Book personalization [mistborn spoilers]

[CosmereQuestioner]

Got my leather edition of mistborn, and some interesting info about Harmony. I've wondered about this for awhile, and interestingly, while Sanderson confirms the possibility, he basically says it won't happen. (At least not with Harmony).

The question was: "Like Adonalsium, could Harmony split into 2 shards OTHER THAN ruin/preservation with the right intent."

(then in the comment section of my order I clarified as follows)

"You once stated that it is plausible that with a different intent Adonalsium could have shattered into a DIFFERENT 16 shards. You have also said that Harmony is one shard (or could be viewed this way.) My question: Could Harmony split/be split into 2 shards OTHER THAN ruin/preservation (yet still complementing/opposite) with the right intent of the splitter?  (And if not is this because Harmony is still too invested in scadrial as ruin/preservation?)

 

His answer:  "Almost anything is possible... but it is very, very unlikely that Harmony would split except back to ruin/preservation."

 

My thoughts: while this may not happen with Harmony (and maybe goes against common sense for the shards?) It could happen at some other time or situation with another "double shard".  

Also, when he says it's "unlikely he would split EXCEPT back to ruin/preservation"... I don't want to read too much into this, but to me it sounds like there's a distinct possibility Harmony would split
, if the right circumstances arose. (It Not unlikely anyways)

[Kurkistan]

Cool question and thanks for posting the answer.

[The One Who Connects]

I remember someone else's book personalization said that "if he couldn't control his conflicting intents as well as he is, he could have gone by a different name than Harmony"
Speculation abounded, but my point here is that this means that the outcomes of both the combination and the split are not set in stone.

Actually, I think I have an idea on why he could, but most likely wont become something other than R&P. If we assume that Adonalsium was a "whole personality" (like a human mind, with all the varying emotions/segments) then Harmony is 2/16ths of that Personality. Harmony is only a mixture of a Preserving Mindset and a Ruinous Mindset.

For him to split into something that is not Ruin and Preservation, those two mindsets would have to broken in ways that combine into two distinct Intents. Mix and Match aspects of [Ruin] and [Preservation] in a way that gives you two different Intents that are both believable and not just "Destroy almost everything" and "Preserve almost everything." It's not as easy to do as mixing aspects of all 16 Shards into different ones. It's possible, but very unlikely.

Even 3 Shards makes it easier, as (Roshar example) Honor-H, Cultivation-C, Odium-O.   1) 1/2H+1/2C[?]  2) 1/2H+1/2O [Justice?]  3) 1/2C+1/2O [?]
But with 2 Shards, you just get 1/2R+1/2P or 1/2P+1/2R.  You'd have to do different fractions, and that skews the intent towards one side, which ...