Sylphrena

Sylphrena
by botanicaxu
Species	Honorspren
Homeworld	Roshar

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“ I bind things, Kaladin. I am honorspren. Spirit of oaths. Of promises. And of nobility. ”

— Sylphrena speaks to Kaladin about her nature

Sylphrena (Alethi pronunciation: [sɪlˈfɹɛ·nə] sil-FREN-na), or Syl, is a spren on Roshar. She normally appears as a young woman about a handspan tall, glowing with a faint blue-white light, but is able to take a wide variety of appearances, such as a ribbon of light or blown leaves.

Sylphrena is the last remaining of the only ten honorspren created by the Stormfather. She is refered to by other honorspren as Ancient Daughter.

At first, Kaladin believed her to be a windspren, but she later revealed that she was actually an honorspren bound to Kaladin, providing him with his Surgebinding powers. She says that she was drawn to Kaladin when he was in Amaram's army because of the way he always tried to look after young soldiers.

Appearance and Personality

She often appeared as a small glowing woman with an angular face and flowing hair, or occasionally a ribbon of light as she was able to change her form like certain other spren. She had a mischievous personality and was often making jokes or playing pranks on those around her. She was usually optimistic and constantly tried to boost Kaladins' spirits when he became depressed and tried to motivate him towards action. As an honorspren she had a very strict code of ethics which she tried to get Kaladin to abide by, getting upset when he deceived others even when he perceived it as justified.

• Images of Sylphrena
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  by User: Sheep

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  Sylphrena offering blackbane by User: Sheep

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  Sylphrena and Kaladin by User: Sheep

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  Kaladin and Sylphrena by User: Sheep

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  Syl in the four-on-one duel by User: Sheep

History

Sylphrena is the only remaining Honorspren the Stormfather created prior to the Recreance and one of only 11 remaining Honorspren created directly by the Stormfather. She had a Nahel Bond with an old Radiant, who died before the Recreance, saving her from death. Distraught with the loss of her bondmate, she slept for thousands of years in despair, but alive. She was discovered and awoken by the Stormfather, and locked inside a Honorspren city. She felt Kaladin "calling to her" and escaped from the city to find him, where she transitioned to the physical realm losing her memory and hiding among Windspren until her bond with Kaladin was formed. Because of this she has a substantial bounty on her head to return her to stormfather.

Abilities and Attributes

Like other larger spren, Syl could change her form, although since bonding with Kaladin, she was usually in the shape of a small, glowing woman. She had the ability to cause things to stick together which she generally used to play pranks on people. She could float or fly through the air, as well as walk sideways, and was particularly good at finding things such as when she helped search for the knobweeds and loot from the chasms for Bridge Four. She had the ability to bond with people and gain higher sentience in exchange for granting that person Surgebinding abilities, although whether this is voluntarily caused by her is unknown.

Nahel Bond

“ I'm behind what is happening to you. I'm doing it. It's both of us. But without me, nothing would be changing in you. I'm . . . taking something from you. And giving something in return. It's the way it used to work, though I can't remember how or when. I just know that it was. I'm willing to stop it, if you want. But I would go back to being as I was before. That scares me. Floating on the wind, never remembering anything for longer than a few minutes. It's because of this tie between us that I can think again, that I can remember what and who I am. If we end it, I lose that. ”

— Syl to Kaladin on where his Surgebinding abilities are from

Syl bonded with Kaladin in some way which increased her sentience and caused her to regain some lost memories, this also enabled Kaladin to use some Surgebinding abilities from the Windrunner order. Syl was aware of this bond and has talked to Kaladin about it, even offering to get rid of it if he wanted although she feared returning to a normal spren again and losing her regained memories once more. However she also expressed occasional fears of the way the bond was changing her, such as when she understood the concept of lying.

When Kaladin began to break his oaths during Words of Radiance, Syl started losing sentience, reverting back to a mindless windspren. She became more childlike, easily distracted, and lost her bond with Kaladin to the point where he could no longer draw upon Stormlight to Surgebind. When Kaladin fell into the chasm, he was able to draw one breath of Stormlight to save himself, though he heard Syl scream in his head. She did not reappear after that, and during the next highstorm, Kaladin received a vision from the Stormfather, saying that he had killed her. He was no longer able to use any Surgebinding powers, and Syl vanished. When Kaladin tried to save Elhokar from the assassination attempt, he thought the words of the First Ideal, and began to hear shouting. It resolved into Syl arguing with the Stormfather and being forbidden to return to Kaladin. Syl then told Kaladin to speak the words, and he spoke the Third Ideal of the Windrunners. Syl then reappeared and spun around Kaladin, telling him to hold out his hand. He did so, blocking Moash's Shardblade as Syl formed into a Shardblade in his hand. His Surgebinding abilities came back, and Syl was able to speak in his mind and tell him that she was only as dead as his oaths.

Trivia

In an earlier version of The Way of Kings, Syl was named "The East Wind."

Notes

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