[Secret History Spoilers] Why the 17th Shard wants Hoid

[KnightGradient]

 

"Other planets," she repeated gently. "Yes there are dozens of them. Many inhabited by people much like you or me. There is an original, shrouded and hidden somewhere in the Cosmere. I've yet to find it, but I have found stories."

Khriss, in SH, dropped that Yolen was missing. If you were to look back towards the letter, you'd find the 17th Shard were after Hoid. I believe they want to find Yolen again. Why? Because they're chasing Hoid, a man who was born on Yolen, and knows how to communicate with people there.

 

The main piece of evidence supporting this is the Letter itself, not its content. Frost, a dragon who is not a Worldhopper(by WoB), received and replied to the Letter. This implies that Hoid can deliver storming letters through the universe to a lost planet. The other piece of evidence is that Hoid is arguably the most experienced Worldhopper out there.

 

I'm not arguing over whether or not Hoid can get to Yolen, but whether or not the 17th Shard thinks he can. Thoughts?

[Hemalurgist]

Well the Letter seems to say that the 17th Shard is working for Frost and since Frost is on Yolen and is able to communicate with the 17th shard I don't think Hoids ability to deliver the Letter to Yolen is what they want from him.

[Jondesu he/him]

I'm curious… have we received confirmation that Yolen is indeed the hidden, shrouded world?  I know that's the popular belief, and if it's been confirmed, great, but what if that's not Yolen?  What if it's where Adonasium is originally from, instead, and was the true original homeworld of of humanity and the other species in the Cosmere?

 

jW

[baby he/him]

Adonalsium was from Yolen, as well as the original shardholders. I believe there's a WoB hidden somewhere about this. 

 

EDIT: found

AETHLING

Where did humanity originate in the cosmere?

BRANDON SANDERSON

The first planet with humans on it was Yolen.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Hoid is not from Threnody. Good question though. Hoid is from Yolen.

NUTIKETAIEL

Were all the original sixteen Shardholders from Yolen?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Onceler

[nervousnerd he/him]

Well, I don't think we know that Adonalsium is from Yolen specifically. We don't even technically know if a person held a giant Adonalsium 'shard' or what it was.

[Jondesu he/him]

Adonalsium was from Yolen, as well as the original shardholders. I believe there's a WoB hidden somewhere about this.

EDIT: found

Good quotes, thanks. That first one in particular answered my question about whether Yolen is the planet that's hidden.

jW

[Erunion he/him]

While the original 16 were all from Yolen, Adonalsium might not have been! He/She/It could have been from outside the Cosmere...

(Maybe he was an Evil Librarian and Alcatraz chased him down and Broke him! /joketheory)

[Pagerunner he/him]

While looking up WoBs for an unrelated topic, I stumbled across something you might find relevant:

 

Q:  Is the 17th Shard limited in purpose to tracking down Hoid?

 

A:  Their purpose is grander than that.  Hoid is one of many priorities for them.  "They are very worried about what he is doing."  "They have a task, they have goals, they are worried he will be working at cross purposes with them and they are trying to hunt him down."

 

Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7051-philadelphia-wor-signing-reports/?p=116457

 

So, looks like they aren't after Hoid because of what he can do for them, but to make sure he's not acting against them.

[emailanimal he/him]

Well, I don't think we know that Adonalsium is from Yolen specifically. We don't even technically know if a person held a giant Adonalsium 'shard' or what it was.

 

However, all signs point to Adonalsium being active on Yolen, and the Shattering having happened on that planet as well.

[emailanimal he/him]

While looking up WoBs for an unrelated topic, I stumbled across something you might find relevant:

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7051-philadelphia-wor-signing-reports/?p=116457

 

So, looks like they aren't after Hoid because of what he can do for them, but to make sure he's not acting against them.

 

Well, you do not call your organization a Shard unless you mean it to have an Intent.

 

I also think that (a) the 17th Shard's Intent actually has a Name, and that ( the 17th Shard believe that this Intent is essentially missing post-Adonalsium (that is - what would have constituted this Intent has been spread so thinly between the 16 Shards, that this Intent really is no longer traceable as a whole).  Might be to much to hope based simply on the punny name of a secret society, but people who started the 17th Shard are extremely well aware of what is going on, so they must have had a reason why they called themselves the 17th Shard and not, say, "The Worldwalkers" or "The HoidChasers", or "The Avengers" or "XCOM".

Edited March 11, 2016 by emailanimal

[DreamEternal]

However, all signs point to Adonalsium being active on Yolen, and the Shattering having happened on that planet as well.

He was also active on Roshar before, and probably multiple other worlds. Just because Yolen was the last world he touched, it doens't mean it was the first.

[yurisses]

Khriss, in SH, dropped that Yolen was missing. If you were to look back towards the letter, you'd find the 17th Shard were after Hoid. I believe they want to find Yolen again. Why? Because they're chasing Hoid, a man who was born on Yolen, and knows how to communicate with people there.

 

The main piece of evidence supporting this is the Letter itself, not its content. Frost, a dragon who is not a Worldhopper(by WoB), received and replied to the Letter. This implies that Hoid can deliver storming letters through the universe to a lost planet. The other piece of evidence is that Hoid is arguably the most experienced Worldhopper out there.

 

I'm not arguing over whether or not Hoid can get to Yolen, but whether or not the 17th Shard thinks he can. Thoughts?

 

Could you please link this WoB?

[Pagerunner he/him]

Here is where we learned that Frost isn't a worldhopper: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/cuu7zlb?context=1000.

 

Also of relevance is Brandon's definition of a worldhopper, which means that Frost has never left his home world of Yolen: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/46015-shadows-of-self-tour-chicago-oak-brook-il/?p=335596.