Reforming Adonalsium

[Stormblessed0421 he/him]

Ok, so this has been bugging me: does holding all 16 shards necessarily mean you become Adonalsium? Because in Sazed/Harmony’s case, his Intents work against each other, making him unable to act. If all 16 intents are present, wouldn’t you just be frozen and unable to act?

Could a solution to this be a Bondsmith? If Dalinar gained enough power, I bet he could bind the shards together into Adonalsium if Intent becomes a problem.

[+ShardlessVessel]

2 hours ago, Stormblessed0421 said:

If all 16 intents are present, wouldn’t you just be frozen and unable to act?

I don't think so. Harmony is conflicted because he's incomplete.

Ruin objects to saving lives because it doesn't understand Mercy. Preservation lacks Ambition to grow, and allows stagnation.

If you had all Shards together, I think they would balance each other.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

OOOOOH. what if someone became a dawnshard AND a bond smith! what if each dawnshard was an aspect of a bond smith power!

[Stormblessed0421 he/him]

Ohhhh ok, that makes sense. Thanks, ShardlessVessel

[Returned he/him]

On 3/25/2022 at 4:04 PM, Stormblessed0421 said:

Ok, so this has been bugging me: does holding all 16 shards necessarily mean you become Adonalsium?

I think the best answer available right now is... maybe? The biggest issue I can think of are that we don't exactly know what Adonalsium was (is?). Holding all of Adonalsium's power may well make you similar, but not necessarily the same being/thing.

It's also not totally clear, that I know of, that the 16 Shards created at the Shattering were the only possible Shards which could have been created, or that combinations of specific Shards are fixed either. In one of the WoBs Brandon confirms that, had Sazed had a different Intent, the combination of Preservation and Ruin might have become Discord instead of Harmony, and possibly still could. If all of the Shards were recombined they might completely shed their previous, narrowly focused domains and conflict like Harmony experiences could be a total non-issue.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Returned

[+ShardlessVessel]

12 hours ago, Returned said:

It's also not totally clear, that I know of, that the 16 Shards created at the Shattering were the only possible Shards which could have been created,

We have a WOB on this, actually:

Quote

Eric

If Adonalsium Shattered with intent, would he always Shatter with the same Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

It is plausible that it could've gone a different way.

Eric

So it could've been different Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's plausible.

Words of Radiance Chicago signing (March 22, 2014)

And I just found this other one:

Quote

James Furr

If, instead of the 16, there had been 20 members at the Shattering of Adonalsium (with the same level of involvedness)...could it have Shattered into 20 pieces?

Brandon Sanderson

It's quite possible that a different number could have ended up working.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 5, 2018)

So, Adonalsium could have Shattered into different Intents, and even a different number. In an alternate Cosmere, there may have been 8 Shards, with none of their Intents matching the ones we got.

[Returned he/him]

Thanks! Those WoB archives can be a slog to get through, these sections are great.