Harmony vs. Discord

[Display-Names-Are-Stupid]

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread, first post and unsure where exactly to put it, but have tagged spoilers.

If Harmony's Intent did shift to Discord, would he get a new God Metal and Perpendicularity? 

Or is his metal and location just linked to the fact that he holds both Shards, not the Intent of the joined shard? 

Edited April 11 by Display-Names-Are-Stupid

[CtrlAltDepressed]

7 minutes ago, Display-Names-Are-Stupid said:

If Harmony's Intent did shift to Discord, would he get a new God Metal and Perpendicularity? 

I think that the physical pieces of Harmonium that exists would stay as Harmonium, but any new God Metal Produced at the perpendicularity would be Discordium and would presumably have different properties.

 

There is an argument to be made that he is already Discord and is denying it to himself / resisting the truth. I think some evidence of this can be seen through the properties of Harmonium. You wouldn't think that the god metal of Harmony would be the most destructive substance we've seen to date, in addition to being virtually unusable in all of the metallic arts.

 

I think the perpendicularity would stay where it is unless he decided to move it, which is certainly possible with a drastic shift in Intent. 

[Quantus he/him]

Not immediately or automatically. WOB says that generally the properties of the Godmetal dont immediately change when the Vessel Changes hands.  It was way more dramatic with harmonium because of the two shards getting combined.  I expect the same to generally hold for the Perpendicularities in that they wouldnt move without effort on the part of the new Vessel (be that rearranging the geography en masse like in era1 or just literally willing it to manifest elsewhere).  

 

Quote

 

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

If Kelsier created a metal while holding Preservation that it would have acted the same as lerasium, though over time the properties of it might shift.

Footnote: Unspecified question by Ted Herman
Arcanum Unbounded Hoboken signing (Dec. 3, 2016)

 

 

 

[alder24]

2 hours ago, Display-Names-Are-Stupid said:

If Harmony's Intent did shift to Discord, would he get a new God Metal and Perpendicularity? 

I think it's possible for Harmonium to change property. Harmonium is unstable because it represents two halves of Sazed that aren't fitted together well. If as a Discord he manages to mix them better than Harmony, Harmonium might become more stable, if not it should not change at all. The name will probably change to Discodrium no matter what. Either way both options are likely, it depends.

But a perpendicularity would stay as it is - unless he chooses to relocate it, or create a new one. A perpendicularity is not about the nature of a Shard, it's just a result of a massive concentration of investiture in one place, that pierces realms.

Spoiler

Mason Wheeler

Harmonium is ettmetal... Its chemicals properties are sort of analogous to cesium. It explodes in contact with water. People are made out of water. You try to spike someone, you try to swallow it, you try to wear it as jewelry, it will not end well. Why in the world would he pick something so inharmonious?

Brandon Sanderson

He didn't pick it. It's unstable because of the two halves of him not meshing well.

Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017)

 

Spoiler

Ironeyes

So harmonium, we have a working theory that the reason it's so volatile is because some of the subatomic particles are associated with Ruin and some of them are [of?] Preservation. Is that true?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, that's basically what's going on is that it's creating a very unstable metal. Now, it is in the nature of the Cosmere not a compound but an element. But, you could call it a subatomic particle sure. It's very volatile because it is in nature spiritually in contrast with itself. And so though it is a single element rather than a compound, the spiritual nature is not happy as it is, and you can set up in the physical realm, through reactivity things that would just rip it apart and really your energy is not, your energy in that is actually pulling from the Spiritual realm, and so that's why it can be so much more explosive than even the chemistry would account for.

[...]

Boskone 54 (Feb. 19, 2017)

 

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

If Kelsier created a metal while holding Preservation that it would have acted the same as lerasium, though over time the properties of it might shift.

Footnote: Unspecified question by Ted Herman
Arcanum Unbounded Hoboken signing (Dec. 3, 2016)

 

Spoiler

Backslash330

Are Shards limited to one per perpendicularity? Can a non-Splintered Shard control where and how their perpendicularity manifests?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, but yes on the second.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 20, 2018)

 

Edit:

2 hours ago, Display-Names-Are-Stupid said:

Or is his metal and location just linked to the fact that he holds both Shards, not the Intent of the joined shard? 

Properties of a god metal are linked to the Intent (and intents of both Shards Ruin and Preservation that made Harmony/Discord), location of a perpendicularity is not - it's either deliberately chosen spot, or natural manifestation because there was a lot of investiture in that area (like for example there was Ruin's perpendicularity in the Pits of Hathsin, which was destroyed when Kelsier destroyed the Pits - no investiture, no perpendicularity).

Edited April 11 by alder24

[Display-Names-Are-Stupid]

2 hours ago, CtrlAltDepressed said:

There is an argument to be made that he is already Discord and is denying it to himself / resisting the truth. I think some evidence of this can be seen through the properties of Harmonium. You wouldn't think that the god metal of Harmony would be the most destructive substance we've seen to date, in addition to being virtually unusable in all of the metallic arts.

Ooooh, that's an interesting take! I always did wonder why Harmonium was so volatile. I understand that the 2 Shards have opposing Intents, but with Sazed claiming 'Harmony' it felt like his metal should reflet that.

24 minutes ago, alder24 said:

But a perpendicularity would stay as it is - unless he chooses to relocate it, or create a new one. A perpendicularity is not about the nature of a Shard, it's just a result of a massive concentration of investiture in one place, that pierces realms.

That's right! It's created by the sheer volume of Investiture, hence Threnody having an incredibly unstable one. The mechanics had slipped my mind a bit.