Dawnshard Theory and How to Categorize Shards

[LordOfStorms]

Not sure if this categorization has been theorized before, feel free to let me know! 

I ascribe to the idea that Adonalsium was split into quarters by each of the dawnshards, then each quarter was split again into sixteenths by the same dawnshards. Perhaps because they thought quarters would be too powerful, or maybe they just had more than 4 people who wanted a slice of divinity. 

When I picture BS sitting down to design the Dawnshards, I think he asked himself, on a philosophical level, what options are available to an object in the universe? Similar to Aristotle splitting matter up into 4 elements, BS wanted a decision tree to capture all possible outcomes for an object/person starting with 4 options. 

1. Exist (Confirmed): An object can continue to exist. In an RPG, this would be equivalent to passing your turn. Cosmere magic branching from Exist regenerates objects (regrowth, gold feruchemy) or brings into play other possible options for existance (gold allomancy, soulstamping, Connection)

2. Change (Confirmed): An object can change state, composition, etc. In an RPG this would be equivalent to swiitching a weapon or altering stats. Cosmere magic branching from Change alters the properties of an object (most feruchemy, soulcasting, hemalurgy, Aethers) 

3. Act (theorized): An object can perform an action, move location, or otherwise do something. In an RPG this would be equivalent to taking an action. Cosmere magic branching from Act affects the world around you (steel/iron allomancy, most surges). Notably, Stormlight is described as "driving people to action" which was noted as different from Towerlight. 

4. Think (theorized): An object/person can think, consider options, and make plans. In an RPG this mostly happens out-of-character. Cosmere magic branching from Think aids mental abilities and provides foresight (Fortune, atium, Truthwatching).

 

The dawnshardss were used to split Adonalsium into 4 pieces, then again to 16. The first split defined a type of Event and the second defined a type of Goal for that Event. Together, the pair of Event and Goal produced the Intent we see today. 

Event/Goal

Change/Change: Whimsy. The event of changing just for the sake of changing is Whimsy. 

Change/Existance: Ambition. Changing in order to promote your existence is Ambition. 

Change/Think: Dominion. Ownership is essentially changing what people think about something (who owns it). This one's iffy. 

Change/Action: Endowment. Changing something in order to support its actions is Endowment. 

 

Think/Think: Reason. Thinking in order to improve your thinking is using Reason. 

Think/Change: Invention. Thinking with the goal of promoting change is Invention. 

Think/Action: Honor. Thinking in order to guide your actions is Honor. 

Think/Exist: Mercy. Thinking with the goal of maintaining existence of others is Mercy. 

 

Exist/Exist: Preservation. Existing for the goal of promoting existence is Perservation. 

Exist/Change: Cultivation. Existence with with the goal of promoting change is Cultivation. Like how a gardener works to keep their garden existing yet with the goal of it changing (growing). 

Exist/Think: Virtuosity. Existence to promote thinking is Virtuosity 

Exist/Action: Devotion. Existing to support the actions of others is Devotion.

 

Action/Action: Autonomy. Action with no goal other than promoting your own actions is Autonomy. 

Action/Exist: Valor. Actions to maintain the existance of people is Valor. 

Action/Think: Odium. Actions for the sake of serving your own thoughts (emotions, passions) is Odium. 

Action/Change: Ruin. Actions to promote change is Ruin

 

If this categorization were accurate, it would explain some things about the cosmere. Honor and Odium work together well because they were formed by the same Dawnshards, just opposite order (Think/Action). Ruin and Preservation work together poorly because they were made from entirely different Dawnshards. It also might explain why some shards tend to be more passive (ones without Action) and some tend to be more proactive.  It also may explain why Reason was the last Shard to be named, because the Shards with the same Dawnshard for Event/Goal are somewhat easier to understand/predict- maybe he was hoping someone would figure out the dawnshards and then be able to predict Think/Think = Reason (or Contemplation). I also notice the 3 shards Odium killed eliminate the majority of possible synergistic pairings of Shards, with the exception of Ruin/Endowment  and Honor/Odium. Also, I think the "Dawnshard that is differnet from the others" is Think, which is concious and self-aware. 

What do you think? 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2025 by LordOfStorms

[Treamayne]

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7 hours ago, LordOfStorms said:

Not sure if this categorization has been theorized before, feel free to let me know! 

It has a number of threads, easily searched here. The Sharder FAQ also includes tips on how to search the forums for information and threads.

[Duneye]

A good theory, def similar to Dofurion's here, tho I prefer your Think to their Feel.

[CMac716]

2 hours ago, Duneye said:

A good theory, def similar to Dofurion's here, tho I prefer your Think to their Feel.

I think I'd prefer something more enveloping than think or feel. One only covers emotion and the other logic. Something like Understand hits both and leaves an opening for the more active side of things, like Act, though I do have issues with that too, but I can't really explain why....something like Experience makes me more comfortable and still involves doing things. 

[LordOfStorms]

3 hours ago, Duneye said:

A good theory, def similar to Dofurion's here, tho I prefer your Think to their Feel.

Wild, I haven't been on the forum for a while! Interesting to see how similar the logic is between our groupings and yet how different the actual groupings end up being. 

 

20 minutes ago, CMac716 said:

I think I'd prefer something more enveloping than think or feel. One only covers emotion and the other logic. Something like Understand hits both and leaves an opening for the more active side of things, like Act, though I do have issues with that too, but I can't really explain why....something like Experience makes me more comfortable and still involves doing things. 

I agree and couldn't quite come up with a better word than Think. Part of it is stylistic- all else equal BS would prefer a Dawnshard with a cool name. Though Change and Exist are short words so I don't know if he'd go with Understand. Some possible synonyms: Believe, Dream, Ponder

[CMac716]

Know?

[Duneye]

I've just noticed a trend with some of these Shards. At least three of them have to do with authority.

Dominion and Autonomy are obvious, but looking into different combinations of Shards and Dawnshards I found Mercy was defined as "kindness that makes you forgive someone, usually someone that you have authority over." Honor is kinda authority adjacent as well, or at least the way the Shard has interpreted it's Intent so far feels authoritative to some extent.

Since neither Dawnshard we know of directly makes sense for these (Dominion doesn't track with Exist or Change easily, Autonomy kinda makes sense with Exist tho) there has to be some Dawnshard that has to do with Authority in some way. Maybe something like Connect or... Influence! Influence works for both the authority Shards and our theorized Act Dawnshard. Affect could work as well, tho that may be too close to Change.

Edited January 24, 2025 by Duneye

[CMac716]

Another way to look at authority would be control or power. Which is another concept I've had rattling around. Every time I think I've got a possible answer I always run it thru a. Couple checklists and then try to use it for the Dawnshard pairings.

 

1. Is it a verb. It's a command so it has to be a call to action. Do this thing.

2. Does it make sense as a fundamental building block of the Cosmere, or just humanity?

3. Is it too restricting or too broad?

4. What would the double Shard be?

5. What would be the best combo for "theorized dawnshard" + Change/Exist or Exist/Change + "theorized dawnshard"

 

I always end up with holes....

[Quantus he/him]

On 1/24/2025 at 3:48 PM, LordOfStorms said:

Wild, I haven't been on the forum for a while! Interesting to see how similar the logic is between our groupings and yet how different the actual groupings end up being. 

 

I agree and couldn't quite come up with a better word than Think. Part of it is stylistic- all else equal BS would prefer a Dawnshard with a cool name. Though Change and Exist are short words so I don't know if he'd go with Understand. Some possible synonyms: Believe, Dream, Ponder

Im thinking "Awaken" as the primal action word for gaining Sapience. 

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

Perhaps…

Ny first thought was Manipulate (Knowledge and authority)

But that don’t fit ‘tall. Lead, maybe?

Hhhhmmmmm

Ok

we have Change

And exist

Objectively opposites

Wouldnt it make sense for Ruin to be Change/Change?

If so, then perhaps the other two can be gleaned by another pair of opposites - perhaps Devotion and Autonomy, though that seems off.

Reason is promising, and Odium may be the opposite of Reason

But Odium feels as if it should have an aspect of Change, ya know?

So…

OH

Reason and Whimsy, perhaps?

[Duneye]

On 1/27/2025 at 12:39 PM, SpiritOfWrath said:

Reason and Whimsy, perhaps?

These are the double Shards I assign to the theorized Think and Act Dawnshards, so maybe we're on to something with those?

As far as I can tell there are four total opposite pairings and four related-but-not-really-opposites. They go as follows:

Opposites:

Preservation - Ruin (obviously)

Dominion - Autonomy (Control over others vs control of yourself)

Odium - Devotion (Divine hate and love)

Reason - Whimsy (Thought and the lack of it)

Related-But-Not-Really-Opposites:

Cultivation - Endowment (both about growth in different ways, one guided the other granted)

Virtuosity - Invention (Art vs science)

Honor - Valor ("Noble" ideals)

Mercy - Ambition (The dregs, not really an obvious connection but those who are ambitious wouldn't be merciful)

TBH, I'm not really sure that the pairings have much meaning beyond how the Shards would react to each other if held by the same Vessel.

 

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

2 hours ago, Duneye said:

These are the double Shards I assign to the theorized Think and Act Dawnshards, so maybe we're on to something with those?

As far as I can tell there are four total opposite pairings and four related-but-not-really-opposites. They go as follows:

Opposites:

Preservation - Ruin (obviously)

Dominion - Autonomy (Control over others vs control of yourself)

Odium - Devotion (Divine hate and love)

Reason - Whimsy (Thought and the lack of it)

Related-But-Not-Really-Opposites:

Cultivation - Endowment (both about growth in different ways, one guided the other granted)

Virtuosity - Invention (Art vs science)

Honor - Valor ("Noble" ideals)

Mercy - Ambition (The dregs, not really an obvious connection but those who are ambitious wouldn't be merciful)

TBH, I'm not really sure that the pairings have much meaning beyond how the Shards would react to each other if held by the same Vessel.

 

Eehhhh

that last don’t stop us from trying.

So

Divine Hate and Divine Love are still similar - emotionally driven, ya know? Saying X represents the emotion or need Dawnshard, Odium could be X/Change and Devotion could be X/Exist

Dominion and Autonomy both have to do with control, just opposite aspects of it. This control is probably smt like Think, ya know? So think/exist or exist/think could be Autonomy, and change/think or think/change could be Dominion (change what others think)

Waddabout this:

Opposites: Same dawnshard pairs that directly oppose eachother 

Near opposites: Share a Dawnshard, but have an opposite second. Example: Virtuosity, Invention: Share one Dawnshard - Change [probably]. Second would be the goal of the change - emotion vs logic, substituting Dawnshard. From this, and from something said before, it might be Need and Think, or similar themes.

As you also said, there could be an interesting relationship between inverse Shards…

[LordOfStorms]

4 hours ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

Eehhhh

that last don’t stop us from trying.

So

Divine Hate and Divine Love are still similar - emotionally driven, ya know? Saying X represents the emotion or need Dawnshard, Odium could be X/Change and Devotion could be X/Exist

Dominion and Autonomy both have to do with control, just opposite aspects of it. This control is probably smt like Think, ya know? So think/exist or exist/think could be Autonomy, and change/think or think/change could be Dominion (change what others think)

Waddabout this:

Opposites: Same dawnshard pairs that directly oppose eachother 

Near opposites: Share a Dawnshard, but have an opposite second. Example: Virtuosity, Invention: Share one Dawnshard - Change [probably]. Second would be the goal of the change - emotion vs logic, substituting Dawnshard. From this, and from something said before, it might be Need and Think, or similar themes.

As you also said, there could be an interesting relationship between inverse Shards…

I would also expect the function of the dawnshard to be a recurring theme in the cosmere. Change is invoked verbatim for the surge of Transformation. Likewise many magic systems specifically offer a path to immortality or a healing factor, which seems to relate to Exist. I think the commands in warbreaker point towards another dawnshard, most likely Act (basic commands awaken an object to make it move). 

The mental dawnshard (Think/Reflect/Decide) probably plays on the theme that everything in the cosmere, on every world, has a soul and thinks. 

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

5 minutes ago, LordOfStorms said:

I would also expect the function of the dawnshard to be a recurring theme in the cosmere. Change is invoked verbatim for the surge of Transformation. Likewise many magic systems specifically offer a path to immortality or a healing factor, which seems to relate to Exist. I think the commands in warbreaker point towards another dawnshard, most likely Act (basic commands awaken an object to make it move). 

The mental dawnshard (Think/Reflect/Decide) probably plays on the theme that everything in the cosmere, on every world, has a soul and thinks. 

Hhhmmmm

There are already core surges across magic systems

Like

Lightweaving, Elscalling, and probably more - Transformation is a good candidate, and very maybe Bondsmithing (though that one seems as if it is independent of the Dawnshards)

If they align to a Dawnshard, it could be as such (very tentative but I personally think it wud be cool)

 

Lightweaving (Honestly could along with many - though Change could be promising. If Transformation is a thing tho, perhaps Exist)

Elsecalling (Think, perhaps?)

Transformation, if thing (Change, like u said)

Bondsmithing (Need, Feel. Not obvious, though it can be argued - and we see in the SR that it is our feelings that connect us.)

 

[CMac716]

My guess was that Change functioned as an inversion modifier. But then we got Exist and it made it hard to resolve the fact that double Change and double Exist would both result in Preservation... so that kinda ended that train of thought.

 

The second idea was that the Dawnshards kind of had a polarity to them, like magnets. So the first time they used the Dawnshard it positively charges it with that Command, but if you use it the second time, it would push that intent away, essentially inverting it. It fixes the problem with double Change and double Exist. Double Change still becomes Preservation, but double Exist makes far more sense for Ruin than just constant change. Something changing doesn't mean the thing is gone, it's just different. No Ship of Theseus discussions on this point....

 

The most recent combo i was trying was Experience and Understand, but I couldn't really work through the whole chart again. Maybe Control and Care? Give? Share? Someone help before I lose more sleep again while trying to figure this out.....

[RedBlue]

17 minutes ago, CMac716 said:

The most recent combo i was trying was Experience and Understand, but I couldn't really work through the whole chart again. Maybe Control and Care? Give? Share? Someone help before I lose more sleep again while trying to figure this out.....

I like Experience as the name for a thinking/feeling Dawnshard. Control sounds decent for a follow-the-rules type Dawnshard (to go with Honor, Dominion, Autonomy maybe), but I don’t know if I like it better than Bind.

Care/Give/Share feel too specific for Dawnshards, especially as we already have Devotion and Endowment as Shards.

I’m not sure the ‘flipping polarity’ idea hangs together. The Shards are supposed to be split up pieces of Adonalsium’s nature/personality, right? I don’t see how that works if there are inversions going on. If some Shards are ‘inverted,’ wouldn’t that mean they’re no longer decontextualised bits of divinity, but something fundamentally different?

[CMac716]

3 hours ago, RedBlue said:

I like Experience as the name for a thinking/feeling Dawnshard. Control sounds decent for a follow-the-rules type Dawnshard (to go with Honor, Dominion, Autonomy maybe), but I don’t know if I like it better than Bind.

Care/Give/Share feel too specific for Dawnshards, especially as we already have Devotion and Endowment as Shards.

I’m not sure the ‘flipping polarity’ idea hangs together. The Shards are supposed to be split up pieces of Adonalsium’s nature/personality, right? I don’t see how that works if there are inversions going on. If some Shards are ‘inverted,’ wouldn’t that mean they’re no longer decontextualised bits of divinity, but something fundamentally different?

The idea of the inversion is more like, it pushes that intent into the rest of the power. I'm gonna alter the idea slightly tho, because if there is a polarity, it would have pushed that intent away to begin with. Like, imagine a petri dish of water and metal shavings with 4 different charges. Put a single charge magnet to the edge and drive that charge (intent) away from where you put it. The point closest would be devoid of that intent, but there would be more and more the further you got. Do that in a corner for each charge and then evenly quarter the dish before repeating the process with each quarter. You start with 2 quarters containing some change, 1 that's mostly change, and 1 with very little. Repeat for Shardic Intents. Guess it would work in either direction. Push to one side or pull to one. Might have to do some more thinking on this tomorrow..

Idk. It's probably just my way of trying to cope with the how both Dawnshards have a polar opposite. How about Move, Inspire, Enlighten.

Edited January 30, 2025 by CMac716
Clarity