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What is Calamity?


Lightsworn Panda

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Hello everyone.

This is my first post, so please correct me on beginner's mistakes. Also, please notify me if this topic has already been done. Anyway, lets get onto the topic.

After reading Calamity (multiple times), I've started to wonder what Calamity is. It has the qualities of a Shard, but it isn't in the Shardworld system.

So what is it?  That's the topic of this discussion.

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Well, it's the thing which gives Epics their powers. It is also mysterious and red.

 

I'm personally convinced it's spatially anomalous in some form. It's visible even through the shroud above Newcago and maintains an apparently fixed position. However, Epics appear to show up everywhere, which would require it to either send its effects through the entire planet or follow an orbit, and under our current understanding of physics anything that can pass through the planet would have an exceedingly low probability of interacting with humans. Plus, wavelengths not included in sunlight are exceedingly rare, so it is highly unlikely it just happens to glow on a wavelength not blocked by a shroud that completely obscures the visible and UV portions of sunlight.

 

My theory is that it doesn't really have a position in three-dimensional space, and appears to be directly overhead from anywhere on Earth. Nightwielder's shroud can't block it because it's not actually above the shroud. However, it apparently manifests high enough that buildings can block it, since we see no evidence it lights interiors.

 

I also thought about it maybe being a mental effect that causes people to perceive it as being present when outdoors, but no one ever comments that it doesn't show up on cameras. Although it theoretically could be complex enough to alter people's perception of photographs, that's a pretty big stretch.

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  • 4 months later...

My strategy is to guess absolutely everything in the hope that one random guess will turn out to be accurate.

 

So without further ado--

 

Calamity is an Epic, and the Epic phenomenon is caused by something unrelated.

 

Calamity is man-made.

 

Calamity is not man-made.

 

Calamity was built by aliens.

 

Calamity is an ascended A.I.

 

Calamity is ultimately attempting to make humanity stronger.

 

Calamity is one of the Shards of Adonalsium.

 

Calamity is the Flying Spaghetti Monster (credit to TwiLyghtSansSparkles).

 

Calamity was caused by one of the earliest Epics, and the real cause is hidden.

 

Calamity is magic.

 

Calamity is scientific.

 

Calamity is a metaphor. A very bad metaphor.

 

Calamity is a giant glowing trollface.

 

Calamity is more awesome than we currently understand.

 

Calamity is actually kind of lame up close.

 

Calamity is made of fairy dust.

 

Calamity is important.

 

Calamity is unimportant.

 

Calamity is bees.

 

Calamity is Jane.

 

Calamity is a window into the future: specifically into the third book, Calamity.

 

 

Well, I'm out of ideas now. Anyone else?

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Fun fact: When I shared my espoused theory (Calamity is an Epic) my sister mocked me with a modified Horton Hears a Who! quote: 

 

Calamity is a giant Epic in the sky! Don't bother looking; he's invisible.
 

 

To which I said Ha! And also Hahaha, because I found that remark hilarious. 

 

Also, the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory isn't entirely mine. Well, it is, but I wrote it for a character who is supposed to be insane, so I'm not sure how much I believe it. It does hold a certain amount of water, though….

 

Calamity could very well be a bad metaphor. Like all bad metaphors, it taints the entire story world and turns characters into powerful caricatures of themselves who proceed to destroy the story from the inside out. :P 

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I'm personally convinced it's spatially anomalous in some form. It's visible even through the shroud above Newcago and maintains an apparently fixed position. However, Epics appear to show up everywhere, which would require it to either send its effects through the entire planet or follow an orbit, and under our current understanding of physics anything that can pass through the planet would have an exceedingly low probability of interacting with humans. Plus, wavelengths not included in sunlight are exceedingly rare, so it is highly unlikely it just happens to glow on a wavelength not blocked by a shroud that completely obscures the visible and UV portions of sunlight.

The only problem with this line of reasoning, is it is stated on numerous occasions that epics break or plain and simple ignore the laws of physics constantly. So it would stand to reason that Calamity itself, the very cause of epics, would do the same. So I would not count out the possibility that Calamity could just sit in space, locked in one location, and still affect the entire planet despite all laws of reality stating otherwise. Tends to make it rather difficult to logically deduce anything about it  <_<

Edited by Pathfinder
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The only problem with this line of reasoning, is it is stated on numerous occasions that epics break or plain and simple ignore the laws of physics constantly. So it would stand to reason that Calamity itself, the very cause of epics, would do the same. So I would not count out the possibility that Calamity could just sit in space, locked in one location, and still affect the entire planet despite all laws of reality stating otherwise. Tends to make it rather difficult to logically deduce anything about it  <_<

 

Well, since it grants Epics the power to break the laws of physics (weaponizing shadows, destroying mass) it follows that Calamity would be able to break the laws of physics, too. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

As I read Steelheart, my mind went immediately to this Writing Excuses podcast from 2011: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/12/04/writing-excuses-6-27-fantasy-setting-yard-sale/ where the crew brainstorms a world where people are given magical powers based on a passing astrological phenomenon (dust from meteors or a passing comet) that only comes every couple of hundred or thousand of years.

 

Granted, the podcast takes the idea to different places, but the appearance of Calamity and the coinciding appearance of magical abilities in people seemed incredibly familiar.

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Here's what I want to ask Brandon Sanderson--

 

"If there were multiple sapient races on Earth, would Calamity grant powers to all of them, or only to humans?"

 

This question might shed some light as to whether Calamity is extraterrestrial in nature, or whether it has a special connection to the human race.

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Here's what I want to ask Brandon Sanderson--

 

"If there were multiple sapient races on Earth, would Calamity grant powers to all of them, or only to humans?"

 

This question might shed some light as to whether Calamity is extraterrestrial in nature, or whether it has a special connection to the human race.

I am leaning towards only humans, otherwise dolphins would kill us all......

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  • 2 months later...

What exactly do you mean by inverse effect? And isn't dark matter incorporeal?

Possibly, if it's composed of WIMPs (Weakly Interaacting Massive Particles) but no one has tried touching Calamity yet so it could still work. (Although a glowing thing can't really be made of dark matter :P)

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If Calamity is a bad metaphor gone wrong, then maybe David IS Calamity. This could also tie in your theory edgedancer. basically calamity was whole once, but when it was used something went wrong and separated into the entity we know and david. Which would explain david's hatred and yet also fascination with the epics. indirectly they were created by him. totally pulling this outta my but, and not serious at all, but would be REALLY funny if i was right lolol

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I have no firm evidence to support this...but I kindof hope that earth from steelheart ends up being a cosmere coreworld.  You have to admit that there are some similarities to earth amongst the coreworlds.

 

1. Calamity (it sounds like a shard of infinity) ever since it showed up...only certain people...have started displaying supernatural powers. 

2. All of the cosmere worlds have some earthlike animals...horses...chickens...HUMANS...and some of them have legeds and far distant histories about rabbits (Hoid briefly mentions rabbits to Shallan and Vin mentions artistic depictions of rabbits in a lords keep) and other earthlike life.

3. On Scadrial...knowledge of things like gunpowder...steam engines...and other technology was known...but suppressed by the lord ruler for a very...very long time.

4. The title of steelheart book 3 is calamity...possibly because this is where the big reveal of calamity as a shard happens?

 

Maybe...in all of the known cosmere worlds we have seen so far...the shattering of Adonalsium and the resulting shards taking up residence there...was something that happened a long time ago...but in the steelheart series...this is something that JUST happened.

 

Sanderson gives us little hints that suggest that each of the cosmere worlds used to be earthlike a long time ago...giving them ample time to become these strange alien terrains as a result of the supernatural forces acting upon them  over epochs...but Dave from earth is living through the first days of living on a world with a shard..........................?????????????????????????????????

 

Feel free to argue................

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