Reasoning for the Shattering

[Stormgate he/him]

Sanderson is LDS, and certain elements—likely not accidental—tend to make their way into his books. There's Adonai being the Hebrew word for God, and Shinar being a kingdom in biblical times.

In Genesis, there's the story of Eve taking the fruit and causing the Fall. The LDS church teaches that Eve taking the fruit was, in fact, good to do. Forbidden, yes, but necessary.

Perhaps Adonalsium had the Shattering happen for some reason. Perhaps it was to give ordinary people the ability to become gods.

[CaptainRyan he/him]

While I certainly am ok with the idea that Adonalsium was somehow complicit in, or at least had foreknowledge of, its own impending Shattering I am not sure how I feel about the idea that Adonalsium allowed itself to be Shattered in order to give sixteen people the ability to hold 1/16 (or less) of its power. Especially because those powers would eventually overwhelm their Vessels and cause massive amounts of pain and suffering.

 

As to the LDS doctrine angle I believe Brandon has said that he does not consciously decide to incorporate elements of LDS doctrine into his works. That being said, as someone who is Mormon, I do see a lot of parallels between certain elements of Brandon's books and "Mormon-y" things haha. Brandon does, however, include elements from a variety of ancient/modern earth cultures, religions, concepts etc. so it is certainly not far-fetched to imagine that some of those elements are Judeo-Christian themed (Adonai and Shinvar to use your examples).