The Effect of Intent on the Aquisition of Magic

[Windrunner he/him]

In Brandon's recent interview on Readit he stated this

[quote

]2) One of the 'basics' of the magic in all of the worlds is that the energy of Shards can fuel all kinds of interactions, not just interactions based on their personality/role. I did this because otherwise, the Magics would all be extremely limited.

The 'role' of the Shard has to do with the WAY the magic is obtained, not what it can do.

I found this really interesting because it clearly defines what the Intent of a Shard does to affect the magic. It also got me thinking that we could use this to help figure out either

A. If we knew the Intent of the shard we could figure out how the magic is acquired

B. If we knew the how the magic powered by a Shard is acquirred we could figure out the Intent of said Shard

I'm gonna start with the shards where we already knew both

Preservation-Accesing power from the shard is what allows you to "Preserve" you're own strength.

Ruin-By "Ruining" (killing) someone you gain their power.

Endowment- Everyone is "Endowed" with a breath when they are born

Honor-By acting "Honorably" and following oaths you attract honorspren so you can Surgebind.

Ok now I get into speculation

Odium- Hateful acts allow you to get power, perhaps attracting Odiumspren

Aona's shard is almost 100% confirmed to be Devotion. It makes me think that all the Elantrians were chosed by the Shaod because of their "Devotion" to something. All the Elantrians we me thad some sort of vocation, something they loved.

Skai- Unity makes a lot of sense here. Dilaf got his power to negate Aons from the deaths of 50 men, possibly combining their piece of Skai with his like in Hemalurgy

Cultivation-her intent makes me think that we will find that the users of her magic are the farmers in Shinovar, the place with the most "Cultivation", going on.

Edited September 10, 2011 by Windrunner

[Aashyma she/her]

Aona's shard is almost 100% confirmed to be Devotion. It makes me think that all the Elantrians were chosed by the shaod because of their Devotion to something. All the Elantrians we me thad some sort of vocation, something they loved.

Skai- Unity makes a lot of sense here. Dilaf got power from the deaths of 50 men, possibly combining their piece of Skai with his like in Hemalurgy

As proposed here.

[Windrunner he/him]

Very true, while I had the idea of the devotion of the Elantrians being the reason they were chosen by the Shaod on my own, Aashyma posted it first. I wasn't trying to steal credit from you I just don't know how to link to specific posts and I was trying to get the rest of my ideas down quickly before they slipped away. Sorry

Edited September 10, 2011 by Windrunner

[Aashyma she/her]

Very true, while I had the idea of the devotion of the Elantrians being the reason they were chosen by the Shaod on my own, Aashyma posted it first. I wasn't trying to steal credit from you I just don't know how to link to specific posts and I was trying to get the rest of my ideas down quickly before they slipped away. Sorry

I didn't mean to sound accusatory

I was just adding the whole discussion to avoid repetition.

[Ari he/him]

That could suggest the Thrill might have something to do with Voidbinding. Interesting.

[Argent he/him]

I definitely think the Thrill is associated with Odium, at least a tiny bit. My flimsy logic here goes like this:

Syl doesn't like Shardplates & Blades. Syl is obviously connected to Honor / the Almighty. Therefore the Almighty wouldn't have liked the Shardgear as it is right now. This implies something that changed, perhaps something about the actual Shardgear; something that would introduce Odium's power to the formerly Honor-only artifacts. Where else have seen a mix between the two Shards? In the Oathpact, I think. We have the Heralds, servants of Honor, who only get to enter to world in order to defend it from a Desolation. In their spare time they live in some sort of hell.

I've always thought that this Oathpact is not very good business. It sounds like the Honor made a deal with Odium, and part of the deal was the fate of the Heralds. It would be possible that another clause is the corruption of all the Blades and Plates, so that they induce an intense feeling of hatred (as seen through Dalinar's POV) in their wielder.

Two things don't hold though - other than the vague logic. First, I believe the Oathpact existed long before the "last" Desolation and the Radiants. If my theory holds, it would imply that they Shardgear has always been corrupted thus, but the Radiants' armors seem somehow... purer. And second, we've already seen two Shards striking a deal in MIstborn. Somehow I don't think Brandon is an author to pull the same trick twice.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

The problem with that idea is that the Thrill isn't just a Shardbearer thing. You have Kaladin's flashback moment, his first time using a spear, which seems to me like the Thrill. I think it's an Alethi thing.

EDIT: Also, Dalinar mentions how other men are enraged by the Thrill, thus implying a larger sample base than a few Shardbearers.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Silus - Shard of Flame

[Argent he/him]

Right, that was the other thing I had a problem with. I was going to include it in the post, then I forgot about it.

[FirstSelector]

I think it's an Alethi thing.

That seems reasonable, since Brandon has said much about the genetic component of accessing magic. I find it more likely that anyone from Roshar has access to the Thrill (if it is indeed due to Odium), but we shall see.

[Clowd]

(Disclaimer: I'm halfway through my first read of "The Way of Kings" and have yet to read "Warbringer", but I've read through "Elantris" and the Mistborn Trilogy. I do not mind spoilers, obviously)

I'd like to disagree. I read that and my interpretation is that the Shard's intent relates to how the magic is powered, rather than how the person acquires the ability to use the magic.

I would like to give a different theory on the topic of acquisition:

An individual acquires the ability to use magic by going through a process similar to snapping.

For example:

In order to use Allomancy, one must "Snap", be it due to some sort of stress, trauma, etc. or directly from Preservation itself. It seems implied in HoA that anyone could become a Misting.

In order to use AonDor, one must be taken by the Shaod (which sounds equivalent to snapping)

Before he started exhibiting signs that he could use Surgebinding, Kaladin almost committed suicide by jumping into the chasm, but decided against it, and with newfound resolve made himself Bridge Leader of Bridge Four. It wasn't until after this that Kaladin started to absorb Stormlight from his money and unconsciously used what is obviously a Reverse Lashing on his first run as bridge leader.

Now for Feruchemy, we don't know anything about how someone learns to use it, so I'm not sure how well this theory holds for that.

As for Hemalurgy, from what I can recall the only people who were given power from it that didn't turn them into Koloss were already Allomancers, so Hemalurgy might only work on someone who already has snapped. I dunno, we haven't seen anyone who is a Misting or Mistborn be turned into a Koloss, for all we know it might not be possible?

I haven't read Warbreaker yet, and I'm not sure how the magic there works.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, this is the pattern I'm currently seeing with the magic system.

[Aashyma she/her]

Before he started exhibiting signs that he could use Surgebinding, Kaladin almost committed suicide by jumping into the chasm, but decided against it, and with newfound resolve made himself Bridge Leader of Bridge Four. It wasn't until after this that Kaladin started to absorb Stormlight from his money and unconsciously used what is obviously a Reverse Lashing on his first run as bridge leader.

Arrows still avoided him before that however-he was the only one in the first row who survived remember.

Cien also mentions that the arrows seemed to avoid their squad.

[Clowd]

Arrows still avoided him before that however-he was the only one in the first row who survived remember.

Cien also mentions that the arrows seemed to avoid their squad.

True, but also recall that during his first run as bridge leader, the arrows specifically went straight into the bridge around his hands, causing the Parshendi bowmen to look on dumbfounded. The event reminded me of when Szeth used a Reverse Lashing on the doorway so the arrows would hit the doorway instead of Szeth.

When I get home I'll try and find the page and exact passage again, but that's how I remember it.

[Clowd]

Found the passage. Chapter 17, pages 321-322 in the paperback edition.

"Tien!" Kaladin screamed, nearly mad with fatigue and frustration...

...Shafts struck the ground at Kaladin's feet, shattering, and a good half dozen hit the wood around Kaladin's head and hands.

Kaladin didn't know if he'd been hit. He was too flush with energy and alarm. He continued running, screaming, holding the bridge on his shoulders. For some reason, a group of Parshendi archers ahead lowered their bows.... They appeared confused.

[Posaune]

I do't think all magic has to have a snapping-like event. After all, you don't go through a snapping process when you aquire breath. It could be argued that the rush of sensations is a snapping, but that is only when you get a large amount of breath all at once. Also, you don't have to snap to be a furuchemist, and I believe that somewhere in TWK it says that Kalidin had been infusing stormlight for months. That would probably be too long of a time between then and his almost suicide to be a snapping event.