A full proposed list of opposite Shard Intents

[Ladoneye he/him]

With the reveal of the final Shard intent being Reason, race to make tables and groupings of Shards has already begun, but ever since I read Mistborn Era I I always theorized that different Shard Intents could have opposites, pushes and pulls, like Preservation and Ruin do, and I'm surprised just how little I've seen this idea on the forums. It could be that I'm just not paying enough attention lol, but regardless, here is my list and reasoning for each Shard pairing, and I'm interested in what you all think. 

 

Preservation - Ruin

This one is pretty obvious, and is made clear during Era I, them being the embodiments of stasis and entropy, permanence and change. It's also displayed in Era II, in Harmony's inability to act because of the polarity of the Intents. I find it notable that Retribution has no such limitation, so it's not a side effect of being a double Shard. You could argue that Ruin and Preservation are a special case, but again, I feel that it's simpler than that. 

 

Endowment - Cultivation

This one makes a lot of sense to me, because it's the relationship between having something be given to you, vs having it be built up, cultivated, over time. One has the sense of something more immediate, or involving an exchange, and the other is a slow build, involving care and toil. Not to say that Endowment doesn't care, and the magic systems and actual personalities of the Vessels aren't really as significant in this discussion as simply the Intents themselves, as we understand them. 

 

Honor - Mercy

This one is interesting, and in my mind has only become strengthened by the new perspective on Honor offered to us by the events of Wind and Truth. That being the idea that Honor is not morality, and in some cases is even a lack of such, as it only really cares about keeping one's word, and holding to Oaths, even if there are terrible things being sworn. Mercy is the willingness to break oaths, forgive debts, and do what is right despite the fact that punishment might be "justified". Think of honor killings, or the old samurai tradition of seppuku, wherein they kill themselves to avoid shame falling upon their family or to atone for grievous crimes. Mercy can also be violent, and the term "mercy kill" is also one that exists, but it is quite often pitted against the idea of honor in history and pop culture.

 

Autonomy - Dominion

Now, we don't know much about Dominion from Elantris, other than the effects that her presence had on the landscape of Sel. However, looking simply at the word we've been given to describe the Shard's Intent, it makes the most sense to associate it with domination, control, and hierarchy. This doesn't necessarily mean subjugation or oppression, as we've seen pretty much every Shard has both a good and bad side/interpretation, but you could see how Autonomy would play against Dominion, being the soul of freedom and self-determination. Again, Bavadin herself is rather domineering, but I bring up again that the Vessel's personality isn't relevant.

 

Invention - Virtuosity

These two Shards stand out a little bit among the others, but when you get into it a little bit, it makes sense that they would be opposites, because they are essentially the difference between form and function. Invention --as it has been interpreted by the fandom thus far-- is often viewed as a creature of industry, mechanics, Grand Apparatuses, if you will (Apparati?). Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and thus Invention seeks to remedy problems. Hoid has, many times, asserted that art is pointless, and loses meaning when it is given a function. Whether or not you agree with this point of view, it displays a clear opposition between art (Virtuosity) and Invention.

 

Devotion - Whimsy

This is another pairing which could be relatively obvious. Devotion is commitment, consistency, and even divine love and compassion as we've been told in WaT. Whimsy is by definition flippant, capricious, and relatively uncaring, jumping from idea to idea, whim to whim, without consistency or commitment to anything.

 

Odium - Reason

This was a pairing that I was so satisfied to be able to make a connection on. For so long I had been waiting to find a good foil for Odium, and with the introduction of Reason, I believe it can be the only answer. We've gotten really up close and personal with Odium in the last two Stormlight books, and its Intent has been introduced as a thing which feeds on emotion, sacrificing logic for passion. We see this in Taravangian and his condition before he ascended, where his compassion and ability to feel emotions could not exist at the same time as his practicality and stark decision making. It's the head vs the heart. We know very little about Reason, but I think that the word that was eventually chosen is the perfect opposite to Odium.

 

Valor - Ambition

Now... this pairing is the only one I'm still working out, and I'm not sure I have a full explanation for how they could be opposites. We know so little about either of them, and they were sort of the leftovers when I was making a chart, but in talking with others we've theorized that it could potentially be something along the lines of Valor being self-sacrifice and bravery in defending others, and Ambition is looking out for one's own self or kin? It's difficult because these two words could in some cases be interpreted as synonyms, and have the same sort of zeal and innate sense of action in them, but I think there could be an argument made.

 

So that's all that I have, and I'm interested to hear what you all think!

[Ripheus23]

My two spheres about this generally: on a formal/mathematical kind of level, we can differentiate between forms of opposition/contrariety. For example, a term X might have an additive opposite -X, or a multiplicative opposite 1/X (c.f. division itself as repeated subtraction "tending to zero"). A might be opposite B on the same list as B is on; or A and B might be on entirely different lists, with the lists themselves being opposites (we consolidate each list as some Y-term, then put Y and Y' on opposite ends of a meta-list, and so on and on).

So, we can find conceptual/thematic oppositions of various kinds, between various Shards. You can find good narrative evidence (so to speak) that this or that opposition is given here or there, but you'll have to be careful to avoid formal trivialization of the "proofs" (making sure that the premises you're using don't accidentally lead to a bunch of random other oppositions/pairings, etc.). Passion (as Odium) vs. Reason, for example, makes good IRL-historical sense. But Odium vs. Devotion (as Love) also makes sense, etc. (and I think that there might be a WoB about that very case???).

[Duneye]

49 minutes ago, Ripheus23 said:

Passion (as Odium) vs. Reason, for example, makes good IRL-historical sense. But Odium vs. Devotion (as Love) also makes sense, etc. (and I think that there might be a WoB about that very case???).

Odium as the opposite of Devotion makes more sense to me, for the reasons you've given and because Odium is, canonically, the Shard of hatred, not Passion, per WoB.

Spoiler

yulerule

So, we have Shard names; Ruin, Preservation, Harmony, Cultivation, Honor, Ambition, Autonomy, Devotion, Dominion. Those are pretty much regular English words. And then we have Odium. That's a little more Latinate. It's not-- It doesn't fit the pattern.

Brandon Sanderson

So I don't really look as something as Latinate or Germanic, when I'm picking the names usually.

yulerule

But this one is more. Even in Devotion or Dominion, they're still more regular English. Why?

Brandon Sanderson

I just look for the thing that feels right. Remember, all these words are in translation. When you read the book, they were a word in the original language of the book, that then we have translated to English. And so, don't look to much about what's Greek, what's Latin, what's Germanic. I will mix those a lot. And that's just because I'm looking for the word that has right resonance in English, that I'm writing in. You might even find Latin and Greek mixes in some of my stuff. And that's not done to be like, "Oh, you should be paying [attention]." Usually, I'm just looking for a flavor.

yulerule

So it's the flavor-- Because I actually did have it - they're all translations, why not Hatred [instead of Odium?] 

Brandon Sanderson

Because Odium is cooler. It just sounds cooler. There is no answer other than "I like the word better."

yulerule

Is there any connection with the thought that it's not Hatred? Because in Oathbringer, he says he's Passion?

Brandon Sanderson

He would claim that he's Passion and not Odium. But that is part of why I chose it. Hatred felt too on-the-nose, because there is quite arguably that step toward just being all Passion, and that's what he claims that he is.

yulerule

His own perception of himself, can perception, in the cosmere, can that influence?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it can influence.

yulerule

So the Shard's Intent can--

Brandon Sanderson

Can be influenced by their perception and the holder's, yes.

JordanCon 2018 (April 20, 2018)

This swap would also make Whimsy the opposite of Reason (assuming no other shards change opposites), which to me is reasonable. Whimsy, being silly/arbitrary, doing things simply because you feel like as opposed to Reason, only acting when logic dictates, listening to your brain instead of your heart.

 

2 hours ago, Ladoneye said:

Valor - Ambition

Now... this pairing is the only one I'm still working out, and I'm not sure I have a full explanation for how they could be opposites. We know so little about either of them, and they were sort of the leftovers when I was making a chart, but in talking with others we've theorized that it could potentially be something along the lines of Valor being self-sacrifice and bravery in defending others, and Ambition is looking out for one's own self or kin? It's difficult because these two words could in some cases be interpreted as synonyms, and have the same sort of zeal and innate sense of action in them, but I think there could be an argument made.

Now this one kind of depends on your interpretation of Ambition. Is it the selfish desire to achieve great success for yourself to the detriment of anyone who gets in your way? Or is simply having grand ideas and working hard enough to be Ambitious? Personally, I think it would be the former: no holds barred drive towards self-gain, no remorse, no Mercy.

But even if it is, is that really the opposite of Valor? The google definition just being "great courage in the face of danger," but with synonyms like heroism and gallantry, it feels more... selfless. Certainly a selfishly ambitious person would be unlikely to display Valor, as the valorous would put themselves in harm's way to save others, but perhaps they would if displaying that valor would result in their gain somehow. I agree with your conclusion here, the two feel opposing in some respects, but I'm not sure I can make a logical case as to them being total opposites.

Edited December 31, 2024 by Duneye

[Acolyte of Radiance]

Swap devotion and whimsy

[lostlittlebear]

I agree that Odium’s better counterpart is Devotion.

I think Ambition’s most logical opposite is Whimsy. Ambition suggests acting to fulfill a consistent, defined goal, while Whimsy acts in service of goals that are by definition whimsical or ill defined. 

Valor’s opposite would then be Reason, which makes sense since Valor is about acting in the moment while Reason would have one think before they act. 

[RedBlue]

 

Quote

 

Shardbound

Do all Shards have a direct paired opposite intent...

Brandon Sanderson

No, I would say no, they do not all have a directly paired opposite intent.

Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017)

 

I went through some old WOBs and found this.

There are a bunch of WOBs where Brandon implies, without stating it outright, that sorting Shards into four groups of four is a correct line of theorising. But it seems that trying to sort Shards into opposing pairs is not something that works across the board. Some of them happen to have Intents that oppose each other, but I don’t think there’s anything structural underpinning that.

[TheoreticalMagic]

I think the big problem with opposing Shard Intents is that the Shards are intentionally subjective to a large degree. I can't remember where, but there was an old quote where someone asked Brandon once if Ruin hadn't ended up on a planet with Preservation, is there another Shard he could be a polar opposite to, and he said Cultivation and Ruin would be just as diametrically opposed as Ruin and Preservation, their opposition would just present differently.

So I think the problem we'll always run into is there are a great many ways the Shards COULD be positioned relative or opposite to each other. (And with acknowledgment that Brandon's also said not every Shard has a direct opposite, as pointed out above). Its kind of a "no technically wrong answers" situation. The real trick I think is just figuring out which BRANDON would position as his preferred opposition for any given Shard, when exploring this topic - even as a thought experiment.

For instance....I think a strong case could be made for Reason and Whimsy being contentious opposites. But at the same time - and with this being a big part of my belief that Reason has been hidden on Roshar all along and will be a big player in the later five Stormlight Archive books - I think Reason more likely sits opposite Odium in Brandon's view of things or plans.

My reasoning (heh) is based entirely on Taravangian having succeeded Rayse as Odium.

The entire nature of Taravangian's boon & curse....the foundation of his entire character arc, his basic premise....is the divide between emotion and intellect. The question of whether those things are in opposition or just juxtaposition. Taravangian increasingly becomes a man at war with himself, especially after he Ascends to Odium. This book repeatedly labels him "a god divided"....with the divide being starkly and explicitly defined as having Reason on one side and Emotion on the other.

And as Taravangian becomes more and more consumed by Odium's Intent over the course of the book, that divide gradually transforms into being Reason vs Odium.

Even as Retribution, I think Reason has been perfectly queued up to be the ideal opposition to Taravangian, and I think its Vessel realizing this is what has prompted its shift away from being the Shard who only wants to hide and survive, to one who realizes that is not the best path forward.

One of the most interesting things about Retribution is that its Intent doesn't match Taravangian NEARLY as well as Odium, or Reason, or multiple other Intents would. Oh, he can work with it well enough - at least for now, I think - but its not as clear or direct a fit for him as other Shards are for other Vessels. Taravangian is not particularly motivated by Retribution in particular....he definitely has vindictive tendencies, moments where he wants to avenge others, etc, but I wouldn't call Retribution a driving force for him specifically. Which I do think is part of Dalinar's gambit and provides wiggle room for the power of Retribution to become disenchanted with its Vessel and potentially predisposed to leaving him for a better suited Vessel, similar to how Bo-Ado-Mishram was a potential rival for the power of Odium.

What I'm curious about moving forward is the possibility that Taravangian might target Reason as his preferred next Shard to subsume....in an attempt to get back to what he considers his Peak Operating Platform....when he strikes that balance between intellect and emotion just so. And if Reason did get added to Retribution, that might not be a bad thing at all, actually....because Taravangian WAS better when he held his two aspects juxtaposed rather than in opposition. The irony of course is that he started OUT seeing his value as being tied to what he was capable of at his smartest, but he grew increasingly concerned that he was losing something vital when disconnected to his passions, the emotions that drove him to WANT to find various outcomes with his intellect. It could be argued that this is what led him down the road to becoming Odium, more than anything else....believing that his more intellectual side was the more dangerous, while he was at his most human when emotive.....but he took things too far in that direction, and now I could see him becoming desperate to add an external booster shot of Reason in an attempt to swing the pendulum back.

 

Edited January 7, 2025 by TheoreticalMagic

[Nitpicking]

3 hours ago, TheoreticalMagic said:

I think the big problem with opposing Shard Intents is that the Shards are intentionally subjective to a large degree. I can't remember where, but there was an old quote where someone asked Brandon once if Ruin hadn't ended up on a planet with Preservation, is there another Shard he could be a polar opposite to, and he said Cultivation and Ruin would be just as diametrically opposed as Ruin and Preservation, their opposition would just present differently.

Contrariwise, I think Cultivation and Preservation would also be opposed. Cultivation wants to change things constantly. Preservation wants (at its base level) to freeze everything into perfect stasis forever.

[TheoreticalMagic]

Just now, Nitpicking said:

Contrariwise, I think Cultivation and Preservation would also be opposed. Cultivation wants to change things constantly. Preservation wants (at its base level) to freeze everything into perfect stasis forever.

Oh I would definitely agree with that as well.

[Nitpicking]

If one Vessel took up both Cultivation and Ruin, I think you'd get something weird (to us humans) like Fermentation.

(And that's my Crack Theory of the Day.)

[OoklaApologist She/her]

2 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

If one Vessel took up both Cultivation and Ruin, I think you'd get something weird (to us humans) like Fermentation.

I love this intent. 

[Asininity]

2 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

If one Vessel took up both Cultivation and Ruin, I think you'd get something weird (to us humans) like Fermentation.

Shard of Booze and Funky Flavors, finally a god I've been waiting for

[Nitpicking]

43 minutes ago, Asininity said:

Shard of Booze and Funky Flavors, finally a god I've been waiting for

What is cheese but the cultivation of ruin?

[Ladoneye he/him]

On 1/7/2025 at 4:19 AM, TheoreticalMagic said:

My reasoning (heh) is based entirely on Taravangian having succeeded Rayse as Odium.

The entire nature of Taravangian's boon & curse....the foundation of his entire character arc, his basic premise....is the divide between emotion and intellect. The question of whether those things are in opposition or just juxtaposition. Taravangian increasingly becomes a man at war with himself, especially after he Ascends to Odium. This book repeatedly labels him "a god divided"....with the divide being starkly and explicitly defined as having Reason on one side and Emotion on the other.

And as Taravangian becomes more and more consumed by Odium's Intent over the course of the book, that divide gradually transforms into being Reason vs Odium.

Even as Retribution, I think Reason has been perfectly queued up to be the ideal opposition to Taravangian, and I think its Vessel realizing this is what has prompted its shift away from being the Shard who only wants to hide and survive, to one who realizes that is not the best path forward.

Yeah you got right at the avenue that I was thinking down in putting Odium and Reason together, excellently put. I probably should also have been more clear originally in stating that I highly doubt that there will be actual "official" opposite Intents, but it's fun to theorize you know. So far I've seen a lot of people pitting Odium and Devotion against eachother, which I can understand cause it's tempting to look at one as "good emotion" and one as "bad emotion", but really Taravangian, as he's been built up to be, has really just been the expression of all emotion, all passion, and there have been times that he's expressed "good" emotions when in his more sympathetic times, like how he wants to see his family safe, or the love and respect he feels for Dalinar as a friend and a man of honor. I think that the shard itself was mostly born of that huge ability to process emotion, and then eventually gravitated toward Odium since hatred, animosity, these feelings are the easiest to spark and the easiest to let smolder in the form of grudges for generations, and as such makes for the best most powerful fuel for the Shard. I imagine Devotion less as simply Compassion, as I feel it would likely have been named something closer to that if it were, but more like a direction for emotion, as commitment, and solidarity, which you can definitely see in the way the Selish magic systems manifest from cultural identity. 

But yeah again I don't think there's a right or a wrong answer here, it's just been fun to theorize and this conversation has gone some really interesting places lol. 

 

23 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

If one Vessel took up both Cultivation and Ruin, I think you'd get something weird (to us humans) like Fermentation.

(And that's my Crack Theory of the Day.)

Also this would be so interesting to see, and I could imagine some kind of net positive magic systems where you'd hold a power and the longer you held onto it and let it stew in your body or whatever the more potent and strange it would become.

Somebody write to Dragonsteel and let me know we've cracked the Cheese Magic puzzle 

[rabidhexley]

I feel like funnily the goal is create any other combination that would also result in "Harmony". Harmony could also be described as Equilibrium, which is why it's so hard to act, why do anything when things are perfectly balanced?

 

I'm also surprised people are putting Odium with Devotion. I feel like Odium + Devotion would synergistically manifest as "Obsession".

 

Odium + Mercy or even Odium + Whimsy feel like stronger candidates to control Odium to me. Mercy because it sounds like it aligns with the drive let things go, the drive to have mercy dampening the drive to act on passion and hate. Whimsy because it feels like a general lack of overwhelming emotional drive, something whimsical wouldn't be passionate or thoughtful enough to hate.

 

I'm unsure about Odium + Reason, because you can often find very good reasons to hate something if you really try. Which could manifest as something akin to Malice, calculated cruelty. Ironically, this combination would likely be one of the worst-case scenarios to give Taravangian as he would likely be very good at justifying his motivations to Reason's intent.

Edited January 9, 2025 by rabidhexley