Why Kel needed the Thingy

[Stormgate]

Sanderson has said that anyone can take up a Shard. However, it was necessary for Kelsier and the Ire to have the Connection device (the "thingy" in the title) in order to take up Preservation. So, the question is: why?

I think it may have had something to do with the fact that Kelsier had no physical Aspect.

[Tellingdwar]

Any human has the capacity to take up a Shard, but it takes a high level of Connection to actually do it, I think.

Standing in a Shardpool at the right time (such as the Well of Ascension once every 1024 years) will work for a moment, but for long-term results the Shard must be heavily Invested/Connected to a person at the time that its Vessel dies and and drops the Shard, as what happened to Vin and later Sazed at the end of HoA.

I believe the Ire's sphere contained a huge dose pure, concentrated Connection to Adonalsium. Enough to bind the user to whatever Shard happens to be nearby and without a vessel.

[happyman]

I think that the key part of this is the word "a".

If I'm reading it right, given any single person, there is at least one shard they can pick up.  It's probably rare for a single person to be able to pick up two.

In Kelsier's case, the Shard he could take up (without shenanigans) was almost certainly Ruin, In the case of the Elantrian's, it was probably Devotion.  In either case, they needed the Connection sphere in order to take up Preservation, which is wildly different from both of them.

[Landis963]

2 hours ago, happyman said:

In the case of the Elantrian's, it was probably Devotion.

With a few exceptions (Alonoe, looking at you) who'd probably bond Dominion instead.  

[Yata]

It's a matter of Connection like other said before me. But in the Kel's specific situation. He has another problem, as Cognitive Shadow He has no Connection with the Physical Realm. This made him a "faulty Vessel" for a Shard and its Power (as Ruin said).

Probably every standard living man with the "Ire's Device" will be a better Vessel for a Shard.