Aon and Shard associations

[The Titan God he/him]

I was reading through Elantris' Ars Arcanum and reading through the list of Aons and noticed some of their meanings that had very direct correlations with specific shards. So, I decided to see if I could find corresponding aons with each shard. I failed. But, I did find some interesting connections that I figured I'd share so I don't feel I wasted half an hour. To be clear, I don't think this actually means anything, it's just something I found interesting.

Devotion: There aren't any Aons that specifically mean "devotion", but there is Aon Seo which means Loyalty / Service, which is close.

Dominion: There aren't any Aons that mean "dominion" or any synonyms. But, some Aons that are correlated with dominion are: Dao (stability, security), Eda (superior, lofty), and Ope (nation).

Preservation: The closest Aon to preservation would probably be Aon Edo, which means Protection / Safety.

Ruin: The closest Aon to ruin that I could find is Aon Sheo, which means Death and is a rather tentative connection. I also want to mention the obligatory Aon Ati namesake connection.

Odium: There aren't any Aons along the lines of Odium / Hatred. There are Aons such as Teo (royal, majestic), Rii (wealth, affluence), and Eda (superior, lofty), that sort of correlate to personality traits of Odium, but they more represent aspects of Rayse's personality than the shard Odium.

Cultivation: Much like Odium, there aren't any Aons meaning cultivation. But, there are many Aons representing something to do with life, such as: Dii (wood), Eto (body, flesh, muscle), Kaa (plants), Opa (flower), and Tii (green). Also, yes, I am aware that Cultivation doesn't equal life, but these were the closest connections I could find.

Honour: This was actually the one that inspired this whole post as there is a perfect correlation with Aon Mai, which means Honour.

Endowment: Just like Honour, Endowment has a perfect correlation. This time with Aon Eshe, which means Gift / Endowment.

Autonomy: There aren't any Aons along the lines of autonomy / independence / mastery. But there are the Aons: Soi (order, organised) and Are (unity, cohesion), that are similar to traits we see Autonomy resemble.

Ambition: Ambition was very difficult to find any connection for. The closest was Aon Ati (hope), but that is tentative at best.

Invention: Invention was difficult because we don't really know what its Intent is, and there aren't any Aons meaning invention. The closest ones were: Sao (intelligence, learning), Shao (transform, change), and Ene (wit, cleverness) (in modern usage, Ene is used much the same as Sao).

Mercy: Mercy is another one with a perfect correlation. That being Aon Ido (mercy, forgiveness).

Valour: Aon Aeo means Bravery, which is close enough to valour.

Whimsy: I couldn't find anything for whimsy, feel free to leave anything you find in the replies.

The Survival / Wisdom / Prudence, etc... Shard: We know virtually nothing of this shard but Aon Ien (wisdom) could be a good fit.

Secret Project 3 spoiler below:

Spoiler

Virtuosity: I couldn't find anything for virtuosity. Just like whimsy, feel free to leave your ideas below, but please give a spoiler warning for those trying to avoid all knowledge of future secret projects.

 

 

[alder24]

Cultivation is about growth and change - Aon Shao (Transform, Change). I think unity could be the opposite to Autonomy. Honor is also strongly about keeping oaths - Aon Sea (Chastity, Faithfulness)? Preservation - Dao (Stability, Security)?

This is an interesting connection. We don't know all Aons yet, but Aons make a writing system, so there is an Aon for every word, and every Shard. 

[Argenti he/him]

I find really weird how theirs an aon named Ati just like the vessel. 

[Duxredux he/him]

@The Titan God and @Argenti, you're not the first to wonder about Aon Ati. Pretty sure it's completely unrelated to the Vessel Ati because we know where that name comes from in Elantris. Spoiler for the short story The Hope of Elantris:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Matisse

This short story actually has a very interesting backstory.

If we flash back to January 2006, we find me having been dating Pemberly (her real name is Emily, but she goes by Pemberly online) for about two months. Our relationship was still quite new, and we weren't exclusive yet. (Though I wanted to be. I was pretty sure I wanted to marry her by that point.)

Well, at one of our dates, Pemberly told me an amazing story. It seems that one of her eighth grade students—a girl named Matisse—had done a book report on Elantris. Now, Matisse didn't know that her teacher was dating me. She didn't even know that Pemberly knew me. It was just one of those bizarre coincidences that happens just to prove to us all that the world is a funny place.

Now, when I say book report, that doesn't get across the scope of what Matisse did. Being a clever, creative girl, she went the extra mile. Instead of a simple write-up on the book, she did a Dragonology-style book on Elantris. This thing is amazing; it has sketches and bios of the characters, strips of Elantrian cloth stapled in as examples, little pouches filled with materials from the books, all of that. A total multisensory experience dedicated to the novel, all handmade. Pemberly showed it to me, and it was honestly just about the coolest, must humbling thing I'd ever seen. Matisse had obviously loved the book very much.

That set me thinking of something I could do as a thank-you surprise to Matisse, who still didn't know that her teacher was dating one of her favorite authors. I'd had this idea itching in the back of my head.

The Hope of Elantris Annotations (Jan. 28, 2010)

Spoiler

Ati is the only possible Aon taken from Matisse, and from the short story that the Aon was probably decided to mean Hope as a method to close the story. Matisse later gave her book report to Brandon and Emily as a wedding gift. I really doubt Brandon wanted to tie Ruin to that teenage girl.

I'm with alder24, Aons are a language. Of course it will have words for fundamental concepts of the universe. However, there may be important ramifications if Aons can directly invoke a Shard's influence.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Duxredux
added thought and tags.