Theory about Nightblood and the future of the Cosmere

[ND103]

So this is the first time theorising, if I'm in the wrong place/not tagging properly or breaking some other norms, I apologise and please set me right. 

 

That out of the way, I had a theory about Nightblood and the future of the Cosmere. 

One of the problems with the different people who picked up the shards of adonalsium is that while the power they hold is infinite, their minds (thought greatly expanded) are finite. This is one of the reasons that even though harmony is technically connected to all the bits of preservation in the Cosmere, he needs to be actively aware of a bit before he can do anything with it/about it. 

I'm assuming that in the good old days, Adonalsium didn't have that problem. Also, he was less bound by the intents and able to do things like create Roshar. And one possible reason for this was that he was not a human or finite being that picked up the power, but in fact a sentence created by the collection of that power and therefore infinite in itself. 

With that in mind, if anyone we're to somehow pick up all the shards, they'd still be limited by that finite ability of their limited minds. 

However, of something like Nightblood, a sentience created of investiture were to pick up the shards. For instance if Nightblood were to kill old Rayse and take up his investiture. And possibly add Honors shard. And so on until it picks up all of them. Not being restricted by a finite mind, Nightblood could in fact become something like Adonalsium 2.0, a mind born from all that sentience, possibly with its bigger goal being to destroy evil. 

The theory then is that add the Cosmere evolves, the shards will start getting unified in Nightblood until something like Adonalsium is restored in Nightblood. 

It would be cool as well because a sword meant to destroy evil would become the ultimate God like being of the Cosmere. 

Obviously there are many issues with this, and very little evidence to support any of it. But might be something different and cool which we know Brandon likes to do. 

What do you think?

Edited September 9, 2018 by ND103

[Fanghur Rahl]

Honestly, I don’t see how it could work. Nightblood may have acquired his sentience by means of Investiture rather than biological structure, but ultimately he’s still just as physical as any human. That and his mind is, if anything, far less advanced than an average human. His intellect is essentially that of a fairly rudimentary (by science fiction standards at least) artificial intelligence.

[Ixthos]

@ND103, first off, cool theory :-) I like the idea, though I don't fully agree with it. I think that Nightblood will take up either all of or most of the shard Odium, with the rest - if it doesn't take up the full shard - combining with Honour and possibly parts of Cultivation, which themselves are then taken up by 10 of the characters - so Nightblood holding Odium, Cultivation maybe dead or maybe still active, and the rest a combined shard, which would match the focus on 10. Nightblood holding Odium would then be hatred of evil, and potentially the ability to identity evil - hatred isn't bad unless misplaced 

The rest of the Cosmere I think might have two endings - I think it all depends if the shards can give up full control of the shard while retaining it. Either all the shards will combine, and then leave the galaxy to start again elsewhere, or the shards will partially combine, so each remains seperate, each still holding its own unique shard, but a new intelligence holding access to all 16 likewise would exist, and then leave the galaxy, but with the shards also remaining behind, sort of like Autonomy's avatars - which I think each holds the shard equally, each able to control the same amount of it, or how Honour will be held by 10 people - with the parts of the power in the galaxy remaining under their control but the rest under the control of the new combined intelligence. So I think Nightblood would remain behind, making the best possible use of Odium.

That's my take on it, anyway :-)

[Calderis]

I have to agree with @Fanghur Rahl here. I think that Nightblood is just as limited as any mortal mind, just perhaps in different ways. 

I honestly think that at this point the only way create a being that is anything akin to what Adonalsium was pre-shattering would be to have a mortal vessel take up all 16 Shards and hold them, in what would probably be a maddening paralysis of conflicting pressures and drives, for the eons it would take for them to truly merge back into a cohesive whole. 

Then you can set the power down and watch as a new mind develops that's greater and more expansive than your mortal mind could ever have matched. Hopefully it's friendly. 

[Fanghur Rahl]

That and the other problem is that Nightblood doesn't store Investiture; it uses it. Brandon has on multiple occasions compared Investiture to how energy works in the real world; 'low entropy' investiture can be used to do 'work', while 'high entropy' investiture cannot. Nightblood basically turns low entropy investiture into high entropy investiture as a means to power its destructive capabilities (I don't know if the term 'entropy' is literally applicable here, but Brandon has all but said outright that some analogous mechanics are at play).

[Draginon]

You know I wonder what would happen if a Shard unsheathed Nightblood. Would they be an infinite 'battery' or would he eventually kill them?

[Nathrangking]

Oudeis16

We've seen people Ascend. If it were in the position to do so, could Nightblood take up a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a RAFO, as I'm not specifically willing to comment on whether or not power that has become self-aware (Seons, Nightblood, Spren) can Ascend or not.

source

[+Kelkamer]

Fun theory. It'd be neat if, while collecting shards, Nightblood learned what evil is! 

[Calderis]

21 minutes ago, Nathrangking said:

Oudeis16

We've seen people Ascend. If it were in the position to do so, could Nightblood take up a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a RAFO, as I'm not specifically willing to comment on whether or not power that has become self-aware (Seons, Nightblood, Spren) can Ascend or not.

source

Except he has done just that. 

Quote

Questioner

What happens when a... spren picks up a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

What do you mean picks up a Shard? Shardblade or Shard of Adonalsium?

Questioner

Picks up a Shard of Adonalsium.

Brandon Sanderson

A spren is a Shard of Adonalsium so it just--

Questioner

Picks up one of the big ones like could a spren do the same thing that Kelsier's spirit did after he--

Brandon Sanderson

*hesitantly* It's like you're asking if electricity can gain a charge of electricity and get electrified. Does that make sense? I mean-- It's a question that doesn't make a lot of sense.

If a shard were to somehow-- They would just combine into a bigger shard and get larger-- if that makes sense?

Questioner

The foundation of that question was I thought that maybe the Stormfather spren was basically doing what Kelsier's spirit did.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, um *sighs* Not really... It's really a not really There's some similarities but it's a not really. It's not quite a RAFO though. more of a--

Questioner

More of a "doesn't quite work that way".

Brandon Sanderson

--doesn't quite work that way but you're thinking along the right lines?

source

 

[Fanghur Rahl]

8 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Except he has done just that. 

 

Well I guess that effectively rules out any creatio ex deo scenarios on Adonalsium's part then, otherwise no one would be able to pick up a Shard. 

[Nathrangking]

I submit @Calderis that I should have searched further and discovered a newer WoB than the one that I quoted.

[tmnsquirtle]

4 hours ago, Draginon said:

You know I wonder what would happen if a Shard unsheathed Nightblood. Would they be an infinite 'battery' or would he eventually kill them?

Nothing is infinite. That being said, it seems like Nightblood is fairly restricted to the physical/cognitive realm, so I doubt he'd be able to drain an entire shard all at once.

[Draginon]

4 hours ago, tmnsquirtle said:

Nothing is infinite. That being said, it seems like Nightblood is fairly restricted to the physical/cognitive realm, so I doubt he'd be able to drain an entire shard all at once.

I kind of mean that he uses up Investiture as energy (Breaths and Stormlight for instance) and Shards are in a sense a source of Investiture without having the limits of the Investiture regular people use, or in other words an electric eater going for a power plant versus a piece of technology using electricity.