[OB] The Creation of Unmade

[Mr Maker]

10 hours ago, Wreith said:

I think they're Parshendi or possibly Dawnsingers (who themselves may be Parshendi by some theories).

This largely because of Rlain's description of his gods as

 

 

10 hours ago, WildSpeculation said:

Oh double post because I like your theory as well! This makes sense when combined with the connection I was trying to make in my post. The Unmade were the 'anti-heralds' of the Parshendi. When the Bondsmith broke the Listeners and made them Parshmen, it caused Re-Shephir to lose that piece of her.

 

I can't wait to see what version is true! That is part of what I love about these books!

I agree with both of you. In support of this I posted my thoughts on another thread. I have quoted them below:

Quote

Apologies if WOB or any of this has already been proven incorrect or suggested elsewhere on the forum.

1. Dawnshards = original Adonalsium spren (on Roshar – homeworld to a native population of Listeners)

2. Dawnsingers were Listeners bonded/fused with the Dawnshards, the leaders of the Listener population, and responsible for creating the Dawnchant.

3. All was well until Adonalsium splits, and then humans, the three shards, and conflict arrived.

4. While still in possession of their faculties the Shards make a bargain (much like on Scadrial) to create some balance on the Roshar. This leads to the Oathpact.

4. Oathpact is formed, modelled loosely how the local spren-magic system works, and on imported ideas of chivalry/knights etc, and most drastically perhaps, this Oathpact overrides the rights of Roshar's native Listener population. Agreement is made for Odium to corrupt/break dawnshards+singers, investing into them – creating Unmade. Honor invests equally into making Honor-blades, giving them to humans.

5. This effectively usurps the native listener population, wrecked their futures, warped their gods, puts them between a rock and a hard place, and turned them into tools that can be controlled by Odium.

6. Native spren were either warped by odium, stopped actively bonding with listeners, or the listeners did not bond (and forgot how to) due to fear of being unwillingly taken over by a bad spren. The honor/cultivation spren then created the nahel bond instead to mimic the pre-existing listener-spren relationship with humans, and the surges and blades of the Heralds.

7. The Recreance is caused by discovering the knowledge that the world actually belonged to the listeners, and that Odium, Honor and Cultivation (and by association their various spren) overthrew the Listeners for the greater good in fight against Odium. As knights radiant they are actively a part of this guilty un-honorable act, and feel it is conflict with their oaths - so they immediately break them.

 

Notes and more speculation.

Gavilar suggests that he will return the Parshedi gods (now Unmade) – they don’t like this as they remember enough to know they loose free will. They do not know that they are actually their old corrupted leaders the Dawnsingers, and have little chance of free will in a world that is set up against them.

The reason we only know of 9 Unmade is perhaps because when the Heralds go into damnation between desolations, the Unmade disappear/go there too. Now that the last Herald has broken in damnation, and returned, perhaps so will the 10th Unmade. 

Or perhaps the Unmade were seperate humans aligned to the 10 different areas of Roshar as other have suggested Or something else!

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Mr Maker

[Axies he/him]

My best guess is that Unmade are spren unmade during the time the Heralds were on Damnation between desolations... They are the manifestation of pain, bretrayal, horror, etc... coming from powerful figures as the Heralds. And then unmade.  

[duladen he/him]

12 hours ago, Axies said:

My best guess is that Unmade are spren unmade during the time the Heralds were on Damnation between desolations... They are the manifestation of pain, bretrayal, horror, etc... coming from powerful figures as the Heralds. And then unmade.  

Well if it's a question of spren, I assume Axies would know best...

[Steeldancer he/him]

I am entirely revamping my theory on the unmade. I'm making a new thread for it because so much changed with Arcanum... so give me a few hours. 

[Naerin]

On 11/7/2017 at 0:23 PM, WildSpeculation said:

I am honestly throwing around with the idea that the Unmade are somehow a 'shadow' of the Heralds. I am not sure I agree with the theory floating around about the Unmade were created whenever a Herald broke and started a Desolation, but some of the comments in Shallan's chapter provide some credence the idea that the Unmade and Heralds are at least related.

What if they are literally Cognitive Shadows of the Heralds? The Heralds have died a bunch of times. Sure, they get better, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't produce Cognitive Shadows. And if the Stormfather is a merger of a spren with the cognitive shadow of Honor, or something like that, perhaps the Unmade are produced the same way. That way they could kind of be considered to have once been human, and also be directly linked to the Heralds (while at the same time allowing for the fact that the Heralds are still around).

Of course one major question that raises is why there are only 9 of them and not 10. 

[The Invested Beard]

Since the Heralds are already technically cognitive shadows, I don't think you can have a cognitive shadow of a cognitive shadow. Relevant WoB:

Questioner

Have we seen cameos of Heralds on other Shardworlds?

Brandon Sanderson

The Heralds are tied to the system by the magic that permeates them. They could not leave.

Questioner

I thought I saw someone but I guess not.

Brandon Sanderson

It’s part of the magic. Some would call them Cognitive Shadows, right? Whether they are or not. "Cognitive Shadow" is a very ambiguous term in the cosmere. It means, basically your soul-- It's the same thing with petrification, right? Investiture replaced your soul, and permeated your soul, and your soul continues to exist, but... you are usually Invested with something, that's tied, and you're basically like pure Investiture then. You're tied to the thing you're Connected to. Most of the things that you're gonna see with that, travelling is going to be very difficult, unless you know how to do it. You have seen people do it.