Adonals and a piece of God

[Rogue Saint]

Apologies in advance if this has been brought up before. I searched the forum, wiki and google for any derivative of the word 'Adonals' before posting this, so I am not sure if it has been mentioned. If so, please direct me to the appropriate place/WOBs. Appreciated.

 

Alright, so recently I started reading Warbreaker again because I absolutely love Lightsong. When it got to the section with Hoid, Lightsong and Siri I was of course interested because this is my first re-read after having found the 17th Shard and learned theories of the Cosmere. 

 

After Hoid completed his history of Hallandren he said something I had not noticed before in reference to his storytelling/[Lightweaving]. "I learned it many, many years ago from a man who didn't know who he was, your Majesty. It was a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died."  I thought about who that friend may have been, and of course my brain jumped to the biggest thing it possibly could, Adonalsium itself.

 

This got me to think something; what if the biggest clue about Adonalsium right there in the name: -ium. Lerasium. Atium. Leras. Ati. Therefore, I believe Adonalsium is actually Adonals  This fits right into how so many worlds in the Cosmere worship some other, greater god out there - and how often it does not seem like that would be Adonalsium Itself.

 

So, the pieces of my theory fall thusly:

1) There is a greater power that has existed long before the creation of Adonalsium

2) A living being called Adonals found a way to steal/harvest/merge with energy of this higher power

3) Adonals became a physical embodiment of a portion of this power, taking the suffix '-ium'

4) When Adonalsium was shattered it caused the greater power to lose much of its ability to effect the Cosmere - while maintaining its sentience it can only act in very subtle ways

 

And.... Sorry, don't really know exactly where I was going with this... I just don't recall ever having heard anything along these lines and I wanted to see what y'all have to say.

 

I need to go to my university now for some paperwork, and I will try to flesh out this theory in my head a little better while I am gone. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

[Stormgate]

I hate to pull an unpublished work on you, but in the Liar of Partinel,

there is a sort of biological disease that is reported to have spread from the bodies of dead gods. I'm not sure what gods they refer to, but I'm afraid it doesn't refer to Adonalsium.

[Rogue Saint]

Oh, that's fine. I figured that wasn't what that phrase was talking about. It just got me thinking about the nature and meaning of Adonalsium and whether it was ever just a normal living creature before an apotheosis - same as Leras and Ati and all the rest of the Shardbearers were.

[taveren]

adonalsium isn't a metal though it was the name of the god like honor or odim so it probably doesn't have anything to do with any holder it might or might not have had

[Rogue Saint]

adonalsium isn't a metal though it was the name of the god like honor or odim so it probably doesn't have anything to do with any holder it might or might not have had

 

Oh, I certainly don't think Adonalsium is a metal. My statement is more in saying that Adonalsium is neither the source nor the sum total of power in the Cosmere. But is instead only a manifestation of a part of a much greater, older one - the God Beyond. So the '-ium' suffix isn't used to state that it is actually a physical metal, but instead is used to show the power that is Adonalsium is being held by a being known as Adonals. 

 

I can further extrapolate (Theoryweaving, ftw) that should all 16 pieces be brought together correctly, you wouldn't actually have Adonalsium - you would have all the power and potential, but it would be open, ready for a bearer. So.... Hoidium, anyone? Naw, couldn't see things going that far, but I am sticking with the concept. As the Shards are pieces of Adonalsium, so too is Adonalsium a piece/large part of the power known as the God Beyond. 

 

I guess what I am kinda saying is it looks like Adonalsium is a Macguffin. An extremely powerful, nigh omnipotent Macguffin, but still not the 'end of the road' entity it is being made out to be. I believe possessing and Bearing Adonalsium is very comparable to a Shard. And even with all that impossible amount of power, there is another deific level above.

 

Is there any WOB that specifically states that there was no Holder of Adonalsium? I thought that everything about this mysterious, broken thing has been kept in mystery, but if there is clear Words from On High about it, I will accept my wrongness. Hell, it is a theory, odds are completely for it being wrong.

[Moogle]

Is there any WOB that specifically states that there was no Holder of Adonalsium? I thought that everything about this mysterious, broken thing has been kept in mystery, but if there is clear Words from On High about it, I will accept my wrongness. Hell, it is a theory, odds are completely for it being wrong.

 

It's been RAFO'd consistently, as most questions on the nature of Adonalsium tend to be.

 

Of note, and I can grab sources if you want, I think what we know about Adonalsium is mostly limited to:

• There was a weapon created to be used against Adonalsium,  but it failed.
• If one held all sixteen Shards, it is theorized in-world that it would either destroy the person or reform Adonalsium again.
• Something opposed Adonalsium (which might be obvious from the first point).

And of course there's a graveyard filled with RAFOs.

[Oversleep]

It's been RAFO'd consistently, as most questions on the nature of Adonalsium tend to be.

 

Of note, and I can grab sources if you want, I think what we know about Adonalsium is mostly limited to:

• There was a weapon created to be used against Adonalsium,  but it failed.
• If one held all sixteen Shards, it is theorized in-world that it would either destroy the person or reform Adonalsium again.
• Something opposed Adonalsium (which might be obvious from the first point).

And of course there's a graveyard filled with RAFOs.

I believe you merged two not necessarily related points into one.

• there was indeed a force opposing Adonalsium and it indeed created a weapon
• there was a plan against Adonalsium and it failed

But it wasn't confirmed that the plan was made by this opposing force, was it?

Edited January 1, 2016 by Oversleep

[Moogle]

I believe you merged two not necessarily related points into one.

• there was indeed a force opposing Adonalsium and it indeed created a weapon
• there was a plan against Adonalsium and it failed

But it wasn't confirmed that the plan was made by this opposing force, was it?

 

 

I think you're right. My bad. WoBs:

imriel452 (Paraphrased) (17th Shard)

My request was "to tell me something about the cosmere that has not been previously mentioned" and this is what I received:

Brandon Sanderson

Long ago there was a plot to destroy Adonalsium. It failed.

Footnote

This book was signed in January 2015

(source)

 

Chaos (17th Shard)

There is an opposing force to Adonalsium, and at the midnight release, I asked Brandon to write in my book something about that opposing force. He wrote:

Brandon Sanderson

There was a weapon created by the opposition of Adonalsium.

(source)

 

claytonphillips ()

Before Adonalsium shattered, was it consciously opposed by something, be it people or another cosmic force? Is whatever opposed it still around?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Yes.

(source)

 

To be fair, though, I would be utterly shocked if they were not related. More than shocked, flabbergasted. Thunderstruck. Etc.

 

But you're right, they're not guaranteed to be the same thing. Goes to show you what happens when you don't source all your WoBs...

Edited January 1, 2016 by Moogle

[hoidhunter]

One of my personal theories is that Hemalurgy is somehow related to the real cosmere bad guys.  It is pervasive across all systems of magic and generally seems to destroy investiture.  Just a hunch...

[Yata]

One of my personal theories is that Hemalurgy is somehow related to the real cosmere bad guys.  It is pervasive across all systems of magic and generally seems to destroy investiture.  Just a hunch...

I don't think, The Hemalurgy is "just" the mix of Ruin's Investiture+Scadrial focus. It has not anything of special about that.

As Magic System may be used to manipulate the Spiritweb (through a patchwork-like method) but also other Magic Systems may do something like that, for example the Lerasium in Allomancy rewrite the Spirit Web and without any control turn you in to a Mistborn but if you know how to do it. You will probably re-shape your SpiritWeb as you want.

Every Magic System may be pervasive across the others.

[Ari]

One of my personal theories is that Hemalurgy is somehow related to the real cosmere bad guys.  It is pervasive across all systems of magic and generally seems to destroy investiture.  Just a hunch...

 

Brandon's stated that Hemalurgy is very powerful and potentially dangerous. The fact that it moves investiture closer to entropy (it can't be destroyed, only moved to a state in which it's more difficult to move out of- investiture still follows thermodynamics, just an odd cosmere version) is a consequence of Ruin, not any grand conspiracy. It certainly seems that one of the more sinister Shards in the Cosmere has learned a lot about Hemalurgy, (or perhaps more accurately, decided to allow their minions to practice it) but I don't think that really has any tie to what went on with Adonalsium, because Adonalsium is barely mentioned in any of the texts. It's all just head canon and speculation.

[Cruxer]

 

 So.... Hoidium, anyone? Naw, couldn't see things going that far. . . .

 

Hoidium, the essence of meddling and gibbletish. . . .