Have pity on an idiot? Because I'm an idiot

[Physicist of the Cosmere she/her]

Okay, confession time. [deep breath]

 

I don't know anything about shards.

 

There. I said it. All I've heard is about Odium from the SA, and from the last WoK review by CassJayTuck on YouTube. She's great, by the way, you should totes check her out. Of that, at least, I'm not ignorant. But i digress. Are the shards explained through an interview with Sanderson, or is it from a book? Just answer that and I'll work my own way further into Cosmere nerd-dom.

 

Many thanks, and may you feast on chouta and bay-wraps.

[Samaldin he/him]

A combination of intervies and books i believe. You can get many things about the shards from the books, but i at least had to read some interviews to get the whole picture. (The shattering of Adonalsium, Adonalsium itself, the number of shards, etc)

[Rasarr she/her]

Combination of books and interviews, yeah. The basics go thusly:

 

There used to be a divine-like being called Adonalsium, which resided on planet Yolen (where Hoid/Wit comes from). For some reasons, sixteen people decided to kill Adonalsium - so they went ahead and shattered him, each of them gaining one-sixteenth of his power. This one-sixteenth of Adonalsium's power is called a Shard, and because Shattering has left Yolen inaccessible/dead (we don't know), Shards fled all across the Cosmere, settling new worlds with humans.

 

Every Shard represents some aspect of Adonalsium: Ruin, Cultivation, Honor, Odium, Devotion etc. All Shards started off with equal, divine-like power (having powers of Preservation lets you move an orbit of entire planet, for example), but when a shard invests itself into a world, some of those powers become locked. Shards have Intents, which restrict what it can do (Preservation can't destroy, for example). They can be merged (Preservation+Ruin= Harmony), or splintered (Honor -> spren). 

 

So far, we know of ten Shards. Odium is from Braize (in Greater Roshar solar system), Honor and Cultivation are on Roshar proper, with Honor having been splintered, Preservation and Ruin merged into Harmony on Scadrial as result of Mistborn events, Devotion and Dominion are from Sel and were splintered by Odium before events of Elantris, Endowment creates Returned on Nalthis, and Autonomy resides on Taldain (White Sand world). There's also the "survival Shard", which we know exists but know nothing else about.

[king of nowhere]

There is a very well-made recap at this link:

http://www.17thshard.com/news/features/featured-theories-cosmere-102-r278

[Pagerunner he/him]

Welcome to the deep end! A lot of the story behind the Shards has been intentionally left out of the limelight of the books, to let each series stand on its own. It's hidden beneath the surface, and fans who follow all of Brandon's Cosmere series can find similarities and easter eggs to connect everything together. Similarities in the fundamentals of magic, characters in the background hopping from world to world, and the story behind the worlds' deities (the Shards) don't need to be understood to enjoy a particular series, but they are all there for those who want to look for them.

 

Have you read Mistborn yet? The original Mistborn trilogy gives a really good introduction to Shards, since the characters are learning about the Shards in that world. The readers learn along with the heroes over the course of the three books. And, without straying into spoiler territory, let's just say that the Shards become somewhat active players themselves. Much more so than in Elantris or Warbreaker, and I'd even argue that they're more active than what we've seen so far in Stormlight.

 

But especially after the publication of Hero of Ages, the third Mistborn book, and Warbreaker, people started to look into the connections between Brandon's books, and he gave out some really cool info in interviews. A lot of it has been documented on a site called Theoryland, in their Interview Database: here is every Q&A that has been tagged with 'shards': http://theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt=shards

Edited June 10, 2016 by Pagerunner

[jaimeleecee she/her]

Do not feel bad! I have been reading Sanderson since he started completing the Wheel of Time series, and I JUST learned about the greater cosmere within the last year (as you can see I am also rather new to the shard) just keep reading and lurking here, you will learn a lot! I highly suggest you avoid some of the cosmere theory threads if you haven't read all the cosmere novels yet, because of spoilers! 

[Physicist of the Cosmere she/her]

Have you read Mistborn yet? The original Mistborn trilogy gives a really good introduction to Shards, since the characters are learning about the Shards in that world. The readers learn along with the heroes over the course of the three books. And, without straying into spoiler territory, let's just say that the Shards become somewhat active players themselves. Much more so than in Elantris or Warbreaker, and I'd even argue that they're more active than what we've seen so far in Stormlight.

 

I had to stop halfway through The Well of Ascension because the sexual stuff made me too uncomfortable, but I will definitely check out that link. Many thanks to you and everyone else.