Combining all 16

[Eternal Khol he/him]

Theres been a lot of speculation as to what would happen if all 16 combined.

the prevailing theory is that when all 16 are joined it will recreate Adonalsium.

i dont think thats the case at all

 

Lets get some facts down:

- Ado was shattered

-when he was shattered, the chunks of his power were locked to a certain Intent

-its possible there could’ve been a different number of Shards/Intents

when Shattered, each Shard got equal power(or 1/16th of Ado’s total)

 

 

Now the theory:

I believe that,

when Ado was alive, he had more Intents and each Intent didnt have a set amount of power(meaning that at any given time, Honor could have more investiture than Autonomy. or vice versa)

when Shattered, his power was divided and locked into those 16 Intents.Each getting 6.25% of his power.

if someone recombines all those, they’ll have all the investiture recombined, but thats not all Ado was.
This “new Ado” will still be more limited, in that certain percentages of his power are locked into certain states now.

 

I.e rather than having a random number of Intents with any given percentage of power in that Intent.(Like the “old Ado”)

you now have a being thats power is locked to only 16 Intents and has a defined amount of power set to each Intent(like the new Ado would)

 

 

So when someone recombines all 16, theyll be like a “Fractional but Whole” God(fractional in that they only have part of Ado’s Intents/potential, but Whole, in that theyll have all of his Investiture)

 

 

Questioner

I was just wondering if a Shard's intent can change over time without changing holders?

Brandon Sanderson

Without changing holders? The holder can have a slight effect on how the-- a big effect on how the intent is interpreted, but what the intent is stays the same. So it's gonna be filtered. The way it manifests can change, and you'll see that happening, but it is the same intent. When it was broken off, it took a certain thing with it.

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 (Sept. 21, 2017)

 

 

 

Eric

If Adonalsium Shattered with intent, would he always Shatter with the same Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

It is plausible that it could've gone a different way.

Eric

So it could've been different Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's plausible.

Words of Radiance Chicago signing (March 22, 2014) 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Person]

I think that that could be possible. There is supposed to be another book in the future that is not in any specific series, but is still Cosmere, right? So maybe the characters could mend Adonalsium.

[Frustration he/him]

1 hour ago, Eternal Khol said:

Questioner

I was just wondering if a Shard's intent can change over time without changing holders?

Brandon Sanderson

Without changing holders? The holder can have a slight effect on how the-- a big effect on how the intent is interpreted, but what the intent is stays the same. So it's gonna be filtered. The way it manifests can change, and you'll see that happening, but it is the same intent. When it was broken off, it took a certain thing with it.

Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 (Sept. 21, 2017)

I would argue that since people precive that Adonalsium had multiple intents that the new one would act the same way, because, perception.

[Eternal Khol he/him]

3 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I would argue that since people precive that Adonalsium had multiple intents that the new one would act the same way, because, perception.

But the very fundamentals of his/its power have been changed by locking his investiture to certain Intents.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Frustration he/him]

Just now, Eternal Khol said:

But the very fundamentals of his/its power have been changed by locking his investiture to certain Intents.

But perception

also this is irreverent but could you fix the spelling of the tittle it's combining, not combing.

[Eternal Khol he/him]

9 minutes ago, Frustration said:

But perception

also this is irreverent but could you fix the spelling of the tittle it's combining, not combing.Idk.

Perception can do a lot. But can it do that much?

id argue that what youre saying is like Odium claiming to be Passion. You can believe all you want(im referring to The Universal “you” here)  but some things just can’t be done.

 

 

also. Thanx for the tip.

Killed me when I scrolled up and saw the title, “combing shards” XD

now im sitting here, and just imagining someone combing The Almighty’s hair Lol

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Frustration he/him]

2 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

Perception can do a lot. But can it do that much?

id argue that what youre saying is like Odium claiming to be Passion. You can believe all you want(im referring to The Universal “you” here)  but some things just cant be done

I don't know if it would work, maybe maybe not.

Cool theory either way.

Something still being lost interests me

[Eternal Khol he/him]

9 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I don't know if it would work, maybe maybe not.

Cool theory either way.

Something still being lost interests me

So the consensus is that the “New Ado” will be:

A. Almost exactly like the old one

or

B. Almost nothing like the old one

we’ve really narrowed it down XD

 

 

what do you mean “something being lost”?

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Frustration he/him]

7 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

So the consensus is that the “New Ado” will be:

A. Almost exactly like the old one

or

B. Almost nothing like the old one

we’ve really narrowed it down XD

Hey it's better than just RAFO

8 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

what do you mean “something being lost”?

Even if a new Ado is made they will be lesser than the old one, the Shattering isn't undone, it's only partially reversed.

[+Invocation]

I'm not 100% sure Adonalsium wasn't just a massive coalescing of Investiture that gained sapience on its own over time. Even if you put all the Shards back in their place and sealed it with Spiritual Connection, that same consciousness wouldn't be returned to life. You'd have to leave it alone for several millennia for it to manifest something, all time in which none of the magic systems that the various peoples of the cosmere rely on would work, and that's not even saying anything about what may evolve from it. For all we know, Big A was benevolent out of a pure stroke of luck and nothing more. The next one could be actively hostile toward sapient life even if the Intent of the reforged Shards settled into a balance of some kind, which isn't guaranteed. 

Wait maybe that's why Ado was shattered in the first place: a potential for a turn to hostility that the soon-to-be Vessels thought was too large of a chance to risk so they were just "yeah okay we'll kill him that makes sense."

[Eternal Khol he/him]

38 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Even if a new Ado is made they will be lesser than the old one, the Shattering isn't undone, it's only partially reversed.

Oh yeah.

im such an airhead sometimes.

recombining all 16 doesn't fix the Shattering.

but what if you did reverse the Shattering? Or at least what was done at the shattering?(investiture getting distributed equally across 16 separate Intents)

First, There’s something important we need to question

was Adonalsium Killed and then his power split and locked to Intents or was he killed as a result of his power being split and locked?  Minor distinction but huge difference.

 

 im wondering whether undoing that would just undo some restrictions put in place on the Shards and make them into mini Ado’s or if Undoing the Shattering would bring Ado back somehow. 

even if it could be, i dont think it would be like the original Ado. Too much has been lost.

and the use of a Vessel just feels wrong to me.

 

 
@Invocation just posted about how maybe he mightve been something akin to a spren. And i was actually just getting there.

ive had a hunch for a while that Ado was nothing more than Pure investiture that simply was. It was some time after the Cosmere big bang and not a whole lot else really existed yet. And one day.... booom!! It caught a personality 

That was horribly put and not really how i think it went, but i do think he was, at the very least, Investiture gained Sentiece

i was thinking maybe Ado isn’t really dead, he’s just in a sort of Deadeyes state right now. And if the restrictions put in place, at the shattering, are removed and all Shards recombined without a Vessel, and left alone to gain Sentience. It would be the closest thing to Adonalsium since his “death”

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[+Invocation]

2 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

was Adonalsium Killed and then his power split and locked to Intents or was he killed as a result of his power being split and locked?  Minor distinction but huge difference.

 

Quote

imriel452 (Paraphrased)

I asked for "Info on why Adonalsium shattered".

Brandon Sanderson

Adonalsium Shattered because he was killed.

General Signed Books 2016 (Feb. 1, 2016)

I have this WOB in my folder of WOBs haha. I have to reference it so often, I figured I'd keep it around.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Invocation

[Eternal Khol he/him]

8 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I have this WOB in my folder of WOBs haha. I have to reference it so often, I figured I'd keep it around.

So they killed him and an effect of that was his power dividing into 16 and locking Intents?

Huh

Edited September 9, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[+Invocation]

2 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

So they killed him and an effect of that was his power dividing into 16 and locking Intents?

Huh

That's why I think he was a pure-Investiture being. There was some form of weapon involved, which could have easily been aluminum or aluminum-lined (the only WOB on that got RAFO'd), but other than that, I can't imagine how they'd have killed a deity like Ado.