NinjaTurtle

Hi, turtle here! I’ve been lurking for probably about 2 months now, but thought I should actually introduce myself. So hello! I’m mostly here to see theories, and formulate my own but little time and forgetfulness means I probably won’t post much. that being said though I started the cosmere with mistborn era 1 back in like, 2015? Something like that? Didn’t realize there was more to it though until I picked up the stormlight archives early 2022, and have since put probably over 1000 hours into reading, re-reading, and researching things about the cosmere. So I’m excited to make new theories, and see what other people already have!

So first time posting here, and I wanted to post a theory/observation I had back when I first read mistborn era 2 a decent few years ago. I’ve seen Harmony fall into this a lot, but the idea is that the shard names reflect intent, and that Harmony can also go by Discord, to reflect the fact that the two shardic intents aren’t aligned. Another name I can up with personally (whether mentioned elsewhere or not) is Indecision, as that is what the shard seems to be now. but my observation/theory is that this multi-name idea can also apply to other shards. In mistborn era 1, the story could be “Preservation is trying to save the planet, while Ruin destroys it” but change the names a bit, and you get a different story. “Stagnation(Preservation) stops the planet, while Entropy(Ruin) moves it forward.” Granted the “moving forward” is still bad in the context of the actual story, but it makes it seem like Ruin isn’t as bad as he’s made out to be. The same can be done with most shards rather easily. Odium could be Passion. Honor could be bonds (which could be both good or bad, depending on what kind of bonds.) Autonomy could be self-control, or independence. Cultivation is a bit harder, but as Odium mentions is just growth, regardless of whether for better or worse. Dominion could be tyranny, or even possibly discipline? Devotion could be zealotry, or worship, or possibly as far as service Endowment even could be described as luck, wealth, or greed even. (Though I think greed might better fit Ambition.) So this brings me to the question, how were the shards named? I know it’s based on the intent of the shard, but who truly agreed on those names? A intent to keep things the same IS both preservation and stagnation. A Intent to have emotions can be both passion, and hate/Odium. The names imply a good or evil connotation to shards that I think have less of a moral compass than what’s portrayed. But regardless, I haven’t done a ton of research into the cosmere as a whole, beyond reading the books and a few coppermind articles, so this may have been answered in a WoB, or another thread. Apologize if so. TLDR is who actually decided in the shard’s names? P.S. I want to blame Hoid despite having no proof of him doing anything, it just feels right.