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God What is God actually? Or what is a god? I think about that far too much but I enjoy the thoughts of others. And Brandon did put his thoughts into his books. Some things he did put there intentionally and some probably without thinking about it. I read a lot about similar topics in this forum and i assume that my basic idea was already mentioned but most things I found were older. I am thinking this through while writing it. There will be errors and I hope someone finds them. Gods throughout the history of mankind in the real world I've never met someone who actually believed in one of the ancient gods of the Greek, Egyptians, or Vikings in the way they are represented in the strategy game Age of Mythology. And by my Christian standard the gods in the game are not gods at all. They are not all powerful or all knowing. They are not good. They are more than one entity. They did take on physical forms and sometimes even impregnated women. As somewhat of a christian myself I have to think about Jesus when writing that sentence. He had a physical form, his father was God and he did not seem to be all powerful. But this discussion should not be about him. The ancient pantheons knew many Gods and all of them had a different purpose. The main Greek gods for example are known as the Twelve Olympians. And the ancient gods did always fight or party. There are many great stories about all of them. Gods in the Cosmere as seen by the residents To talk about all of them would probably be more difficult than talking about all of the gods in the real world, but I want to bring up my favorite examples. Blushweaver is called a god, but from my viewpoint she is a resurrected, highly invested, human. The Stormfather is a god for many Rosharans. He is basically a Spren for us. The Heralds are also gods for many Rosharans and I do not know what they are for me, but they are similar to Blushweaver and the Returned. For the Un-Kalaki all Spren are gods. And last but not least there are the Shards and Adonalsium himself. This is more difficult. For someone who believes in the divinity of one of the beings mentioned above the shards would probably be gods too. And Adonalsium as a combination of all of them would logically also count as a god. Many gods becoming one In our world it happened that one religion devoured others. Sometimes a polytheistic religion slowly focused on one of the gods at first and then integrating the aspects of the other gods into the main god. Multiple religions and multiple gods became one god as the only god of one general religion. This happened a lot and is related to other phenomena. If you think about the pyramid (hierarchy) of needs it makes sense to pray for food and shelter at the beginning stage of a developing society. But later those basic needs are fulfilled and love, esteem and self-actualization become more important. Those needs are more abstract than food. This leads to the god, responsible for this need, being more abstract. This is a complicated topic and you can spend years looking into it but my main argument is that in our world multiple religions and gods did unite to become one. The Shattering of Adonalsium In the cosmere the whole topic of religion currently begins with the Shattering of Adonalsium. Adonalsium, an (all-)powerful being was shattered into 16 Shards. Those Shards represent different aspects of the same being. And maybe something important happened with the 4 Dawnshards before that, but this is currently RAFOed as far as I know. Here is where part one of my conclusion starts. The Shattering of Adonalsium is the opposite of what happened in our world. In our world many gods become one. If we think of Adonalsium as a god then his shattering is one god becoming many. And not only Adonalsium did become many gods, but his shards did too. In Greek mythology divinity gets passed on to the children of the god. If both parents are gods, the child is a god too. If only one parent is a god, the child is born as a halfgod. If we use this theory on Roshar, then every Spren is a god. We can argue about how much divinity is needed to actually be called a god, but it is hard to draw a line. So let's just use the easy way and say everything that is pure investiture without a physical form is a god. This would be one easy way to define god in the cosmere. It is clearly not perfect but it is a definition. It is not the definition I would use from an out of world perspective but it would be fine as an inworld one for me. Socrates? What has Socrates to do with that? Socrates asked difficult questions. Imagine someone asking about honor. What is honorful? If you ask many people there will be a consensus on a lot of honorful behaviors. But some things will be contrary. And this thought of contrary views on honorful behavior can be represented by spren. Syl believes that Kaladin is honorful. Other Honorspren may agree or disagree, but no other spren agreed enough to make him a radiant. The part of Honor (and Cultivation maybe) that thought of Kaladin as honorful enough to become radiant is called Syl. So Sy is only a small part of the whole Adonalsium, but a part with power and an opinion. If we say that Adonalsium is the god of the Cosmere we can argue that he did split up himself, his will and his power into many little pieces but those pieces are still the will and power of the whole so every Spren is Adonalsium but Adonalsium is all Sprens and all the other Shards as well. A Spren is then a part of God. It is divine. If we accept that Adonalsium never was all powerful or willingly limited himself that every part of Adonalsium is still God in its essence and Identity. Are Humans Gods now? No. But as mentioned in the cosmere and the real world. There is something special about Humans. In the Cosmere we can add a lot of other beings to the list of special ones. But to keep it easy I´ll just talk about humans. Every human has some kind of divinity. We have souls or something. That's a complicated and abstract philosophical and religious idea. And I will not discuss all world religions at once but most agree that humans are special. The one above all The true God of the Cosmere So even if we do not agree on Adonalsium being a God there is something even deeper than that. If we define God almighty and something that knows everything, the past, the present, the future there is still one being that fits this description. Brandon Sanderson! He created the Cosmere. He created it out of nothing in his mind. He completely decides all physical rules. He can change them anytime, but it would make a worse story. He knows the past of the cosmere and also it’s future. He can do whatever he wants with it. He is almighty in the cosmere. He is God. Of course he is not the god of our real world, but no one in the Cosmere can prove that Brandon exists. He creates characters and tries to make them seem conscious. And he does it so well that they seem real or believable to all of us. But sometimes he has to intervene in the broader story. Intervene in what would normally happen. He creates coincidences that bring the important people together. Someone finds the right book at the right time. People meet randomly or due to mysterious reasons like Hoid. Hoid is somewhat the main way of Brandon to influence the story. And by influencing the story he changes the cosmere itself. And Brandon created the Cosmere in a way that Hoid seems to be real and not divinie. At least not much more divine than many other beings. Hoid can be everyone. He can be beggar on the streets, the king's wit, or just some random traveler you meet at a campfire. But Hoid is always Brandon’s influence. Hoid is in a way the inconspicuous hand of god. And have you ever met a Hoid in your life? Someone who did influence your path through life in a positive way without you noticing it at first? Maybe something that seems unimportant, like a stranger wearing a funny T-Shirt with a joke on it. You meet someone special years later and remember that joke. You tell the joke, one thing leads to another and you are happily married. This is a bad example but it is related to something that actually happened. So the true god of the Cosmere is Brandon Sanderson. He created it and tries to change as few things as possible, even though he knows everything and is almighty. But he influences the people in small but well calculated ways with his delegate that we know a Hoid.

So I have just backed the 'Mistborn Metal Dice' project on Kickstarter by Crafty Games - they ahve created the Mistborn RPGs and the Mistborn: House War tabletop game in the past... Therefore, anything which they produce, usually has high involvement from Brandon. In the description of the dice, the 20 of which all are based around a different Allomantic metal, it describes Harmonium as the following: (God, Internal, Pushing) - Unknown in the Classis Era, Harmonium replicates the effects of nearby Allomantic or Feruchemical metals DISCUSS!

Could the 16 shards of Adonalsium be put back together somehow? I know it is not likley but I thought that it might be worth looking into.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole overall Cosmere plot. And I was thinking that instead of Dalinar uniting all of Roshar, that in actuality he is supposed to unite all 16 shards. I feel like Dalinar would be perfect for this, as he has been both extreme evil and good. He’s been the prime example for both. I feel like this would make him a great character to be a god. Wit even mentions this, saying the original gods name, and then saying what would it be like to rip a man apart, and then put him back together. Any thoughts? Do you guys think it’s likely?

OK, guys. Here's the single MOST IMPORTANT thing that OB brought up. List told Gawx not to trust Dalinar because he has a good butt. Butt, (see what I did there?) Lift says (in Edgedancer) that she thought Wit was awesome. (As old Whitehead) So. That begs the question. The question for the ages. A question we need to get WoB on. Does Wit have a nice butt? The fate of Roshar - nay!- of the Cosmere itself rests on the answer to that burning question.

So this isn't technically a full theory because of lack of evidence, mostly seeing what people think. Fist we have to ask the question, "was Adonalsium always Adonalsium, or did he pick it up." Seriously we need someone to ask that question, and unless Brandon Sanderson decides to visit Turkey, there is little chance of me being able to ask him. Moving on, I had an idea that Sazed would end up being the complete Adonalsium. It just makes sense to me. Unfortunately, because it makes so much sense, Brandon Sanderson will probably not do that. The reason it makes sense to me, is that Harmony is currently getting attacked by another shard, and, if he wins, he would probably take on that shard too. (Although, if he is being attacked by Odium, he would probably need to take a more positive shard too, because Odium and Ruin would probably outweigh Preservation.) Anyway, I think that there will probably end up being another Adonalsium, the question is, will it be Sazed. (If you don't think a new Adonalsium makes sense, please tell me in the comments. I have no problem with my theory being disproved.)

I had to study, therefore.... I was on the Brandon's Reddit. There I found this cool questions https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/5ge20y/brandon_book_signings_dos_and_donts/daukmq5/?context=3 A couple of them are quite interesting about Adonalsium both in his past and his future: EDIT: Personal Note: I don't understand the first RAFO, He told for a while where the original vessels came from. Therefore I think he RAFOed the Worldhopper part

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 I was flipping through Words of Radiance and I noticed that the name of the spren that causes the death rattles is named Moelach. See Taravingian's POV chapter I-14 for more details. Mr. T describes Moelach in the Diagram thusly: "There is one you will watch. Though all of them have some relevance to precognition, Moelach is one of the most powerful in this regard. His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship." -Epigraph Chapter 82, page 986 hardcover edition According to the questions Brandon answered on Tor.com, he based some of the Roshar magic system on the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah. With this connection in mind, I realized that the name 'Moelach' sounds an awful lot like "Moloch", a Mesopotamian god mentioned several times in the Old Testament with a negative connotation as a foreign and false god. Moloch is rather infamous because according to the biblical text, worshippers would sacrifice children to Moloch's flames. But we're not done yet. In Mr. T's POV chapter, he brings up another evil spren named Nergaoul, who many readers think causes the Alethi Thrill: "The Thrill is at least as strong here as it is in Alethkar. Maybe stronger. I will speak to our scholars. Perhaps this will help pinpoint Nergaoul." -Chapter I-14, page 910 hardcover edition Well wouldn't you know it, but Nergal is also a Mesopotamian deity, also brought up in the bible. And Nergal is, among other things, a god of war. I don't think any of this is a coincidence. Are there any other mentions of the names of super spren? Also worth noting is that "Moloch" in Hebrew uses the same letters (מלך) as the word for 'King'. Not sure how deep Brandon got into this, but it is a bit funny that Mr. T went from Moelach to Kingship in the Diagram. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/06/brandon-sanderson-answers-your-questions-about-the-way-of-kings