What is/was Adonalsium?

[StrikerEZ]

DISCLAIMER: I have only read the first Mistborn trilogy, Elantris, The Emperor's Soul, and I have started Warbreaker. Try to not spoiler any other books for me (though I have done this a little for myself by being on this site)

Okay, so I'm mainly asking this question because I have cool ideas for books I want to write, and Brandon Sanderson seems to either 1) come up with cool ideas before I can, and I come up with them independently just to find out he's already done them or 2) influence my ideas, without me realizing right away, only to realize later that I have almost plagiarized his works.

What I want know is what exactly Adonalsium is. Is Adonalsium a being, or more of a force? From what I've heard, and what I've seen of the shards (including what I've heard of other shards like Odium), it sounds like Adonalsium was a being, and it got shattered, almost kinda making new beings. Am I close?

Also, do we know if Adonalsium was always Adonalsium? If someone can take one of its shards and become a vessel, is that what happened to begin with for Adonalsium? Did someone find whatever you would call what would be like a shard for Adonalsium, and become its vessel? Also, would it be possible for someone to find all sixteen shards and take them in all at once?

Also, is there a 17th Shard in the Cosmere? Or was that just a cool name that the site was given?

Sorry if these questions have been asked and answered, I didn't do any digging in fear of spoilers.

[Khyrindor]

You are correct in assuming Adonalsium was a being, or a force. Many people in the cosmere worshipped it as a god (indeed, it's name comes from the Hebrew word Adonai, the name of God). In Cosmere prehistory, Adonalsium was split into sixteen Shards with varying Intents, each attribute coming from a different part of that god's behavior, aspects, or motives. The sixteen people that managed to kill Adonalsium then took up those Shards and thus was born the Cosmere as we know it. We don't know for sure how any of this transpired, but there are theories. 

We don't know for sure if Adonalsium had a Vessel or not.

The leading theory is that if you combined all the Shards, it would lead to the restoration of Adonalsium. In fact, that is one of the big questions in the Cosmere, that certain background characters may be trying to bring about behind the scenes over many years. We don't know for sure if it would happen this way, or if Adonalsium would even be the same being, but there is a lot of evidence to support the theory.

The Seventeenth Shard is an in-universe organization that is interested in keeping the Shards separate. They figure that Adonalsium was killed for a reason, and we should let it be. They also seem mostly well-intentioned, as they don't want any planets to be destroyed (which is nice), but they also have a "Prime Directive" type aspect to them, not wanting to get too involved in individual planets' problems. We took the name because it's cool, and something in universe that we don't know much about yet.

Hope that helped! Enjoy the Cosmere.

[Staphylococcus]

29 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Yes, that helped a lot.

I have another minor question that I just thought of. So, were Ruin and Preservation shards that had been shattered (is that the right term) before in a previous time? Or were they two separate shards that were used to make one new shard? If so, wouldn't that bring the total number of shards down to 15? Or, if it were the first way, would there actually have been 17 shards at a point in time, but the creation of Harmony returned it back to 16?

Also, I know that Odium shattered the shard from Sel to make Dominion and Devotion. Do we know what they were before? Also, depending on which of the numbers used from my first question, wouldn't there either be 16 or 18 shards?

You've got this wrong, mate. Dominion and Devotion were 2 separate shards that were then splintered by Odium. 

Ruin and Preservation were too 2 separate shards, since the shattering of Adonalsium.

Also, when talking about Adonalsium BranSan used the words "he" and "killed" so we kind of know that he was a being (since he was KILLED not DESTROYED).

I lost the source, however, so take my words with a pinch of salt. Or copper, as the Scadrians would say

[Staphylococcus]

29 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Oh okay. That's why I was confused. That makes so much more sense. Thanks for the help!

You're very welcome! I get how someone can get confused by all this I had to read the whole coppermind twice to properly understand what was going on

[Khyrindor]

8 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

Yes, that helped a lot.

I have another minor question that I just thought of. So, were Ruin and Preservation shards that had been shattered (is that the right term) before in a previous time? Or were they two separate shards that were used to make one new shard? If so, wouldn't that bring the total number of shards down to 15? Or, if it were the first way, would there actually have been 17 shards at a point in time, but the creation of Harmony returned it back to 16?

Also, I know that Odium shattered the shard from Sel to make Dominion and Devotion. Do we know what they were before? Also, depending on which of the numbers used from my first question, wouldn't there either be 16 or 18 shards?

Yeah, as @Staphylococcus said, there was 16 Shards in the beginning. Ruin and Preservation were both whole until the events of Hero of Ages, when they combined. Brandon has talked about that by saying that the Shards are still two Shards, but at the same time you could talk about it as one Shard, similar to the way you'd say an emperor was the king of two countries.

Dominion and Devotion were both whole separate Shards until Odium killed them, and Splintered them (that's the word you're looking for).

So, 16 in the beginning is indisputable, anything that happens between Shards, you can assume it's one of them.

[StrikerEZ]

15 minutes ago, Khyrindor said:

You are correct in assuming Adonalsium was a being, or a force. Many people in the cosmere worshipped it as a god (indeed, it's name comes from the Hebrew word Adonai, the name of God). In Cosmere prehistory, Adonalsium was split into sixteen Shards with varying Intents, each attribute coming from a different part of that god's behavior, aspects, or motives. The sixteen people that managed to kill Adonalsium then took up those Shards and thus was born the Cosmere as we know it. We don't know for sure how any of this transpired, but there are theories. 

We don't know for sure if Adonalsium had a Vessel or not.

The leading theory is that if you combined all the Shards, it would lead to the restoration of Adonalsium. In fact, that is one of the big questions in the Cosmere, that certain background characters may be trying to bring about behind the scenes over many years. We don't know for sure if it would happen this way, or if Adonalsium would even be the same being, but there is a lot of evidence to support the theory.

The Seventeenth Shard is an in-universe organization that is interested in keeping the Shards separate. They figure that Adonalsium was killed for a reason, and we should let it be. They also seem mostly well-intentioned, as they don't want any planets to be destroyed (which is nice), but they also have a "Prime Directive" type aspect to them, not wanting to get too involved in individual planets' problems. We took the name because it's cool, and something in universe that we don't know much about yet.

Hope that helped! Enjoy the Cosmere.

Yes, that helped a lot.

I have another minor question that I just thought of. So, were Ruin and Preservation shards that had been shattered (is that the right term) before in a previous time? Or were they two separate shards that were used to make one new shard? If so, wouldn't that bring the total number of shards down to 15? Or, if it were the first way, would there actually have been 17 shards at a point in time, but the creation of Harmony returned it back to 16?

Also, I know that Odium shattered the shard from Sel to make Dominion and Devotion. Do we know what they were before? Also, depending on which of the numbers used from my first question, wouldn't there either be 16 or 18 shards?

[StrikerEZ]

5 hours ago, Staphylococcus said:

You've got this wrong, mate. Dominion and Devotion were 2 separate shards that were then splintered by Odium. 

Ruin and Preservation were too 2 separate shards, since the shattering of Adonalsium.

Also, when talking about Adonalsium BranSan used the words "he" and "killed" so we kind of know that he was a being (since he was KILLED not DESTROYED).

I lost the source, however, so take my words with a pinch of salt. Or copper, as the Scadrians would say

Oh okay. That's why I was confused. That makes so much more sense. Thanks for the help!