Color coding of Shards (and a theory)

[Elegy he/him]

I have not found a thread on this topic, to my surprise. Supposedly, every Shard is able to form a perpendicularity. Every perpendicularity has a color. From what we’ve seen, the color of perpendicularities differ from Shard to Shard. Brandon said about this:

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

So do each Shard's perpendicularity-- is that, like are they their own individual color or is that sort of--

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There is a small thematic connection. This is not to be taken as one of the bigger deals in the cosmere, but there is a small thematic connection.

Orem signing (Dec. 21, 2017)

So the perpendicularities are color-coded, which means that the Shards are too, since the perpendicularities are made out of the essence of the Shards, for example the god metals (and Ruin and Preservation took on the very same colors of their perpendicularities when we saw them “on-screen”). However:

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Questioner

Does each Shard have a favorite, or special, number or color?

Brandon Sanderson

I would say that there are inclinations but it's not, perhaps, as specific as you are thinking.

Bands of Mourning release party (Jan. 25, 2016)

So it is true, but it is 1) not really important (but that will not stop us, will it), and 2) not really specific.

 

Let’s collect the colors of the perpendicularities we’ve seen or know enough about:

• Well of Ascension (Preservation) = White
• Pits of Hathsin (Ruin) = Black
• Lake near Elantris (Devotion) = Blue
• Lake in the Horneater Peaks (Cultivation) = Green
• Patji’s Eye (Autonomy) – Green
• The perpendicularity Dalinar opened (Honor) – it's only described as "glowing" and "brilliant". Not sure if that means golden or light blue. The gloryspren present are golden, if the perpendicularity is connected to them, it might be golden. However, on page 1136, it says Venli sees "thunder and lightning" in him just before he opens it, and lightning is usually associated with light blue. So it's not clear, could be any of them. This would be a question to ask Brandon.

There are two more things of note here. First: There are two different Shards with perpendicularities that are associated with the color green – Autonomy and Cultivation. This ties into what Brandon said about the colors not being “as specific as [the questioner is] thinking”. There is a possibility that two Shards share the same color, or maybe different shades of the same color. This doesn’t particularly surprise me, as I have problems finding 16 completely distinct color tones. Second, it’s obvious that these are only 6 of the 10 Shards we know. There are 4 Shards whose Perpendicularities we haven’t seen yet: Odium, Dominion, Endowment and Ambition. As far as these are concerned, we are left with speculation. So this is what I gathered:

 

Odium has been connected to several color tones throughout his appeareances and in the mythology surrounding him. For the longest time, I presumed his color to be red, but then Brandon confirmed:

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FirstSelector [PENDING REVIEW]

Does red in cosmere signify one Shard co-opting or corrupting another Shard's magic?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes.

Oathbringer San Francisco signing (Nov. 15, 2017)

That means, things connected with Odium being red doesn’t have to mean anything except for him corruption (or co-opting) another Shard’s magic, which – given his way of approaching things – wouldn’t be a surprising thing for him to do at all. There’s also a theme of orange present, but the color I find the most convincing is violet, given this occurance of the color when Dalinar confronts Odium and gets a glimpse at the meaning of its Intent, which should be what the Shard actually *is* instead of what instruments it uses. Notice how there’s a lot of colors mentioned over the course of this one passage, but one of them is particularly striking:

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“Dalinar found himself standing on a speck of nothingness that was the entire world, looking up at an eternal, all-embracing flame. It stretched in every direction, starting as red, moving to orange, then changing to blazing white.
Then somehow, the flames seemed to burn into a deep blackness, violet and angry.
This was something so terrible that it consumed light itself.”

(Oathbringer, Chapter 57)

It goes on to describe the passion, harted and ecstasy that is associated with Odium. All of this is a description of “this” violet blackness. Dalinar only reaches the actual Intent of Odium once the flame turns violet. And, thinking about it, it would make sense for Odium to be violet, since the color is often associated with drowsiness, haziness, intoxication, which seems to summarize Odium rather well. Whether you define him as hate or passion, he’s all about intoxication.

 

Next off, we have Dominion. So we know that Devotion is coded as blue. As for Dominion, we don’t have proof, but some indications. Like this WOB:

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Weltall [PENDING REVIEW]

MaiPon and JinDo are based on Korea and China you've said, I thought that Dominion and Devotion have some resonance with Confucianism-

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

They do, the yin and the yang and things like that, absolutely.

Weltall [PENDING REVIEW]

So that was intentional?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

That was very intentional. Yeah, I've always been fascinated with, like, the blue and the red, right? The things that are opposite but to some cultures and not to others. Like, that was really, that was the Ruin and Preservation thing, right?

Oathbringer San Francisco signing (Nov. 15, 2017)

If he is fascinated by “the blue and the red” as opposites and he sees red as the opposite of blue and Dominion as an opposite of Devotion (which is blue), then it seems logical to assume that Dominion might be red. This fits with other indicators – the heavy use of red in all things Fjordellian, especially the priests, which in the end worship Dominion.

This leads me to another thing: Assuming that Dominion is red – and we have strong indications for that – then red is used in two contexts: Dominion on the one hand, the corruption of Investiture on the other hand. This is most probably not a coincidence: Corrupting foreign Investiture – dominating it – seems like a very Dominion thing to do. I don’t mean to imply that Dominion has anything to do with what Odium does when red shows up – but that the principles of Dominion’s Intent are at play. The essence of Dominion and domination are red, so Investiture dominating Investiture has the same color.

Assuming that this is correct – and I’m assuming a lot now, I know – will open a whole new can of worms. Any time a given color has shown up when Investiture was at work might indicate principles of Shardic Intents. The blue lines seen by Allomancers have the color of Devotion (although there might be another Shard with the color blue), so if Devotion is all about connection, does that hint at the connection between the Allomancer and the metal? That seems like a stretch. Elantrians are known to be radiant white – a connection to the Intent of Preservation would make sense, since Elantrians, not aging anymore, are “preserved”.

With all that being said, there are still two more Shards that I haven’t covered: Endowment and Ambition. With these two, any kind of speculation is completely baseless and all I could rely on at this point are vague plausabilities. My own personal baseless guesses are Endowment being a maybe violet or another blue Shard (depending on whether Honor is blue or golden, but who knows, there are enough shades of blue for three Intents) and Ambition being silver. But for the moment, I’d like the points I’ve made up till now to be food for thought. So what do you think? Does the connection make sense? Is it completely unlikely? And what uses of color in combination of Investiture could have a deeper meaning?

Edited April 10, 2019 by Elegy

[Calderis he/him]

Personally i think the colors, just like numbers are more associations than anything concrete. Where I believe the numbers are tied to the planets, I think that colors will change based off perception. 

That's what happened with Preservation and Ruin. 

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Argent (paraphrased)

Ruin and Preservation were often represented in the Mistborn trilogy in terms of black and white. Is this imagery limited to that series, or do other Shards also have an associated hue?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This (Ruin & Preservation's colors) was because of the specific world and their perception of the world and themselves. Essentially, because of the dynamics of the interplay between Ruin and Preservation, they "chose" to view themselves as black and white respectively, so that's how they were represented. Also, because the only two Shards on Scadrial, and their natures were opposites, after the long period of time they spent on the same planet, they kind of "polarized." If similar thing happened on another world, similar coloring effect could happen.

Steelheart Chicago signing (Oct. 1, 2013)

 

[Elegy he/him]

I came across that WOB while looking for the quotes and thought about it. It doesn't change the colors of the Shards, only their origin, and it means that the colors aren't prescribed. It raises a lot of new questions, as in why Autonomy and Cultivation see themselves as the same color etc. The way Shards perceive themselves is also influenced by their Intent, since their way of perceiving in general is engrossed by it. Maybe there is a leaning, since Preservation hasn't become black or Ruin white.

There might not be a greater scheme the colors fit into, but the corruption/Dominion=red connection still seems relevant . Did Skai see his power as red because he observed it as the color of the things he represents. Of course, him and Devotion might have just seen themselves as opposites that weren't quite as polar as Ruin vs. Preservation, which would raise the question why Dominion hasn't become blue or Devotion hasn't become red instead. So I guess they have influence on it, but the way they influence it is also influenced by other things, like their Intent, so there are colors that are way more likely.

(Please call me out if I'm projecting.)

[Calderis he/him]

2 hours ago, Elegy said:

It raises a lot of new questions, as in why Autonomy and Cultivation see themselves as the same color etc. The way Shards perceive themselves is also influenced by their Intent, since their way of perceiving in general is engrossed by it. Maybe there is a leaning, since Preservation hasn't become black or Ruin white.

My point was just that it's complicated and not set... Which in regards to Autonomy is especially valid. 

Does "Autonomy" see things that way? Or just Patji? 

[Elegy he/him]

That's a good point!

I always imagined green to be an allusion to the Old Tree star sign of Taldain, as in green standing for the leaves (the avatars) of that tree (Autonomy) that get scattered all over the cosmere. Theoretically, that would imply that the other "leaves" would be green as well. But I'm aware that this is only speculation built on associations rather than on actual hints.