Why was Adonalsium shattered?

[Carcinios]

Okay so this is a pretty far out theory, largely based on things I am pretty sure I have seen in interviews but have no quotes for so it could fall apart pretty quickly. So here goes...

 

Base Assumptions

• Hoid is present at the shattering of Adonalsium
• There was once something that was the opposite of Adonalsium
• The shards were originally natives of Yolen
• It is theorized that Dragonsteel deals with the shattering of Adonalsium
• Liar of Partinel takes place before Dragonsteel.

 

So if that is the case several thoughts spring to mind.

1. Adonalsium was described in the blurb of one of the mistborn books as being the power of creation and whilst I take that to mean a more broad definition than the simple intent of a shard I think that Adonalsium broadly was a force of life. Even Ruin is not completely anti-life merely seeking the completion of life cycles. Tied with the other intents I believe could be directed towards creation. (See Harmony). 
2. This would imply that the opposite force was a force of death. Death in its most extreme form (possible Spiritual/Cognative and Physical death?) In Liar of Partinel we see the fain life which seems by far the most disturbing thing we have thus far seen in the Cosmere.
3. Shards intents almost certainly interfere with each other. Before the shattering I am guessing that the various intents were all held in tension much as Harmony is causing them to be interpreted in the light of the other intents. This makes it impossible to use their power as an offensive weapon.
4. Shards such as Ruin and Odium could be as dangerous to Fain life as they are to everything else.

So here is my conclusion: On Yolen Hoid and others decided to attempt to fight the Fain Life by essentially weaponising Adonalsium breaking off the aggressive intents to create more lethal weapons. To do this they were forced into some kind of alliance of convenience with Rayse and Bavadin their human rivals/enemies. Hoid at this point quits the group essentially predicting that Rayse and Bavadin will be as much a headache holding shards as the Fain Life is. Adonalsium is then shattered and the Fain life either driven back or destroyed, leaving us with the state of affairs we have today (minus Odium's shard splintering quest.)

 

What do you think?

[Galavantes]

And yet, how would they have accomplished it? The only time we've seen anyone defeat a shard was

Vin killing Ruin. But she had to pick up a shard herself to do it. And even then she died in the process

 

I can't imagine what means a group of humans would have at their disposal to shatter Adonalsium.

[Carcinios]

And yet, how would they have accomplished it? The only time we've seen anyone defeat a shard was

Vin killing Ruin. But she had to pick up a shard herself to do it. And even then she died in the process

 

I can't imagine what means a group of humans would have at their disposal to shatter Adonalsium.

 

Thanks for the response. It is an interesting question, although this theory is more concerned with the why would anyone attempt such a thing rather than how it was achieved. We already know that Adonalsium was shattered so we may presume that there was a way to do it. (and I am inclined to believe that Sanderson would not simply write that it was done by something of equal power in a big fight.)

 

That said there are a couple of possibilities:

 

1. Unlike the scenario you quoted Adonalsium does not neccessarily have to have a bearer and therefore may not need defeating. Then it would not require the humans to have the ability to overpower it only the technique to break it apart.
2. Rayse
   As Odium has been shown to have the ability to splinter numerous shards further than their original shattering. It is unclear whether this is a power specific to Odium or whether Rayse has always known how to do this.

   If it was a pre shard ability then that could easily explain why he was needed in the first place.

[kraefzke]

• There was once something that was the opposite of Adonalsium

 

Where did you get this from, if I may ask? Or ist this just a baseless assumtion?

[Carcinios]

It is something that I think I remember somebody asking Sanderson in Q & A but I can't find a quote for it. So yeah maybe completely baseless but possibly not.

[skaa]

From reddit:

 

1) Before Adonalsium shattered, was it consciously opposed by something, be it people or another cosmic force? Is whatever opposed it still around?

...

1) Yes. Yes.

[Morsk]

There's a thread about something "opposing" Adonalsium. Brandon revealed it in a Reddit AMA.

I see something of a leap from "oppose" to "opposite". The words look similar, but they have different connotations and aren't always interchangeable.

[Carcinios]

Cheers Skaa and Morsk that was the source I was thinking of. I agree on the opposite opposed front but it seems to me that the Fain Life is still a pre shattering force and to my mind the primary candidate for the force 'opposed to Adonalsium' (the life death reflection less important than the existance of the conflict). Also the idea that the Fain is still around in the Cosmere during the events of the published books is pretty creepy.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Carcinios

[kraefzke]

Thank you kindly for that quote and info!

[Leuthie]

Am I right to assume Fain Life is from an unpublished novel?

[Windrunner]

It's from the Liar of Partinel sample chapters.

[Steelheart]

There is a WoB that Adonalsium was shattered by a "weapon". Take that as you will, but it clearly took something more than simple knowledge to Shatter it.

[happyman]

On 6/24/2013 at 7:45 PM, Leuthie said:

Am I right to assume Fain Life is from an unpublished novel?

Yes, but it's now canon because Khriss references it in Arcanum Unbounded, when comparing the plants and animals on Scadrial to those on Yolen.

[DarkJester]

Ok. The question was raised as to why was Adonalsium splintered. I keep thinking about this line from WoR. Chapter 32. (I have the audio version, so if I butcher this, forgive me...)

 

Our Gods were born, splinters of a soul, of one who seeks to take control, destroys all lands that he be holds with spite, they are his Spren, his gift, his price. 

 

Now im kinda torn on how to read this. Part of me just assumes that it's referring to Odium, but the other part of me sees it a bit different. I believe that the Gods they refer to in this are Honor, Cultivation, and Odium. They were born as splinters of Adonalsium. (Splinters of a soul) What gets me is that I've always pictured Adonalsium as being good. If you think about it though, his splinters have good and bad aspects, and so he was likely to be both a compassionate god and a vengeful god at times. According the second part of the line though, it seems as if he sought to control everything. (He was God after all...) As stated above, we know Hoid was present at the shattering, along with a group of others. (The ones that actually took up the shards.) It is also implied, if not stated, that they were responsible for the shattering of Adonalsium. So why would they do that? Why would they want to destroy God? Well, based on the fact that Adonalsium was apparently destroying lands with spite, one could assume that the people that he created, didn't just turn over control to him, thus enraging him. So Adonalsium seems to have decided to just do away with his creations. He created them, so he could destroy them, "spitefully." In order to stop him, Hoid and the rest came up with a plan. You can't kill God. He's Imortal. But what if you could divide him. Splintering his power so that he can't continue to destroy everything in sight. Being immortal though, those powers wouldn't just disappear. They decide to take them up themselves. They, after all, had just saved all of creation. Who better to take up Godhood. Things didn't work as well as they planned obviously, but anywho... The last line, at least to me, is describing the shards from the listeners point of view. Their Gods are his Spren. Spren are ideas/ideologies given form. Each shard is an ideology. They are manifestations of his gifts.  They are have his powers. His talents. The things that made him God, even if only a fraction. They are also the price he paid. His folly led to his destruction, and now the shards are at war with one another, facing the same fate Adonalsium did. 

Just a theory, but I thought I'd share...

[Ciridae]

On 6/24/2013 at 0:13 PM, Carcinios said:

 I agree on the opposite opposed front but it seems to me that the Fain Life is still a pre shattering force and to my mind the primary candidate for the force 'opposed to Adonalsium' (the life death reflection less important than the existance of the conflict). Also the idea that the Fain is still around in the Cosmere during the events of the published books is pretty creepy.

Someone once proposed (I'll see if I can find the link to the thread later) that fain life was Adonalsium's second wave of creation after trule, 'life 2.0' if you will. I think that makes a lot of sense, fain life is clearly dominant to trule, smothering and corrupting it