Parshendi

Parshendi
World of Origin	Roshar

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The Parshendi are a group of listeners on Roshar. They live on eastern Roshar, near the Shattered Plains. During the War of Reckoning, they inhabit the city of Narak.

History

At some point in the past, the Parshendi were much less unified than they are when seen during the War of Reckoning. They were once split into a number of separate tribes, with raids and assassinations as a relatively frequent occurrence. This is reflected in the Parshendi having enough cultural experience with assassination to have norms as to how an assassinations ought to be carried out.

The Parshendi were originally discovered by King Gavilar's brother Dalinar during a hunting trip. Dalinar was scouting in a forest which had not been on any maps. In a valley south of the Shattered Plains and about two weeks' march from the Drying Sea, Dalinar saw the first Parshendi camped on the other side of a tributary of the Deathbend River. They hired Szeth to assassinate the King of Alethkar, Gavilar, on the eve of a treaty with the Alethkar people in order to stop the Parshendi gods from returning. They instructed him to wear white because it was a Parshendi tradition for assassinations.

The assassination led to the formation of the Alethi Vengeance Pact and caused the War of Reckoning, a prolonged war between the Parshendi and the Alethi on the Shattered Plains.

Near the end of the war, which the Parshendi were slowly losing, a Parshendi, Venli persuaded her sister, the general Eshonai, that they would die unless they did something drastic. Venli had discovered stormform, one of old listener forms, and Eshonai took the form and forced many other listeners to adopt it as well in order to stop the Alethi and the destruction of their species.

At the Battle of Narak, where Highprince Dalinar Kholin led an expedition to end the War of Reckoning, the listeners in stormform, which Dalinar referred to as the Voidbringers, summoned a storm. Eshonai thought the stormform abilities would summon a highstorm, but they instead summoned the Everstorm, leading to the start of the True Desolation.

After the battle, Rlain laments that with the Parshendi taking up stormform, the Parshendi people no longer exist.

At one point in their history, they interbred with humans, creating the modern day Herdazians and Unkalaki.

Notable Parshendi

For a full list of Parshendi, see Category: Parshendi.

• Eshonai
• Klade
• Devi
• Varanis
• Venli
• Demid
• Rlain

See Also

• Listeners
• Voidbringers
• Last Legion
• Herdaz
• Unkalaki

Notes

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