Dawnshard desiderata

[Ripheus23]

I thought I had it with, "Cultivation's Honorblades," which I came up with due to desideratum #1:

• For some reason, the Dawnshards have been historically conflated with the Honorblades.

However, if the Dawnshards were involved in the destruction of Ashyn, but if Honor and Cultivation did not Invest in Ashyn, that theory falls flat. So desideratum #2:

• The Dawnshards are not of Honor or Cultivation.

Now we're also told that there was an appearance of Odium coming to Roshar with the Ashyn refugees. Since the refugees did not come in spaceships, this would not have been an appearance of a big blob of Odium-ness on the tail-end of an Ashyn space caravan. Maybe Odium took a physical form and showed up at the Oathgate-y site(s) where the Ashyn refugees came through. However, I think it was more likely that Odium's presence was more mystically recognized, like maybe the Dawnsingers had Stormfather-like visionary experiences into which Odium inserted himself, or whatever, and this started around when the Ashyn refugees showed up. Anyway, it doesn't seem, to my knowledge, that Odium Invested in Ashyn, at least not like he did on Braize. Maybe Odium had Odiumblades on Braize that ended up on Ashyn, but my intuition is telling me that the Dawnshards are not Odiumblades.

Another option is that some other Shard has [Shardname]blades/things in the Roshar system. However, another desideratum I want to propose is:

• To prevent the SA story from being too convoluted, Sanderson is not likely to bring a fourth Shard of Adonalsium into the mix (outside of Nightblood, so to speak, or the epigraph-cameos). OR: the set up for the introduction of another Shard to the story, will not play out as far as fully introducing the Shard, until the back half of the SA. Prior to that, the Dawnshards would just be mysteriously powerful artifacts; the nuances of their use will be nuances of Surgebinding, not Shardic storytelling. (This option isn't totally unacceptable, since after all, the page count for the first Mistborn trilogy is less than that for the first SA pentalogy, and yet by MBE2 we have another Shard messing with the scene.)
  • This depends, of course, on the Dawnshards showing up in the first SA pentalogy, to defeat Odium (or Rayse as Odium, at least).

Here are some more desiderata:

• The Dawnshards are significant enough that Honor thinks they are relevant to the outcome of the True Desolation.
• The only other things known as Shards, on Roshar, as such, are spren-based weapons and armor.
• Honor sort of based the Honorblades on something prior (not quite like the Shardblades were based on the Honorblades).
• There was once something called "the Stone of Ten Dawns."

So, drumroll...

My best guess at this point is that the Dawnshards are something Adonalsium placed in the Roshar system, and which served as the inspiration for Honor's Blades. Adonalsium was mentioned in WoK so it wouldn't violate the no-convoluted-Shardicness desideratum, I think.

[Calderis]

2 hours ago, Ripheus23 said:

For some reason, the Dawnshards have been historically conflated with the Honorblades.

Where does this idea come from? In book, there are very few mentions of the Dawnshards, and I see nothing associating with the Honorblades at all. 

[old man moomba]

28 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Where does this idea come from? In book, there are very few mentions of the Dawnshards, and I see nothing associating with the Honorblades at all. 

Not sure. I've read it somewhere besides the Coppermind, though. 

Also, can I have an Odiumblade? Or maybe a Ruinblade? Perhaps a Devotionblade?

[Dalakaar]

1 minute ago, Dr. Dapper said:

Also, can I have an Odiumblade?

I'm guessing that's what the Dawnshards actually are and they are all or mostly kept in Aimia after the same thing that started the destruction of Ashyn began in Aimia. Also probably not literal blades.

(Cracks the pot a little...)

[Ripheus23]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

Where does this idea come from? In book, there are very few mentions of the Dawnshards, and I see nothing associating with the Honorblades at all. 

I was confused, Shallan only mentions them together, but doesn't say anything about them being conflated.

[Bigmikey357]

Wow. So what if every Shard had a blade from their essence that worked based on Intent of the Shard? We know Honorblades sever an object or person's bond to its/their Cognitive and Spiritual selves. So would a cut from a Ruinblade cause instant decay? What would an Autonomyblade do? An Endowmentblade? So many possibilities.

[Ixthos]

@Bigmikey357 Technically, if there are Endowmentblades, they probably perform similarly to Azure's blade, just as shardblades mirror Honourblades.

[Bigmikey357]

That's fair, though I would like to know exactly what Azure's blade is doing Realmatically. Anyone want to speculate what any of the other Intentblades would do? If they exist I mean? And I wonder if there's an Intentblade that doesn't cut, doesn't kill, kinda like Seshomarou's sword in Inuyasha.

[Ixthos]

@Bigmikey357 Probably a Preservationblade - but! Shardblades sever bonds, while Honour is keeping them. Awakened swords - and so if they exist, Endowmentblades - drain colour, so possibly drain invesititure, which is the opposite of endowing, just as Nightblood drains from its user (though destroys what it hits, unless that is a more extreme type of drain). So it might be that Ruinblades actually preserve what they hit.