Gwylon Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 IDK if this is a thread anywhere else but here I go. Theory: When someone is devoted or committed to something there is a chance that they are taken by the Shaod. If the Dor is Devotions power then maybe the Shaod is a reward (sort of) that grants access to it. First Sel post ever so any ideas I got wrong let me known expressively. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowspren he/him Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Could Shaod be similar to the Snapping of Allomancers? possibly similar to the mists snapping people? in which case it would be a calculated thing rather than based on individual devotion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallyrocket Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 I can see how there could be evidence for that in Raoden's case and maybe Taan (the sculptor), but not anyone else. Especially Shaor, the spoiled little girl, could not have been devoted to anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Arum Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 I can see how there could be evidence for that in Raoden's case and maybe Taan (the sculptor), but not anyone else. Especially Shaor, the spoiled little girl, could not have been devoted to anything. Ahh, this isn't so true. Nobody said that devotion has to be towards something good or artistic. For Shaor, she could have been devoted to getting everything that she wants by any means necessary...just like any spoiled child in our world. I know plenty of children who do everything in their power to get what they want from their parents or relatives, be it candy, a new video game, etc. Kids aren't stupid. They know how to manipulate situations and people. For example, my step-mother would do anything for her grandchildren, and they aren't afraid to ask her for what they want! Every year she takes one of them on a trip of their choosing. They've quickly discovered that they can ask to go ANYWHERE in the world. This year my niece, who's 13, asked to go on safari in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. She just got back from the trip last week. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corax Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Nobody said that devotion has to be towards something good or artistic. For Shaor, she could have been devoted to getting everything that she wants by any means necessary...just like any spoiled child in our world. I agree... furthermore, we're only seeing those Elantrians at their worst, and that gnawing adversity is one of the conflicts of the book. Raodin might not have liked Shaor when he saw her pre-Shaod, but that doesn't mean she wasn't utterly devoted to her mommy, or a puppy or something we never see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yata he/him Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 (edited) The Dor is the power of Devotion and Dominion merged together without anyone who hold.A lot of peoples think that to use a magic system on Sel, you must be devoted to the appropriate land. Brandon stated that isn't true but the reason of the region magic on Sel are the peculiar state of his shards. Edited September 5, 2015 by Yata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lopen he/him Posted September 6, 2015 Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 Galladon seemed like a truly devoted man to his work. Maybe it requires a form of pure devotion to be taken by the shaod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landis963 he/him Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 I thought the Dor (in all it's forms from AonDor to Forgery) was a hodgepodge of the remnants of Devotion's and Dominion's powers, manifesting through the land because there's nothing conscious directing the power like on Scadrial or Nalthis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari he/him Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 (edited) Landis: We really don't know one way or the other, there are theories both ways. Hrathen implies that Elantrians used "enemy magic". Seons contain Aons and we know for sure they have/are Splinters of Devotion, (which makes sense as the very word "Aon" is derived from Aona, Devotion's former holder) so that suggests that Devotion has heavy involvement in AonDor at the least. We also know there are counterparts to Seons called Skaze, named after the former holder of Dominion, Skai. Seeing one of the Skaze could probably clear some things up for us. (For instance, if they use the same runes that ran underneath the skin of Dak'hor monks, that would suggest that some of the Selish magic systems are aligned with Dominion, and at least AonDor is aligned with Devotion.) It's also entirely possible that the Dor is the merged remnants of Devotion and Dominion's "bodies", but that the regionalised magic on Sel still aligns with either Dominion or Devotion or both, depending on how it was formed. As Elantris wasn't particularly Cosmere-aware during the events of their first book, and we had limited access to all of the magic systems excepting AonDor, it's really hard to tell what's going on there. (Granted, the reasoning for this is probably also that it's very Realmatically complicated, and Brandon wants to get far enough in the Cosmere sequence to let us organically learn the "rules" before we learn the "exceptions". We might understand a lot more when we learn about the Shattering of Honour and Spren, too, as these will likely reflect on what Shadesmar is like for Sel, but to a lesser extent) On the OP, I see your point, for example Saolin and Karata would fall quite easily within your scheme. It's clearly not enough to just be devoted to a cause or a profession though, as otherwise Raoden would have been taken much earlier, and arguably Sarene should have been taken by the Shaod, too. But you're probably on to something. Edited September 23, 2015 by Ari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSC01 he/him Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 Maybe the Aon-shaped alignment sometimes happens within someone who is particularly devoted to something, rather than their bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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