3 Types of Shards

[Cartith]

Ok, the basis of my theory is that Adonalsium's power was in all 3 realms. Therefore, each shard has aspects in all 3 realms. However, I believe that some shards are stronger in 1 realm than the other 2. As if they got more of that aspect of Adonalsium's power when the Shattering occured. The three groupings would be, accordingly, Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual. So far, we have only really seen 8 shards: Odium, Ruin, Preservation, Honor, Cultivation, Devotion, Endowment, and Dominion.

 

Odium, Honor, Devotion, and Dominion are Cognitive shards under my grouping.

 

Reasons:

Odium: Means hatred. Hatred is an emotion, and therefore a thing of the mind, or Cognitive.

Honor: Not quite an emotion, but a way of seeing oneself or others, so Cognitive.

Devotion: the Devotion of oneself to another, again a matter of the mind. 

Dominion: a control over others by way of rules and the threat of force, so Cognitive.

 

 

Endowment, Ruin, and Preservation are Physical.

Endowment starts with the Breath, which is the physical focus, then the Command, a Cognitive thing. 

When Ruin was finally able to act, all of HIS actions were physical. (i.e, earthquakes, ashmounts, etc.).He destroyed physical objects.

 

Preservation keeps things around, physical things.

 

I'm not sure how Cultivation fits in, as I haven't seen enough of Her to know.

 

Ok, so here is the real theory.

Shadesmar is dangerous in Sel because 2 cognitive based shards were destroyed. The splintering of them would have had massive effects on the cognitive realm of Shadesmar in Sel. 

Odium, so far, has only destroyed Cognitive based Shards: Honor, Devotion, and Dominion. 

 

Taking this a bit further, with the 3 parts of magic theory.

Each part has a physical, cognitive, and spiritual aspect.

However, now that I think about it, the Grouping of the Shard may decide which thing comes first.

In Allomancy, you start with a metal, Then you decide to burn it, so you started with the Physical focus.

In Surgebinding, you decide to pull in the stormlight, then you use it. So you started with the Cognitive decision.

In using the Dor, you draw the symbol, a thing without meaning if not for the Cognitive intent, then the power flows through it, so you started with the Cognitive.

 

[Binnut]

I think I have seen a theory a lot like this before but not completely alike.

I have a problem with Endowment being physical, or more specifically with breath being a physical focus. Breath is a part of your soul and the soul is spiritual so following your reasoning I think Endowment should be spiritual in nature.

[The Count]

In using the Dor, you draw the symbol, a thing without meaning if not for the Cognitive intent, then the power flows through it, so you started with the Cognitive.

 

Surely it is the physical symbol which is the important bit here?

 

The Aeons were affected byt a change in the physical landscape, not by any cognitive changes.

 

Using your classification AonDor has to be physically focussed - that is the physical act of dawing the symbol. Otherwise, you could just as easily say that Allomancy starts with the decision to injest the metal - therefore cognitive.

 

This is also mirrored by the Chayshan and Dakhor variations with physical movements and bone growths respectively.

 

In general, I quite like the symmetry of it. However, I am not sure we know enough about Adonalsium or shardic power in gerneral to say anything concrete.

[Cartith]

In Elantris, it says that Elantrians could draw the symbol, but without the intent behind it, such as "I want this symbol to heal you", nothing happened. 

[nightwatcher]

I think its more likely that there are four categories of the shards, assuming there are categories at all (which i think is likely, considering how much Brandon likes to subdivide). Adonalsium is believed to be balanced, with none of its components having been originally more powerful than the others. dividing the sixteen pieces of Adonalsium into three compartments would leave the universe fundamentally unbalanced, with either the physical, mental, or spiritual facets containing one more shard than the other two.

 

In Mistborn, there are four categories of allomantic metals- physical, mental, temporal, and enhancement. I believe the shards of Adonalsium may reflect this pattern- sixteen shards divided into subsets of four, which are divided into four shards apiece.

 

Not to say that a three-group system is completely unfeasable. However, if it were to occur, I think it would follow closer to the pattern of the three metallic arts; five positive shards, five negative shards, and six neutral shards. Positive being Shards like Honor, Endowment, and Preservation; Negative being shards with greater potential for misuse, such as Odium and Ruin. Neutral shards could really go either way- things like Devotion, seeing as a person can be devoted to good things, like charity work, or bad things, like torturing puppies.

 

Thoughts?

[Cartith]

While I do see an inconsistency with the symmetry of having uneven groupings, I think that that wouldn't be an issue. After all, things do not break evenly, so Adonalsium would not have shattered among perfect lines of power where each shard was equal in all realms.  While total power is the same, each has a specialized realm they are more powerful in. 

Edited August 11, 2013 by Cartith

[nightwatcher]

statements like "things do not brake evenly" kind of go out the window when you're talking about near-omnipotent forces being shattered into incredibly powerful components,  each one of which represents an ideological intent.

[Vortaan]

I disagree with your analysis of the different magic systems.

Awakening is primarily Cognitive. Without proper intent, nothing at all happens.

There was WoB that burning any metal creates a slightly altered mental state. I'd argue that the physical aspect of the metals is secondary to the actual effect upon the user for purposes of your theory.

By the same token AonDor and in fact most magics on Sel seem to take place primarily on a Physical or Spiritual level. This is the strongest point for your theory, but I dislike the idea that drawing an Aon is a Cognitive act. It seems more physical/spiritual to me, particularly with the emphasis placed on the shape of Arelon.

Which brings us to Surgebinding. I'd argue that so far, Windrunning appears to be primarily spiritual, while Soulcasting appears to be primarily cognitive. If the power behind a magic system controlled the focus, shouldn't two systems derived from the same Shard share the same focus?

[Shardlet]

While I agree that drawing Aons is primarily phtysical/spiritual, there is a significant cognitive aspect to drawing Aons.  If an elantrian does not intend to draw an Aon the hand motion does nothing.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Shardlet

[Vortaan]

The decision to use a power is always going to be cognitive. By that logic everything except unconscious uses like Vin's pewter or Kaladin's Surgebinding would be cognitive.

[nightwatcher]

If we define cognitive as "having intent," all of the shards would fit into the cognitive category as well.

[Shardlet]

I was only pointing out a cognitive aspect to AonDor.  I was not implying that it should be considered a cognitive-based magic system.

[CabbageHead]

I think its more likely that there are four categories of the shards, assuming there are categories at all (which i think is likely, considering how much Brandon likes to subdivide). Adonalsium is believed to be balanced, with none of its components having been originally more powerful than the others. dividing the sixteen pieces of Adonalsium into three compartments would leave the universe fundamentally unbalanced, with either the physical, mental, or spiritual facets containing one more shard than the other two.

 

Actually, dividing into 3 works quite nicely. If you think about it like saying you have 3 attribute points, and can spend them any way you want in 3 categories, you have 10 options.

3    0    0

0    3    0

0    0    3

2    1    0

2    0    1

1    2    0

0    2    1

1    0    2

0    1    2

1    1    1

 

 

Or, if you instead draw an equilateral triangle, and divide it equally, you can have 16 equal parts with an equal distribution around the 3 vertices.

Edited August 15, 2013 by CabbageHead

[nightwatcher]

how does that explain why sixteen can be divided into three whole integers? please clarify.

Edited August 15, 2013 by nightwatcher

[GreyPilgrim]

I agree with nightwatcher. I don't really feel the Shards can be identified that way. Presumably Adonalsium was equal in all three. It broke into 16 pieces, all of which are equal in power. Why would there be any internal imbalance within each Shard? If Adonalsium broke evenly, it broke evenly. The only differences between the Shards are their intents. Yes, also their manifestations on their Shardworlds, but I believe those are resultant of something that occurred after the Shattering.

Edited for spelling and grammar

Edited August 15, 2013 by GreyPilgrim

[CabbageHead]

how does that explain why sixteen can be divided into three whole integers? please clarify.

 

I didn't say 16 can be divided by 3 into whole integers, I was saying that you can have a symmetrical distribution of sixteen parts in a closed system of three non-orthogonal axes in 2 dimensions. See http://www.anony.ws/kujKfor a very rough drawing illustrating this.

Edited August 15, 2013 by CabbageHead

[GreyPilgrim]

Maybe that last little bit in the link is the 17th shard! We have our explanation for the organization! When Adonalsium shattered, there was a little extra piece. This was taken up by another human who was terribly embarrassed by his/her wimpy powers compared to the real Shards', so created an organization to chase them around the cosmere!

[CabbageHead]

Maybe that last little bit in the link is the 17th shard! We have our explanation for the organization! When Adonalsium shattered, there was a little extra piece. This was taken up by another human who was terribly embarrassed by his/her wimpy powers compared to the real Shards', so created an organization to chase them around the cosmere!

 

Hahaha! Yes, I'm going to pretend that that was deliberate and I don't suck at drawing a few simple lines

[Vortaan]

/>I was only pointing out a cognitive aspect to AonDor. I was not implying that it should be considered a cognitive-based magic system.

But the cognitive aspect you are describing is the intention to use a power. Compare that to Awakening where you can decide to use it but fail due to improper visualization or Commands

[Shardlet]

I agree.  In hindsight, it wasn't terribly pertinent.  But, again, I was not, even when I posted it, implying that AonDor should be considered to be cognitively based.