Taking up Shards

[Oversleep]

From SH we know that somebody has to be Connected to a Shard to take it up - Kelsier couldn't Ascend to Preservation.

BUT: (emphasis not mine)

On 17.03.2012 at 5:57 AM, Chaos said:

I don't remember what prompted me to write this, or what impression I had that made me write this, but I wrote: Anyone can take up a Shard. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I would not have written this if it was not crystal clear to me that this is what Brandon meant.
source

Am I missing some information which makes that clear?

Edited September 10, 2016 by Oversleep

[Yata he/him]

I read it as "you have not to be some exception to the mankind" as to say that pick up a Shard isn't something limited to destined child, me, deus ex machina, magic user,ecc...

Every man with the right attitude may have a chance to do this.

And actually we don't know who much of the Kel's case is about him and his Cognitive Shadow status.

Maybe someone not connected enough would be capable of pick up the Shard but without the ability to do nothing with it. They have only two choices: drop the shard or be slowly eroded by it.

Edited September 10, 2016 by Yata

[The One Who Connects he/him]

There is also the possibility that Kel and Sazed's necessary connection had to do with their species being directly created by Ruin and Preservation. i don't actually have any evidence for this, but given how Ruin (and Leras?) alluded to Kel about having created them it could be relevant.
Edit: Kel has too many "unique situations" going on

Edited September 10, 2016 by The One Who Connects

[Savanorn he/him]

I think Ruin even mentions that Kelsier isn't in all three worlds so his holding is compromised. 

[Jazzy Kandra she/her]

I'm pretty sure that Kelsier's major issue was more than he didn't have a body, and, on top of that was Connected a lot more to Ruin than Preservation thanks to his past choices which led to chaos and anarchy... If he had a body though, it would've been easier to pick it up, and he probably wouldn't have needed the help of the weird-white-stuff from the Elantrians (and this might mean there's something up with those Elantrians, too...)

So, as long as you're alive, you can pick up a Shard, but if you're dead, you need help (except, I would guess, if you are especially Connected to it...). Anyway, his problem is his lack of presence in the Physical Realm, not just his Connection...

[Oversleep]

But then Sazed at the end of SH was described as having developed Connections both to Ruin and Preservation or something along these lines. It indicates that even living beings need those strong Connections.

[Vindicator]

What interests me more is that one doesn't need a connection to all three Realms to take up a Shard's power, nor do they need the right connection, since they can bypass it, like Kelsier did with the orb he stole from the Ire.

I wonder if there's another Shard out there that was forcibly taken like this. It could also explain how Devotion and Dominion lost to Odium, maybe it wasn't so much plain trickery or some arcane method as much as it was that Odium is perfectly connected to Rayse, and thus he can draw on more of its power.