Harmony's Sword

[+honorblades]

Harmony is imbalanced - there is too much Ruin not being used.

rags

How is Harmony balanced when a part of Preservation's power is expended on human sentience? Isn't that what caused all the trouble to begin with?

Brandon Sanderson

Indeed. Hm... What could Sazed be doing with that extra power... //1

 

Mojonero

In Era 1 there was an imbalance between Ruin and Preservation because humans had a bit more Preservation than Ruin in them. After Harmony became a thing did this imbalance become [ir]relevant because both powers turned into one, or is it something Sazed had (or has) to deal with?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a RAFO for now--should come up in Era 3. //2

 

In addition, Harmony feels that he is largely unable to act in the ways that he wants to due to the conflicting nature of the Shards that he holds. To help rectify this, Harmony is searching for a Champion, though he doesn't directly name them as such. He says as much in the Stormlight Archive, and alludes to it in Mistborn Era 2 as well. 

• "I have begun searching for a pathway out of this conundrum by seeking the ideal person to act on my behalf. Someone who embodies both Preservation and Ruin. A … sword, you might say, who can both protect and kill." 
  • - Rhythm of War, Chapter 29

I believe Waxillium Ladrian is being set up as Harmony's Champion. He has extremely strong morals which seem to align with Harmony's, at least according to the man himself. 

• "I'm not Harmony's hands", Wax whispered. "I'm his sword."
  • Shadows of Self, Chapter 25

I think we have sufficient evidence that Scadrian Metalborn are not restrained to their planet in the same way that, for example, a Knight Radiant would be. Hoid using allomancy on Roshar is a perfect example of this. They can easily leave their planet of origin and retain their abilities. Similarly, Metalborn only need specific alloys of metal to ingest in order to access their power; this is incredibly useful. They are not reliant on a specific fuel in the same way that Awakeners or Knights Radiant would be; metal can be found almost everywhere. 

Wax is also among the most talented living Metalborn, with an inborn set of abilities that are quite unique: Khriss claims Wax is one of only 3 'Crashers' (Feruchemical Iron + Allomantic Steel) ever born. [Bands of Mourning, Chapter 12] In addition to this, Wax is an extremely talented marksman, capable of making shots others would consider impossible. He may be the best marksman on Scadrial, which would put him in the running for the best in the Cosmere as well (at least with firearms). 

Now . . .  What does this mean for Wax? 

• Will he become immortal (through the Metallic Arts, or perhaps through direct Shardic intervention?)
  • Wax, through Atium Hemalurgy, could become immortal very easily. This is discussed further below.
  • Although we have not seen this onscreen, a Shard (especially the Shard of Preservation) could presumably just stop someone from aging.

Will Wax gain additional powers? 

• To call back to the first WoBs in this post, what better way to use up some extra Ruin investiture than by giving your main guy a few spikes? Maybe a boatload of Atium to boot? 
• Hemalurgy by its very nature is destructive, but Wax could gain it's benefits without most of the downsides:
  • Immortality through Atium Hemalurgy; obtaining Atium is a big roadblock for this method, but Harmony would presumably create a practically unlimited amount of it for his Champion.
  • Having too many Hemalurgic spikes means you are you are subject to Harmony's direct control. This would not matter for Wax, as his would already be enacting Harmony's will. Other than Realmatic limitations to his Spiritweb, he would not be limited to any specific number of spikes. He could have a ton of them, not unlike Marsh. 
  • Hemalurgic spikes are gained by mutilation or death; this could matter less to Wax as he would presumably be using old Inquisitor spikes. In other words, Wax doesn’t necessarily need to kill anyone new to gain these powers. The spikes with needed powers may already exist. 
• An even easier way for Wax to gain more powers, and perhaps the more likely method, is through the Southern Scadrian Medallions. It would also make sense for Wax (as Harmony's Champion) to wield the Bands of Mourning, or perhaps another object very similar to that in scope & power. 

 

What will Wax do as Harmony's Champion? Perhaps he will travel to Roshar . . . 

Quote

Mistborn: Wax and Wayne Book 4 is “Imperative” to Stormlight Book 5

The concluding volume to the “Wax and Wayne” Mistborn series has to come before Stormlight Archive Book 5. In this year’s update, Sanderson described this book as “imperative to finish before I start Stormlight Five.” This could imply that there’s a plot point in Wax and Wayne Book Four that will enrich Stormlight Five.

3

Now I don't want to put too much stock into this, particularly because SA5 chronologically occurs before the entirety of Mistborn Era 2. 4  However, it does seem to indicate that there is a particular plot point (or character) from WW4 who will be important in SA5. How this will work out, I am unsure. 

 

 

Finally, I just think it would be really funny if a man known as 'Harmony's Sword' has never held a sword in his life & wouldn't know how to use one if he did. 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Sources:

1 https://wob.coppermind.net/events/105/#e1155 

2 https://wob.coppermind.net/events/456/#e14607 

3 https://www.tor.com/2019/12/20/state-of-the-sanderson-2019/

4 https://coppermind.net/wiki/Cosmere#Chronological_Order

 

[Olmund]

This is an excellent summary. I think Wax being the referent of Sazed's "sword" epigraph is fairly well known and accepted in these forums, but you've done a great job bringing together various points of evidence in favor of that interpretation.

It's worth mentioning that Wax may choose to reject this role, as he has quite a bit of baggage (that even Sazed didn't foresee) and Sazed seems fairly keen on maintaining freedom of choice (despite being a vessel for shards other than Autonomy -- as an aside, I think it would be an interesting irony if as the Cosmere continues to unfold it is revealed that most or all of Autonomy's avatars are tyrants -- they prioritize exercising their own will rather than ensuring autonomy for others). 

[cometaryorbit]

On 12/13/2021 at 7:23 PM, honorblades said:

• "I have begun searching for a pathway out of this conundrum by seeking the ideal person to act on my behalf. Someone who embodies both Preservation and Ruin. A … sword, you might say, who can both protect and kill." 
  • - Rhythm of War, Chapter 29

I believe Waxillium Ladrian is being set up as Harmony's Champion. He has extremely strong morals which seem to align with Harmony's, at least according to the man himself. 

• "I'm not Harmony's hands", Wax whispered. "I'm his sword."
  • Shadows of Self, Chapter 25

 

Huh. Wow... Yeah that seems pretty solid.

And in BoM Harmony showed Wax the existence of off-planet threats (the red wave thing).

[Harkain]

Only issue with Wax travelling to Roshar is that that Mistborn Era 2 happens after the first 5 Stormlight books.

So it doesn't really make sense for Wax to appear in Stormlight book 5.

My guess is it might have something to do with Future Sight shennanigans (so some motivation in book 5 is a future sight thing predicted which we see play out in Mistborn Era 2) or it's figuring out/solidifying what particular groups are like in Mistborn Era 2 (*cough* Ghostbloods *cough*) so he can make sure they end up like that in Stormlight 5.

[Szeth_Pancakes]

From the Lost Metal blurb:

Spoiler

It’s a race against time, and Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be.

 

[+honorblades]

17 hours ago, Olmund said:

It's worth mentioning that Wax may choose to reject this role, as he has quite a bit of baggage (that even Sazed didn't foresee) and Sazed seems fairly keen on maintaining freedom of choice 

Excellent point. Shards cannot see the hearts of men, after all. 

 

11 hours ago, Harkain said:

Only issue with Wax travelling to Roshar is that that Mistborn Era 2 happens after the first 5 Stormlight books.
 

I've been thinking about this a lot and I can't quite figure it out either. Especially if Wax were to arrive during the time skip between SA5 and SA6 he's kind of missed out on all the action, haha

[+honorblades]

18 hours ago, Olmund said:

as an aside, I think it would be an interesting irony if as the Cosmere continues to unfold it is revealed that most or all of Autonomy's avatars are tyrants -- they prioritize exercising their own will rather than ensuring autonomy for others). 

Quoting this separately because it's such a good point, that is exactly what it seems like with Autonomy's avatars! I'm very interested to see how this plays out. There's got to be a twist here that we cannot see yet. 

[AquaRegia]

On 12/16/2021 at 11:21 AM, honorblades said:

I've been thinking about this a lot and I can't quite figure it out either. Especially if Wax were to arrive during the time skip between SA5 and SA6 he's kind of missed out on all the action, haha

Five more books implies plenty more action in which to be included.  ;-)

On 12/16/2021 at 11:23 AM, honorblades said:

Quoting this separately because it's such a good point, that is exactly what it seems like with Autonomy's avatars! I'm very interested to see how this plays out. There's got to be a twist here that we cannot see yet. 

Harmony may look like he's in favor of individual freedom of choice... but consider whether it's "freedom for everyone" or "freedom for Scadrians".  Somebody (I don't remember who... my wife plays snippets of Cosmere podcasts all the time) had an excellent explanation of how this might be playing out: 

- Autonomy is working for maximum freedom in the entire Cosmere, and wants all worlds to meet on roughly equal footing

- Technological advancement in ONE place will lead to colonialism, which drastically reduces freedom for those whose planets are under colonial rule

- Autonomy has already frozen technical advancement (and outside trade) on Taldain to prevent said interstellar conquest and colonialism

- Harmony has created conditions (especially in Southern Scadrial) which favor rapid technological advancement, and is actively encouraging it

- Autonomy wants to shut that rust down so that Scadrial doesn't become the center of an interstellar empire, squashing everyone else's freedom

Not my idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me.  If anyone else heard that podcast, please credit the right person.  Don't get me wrong, I love Harmony... but I can see his concern for the the people of Scadrial putting him on the wrong side of "maximum freedom and equality for everyone in the Cosmere".

[cometaryorbit]

Not totally sure Scadrian society as we see it in Era 2 would go in that direction, though. Elendel Basin civilization is very localized and "parochial", I don't think those are traits that really favor the development of an expansionist colonial empire. Scadrial is very poorly explored, after all...

We know almost nothing about Southern Scadrian society, though, maybe they would go that way. And the Southern societies seem higher tech so might become the dominant faction.

[Trusk'our]

On 12/17/2021 at 6:25 PM, AquaRegia said:

Five more books implies plenty more action in which to be included.  ;-)

Harmony may look like he's in favor of individual freedom of choice... but consider whether it's "freedom for everyone" or "freedom for Scadrians".  Somebody (I don't remember who... my wife plays snippets of Cosmere podcasts all the time) had an excellent explanation of how this might be playing out: 

- Autonomy is working for maximum freedom in the entire Cosmere, and wants all worlds to meet on roughly equal footing

- Technological advancement in ONE place will lead to colonialism, which drastically reduces freedom for those whose planets are under colonial rule

- Autonomy has already frozen technical advancement (and outside trade) on Taldain to prevent said interstellar conquest and colonialism

- Harmony has created conditions (especially in Southern Scadrial) which favor rapid technological advancement, and is actively encouraging it

- Autonomy wants to shut that rust down so that Scadrial doesn't become the center of an interstellar empire, squashing everyone else's freedom

Not my idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me.  If anyone else heard that podcast, please credit the right person.  Don't get me wrong, I love Harmony... but I can see his concern for the the people of Scadrial putting him on the wrong side of "maximum freedom and equality for everyone in the Cosmere".

Sounds like it might be that Sazed is more concerned for Scadrial than other worlds, which would makes sense because many people are more concerned with their own countries and people than others; he could be biased in regards to this. Which sounds like a character flaw that he could grow out of as the story progresses. However, it sounds more like he really just wants the people of Scadrial to be able to survive and not be enslaved as they once were when other worlds begin to travel the stars, hence the reason he wants them to advance as quickly as possible.

[apepi]

Isn't the problem not that he has too much Ruin, but Preservation has been invested too much into the humans?

Ive never really considered this a huge problem, I feel like if he really wanted to he could invest it, but maybe he is afraid that it will cause problems placing that Ruin into other places and the preservation in the humans won't equal it out.

[Trusk'our]

21 hours ago, apepi said:

Isn't the problem not that he has too much Ruin, but Preservation has been invested too much into the humans?

Wouldn't that be the same thing, since there is less of Preservation in Harmony than Ruin since it's invested inside the Scadriens?

[cometaryorbit]

Not sure if it's the same. That Preservation is still part of the Shard, just "committed" in a way it can't directly be used for something else. That was a problem for a Preservation vs Ruin battle when they were different people, but I don't know if it would make Preservation's influence on Sazed weaker than Ruin's.

[Aegonek]

On 16.01.2022 at 5:54 AM, apepi said:

Isn't the problem not that he has too much Ruin, but Preservation has been invested too much into the humans?

Ive never really considered this a huge problem, I feel like if he really wanted to he could invest it, but maybe he is afraid that it will cause problems placing that Ruin into other places and the preservation in the humans won't equal it out.

I believe I saw a WoB which stated that Preservation did break his pact with Ruin, which resulted in some sort of damage to the Shard, not only to the Vessel.

Can't find it in Arcanum right now

Edited January 20, 2022 by Aegonek
No markdown support

[CryoZenith]

On 18.12.2021 at 1:25 AM, AquaRegia said:

Harmony may look like he's in favor of individual freedom of choice... but consider whether it's "freedom for everyone" or "freedom for Scadrians". 

It could also be neither. There's the third option, which is that what Harmony cares about isn't maximizing freedom of choice; what Harmony cares about is that *he personally* doesn't take away others' freedom of choice more than necessary. Like, he probably cares about freedom of choice in a vacuum (everything else being equal, more freedom of choice equals more good) but it's not really his Intent, y'know what I mean.

[Aegonek]

17 hours ago, Aegonek said:

I believe I saw a WoB which stated that Preservation did break his pact with Ruin, which resulted in some sort of damage to the Shard, not only to the Vessel.

Can't find it in Arcanum right now

Perhaps this? It's not as strongly worded as I remembered.
 

Quote

Kyrroti (paraphrased)

Shards can't break oaths, including future Vessels. Is Harmony bound by Ruin and Preservation's deal?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It is fulfilled. Perception matters. Shards can break deals, but others can take advantage. Would be very dangerous. The deal between Ruin and Preservation is broken, better word than fulfilled, and no longer in effect because it's broken. Which would give Ruin advantage over Preservation but they're the same person so nothing could possibly go wrong.

 

 

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/479/#e15219

[CryoZenith]

I think the specific way this works is that breaking oaths doesn't directly damage a Shard, but indirectly hurts them by making them easier to damage. A resistance stat debuff rather than a damage-over-time, if you will. Relevant WoB:

Quote

drabgod

When a Returned who has lots of extra Breath gives them away without suppressing his Divine Breath, does the Divine Breath stick to the regular Breath as they are transferred to the receiver? Will the receiver find himself suddenly possessing a Divine Breath? Or does it still vanish after healing the receiver?

Brandon Sanderson

Divine Breaths don't work quite like others. However, losing one is kind of a "Last resort." You'll give away all the others first, and then, if you push you can give it away as well. It never sticks around and makes the person you choose returned.

drabgod

Could you use it to heal Preservation's mind? (potentially with the Well)

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on what you mean by "Preservation's Mind." Do you mean Leras? During the events of Well/HoA he's WELL beyond the help of such a small bit of investiture, as available in a single Divine Breath. With the help of the Well itself? That's more realistic, but the real reason that he was suffering from such degradation was due to persistent attacks by Ruin.

/r/books AMA 2015 (June 24, 2015)

 

[+Oltux72]

On 16.12.2021 at 5:23 PM, honorblades said:

Quoting this separately because it's such a good point, that is exactly what it seems like with Autonomy's avatars! I'm very interested to see how this plays out. There's got to be a twist here that we cannot see yet. 

She is Autonomy, not Liberty. Stalin's Soviet Union was pretty autonomous. It for sure wasn't free.

On 18.12.2021 at 0:25 AM, AquaRegia said:

- Autonomy wants to shut that rust down so that Scadrial doesn't become the center of an interstellar empire, squashing everyone else's freedom

Not my idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me.  If anyone else heard that podcast, please credit the right person.  Don't get me wrong, I love Harmony... but I can see his concern for the the people of Scadrial putting him on the wrong side of "maximum freedom and equality for everyone in the Cosmere".

You need to make up your mind. Freedom and equality are distinct concepts. They may come into conflict.

Harmony is a bit like Star Trek's Prime Directive. Freedom of choice without shelter of the consequences. If freedom leads to Empire, so be it. Harmony has made his choice. If it is freedom versus equality, he will go for freedom.

22 hours ago, Aegonek said:

I believe I saw a WoB which stated that Preservation did break his pact with Ruin, which resulted in some sort of damage to the Shard, not only to the Vessel.
 

Are you implying that Trell is a part of Harmony's Ruinous side that is outside his conscious control?

[Aegonek]

3 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

She is Autonomy, not Liberty. Stalin's Soviet Union was pretty autonomous. It for sure wasn't free.

You need to make up your mind. Freedom and equality are distinct concepts. They may come into conflict.

Harmony is a bit like Star Trek's Prime Directive. Freedom of choice without shelter of the consequences. If freedom leads to Empire, so be it. Harmony has made his choice. If it is freedom versus equality, he will go for freedom.

Are you implying that Trell is a part of Harmony's Ruinous side that is outside his conscious control?

I imply nothing like this. All I say is "Harmony's imbalanced"

[cometaryorbit]

I think there is still some difference between the Intent of Harmony the (double-)Shard, and the goals/values of Sazed the Vessel.

Harmony as an Intent I think is not about equality in a social/political sense, but it does imply room for change as well as persistence, so would probably be fairly favorable to social change movements that aren't too disruptive, so may *seem* the same.

(A purely Preservation society would be completely static, no chance for any change; pure Ruin would mean collapse.)

But I think for Harmony the Intent, the pace and mode of change (moderated, neither stasis nor collapse) is more relevant than the goal of the change. A steady and moderated transition to empire or plutocracy isn't necessarily less Harmonious than one toward a more equal democracy.

Sazed the Vessel, given the historic oppression of the Terris and his long participation in the resistance against TLR, is going to be much more interested in rights for everyone, etc. But his ability to act is now super limited.

EDIT: and he also clearly believes that holding godlike power doesn't give him the right to impose his will on everyone.

That may actually be the way Harmony ends up shaping him, pushing more and more on his reluctance to act dramatically or impose his own will, until he becomes kind of unable to dislike anything but the most dramatic destruction or total stasis.

(Ati was "once a kind and generous man". I think the way Ruin shaped him is that he eventually came to see the end of things as good. He talks to Vin and Kelsier about how the end of the world is natural and proper, don't fight against the inevitable & prolong the pain, etc. - I think he's been shaped to the point that he actually *believes* that.)

Edited January 25, 2022 by cometaryorbit