Stormfather

Stormfather
Stormfather Fan art by ex-m[1]
Biographical information
Race	Spren
Ethnicity	Honor
Nationality	Shadesmar
Gender	Male
Status	Alive
Abilities	Nahel bonding, affording Surgebinding
Social Information
Title(s)	Splinter, Cognitive Shadow
Occupation	Bondsmithspren
Appears in	The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer

The Stormfather is a Splinter of the Almighty. He is also what is known as a Cognitive shadow and he's semi-sentient. He is both a spren and the shadow of a god.

“

I AM HIS ... SPREN, YOU MIGHT SAY. NOT HIS SOUL. I AM THE MEMORY MEN CREATE FOR HIM, NOW THAT HE IS GONE. THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE STORMS AND OF THE DIVINE. I AM NO GOD. I AM BUT A SHADOW OF ONE.

”

According to Pattern, the Stormfather survived the Recreance, whilst thousands of other spren peoples were then killed. He is frequently confused with Jezrien, the King of the Heralds in Vorin theology. He is described by Sigzil as "Master of the storms, bringer of water and life".

'Stormfather' is also frequently used as a religious exclamation or a curse.

Appearance

The Stormfather encompasses everything in the sky, a face that stretches to both horizons. The surrounding air becomes strangely still, and everything else seems to fade. It is as if humans slip into a place outside time itself.

Personality

Syl mentions that he is broken and has given up fighting. He is very angry at humans for causing the deaths of so many spren. He has shown great care and affection for Syl, calling her his "daughter" and telling her not to trust Kaladin, fearing that he will kill her. In addition, Syl implies he forbade any honorspren to travel to the Physical Realm. However, he remains willing to accept the oaths made through the Nahel bond.^{[citation needed]}

“	"My father," Syl said, voice growing solemn. "He brought the storm, rushing its pace. He's ... broken, Kaladin. He doesn't think any of this should be happening. He wants to end it all, wash everyone away, and try to hide from the future."	”
–Syl to Kaladin

“	"Take care," Syl sent. "My father hates you. This is his domain. And it is mixed with something even more terrible, another storm."	”
–Syl to Kaladin

As always, to Dalinar, the Stormfather's voice sounds as if it is far off, like very distant thunder. He doesn't always reply to Dalinar, and doesn't remain near him. Dalinar expects this. He knows that the Stormfather could not - should not - be contained. He is the soul of the storms. Yet, there is an almost childish petulance to the way he sometimes ignores Dalinar's questions. It seems to Dalinar that sometimes the Stormfather does so merely because he doesn't want Dalinar to think that he would come whenever called.

Thus, Dalinar is surprised when the Stormfather agrees so willingly to unite he and Navani in marriage, yet he is also grateful.

“	"I respect all oaths," the Stormfather responded. "What about foolish oaths? Made in haste, or in ignorance?" "There are no foolish oaths. All are the mark of men and true spren over beasts and subspren. The mark of intelligence, free will, and choice."	”
–The Stormfather to Dalinar

Abilities

The Stormfather has the power to cause highstorms and may be the source of all highstorms on Roshar. As such, during the people's clash with the Voidbringers, he summoned an irregular highstorm to match the Everstorm.

Like all Nahel spren, he can bond with a worthy human (in the right circumstances), and grant him/her the powers of the Bondsmiths (i.e., the Surges of Tension and Adhesion). Additionally, he seems to have the final say as to whether a Knight Radiant has vocalized something that conveys the Ideals represented by the Immortal Words.

The Stormfather created only a handful of children. All of these, save Sylphrena, were destroyed in the Recreance, becoming deadeyes. This loss stung the Stormfather, who didn't create again for centuries. When he was finally moved to remake the honorspren, he created only ten more.

Parshendi

According to Eshonai, the Stormfather is known by the Parshendi as the Rider of Storms.

“	This one, the soul of the storm, was the one the humans called Stormfather - and he was not one of her people's gods. In fact, the songs named him a traitor - a spren who had chosen to protect humans instead of the listeners. Still, her people respected him. He would kill any who did not respect him.	”
–Eshonai's thoughts

“	The Rider of Storms was a traitor, yes - but you could not have a traitor who had not originally been a friend. These storms belonged to her people. The listeners were of the storms.	”
–Eshonai's thoughts

Gods

Stormfather
Fan art by Jeremiah Langner[2]

Before the conclusion of Words of Radiance, Dalinar speaks with the Stormfather and asks him if he is the Almighty. The Stormfather denies this, referring to Dalinar as a child of Honor. Dalinar then asks him if he is a Herald, to which the Stormfather replies that he is not. Dalinar then asks him whether he is a spren or a god, to which the Stormfather replies, "Both."

The Stormfather indicates to Dalinar that the Parshendi sing for his deadly opposite and that it can't be stopped. Still, he then says that he brings a storm that will cleanse and carry away the Alethi corpses. Dalinar defies him, declaring that he isn't his god, never was his god; that he is a shadow and a lie. Even so ...

Nahel Bond

By the end of Words of Radiance, Dalinar is bound to the Stormfather, granting him the powers of a Bondsmith. The Stormfather requires of Dalinar that he rid himself of the Shardblade which he currently holds, indicating that it was a 'monstrosity' (i.e., one of those Blades imbued with a dead spren).

Notes

During a Q&A with Brandon, the author indicated that the Stormfather is a bit above the Nightwatcher and Cusicesh the Protector.

According to Alice Arneson[3] (one of Brandon's beta readers and the leader of the tor.com re-reads of The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Warbreaker, and Oathbringer), the Stormfather is to Honor as the Nightwatcher is to Cultivation ... except that Honor is splintered and Cultivation isn't.

Q&A with Brandon

Q: If the highstorms existed prior to the Shards' arrival, what’s the relationship between the highstorms and the Stormfather?

A: Oh good question. I was wondering if someone was going to ask that. So, I’ll try ... let me see ... [sighs] You know, I’m actually going to RAFO this one. And let me tell you why, because I mean, I want to give you some reasons to be interested in the things that Dalinar will be talking about with the Stormfather. So this is a RAFO with an explicit promise for book three. These are things that will be covered now that we have bonded the Stormfather to a person who can now ask some of these questions. I could totally just tell you now, but where the fun of that? Read book three.

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