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Adonalsium - is that really the best name?


Viper

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This is something that's bugged me for a while.  Everyone uses the term (from Brandon) "Adonalsium" to refer to the First/Creator/God (whatever).

 

However, we know that Ruin = Ati -> Mineral/"solid" essence = Atium, and "Preservation" = Leras -> Lerasium.

Wouldn't the proper name for the being be Adonals (or maybe Adonal; see Adonai, Name of God "Lord" or "Master")?  I mean, when he/it/they is/are sharded, we get the Shards of Adonalsium.  However, the original being would transcend that.

 

I see some brief discussion, especially around Hoid, about this ... for instance, http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4928-my-hoid-theory/?p=81416:

 

Basically, there are a few options regarding his presence at the shattering:
1. He was Adonalsium and took part in his own shattering
2. He was not Adonalsium and took part in the shattering
3. He was Adonalsium and tried to prevent the shattering
4. He was not Adonalsium and tried to prevent the shattering
5. He was not Adonalsium and was an innocent bystander who had just stepped down to the corner store for a pack of smokes when Ati and Leras spotted him and asked him to come visit their sick friend, Adonal.

Basically, he either is Adonalsium or is not and he either took part in the shattering or tried to prevent it. Either way we will not know anything for certain until Brandon has written the books that take place on Yolen--though the Gibletish remarks have me a bit curious.

 

I'm going to use the term Adonai because it's more familiar ... and Adonaisium is awkward, so maybe the "L" is added for linguistic reasons.  Especially because (metagaming here) Brandon is LDS so comes from a Judeo-Christian background.

Which leads me to my next question: What happened to Adonai when adonalsium was shattered - or, to put it elsewise ... what happened to the creator when the power of creation was dispersed?  I don't think that such a being would "die".  Possibly become someone like Hoid (which is not his real name, but rather the name of someone he knew).  But I highly doubt it due to the fact that people who are "in the know" disrespect him and tell him to stop doing what he's doing (which is clearly gathering/trying to gather a splinter of power from each shard he visits).

On the other hand, given that he said he's "spiritually blind" ... it is possible that he is the phyiscal aspect of Adonai, separated from the spiritual and cognative. 

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There was a typo in some of the original Mistborn manuscripts that had it as Adonasium, but Brandon has said that was wrong, this interview

 

I'm sure that it is influenced by the Hebrew word "Adonai", but I don't have an issue with it as Brandon has decreed: Adonalsium, especially since I don't say it... pretty much ever, just write it!

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Hrm. I'd be more inclined to think that if Adonalsium isn't actual God for the Cosmere, then it is a physical object allowing people to access God, similar to the Anima artifacts in Xenosaga. This actually could be neat, and would explain the Shattering, and why some people are incredibly super-powered (Shards), while others become normal superpowered (anyone using Investiture), and still others are normal (Doxson).

 

That said, I doubt any of that is true, and it is what it says on the glowing box what melted Rayse's stooges' eyes.

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The thing is, we don't know whether Adonalsium is a cosmic force independent of a holder, a metal derived from that cosmic force, a sentient entity, or what. We just know that the Dragon referred to it as God.

 

I suppose it's also possible that the Dragon was speaking metaphorically. I've occasionally heard people say "So-and-so has Christ's own patience" without literally proclaiming the subject to be Jesus.

 

That said, I think the Dragon was probably speaking literally in this case.

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Of course he used Adonalsium. Jesulium or Mohamelium or Budhalium or Krishnamutalium would just sound be silly.

On a slightly different note. I think your call out regarding Adonalsium versus Adonal is interesting. It points out that Adonalsium would actually be the power "byproduct" of another entity. That it is the equivalent of a sentient metal is interesting. It makes me wonder what was the prime object of which Adonalsium was itself a shard.

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I guess it's possible that Adonalsium is to the Shards what the Ati is to atium and Leras is to lerasium... but there are inconsistencies, so I'll file this under "cool, unlikely; keep an eye out for further evidence"

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