inactive

Dawnshard establishes this idea that the shards may come in groups of four. I was reading all the threads about what these groups may be, and there are very few where Preservation and Ruin were grouped together, especially if you put Ruin under the 'Change' command group. And I guess that makes sense, given that their intents seem opposite. That brings up the interesting point of how Harmony fits into this. There is a strong possibility that Harmony is going to span across the 'command' groups and brings up questions of whether Harmony needs to be shattered for Adonalsium to be reforged. It is also interesting that splitting Harmony may not give back Preservation and Ruin any way. Thoughts?

Can Frustration be someone else's take on Odium. Like, instead of being angry, you are just frustrated?

Ya.. on second thought, you are probably right. The spren ditching (if it is even that) should have more to do with connection.

Are you trying to say Adonalsium was a giant robot? On a serious note, I think it is clear there is some link between metals and investiture, but it may not be as pronounced as you think. Metals seem to more likely be the key to accessing investiture. We need to learn more about non Scadrial metals to really understand this, because the mistorn magic system skews our opinion of metals

Maybe burning aluminum would allow Hoid to temporarily sever the spren connection to leave Roshar for Scadrial? Who knows..

I wonder if Bavadin had Dissociative identity disorder, or the shard causes DID like symptoms. I feel like there would be a whole planet of Shallans if she took up that shard... Roshallan, say?

The vegetation looks like Julia set fractals to me..

After reading all these posts, I think we know too little about Autonomy to try to predict the end game. There are just too many variables. The main questions boil down to 1. Is Autonomy actually Autonomy? Can and will its intent change to something else? 2. Will Bavadin stay Autonomy? The whole multiple avatar gambit makes Autonomy the most interesting shard to theorize about, while also making it the one we least understand. And we have a not insignificant amount of feedback from Brandon on Autonomy (Surely more than comparable players like Endowment). I wonder if the multiple avatars are a result of Bavadin's personality, or if the shard's intent drives its multiple voices to seek independence. I'm not a big fan of graphic novels, but I hope the next Taldian ones shed more light (no pun intended) on Autonomy's actions Edit: Found an interesting theory on Autonomy's agenda here:

Well at least the collective seems to have some level of control on the new splinters, as Patji's letter says that the Obrodai splinter has been 'given' a hatred for Hoid. Patji also says some splinters may be more amenable to Hoid's cause than others. So they have at least some individuality.

Autonomy seems to be one of the more complicated shards. And I can't even start thinking about if the different splinters have a different take on what it means to be autonomous.

Hadn't thought of that. How we know the Shards doesn't always match how they view themselves. I wonder how important the names they go by are. We know that Harmony can change into Discord. But can they still call themselves Harmony? Is there a Cosmere noticeboard where you find out that Harmony is now Discord? Your point may also help explain why there are more positive sounding shards than negative ones. I wouldn't want to go around with a negative sounding intent if I could spin it into something more positive

Yes, I did think of that. I was just thinking that by then, multiple shards may already have started merging, a la Harmony. And I dont think Autonomy would have merged. So, instead of being the more powerful shard, Autonomy feels like more of an underdog in this situation to me. Though Brandon can always write that very dfferently. That is an interesting take. Though I wonder, how does Autonomy feel about other's autonomy. Or is it just their autonomy that matters. I feel most shardic intents can be tweaked a lot by how the holder views them. And we just don't know enough about most of their inner workings other than Preservation, Ruin and Harmony.

So, I see a lot of theories floating about with regards to Autonomy being the "final antagonist" of the cosmere. It does not sit right with me that this particular Shardic Intent would be the final boss. Autonomy, in my eyes, is a good thing. Odium feels more natural an antagonist. Hatred, even if it is Adonalsium's divine hatred without the context of emotions, feels like more of a destructive force than Autonomy. And then there are the unknown Shards. I feel like they need to be brought in some time or the other, and maybe one of them is the big baddie. I feel the known Shardic Intent have more positive and neutral intents (positive: Honor, Cultivation, Preservation, Endowment, Devotion, Survival?; neutral: Ambition, Autonomy,) than negative ones ( Odium, Ruin, Dominion) and the field seems biased to one side (I know my classification is a bit arbitrary) So, while I am happy with the Autonomy being a troublemaker on Scadrial in the form of Trell, I cant really buy in to the idea of the cosmere concluding with a 'battle against Autonomy'. The phrase sounds off to me. Ps. Maybe I am overthinking this. Maybe the reason Autonomy is the last one standing is because they will go to any extent to stay autonomous. Thoughts?