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Found 19 results

  1. Contains spoilers for anything from Oathbringer and before: Hello everyone I just want to say that I am brand new to this forum and still haven’t finished Oathbringer, so if I get anything wrong then that’s why haha. Anyways, I was curious on what exactly Spren are and how they came to be. So I know that the Spren are supposed to be the embodiment of people‘a conception of certain things, but they are also splinters of Honor, killed by Odium. So they are splinters, but it says on the Coppermind wiki that Spren existed before humans even came to Roshar, so did Honor die during the time of the Dawnsingers? Or did he still exist, and if so, then how are Spren splinters of Honor if Honor wasn’t dead at the time? Did Honor create the splinters himself??
  2. Harmony is currently having trouble acting, because he is limited by the conflicting intentions of Ruin and Preservation. Consider Ruin and Preservation as two parties in a negotiation with each other. Since they are equally strong, they are at an impasse. Imagine a third, much weaker party joins the negotiation. Say, a pinch of Devotion's Investiture. As was mentioned in Mistborn Era 1, in a negotiation involving three parties, the weakest party is actually the most powerful, because each of the stronger parties needs the weakest party on its side to defeat the other strong party. So if Sazed had a splinter of Devotion, then whenever Ruin and Preservation were deadlocked, Devotion's splinter would break the tie. Obviously, Sazed would want to choose Investiture carefully for this purpose, since his Intent would probably become a watered-down version of the third Shard. Devotion would probably be fine. Odium would not. The original Vessels would probably be opposed to such a plan, because it is moving toward a re-unified Adonalsium. They should see, however, that it only slightly enhances Sazed's Investiture power, and might greatly increase his freedom, since the Intent of whatever Investiture he eats a pinch of might be so diluted by the neutral Intent of Harmony that Sazed's will might be able to steer the new Intent quite a lot. As far as I know, the Vessels have no problem with freedom, though they may object on the grounds that it gives Sazed too much power in practice. What do you think?
  3. I just posted this to my Youtube channel, but I figured I'd type this up fully here, maybe additionally clarify some of the points TL;DR at the bottom The central question of this theory: Where did the Thrill originally come from, was it truly of Odium in the very beginning? My theory is that Nergaoul was actually a splinter of Ambition to start with and Odium Unmade the Thrill into what it is today on Roshar. The Thrill is characterized as a red mist, so The Threnody system So we know that Odium mortally sliced and diced Ambition while in the Threnody system (and also Mercy was there doing who knows what). Chunks of Ambition rained down, and something arose from the ashes: The Evil. The Evil was described by Nazh as "a creeping darkness, a terrible force that consumed the entirety of the continent, feasting upon the souls of men." Khriss also states that she does "not know how much of this is metaphoric, and how much literal." I think this was mostly metaphorical. Being a Splinter of Ambition, I think the Evil entered the hearts of men and inflamed their ambitious desires to the utmost, similarly to what the Thrill does with battle rage or Ashtermarn with gluttony. This "devoured their souls" by inciting them to pursue their greatest ambitions to the loss of all else. Thus, the continent was consumed by madness and those strangely unaffected fled to the smaller, shade-filled continent. Then, I think Odium came back. He had just dispatched Ambition and was inspecting the scene of the crime just to double check there aren't any powerful splinters that could rise up and gather up Ambition's power again. And on Threnody, he finds a new toy. Odium corrupts the Thrill, through the process of Unmaking and this fundamentally changes the nature of the Thrill into something similar, but different. Now, the main objection that I see to this theory: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e1672 How does this fit with the theory? Well, primarily, I think this could tell us about the nature of Unmaking. This form of corruption has to fundamentally change the nature of the Splinter such that it is either A: a Splinter of both Shards, or B: A Splinter completely of Odium through a process of substitution, where Odium's investiture replaces Ambition's, but still retaining the vague shape of what the thing is. I think the first is the most likely, but I have been unable to find if this question has been asked before about the nature of Unmaking. TL;DR The Thrill was originally a splinter of Ambition called the Evil, Odium saw a new toy, Unmade it into a Splinter of Odium, and then tossed it onto Roshar for it to go buck wild.
  4. Since we've obviously seen the shattering of Adonalsium (Not literally) and the splintering of other shards. What stopped the original 16 from splintering their own shards and taking up the other 15 pieces from each other? Making a series of mini-adonalsiums with their powers, but equalized as to not change the person holding them nearly as much. Possibly reducing these conflicts we've seen. Any WoB on this topic, or is this too outlandish a question to be considering.
  5. So I just finished the Stormlight archive(so far) and just barely finished Elantris today. I've also read Mistborn series 1 and 2 and have some questions. Splinters are part of a shard that's power was shattered, right? So Those splinters are, in essence, mini gods, right? Or information or energy is given identity and possibly sentience by the ideas of sentient beings? I don't know. However, I do know that despite the philosophy and speculation I have on the existence of splinters, I do want to know your guys' thoughts on if Seons are, in fact, splinters. And feel free to speculate on the other ideas I have. I'd love to hear what others have to say on this. Also, would a Kandra be a splinter, or would they be- - - I have no idea, besides just a non-sentient being, given sentience by someone elses conscience ripped out of them by hemalurgy?
  6. The end of OB brings to the forefront of my mind the question: How powerful is Nightblood? Considering that it is being wielded against the fused and even a thunderclast and that it instantly turns them into smoke, this leads to the conclusion that maybe Nightblood can even be used on the Unmade and maybe even a shard (I doubt this is possible as it would be hard to pin down an exact physical location of a shard). If Nightblood can destroy the unmade, then that sure sounds like a better alternative than trapping them in a flawless gemstone. Evidence supporting the idea that Nightblood can destroy the Unmade: 1. Nightblood can destroy splinters. He does this when he kills Returned in Warbreaker (the Returned are splinters, but they don't appear to have the same level of investment as the Unmade). 2. Nightblood easily destroys a Thunderclast (which may not be a splinter, but is at least heavily invested). 3. Nightblood destroys on all three realms (physical, cognitive, spiritual). 4. Resisting Nightblood's directives seems to be at least as hard as resisting the unmade (only Szeth and Vasher have proven able to resist Nightblood and only Shallan and Dalinar have successfully resisted the unmade). This seems to mean they are at least near the same power level. One of the questions this creates for me, is if Nightblood uses up more investiture while destroying something more heavily invested than it does destroying other things, or if only eats investiture at a steady rate.
  7. Four questions: (1) Can a shard be splintered before its vessel dies? Specifically asking here because I believe the Stormfather is a splinter of Honor (as are honorspren) so wondering if they could have existed prior to Honor being splintered. (2) Do we know how shards are splintered? (3) If a shard is splintered, can it ever be reformed? (4) Does a splintered shard still influence the world around it? (I'm thinking yes per SA, but I don't have a clear understanding of Investiture and how it interacts with there being a shard on the planet/in the system.) Just to explain my own understanding... each shard is contained in a vessel (a human which holds it.) The vessel can die, but the shard can remain whole and intact and someone else can take it up (i.e. for Preservation, first Kelsier (I know this was a bit unusual and he used the weird Ire orb thing - can't say I really understand what went on there), then Vin, then finally Sazed who combined it with Ruin.) If a vessel dies, then the shard itself can be splintered (somehow, see Q2), which means a billion pieces of the shard are scattered about. And that's where my understanding ends
  8. Hey Sharders! Long time lurker, but first time poster! Hopefully im not regurgitating a theory posted elsewhere, and apologies if this theory expands a bit beyond the confines of roshar, it's about an entity on roshar but by necessity has to expand a bit further! Let me know if i should move this to cosmere theories! but i have some ideas about the origin of the Nightwatcher. It starts with our current understanding of the nature of spren capable of nahel bonds. From what I understand, these spren are small pieces of honor, and cultivation to varying degrees depending on the variety. And have been referred to as splinters of honor or cultivation. These splinters are bits of investiture left without will or a host long enough that it gains sentience. (There has been confirmation in a WoB that spren are splinters similar to the way seons are on sel) I've come accross a number of theories proposing that the nightwatcher is of cultivation, possibly a kind of cognitive shadow similar to the stormfather. This doesnt hold up in my opinion, there is a WoB that i dont know how to link which tells us that cultivations holder is still alive, and from what we know of the old magic, it doesnt seem to fit into the types of investiture made possible by honor and cultivation. (nor the possible iterations of voidbinding that we'll see more of soon) I propose that the nightwatcher is actually a splinter of adonalsium from pre-shattering. There were already other spren on Roshar before any of the shards came there. I think it's possible that this is a magic system that predates all other kinds on roshar, and was put into place before any shards were taken up. The concept of a boon and a curse doesnt feel at all like the symbiosis present in all of the magic from honor, cultivation, or even odium. Thoughts?
  9. We know from here that Nightblood is a sort of splinter (which makes his creation even more amazing/terrifying to me, cause apparently Vasher and Shashara managed to forge a self aware splinter from 1000 Breaths worth of investiture), and that he was made with at least partial knowledge of Shardblades. I also have reason to believe that Sazeth, who we know is bonded to Nightblood, is NOT bonded to a Highspren but does have the surgebinding abilities of a Skybreaker. (See minor Eddgedancer Spoilers). This leads me to wonder what else might grant surgebinding abilities, and of what sort? Would a person from Sel who (somehow) managed to get to Roshar have surgebinding if they held a seon or skaze (which are splinters of Dominion and Devotion respectively)? If so, what would determine the type of surges they have access too? Thoughts?
  10. This might already be answered somewhere, but i couldn't find it. Do you think a splintered shard could be fixed? I think we're lead to believe that it's irreversible, but one moment from The Wheel of Time comes to mind. Spoilers ahead for WoT. Do you think someone in the Cosmere will ever be able to "heal" a splintered shard?
  11. So the Tor Arcanum Unbounded release about the drominad system says that In other words, there is a SYSTEM ENTIRELY INHABITED BY SPLINTERS! What shard is this? Why is it split up like this? Are these splinters of one shard or multiple? Are these splinters all human? Are there many, or only a few? Did Odium do this? What's going on?
  12. Okay, it's very possible that this has already been answered or addressed elsewhere and I missed it (in which case, please point me there), but I'm a little unclear about who exactly, the Returned are. What I mean is that the other Splinters we've seen in the Cosmere are sapient, whereas the Divine Breath is referred to as a Splinter, but not the Returned. The Returned themselves are almost entirely tabula rasa, so are their souls still there, but somehow cut off from their Identity, or are the bodies simply vessels/meat suits for the Divine Breaths? Personally, I'd suspect that they are more the former, but Bonded so tightly with their partnering Divine Breath as to be functionally indistinguishable. I know a lot of that is very much the citation-needed sort of speculation, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.
  13. 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!
  14. I’ve rambled on about this subject twice before. Now that there are some newer WoBs out, it’s time for Take 3. I believe forced splintering involves changing a Shard’s Cognitive Realm investiture – the material of its Mind – over time. Eventually, the local Cognitive investiture – the Shard’s Mind – will lose its capacity to direct its power. The power then seeks other minds to direct it, or the power becomes self-directing as a splinter. How does this happen? Odium is the only known Shard-splinterer. (Vin didn’t splinter Ruin; Ruin remained whole for Sazed to take up.) Let’s look at what I believe is Odium’s method. 1. Odium doesn’t waste himself by investing in a planet or change himself by absorbing the power of the Shards he splinters. We know he is restrained on Roshar, but I believe that Odium can influence sapient minds throughout the Cosmere, causing them to have “hateful thoughts.” Roshar is an example. WoB and text describe the local humans as diverse, fractious and warlike. Those traits result in many “hateful thoughts.” I’m curious to know Sel’s history: was there a period of rebellion among an otherwise “unified” population that preceded Domination’s and Devotion’s splintering? 2. Such “hateful thoughts” become a GROWING part of that Shardworld’s Cognitive and Spiritual Realms. They begin to change the Shard’s Cognitive Realm investiture, its Mind. My analogy is brain cancer squeezing out healthy cells, interfering with the capacity to think and function. When a Shard invests in a planet, its Mind and Body merge into the fabric of the planet and becomes one with it. That’s how the planet BECOMES a “Shardworld” – that unique combination of time, place and mandate (intent) that defines each such planet and its magic. “Time and place” refer to the then prevailing physical and social cultures of a Shardworld. The very substance of each Shardworld’s Cognitive investiture (the Mind of the local Shard) is a mixture of the ideas and emotions generated by these cultures, plus the Shard’s own thoughts and ideas. These are stitched together in the pattern compelled by the Shard’s mandate (intent) to produce the Cognitive component of each Shardworld’s magic system. On each Shardworld, the Shard’s Mind and mortal minds thus merge into one substance. That substance – the Shardworld’s Cognitive investiture – is unique to that Shardworld and exists nowhere else in the Cosmere. 3. MISTER Sanderson gives us the mechanism for this process in the draft SLA 3 Jasnah excerpt. There we see Ivory warning Jasnah to beware of painspren because painspren can “harm more” when Jasnah is physically in the Cognitive Realm. This excerpt is in draft form and may not make it to the final novel, but I doubt that MISTER Sanderson would change this aspect of the Cognitive Realm. Thus, ideas do battle in the Cognitive Realm, competing to stick around and become Spiritual Realm ideals. Some ideas survive; others do not. In this environment, “hateful thoughts” are likely to do well. “Hateful thoughts” are aggressive and hurtful, as we’ve seen with the listeners. In Stormform, “amusement” becomes “ridicule,” and Eshonai feels “fury,” “irritation” and “spite.” Such hostile, aggressive ideas can drive out other thoughts. In Elantris, Dilaf tells Hrathen how he found love in Arelon. But when an Elantrian misused his magic and couldn’t save Dilaf’s wife, Dilaf devoted himself to Elantris’s destruction. Hate drove out love. The fact that Raoden read about this event suggests we’ll hear more about it. Did Odium influence the mis-healing Elantrian to make a mistake at the critical moment? 4. The result over time is a local Cognitive Realm changed dramatically by “hateful thoughts.” The Shard’s Mind is now something different and more hateful than it previously was. I suggest that the local Shard at that point can no longer exercise its power due to the mismatch between its Mind and Body. That’s when its power begins to splinter, since Odium doesn’t assume it. Eventually the Shard dies. EDITED to reflect Stormgate's correction.
  15. I believe a Shard’s greatest weakness is its consciousness – the mind that directs the power. Sazed tells us that power exists regardless of who controls it, that “thoughts and personalities” are not part of a Shard’s power and are unnecessary to its exercise. (See “The Shattering: Origin, Power and Nature of the Shards.”) Although a Shard’s mandate limits what the power can do when exercised, the decision when and how to exercise the power belongs entirely to the mind that wields it. Killing the Shard is killing WHO the Shard is, since its power remains. That is precisely how Vin killed Ruin, in a single cataclysmic moment: “Her consciousness…moved to touch that of Ruin…And, with a surge of power, Vin…pulled Ruin into the Abyss with her. Their two minds puffed away, like mist under a hot sun.” - HoA, Kindle, p. 712. Vin destroyed both Ruin’s and her own mind, leaving Sazed to take up the power of each Shard, forming Harmony. Kill the mind, the power is insensate (for at least some time) and cannot be used. This is an especially good tactic for Odium, whose greatest strength is his Aggressive mind. (See “Mandates of the Known Shards.”) The strongest proof that this is Odium’s tactic is the splinters on Sel and Roshar. For a splinter to exist, the Shard’s mind must be dead or at least unavailable to that splinter. Otherwise the splinter wouldn’t need to acquire sentience; the Shard’s own mind would provide it. I’m still working on how precisely splintering occurs. My basic thesis is that thoughts can kill. But that’s another post…
  16. We're still not entirely clear on what Splintering a Shard entails and what effects it has on both the magic and the Shardworld in general, but this has been swimming around my head for a while now. What if, when a Shard is Splintered, the Splinters are in the form of the Focus for that Shardworld? Seons are formed around an Aon, and those Aons are Splinters of Devotion (WoB). This means that Seons are an instance of a Splinter both being related to the Focus of a magic system and sentient. The second piece of this is the spren - and specifically Honorspren. Honorspren are Splinters of Honor (WoB) and are sentient. Where they fit in in relation to Roshar's Focus is as yet unknown, because all magic on Roshar that we know of in any detail uses both Stormlight and spren. If this theory was to hold any water, spren would have to be Roshar's focus rather than Stormlight. There's not a lot to go on here, and I'd appreciate that if someone had WoB that contradicts this to point me along to it.
  17. I have just a basic understanding of the Cosmere (though I guess that's true of most of us until BS writes more books), but I'm confused about the whole shard/splinter/spren thing. (I'm talking about the shards of Adonalsium here - not shard blades or plate). If I'm not mistaken, I read/heard somewhere that the spren are splinters of Honor, who has died. It was his death that caused him to splinter. I realize it was just Honor's holder that died, but didn't the shard itself splinter into smaller pieces? But what about the Stormfather? He is also called a splinter of Honor and the Windspren are his children. So, are the Windspren splinters of a splinter? Next, the Nightwatcher is of Cultivation. So, has cultivation died/splintered too and Nightwatcher is one of her splinters? Or is Nightwatcher actually Cultivation as a whole? Wyndle (Lift's spren) talks about his Mother, so is he actually of Cultivation/Nightwatcher? If so, are some of the Knights Radiant of Cultivation instead of Honor? Also, how can Cultivation have Splinters (Spren) if she hasn't died/splintered? Finally, aren't the evil spren of Odium? How can he have splinters if he hasn't died/splintered? Also, does he have a "super spren" like Honor's Stormfather and Cultivation's Nightwatcher?
  18. While getting my books signed by Brandon today at Phoenix Comicon, he asked me if I had any questions for him. I, of course, had a notepad of carefully worded questions for him to answer but they were buried deep in my bag. Rather than fumble around like a fool, I blurted the two questions that I could remember off the top of my head. Me: Did Seons exist before Odium visited Sel? Sanderson: (Mind you, he actually stopped signing my book mid-autograph when I asked him this) Wow! That's an awesome question! No! No they did not! Me: So, as a follow up question, are Splinters, then, fragments of killed Shards (I was trying to ask an underlying question here on whether or not Odium had visited Nalthis)? Sanderson: Yes and no. Most of them, but not all of them. Not necessarily. I SWEAR I had more questions to ask based around some theories I have. I had a list. Hidden. Deep in my bag. I looked at it and came across two in particular that I have been DYING to ask him. Based on other information, I believe we may have seen or been near Endowment's Shardpool on Nalthis and was going to ask him about that. My other question revolved around whether Vin got spooked by Hoid was due to the fact that Hoid was one of the guards earlier in the chapter complaining about the cold and--since her senses are heightened from tin--if she picked up on that guard's voice and recognized it when Hoid was humming. On a subconscious level. Who knows though? Anyway, I think the first question really helps out some!
  19. This is a sort of corollary to my Shardic Constructs theory, it's been a work in process for a while (Although corollary sounds a tad pretentious...). However, it got stopped by a problem that I couldn't seem to get around for quite a while. So I'll start there and then move onto some other stuff. In the old topic, someone brought up this quote. I couldn't get around this. I believed that Cognitive aspects were created by the interaction of Spiritual and Physical aspects. But how could one exist primarily in the Cognitive Realm? I think I have a potential answer to this question now. Humans are primarily Physical, right? They exist on the Physical Realm, everything they consciously interact with and see is in the Physical Realm. So presumably the same would be true of a creature that was primarily Spiritual in nature. But what if a creature was more balanced? Nearly half of both? I think that they would "exist" primarily in the Cognitive Realm, and would live and interact there. So hopefully this is that problem solved. Now, onto what I'd planned on saying the whole time. Last time I connected Spiritual energy to sentience, how it interacts with the Physical portion of a creature gives it a mind. However, given a little thought, it's obvious that it's not quite as simple as that.After all, Radiants get filled with Spiritual energy all the time, yet their mind isn't too enhanced. Returned and Awakeners don't seem to be any more intelligent than your average person. There are minor Cognitive changes, but as a whole, it's not doing a lot. So, what gives? I think the reason for this disparity we're seeing here is that the Spiritual power needs not just a Physical conterpart, but a Physical structure to create a Cognitive aspect. To use a poor analogy, this is like the difference between dipping a chip in some dip, and baking a several layer cake. Returned, for example, are suffesed with power. But it's not built into their Spiritweb, it's just sitting on top of them. A layer of Spiritual power, like dip sits on a chip. Same goes for the Radiants. However, when this power is added to the Spiritweb, such as in Hemalurgy, it can work to create sentience. The perfect illustration comes, I think, when you look at the Divine Breaths and Seons. Divine Breath is not sentient. It's not structured at all, so it's not really conscious either. But then again, look at the Seon. The Aon itself is the Splinter, and it has a structure, a Physical form in the shape of an Aon, so it is sentient. A thought that just occured to me right now is that this structure could be responsible for the Splinters that have their own intents separate from the larger Shards. It's obvious that unstructured Splinters like the Divine Breath don't really have an intent. But a structure could posssibly constrain a Splinter's larger intent into something more specific. It would probably be worth asking if the personality of a Seon is affected by that Seon's Aon. All right, what do you guys think? Comments and disagreements are always welcome, that's how we figure out so many cool things!
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