9th Shard

[A Joe in the Bush]

So I've been trying to figure out the other 8 shard names. I can't find a lot of my refrences, and All the Topics I found discussing this were dead. But I think I found One. First off, all the shard intents deal with Humanity. Odium hates, and is hated by H. Preservation Preserves H. So on, Secondly, I believe the that all the shards are paired, but not always with a shard from their planet. So Ruin and Presevation. Odium and Devotion. Dominion and Honor. Endowenment and ???. Cultivation and ???.

 

So I was thinking, and decided to just ask my dad for Help. I asked "What's the opposite of To Cultivate?" And he replied, "To Neglect".

 

Neglect. This works perfectly. To Cultivate is to Enhance, to make better. To Neglect is to Ignore. Brandon Sanderson has said before that there is a Shard that just wants to Survive. Neglect doesn't care about Humanity, it neglects them to survive.

 

I don't think Neglect is the Right term, But I think it's close to the Intent.

 

Side note: I aksed my dad what the Opposite of to Endow was, and he said "To Not Endow."

[Argent]

I am fairly certain we have a WoB that not all Shards have a counterpart.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

That is true, not all Shards have a counterpart, he's specifically said that Ruin and Preservation are the only ones to be so perfectly matched.

 

One of the difficult things about it is that we don't know how exactly the Shards are located.  We don't know if Endowment is alone on Nalthis (unless there is additional info on that), or if you need more than one Shard to make a planet, which would mean that any other announced Shardworlds would imply another two Shards.  What would be even more complicated is if some of the books (written or simply planned) are so far spaced out that the Shards have actually switched "projects" and combined their abilities with other Shards with different results, thus creating multiple examples of the use of a single Shard.

[Link]

That is true, not all Shards have a counterpart, he's specifically said that Ruin and Preservation are the only ones to be so perfectly matched.

 

One of the difficult things about it is that we don't know how exactly the Shards are located.  We don't know if Endowment is alone on Nalthis (unless there is additional info on that), or if you need more than one Shard to make a planet, which would mean that any other announced Shardworlds would imply another two Shards.  What would be even more complicated is if some of the books (written or simply planned) are so far spaced out that the Shards have actually switched "projects" and combined their abilities with other Shards with different results, thus creating multiple examples of the use of a single Shard.

We have received WoB that Endowment is alone on Nalthis. It's the second question.

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

Thank you, Link, that was most helpful!  However, the mystery becomes even more enigmatic.  If it only takes one Shard to create a world, then they can be distributed any which way without any sort of pattern.  The only "rule" we've seen on it is that it depends on the nature of the Shards involved, like how Ruin and Preservation, neither having a creative power of its own, had to work together to create.

[Mistdork]

We have received WoB that Endowment is alone on Nalthis. It's the second question.

 

 

Thank you, Link, that was most helpful!  However, the mystery becomes even more enigmatic.  If it only takes one Shard to create a world, then they can be distributed any which way without any sort of pattern.  The only "rule" we've seen on it is that it depends on the nature of the Shards involved, like how Ruin and Preservation, neither having a creative power of its own, had to work together to create.

 

I think that this is easy to explain...Endowment's intent, to endow something (life) on others means that it's easier for Endowment to create life by itself. One could probably say the same about another Shard, Cultivation. Cultivation's intent is pretty obvious, it drives her to cultivate life, so if she did create anything on Roshar, she could do so, as it fits her intent...

 

However, with Preservation and Ruin there's a problem. Preservation wants to preserve life at all costs, this is why the life it created wouldn't have been sentient (this was the problem, that Preservation could create life...just not sentient life).From what I understand, sentient life of the type that Preservation wanted (human/persons) understands how to make "good"/preserving and "bad"/ruinous choices. With Ruin involved, they could do this, but with only Preservation, that life would only want to preserve. It would exist, but it would have no actual comprehension, therefore, that life would only be a bad copy of life that Preservation had known. They would not have personhood like the humans on Yolen, that is, they could not know/preserve against ruin...

[Asha'man Logain]

I slightly disagree here. Preservation's intent is to preserve. Just that, preserve. Not only life but everything, it could not make people alone as that would not preserve the planet, or the ecosystem, it would change it. In any change, in any creation something is destroyed and something is created. This is why the Empire stayed so stagnant, the LR influenced by preservation wanted to preserve everything (as well as keep his rule intact so he could continue to release the power in the Well). Thus no change. If he allowed technological advancement, it would ruin (or destroy) the current status quo, even if it was a change for the better it is still a change. Ruin on the other hand couldn't create anything alone, because creating is diametrically opposes to ruining. However with help he could, as creation gives him something to destroy.

 

It was actually the breaking of the pact made with Ruin that gave mankind sentience. With equal bits of Preservation and Ruin they were not sentient, but with Preservation giving them a bit more of herself than they had of Ruin caused sentience. Unfortunately this made ruin stronger, and would have allowed Ruin to win and destroy everything. This is why preservation attacked Ruin and trapped a portion of him in the Well, this equalized their available power again, allowing the world to go on.

[Cracknut]

Brandon Sanderson has said before that there is a Shard that just wants to Survive.

 

That's Kelsier obviously.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

I think that this is easy to explain...Endowment's intent, to endow something (life) on others means that it's easier for Endowment to create life by itself. One could probably say the same about another Shard, Cultivation. Cultivation's intent is pretty obvious, it drives her to cultivate life, so if she did create anything on Roshar, she could do so, as it fits her intent...

 

However, with Preservation and Ruin there's a problem. Preservation wants to preserve life at all costs, this is why the life it created wouldn't have been sentient (this was the problem, that Preservation could create life...just not sentient life).From what I understand, sentient life of the type that Preservation wanted (human/persons) understands how to make "good"/preserving and "bad"/ruinous choices. With Ruin involved, they could do this, but with only Preservation, that life would only want to preserve. It would exist, but it would have no actual comprehension, therefore, that life would only be a bad copy of life that Preservation had known. They would not have personhood like the humans on Yolen, that is, they could not know/preserve against ruin...

 

You guys are all presuming that Endowment created the human life on Nalthis. We know that humans exist on worlds that don't have shards. Couple that with the fact that it seems like Endowment and Awakening only showed up on Nalthis a few hundred years before Warbreaker... I don't think Endowment was there before then. I'll bet she moved there because of something else that happened (maybe Odium's attack on Sel?)

 

Now that we've seen a certain sword in a certain other place I really think

that Endowment is doing what she needed to in order to create Nightblood so he can be used to kill/fight Odium in some way

 

That's Kelsier obviously.

 

Hehe... agree!

Edited April 8, 2014 by Green Hoodie Mistborn

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

The occurrence of magic does not coincide with the creation of the world, it seems that it actually takes a while for magic to develop after humans have been created.  Scadrial didn't have Allomancy until a little before the The Lord Ruler came to power and Feruchemy obviously wasn't there from the beginning or the Terrismen wouldn't be the only ones to have it.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

The occurrence of magic does not coincide with the creation of the world, it seems that it actually takes a while for magic to develop after humans have been created.  Scadrial didn't have Allomancy until a little before the The Lord Ruler came to power and Feruchemy obviously wasn't there from the beginning or the Terrismen wouldn't be the only ones to have it.

 

I didn't say that occurence of magic was linked to the creation of the world. I'm sure the worlds were already there. occurrence of the magic is much more likely tied to when the Shard invests itself on the planet and either creates a human population to use the magic or invests the existing humans with their power. 

 

Scadrial did have allomancy before TLR, it was just very rare. We also have a WoB stating that Terrismen kept to themselves genetically, which is why they are the only ones to possess it.

Quote related to the presence of Allomancy in the humans on the far continent who are genetically identical to the original humans created by Ruin/Preservation (emphasis mine):

 

BRANDON SANDERSON (20 OCTOBER 2008)

No, they're not dead. Yes, Rashek was aware of them. In fact, he placed them there as a reserve. I knew he wanted a 'control' group of people in case his changes to genetics ended with the race being in serious trouble. All I'll say is that he found a way other than changing them genetically to help them survive in the world he created. And since they were created by Ruin and Preservation, they have the seeds of the Three Metallic Arts in them—though without anyone among them having burned Lerasium, Allomancers would have been very rare in their population and full Mistborn unheard of.

 

 

 

Quote related to Feruchemy's isolation in Terrismen:

 

CHAOS

Since the dawn of Scadrial, why was Feruchemy isolated in a single distinct population in the world, namely the Terrismen? Allomancy, while rare within the population of Scadrial, at least was not isolated to one population, it was spread evenly, it seems. What is special about the Terrismen that only they get the power of Feruchemy? Does it have something to do with the previous Ascensions before Rashek, with the guardian keeping the power for a time?

BRANDON SANDERSON

It's all in the spiritual DNA, which is passed on like normal DNA. However, they are a separate people. They've kept themselves isolated, similar to the jews in our world. When I asked he said there have been some Feruchemical-mistings in the past, but they are very rare

 

Based on this info, all humans on Scadrial were created with the seeds of the metallic arts, though only the Terris sDNA was open to the Feruchemical powers. So the powers would have been available to people soon after their creation. 

 

Based on that, Awakening's "recent" (600 years pre-Warbreaker) umm awakening for lack of a better word. lead me to believe that Endowment moved to Nalthis shortly before the history of Hallendren starts. Though perhaps this would be a good clarification question for the Ultimate List? 

[Senor Feesh]

Just as an additional point, Alendi was a Seeker. So Allomancy certainly existed pre-TLR.

IF Endowment has an opposite (honestly I doubt it) it wouldn't be as simple as 'not endowing'. To Endow is to give. By extension, its opposite would be to take. I have no idea how this would manifest Shardically, but I suppose Abrahamic religions do have some precedent for the notion (the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away).

The Shards are all considered divine in some respect as well. The second letter defines Odium as 'God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context'. So whatever the Shards are, they're all considered to be an aspect of God (which we can probably assume is a positive thing, but we'll see.

[Chromium Compounder]

IF Endowment has an opposite (honestly I doubt it) it wouldn't be as simple as 'not endowing'. To Endow is to give. By extension, its opposite would be to take. I have no idea how this would manifest Shardically, but I suppose Abrahamic religions do have some precedent for the notion (the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away).

I know WoB says that not all shards have opposites, and that Ruin and Preservation are the exception rather than the rule, but I think that that's largely a matter of perspective.  If you look at it a certain way you can think of Endowment and Dominion as opposites.  Endowment is about giving while Dominion is about acquiring.

[PorridgeBrick]

But Dominion doesn't require taking anything away from someone. All it requires is being in control. You can easily have that and never actually take something from someone.