Shards and Cognitive Shadows

[OdiusOdium]

Can a Cognitive Shadow be controlled by a Shard? I think probably yes if the shadow is connected to the shard but my friend disagrees does anyone have anything solid about it?

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, OdiusOdium said:

Can a Cognitive Shadow be controlled by a Shard? I think probably yes if the shadow is connected to the shard but my friend disagrees does anyone have anything solid about it?

Depends on your definition of "control", but mostly the answer is no (especially if you mean the level of control Ruin had over the Inquisitors). You see this in Mistborn Secret History when Fuzz is reasoning with Kelsier and trying to get him to go Beyond. If he had any measure of control he just would have prevented Kelsier from running toward Kredik Shaw until he faded. 

Control, in the way that the Inquisitors were controlled, requires the Shard to have affinitiy in pushing emotion of some kind (the effect would be similar to Brass and Zinc in the same way that Rosharan Lightweaving is similar to Elantrian Lightweaving or Yolish Lightweaving), the Connection to the controlled, some manifestation of the Shard's investiture creating cracks in the "subjects" spiritweb (examples: done with Spikes in Era 1 / done with Oaths between the Fused and Odium). Without all three - there may be influence, but not control. The extent of all three determines the level of Control (we see Ruin using Marsh as basically a meat-puppet because of how many spikes he has, but we see the Koloss can only be given minimal "orders" because they have fewer spikes and more emotional turmoil).

Also, make sure you don't confuse Cognitive Shadows with Slivers, Splinters, or Avatars; only the last of which is semi-autonomous and can still be controlled directly (possibly depending on if the Avatar has a Vessel or not).