RealmaticTheorist

Making copies of Elantra’s would not increase the range of AonDor, as AonDor’s power isn’t based on the users’ proximity to Elantris, but to Arelon itself, as the entire system of AonDor is based off Arelon’s geography. In fact, creating copies of Elantris may have a similar effect as the Reod. Edit: I just read up on this topic; AonDor’s power is directly related to the Elantrian’s distance from Elantris, NOT Arelon. So making copies of Elantris may actually increase the range of AonDor. I think this would only be effective if these copies were in Arelon, though. Making new Elantris-sized cities could drastically alter Arelon’s geography. Many Aon’s would have to be altered to fit this model—perhaps even the Rao of Elantris itself.

Lesser spren aren’t sentient, or at least have a lower level of sentience than highspren. Radiants hear screaming when touching shardblades because the “dead” spren has or had a mind—furthermore, a mind that’s in some kind of pain. They’re able to communicate that pain. Shardplate doesn’t scream for the same reason plants don’t scream when we eat them; they’re alive, but they have no mind, no consciousnesses. Or, if they do, their sentience works completely differently than humans and animals, and we have no way of detecting or measuring it. I think that shardplate heals itself because all those lesser spren made a choice, in some loose sense of the word, to become a Shard. In doing so, they were woven, or even forged, together in all three Realms. Their essences are Connected. In other words, the shardplate heals itself because it thinks it should be whole. Stormlight just powers the process.

Are all the shards pairs? We know that Ruin and Preservation are an opposing pair. Are all 16 shards this way? For example, perhaps Autonomy and Dominion are opposites, as Dominion seeks to destroy what autonomy others have, and autonomy seeks to be free of any dominion over it. In the same fashion, Devotion may have been Odium’s opposing pair, which would make his attack on her make all the more sense. If the theory is true, it would help us guess the other shards, for example, maybe a Contentment shard as Ambition’s pair, or Opposition as Cultivation’s. It would be interesting to know what dishards could be made if more pairs melded, like Harmony.

From my understanding, as soon as atium is burned, it starts forming somewhere else-usually the Pits of Hathsin. The formation process does take time, though? Somthere could only be a certain amount of atium on Scadrial at one time, but once it was burned, it reformed. If that’s true, then burning atium to keep it out of Ruin’s hands would be useless. I agree with you that it doesn’t seem like the best plan, leaving it with the kandra. Although using humans to guard it would be much worst, in my estimation; there would have been many more generations of guards, which makes it much more likely for there to have been some sort of corruption, either of greed—atium is worth its weight in gold—or of simple miscommunication though generations. On second thought, the Kandra were probably Rashek’s best bet. Unfortunately for him

This is my first post, so if I got anything wrong, let me know. I’ve been thinking about Harmony, who may be the most powerful being in the Cosmere, since he is two shards. My main question is: could Harmony combine with the rest of the shards to reform Adonalsium? Here is my thinking on the topic so far. The first challenge would be reforming the splintered shards—does anyone know if that’s possible? The second challenge would be getting all the shards into one place at the same time, in their complete forms, and vessel-less. Could one of the current vessels, for example, Sazed, claim the other shards, or would it have to be someone new, flaming all the shards at the same time? The third challenge, and end of my line of reasoning: In his letter to Hoid, Sazed mentions that “the powers I hold are in such conflict that the most simple of actions can be difficult.” -Third Oathbringer Letter. If Harmony has so much trouble reconciling Ruin and Preservation, would any Adonalsium 2.0 be rendered powerless by all 16 shards residing in it? One final thought. Was the shattering of Adonalsium a permanent, Cosmere-altering event? Or was it more like Pangea; simply the last of several occasions when all the continents (shards) were one. Now the continents are separate, but in a few million years or so, scientists tell us they’ll collide to form another supercontinent, which in turn will eventually separate again. Maybe Adonalsium is different every time it recombines, as the shards combine in different ways, with different vessels.