Adonalsium as God and Hoid as Jesus... sort of.

[yanjimac]

Hey All, 

I finished Bands of Mourning the other day and have since spent a lot of time taking my first real deep dive into the Cosmere. That fact, combined with a lot of my own recent thoughts and worldbuilding has come together into a bit of a messy fan theory about the Cosmere, and trying to pick apart certain elements of using a real world religious basis, namely Christianity. 

(Also, I've not yet read Elantris, Warbreaker or Arcanum Unbounded, so try to avoid specific spoilers there if you can.)

The theory regards the identity of Adonalsium and Hoid's mission. I don't have an exhaustive knowledge of the Cosmere or WoB, most of this is from my own reading, thoughts and the Coppermind wiki. As such, instead of collecting lots of evidence for my theory trawling wikis and forums, I thought I'd put it out there and if anyone has any thoughts or evidence to the contrary, please let me know.

The theory is rooted in the idea that Brandon as a Mormon, and myself as a Christian, believe fundamental truths about existence that also have to be true in any parallel or alternate world in which either God or humanity exists. 

These are things like the he brokenness of humanity, Gods plan to redeem the universe, God as trinity etc.

Now, this might completely off. It might not be in Brandon's headspace at all. But it's something I have a strong conviction of, and other religious fantasy nerds I've talked to do to; if there is a fundamental way you view God and humanity, it has to be true for all versions of God and humanity in all stories. If humanity has not been created by a single God for the purpose of enacting his love and rule in the world, then it is fundamentally not humanity, and that is fundamentally not God.

Regardless, I think there's some of evidence for these ideas in the Cosmere. Or at least, these ideas might help us espouse a bit of the Cosmere's history. It's a bit wild, and I make a few leaps based on nothing but biblical parallel, but here goes.

ADONALSIUM AS GOD

I don't actually think Adonalsium is the name of the God who created the Cosmere. Much like the metal Lerasium is the name of a metal that is the concentrated power of a guy called Leras, I think Adonalsium is the name of the raw creative power of the deity who made the cosmere whose name would most likely be Adonal (I saw a theory for this somewhere on these forums). 

This is like the Christian idea of God's raw creative power being his Word. He speaks things into existence in Genesis and, in the first chapter of John, we see that God's Word is actually its own being, both distinct and the same as God, who comes into the created universe as a human being.

I think all of this is also true of the Cosmere.

The God Beyond who is referred to a few times is actually the creator God Adonal, and his raw creative power is made manifest in the Cosmere as Adonalisum, which would later be renamed to the slightly more scientific term, Investiture. 

In the bible, for the purpose of saving all of creation after humanity had begun to turn to greater and greater acts of evil, God sent his Word to be made manifest on earth as a human being called Jesus. Similarly, I think Adonal sent his Adonalsium to Yolen to be made manifest as a man named (now bear with me here) Hoid.

HOID AS JESUS

Like Jesus, Hoid told stories, gathered disciples performed supernatural acts but like it says in John 1; "10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."

Now this is where it begins to diverge from the bible in a more literal sense, but stays consistent thematically.

Instead of being part of His mission, and thinking they knew better, Hoid's disciples betrayed him, killing him and shattering his being into shards.

Obviously we don't know the details of this of this, how it happed or really why, but my theory pertains to the overarching theological ideas rather than the specific motivations and mechanics for the killing.

WIT AS PAUL

This is the part of the story where the man we know as Hoid comes in. I'll call him Wit to avoid confusion. I see with as some sort of a cross between the roman centurion at the cross of Jesus and the apostle Paul.

We know that Wit was 

1. Offered a shard but he refused
2. Was made immortal somehow by the weapon that was used
3. Is possibly hiding behind the name of his old master
4. Stole his name from someone he should have loved

I see him as the Roman centurion because the way I imagine it, Wit was involved in the Shattering, but instead of using the chaotic aftermath as a chance to seize power, he was overwhelmed with regret and realisation of what he'd done (Frost might well be in this category as well). 

Like the apostle Paul, he converted from being an adversary to the human manifestation of God's power, and instead became a follower and a servant. I think he was a disciple of Hoid at some point hence the name of his 'old master', and the one he 'should have loved'. Like Paul, he changed his name after a life-changing encounter with this being.

WIT'S PURPOSE

I think Frost and Wit exemplify the two different responses to the realisation that Hoid was actually the son of Adonal and the manifestation of all Adonalsium/Investiture in the Cosmere.

Frost seems to think that the response is to trust that Adonal must have a plan in place for all this, stand back and let it all play out.

Wit thinks (and I agree) that humanity and other races actually have an active role to play in confronting evil, both external and internal and be agents of Adonal's will in the Cosmere.

Wit seems to play the role of an Old Testament Prophet, or an Apostle, telling stories that capture imaginations, as well as helping people in very real ways, giving them nudges where they need it and guiding them on the right path.

I don't know exactly what Wit's goal is, or why he's chosen Hoid as the name to use. Maybe he finds it ironic that he's using a name that was once so famous and referred to the most important man in history which has now been lost to the ages. That kind of fits his chaotic energy.

Regardless of the specifics, I think Wit is trying to continue the mission that Hoid began of confronting evil and bringing light into the world, and helping others to do likewise.

POTENTIAL ISSUES

Like I said, I haven't fully thought through Hoid's overall specific plans, nor does there seem to be any clear signs pointing to a resurrection. However, if you do see evidence supporting either of those two things within the framework of this theory, I'd love to hear it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don't think I mentioned this, but as happens with history, I think names and ideas got conflated and changed as centuries passed; Adonalsium became synonymous with Hoid as people understood who he was (like we call Jesus 'Christ', and even forget his real name was Yeshua). The force once called 'Adonalsium' became known as 'Investiture' and Adonal faded out of memory, now beginning to re-emerge into different cultures, maybe as a result of Wit's mission?

Thanks for reading all the way through if you did, and I hope you at least found it interesting.

TL;DR

Christian theology and the Cosmere.

God the Father = God Beyond/Adonal

God the Son = Adonalsium

Jesus = A guy called Hoid

St Paul = Wit, later names himself Hoid

[RShara she/her]

Welcome to the Shard! Your theory is really nicely formed and well thought out. As of right now, however, Hoid's old master was the original Hoid. OG Hoid was a jesker, or a storyteller, and was poisoned prior to NG Hoid going off on most of his adventures. And happened before the Shattering. Technically, this isn't completely canon, so it could change. But that'd be a really big change in Hoid's origin story, and I don't get the sense that it would happen.

In the Traveler excerpt, it's heavily implied that Hoid wanted to Shatter Adonalsium in order to change the rules of the cosmere and find a way to bring someone back from the Beyond. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332/#e9518

Quote

"You will not find a way to restore what you have lost, old friend," the aged man said softly. "It is impossible." 

"You don't know that. The old rules no longer hold." The Traveler turned the pomegranate over in his fingers. "Besides, I've heard of a place… It doesn't matter. I don't care. This isn't about the dead… or it's not JUST about the dead, at least." He dropped the fruit to the ground, wiping his fingers on his riding coat.

 

[yanjimac]

Thanks for the reply!

57 minutes ago, RShara said:

As of right now, however, Hoid's old master was the original Hoid. OG Hoid was a jesker, or a storyteller, and was poisoned prior to NG Hoid going off on most of his adventures. And happened before the Shattering.

Oh, really? That's interesting. Where does that info come from, particularly the post-shattering aspect?

I guess if I really wanted to shoehorn it into my theory then you could talk about Jesus' role as a 'jester' (provocateur) and most certainly a storyteller, but then the poisoning would have to be synonymous with the shattering, so it certainly doesn't seem neatly aligned. 

1 hour ago, RShara said:

In the Traveler excerpt, it's heavily implied that Hoid wanted to Shatter Adonalsium in order to change the rules of the cosmere and find a way to bring someone back from the Beyond.

Thank's for sharing that excerpt, that's really cool. I'd not come across it before. 

The "Did I leave?" response plus the pomegranate's Greek myth implications makes me think he's in some way trapped on Yolen as a sort of underworld. Though I'm sure there's been plenty of speculation there.

Fascinating. Plenty more reading and thinking to do. Exciting stuff.

[RShara she/her]

5 minutes ago, yanjimac said:

Thanks for the reply!

Oh, really? That's interesting. Where does that info come from, particularly the post-shattering aspect?

I guess if I really wanted to shoehorn it into my theory then you could talk about Jesus' role as a 'jester' (provocateur) and most certainly a storyteller, but then the poisoning would have to be synonymous with the shattering, so it certainly doesn't seem neatly aligned.

It's from the unpublished Liar of Partinell excerpts. They used to be on Brandon's site, but were removed or got lost in one redesign or another.

[yanjimac]

1 minute ago, RShara said:

It's from the unpublished Liar of Partinell excerpts. They used to be on Brandon's site, but were removed or got lost in one redesign or another.

Ahh, good to know. Thanks!

[BoundbyOath he/him]

It is interesting that Adonal is very similar to Adonai, one of God's names.

[RShara she/her]

5 hours ago, BoundbyOath said:

It is interesting that Adonal is very similar to Adonai, one of God's names.

Yep! That was Brandon's inspiration for the name. He's said one of the themes of the Cosmere is regular people given divine power.

https://wob.coppermind.net/adv_search/?query=adonai

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/83/#e7183

 

Quote

 

Brandon Sanderson

Well if the philosopher in me steps aside, and the writer in me just wrote what the writer is passionate about. If the trained English major says-- One of the biggest fundamental tenets of Mormonism is deification of normal people, right? Mormonism believes that we are gods in embryo and we are here to learn and have experience so we will be better in the afterlife, and growing and we'll eventually-- Joseph Smith taught "What Man is God once Was, and what God is Man may Become" maybe not "will be" but "may become" That's what he said. And so if you look at my books there's a whole bunch of deification going on, right? That's like fundamental to the cosmere is "What do people do with the power of the gods when they're given it?" And I would say that's totally my upbringing that made me fascinated about that. Does that make sense?

 

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/3/#e100

[Negative_Null They/Them]

Brandon's beliefs certainly do come through a lot, especially in Elantris and Stormlight. I'm LDS, too, so there's a lot of times where I'll be reading and go *insert Leonardo DICaprio meme pointing*
As for this theory... thematically it all ties together fairly well, to be honest, and there is a running theory on the Shard that the Shards are going to reunite into Adonalsium again which matches up pretty well. I doubt that Brandon  will ever explicitly confirm anything about "Adonal", since he seems to be pretty reluctant to bring anything from Beyond into canon. Even the Evi whisper from Oathbringer he leaves up the reader's interpretation as to exactly what's happening there