Difference between revisions of "Listener"
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{{spoilers|book=sa2}}
The '''listeners''' are a species of sapient creatures on [[Roshar]].{{book ref|sa2|I-1}} There are two main groups of listeners, the [[Parshendi]] on the [[Shattered Plains]], and the docile [[#Slave form (Parshmen)|parshmen]].
The listeners can communicate their emotions through certain rhythms to each other and can keep perfectly in time with these rhythms even when apart, although the parshmen do not have this ability. Male listeners grew beards, which they thread through beads infused with [[Stormlight]].
[[File:parshendiwarform.png|thumb|300px|Warform by [[User:Khal]]]]
By staying out in a [[highstorm]] with a [[spren]], listeners are capable of bonding with said spren, which has the effect of changing their appearance,{{qa ref|987|18|Do Parshendi need a highstorm to change form?|date=2012-11-06}} physical abilities, and mental capabilities. These changes are known as '''forms'''. Many forms are mentioned in the old listener song, the [[Song of Listing]], but most are lost to modern listeners.
With several exceptions -- such as mateform and and slaveform -- most Listener forms are asexual.{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crbq12w}}{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crcbbv7}}
;Warform:
== Rhythms ==
The listeners speak to Rhythms. These Rhythms are underlying tunes that seem to exist independently from their actual use. Also, Rhythms are "playing" constantly. For example, Rhythms can be used to measure time.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} Rhythms represent a certain state of mind, the feelings of the person using it. When not paying attention, Parshendi will attune to the Rhythm that corresponds to their mood, but they can attune to another Rhythm in order to fit with their message.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} Dullforms and "Slave forms" don't use Rhythms. The rhythms connect the listeners.{{qa ref|836|51|Are Parshendi like a hive mind sort of culture?|date=Sep 22nd, 2012}}
=== List of Rhythms ===
==History==
Listeners have existed on Roshar a very long time, even before humans
At some point, after listeners felt [[spren]] betrayed them, giving [[Surge]]s to humans instead of them, the listeners turned to other gods.{{epigraph ref|sa2|28}}{{epigraph ref|sa2|32}} These gods, perhaps the [[Unmade]]{{epigraph ref|sa2|31}}, but almost assuredly [[Splinter]]s of [[Odium]],{{epigraph ref|sa2|34}}, changed them, into what became the [[Voidbringer]]s. Later, after the [[Desolation]]s, [[Jasnah Kholin]] theorized that these Voidbringers were not eliminated, but enslaved into what were called the parshmen.{{book ref|sa1|72}}
After the Desolations, not all listeners were the unintelligent parshmen; there were several tribes of the dullform listeners, having thrown off the forms of their gods. Raids and assassinations were commonplace, and this later created norms as to how assassinations should have been carried out.{{qa ref|968|2|Parshendi once dis-unified|date=2013-02-22}} These disparate listener tribes eventually unified, moved near the [[Shattered Plains]] and became known as the [[Parshendi]].
The [[Alethi]] discovered this tribe of listeners, shocked that there existed sapient versions of the parshmen. Eventually Alethkar formed a treaty with these Parshendi, but on the eve of the treaty, [[Gavilar|King Gavilar]] was assassinated, in an attempt to prevent the listener gods from returning. This led to the Alethi forming the [[Vengeance Pact]], and the [[War of Reckoning]] to destroy the assassins.
During the war, these listeners moved to [[Narak]]. But eventually, [[Venli]] persuaded [[Eshonai]] that they would die unless they did something drastic. Venli had discovered stormform, one of their old gods' 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, now referred to as 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]].
Parshendi at some point in their history interbred with humans. The descendants of these Parshendi-human hybrids are modern Roshar's [[Unkalaki]] and [[Herdazian]] peoples.{{qa ref|1084|9|Horneaters are human/Parshendi hybrids.|date=August 13th, 2014}}{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crds34r}}
== See Also ==
*[[Parshendi]]
*[[Voidbringers]]
*[[Herdaz]]
*[[Unkalaki]]
== Notes ==
{{columns|<references
{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crbq12w|text=I originally conceived the asexual nature of most Parshendi forms after reading a very thought-provoking article written by someone asexual.|date=17 may 2015}}
{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crds34r|text=The Horneaters and the Herdazians are both descendants of Parshendi/human interbreeding.|date=17 may 2015}}
{{reddit ref|books|2ytg2h|crcbbv7|text=Most Listener forms are asexual, but several forms are different, including slaveform.|date=19 may 2015}}
</references> />|count=2}}
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{{Stormlight}}
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