Name??

[Realsteel609]

Why is this group called 17th shard? Because of shards from Stomlight Archive? Or are there other reasons?

[Weltall]

Welcome to the Shard!

Brandon actually suggested the name for the site when it was being reorganized and they asked him for permission to become the 'official' fansite. It's named for the in-universe group called the Seventeenth Shard (members of it appear in Way of Kings and the epigraphs mention the organization by name) though we don't know very much about them. If you've only read Stormlight Archive you may not have noticed something yet:

Spoiler

Most of Brandon's books take place in the same universe called the Cosmere. The Shards are the 'gods' of the setting and you've already seen one in person at the end of The Way of Kings and heard of two others. The Shards are fragments of a much greater power that was shattered long ago, and people took up the fragments of that power and became gods themselves. Honor (what the Vorin Church knows as the Almighty) is one of them and there are two more involved on Roshar named Cultivation and Odium. What the Rosharans call 'Shards' are manifestations of the power of Honor and Cultivation. So, think of Shardblades as very tiny pieces of the Shards.

The in-universe organization and the website name are both references to how there are sixteen Shards. We don't know why the organization took that name, only that it was chosen deliberately.

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Weltall

[Wander89 he/him]

Pretty much what @Weltall said. Pretty awesome, actually. Welcome to the Shard! I've seen you post a few times already, hopefully can stay active