The death of Unity (or another Shard)

[Experience he/him]

Ok, so I was rereading oathbringer the other day, and near the end of the book when Dalinar defies Odium and then says I am Unity. Odium then responds by saying 'we killed you'. 

So I've been thinking. Could multiple (from 2-15) of the shards have killed/splintered right or soon after all the shards were formed? 

If this is the case, then a possibility could be the Unity was one of the Shards, and a bunch of the other Shards decided to kill him because he would have wanted to combine/unite all the Shards back together.

Not sure if there's anything else out there that goes for or against this theory, but I just wanted to put it out there to see what people think. 

[ZHRPhoenix she/her]

So a theory I've discussed in my own thread is that Honor may have been shattered more than splintered in the sense that I think Honor formed 10 Subshard entities before his death with one of them being the stormfather and one of them being Syl, likely all smaller aspects of Honor in line with the 10 orders of Knights radiants. So perhaps what Odium meant is that he had killed Honor as a whole and didn't realize that parts of Honor were still alive one of them potentially being named Unity. In this case, the stormfather/Dalinar are likely in the process of fusing into the new vessel of the subshard Unity whereas Kaladin and Syl may be in the process of becoming a vessel of a subshard along the lines of Protection. Nice theorizing keep it up! 

[Experience he/him]

5 hours ago, ZHRPhoenix said:

So a theory I've discussed in my own thread is that Honor may have been shattered more than splintered in the sense that I think Honor formed 10 Subshard entities before his death with one of them being the stormfather and one of them being Syl, likely all smaller aspects of Honor in line with the 10 orders of Knights radiants. So perhaps what Odium meant is that he had killed Honor as a whole and didn't realize that parts of Honor were still alive one of them potentially being named Unity. In this case, the stormfather/Dalinar are likely in the process of fusing into the new vessel of the subshard Unity whereas Kaladin and Syl may be in the process of becoming a vessel of a subshard along the lines of Protection. Nice theorizing keep it up! 

Ooh that's a really interesting idea, I haven't ever heard of that before.

[Lunu’anaki he/him]

On 11/22/2021 at 6:30 AM, Experience said:

Ok, so I was rereading oathbringer the other day, and near the end of the book when Dalinar defies Odium and then says I am Unity. Odium then responds by saying 'we killed you'. 

I think that it's more likely the case that the statement "I am Unity" is more in reference to the fact that Honor is all about Bonds and bringing things together. So rather than the statement meaning that Dalinar is somehow related to another, different shard; It's more likely that he is laying claim to Honor by claiming to be "Unity".

[Olmund]

3 minutes ago, Lunu’anaki said:

I think that it's more likely the case that the statement "I am Unity" is more in reference to the fact that Honor is all about Bonds and bringing things together. So rather than the statement meaning that Dalinar is somehow related to another, different shard; It's more likely that he is laying claim to Honor by claiming to be "Unity".

My interpretation is similar. Basically, in that moment, Rayse recognizes Dalinar as someone he killed -- either Tanavast or Adonalsium (the latter lines up better with "we killed you," rather than "I killed you," but the former makes more sense given Dalinar's direct connection to Honor). Probably there were spiritual shenanigans via connection, so Rayse literally felt, heard, and/or saw that former deity in Dalinar. I don't think we need to assume there were additional shardholders between Adonalsium and the 16 that killed him (aside from dawnshard holders, of course).

[Letryx13]

On 11/23/2021 at 3:48 PM, Olmund said:

My interpretation is similar. Basically, in that moment, Rayse recognizes Dalinar as someone he killed -- either Tanavast or Adonalsium (the latter lines up better with "we killed you," rather than "I killed you," but the former makes more sense given Dalinar's direct connection to Honor). Probably there were spiritual shenanigans via connection, so Rayse literally felt, heard, and/or saw that former deity in Dalinar. I don't think we need to assume there were additional shardholders between Adonalsium and the 16 that killed him (aside from dawnshard holders, of course).

I think it's supposed to suggest Adolnasium is somehow still alive in some capacity. The heralds are able to see more clearly when a radiant swears an ideal, so it makes sense that a shard could too.  The only way I can see Honor making sense is if Odium had help in killing Tanavast or splintering his power. But I agree, these are the only two options that seem likely.

[Szeth Pancakes he/they]

On 11/28/2021 at 3:15 AM, Letryx13 said:

I think it's supposed to suggest Adolnasium is somehow still alive in some capacity. The heralds are able to see more clearly when a radiant swears an ideal, so it makes sense that a shard could too.  The only way I can see Honor making sense is if Odium had help in killing Tanavast or splintering his power. But I agree, these are the only two options that seem likely.

Could Unity be a sort of “binding agent” for Adolnasium - something or someone that held the Shards together? This would make sense in the context of the Shattering - Rayse and the others killed Unity to shatter Adolnasium. This could also be a way for Adolnasium to be reformed, if that’s going to happen.

[Lunu’anaki he/him]

3 hours ago, Ookla the Confused said:

Could Unity be a sort of “binding agent” for Adolnasium - something or someone that held the Shards together? This would make sense in the context of the Shattering - Rayse and the others killed Unity to shatter Adolnasium. This could also be a way for Adolnasium to be reformed, if that’s going to happen.

Like a Unity Dawnshard? Maybe they killed the Unity dawnshard to shatter the big A... I like that idea.

[Szeth Pancakes he/they]

18 minutes ago, Lunu’anaki said:

Like a Unity Dawnshard? Maybe they killed the Unity dawnshard to shatter the big A... I like that idea.

Thanks! I like the idea that it would be a Dawnshard... maybe all of the Dawnshards are "binding agents"? If not, I wonder if you could reform Adonalsium without them? (there's probably a WOB or something isn't there)