Newan he/him Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 (edited) The God Beyond is an entity that is worshiped on multiple shardworlds. Here is a coppermind page about it. In the spirit of covering my bases, here are some other things it could be: The God Beyond is a planet. The God Beyond is an entity in the cognitive realm, formed by the collective hopes of humanity across the cosmere. The God Beyond is a character who is weak now, but later becomes powerful and travels back in time. The God Beyond is the ugly lizard crab thing. The God Beyond is Brandon Sanderson himself. The God Beyond is Peter's sideburns. The God Beyond is Calamity. The God Beyond actually doesn't exist. It's just a coincidence. The God Beyond is the physical embodiment of Kobold King's rep. The God Beyond is a spaceship full of dragons. The God Beyond is Bela. Edited November 20, 2014 by Newan 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasimir he/him Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 You forgot about the God Beyond's being a being yet to come: the rumours have merely been seeded by the worldhopping Missonaria Protectiva. ...What do you mean they don't exist in the Cosmere? >> 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceblade44 he/him Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 i wonder, if the god beyond is an actual being would it be more or less powerful than Sazed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 (edited) Isn't there WoB that at this point in time that Sazed is the most powerful being in the cosmere? Or did I utterly butcher that quote? Edited December 17, 2014 by Pathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindel he/him Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I believe he said there's an argument to be made for Harmony currently being the single most powerful thing in the Cosmere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanderfan she/her Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 (edited) My personal theory on the God Beyond is that it really is Brandon. I bet there's just going to be a few vague references here and there, but it won't really end up being anything plot related. It think the idea is that Shards, by some definitions, aren't technically gods. They didn't really create humans or the Cosmere, and I (personally) don't think Adonalsium did either. Since Brandon "created" the Cosmere, I think that would make him the God Beyond within the Cosmere. Just my thoughts, no facts whatsoever, so don't use any of this in some sort of argument. It's just my personal theory. Edit: Okay, technically, Ruin and Preservation did create humans on Scadrial, but my point about the creation of the Cosmere itself still stands. Edited December 18, 2014 by sanderfan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 My personal theory on the God Beyond is that it really is Brandon. I bet there's just going to be a few vague references here and there, but it won't really end up being anything plot related. It think the idea is that Shards, by some definitions, aren't technically gods. They didn't really create humans or the Cosmere, and I (personally) don't think Adonalsium did either. Since Brandon "created" the Cosmere, I think that would make him the God Beyond within the Cosmere. Just my thoughts, no facts whatsoever, so don't use any of this in some sort of argument. It's just my personal theory. Edit: Okay, technically, Ruin and Preservation did create humans on Scadrial, but my point about the creation of the Cosmere itself still stands. I understand it is your personal theory, and I respect it, and I hope my reply is in no way received as critical. Personally I do not feel that is the case, because it would be too meta considering his body of work. Comicbooks did that, and it never did sit well with me. But that is wholly my own opinion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanderfan she/her Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 No worries, I totally understand. I just have a really meta way of looking at books and the world in general. I get that it's weird. I guess I think of it more as "this would be cool if" rather than an actually theory, so that's my bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoidhunter he/him Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) My personal theory on the God Beyond is that it really is Brandon. I bet there's just going to be a few vague references here and there, but it won't really end up being anything plot related. It think the idea is that Shards, by some definitions, aren't technically gods. They didn't really create humans or the Cosmere, and I (personally) don't think Adonalsium did either. Since Brandon "created" the Cosmere, I think that would make him the God Beyond within the Cosmere. Just my thoughts, no facts whatsoever, so don't use any of this in some sort of argument. It's just my personal theory. Edit: Okay, technically, Ruin and Preservation did create humans on Scadrial, but my point about the creation of the Cosmere itself still stands. I'm with you on this man...it's probably not true...I just like it when authors go all "Never Ending Story" and make characters in the book aware of what is going on in the real world. While what I'm about to say is also probably not true...I'm just putting it out there. Since Brandon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...maybe he's making some of his characters believe in the existence of God in our world. by the way...sanderfan gets an up vote for thinking "meta" Edited December 19, 2014 by hoidhunter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newan he/him Posted December 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) The idea that I'm currently working over is that the God Beyond is the cognitive shadow of somebody who held Adonalsium before it shattered. Would a cognitive shadow influence events in minor ways, like (serious Shadows for Silence spoilers) Helping Silence end up near silver or possibly (big-time Elantris Spoilers) Helping Raoden teleport or (large Warbreaker spoilers) Making sure Tonk Fah wears the same cloak Vivenna put Breath into ? Edited December 19, 2014 by Newan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aonar he/him Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 My personal thought is that the God Beyond is in some way related to whatever force opposed Adonalsium before the Shattering. Although many theorized that this force was a group of people (perhaps even those who took up the Shards) I've always thought that this didn't seem quite right. Liar of Partinel Spoilers: Based on what we've seen of Yolen, (for those of you who have read the Liar samples) I think it might also be related to the Fain-life that was slowly taking over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoidhunter he/him Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 The idea that I'm currently working over is that the God Beyond is the cognitive shadow of somebody who held Adonalsium before it shattered. Would a cognitive shadow influence events in minor ways, like (serious Shadows for Silence spoilers) Helping Silence end up near silver or possibly (big-time Elantris Spoilers) Helping Raoden teleport or (large Warbreaker spoilers) Making sure Tonk Fah wears the same cloak Vivenna put Breath into ? I also like this idea...those Deus Ex Machina occurrences would bother me a little less if there was an actual explanation for why they happened. Newan gets an upvote... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newan he/him Posted December 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 (edited) I also like this idea...those Deus Ex Machina occurrences would bother me a little less if there was an actual explanation for why they happened. Newan gets an upvote... Yeah I'm pretty confident that some kind of greater power was involved in at least two of those. After Shadows for Silence talked so much about the God Beyond, I do think that he helped out. For the Elantris one, in these annotations, Brandon heavily implicates that something is helping out. I don't know whether it's the God Beyond, or some remnant of Aona. zas678 copied down some things that Brandon said at a signing, and this one is relevant: Well, it depends on how long the Shardholders have held the Shard. After it dies, the shard is often able to continue acting, a kind of “cognitive shadow” of sorts. For example, the mists were able to continue doing what Preservation wished in helping out Vin and snapping people. With the Stormfather, he is that cognitive shadow, and he’s semi sentient. It’s that power, but no one is actually holding it. We also see this on Threnity. He copied this down from memory, so I would take this information with a grain of salt. However, this is pretty big. It shows that cognitive shadows still have the ability to effect events. I suspect that the voice Raoden heard in the pool was the voice of Aona's cognitive shadow and that she helped him teleport, but if that's true, it is definitely possible that a cognitive shadow helped Silence in her time of need. Edited December 20, 2014 by Newan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ostrichofevil he/him Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 My theory is that the God Beyond is an entity or force in the Spiritual Realm, rather than in the Cognitive or Physical Realms. The term "God Beyond" states that the God is distant, maybe from the entities in the Physical Realm. This is backed up by the fact that while there are known ways to travel between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, there is no known way to reach the Spiritual Realm. Another way that the term "God Beyond" could be interpreted is as being on the other side. The Spiritual Realm could be where spirits go when they die, and the term the other side is used to mean wherever people go when they die. The God Beyond might also have to do with the Spiritual side of Spren. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RawToast225 he/him Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 It is probably a shard. People tend to worship the shards of their world (The Almighty, The Lord Ruler). There are exceptions like on Nalthis, but my money is on a shard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newan he/him Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 The Lord Ruler was a sliver, not a shard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird he/him Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 (edited) There are exceptions like on Nalthis, but my money is on a shard. I thought the Idrians worshipped austre, who is basically endowment, the same way rosharans worship honor as the almighty. Edit: I don't remember seeing confirmation for this, it just seemed to make sense. Edited December 29, 2014 by Redbird3000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RawToast225 he/him Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 My mistake. There is some WoB about it that I forgot about and don't want to find. Do they worship the shard on the world in Sixth of Dusk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter he/him Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 My mistake. There is some WoB about it that I forgot about and don't want to find. Do they worship the shard on the world in Sixth of Dusk? There is no Shard on First of the Sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaellok he/him Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 So, I actually have a different theory. The Cosmere takes place within a contained galaxy/universe/what-have-you. The God Beyond is the entity or entities that set about the creation of the Cosmere. So, it could be a scientist (or, more likely, a whole team of them) playing with beakers and test tubes and all sorts of majiggery stuff. Or maybe something more akin to the Shards that we've seen, in the ability to directly manipulate the energy of the universe on their own, and without needing tools or technology to do so. I think I'm explaining this poorly, but it's like those Russian dolls, where one fits inside of the other and each gets progressively smaller. If you look at the smallest, then to them, the next larger doll that they fit inside would be "The God Beyond." And maybe that happens all the way out. Or another way to describe it would be that the God Beyond is an extra-universal being. If that doesn't make sense, I may try to clean it up a bit later, but probably not. Just remember, turtles all the way down! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newan he/him Posted December 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 So, I actually have a different theory. The Cosmere takes place within a contained galaxy/universe/what-have-you. The God Beyond is the entity or entities that set about the creation of the Cosmere. So, it could be a scientist (or, more likely, a whole team of them) playing with beakers and test tubes and all sorts of majiggery stuff. Or maybe something more akin to the Shards that we've seen, in the ability to directly manipulate the energy of the universe on their own, and without needing tools or technology to do so. I think I'm explaining this poorly, but it's like those Russian dolls, where one fits inside of the other and each gets progressively smaller. If you look at the smallest, then to them, the next larger doll that they fit inside would be "The God Beyond." And maybe that happens all the way out. Or another way to describe it would be that the God Beyond is an extra-universal being. If that doesn't make sense, I may try to clean it up a bit later, but probably not. Just remember, turtles all the way down! Upvote for the xkcd reference! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Honor Spren she/her Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 What if its the real god of the Cosmere? We haven't exactly gotten confirmation that Adonalsium was god. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald101 he/him Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 You might want to take a look at the part of this post that deals with necroing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Honor Spren she/her Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 I think this stuff is still relevant. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Still, lifeless threads are expensive :3 You're better off just making a new thread and maybe linking some old one. Nobody remembers what was said anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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