Devotion and Dominion

[ceskykure]

i was contemplating on how Brandon Sanderson said that magic systems on Sel, were a mixture of Devotion and Dominion.

 

It occurred to me that Dominion's intent isn't to control or govern but talking about an area where certain

lands or domains are subject to sovereignty or control.

 

All of the magic systems on Sel, are focused on Devotion.

Elantrians/AonDor, it is devotion to an ideal.

Dakhor monks its about devotion to obedience and/or their country. 

Chayshan users devote time and energy, they devote themselves to it.

Forgery takes a lot of devotion to master,

Bloodsealing, i don't really know a lot about bloodsealing, but i'm guessing that it takes some devotion to something. 

 

The aspect where dominion comes into play is that each Magic system is based on its dominion or central area.  AonDar gets weaker the farther from Elantris, i think i remember reading something that Forgery doesn't work as well the farther away you get from their spot.  Bloodsealers powers don't seem to have a farther away you get weakness, but they also have to renew their seals everyday, and its more of a location that is "sealed" rather than everywhere.  For Dakhor and Chayshan i really don't know how it would work, but i think that because the investiture of these systems is focused more on their bodies, Dakhor mutates their bodies and Chaysan focuses their bodies.

 

I hope this makes sense its my first post and its kind of hard to put into words.

 

Ceskykure

[A Joe in the Bush]

Several other People have theorised on this, but the Focus on Devotion part is New. Good Job.

[DSC01]

Yeah, that's what I think, too. At first, I was thinking of Dominion in terms of control and governance, but then I realized that it was much more likely that Dominion's influence is what restricts the various magic systems to their discreet areas of power--their dominions.

[Youngy]

I felt it was a Devotion to a Dominion that allowed a person to access the magic systems - but I am probably wrong on that belief.

The problem is that some (like Forgery and the Dakhor) are just learned and require no inherent ability like Elantrians. We don't know enough about Bloodsealing and Chayshan to know either way...

[Lightsworn Panda]

Very good theory ceskykure, especially for a first post. 

 

Perhaps Dominion also takes a large part in the Sel magic systems, too. Most of the listed examples have their power limited (or devoted) to a certain area, after all.

[WeiryWriter]

You might find this thread to be of interest.