Spiritual Splinter Theory

[NewbSombrero he/him]

The purpose of this thread is to take what we know about the two definitively confirmed Splinters we have information on (Divine Breaths and Seon Aons) and from there, extrapolate that data to make predictions about other Splinters. So let's start with what we know:

1) Splinters have never been human. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=699#8

2) Splinters often have their own intent, separate from that of their shard. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=618#53

3) They are held by sentient beings. Edit: Alatar has suggested that this may be due to the Splinter linking with the being's spiritweb.

4) They can be expended for some magical effect at the cost of the holder's life. This is dependent upon the fact that BS has spoken of the ability of Seons to complete their Aons in Q&As as though even though this being seen was edited out, it is still an ability they have.

5) This is where some speculation begins. I would posit that Splinters tend to be Spiritual in nature. My strongest evidence comes from the Divine Breaths. We know for sure that Breaths are Spiritual, so this is all pretty safe. My logic for Seon Aons is a little bit more shaky, but I feel confident about it. BS says the connection between Seon and master is Spiritual. (I'm bad at finding quotes, so bear with me. It's out there.) For me, this helps to support the idea that Splinters are probably Spiritual.

 

Now, besides all this, we know that we have met Splinters on Roshar. The two major candidates of which I am aware are spren (which seem to be the more popular option right now) and shardblades (which I personally favor and will focus on for the remainder of the post). Now, what do we know about shardblades?

1)They have "shard" in the name. It's not much, but I'm going with it.

2) They are stored in the Spiritual Realm when not in use. This ties in the Spiritual component I'm assuming right now.

3) Like Seons, no one knows how or when they were made.

4) So far as we know, there certainly seem to be a whole lot fewer than there used to be, which may suggest to me that at some point, maybe a lot of the KR gave up both their lives and their shardblades in order to protect Roshar. It could very well be that this is the Recreance, and the general populace misinterpreted it as a betrayal.

Oh yeah, and just for the sake of completeness,5) we certainly haven't seen any non-sentient being wielding shards. This particular item does differentiate the shardblades from our other Splinters in that they are transferable, but now that I think about it, in theory, a Returned could probably give someone their Divine Breath. The shardblades would still be the only Splinters we know of that stick around after whatever holds them dies, but I think I've got some fair explanation there as well. Seons don't seem to be mortal, so I think really the only way for them to die may very well be to complete their Aons. As for the Divine Breath, Endowment is still alive and kicking as far as we know, so the power of the Splinter probably just returns to him/her when its host dies.

 

Any feedback on this theory would be greatly appreciated. Also, if anyone in favor of spren being our Splinters on Roshar would like to give their reasoning, I would love to hear what you have to say on the topic. 

Edited March 21, 2013 by NewbSombrero

[Phantom Monstrosity]

It's confirmed that you can use a Divine Breath to Awaken things.

 

So they are, to some extent, transferrable.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Phantom Monstrosity

[NewbSombrero he/him]

It's confirmed that you can use a Divine Breath to Awaken things.

 

So they are, to some extent, transferrable.

 

This is true.

[Meg]

*whine* My beautiful posting is gone . 

 

This is a sign! I shouldn't write so much. Now the shorter version.

-- Quote for the spiritual connection

-- You mentioned the ability of Seons to complete themselves. Do you refer to this statement:

The short of it, however, is that Ien (Raoden's Seon) showed up to save Raoden and Sarene from Dilaf. I used a mechanic of the magic system that I have since pretty much cut from the novel (since it was only in the book to facilitate this scene) that allowed Ien to complete his Aon, 'healing' Dilaf. Except, since Ien's Aon was broken, it turned Dilaf into an Elantrian instead. (A non-glowing Elantrian. One like Raoden the group used to be—like Dilaf's own wife became after she was improperly healed in Elantris.)

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=769#211

Though I haven't read the annotations *shame on me* I'm pretty sure that this ability is really cut out and no more existent on Sel.

-- Divine Breath

Is it hypothetically possible to Awaken an object using a Divine Breath?

Yes.

source

I'd like to remind that, yes, the Divine Breath is transferable but if the Returned uses it to awaken something that consumes the Breath (like a Lifeless or the squirrel) (s)he can't get it back alike when (s)he gives it to heal somebody, so (s)he would die.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/2383-qa-with-brandon-sanderson/?p=42476

3. Why aren't Seons affected by the lack of a chasm line in their Aon?

If they tried to actualize their Aon, it would have an undesirable result. In addition, the chasm broke their bond to the humans they were tied to, and you can see the result of that. So they were affected.

[Meg]

Thanks a lot; I should have read a few postings more.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

Although, technically we don't have a *confirmation* that actualizing an aon destroys the seon.

[NewbSombrero he/him]

Although, technically we don't have a *confirmation* that actualizing an aon destroys the seon.

 

There was somewhere that he talked about it that he mentioned it leading to the Seon going away.

[thek9 he/him]

What about the Dawnshards or Honorblades?  They seem much more likely candidates for Splinters of Honor.

[callumke he/him]

What about the Dawnshards or Honorblades?  They seem much more likely candidates for Splinters of Honor.

This. I think they might be the same thing, but we will see. Honor even mentions them as almost essential to Dalinar's success. Even though they are objects of high investiture, Shardblades are too ordinary to be splinters. Seons are sentient, and Divine Breaths grant immortality. Shardblades just cut stuff. Plus, we have shardplate, which may have been stored in the spiritual realm in the past.

 

The Honorblades and dawnshards? I just wish we had more information ...  

[NewbSombrero he/him]

What about the Dawnshards or Honorblades?  They seem much more likely candidates for Splinters of Honor.

 

Well we do know that these are types of shardblades, and I have previously theorized that different types of shardblades are Splinters of different shards. I think that is about as far as we can go on that particular issue right now with what we have without it becoming baseless speculation.

[Alatar he/him]

On Nº 5, having the Splinters being Spirit alone, I strongly disagree with that. I think they have all 3 aspects, Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual.

 

Let's see some examples of parts of a Shard. First, the confirmed:

 

We know that Atium is Ruin's body (not Ati's body, but Ruin's).

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=949#4

 

Viper

Ok. The gemhearts/stormgems/whatever that are grown inside the beasts in Way of Kings ... is that the same as the way Atium is grown inside geodes in the Pits of Hathsin?

Brandon Sanderson

It's similar. The pits are an area where there's like a leak from the spiritual realm into the physical. That's what happens there.

 

Also, we know that the mists and the pools on Scadrial are not Splinters because, as we see in the quotes above, BS said we haven't met any in Scadrial.

 

Second, unconfirmed, but I think it is commonly believed that the Dor is the power of a Shard (some think Devotion, others think both Devotion and Dominion).

 

Although the Dor could be a Splinter, or be composed of them, I don't think it's something we have seen any reason to believe in. I think we have strong evidence that the Dor is the spiritual part of a Shard (its power).

 

So, we have seen examples of the Physical aspect of a shard, the Cognitive aspect and the Spiritual aspect (probably), and none of them are Splinters (most probably).

 

I think Splinters have the three aspects. They have power (Spirit), they have intent (Cognitive) and they manifest physically (Physical).

 

Another thing is that the body, mind and soul of a Shard most probably dwell in the Spiritual Realm.

 

In the quote above, BS said that the body of Ruin is leaking from the Spiritual. Also, when Ati and Leras died, both of them had bodies which suddenly appear. I think this strongly suggests that both the body of the Shard and the body of the Holder are "stored" in the Spiritual Realm, maybe not because it must be so (TLR and Vin both held the power but didn't go to the Spiritual Realm) but because that's better that way, the same as Sazed has done (I think).

 

In short, I strongly believe that Splinters have the 3 aspects of a Shard, thus being a Shard's shard, but a complete one.

 

On their power, probably it is different, major Splinters having more power and minor Splinters having less power, I don't think there's a standard Splinter measure.

 

Hope it's clear and all quotes and links work.

 

EDIT: I realized, they have power and also they can bond spiritually with humans (probably linking to their spiritweb).

 

And, even if I disagree, +1 for the summarizing, by the way.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Alatar

[NewbSombrero he/him]

Alatar, I see where you are coming from in drawing your parallels with Shards, but I feel like what we're seeing with Splinters may be some of what BS has said about there being things in each realm only shadowed in the other realms. As such, then we do see some Physical and Cognitive manifestations of Splinters, but they would still be primarily Spiritual if my theory holds. I also really like your idea of Splinters being able to link into people's spiritwebs, which I would love to take as evidence for shardblades possibly being Splinters given that BS has described it as such in questions about stealing shardblades with Hemalurgy.

[Alatar he/him]

Since I saw that comment about shardblades and hemalurgy, I was convinced that shardblades linked to the person's spiritweb.

 

But I also think that sprens do the same thing. Problem is, we don't know how "magic items" are in the Spirit. Do they have spiritwebs? If so, then maybe they create a bond between the person's spiritweb and the spiritweb of the object or spirit or whatever.

 

If they don't have a spiritweb on their own, then I bet they "attach" to the person's spiritweb.

 

So, maybe both shardblades and spren have spiritwebs, or none have or one has and the other one not.

 

I hope it was confusing enough

[NewbSombrero he/him]

I think I follow. Yeah, right now it's sort of uncertain I think just to what extent the spiritweb is or is not the same thing as something's Spiritual aspect, which I think we'll need to know more about to figure out the exact mechanics of it all.