Spren

Spren are creatures of nature. With the exception of Shinovar, where there are no spren, they have a common presence all over Roshar and tend to be ignored, or remain unseen. Spren are not fully understood. They take different shapes and forms, appearing around certain events, ideas, or abnormalities. Some types of spren have taken on " ... cognitive ideals or concepts which have [in turn] taken on literal personification over time."Cognitive ideals ...
Some spren (i.e., windspren) live mostly in the Physical Realm. According to Syl, the wind is always there somewhere, so they don't fade like passions do.
According to Jasnah ...
According to Brandon ...
According to Dalinar ...
==Origins of Spren==
Some of the many spren found on modern Roshar were created by Honor and Cultivation at some point before the Desolations started, by Splintering themselves. After Odium killed Tanavast, Honor's bearer, he Splintered Honor further, creating the many diverse spren found on Roshar.Reddit Info, 17th Shard, 3/14/13Book signing, Manchester, UK, 11/23/11Book signing, Chicago, IL, 10/5/13 Some spren are also apparently the result of Investiture left behind by Adonalsium himself.
According to Pattern, when the Knights Radiant existed, spren were everything ... in everything, yet not their selves. He informs Shallan that none who had experienced the Nahel bond were alive then; they were dead, meaning mindless ... because a force cannot truly be destroyed. Further, he states that these old ones are now patterns in nature, like unborn Cryptics, and that they cannot be restored, because this has been tried but does not work. He supposes that if their Knights still lived, something could be done. 
==Characteristics==
Spren can be very elusive and even the most common types may refuse to appear. Axies the Collector finds this to be particularly frustrating.
Spren are typically amorphous and often change in size, luminosity, and shape. Whether they actually manifest physically remains in question.Reddit AMA 2013, 4/15/13 However, Geranid, along with her husband Ashir, found that a spren will stay the same size after being measured if that measurement is recorded. This rule holds true even if the person performing the measurement does not know whether or not the measurement is being recorded. The cause for this is unknown.
According to Syl, most spren don't have long memories. However, spren can exist for thousands of years and ... they can die.Book signing, Orem, UT, 9/22/12
Spren can also be killed ... by those to whom they are bonded should each their bonded individuals break his/her vows. Regarding this bond, the synergy between the behavior and the relationship is one of constructive interference - but it goes both ways. The desired behavior reinforces the budding relationship, and the strengthening relationship reinforces the desired behavior, and it's just not possible to have one without the other. But "constructive interference" can be a two-edged sword - when the results are undesirable, it's also known as a vicious cycle.
It's possible to trap a bonded spren inside a gemstone.Book signing, Paris, France, 10/22/16
Again according to Brandon, new spren can be created.Oathbringer release party, Provo, UT, 11/13/17
According to Kaladin, spren are obviously similar to ardents, who are outside of common understandings of male and female.
Differing types of spren are able to speak with one another.Book signing, London, UK, 11/28/17
A spren can willingly break its bond anytime between the First and Fifth Oaths with its Radiant, though not necessarily safely.Emerald City ComicCon 2018, Seattle, WA, 3/1/18
Also according to Brandon, one cannot take spren off-world, or at least it’s very hard to do.Emerald City ComicCon 2018, Seattle, WA, 3/1/18Book signing, Chicago, IL, 12/6/16
Additionally according to Brandon, color has an affect on spren and getting a spren trapped within it.Book signing, Idaho Falls, ID, 7/21/18
===Residence===
Spren live in Shadesmar, the Cognitive Realm.Book signing, San Diego, CA, 3/4/14 There, they have different forms than those in which they appear on Roshar. They are more complex beings that are part of an entire ecosystem of their own, rather than the partial manifestations as they appear in the physical world.
===Reproduction===
When Adolin asks Syl how it even works, she tells him that it's certainly less messy than his method. Further, she tells him that spren are made of power, that they are bits of gods. And, that there are places where that power coalesces, and parts start to be aware. Additionally, she says that it doesn't happen often, that it's rare, and that most spren will go hundreds of years without doing it.
Again according to Brandon, as a rule, spren do not feel any kind of sexual or romantic attraction. However, there are some orders that are more likely to do so. There are a lot of orders that one would call asexual. But it depends on the individual, and it depends on each their breed or race of spren.JordanCon, Atlanta, GA, 7/16/21
===Aging===
When Kaladin asks Syl whether most of the spren in Celebrant are hundreds of years old, she tells him that most of them are, or older. But, she says, that aging isn't the same with spren. Like time isn't. That they don't learn as fast, or change much, without a bond.
==Bonding==
Some spren choose just what human with which to bond; this depends on the spren's type. The choices of certain other spren are made by counsel; Wyndle, Lift's spren, was placed with Lift by such a counsel known as The Ring. It's a cultural difference. Some spren are free-spirited; others are more organized.Book signing, Orem, UT, 12/6/14
==Society==
They have their own society in Shadesmar, and they have their own culture, hierarchy and politics. For example, the Cryptics (liespren) and the honorspren seem to be two groups of spren nobility, and they have a strong mutual dislike for each other. They also seem to have differing views on whether or not spren should be bonding with humans.
==Effects==
Whilst many spren appear to do nothing but gather around whatever they are named after, some people think that the spren cause the things they're named after rather than the other way around. For instance, many believe that rotspren cause infection in a wound, as opposed to gathering as a sign that there is an infection present. Human perception has a lot to do with why spren act like they do.Reddit AMA 2013, 4/15/13
However, spren do appear to be significant relative to the various powers of the Knights Radiant orders, which appear to be available to people who are bonded by a spren in the way that Syl is bonded with Kaladin.
According to Navani, as is written in her notebook, imprisoned spren are used in the creation of mechanical devices, known as fabrials.
==Quotes==
==Types of Spren==
Spren come in many different varieties, each associated with and named for their own phenomenon. Most spren are non-sentient, however, some could become sentient and there are some that already are,Spren becoming sentient ... for example Kaladin's honorspren. All of the sapient spren are developments after Honor and Cultivation came to Roshar.JordanCon 2018, Atlanta, GA, 4/20/18 It's been theorized, that the process of becoming sentient might be linked to the Nahel bond.
They also have their own names ... names that don't necessarily relate to the name that Roshar inhabitants give them. Reachers, for example, in Shadesmar are commonly known on Roshar as lightspren.
According to Brandon, in different places, one can attract different types of emotionspren due to different types of Shadesmar ecology.Waterstones RoW Release Event, 11/18/20
==Known Spren==
===Basic Spren===
Hungerspren, painspren, and other basic spren are pretty much mindless. But they're also Cognitive entities, which means that their existence is a state of perception.
As such, when humans or other creatures experience such things like hunger or pain, those spren whose existence is based on those concepts will be pulled slightly into the Physical Realm where they are then perceived. They've been able to do this because they and Roshar are flooded with Investiture.
===Higher Spren===
The amount of Investiture within a spren, the way they're regarded, and a few other minor factors determine whether a given spren is a basic spren or a higher spren.Book signing, London, UK, 11/28/17
A higher spren could potentially manifest on a world other than Roshar in their spren form, and not as a Blade, but they would first have to get off-world.JordanCon 2018, Atlanta, GA, 4/20/18
===Radiant Spren===
Radiant spren are complicated as they're fully sapient and capable of something that approximates free will. They're still made of Investiture, so it's still likely that they can "peek" into the Physical Realm like basic spren do. More interesting is how they can fully enter the Physical Realm.
Because they're made of Investiture, it seems that they can not only peek into the Physical Realm, but also into the Spiritual Realm to see the lines of Connection there.
The process of a Radiant spren entering the Physical Realm relies upon a (usually human) host. The Radiant spren is attracted to whatever aspect that they each represent.
Honorspren are attracted to honorable action as perceived by humans; Cryptics are attracted to incomplete truths as perceived by humans, etc.. They use such attractions to find humans who might be worthy hosts.
Afterward, the spren peek at the Connections from each potential host that make up each their Identities. Things like where they're each from, who each their family is, etc..
Radiant spren can then force each their way into the Physical Realm riding those Connections. It's at this time when each their hosts begins to become a squire (i.e., a Radiant who's not yet sworn the First Ideal).
As each Radiant squire develops toward each their order and swears oaths, a special line of Connection called a bond is formed between each Radiant and each their spren. This allows each such spren to more fully enter the Physical Realm, increasing each their cognition and gaining substance.
This bond, and each spren's ability to ride Connection, is why it’s so common to see Radiants pop up who are somehow related to each other.
====Oaths====
Also according to Brandon, there are some fundamentals with regard to sworn oaths that even a spren with a very different interpretation of said oaths wouldn't be able to abandon.Dawnshard Annotations Reddit Q&A, 11/6/20
====Abilities====
Additionally according to Brandon, spren are not restricted to becoming articles of war.When Worlds Collide 2014, Calgary, AB, 8/9/14 However, when spren do become weapons, they can become whatever type of weapon each their Radiant wishes to utilize in the moment. They're not locked into one specific design.Book signing, Hoboken, NJ, 12/3/16
Still, though more expansive than people guess this is, it IS limited.Oathbringer release party, Provo, UT, 11/13/17
==Notes==
Further, according to Brandon, spren are partially based out of Shinto mythology (in which everything has a soul), plus quantum mechanics, plus Platonic philosophy, and are a unique representation of emotion in The Stormlight Archive.Book signing, Omaha, NE, 3/13/14Book signing, San Diego, CA, 3/4/14Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017, Salt Lake City, UT, 9/21/17Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017, Salt Lake City, UT, 9/21/17
*Yet again, according to Brandon, there are non-binary spren.General Reddit 2018, 1/1/18
When asked if there could be a spren of all 16 Shards combined all at once, Brandon responded by handing out a RAFO card.DragonCon 2019, 8/29/19
Still, according to Brandon, theoretically, a spren could bond another spren, but this is probably not a direction he's ever going to go in the books for inception/recursive sort of weirdness reasons.YouTube Livestream 32, 6/3/21
==Trivia==
Spren are the positronic robots of the cosmere.YouTube Livestream 32, 6/3/21
==Speculation==
The chasmfiendspren, santhidspren and skyeelspren seem to be connected. They may have some kind of anti-gravitational effect. However, spren have seemed to be drawn to things, rather than causing things.Book signing, San Diego, CA, 3/4/14 Are there some spren that do one, some do the other, and some do both? Or are these "anti-gravity spren" more closely related to the bonding spren (i.e., do they grant a limited Surgebinding to these creatures)? How much intelligence is actually required for a bond like that?
**So, singers also have four genders (plus one) instead of two. Might these be related, since the Parshendi were residents of Roshar long before humans were?
==Q&A with Brandon==
Q. In your books, readers see a lot of really interesting and diverse world elements that make places and cultures really come to life. What are some of the world elements you’ve had the most fun creating, and what do you like best about them?
A. I'd say that the spren on Roshar have been my favorite so far - they are so different, but also so RIGHT. They have a mythological fae-feel to them, but also fit into the cosmere arcanum just perfectly. I also like writing them.Q&A with Brandon Sanderson, 17th Shard, 9/24/12
Q. Is it true that humans can bond to multiple spren?
A. They can theoretically bond to multiple spren.Words of Brandon (Compiled), 17th Shard, 3/8/14
Q. How do spren choose what human they'll bond with?
A. Well, it depends on the spren type. There's some spren that choose on their own, while there's other spren where it's done by committee. Wyndle, Lift's spren, was placed with Lift by a committee. It's a culture difference. Some are free spirited, others more organized.Book signing, 3/22/14 
Q. Are spren bound to Roshar or can they travel to other worlds? Could they do so if they were bound to someone that traveled to other worlds?
A. RAFO! Excellent question, though.Worldhopping spren?
Q. The phenomenon that creates spren. Is that Roshar-specific or is that a general effect?
A: Well, yes and no. The general fundamental rules that create spren are cosmere-wide. Spren are pieces of Investiture, usually pieces of Investiture that come straight from one of the Shards of Adonalsium, split off in some way, that because of human or other sapient creatures thinking about it or interacting with the power, the power starts to take on a life of its own. The power develops personality and comes alive, so to speak. And this can happen on any pla - in any place where there is Investiture. So it could happen on any planet in the cosmere with significant amounts of free Investiture. The places you've seen this happen most commonly are Sel and Roshar. You haven't seen it on Scadrial, and you've seen little kind of hints of it on Nalthis, but not quite. But it's possible for it to happen anywhere. Seons and spren are basically the same thing with different powers kind of pushing them, pushing growth out of them - that said, the non-sapient spren, the spren that are not quite as ... . They're not going to stand up and talk to you. But those all existed ... not all, but most of them existed on Roshar before the Shattering of Adonalsium.
...
Spren are investiture which is alive.JordanCon 2016, Atlanta, GA, 4/23/16
Q. KR seemed to have opposite gender spren. Why is Glys male then? Is there something hidden there?
A. More naturally, the spren is opposite gender but it doesn't have to be. It's not a indication necessarily of homosexuality, but sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. More often, you'll attract spren of the opposite gender, but spren genders are very fluid anyway. You're not supposed to read anything specific into that.Book signing, Paris, France, 10/22/16
Q. Would you consider or have you considered romantic relationships between spren and humans?
A. That's a RAFO.JordanCon 2018, Atlanta, GA, 4/20/18
Q. Is it possible for a kandra to bond a spren?
A. RAFO. Good question.Dark One Q&A, 7/2/20
Q. How was spren society impacted by Nale (legally) murdering wannabe proto-Radiants in the years before the Everstorm? Were they aware of what he was doing?
A. Yes, most spren thought that anyone who was trying to bond a human was - let's just say most of them responded as the other inkspren did to Ivory during his desires or Syl during her desires, and so if your foolish spren cousin goes to try to bond humans, they get what is coming to them is how most of them would probably regard it. It's not gonna be too bad for the spren, they're not going to be "killed" by what Nale was doing to the people. It's much worse for the people in that instance. But still, not a fun experience for a spren.YouTube Spoiler Stream 3, 12/16/21
==References==
Category:Magical Creatures