Are there now only 15 shards because of Harmony

[Revan Kholin he/him]

Did Harmony basically become the vessel of two shards or did they fuse and become one thus making only 15 shards in total? Thx =)

[Chaos he/him]

I do believe you can make that argument. Ruin and Preservation have intermingled in a sense, and probably will continue to do so for a while. But yes, Harmony is a Shard and Brandon calls it as such.

[goody153]

Kinda relevant WoB

Quote

INTERVIEW: Nov 21st, 2011

Alloy of Law Signing Report - Lord Juss (Paraphrased)

QUESTION

Were Ruin and Preservation two shards or one?

BRANDON SANDERSON

They were two shards. Harmony is considered a shard, although it’s really two, in the same way that a king of two countries would still be considered a king.

Quote

INTERVIEW: Apr 15th, 2013

Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

THANATOS17901 ()

Thanks so much for all your writing, Way of Kings is the best book I've read in the last decade.

If Sazed were to die, would he drop the shards Ruin and Preservation, or would he drop the shard Harmony?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Excellent question. The shards are now intermingled, and would take effort to split apart. He would drop Harmony. (This is what Odium feared would happen, by the way.)

Though i'd lean more on 16 shards than 15. After all it's still separate power though under total full control of Sazed.

[Revan Kholin he/him]

20 minutes ago, goody153 said:

Kinda relevant WoB

Though i'd lean more on 16 shards than 15. After all it's still separate power though under total full control of Sazed.

Hmmm I see thx

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

It may actually be 14 if the Dominion and Devotion have merged. Harmony is interesting; eventually it probably will be a single Shard. Just like two (or more) countries can intermingle and become one.

[Chaos he/him]

58 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

It may actually be 14 if the Dominion and Devotion have merged. Harmony is interesting; eventually it probably will be a single Shard. Just like two (or more) countries can intermingle and become one.

The mechanics on why this is happening is that Sazed's mind is willing them together, causing the intermingling. It's hard to say the mechanics of Devotion and Dominion's Splintering, but it's not anything like Harmony. One could perhaps argue they aren't Shards anymore because the power is so Splintered.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

The power does seem to have intermingled though. Since a lot of this determination seems to be based off one's perspective I'd say that 16,15, and 14 are all accurate depending on how you view the matter.