort in the bed she got for her and Wit.
And she hated [the bed]. She swam in stuffing, irritationspren—like pink motes almost invisible in the night—bobbing around her as she listened to Wit Breathing.
Ch. 14, page 132
Irritationspren also appear again in Chapter 23 when Navani is speaking with Aladar about the freeing of slaves, though they aren’t described in any more detail.
Digustspren are drawn to Gaz when he talks about his gambling problem:
Disgustspren, like orange corkscrews drilling downward, appeared around him as he continued.
Ch. 17, page 164
Sincerityspren appear when Adolin is speaking with Emperor Yanagawn, and is defending the commandant Kushkam’s decisions in the day’s battle. He attracts a single sincerityspren while doing so:
To his relief, a lone sincerityspren—like opening blue fronds—appeared next to him, giving testament to the fact that he genuinely believed what he was saying.
Ch. 42, page 395
More sincerityspren appear in one of the Spiritual Realm visions in Chapter 85, around Garith when he speaks of peace between singers and humans.
Adolin draws another rare spren, a Betrayelspren, when he learns that Emul and Tashikk have sided with Odium:
The dagger of those words cut deeply, and Adolin attracted a spren he never had before—in all his years. Like snapping strings expanding from him. Betrayalspren.
Ch. 76, page 750
Stormstriders were seen before, but had not been named officially. Either the fans guessed correctly, or Brandon Sanderson decided he liked what they came up with, as in Wind and Truth these spren are indeed called as such:
Venli approached the leg of the one sheltering her and gazed out at the passing Stormstriders, enormous spren with long limbs.
Ch. 60, page 592
Keenspren had previously been speculated to be Radiant spren, though we now know that isn’t the case — Pattern once grew a garden for a Keenspren, so they may still be sentient in some way. It isn’t quite clear if emotion draws them or not, or what that emotion is — perhaps Navani’s overwhelming, but positive feelings in this scene attracts the Keenspren. In any case, we now know what they look like:
It was all so wonderfully overwhelming. Not just the bond to the tower, but her emotional journey. Acknowledging her self-worth. Becoming a Radiant, when she’d been certain it would not be her lot. A solitary keenspren, like a marvelous three-dimensional gradient of color, appeared above her. She gasped—it was the first she’d ever seen. They are afraid, the Sibling said. Of being captured. So they do not often come to humans.
Ch. 14, page 138
Cusicesh the Protector was a giant spren that showed up daily in Iri’s bay, hung out for a few minutes, then disappeared again. In Wind and Truth, the spren opens a freakin’ portal to Shadesmar! Apparently, the Iri people had somehow known this was coming all along:
Cusicesh—breaking all tradition—waved his hands out to the sides, palms toward the city. And then, before him in the bay, the air split in a glorious radiant fountain. A column of light. “The gateway to the land of shadows,” Mother whispered. “Honor’s gateway … Oh Father, Mother, ancestors who have become One … Dyel, fetch the travel packs! It’s time!” Dyel froze. Time … the travel packs … All good Iriali kept them, but that was mostly a formality, unless … It was time? A rare awespren burst around her, made of blue rings of smoke. “People,” Cusicesh said. He never spoke. His voice was deep, and vibrated the city—somehow loud enough to make her soul shake, but not so loud it hurt her ears. “I am to be your guide for the Fifth Journey.”
I-11, page 770
Syl gives us some information on the relative intelligence of the spren that inhabit rocks and sticks — although she seems a bit biased, Shallan’s infamous stick encounter supports this:
A holy place, although why the spren of rocks got so much devotion here was beyond her. Rock spren were almost as stupid as stick spren, and that was saying something.
Ch. 72, page 706
The Unmade Dai-Gonarthis makes an appearance — we don’t see them, but they use their power to create an Elsegate, funneling troops from Shadesmar to the Physical Realm during the assault on Narak.
We also learn a ton about the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram — too much to say here, as her story of how she ended up in the Spiritual Realm is an integral part of the narrative. Suffice to say, she is a complex character, neither true hero nor pure villain, and her anger at the humans is more than justified.
Finally, it turns out Highspren aren’t all bad — Wind and Truth tells us there have always been break-away groups of Skybreakers, and Szeth’s spren is almost certainly Aux from Sunlight Man (who ends up being pretty cool).
The spren Navani encounters when she escapes the Spiritual Realm without Dalinar isn’t named, but we can speculate: abandonerspren? Doesn’t exactly have a ring to it.
But even that was not something she could focus on. She had heard Dalinar describe this emotion before, this heightened intensity. You leave a man behind on the battlefield, and something changes in you. Her every thought was on how she could get him out. If she relaxed, it would be a betrayal. It didn’t make sense, but it felt like sense. She drew a strange spren, like swaths of light in the air following an invisible shining object. One she’d never seen before.
Ch. 114, page 1059
Renarin spots some strange spren in the Shadesmar side of Urithiru, but it’s possible they aren’t anything new, just not spren he could identify:
“Anyway,” Renarin said eventually—again organizing and focusing his thoughts as a group of strange purple spren rolled down the steps next to them…”
Syl doesn’t actually answer the question here, so we don’t really know if Dungspren exist. However, it’s a constant part of people’s lives, and if basically everything else people interact with daily has a spren…
“Dungspren,” she said, poking him. “You were always so fascinated by the idea.” “That was Tien!” Kaladin said. “Not me.”…
…“Fine,” he said. “Maybe I was … intrigued.” He glanced at Syl, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes. “Did you … ever know any?” “Dungspren,” she said flatly. “You’re asking the sole living Daughter of Storms—basically a princess by human terminology—this question. How much poop do I know?”
Ch. 2, page 34
Did we miss any new spren? Let us know in the comments!
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