Which Shard would you want?

[Steel Speedster ♂]

Which Shard would you most want to hold, and which would you least want to hold? And, no, you can't refuse to have one. No opting out. Nor can you pick multiple. You get one Intent and you deal with the consquences!

[Qianweilian He/him]

Devotion and Reason both feel like they would work with my temperament and also both feel like they would not be super evil.

[+Kelkamer]

Reason would be my top choice but a few other could work. Virtuosity would be the one I'm probably least compatible with

[Ashbringer he/him]

Depends if I want one that fits my temperament (Invention), or one that I'd want to do something with (Mercy, Endowment), or just a fun one (Ambition). I think Mercy does fit most of the boxes.

I would... not be a good Dominion.

[bdoble97]

I would take honor. Some of my idols growing up were Capt Picard and Mr. Work haha I have tryed to be a honorable person in my carrier and life. And have decided to help and defend people as much as I can in my carrier. Haveing the shard of honor would help me protect and defend people. I would hate dominion because I extremely dislike people that try to hold dominion over other  people. This was a great pole

[OoklaApologist She/her]

Cultivation’s a really loose Intent. I think it’d be nice to work with.

Ruin sucks. Rayse could at least do stuff. Ati turned into a giant mess of black tendrils pretty fast, considering

[Lord Ruler Sylphrena He/Him]

Dominion for sure. A lot of shards like Harmony, Honor, and Oduim struggle to rule their planets because their intents drive them crazy or have them make irrational decisions. The only thing you need to do with Dominion is rule which is what I would want to do if I had a shard. It's not going to be a shard that will drive you to conquer/destroy the Cosmere as it doesn't have any Ambition. (Ambition and Dominion being Conquest sounds like a awesome shard though). Autonomy would be second choice as it's a very similar shard and creating a lot of avatars sounds dope. 
No way I'm picking Ruin though for obvious reasons. Whimsy and Reason also sound like shards I would love initially but quickly get sick of.

[dezaS Hᴇ/Hɪᴍ]

I think I would most be able to hold Autonomy and not immediately be killed by an opposing Intent (although Ambition would be fun indeed). 

I would hate to take up Honor for the reason that my personality does not lend itself to binding oaths. In fact, the power would likely kill me rather quickly.

[Qianweilian He/him]

Interesting, the shard people would like to possess is fairly varied, but everyone is pretty much against having Ruin/Odium/Dominion

[Steel Speedster ♂]

22 minutes ago, Qianweilian said:

Interesting, the shard people would like to possess is fairly varied, but everyone is pretty much against having Ruin/Odium/Dominion

I think it's funny that the only ones nobody wants are Ruin and Odium (which is completely unsurprising), and then Preservation. Preservation is the only one with no votes in either category.

[Qianweilian He/him]

Preservation is like the shard where you don't exactly want it, but it is much preferable to Ruin or Odium

[Ashbringer he/him]

14 minutes ago, Steel Speedster said:

I think it's funny that the only ones nobody wants are Ruin and Odium (which is completely unsurprising), and then Preservation. Preservation is the only one with no votes in either category.

Preservation I think is a great example of why even "good"-sounding Shards are almost never going to be Good. Preservation was thoroughly aligned with the Final Empire as it existed in Mistborn Era 1 / TFA, even with all the atrocities it did, because it was keeping Ruin at bay and keeping Scadrial in stasis. 

I don't think it's a coincidence that the 4 Shards with more than 3 votes (Reason, Invention, Mercy, and Devotion) are ones we've never actually seen. Never meet your heroes 

[Steel Speedster ♂]

1 minute ago, Ashbringer said:

I don't think it's a coincidence that the 4 Shards with more than 3 votes (Reason, Invention, Mercy, and Devotion) are ones we've never actually seen. Never meet your heroes 

Exactly. Part of the reason I made this poll was because I wanted to see what Shards people thought would be the "safest" to hold. I picked Reason, because it's probably one of the most neutral Shards there is. As a person who already is much more logical than emotional, its Intent wouldn't introduce any sort of completely foreign influence like choosing most other Shards would. It probably still wouldn't end well, but it seems a lot more doable to me than most others, even ones with Intents that seem more positive.

[Ashbringer he/him]

Yeah, I don't imagine Mercy would go as entirely safely planned for me... and Ambition certainly wouldn't.

But hey, does it really matter 

[The Stick]

I actually think that Dominion would be the one I would be most skillful at holding without the Intent rejecting me. Dominion is ultimately a Shard of stability. It is content with managing its own domain, and growing it. I do think my favorite grouping of Shards would be a combination of Honor, Preservation, Dominion, and either Devotion of Reason. I think this would be something like the Shard of Law, which I would like. 

Whimsy and Ambition would both be really fun, but would probably try to drop me pretty quick.

I think I would be astoundingly bad at holding Virtuosity.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

5 hours ago, Qianweilian said:

but everyone is pretty much against having Ruin/Odium/Dominion

Curious as to what the hate for Dominion is. Seems like a good shard. 
 

Additionally, Devotion’s getting a few votes. I read that as a bottom-half shard. Curious about that as well

Edited February 25, 2025 by KelsierApologist

[Steel Speedster ♂]

5 minutes ago, KelsierApologist said:

Curious as to what the hate for Dominion is. Seems like a good shard. 
 

Additionally, Devotion’s getting a few votes. I read that as a bottom-half shard. Curious about that as well

I think Dominion is dangerous, but I don’t think it would be nearly on the level of Ruin and Odium. I think lot of the dislike is just cultural. We don’t really like people being in control of us.

The danger with Dominion is really apparent, probably only behind Odium and Ruin, but I think that a lot of other Shards could be a lot more dangerous in subtler ways.

[Elegy he/him]

Virtuosity is my favorite by far! Reason and Cultivation are next. In relation to the theory that the Shards can be grouped according to the Dawnshards, I believe that there are 4 negative-negative (like Ruin), 4 postive-positive (like Preservation), and 8 more balanced Shards (4 positive-negative and 4 negative-positive). And I believe that the more balanced Shards are more likely to be less disruptive. I would count these three to the balanced Shards, although I'm of course not sure where exactly they would land. (Cultivation for example could be a combination of Change and Exist, with its challenging and its nurturing side - two opposing Commands, one negative, one positive. If it's more on the Change side or more on the Exist side is hard to say though.)

8 hours ago, KelsierApologist said:

Curious as to what the hate for Dominion is. Seems like a good shard. 

It's worth mentioning that Dominion was described by Brandon as "Conquest" before, so chances are that it isn't the Shard of control, but the Shard of war (in a similar way to Virtuosity not being the Shard of being a virtuoso, but the Shard of the more general concept of art). Which would be up there with Odium as one of the most dangerous ones imo.

But no matter what of the two, it's definitely the Shard that I identify the least with, personally.

[Qianweilian He/him]

I picked Devotion because I think it would work with me.

Invention I also liked, but I rejected it because being pushed to invent at all costs I don't feel is great.

Reason I like more, but it also feels unemotional. I think it would transform a bearer into something a bit like Taravangian, but without emotion.

Mercy is my least favorite of the most popular because I feel it would be prohibitive when something needs to be done. It would force you to continuously give people second chances and not hold people responsible. Of course the other direction is bad, but absolute "Mercy" seems worse

[alder24]

I love Awakening, so give me Endowment. Ruin is tough as you'll be forced to eventually destroy everything you love, not a pleasant life.

[Qianweilian He/him]

Mercy-Ruin would be such a terrifying shard combo. Kill everyone so they can't suffer more later.

[Through The Living Grub He/Him]

Invention is cool. I like the idea of creating a society that focuses on technological advancement.

My main problem is that all Shards have a huge downside when they warp you too much: Odium hates, Ruin destroys, Preservation CANNOT change stuff, etc. Preservation just feels like a deadlock after a while.

[Qianweilian He/him]

Even harmony is maintaining the status quo

[Sophrosyne He/any]

I think Preservation would drive me insane. I thrive on chaos, change, and having to work through whatever is going wrong and have found that stasis is the bane of my everything. Reason just seems like the safest option for me even if I'd prefer Cultivation or Devotion. Devotion would consume me too quickly I'm already prone to hyper obsession so the shard and I would make one hell of a feedback loop. Meanwhile I like to have... pets? Little things I keep because their familiar and remind me of a spefic time and I think any change-based shard would slowly break me as we fight over small stuff like that.

 

So, then I come to Reason. A shard that I think I could appease easily enough. just put myself on the most hectic world and start taking note and live my best life.

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 2/22/2025 at 9:17 AM, Steel Speedster said:

Which Shard would you most want to hold, and which would you least want to hold? And, no, you can't refuse to have one. No opting out. Nor can you pick multiple. You get one Intent and you deal with the consquences!

Hmm, well, I guess it depends, especially based on how I want to determine what Shard I want most. 

Is it the Shard I best identify with and would be best pals with? 

In that case, I don't think I'd do great with Autonomy. At its best, I see it encouraging growth and self-actualization, which is great. But, it feels like a very individualistic Intent by definition, which prevents unity and teamwork. 

At its core though, it seems to respect individual agency, which is also good- but I think it would take it to such an extreme that it would drive me mad. A serial killer wants to sacrifice innocents for their twisted pleasure? My Shard values their tenacity too much for me to step in. Bleh.

Probably being too harsh on it as Bavadin currently filters what we've seen thus far, but that's my least favorite right now.

Honor is far, far more in tune with who I am fundamentally. I love honesty, promises kept, and people bonding together to become stronger. It also, I think, would feed off of the self-righteous part of me. That isn't good, but it would make things easier for me personally. 

The only thing I really don't love about Honor is its lack of mercy or inherent love- it's a perfectionist (like me), but that ultimately stifles forgiveness and growth (also sometimes me, at my worst). Again, a negative trait I sometimes hold, but wouldn't want to hold forever, which bearing the Shard probably would consign me to. 

I'd still probably opt for Honor though.

Now, if the question is which Shard would I take for the betterment of the Cosmere as a whole? 

In this case, I might actually go for Ruin. 

Not only does nobody else want it, but it has a lot of potential, I think. It's about change- forceful, destructive change, but often that's what we need to grow as people. It definitely goes too far with that Intent, but it is what it is. 

On a more practical note, I could use my Spiritweb-crack infiltration, Hemalurgy, and general destructive capabilities to screw with Odium, who I'd be worried about. Having the Shard of destruction as a warrior (for good causes) seems like a reasonable idea.

We don't know enough about all the Shards for me to say this with absolute certainty, and no matter which one I take there's going to be problems, but this is my current stance: Ruin as my first choice for the potential of a better future, then Honor as my second choice mostly for personal compatability, and probably Autonomy picking up dead last for a presumable lack of micromanagement.