Autonomy/Taldain/Patji

[jtburrup]

Ok, so I have been a 17th shard member for awhile (but not very active, at least recently) and understand the cosmere as a whole fairly well (ie, shattering big A, shards, investiture, etc.) but I recently just read all of the white sand graphic novels ( I know I'm a little late). I'm a bit lost. I was reading on the White Sand forums, but can someone give me a good in depth explanation of what we know about Autonomy and the relationship with the Sand Lord, the being who appeared to Elorin, the girl in the sky, Skathin (sp?) the emperor, the sun, etc. And what's this about Patji?! Also anything else I'm missing...??? Is Trel involved in this (especially since apparently there's a dude with his name thrown into White Sand)? Thanks in advance. 

 

[Weltall]

Autonomy's Vessel (Bavadin) is primarily based in the Taldain System, though rather than being 'on' Taldain itself she seems to have her Physical nexus in the system's main star. We know that it's the sunlight that provides the Investiture that charges the titular sand on Dayside and that you could make use of that Investiture with the right technology anywhere that the light of that star is visible. Oh yes, gender, Brandon has said that Bavadin is female but that we shouldn't get too hung up on gender, race or even human appearance where she's concerned. Bavadin herself seems to change how she appears (gender included) frequently.

The other big thing about Bavadin/Autonomy is that she likes to create what are referred to as avatars. These are separate personas from Bavadin herself but they're still part of her Shard and they can be created unconsciously or by a deliberate act, in which case Bavadin has the ability to shape certain aspects of the persona, which she did with the one on Obrodai who is mentioned in the letter in the Oathbringer epigraphs. This is apparently something that all the Shards can do but Autonomy is the only one that we know has done it. Patji and the Sand Lord are both avatars created by Autonomy, the former demonstrating that a Shard doesn't have to physically visit a world to manifest an avatar there. Bavadin prefers to interact with people through her avatars rather than being the focus of attention herself. One amusing thing we've learned is that there is at least one world out there which has a pantheon where every deity worshiped is actually Bavadin, through these avatars.

Skathan may be another of these avatars but that hasn't been confirmed, only that she does influence things on Darkside. Likewise, Trell is very strongly hinted to be connected to Autonomy in some way, since we know that they're an extension of the unknown Shard attempting to influence Scadrial and that it's one of the Shards we knew about back in 2015 which includes Autonomy. However, Brandon hasn't confirmed that Trell is an avatar of Autonomy's yet, it's just a very well supported theory.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Weltall

[Elegy he/him]

Note that these are all things that aren't crucial for the stories themselves yet, it's background stuff that Brandon doesn't see as important enough to include in the books yet. We know these things in advance via Words of Brandon, but however much discourse on this site suggests, these things are not standard Sanderson reader knowledge (yet). So don't worry about it. (And even thaz WOB information has a lot of holes.)

If the Trell theories are correct, maybe the next Mistborn book will delve into some of this and make it general knowledge.

On a side-note, keep in mind that Brandon originally wrote White Sand before figuring out most of the Cosmere stuff (same with Elantris), so there's a reason why its Cosmere-centric aspects are that far in the background.

[Jondesu he/him]

Note that Patji the Island is not the same as Patji the Avatar, one was probably named for the other and we’re not 100% sure which. We don’t even know exactly when Patji was created as an Avatar, except that we know Bavadin/Autonomy was involved in some way in FotS by the time of the story.