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Can Shards slowly change themselves?


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The Stormfather has said that bonding Dalinar changed him mentally, so would that work for a shard? Before chapter 67 of Oathbringer it says:

Spoiler

This generation has had only one Bondsmith, and some blame the divisions among us upon this fact. The true problem is far deeper. I believe that Honor himself is changing. 

-From drawer 24-18, smokestone

and while the Stormfather also says that going against his nature is pain, and it could be reasonably inferred that it would be the same for a full Shard, would they be able to change slightly over a long period of time while they have something like the Nahel (did I spell that right?) bond anchoring them to something that teaches them, and if so, would that end up changing their identity?

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A Shard is being held by a person (human or non-human) - its Vessel. The intent of the Shard is filtered through the Vessel's personality, their subconscious and their agenda. After picking up a Shard, the Vessel is able to do things against the Shards intent with difficulty. The longer the Shard is held, the more it warps the Vessel to its intent, the Vessel gets less and less wiggle room.

There is a recent WoB confirming that a Shard can change more or less over time depending on how it considers itself and/or is thought of by the population on the shardworld: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/352/#e10282

What we have seen with Honor and Preservation changing is when the Vessel has been or was slowly being killed. Honor in his last days seems to have become a primal version of the concept of being bound by rules - without the more emphatic touch Tanavast might have given the shard before (compare Highspren vs. Honorspren).
Leras was hardly able to act in the end, because changing anything would go against the intent of Preservation. At the same time he was being attacked and slowly killed by Ruin. Here also the Shard became more like the (fictional) primal force of keeping all in a stasis. 

I'd say the enormous Investiture of a Shard empowers the Shards intent to dominate the intent and personality of the Vessel in the long term. The more the intents align the better for the Vessel. Rayse would be happy with Odium - possibly not changed very much, while Ati was corroded by Ruin.

To summarize, I would say it is much more likely for the Shard to warp it's Vessel than the other way around.

Edited by Pattern
Typo
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A Vessel can have no lasting effect on the Shard, only filter it. 

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Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Shards and Shard intents: Holding a Shard is a contest of willpower against the Shard that, over time, is very hard to resist.

Shards affect you over time, but your mind will not leave a permanent effect on the Shard. A holder's [Vessel's] personality, however, does get to filter the Shard's intent, so to speak. However, if that holder [Vessel] no longer held that Shard, the Shard will not continue to be filtered by that person.

source

 

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