Sharded: The History of Adonalsium

[@mtverv]

2:58 crazy how much Cosmere has been revealed in 6 years…

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Brandon dropped a bunch of Shard names in Rhythm of War.

[@m0skaudancer]

I really dig that nail/Nale edit. And the hammer/nail analogy fits the Skybreakers' oversimplified worldview, too.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! That's one of my favorite puns I've been able to sneak in.

[@mayranoguera838]

Yeah also if Pinhead from Hellraisers is the one that torments you all you need is a hammer just need to know how to use your tool

[@fernettriple]

I love how you are able to explain complex thematics with simple analogies. This helps a lot in understanding really weird stuff happening in the cosmere. Thank you and keep teh good work!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you!

[@Trustworthy_McLegitimate]

In my head cannon, I just put Fullmetal Alchemist as part of the Cosmere. The Shard is the Truth.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Totally acceptable. I'm planning on eventually doing a video about what other fictional universes would fit within the Cosmere; I'll have to remember this!

[@Mega2chan]

Who would be the shard?

[@herosmith5662]

Okay, its legit scary how well the FMA magic system would fit into the cosmere.

[@scythenstetson]

Really enjoying these so far: you're teaching me a lot of things that I hadn't realised about the Cosmere, even things explicitly related to the books I've read. One thing you didn't bring up here (though it's disparate enough from the core of the video that it would probably be covered in a different one, admittedly) that I think is pertinent is that possession of a Shard can change its bearer's personality over time: the Way of Kings states that Ati used to be a kindhearted person before taking up Ruin and being corrupted by its destructive power. I don't have any concrete evidence to back this up, but between its mention in that book and how Ati is described in Secret History I get the impression that any given Shard will control its owner just as much as the opposite is the case.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! I'm glad these are informative to even seasoned fans! I mentioned how the holders of various police equipment start to look for ways to use it, but you're right, I didn't really clearly relate that to the shards. I'll definitely see if I can clarify that in a future video. :)

[@joaofarias9986]

In Oathbringer Hoid hints that Wisdom might be a Shard

[@TheCosmerenaut]

That's probably the "Survival Shard."

[@Kingstar1139]

Thanks to Rhythm of War epigraphs we also know about the names of the shards: Invention, Valor, Mercy and Whimsy. For anybody watching this video from the future.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks Cam!

[@Jaryth000]

@2:11 - That was a fantastic reference and I give 10 points to Gryffindor for it! @5:31 - The face you made was great, and another really good reference, well done.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Yes! I'm so glad someone got the Nale nail!

[@macmay3042]

I just saw that and came down here to comment about it after telling all of my friends.

[@callianr6980]

Sometimes I picture Palpatine or Darth Vader attemptting to conqueror the Cosmere and their first stop is Braize. They run into a kindly old man who seems to be just super nice and gives a fair warning that maybe they should reconsider the whole "conqueroring Braize" thing. Then Vader starts going off about how hate powers them and demands that the man give them their name. The old man promptly introduced himself as Rayse/Odium and promptly destroys then utterly.

[@ellehjames5809]

This is one of the greatest things I've read on you tube.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

"We are fueled by hate." "I AM hate." BOOM.

[@kirker87]

Your videos are awesome mate. Always clear, concise, and to the point. Keep it up!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thank you!

[@alanberry4373]

dude great video! Love the facts mixed with your fun sense of humor.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@dheemidheemi]

Great video. Funny and informative. Keep it up. 👍 10/10 puns too.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@noam9665]

Again- great video and another great metaphor for the complex matter. I do want to point out one thing that you didnt say clearly in this vidoe: the 16 shards shattered (killed[?]) adonalsium themselves. I think thats an important point to further understanding the splinters etc'.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! It's been implied that the original 16 are the ones who shattered Adonalsium, but we actually haven't gotten a WoB confirming it, so I left a bit of wiggle room there.

[@joshuafuller8457]

Ehhhhh, Khriss is pretty specific in Secret History that the 16 were the ones who killed Adonalsium and then took the power

[@memcgiffin]

You should make an updated version of it, because I have noticed things...

[@TheCosmerenaut]

It's true. We know a LOT more after Rhythm of War.

[@nameymcnameface6657]

just some thoughts: the "Survival Shard" may be Preservation, because you know, Preservation. Hoid has some sort of ability to always be where he is needed. The 17th Shard's ideals appear to be the opposite of Hoid's. Brando Sando soft-confirmed that Odium knows about Harmony. (in some interview he said that Odium feels threatened my Harmony's power)

[@TheCosmerenaut]

The WoB where we first learned about the Survival shard was in response to a question asking for the intent of a shard we hadn't yet met. It may actually be related to "Wisdom", rather than strictly "Survival." In order to be where he needs to be, Hoid is somehow manipulating Fortune. We don't quite know how yet. Yep, the 17th Shard is actively opposing Hoid.

[@nameymcnameface6657]

@@TheCosmerenaut this is quite interesting, thanks for replying. Love your channel btw.

[@goldennuke2]

Love your videos, man. Keep it up

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@goldennuke2]

Read And Find Out I'd like to see an intro video about yourself and how you got into Brandon Sanderson and Fantasy in general.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

As soon as I get more of a fanbase, I'll definitely do an "About Me," or Q/A video. So hopefully pretty soon!

[@MitchelPigsley]

Super into this. You need some legit recording equipment though.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks! The more successful these videos are, the quicker I can get some nicer equipment! :D

[@braxton69]

Just finished the first era mistborn series. Do you think I should go with Elantras first or Stormlight? Awesome vids by the way.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Between those two, I would suggest Elantris, as it sets up a bit more for the Cosmere as a whole without requiring much knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes. It's Brandon's first published work, so its a little rougher around the edges, but the story and characters are compelling. Stormlight, I feel, is a much more satisfying endpoint for Cosmere reading; the more you know about the other books, the more interesting it is.

[@ElHua]

Update on how far into the Cosmere you have gone? And in what order?

[@braxton69]

@@ElHua Oh man, I've read everything besides White Sands(WS). I just can't get into the graphic novel thing. I ended up reading Stormlight after mistborn then anything in the cosmere after that. I'm currently rereading the Stormlight books. It's my 3rd time through and I'm still finding things...

[@tonyoliver4920]

They fought and chunks of ambition were torn off. Surely some chunks of odium too. So when they coalesced the power formed with aspects of both. The shades do seem to burn with hatred when the 3 rules are broken

[@TheCosmerenaut]

All I know is that I'm really looking forward to the eventual novel on Threnody.

[@tonyoliver4920]

@@TheCosmerenaut and now we know mercy was somehow involved in the battle!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

*Bum bum BUM!*

[@muffinmaster6232]

Hey Rafo i love your videos keep up the good work. Where in arcanum unbounded did you read the adonalsium thing from the beginning of the video?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Oh yeah, that was biblical sounding mumbo jumbo that I made up for the purpose of the video. The captioning is accurate if you want to get it word for word, but it's not actually from Arcanum Unbounded.

[@muffinmaster6232]

Read And Find Out ahhh i see. Well goodjob, it sounded really great lol. Keep up the good work

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Thanks!

[@Hadrian1616]

Love the cosmere and Brandon Sanderson. I think we don't know nearly enough about dragonsteel to speak prominently about this investiture, shards, intent, etc. Another author's fanbase would easily bash our author's worldbuilding forthcomingness? I guess what I mean is... Brandon is so tight lipped about the cosmere sometimes. Could it be that it's all still in its infancy in his own mind?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I don't think Brandon keeps spoilers close to his chest because the Cosmere is still undeveloped; there's already too much consistency for that to be the case. Rather, I think keeping readers in the dark about the real nuts and bolts of his creation helps promote a sense of wonder and discovery in his works. Peeking behind the curtain, while interesting, often serves to literally spoil the magic. He's a pretty heavy outliner, so I'm sure he already has a plan for where he wants the entire Cosmere to go.

[@TheZBubble]

Given the shards that we know now, what do you think Trell is?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I think there's strong evidence for the theory that Trell is an aspect of Autonomy, but I really hope it's from a Shard we haven't met yet.

[@courtjester7328]

Other shards: exist Odium: I’m gonna do what’s called a pro gamer move

[@TheCosmerenaut]

⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️BA

[@harshitgupta5425]

That nail ( Nale) pun was GOLD😂

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I'm particularly proud of that one. :)

[@l.mcmanus3983]

Great explanation! I really wanted to yell at you for pretending to read Genesis chapter and of Adonalsium from the middle of a book. You do have extremely entertaining skits and tidbits anyway. Going back to the cop car analogy, when you first started, I was sure you were going to talk about how they took apart the actual car. Like one person got the wheels, someone else the lights, another person got the engine. From you description I feel it’s more like they came across a cop’s duffle bag. My next immediate thought was to wonder if Hoid had hidden the car keys somewhere. Now, where do the Dawnshards fit into all this?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Ooh Dawnshards complicate things. Or at least make the analogy not work nearly as well. We honestly just don't know enough about them at this point to really extrapolate much; are the intents of the Shards somehow related to the Dawnshards, and if so, is it an even 4 for each split? RAFO!

[@CesarTheKingVA]

"if adonalsium was a cop, odium got the police brutality" is quite the quote.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I didn't realize how... topical that would turn out to be.

[@bryanhathaway1004]

Correct me if I am mistaken but didnt only 15 people take up the shards. I thought it was confirmed that hoid was offered the 16th but refused so it was just sent out into the cosmere. That may even be the shard of survival as hoid knows of it and it's nature. It would also make sense that without a person to take up the power the shard of survival just went off to follow its own natural inclination to survive.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Hoid was offered a Shard, you're right, but there were 16 people who took up the Shards - Khriss explains it to Kelsier in Secret History, and if anyone's going to know what happened, excepting the people who were there, it would be Khriss. There must have just been more than 16 people at the Shattering.

[@bryanhathaway1004]

@@TheCosmerenaut not to be argumentive but khriss explains that there are 16 shards and that a group of people got together to shatter adolnessium. It is never explicitly stated that all 16 were taken merely that there were 16. We know from worlds like sel that shards can still act on their own inclinations even without a host shown when hrathen is given power from devotion.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Brandon says in this WoB (wob.coppermind.net/events/374/#e12132) that someone took Hoid's place, so the Shard he would have had was not just sent out into the Cosmere. Also, when did Hrathen get power from Devotion? As far as I remember, he just had his partially Dakhor-ized arm.

[@bryanhathaway1004]

@@TheCosmerenaut at the end of elantris it is mentioned by raoden after the final battle that with hrathens wounds there was no way he should have been able to muster the strength to choke out dilaf like he did. Also in the scene where he is choking dilaf it is said that he is looking at something that no one else can see. This was the shard of devotion recognizing that hrathens devotion to what he believed his god stood for that he would turn his back on the priesthood in the name of his devotion to what he thought to be god's will. Basically the shard gave him a boost akin to the one vin gives ellend at the end of hero of ages. Where it allowed him to live longer than what he was supposed to but ultimately still could not be saved. I do remember this was stated somewhere on the 17th shard and I am still digging from around in it the problem is I can't remember how I stumbled on it on the first place.

[@macmay3042]

Hrm... Thoughts on Frost? Do you believe, as many do, that he's also a Shard, and that he wasn't a human beforehand? EDIT: Nevermind, just found confirmation that I was wrong, and he's definitely not a Shard.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Pretty sure Frost is straight up a dragon, but the definition of 'dragon' in the Cosmere might not be as strict...

[@joshuafuller8457]

Its been all but confirmed that he is a dragon. Plus Hoid calls him a reptile.

[@bryanbcd1]

Survival is the description of what the shard wants , is it hope?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Hope might be the one thing you can't kill.

[@Señor-Donjusticia]

I have a hypothesis on how Odium was able to destroy Ambition, Dominion, Devotion, and Honor. My hypothesis is that such Godly fights are not like Dragon Ball Z where two over-powered fighters Kami-Hami-Ha each other into oblivion, but rather the Gods binding and destroying one another through their fundamental natures. I’ll explain. At the end of Rhythm of war, Rayse explains that if he broke his word, it would create a hole on his soul that would let Cultivation kill him. We also know that Ruin was able to kill Preservation AFTER Preservation went against his word and imprisoned Ruin in the Well of Ascension. This, is how I think Dominion, Devotion, and Ambition were killed. They had made themselves vulnerable by breaking their words in some way. Notice how all the worlds Odium attacked were ones where their were multiple shards. Endowment explains in an epigraph that, after the shattering, they had all made a pact to go their separate ways and NOT have multiple shards on a single world. My guess is that Odium was able to exploit Dominion, Devotion, Ambition, and Honor because each of these shards broke the pact by working with another.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

I like to think that somehow forcing a Shard to go against their nature/attribute inherently weakens them and makes them vulnerable. Similar to what you're saying, but more specific to each shard. Preservation trying to destroy, Ambition backing down, Honor acting dishonorably, or Devotion being selfish. Odium acting with love instead of hate. Something like that.

[@kbea121]

Sweet vid! But that ding sound was super loud. Can't wait to see what you cover next! Hit me with some seriously crack theories!

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Oh, sorry! I even brought that sound down when I was editing! Thanks for the view!

[@banurobymusic]

Where's the new video??

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Sorry, just got a short one posted, and a longer one will be up next week!

[@hallertyler38]

Instead of keeping the shards separate, why not fuse them back together and become the ruler of the cosmere. Hell harmony has two, there’s no doubt he could be odiums ass, I think.

[@connormcclain3197]

When two shards fuse, their intents change and Odium does not want this. He wants to be the only shard. So instead of fusing them all back together, which would (probably) recreate Adonalsium, he is splintering them one by one with the hope of being the last one standing.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

There's theories around that that's what Hoid is up to...

[@hallertyler38]

@@TheCosmerenaut Thanks for replying and honestly I feel that, that is a fair assumption from the little insight we had into him from Stormlight when he spoke with shalan in kolinar in the tavern, I feel like we saw a little more depth to him and a sparkle of what he was truly after.

[@youdeservetobeloved4048]

Trell is "Survival" maybe...

[@TheCosmerenaut]

The big theory on Trell is that it's Autonomy, given that there's a person with the same name on Taldain. Brandon has consistently RAFOd if that's significant or not.

[@great-wall-of-nowhere9377]

Constable Carriage Analogy

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Same initials!

[@MillerCustomGuitars]

No!!! Why did you fast forward through the shard stuff?!?

[@TheCosmerenaut]

If you want to know what I actually said, the captions are accurate (if smooshed).

[@MillerCustomGuitars]

True enough! Slowed down the video speed too.

[@gaslone79]

Sure but when I tell people I sharded I don't get over 500 likes.

[@TheCosmerenaut]

It's all about establishing expectations. Make it your brand. Get Shart on a t-shirt.

[@peneloperayner8594]

Change this title to literally anything other than "Sharded" immediately. You can thank me later

[@TheCosmerenaut]

Well I can't very well call it "Pooped: The History of Adonalsium!"