Shards/Dawnshard division

[Caged_Drifter]

Hey guys! This is my first post on the 17th shard and is my own take on a fairly common theory.

I feel very confident that the shards are separated in 4 sets of 4. One set by dawnshard.

Dawshards are stated to be the commands used by good ol’ Ado to create the Cosmere and I believe we’ve heard at least 3 of them already.

 

 

The first one is obvious: CHANGE. That one is made explicit in Dawnshard and is currently held by Rysn.

 

The second hasn’t been confirmed but I think a very strong contender would be the command to SURVIVE and has been heard by Kelsier (I do not yet have an explanation why and I do not think he’s ever actually held it as it’s the most likely to have been held by Hoid and Zellion). The last unnamed Shard would belong to that group.

 

My third guess is the command heard by Dalinar to UNITE. This is due to him hearing it in a similar manner as Kelsier heard the 2nd one ( An order, or command , in all caps and no clear origin).

 

The fourth and last one has caused me some headaches. I kept trying to make the distribution work using the command DESTROY but couldn’t make it work perfectly as I needed 4 shards out of the known 15 to fit in and every try required leaps of logic to make it work.

However, I read a WOB stating the 1 of the dwanshards is different from the others and that inspired me to try to use the command FEEL instead and it made everything fall into place much more neatly. 
 

I also think that they will be classify with some sort of internal/external + push/pull division. I don’t know how to make the push/pull work though so I’m open to suggestions.
 

 

So, without further explanation, I present to you my own personal Shards/Dawnshard classification:

 

 

CHANGE:

-Ruin (external)

-Cultivation (external)

-Invention (internal)

-Virtuosity (internal)

 

UNITE:

-Dominion (external)

-Endowment (external)

-Ambition (internal)

-Honor (internal)

 

SURVIVE:

-Preservation (external)

-Mercy (external)

-Autonomy (internal) 

-Unknown (internal)

 

FEEL:

-Odium (external)

-Devotion (external)

-Whimsy (internal)

-Valor (internal)

 

Obviously things could change based off how the Shards we haven’t seen yet express their intent. Ambition, Virtuosity and Valor being the most likely to be switched around imo.

Anyway, lmk what you guys think.

 

 

[iceblade44 he/him]

Very cool. For me personally though I see the divide more to shared themes and natures.

Like I'd have it something like this

Possible groups

- Mercy, Valor, and Honor

- Odium, Devotion, and Ambition

- Autonomy, Endowment, and Dominion

- Preservation, Ruin, and Cultivation 

- Virtuosity and Invention 

These are the themes I'm picking up anyway.

Whimsy is Whimsy, and the last one is unknown.

[Caged_Drifter]

Thanks for answering! That’s pretty much where I started from! I like to base my theory more from a narrative perspective than a crumbs one but I love your way to bring them together. However, bringing ruin and preservation together just doesn’t make sense due to how opposed they’ve been portrayed. So I’ll stick to my guess for now.

Very interesting take tho! Even though I still think I’m correct, I also believe I could easily be wrong 

I see the themes, but I am 100% willing to bet my life on the fact that it will be four groups of four 

[Xiahida]

Welcome to the Shard!

These all seem to fit really well. The internal/external concept has arguments for it to fit and not, I think it is purely preference.

10 hours ago, Caged_Drifter said:

I see the themes, but I am 100% willing to bet my life on the fact that it will be four groups of four 

As proof of this, the tapestry in Dawnshard has a sun split into four groups of four.