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The Origin of Man


The Count

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Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere. I did not find it on my, admittedly brief, search… Or maybe it is just obvious to everyone else….

So, Humans are present throughout the Cosmere – Roshar, Scadrial, Sel, Nalthis etc.

This got me thinking the following:

1/ It is almost inconceivable that all these similar races would have independently evolved.

2/ Hoid connects each of them, indicating that they are (or were), in fact the same species.

3/ Therefore, Humans as a race predate the shardworlds.

Conclusion… well , my theory is that Humans evolved on a world where Adonasium (sp?) was (for want of a better term) God.

Then, after the shattering, the shards were picked up by members of this race. The society splintered and the various shardholders lead the people on a migration to the various shardworlds (presumably through Shadesmar).

The is some evidence in support of this:

Firstly, Hoid is (or at least appears to be) Human. We know he was there at the shattering and he resembles the people on all the shardworlds we have seen. Therefore, the people on those shardworlds, resemble each other.

Secondly, the bodies of Ati and Leras appeared human.

This leads to some interesting questions:

1/ How is Hoid still alive? If he is not a shardholder then he is at least more than just human.

2/ Did the Shattering cause the breakup of human society? Or vice versa ?

Another consideration is the development of the various magic systems. I think it has been confirmed that, for example, an Alethi lighteyes cannot become an Allomancer, or an Arelon noble cannot Awaken etc.

If this is true, and all Humans were once a single race, then the obvious conclusion is that these powers developed post shattering either by proximity to (or direct intervention by) the relevant shard.

The crucial point here I think is that it is proximity to the shard rather than presence on a particular world that allows the use of ‘power’.

This leads me to two separate conclusions on Roshar:

1/ Honor/ Odium did not originally settle on Roshar. My theory is that Honour / Odium originally settled on the Tanqualline Halls shardworld. War started and Honor lost and fled with the 10 Heralds to Roshar.

Roshar was the world where Cultivation originally settled and she offered Honor and the Heralds sanctuary. Odium followed and rather than see total destruction of another world, Honor and Cultivaion offered Odium a deal - The result was the Oathpact.

2/ The Second Theory is that there are no voidbringers on Roshar because Odium is not present so that use of power is not available to the inhabitants. What will happen when he finally returns I wonder?

There are some problems of course… such as how did Odium kill Honor ultimately?

So, what do people think? I am sure there are others with much wider Cosmere knowledge than me, does my theory hold any water?

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1/ It is almost inconceivable that all these similar races would have independently evolved.

2/ Hoid connects each of them, indicating that they are (or were), in fact the same species.

3/ Therefore, Humans as a race predate the shardworlds.

I think we have WoB on this, I'll see if I can find the quote.

Then, after the shattering, the shards were picked up by members of this race. The society splintered and the various shardholders lead the people on a migration to the various shardworlds (presumably through Shadesmar).

The Shards could have created humans based on what they already knew while the original humans remained on their homeworld.

Firstly, Hoid is (or at least appears to be) Human. We know he was there at the shattering and he resembles the people on all the shardworlds we have seen. Therefore, the people on those shardworlds, resemble each other.

He can use illusion magics so his appearance isn't a fair indicator.

1/ How is Hoid still alive? If he is not a shardholder then he is at least more than just human.

He has some method of forward time travel IIRC but he is also far older than he should be so still somewhat valid.

A

nother consideration is the development of the various magic systems. I think it has been confirmed that, for example, an Alethi lighteyes cannot become an Allomancer, or an Arelon noble cannot Awaken etc.

They wouldn't be born with the ability but they may be able to gain it, by eating Lerasium for example.

The crucial point here I think is that it is proximity to the shard rather than presence on a particular world that allows the use of ‘power’.

It's both that make the unique abilities I think.

On the tranquiline halls being another shardworld, that one has definitely been discussed, I can't remember much against it but I think Brandon has said that either Honor or Odium were not native to Roshar, can't remember which (May have been both)

On the second, we don't know that Odium isn't still on Roshar, besides his presence might only be necessary to give them the abilities, not to use them.

I'm going to go search for some supporting quotes.

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My assumption has been that once upon a time Adonalsium was whole and lived on the human homeworld with Hoid and co. I think adonalsium was an artificial construct but that may just be me.

Anyway, when he shattered the original 16 shardholders gained power and started exploring the stars. Eventually they created life in their own image thus propagating humans across the Cosmere.

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The main thing against the idea that all the humans were originally from the same place is that some of the shards explicitly claimed to have created humanity. Ruin goes so far as to claim that he and Preservation created humanity in the image of creatures they had already seen elsewhere! Honor also claims to have created humanity. Given that we have instances of Shards creating new species from scratch, this doesn't seem at all far-fetched. (Both TLR and Sazed did this with their powers. TLR created bacteria and Sazed repopulated the world with animals, many of which simply must have gone extinct.)

The fact they all look the same would stem from the fact that most of the newly created sapient species were modeled after a species that already did exist, as evidenced by the fact that the Shardholders had human bodies. That there are species floating around that seem somewhat different (Parshendi, Aiman, even Koloss) suggests that this isn't a fixed requirement of Shardic power, but probably simply more difficult for the shards because they don't have an easy model to work from.

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