What was the relationship between Devotion and Dominion ?

[Friendshipspren he/him]

Ok so aona and skai , were they friends  ? lovers ? Enemies ? Or was it more of a master -servent relationship with Dominion being the master ? 

Did they settle together or did Dominion follow Devotion knowing she would the easiest to ,u know dominate . Was skai thinking of establishing power over all or atleast a few shards and started with devotion ?

But khriss mentions that d and d spent a lot of time molding society on SEL so could it be that Dominion was like consolidating his power or getting used to it. Like harmony has no idea what he should or shouldn't do with his power. I suppose the Sixteen faced similar problems at first. 

Or maybe they were both at war and weakened each other , thereby making it easy for rayse to finish them ? 

 

Also did aona hate dominion's hold over her and when odium came rebelled against him but was double Crossed ? 

Or was it the opposite and Dominion joined forces with odium to bring down devotion. I mean , skai probably knew rayse and thought he was a friend ?

Or maybe Aona thought that way ? 

Also why did odium kill aona ? I mean wouldn't it more efficient if he could have made her devoted to him. Have her help in crushing other shards and then either betray her or just keep devotion like a pet ? 

How much do we know about them and thier actions and plans ?

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by PrinceGenocide
A little polishing

[Quantus he/him]

All the 16 knew each other (and Hoid).  We dont know anything about their relationship before Odium arrived, though if they didnt like/respect each other I doubt they'd  have settled together.  We do know that there is at least one pair among the 16 that are related/family, which may or may not be Aona&Skai.  

 

Odium just kinda showed up and knocked them off, and as best we know his motivation is that he wants to be "top dog" so he's all 15 that can challenge him.  But there's been hints in Stormlight that he has a tenuous excuse in that it sounds like the shards agreed to some sort of non-interference pact that some are interpreting as being violated by Shards that settled together.  

 

 

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Paladin Brewer

Out of all the Shards, why does Odium go for Devotion and Dominion?

Brandon Sanderson

He targets people with two kinds of ideas. Number one, he can argue they're breaking the rules they set out. And two, people he thinks are a good match for him, or a challenge, or a danger.

Oathbringer Houston signing (Nov. 18, 2017)

 

 

 

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Argent

Some of the few Shards Rayse Splintered included Ambition, I believe, Dominion, and Devotion.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

And those were all way back, in the history. So, we know that the Shards' personalities overrides the Vessel's personality over time?

Brandon Sanderson

Strongly influence, and depending on the individual, override.

Argent

Okay. So did Rayse choose those Shards because--

Brandon Sanderson

He went after Ambition first, but didn't find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list.

Argent

Was it because of the Shard or because of the Vessel? Like did he hate the person?

Brandon Sanderson

In this case it was the Shard, primarily, that drove him--

Argent

Oh, he was maybe afraid the Shard would grow too powerful and take over--

Brandon Sanderson

He was afraid that this Shard that would rival him. And so he's like "This one is number one on the hit list. We're taking down Ambition." But then he got trapped in the Rosharan system.

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

 

 

[Quantus he/him]

58 minutes ago, Weltall said:

We're probably going to have to wait for Dragonsteel to get answers to any of those questions/assumptions since that's going to lead up to the Shattering and where we'll meet all the Vessels pre-Ascension. This may or may not include getting to see Tanavast buying Hoid a drink.

It doesn't work that way, a Shard's intent is not inwardly-directed and the Vessels do retain their personality and wills, though depending on them and how well-matched they are for their Shard the latter may warp them over time.

Devil's advocate only: but that WOB clarified that Preservation, Ruin, and Cultivation were not Inward oriented Shards, but I think it remains to be seen if that is a blanket statement that can be applied to all Shards.  I tend to think it is going to vary by Intent, with some being more outwardly focused than others.  Honor, for example, seems a bit Inwardly focused when he apparently forgot that unlike him normal people can betray their given word, and I suspect Ambition would  have manifested as a very Self-focused sort of being purely based on Ambition as a theme.  

EDIT:  Full disclosure a big part of why I believe this is because I've long been nursing a theory about the Shards that specifically involves half of them being Inwardly focused and half being Outward, so I cant promise my interpretation of the WOB is entirely neutral. 

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Also, as mentioned Odium's goal is to become the most powerful entity in the Cosmere and that means he can't afford to leave any Shard alive because they could rival him, especially since he deliberately avoids taking up the Shards after killing their Vessels meaning that he's always going to be at least roughly equal in raw power to all the others, aside from Harmony. A case can also be made that Devotion is one of the most dangerous Shards to him, since its intent is arguably the polar opposite of his, something Brandon acknowledges. The fact that Devotion and Dominion were collectively the second spot on his hit list instead of Honor/Cultivation or Preservation/Ruin says a lot.

I didnt think they were the second on his list, rather the WOB I recall seemed to say that he was looking for Ambition first and just happened to come across D&D while still out looking for Ambition.  Of course it then seems to imply that he got trapped in Roshar while still looking for Ambition, so I dont really know what to think. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Quantus

[Weltall]

We're probably going to have to wait for Dragonsteel to get answers to any of those questions/assumptions since that's going to lead up to the Shattering and where we'll meet all the Vessels pre-Ascension. This may or may not include getting to see Tanavast buying Hoid a drink.

7 hours ago, PrinceGenocide said:

Also why did odium kill aona ? I mean wouldn't it more efficient if he could have made her devoted to him. Have her help in crushing other shards and then either betray her or just keep devotion like a pet ?

It doesn't work that way, a Shard's intent is not inwardly-directed and the Vessels do retain their personality and wills, though depending on them and how well-matched they are for their Shard the latter may warp them over time.

Also, as mentioned Odium's goal is to become the most powerful entity in the Cosmere and that means he can't afford to leave any Shard alive because they could rival him, especially since he deliberately avoids taking up the Shards after killing their Vessels meaning that he's always going to be at least roughly equal in raw power to all the others, aside from Harmony. A case can also be made that Devotion is one of the most dangerous Shards to him, since its intent is arguably the polar opposite of his, something Brandon acknowledges. The fact that Devotion and Dominion were collectively the second spot on his hit list instead of Honor/Cultivation or Preservation/Ruin says a lot.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Weltall

[Weltall]

6 hours ago, Quantus said:

Devil's advocate only: but that WOB clarified that Preservation, Ruin, and Cultivation were not Inward oriented Shards, but I think it remains to be seen if that is a blanket statement that can be applied to all Shards.  I tend to think it is going to vary by Intent, with some being more outwardly focused than others.  Honor, for example, seems a bit Inwardly focused when he apparently forgot that unlike him normal people can betray their given word, and I suspect Ambition would  have manifested as a very Self-focused sort of being purely based on Ambition as a theme. 

We'll have to agree to disagree pending future developments then, but fair enough. As for Ambition, if we can take Endowment's comment to Hoid at face value it seems like Uli Da was already seen as dangerously ambitious so I doubt you could separate any possible Shardic influence from the Vessel's original personality, similar to how Rayse hasn't really been affected by taking up Odium.

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I didnt think they were the second on his list, rather the WOB I recall seemed to say that he was looking for Ambition first and just happened to come across D&D while still out looking for Ambition.  Of course it then seems to imply that he got trapped in Roshar while still looking for Ambition, so I dont really know what to think. 

Here's the relevant bit:

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He went after Ambition first, but didn't find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list.

The way I read that, he wanted to take down Ambition first but couldn't find her, so he moved down the list and went after D&D before going back. I don't get the impression that he just happened to stumble upon Sel in the process.