Cultivation's Long-Term Plan

[Confused]

SUMMARY

Cultivation is the Growth Shard. Roshar has stopped growing. The Growth Shard feels compelled to change that. This post speculates what actions Cultivation might take to restore growth and how those actions overlay known Rosharan history. 

CULTIVATION'S NATURE

Odium describes Cultivation’s nature as “transformation. Growth.” (OB, Chapter 57, p. 551.) Cultivation tells Dalinar: “ALL THINGS MUST BE CULTIVATED… I CONTROL ALL THINGS THAT CAN BE GROWN, NURTURED.” (OB, Chapter 114, Kindle p. 1079.) I read this to mean Cultivation controls all living things. FWIW, Brandon says Cultivation would be a mono-green M:tG deck.

I think Cultivation doesn’t play favorites among lifeforms – she controls and cultivates “ALL THINGS THAT CAN BE GROWN.” That includes Singers, Aimians, and humans, other fauna plus flora, and each Shard’s spren.

CULTIVATION’S PROBLEM

IMO, Cultivation as a Shard cannot abide stagnation. Binding Odium led to Desolations that destroyed human civilization more than fifteen times and near-obliterated Singers and their culture. Catastrophe tends to focus mortal minds on survival, limiting the scope of ideas available to the spren “gene pool.” Blockading voidspren in Braize further reduces the spren “gene pool” and bars ideas from cross-fertilizing. The Recreance left spren “only now beginning to recover the culture and society they had lost…” (OB, Chapter 47, Kindle p. 479.) Roshar’s history hurt the growth of all mortal species and the spren that personify their ideas.

Roshar’s Shards, IMO, should work well together – as “primal forces,” I believe Honor makes Connections, Odium breaks Connections, and Cultivation changes Connections. These three mechanics seem necessary for a smooth functioning planetary life cycle. Rayse’s ambition and “loathsomeness” means the Shards don’t work well together.

I think Tanavast before his death succumbed to the Honor Shard, which also caused dysfunction. The Stormfather tells Dalinar, “HONOR LET THE POWER BLIND HIM TO THE TRUTH—THAT WHILE SPREN AND GODS CANNOT BREAK THEIR OATHS, MEN CAN AND WILL.” (OB, Chapter 38, Kindle p. 406, bold added.) Odium and the Stormfather agree Honor changed and relied on naked oaths at the end, not their meaning:

Quote

Odium: “Honor cared only for bonds. Not the meaning of bonds and oaths, merely that they were kept….” (OB, Chapter 57, Kindle p. 551.)

Stormfather:  “I remember…at the end…Honor was more obsessed with oaths. There were times when the oath itself was more important than the meaning behind it.” (OB, Chapter 111, Kindle p. 1039.)

Other passages acknowledge or hint at Honor’s rigidity. Contrary to Cultivation’s neutral view of lifeforms, the Stormfather intones oaths “are the mark of men and true spren over beasts and subspren.” (OB, Chapter 4, Kindle p. 60.) Dalinar elsewhere notes, “The Stormfather…didn’t like the idea of change.” (OB, Chapter 28, Kindle p. 292.) IMO, Tanavast imparted these attitudes to the Stormfather.

CULTIVATION’S PLAN

I believe Cultivation wants to end Desolations and “unite” Rosharan species to stimulate growth. I think her plan involves replacement of Tanavast, Rayse, and herself as Vessels. Tanavast is too rigid for growth, Rayse too dangerous, and she (like another cosmere heroine) will not want to live without her lover.

Cultivation’s “Unite them” plan pushes species interactions and mutual understanding. Moash and Venli switch sides. Venli bonds with both Timbre and her voidspren. Kaladin sympathizes with the Singers. I think he’ll bond Yixli, the yellow voidspren who first found him. IMO, Yixli is a “protection” spren like Syl, and Syl will welcome her companionship. Syl’s growing friendship with Pattern shows her expanding tolerance, rare for an honorspren. (OB, Chapter 97, Kindle p. 908.) Her tolerance matches Kaladin’s.

I believe Cultivation restores Sja-anat’s free will to create Glys and resist Odium. Sja-anat serves Cultivation’s transformative function when she “enlightens” spren.

CULTIVATION’S IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN

Creation of Radiant Spren

As the Shard of Transformation, I believe Cultivation created Radiant spren. Cultivation may have foreseen Aharietiam and needed a magical alternative to the Heralds that didn’t rely exclusively on Honor’s Investiture. Jasnah notes, “The difference between a higher spren like [Ivory] and a common emotion spren was in their ability to decide how to act.” (OB, Chapter 47, Kindle p. 479.) Free will seems important to Cultivation.

Aharietiam

With the Desolations’ pace quickening, civilization ground down. I’m sure far-seeing Cultivation knew Taln would endure torture millennia longer than other Heralds. Maybe Cultivation sought a healing respite and planted the seed of betrayal in the Heralds’ minds. Taln tells Ash,

Quote

“What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had a chance before. But this time … yes, maybe they do.” (OB, Chapter 119, Kindle pp. 1136-1138, bold added.)

Recreance

I still think there are more answers to the Recreance’s mystery. The Stormfather tells us,

Quote

It was not only the truth of humankind’s origin that caused the Recreance. It was the distinct, powerful fear that they would destroy this world, as men like them had destroyed the one before. The Radiants abandoned their vows for that reason, as will you. (OB, Chapter 113, Kindle p. 1051.)

It’s plausible these fears caused the Recreance; but IMO Cultivation played a role. I can see a Shard who wants to transform Roshar preferring a new batch of spren and Radiants.

Before he learns of the Eile Stele, Dalinar tells Yanagawn the Radiants “lost their vision [and] forgot their purpose: protecting Roshar for its people.” (OB, Chapter 56, Kindle p. 546.) The Stormfather says Honor “guarded against this [and] convinced the Radiants they were righteous…” (OB, Chapter 113, Kindle p. 1052.) As he lay dying, though, Honor “raved” and “promised that Surgebinders” would destroy Roshar.

Maybe Cultivation wanted to kill the immortal witnesses to Honor’s raving. She silenced institutional memory until the Last Desolation, just as she pruned Dalinar’s memories. After the Battle of Thaylenah, Dalinar can remind the Radiants of their vision and purpose: “protecting Roshar for its people.”

Dalinar does not distinguish among Roshar’s people. He knows the enemy is Odium, not the Singers. Dalinar will craft a war plan that focuses on the Fused. He will seek ways to separate Singers from their new masters. Venli and Rlain will help him. He will “unite them” – all Roshar’s people – to expunge Rayse’s ravages from Roshar.

Odium Kills Tanavast

I think Cultivation helped Odium kill Tanavast. He’d changed from the person Cultivation loved and was now more Honor than Tanavast. Under her own Shard’s Growth compulsion, I believe Cultivation felt she had no choice. There's two bits of textual evidence.

First, Odium says “WE KILLED YOU.” (OB, Chapter 119, Kindle p. 1139.) I believe he needed an accomplice because he was "too shackled" to kill Tanavast on his own. (OB, Chapter 57, p. 550.) Second, the Stormfather says Odium avoids direct fighting since it “might coax out forces that could hurt him, as he has been hurt before.” (OB, Chapter 16, p. 167.) Odium must have known Cultivation would not intervene before he attempted Tanavast's murder.

Maybe Cultivation warned Tanavast of his inevitable death. This may be why Honor delegated honorspren creation to the Stormfather. Kaladin says Honor “was setting up an heir.” (OB, Chapter 108, Kindle p. 1015.)

Stormfather Becomes Tanavast’s Cognitive Shadow

“ALL THINGS THAT CAN BE GROWN, NURTURED” includes the Stormfather, even if he is Honor’s godspren. Merging Tanavast into the Stormfather to await a new Vessel is what the Shard of Transformation might do. The Stormfather notes the change:

Quote

“DURING THESE DAYS, HONOR STILL LIVED. I WAS NOT YET FULLY MYSELF. MORE OF A STORM. LESS INTERESTED IN MEN. HIS DEATH CHANGED ME.” (OB, Chapter 38, Kindle p. 404.)

I believe Cultivation wanted to preserve Tanavast’s mind and memories. She might be the author of Dalinar’s Stormfather-sent visions. Those don’t sound like the ravings of a dying god who fears Surgebinders will destroy Roshar. Illumination seems Cultivation’s specialty. Cultivation as much as Honor wishes to “unite them.”

The merger prevented Honor’s power from splintering more than it did and infused that Investiture into the Stormfather: “We are something different. [Honor’s] remnants, your soul, my will.”  (OB, Chapter 119, Kindle p. 1141.) Dalinar’s will and the Stormfather’s soul, fortified with Honor’s “remnants,” opened the Spiritual Realm to Dalinar’s command. The Stormfather by himself lacked the mental strength to renew spheres. (OB, Chapter 64, Kindle p. 639.) Cultivation has found a new Honor Vessel.

Dalinar

I think Cultivation’s touched Dalinar since his early days. The physician who attends him during the Battle of Narak seems shocked Dalinar can still move his scarred arm. (WoR, Chapter 83, Kindle p. 1003.) IMO, Cultivation’s Investiture healed Dalinar during his battle years.

Dalinar’s Healing – Cultivation-light or Voidlight?

Spoiler

Some theorists think Odium healed Dalinar, but I believe Odium’s Investiture breaks Connections and cannot mend wounds. We see two examples of what might be Voidlight healing. Rysn stabs a Fused Lightweaver whose “face” reknits. (OB, Chapter I-13, Kindle p. 1066.) Rather than healing, I think Rysn swipes at the Fused’s illusion, which then re-forms. Shallan’s illusions also re-form when disturbed. I suspect the arrows struck armor worn beneath the illusion. The second “healing” occurs after Kaladin Syl-slices a Fused’s arms. (OB, Chapter 120, Kindle p. 1173.) I think this Fused regrows a carapace-splint over his dead arms. I don’t believe the Fused actually heals the arms.

I understand the logic that any Investiture should heal, and maybe Odium’s can. But I think the evidence for Voidlight healing is ambiguous at best. Even if Dalinar encountered the Thrill throughout his life, the Thrill without Voidlight can’t heal any more than a Radiant spren without Stormlight can heal its host. In Dalinar’s lifetime, there was no Voidlight before the Everstorm. There should have been Cultivation-light, however. The question becomes, how was Dalinar able to process the Cultivation-light without a bonded spren? Maybe Cultivation healed him directly?

@LerasiumMistborn lists “all the scenes where Dalinar feels this strange ‘warm light’ which comes from [an] unknown source.” I believe this is Cultivation-light. The first scene occurs at the end of WoR, Dalinar’s vision of his youthful home, “before…” (WoR, Chapter 89, p. 1065.) In a 2014 post, I note this scene foreshadows Dalinar’s Bondsmith role, as he transforms from violence to piety. The post mis-ascribes the source of the light as Honor, but it states Dalinar as Bondsmith will directly access the Spiritual Realm.

I now believe Cultivation pushed Dalinar’s transformation by implanting memories (real or not) of his pre-Blackthorn days. I also now believe many of the “unite them” exhortations speak in Cultivation’s voice.

Cultivation “prunes” Dalinar. She does not change him. She creates the conditions where he can change himself. Dalinar discovers, “When I fall, I will rise again a better man,” and “The most important step a man can take is the next step.” The Nightwatcher could not grant Dalinar forgiveness; Dalinar had to forgive himself. IMO, Cultivation gave him Evi’s last words when Dalinar was ready to hear them.

Taravangian

We don’t know if Cultivation or the Nightwatcher gave Taravangian his boon and curse, but I think Cultivation chose it. IMO, Cultivation foresaw Taravangian would serve Odium. Knowing Rayse, Cultivation anticipated he would meet Taravangian only on Taravangian’s “stupid” days. Odium doesn’t understand compassion – one of the strongest people Connections. At some future time, on a day of deepest compassion, I believe Taravangian will hurt Odium in some unforeseen way.

I agree with consensus Cultivation helped Taravangian create the Diagram. Cultivation’s influence may be why Odium could not foresee Renarin, just as he cannot see Lift. The Diagram persuaded Odium that he could use Taravangian, a decision Odium IMO will regret. Confidence in the Diagram also causes its adherents to act predictably. That helps Cultivation grow Roshar to her desired future.

Lift

We don’t know the source of Lift’s boon and curse either, but again I think Cultivation chose it. Brandon says Lift hints at Cultivation’s non-boon/curse magic. I suspect soul transformation is at its core. Posters cite the value of food to produce Stormlight if the Everstorm were to blot out the highstorm and cause a Stormlight shortage.

SUCCESSOR VESSELS

Evidence supports many candidates who might become new Vessels. IMO, a Bondsmith is best positioned to ascend to their bonded godspren’s Shard.

Cultivation

If the current Vessel stands aside, I lean slightly toward Navani over Dalinar to become the Nightwatcher’s Bondsmith. In favor of Dalinar, Cultivation has already visited and transformed him. He sees Cultivation-light (IMO) when Navani does not. (OB, Chapter 122, Kindle p. 1228.)

But Navani understands spren and their transformative power more deeply than Dalinar. Her problem: as a leading artifabrian, Navani heads the spren slave trade. IMO, she must learn the old fabrial method and repent her actions before the Nightwatcher would accept her as Bondsmith. I expect we’ll see this happen: Brandon wouldn’t have Dalinar wait years for Navani only to spend eternity alone if he ascends and she doesn’t.

Some posters suggest Taravangian for the Nightwatcher’s Bondsmith. Aside from Cultivation’s help with the Diagram, I see little basis for this. If Cultivation did change Taravangian to oppose Odium, I suggest Odium wouldn’t leave much of him afterwards.

Honor

I do think Dalinar will ascend as Unity, if he hasn’t already. Will Unity be a new name for Honor, or will Unity include Odium? I can see Dalinar as Vessel for both Honor and Odium. A mind that deeply understands both could wield both. Brandon says, “Dalinar represents both the best and worst of both Honor and Odium” to Cultivation; and “young Dalinar is very Odium. Modern Dalinar is very Honor.” But Brandon might not want to repeat a plot device he uses elsewhere.

Odium

My favored candidate for Odium Vessel is Ba-Ado-MIshram. Hessi calls her “a highprincess among the enemy forces.” (OB, Chapter 106, p. 984.) Imitating Dalinar, BAM distributed Voidlight during the False Desolation as if she were an Odium Bondsmith. (OB, Chapter 80, p. 780.) A Singer Vessel makes sense if Cultivation wants to “unite them.” The problem with Odium is Rayse, not the Shard’s “primal force.” Like all Shards, there’s nothing inherently evil about Odium.

Taln is another possibility. The Ancient of Stone is the Stoneward Order’s patron. I believe the Sibling is the Spren of Stone, and Taln may become the Sibling’s Bondsmith. Ulim and Yixli share human features. This suggests at least some Voidspren came with the Shin refugees from Ashyn. The Shin later revere the Great Spren of the Mountains, Szeth’s Aboshi. Is there some connection between Voidspren and the Spren of Stone? Yixli the protection voidspren moves on stone (OB, Chapter 23, Kindle p. 238), though maybe that’s just her spren group. If the Sibling is related to Voidspren, Taln might be a candidate for the Odium Vessel.

CONCLUSION

Lots of speculation on a small collection of facts. Even if wrong, I think the main idea is sound – Roshar’s divisions stall its growth, anathema to Cultivation. Her plan, whatever it is, must try to heal that.

Final Thought: Dalinar tells Gawx/Yanagawn, “And maybe you are the leader Roshar needs, while I am just an emissary.” (OB, Chapter 56, Kindle p. 545.) Does that foreshadow Roshar’s leader after Dalinar ascends?

Edited October 16, 2018 by Confused
Adapted lines from later post into OP.

[TrдVψLшR 0115]

This post is longer than oathbringer

[Calderis]

18 minutes ago, Confused said:

I think Cultivation helped Odium kill Tanavast or at least stood aside to let it happen.

I find this very very hard to believe considering this WoB. 

Quote

Seonid

If Cultivation and Honor were romantically involved, why did Cultivation not help Honor against Odium?

Brandon Sanderson

She did.

source

 

19 minutes ago, Confused said:

Dalinar’s Healing – Cultivation-light or Voidlight?

We've been over this argument in discord I believe and I am of the opinion that any Investiture should be capable of healing. As to where that healing came from, even if it is in minute amounts, there is definitely, in my opinion, Investiture fed through the thrill. It grants effects that seem somewhat akin to A-pewter regularly, with men fighting longer and harder than they should be able too. Just look at Dalinar's trek in broken plate, grievously wounded prior to the Rift. 

The majority of the post I disagree with for reasons we've been over numerous times before, or I do agree, like with Taravangian and Lift. 

[TrдVψLшR 0115]

Your theory is based on the premise that all these actions will follow from Cultivation’s nature. I would like to know why there is a curse that comes along with the boon. The curse seems contradictory to Cultivation. In the case of Dalinar it all worked together to help him progress, but I don’t recall any other case like that

[Leyrann]

A great post!

Which, to be honest, I expected when I saw the author.  

5 hours ago, Calderis said:

I find this very very hard to believe considering this WoB. 

I've had this opinion for a very long time as well, but @Confused actually convinced me, on the condition there is a significant degree of truth to this theory in it's entirety. And let me ask you: What if she didn't help him against Honor, but did against Tanavast? Or what if she simply promised Odium not to interfere, something she might even have agreed upon with Honor before.

[Calderis]

3 hours ago, Leyrann said:

And let me ask you: What if she didn't help him against Honor, but did against Tanavast?

What does that even mean? She didn't help against the inhuman force of power but did help to kill the man she loved? 

Honor and Tanavast were one and the same in almost every respect. 

3 hours ago, Leyrann said:

Or what if she simply promised Odium not to interfere, something she might even have agreed upon with Honor before.

Then she would be bound by here word not to interfere, which would make the WoB false. 

[Leyrann]

1 hour ago, Calderis said:

Then she would be bound by here word not to interfere, which would make the WoB false. 

She would if this was their plan against Odium. It's not about killing Honor in the WoB, it's about "helping Honor versus Odium" in the WoB.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThanatosGambit

[Calderis]

Just now, Leyrann said:

She would if this was their plan against Odium. It's not about killing Honor in the WoB, it's about "helping Honor versus Odium" in the WoB.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThanatosGambit

Fair enough but I still don't agree. While she's obviously laying plans now and working actively to undermine Odium, her presence on Roshar is completely ignored by most, and even the Spren that call her mother think she's withdrawn and cares nothing for humanity since "his death." 

If it were her own plan with honor, I don't think that withdrawal would have happened. 

[Leyrann]

Just now, Calderis said:

Fair enough but I still don't agree. While she's obviously laying plans now and working actively to undermine Odium, her presence on Roshar is completely ignored by most, and even the Spren that call her mother think she's withdrawn and cares nothing for humanity since "his death." 

If it were her own plan with honor, I don't think that withdrawal would have happened. 

Actually I would argue that, if you want to work from the shadows, nothing is more beneficial than everyone thinking you're not involved.

[Scion of the Mists]

12 hours ago, Confused said:

We see two examples of what might be Voidlight healing.

Another example is when Kaladin kills a Fused during a wall skirmish in Kholinar.  The Fused isn't affected by Kaladin stabbing him until Syl-knife pierces the gemheart.  

 

12 hours ago, Confused said:

My favored candidate for Odium Vessel is Ba-Ado-MIshram.

As Ba-Ado-Mishram is a splinter of Odium, I don't think that she can really be counted as a Vessel.  

[Confused]

18 hours ago, Leyrann said:

A great post!

Which, to be honest, I expected when I saw the author.  

Thank you, Leyrann! What a nice thing to say! And I appreciate your sticking up for me with Cal – no easy task. He’s a tough, imaginative theorist.

On 10/14/2018 at 6:38 PM, PelekinikeleT said:

This post is longer than oathbringer

And it didn’t take me 3 years to write!

On 10/14/2018 at 7:24 PM, PelekinikeleT said:

Your theory is based on the premise that all these actions will follow from Cultivation’s nature. I would like to know why there is a curse that comes along with the boon. The curse seems contradictory to Cultivation.

Brandon says Cultivation’s magic is more than boons/curses, but “nobody on screen” has yet used this broader magic. Odium describes Cultivation’s nature as “transformation. Growth.” (OB, Chapter 57, p. 551.) As Dalinar’s life shows, transformation has a cost. The experience that teaches also hurts. I think this idea of growth at a cost lurks behind the boon/curse dynamic, and IMO does fit with Cultivation.

I theorize Cultivation paid for Roshar’s transformation with Tanavast’s life. The OP states the Honor Shard overcame him. He’d changed from the person Cultivation loved. Under her own Shard’s Growth compulsion, I believe Cultivation felt she had no choice.

On 10/14/2018 at 6:53 PM, Calderis said:

I find this very very hard to believe considering this WoB. 

Cal, your WoB does not say Cultivation helped Honor fight Odium. I think it’s clear she didn’t or we’d have heard of it. Odium says, “I’ll kill the other one [Cultivation] too, eventually. She’s hidden herself somewhere, and I’m too…shackled.” (OB, Chapter 57, p. 550.) If Odium is “too shackled” to kill Cultivation now, he likewise would be too shackled to kill Honor earlier. Odium needed someone’s help – “WE” killed Tanavast.

Odium wanted certainty his attack wouldn’t “coax out” Cultivation. IMO, they colluded to kill Tanavast. As Leyrann says, Cultivation’s consent does not “make the WoB false.” It means Cultivation “helped” Honor in a different way.

The OP speculates Cultivation oversaw Tanavast’s merger into the Stormfather. Perhaps Cultivation demanded this from Odium for her complicity. The merger preserved Tanavast’s memories and prevented Honor’s power from splintering more than it did. Dalinar’s will later commanded this extra Investiture – Honor’s “remnants” – to open up the Spiritual Realm. The Stormfather by himself lacked the mental strength to renew spheres. (OB, Chapter 64, Kindle p. 639.) I think Cultivation prepared the soil for a new Vessel who could replace Tanavast.

12 hours ago, Scion of the Mists said:

As Ba-Ado-Mishram is a splinter of Odium, I don't think that she can really be counted as a Vessel. 

An interesting point, Scion. It seems to me any sapient mind that can direct Investiture could ascend in the right circumstance. A Scadrial Cognitive Shadow partly ascended. Every person’s Spiritual aspect is imprinted on raw Investiture. As splinters, the Unmade are minds imprinted on Odium’s Investiture. Shallan says Re-Shephir and maybe Sja-anat once were human before becoming “unmade.” If anything, I think an Odium splinter is more likely to ascend because of the pre-existing Connection to Odium. But who knows. It’s a good question.

On 10/14/2018 at 6:53 PM, Calderis said:

The majority of the post I disagree with for reasons we've been over numerous times before, or I do agree, like with Taravangian and Lift. 

To be clear, I only stand behind the OP’s premise: Cultivation is the Growth Shard. Roshar has stopped growing. The Growth Shard feels compelled to change that. From there, the post speculates what actions Cultivation might take given that goal and how those actions might overlay known Rosharan history. It’s reasonable speculation, but nothing more. 

[TrдVψLшR 0115]

6 minutes ago, Confused said:

transformation has a cost.

Good point

[Leyrann]

I think it's also important to not see this as a single "true or false" post. It's actually a whole lot of small theories that are in the same direction; it might be that some assumptions are wrong while others are right. I think the general idea of the post will end up being true, however.

[.S.A.M.K.M]

I have this crazy idea to end the war. A bond smith somehow binds the unmade together and then to the fused as a whole. This transforms them into something new. This new form potentially has access to all ten surges. I kept on trying to think of a large scale application of all that power, apart from the rebirth of the fused..

the Knights radiants used the surges to make their headquarters in to a viable and self sustaining settlement, my best guess is that the unmade and fused reborn could help terraform Blaize into a more viable world.

[Ripheus23]

On 10/15/2018 at 0:53 AM, Leyrann said:

What if she didn't help him against Honor, but did against Tanavast?

This is an issue of whether the WoB is about Shards or Vessels. But now (perhaps obviously?) the Shards of Honor and Cultivation were not romantically involved, but the Vessels were. (Then again, there is that thread about impregnated gems or what...)

[Ruin's Scariest Koloss]

On 10/15/2018 at 7:56 PM, Confused said:

It seems to me any sapient mind that can direct Investiture could ascend in the right circumstance. A Scadrial Cognitive Shadow partly ascended.

Yes, but it needed to cheat to do it. Also, there's this WoB that seems to say a spren can't ascend. We don't know enough about Ba-Ado-Mishram to know if she qualifies as a spren in this sense. Spoilers for Mistborn Secret History:

Spoiler

Questioner

What happens when a... spren picks up a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

What do you mean picks up a Shard? Shardblade or Shard of Adonalsium?

Questioner

Picks up a Shard of Adonalsium.

Brandon Sanderson

A spren is a Shard of Adonalsium so it just--

Questioner

Picks up one of the big ones like could a spren do the same thing that Kelsier's spirit did after he--

Brandon Sanderson

*hesitantly* It's like you're asking if electricity can gain a charge of electricity and get electrified. Does that make sense? I mean-- It's a question that doesn't make a lot of sense.

If a shard were to somehow-- They would just combine into a bigger shard and get larger-- if that makes sense?

Questioner

The foundation of that question was I thought that maybe the Stormfather spren was basically doing what Kelsier's spirit did.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, um *sighs* Not really... It's really a not really There's some similarities but it's a not really. It's not quite a RAFO though. more of a--

Questioner

More of a "doesn't quite work that way".

Brandon Sanderson

--doesn't quite work that way but you're thinking along the right lines?

source

 

[.S.A.M.K.M]

Part of the reason why I think my idea would work is that the fused are cognitive shadows, spirits that carry a piece of odium power. One of the unmade causes its host to grow crystals, which reminds me of gem hearts. They are magic condensed into physical matter. So such a bonding could drain the fused of odium power, allowing them to change. Also, since gems fuel soul casting, it could allow for even more change. So far the only gem mentioned produces metal.