Vin(Diesel) Posted December 6, 2021 Posted December 6, 2021 How will the Cosmere story end? Will there still be shards? Here is a list of possibilities for discussion. Adonalsium is re-formed with a new vessel. Adonalsium is re-formed without a vessel. The shards continue. The shards continue, but without vessels. The shards are splintered. All investiture, including shards, is destroyed, possibly by Nightblood. Any other possibilities? What do you think will happen? 2
Quantus he/him Posted December 6, 2021 Posted December 6, 2021 Following the Great Cosmere War, the Shards Continue, with Vessels, but also with a far more explicit and binding Agreement of the use and Limits of their Power and establishing more of a governing Council. 2
cometaryorbit Posted December 6, 2021 Posted December 6, 2021 The Iri myth from Stormlight might suggest re-forming Adonalsium. But that doesn't seem entirely satisfying - it didn't work out the first time around. Now maybe Adonalsium lacked a Vessel the first time, and re-forming Adonalsium with a Vessel will give it a necessary touch of human/mortal experience. But still... who would it be, and what happens to the other existing Shards' Vessels? If Harmony, say, became Adonalsium, would that kill Edgli and Koravellium Avast, etc.? And what about Spren, Seons, etc? OTOH, some spren existed pre-Shattering, and Endowment has Splinters without being Splintered, so perhaps the sapient spren, Seons, etc could survive a re-forming of Adonalsium? 2
LewsTherinTelescope Posted December 6, 2021 Posted December 6, 2021 I think 2 is the most likely, followed by 1, with the whole resurrection and second chance theme that Brandon tries to build into.... pretty much every single Cosmere novel. To quote Brandon on this topic: Quote We get into sticky RAFO areas here, but one of the biggest themes of the Cosmere is Rebirth. The very first book (Elantris) starts with a character coming back from the dead. (As I've mentioned before, a big part of the inspiration for Elantris was a zombie story, from the viewpoint of the zombie.) Mistborn begins with Kelsier's rebirth following the Pits, and Warbreaker is about people literally called the Returned. (People who die, then come back as gods.) The Stormlight Archive kicks off with Kaladin's rebirth above the Honor Chasm, and Warbreaker is meant as a little foreshadowing toward the greater arc of the cosmere--that of the Shards of Adonalsium, who are held by ordinary people. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/116/#e4001 And even the non-Cosmere stories have this as an important element too, it's a theme Brandon really likes examining. So I think that's probably the route he will go. (Note that this is not necessarily the same thing that I would consider the best option in-world, but it strikes me as the most Brandon and more specifically most Cosmere option.)
cometaryorbit Posted December 7, 2021 Posted December 7, 2021 Hmm, though, could the 'Warbreaker as foreshadowing the greater arc' imply the Shards giving up their power (as the Returned give up their Divine Breaths)? Perhaps dispersing Investiture to all the peoples of the Cosmere? Perhaps some sort of Spiritual Connection could still "reunite" Adonalsium in a sense, even if held by many people? That actually raises its own question - if a Shard exists in the Spiritual Realm, and time is irrelevant in the Spiritual, how can a Shard Splinter? Why doesn't its unSplintered state "still" exist in timelessness since it once existed? But that probably deserves its own thread... 3
Frustration Posted December 7, 2021 Posted December 7, 2021 23 hours ago, Vin(Diesel) said: All investiture, including shards, is destroyed, possibly by Nightblood. A few problems with this Nightblood does not destroy investiture, it gets recycled. Everything is investiture, so that would require the destruction of everything. 5
Tglassy Posted December 8, 2021 Posted December 8, 2021 I think I've said this before, but I still think that Odium will go grab another Shard, and Dalinar will pick up a couple Shards, and he and Sazed will fight Odium and whoever. Someone will manage to grab Dominion and Devotion and put them back together, probably Dalinar as Unity. Either way, all sixteen shards will be in the same place, fighting each other, killing each other, and then all the Vessels will die, leaving all the Shards just...sitting there.... ... ...and then Kelsior will walk up and grab them all and become Adonalsium, having manipulated everything to happen that way. 5
Vin(Diesel) Posted December 8, 2021 Author Posted December 8, 2021 10 minutes ago, Tglassy said: ...and then Kelsior will walk up and grab them all and become Adonalsium, having manipulated everything to happen that way. Someone on this site thinks that Hoid will be the vessel of Adonalsium. I think he might be right. I am pretty sure Hoid doesn't want to become the vessel of Adonalsium, since he supported the shattering. But he might be forced to in the end, somehow. I would like that ending.
Vin(Diesel) Posted December 8, 2021 Author Posted December 8, 2021 Tglassy, I could see Kelsier becoming Adonalsium, except I don't think he's really interested in power per se, and because I think Brandon will give us a happy ending and I don't think that would qualify. Imagine a three-person fight, with Taravangian, Sazed, and a third Vessel, with Hoid as a bystander. Imagine the three have accrued more shards until they wield all the shards. Taravangian kills Sazed and the third Vessel, and is about to claim the shards he wants to shape his Intent and give him more power. Realizing what is about to happen, Hoid picks up the fallen Shards, ascends, and using their combined strength, slays Odium. I guess that doesn't quite work, because we still don't have a reason Hoid would then pick up Odium. Maybe if all three Vessels died, Hoid might be forced to pick up all the Shards to keep the worlds from dying without Shards and Investiture to keep them alive. Or maybe Hoid would pick up Odium in my original scenario just to keep it from getting into trouble by itself.
Tglassy Posted December 12, 2021 Posted December 12, 2021 Oh come on. Finding out that in the end Kelsior out thought everybody and wound up being god himself? That's just great stuff, right there. But at the very least, he will get the chance to deck the other Vessels once whoever takes the Shards takes them up. 1
Lunu’anaki he/him Posted December 13, 2021 Posted December 13, 2021 On 12/7/2021 at 7:52 PM, Vin(Diesel) said: Someone on this site thinks that Hoid will be the vessel of Adonalsium. I think he might be right. I am pretty sure Hoid doesn't want to become the vessel of Adonalsium, since he supported the shattering. But he might be forced to in the end, somehow. I would like that ending. That would be a good ending. I always thought that Hoid's "Fortune thing" was a direct connection to Adonalsium. That he's essentialy being guided, willingly or unwillingly, by Adonalsium's influence from the past. Like... if Adonalsium was a concious being, they probably had very good foresight and set things in motion to put Hoid on a path to fulfil some plan of theirs. 1
Leuthie Posted December 13, 2021 Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) Neverending Story ending with Hoid as Bastion. Space Mistborn ends with a failed race to save the Cosmere, culminating in the destruction of the Physical Cosmere followed by a discussion in the Void between Hoid and the original Adonalsium (or whatever entity that becomes the primary Antagonist) in a "pass the torch" moment. Hoid "renames Adonalsium" and the Cosmere is rebuilt by his thoughts, grander and more varied than ever before, but less magical. His new world includes no direct access to Investiture, "surges" or magic of any sort. He makes himself a hands off observer and steward of the Power of Adonalsium. We get a few glimpses of past heroes and villains that Hoid has known as they live out their new lives in the various eras without access to magic, similar heroics in much less epic situations. Hoid spends his time till the heat death of the Cosmere telling their stories and watching new stories play out, showing that they're no less epic or magical for the lack of access to powers. Etc etc etc. Edited December 14, 2021 by Leuthie 2
Vin(Diesel) Posted April 25, 2022 Author Posted April 25, 2022 On 12/13/2021 at 0:37 PM, Leuthie said: Neverending Story ending with Hoid as Bastion. Space Mistborn ends with a failed race to save the Cosmere, culminating in the destruction of the Physical Cosmere followed by a discussion in the Void between Hoid and the original Adonalsium (or whatever entity that becomes the primary Antagonist) in a "pass the torch" moment. Hoid "renames Adonalsium" and the Cosmere is rebuilt by his thoughts, grander and more varied than ever before, but less magical. His new world includes no direct access to Investiture, "surges" or magic of any sort. He makes himself a hands off observer and steward of the Power of Adonalsium. We get a few glimpses of past heroes and villains that Hoid has known as they live out their new lives in the various eras without access to magic, similar heroics in much less epic situations. Hoid spends his time till the heat death of the Cosmere telling their stories and watching new stories play out, showing that they're no less epic or magical for the lack of access to powers. Etc etc etc. Interesting thoughts, but Brandon Sanderson doesn't like the ending of Groundhog Day, because the world became less magical, and he is generally opposed to worlds becoming less magical. So I don't think he's going to remove access to Investiture.
Inkspren_K she/her Posted April 30, 2022 Posted April 30, 2022 I wonder the same thing, so this has a few more thoughts on the topic: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/93676-what-should-be-done-with-the-shards/ Nothing's a perfect solution - Adonalsium is super overpowered, the current situation has had a lot of conflict between shards, and splintering had weird affects on Threnody. I'm curious about the idea of not having a vessel. Would the shards just become neutral forces or would they become consumed by their own intent without a human to rein them in? Are there any book examples or WoBs about a shard not having a vessel? I like the idea, I'm just not sure how it would work. I could either be great or terrible.
Elegy he/him Posted May 1, 2022 Posted May 1, 2022 Maybe somehow every person in the Cosmere gets an equally large part of Adonalsium, similar to the Breaths on Nalthis? Just with immense restrictions as to how that power can be used? Giving one person all the power definitely isn't a good idea, even if it's an agreeable person like Sazed/Taln it would still be an authocratic system. Even 16 didn't work out well. Noone should be able to desert whole planets, and that could be a solution to that. Of course, we know of no cosmere mechanic that could lead to this, but it's not impossible and we definitely haven't seen all important cosmere mechanics yet.
Lego Mistborn he/him Posted May 1, 2022 Posted May 1, 2022 If the vessel of Ado were to gain omniscience then we need not worry, but that raises the question of why Ado was willing to be shattering the first place, or if it was completely inevitable. I think it's the latter, but it could be that the shattering was planned by Ado for a very secret purpose. 1
Lunu’anaki he/him Posted May 3, 2022 Posted May 3, 2022 On 4/29/2022 at 9:38 PM, Inkspren_K said: I'm curious about the idea of not having a vessel. Would the shards just become neutral forces or would they become consumed by their own intent without a human to rein them in? Are there any book examples or WoBs about a shard not having a vessel? I like the idea, I'm just not sure how it would work. I could either be great or terrible. We (kind of) have 3 examples of Shards without Vessels right now... Honor on Roshar, and Devotion/Dominion on Sel.
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