Shardic numerology

[Dofurion]

The truth is that this is one of my favorite cosmere-related hobbies, trying to guess the numbers (along with the colors) of the different Shards that we know. It probably doesn't serve much purpose in terms of the central plot but it's still interesting.

Now that we know almost all the names of the Shards, it is good to do a review to refresh. First I am going to go with the ones that we are already sure of which are yours and then I will go to those with which there is doubt and finally I will finish with the ones that are completely speculation.

Confirmed

Honor [10]: I believe that there is no counterargument here, Honor is associated with the number 10, everything related to it revolves around that number: 10 Heralds, 10 orders of Radiants, 10 essences (although these may actually be 12.)
In short, Honor is 10.

Odium [9]: The same as the previous point goes for this one, the number of Odium is 9; 9 Unmade, 9 types of Fused, the Nine.

Endowment [5]: Many things in Nallethis revolve around number 5, the number of kingdoms involved in the Many-War, the Five Scholars, Tears of Edgli have 5 petals, that the divine breath grants to the returnees the equivalent of the fifth level of elevation.

Preservation [16]: Although it was originally going to be the 4 [ref] preservation is associated with 16, this being the most representative number of Mistborn as saga.

Doubtfully

Autonomy [7 or 8]: Like the previous autonomy, it has a large amount of number presence in its associated symbology, but the curious thing is that in their case they seem to be two instead of one, in this case on 7 and 8. everything depends on how you want it Seeing, in my case I lean more for 7 since it seems that at the time where number 8 is presented, it is to denote the presence of something separate, as if they were taking into account a hypothetical 0. In addition, that given the intent of This Shard may like to have something to differentiate and that is reflected in the way in which he expresses his numerology.

Virtuosity [13]: As seen in the following WoB, it seems that the number 13 is a good candidate to be the number of Vistuosity. Now, as it is structured, Sanderson's answer could be any of the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, such as 1, 2, 3 and 8 (except 5 for obvious reasons). Now, knowing that if it were 3 it would help a lot to my other theory about Virtuosity, I feel that that number is better for some cases that we will see later. In addition, all the references to GO during what happened in Komashi and the different rituals that are shown to us from Yumi's perspective give much more weight to 13 as a number.

Theory

Ruin [11 or 8]: The case of Ruin is curious, since we have to preserve the number, but also the reason why we know it, is also the reason why we do not know the number of Ruin, since everything seen in this Shard seems to be a mirror of what Preservation has done. All allomantically viable metals can be used in hemalurgy for example.

Now, then why do I propose those numbers? Well in the case of 8 I say it because of the only differentiating characteristic between hemarlurgy and allomancy, the Kandra blessings. You will tell me that we only have 4 blessings, well here I have the following WoB:

Quote

InsurrectionistFungus
Are there more kinds of kandra blessings than just the four we've seen?

Brandon Sanderson
Potentially, yes.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 26, 2012)

Working on the assumption that Brandon actually added more blessings (as can be guessed with this other WoB), and that they still cannot access the other metal arts (Since we would lose the special thing about Bavadium). I can assume that the easiest option to add is to follow the pattern that the other blessings already had, which were to be pulling metals [Tin, Iron, Copper, Zing]. Therefore, the most sensible thing would be to add the other four that are missing [Aluminum, Chromium, Cadmium and Gold].

As for the number 11, things related to ruin have several reminiscences to that number, we have for example: the 11th Metal, the size of the Koloss (in the United States version). But since they are things associated with Ruin, they seem to me to be too tangential references to take into account.

Edit: When writing the part about the Kandra blessings I was looking at the feruchemical table and not the hemalurgical one (my mistake). Although it would seem coherent to me that they were pure metals, and not alloys, those that gave blessings, the problem is that Gold and Cadmium steal temporary allomantic (Cadmium) and Feruchemical Hybrid (Gold) abilities. Therefore, the most sensible thing to maintain this theory is that all spiritual metals are those that are viable for sales since precisely with them (Duralimin and Nicrosil) the other metallic arts are not touched.

Cultivation [6]: I don't know if I am the first to propose this number for cultivation, I generally see that it is usually associated with the number 3, but I think it is something that we unconsciously think of when thinking about nature on a mythological level (we have examples like the triquette).

These would be the points so I consider that the number 6 is a better number to associate with Cultivation, from the lowest to the highest level of speculation they would be:

• It is the number of "cultivable" essences [Fire, Crystal, Plants, Blood, Oil, Meat]
• The Order of Radiants associated with the number 6 is the only one that is not tied to oaths (Lightweavers)
• In the Rosharian system there are 10 gaseous and 6 rocky celestial bodies. This point is especially poetic because you already know 10+6=16
• If we take into account the color associated with the two Shards that influence the radiant sprens and the orders that possess it [blue-windrunners | green-truthwachers] we can notice that the first ones do not occupy position 10, but rather position 1, position 10 belongs to the order adjacent to the left (Bondsmiths). To preserve the symmetry we can apply the same treatment to the bottom:

• Using the previous point, it could not be 5 since it would occupy the same number as the endowment, which by implicit rule cannot be done (until Sanderson says otherwise of course)
• Finally (And this is 100% personal preference) if the number were 6 everything would be left on a silver platter in case Roshar ends up being pacified in a state in which the 3 shards remain intact (At least as far as the Knight Radiants symbology): 10 Order of Knights, 9 Orders of Illuminated Knights and 6 Godsprens (one for each Shard and one for each combination of lights).

Devotion and Dominion [(1 or 3) and (3 or 2)]:  I think it is evident to everyone that in Sel there is a strong presence of the number 3; Three continents, three empires, three arts invested by each continent (yes, I am counting the ChayShan as coming from the northern continent) So it is almost certain that one of the two Shards is related to the number 3. Now which one? that's the question.

Particularly, I would prefer that 1 be the number of Devotion, since if we look at it it seemed to maintain a closer relationship with one of the peoples of each continent (The Aonicos for obvious reasons and the natives of MaiPon) and also that number would look very good with the intent of Devotion

Ambition [12]: I have two reasons for thinking this way. The first is for metanarrative; If the Aethers were related to the number 12, the simplest thing for Brandon would be that the Shard that had that number would be off the board (splintered) during the development of the main plot of the cosmere. The second reason is that it really seems that the Aethers have a lot of Ambition, their refusal to be considered creations of Adonalsium despite the fact that we have confirmation that all the investiture came from him and the Aethers being beings of investiture… Add to that the whole thing about being a pseudo-hivemind and constantly telling people who are aetherbound how great they are, etc. It all sounds a lot like Ambition to me.

No data

As for Invention, Mercy, Valor, Whimsy and Shshshsh (Vigilance) I have nothing to work with to speculate on their possible number. The numbers that I have not taken into account are: 4, 11, 14, 15. So any of these six could have one of these four numbers (plus another one from among those that are left out of the previous speculations, probably the one that is left over, those we treat for Dominion and Devotion.)

Personal listing

1. Devotion
2. ?
3. Dominion
4. ?
5. Endowment
6. Cultivation
7. Autonomy
8. Ruin
9. Odium
10. Honor
11. ?
12. Ambition
13. Virtuosity
14. ?
15. ?
16. Preservation

This would be my personal list, it seems curious to me that organized in this way it seems that the intents have a kind of pattern, as if each one were the meeting point between the two adjacent ones.

With nothing more to add, I read them in the comments.

Edited March 14, 2024 by Dofurion
Correction in the Ruin section

[Quantus he/him]

I too have chased this rabbit.  Before you run too deep, be aware that it's not 1:1 with the shards, and not all will have a relevant Number.  All of the Rosharan system has a 10 theme, with Braize being the 9 exception.  And while some shards very much have significant Numbers, most do not.

 

Quote

 

The Only Joe (paraphrased)

Do all shards have a number they're associated with?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Some do, (most/some) don't.

Firefight Portland signing (Jan. 16, 2015)

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

Herald (paraphrased)

Is there more significance to the 10 other planets around the Rosharan star system and them being gaseous? We know that Roshar's moons have unnatural orbits; so there seems to be some astronomical manipulation in the system.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes there is significance of 16 in cosmere and 10 in Rosharan system.

Herald (paraphrased)

The outer 10 gas giants in the Rosharan system suggest a tie to the number 10 that predates the arrival of the current Shards. Is the prominent numerology we see around the cosmere an inherent property of the planets, rather than the Shards who invest them?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Big RAFO.

Herald (paraphrased)

Would Ashyn/Braize share the 10-centric numerology of Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes 10-centric is for the entire Rosharan planetary system...wait Braize is 9-centric.

Arcanum Unbounded San Francisco signing (Nov. 30, 2016)

 

 

[Dofurion]

3 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Quote

 

The Only Joe (paraphrased)

Do all shards have a number they're associated with?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Some do, (most/some) don't.

Firefight Portland signing (Jan. 16, 2015)

 

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That is one of the WoBs that I have mentioned (or at least I thought I had it, for some reason I copied one on Odium, the old WoBs give problems when copying only the link XD)

[alder24]

There is this excellent topic made by Firesong in which she went by every world finding what numbers appear in it, check it out:

 

1 hour ago, Dofurion said:

Ruin [11 or 8]:

Kandra are more of Preservation than of Ruin. Sure, they are made with Spikes, but they were made to serve Preservation. 11 is hard to pinpoint. Koloss have different sizes, the biggest had like 15 feet if I remember correctly, so I don't think it's a reliable number to point towards Ruin. Inquisitors had 9-11 spikes - it's varying again, but 11 is the ideal number of spikes (unless Rashek wants one to have A-duralumin, which they sometimes had, so that's 12). But Rashek made 16 inquisitors at first, - I think we simply don't have enough data.

I personally think Ruin's number is 1 - it's as far as possible from 16, the ideal, polar opposite of Preservation's 16. There are not many significant "ones" in Era 1, except maybe Vin had 1 spike and 1 spike is enough for Ruin to influence people, but I just think it fits thematically.

1 hour ago, Dofurion said:

Cultivation [6]:

I personally am in the 3 camp. There are just too many mentions of 3 on Roshar to ignore it. But 6 is a strong candidate. And I agree, 3 is a lot in Sel as well.

[Dofurion]

21 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I personally think Ruin's number is 1 - it's as far as possible from 16, the ideal, polar opposite of Preservation's 16

It is also one of the reasons why I see the 8, since from the information we have on Dawnshard, it may be a circle. In that case the opposite position would be the eighth since from 16 it would jump to 1

[alder24]

47 minutes ago, Dofurion said:

It is also one of the reasons why I see the 8, since from the information we have on Dawnshard, it may be a circle. In that case the opposite position would be the eighth since from 16 it would jump to 1

Nah, I think that's a square with 4 quadrants, like an Allomantic table.