Block he/him Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 Is it possible for a Shard to have a child? If a Shard had a child with another Shard would the child have the powers of a Shard? Would it create a whole new Shard? Or if a Shard had a child with a human, would it create a sort of "half-shard"? Does anyone know if there are any WoBs of this or something similar? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Returned Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 Yes, it is possible (especially if you're expansive with your definitions of "child" and "have"). It's not impossible that such a child would have Shard-esque powers, though it's not clear how that would work as it has never happened. Here are a couple of relevant WoBs that I'm aware of: Spoiler Questioner He wanted to know, if a pregnant woman took up one of the Shards--one of the sixteen Shards--would the child <still be born without> any god powers? Brandon Sanderson It would have an effect. Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018) Spoiler Alexa Smith Has a Shard's Vessel had a child after Ascension? If so, have we seen them? Will one become important to the Stormlight Archive plot? Brandon Sanderson Do you consider all of the people on Scadrial to be children of Preservation? I would count them all as children of Preservation and Ruin, I mean they created them together. I don't know what other way you can interpret that, because the first ones of them would've had no other parents. So, yes to that, but it's not what you're asking. Otherwise, RAFO. YouTube Spoiler Stream 2 (June 3, 2021) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantus he/him Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 The Shard itself would not duplicate or create new anything. Those shards are already 1/16 of infinity, and are just giant balls of Investiture. The formerly Mortal Vessel of the Shard can indeed have children and those children would be special, but we dont know any specifics. Quote Alexa Smith Has a Shard's Vessel had a child after Ascension? If so, have we seen them? Will one become important to the Stormlight Archive plot? Brandon Sanderson Do you consider all of the people on Scadrial to be children of Preservation? I would count them all as children of Preservation and Ruin, I mean they created them together. I don't know what other way you can interpret that, because the first ones of them would've had no other parents. So, yes to that, but it's not what you're asking. Otherwise, RAFO. YouTube Spoiler Stream 2 (June 3, 2021) Quote Questioner He wanted to know, if a pregnant woman took up one of the Shards--one of the sixteen Shards--would the child <still be born without> any god powers? Brandon Sanderson It would have an effect. Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alder24 Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 39 minutes ago, Block said: Is it possible for a Shard to have a child? If a Shard had a child with another Shard would the child have the powers of a Shard? Would it create a whole new Shard? Or if a Shard had a child with a human, would it create a sort of "half-shard"? Does anyone know if there are any WoBs of this or something similar? A Shard can create a physical body for himself so it's likely they can reproduce that way. A child would not become a "half-shard," or a new Shard, nor would they inherit their parent Shard, but it might be easier for them to Ascend when opportunity arises, as they might have a very strong Connection to that Shard. It's likely they would be more invested than normal people, maybe even become a weird type Sliver. Spoiler Argent Can Shards manifest a physical body that can actually interact with the Physical Realm? Brandon Sanderson If they wanted to, yes. Argent Was that the thing that Odium did at the end of Oathbringer or was that just a projection? Brandon Sanderson Umm, it starts to be really difficult to define when you're getting to these points because they generally are such massive wells of Investiture themselves that it's like, is this thing they're creating, like, they are kinda, y'know, then bending the three Realms around the like spacetime with lots of gravity so is that a projection? Is that a real thing? Does it matter? Does that definition-- Argent Oh! At that point they are almost the same thing, right? Brandon Sanderson Yes, exactly. JordanCon 2018 (April 20, 2018) Spoiler Dragon13 Is it possible for a Shard or Shardholder [Vessel] to reproduce, other than by creating Splinters? Brandon Sanderson Yes. Dragon13 Any chance we've seen the offspring of-- Brandon Sanderson RAFO! *laughter* Shadows of Self Chicago signing (Oct. 12, 2015) This last WoB makes me think of this one particular person that is called "a child of Tanavast" - there is a significance to this title, so maybe Honor was more involved than normally. It doesn't have to mean that he’s literally the biological father, but as per other WoBs posted before, a greater investment in Kal might have made him a spiritual child of Tanavast. Spoiler Winds Alight (paraphrased) In SA the Stormfather refers to several people as "Child of Honor", but only Kaladin as "Child of Tanavast". Is there significance to that? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Yes, there is. Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etedbert he/him Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 In addition to the other WOBs people have brought up, there’s a few important pieces of evidence that might clue us in to what could happen if a shard vessel did have a child. firstly, we know Spiritual DNA is hereditary, and is passed from parent to child Quote Chaos (paraphrased) Since the dawn of Scadrial, why was Feruchemy isolated in a single distinct population in the world, namely the Terrismen? Allomancy, while rare within the population of Scadrial, at least was not isolated to one population, it was spread evenly, it seems. What is special about the Terrismen that only they get the power of Feruchemy? Does it have something to do with the previous Ascensions before Rashek, with the guardian keeping the power for a time? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) It's all in the spiritual DNA, which is passed on like normal DNA. However, they are a separate people. They've kept themselves isolated, similar to the Jews in our world. When I asked he said there have been some Feruchemical-mistings [Ferrings] in the past, but they are very rare. Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010) Another piece of evidence is the effect large quantities of investiture has on a spiritual web SUNLIT MAN SPOILERS Spoiler We see that Nomad’s time holding the Dawnshard has irrevocably twisted his spirit web to be in-line with the intent of the Dawnshard, giving him the “Torment” basically, I think that a shard’s child would (in addition to being highly invested) inherit aspects of their parent’s spiritual DNA. I think they would be in some way bound to the same shardic intent as their parent. I.E. if Honor had a child, they would be committed strongly to the same ideals as their father. Now the question is how would the reproduction of two shards turn out? Does Spritual DNA play by the same Dominant/Recessive rules as regular DNA, or would they get a combo intent warping their soul. So if Ruin and Preservation had a biological child, would that child have the intent of “Harmony” warped into their Spiritweb? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alder24 Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 3 hours ago, Etedbert said: Another piece of evidence is the effect large quantities of investiture has on a spiritual web SUNLIT MAN SPOILERS Reveal hidden contents We see that Nomad’s time holding the Dawnshard has irrevocably twisted his spirit web to be in-line with the intent of the Dawnshard, giving him the “Torment” basically, I think that a shard’s child would (in addition to being highly invested) inherit aspects of their parent’s spiritual DNA. I think they would be in some way bound to the same shardic intent as their parent. I.E. if Honor had a child, they would be committed strongly to the same ideals as their father. Well, Shardic Intent is not writing itself onto the Spirit Web of the Vessel, it is just influencing their mind. If a Vessel were to drop their Shard, the influence of its Intent over their mind would eventually fade. But they will remain a Sliver, which is an expanded soul, and that might be inherited to some degree. Spoiler Argent (paraphrased) If Ati had somehow managed to give up Ruin and returned to being a regular person, would his mind have gradually reverted from its corruption by Ruin's intent, or would he always be determined to destroy? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Over time Ruin's influence would fade, but Ati would remain a Sliver, so there would be some permanent effects. Steelheart Chicago signing (Oct. 5, 2013) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etedbert he/him Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 12 minutes ago, alder24 said: Well, Shardic Intent is not writing itself onto the Spirit Web of the Vessel, it is just influencing their mind. If a Vessel were to drop their Shard, the influence of its Intent over their mind would eventually fade. But they will remain a Sliver, which is an expanded soul, and that might be inherited to some degree. Reveal hidden contents Argent (paraphrased) If Ati had somehow managed to give up Ruin and returned to being a regular person, would his mind have gradually reverted from its corruption by Ruin's intent, or would he always be determined to destroy? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) Over time Ruin's influence would fade, but Ati would remain a Sliver, so there would be some permanent effects. Steelheart Chicago signing (Oct. 5, 2013) I’m a prophet anyways, that’s a great point! I’d be curious to see what effect that could have on someone if it ever took place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmcclure7 Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 11 hours ago, Block said: Is it possible for a Shard to have a child? If a Shard had a child with another Shard would the child have the powers of a Shard? Would it create a whole new Shard? Or if a Shard had a child with a human, would it create a sort of "half-shard"? Does anyone know if there are any WoBs of this or something similar? Shards don't have bodies so it's unlikely they could have a child at least in traditional way. Theoretically they couldn't make a child or at least a creature that half its DNA. Or maybe even a clone of them. But unless they gave them special powers There are mere ancestry would not grant them anything new. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewsTherinTelescope Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 22 hours ago, alder24 said: Well, Shardic Intent is not writing itself onto the Spirit Web of the Vessel, it is just influencing their mind. If a Vessel were to drop their Shard, the influence of its Intent over their mind would eventually fade. But they will remain a Sliver, which is an expanded soul, and that might be inherited to some degree. I'd argue that while the influence fades, we see with Rashek and perhaps Kelsier that it doesn't necessarily disappear. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alder24 Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 14 hours ago, LewsTherinTelescope said: I'd argue that while the influence fades, we see with Rashek and perhaps Kelsier that it doesn't necessarily disappear. Possible. He stagnated the Empire for a thousand of years, but it took some time to establish this system, he even tried to end it at one point, so I don’t think this is solely because of being a Sliver. He seems like a nostalgic person (which was partially influenced by Ruin), buried in the past and most importantly just bored. He didn't really care as long as he stayed in charge. I feel like he was just that kind of person, but it's possible that being a Sliver of Preservation had some small, lasting effects on his mind. Kelsier is a Cognitive Shadow so his situation is a bit different. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuantumAce Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 15 hours ago, LewsTherinTelescope said: I'd argue that while the influence fades, we see with Rashek and perhaps Kelsier that it doesn't necessarily disappear. There may be influence that persists as more of a tendency after the direct shardic intent fades. Rashek and Kelsier were both influenced by Ruin on top of holding the power of Preservation. That could cause any level of hand wavy/yet to be defined weirdness. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusk'our he/him Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 2 hours ago, QuantumAce said: Rashek and Kelsier were both influenced by Ruin on top of holding the power of Preservation. That could cause any level of hand wavy/yet to be defined weirdness. Technically, yes, but neither held a substantial portion of Ruin's essence, so that influence would be incredibly weak compared to Preservation's Connection to them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Returned Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 1 hour ago, Trusk'our said: Technically, yes, but neither held a substantial portion of Ruin's essence, so that influence would be incredibly weak compared to Preservation's Connection to them. That's a good point, though I think it's worth mentioning that Ruin's influence on Kelsier was enough to make him a poor Vessel for Preservation regardless of his well above average Connection to the latter. There may be some fuzziness there though, as aspects of character may be relevant beyond actually directly interacting with Shardic powers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuantumAce Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 1 hour ago, Trusk'our said: Technically, yes, but neither held a substantial portion of Ruin's essence, so that influence would be incredibly weak compared to Preservation's Connection to them. Correct. It may not have a direct impact on this conversation, but the connection popped into my head as I was replying. Currently in the middle of a Mistborn re-read so it was fresh on my mind. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.