Does Autonomy have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

[Mr. Misting he/him]

So the other day I was reading a WOB that got me thinking.

Doombrigade (paraphrased)

If an individual has a mental sickness, such as multiple personalities, can that affect a Shard's intent if picked up by him or her?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, that is possible.

Doombrigade (paraphrased)

Is it possible that Autonomy is one such, and has multiple personalities?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

RAFO.

ICon 2019 (Oct. 17, 2019

This idea is extremely interesting to me and I thought it had merit. So I have thought it through and have a theory.

If Badavin has DID and picked up Autonomy, a shard who's intent is all about remaining alone and not being influenced by others that might be a problem. She could have taken her identities and made them into avatars so that she can remain autonomous (I don't know how that would work out logic wise but magic). Autonomy would probably view the personalities as pieces of herself, and therefore they deserve to be autonomous also. So she takes a personality and fills it with investiture, leaving Autonomy prime alone and giving freedom to the new avatar. Over time Autonomy would have new identities pop up in her mind and so she takes those and also makes them into avatars. DID would help explain a lot of the weird stuff about Autonomy and her many, many avatars. 

Extra theory, if Bavadin developed DID due to extremely mental damaging circumstances, she would be using the personalities as coping mechanisms. This could be very traumatic for Bavadin, having her coping mechanisms taken away which might leave her mentally unstable and depressed. She still wouldn't be able to stop making the identities into avatars though due to the intent of Autonomy. In the letter to Hoid we see that "you have spoken to the one who cannot respond", could this be Autonomy prime? Could she be holed up on Taldain because she is not functioning because of Bavadin's mental issues? Could the other avatars, in respond have started protecting Autonomy prime to try and keep her autonomous and alone? This could explain why Taldain is closed off from interference. This could also explain why the avatars refer to themselves as a collective whole, because in a way they are just one individual. 

This is just what I was able to think of with Autonomy having DID. Any thoughts?

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

Dang I love this theory.

[Treamayne]

21 hours ago, Mr. Misting said:

This is just what I was able to think of with Autonomy having DID. Any thoughts?

I think most of your reasoning is sound; but I don't think it requires Bavadin to have had DID prior to becoming a vessel.

Also, you seem to equate Autonomy with "Alone" a few times, but I don't think they impact each other at all. From Wiktionary

Spoiler

autonomy

    1. (uncountable) The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
    2. (philosophy, uncountable) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
    3. (mechanics, uncountable) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator

"Alone" (at least to me) implies Solitude; whereas Autonomy (to me) implies independence. After all, this WoB Shows that avatars of Autonomy don't require Solitude:

 

Spoiler

 

Brandon Sanderson

Bavadin has several male personas, and has often appeared as male for one purpose or another, so it's not that much of an issue. She has more female personas, but some of the male ones are quite popular.

This won't be relevant for a long while, but as a service to the community, let me say this: try not to get too hung up on gender, race, or even human appearance where Bavadin is concerned. There are some peoples who worship entire pantheons where every member is actually her.

 

I think the nature of Autonomy would push that for any given representation of Autonomy that has enough Cognitive "presence", an Autonomous Avatar would develop to house that representation. For example, I think the Sand Lord is an Avatar - but I don't think that Bavadin, as vessel, was behind the development of that Avatar. As the Sand Lord grew in the hearts and minds of Dayside, I think an autonomous Sand Lord Avatar became almost Inevitable.

I think that sometimes a new Avatar is a conscious decision (Obrodai) and sometimes it is how the Shard "needs" to manifest.

[Mr. Misting he/him]

12 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Also, you seem to equate Autonomy with "Alone" a few times, but I don't think they impact each other at all. From Wiktionary

  Hide contents

autonomy

    1. (uncountable) The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
    2. (philosophy, uncountable) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
    3. (mechanics, uncountable) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator

"Alone" (at least to me) implies Solitude; whereas Autonomy (to me) implies independence. After all, this WoB Shows that avatars of Autonomy don't require Solitude:

I am taking most of the stuff where Autonomy wants to remain alone from that letter she sent to Hoid. Multiple times Autonomy talks about how she will countine alone, "As the waves of the sea must continue to surge, so must our will continue resolute. Alone." Yes the dictionary definition doesn't equate autonomy with being alone, but Autonomy herself certainly thinks the two line up.

12 hours ago, Treamayne said:

I think the nature of Autonomy would push that for any given representation of Autonomy that has enough Cognitive "presence", an Autonomous Avatar would develop to house that representation. For example, I think the Sand Lord is an Avatar - but I don't think that Bavadin, as vessel, was behind the development of that Avatar. As the Sand Lord grew in the hearts and minds of Dayside, I think an autonomous Sand Lord Avatar became almost Inevitable.

 

The thing is Autonomy could have just made the Sand Lord and then people start to worship him. I don't think it works as well the other way around.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Mr. Misting

[SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword]

On 9/9/2022 at 11:18 PM, Mr. Misting said:

I am taking most of the stuff where Autonomy wants to remain alone from that letter she sent to Hoid. Multiple times Autonomy talks about how she will countine alone, "As the waves of the sea must continue to surge, so must our will continue resolute. Alone."

This could also be Autonomy referencing the original agreement between the Shards not to interfere with each other.

edit: Also, Autonomy having DID is a cool idea and seems entirely possible at this point. It will be interesting to find out if you are correct.

Edited September 16, 2022 by SwordNimiForPresident

[Mr. Misting he/him]

On 9/15/2022 at 7:33 PM, SwordNimiForPresident said:

This could also be Autonomy referencing the original agreement between the Shards not to interfere with each other.

 

I think it's fair to say that Autonomy is taking this agreement a decent step farther. Sealing her main planet from any outside interaction is a drastic option that no other shard have taken (as far as we know).

It's very reasonable to say I might be looking way to much into things but I can see how Autonomy would see alone as part of her intent.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Mr. Misting