Matt_S

That would be interesting. I wonder if there would be laws about it in other places as well, like Jah Keved or Azir. In Alethkar, I would imagine the law would probably involve some sort of pre-established list of who to give the blade to if the occasion arises; maybe a list that the king would compile of people he deems worthy of a blade but doesn’t have one. Kind of like how the U.S has a list of people to take up presidency if the president were to get killed, but chosen by the King instead of titles.

Yeah, that makes the most sense.

I don’t know if this is something that happens in the books (I’m starting WoR right now), but I just thought of this scenario. What if someone earned a shardblade and then got both his hands removed? Would he be able to call upon it? If so, how? seeing that blades form into the user’s hand. If they aren’t able to call upon it, would the blade act as if the user was dead and be up for grabs for someone else to use? would it just not be able to reappear? would it appear, fall to the ground immediately and disappear (unless someone else caught and claimed it)?

Thanks for the head up, I just opened WoR and am on page 23 right now. Thanks again!

Sorry for the recent influx of questions, but I just finished BoM (Bands of Mourning, idk if I’m using the shortened version correct; I’m new) and want to proceed by reading Secret History, which is in Arcanum Unbounded in my library. Since I’ve read Elantris, WoK, and all Mistborn books; I wa wondering if there are any stories/novellas on Arcanum Unbounded that would be spoilery for me to rea for the future. If so, which ones? Because I want to read as many as I can without being confused (probably because I haven’t read the main books relating to that shard yet) or stumbling into spoiler territory. Thanks!

That is true; but I use Preservation and Ruin as examples simply because I know the most about them and have the most expermce with them compared to others so far.

Let me preface this by stating that my knowledge of the Cosmere is limited only as far as all of the Mistborn novels (excluding Bands of Mourning, which I’m reading at the moment), Elantris, and Way of Kings. So, through some digging in the Coppermind, I’ve discovered the Shards, their names (Preservation, Ruin, Autonomy, etc.) and Adonalsium. Although I’m aware that my knowledge as of now is limited, I was wondering if there was a non-spoiler explanation of what the shard names actually mean and what they represent. I understand Preservation and Ruin, seeing that they are simple concepts. And I understand that’s Adonalsium, what or whoever that is, was broken into 16 of these shards; but what is the deal with the other shards we are aware of? If Ruin represents destruction and such and reigned over Scadrial with Preservation, what the hell are Autonomy, Cultivation, and the others doing exactly? where do they exist? are they aware of one anothers’ Existences? how are they represented on their worlds like Ruin and Preservation (and Harmony) are on Scadrial? Also, why exactly those names and concepts? I’m aware that many are still unknown, but a little clarification in a non-spoiler context would be nice, if possible. The concept is very intriguing, but very confusing at the same time. Also, feel free to leave any references to these in the books so I can look out or them while I read in the future. Thanks!

That makes more sense. Thanks! I was really confused because of the amount of detail and intricacies used Brandon’s books are so amazing, I thought that this courage been a relatively big oversight.

So I’m new to this site but have been a long time fan. Although I finished Hero of Ages a while ago, one thing has bothered me about it recently. When Spook was given his Hemalurgic spike and began to see visions of Kell thanks to Ruin, their communicating together shouldn’t really work, should it? It was said that Harmony can converse with those with spikes because he combines the powers of Preservation and Ruin to both listen and speak. But at the time, Ruin should be only been able to speak to Spook without hearing him in return, right? I was thinking this was possible in that he could have given Spook basic instructions without any need for two-way communication, except I remembered when Spook told “Kell” that the metal in the vial wasn’t tin and Ruin responded, telling him that the owner of the house was a Thug. TL;DR: How did Spook and Ruin communicate via Hemalurgy if Ruin shouldn’t have been able to hear him?