Every Type of Spren in the Stormlight Archive

Spren are one of the most distinctive elements of the Stormlight Archive. Understanding spren is the key to understanding Roshar itself.

What Are Spren?

Spren are splinters of the Shards Honor, Cultivation, and Odium that gained sentience through human perception. They are drawn to the things they embody: angerspren appear near furious people, painspren crawl around wounds, gloryspren orbit triumphant moments.

Lesser Spren

• Gloryspren — golden spheres appearing during triumph
• Painspren — orange hands crawling near injury
• Fearspren — writhing purple worms around frightened people
• Angerspren — pools of red boiling up from the ground
• Shamespren — falling white petals
• Lifespren — little green motes near living things
• Windspren — invisible entities that love to play tricks

Radiant Spren (High Spren)

These fully sentient spren can form a Nahel bond with humans granting Surgebinding powers:

• Honorspren — Windrunners (Sylphrena)
• Highspren — Skybreakers
• Ashspren — Dustbringers
• Cultivationspren — Edgedancers
• Mistspren — Truthwatchers
• Cryptics (Liespren) — Lightweavers (Pattern and Testament)
• Inkspren — Elsecallers (Ivory)
• Lightspren (Reachers) — Willshapers
• Stonespren — Stonewards
• Bondsmith spren — the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, the Sibling

Voidspren

Voidspren are splinters of Odium that serve the Fused and the Singers. Unlike Radiant spren they do not form willing bonds but are controlled or coerced by Odium forces during the Desolations.

Spren in Shadesmar

Spren exist primarily in the Cognitive Realm (Shadesmar) where they appear as full beings with complex societies. In the Physical Realm they appear as small visual manifestations. When a Nahel bond forms the spren can cross into the Physical Realm in humanoid form.

Dead Shardblades

When a Knight Radiant abandoned their oaths the spren was killed and trapped as an unconscious weapon. Dead Shardblades feel cold and take ten heartbeats to summon while living Blades appear instantly. Every dead Shardblade is a spren murdered during the Recreance.

FAQ

What are spren in the Stormlight Archive?

Spren are fragments of the Shards Honor, Cultivation, and Odium that gained sentience through human perception on Roshar. They manifest as visual phenomena near the emotions or forces they embody. Sentient high spren can form Nahel bonds with humans, granting access to Surgebinding powers in exchange for the human living up to the spoken Ideals of their Radiant Order.

What spren do Windrunners bond?

Windrunners bond Honorspren, spren of Honor itself. Sylphrena is the most famous Honorspren, bonded to Kaladin Stormblessed. Honorspren are rare, proud, and deeply tied to oaths and protection. They grant access to the Surges of Gravitation and Adhesion, allowing Windrunners to fly, change the direction of gravity, and stick objects together with spiritual pressure.

What is the difference between a living and dead Shardblade?

A living Shardblade is a bonded spren who can cross into the Physical Realm as a weapon. It appears instantly when summoned and can be dismissed at will. A dead Shardblade is a spren killed when its Radiant broke their oaths. It takes ten heartbeats to summon, feels cold to the touch, and cannot return to Shadesmar on its own without a new bond forming.

Can spren feel pain?

Yes. Sentient Radiant spren experience pain, fear, and emotion. When a Radiant breaks their Ideals the spren suffers as the bond severs. Cryptics describe becoming a dead Shardblade as unconscious imprisonment. This is why the Recreance, when the Radiants abandoned their oaths en masse, was devastating to the entire spren population of Roshar and Shadesmar.

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