How Mergeing shards actually works

[Argenti he/him]

Over my time on the shard, I've seen so many people misthinking how merging two or more Shards would work. People very commonly think that the Shards keep their intent separate because Harmony doesn't know what's going on and keep talking about the two Shards he holds. My theory works on the premise that when Shards merge, their intent combines and does not remain separate (Its been said Harmony holds one shard, not two). Ex; Harmony is not driven to preserve or destroy but rather he is driven to "Preserve to further Destroy" or "Destroy to further Preserve". The reason he struggles to act is not beccause he's at war with himself, but because his intent is dificult to properly command. 

Recently, I saw people talk about how Ruin and Cultivation would make a good pair and somone else argued that because they're oposed, they wouldn't. But it realy doesn't matter if their intents are oppisites, as when the shards merge their inntents merge and temper each other. With Cultivation focusing on improvement and ruin on decay, they would mellow out and focus on change both to improve and weaken.

 

Thoughts?

 

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

Over my time on the shard, I've seen so many people misthinking how merging two or more Shards would work. People very commonly think that the Shards keep their intent separate because Harmony doesn't know what's going on and keep talking about the two Shards he holds. My theory works on the premise that when Shards merge, their intent combines and does not remain separate (Its been said Harmony holds one shard, not two). Ex; Harmony is not driven to preserve or destroy but rather he is driven to "Preserve to further Destroy" or "Destroy to further Preserve". The reason he struggles to act is not beccause he's at war with himself, but because his intent is dificult to properly command. 

Yup, that's it. Sazed is doing a bad job as a dual Shardholder. He's not to blame, after all he's the first one who ever did that. Well, maybe not bad, but his interpretation of those Shards combined could be better. Instead of Harmony, he could be Creation, because Ruin and Preservation created Scadrial after all. 

Spoiler

Thanatos17901

If Sazed were to die, would he drop the Shards Ruin and Preservation, or would he drop the Shard Harmony?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. The shards are now intermingled, and would take effort to split apart. He would drop Harmony. (This is what Odium feared would happen, by the way.)

/r/fantasy AMA 2013 (April 23, 2013)

 

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

Recently, I saw people talk about how Ruin and Cultivation would make a good pair and somone else argued that because they're oposed, they wouldn't.

Ruin and Cultivation would make a good pair, confirmed by WoB: 

Spoiler

Autarchk

If I can ask a question, I just read the Mistborn trilogy and, were Preservation and Ruin two different shards or a single one with their power split somehow? If they were two shards, does that mean a single person can hold more than one, since Harmony apparently holds both now?

Brandon Sanderson

They were two shards.

Yes, one entity can hold more than one. Remember that holding a shard changes you, over time. Rayse knows this, and prefers to leave behind destroyed rivals as opposed to taking their power and potentially being overwhelmed by it.

Nepene

I have a question, if you are willing. Would Ruin be more compatible with Rayse, would he pick up that shard had he visited Scadrial and shattered him? All the shards we have seen that he has shattered seem rather different in intent than him- Honor, Cultivation, Love, Dominion. But Ruin seems more in line with Odium. Rayse has ruined the days of quite a few people.

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, Ruin would be most compatible with Cultivation. Ruin's 'theme' so to speak is that all things must age and pass. An embodiment of entropy. That power, separated from the whole and being held by a person who did not have the willpower to resist its transformation of him, led to something very dangerous. But it was not evil. None of the sixteen technically are, though you may have read that Hoid has specific beef with Rayse. Whether you think of Odium as evil depends upon how much you agree with Hoid's particular view.

That said, Ruin would have been one of the 'safer' of the sixteen for Rayse to take, if he'd been about that. Odium is by its nature selfish, however, and the combination of it and Rayse makes for an entity that fears an additional power would destroy it and make it into something else.

General Reddit 2013 (March 14, 2013)

 

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

But it realy doesn't matter if their intents are oppisites, as when the shards merge their inntents merge and temper each other. With Cultivation focusing on improvement and ruin on decay, they would mellow out and focus on change both to improve and weaken.

Theoretically yes, but it is hard to find a person who embodies intents of both Shards at the same time. Plus to have a good interpretation of them both, which would allow the new Vessel to act  (no Harmony).

[Argenti he/him]

5 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Ruin and Cultivation would make a good pair, confirmed by WoB: 

Oh I know, this is more of a PSA to everyone because I am over people arguing that it doesn't work like that.

 

7 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Yup, that's it. Sazed is doing a bad job as a dual Shardholder. He's not to blame, after all he's the first one who ever did that. Well, maybe not bad, but his interpretation of those Shards combined could be better. Instead of Harmony, he could be Creation, because Ruin and Preservation created Scadrial after all. 

Like always, Sazed really need therapy.