Hoidonalsium (but not really)

[jamesbondsmith]

This is my first post that's not a reply to someone else, so hopefully I'm not woefully ignorant about how to do this.

I keep seeing the theory that Hoid is trying to get the magic systems of the Shards to pool their investiture and remake Adonalsium, and I feel like this is on the right track. However, unless I've misinterpreted, pretty much everyone is under the impression that this will be Adonalsium as it once was, uber-powerful deity of the whole cosmere.

We know that Shards influence their vessels as time goes on, to the point that you are unable to act against its Intent if you hold it for long enough. For example Preservation is unable to destroy Ruin, even as Ruin does what he does and goes against Preservation's intent to, well, preserve. I'd think that an all-consuming purpose that prevented you from fulfilling that all-consuming purpose would be a significant drawback.

What if Adonalsium was in a similar position, where the absolute level of power it wielded meant it couldn't act when it really needed to?

I know that the Intents were meant to be part of a much more cohesive whole, what with Odium being 'God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context'. That can mean that all the Intents in one being would basically make a functional 'person'. This may work against the theory of Adonalsium being 'paralysed' by conflicting Intents, but unless I'm mistaken we don't know an awful lot for certain about the Shattering or the cosmere before it.

Wax goes off at Harmony for being inactive, and Harmony talks about his original conflicting Intents meaning he has trouble doing anything. It's possible that putting all the other Intents together would balance it out, or it could just exacerbate the problem. It might also parallel the real world idea criticism of God being all-powerful/benevolent/knowing, yet not taking a more active role in the world (I'm not trying to debate the merits of that idea, just using an example).

My theory is that for some reason (possibly the one stated above) Hoid is trying to gain a Connection to all the Shards, but not so much that he will be constrained by their Intents. He would become one of the most powerful beings in the Cosmere, if only due to the breadth of his power, but would still able to act according to his own will. 

I know this is pretty much the normal 'Hoid is gathering the Shards' theory, but I feel that the smaller scale is the key to the point I'm making.

 

[Frustration]

3 hours ago, jamesbondsmith said:

Wax goes off at Harmony for being inactive, and Harmony talks about his original conflicting Intents meaning he has trouble doing anything. It's possible that putting all the other Intents together would balance it out, or it could just exacerbate the problem. It might also parallel the real world idea criticism of God being all-powerful/benevolent/knowing, yet not taking a more active role in the world (I'm not trying to debate the merits of that idea, just using an example).

You kind of missed the whole "find a balance protect us from the worst" "I already have." conversation at the end of Bands of Mourning

[Honorless]

I'm not really for the whole Adonalsium was constrained by his conflicting Intents theory. Those Intents would have been original to him as facets of his personality.

Connection to all the Shards... could be. He might also just be interested in collecting all the Investiture arts he's interested in collecting