Sythrin Posted November 26, 2024 Posted November 26, 2024 I think the concept of a shadow that is independent of the other shards and maybe is impossible to kill because right now it is impossible to create adonalsiums antilight perhaps, quite interesting. But maybe this would go to close into Wit territory.
alder24 Posted November 26, 2024 Posted November 26, 2024 9 minutes ago, Sythrin said: I think the concept of a shadow that is independent of the other shards and maybe is impossible to kill because right now it is impossible to create adonalsiums antilight perhaps, quite interesting. But maybe this would go to close into Wit territory. I couldn't find any, the closest one asked if Adonalsium left a Cognitive Shadow, but it's certainly possible for Cognitive Shadows to exist before the Shattering simply because the mechanism of creating them is Shard-independent - you just have to be sufficiently invested in the moment of death to become one. However, pre-Shattering Cognitive Shadows would still have their investiture assigned to Shards after the Shattering, just like everything else, spren included, was assigned to the 16 during the Shattering. Investiture of Cognitive Shadows would be tied to Adonalsium because it came from him and thus it would change just like everything else. That Cognitive Shadow would not be independent of Shards and it wouldn't be impossible to kill. Tthere are many, many ways to kill a Cognitive Shadow, anti-light is just one of them and anti-light doesn't even have to match to annihilate. And even if they were made out of Adonalsium's pure investiture, that would mean it still has it's own Tone and frequency, which can be used and reversed to create anti-light once people learn how to convert Stormlight into other forms of investiture, which is possible. WoBs: Spoiler Ninety Did Adonalisum leave a Cognitive Shadow? And if so, has Hoid spoken to it? Brandon Sanderson RAFO; good question. There's an enormous RAFO. YouTube Livestream 35 (Sept. 9, 2021) Spoiler Questioner I think there's a flaw in my understanding of Cognitive Shadows. I assume that... they would have more visibility into the Cognitive Realm, like a Herald would be able to see spren more easily, that kind of thing. Is that incorrect? Brandon Sanderson That is incorrect. A Cognitive Shadow simply means a copy of the Cognitive side made by a deep amount of Investiture. And everybody has a Cognitive side. Basically it's a fake soul. Or, fake is the wrong term. Fake is the wrong term. Even in-world they don't know if it's really them or not. It is Investiture has replaced the Investiture that is fleeing from them as they die, or enhancing it in some way to keep it around. So some Cognitive Shadows trapped on the Cognitive Realm are going to be-- have a lot of Cognitive-- I mean, they're there, right? But some Cognitive Shadows inhabiting a body in the same way that your mind inhabits your body, the way the cosmere works... So a Herald is going to feel like they are alive just like-- but their soul has been somehow transformed. It's not really transformed, it's been reproduced or copied by an injection of Investiture... And I'll say for the purpose of the recordings, I haven't canonized any of that terminology that I just used about Cognitive Shadows. I'm just talking about it, I'm not necessarily saying that this is how you are supposed to refer to it. You can refer to it however you want. I've often used the metaphor of how fossils get made. When a fossil is made there is a pattern and it is slowly replaced with another substance that is stronger and more endurant, and has the shape of it, but is it still the bone? When you have a fossil bone is it the dinosaur bone? In most cases no, but yes. It's the ship of Theseus sort of thing again. Is this the bone or is it not? Is this the soul? Is this the person or is it not? That's the same sort of thing is happening with Cognitive Shadows. And it's happening on all three Realms to an extent, though of course the body is not. The body stays. It's happening on two Realms. It's happening Spiritually, mostly Cognitively. Orem signing (March 10, 2018) Spoiler Sweetness Since the evil on Threnody isn't a Shard, can you tell us anything about its nature? Is it an actual being, and is it related to Adonalsium? Brandon Sanderson Everything is related, in the Cosmere, to Adonalsium. Most of the magic you're seeing is a just a natural outgrowth of Cosmere-related magic, you're seeing Cognitive Shadows. The Evil is similarly related. Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing (March 21, 2014) Spoiler Overlord Jebus Is all Investiture in the cosmere associated with a Shard? Brandon Sanderson Yes, well, okay. So this is a complicated one. *pauses* So, Investiture predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, all Investiture was from Adonalsium, all Investiture got assigned to one of the 16 Shards when Adonalsium was Shattered. Some of the Investiture was not on Yolen but location is irrelevant. So Investiture is related to Shards even on planets where none of the Shards are inhabiting. Overlord Jebus Are they aware of that Investiture? Brandon Sanderson That's part of the whole seeing into the infinite, being beyond even the power of a Shard. So, technically you could make the argument that Harmony could feel the sense of Preservation on every world in the cosmere, right? Because the building blocks of all life and creation are these things. Overlord Jebus So the Shard of Preservation embodies all preservation in the cosmere? Brandon Sanderson Yes but he just can't do that, right? Like, he's not infinite. The Vessels are not, even if their minds are enormously expanded by holding a Shard, they are not infinite. The Connection is all there in the Spiritual Realm. Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017) Spoiler Chaos So, at the Forbidden Planet signing you said that when Adonalsium was Shattered, all Investiture in the cosmere was associated to one of the Shards... So, what happened with Adonalsium's spren on Roshar? Were those associated to Honor and Cultivation? What happened with them? Brandon Sanderson So they were very-- They were already associated to certain parts of Adonalsium and they went with those associations. There's a lot of Cultivation in all of the spren, particularly the natural spren. Footnote: Chaos is referencing this exchange. Salt Lake City signing (Dec. 16, 2017) Spoiler R'Shara Does anti-Investiture react to a different Shard’s Investiture in any significant way? Brandon Sanderson The answer is kind of a no, kind of a yes. Mostly a no. Anti-Investiture is going to have an explosive reaction. But the thing is, if it’s anti-Investiture of a specific Shard, that explosion is much grander. But you can make that explosion happen in a just antimatter-and-matter same sort of thing. But you can make the explosion bigger. Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 14, 2022) 4
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