Shardic reunification?

[MerlinArcane]

What Dow e think the likelyhood of a shardic reunification happening, ala andonalsiun (though if it does happen I don’t believe it would form andonalisum) or a formal Oath to prevent more cosmeric war? I could be wrong but I believe something in Sunlit man said the Cosmere was dying? Do we think the lack of a unified God is the cause?  

[Returned]

I've long thought that reunification is the end game of the Cosmere either as one thing (a new Adonalsium) or as nothing (the "identity" of the power that makes up the Shards, such as Honor, Ruin, etc. become so small and specific that Shardic power is evenly dispersed through everything in the Cosmere; sort of an Anti-nalsium).

Anything is possible, but we've already seen promises among the Shards collapse and lead to enormous conflict. It's hard for me to see the conclusion of so many novels being some few Shards (combined or working in agreement) "winning" without a promise of that balance collapsing in short order. We could see the power of Adonalsium being incorporated as some other forces that would balance out, like Good and Evil, but the Cosmere has avoided any sort of moral tone with Shards. Not to mention that Preservation and Ruin were presented as very evenly balanced, and their agreement certainly didn't end conflict.

[MerlinArcane]

5 hours ago, Returned said:

I've long thought that reunification is the end game of the Cosmere either as one thing (a new Adonalsium) or as nothing (the "identity" of the power that makes up the Shards, such as Honor, Ruin, etc. become so small and specific that Shardic power is evenly dispersed through everything in the Cosmere; sort of an Anti-nalsium).

Anything is possible, but we've already seen promises among the Shards collapse and lead to enormous conflict. It's hard for me to see the conclusion of so many novels being some few Shards (combined or working in agreement) "winning" without a promise of that balance collapsing in short order. We could see the power of Adonalsium being incorporated as some other forces that would balance out, like Good and Evil, but the Cosmere has avoided any sort of moral tone with Shards. Not to mention that Preservation and Ruin were presented as very evenly balanced, and their agreement certainly didn't end conflict.

Wrong. Ruin was *slightly* more powerful, *becasue^ Preservation broke a formal oath (let Ruin destroy the world). At the beginning all Shards were equal, but they diminished when a Shard put some of their Investiure into a planet, such as Honour or Devotion and so on  

[Returned]

11 hours ago, MerlinArcane said:

Wrong. Ruin was *slightly* more powerful, *becasue^ Preservation broke a formal oath (let Ruin destroy the world). At the beginning all Shards were equal, but they diminished when a Shard put some of their Investiure into a planet, such as Honour or Devotion and so on  

Exactly my point, though maybe not clearly expressed. There isn't much reason to think that balance will persist between Shardic entities. Even Shards of equal power and very well-balanced (in opposition) Intents like Preservation and Ruin won't necessarily stay balanced. That would make a situation in which some new arrangement of Shards is balanced at that time an unlikely ending to the Cosmere series, in my estimation, since such a balance is obviously not an ending to the conflicts that have driven many Cosmere novels and most of the meta-story between novels.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Returned