agentarm Posted August 4, 2023 Posted August 4, 2023 Did the Dawnshards determine the intent of the 16 Shards? I'll try to make this make sense, I'm bad at explaining things so it may be a little confusing at first. The 4 Dawnshards were used to shatter Adonalsium into 4 shards. Then 1 Dawnshard used on each of those 4 Shards, splintering them into 4 more, giving us the 16 Shards we have now. Would those 16 be the same if the Dawnshards were switched around? This is where it might get confusing. I'll just use 2 Shards and 2 Dawnshards for the example. Just using random Shards, let's say that DS1 used on Shard 1 splintered it into Ruin, Preservation, Dominion, and Devotion and DS2 splintered Shard 2 into Ambition, Autonomy, Invention, and Endowment. Now if you were to switch the Dawnshards to where DS2 splintered Shard 1 and DS1 splintered Shard 2, would the outcome be the same? So the questions: Were the shards made up of those Intents and separated with the Dawnshards, no matter which one was used on which? So no matter which of the Dawnshards used, those 2 Shards would always split into the same 4? Or if you used DS2 to splinter Shard 1, would it still be Ruin, Preservation, Dominion and Devotion, or would the Dawnshard "decide", for lack of a better word, and splinter it into Ambition, Autonomy, Invention and Endowment and vice versa with DS1 and Shard 2? (I can't think of the right words to explain this one so this may or may not make much sense) Or would the outcome be completely different? Kind of a combination of the two I guess? If you were to switch them like that, would they be the same or would the Command of a Dawnshard have different effects on the Shard based off of what Intents the Shard is made up of, giving us a whole different set of 16 Shards than we have now? (If that one makes any sense)
Config2 Posted August 4, 2023 Posted August 4, 2023 Oh boy I think you might be interested in this thread. It's sort of similar to your theory, but instead has the four "big shards" being filtered through each of the dawnshards into the 16 rather than each "big shard" being refracted into four different but similar versions by the same dawnshard. To pick an example to see if I've gotten it right: one of the big shards could be something like Natural Law. Then we use the "Change" dawnshard (the only one we know about) on that big shard, and get Cultivation, Ruin, Invention, and Endowment. That's a plausible theory. If you instead used the maybe extant "Unite" dawnshard, you'd get some way different stuff. I think if someone has some real knowledge of what the individual notes and colors were for all the shards, you could probably generate some serious proof/negative proof for this empirically. Some of this already exists in SP3: Spoiler I think the Heon being two colors is a really important piece of information. It's the first time we've gotten hard evidence that one of the "base" shards is made up of subcomponents. Two other interesting questions: First, what happens if you use a dawnshard to shatter a shard again. Would you end up with 4 "mini shards"? Second, what would happen if you used the same dawnshard on all 4 of "big shards" and the other three just twiddled their thumbs?
alder24 Posted August 4, 2023 Posted August 4, 2023 8 hours ago, agentarm said: Did the Dawnshards determine the intent of the 16 Shards? I'll try to make this make sense, I'm bad at explaining things so it may be a little confusing at first. The 4 Dawnshards were used to shatter Adonalsium into 4 shards. Then 1 Dawnshard used on each of those 4 Shards, splintering them into 4 more, giving us the 16 Shards we have now. Would those 16 be the same if the Dawnshards were switched around? This is where it might get confusing. I'll just use 2 Shards and 2 Dawnshards for the example. Just using random Shards, let's say that DS1 used on Shard 1 splintered it into Ruin, Preservation, Dominion, and Devotion and DS2 splintered Shard 2 into Ambition, Autonomy, Invention, and Endowment. Now if you were to switch the Dawnshards to where DS2 splintered Shard 1 and DS1 splintered Shard 2, would the outcome be the same? So the questions: Were the shards made up of those Intents and separated with the Dawnshards, no matter which one was used on which? So no matter which of the Dawnshards used, those 2 Shards would always split into the same 4? Or if you used DS2 to splinter Shard 1, would it still be Ruin, Preservation, Dominion and Devotion, or would the Dawnshard "decide", for lack of a better word, and splinter it into Ambition, Autonomy, Invention and Endowment and vice versa with DS1 and Shard 2? (I can't think of the right words to explain this one so this may or may not make much sense) Or would the outcome be completely different? Kind of a combination of the two I guess? If you were to switch them like that, would they be the same or would the Command of a Dawnshard have different effects on the Shard based off of what Intents the Shard is made up of, giving us a whole different set of 16 Shards than we have now? (If that one makes any sense) We don't know. We don't know how the Shattering looked like and what was happening there. We don't know how strong is the relation between Dawnshards and Shards, we only know that we can group 4 Shards with 1 Dawnshard and that's it. We know that different Shards could be made and maybe even in different numbers. I doubt it looked like you said because all of the 16 Shards were created at once, and this isn't really "at once". But at this point everything is possible. Spoiler Paladin Brewer Was it necessary that Adonalsium split into sixteen Shards, or was it happenstance? Brandon Sanderson I will RAFO that one. Paladin Brewer Would the number or intents have been different, if there were more or less people? Brandon Sanderson That's all wrapped up in that RAFO. Let's say it's conceivable that the split could have happened in different ways. Oathbringer Houston signing (Nov. 18, 2017) Spoiler 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) Spoiler Wetlander Was Adonalsium Shattered all at once? Or did each Shard form at a separate time? Brandon Sanderson All at once. Firefight Seattle UBooks signing (Jan. 6, 2015)
MistbornMathematician Posted August 4, 2023 Posted August 4, 2023 (edited) Given that shards themselves can and (kind of) do change their Intents, generally in how they view themselves (such as Odium considering himself to be Passion), I would assume that the user's intent would largely determine how the Dawnshards would split a single shard down. Though not particularly useful, there is also an interesting question to ask of what would have occurred should someone with a significant mental disorder have used the Dawnshards to split Adonalsium. We know that mental disorders can significantly impact Shards: Spoiler 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) One might wonder what 16 shards, say, a psychopath would've created. Or someone with alexithymia. Or some mania or fanaticism. Edited August 4, 2023 by MistbornMathematician
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