Physical effects of becoming a Shardholder

[Unite Them he/him]

If I read everything correctly Vin and Sazed's bodies were both vaporized when they took up their respective shards and ascended.  Is this an effect of all shards?

 

Are all shardholders without physical form?  And if so what does this say about the effects of holding a shard on a person's existence within the three realms?

 

Does becoming a shardholder grant more presence in the other two realms at the expense of the physical?

 

Finally are there any known shardholders that were able to maintain a manifest physical body while holding a shard?

Edited November 16, 2015 by Unite Them

[baby he/him]

Well, we know that Ati and Leras still had a body, and Vin had one too, as she simply falls from the mists like the other two and the only difference was that her hair turned white iirc. Sazed's body was the only one described as being vaporized, but I don't know how it all works out.

[Stormgate he/him]

We know that Leras was able to appear as the mist spirit, and that Ruin was able to appear to Vin when she had her earring in. I have a bit of a personal theory that Shardholders can be attacked in the physical realm, and that they don't appear in that realm to prevent their attack. I am inclined to believe that Shardholders have a harder time holding that form, and are able/inclined to do it more through vision than anything else.

[Charononus]

Ok my understanding of it.

 

You have the shard which exists as a body (physical),  a cognitive influence and shadow,  and spiritual.  The body however is described as being power.

 

The holder gives it a full cognitive state,  though still influenced by the shards intent,  and the holders body becomes power.  

 

In Vin's case this means that imo her body became mist when she ascended.  When the bearer dies however the part of the power that was their physical body initially coalesces back into a corpse.  

 

You can see this as Leras fell out of the mists after talking to Elend iirc.  Vin drops out of the mist at the end,  and Ati drops out of some smoke.  (BTW does anyone see Ruin's smoky form looking like the smoke monster in Lost?)

 

Last thing I'd add in,  I think this is how Odium potentially splinters shards.  Smash the holders initial body in such a way that the shard can't spit them out.  The shard now bears too much without there being a full cognitive presence and shatters into little tiny pieces.

[skaa he/him]

If you agree with my Realmatic String Theory, then you can simply imagine the "strings" making up a person's physical body each being pulled out of the Physical Realm upon Ascension, causing the appearance of vaporization. The strings are still there, though, so when the person dies, releasing the Shard, the strings making up his physical body reattach to the Physical Realm. That's why we see Leras', Ati's, and Vin's dead bodies in HoA.

Edited November 17, 2015 by skaa