shard Speculation on the Personality Aspect of Shardic Intents

[Shadow of Electrum he/him]

It's been awhile since I've posted or really done anything on here. Anyways, I had a small idea about the personality aspects of the Shardic Intents.

Brandon has said that the idea behind the shardic intents was a primal force attached to a personality trait based on how people and adonalsium perceived that force. An idea occurred to me that maybe the personal aspects of the intent were influenced by the original 16 vessels during the shattering.

This idea is mainly perpetuated by the fact that the original 16 vessels seemed to match their intents very closely. Part of this seems to be the other way around, where the intent influences the vessel, but generally I feel like the vessel fit the power very well. My best example of this is the Rosharan trio. Tanavast mentioned that Koravellium always liked to rule from the shadows like she does now. It is very typical of dragons as we know, and it seems to be very in line with her intent. Then there is Odium, who seems very aligned with his power, seeming to be a hateful and kind of deplorable person even preshattering. Honor is harder to connect to this idea since he seemed to be more at odds with his power, but even then he seemed to act in ways that he saw as divine or honorable even if it went against his intent.

Ruin is an interesting case with this idea in mind. Ati was described as being kindly by his peers, but was turned into what we see in mistborn by his intent. However, I think the sort of "peace with death" that comes with ruin is originally from Ati. Part of the power is that sadistic urge to destroy, but it was reiterated several times, especially in secret history, that it also includes an acceptance that good things will end some day, an acknowledgement that death can be tragic. This more understanding aspect of the power makes sense to have come from someone as kind as Ati would have been.

Another thing to consider is that you have to be connected to the power to accept it, it isn't something you can just choose to pick up. This is at odds with the language used by the original 16 during that moment. It seemed that they were able to pick and choose which shards to take, like Ati apparently volunteering to take ruin. If the intent of the shards were infact influenced by the original vessels, then it makes perfect sense that before they were chosen, the shards were more neutral, and then attuned to the perception of the vessel once they ascended. Perhaps this was decided before the exact moment, they decided who would take which aspect and this influenced the intent of the shards before they were officially shattered.

That's all I have for now. Just some speculations I had that I wanted to share. I've realized I'm not particularly good at speculating/predicting but I thought this was interesting enough to share.

[Qianweilian He/him]

4 hours ago, Shadow of Electrum said:

Another thing to consider is that you have to be connected to the power to accept it, it isn't something you can just choose to pick up. This is at odds with the language used by the original 16 during that moment. It seemed that they were able to pick and choose which shards to take, like Ati apparently volunteering to take ruin.

Partly explained by this, maybe they used something like the Ire connection orbs:

Quote

Karthikeyan Eswaran

For a person to ascend as a [Vessel], is it enough to have a Connection with the Shard, or does their general intent/mindset have to align with the Intent of the Shard (like Rayse and Odium have both shown similar mindsets)? If the intent needs to be similar, how did Ati, who was described as a kind person, pick up a Shard like Ruin? And if the intent doesn't need to be similar, how did the people at the Shattering manage to ascend, as the Shards had just been created? Did they have to go through some process to create a Connection? Or did they all somehow already have a Connection with Adonalsium (and thus with all the Shards) which made it easier to Ascend?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there did need to be some Connection created--there was a lot going on with this. But it is possible for intents to not align and someone to take a Shard. It's way easier if intents do align, but humans don't tend to align 100% to any specific intent.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/361/#e11045

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Shadow of Electrum said:

However, I think the sort of "peace with death" that comes with ruin is originally from Ati. Part of the power is that sadistic urge to destroy, but it was reiterated several times, especially in secret history, that it also includes an acceptance that good things will end some day, an acknowledgement that death can be tragic. This more understanding aspect of the power makes sense to have come from someone as kind as Ati would have been.

Explained by this, the vessel does influence shardic intent, but not permanently:

Quote

Necarion

Do Vessels have any flexibility in expressing the intent of a Shard, particularly if the intent is open to many interpretations?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes they do. So, the Vessel's mind and how they perceive is going to have a large influence on how things are expressed and I think all of them have some wiggle room. But there are some deterministic things that are also going to push them.  You know, holding Ruin, Harmony may not go down the same path that happened to Ati.

Necarion

So Sadeas would express Honor differently than Tanavast?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes he would.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/33/#e275

 

Questioner

I was just wondering if a Shard's intent can change over time without changing holders?

Brandon Sanderson

Without changing holders? The holder can have a slight effect on how the-- a big effect on how the intent is interpreted, but what the intent is stays the same. So it's gonna be filtered. The way it manifests can change, and you'll see that happening, but it is the same intent. When it was broken off, it took a certain thing with it.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/127/#e5094

 

4 hours ago, Shadow of Electrum said:

before they were chosen, the shards were more neutral, and then attuned to the perception of the vessel once they ascended. Perhaps this was decided before the exact moment, they decided who would take which aspect and this influenced the intent of the shards before they were officially shattered.

These suggest Ado shattered into specific shards, not just "blank canvas" shards:

Quote

stormlightfan70

We know it has been stated that adonalsium could have been shattered into 16 different intents. We also know there is a force out there opposing adanalsium. Did it shatter into those 16 intents because it believed that was the best way to defend against this said force?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e3498

 

Eric

If Adonalsium Shattered with intent, would he always Shatter with the same Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

It is plausible that it could've gone a different way.

Eric

So it could've been different Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's plausible.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/218/#e6634

Have a nice day!

Interesting theory though. There's a lot we don't know about the shattering.

Edited January 26 by Qianweilian

[PanLin they/he]

On 1/26/2026 at 9:00 AM, Shadow of Electrum said:

Ati was described as being kindly by his peers, but was turned into what we see in mistborn by his intent.

Well we know Honor eventually kicked Tanavast out for not aligning with the power properly, so maybe that was the only way Ati could continue to hold the power and stop it from being more dangerous in the hands of someone else?

 

On 1/26/2026 at 9:00 AM, Shadow of Electrum said:

An idea occurred to me that maybe the personal aspects of the intent were influenced by the original 16 vessels during the shattering.

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

On 1/26/2026 at 9:00 AM, Shadow of Electrum said:

However, I think the sort of "peace with death" that comes with ruin is originally from Ati. Part of the power is that sadistic urge to destroy, but it was reiterated several times, especially in secret history, that it also includes an acceptance that good things will end some day, an acknowledgement that death can be tragic. This more understanding aspect of the power makes sense to have come from someone as kind as Ati would have been.

The way I've been viewing the Shards is their interactions with Identity and Connection, to try and strip them down to their core Intents. Ruin, by my reckoning, is a Shard that reduces Identity by eroding everything and advancing entropy. Maybe Ati taking Ruin was an act of Identity-sacrifice itself, wherein he knew that it was a dangerous Shard and he willingly volunteered to sacrifice his own Identity and safety. That alone sounds pretty ruinous to me, if you set aside the 'destruction' aspect for a sec.

 

On 1/26/2026 at 9:00 AM, Shadow of Electrum said:

It seemed that they were able to pick and choose which shards to take, like Ati apparently volunteering to take ruin. If the intent of the shards were infact influenced by the original vessels, then it makes perfect sense that before they were chosen, the shards were more neutral, and then attuned to the perception of the vessel once they ascended.

Maybe this is slightly backward, and it's actually that we only have the 16 Shards we do because the intents of the 16 god killers shaped the pieces that Adonalsium split into, if that makes sense? So it's not that they chose, it's more that, by being involved with the killing, they created shards that matched them better than if 16 random people had wandered up, and it couldn't have happened any other way.