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Words of Radiance, Chapters 59, 60 and 61 Epigraphs, pages 725, 733, and 746 (emphasis mine). We know this to be Frost, the Dragon from Yolen, replying to Hoid's letter. Over the last few years, people have teased some answers out of Brandon here and there, and we now know that Hoid was actually the name of Hoid's master many years ago. And, obviously, the current alias is Wit, but what about that first part? Another quote somewhere (I couldn't find it, though) states that one of Hoid's old names was Topaz (correct me if I'm wrong), so it could be that Frost is asking after his aliases, after all, he opens without knowing to whom he should address his letter. I could be that "the gemstone" is simply a reference to his old name, and that that alias died, and Hoid did whatever regeneration thing he does, moved on, and picked a new name. I do not think that that is the case. The Way of Kings, Chapter 57, page 801 (emphasis mine) I hereby theorize that it is the gemstone itself that died, not the alias itself. Perhaps something Hoid did "killed" it, or him using it lead to its "death." More on this later. Now, I was reading through some WoBs, and I found this: Which relates to the section in WoR chapter 54 when Hoid name-drops Adonalsium, blows it off, talks about taking people apart and stitching them back together, and says his goodbyes to Dalinar. I would say that this subject was very important to Hoid, as Dalinar notes that he seems preoccupied, which is quite unusual. This WoB tells us a few things. 1. The secret society that Gavilar was part of knew, at the very least, the name "Adonalsium." 2. The secret society also knows more about the History of the Knights Radiant, Honor, and the Desolations, than the average Rosharan. 3. Hoid needs to know about them for some reason. What else do we know about Gavilar? Not much, except that he handed Szeth a black glowing sphere upon his death, saying "they must not get it." Another WoB I found: I theorize that this sphere is the gemstone after which Hoid was named, and it has since died, which is why it has gone black and weird. Hoid is looking for it, which is why he wanted to know if Dalinar knew anything about Gavilar's secret society. Frost asked if he has given up on it, now that it is dead. Perhaps he meant "given up on looking for it," rather than "given up on the alias." Source. Since Brandon didn't correct the questioner, this could confirm that the black sphere was at least a gemstone. So? Thoughts? Feel free to poke holes, theorize, and add to this as you will. Thank you for reading.

Apologies in advance if this has been brought up before. I searched the forum, wiki and google for any derivative of the word 'Adonals' before posting this, so I am not sure if it has been mentioned. If so, please direct me to the appropriate place/WOBs. Appreciated. Alright, so recently I started reading Warbreaker again because I absolutely love Lightsong. When it got to the section with Hoid, Lightsong and Siri I was of course interested because this is my first re-read after having found the 17th Shard and learned theories of the Cosmere. After Hoid completed his history of Hallandren he said something I had not noticed before in reference to his storytelling/[Lightweaving]. "I learned it many, many years ago from a man who didn't know who he was, your Majesty. It was a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died." I thought about who that friend may have been, and of course my brain jumped to the biggest thing it possibly could, Adonalsium itself. This got me to think something; what if the biggest clue about Adonalsium right there in the name: -ium. Lerasium. Atium. Leras. Ati. Therefore, I believe Adonalsium is actually Adonals This fits right into how so many worlds in the Cosmere worship some other, greater god out there - and how often it does not seem like that would be Adonalsium Itself. So, the pieces of my theory fall thusly: 1) There is a greater power that has existed long before the creation of Adonalsium 2) A living being called Adonals found a way to steal/harvest/merge with energy of this higher power 3) Adonals became a physical embodiment of a portion of this power, taking the suffix '-ium' 4) When Adonalsium was shattered it caused the greater power to lose much of its ability to effect the Cosmere - while maintaining its sentience it can only act in very subtle ways And.... Sorry, don't really know exactly where I was going with this... I just don't recall ever having heard anything along these lines and I wanted to see what y'all have to say. I need to go to my university now for some paperwork, and I will try to flesh out this theory in my head a little better while I am gone. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

So this is going to be brief because frankly, this is pretty insane and most likely wrong. But my theory is that Trell is the force that WoB has confirmed to have been opposing Adonalsium. And why do I think this? Because of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/crwx3j1?context=3 WoB states that there is belief in a God who is not one of the Shards, and implies that that god is real. So how does that relate to Trell?. Well, the people of Scadrial believed in him pre-final empire, and Miles and Lessie seem to believe in him, and surely a third shard's presence on Scadrial would be detected by Ruin or Preservation? (Although, I admit i dont think anything says that there has never been a third shard on Scadrial at any point.) So maybe the presence of a being that was not a shard, and was instead something either powerful enough or different enough that it could go undetected on Scadrial was felt? Well that could easily be the force that opposed Adonalsium. And what do we know for certain about that force? A) It opposed Adonalsium, it had created a weapon to be used against Adonalsium and C) It's still around. So we know that whatever this force was, it really didn't like Adonalsium, and it's still out there somewhere. Which is why I think that it could be seeking to eliminate the shards. Now who else doesn't like the Shards? Lessie. Lessie, who believed in Trell and hated Harmony (a.k.a the biggest/strongest piece of Adonalsium around). So we know that there was something that was totally against Adonalsium, and it is still around, doesn't it make sense that it would set it's sights on what was left of Adonalsium after the Shattering? So maybe it looked around, and found that two of the shards which were diametrically opposed were on the same planet and decided that it would be easy to start off by getting rid of the two that would have the hardest time working together, and best to eliminate the one that embodied destruction itself (Ruin) for safety's sake. Heck, maybe it even looked around and noticed that Odium was going around doing his work for him and decided to steer clear of it's unwitting helper, and chooses Scadrial over somewhere like Nalthis or Roshar. So along to Scadrial comes Trell. He sets up shop, either waiting and watching the shards or subtly turning people against them. But then something totally unexpected happens, the two shards combine, creating Harmony. Suddenly Trell has an even bigger piece of Adonalsium to be rid of, so what does he do? He redoubles his efforts to destroy it. Thus leading to his increased presence on Scadrial as he starts trying to turn people away from Harmony. Which incidentally leads to why Trell might not be another shard as seems to be the most popular idea. Firstly, the timely reveal of Autonomy's existence totally seems like a red herring. Intended to distract people and make them think that Autonomy is Trell. But so far, all we really know is that whoever Trell may be, that someone is fighting against Harmony. But Autonomy has been off, being autonomus forever and Harmony as far as we know, has given Autonomy no reason to think that he might intend to interfere with that, while Adonalsium's Opposition (which has been lying conspicuously low) has just gained its new most powerful enemy. And guess what? as soon as Harmony appears, Trell returns and his followers, scarce though they may be, are starting to turn up. And those followers seem pretty opposed to Harmony. Sorry if this isn't all that coherent. I'm basically grasping at straws here, and im rushing in case someone else thinks of this and posts before me. Please tell me what you think. Tl;Dr: I think Trell is the force that opposed Adonalsium, because it has been confirmed to still be around and it is confirmed that a god that is not a shard exists, and the revealing of Autonomy looks like a red herring, while enemies of Harmony (the biggest piece of Adonalsium right now) seem to follow Trell.

i have an older topic of this that no one posts on anymore. i want to hear newer fresh ideas with new info we didn't have before.

So I was WoB hunting on Theoryland, and came upon this very nice one about Honourblades and Hoid: Now, we know that the Shardblades come from Spren, but also that the Spren that are Splinters of Honour copied the Heralds to make the KR. This means that there were the Spren before the Spren... We also know (but I can't find the WoB) that there were Adonalsium Spren left over on Roshar. (If anyone puts it up on here, I'll add it.) My theory is that Honour used them to make the Honourblades. Also, the fact that Hoid makes the distinction with this makes it important and quite resolute. Anyway, pretty straightforward. Thoughts?

From what I understand of the Cosmere, there are (or were) two Gods involved in it. One of them resided INSIDE the Cosmere (Adonalsium), whom I will call the Eminent God (EG). Eminent becaue It(?) would be present throughout the Cosmere, but not outside of it. That would be the God Beyond, or the Transcendent God (TG). Transcendent becasue It transcends the limitations of time. Now, it seems as if the TG was the one who created the Cosmere, all of its physical laws, time, and perhaps the EG. The EG is the one that created what is INSIDE the universe, and is bound by the laws that the TG created. This means that the EG is not actually a four- or fifth- dimensional being, but rather is bound by the same perception of time as all other sentient life is. This is an important distinction that must exist, because as we all know, the EG is dead. This is rather fascinating in its own right, to consider how to kill a god. But I digress. The EG was killed or died somehow and was shattered into the components of its power. The components seem to come in pairs that are diametrically opposite each other (Preservation and Ruin come to mind). However, we can infer based off of what has been stated in numerous books and Sanderson's own numerology patterns, that there were 16 main shards of power, and a seventeenth of lesser power. This could suggest that perhaps one or more of the main shards is missing a piece of its power. Following that assumption, it could be that perhaps Odium is the Shard that is missing part of itself. I remember reading a theory that stated that since Odium is hatred, and Rayse its holder, then Rayse would also hate himself. Perhaps this missing piece of his, if the seventeenth shard has part of his power in it, it could be preventing that reflexive hatred of self. It might be far-fetched, but it could be the case.

So a prevailing belief at the moment is that Hoid is endeavoring to reform Adonalsium. With the recent revelation about the nature of Harmony, which I will be discussing further down, I no longer believe that reforming Adonalsium is possible. At least not in the way we are thinking. Hoid muses about taking things apart and putting them back together again when talking to Dalinar in Way of Kings. This is the quote a lot of people have been thinking supports the idea that Hoid is trying to put Adonalsium together again. The line “into something like them—yet wholly unlike them at the same time” has led some people, and now myself, to question whether reuniting all of the Shards would recreate Adonalsium. In this theory I will be arguing the negative, bringing the Shards together will not remake Adonalsium. (in a potentially roundabout way that may make absolutely no sense) For the purposes of this thread I will be referring to Adonalsium as if it was a sheet of glass as a nod to the Shardic Lens theory. So, originally there was an unbroken pane of glass through which the power of creation shone. Then for some reason it shattered, creating sixteen Shards. Each has a different intent that filters the light that shines through them, kind of like a distinct color. At the tail end of AMA Brandon answered this question: This quote has blown the minds of a fair number of people, including mine. Before I get to the point I am making, I want to add another quote that shows that even though Harmony is the Shard, Ruin and Preservation still exist. It is my opinion that Ruin and Preservation have become cognitively linked, they have begun to see themselves as part of a greater whole, Harmony. Like Shai describes in the following quote. So what’s my point? The two pieces of glass that are Ruin and Preservation haven’t come together and made a larger piece of glass. They’ve just been soldered together. If that is true for these two Shards I can’t see any reason why having all sixteen would make any difference. Rather than making the pristine sheet of glass that was Adonalsium, they would instead make a stained-glass window. Hopefully this makes since to someone other than myself. Quotes in order of appearance -Way of Kings: Chapter 54 -2013 Reddit AMA -Nov 21 2011 Alloy of Law Signing Report - Lord Juss -The Emperor's Soul: Day Twelve Edit: This section is based in part on Chaos’ Devotion, Dominion, and Convergence Theory. In his theory Chaos describes the concept of “fragments” of shards and differentiates them from Splinters. In regards to my stained-glass metaphor they would both be pieces of glass from their respective Shard but are differentiated by their clarity. Splinters would have the same clarity as the parent Shard while fragments would have be more like frosted glass, transmitting the light in a more diffuse manner. What makes one frosted while the other is clear you’re asking? In my opinion it has to do with the relative strength, for lack of a better term, of their cognitive aspect. The “strength” of the cognitive aspect has to do with its ability to think for itself, a person has a stronger cognitive aspect than a rock for example. But wait! Splinters aren’t sentient. No they are not, but all of the splinters we have seen are attached to something that does have a strong cognitive aspect (i.e. the Returned and the Seons). A strong cognitive aspect helps to focus, and control, the light that is coming through the glass. It is important to remember though that these fragments still have a cognitive aspect to them, not a very strong one, but it is there and helping with the “convergence,” as Chaos put it, of the two shards. In my opinion the history, or rather memories, of an object are a part of its cognitive aspect (supported by the fact that feruchemical copper is a cognitive metal). These fragments can remember being part of something larger and want to be a part of it again (like the wall Shai forged to be painted wanted to be beautiful). It actually has memories of being a part of two things, its respective shard and adonalsium. So if a fragment of Devotion met up with a fragment of Dominion it would be like “You’re different from me but we used to be together so let’s hang out.” It is somewhat similar to Ruin and Preservation but in their case they have Sazed and the people of Scadrial to help for a cognitive leading for the pieces of glass.

I was thinking of posting this in the other topic but i felt it was marginally different enough that it might warrant its own topic *mods, if this isn't the case, you know the drill* Now seeing as we have barely any concrete information on the 17th Shard and their purpose, this is just theoretical speculation/speculative theory and could just be reiterating what we already know, but i thought it an interesting view So from what little information we do have, the 17th Shard seem to take a very non-interference approach to matters relating to the Shards and perhaps to the Cosmere as an extension. We know they don't take too well to people meddling in Shardic matters as demonstrated by Hoid and in the Letter to his old reptile-like friend. Carrying on from that, I think it very possible they will intervene to prevent people (and possibly factions) with the skills and resources from causing wide-scale ramifications (aka Hoid) from interfering also. Spoilered for some references in soon-to-be published works TC;DR: Basically to summarise, I think that the 17th Shard are meant to represent the/an Intent that Adonalsium didn't have (doesn't particular narrow it down, I know but I think it could be something relating to Observation/Restraint etc. etc.) Their purpose is to monitor and record Investiture-related shenanigans along with the history of the Cosmere, with very little direct intervention on their part.

THIS POST CONTAINS LOTS OF SPECULATION. PLEASE READ IT AS SUCH. THANKS! Brandon states that Roshar is a heavily-invested planet as compared with Scadrial. Though the aggregate amount of investiture available on Roshar IS greater, I think Brandon refers to the amount of power actually invested in the planet. Harmony touches Scadrial with a light hand. Roshar, in contrast, abounds with “living ideas” – spren – that don’t even belong in the Physical Realm. (See “A Confused Primer on Spren.”) How did that come about? How does Roshar’s magic work? Where does all that investiture come from and where does it go? A. Adonalsium’s “Design.” Roshar bears Adonalsium’s “touch and design.” (WoR, Chapter 66 Epigraph.) Brandon has said that Adonalsium left power on Roshar that developed sentience on its own. We don’t know whether he/she/it left that power there deliberately or as part of the Shattering, or for whatever reason. I speculate that most “natural” spren (defined below) are from Adonalsium, though that’s unconfirmed. 1. “Natural” spren are those that carry no imprint of human thought or emotion. Humans are not originally of Roshar. Adonalsium’s spren, therefore, would be the ones listeners are familiar with: windspren, rainspren, angerspren – even the “Rider of the Storms” himself. These spren now may be colored by human thought and Shardic influence, but they must have existed originally in some “natural” (Adonalsium-created) form with which listeners could bond. a. Human experience – emotionally individualistic coupled with an ever-changing material culture – varies far more than the listener experience of communal emotional response (the rhythms) and a static material culture. An individualistic culture will create more, and more varied, spren than a communal one. These are simply differences in temperament and culture, not differences in emotional or intellectual capacity. Eshonai and Venli are a match for any human. b. Temperamental and cultural differences do mean that far fewer kinds of spren existed on Roshar before the human migrations. Spren spawned or modified by human thought or emotion would NOT be “natural” spren left by Adonalsium. 2. There’s lots of Forum speculation (with which I agree) that the listeners are the original humanoid life form on Roshar, or at least they migrated there before humans. Brandon hints that Adonalsium created the listeners, but that’s unconfirmed. He also says he modeled the listener chants on Carl Jung’s idea of the “collective unconscious.” That means spren of a commonly-held form – a non-human-inspired form – communicate with one another in the Cognitive Realm and, through them, the listeners do as well. 3. Brandon has confirmed that Highstorms started as purely meteorological, non-magical events, presumably before the arrival of the Shards. I’m sure the Highstorms had their share of wind and rain, but Brandon’s statement suggests they did not bear investiture. 4. Roshar’s seasons also appear to be magical. Though a Rosharian year is 500 days (20 hours per day), Roshar has multiple seasons during that year, each lasting only a few weeks. These seasons bear no relation to Roshar’s orbit around its sun or the angle of Roshar’s rotation on its axis. Brandon has said that the youth of Roshar’s sun should make its planets incapable of birthing life. We don’t know whether Adonalsium or the Shards caused these magical anomalies. B. Honor and Cultivation’s Arrival. Sometime post-Shattering, Honor and Cultivation arrive on Roshar. Brandon has suggested a romantic involvement between the two. Because Shards retain their “thoughts and personalities” despite their ascension, I speculate that their “romance” continued in Shard form. (I also speculate that Skaize and Aona loved each other and continued to love each other after their ascension as Dominion and Devotion. Wyndle’s lament for “Mother’s” loss of interest in humans following Honor’s death supports these speculations. Wyndle’s “Mother” is generally thought to be Cultivation or, more accurately, her partial spren the Nightwatcher.) C. Odium’s Arrival. Sometime later, after a brief stop on Sel because he apparently doesn’t like couples, Odium arrives. 1. I theorize the Highstorms become invested at this time. (Others believe Adonalsium may have invested the Highstorms after first creating them as mere weather events.) It’s unclear whether Honor and/or Cultivation invest them before Odium’s arrival or whether all three do so more or less simultaneously or in response to one another.. 2. I further speculate that the Shards' investment in Highstorms, particularly Odium’s investment, cause the Highstorms to become more violent. Odium’s Aggression mandate (see “Mandates of the Known Shards”) magnifies the power of the Highstorms and may add the thunder and lightning. Cultivation’s mandate of Survival ensures that life nonetheless continues and even flourishes. (WoB: “Stormlight makes things grow.”) Honor, with his Relationships mandate, binds it all together. 3. I believe each Shard creates its own moon. In order of their rising, I believe the purple Salas (the smallest moon) is Odium’s physical body; the larger pale blue Nomon is Honor’s physical body; and the in-between (size-wise) green Mishim is Cultivation’s. Throughout the books, these colors are thematic of each Shard. Example: “When [Kaladin] passed, the grass pulled back in, looking like the fur of some black beast in the night, lit by Salas.” (WoK, Kindle p. 808 (emphasis added).) “Beast” imagery is also associated with Odium. Whenever Dalinar is enthralled by the Thrill, be “bellows,” “roars” and “growls.” That’s consistent with Odium’s Aggression mandate. 4. All three moons are much closer to Roshar than our moon is to earth. I baldly speculate when Odium killed Tanavast, a chunk of Nomon representing Tanavast’s body fell (or was propelled) to Roshar at Stormseat, causing the Shattered Plains to shatter.

“What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation.” T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton,” Four Quartets, lines 6-8. Crashing through the dimensional barrier came the fallen dragon. Never having seen a dragon before, government people wanted to cut it open and learn about its anatomy. But they were government people, secretive. They wanted the project “off the books.” So they brought in the rich philanthropist Edgli to pay for everything. Then they assembled their team, which included the following: Dr. Cult, a leading biologist, who had become pregnant by Dr. Tanavast, her “significant other” Dr. Tanavast, who wanted to “do right” by Dr. Cult and marry her Dr. Rayse, a spiteful, disagreeable man who wanted Dr. Cult for himself and hated Dr. Tanavast Dr. Skaize, head of the team, known for his overbearing personality Nurse Aona, who adored Dr. Skaize and would do anything for him Dr. Ati, a pathologist who loved dissecting and taking things apart Dr. Leras, Dr. Ati’s medical partner who had responsibility for managing their practice and keeping everything running smoothly while Dr. Ati was out buying drinks for everyone and generally making havoc Mr. Hoid, the teams’s clerk and reporter, writing the record of the proceedings. They move forward with the autopsy, “oohing” and “aahing” at their discoveries, Hoid taking careful notes. Eventually they reach the dragon’s heart, which looks like a giant gemstone. They remove this organ to examine it, only to have it slip from their hands to the stone floor and shatter…Yes, the Shattering was literally a shattering. Forget the Fantastic Four! We now have the Scintillating Sixteen! The powers of creation rush from the gemheart in 16 separate “whooshes,” investing these individuals with god-like powers. They vaporize. Yolen is too small for them. Different groups of them take off in different directions, and the rest is Cosmere history.

This is my First Theory post, please feel free to tell me if you think i'm horrifically off-base or if there's a WoB that I haven't encountered that disproves this. I'm working my way back through Way of Kings and something in Hoid's conversation with Dalinar in Ch. 54: Gibletish, struck me as odd this time through - Specifically the mention of Adonalsium. The general consensus, that he was just name-dropping the God-Shard's name to see if Dalinar knew it, leaves a crucial question unanswered: Why did Hoid think that Dalinar would have heard that name before? The obvious answer is that he knew Dalinar's visions were coming from Honor and didn't know what information was included in those visions. However, the way in which Hoid did the name drop stood out to me this time. "Wit," Dalinar said with a sigh. "I haven't the mind for this tonight. I'm sorry if I'm missing your intent, but I have no idea what you mean." "I know," Wit said, then looked directly at him. "Adonalsium." This seems like an odd way to go about checking if he knew that name, even if you ignore that Hoid is being a bit more direct than usual during that bit of conversation. To me, it seems almost as if Hoid is calling Dalinar Adonalsium, rather than just checking to see if the highprince recognized it. If that is the case, then the implication would be that Dalinar is somehow a reincarnation of the consciousness that was originally behind Adonalsium, and Hoid was calling him that to see if there would be any reaction. Is there something in how Dalinar is acting that reminds Hoid (who we know was present when Adonalsium was shattered) of the mind behind the being? So, what does everyone think? Am I just misreading it, or could this be a very real possibility? Or have I missed a WoB that completely counters what I'm proposing?

Preface: So in the formulating of my thoughts for this post I did look at what has been written in some related posts. That being said I certainly have not read all of the posts related to this, nor am I aware of every word of brandon. This is (in my opinion) a good thing, because it means my thoughts are my own, and could offer some unique perspectives. So please do not be upset if I reiterate what others have already said, as I believe I will say it with a different perspective and viewpoint. Also, if I say something completely wrong due to some obscure word of brandon, I would request you tell me politely, and also realize that WoBs are less than perfect at times, as Brandon could be saying one thing but meaning another. People often make, by mistake, inaccurate blanket statements when trying to answer questions in a way that doesn't "spoil too much." Brandon has probably done this many times already, if less than most people due to his efforts to keep his cosmere world comments rooted in the canon he has in his personal wiki. Intro: There are two main areas that I will deal with, which are both separate and related, the natures (or postulated histories) of adonalsium and hoid. I want to talk about them in detail, but some of what I say wont make sense if you don't know where I am heading. So here is my thesis apart from its arguments: adonalsium was a man-formed tool which developed consciousnesses, adonalsium took measures before the shattering of its being to preserve its conscience in a being whom we now know as hoid. Please do not discredit these statements until reading what I have to say. important quotes (red one is very important): “I learned it many, many years ago from a man who didn't know who he was, Your Majesty. It was a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died.” —Hoid to Siri on where he learned his particular method of storytelling.[17] As Hoid developed that type of storytelling,[34] it's possible that the "man who didn't know who he was" is himself. Also, "where gods have died"and "many, many years ago" seem to speak of the Shattering. (from the coppermind) "Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak. Isn't it odd that gibberish words are often the sounds of other words, cut up and dismembered, then stitched into something like them—yet wholly unlike them at the same time? “I wonder if you could do that to a man. Pull him apart, emotion by emotion, bit by bit, bloody chunk by bloody chunk. Then combine them back together into something else, like a Dysian Aimian. If you do put a man together like that, Dalinar, be sure to name him Gibberish, after me. Or perhaps Gibletish. ” —Hoid to Dalinar (after namedropping Adonalsium)[19] “I began life as a thought, a concept, words on a page. That was another thing I stole. Myself. Another time, I was named for a rock.” “A pretty one, I hope.” “A beautiful one,” the man said. “And one that became completely worthless for my wearing it. ” —Hoid to Kaladin[18] The power needed a consciousness to direct it. In this matter, I am still rather confused. Why would power used to create and destroy need a mind to oversee it? And yet, it seems to have only a vague will of its own, tied in to the mandate of its abilities. Without a consciousness to direct it, nothing could actually be created or destroyed. It's as if the power of Preservation understands that its tendency to reinforce stability is not enough. If nothing changed, nothing would ever come to exist. -mistborn hero of ages epigraphs (Edit: recently found and very relevant WoB Q: If Endowment were killed, would the Returned still come? A: Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will start to gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then, so I would say yes, but with the caveat that with whoever picks up the power or what happens with the power could end up changing that.) The nature of Adonalsium and of Hoid: The two quotes that matter a lot to me in this section is the epigraph describing the nature of preservation's needing a conscience, and wits saying that he was a beautiful rock (for which he was named) that when he wore it made it "worthless." Let us postulate that pre-adonalsium there were many powers in the universe, (it is hinted that adonalsium had a potential threat in many WoBs). Lets also say that some people decided to create an incredibly powerful tool by combining several powers into one, new, massively powerful creation. Similarly to the way that Antium is the body of ruin, lets imagine adonalsium is a rock which is some sort of an alloy of many different power sources (this may be why the different shards appear to manifest in different physical forms). Now, the creators of this were looking to create a tool, a massively powerful tool, a "beautiful rock" that is adonalsium. They succeeded but failed to realize one thing. The power needed a consciousness to direct it (look at HoA epigraph). Wit describes himself as having stolen his identity from words on a page. I argue that adonalsium created a consciousness for itself from what he was able to observe in the world around him (if ruin could read and change writing, so could adonalsiums power observe it). This made the tool useless. As hoid states, in "wearing" the power, he has made it "worthless" or, in my theory, useless to its creators. Imagine making a massive global defense satellite system, only to have the supercomputer that controls it develop into an AI. You now have a massive weapon in the hands of an unknown and uncontrollable variable. Whoever created adonalsium obviously was very powerful and knowledgeable, and sought to destroy adonalsium through other powers in the world. Back to the computer analogy. If the super computer was stored at one sight, it is vulnerable, so what does it do? It moves itself into many different servers and locations to prevent anyone from targeting it and destroying it. When adonalsium perceived a threat to itself, he sought to prevent his potential destruction by shattering himself into many separate parts. However, he didn't want to die, but his consciousness, indeed his identity, was about to be shattered into 16 pieces, so what does he do? He makes plans to bring his broken consciousness back together into a new host. Lets look back at Wits discussion with dalinar about breaking a man into different parts and bringing him back together into giberish. I would argue that Wit talks about this in a sentimental way (name him after me part, and language like "bloody chunk by bloody chunk") as if he himself had that happen to him. Look also at the quote about someone who didn't know who he was, in which he was apparently also describing himself, it makes sense that his recombining would leave him incredibly confused. I would argue that adonalsium successfully managed to bring (at least parts of) his consciousness back together to form a "giberish" representation of his original self. However, he only did so for his consciousness. I remember a WoB that hoid was offered a shard but turned it down. It seems to me that someone who had once held all 16 shards together, and is now but a shade of what he was, a consciousness that had been torn apart and sown back together, would not want to hold but one aspect of himself, a constant reminder of the pain he had gone through. Hoid's goal may indeed be to eventually reform adonalsium's body, but perhaps his previous consciousness gave Hoid the task of first ensuring the shards potential threats were removed, so that he could be safely reformed. Notes: One interesting comment on the coppermind about hoid is that he is Brandon's favorite character, which, if my theory is true, makes perfects sense. Hoid would be, after all, the root cause of almost everything happening in the cosmere. Perhaps Hoids love of stories comes from the fact that his very consciousness was created from stories or "words on a page." Maybe his concept was some hero in a story, and he assumed a consciousness that reflected it. Note also that Hoid has a massive and extensive knowledge of stories. One whole in my argument is the unfinished work on Dragonsteel and its first chapter, here are some quotes from it: (edit: to clarify as someone pointed out "For clarity that is Liar of Partinel not Dragonsteel. While it was technically part of the Dragonsteel sequence", this is also a rather old work and certainly not cannon, however whatever does end up being written would likely share certain traits, so it can probably be "trusted" to give hints of hoids nature.) But there had been a story to Midius’s life, and Hoid loved stories. Midius smiled faintly, thinking of the old man’s temperament. Hoid would rather accept a wildman, bloodied and dangerous, into his company than the well- trained son of a wealthy man. The man of the wilderness had a better story. A wildman. . . . Midius thought. Yes. Raised by the Chan people. That’s who I was. He describes himself similarly to the way that the Warbreaker quote does, he loves stories and doesn't know who he was, "a wildman." Perhaps hoid loved stories so much because adonalsium formed his consciousness from "words on a page." Midius studied the words again, then carefully rolled up the parchment and tied the frayed string. “You were so close,” he said. “You could feel it.” He placed the scroll in a sack, then turned toward the corpse, resting on its shelf-like bed at the side of the hut. “I can’t solve the problem from here,” Midius said softy. “I’m not smart enough for that. Notice how he appears to have knowledge of the solution as if he knows how close his master was, but how could he know that? it appears the assassination just happened, and why wouldn't hoid tell his master? Also he says he isn't "smart enough for that." perhaps his return to consciousness left him without the knowledge that he had once held, only a dim shadow. No. No he didn’t. This was him. He told himself that forcefully. Perhaps he struggles with his identity, after all, in my theory he had pieces of a consciousness thrust into his brain bit by bloody bit. He looked up at he body. “And thank you,” he whispered. “For what you have done for me. I think you shall never really understand the new chance you gave me for life. For that, I shall try to see people as you did.” He says he will try to see people as his master did. Perhaps hoid hated people because at the moment of his forming consciousness people immediately plotted to destroy him and he had had to destroy himself to survive. Hesitantly, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a handful of dust. Then, he threw it into the air, imagining his master’s face and Weaving the light. That face appeared in front of him. Aged, wise, beardless. Alive. As Midius remembered him. Midius reached out, almost believing his own illusion for a moment. However, as soon as he touched the face, it shattered back to dust and sprinkled down to the ground. this could be considered evidence of objects that held power other than adalniusm, he appears to have to use this dust to light weave, even as stormlight is used. Perhaps this gives more basis for my assuming there were different objects of power that could have been formed together into adonalsium. Conclusion: obviously most of what I have just said is very far-fetched and based only loosely in facts. But heck, I had fun theory crafting, so now you guys can have fun tearing it apart "piece by bloody piece" and putting it back together into something new. Also, sorry for making you read such a long chunk of text LOL

I will first lay out what we know and possible influences on Brandon, then I will put out my theory. First of all, we know that on each of the Shardworlds, there is Man (Humankind). Each world is a bit different, but they all look the same. Second, Shards are akin to Gods in the Cosmere. Third, in the Bible, one of, if not the most published book in the history of the world, a book that Brandon most likely has heard some part of, it states that Man was made in God's Image. Do you see where I am getting at here? My theory: The Shards created life in the Image of Adonalsium, which is essentially saying they created life in their own image, as God did. Each is slightly different, but they all look the same, which brings me on to my main point: Adonalsium, whatever it is, was the original template for Mankind, and therefore is shaped as if a man (human). Okay, so now its out there. I'm not sure if this theory has been proposed before, and I'm sorry if I made any incorrect assumptions, but I think that this is definitely possible. I welcome input (your thoughts, etc.) or even outright dismissals. ~Patchwork Gibletish

It seems like a general consensus that Adonalsium is a person or object, but is there any WOB limiting it to that? It's always sounded like the name of a city to me, or it could even be something more abstract -- a religion, moral code, or magic system that was splintered. Since there are Spiritual and Cognitive realms, is there anything saying that it existed directly in the physical realm at all? Just throwing out questions

Adonalsium is not every shard combined. Adonalsium was merely the person that held all the shards. When all shards are combined it becomes something else entirely. So maybe Adonalsium was the creator of the shards and maybe Adonalsium is still alive, just not holding his creation anymore.

I have always wondered how adonalsium could be stronger than the individual shards. Each shard wilds the powers of creation and/or destruction, and wields the ability to transform matter into energy and vice versa. How could you be more powerful than that? It also seems to me that each shard draws on the same forces. I can see the ten surges in a mistborn, an elatrin(however you spell that), and an awakeners. This makes me think that the shards also share a common source. I propose that the reason adonalism is stronger is not due to the raw power, but the fact that it does not come with a corrupting intent which inevitably consumes the wielder. This makes adonalsium so much more versatile and applicable to a much broader range of situations. Essentially, I don't think that the power was divided, just the current wielder's persona. Am I making sense?

So if there are 16 shards does Harmony count as 1 shard or 2 shards?

Hello, Seventeenth Shard! I am here today to propose a theory (my first) that I have not been able to find explored anywhere on the site. I pray that you bear with me, as it is fairly long-winded, with extensive citations... Any Q&A citations can be found in the compilations elswhere in the forums. The shorthand I have used for the in-text notes are designed for any who wish to cross-reference in any format - I have included book and chapter (for those on e-book) as well as page numbers for both hardocver and mass-market paperback versions. I welcome your thoughts and feedback, and look forward to many further discussions within these hallowed halls. Theory The true villain of the Cosmere is known as the Void, and Odium is yet another in the line of “villains” that has been subverted from his original purpose/intent. Supporting Points Spren categorization Spren exist that are known splinters of Honor (eg. Syl), and they refer to themselves as honorspren. Citation: “I am honorspren. Spirit of oaths. Of promises. And of nobility.” (WoK, Ch. 67 / HC page 913 / MMP page 1139) Spren exist that are known to be of Cultivation (eg. Wyndle), but have not explicitly identified themselves as cultivationspren. Spren exist that are known as Voidspren, based both on recorded in-world knowledge and on the recognition of other spren. Citation: The various Voidspren, with their unseen lord – whose name changes depending on which culture we’re speaking of – evoke an enemy or antagonist. (WoR, Ch. 3 / HC page 71) Citation: “I am not a Voidspren,” Pattern said. (WoR, Ch. 81 / HC page 981) Citation: “Mmmm,” Pattern said softly. “They are raising a storm.” “The Voidspren?” Shallan whispered. “The bonded ones. They craft a storm.” (WoR, Ch. 81 / HC page 982) The existence of Voidspren has not been denied by WoB. Citation: Q: Can anyone other than a Parshendi bond a voidspren? Like, can a human bond a voidspren? A: That is theoretically possible but humans are not good at bonding spren in the same way. WoB indicates that spren exist that are of Odium (as well as Honor and Cultivation). Citation: Q: So I'm just gonna run with that right now. Is Surgebinding in general a melding of Honor and Odium ala Feruchemy being in some senses being not directly of Ruin or Preservation? A: Honor and Cultivation is what you mean? Um, there are spren of all three shards. And those spren can work within the bounds of the magic that has already been set up on Roshar. Key takeaway: Spren of Odium would be known as Odiumspren, not Voidspren – the Voidbringers and creators of the Everstorm are really agents of the Void. 2A) The Shattering of Adonalsium Adonalsium was shattered intentionally. Citation: Sir Read-a-Lot (Added to the Database) Q: Was Adonalsium shattered intentionally, and if so, was the intention malevolent? A: Yes, and RAFO Adonalsium may have shattered itself deliberately. Citation: Q: Did Adonalsium deliberately shatter itself? A: Hmmm, good question! RAFO! The resulting Shards could have been a different set of intents. Citation: Q: If Adonalsium shattered with intent, would he always shatter to the same shards? A: It is plausible that he could have gone a different way. Q: So it could've been different Shards? A: Yes, that's plausible. Hoid was present at the shattering of Adonalsium (per WoB) – regrettably, I cannot find the exact reference at the moment. Key takeaway: Adonalsium was shattered intentionally as a response to an opposing force – the Void – and Hoid was involved. The extent of his involvement will be explored in… 2B) The Letters and What They Reveal As has been documented elsewhere in the forums, the letters in the epigraphs of The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were written between Hoid and a dragon (with Hoid writing the initial letter). Excerpts from the initial letter: Ati was once a kind and generous man, and you saw what became of him. Rayse, on the other hand, was among the most loathsome, crafty, and dangerous individuals I had ever met. (WoK, Ch. 18 / HC page 275 / MMP page 331) He holds the most frightening of and terrible of all of the Shards. Ponder on that for a time, you old reptile, and tell me if your insistence on nonintervention holds firm. Because I assure you, Rayse will not be similarly inhibited. (WoK, Ch. 19 / HC page 295 / MMP page 358) In case you have turned a blind eye to that disaster, know that Aona and Skai are both dead, and that which they held has been Splintered. Presumably to prevent anyone from rising up to challenge Rayse. (WoK, Ch. 22 / HC page 323 / MMP page 395) You have accused me of arrogance in my quest. You have accused me of perpetuating my grudge against Rayse and Bavadin. Both accusations are true. (WoK, Ch. 23 / HC page 337 / MMP page 413) Excerpts from the response letter: Is not the destruction we have wrought enough? The worlds you now tread bear the touch and design of Adonalsium. Our interference so far has brought nothing but pain. (WoR, Ch. 66 / HC page 777) Yes, I agree with everything you have said about Rayse, including the severe danger he presents. (WoR, Ch. 67 / HC page 785) Rayse is captive. He cannot leave the system he now inhabits. His destructive potential is, therefore, inhibited. (WoR, Ch. 69 / HC page 817) Whether this was Tanavast’s design or not, millennia have passed without Rayse taking the life of another of the sixteen. While I mourn for the great suffering Rayse has caused, I do not believe we could hope for a better outcome than this. (WoR, Ch. 70 / HC page 828) He bears the weight of God’s own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context. He is what we made him to be, old friend. And that is what he, unfortunately, wished to become. (WoR, Ch. 71 / HC page 840) Key takeaway: Both Hoid and the dragon that he is in correspondence with were present at the shattering, and had some input in the creation of the resulting Shards. The elements pointing to this conclusion are both found in the response letter – excerpts i. and v.. Bonus takeaway: I believe that the dragon is in fact a Shardholder, as Hoid would most likely be trying to recruit other eminently powerful entities in order to counter the actions of Odium. Why Odium is not the real villain Odium was created as the Shard of “divine hatred”, per the response letter (see quotation above). The intents of the Shards were determined as a response to a need (to counter the Void) (see WoB above). Odium / Rayse has Splintered three other Shards: Those held by Aona and Skai (see excerpt iii. of the initial letter above) Honor Citation: “I am the sliver of Him that remains. I saw His corpse, saw Him die when Odium murdered Him. And I… I fled. To continue as I always have. The piece of God left in this world, the winds that men must feel.” (WoR, Ch. 82 / HC page 991) Odium has suffered defeat frequently. Citation: “Vex Odium, convince him that he can lose, and appoint a champion. He will take that chance instead of risking defeat again, as he has suffered so often.” (WoR, Ch. 4 / HC page 76) Odium (Rayse) is currently held captive (see excerpt iii. of the response letter above). Hoid is afraid of Odium, but there are “many things” that he is scared of. Citation: Q: Is there anything Hoid was scared of? And if so, is it still around, and... A: There are many things that Hoid is scared of. He is really scared of Odium, but there are others. We have been led to believe certain individuals are the villains in each of Sanderson’s works, and are continually surprised. World - Expected Villain - True Villain Sel Hrathen Dilaf Scadrial Lord Ruler Ruin Nalthis Susebron IV Denth / Bluefingers Roshar Odium / Voidbringers ??? - The Void - ??? Key takeaway: If we know that Odium has been victorious every time he has gone up against another Shard, what defeats has he suffered “so often”? If this were referring to the Desolations, I feel he would be more likely to refer to it as being fought to an impasse, or a stalemate (due to the recurring nature of the conflicts) as opposed to a decisive defeat. This points to Odium contending with a more powerful force than any of the existing Shards – the Void. This would also indicate that his original purpose was to be the strong arm of the cosmere against its enemy, but over the millennia he has grown corrupted in his intent and turned upon the other Shards, possibly with the belief that his own power could grow if they were destroyed. Aside from the powerful Shards, Hoid would be terrified of whatever force was acting in opposition to Adonalsium.

Dual Definitions of Investiture, and Investiture and Relativity (In case anyone wonders about the two titles, this is sort of two theories. It started out as the first, and the second one grew and developed on its own.) Well, friends, I’ve been thinking (always a dangerous pastime), and it strikes me that we’ve been seeing a delightfully ambiguous usage of the term Investiture. Or, rather, that we’ve seen it being used in two separate ways. As an example (to show what I mean), I will use the word promenade. This word can mean: A form of walking [1] Or a street; a place one would walk: [2] Perhaps the best way to explain myself is to jump right in and give the definitions of Investiture(as I see them). Definition 1: Magical Chemical Reactions of Creation Investiture n. (v. Invest, adj. Invested): This is what Brandon Sanderson has termed so often “The Power of Creation[3];” what we are usually thinking of when we hear the word. This is the energy that came from Adonalsium, now primarily held in the Shards. However, it is also used elsewhere and is what powers the magic systems of the Cosmere. Investiture of this sort can be had in a solid, liquid, or gaseous form (i.e. Preservation: Lerasium, the Well of Ascension, and the Mists)[4]. Every person (possibly every thing) in the Cosmere has innate Investiture to a certain degree – On Nalthis, it is their Breath, and on Scadrial, it is a piece of Ruin and a piece of Preservation. One can Invest an object (endow it with Investiture), which is then considered Invested. Side Speculation: After rereading the Ars Arcanum to the Alloy of Law, I consider this type of Investiture to be a … reaction, of sorts. The terminology used seems to imply this (at least to my mind)[5]. It has long been theorized that magic requires three parts: Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual. With these (or possibly other) components, along with the power of Adonalsium (usually directed through a Shard), the magical effects would be the result of something akin to a chemical reaction (again, the similarities mainly hark back to the terms used). Definition 2: Holy Lego Blocks on a Galactic Scale Investiture n. This is where I believe the ambiguity kicks in. You see, Investiture is described another way (only by Brandon, mind you), that doesn’t quite fit with the previous definition: “The building blocks of the Cosmere.”[6] While, as noted above, it is quite plausible that everything has a component of Investiture (As defined in #1), I feel that this is more absolute than that, more all-encompassing. It doesn’t seem to refer to a slight addition of Investiture to everything; I feel it seems to refer to something grander: something like matter itself. And this is where I sort of negate my entire premise of Investiture really being two things, while at the same time presenting the main point of my theory: In our world, as was discovered as part of Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, matter and energy are essentially the same thing[7]; so much so, in fact, that they can be converted back and forth. The only differences are in its temporary state. I propose that Investiture is the same: Investiture is the Cosmere equivalent of matter and energy. As “the building blocks of the Cosmere,” it takes the shape of the atoms and particles that make up the worlds. Everything is literally Investiture, of a sort; hence why all of the major worlds were created by Shards of Adonalsium. Adonalsium itself is called “the power of Creation.” This implies that everything not formed by Shards post-Shattering was made by the same power pre-Shattering. A Power, in fact, that the recipient of The Letter calls God[8]. This is why Investiture is “beyond” all three realms: The three realms are how different parts of the Cosmere experience everything. As Investiture composes everything, it would literally be “beyond” the Realms. (As an aside, Investiture also demonstrates properties of quanta. For example, Investiture resists itself [Hence why it is harder to Push on an Invested object, or why an Invested object stops a Shardblade.] Similarly, two electrons with the same spin and energy level cannot occupy the same space.) The other side of the coin, then, is energy. This is easy enough to identify: power is manifested by Shards. This power can be used for creation, as seen with Ruin and Preservation. This Shardic energy is also used to power the magic systems and in the other manifestations of Investiture (Definition 1). It is also interesting to denote that this energy can be “condensed” into matter, of all three states. This, in fact, seems to be how most, if not all, of the energy is contained. The “reaction” of Investiture thus converts the substance back into its energy form, making it usable. Speculation: In fact, I just had a thought that explains some of this (though it is not the main point). You see, we have a WOB that any of the Shards can power any of the magic systems, but it requires expending energy in a way they were hesitant to do. We also have one that any Investiture can power any magic system, but it requires some jury-rigging. This could be because each magic is attuned to the Shard that inadvertently created it – for instance, Preservation is able to fuel Allomancy directly, Ruin can fuel Investitures through Hemalurgic spikes, etc. because these magics utilize the same type of Investiture as the Shard. (Allomancy doesn’t use Preservation’s power directly, but the power accessed is the same. Thus, it is no different for Elend when Vin fuels his Allomancy; the power is the same, but from a different source.) Using Ruin to fuel Preservation’s magic, however, would be like trying to fit a steel cube into a spherical hole; to do so, it would have to be forged into the same “shape,” or “type” of Investiture as Preservation’s. This might change the Intent of that Investiture, and it would be irretrievable until the steel –Investiture- was changed back to what it was before. (Back to main theory) In conclusion, I split how Investiture has been used as a term into two definitions I feel are best considered separately. These definitions fit the famous equation of the Theory of Relativity that states that matter and energy are convertible to each other; that matter and energy are intrinsically the same thing. The two uses of Investiture correlate strongly to each of these, suggesting that the same connection applies: that Investiture is the Cosmere equivalent of both matter and energy. Postscript: This all reminded me of the theorized Dark Matter and Dark Energy. According to NASA, 68% of our universe is Dark Energy, and 24% is Dark Matter[9]. Since so much of the Investiture has always been held by Adonalsium and the Shards, this could have been the origin of the concept. This, of course, is completely baseless; it’s more a random guess than anything else. (By the way, physics for me is a hobby; unfortunately, I have as of yet had little time for studying it on a large scale. If those with more complete knowledge than mine can correct me on wording or usage, please do so; I will try and fix any problems or inaccuracies as quickly as possible.) SOURCES:

This might be a cosmere newb question, but have the shards on the wiki been confirmed to be original shards from Adonalsium? I ask for this question: is it possible one of the 16 shards is actually Harmony, and then it later split further into Ruin and Preservation? And in kind, could/would it be possible to splinter further? Someone stop me if I'm following flawed logic or canon please, but this realization dawned on me while driving to work this morning, and I can't stop wondering if I have been thinking about the shards all wrong.

Hi everyone. It’s been a long time since I became aware of the “Cosmere”, and I’ve spent most of the time in these forums (though I do not post much, I like to read you all ). There is one thing that always struck me as weird: The Shattering of Adonalsium, it’s said to have been done by an “opposing force”. As far as I know (and I could be terribly wrong) we know nothing about this force, yet everyone seems to think that’s some kind of “anti-adonalsium”. Another entity as mighty and powerful as him that somehow shattered him. But when I first learned about the shards that sixteen people took up the fragments of Adonalsium the first thing that crossed my mind was: “Hey, those 16 broke a god in Shards and are now having fun being godlike”. Couldn’t it be that the “opposing force that shattered Adonalsium” wasn’t an anti-Adonalsium godlike being but the actual 16 shardholders? We don’t know HOW was Adonalsium shattered, so I have no evidence for and against it… But we do know that they mostly chose their shards. It’s implied on a letter (I think in WoR) that they let Rayse take Odiums shard, fully knowing what it was. Also, neither of the 16 is actually in a hurry to restore Adonalsium. If they were ALL THERE, with all the shards in a single place, and before their intents started to influence them… Why didn’t they try to “fix” Adonalsium? Instead they took their shards and started toying with them in the world, creating their own planets, peoples, magics… I think that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they shattered Adonalsium on purpose, to take its powers or just because some other reason and the shards were a nice spoil of war. The only thing that I think it’s “against” this theory, is the same letter that we assume is from Cultivation, in wich she says something like they should be careful on Roshar, because they tread lands made by Adonalsium, and she seems to respect him/it. (Sorry I don’t have the exact quote). My answer to this is that you can still respect an enemy, and more so if it’s done in hindsight, when you are in the same position that enemy was. What do you think? Is there anything out there that directly denies this theory?

WARNING: Extreme spoilers for Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens. This is just baseless speculation, since Alcatraz is not a Cosmere story, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Someone threw a rock and broke my family's window a few days ago, and I got to thinking. a shard (non-cosmere) is a piece of shattered glass. Adonalsium shattered, right? Well, I had just finished Alcatraz four, and I thought that maybe Alcatraz caused the shattering. He somehow broke the Smedry Talents at the end there. What if it was Adonalsium who bestowed the talents through glass (or possibly WAS glass), similarly to how Preservation and Ruin gave Feruchemy, Hemalurgy, and Allomancy? What if Alcatraz accidentally shattered the possibly glass Adonalsium into shards and therefore broke the talents and started the cosmere? Let the feedback begin.

Premise Thank youTempus for providing a Good Theory Template. The accepted version of Events is that some person, power or thing Hit Adonalsium, and it Shattered into the 16 Shards of Adonalsium. I doubt this. Hypothesis The Shards were Broken off of Adonalsium One at a Time. Possibly in an attempt to Make Adonalsium a Better Power. Chronology of Known Shards Odium The First Desolation was between 9000 and 100,000 Rosharan Years ago.[1] This translates to about 9900 and 110000 Earth Years.[2] Unfortunately, we don’t have a Timeline for When Odium visited Sel. Honor and Cultivation Honor and Cultivation came To Roshar together,[3] and they were there long before Odium was there. [4] This means that there is a Significant amount of Time Before the First Desolation. Endowment Endowment has only Been actively Returning people on Nalthis for a little over 700 years.[5] Preservation and Ruin The well takes 1024 Years to Refill, and has been filled twice that we know of.[6] Preservation and Ruin came to Scadrial together, and Preservation imprisoned Ruin in the Well as soon as they finished with Creation. Since the second Refilling, there was a 302 year gap.[7] So they’ve been on Planet for 2350 Years. Devotion and Dominion The City of Elantris was created hundreds, if not Thousands of Years before the Events of the book.[8] Shu-Keseg, the Original Religion, was founded after the Splintering of Dominion and Devotion.[9] Unnamed/Unseen Shards The Traveller/Space Shard We have a Word of Brandon that stating that there is a Shard that isn’t on a Planet. This shard isn’t the Shard that wants to Survive.[10] Tempus has talked about this and guessed that a Shard could only Stand being UnInvested for about 500 years, before getting Bored. (Note that His words are taken completely out of Context.)[11] Bavadin’s Shard The Shard of White Sand I can’t really Talk about this Shards activities Without Spoilers for Unpublished Work, so Suffice it to Say, that Bavadin has been on World for at least half of a Millenium. Probably More. The Shard of Survival Well. It’s been Surviving. We can assume that it’s invested in a planet somewhere, due to Brandon’s Comment about the Traveller Shard.[12] The Shardholders It’s possible that not all of the Shardholders were Human, Which means that some of them could have had a Longer lifespan than Normal Humans. They were all from Yolen though. and They all Knew Each Other.[13] Conclusion All the Shards have been active for Different amounts of Times. But if they were all broken off of Adonalsium at the same Time, then they should be Equally Experienced. So they were Shattered at different Times. Conjecture/Speculation Here’s What I think happened. Adonalsium was a Power on Yolen, Rayse, being a Crafty and Dangerous man, figured out how to Shatter Bits of it’s Power. He Broke off the Shard of Odium, took it up, and Left Yolen. The other 15, as well as Hoid, Figured out how he did this, and decided to Replicate it, to Spread out throughout the Cosmere. Aona and Skai both took up Shards, and headed off to Sel. Tanavst, being In love and Honorable, insisted on his Girlfriend/Wife getting one. They left together, and eventually Settled on Roshar. After a While, Odium learns that Others Followed his Lead, and Shatters Dominion and Devotion, then heads to Roshar to do the Same to Honor and Cultivation. He kills Honor, but gets trapped by the Surges and Cultivation. The remaining 16 learned that The Power and Intent of the Shard could Change a Person, So they Gave Ruin to the Nicest Person they could, Ati, and paired him with a Shard that could Balance out his Power. Eventually Endowment Takes up her Shard and heads to Nalthis. The other 8 Shards were also taken up and some point, and they left Yolen as well. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Possibilities are that Aona and Skai got their Shards, and Adonalsium kept Breaking, leading the Shardholders Forcing Odium on Rayse out of fear of it Deveolping Sentencee or Corrupting a Better man, As Ruin did to Ati. Rayse Blamed this on Devotion and Dominon, and Killed them References

Learning about the Cosmere from my Mistborn beginnings has always seemed fascinating to me ever since I first went onto the Coppermind for the first time to discover the presence of Devotion as a Shard akin to that of Preservation and Ruin. I was sold on Sanderson since then. The idea that forces in the universe had a manifestation and bearer was inspired. What struck me as odd about the Stormlight Archive was the presence of Odium. All the Shards we've seen so far represent something fairly neutral (justifications are below, skip those if you don't need to read them). Ruin - Despite his depiction as an antagonist, Ruin is not 'evil' as such, he merely wanted to follow his intent to follow change and decay. It's just unfortunate that it would mean the destruction of the world. Preservation - Conversely, despite being shown as a force of good, Preservation could easily have been an antagonist if there was a revolutionary phase on Scadrial and somehow Preservation was moving to stop advancements in technology (just realised how fitting Rashek's work in the Final Empire was). Devotion - You can be devoted to anything, be it something of ill or good intent. Dominion - There's nothing wrong for a hierarchy in society, and that by itself shows some having dominion over others. Endowment - The act of giving something to something else in transference and exchange is one of the most neutral. As we see from Endowment's magical system itself, Awakening, giving something to someone is not always a good thing (Nightblood). Honor - A moral code, a belief to live by. If there's anything we learn from in the Stormlight Archive it's that despite believing what you do is right and following your own set of rules and living up to your promises and oaths, it's not always the right thing to do. Cultivation - One may cultivate any crop, be it the will to do good or the anger to revenge. And then bam, we've been shaken up by the last one: Odium It seems the odd one out. Hatred. How is it that the universe, in all of it's components have hate being one sixteenth of its entirety? From something so simple as the forces in the universe having life, we are confronted that hate has one as well. Scary stuff. It raises a question I find. Could Odium's existence be the reason for the Shattering in the first place? Shatter Adonalsium, remove Odium, then put the pieces back together without the corrupted piece - or Shard in this case. This would even tie in with Hoid's heightened activity in the Stormlight Archive where Odium is active. Maybe Hoid was the one to break Adonalsium. Complete speculation on my part, but I want to hear from you lot about it.

I read an interesting theory about hoid attempting to create a complete piece of adonalsium from his various interventions across the cosmere, and it got me thinking about Hoid's overall aims. Apologies if this has or is being discussed elsewhere, as you can see I am new to the forum. At present, I am beginning to question whether hoid is in fact the ultimate antagonist in the cosmere. We already know he has attained at least the second heightening, as evidenced by his new found perfect pitch. While not a shard bearer on roshar, the fact that he was not threatened by jasnah, both a bearer and a radiant suggests he has as yet unrevealed powers on roshar. Moreover his ability to elsecall jasnah is at present unexplained. We can infer from Brandon's hint that hoid has a metal he should not have. Whether this is a piece of lerassium, atium, or as I suspect one or more hemallurgic spikes (perhaps explaining vin's reticence to approach him) he has at least some power from Scadrial. His involvement in emperor's soul and elantris I am less sure of, perhaps someone more knowledgable can flesh this out. He is, at present, arguably the most powerful non shard in the cosmere. While I have largely considered him a benevolent character, I wonder if this is merely an assumption, and his actions thus far have only appeared that way as they have assisted characters we do like. Hoid undoubtedly pulls strings across worlds (he did after all directly put the events of emperor's soul into place by turning in shai) and it could be the case that he has only acted as he has to influence events in order to achieve an end goal of his own. If he is attempting to gather the powers of all 16 shards, could it in fact be to become the ultimate power in the cosmere, uniting/usurping the place of the various shards? In the same way sazed was able to balance seemingly contrasting shards, hoid may be of the belief he can best control the cosmere by uniting them all. He has stated openly to dalinar that he would have no qualms watching a world destroyed to suit his aims, and perhaps he would similarly have no problem destroying the entire cosmere, to reform it without shards, but one complete and balanced ruling force. It may be up to those of the seventeenth shard, or indeed regular mortals across the cosmere to prevent this.