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Yet Another Survival Shard Theory


TheoreticalMagic

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So. The last of the Shards. The Moby Dick to our Ahabs. The great white whale that has eluded us though we've been chasing its specific Intent for longer than we've even had a hint of several other remaining Shards like Whimsy.

With the only definitive things we've known about this Shard being that for awhile 'all it wanted was to hide and survive' - and that this was only TANGENTIALLY related to its Intent, not the crux of it - and that this desire or plan was based on it seeing the overall state of the cosmere and figuring the smart bet was to avoid the other Shard-centered conflicts as much as possible - which many have taken to view as a Wise/Prudent/Smart choice and thus assuming it was the Shard with an Intent similar to Wisdom, which we also knew there existed a Shard along those lines.....

I'd like to posit that the Survival Shard being the Wisdom-related Shard was a misassumption on most of our parts all along, and the Wisdom-related Shard was Virtuosity, as others have recently theorized....and that the real clue to the Survival Shard's identity lies in the one final bit of information that we have about it....the WoB that says that while in the PAST all it wanted was to hide and survive, it has come to the conclusion that this might not actually be the best/most desirable course of action for it.

As such, my theory is that the final, sixteenth Shard, the last to be revealed:

Is the Shard with an Intent that essentially means.....to last. To endure, persist, continue on in perpetuity.

Note: This is distinct from Preservation in several key ways, most of which boil down to the fact that Preservation tends to be about protecting/continuing the current status quo, things as they are, the resistance to change in general.....things which lend themselves to something the books have often referenced or implied....that pure, uncontested Preservation is just as bad in its own way as Ruin, as it would basically be stagnancy, static permanence.

The Intent I'm suggesting here is not that at all. Rather, its about the creation of a legacy, a Shard geared around looking towards the future and seeing to it that SOMETHING stretches on into that future forever, that some mark or impact leaves lasting memorials. A Shard like this wouldn't be seeking to Preserve anything in one specific form, protect one specific status quo or point in time, its not resistant to CHANGE overall.....its simply focused on seeing to it that things....works, civilizations, life itself.....continue to exist in some form.

If Odium is God's divine wrath, this Shard is the aspect of the Divine specifically focused on creating something, or imbuing creation....with an immortality of its own, a momentum that carries it forever onward into an unceasing future, no matter how it may change over time, how different it may come to look, so long as it simply....endures. Persists. Continues on as a lasting legacy that says God was here, people were here, life was here.....and this is its impact.

A Shard like that isn't about Survival per se. Its about a permanence that can easily stretch across all three Realms, the Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual. The Intent of seeing to it that something lasts, something endures, no matter what else happens. That no matter what disasters befall various planets or species, what becomes of civilization or life, what happens even to gods themselves....some piece of what was manages to make it into the distant future, like a lifeboat from the past that tells whatever civilizations or beings might arise from the ashes of today's conflicts....this is the legacy of what came before. It endured. And as long as it endures....even in some small form.....all was not actually lost, no matter how all-encompassing a catastrophe was outside of those small remnants. The past is rendered immortal in some fashion, persisting through endless wanderings through time and space thanks to some measure of divine grace bestowed/focused on it....born specifically of the Intent to see to it that something of today makes it through to tomorrow, so that its never totally forgotten, living on even if just in memories.

And so I could easily see a Shard like Endurance/Persistence/Perpetuity/Perseverance/Resilience/Permanence taking the stance that considering the conflicts waging between Shards throughout the cosmere as a whole....the smartest choice for it was to hide and survive. That way, no matter what happened with the other Shards and Vessels and their planets or peoples, even if the rest of the cosmere were to be destroyed....as long as it survived, something would always remain. Not everything would be lost. It initially hid itself away to survive, not because survival for its own sake was its end goal....but because by surviving it ensured that at least one piece of Adonalsium made it through to the other side of this cosmere-wide conflict between Shards, a lifeboat legacy that perhaps would then be able to sow new life or start things anew like a seed that had been kept safe until it could be safely planted somewhere it could grow freely, without danger.

And of course.....along those same lines, one could easily imagine that such a Shard might eventually poke its head out of its hiding place, see how much worse things were getting even since it first avoided the conflict and hid itself away, and realized......this wasn't the way to ensure a lasting legacy, a slice of immortality. Because with the way things are escalating between various Shards, and how thorough various Shards seem to be in their quests to annihilate all opposition.....this Shard might eventually come to the conclusion that they were just fooling themselves. NOWHERE is truly safe. Eventually, after they've defeated all others, whatever Shard or Shards remain WILL eventually come looking for them, or else some penultimate conflict between Shards might be so catastrophic and far-reaching in the damages it unleashes....that even this Shard will be annihilated by the sheer scale of the destruction, REGARDLESS of where it attempts to hide.

And thus....a Shard like this might ultimately conclude that the only TRUE way to fulfill its Intent, to see that something endures, that it, that life, that the cosmere manages to continue to exist in some form....is to stop being passive and actively join in the fight to ensure a lasting legacy and an existent tomorrow. That the only real option for protecting a future cosmere's ability to live and fight another day, is to join forces with other Shards like Harmony and Valor and stand up and fight THIS day, while there are still allies out there to be found, before the likes of Odium and Autonomy have so thoroughly thinned the ranks of any possible opposition that there's no one left TO ally with by the time they turn their attention to whomever's left, like this Shard.

And as a result....the Survival Shard is not actually Survival, as Brandon's always definitively stated....because its Intent acknowledges that its not enough to simply survive for survival's own sake. Its the Shard of building something that lasts, of making it to tomorrow and the next day and the next day.....the Shard not of Preservation, but of enduring legacy, of persevering not just in the moment, but specifically in the hopes of maybe someday seeing a better future....and with this so integral to its Intent that there reaches a point where it can't justify simply hiding away from the rest of the universe, crossing its fingers that this will be enough to keep it safe....but instead acknowledges that the only true way to ensure it has a future that's worth something, that is more than JUST survival for the sake of existing....is to proactively stand and fight for that future, a future where more than just itself survives because it knows that it alone isn't enough to jumpstart a whole new creation, not when its only one sixteenth of what created the last one.

Even if this does end up negatively impacting its own direct chances of survival.....it ups the odds of ensuring a future that contains more than just itself, and after reevaluation, this Shard decides that's worth the risk because a future where it alone exists isn't any more ideal than one where it dies. 

 

 

Edited by TheoreticalMagic
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