Live Dawnshard

[Lagundu]

Preamble:

I don't frequent these forums very often so I don't know if this is a common theory, way of base or partially on track, so I would love any corrections.  Also, I don't think there are any plot sensitive spoilers, so I'm not blotting anything out.

Theory
Adonalsium is a Dawnshard
I have heard various takes on the Dawnshards as being primal commands that shape the Cosmere, of which we know of Change and Exist and 2 more, presumably intact, but as of yet unrevealed Dawnshards. The way I read the general themes of the Cosmere points to Adonalsium being a 5th Dawnshard for some command like "Live," "Know," or "Experience" who over time gained sentience based on the impulse of its intent just like its Shards do when left unbonded. 

Reasons I see this as true
1)The Venacular:
Everyhing is called Shards.  Furthermore when a Dawnshard or Shard of Adonalsium is held their vessels take share their identity.   

2) Concepts of Intent:
When Adonalsium is broken apart (presumably twice) the resulkting shards are intents the form its whole.  The Dawnshards also seem to be concentrated intents.  While the Adonalsium Shards are not verbs like the Dawnshards seem to be, they could be intents that direct, provke or motivate the original intent verb.  In other words, if Adonalsium had been some intent like "Live," "Experience," etc. once shattered the composite elements of that command, while not actions themselves.  

3 Spontaneous Sentience:
When objects with very high amounts of Adonalsium investiture are given time and a purpose they seem to develop sentience which seems to grow.  We've seen this with weapons, a machine, and we've heard and seen hints of it with an unbonded Shard of Adonalsium.  I therefore propose that its own investure and intent could have sparked its own sentience.

Other thoughts

A possible reason it willingly let the 16 future shards + Hoid and Frost shatter it with its sibling Dawnshards could be that it lacked understanding of its nature and it actually lives on in those smaller shards and shares in the experience, similar to how other bonded entities in the Cosmere live shared experiences through bonds strengthening its own intent in the process through those lived experiences. 

I don't remember how much we've learned about the deceased shards of Adonalsium, but as echoes of their powers continue on in places like Sel, Threnody and the Emberdark, I suspect it is more of a change of form than a loss of net Investeture, just like when Adonalsium was split or the Dawnshards were presumably split from their original form into their current form.  Or it could be that they stopped at 16 because any further could have made monsterous white skyscraper-tall messes.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

That's a nice theory, but it's explicitly stated in Dawnshard and established in The Sunlit Man (as well as some other novels, I think?) that the Dawnshards are the four primal commands used by Adonalsium to create (although maybe not quite create, if you believe the Aethers (TLM), but certainly do things to) the Cosmere. Ergo, Adonalsium can't be a Dawnshard by definition. Also, a 5th dawnshard breaks the satisfying mathematical patterns with the 16 shards.

The idea of Adonalsium being power that gained sentience through the same process as Honor did in WaT does seem promising, though.

[Lagundu]

Thanks for the feed back, but couldn't Adonalsium have used the other shards?

Adonalsium would have been shattered with the others (twice each) making 16 shards.  It's independent of the original number of Dawnshards.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Nitpicking]

The whole "Twice" thing is supported by exactly no stories, and no Words of Brandon. It would appear to be pure fannish imagination at this point.

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

16 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

The whole "Twice" thing is supported by exactly no stories, and no Words of Brandon. It would appear to be pure fannish imagination at this point.

The twice thing is indeed just speculation, but it’s appeared multiple times with good evidence. I’ll try to get the thread linked here.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

On 11/16/2025 at 3:36 PM, Lagundu said:

Thanks for the feed back, but couldn't Adonalsium have used the other shards?

Adonalsium would have been shattered with the others (twice each) making 16 shards.  It's independent of the original number of Dawnshards.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

What do you mean by "couldn't Adonalsium have used other shards?" Dawnshards are, by definition, the commands that Adonalsium used to create things. I think that what you're asking is weather or not Adonalsium could have used similar entities as Dawnshards; however, the Dawnshards we have seen in the books (Change and whichever one Sig had) are nonsentient whereas Adonalsium is sentient. This would imply that they are different classes of entity.