Spren

Spren are the spirits of Roshar, living fragments of cognitive and divine power that pervade every aspect of the world. They are central to the magic, ecology, and religion of The Stormlight Archive, and the bond between a human and a spren is what creates a Knight Radiant. Spren are, in the cosmology of the Cosmere, pieces of Investiture given a measure of awareness, drawn from the Shards Honor, Cultivation, and Odium.

Description

Spren manifest in the Physical Realm as small, often translucent spirits attracted to particular forces, emotions, or concepts. Flamespren gather around fire, windspren dart on the breeze, rotspren cluster on wounds and decay, gloryspren appear around moments of triumph, and fearspren, painspren, and countless others embody the phenomena they are drawn to. Their true forms are found in Shadesmar, the Cognitive Realm, where they appear far more elaborate than their physical reflections.

Nature and Origin

Spren are born of the way humans and other beings conceptualize the world; they are the cognitive aspect of forces and ideas given spirit. Some are simple and nearly mindless, while others are highly intelligent. The greater spren -- such as honorspren, cryptics, and inkspren -- possess full sentience and personality, and it is these that bond with humans.

Bonds and the Knights Radiant

The Nahel bond between a sapient spren and a human grants the human access to Surgebinding and creates a Knight Radiant. Each of the ten orders of Radiants is associated with a particular kind of spren, and the spren that bonds becomes, when its Radiant draws a weapon, a living Shardblade. The honorspren Syl, bonded to Kaladin, is one of the most prominent examples.

Significance

Spren underlie nearly all of Roshar's magic and are essential to understanding Surgebinding, the Knights Radiant, Fabrials, and the connection between the Physical Realm and Shadesmar.