Popular Post Zas678 he/him Posted April 6, 2011 Popular Post Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 EDIT: This topic is out of date. For an updated guide, see this topic: Original Post: So! You have been hearing about this mysterious "cosmere"? You came to 17thshard.com to learn about it. Well here is a fairly simple guide to get you started. (Quick warning- there are major spoilers for Mistborn 3: Hero of Ages, and minor spoilers for Way of Kings) The cosmere is a term we use to describe Brandon Sanderson's books that are in the same universe. They have a few similar characters, and have the same basic underlying Theory of Magic, or Realmatic theory. We learned about it mainly from Brandon's Hero of Ages (HoA) Q&A. There's not very much of it in the books, and so if you missed it the first time, don't worry. We all did too. Plus, Brandon has said that this WILL NOT be important to know. It's sort of an easter egg hunt for the intrepid fans who are wanting to dig deep into his books. He says someday he'll write about this underlying story, but it probably won't be for years and years. Do you remember Preservation and Ruin in Hero of Ages? They are what we call Shards of Adonalsium. You see, a long time ago, there was a person/object/thing named Adonalsium. He/it shattered into sixteen pieces, and certain people "took" these shards to give them a guiding force (like how Vin took Preservation, or how Sazed took Preservation and Ruin). However, over time, the Shard shapes the bearer's personality. Thus, there are two names for each Shard. One is for the person holding the Shard, and the other is for the Shard itself. This is a list of known (or assumed) original Shards and their holders. Shard - Holder -Book Preservation - Leras (Dead) - MB Ruin - Ati (Dead) - MB Harmony* - Sazed - MB Endowment - ? - WB Devotion (Splintered) - Aona (Dead) - Elantris Dominion (Splintered) - Skai (Dead) - Elantris Odium (Hate) - Rayse - WoK Cultivation - ? - WoK Honor - Tanavast (Dead)- WoK ? - Bavadin - White Sand *Harmony isn't really a Shard. It doesn't hold any of a Shard's Intent, it's just more of a nickname for Sazed since he holds both Preservation and Ruin. For more information on Shards, check out the wiki here. Now, there are also what are called Splinters and Slivers. Slivers are people who used to hold a majority of a shard. The Lord Ruler (TLR) and Vin (via the Well of Ascention) and Kelsier all are slivers (Kelsier held the power for a little bit in HoA). They have a little bit of a residual power left in them (which explains why TLR kept things the same for forever). Splinters are objects of power from Shards. There are Splinters in Warbreaker, Elantris, and Way of Kings. The only definite splinter we know of is the Divine Breath that 'powers' the Returned. The Theory of Magic is basically this: There are three Realms. The Physical Realm, where people exist, you can touch things, etc. The Cognitive Realm, aslo called Shadesmar, which you can use to change the Physical Realm. Shallan goes there twice (it's the place with all the spheres.) There is also the Spiritual Realm. Now. There is a known planet jumper. Hoid, who often takes the role of a storyteller, beggar, or informant. He also leads some refugees in WoA. He is an old man with an arrowed face, and usually a beard. He probably comes from the Dragonsteel world (which is unpublished). He is "adept at manipulating Shadesmar", which we have taken to mean that he uses it to travel from world to world. He is also a Lightweaver (see the ship when Wit/Hoid talks to Kaladin), and has not experienced all the time since the beginning of his birth. In other words, he has a way of distorting time that may or may not be connected to Faster than Light (FTL) technology. He also has some way of knowing where he's going to need to be. The Seventeenth Shard (who we are named after) is a group that includes a Galladon from Elantris, and Demoux from Mistborn. They are after Hoid, for some reason. There are also the names of the planets. Elantris: Sel Warbreaker: Nalthis Mistborn: Scadrial Way of Kings: Roshar White Sand: Taldain Dragonsteel: Yolen So that is the basics. Any questions? Disputations? Further info? If you want more detail, you should check out my Brandonothology. It includes several Q&A he's done online. I suggest you start with Hero of Ages. Also, some commonly used abbreviations- MB- Mistborn (usually the series) FE- Mistborn, Final Empire WoA- Mistborn, Well of Ascension HoA- Mistborn, Hero of Ages WoK- Way of Kings SA- Stormlight Archive WB- Warbreaker Also, for a translation of those mystery pages in WoK, look here, and for the full Feruchemical table and Realmatic explanation of the Three Metallic arts (Hemalurgy, Allomancy and Feruchemy), look here. EDIT- I added some detail about how Brandon says it's a behind the scene story. 59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eerongal he/him Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 went ahead and pinned it fer ya. Would be helpful to have at the top for newbies. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 (edited) Definitely, especially since my guide is taking forever. Great work, Zas. Edited April 6, 2011 by Chaos 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeldaDad he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Very nice intro. If this would have existed a long time ago, it would have saved me some confusion. Good work, kids. I love this place. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe ST he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Pretty great intro, thanks You mind if I mirror this on the Wiki? Joe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silus - Shard of Flame he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Odium = Rayse has not been confirmed, jus' sayin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofsoup Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 I heard that Aona is Relief. Is that right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zas678 he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Maybe. This is the quote we have from Brandon: 17S Does Aona = Love or Compassion? BS: "You have it, it's just a synonym there. You basically have it" 17S Does Skai = Devotion or Order? BS: "You're not on there. But you are on on the first one [Aona]." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eerongal he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Definitely, especially since my guide is taking forever. Great work, Zas. speaking of your guide, when you get that up, do we want them both up here as two separate topics, or should we merge 'em? I know, basically, they're going to be the same subject content, but i didn't know if they needed distinction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe ST he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 well this is a short intro, it probably should link to the book Eric is writing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 It'll probably displace this topic, but I dunno. @Silus - Don't be ridiculous. It's going in the guide, confirmed or not. Any other possibility is unnecessarily convoluted at this point. @lordofsoup - I do not believe Aona is Relief, for a variety of reasons. There are a number of theoretical considerations to take into account. It was theorized to be Relief on TWG, but it isn't a basic enough Intent for a Shard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOM1else he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 I don't know Chaos, Silus has a point. All we know is that Rayse has the most dangerous Shard and that whoever has Odium killed the Almighty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 I don't know Chaos, Silus has a point. All we know is that Rayse has the most dangerous Shard and that whoever has Odium killed the Almighty. I guess. I suppose you have a point. However, everything is pointed to Odium, the True Desolation, the Everstorm. The weight the Almighty puts into this is certainly deserving of "most dangerous Shard". Plus, did Brandon ever say Odium went to Sel? If he explicitly stated this, then there's no more debate and Rayse = Odium. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CrazyRioter she/her Posted April 7, 2011 Popular Post Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 also, the voice in Kaladin's dream/vision called Odium "most dangerous of all the sixteen". 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 also, the voice in Kaladin's dream/vision called Odium "most dangerous of all the sixteen". Oh, right, duh. There you have it. That settles the matter for me unequivocally. (Also, I upvoted you Rioter for that) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeldaDad he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yeah, that's a good bit of information. I am a believer now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Hey, it's always good to check if things are in fact true. I'm rather lax on my citations most times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOM1else he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yeah that pretty much confirms Rayse=Odium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zas678 he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 You mind if I mirror this on the Wiki? Sure! Go ahead. And I don't care if it is here with Chaos's Epic Post, or if it is displaced by it. I just thought it would be nice to have some basics for those who don't know what the cosmere is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeldaDad he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 So, I didn't know exactly where to post this and it didn't really seem worthy of its own thread but I was wondering, how do you think Brandon will handle the "big revelations" of the cosmere in terms of casual readers who may or may not ever read more than a few of his books. I mean, say you were reading a Mistborn book in the third set of trilogies. You have only ever read Mistborn books by Sanderson and you have never looked at forums like these. You will have no idea about Seventeenth Shard or Odium or Endowment. So what happens if Rayse comes to Scadrial to try to kill Sazed and you are like, "What? Who the hell is Rayse?!". Obviously he wouldn't do it just like that, but how would he do it? Like I said, didn't think it was worth its own thread, but it might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zas678 he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I think he'll continue to be very subtle about the cosmere. For example, in (assumed) Hoid's letter, ninstead of saying "Ruin used to be a nice guy", which throws MB readers for a loop, he says "Ati used to be a nice guy", which may alert those who are paying close attention. So I think he'll do his best to be subtle about it, so it doesn't confuse the casual reader. He'll definately try to put in hints (like Adonalsium's name in WoK), but it will be like a door, where it isn't needed, but can deepen the work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I've often wondered about this myself. I see two possibilities. 1) Mistborn becomes the series that ties the other series together. The third trilogy will (according to interviews) feature an extremely scientifically advanced Scadrial, with space ships and who knows what else. This seems like good way to tie everything together. Downside would be that it doesn't really change the "Who the hell are these guys" reaction you predicted. 2) Brandon will make a new series that features Adonalsium/Hoid/17th Shard as its primary conflicts/characters/organizations. We already know he has plans for books featuring Hoid, presumably from before the shattering, so this seems likely. This also ensures that no reader needs to know about Adonalsium in order to enjoy his other books. But once they read this Adonalsium series reading his other books suddenly becomes more awesome. That's what I think anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonko the Sane he/him Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I've often wondered about this myself. I see two possibilities. 1) Mistborn becomes the series that ties the other series together. The third trilogy will (according to interviews) feature an extremely scientifically advanced Scadrial, with space ships and who knows what else. This seems like good way to tie everything together. Downside would be that it doesn't really change the "Who the hell are these guys" reaction you predicted. 2) Brandon will make a new series that features Adonalsium/Hoid/17th Shard as its primary conflicts/characters/organizations. We already know he has plans for books featuring Hoid, presumably from before the shattering, so this seems likely. This also ensures that no reader needs to know about Adonalsium in order to enjoy his other books. But once they read this Adonalsium series reading his other books suddenly becomes more awesome. That's what I think anyway. Actually, if Scadrial gets spaceships, they can travel around and slowly learn about the cosmere. there will still be a "who are they," but it won't be a problem because the characters would be just as confused as the readers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeldaDad he/him Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Very true. Thanks guys. I was just reading through Warbreaker and forgot that Hoid was the guy who told Siri the story. When she asks where he learned it he says, "I learned it many, many years ago from a man who didn't know who he was, Your Majesty. It was a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died." I just thought this was really interesting and goes along with the whole guide thing. I'm just really curious who "the man who didn't know who he was" is. Interesting description. Also, "a distant place where two lands meet and gods have died".... Shadesmar??? I don't know. Just thought the whole thing was interesting because I didn't even know the Cosmere existed when I read Warbreaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 I think the "distant place" is in an unpublished book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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