Popular Post PallonianFire Posted February 22, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 22, 2016 Okay, with some new information and WoB, I thought I'd gather all my thoughts into one place and make this a proper theory: Threnody was a Shard. This all started when I stumbled over the word "threnodic", describing flowers that might be used at a funeral. The immediate rush to the dictionary produced this definition: Threnody (n) A song or poem that expresses sorrow for someone who is dead. or A song of lamentation for the dead. This clear nod to an emotion brought to mind the quote from the letter in WoR, regarding Odium as "God's own divine hatred" and what Odium has been up to. We know from WoB (question 32) that Odium has Splintered more than just Devotion, Dominion, and Honor: LEIFTINSPACECan you write in one of my books about something we don;t know about the Shards, or at least one of the Shards? BRANDON SANDERSONOdium has killed at least one more Shard than the ones we know about. So, we know that at least one aspect of Adonalsium's emotions became a Shard: his hatred. And that an unknown Shard has been Splintered. So operating under the hope that Threnody was named for a purpose, I asked at the Denver Calamity signing: Q: Was Threnody named in memorial for someone? A: Yes it was. (With a big smile on his face.) So there's that. This would seem to imply that whatever it was named for died before it was settled, or at least that it died before the current civilization as seen in "Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell". At that point in the timeline, we know that something is messed up in the Cognitive Realm, hence the situation with the Shades. We know one other world where things are wonky in the CR: Sel, where Devotion and Dominion were splintered. Add my final assumption (or prediction, if you will) that if Adonalsium Shattered into Shards that included an emotion (Odium; divine hatred), it may have included more than one—Threnody; divine sorrow or divine lamentation. The conclusion is that, at some point, Odium either splintered Threnody on another world, and the cataclysm forced the people there to move worlds, settling on and naming Threnody after the Shard; or he visited Threnody, then unnamed, and splintered Threnody there. If it is the former, I think the people who worldhopped would have used the unstable Investiture post-splintering to fuel their worldhop, and that is what is currently mucking things up in the Cognitive Realm. If the latter, then it is a similar situation with Sel, where the splinters and Investiture stayed at the world, but are causing havoc in the CR. 51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oversleep Posted February 22, 2016 Report Share Posted February 22, 2016 I was about to link you to "Threnody's meaning" topic when I remembered you posted that topic XDHave an upvote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Invested Beard Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Love it. This has to be very close to the truth. Also, my favorite musical compositions are Requiems, which would be a form of Threnody. I think I have a new favorite (splintered) shard. Edited February 23, 2016 by The Invested Beard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormgate Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 You have a solid theory. Now to get it confirmed or RAFOed by the Word of Brandon! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruxer Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Have an upvote on me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Nice work on the linguistics. It's crazy how many secrets Brandon buries in his books. I'm pretty sure that there's no shattered Shard on Threnody. We have WoB that there is no Shard on Threnody; even though Devotion and Dominion were left shattered on Sel, Sel was described as having Shards. Have you considered that it's not just a memorial for a Shard, but for Adonalsium itself? Secret History Spoilers: What if one of the sixteen people who killed Adonalsium felt regret at what they had done, at who they had killed? The world wasn't named for a Shard; it was made, by a Shard, as a memorial. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegatorgirl00 Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Nice work on the linguistics. It's crazy how many secrets Brandon buries in his books. There's always another secret. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PallonianFire Posted February 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Have you considered that it's not just a memorial for a Shard, but for Adonalsium itself? I did, but I'm not sure that it makes total sense (from what we know, at least). The Shards that seem like the "creating worlds" types settled down where they created. I don't know what kind of Shard would make a world and then move on. Plus, that still doesn't explain the Cognitive Realm blockage/Shades problem. Also, hasn't he confirmed that Threnody is a "splinter world"? I swear I've seen that somewhere, though I can't find it now that I'm looking. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 I did, but I'm not sure that it makes total sense (from what we know, at least). The Shards that seem like the "creating worlds" types settled down where they created. I don't know what kind of Shard would make a world and then move on. Plus, that still doesn't explain the Cognitive Realm blockage/Shades problem. Also, hasn't he confirmed that Threnody is a "splinter world"? I swear I've seen that somewhere, though I can't find it now that I'm looking. :/ I found a quote that implies there's no splinter, just "ambient magic" on Threnody and First of the Sun. You might be thinking of Ashyn, of the unpublished The Silence Divine - that's been theorized to have a Splinter of Honor. There are a lot of worlds without Shards on them, so I don't think every world created by a Shard needs to have that Shard stay there. We wouldn't necessarily need to match an Intent with all these acts of creation; the Shardholders could have gone bonkers when they first Ascended, and then as their Intents began to overcome them, they stopped creating new worlds and began settling (or killing, or hiding, or whatever it was they did.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperity Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 There isn't an 'official' name for Shardworlds without a Shard yet, right? Are they still considered Shardworlds but with a distincition between a major Shardworld (Scadrial, Sel, etc.) and a world without an Invested Shard (Threnody, First of the Sun)? Or is that just what we refer to them as? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 There isn't an 'official' name for Shardworlds without a Shard yet, right? Are they still considered Shardworlds but with a distincition between a major Shardworld (Scadrial, Sel, etc.) and a world without an Invested Shard (Threnody, First of the Sun)? Or is that just what we refer to them as? I'm pretty sure Sanderson refers to them as minor shardworlds, but I'm on mobile so I'm not going to find a quote right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Love the theory, though I'm inclined to agree that it was probably created and named by a Shard rather than in rememberance of one.Personal theory: It was created by the Shard who just wants to be left alone, it's not this Shards Intent that makes it want to be alone, it's just lost so much that it created or named a planet in memoriam and then left to go play chess against itself for the next few eternities. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PallonianFire Posted February 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 There are a lot of worlds without Shards on them, so I don't think every world created by a Shard needs to have that Shard stay there. But doesn't this sort of assume that the world had to have been made by a Shard? Yolen existed pre-Shattering, and it would be pretty weird if it were the only planet that did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 I've been tentatively on this theory since the "Threnody was named in memorial of someone" WoB. I like it lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PallonianFire Posted February 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 I think my next step will be getting a WoB on "Has Odium ever visited Threnody?" or something along those lines. I'd love it if he decided to fire up another Sanderbot and crank out a Threnody novella for Arcanum Unbounded, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondesu Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 I think my next step will be getting a WoB on "Has Odium ever visited Threnody?" or something along those lines. I'd love it if he decided to fire up another Sanderbot and crank out a Threnody novella for Arcanum Unbounded, too. We know Odium has visited/had influence on all the major Shardworlds, so yeah, that would be very interesting too. I wonder how much influence he's had on the smaller worlds like Threnody, if any (the shades make me suspect he could be involved, but he's not the only baddie out there I'm sure). jW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PallonianFire Posted February 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 Well, if we get a WoB that he has visited Threnody, that's at least another circumstantial point of support for him splintering a Shard there. Or, maybe we should ask if his influence is present on Threnody, to cover the chance of splintering a Shard elsewhere and people moving to Threnody/naming it after the Shard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yata Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) I for some time (a couple of days) thought that Threnody was where Harmony places the Mistwrath turned agains in Humans. They was legacy of ancient time with no space in the modern era. The Homeland was of course Scadrial. This because "The Evil" was related to Ruin (we have a WoB about), the reason of the Shades is a Legacy of the Cognitive Block they once have and the Decay effect of the Shades was extra Ruin Investiture that Sazed give them to balance his own powers (this remove their Feruchemy) Of course I found to many problems to this idea to develop it further :-) Edited February 23, 2016 by Yata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted February 23, 2016 Report Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Yata, do you have a direct quote or a link to the WoB you referenced? I see you've mentioned it a couple times (including your thread on the subject), but I'm unable to find it anywhere. EDIT: Found it. The transcript it came from, apparently, has never been posted, but the quote is floating around. Questioner: The Evil on Threnody... Brandon: The Evil on Threnody. Questioner: Is it related to Ruin? Brandon: Is it related to Ruin. Well technically, yes. Directly? No. You let me wiggle out of that one, that's so broad. It actually seems to go against the point you're trying to make - there is no direct connection with Ruin, so no reason to connect Threnody to Scadrial. Edited February 23, 2016 by Pagerunner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yata Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) First of all thanks... I tried but I can't find it yesterday. Now, I already said that I discharged this idea, also if it has some appeal to me. EDIT: Of course the "idea" of the previous post (thredony people as former Mistwrath) is different from the one in my theory topic. I already left that one, thanks I forgot to edit my signature Edited February 24, 2016 by Yata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 Now I would be curious to find out if there is, or ever was, a Shard whose Intent is similar to Sorrow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) You guys may be reading a little too much into the name. Just because the planet is named in lament of something dead, (which totally could be a shard, you're right) doesn't mean that if it was a shard, that shard had a similar Intent. For all we know they could be refugees from Sel. Edited February 24, 2016 by Ari 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 You guys may be reading a little too much into the name. Just because the planet is named in lament of something dead, (which totally could be a shard, you're right) doesn't mean that if it was a shard, that shard had a similar Intent. For all we know they could be refugees from Sel. Agreed: Replugs theory that it's alone Shard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 I just reread the story, looking for clues. Right there in the intro, we learn that Isaac, Brandon's art guy, named the world after reading the novella. So, there might not be any deep clues about other Shards or the history of the planet; it might just be a poetic way of saying it's a graveyard. However, Isaac is on Twitter, @IzykStewart. I don't have an account, but someone else could ask him about how he came up with the name, and what the meaning behind it is. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmann966 Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 You guys may be reading a little too much into the name. Just because the planet is named in lament of something dead, (which totally could be a shard, you're right) doesn't mean that if it was a shard, that shard had a similar Intent. For all we know they could be refugees from Sel. This was the theory I decided I'm backing full-heartedly last night after making the connection between Svrakiss and Shades. So this has my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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