A Darker Shade of Mercy, A theory on the origin of Shades

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

 

Nowhere else in the Cosmere will you find such an abundance of Cognitive Shadows to match the Shades of Threnody, nor do they bear any rival for how truly strange they are. Shades are violent, are provoked by the strangest of slights, and most oddly of all, seem to lose most of their individuality or memories of mortal life. In comparison to other Cognitive Shadows, Shades seem sort of, half baked, created atrandom, almost as though whatever is creating them isn’t “all there”, so to speak. I posit that the Shades are not created from Ambitious Investiture, but are Merciful investiture. 

Part 1: The Conflict in the Threnodite System
 
At some point after the Shattering, Ambition visited the Threnodite system, but was followed by Odium. A violent clash ensued, and eventually Ambition fled, Odium following her to finish the job. However, they were not the only combatants, as Harmony’s letter to Hoid reveals two important facts- the presence of a ‘wound in the Spiritual Realm’ and that Mercy was involved in this clash. Judging based of the naming scheme of the planets in the Threnodite System, I posit that the reason Mercy was involved in this clash, is that Threnody was the System where Mercy had chosen to Invest themselves. So while the Evil may very well be Ambitious investiture, I believe that the natural magic and investiture of Threnody was Merciful in nature. A wound in the Spiritual realm manifested due to the clash of the Shards here, and Mercy troubles Harmony. I believe that the wound in the Spiritual Realm is wounding Mercy- perhaps leaving them more or less impotent as a vessel, allowing the power to act nearly on its own in alignment with the Intent of Mercy. 

Part 2: A Darker Shade of Mercy

It has been noted that while Mercy is indeed a virtue, that there is naturally a darker side to the Intent. I believe the Shades are a manifestation of this ‘Dark Side’. The Shard of Mercy acts rampantly, “showing mercy” to the souls of Threnodites, turning them into a strange sort of half-baked Cognitive Shadow, by suffusing them with investiture, and as I believe the power is acting without a fully stable vessel to guide it, the process is far less refined than shown elsewhere in the Cosmere, leaving them somewhat mindless as a result. Shades are souls shown mercy, saved from ‘true’ death, at the cost of an eternity of what essentially boils down to undeath. 

Shades are also strangely violent when provoked which is done by breaking one of the 3 Simple Rules. Key here are the First and Second rules: Do not kindle flame, and Do not shed the blood of another. Especially the second rule- Shades are drawn by doing harm to another, a pointedly ‘unmerciful’ action; and with enough mindless perversion of what it means to be merciful, the first rule could also be perceived as an unmerciful action. 

As a side note, I also believe that before this dark turn of events, Merciful Investiture was used in the ‘Rites’ that Nazh mentions with such indignation to create full Cognitive Shadows, rather than the morbidly merciful Shades.
 

[Pandora's shard]

This is awesome theory, and I think, it may be close to what is actually happening in Threnody!!!!