History of our Adonalsium knowledge

[Xaladin he/him]

The shattering of Adonalsium has been to me some kind of given backstory that I learned of very quickly after beginning to read Brandon's books. But where is the backstory and when/how was it given? I don't mean the obvious "no one knows, RAFO" answer, I mean where did the information we DO have about it come from? Just a series of WoB's that someone strung together, asked him about, and he gave a brief explanation, which is the source of most of our knowledge? If so, where is it? The most I have seen in books is in Secret History, which is quite recent. The information has been public for a lot longer than that, except for the tidbit SH adds. Is it all tidbits? If so, where are they?

Just a fun note: Brandon clearly got the name Adonalsium from the name Adonai, which is a Hebrew word for "Lord" (and yes it is sacred so be mindful of how you use it)

[The Sovereign]

Here are several relevant WoBs:

 

Quote

Interview: Feb 22nd, 2013

AMOL Signing Report - E. Hyde (Paraphrased)

E. Hyde

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Someone else asked if Adonalsium had been self-aware, and Brandon said he couldn't answer that yet.

Tags

adonalsium, cosmere,

 

Quote

Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

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.

Tags

adonalsium, cosmere,

 

 

Quote

Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

Phantine ()

Are there any magic systems in the cosmere that aren't shard based?

Brandon Sanderson

This depends on definitions. The effects of Adonalsium permeate everything, and Adonalsium is also the source of the Shards. It is possible to find a magic that isn't DIRECTLY powered by a specific shard, however, though most of these would have been set up before the shattering and would be much smaller in scope than things like Allomancy and Surgebinding.

Tags

shard, cosmere, adonalsium, allomancy, surgebinding,

 

 

Quote

Interview: Dec 6th, 2012

West Jordan Signing Report - Josh & Mi'ch (Verbatim)

Brandon Sanderson

Adonalsium is not Shattered in Dragonsteel.

Tags

cosmere, adonalsium, shattering, dragonsteel,

 

 

 

Quote

Interview: Mar 17th, 2012

Writing for Charity Signing (Verbatim)

Question

How about a confirmation one? We have a secondhand report from Miyabi actually, that says that Hoid was at the Shattering of Adonalsium. Was he there?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes he was.

Tags

cosmere, adonalsium hoid, shattering,

 

 

Quote

Interview: Nov 16th, 2013

Steelheart Signing Report - askthepaperclip (Verbatim)

askthepaperclip

If Adonalsium were to shatter in a parallel universe, would it divide into the same 16 intents?

Brandon Sanderson

Um...it...Adonalsium could have been shattered in other ways.

askthepaperclip

Was there a force determining which way it shattered?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes!

Tags

adonalsium, shards,

 

 

Quote

Interview: Mar 4th, 2014

WOR-midnight signing-Chaos

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.

Tags

Adonalsium,

 

 

Quote

Interview: Jan 6th, 2015

Firefight Signing Line Audio (Paraphrased)

Wetlander

Was Adonalsium shattered all at once? Or did each Shard form at a separate time?

Brandon Sanderson

All at once.

Tags

adonalsium,

 

Quote

Interview: Jan 17th, 2015

Firefight Tour - El Cerrito, CA (Paraphrased)

Teccam

Prior to the shattering of Adonalsium, were any of the central cosmere worlds inhabited by humans?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Tags

adonalsium, cosmere,

 

Edited August 5, 2016 by Iron Eyes

[Stormgate he/him]

I have no idea about the answer, but Shinar was a real nation that Shinovar, in name only probably, was based on.

[DeTess she/her]

I believe in one of the books (Secret History?) the basic facts (Adonalsium got shattered into 16 shards) where given. Everything else is probably WoB and informed speculation.

[Stormgate he/him]

Secret History is fairly new, and the knowledge of the 16 Shards definitely does not come from SH. Confirmed by in-world conversation, perhaps, but not new information.

[Argel he/him]

Pretty sure it's been WoBs. Maybe some of the unpublished stuff too?

[BeskarKomrk he/him]

Somebody who was active at the time can probably give a better explanation than me, but I'll try to give a brief overview.

There are very few mentions of Adonalsium in the text of any of the books. The earliest one, I believe, is in the epigraphs in The Hero of Ages. Most of what we know does come from asking questions over the years and extrapolating from the answers. There was a huge flood of new information in a thread on the Time Waster's Guide Forum after Hero of Ages came out, which you can read here: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=727.

You'll notice that people in that thread are already somewhat familiar with terms like Adonalsium and Hoid. Many of them had already been interacting with Brandon on those forums or in person for years. Many of them had read unpublished works that aren't available now. I don't know of any record of those interactions, although I'm sure there are some older threads in the TWG Archive that you could find and read through.

Some of the things that had been discovered through WoB over the years were finally said in Secret History, but there are still a lot of things we only know through questions. Theoryland is an excellent resource to read through all of that information.

[Stormgate he/him]

I'm just reading the attached link...Sanderson was planning to call Stormlight Archive the Way of Kings, and have a different name for the title. He also wanted, at one point, Oathshards as the series title.