Listeners, Singers, and Fused (oh my!)

[+robardin he/him]

So at the Battle of Narak, Venli led (forced) most of the listeners to stand outside in the Everstorm and become transformed into stormform - these who would later become renamed as "singers" by the returned Fused.

Meanwhile, "parshmen" slaves all over Roshar who were exposed to the Everstorm were similarly transformed - but into what? Stormform? Warform? (Warform is how Rlain presents himself to Dalinar, wasn't it, though his eyes had become red, so perhaps it was stormform?)

The ones that Kaladin tracked out of Hearthstone in Oathbringer (Sah, Khen, et al.), they were in workform, right? The Alethi-like singers that Venli see as acting very human, she notes as "singers" who "wore mostly workform, nimbleform... scholarform".

Oh, and some number of listeners got away before the Battle of Narak, into the chasms or something, right?

Now, the Fused are reborn into singers with each Everstorm - and it seems the singers in question have to accept the incoming Fused. In I-6 of Oathbringer we see Venli coming very close to being taken for one along with her once-mate Demid. However, her POV described a pressure on her mind and soul, demanding let me in, which implies she could have refused. And Ulim had instructed them first, "You have to want it, or the powers will not be able to take a place in your gemhearts."

They didn't know it'd cost them their own lives, though; they thought they were taking on another form of power, rather than yielding up their physical selves, and Venli at the time forced herself to acquiesce to the demand to prove herself committed.

But they were the first batch of listeners turned to singers to take in the Fused, and were essentially tricked into doing it. ("You said we were opening ourselves up to a new spren, a new form!" -- "I said," Ulim hissed, "that you were opening yourselves up. I didn't say what would enter. Look, your gods need bodies. It's like this every Return. You should be flattered.")

So, all the Fused we see cycling again and again later, such as Leshwi - they are being reborn in singers who were once parshmen, yes? But after seeing the Fused come back a number of times, surely they all realize the cost at this point? They all buy into it as "flattery" to give up their newly-awakened lives for the Fused to return?

Or is part of Venli's job as an Envoy to continue to convince parshmen-to-singers to yield themselves to the Fused with each Everstorm?

Edited August 19, 2020 by robardin

[+Bzhydack he/him]

4 hours ago, robardin said:

Meanwhile, "parshmen" slaves all over Roshar who were exposed to the Everstorm were similarly transformed - but into what? Stormform? Warform? (Warform is how Rlain presents himself to Dalinar, wasn't it, though his eyes had become red, so perhaps it was stormform?)

Probably into Form caused by Spren what happened to be closest to Parshmen, with additional restoration of minds, so with knowledge how to change form.

[SecondPlace he/him]

Most of the former parshmen are kept in the dark, they don’t fully understand what is happening. I doubt that many would willing give up their body to the fused. 

[+robardin he/him]

Just now, Truthless16 said:

Most of the former parshmen are kept in the dark, they don’t fully understand what is happening. I doubt that many would willing give up their body to the fused. 

And yet they must be. And they need to be tricked or otherwise convinced into letting that happen. So is that Venli's doing, or is some singer religion like a Cult of the Returned Gods taking root among the singers? Which would be particularly tragic this time around, given that just about all of them only recently even awakened to full cognition.