104 replies to this topic

[zas678]

So! You have been hearing about this mysterious "cosmere"? You came to 17thshard.com to learn about it. Well here is a fairly simple guide to get you started.

(Quick warning- there are major spoilers for Mistborn 3: Hero of Ages, and minor spoilers for Way of Kings)

The cosmere is a term we use to describe Brandon Sanderson's books that are in the same universe. They have a few similar characters, and have the same basic underlying Theory of Magic, or Realmatic theory. We learned about it mainly from Brandon's Hero of Ages (HoA) Q&A. There's not very much of it in the books, and so if you missed it the first time, don't worry. We all did too. Plus, Brandon has said that this WILL NOT be important to know. It's sort of an easter egg hunt for the intrepid fans who are wanting to dig deep into his books. He says someday he'll write about this underlying story, but it probably won't be for years and years.

Do you remember Preservation and Ruin in Hero of Ages? They are what we call Shards of Adonalsium. You see, a long time ago, there was a person/object/thing named Adonalsium. He/it shattered into sixteen pieces, and certain people "took" these shards to give them a guiding force (like how Vin took Preservation, or how Sazed took Preservation and Ruin). However, over time, the Shard shapes the bearer's personality. Thus, there are two names for each Shard. One is for the person holding the Shard, and the other is for the Shard itself. This is a list of known (or assumed) original Shards and their holders.


Shard - Holder -Book
Preservation - Leras (Dead) - MB
Ruin - Ati (Dead) - MB
Harmony* - Sazed - MB
Endowment - ? - WB
Devotion (Splintered) - Aona (Dead) - Elantris
Dominion (Splintered) - Skai (Dead) - Elantris
Odium (Hate) - Rayse - WoK
Cultivation - ? - WoK
Honor - Tanavast (Dead)- WoK
? - Bavadin - White Sand


*Harmony isn't really a Shard. It doesn't hold any of a Shard's Intent, it's just more of a nickname for Sazed since he holds both Preservation and Ruin.

For more information on Shards, check out the wiki here.

Now, there are also what are called Splinters and Slivers. Slivers are people who used to hold a majority of a shard. The Lord Ruler (TLR) and Vin (via the Well of Ascention) and Kelsier all are slivers (Kelsier held the power for a little bit in HoA). They have a little bit of a residual power left in them (which explains why TLR kept things the same for forever).

Splinters are objects of power from Shards. There are Splinters in Warbreaker, Elantris, and Way of Kings. The only definite splinter we know of is the Divine Breath that 'powers' the Returned.

The Theory of Magic is basically this: There are three Realms. The Physical Realm, where people exist, you can touch things, etc. The Cognitive Realm, aslo called Shadesmar, which you can use to change the Physical Realm. Shallan goes there twice (it's the place with all the spheres.) There is also the Spiritual Realm.

Now. There is a known planet jumper. Hoid, who often takes the role of a storyteller, beggar, or informant. He also leads some refugees in WoA. He is an old man with an arrowed face, and usually a beard. He probably comes from the Dragonsteel world (which is unpublished). He is "adept at manipulating Shadesmar", which we have taken to mean that he uses it to travel from world to world. He is also a Lightweaver (see the ship when Wit/Hoid talks to Kaladin), and has not experienced all the time since the beginning of his birth. In other words, he has a way of distorting time that may or may not be connected to Faster than Light (FTL) technology. He also has some way of knowing where he's going to need to be.

The Seventeenth Shard (who we are named after) is a group that includes a Galladon from Elantris, and Demoux from Mistborn. They are after Hoid, for some reason.

There are also the names of the planets.
Elantris: Sel
Warbreaker: Nalthis
Mistborn: Scadrial
Way of Kings: Roshar
White Sand: Taldain
Dragonsteel: Yolen

So that is the basics. Any questions? Disputations? Further info?

If you want more detail, you should check out my Brandonothology. It includes several Q&A he's done online. I suggest you start with Hero of Ages.

Also, some commonly used abbreviations-
MB- Mistborn (usually the series)
FE- Mistborn, Final Empire
WoA- Mistborn, Well of Ascension
HoA- Mistborn, Hero of Ages
WoK- Way of Kings
SA- Stormlight Archive
WB- Warbreaker

Also, for a translation of those mystery pages in WoK, look here, and for the full Feruchemical table and Realmatic explanation of the Three Metallic arts (Hemalurgy, Allomancy and Feruchemy), look here.

EDIT- I added some detail about how Brandon says it's a behind the scene story.

[Eerongal]

went ahead and pinned it fer ya. Would be helpful to have at the top for newbies.

[Chaos]

Definitely, especially since my guide is taking forever. Great work, Zas.

Edited by Chaos, 06 April 2011 - 04:02 PM.

[Endra kin'Fox]

Very nice intro. If this would have existed a long time ago, it would have saved me some confusion. Good work, kids. I love this place.

[Joe ST]

Pretty great intro, thanks

You mind if I mirror this on the Wiki?

Joe

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

Odium = Rayse has not been confirmed, jus' sayin'.

[lordofsoup]

I heard that Aona is Relief. Is that right?

[zas678]

Maybe. This is the quote we have from Brandon:

17S Does Aona = Love or Compassion?
BS: "You have it, it's just a synonym there. You basically have it"
17S Does Skai = Devotion or Order?
BS: "You're not on there. But you are on on the first one [Aona]."

[Eerongal]

Definitely, especially since my guide is taking forever. Great work, Zas.

speaking of your guide, when you get that up, do we want them both up here as two separate topics, or should we merge 'em? I know, basically, they're going to be the same subject content, but i didn't know if they needed distinction

[Joe ST]

well this is a short intro, it probably should link to the book Eric is writing

[Chaos]

It'll probably displace this topic, but I dunno.

@Silus - Don't be ridiculous. It's going in the guide, confirmed or not. Any other possibility is unnecessarily convoluted at this point.

@lordofsoup - I do not believe Aona is Relief, for a variety of reasons. There are a number of theoretical considerations to take into account. It was theorized to be Relief on TWG, but it isn't a basic enough Intent for a Shard.

[SOM1else]

I don't know Chaos, Silus has a point. All we know is that Rayse has the most dangerous Shard and that whoever has Odium killed the Almighty.

[Chaos]

I don't know Chaos, Silus has a point. All we know is that Rayse has the most dangerous Shard and that whoever has Odium killed the Almighty.

I guess. I suppose you have a point.

However, everything is pointed to Odium, the True Desolation, the Everstorm. The weight the Almighty puts into this is certainly deserving of "most dangerous Shard".

Plus, did Brandon ever say Odium went to Sel? If he explicitly stated this, then there's no more debate and Rayse = Odium.

[CrazyRioter]

also, the voice in Kaladin's dream/vision called Odium "most dangerous of all the sixteen".

[Chaos]

also, the voice in Kaladin's dream/vision called Odium "most dangerous of all the sixteen".

Oh, right, duh. There you have it. That settles the matter for me unequivocally. (Also, I upvoted you Rioter for that)

[Endra kin'Fox]

Yeah, that's a good bit of information. I am a believer now.

[Chaos]

Hey, it's always good to check if things are in fact true. I'm rather lax on my citations most times.

[SOM1else]

Yeah that pretty much confirms Rayse=Odium

[zas678]

You mind if I mirror this on the Wiki?

Sure! Go ahead.

And I don't care if it is here with Chaos's Epic Post, or if it is displaced by it. I just thought it would be nice to have some basics for those who don't know what the cosmere is.

[Endra kin'Fox]

So, I didn't know exactly where to post this and it didn't really seem worthy of its own thread but I was wondering, how do you think Brandon will handle the "big revelations" of the cosmere in terms of casual readers who may or may not ever read more than a few of his books.
I mean, say you were reading a Mistborn book in the third set of trilogies. You have only ever read Mistborn books by Sanderson and you have never looked at forums like these. You will have no idea about Seventeenth Shard or Odium or Endowment. So what happens if Rayse comes to Scadrial to try to kill Sazed and you are like, "What? Who the hell is Rayse?!".
Obviously he wouldn't do it just like that, but how would he do it? Like I said, didn't think it was worth its own thread, but it might be.