Didn't Ado See it Coming?

[JohnnyKaizen he/him]

Before the Shattering, presumably Adonalsium had the best, most accurate access to Fortune of anyone..considering the Shards all have varying levels of access to it, it's logical that Ado is the reason for that. It probably can't be supposed that Ado was the only being with access to it, but I cannot come up with any reason why they wouldn't be able to see the future the most accurately of any other being in the Cosmere pre-Shattering.

So that said, Adonalsium would have seen the plot leading to the Shattering, and...let it happen?

They decided that, for some reason, the next 10,000+ years would be..what..just fine with the Shards (the beings that would assualt and split them and then take Ado's place) would do a bang up job running things?

This is a pretty simple concept, but one that I never actually dwelt on, and now my brain is struggling to adjust to the ramifications of Ado knowing of their demise, probably centuries or even millennia before hand. Not the least of which is, what plan(s) did Ado lay down long before the Shattering. Would that have anything to do with a planet like Roshar, having the spren that remained after the Shattering?

Thoughts?

Edited February 26, 2025 by JohnnyKaizen

[Trusk'our he/him]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

Before the Shattering, presumably Adonalsium had the best, most accurate access to Fortune of anyone..considering the Shards all have varying levels of access to it, it's logical that Ado is the reason for that. It probably can't be supposed that Ado was the only being with access to it, but I cannot come up with any reason why they wouldn't be able to see the future the most accurately of any other being in the Cosmere pre-Shattering.

So that said, Adonalsium would have seen the plot leading to the Shattering, and...let it happen?

They decided that, for some reason, the next 10,000+ years would be..what..just fine with the Shards (the beings that would assualt and split them and then take Ado's place) would do a bang up job running things?

This is a pretty simple concept, but one that I never actually dwelt on, and now my brain is struggling to adjust to the ramifications of Ado knowing of their demise, probably centuries or even millennia before hand. Not the least of which is, what plan(s) did Ado lay down long before the Shattering. Would that have anything to do with a planet like Roshar, having the spren that remained after the Shattering?

Thoughts?

We don't know a lot of the context, but given Adonalsium's power and knowledge I always assumed the Shattering was allowed by the being for some reason. 

Maybe it thought the Shattering was necessary for its creations' growth?

[Entr0pic He/him]

27 minutes ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

Before the Shattering, presumably Adonalsium had the best, most accurate access to Fortune of anyone..considering the Shards all have varying levels of access to it, it's logical that Ado is the reason for that. It probably can't be supposed that Ado was the only being with access to it, but I cannot come up with any reason why they wouldn't be able to see the future the most accurately of any other being in the Cosmere pre-Shattering.

So that said, Adonalsium would have seen the plot leading to the Shattering, and...let it happen?

They decided that, for some reason, the next 10,000+ years would be..what..just fine with the Shards (the beings that would assualt and split them and then take Ado's place) would do a bang up job running things?

This is a pretty simple concept, but one that I never actually dwelt on, and now my brain is struggling to adjust to the ramifications of Ado knowing of their demise, probably centuries or even millennia before hand. Not the least of which is, what plan(s) did Ado lay down long before the Shattering. Would that have anything to do with a planet like Roshar, having the spren that remained after the Shattering?

Thoughts?

Maybe it has something to do with the power of a Dawnshard we haven’t seen yet, or the power of combined dawnshards?

[JohnnyKaizen he/him]

18 minutes ago, Entr0pic said:

Maybe it has something to do with the power of a Dawnshard we haven’t seen yet, or the power of combined dawnshards?

I had thought that Ado made the Dawnshards, but now that I think about it, I'm not actually sure about that.

[Entr0pic He/him]

3 hours ago, JohnnyKaizen said:

I had thought that Ado made the Dawnshards, but now that I think about it, I'm not actually sure about that.

If I remember correctly, the dawnshards were ado’s four primal commands for life. So maybe he created them but didn’t under their full potential?

Edited February 26, 2025 by Entr0pic
grammatical mistake

[Lord Spirit he/him]

There were powers in the Cosmere other than Adonalsium, like the Aethers, so maybe he couldn't see them.

Also Adonasium wasn't necessarily a sentient being. For all we know, the shatterers used the dawnshards like a shard blade to cut up some super metal into 16 peices and gained immense power from them.

[JohnnyKaizen he/him]

29 minutes ago, Lord Spirit said:

There were powers in the Cosmere other than Adonalsium, like the Aethers, so maybe he couldn't see them.

Also Adonasium wasn't necessarily a sentient being. For all we know, the shatterers used the dawnshards like a shard blade to cut up some super metal into 16 peices and gained immense power from them.

I feel like I just recently read a WoB where he talked specifically about Adonalsium "having personality" and that's why the Shards split into what they did. Now, personality doesn't necessarily mean personhood, as Brandon does love to be sneaky with vocabulary and definitions from time to time...but...as of now, I am operating under the assumption that Ado did have full personhood to go along with those traits of personality. I don't know if they had a vessel or if they were sapient investiture (which I hope was the case, as it would be less murder-y) but the farther into the Cosmere we go, the more I think Ado was a person. If for no other reason than how much the Shards themselves long for a vessel..and in the absence of one..become their own.

[Quantus he/him]

Logically, there are several possibilities

• They couldnt see it coming the same way Odium cant see Renarin coming, some Power (Dawnshard or otherwise) obscured everyone's ability to foresee the events
• They Saw it coming but failed to stop it through hubris or inattention or some personality failing.
  • Or through no failing and the Godkillers as a team were just that clever
• They wanted to stop it but decided the consequences of Overt divine resistance would be worse, catastrophic consequences of breaking fundamental rules of Reality or some such.
• They didnt want it to happen but saw Far Enough, all the way to the end of the whole Cosmere Saga (era 4 ending, etc) and decided the eventual outcome of the Shattering would be the Better End.
• They just Wanted to Stop being the Big A of the Cosmere, so they allowed it to happen.
  • They then went to the Beyond
  • They then retired to some corner of the cosmere as a former-god Sliver, absent the Power.  

[Argenti he/him]

4 hours ago, Lord Spirit said:

There were powers in the Cosmere other than Adonalsium, like the Aethers, so maybe he couldn't see them.

Also Adonasium wasn't necessarily a sentient being. For all we know, the shatterers used the dawnshards like a shard blade to cut up some super metal into 16 peices and gained immense power from them.

Both of these are contentious. Ado might have well created the Aethers for all we know, the Aethers claim otherwise, but they're a bit biased. 

Ado was certainly at least a little sentient, everything in cosmere is, even sticks.  (If it makes you feel any better I had to double-check which is which)  I don't doubt that Ado was Sapient either, if the basic nature of investiture remained the same, ado would have become sentient on its own very easily, much less if it had a vessel of some sort.  I personally think Ado is the power, that the aspects of the shard are just his personality. 

[JohnnyKaizen he/him]

20 hours ago, Quantus said:

Logically, there are several possibilities

• They couldnt see it coming the same way Odium cant see Renarin coming, some Power (Dawnshard or otherwise) obscured everyone's ability to foresee the events
• They Saw it coming but failed to stop it through hubris or inattention or some personality failing.
  • Or through no failing and the Godkillers as a team were just that clever
• They wanted to stop it but decided the consequences of Overt divine resistance would be worse, catastrophic consequences of breaking fundamental rules of Reality or some such.
• They didnt want it to happen but saw Far Enough, all the way to the end of the whole Cosmere Saga (era 4 ending, etc) and decided the eventual outcome of the Shattering would be the Better End.
• They just Wanted to Stop being the Big A of the Cosmere, so they allowed it to happen.
  • They then went to the Beyond
  • They then retired to some corner of the cosmere as a former-god Sliver, absent the Power.  

All definitely possible. If I had to pick one of those, it would be entirely on feel and it would be "They didnt want it to happen but saw Far Enough, all the way to the end of the whole Cosmere Saga (era 4 ending, etc) and decided the eventual outcome of the Shattering would be the Better End." I would like to think that Ado consented in the Shattering for a good reason. It's possible that's not at all the case, but I'd like to think it was until proven otherwise. 

18 hours ago, Argenti said:

I personally think Ado is the power, that the aspects of the shard are just his personality. 

That feels right to me.

[alder24]

On 2/26/2025 at 4:24 PM, JohnnyKaizen said:

Before the Shattering, presumably Adonalsium had the best, most accurate access to Fortune of anyone..considering the Shards all have varying levels of access to it, it's logical that Ado is the reason for that. It probably can't be supposed that Ado was the only being with access to it, but I cannot come up with any reason why they wouldn't be able to see the future the most accurately of any other being in the Cosmere pre-Shattering.

So that said, Adonalsium would have seen the plot leading to the Shattering, and...let it happen?

Rayse's vision was clouded by Renarin and because of that he couldn't see his own death, despite the power gap between them. Harmony's future vision was clouded by a direct attack of another power - maybe some dragons, Aethers or Dawnshards could do something similar to Adonalsium. Ati couldn't see his death because the idea of Preservation's Vessel sacrificing themself in a suicidal attack was alien to him and Ruin's intent and thus he didn't search for it and didn't see it coming. It's reasonable to assume that Adonalsium's future vision was bound by the same rules which exist today thus there are many explanations for why he didn't see the Shattering, or of course he let it happen for reasons unknown to us.