[OB] Further Evidence on the Intent of the Shard that Wants to Hide and Survive

[WeiryWriter he/him]

So probably the worst part of being a beta reader is not being able join in public discussion because you know stuff that relates which can’t be divulged. I ran into this earlier this year when people were proposing “Wisdom” as the Intent of the Shard that wants to hide and survive. It was an idea I had had as well, but I couldn’t talk about it because it was founded on a line from Oathbringer.

In Chapter 68, Hoid has the following line:

Quote

I am not one of those, for wisdom and I have always been at cross-purposes, and I have yet to learn the tongue in which she speaks.

Now it’s entirely Hoid is just being Hoid here and just philosophizing to frustrate Shallan. But I also would not put it past Hoid to make an off-hand reference to a Shard that only he would understand. We actually see this in Words of Radiance when Hoid talks about how there is only one woman his age in these parts.

[FirstSelector]

This is clever and is totally something Hoid would do.

[Athalwen]

That was the first thing I thought as well. However, I'd also note that wisdom wasn't capitalized in that line, and as far as I can remember the names of the Shards have always been capitalized, even when it's just a name-drop. If there is a Shard called Wisdom, I'd guess that he's not talking about him/her directly? 

[Ytsken]

There's another quote in OB that suggests this as well... when Dalinar and the Stormfather are talking about Cultivation

"... normally she hides. Cowardice"

"Perhaps wisdom", Dalinar said.

Could this be an in-joke by Sanderson by having smart tactican Dalinar refer to a Shard in hiding as Wisdom? Or is this a red herring? 

[teknopathetic he/him]

Interesting that 'Cowardice' is capitalized in a fashion that doesn't give us any clues. Cowardice would be a hilarious shard (I know the hiding shard isn't supposed to be something so obviously guessable, but still). 

Wisdom did stand out to me, but as an Audio-listener I wasn't sure about the capitalization.

 

I wonder how long it will be before we visit the Aethers (since a certain someone was cleaning off aether fluid from a world hopper's vestments). I can't wait to see how they've changed. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by teknopathetic

[emailanimal he/him]

5 hours ago, teknopathetic said:

I wonder how long it will be before we visit the Aethers (since a certain someone was cleaning off aether fluid from a world hopper's vestments). I can't wait to see how they've changed. 

I had a theory that Letter #2 was from the Aether Shard(s), but that got squashed. 

 

Wisdom always looked like a good Intent for a Shard to me. Not necessarily the one that just wants to survive, although would not be surprised either.  None of the Shards we've seen thus far have Intents that have anything to do with ... you know, intelligence, knowledge, learning,  reason, thinking.  Adonalsium being an overarching deity must have had some Intents inside him to deal with this.  So, Wisdom and Hoid being at cross-purposes is not really that strange.

[Yata he/him]

14 hours ago, emailanimal said:

I had a theory that Letter #2 was from the Aether Shard(s), but that got squashed. 

Letter2's Shard is mostly Autonomy as she is actually the only possible candidate

Edited November 21, 2017 by Yata

[emailanimal he/him]

Just now, Yata said:

Letter2's Shard is mostly Endowment as she is actually the only possible candidate

I thought the consensus was that Letter 2 were some of Bavadins, and Letter 1 - Endowment?

[Yata he/him]

11 minutes ago, emailanimal said:

I thought the consensus was that Letter 2 were some of Bavadins, and Letter 1 - Endowment?

I edited the previous message, I switched the Letters in my mind.

[emailanimal he/him]

1 minute ago, Yata said:

I edited the previous message, I switched the Letters in my mind.

Ok. This makes sense.

Edited November 21, 2017 by emailanimal

[Rainier]

So the shard is Wisdom? Discretion is the better part of valor, and all that.