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  1. We recently had a WoB that part of the reason Odium splintered Devotion and Dominion was to prevent them from finding new Vessels, or worse, combining into a hybrid Shard like Harmony, gaining some form of sentience and seeking out a Host. This got me to thinking, who could possibly have embodied the opposing forces generated by Devotion and Dominion well enough to absorb both Shards? Who has a strong desire to dominate those around her, while remaining devoted to them? Is a human the only option for a Vessel? This is the point where my musings become far less serious: The only answer I could come up with was my dog. She has an Alpha personality, and feels the need to dominate and subjugate others around her, thoroughly. Yet she remains completely devoted to her family and the members of her pack, willing to put herself in harms way to defend them. So my proposed candidate for a bearer of the fused Shards of Dominion and Devotion after they un-splinter, is a dog, who will proceed to gain greater intellect from absorbance of Investiture.
  2. *After reflecting on this, I've changed the name of this theory from "Why the Dor Exists in the Cognitive Realm" to "The Origin of the Dor." I think this better captures the Intent of my post! In a conversation over on Yata's Theory about the splintering and death of Aona (Devotion) and Skai (Dominion), I've realized that I would like to propose a theory about the Dor and why it exists in the Cognitive Realm. I believe that the Dor has always existed, intentionally (not the result of splintering). Aona and Skai were lovers, whose relationship was a perfect example of "unity." When they took up the power of the shards Devotion and Dominion, this relationship remained, and they went to Sel together. While we see Preservation and Ruin working in direct opposition to one another on Scadrial, Devotion and Dominion were fused together in perfect unity, guided by the relationship of their Vessels. Aona and Skai created all things together on Sel, placing Innate Investiture in all things in the form of the Dor (similar to Preservation). Jesker is the most ancient religion we know about on Sel, and per Galladon it teaches that the Dor exists in everything. To me, this predates any information we otherwise have about Shu-Korath or Shu-Dereth, which only appeared within the last few centuries or so on Sel (by the influence of Keshu, a possible worldhopper). By why would the Dor, this divine force of power, exist in the Cognitive Realm? Because, like so many things in life, it's all about RELATIONSHIPS! When two people come together, entering a state of intimacy with one another, they remain two separate individuals, yet create a third, new thing called a relationship. The relationship is a separate entity from both parties, and yet they are both actively participating in it. This new "thing" is the cognitive creation of both people involved, the fusion of shared hopes, dreams, goals, plans, etc. While you can't touch a relationship, it is absolutely a real thing, with power and influence that exists even after someone dies or the relationship ends. This is what I propose occurred with Aona and Skai. They fused the divine power of Devotion and Dominion (which exists in the Spiritual Realm separately) into one new power/shard we understand as the Dor/Unity. This Unity shard never existed in the Spiritual or Physical Realms, yet just like a relationship, it was completely real. It makes sense to me that something like this would have to exist in the Cognitive Realm, as it was made reality by Aona and Skai - the example of perfect, unified love. Brandon, writing from the Christian influence of his own life, would be very familiar with the Biblical concepts of the origin of relationships when God spoke to Adam and Eve: Aona and Skai, bound together as one, created the "one flesh" that we know as the Dor. This was all well and good until Rayse (Odium) stepped in and killed them. *Pause for moment of sadness :*( While the participants in the relationship died (Aona and Skai), the relationship itself (Unity) lived on, albiet very messily because now, that power resting in the Cognitive Realm, originally unified and guided by two divine Identities, has no divine Identity other than the original Intents of Devotion and Dominion to guide it. Plus, whatever effect splintering a shard has on said Intents is also affecting it. There it is! =) I know much of this is speculation, but until we learn more from an Elantris sequel/prequel, this is how I understand it!
  3. This only dawned on me when I started thinking about Splinters - because Seons are not Splinters; the Aons inside them are Splinters. They're not quite the equivalent of spren as spren are Splinters themselves. Closer pararell is to Returned, beings with a Splinter at their core. But I digress. You see, there's something important, obvious and unnoticeable about Seons. Ready?
  4. Brandon says that Adonalsium left only “Ambient Magic” on each Shardworld – magic that is part of the natural ecosystem but cannot be commanded by mortals. The magic of First of the Sun in Sixth of the Dusk and the pre-human Rosharan ecosystem are examples. I propose that the Dor is the Investiture Adonalsium left on Sel and that it fuels all of Sel’s pre-Shattering Ambient Magic. Devotion and Dominion later made changes to the Dor to allow mortals to command it. Adonalsium placed the Dor into Sel’s ground and thereby created Sel’s “location-based” magic – different Ambient Magic in different Physical Realm locations. Evidence of the Dor’s ground location: (i) Uncontrolled Dor caused the chasm explosion; (ii) Arelenes use the phrase “Domi below”; and (iii) when Raoden finished the “chasm line,” the Dor “exploded from the ground.” Here’s how I think the Dor worked before Devotion and Dominion showed up: 1. The Dor forges a Connection between the lifeforms of a place and the place itself. Each location’s magical “nutrients” leach into the location’s soil and become part of the food chain. Every local lifeform absorbs this Investiture. 2. The Connection between person and place resembles the bond between Splinter and Magic User. The stronger the bond, the more effective the magic usage. Distance is one factor in the Connection’s strength. Brandon says “bloodlines” is another. Children of parents from two different places may have a weaker Connection to a parent’s home territory than the parent, even if the child currently lives there 3. Sel seems an exercise in “speciation,” the evolutionary process by which isolated biological populations evolve into separate species. On Sel, the evolutionary differences are magical. We don’t know how or why these magical populations were initially isolated. Perhaps Sel is veined with aluminum. I previously thought Sel’s location-based magic results from the Shards’ Splintering. I now think location-based Ambient Magic predates the Splintering. Brandon says his “hard-core fans” are not “thinking right” about Sel’s location-based magic. I believe he means we think too much about the Shards’ influence and not enough about Adonalsium’s. That conclusion probably applies to all magic systems, except for Scadrial’s, the only planet created by Shards.
  5. You know, I think we kind of take it for granted how much we know about the cosmere. I remember not so long ago that Sel and Elantris was a complete mystery. We all argued over what Aona's Shard was, mostly to no avail. We had no idea about how the Shaod happened, and virtually no clue to how the Dor worked. These two mysteries have made theorizing about Sel pretty hard, to say the least. With the knowledge of Aona's Shard being Devotion, the theory that people who are particularly devoted to something get taken by the Shaod makes perfect sense, and matches with the Principle of Intent. Though a new mystery arose with Forgery and Bloodsealing: why are Selish magics so region locked, and what's so important about the land? Well, Kerry has pretty much answered this here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3363-devotion-dominion-and-magic-on-sel/ So really, the prime theoretical difficulty with Sel is the Dor. That's what this theory will hope to explain. Sel is very unique in its magic. Scadrial makes sense having three distinct magic systems, but Sel is way different, despite having just two powers. Even discounting the fact that there are way more than three magics on Sel, they are odd: they all channel the Dor, not Devotion or Dominion independently. They all focus the same power. And that's very bizarre, considering Scadrial's magics. Why does the Dor appear to act some homogenous thing? Any way you slice and dice it, it's odd. Is the Dor Devotion's power? No, because the Dakhor magic isn't really accessed in a way in line with Devotion--it really feels a lot more Dominion-like. Dakhor channels the Dor just as AonDor and Forgery do. So, clearly the Dor is some bizarre combination of Devotion and Dominion, for some reason. And no one has (to my knowledge) really given a complete treatise on why that might be. Any reasoning on the Dor's nature would need to explain how it is related to both Devotion and Dominion, and why it is this homogenous entity. It's certainly homogenous enough that Brandon has no qualms saying that virtually every Selish magic channels the Dor. First of all, I'm kind of assuming you've already read the Letter, which says Devotion and Dominion have Splintered. Additionally, much of the power left there is not under anything's control: Why does Brandon say "much" of the power on Sel? Well, the Seons and Skaze are related to Splinters, so those are the things controlling part of the power. But the rest? Presumably the Dor. So what is the Dor? The answer, I believe, comes straight from this quote: This blew me away. But, considering how important I find a Shard's intent, it's not exactly surprising that a way of altering the Shards is really fascinating to me. There's a discussion on this particular quote over here, and Windrunner and Senor Feesh suggested that this may have happened to Devotion and Dominion--that they are intermingled as well. If you'll allow me, I'd like to name this "intermingling" effect as convergence, as something this important--Shards beginning to merge--certainly would warrant an in-world term, I think. It also has a nice parallel with "conflux," which is what Brandon named a book that has to do with multiple worlds in a very direct fashion (instead of in the background, as things are now in the books). So, Ruin and Preservation are currently converging. This is because a common mind is holding them. I propose that Devotion and Dominion are also converging as well. But, the obvious question next is, why the heck would they be converging? Presumably, Sazed holding both Ruin and Preservation--one mind holding two powers--imposes some Cognitive change on the Shards. In the Realmatic terms like Shai, they are like two bricks in a wall, and they begin to think of themselves as a wall, not two separate bricks. This is, I think, the most intuitive way to explain Ruin and Preservation converging: the powers themselves are beginning to think of themselves as part of a greater whole, thus intermingling them to be considered Harmony. I would only assume that the longer Sazed holds these two power, the more Ruin and Preservation will see themselves as Harmony instead, perhaps eventually literally becoming one Shard permanently. As of now, they can still be split, so that indicates to me that this process definitely hasn't finished yet. Though, I suppose you could say that even a Shard isn't permanent, as Odium certainly Splintered Devotion and Dominion. The exact specifics on Ruin and Preservation's convergence to Harmony is certainly worth discussing, but let's switch back to Devotion and Dominion. Obviously whatever happened with Sazed didn't at all happen with Devotion and Dominion; no common mind holds them both. In fact, they are both more broken than ever. But that may be exactly the key. Whereas Ruin and Preservation in the order that Sazed's control of them imposes, Devotion and Dominion and both similar in that they are both without holders and pretty broken. I propose that this also makes Devotion and Dominion converge, and this combined power is exactly what the Dor is. Think of two vases, one white, and one black--Devotion and Dominion. Now throw them on the ground, so hard that they break into tiny pieces. Collect that pile, mix them up, and zoom out. If the pieces are small enough, the pile no longer looks like black or white; it looks grey instead. When two things are broken, they can combine in new ways, like two liquids forming a completely new mixture. Now I imagine this is a little different in Devotion and Dominion's case, as their pieces would be still tied to their respective intent, but I think eventually, this dramatic change from Odium Splintering them would mean that the leftover fragments would see themselves as a part of a new whole. After all, they both aren't being held, and are both broken. I think this makes a lot of sense as for why the Dor is the way that it is. (Now, you may wonder why I didn't use the word "Splinter" to describe these pieces of Devotion and Dominion, considering Odium Splintered them. Well, we know the Aons at the heart of the Seons are Splinters, and to no one's surprise Brandon hinted that Skaze are similar: The Seons and Skaze--presumably Devotion and Dominion's Splinters--are not enough of a release valve. So this means that there is a lot of power that isn't under anything's control. Duh, since there was no indication the Dor acted any other way. In lieu of a cosmere term to call the pieces of Devotion and Dominion's power, that's why I stayed with vague words like "fragments." We just can't really say they are Splinters, or anything about them.) I totally understand if the analogy I made isn't particularly compelling, but it certainly matches with our conception with the Dor being a unified, mindless whole. It fits with those quotes above. But, maybe you want a little more persuading, so let's talk about some consequences of Devotion and Dominion's convergence, especially on magic. Before Devotion and Dominion's Splintering, magic worked differently on Sel (though I can't find that quote right now). It isn't a big leap to say that perhaps the regionalizing of Selish magic happened due to the Splintering of the Shard. Maybe before the Splintering, there were three magics on Sel, like Scadrial. Kerry's theory about Identity, people have an Identity tied their nationality, culture, and heritage. Her theory basically explains in how magic can be tied to the land, and how it lines up with Devotion and Dominion's intents. But why might have Devotion and Dominion's Splintering even had this effect of tying the magic to the land? Well, Allomancy requires a connection to Preservation, and on a less magical level, people that are freaking ruinous would use Hemalurgy. Perhaps, due to Devotion and Dominion's Splintering and this convergence, people can't use magic with a connection to Devotion or Dominion directly, because they don't exist in the same way. Instead, the "largest" thing that people have a connection or Identity to--instead these all-powerful Shards--is their culture and nationality. People with a strong Devotion or Dominion with that, as Kerry's theory suggests, would now be able to use magic. It's all because Devotion and Dominion are Splintered, and their power doesn't have as strong of identity, so it is shaped by the identity of manmade, regional borders. If anything, the Reod and the Chasm teaches us that these magics are actually very fluid. Aons that worked a thousand years ago may need to be refined. Perhaps as regions and countries change, or as ethnicities converge (see what I did there?) entirely different magics can form. Now, I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure if each regional magic is of Devotion or Dominion explicitly. After all, that's been the standing assumption with AonDor: it's of Devotion, not Dominion, and likewise Dakhor is of Dominion, not Devotion. But, it's a lot harder with ChayShan, Forgery, and Bloodsealing to decide. I am leaning to the idea that each magic can be in line with any sort of combination of Devotion and Dominion. Kerry connects all regional magics with both Devotion and Dominion, so I don't find this hard to believe. So, maybe presently on Sel, a magic is a certain percentage Devotion and Dominion. Unlike Scadrial where magics are 100% Preservation, 100% Ruin, or a 50/50 split, on Sel you could have 73%/27%. Who knows. It's entirely possible that we think of AonDor and Dakhor as Devotion and Dominion-heavy magics because the Seons and Skaze, which are related to Splinters of Devotion and Dominion, exist in these two regions, and so tilt the region's balance toward one Shard or the other. In fact, though I totally riffed that just now, it seems to make sense with the Identity idea. A region's Identity would be related to a ton of different factors, and maybe the nature of a given culture tilts the way a region's magic accesses Devotion and Dominion. Here's an interesting quote on that note: So it's the exact nature of the Dor which makes it regionalized. I don't think the Dor has an intent, like Harmony does. The Dor is a product of chaos and brokenness. When something changes in the Physical and Cognitive, this can have a reflection in the Dor, so these distinct cultural Identities have an effect on the Dor. What do you think? Admittedly, while this works really well for Sel, I'm not sure what is different on Roshar, which despite having Honor Splintered, has a non-regionalized magic in Surgebinding. It could just be that the nature of Honor and Cultivation don't result in regionalization. But, it would explain how some spren are of Honor and Cultivation. It's hard to say at this point, and while there can be more to this than I'm catching here, it seems very theoretically solid for Sel.
  6. Fallen Elantrians put into the Shardpool are described as "dissolving". Several times. However, when Hoid uses Pools to transit between Realms, he just dissappears. In Elantris, his scene with skaze, he is not described as dissolving. Secondly, why would Galladon's father choose the heart sickness to kill him if he could just go into the Pool to pass away? Furthermore, the famous mural is "depicting worldhopping" (source). Not funeral ceremony. It seems the pre-Reod Elantrians did not use it for suicide but for transit into Cognitive Realm. The question is: why are fallen Elantrians dissolving instead of transiting into Cognitive Realm?
  7. Background Just before the 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Elantris was released, @Yata had been conceiving a theory regarding the nature of the Dor, which prompted me to ask Brandon a question in an attempt to gather some information that might aid him. When I received my signed copy in the mail, I shared the results with him immediately, and had intended to post about it shortly after, but for one reason or another never got to it. After finishing work this morning, I had found one of my coworkers had read the Stormlight Archive, and decided to lend him my copy of Elantris so that I could open his eyes up to the whole Cosmere... but first, I decided, I would finally take the picture and post it for all to see. This inevitably led me to getting in a discussion about the Dor with another member of this forums, @The Young Bard. During our conversation, I had a thought that I'm genuinely surprised has not been mentioned before (it's possible it has, but after some searching I've yet to find anything that matches it exactly). Personalized Leatherbound For those interested, my question and a picture of Brandon's answer will be in the following spoiler: Theory As the title states, I now believe that specifically Jaddeth, and potentially Domi, are the Cognitive Shadows of Skai and Aona respectively. The theory began when I read this exerpt from the Coppermind about Jaddeth: Emphasis mine. Immediately two separate thoughts crossed my mind upon reading this statement. First, that "the Skaze have a large amount of influence on most politics and most working in Fjordell." Second, that "the Stormfather is the Cognitive Shadow of Honor." Exploring those thoughts further, we know that the Skaze are Splinters, similar to the Honorspren on Roshar. We know that the Honorspren are loyal to the Stormfather, due to him being a cognitive remnant of their original (whole) form. We also know that through Honor's Intent, the Stormfather is required to bestow visions upon a man that meets a certain set of requirements (most recently, Dalinar). As a result, I suspect that Jaddeth is Skai's Cognitive Shadow, and that Wyrn is Jaddeth's Dalinar; a "prophet" who's purpose is to fulfill Dominion's last wishes, along with his Cognitive Shadow and subsequent Splinters. Just this morning, I read @VirtuousTraveller's theory about The Origin of the Dor, and I'm starting to believe that this might be true. From Bands of Mourning, we know that when a person dies, their spiritual aspect (innate investiture) returns to its original source to be distributed again, while their cognitive aspect moves on to the Beyond. When Odium Splinters another Shard, we know that their Cognitive Aspect is broken into many tiny pieces (Spren, Seons, Skaze), which end up being manifested in the Physical Realm. In the case of Devotion and Dominion, I believe all of their Spiritual Essence culminated in the Cognitive Realm, due to the nature of their relationship, and inevitably fused together, creating the shard of Unity. Meanwhile, their individual Cognitive Aspects became their respective Splinters, and a Cognitive Shadow was left behind. These Cognitive Shadows would then become altered by the two branches of the Shu-Keseg religion (Dereth and Korath, aka unity through domination and unity through love). Both of these Cognitive Shadows wish to achieve the same thing; unity. Except without Skai and Aona's personalities to control them, they seek a means to achieve those goals through their own specific intents, and sadly, as of Elantris, it's clear that Dominion is winning. It has been discussed before that all Elantrians are chosen because they are "devoted" to something in some way, yet it still appears random because not everyone who is devoted is affected by the Sheod. Though I never made the connection before, this reminds me a lot of Endowment and the Returned. We know that Endowment specifically asks people who sacrifice their lives for a cause to become Returned. However, given how few Returned there are, I imagine that not everyone who dies in a heroic way gets this offer. Perhaps a lot of them refuse it, but I am sure that if given the chance, most people who would earn that gift in the first place would be the type to take on the responsibility of stopping a future (cataclysmic) event. I believe that Domi, the Cognitive Shadow of Aona, is doing the same thing, except instead of asking she is thrusting the power upon those she deems worthy. This likewise matches what Nightwatcher, who is thought to be a Spren of Cultivation, is doing by granting her boons and curses. It also would serve to explain why only certain races are able to become Elantrians; Arelon, Teod, and Duladel are the last countries in the world to believe in her (or in Duladel's case, the idea of a unified Overspirit?). I would not be surprised if this has been discussed before, or at least some variation of it, but in the case of Jaddeth and Wyrn for sure, this is my headcannon for what's going down. I would love to hear what others think, positive or negative, and likewise would appreciate it if someone asked one of the following questions in the future, or something akin to them. Is Wyrn to Jaddeth what Dalinar is to the Stormfather? Is Jaddeth the Cognitive Shadow of Skai? Does Aona's Cognitive Shadow decide who becomes an Elantrian? Is the voice Raoden hears when he enters the Lake / Pool Aona's Cognitive Shadow?
  8. SPOILER ALL COSMERE related possibly Shards are considered as "gods" and most powerful thing in the cosmere as of the moment but out of all the shards that have been revealed through the cosmere novels Mistborn, Stormlight Archives, Elantris, Warbreaker, White Sand, even WoB's and whatever form of story that i missed that Mr. Sanderson produced that is cosmere related. So out of the limited information and exposure we had with the shards who did you find most interesting whether it'd be due to the intent, the vessel behind it, the shardworld he/she/it resides or interaction with the other shards, even the ire from Hoid counts too and/or just the things that shard has done so far ? Also some questions i'm curious about Do you guys think Odium has a big opposite shard not Honor and doesn't have to be like perfect opposite kinda like preservation/ruin ? Apparently Bavadin(Autonomy) is Mr. Sanderson's favorite shard, thoughts on the dude especially for White Sand readers ? Do you agree that he's a menace like Hoid suggests in his letter grouping him up with Rayse ? Would you count him as ally or enemy in general ? It seems that Tanavast mentioned in one of Dalinar's dreams that Odium tasted defeat too many times and would not wanna taste defeat again. Do you think that means that Rayse was actually losing between him and Tanavast before Honor got rekt ? Or it was just a stalemate. How many other malevolent shards are there apart from Ruin and Odium ? Possibly Chaos maybe Though we have limited knowledge about shards my favorite is probably Ruin, he seems earnestly thinking he could help people by ending them lol . I would've said Harmony but if only the dude acts more like Ruin than preservation, he feels like a caretaker more than somebody who is actually half Ruin tbh, i wish he was more malevolent since he still represents enthrophy/change/death/destruction. Well that's all . Thoughts?
  9. I often have problem to sleep and in a long night my mind follow his own thread to unexpected goals, tonight something struck me. Probably it's just a coincidence or some meaningles fact, but here I am. Like everyone of you know, on Sel every Magic System is fueled by the Dor, a source of power from the Cognitive Realm come to be by the merging of Devotion and Dominion's powers (like someone more poetic than me said, "The Selish channel their gods' corpses for thier magic") and we know that on Sel there is actually a single magic system Form-Based who manifest itself different in every region/country (this is actually not really important from my point, but it's better to refresh some memories). On Sel we know at least 6 Magic Systems (some more and some less): AonDor, Dakhor, ChayShan, Forgery, Bloodsealing and an unamed potion's magic. Here I noticed something strange, the only Magic Systems that twist the users are AonDor and Dakhor, now I know someone may argue saing AonDor doesn't twist the user and only "change" it, but really it's just semantic... There is no a great difference between the Shaod and the Dakhor pray to change a monk (just one of these is automated and the other is not). These are also the only Magic Systems that seem align with Devotion (AonDor) and Dominion (Dahkor)'s Intents. Therefore this is my point: Is It possible that the Magic Users were twisted/changed to allow them to filter the Dor and use only the Devotion OR Dominion's Investiture to perform their Magic ? (or some other unbalance in their magic need a not-standard user to be used) I am not really convinced on this idea, but it isn't something a can simply ignore without some counterproof.
  10. Following is analysis and interpretation of how Selish magic came to be and how it currently works. Aona and Skai were lovers pre-Shattering. They continued their relationship post-Shattering, as Shards (presumably on a more Platonic basis, both literally and figuratively). Pre-splintering, Dominion’s investiture provided access to the magic, wherever on Sel one was. This is the “forms programming” aspect of Selish magic that MISTER Sanderson has described. Dominion thus gave Selians (?) the cognitive commands necessary to use his and Devotion’s power – just like the control freak you’d expect someone named “Dominion” to be. I speculate that the power, even then, was similar to the Dor – a combination of Dominion’s and Devotion’s investiture reflecting their relationship, their magic intertwined and combined. It might even have been the Dor itself, since (using the Roshar precedent) splintering doesn’t appear to affect a Shard’s power as much as its mind, the cognitive means of directing the power. I further speculate that the solid state of Dominion’s “body,” its latent Physical Realm power, existed on that moon that Shai believes disintegrated and fell to Sel to become, among other things, soulstone. (Shai…Skai…Skaa...coincidence?) I believe that Devotion’s solid body was located in or near the chasm that the earthquake created. I base this conclusion on various characters exclaiming, “Domi below.” Those statements suggest that Devotion’s worshippers (ignore the name for a moment) thought she resided in the planet. Odium now splinters the two of them. Though this is “taxing” on him, splintering these two Shards is probably easier than any other pair, because they had created a single magic system from their investiture – it was like splintering a single Shard. Splintering caused Dominion’s body to collapse into meteors falling over Sel. Everywhere his investiture fell, a NEW FORM for accessing the magic developed. Forgery, Bloodsealing, Dakhor, ChayShan all provide their user access to the Dor. AonDor may be the same, with the Aons providing the cognitive link to the Dor also coming from Dominion, but I’m uncertain. I think Arelon may have always been the place where Devotion was strongest, because of the proximity of her Physical Realm investiture at the chasm. Thus, contrary to everywhere else on Sel, practitioners of Devotion’s magic may have accessed the Dor using Devotion’s own commands. The Dor itself may be an example of mandate-meshing, two magics merging into a third magic, rather than a mere mixture of each. Given the emotional closeness of Dominion and Devotion, I would expect their minds/cognitive investiture to mingle in the Cognitive Realm, changing each of them into something else. These changes may explain why Areloners (?) worship “Domi” and why “Omi” is the Aon for love. An open question is why Dakhor forms of Dor magic didn’t appear until about 300 years before the events of Elantris. I speculate that this Dominion moon meteor may have been buried deep into the ground when it struck and has only recently been uncovered. Alternatively,Dominion's Shardpool may have been discovered near the monastery at that time. MISTER Sanderson has referenced how dangerous Sel’s Cognitive Realm is. We’ve assumed that’s because, post-splintering with the minds of Devotion and Dominion now dead, the Shards’ cognitive investiture did not find other minds through which to exercise power. Thus, bits of their cognitive investiture achieved sentience on their own with “bizarre effects.” I don’t know that there’s a whole lot new here. I just thought I would organize my thoughts on the subject and see what others have to say. Regards all!
  11. Listen to us develop this theory live, in real-time, in the first episode of the Shardkeepers Podcast! [A link will go here when it's available. For now, use your imagination.] So, while recording the Shardkeepers Podcast, I was hit with a sudden lightbulb about magic on Sel. A lot of credit goes to Chaos here, since talking about his theory is what caused me to think of it this way, so a big shoutout to him. Anyways, I think I've figured out a feasible way to explain what's going on on Sel, and specifically, what's up with these "region-locked" magics, so to speak. First, we need to take a good look at the nature of the Shards on Sel. For that, I want to turn to the dictionary definitions of their names, so I went ahead and grabbed them from dictionary.com. You can see them right here: For Devotion, my interpretation of current theorizing trends is that we tend to focus on the first two definitions primarily, but I want to invite you guys to make sure and include the third as a possible interpretation. Devotion, however, is pretty straightforward. Meanwhile, Dominion -- well, Dominion is interesting. I've read a lot of things associating Dominion with Definition #2 - control, domination - probably in part by whom we tend to associate with that particular Shard. However, I'm beginning to think that we're not looking at Dominion in the right light. I think we need to view Dominion primarily as it is portrayed in Definition #3 (though #1 and #4 are pretty applicable as well, so include those if you like). Bearing with me so far? Okay? Good. Okay. So. We've got Devotion, which like I said before, is pretty self-explanatory and not that hard to expand a definition on. We've also got Dominion, thinking of it in the sense of a territory or domain instead of the commonly perceived role of domination. That covers the nature of the two Shards we're dealing with here. In order to continue, let's talk about what we know about the Dor. First, I have a quote from Brandon on our very own forum Q&A. I pulled this from Windy's archive, which is much easier to sort through than the actual thread, so I can't link to the exact post, but I'll offer free rep to anyone who can find it for me. Anyways, here's the quote: So. This is interesting. Obviously a lot hinges on this, but for the sake of this theory, I will be operating under the assumption that yes, the Dor is powered by both of them. Moving on to this reddit post (formatting mine): Okay. So. Pretty self explanatory here; I don't need to expand on it any more. Moving on to the next post: Interesting. We've seen the bit about being born in a particular region on Sel before, very clearly spelled out in Elantris, but the idea of rewriting a connection is new. That, however, is for a different theory. Right now, I want to focus on that affinity. What is it, exactly? The answer, I believe, lies in this post (emphasis/formatting mine): Okay, so obviously we're not dealing with Odium or Scadrial here, but look at that italicized sentence again. "People born on Scadrial have an Identity tied to it and its magic." Note the capital I here. Is the Identity of the people of Scadrial that ties them to its magic in particular the same as the affinity that ties people on Sel to their local region's magic? It certainly seems that way. So, how are we looking so far? To sum it up, here's what we have so far: The Dor is (assumedly) fueled by both Devotion (presumed to be: dedication, attachment, assignment) and Dominion (presumed to be: domain, territory, nation). All regional magics on Sel are different manifestations of what is, essentially, the same magic. Everyone on Sel is born with an affinity for their region's magic. This affinity, for the sake of this theory, is assumed to be Identity. Now, I'm sure a lot of you already know where I'm going with this. Sel is a very special instance of magic in the Cosmere: not only are the magics region-based, everything seems to arrange very neatly along cultural and political borders. Why is this? What separates these region-based magics from one another, and what causes this almost-too-tidy separation? The answer, I believe, is the Shards themselves, Dominion and Devotion, and how they interact with the Identity of the people of Sel. This is where my interpretation of the name Dominion is key. Look at the people in our own world. If you were born and raised in America, you tend to view yourself as American. Those from England tend to think of themselves as being English. Sure, we're all citizens of Planet Earth, but when asked what country we're from, we're probably not going to tell people that we're Earthlings. We're going to say English, American, Australian, Canadian, whatever. Now, apply that to the people of Sel. Here we have the Arelish, the Jindo, the MaiPon, and all the rest. All of the peoples on Sel have their own cultural and national Identity, and why shouldn't they? It's a perfectly normal thing to do. The Emperor's Soul taught us a lot about how Identity works. How we view ourselves has a huge impact on who and what we are, and on a very fundamental level at that. Particularly in a setting where Identity has profound cosmological implications, is it really so hard to believe that it would affect the manifestation of a magic system powered by Shards named Dominion and Devotion? And so you have this vast array of magics, each varying manifestations of the same magic, each tied to a certain part of the world. A culture, a way of life, a country. A Dominion. What would the citizens of a country usually feel towards their people, their way of life? Some measure of loyalty, patriotism, or maybe just an association with their cultural identity and who they are. Devotion, so to speak. Of course, we have the unusual cases. Those living close to the Arelish border have sometimes been taken by the Shaod, but that's really not so strange when you come to think of it. Living on the border between two nations, it is only natural for some people to associate somewhat with both of them. Galladon, despite being a Dula, spent much of his life in Elantris, quite possibly giving him the Identity needed to be chosen by the Shaod. The Jindoeese have a very strong cultural Identity, giving them a tie to their region's magic no matter where they live. To sum it up in a very cheesy way, the magic you have access to if you're from Sel depends on which Dominion to which you owe your Devotion. And that, my friends, is how I propose magic on Sel works.
  12. I searched but haven't found anyone else who has mentioned this, so I'm gonna throw this out there, see what anyone says. In short: I think that Soulstone is the physical body of Devotion. Let me try to collect my scattered thoughts... First, I'm gonna start by saying that I'm aware that most of what I say here is speculation. With the exception of Forgery, we know very little about ANY of the systems of Investiture on Sel. I've read a quote from Mr. Sanderson saying that on Sel, there will be a system of Investiture for Devotion, one for Dominion, and that another would have come into existence as a balance between the two (much like Preservation's allomancy, Ruin's hemalurgy, and the balancing feruchemy that came up between them). I will try to find this quote and add it. UPDATE: I am mistaken, all arcana on Sel are manifestations of the mixed power of Devotion and Dominion. Known types of Investiture on Sel: AonDor Forgery/Soulforgery/Fleshforgery? Bloodsealing ChayShan Dhakor (not sure we have an official name for that yet). We know AonDor is less powerful that farther you get from Arelon. We know that the sigils that access the Dor are physical representations of the land. We know that there's a symbol that must be carved onto every soulstamp that Shai believes looks like MaiPon. We know that Dhakor bones look to Raoden to be similar to ancient Fjordell writing. We know that ChayShan is powerful enough even very far from Jindo to punch through the armor of a Dhakor monk, though granted we have no way of knowing the relative power levels/skill of either combatant. So. Here is my theory. I think that Devotion's Investiture works differently depending on where in the world you are. I think that every known form of Investiture that requires you to form shapes that look like countries in order to draw on "the Dor" is from Devotion. So AonDor, all the Forgeries, and Bloodsealing (whether or not those two are related) are her Investiture (and yes, I know that this is unconfirmed.) I think soulstone is Devotion's physical body. I had thought it earlier in the book, but then I got to this line from chapter "Day Ninety-Eight" What if that is soulstone? I know we don't have a hard date on when Aona and Skai died, but (and I can get into this if you want) I think it was a very longtime ago. Like "Ancestors" long time. And we know that soulstone was basically made to be carved. I know that we know how AonDor currently works, but someone made Elantris, and it seems that people don't turn into Elantrians if the giant Rao isn't tuned up properly. So perhaps in the past, it worked differently in a manner that required non-Elantrians to carve shapes. Dhakor also seems to be new, or else why wouldn't it have been used in the war they lost all those years ago? Perhaps an old form of that could be carved into soulstone, rather than bone. Basically, we know that carvable rocks that fell from the sky a long, long time ago were considered the body of a god, and their properties make them perfect for at least one form of Investiture which has similarities to others. (I've got specific theories on ancient forms of AonDor and Dhakor and why specifically they had to adapt, but that's possibly for another day). I think that Devotion's physical body is soulstone.
  13. I had this idea why only people who has been to Arelon very long time go through the Shaod someday is because the proximity of the Shardpool there. But then as all 5 of the magic systems on Sel is regional I don't have any idea to why they would be where they are. Maybe a solid form of Devotion or Dominion is situated there or the gasform... Any WoB conflicting this bad theory or does anyone have any other better theories? Feel free to reply
  14. "Shardpool is a non-canon termused to describe a liquid essence of Shard. It is characterized by a Shard's Cognitive aspect." - coppermind.net/wiki/shardpool From what I can tell, for every Shard, there seems to be a Shardpool. I don't think I've seen a list, however, of the "known" Shardpools. Here's a list of Shardpools and their locations from what I can theorize. Feel free to give your thoughts and/or additions. Nalthis (Warbreaker) Shard: Endowment Shardpool: Beneath Hallandren? (Something to do with the Tears of Edgli?) Scadrial (Mistborn) Shards: Ruin, Preservation, [Harmony] Shardpools: Ruin: Dark lake beneath the Pits of Hathsin || Preservation: The Well of Ascension || Harmony: N/A (Not one of the original Shards, and relatively new) Sel (Elantris, The Emperor's Soul) Shards: Devotion, Dominion Shardpools: Devotion: The Lake (The Pool) || Dominion: Swamps of Dzhamar Roshar (The Stormlight Archives) Shards: Honor, Cultivation Shardpools: Honor: Emerald Pools (Horneater Peaks) || Cultivation: The Purelake
  15. I just finished a reread of Elantris, and something caught my attention. Hrathen mentions how Jaddeth accepts devotion as much as ambition, and I started wondering if Dakhor monks actually access the Dor through Devotion as much as through Dominion. After all, those most devoted to Shu-Dereth gain the most power. Anyway, it got me thinking about the interpretations of Dominion-and how it possibly is relates to the "boundaries" of each version of Selish magic (as in you need to be in or from a "Domain" to get a particular system to work). This could be why Elantrian magic gets weaker the farther away from Arelon you get, the finishing symbol in Forging looks like MaiPon, and could even explain the Dakhor's ancient Fjordell symblos and the moves of ChayShan, all of which are supposed to be part of a single system. Are there any WoB's that state Dominion's Intent is to "Dominate others" or the like?
  16. i was contemplating on how Brandon Sanderson said that magic systems on Sel, were a mixture of Devotion and Dominion. It occurred to me that Dominion's intent isn't to control or govern but talking about an area where certain lands or domains are subject to sovereignty or control. All of the magic systems on Sel, are focused on Devotion. Elantrians/AonDor, it is devotion to an ideal. Dakhor monks its about devotion to obedience and/or their country. Chayshan users devote time and energy, they devote themselves to it. Forgery takes a lot of devotion to master, Bloodsealing, i don't really know a lot about bloodsealing, but i'm guessing that it takes some devotion to something. The aspect where dominion comes into play is that each Magic system is based on its dominion or central area. AonDar gets weaker the farther from Elantris, i think i remember reading something that Forgery doesn't work as well the farther away you get from their spot. Bloodsealers powers don't seem to have a farther away you get weakness, but they also have to renew their seals everyday, and its more of a location that is "sealed" rather than everywhere. For Dakhor and Chayshan i really don't know how it would work, but i think that because the investiture of these systems is focused more on their bodies, Dakhor mutates their bodies and Chaysan focuses their bodies. I hope this makes sense its my first post and its kind of hard to put into words. Ceskykure
  17. I have a theory and while I think it might be a little obvious I don't think it's been brought up directly on the forums. Here's the gist. The Vorin church over the past 4500 year has been run and structured for the main purpose of confusing and corrupting knowledge of the Knights Radiant, the Desolations, and the Voidbringers. I also believe that this was due to the influence of Odium as any long term effort to hurt the people of Rhosar's chances to survive the final desolation could potentially be accredited to the Odious one. Furthermore their takeover of the Silver Kingdoms during the Hierocracy preceding the intervention of the SunKing was not folly, but their masterstroke. They were able to destroy practically all books or resources containing any knowledge of the past (except the library of Karbranth of course). Lets take a look at what we know about the church and how it's very structure prohibits the spread of knowledge. Devotaries are the main way by which pious Vorin's show their faith. A Devotary has each devotee devote themselves to ONE noble aspect of the church. The male arts are brute and mostly involve fighting, since the church teaches that the greatest calling a man can fulfill is to be the greatest of warriors and to ascend to the Tranquiline Halls and reclaim them for man. This Devotion caused men to hold no interest in scholarship, lighteyed males had better rule a town/halmet/city/territory get to war or become and ardent, that is what is proper. They have no desire to read or gain knowledge of the past, reading is a shameful activity for a man, better to have a proper lady read to you. Even the amount of reading that Dalinar has pursued caused court gossip, thoough the fact that the book is the Way of Kings doesn't help. The female Devotary arts are mostly art (painting, music, poetry, embroidery) and scholarly pursuits, but a real lady should try to stick to the flowery ones since the most prominent scholars tend to become Heretics like Jasnah Kholin (I'm just riffing here some of this isn't explicitly said but are either implied or are the feelings I get from reading) {Also I don't agree with the sexist nature of this I'm just talking like an Alethi here). What they've done is separate those with Power (Men, Warlords, High Princes) from those with knowledge (Women, Scholars, Artists ) . Now I know a good light eyes couple will always be paired up, but even in this context the females are hiding knowledge in simple messages and texts with footnotes that men don't know about. And what men can read? Ardents can! And through this power they can have a greater influence on history. **Spoiler Spoiler ** The distinction between Vorinism and Old Vorinism is the reverence of the KR and the Heralds. They were venerated once and now are thought of as betrayers. Now the Recreance sure didn't help this, but a huge shift in trends like this needs some kind of push to get things going. Then it needs a stealthy hand to guide it on the right track. This is how Over the years, possibly without the entire churches overt knowledge, they could quietly secret away bits of lore and knowledge until we get to the current model of understanding about the past (not much that's accurate). Now if it is a smaller subset of the church driving this, it could be that during the Sunmaker's destruction of the Heirocracy, this piece of the church would need to completely break off to survive. They wouldn't disappear however they'd become ... The Ghostbloods. Do they have a secret library of old world knowledge? Is it the library of Karbranth? Tune in for WOR and hope we find out! I'm kind of running out of steam now so I'll come back later with some references and the like. But I think this is an interesting topic of pursuit and I hope it sparks some conversation.
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