Booknered's guide to the Cosmere vol. 1 how to capture a shard

[Frustration]

Having just finished Aether of Night earlier this morning I'm finally ready for this.

Disclaimer: Booknerd is not responsible for your being imprisoned, accidentally imprisoning yourself, or being splintered by the prisoner/ army of food mystics. (If the food Mystics thing happens it's Hoid's fault)

It should be noted by the reader that few Shards have every been captured and of the ones we know of(with the possible exception of Adonalsium) all have been accomplished by other Shards, and probably would best be used as a delay tactic than a permanent solution.

Now to begin trapping a shard one must make a prison from their own power or Powers in the case of a tag team. One should note that power inequalities become skewed by prisons of this magnitude. Preservation was able to capture Ruin who at the time was more powerful as well as uncanotically in Aether of Night Decay was able to capture two shards at the same time.

Warning in creating this prison you give your prisoner a huge advantage over you as can be seen by both Honor and Preservation being killed and Honor splintered by the shards they captured. 

 

Part two being inside a prison. Shardaic prisons vary but most tend to be designed to either seperate one's mind from their power, or push back on any attempt to use ones power. No prison is infallible however and all will eventually allow the prisoner some level of control over the outside world e.g. Ruin, Odium, and everyone in Aether of Night.

Please note that escaping is incredibly time consuming so make sure you have a lifetime subscription to your favorite streaming service and thousands of rolls of toilet paper.

[Honorless]

Slaughter and Despair are not Shards themselves, but sons of one. The Former is the other Shard in AoN, opposite to Decay. The Former was also imprisoned, albeit he allowed himself to be imprisoned

[Frustration]

1 minute ago, Dreamer said:

Slaughter and Despair are not Shards themselves, but sons of one. The Former is the other Shard in AoN, opposite to Decay. The Former was also imprisoned, albeit he allowed himself to be imprisoned

The former doesn't offer any useful information about his prison so I didn't mention him(also kinda forgot but now I need a reason for his exclusion) As to the twins not being Shards themselves, that doesn't seem to make much difference in power, as Decay obviously believed they could capture their father.

[Honorless]

On 3/28/2020 at 7:28 AM, Booknerd said:

The former doesn't offer any useful information about his prison so I didn't mention him(also kinda forgot but now I need a reason for his exclusion) As to the twins not being Shards themselves, that doesn't seem to make much difference in power, as Decay obviously believed they could capture their father.

Understandable really, Decay and the Fell Twins had a nice entrance in the prologue, whereas the Former didn't appear till the end and didn't do much except give exposition

 

The Former was imprisoned due to the Fell Twins creating the Night and Luminous Aethers from some fundamental element (of the Cosmere or the Former's power) called Order and Chaos, as per Decay's plans.

The Former was imprisoned within the sources of the Aethers and the Fell Twins within the sources of the two aforementioned divine Aethers.

 

I should tag @Eternal Khol here, he remembers AoN better than I do

Edited March 29, 2020 by Dreamer

[Eternal Khol]

On 3/27/2020 at 5:58 PM, Booknerd said:

The former doesn't offer any useful information about his prison so I didn't mention him(also kinda forgot but now I need a reason for his exclusion) As to the twins not being Shards themselves, that doesn't seem to make much difference in power, as Decay obviously believed they could capture their father.

We never get any useful information except that he was trapped in the 4 lesser Aethers and he was "closest" to Verdant and that the Twins both had to agree to imprison The Former

Probably because the twins each held part of his power and then the whole "shards can't break an oath" thing.

I imagine the Former could've chose to imprison himself but wouldn't. So Decay went to the Twins who each held half his power and, instead, got them both to agree to imprison The Former(in exchange for the power to defeat the other twin) which we know they never got because they were also imprisoned.

The Former promised not to intervene between the Twins so he was probably helpless to stop them from agreeing to imprison him.

 

One thing I've been wondering though... Why did the Former get trapped in the "impure" Aethers and why did the "less powerful" twins get trapped in the "pure" Divine Aethers?

What are the Twins? They seem to be at shard levels(in terms of power), but without the nigh-omniscience of The Former(as displayed in the Epilogue) and have physical bodies.

The twins not being as powerful as the Former makes sense but everything they say(destroying and creating worlds) puts them at shardic levels

Edited March 31, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Honorless]

Odium was trapped on Braize with the power of Honor and Cultivation somehow. We have theories but not much concrete information. We know it involved some Oath and forced Odium to Invest.

Ruin's Prison or the Well of Ascension was created from the Cognitive Aspect of Preservation, meaning he had to sacrifice his mind to do so. This also sort of created a Cognitive Shadow of Leras.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Dreamer

[Eternal Khol]

26 minutes ago, Dreamer said:

Odium's was trapped on Braize with the power of Honor and Cultivation somehow. We have theories but not much concrete information. We know it involved some Oath and forced Odium to Invest.

I think H+C probably back him into a corner(probably using too much power on one thing, so it made him vulnerable to attack)

Since it's 2 against 1, Odium probably can't expend as much power without risking an attack from H+C

Then forced him to accept him imprisonment or be splintered or permanently weaken him(if possible)

And as we know, Shards have nothing but time, so Odium probably agreed to be bound on Braize

 

This quote is what makes me think this:

"In visions, Honor had left Dalinar with a task. Vex Odium, convince him that he can lose, and appoint a champion. He will take that chance instead of risking defeat again, as he has suffered so often. This is the best advice I can give you."

Edited March 31, 2020 by Eternal Khol