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Shards intent Shards have a core emotion/feeling, or intent, and that affects different things they can do. But, what if that intent was separated from them or their investiture? Certainly this would confuse, disorient, and even harm the vessel mentally, but also make them vulnerable to attack. Pretend for now there is a bundle of pencils with a pen in the middle, held together by a rubber band. The rubber band is the intent, the investiture the pencils, and the vessel the pen. Removing it would scatter the pencils, making it easy to manipulate or break the pen. But let’s also imagine that the whole bundle is in a box, 1ft by 1 by 1. If the rubber band is removed, then the pencils scatter but stay in moderate control of the vessel. Now the question is, is this possible? what I am meaning is that you take away the intent, but with a little bit of investiture atttached so then it becomes a cognitive being, and the shard is now intentless. In reply to spinning sky, I would say that if you somehow canceled out them just right, you could get a a neutral wave. You can do the same with sound, why not investiture, and if investiture, why not intent.

Hi first post: I am playing with a theory that 8 of the shards are simple “actions” (for lack of a better word), and each share an emotionally tinted counterpart. I’m not sure how this related to a theory I view as essentially guaranteed, that the 16 shards are split into 4 groups along the intents of the dawnshards. Ruin: Odium Invention: Whimsy Valor: Ambition Honor: Devotion Preservation: Survival (not confirmed) Cultivation: Dominion Autonomy: ??? Endowment: Mercy One note on endowment/mercy… I think this may be a case of a shard(s) having a slightly “broader” Intent than the specific name would imply. I believe this is supported by the mechanics of Returned being brought back to life for specific purposes…. Perhaps something more along the lines of Legacy etc. additionally if you really wanted to stretch it, Mercy is holistically something along the lines of Blessing, Grace, or Compassion, which I think tracks with emotionally charged components of Endowment. Of course, could just be a mercy-killing pyscho… we will see. Let me know what y’all think. One edit note: this also might support why Roshar Spren are so similar to Sel Seon/Skaze. The Roshar Shards & Sel Shards are in some ways mirrors of each other, and that might be reflected in the magic manifestation.

I am posting this here as my theorizing mainly comes from Brandon's Q&A about Secret project #1: _________________________________ Kellyn The chat is very much reading into your use of "whimsy." Brandon Sanderson I know. They should, instead, read into something earlier I said in the stream. Secret Project #1 Reveal and Livestream (March 8, 2022) _________________________ So I re-watched the stream, and something popped out at me, as the word "pragmatc" was used multiple times. In addition, the way this world is structured has a very pragmatic feel to it. Each of the 12 moons is positioned over a different area of the planet (each with a different "proto-aether"), the moons being directly over what is likely the 12 habitable areas on the world. The rules, at least in this realm, seem focused on keeping things working (ie very pragmatic) rather than keeping people "happy". So I'm thinking a shard named Pragmatism is or once had influence over this system, is associated with the number 12, and is responsible for the aethers being slightly different on this world vs. the aether homeworld. Pragmatism also fits in very well with what we know of the survival shard . It is also in line with those who have guessed "wisdom" as a shard, of which Pragmatism is close. To survive can be a pragmatic choice, but recall Brandon also said recently that the Survival has come to recognize that surviving may no longer be the best option. _________________________ Paleo In May, in Germany, you told me that... or I asked whether Wisdom was a Shard, and you said it was or something like it, and that wisdom was close to an intent of a Shard, and you also told me that it has realized that survival isn't necessarily the most important thing for it. I wanted to ask whether it has realized that over time or was it from the get go? Brandon Sanderson Over time. Paleo Okay, so then naturally, my next question: Is it the survival Shard? Brandon Sanderson RAFO. Paleo And then somebody actually came up with another good probable name. Is Prudence close? Brandon Sanderson Prudence sounds an awful lot like a Shard name. That's some excellent theorizing there. Prague Signing (Oct. 26, 2019) __________________________ What do you guys think? Could Pragmatism be our final shard? Unless, of course, some group has gone out and created a new one (see: Secret History)

SPOILERS!!! For Stormlight archive and missborn i’m sure there’s already A lot of posts about this but how is honor Dead are they talking about the host or the power is honor Dead in the way that preservation was dying where the host died but the power was still there so Sazed’s could take it can someone still take up the power of honor is it actually possible to kill the power of a shard

So first of all, I'd like to be clear: I'm talking from a broad, thematic perspective, and this would of course require significant rewrites of the overarching plot of the book and of the characterization of ruin and preservation. I'm not saying that "Ruin did nothing wrong" or something, I'm talking hypotheticals. Now. The final empire is a story of revolution. It's a world that's had the brutal status quo enforced and upheld for far, far too long. It's a world of stagnation, that hasn't seen much advancement in 1000 years. It's a world where the people in power are extremely successful at keeping themselves that way. Our heroes are people taking a stand, people who are fighting this. People who want to tear down the old world so a new and better one can be built. So why, then, is preservation set up as the "good" shard of the series and ruin the "bad" shard? (yes yes, I know, it's not 100% good and evil but like. Cmon. One of them is trying to destroy the world the other is trying to save it. It's pretty clear. And it's literally black and white). To me, it would make a lot more thematic sense for preservation to be the ultimate antagonistic force of this series, who's trying to uphold the status quo and keep things the way they are no matter the brutality, and ruin to be more on the hero's side, helping them from behind the scenes to tear down the old world. (Even in this version, ruin probably wouldn't be so up on the "and rebuilding better" side of things, and I think that makes for an interesting conflict. How do we destroy what needs to be destroyed while leaving enough to rebuild?)

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a post like this already. I didn't find any, but if there are, mods feel free to move or delete this! So, i recently got around to reading the chapters we have so far of SP 1 2 and 4. And while one of them namedropped a Shard, the other two are still out, so I wanted to spark the conversation about which Shard's influences we're seeing here. Tess and the emerald sea: The different seas, the sorceress... Many people expect Aethers here, from what I've gathered. I haven't read Aether of Night, but it seems that the Aethers on this planet, if there are any, relate to the 12 moons somehow and are seperate from the OG Aethers? Which aren't from any shard as far as we know? Or are they? The sorceress sounds like she could fit Dominion, but tbh almost any Fantasy Villain could fit Dominion. If there's knowledge here that I missed and can be discussed openly, I'd be happy to hear it! Someone mentioned Pragmatism sounding like a shard name, and i wouldn't be surprised if Pragmatism would be a shard that coopts anothers system. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: Virtuosity. Interesting! Both manifestations of the investiture seem fun, and I already love spirits. Can't wait to think about whether you could Bond them somhow else. It seems that the gift that Yumi has is not genetic, but it is rare. Similar to the Shaod, just randomly chosen? I wonder if it's something super weird, like, your genes have to be an interesting pattern. It seems that basically anyone can become a Nightmare Painter if they have the artistic talent for it, so that makes me wonder whether Yumi's gift could be learned too, I guess we'll see. And we'll see if the planet has these two sides or if there's more distinct versions of Virtuosity Magic. And whether you can take Spirits offworld! The Sunlit Man: The big one. Already multiple worlds being namedropped and appearing, Roshar, Scadrial, Taldain, Threnody... The people here are descendants of Threnodians/they are Threnodians. But is the magic? Nomad compares the sun giving power with Taldain, but we know this is a seperate system. @Miltank_drink wondered if the sun is the grave of a highly invested person or the site of a splintering. That would be super interesting! I don't think we've had the first part yet, but someone like a Godking giving up their life or being killed to set free their Investiture in a form like this would be insanely cool and also a great mythos for the world. The people on this world are certainly brave and ambitious, so Valor or Ambition being involved wouldn't surprise me either. I assume not all of Ambitions Investiture is near/on Threnody, but it's probably mostly in the same system. Makes you wonder which way round things happened. Did Ambitions power settle here too, investing the sun, and that lead Threnodians to come here/discover this planet? Or did they leave the Homeland, and ended up on a planet invested by another power, be that a Shard, Avatar or the grave of someone from another world? If a giant elder spren bonded with a Shard's cognitive shadow can dispense investiture, who's to say there's not a giant elder invested being (Spirit, Spren, Splinter, whatever) bonded to/making up the sun and perpetually burning and imbuing this planet. To funnel my thoughts and open discussion, here's a few shards I thought of here: Cultivation: Plants blooming within a day, then burning up again. Would have to be in a future where Cultivation is not fully busy on Roshar. Then again, we don't know she is during SA anyway. Valor: The pit fights, and Invested People being those that proved themselves in trial and get rewarded for it with power, that could be Valor. Living here certainly needs some bravery. I wonder if some Threnodians were searching for other powers to combat or reign in Ambitions volatile power, and found this planet. We (the readers) know that Odium wants Roshar as a training ground, i would not be surprised if Valor had a planet or multiple planets like these that they see as a proving ground. Maybe the Threnodians hoped to prove themselves, become chosen by Valor, and then return to the Threnodian system with it, Anchoring it there somehow? Maybe I'm speculating too much. Ambition: They're from Threnody. Ambitions is dead and chunks of it are in different places. Who's to say this small planets burning hot sun isn't from Ambitions power or invested with it? It could be a system fairly close to Threnody, but not the same system. Dominion? I don't know how that would work, but the Cinder King certainly seems dominant. If the IRE can exist outside Sel somehow, who's to say this planet doesn't have some influence from Dominion (and Devotion?). The Ember Knights with their red glowing embers, obedience to the Cinder King, winning in a trial, those all have themes of Dominion and Devotion too. Makes you wonder if the Ember Knights are Svrakiss, taking over bodies... Autonomy: She likes to put Avatars in places. Her main planet is locked between daytime and nighttime, and for sure the people on this planet have to live autonomously if you want to put it like that. Cities made up of individual parts that can break out of them, never resting, never settling to grow farms. So, what do others think, what shards could be involved in the worlds and magics we've been exposed to here?

It seems like individual shards have associated numbers. I have not seen a full list complied, so I attempted here. Please respond with suggestions or corrections. Dominion (Shu-Dereth idea of uniting all under one nation) Cultivation (Boon/Bane) Ambition ( Simple Rules, number of the "Greater Good") Ruin ( Number of Koloss spikes and Kandra blessings) Endowment (base Heightening level for a returned) Devotion (number of days in weeks and months in year) ? Autonomy (number of sand master ranks) Odium (number of unmade) Honor (number of surges and orders of knight radiant) ? ? Virtuosity (teased theme from Fibonacci sequence) ? ? Preservation (well, did you read Mistborn or not) Hard to fit fit in Mercy, Whimsy, Valor, Intervention, and the last unnamed shard fit in, as we just don't have enough information.

*R.O.W. AND GREATER COSMERE SPOILERS/THEORY* So, in Oathbringer at the battle of Thaylen City, when Dalinar says “I am Unity” and opens Honor’s perpendicularity, Odium responds with “We Killed You!”. The popular theory seems to be that this is evidence of the division growing between the power-Odium- and the man who holds the shard-Rayse. After a 4th reread of Oathbringer and R.O.W., I now believe this to be what we will one day see as an obvious hint that Cultivation helped Odium kill Honor in an effort to one day unite not two shards as harmony has done, but all three of the shards of the Rosharan system and quite possibly begin the reforming of all 16 shards back into Adonalsium. My reasons are as follows; First, why I don’t believe “We Killed You” was talking about Odium/Rayse is discussed in the Mistborn series and Arcanum Unbounded. It’s stated multiple times that the man who took up the shard Ruin, Ati, was very different than the power he took up. Hoid goes as far as to say he was “a kind and generous man” before ascension. We know by the end he was much more the power than the man, as eluded to when kelsier says Ruin “dangles a puppet” towards Vin when he talks to her. This would imply that once the person who ascended loses control of the power it is not a “We” relationship but a complete shift in who controls who. Before they lose control of the power the person who holds the shard never says “We” because they don’t view holding the power as a symbiotic relationship but as an expansion of themself and it seems once the balance of power is tipped in favor of the power itself, the person who ascended loses complete control. Now on to why Cultivation helped kill Honor. When Sja-anat comes to Taravangian, the time he asks her to give him a way to summon Odium at a specific time, she says that perhaps Cultivation has been planning much more subtly than Odium ever suspected. Also stating that Cultivation had touched/changed three people. These people are Lyft, Dalinar, and Taravangian. As of the end of Rhythm of War, we know Taravangian has ascended to the shard Odium, and Dalinar has at-least begun to take up the remnants of the shard Honor. We know Lyft was altered to run her surge-binding on Life-Light, theoretically making her have a stronger connection to the power of cultivation than any other person on Roshar. At the end of that book we also see Cultivation come to T-Odium saying that there is much they need to discuss. Prior to to Taravangian’s ascension we hear Odium say to Dalinar, when agreeing to the contest of champions, that Cultivation would kill him if he broke his oaths, implying she already has or had the intent to kill a shard. The reason I believe she intends to unite the shards is two part. One part is a simple word drop. After Taravangian becomes Odium, Cultivation says that she believed he could “hold the shard of Odium with ‘honor’”. The other is slightly more esoteric. What have we seen so far of different unshattered shards and their intent and how it relates to the aspect of adonalsium they embody? To my knowledge, they coincide rather directly. Preservation? Preserve at all cost. Ruin? Entropy at all cost. So why would Cultivation seek to kill anything? Well I think it’s obvious. She told us exactly what she’s doing. The same thing she did to Dalinar. She’s not killing, she pruning. She helped shatter Honors power because it was her dandelion. She blew on the flower and flung seeds of Honor’s power across Roshar because she knew that neither she nor Honor could defeat Odium. But if he could be delayed, the powers transferred into imperfect vessel, Dalinar with his ties to Odium while trying to hold Honors power, Taravangian holding Odium’s Shard with his ties to Cultivation. And Lyft. A radiant-Honor-, who runs on LifeLight-Cultivation, and I believe Stormlight 5 will bring us Odium’s attempted corruption of Lyft, beginning with Moash/Burr’s murder of her fellow edgedancer at the end of R.O.W. and possibly concluding with the death of Gawx, The Prime, in the next book. Big theory with wild swings I know, but let me know if you guys know anything that directly contradicts any of this

Okay so there's probably a lot of evidence that could disprove this. This is not a super well-thought-out or well-researched theory, this is a random thought i had the other day, that I wanted to share. We've heard many times that, in the time leading up to his death, Honor changed. He went insane. And we've kinda assumed that that change is cause of the power of the shard overtaking Tanavast, or at least I have anyway. But what if it wasn't? What if it was cause Honor was a different person? Why Nohadon? Well a couple reasons. Firstly, he's one of the few people we know who was alive long ago enough, and narratively I doubt Honor would have been taken up by some rando we never heard of. There seems to be something special about him, and his philosophy was clearly very significant to the knights radiant. Dalinar had that vision of him that didn't involve the stormfather, but couldn't have been just a dream or something since he revealed info to Dalinar that Dalinar didn't know. And I came across this quote recently, in a different thread on this forum, about how in Nohadon's days (which i think was before the days of the official Radiants, and bonds were more loose then, but i'm not completely sure on that timeline) about how he wanted spren to be more choosy about who they bonded. So it would make sense that he was the one to go on to create the radiants, to enforce this idea. So yeah, what do you all think of this theory? I'm sure there are many holes to poke in it, but it seems like it could make a lot of sense.

InMistborn Secret Story, Kelsier uses an artifact to ascend to Preservation, this changes a lot of what we knew about the shards, so: Could they change hands without the death of the shard's bearer?

Can you transfer through Hemalurgic the investiture of a Dawnshard? Can you bond a spren to a shard? If a Radiant Ascends to a Shard, what happens to the spren?

In order to pick up a Shard once its previous owner has either been killed or has released it, you need be congruent enough with the power for it to let you pick it up. So, if a Rioter Misting or a Mistborn were to enhance your emotions while the Shard of Odium was without a vessel, would that be enough to trick it into letting you pick it up?

So... We have had Raboniel and Navani name the new combined light warlight, and that naming convention is unlikely to change. They could however, have an incomplete understanding of it's intent at this time, only revealed at the climax of either SL 5 or 10, with the formation of a new unified shard, who discovers the intent. I believe that Justice, or perhaps, Judgement Is a more fitting name for a combination of honor and odium. It is stated that Odium is dangerous because it is Adonalsium's divine rage, separated from the rules that gave it purpose, and meaning. I think that this is foreshadowing for the end of Stormlight. Honor is clearly about what is right, and odium is about destruction. Together, they might perhaps be the hard hand of justice. The rage of odium, channeled only at the unjust. This could play out interestingly, with perhaps altered skybreakers becoming the most attuned order to this new shard.

Another theory here, so I was wondering if it would be possible for there to be a anti-version of investiture, shards, and Adonalsium. We see anti-light in RoW and its effect on normal light and invested beings, being capable of killing Heralds, Fused, and Radiant spren. This aligns with anti-matter in real life where, if it comes into contact with its opposite (like oxygen and anti-oxygen) it explodes in a massive explosion. This symmetry might suggest that there could be an ultimate foe in the form of some sort of anti-adonalsium which could be a reason that they need to bring the shards back together and reform adonalsium. What are your thoughts on this?

So, I don't know if this has been thought of before, but I have had a theory for some time that we will eventually see more orders of the Knight Radiants-or at least sub-orders. Let me explain-we know that surgebinding is a result of Honor and Cultivation and that worlds with a invested shard have a magic system based at least partly off of the shard. Odium has now started investing himself more and more into Roshar and we've seen the effects in the Fused and voidbinding. Renarin, has bonded a spren corrupted by Odium and has manifested new variations (hence the sub-orders) on the original truthwatcher abilities. He is still a truthwatcher in that he accesses the same surges, he just manifests them in new and different ways. What are your guys's thoughts on this? Do you think that we could see sub-orders of the original Radiant orders?

How will the Cosmere story end? Will there still be shards? Here is a list of possibilities for discussion. Adonalsium is re-formed with a new vessel. Adonalsium is re-formed without a vessel. The shards continue. The shards continue, but without vessels. The shards are splintered. All investiture, including shards, is destroyed, possibly by Nightblood. Any other possibilities? What do you think will happen?

Hi all! Thought I would run this one by you, What if the Ten Fools (three of which we have names for) are real, and what if they are creations of Whimsy? Although we really know nothing at all about the Shard Whimsy, I feel that this is right up their alley- Honor creates his ten Heralds, and Whimsy sees their opportunity to parody these solemn and epically heroic individuals. Whimsy creates their own ten highly invested cognitive shadows, each of whom bears a comedic flaw in contrast to the mighty attributes of the Heralds. I am in love with the idea of these ten immortal, super invested, interstellar jesters. Spreading Whimsy, but not being all that helpful to the grand scheme of things. My ambition is to someday put this theory to Brandon to get his views on whether this has any merit. In the meantime, I really wanted to share it with you all! Thanks gang, stay silly

Am re-reading Oathbringer and can't help but want a Total war game based off the Kholin conquest of Alethkar. They'd need to add new mechanics for the regeneration of shardplate, and for equipment and customization for more than just the army's general so you could have multiple shards in a single army (and ideally make the unit pathing less stupid but let's be honest that's just how Total War works). Extreme High Storm attrition would make places other than cities important to hold, and of course, capturing enemy shards and enhancing your own shardbearers would be a central mechanic. The Thrill would prevent armies from breaking when they fight near it and it would move to battles with high casualties, berserking units that are winning. Potential problems: The Blackthorn in full shards at max rank and accompanied by the Thrill could singlehandedly destroy the standard 2000 men most total war games allow armies to max out at. solution? smaller maps, but larger max army sizes with a 'reserve' mechanic that allows troops to be held back off the map until sent in. It would also be the first total war game to have a reasonable explanation for why your armies don't need supply lines because of soulcasters

Shards who are bound, such as Odium, only seem to be able to directly interact with those who they are Connected to. So, hypothetically, let’s say that Taravangian got ahold of an Unsealed Feruchemical Duraluminmind and used it to create a strong Connection between himself and Jasnah Kholin. Would he, after ascension, be able to use that Connection to directly meet and interact with Jasnah as he could Dalinar?

I've been re-reading the Stormlight books and have been thinking about specific events along with the current conflict raging during the Last Desolation as well as the overarching conflicts across the Cosmere. It seems likely to me, though not definitive, that Odium is more or less a permanent problem. Certainly Rayse was (so far) unique in being both able and willing to destroy other Shards whether or not he required help to do so. That motivation may have been unique to Rayse, but his time holding Odium could also have driven that course of action even if Rayse was already amenable. Either way, even with the change in Vessel to Taravangian Odium is still very dangerous and potentially hostile to the other Shards. Harmony strongly implies this in the epigraphs to chapters 37, 39, and 40 of RoW: If we take these sentiments to be true (which may not be wise, as Harmony is new to the deity scene, though his holding two Shards may give him unique insight) then it's not unreasonable to conclude that the goal outlined in the epigraph of chapter 34 of RoW is driven by Odium itself and not so much the Vessel bearing it: So whatever changes might exist when Taravangian destroyed Rayse and became the new Vessel of Odium it seems like the threat to the Cosmere is unchanged, and therefore so are Hoid's efforts and the situation for the other Shards. Odium is deific, and so far we don't know of any other Shards which are capable of Splintering (or otherwise destroying) a Shard. At some point Odium became trapped on Roshar, and while that was a good-enough solution for several millennia it clearly isn't permanent. Permanence in resolving this danger seems important for otherwise (mostly) immortal beings like the other Shards. For these reasons the current plan of Dalinar and company is doomed to fail. Their victory in the contest of champions, if it even takes place, will only push Odium's efforts into the future to some unknowable extent. And the wording of the agreement is unclear as to what, precisely, will happen if Odium's champion loses. Therefore any conclusion to Odium as an antagonist, whether in Stormlight alone or in all of the Cosmere works, cannot be: 1. the contest of champions, 2. changing Odium's Vessel, 3. destroying Odium, or 4. persuading Odium to behave differently. So that leaves the question "what is to be done about it?" And here is my answer: the only way to deal with Odium is to combine it with another Shard, thereby modifying how it operates. Such a combination has seriously hampered Harmony's ability to act on his own, for example. The discovery of the titular Rhythm of War implies that the combination of Honor and Odium might work and be worthwhile; Odium and Cultivation would presumably also work and be locally available to the Rosharans, but seems (to me) more dangerous than Honor/Odium and would require two possibly unwilling Vessels be dealt with. I presume that Vessels don't typically want to combine their own Shard with others for the same reason Odium doesn't want to, that it would change the raw expression of the original, fundamentally distinct Shard. My specific prediction is that Dalinar will use his powers to reconstitute Honor's Shard somehow, foreshadowed by his ability to open Honor's Perpendicularity and Odium's response: If Honor can be reassembled, then it could (perhaps) be imposed upon Taravangian or Taravangian himself destroyed and Odium taken up by anyone that also takes up Honor. Maybe Dalinar, maybe Kaladin, or maybe someone we don't know about yet. The specific person that does it would be less important than the idea that instead of unbridled hatred running around we would have honorable hatred (whatever that might be). It's not necessarily an end to any threat from Odium at all but is the only way I can think of that might deal with the Shard in any meaningful way. I don't know if this will happen in Stormlight 5, in Stormlight 6-10, in a different Cosmere work, or at all (obviosuly, lol!). My money's on sooner rather than later, as I imagine the ultimate villain(s) of the Cosmere will be Autonomy, Thaidakar, Hoid, or some combination of them rather than Odium, the major confluence of Cosmere events will involve a lot of things happening on Roshar, and the ultimate conclusion will be a re-forging of Adonalsium anyways. But that's an entirely different kettle of wild speculation.

Do we know what happened to Honor's shard? If he was killed should the shard be left behind? If I recall though it has been some time since I read The Final Empire, were Ruin and Preservation's shard left behind which allowed Saz to take hold of them? Sorry if this question has been asked, it just popped in my head.

Are there humans in Ashyn during the Stormlight Archive timeline?

Okay so I’ve been really digging into the whole creation of Nightblood. Could a splinter of Ambition be involved someone how? Thus amplifying it’s “destroy evil” intent? I also believe the theories that this was apart of Ruins involvement as well.

Ruin + Preservation is called Harmony. Honor + Odium, it seems to be implied, would be called War. What do you think other shard combinations might be called, if they ever come into existence? You can do combinations of two shards, or combinations of more than two. Here are a few ideas: Mercy + Devotion = Love Devotion + Honor = Faithfulness Autonomy + Mercy = Magnanimity Invention + Odium = Torment Honor + Preservation = Civilization Ambition + Autonomy = Ego