Which shard, if any, has an “evil” intent?

[Entr0pic He/him]

So, i don’t know how often this is brought up, but I’m curious to know everyone’s thoughts on this? Which shard, not factoring in vessel, would be considered evil? The most common answers would probably be ruin or odium, but me personally, think it would be dominion, mostly becuase of the skaze being described as “evil seons”.

Edit: so i kind of just saw that I wasn’t supposed to post questions here so… yea. Sorry

Edit^2: since this is in a no-spoilers thread now, please keep it spoiler free, or mark any spoilers. Thx

Edited February 19, 2025 by Entr0pic

[Tinwatcher I don’t mind]

Was this ment to be in the introduction posts ?

[Entr0pic He/him]

Yea.

 

[TwinStorm He/Him]

This should be moved to Cosmere Discussion.

a mod can do that

@#1 Taln Fan

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

15 minutes ago, Entr0pic said:

yea. Sorry

No worries! I've moved it to the Cosmere discussion thread. (just make sure to tag any WaT spoilers)

[Entr0pic He/him]

Thx man, rlly appreciate it

[TwinStorm He/Him]

I think Ruin could be perceived as "evil" at his core, as the power and the host both perceive themselves, as evil, but so does Rayse.

[Entr0pic He/him]

Here’s my thing with ruin (heavy Mistborn spoilers btw)

 

 

 

How can ruin be truly evil and be part of harmony? Harmony, i think we can all agree, is a morally green shard. If it was truly evil, how could it combine with preservation, which in the books (especially secret history), has been shown to be morally gray, to form a morally green shard?

Edited February 19, 2025 by Entr0pic

[TwinStorm He/Him]

10 minutes ago, Entr0pic said:

Here’s my thing with ruin (heavy Mistborn spoilers btw)

 

 

 

How can ruin be truly evil and be part of harmony? Harmony, i think we can all agree, is a morally green shard. If it was truly evil, how could it combine with preservation, which in the books (especially secret history), has been shown to be morally gray, to form a morally green shard?

harmony is not morally green

its gray

it purposely balances the good and the bad

protecting to destroy

like Wax

which is why its so susceptible to Discord

[Entr0pic He/him]

Touché

however, my point still stands that preservation is morally gray. Why would a morally red shard, mixed with a morally gray shard, equal morally gray? -1+0 =-1

Edited February 19, 2025 by Entr0pic

[Steel Speedster ♂]

I would argue that all Shards are morally gray. None are pure good, and none are pure evil. However, some are much more likely to do evil things than others, Odium and Ruin being the biggest ones.

I would say that Dominion is neutral in general. There is nothing inherently right or wrong with having power over others. However, it seems like it would be extremely easy for the vessel to tip to the side of tyranny. "Power corrupts" after all. Even then, I think it's less dangerous than Odium and Ruin. A corrupt ruler isn't as bad as a world destroyer, or an all-powerful entity that hates everyone. We barely know anything about Dominion though, so it's hard to say. I get the impression that it balances well with Devotion, and that combined they would be similar to Harmony.

Most of the Shards seem fairly "safe", but their single Intent still can cause serious problems. Odium and Ruin, and Dominion to a lesser extent, are the only ones I would say are inherently dangerous. (Autonomy, by the sound of it seems like it should be relatively innocuous, but from what we've seen, that actually is not the case, although it could be because of the vessel more than the Shard.)

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, Entr0pic said:

Which shard, not factoring in vessel, would be considered evil?

None of the Shards are evil. WoB:

Spoiler

 

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Edited for length and relevance.

Nepene

I have a question, if you are willing. Would Ruin be more compatible with Rayse, would he pick up that shard had he visited Scadrial and shattered him? All the shards we have seen that he has shattered seem rather different in intent than him- Honor, Cultivation, Love, Dominion. But Ruin seems more in line with Odium. Rayse has ruined the days of quite a few people.

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, Ruin would be most compatible with Cultivation. Ruin's 'theme' so to speak is that all things must age and pass. An embodiment of entropy. That power, separated from the whole and being held by a person who did not have the willpower to resist its transformation of him, led to something very dangerous. But it was not evil. None of the sixteen technically are, though you may have read that Hoid has specific beef with Rayse. Whether you think of Odium as evil depends upon how much you agree with Hoid's particular view.

General Reddit 2013 (March 14, 2013)

 

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Blightsong

Can honorspren, or any other type of Knight Radiant spren, be evil despite their relationship to Tanavast or Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, because I don't call the Shards good and evil. There are no good and evil Shards in my opinion, like and so, what's evil and what's not evil- you can totally have spren that are of Honor that you would consider evil. They have free will; they are much more strictly limited in that free will than we are, because of their nature as spren. It's very hard for most spren to ever break an oath or to lie. That's just like- as manifestations of laws of nature makes it very hard for that to happen, but they can be cruel.

OdysseyCon 2016 (April 8, 2016)

Hope that helps

[Sophrosyne He/any]

Ruin isn't evil, Ruin is destruction but just because you burn a forest doesn't mean good can't come of it. Likewise, Odium isn't evil, ever hear the term righteous anger? Shards are simply parts of ourselves and the universe segregated from each other. as with anything too much of something can be a bad thing. Devotion seems like it could be good but what is Devotion  without Cultivation or Autonomy?