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  1. This theory presents my views only. Assume every sentence and paragraph is preceded by an “IMO.” Summary 1. Brandon alternately describes Spiritual Realm Investiture that isn’t part of a Spiritweb as “power,” “raw power,” “the godly powers,” the “powers of creation” (my favorite, for its descriptiveness), “true Investiture,” a “Shard’s energy,” and a Shard’s “energy of being,” In my posts, I call this substance the “Powers.” 2. Each form of Cognitive and Physical Realm Investiture is unique to its Shardworld. This “Unique Investiture” differs from every other form of Unique Investiture and from the Spiritual Realm Powers. The Investiture that composes Spiritwebs (what I call “Spiritweb Investiture”) likewise differs from the Powers. 3. Some magic systems use “catalysts” to touch the Spiritual Realm Powers. These catalytic magic systems perform what I call “Creation Magic” – they can form or change any cosmere Spiritweb to achieve spectacular magical effects. Such systems use both local Unique Investiture and the Spiritual Realm Powers as fuel for their magic. Surgebinding and Awakening are examples, 4. Other magic systems use Unique Investiture as their sole fuel. Unlike Creation Magic, which can do anything, “Unique investiture Magic” only affects the soul the Unique Investiture Invests. Feruchemy is an example of Unique Investiture Magic. What are the Powers? The Powers were originally “Adonalsium” and are now his Spiritual Realm corpse broken into the 16 Shards that Invested the Vessels. The Powers embody the capacity to “create” – to form or change any Spiritweb by converting into new matter, energy or Unique Investiture. They simultaneously are the raw material from which the cosmere is formed. Everything created (“Creation”) comes from the Powers. Brandon says the cosmere is one substance. Wax notices this in BoM (Kindle, p. 370, emphasis in original): “They’re all the same. Metals, minds, men, all the same substance…” Brandon says Wax sees “the cosmere-equivalent of atoms/investiture/energy waves all being the same thing.” Marasi likewise observes “There were no people or objects, just energy coalesced.” (BoM, Kindle p. 359.) Brandon says the Powers are not inherently sentient or sapient. What Is Unique Investiture? “Investiture” is Brandon’s “word for someone or something which has gained a portion of the magic of Adonalsium.” If the Powers comprise a potential reality, able to change anything, then Unique Investiture is the magical component of the Cognitive and Physical Realm reality the Powers create – the “Condensed ‘essence’ of these godly powers.” All Cognitive and Physical Realm Investiture is Unique Investiture, found only on its Shardworld. Stormlight, Breaths, the Dor, and the mists are examples of Unique Investiture, as are spren, Divine Breath, Aons and lerasium. Differences Between the Powers and Unique Investiture 1. Realmic Location. a. The Powers exist only in the Spiritual Realm (except for the Dor, which began there but is now a “hybrid” Investiture capable of performing Creation Magic from its Cognitive Realm location). The Shards are “mostly Spiritual” because of the Powers. Except for the Dor, location is irrelevant to the use of the Powers – an Allomancer can Connect with Preservation on Roshar. b. Unique Investiture exists in all three Realms. Investiture is the cosmere’s “building block” and “transcends” the Realms. Unlike the Powers, Unique Investiture is part of the Spiritual DNA of its Shardworld's soul. Location is very relevant for Unique Investiture. Non-natives of a Shardworld must “hack” the local Unique Investiture to use it (except for Breaths, which “key” into their holder’s Identity). 2. Types of Magic. a. The Powers perform Creation Magic – the ability to make new realities through the introduction of matter, energy and/or Unique Investiture. The Powers are remnants of godhood and can form or change any Spiritweb and its corresponding Physical and Cognitive Realm aspects. “People with magic” can direct the Powers. Windrunners bring new energy into Creation to change gravity’s vector. Forgers like Shai bring new Investiture into Creation to change a soul and remake Connections. When Marasi uses the Powers in BoM, “mist” begins “spinning around her” – coming from her. [BoM, Kindle p. 360.] Wax exits the underground temple “trailing mist.” [BoM, Kindle p. 368.] When he holds up the Bands, “winds, snows, and eventually traces of mist” swirl around him. [BoM, Kindle p. 379.] Marasi and Wax each use the Bands to draw massive amounts of the Powers – more than they need for their Allomancy. The excess Powers convert themselves into new energy (the “winds”), matter (the “snows”) and Unique Investiture (“traces of mist”). Marasi and Wax each acknowledge they held the “[‘very’] powers of creation [‘themselves’].” [BoM, Kindle pp. 379, 369.] b. Unique Investiture is part of a planet’s “physics,” the planet’s “nature.” Unique Investiture Magic works with or without direction to change, repair or improve the person the Unique Investiture Invests. Unique Investiture Magic includes self-healing; heightened health, strength, speed, senses and acuity; and magical snapping and bonding. Mortals cannot command Unique Investiture Magic to change any Spiritweb other than their own soul. Mortals can use Unique Investiture to redistribute their existing Realmic attributes, like Feruchemy and ChayShan do, but they can’t create new attributes. There are two kinds of Unique Investiture Magic: (i) Adonalsium’s “ambient” magic, and (ii) post-Shattering Mandated Investiture Magic. c. Unique Investiture directly fuels Unique Investiture Magic. Creation Magic uses Unique Investiture to Connect with the Powers. Attaching Unique Investiture to a magic user’s soul is the first step in Creation Magic. This can occur at conception (Allomancy), birth or conception (Awakening) or by attracting a temperamentally-aligned spren (Surgebinding). “The means of getting powers…are related to the Shards, but not the powers themselves.” 3. Splinters. The Powers can splinter and develop sentience. Unique Investiture can’t splinter or develop sentience. Fragments of Unique Investiture (like atium geodes and Breaths) lack self-awareness and can’t by themselves create. 4. Direction. The Powers need a mind to direct them or will become self-directing. The Powers roil until directed – Brandon says, “raw power is dangerous.” Unique Investiture does not always need direction. Examples on Each Shardworld I count seven known cosmere magic systems that use the Powers to perform Creation Magic: Nalthis: Awakening. Roshar: Surgebinding, Fabrials and Voidbinding (maybe). Sel: The “one magic” system that’s been balkanized. Scadrial: Allomancy. Taldain: Sand Mastery. Following are examples of Unique Investiture Magic on each Shardworld: First of the Sun: Aviar form Cognitive bonds with chosen human companions. The humans cannot direct the Aviar to choose them and never touch the Powers. The Aviar extend these bonds to enfold their companions in the Aviar’s protective Cognitive shield. Nalthis: The Heightenings improve and perfect mortal attributes like senses and health without direction of or Connection to the Powers. “Breath Transfer” is also Unique Investiture Magic – Breathholders move quanta of their innate Investiture to other people, who “heighten” as a result. (Awakening, unlike simple Breath Transfer, performs Creation Magic. An Awakener drains color to Connect to the Powers, enabling the Breathholder to animate – “Awaken” – objects.) The Returned are like the Nightwatcher – they grant others a single boon, to heal them. This Unique Investiture Magic works by the Returned transferring its Divine Breath – with its Fifth Heightening healing power – “to heal someone else’s Breath that is weakening and dying.” Roshar: The Nightwatcher’s Old Magic changes mortal attributes. The mortal beneficiaries don’t touch the Powers and can’t direct what the Nightwatcher will do: Baxil says she gives the boon seeker what he deserves, not what he asks for. Stormlight augments Kaladin’s speed and strength even when he’s not Surgebinding and heals him without direction. Spren symbiosis with native lifeforms is an example of pre-Shattering “ambient” Unique Investiture Magic. Scadrial: The mists cause potential Allomancers to “snap” – to widen their latent Connection to Preservation. Feruchemy is the oldest of Scadrial’s magics. (HoA, Chapter 34 Epigraph.) Even Hemalurgy came before modern Allomancy. Feruchemists hold genetically innate Investiture, half from Preservation and half from Ruin. Feruchemists don’t touch the Powers unless they’re Twinborn – Allomancy does use Creation Magic. Feruchemists can’t create attributes; they can only redistribute existing attributes. Sel: Shuden’s ChayShan resembles Feruchemy – ChayShan focuses Shuden’s internal energy and strength onto the point of impact with the Dakhor monk. Shuden’s family is from JinDo, on the other side of Duladen from Arelon. If ChayShan were location-based Creation Magic, Shuden couldn’t use ChayShan in Arelon. For the same reason, I suspect Forton’s potion is also Unique Investiture Magic – Hrovell is far from Arelon, yet Forton’s potion (made in Hrovell) works effectively in Arelon to temporarily change the appearance of its target. Taldain: Dayside’s undirected growth of watered microflora is Unique Investiture Magic. “Certain people can control [the microflora’s] reaction” using their body water to touch the Powers, but the undirected growth is Unique Investiture Magic. (AU, Kindle p. 369.) Because Autonomy’s Unique Investiture doesn’t “beat down” on Darkside, Darkside’s magic probably is Adonalsium’s “ambient” Unique Investiture Magic. Threnody: Khriss concludes “some measure of Investiture must have existed on this planet before the battle between Shards.” [AU, Kindle p. 417, emphasis added.] She doesn’t speculate on the planet’s pre-Shard Unique Investiture Magic. * * * * * * This post is the first in a series on cosmere magic. I had written a much longer theory, but it became unwieldy. I’m chopping it into more manageable pieces for periodic postings. I want to thank @WeiryWriter, @Kurkistan, @Argent, @Yata, @Spoolofwhool and @Blightsong for reading drafts of the longer theory and helping me clean up mistakes. Their comments also sharpened the theory’s focus and presentation. None of them completely agree with me….
  2. Another in my ongoing series “A Theory of Cosmere Magic” Classification of Magic Systems Pre-Shattering Magic Basic Realmic Theory Brandon deflects questions about the cosmere’s origin and the nature of the “God Beyond.” He states the “God Beyond” and related subjects depend on one’s religious attitudes. But Brandon does provide some hints. The most important comes from Sazed [HoA, Chapter 55 Epigraph (emphasis added)): I read the word “originally” to refer to the period pre-Shattering, before the Shards ascended. These “powers” (the “Powers”) at that time lacked “thoughts and personalities.” To me, this comment means the ability to direct the Powers does not require “personhood.” “Consciousness” means you’re “alive,” but it does not make you into a “person” with a self-identity largely formed by social interactions. The Powers had no social interactions. We see the same distinction between splinters (self-aware bits of Cognitive and Spiritual Investiture) and spren (splinters that do have their own “thoughts and personalities”). Brandon describes the “spren-making” process: "because of human or other sapient creatures thinking about it or interacting with the power, the power…develops personality and comes alive.” “Adonalsium” is the name the cosmere gives the anthropomorphized pre-Shattering Powers. Since Adonalsium was not a “person,” he couldn’t have been human or any other species that became a Shard – the Shard Vessels did have “thoughts and personalities.” I believe Adonalsium was the self-directing Powers. Brandon says, “Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will start to gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then.” The Powers developed sentience and “bizarrely” created the cosmere. Khriss is unsure whether that made Adonalsium a “force” or a “being,” though she thinks the latter. (M:SH, Kindle Loc. 938, Part 3-2.) “Adonalsium” is an anagram for “a mind, a soul.” Brandon also says “Adonalsium shattered because he was killed.” I interpret this WoB to mean “shattering,” like “splintering,” happens when the mind that controls the Powers “dies.” Posters read this WoB to mean Adonalsium was “alive” and “male.” Since Adonalsium was “conscious,” he was “alive.” Spren prove being “alive” does not require corporeal form. While Brandon uses the male pronoun to describe Adonalsium, both here and elsewhere, I’m not sure we can conclude “he” was male. Divine gender tends to be masculine in many cultures (an observation, not a sexist assertion). The male pronoun in this context may or may not be significant. After the Powers acquired consciousness, I believe they – Adonalsium – Invested the cosmere’s three Realms in a single act – a “Big Bang.” Under Brandon’s “one substance” principle, Adonalsium converted part of himself into Creation. The Powers are the raw material of Creation (which I define as the sum of all Spiritwebs and their corresponding Cognitive and Physical Realm aspects). When the Powers Invest, they become the created matter, energy or Investiture. As a creative force, the Powers WANT to be used, MUST be used. Magic users feel this compulsion – the Powers push a directing mind to action. This creative compulsion explains why mindless Powers become self-directing. It also explains why I believe the cosmere’s Creation occurred in a single moment: once Adonalsium became the Power’s directing mind, the Powers exploded with pent-up creative energy. After Creation, the remaining Powers (the Powers that didn’t convert into Creation) were confined to the Spiritual Realm. Though they formed everything, they were un-Connected to Creation. That’s why there were no catalytic magic systems before the Shattering – there were no Connections through which a magic user could access the Powers (Adonalsium). In this sense, Adonalsium was a “heavenly” God, a “transcendent” God. But Adonalsium was also an “immanent” God, present in Creation. “God is in everything” is another idea Brandon borrows from Spinoza. This idea appears in Brandon’s statement that Investiture is the “Condensed ‘essence’ of the godly powers.” Marasi says metals are the “concentrated essence” of Preservation. (BoM, Kindle p. 359.) This idea also underlies the cosmere’s version of the thermodynamic laws, the inter-convertibility of matter, energy and Investiture.
  3. Brandon’s use of the terms “Powers of Creation,” “Investiture” and “Adonalsium” has confused me. In this post, I explore the precise relationship among these three terms and the implications that flow from that relationship, including some issues of Realmatic theory. SUMMARY 1. “In the beginning,” the Cosmere consisted solely of the Powers of Creation. No mind yet existed to direct the Powers of Creation into any creative acts. 2. Power needs a mind to direct it or it will develop sentience on its own. Eventually the Powers of Creation did develop their own mind, and that mind was Adonalsium. Adonalsium became the Powers of Creation. 3.. Adonalsium’s mind and Soul together were the Powers of Creation, and they pre-existed the three Realms. In a post below, runyan_ft mentions that “Adonalsium” is an anagram for “a mind, a soul.” Because Adonalsium had not yet created the three Realms, he may himself be the “God Beyond” the Realms. Even after the Cosmere’s creation, I believe Adonalsium’s mind and Soul remained outside the Realms rather than become a part of them, although that's unclear. 4. The Powers of Creation were not originally Investiture themselves. Adonalsium’s creations were Investiture: “Investiture is…the building blocks of the Cosmere.” IOW Adonalsium directed the Powers of Creation to create everything else, and that “everything else” consisted of Investiture or the matter or energy Adonalsium converted Investiture into. 5. The Shattering caused the Shards to become “pieces of the Power of Creation.” Unlike Adonalsium, the Shards inhabited all three Realms, as their mortal Vessels did before they became Shards. Thus, the Shattering invested the Shards' Souls with the Powers of Creation, turning the Powers of Creation into Spiritual Realm Investiture. Splinters are even smaller, "self-aware" “pieces of the power of creation,” also composed of Spiritual Realm Investiture. ANALYSIS What Are the “Powers of Creation”? Brandon has given us few descriptions of the “Powers of Creation.” In 2008, Brandon said that the “Shards of Adonalsium [are] pieces of the power of creation itself.” Source (Q 18). In 2012, Zas asked Brandon whether “the power of creation [is] this thing of power that powers Allomancy and powers the Aons, or is the power of creation just what each Shard has?” Brandon responded: “I would say [the power] each Shard has is more the definition.” Source (Q 7). And 10 months ago, Chaos asked Brandon, “Is Adonalsium and the ‘power of creation’ synonymous?” Brandon’s answer: “In some people's usage.” The earlier snippets confirm (to me) that Adonalsium WAS the “Power of Creation” despite Brandon’s later equivocation to Chaos. Shards cannot be “pieces of the power of creation itself” if Adonalsium wasn’t first that power in whole form. The 2008 quote is also noteworthy because of what immediately followed it: “Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them.” Source (Q 18, emphasis added). IOW different Magic Systems permit mortals to “touch” the Powers - through Connections to the Shards - but that does not thereby convert these mortals into the Powers themselves, into Shards. Mortals can pluck the guitar strings, but they are not the guitar. In the current Cosmere, only the Shards are guitars. Brandon has not defined what the specific Powers of Creation are, only that they do create. Some time ago, Kurkistan argued that Cosmere "magic" applies to the Connections between Souls and Essences, for example, changing the direction of gravity (the relationship between a Soul and an aspect of a Shardworld's Essence). The closest Brandon comes to identifying these Cosmere-wide Connections are the Surges of Roshar, which correspond to the “fundamental forces” of our universe, as modified by magical influences: Q: “The ten Surges on Roshar, I think you said are basically a different set of laws of physics.” A: “Yeah.” Q: “Are those laws of physics consistent throughout the Cosmere?” A: “Um, y-y-yes, to an extent. You would consider, like - it's kind of weird because I based them on the idea of the fundamental forces, but this is kind of like a human construction. Like you could say that physics is pure and natural, but we're still putting things in boxes. And the scientists on Roshar would for instance consider being able to travel between the Cognitive and Physical Realms as a force, the thing that pulls people back and forth between that, as a fundamental force. I don't know if it would fit our definition of a fundamental force.” Source at [1:41:30]. I suggest that the Powers of Creation, therefore, are the magic that both creates Souls and Essences and changes the Connections between them. What is “Investiture”? Let’s start with a review of some relevant WoBs, which we’ve all seen before: Q: “What is the Realmatic composition of investiture?” A: “Investiture is intended to be the building blocks of the Cosmere so I would say for the most part it transcends the different realms. Probably more of the Spiritual if anything but more accurately it transcends them.” Source (Q 39). Q: “What can you tell me about investiture?” A: “That is the word for someone or something which has gained a portion of the magic of Adonalsium…” Source (Q 45). Q: “Is there a Cosmere-specific term you use to describe, say, a Shard's power inside someone?” A: “In my own terms, I refer to all of this as types of investiture. The degree, and effects, can be very different – but those people are invested.” Source (Q 13). Brandon’s focus on “building blocks” and someone or something that has “gained” magic distinguishes Investiture from the Powers of Creation, at least pre-Shattering. Investiture seems to be the result of Adonalsium's creation process, enabling an Invested person or object to “touch” or “use” part of the “magic of Adonalsium” (the Powers of Creation). Brandon has said that objects have a limit to how much Investiture they can hold (Q 16). People apparently also have such a limit. Here’s how Brandon described Vin’s use of the mists to fuel her Allomancy: “So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak — though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she's doing just that — using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself [the powers of creation] — to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips ‘troughs’ through her body. It’s like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.” Source (Q 18). At the point of vaporization, Vin is no longer “Invested” by Preservation. She instead becomes the holder of the Preservation Shard. Again, that is the difference between a Shard and other magicians – an Invested person can access the Powers of Creation through his Connection to a Shard, but a Shard IS the Powers of Creation (or at least pieces of them) through the Shard's Spiritual Investiture. What Is Adonalsium? Let’s start with this well-known WoB: “Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will start to gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then...” Source (Q 47). The mindless Powers of Creation eventually did develop a mind to direct them. That mind, that directing creative entity, was Adonalsium. And he began to create the Cosmere by Investing in it. Because Brandon calls Shards pieces of the powers of creation, Adonalsium himself must have become the Powers of Creation. REALMATIC IMPLICATIONS Was Adonalsium Part of the Cosmere’s Realms? By definition, the Powers of Creation predate the Cosmere’s Realms. Before Adonalsium used the Powers to create (that is, used himself to create), there was no Investiture, no “building blocks of the Cosmere.” That means “in the beginning” there were no Realms, since Investiture “transcends the Realms.” That suggests that Adonalsium’s mind, when it did coalesce, was simply a property of the Powers of Creation. As runyan_ft points out in his post below, “Adonalsium” is an anagram for “a mind, a soul.” Did the Powers migrate to the Spiritual Realm after its creation? It’s unclear. Though the Powers are not Investiture, they might have co-existed in the Spiritual Realm with Investiture. The M:SH scene where Preservation shoves Kelsier “upstairs” to see Time suggests the Powers of Creation were then located in the Spiritual Realm. But that scene occurs after the Shattering, when the Shards (who did exist in all three Realms – see below) had become "pieces of the Powers of Creation." It’s equally unclear whether Adonalsium’s mind ever became part of the Cognitive Realm. The Cognitive Realm is the place of perceptions. But Adonalsium was God – he was perfect. His mind either continued outside the Realmatic structure altogether or it remained a property of the Powers of Creation that migrated to the Spiritual Realm. The Spiritual Realm is the place of perfection, of Platonic forms and ideals. The perfect mind should exist only in the Spiritual Realm. If Adonalsium did become part of the Cosmere’s Realms, the best we can say is that Adonalsium co-inhabited the Spiritual Realm with his creations. It's possible Adonalsium's migration to the Spiritual Realm caused him to become Spiritual Realm Investiture at that time. Alternatively, the then-existing Spiritual Realm Investiture - Souls, Essences and Connections – might have remained separate from the Powers of Creation. We do know that, pre-Shattering, Adonalsium did allow some Souls to touch him (whether he then consisted of separately constituted Powers of Creation or as Spiritual Realm Investiture), since magic existed before the Shattering. I believe, however, that Adonalsium remained outside the Realms. He WAS the “God Beyond” the Realms. To the extent Adonalsium Invested himself in the Realms, or created Splinters of himself in the Cosmere (like he did on Roshar), or left “ambient magic” on certain planets, he entered and left parts of himself in the Realms. But I believe his full creative force stood apart and “beyond.” The Shards’ Exist in the Three Realms Pre-Ascension, the Shards’ Vessels were all mortals composed of Investiture who existed in all three Realms. Each Vessel had its own body, Soul and mind, its own personality, and its own Connections. Sazed has said that the Powers of Creation did not have a personality before the Shards acquired the Powers (HoA Chapter 55 Epigraph). I’ve proposed that Shard Mandates (Intents) developed precisely for this reason – each Shard’s personal Connection to the aspect of Adonalsium that became their Mandate. While ascension vaporized the Vessels, their personalities and Connections remained. I believe the Shattering invested the Shards with the Powers of Creation, causing the Powers to became part of the Shards’ Souls, Spiritual Realm Investiture. The Powers of Creation became the bulk of the Shards’ Spiritual DNA that comprises their Souls. (I say the Powers are only part of the Shards’ Souls, because the Vessels’ original Souls still seem to be lurking within them. The Vessels do drop out of the Shards when they die, as Leras, Ati and Vin all did.) Also, unlike Adonalsium’s mind, originally a property of the Powers of Creation, Shard minds continue to occupy the Cognitive Realm. Adonalsium, IOW, was either “beyond” the Realms or was purely Spiritual, except to the extent he chose to manifest himself in some other Realm. The Shards exist in all three Realms, and the Powers of Creation are now part of the Shards' Souls in the Spiritual Realm. That is why Brandon says the Shards are “mostly” Spiritual, but transcend the Realms. It is the difference between a true “God” and the Greek gods subject to their mortal foibles that Brandon has described the Shards as being. Splinters vs. Other Shardic Investiture Splinters are carved-out bits of a Shard's Spiritual Realm Investiture (the Powers of Creation) that have developed their own self-awareness. Source (Q 15). Unlike the resot of a Shard's Spiritual Realm Investiture, Splinters can independently create magic. They have no need to Connect back to their Shard for Power. By themselves, Splinters can perform the same magic as their Shard, though on a smaller scale. Other forms of Investiture allow a Connection to their Shard, but it is the Shard’s Power that performs the magic. This difference can be seen by comparing Divine Breath with mere Breaths. Divine Breaths are Splinters, but mere Breaths are not. A Returned, bonded with a Divine Breath, can perform magic on its own. Breaths OTOH Connect an Awakener to Endowment's Investiture. This Connection enables the Awakener to "touch" and "use" Endowment's magic. IMO post-Shattering Splinters carry the Mandate (Intent) of the Splintered Shard, despite the following WoB from August 2011: Josh: “Do Splinters have their own Intent, in addition to the Shards?” Brandon Sanderson: “Splinters often have their own intent.” “Intent” is a non-canonical term that Chaos invented in February 2011. While Brandon from time to time has used the term in the sense that Chaos uses it, it’s unclear whether six months after Chaos’ post Brandon would have interpreted the question as referring to “intent” in other than its normal meaning. To the contrary, the HoA Chapter 79 Epigraph (published in late 2008) uses the word “Mandate” to refer to the concept of Shard compulsion: “[Power without] a mind to oversee it [has] only a vague will of its own, tied in to the mandate of its abilities. [Emphasis added.]” Evidence: we’ve never seen a Splinter act other than in accordance with its Shard’s mandate, whether it be Divine Breath, Radiantspren (which have “meshed” mandates of both Honor and Cultivation) or Aons. But we have seen Radiantspren with their own “intent” – that is, personality and motivation – Syl, Pattern and Ivory. I think that’s what Brandon’s statement means. Adonalsium’s Splinters would not be subject to a Mandate. That’s why Brandon has said, “Spren could exist on a [world without a Shard], but they would be like the minor spren. You wouldn't find Syl, but you would find something like lifespren.” Source (Q 53). FINAL THOUGHTS: OVERARCHING THEME OF THE COSMERE SAGA In the WoR Epilogue (Kindle p. 1080, emphasis added), Wit/Hoid has the following conversation with Jasnah: “You’re so convinced that there is no God.” “The Almighty is – “ “Oh,” Wit said, “I don’t mean the Almighty…I just think you’ve been looking for God in the wrong places.” “I suppose that you’re going to tell me where you think I should look.” “You’ll find God in the same place you’re going to find salvation from this mess,” Wit said. “Inside the hearts of men.” “Curiously,” Jasnah said, “I believe I can actually agree with that, though I suspect for different reasons than you imply.” I believe this conversation expresses the overarching theme of the Cosmere Saga. In a post-Nietzsche universe where “God is dead,” we must rely on our “innate investiture,” our “spark of life” for salvation. God may be dead, but, to paraphrase the last sentence of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, “We endure.” EDITS: I've made a number of edits to this post to reflect the comments made by other posters below. Some of these comments were purely editorial, such as the inputs of Argel, who suggested a more readable “Summary,” and runyan_ft, who pointed out a relevant Reddit post. Other changes result from the debates you'll find in those posts. I urge readers to look at those debates, because they contain more information than this edited post and highlight the collaborative nature of theory-building. As examples, there's some interesting discussion about the meaning of "living" investiture and much more about the nature of Splinters. My thanks to all who have participated . Regards!
  4. This entire post is a HUGE speculation, so be warned. Edit 6/11: This chart was created to mimic the Kabbalah, and uses color, form, relationships and symbols to create meaning. The ideas below are all my interpretations of these relationships and symbols. The main structure of the diagram is a large eye with two pupils and 10 lines radiating out from the center. The smaller symbols form a ring around the iris. The beasts wings form the sclera of the eye. If you take away all the trimmings it becomes the symbol of Knight's Radiant. "Dalinar recognized the symbol, the particular pattern of the stylized double eye, eight spheres connected with two at the center. It had been the symbol of the Lost Radiants, back when they’d been called the Knights Radiant." (Ch 19). But what does that symbol mean? I believe these images are a graphical representation that Honor and Cultivation merged into one Shard with two Intellects. In effect, they are both peering out of the same eye, but with slightly different points of view. The Harmonic Table: KR symbol Double Eye Double Skull I think its quite important that the two Winged Greatshells are symmetric, and that there is a single larger head with mandibles created in the negative space between the two physical forms. The left beast represents Cultivation, the right beast represents Honor, and the central head depicts the spiritual union of the two Shards. There is also a Glyph located at the place where the two Dragonwasp heads connect. The heads and symbol viewed together resemble a crown with the central gem placed over the forehead. This Gem contains the glyph of Ishi. Now putting it all together: Ishi is associated in the Ars Arcanum with guidance and piety, and resides in the third eye focus of the spiritual union of Honor and Cultivation. The Skybreakers then are an Order of Radiants devoted to guiding us based on visions of the future. Ishi is the 10th Glyph, so 10 becomes a symbol of revelation. Each glyph and map shape is important, and you can make similar interpretations for each order of the Knights Radiant. We can even use this image to figure out the general location of the two Shardic pools, and predict their release into the physical realm through the Greatshells. This is also a way to organize Surges, and by association, Invested Spren. Think of the diagram as a coordinate axis grid. The x-axis is Investiture, the y-axis is Realm. The quadrants tell you the element type. Before we go any farther I suggest you look at how the color changes from top to bottom. Up is Physical, down is Cognitive. Left is Cultivation, right is Honor. Each Spren relates to a primary element or combination of primary elements. Going clockwise from the top right we get air, fire, water, earth and spirit in the middle. The large glyphs are Spren, and correlate to an Order of Kights Radiant and an Honorblade. The small glyphs are Surges and represent a power of creation. Starting from 1:00 and going clockwise the Surges are: External Physical-Gravity, Pressure External Mental-Darkness, Light External Temporal-Transportation (Timespace Contraction) Internal Enhancement-Transformation (Spiritual Connection) Internal Mental-Memory, Awareness Internal Physical-Perception, Strength This fits with Windspren ( Pressure and Gravity), Cryptics (Memory and Transformation) and JasnahSpren (Transportation and Transformation). If this is grouped correctly, StoneWards would be Strength/ Perception. Edit: Skybreakers would be Strength and Gravity, Lightweavers might be Light and Transportation (which could explain how Hoid gets around through time and space) Where are the other 6 Surges? They were never Invested by Honor/Cultivation but the spren exist and some have already been incorporated into fabrials. We see a radiant use Heliodor (gold) to mend wounds and we've seen a painspren fabrial work. What is an Honorspren? What is a Cultivationspren? That depends on how sensitive or specific you want to be. I'll just arbitrarily say you must have more than 50%, which would give you 4 Honorspren, 4 Cultivationspren and two hybrids. A purist would say there are no Honorspren as they all contain a bit of Cultivation. Surges and Symmetry: To understand Voidbinding you will need to grasp the theory behind Surgebinding. Each Surge represents a power of creation and is accessed through an associated Wave, or perhaps through the Concept of how that wave should function, or through a portion of the Ideal Form of the original Wavepattern that sparked the creation of all things. It seems the medium is variable, and you can reproduce a Surgepattern with light, sound, color or even quantum probability waves. Notice that everything in the chart has perfect symmetry. This is a reflection of how waveforms have spin, creating alternating positive and negative cycles and generating perfectly balanced patterns. Symmetry became a cultural obsession in an attempt to get closer to the Harmonic Divine. Voidbinding The Table of Dissonance: Enter Odious Interference. His Intent is either to enslave or destroy everything else in the Cosmere. If He were to join the spiritual union He should add varying amounts of His investiture to each of the available spren, effectively creating a z-axis to the Harmonic Table. But He is a Jealous Younger Brother and didn't want to sully His Essence by combining with others. Instead, He found a way to enslave or destroy the Surges in the Harmonic Table. First, he created a way to trap the Investiture of the paired Shards into StormGems (Fabrials) and harnessed their powers. Next he used those powers to create perfect dissonance in the waveforms of the 10 Surges. Notice that the Table of Dissonance pairs up exactly with the Table of Harmonics. Surges are warped by reversing their charge and spin. This would in effect create an anti-surge. The very powers of creation are turned against themselves. Matter, Spirit and Mind are replaced by Fire and Shadow. EDIT: you can try this out for yourself by drawing a sine wave. Try and swing the part below the x-axis to create net zero at all points along the graph. EDIT: This is a supernova created when a star began to produce antimatter at its core. The organized matter turns into random energy and forms fire and empty space. This theory is far from complete, but it is as thorough as I can make it with the Splinters I'm working with. I'll be trying to finish the Harmonic Table based on Shardic Lens Theory, but could be hard to link everything up with only 10 of the 16 powers. My guess is we will see more Fabrials fill in the gaps for us. Since this theory depends on Honor and Cultivation uniting into one spiritual entity, it serves to reason that they are both partially splintered and partially whole. How that would affect the Cognitive aspect of the two shards is unclear, but best interpreted after reading chapter 57 and 75. Edit: I've done numerous organizational changes to clarify things, and I changed the Labels on the image a bit. For example, Heat changed to Light Edit 4/28: Based on discussions on page 3, renamed inertia to Strength, switched Gravity and Pressure locations. Updated image to reflect changes. Removed "Spin" from OP to avoid unnecessary confusion.
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