Why Autonomy Has Avatars

[Lightspine]

The situation with Ba Ado Mishram being a better candidate to hold Odium than Rayse got me thinking about the whole business Autonomy has with avatars, and makes me wonder how willing of a participant Bavadin is in it.

Bavadin is still the current holder of Autonomy, and seems to have Invested Taldain's sun. However, her avatars are spread elsewhere throughout the star systems of the Cosmere. But what is the difference between the shardholder and her avatars? Are they truly unified in their purpose, and are their power imbalances at play?

"The sun could love the stars. But never as an equal."

Gavilar's quote reminded me of Trell and Nalt. As a refresher, Trell is an avatar of Autonomy (or is meant to represent one) with "a thousand eyes" represented by the stars. Nalt is an opposing god whose single, glaringly bright eye is the sun.

It's always tickled me a little that this seems to pit the avatars of Autonomy (the stars) against Autonomy herself (Taldain's sun?). But what if there is indeed a contest going on between Bavadin and the avatars?

My theory is this: even if Bavadin is a fitting vessel, the power of Autonomy seeks independence and "survival of the fittest." It thus aligns with its Intent to create avatars, irregardless of Bavadin's will. Bavadin may then be under constant pressure to appease Autonomy lest she become an Avatar and one of her avatars ascends to Vesselhood. Likewise, the avatars (like Telsin) seek to prove themselves and take Bavadin's place. This could have been the fuel for the invasion of Scadrial.

I don't have much direct evidence of this, but there's this WoB that made me think this was possible:

Quote

Oversleep

Okay now I have one about Shard avatars, like Autonomy's. Is it possible for one to form without the Shard's Vessel directly making it, so independent...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it is. They would be aware of it, however. They couldn't not be aware of it, but it could arise without their direct and conscious decision to do so.

Oversleep

And the one on First of the Sun, is it by Autonomy's direct...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is directly created.

Prague Signing (Oct. 26, 2019)

 

(Mind, it does imply that Patiji was created intentionally)

[Ripheus23]

I'd be willing to bet that you're on to something, it sounds like a great schematic for a subplot/arc as the saga goes along. Cultivation seems to strongly indicate that at least one of the fundamental justifications for the Shattering involved some no-one-god-only protocol. Insofar as Rayse and Bavadin seem to see somewhat eye to eye on something having to do with the don't-have-multiple-Shards-in-the-same-area policy after the Shattering, and Autonomy's offworld meddling seems on the surface to be as far from avoidance of the other Shards as possible, yet what if the thing is that the process of distributing one's importance as the Vessel of a Shard, into Avatars, more deeply goes against the kind of process that would reassemble Adonalsium "by default" as time goes on? And/or is a way to deflect the "danger" of getting merged with another Shard? Imagine that Rayse might have reasoned like, "Well, she is specifically doing something that aligns in a certain useful way with my aversion to picking up other Shards, due to the Intent-merging risk," and had a tolerance(?) for her actions to where she could go on to plausibly convince herself that Rayse/Odium wasn't so bad/dangerous himself after all, relative to her anyway, and whatever his evident ambitions seemed to be.

But then, the very anti-monotheism dynamic of forming entire pantheons on multiple planets, out of Avatars, is what would render Bavadin/Autonomy vulnerable to this exotic internal conflict? Bavadin is compelled to challenge herself for self-dominance again and again, fulfilling the Intent of the Shard like a puppet almost, rather than a truly autonomous being. And ultimately, to carry out her own preordinate Intent, she has to try for some concord with her Shard anyway, so it'd be a fine line to walk/delicate balance to maintain. Like, if she was deeply dedicated to the anti-monotheism aspect of the Shattering, she really would have an enduring ground for hostility towards Shards who did things that knowingly would contribute to the re/emergence of a super-Shard, maybe not Adonalsium anew really, but still something catastrophic enough to become a new mono-theos in the cosmere; and she'd also have a reason to distribute the worth of her own Shard through the sub-cosmere of her Avatars?