The size of shards

[supersmith]

I've been reading a lot about Odiums ability to spinter other shards and it got me thinking, what if some pieces of Adonalsium are bigger than others. Like it might have had the same amount of Ruin and Preservation, that's why there so well matched. But it also might have more hate/ passion then say Ambition and that's why Odium can splinter them so easily. Because he has more power. 

Tell me what you guys think, or if there's some WOB that smashes this theory then also please tell. 

[RShara]

They were roughly equal, and are basically infinite.

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Shardbound

Does each Shard have the same quantity or quality of Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, yes. They were equal proportions originally, how about that.

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

For Adonalsium to create the universe, therefore he must have infinite power to create an infinitely sized universe. Therefore, infinity divided by sixteen is equal to infinity. Therefore, why don't the Shards have infinite power, which they clearly don't, because they can be killed?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

The power can't be killed. The entity controlling the power can. Infinite power existing and being able to access the infinite power are different things, and a finite mind, even added to a very powerful sense of power, isn't necessarily able to tap all of that.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

What about Ruin and Preservation in Well of Ascension? We hear about Ruin using some of its power. Therefore, it must not have infinite power, because if you minus something from infinity, it's still infinity...

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

So, infinite power is changing forms. It's not going anywhere, right? So, the Investiture, the power, is becoming energy, which is doing work, which is being released back into the system. Nothing's growing or shrinking. It is simply changing forms, and potential energy is becoming kinetic.

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[Wandering Investor]

Brandon has stated that the shard's started out the same size. He has also noted that Odium originally avoided investing anywhere so he would have more power available to him than the other shards. He has since be, possibly against his will/preference, invested in the Roshar system, although to what amount is unknown.

That said, the Shards are not infinite. What Brandon answered in that question was whether the power can run out. The power a shard uses is not gone, its simply been put to purpose, and isn't available for immediate use. The power can be reclaimed, but the details on how this process works is not fully know. Example, when an Allomancer burns pewter, he uses Preservation's power, which turns into kinetic energy, and eventually somehow makes its way back to Preservation. But Secret History indicated that the power Ruin and Preservation used in building Scadrial could not readily be retrieved.

So Odium was originally equal, and took steps to avoid investing in order to have more power available for use. But he is invested in Roshar, but its unknown how he would compare to other shards.

[supersmith]

Ok thanks for telling me.

[Weltall]

1 hour ago, Wandering Investor said:

That said, the Shards are not infinite. What Brandon answered in that question was whether the power can run out. The power a shard uses is not gone, its simply been put to purpose, and isn't available for immediate use. The power can be reclaimed, but the details on how this process works is not fully know.

Brandon has said that he does intend to explore this and what it means for the Shards to be 'infinitely' powerful over the course of the series. Here's a trimmed WoB on the subject.

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You can see why I have such troubles explaining these things at signings--and why I fail when I try to, considering the time limitations and (often) fatigue limitations placed upon me. These are concepts I intend to spend entire, lengthy epic volumes explaining and exploring.

Let's say you were Autonomy, and you have--through expanding and exploring your understanding--found a gathering of investiture that has always been there, you always knew about, but still didn't actually recognize until the moment you considered and explored it. (Because even though your power is infinite, accessing and using that infinity is beyond your reach.) Were you "invested" there? No, no more than you're invested on Roshar, where parts of what were Adonalsium still exist that are associated with you (in the very fabric of mater and existence.) But suddenly, you have a chance to tweak, influence, and do things that were always possible, but which you never could do because you knew, but didn't know, at the same time.

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Even for the Shards, Investiture seems to work a lot like it does for mere mortals, where you have to know what something is supposed to do before you can actually do anything with it. See: Aons and metalminds. But he does seem to be stating that the Shards are infinite, they just can't handle all that power at once and may not be 'aware' of all of it, as in the Autonomy example. So for example with Ruin, he and Preservation both had power beyong what's present on Scadrial but at the end of HoA what they could access was more limited and the atium was enough to tip the balance.

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So Odium was originally equal, and took steps to avoid investing in order to have more power available for use. But he is invested in Roshar, but its unknown how he would compare to other shards.

Well, we know he's worried about Harmony but that's more because of the raw power imbalance that a serious consideration of who would win if they clashed, apparently. As Brandon has pointed out, Odium has held his power for far longer and is consequently a lot better at using it so he'd probably win, just not without considerable risk. Brandon has said that there may be another Shard that would give Odium a run for his money. Assuming this isn't what Brandon had in mind, if I were Odium I'd also be very worried about the Dor; it's not currently in an accessible state but if someone were able to Ascend to that power they'd be equivalent to Harmony and a combination of Devotion and Dominion might have an easier time directing that power against Odium, even if its Vessel would have the same inexperience issue that Sazed does.

Of course there's also Ambition, who was clearly number one on Odium's hit list...

[Wandering Investor]

@Weltall The original question was in regards to how Odium splintered the other shards, which all held the power equally as long. So I was comparing his strength to their, not to the two duoshards(counting the Dor). Part of his ability is skill, but the other part is his not investing resulting in more useable power.

[TheHeadHancho]

The shard that would give Odium a run for his money is probably the one that isn’t residing on a particular world.