awakening Awakening/Connection

[Narcoleptic Axolotl he/him]

Alright. So I was just listening to Warbreaker, at the part where (spoiler alert) Vivenna decides she wants to use awakening after all, so Denth explains how it works to her. He says the breath you use to awaken stuff is "part of you" so what you're imagining at the time you awaken something (in other words, your intent,) is involved in what the awakened object does. I had the realization that something you awaken will have a Connection with you, which is why only you can recover the breath from an object you awakened. (And just now I realized that the intent is relevant too.) Although this leads to more questions.

Awakening requires a number of breaths, which must be collected from different people, since nobody starts with more than one. Shouldn't those then be Connected to their original owners, or do that Connection transfer to the person receiving the breath?

How far does this intent go? Does it change the intent of the investiture itself? Let's say you awaken an object with a command to destroy things. Would that mean Ruin could absorb that investiture with no change to its intent?

Mixing magics here, does this mean a feruchemist storing their identity would be able to reclaim breaths from an object they did not awaken?

[Honorless he/him]

Given the Intent of Shard whose Investiture Breath is, I think it's just particularly adaptable and thus well-suited to being given away to another.

Interesting idea with the Command possibly changing the Intent of the Investiture. Brandon has confirmed Nightblood contains Ruin's Investiture. Maybe Endowment's Investiture can even be converted to other Shards' Investiture more easily, as its Intent is to give.

[Narcoleptic Axolotl he/him]

Could be. So maybe its Connection is given away with the breath. It's my understanding that all people in the Cosmere are invested, but those invested with Endowment's power are able to give that to someone else. This is total conjecture though. We know holding a lot of it expands your soul, and also results in some physiological change, which seems to depend on what planet you're on, although there are other factors. Totally forgot where I'm going with this, but I don't feel like erasing it.

I like what you're saying about Nightblood. I'm not sure what I think of 'converting' investiture though. I mean, when Adonalsium was alive, it was all the same, and was shattered to result in several shards, each with differing Intents. So if you can call that a conversion, then it must be possible. I think this is supported by Navani's research and experimentation in RoW. Although that might not be the same.

Furthermore, what of a lifeless? And going back to the feruchemist thing, could they control one without a security phrase? I think probably not, but there might be something to that.