KChan

Here you go. Help yourself to: Also, welcome!

As of Brandon's Reddit Q&A session, Word of God is that Sazed is not the Seventeenth Shard: Permalink here, if you want to see it for yourself. Going back to the original post, Mad_Scientist's speculation that the Seventeenth Shard work for Sazed suddenly seems much more plausible. Wouldn't you all agree?

I think this is a much clearer metaphor. I'm still not sure about the whole idea of Shards mixing at all, but I think this way of putting it is much easier to digest. Based on my own interpretation of the events at the end of Hero of Ages, I've put together my own informational picture, courtesy of Google Images and Photoshop: Look, a glowing scale. How pretty. Okay, not really, but I'm easily entertained when it comes to playing with text effects. Anyways, in this metaphor, Sazed himself - as Harmony - plays the role of a balance scale. One one side of the scale he holds Preservation, on the other, Ruin. Sazed, like the scale, is still one body holding two powers, but those two powers remain separate and distinct.

And please do so without using the word "merge" or any of its variants - merged, merging, etc - at all, anywhere in the post. I think that would be better for all of our sanity.

I think we're disagreeing on the definition of the phrase "bend to one's will." Typically, this phrase means to control, which is exactly what Sazed was doing with the two Shards. It's entirely possible to do that without fundamentally changing the Shards involved.

This is arguing for the sake of arguing. I know what I meant when I wrote what I did, and it is the complete opposite of what you're telling me it means. It's kind of silly to try and argue otherwise. There wasn't life on the worlds before the Shards arrived on them that we've seen, let alone magic. They landed on the Shardworlds, which means there were multiples on at least three planets: Sel, Roshar, and Scadrial. So far, no merging. Language is language. It doesn't matter if it feels too boring, too "black and white," a word is always going to mean what it means. Language evolves over time, but you can't change the definition of a word just to suit your own purposes, because the rest of the speakers of a language will still associate the word with his standard meaning. It causes a break in communication. Language doesn't work if everyone claims words mean something different. Again, you're missing the point of having a rule-based world. Amazing things can be done - just look at the ending of Mistborn 1 - but by discarding the rules, you're also discarding what makes these revelations as amazing as they were. Not to mention, the perspective doesn't matter here. Yes, these are worlds of fantasy, but within those worlds, the rules are just as important as our rules are to us. You can't throw them out the window and do whatever you want just because it's fantasy. Especially to a world that someone else has written to operate on a rule-based system. We can't apply our own preferences to someone else's work. It just doesn't work that way. I get the feeling your post is argument for the sake of argument. I don't want this to devolve into an online shouting match, so if it keeps up this way, I'll have to lock the thread. Rather than continuing this way, why don't you try and tell us more clearly what your original point was? There's obviously been a break in communication here.

Darniil, that is a complete and utter misinterpretation of what I was trying to say in that thread. If you read on in that very paragraph, you'll see the point is that the natural world is governed by laws that cannot be bent or broken, even if we as humans think doing so would make sense. And yes, we don't know all of the rules. But just as Chaos pointed out, we know a lot of them just by simple observation. And as far as evidence goes? If you want evidence that Shards can't merge, answer me this: If Shards can merge, why isn't Adonalsium whole again yet? And just so we're clear: merge /mɜrdʒ/ verb (used with object) 1. to cause to combine or coalesce; unite. 2. to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of: They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit. verb (used without object) 3. to become combined, united, swallowed up, or absorbed; lose identity by uniting or blending (often followed by in or into ): This stream merges into the river up ahead. 4. to combine or unite into a single enterprise, organization, body, etc.: The two firms merged last year. One person holding two things is entirely different from those same two things merging. If I have a glass of milk in one hand and a glass of water in the other, they will never, ever merge into a single glass of juice, which is what people who claim Harmony is a new Shard are trying to justify. There will never be juice, folks. Just milk and water.

What a lot of people tend to forget is that the Cosmere is rule-based. It is not a fluid magic system, where "ifs" and "maybes" rule the world and its magic, in which the rules might evolve over time. The Cosmere is more like the natural world, with the addition of magic: just as gravity will always be gravity, no matter how hard we try to argue that it's so involved with velocity that the two concepts will someday merge, so will the rules of the Cosmere remain constant. Adonalsium was split into sixteen Shards. There's obviously a reason for that; Brandon himself has told us that the number 16 has immense significance in the Cosmere. That said, there is also absolutely no precedent for things to be permanently joined together, only fractured. First came the shattering of Adonalsium into 16 Shards, and then the Splintering of at least two of those Shards at the metaphorical hands of Odium. We don't even know if any of these things can even be put back together. For all we know, Adonalsium might be like a work of glass in that once broken, it might not be possible to put it back together - only to continue breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces. Or maybe Adonalsium can be restored. But judging by my own observations of how the Cosmere works, I'm guessing that won't even begin to happen until all the Shards are brought back together. You can't put a puzzle together without all the pieces, after all. Harmony is the name Sazed has chosen to go by to his followers. That is it. They could call him Sazed or Saze or "Hey You" if he really wanted them to, and it wouldn't change a thing about how the magic works. There is, in my opinion, overwhelming evidence for this. The aforementioned precedent is one piece of the puzzle, while the existence of two different types of mist is another. But what makes it most clear, in my mind, is the end of Hero of Ages. From Hero of Ages, bolded emphasis mine: The powers were opposites. As he drew them in, they threatened to annihilate each other. And yet, because he was of one mind on how to use them, he could keep them separate. They could touch without distroying each other, if he willed it. For these two powers had been used to create all things. If they fought, they destroyed. If they were used together, they created. Furthermore, let's have a look at Sazed's character. He has taken up the power of a god, yet his religion explicitly forbids people from worshiping him. Yet he is no longer merely Sazed, a Keeper of Terris. He is something more. Something most of us here on 17th Shard would call a Shardholder. He has taken upon himself the powers and responsibilities of a god, and surely people would begin calling him such - unless, of course, he took on a new name for himself. One that embodies his new identity as the keeper of balance between two diametrically opposed forces: Harmony.

I'm tempted to change it to my avatar now.

Nyan Cat summons

As for bending the shards of Adonalsium to his will, that's exactly what he did at the end of Hero of Ages. You can't deliberately remake an entire planet without harnessing the power of creation, and it's blatantly obvious from Sazed's narration that everything he did was carefully thought out and executed. If this were the case, then Ati and Vin would have merged at the end of Hero of Ages. They didn't; the conflicting power of the two Shards killed them both. That is the nature of Ruin and Preservation: without someone or something to preserve the balance - the Harmony - between them, they will work against one another. From Hero of Ages, bolded emphasis mine: She didn't shy back, though the conflict of opposites ripped her apart. Ruin screamed in terror as the force of her power completely melded with Ruin's. Her consciousness - now formed and saturated with Preservation - moved to touch that of Ruin. Neither would yield. And, with a surge of power, Vin bid farewell to the world, then pulled Ruin into the abyss with her. Their two minds puffed away, like mist under a hot sun. And later: The powers were opposites. As he drew them in, they threatened to annihilate each other. And yet, because he was of one mind on how to use them, he could keep them separate. They could touch without distroying each other, if he willed it. For these two powers had been used to create all things. If they fought, they destroyed. If they were used together, they created. This makes it pretty blatantly obvious that the Shards can and will destroy each other unless an outside force guides them to work in unison. That force is Sazed, as you put it, "bending the Shards of Adonalsium to his will." As for the consequences, there are always consequences to holding a Shard. I believe Brandon mentioned that in a Q&A recently, but I can't find the exact quote at the moment, and the Brandonothology is refusing to load. I'll edit that in if I find it, or if anyone else can manage to let me know where it is, that'd be great. And again I quote: As he drew them in, they threatened to annihilate each other. And yet, because he was of one mind on how to use them, he could keep them separate. . . If they were used together, they created. He does not have two wills, he has one. Think of it as Sazed holding one Shard in each hand: Preservation in one, Ruin in the other. They're separate, but Sazed, one mind independent of both, can influence them and lead them to work together. I'm pretty sure the -ium suffix has to do with the fact that the God Metals are just that - metals. I haven't seen any evidence to indicate that this naming scheme is repeated anywhere else in the Cosmere. Sazed is doing that, not Adonalsium: As he drew them in, they threatened to annihilate each other. And yet, because he was of one mind on how to use them, he could keep them separate. . . If they were used together, they created. Just from the evidence in those few snippets right there, it's pretty clear that Sazed did not create a new Shard; he is the keeper of balance between the two of them. Also, just to point out a few more things: The letter-writer in The Way of Kings mentions "your friends of the Seventeenth Shard." Sazed is one person. If he were the Seventeenth Shard, it would have been written, "your friend, the Seventeenth Shard." I've said this before, but it bears repeating here. If Sazed took two Shards and combined them to be one new Shard, he would not be the Seventeenth. 16-2=14 14+1=15 15=/=17

This. Enough said.

The thing to remember here is that the eye is naturally drawn to light colors before dark. That said, given that you want to emphasize the Allomantic table (as opposed to the coffee table part), I'd say go with the light version. Also, you are awesome.

Pretty much, yeah. I mean, it's not like we're biased or anything.

Depends on the movie. Usually the theatre, though. Traditional art or digital?

Lies! Lies and trickery! You just did, right there.

We're getting there! Also, Matt, I have a present for you, so get on AIM sometime. Also, Emeralis, I'm curious about Krl'hrrl's "power." What was it he's sensing about Kiki and Nasir, and why isn't Harran included in it? If it's some sort of "main character sense" as a way to get you interacting with the group, it should have picked up on Harran too. He's just as important as the other two; I just chose to write him and Kiki tandem because there's no point in me making another character sheet for him right now.

Depends on what you mean by Infrared. Ultraviolet does not get along well with my Irish skin. Chicken: Fried or grilled?

There, I've joined. I pretty much only play Magicka on Steam, though.

If they're the nasty, non-sparkly, bloodthirsty monsters you kill with wooden stakes, vampires. If not, werewolves. Plants or zombies?

I really want to go see The Help. Also, did anyone here watch Expedition Impossible? That was a great show.

Anything by E.S. Posthumus is impressive background music. I've been listening to a lot of Homestuck music lately. I never would have expected a webcomic to have such an epic soundtrack, but it really does.

If I could, I would furnish my entire house with things from ThinkGeek. XD

^ This.

Your avatar reminds me of the Philosoraptor.