Dreamwa1ker she/her Posted November 29, 2020 Posted November 29, 2020 With Harmony having the epigraph letter in this book, and all the talk of stormlight and voidlight opposing and mixing, it got me thinking there's some similarities between Harmony's situation and Navani and Raboniel's experiments. And if there are things from this book that could point a way forward for Harmony. There's some on the nose quotes: Chapter 20: Quote Shallan wanted to work with them long enough to find out what they knew. So Radiant would not go to Dalinar and Jasnah. The compact meant harmony, and harmony meant the ability to function. Chapter 89: Quote Sometimes Raboniel visited and joined in the research, writing her own musings alongside Navani’s in their notebook. Two opposing forces in harmony, focused on a single goal. ... The Rhythm of War vibrated through her, proof that there could be harmony. At the same time, the nearly clashing tones told another story. Harmony could be reached, but it was exceedingly difficult. Harmony has mentioned he is limited in how he can act because of the conflicting Intents of his shards, saying they are opposed. In the experiments in this book,Voidlight and Stormlight, the power of two Shards with conflicting Intent, conflict but don't annihilate each other so they weren't really opposites they just needed something else (emulsifier) to enable mixing. Navani and Raboniel each have to shift the tone slightly to get them to literally harmonize :-) Similarly, later in the book this comes up in relation to the humans and Heavenly Ones: Chapter 109 Quote “Emulsifier,” Navani whispered. What? “A joined purpose. Humans and singers. Honor and Odium. They’re fighting to protect the helpless, Sibling.” This implies that with a shared purpose, you can cause different Intents to align and therefore do more. So: did Sazed already mix the Intents of Preservation and Ruin when he took up the Shards to become Harmony? Although his name implies they are in harmony, they seem to still be conflicting so not much progress can be made, and Sazed says as much in the epigraphs: Chapter 28: Quote I fear that their influence encroaches upon my world, yet I am locked into a strange inability because of the opposed powers I hold. To me this sounds like things aren't in total harmony yet and must shift some more to truly mix and Harmonize in an effective way. Does Harmony have a clear Purpose that is common to Preservation and Ruin yet? It hasn't been clear, but I don't think he does. The fight against Odium very well could be though - Ruin of shattering a Shard or waging war, and Preservation of protecting the people. Harmony may be able to use his power more effectively if he can clearly define this purpose and align his Intent to it. 5
Myrovyn Posted November 30, 2020 Posted November 30, 2020 I think the problem Sazed has as Harmony's Vessel, is that he sees his Shard as being made of two opposing powers. Harmony can very well be a Shard that creates with one hand and destroys with the other, as long as one does not exceed the other (a bit like a Ferucheminst not being able to use more speed from a steelmind than he has stored for example). How the Vessel sees the restrictions placed on a Shard, influences these restrictions. In the Epilogue of RoW we see Hoid speak with Taravodium. The Shards have a deal to not harm Hoid. Rayse probably saw destroying memory holding Breaths as harming him, so he could not do this. However, Taravangian does not see this as harming him, so he can do this. This is also why Taravangian can see many loopholes in the commitments Rayse made and he will be able to do things as Odium Rayse would not have been able to. There is a WoB stating that the combination of Ruin and Preservation could also be Discord. This implies that a Shard's Intent is at least partially influenced by its Vessel. Quote Shallan's Ward While Sazed holds Preservation and Ruin, could his intent change from Harmony to Discord? Brandon Sanderson It is possible Skyward Seattle signing (Nov. 10, 2018) 2
Dreamwa1ker she/her Posted November 30, 2020 Author Posted November 30, 2020 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Myrovyn said: I think the problem Sazed has as Harmony's Vessel, is that he sees his Shard as being made of two opposing powers. I agree, this is where I think mindset/perception could really matter. If Sazed can see Ruin and Preservation both as serving a common purpose (e.g. the fight against Odium), perhaps he could use them a bit more in concert. ..Or he's grooming someone to be the next Vessel who can view them more that way. Edited November 30, 2020 by Dreamwa1ker 3
mathiau he/him Posted February 14, 2021 Posted February 14, 2021 (edited) On 30/11/2020 at 11:49 PM, Myrovyn said: The Shards have a deal to not harm Hoid. Rayse probably saw destroying memory holding Breaths as harming him, so he could not do this. However, Taravangian does not see this as harming him, so he can do this. This is also why Taravangian can see many loopholes in the commitments Rayse made and he will be able to do things as Odium Rayse would not have been able to. The Shards don't have a deal not to harm Hoid, only Odium and only since he agreed to the deal about the champion showdown On 01/12/2020 at 0:24 AM, Dreamwa1ker said: ..Or he's grooming someone to be the next Vessel who can view them more that way. Honestly that's exactly how I interpret the part about Wax in the letters Edited February 14, 2021 by mathiau
Bejarden he/him Posted February 14, 2021 Posted February 14, 2021 7 minutes ago, mathiau said: The Shards don't have a deal not to harm Hoid, only Odium and only since he agreed to the deal about the champion showdown Honestly that's exactly how I interpret the part about Vax in the letters Did you make a major breakthrough about vax that I missed or is that wax
mathiau he/him Posted February 14, 2021 Posted February 14, 2021 Just now, Bejardin1250 said: Did you make a major breakthrough about vax that I missed or is that wax It's Wax. I had forgotten Vax even existed^^ 1
Clovermite Posted February 15, 2021 Posted February 15, 2021 On 11/30/2020 at 5:49 PM, Myrovyn said: In the Epilogue of RoW we see Hoid speak with Taravodium. The Shards have a deal to not harm Hoid. Rayse probably saw destroying memory holding Breaths as harming him, so he could not do this. I got the impression that Rayse would have been perfectly able to do the same thing, he just didn't have a mind to seek out and exploit loopholes in the same way that Taravangian does. On 11/29/2020 at 4:04 PM, Dreamwa1ker said: To me this sounds like things aren't in total harmony yet and must shift some more to truly mix and Harmonize in an effective way. Does Harmony have a clear Purpose that is common to Preservation and Ruin yet? It hasn't been clear, but I don't think he does. The fight against Odium very well could be though - Ruin of shattering a Shard or waging war, and Preservation of protecting the people. Harmony may be able to use his power more effectively if he can clearly define this purpose and align his Intent to it. I think this is a really good theory, and I bet you are correct. 1
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted February 15, 2021 Posted February 15, 2021 6 hours ago, mathiau said: The Shards don't have a deal not to harm Hoid, only Odium and only since he agreed to the deal about the champion showdown Honestly that's exactly how I interpret the part about Wax in the letters Except that Era 2 is primarily foreshadowing Era 3 and Wax didn’t exist in the original 9 book plan. So it’s very unlikely that he has any major, long term, effects on the world going forward. Particularly since - if he’s alive - he’ll be over a hundred by Era 3. And we can be pretty certain there will be no major shakeups on the Shardic level prior to that. 1
mathiau he/him Posted February 15, 2021 Posted February 15, 2021 5 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said: Except that Era 2 is primarily foreshadowing Era 3 and Wax didn’t exist in the original 9 book plan. So it’s very unlikely that he has any major, long term, effects on the world going forward. Particularly since - if he’s alive - he’ll be over a hundred by Era 3. And we can be pretty certain there will be no major shakeups on the Shardic level prior to that. You're right, that'd be a bit too big of a change of plan. Although it's possible that the part about Wax becoming his champion was either supposed to happen in Era 3 or in flashbacks. And if he's his champion then age doesn't matter as he'll almost certainly have atium compounding. Honestly the part where Harmony kills Wax's wife look to much like what happened to attune Sazed to Ruin for Wax not to be Harmony's champion
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