Honor's shard (Spoilers)

[Joshluke]

Hi.  Im not sure if this question was asked before, as I couldn't find anything.  So what happened to Honor's shard when he died?  Did Odium consume it, or did it disappear when Honor died?  Or maybe I'm not understanding exactly how the shards work.  I remember reading Sazed ascending to Harmony after consuming Ruin and Preservation.  Or am I wrong about that?  Just curious because I feel like Dalinars story arc is bringing him closer to ascending to a shard and i thought maybe he could take Honor's shard, but im not really sure how it works.  The only reference I have is Mistborn.  Thanks

[ftl]

12 hours ago, Hoid the Drifter said:

when vessels are destroyed, the shard doesn't disappear; it splinters.

Not always. Preservation and Ruin didn't splinter when Leras and Ati died. I think it takes some extra work on the part of whoever's doing the killing.

[Dunkum]

Honor's shard was splintered.  basically broken into a bunhc of tiny pieces so that it would be nearly impossible to reform it into a whole.  Strictly speaking "Honor" is the shard, and the guy holding it, Tanavast, is dead.  Odium doesn't want to pick up any other shards because if he did, they would influence his personality, and he doesn't want that.  instead he splinters them so that they are no longer a threat to him.

 

edit to add: note that in mistborn, Ati and Leras, the shardholders for Ruin and Preservation respectively, both died, but the shards themselves remained intact, which is why Sazed was able to pick them up.  What Odium has done to splinter Honor is an additional level of effort above and beyond just killing the shardholder.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Dunkum
additional info

[Weltall]

Welcome to the Shard!

1 hour ago, Joshluke said:

Just curious because I feel like Dalinars story arc is bringing him closer to ascending to a shard and i thought maybe he could take Honor's shard, but im not really sure how it works.  The only reference I have is Mistborn.  Thanks

Adding to what Dunkum already said, a Shard that has been splintered like Honor isn't a threat to Odium because the power is too scattered for anyone to take up enough of it to present a challenge to him, though that doesn't mean the Splinters are powerless. Dalinar being bonded to the Stormfather (the largest piece of Honor and a fusion of the original spren and Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow) has the power to release Odium from the ties that bind him to the Rosharan System if he chooses.

All that said, Brandon has told us that a splintered Shard could be put back together so someone could eventually Ascend and become a new Vessel of Honor, or put their own interpretation on it and end up with a differently-named Shard. Odium is sort of trying to do this when he claims he is really Passion and we know that a Vessel's perception can influence the intent of their Shard, at least as long as they're holding it. So if Dalinar were to Ascend, he might become the next Honor or the result might be something else like, oh, 'Unity'.

[Hoid the Former Drifter]

when vessels are destroyed, the shard doesn't disappear; it splinters.

[Dunkum]

2 hours ago, ftl said:

Not always. Preservation and Ruin didn't splinter when Leras and Ati died. I think it takes some extra work on the part of whoever's doing the killing.

a substantial amount of extra work, as I understand it, yes.

[RShara]

15 hours ago, Hoid the Drifter said:

when vessels are destroyed, the shard doesn't disappear; it splinters.

It might Splinter. It might stay whole and find another Vessel. It might start to gain sapience. It depends on the circumstances at the time of the Vessel dying.

[Weltall]

On 10/8/2020 at 9:40 AM, Hoid the Drifter said:

when vessels are destroyed, the shard doesn't disappear; it splinters.

Echoing @RShara here's the WoB where Brandon makes this explicit:

Quote

Power dropped like this, if left alone, could end up Splintering and turning into something like spren/seons. It could become something more like the Stormfather--a large, self-aware entity. It could become something like the Dor or many of the Unmade--something proto-aware, but not truly an individual. There are other possibilities as well, depending on lots of factors. (Are sapient beings involved? what is being done with the power--is it concentrated in the Spiritual Realm as normal, or is it being pushed somewhere else?) FAQFriday 2017 (June 9, 2017)