Concerning Harmony's Inactiveness

[Skantre]

For those who know, Harmony is extremely torpid, due to the shard"s" he pocess, formerly Preservation and Ruin, are of exact opposite intent. He became a new intent under the integration of those two shards.

 

I believe we have reiterated the fact that Harmony is extremely hard to act on something, mostly relying on his agents. But have we consider or ponder on the circumstances in which Harmony might act? This might turns out to be a crucial piece of information in determing the future developments of the cosmere.

 

First, we have to answer that whether its inactiveness is only due to its singular intent, Harmony, or due to the clashing of its two former intent. But considering from the current state of discussion, I think that the answer leans way more on the former option, if not reaching a complete verdict already.

 

You might think that if Harmony is just Harmony but not "Preservation vs Ruin", it's more likely to act. Harmony could vanquish all crime on Scardrial and acheive balance and blahblahblah...Well, no. Harmony doesn't do much purely out of his "Harmoniousness" is pretty logical in a philosophical sense. Harmony is most oftenly tied to the Oriental Philosophy, or more specifically, Daoism. Daoism believes that balance, or harmony is achieved by following the "Dao", or in literal translation the Way. If we endeavor on balance by actions, the reactions will simply pushes us further from balance. Rashek is the epitome of why Harmony wouldn't and shouldn't act on basically anything at all.

 

Then, if we are in favor of the theory that "Harmony doesn't act due to its eagerness in Harmony", what triggers his action and how will he work? What if someone, or someSHARD, knock things out of balance or harmony pretty badly, which is in direct conflict with Harmony's intent? Would Sazed then act?

 

And how will he? Making wonders like he did when he restored Scadrial to its former position? Or like Endowment to just send more agents?

 

Harmonium would be the next biggest clue to how the newly formed Shard works.

 

Thoughts, my fellow 17th sharders?

 

Fun idea of the day: If Honor combines with Odium, it should be named Batman. Seriously.

[hoidhunter he/him]

I have only my own suppositions to base this on...but I personally feel that...aside from Harmonium...atium (and maybe even lerasium) may be making a reappearance in the world.  If Sazed (harmony) were to reconstruct the pits of hathsin...he would be able to siphon off enough of his ruin side so that he would be more able to act in a preservative way...and vice versa.

[dvoraen]

It's a little hard to quantify Harmony's Intent because it's full of subtle nuances that derive from both Ruin and Preservation.  The conversation Wax had with Harmony hints a bit, though, but this is what I think it boils down to:

 

Maintaining the status quo, which is to allow the world to change without being destroyed (technology is one example); but also preserve the world from excessive and destructive change*.  This should make sense based on the plot of Alloy of Law.

 

* (Spoilers from Alloy of Law)

The reason Harmony gets indirectly involved (via "sending" Wax) is due to, I think, wanting to prevent a full Mistborn and/or Feruchemist from potentially being bred from the women that were being kidnapped.  The WoB found here at the bottom more than hinted that Harmony 'depowered' bloodlines to prevent the rise of an "immortal" ruler like Rashek was, and the fact that Spook is referred to as THE Lord Mistborn, when it seems weird that he'd be given a definitive article, as other full Mistborn existed during his time.  It's possible he was just the one of note, but it seems strange he would be the only one so referenced as an Allomantic progenitor of note, when other Mistborn had lived during his days... unless Harmony depowered them, or they didn't survive the events of The Hero of Ages.

Edited January 14, 2015 by dvoraen

[WeiryWriter he/him]

stealing a post from myself:

 

emphais mine:

 

Question

Were Ruin and Preservation two shards or one?

Brandon Sanderson

They were two shards. Harmony is considered a shard, although it’s really two, in the same way that a king of two countries would still be considered a king.

 
(source)
 

ericth

Could Sazed take down Rayse since he has two shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Rayse is VERY scared of Sazed. However, given Sazed is a composite of two diametrically opposed shards, he finds it very difficult to act.

 
(source)
 

Question
 
The epigraphs for The Way of Kings, that were talking about how the various Shardholders are influenced by their shards over time--how does that impact someone like Harmony, with multiple shards?

Brandon Sanderson
 
The main effect it's having on Harmony right now is his inability to act sometimes, because his two sides are pushing, and so he is having trouble being proactive. It'd take a long time before it really becomes manifest, but he's had several hundred years, so it's starting to have an effect.

 
(source)

[Argent he/him]

...formerly Preservation and Ruin...

 

Technically the Shards are still Preservation and Ruin. They just kind of interact weirdly to form Harmony.

[vineyarddawg]

In my headcanon, at least, Sazed's slowness to action is also because his idea of "Harmony" actually means what we would call "balance"... and that means that you need some evil in the world.  That "balance" doesn't mean that everything is good and fine and hunky-dory. "Balance" means that the power struggle between Ruin and Preservation is in balance, and if Preservation is dominating, then things are not in balance.

 

It's because of this, I think, that Sazed is perfectly happy to keep Rayse bottled up on Roshar, in spite of the fact that Rayse might very well kill most of the humans on the planet. As the second letter says, he might kill many people on Roshar, but at least he won't spread to other systems and kill the shards on other planets. In Sazed's mind, that's "balance."

 

I don't think Sazed would be pressed to action unless Odium escaped Roshar and targeted other shardholders on other worlds.  That would throw the Cosmere out of his concept of "balance," and that would push him towards action. Just my opinion, though.

[Darkness he/him]

I posted my Sazed/Harmony theory in another place before I read this thread, but I'm going to modify a little thanks to WeiryWriter.

 

"The main effect it's having on Harmony right now is his inability to act sometimes, because his two sides are pushing, and so he is having trouble being proactive. It'd take a long time before it really becomes manifest, but he's had several hundred years, so it's starting to have an effect."

"Sazed" -as we know him from Mistborn- is slowly becoming Harmony. But as time goes on, will his 2 sides (Ruin/Preservation) merge so that he finds it easier to be proactive, or will they stay 2 separate intents, with Sazed changing to become a combination of them? I guess what I'd ask is, will Sazed become two diametrically opposed intents, or do the shards actually merge into one over time?

 

It's interesting to me because Sazed as a Terrisman would be interested in the Cosmere from an observatory standpoint, but if his 2 shards actually combine, I could see the intent Harmony (eventually) actively working towards bringing the Cosmere into alignment with its intent. I'm picturing Harmony working to bring any splintered shards back into harmony with themselves (realigning), bringing the shards of Adonalsium back into harmony with each other, and otherwise working towards Cosmeric (Cosmeric is now a thing, instead of universal) unification. Harmony could either want balance (stasis), or unity (a harmonious state).

 

Humor me one last time. It would be really cool (and would totally reinvent the story every time) if Harmony were to, in his hypothetical quest for shardic unity, merge another shard with himself, and then slowly change into another shardic intent! We could have the whole Cosmere story arc telling us about how Sazed grows and develops as a character through his successive merging of shardic intents.

Sorry if I ramble, it's more fun that way 

 

Oh, Ps. *Inactivity* ... sorry.

 

Edit: Nope, I'm wrong, Inactiveness is apparently a thing. Learn something new every day ...check!

Edited January 14, 2015 by Darkness