Sephirot vs Adonalsium

[Frosted Flakes]

Upvote if your first thought was that this topic was going to be something absurd like a discussion on a hypothetical battle between the Final Fantasy VII character and Adonalsium.

That's not what this is. That's no typo in the Topic Title, I'm actually talking about Sephirot; the 10 Emanations of Ein Sof.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think that I have just stumbled upon an unlikely source of what may prove to be real world inspiration for much of the lore and Realmatics of the Cosmere. Jewish Mysticism.

Let me first say that I know very little about this topic. I only just became aware of it myself. So I'm going to openly admit that nearly everything I say on the subject is taken almost exclusively and verbatim from www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephirot and I strongly encourage you to take a few moments to skim through it.

So the Sephirot are the 10 Emanations of God/Ein Sof/The Infinite through which he reveals himself and continuously creates the physical realm as well as the chain of higher metaphysical realms. The 10 Emanations, which remind me of the Shards of Adonalsium, are as follows:

Keter - "Crown"

Chochmah - "Wisdom"

Binah - "Understanding"

Daat - "Knowledge"

Chesed - "Kindness"

Gevurah - "Severity"

Tiferet - "Beauty"

Netzach - "Victory"

Hod - "Splendor"

Yesod - "Foundation"

Malchut - "Kingship"

Each of these Emanations interplay with each other and each have something similar to an Intent. Some are masculine and some are feminine, which reminds me of Roshar. Most importantly, these are all aspects or God. It may merely be coincidental, but I see a connection between the Sephirot and the Shards of Adonalsium. For example, Keter is described as Divine will to create. If you broke that down further, you might have something similar to Endowment and maybe Inspiration, or a Shard with an Intent close to that. Creativity, maybe. Or Netzach which is Victory. Broken down further, you might get Honor and something else. The point isn't that the Emanations and the Shards are the same; the point is that they are both aspects of God.

Or consider the Four Worlds. The worlds of Emanation, Creation, Formation, and Action. The World of Emanation seems to function like the Spiritual Realm of the Cosmere, the worlds of Creation and Formation together remind me of the Cognitive Realm, and the world of Action is the Physical Realm.

Sorry if this was a bit disjointed. I'm working the graveyard shift and writing this on my phone. Also, this isn't really meant to be a big game changing theory. I just saw some similarities and wanted to share them with you guys.

[skaa he/him]

Good find, Flakes! In addition to Adonalsium and the Shards, I think Ein Sof and the ten Sephirot can also be the inspiration behind Honor and the ten Heralds. Heck, I'd even say the Double Eye of the Almighty diagram containing the ten Orders connected by 17 lines is the Rosharian version of the Tree of Life containing the ten (well, eleven, really) Sephirot connected by 22 lines (and the "voidbinding chart" the Rosharian version of the Qliphotic tree).

Here are other thematic similarities between Sephirot and Heralds:

Malchut ("Kingship") - Jezrien, Herald of Kings

Gevurah ("Severity") - Nale, Herald of Justice

Netzach ("Victory") - Chanarach, with the attribute of brave

Chesed ("Kindness") - Vedel, with the attribute of loving

Binah ("Understanding") - Paliah, Herald of Truthwatchers, with the attribute of learned

Tiferet ("Beauty") - Shalash, Herald of Beauty

Chokhmah ("Wisdom") - Battar, with the attribute of wise

Keter (the will to create) and Daat (central state of unity) - Kelek, Herald of Willshapers, with the attribute of building and the Surge of Cohesion

Yesod ("Foundation", the power of connection) - Talenel, Stonesinew, Herald of Stonewards

Hod ("Splendor", submission) - Ishar, with the attribute of pious

(Some of those comparisons aren't as solid as the others, which is fine. Brandon doesn't have to use an exact mirror of the Sephirot.)

Of course, Honor is but an aspect of Adonalsium, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is another Tree of Life-like chart showing how all sixteen Shardic Intents are inter-connected.

Shameless Plug: You might also be interested in my own explorations on the ancient/medieval inspirations behind the Cosmere, some of which are linked in my signature (under The Cosmere and Metaphysics). One of them is about the Essences.

Edited February 1, 2015 by skaa

[Shaggai]

IIRC, Brandon has cited some Jewish mystic influence on the Stormlight Archive. I think the Double Eye of the Almighty is based off of a similar symbol.

[Frosted Flakes]

@Skaa Thank you! I also started coming to the conclusion that the Sephirot more closely resembled Roshar specifically than the Cosmere generally.

I'll be happy to look through your theories. I'm relatively new to the forums, and it looks like I've got a lot to catch up on.

[Cheese United he/him]

Well you found out about this type of thing way faster thaan I would've. If this is aan example of what you can bring to the forum, You'll be caught up and making more theories in no time.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Fun Fact: Japanese really like Jewish Mysticism. If you look through many Japanese games, mangas, and anime, you'll find a lot of names that share similarities with names from Jewish Mysticism. You make the funny line in your OP abouth thinking this was a FFVII thread. Well, Sephiroth is named based on Sephirot.

 

For another example, the name Tartarus. This is another often used name within Japanese entertainment, and is from Jewish mysticism. It would seem Tartarus originates in Greek mythology, though it does appear in the Jewish religion.

 

One game in particular makes heavy use of this stuff (and just so happens to be my favorite game of all time), Tales of the Abyss. From cities such as Grand Chokmah, St. Binah, Daath, Keterburg, and Chesedonia, to a ship named Tartarus, to a country named Hod, to energy spouts called Spehiroth, the game is riddled with this stuff.

 

It's all very interesting.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Nisana she/her]

Well, I don't know very much about Jewish mysticism, but there is a greta difference between what happened to Adonalsium and the Sephirot: in our situation (if I understand well) Adonalsium is divided in 16 pieces, and so the complete "God" (or whatever he/it is) is not anymore (or, if he is still existing, it doesn't have the power or the level of existence which he had before the shattering. The Sephirot do not involve a "breaking" of the superior God: it's "only" a way they show a part of it, which still exist and it is so beyond human nature that you cannot understand it. 

I don't remember, but I will check if there is a Gnostic theory about it. At this moment, the only god that I remember being broken (divided in parts) is Osiris, but I really don't think it could be a possible source. (There is also Dyonisus, but the comparison doesn't work, I think).

Maybe an Indian myth in the Veda? 

But, searching for a source, I found out an interesting text from Philip Dick (Valis trilogy), where the characters speak about a sudden division of the deity. I haven't read the book and the quotation I've found is in Italian, so I don't know how it sounds in English (maybe it hasn't anything to do with it). But maybe it could be interesting.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Nisana

[Kelek's Breath he/him]

Nice post. Good job on finding all this cool info. Upvote from me.

 

On an aside,

For another example, the name Tartarus. This is another often used name within Japanese entertainment, and is from Jewish mysticism.

 

Tartarus is from Greek mythology, where the Titans where imprisoned by Zeus. Sorry for bringing it up but I loved original Clash of the Titans movie and remember it from there.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Kelek's Breath

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Nice post. Good job on finding all this cool info. Upvote from me.

 

On an aside,

 

Tartarus is from Greek mythology, where the Titans where imprisoned by Zeus. Sorry for bringing it up but I loved original Clash of the Titans movie and remember it from there.

 

Ah, good point. I suppose it did originate in Greek mythos first. Looky here, it has some place in the Jewish religion too.

 

Thanks for the correction!