The intent of harmony

[+Kolten]

I find the way the shards of different intents can be combined into new intents to be a very intriguing idea, and so when warlight was introduced it piqued my interest. That honor and odium would combine into the the shard of war is a very satisfying conclusion.

It also made me realize that I do not find that preservation + ruin = harmony to be satisfying at all. In the past I have accepted the explanation that preservation and ruin are somehow diametrically opposed and so would not merge as seamlessly as some other shards could, partially because they are presented as diametrically opposed in mistborn. But now that we know more about the other shards I no longer buy it. Preservation and cultivation would be just as opposed. Ruin and cultivations are also opposites along a different axis.

Following the themes of mistborn I think that ruin and preservation together would more naturally fall into a shard of survival. The idea that you need to break down and consume resources to preserve yourself feels much more satisfying as a blend of their intents than harmony does. Indeed I think if somehow Kelsier had managed to get both shards, it would have become the shard of survival, and in this hypothetical scenario I don't think Kelsier would have the same problems that Sazed currently has. I think the two intents would been blended and Kelsier would not be being pulled in two directions the way Sazed is.

So I think that Sazed actually had a lot of influence in how the new intent was formed. Harmony is less a result of blending ruin and preservation and more a result of what Sazed thinks a good deity should be. The idea of Harmony is how distinct, sometimes opposing, parts can work together in a way that the result is better than any component on its own. Sazed personal convictions here shine through, in how he maintained opposing religions in the belief that they all had worth to contribute. Indeed a lot of his counseling to his friends was along these lines as well.

If I understand the intent of harmony along these lines then I think it sheds some light on Sazed's condition. He is unable to act directly not because his two shards are opposed but because harmony is not about unified motion. Rather he needs to select servants to enact bits of them separately in a way that fits together to make something better. This is what we see him learning in era 2 of mistborn.

The logical leap I want to make here is that because Sazed was able to choose an intent that allow preservation and ruin to remain distinct forces under him, he would be able to pick up any other shard and not actually have to change his intent. He would be able to remain Harmony even with odium or honor or cultivation's shard being added with his. He would just be able to harmonize across more notes so to speak.

If somehow he was able to take up all 16 shards, he would still be harmony. I don't think this would be him becoming adonalsium, I think it would be something distinct from that, all 16 shards still being their own forces with their own agents in the world pushing with their intents, but in a way that results in harmonious outcomes.

Now I want to be clear that this is a hypothetical situation, I don't think this is the directions things will head. Harmony does not have the disposition to go around consuming shards, and so unless some external force is working to make this happen then I think it remains hypothetical. But this way of thinking makes the idea of how harmony works as an intent much more satisfying to me.

It also implies that a vessel's interpretation of an intent can have a lot effect, that while a vessel will slowly become single minded to a purpose that purpose is less the shard bending the vessel to its will and more a compromise between the shard and the vessel on what their purpose is.

[Honorless he/him]

The Shard's Intent can be interpreted by its Vessel and might not reflect its exact nature, definitely true. Rayse seemed to think of Odium as Passion, I think Dalinar interpreted Honor as Unity in Oathbringer, Navani interprets Honor and Cultivation's Intents from the feeling of their tone & rhythm "the boundless energy of Cultivation, always growing and changing, and the calm solidity of Honor - organized, structured. They vibrated together. Structure and nature. Knowledge and wonder. Mixing.
The song of science itself."

The name, Harmony as Sazed came to be called or chose to be called, and Discord, as Presentation predicted the combined Intent of himself & Ruin, I think are really just named after what Navani experienced with the Rhythms of the Gods and does not reflect the mixed Intent itself. The Intent might be too strange to really understand for Sazed, as of now.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Honorless
removed instances of repeated words

[+Kolten]

hmmm, I still feel that if Sazed had been given ruin and cultivation as shards, or preservation and cultivation, or even cultivation and honor together, he still would have tried to interpret them as harmony. Maybe that would mean he would not have had the right mindset to take them up, but at least in the first two combos I bet it would take.

So I guess what I am proposing is more along the lines that inability to act is more because of how he interprets his shards rather than the shards themselves.

Like if a hunter-gather type manage to pick up these to shards they would probably interpret their intent as hunting, and would be able to pursue that intent with gusto as they are destroying to protect and protecting via destruction. Likewise my hypothetical with Kelsier taking them with the interpretation of survival would let him move with the intent to survive and aide survival without becoming paralyzed.

That his intent is harmony means Sazed must treat each half of the power as distinct and therefore it pulls him in a way another interpretation would not.