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Topics - Eleaneth

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Brandon Sanderson / **SPOILERS** Shards: Power and Character
« on: June 24, 2011, 06:09:01 AM »
So, I have a theory about how the shards affect personality, which I haven't seen voiced by anyone else. However, I have to warn you: this is not the place for a religious debate. If you turn my religious reference into an argument of any kind, the moderators will lock this thread. And I will be annoyed with you. I need to reference religion to illustrate my theory.

Latter-day Saints/Mormons believe that humans have the potential to become like God. However, there is a caveat: to share equally in God's power, you must have God's character. In Sunday School, we sometimes tell a story of a man who wanted to give his children everything he had, but first, he wanted to make sure his children developed the same rock-solid determination, dedication, compassion, and wisdom that he had. We believe that God feels that way for all of us.

How does this relate? Well, every person in Brandon's books who gains the power of one of the Shards of Adonalsium has godlike power, but they don't necessarily have godlike character. Power sometimes corrupts them. My theory is this: the degree to which a Shard-god is corrupted depends on whether they have a moral value, a goal, a person, or a cause which is more important to them than their power, just like Mormons believe the real God will only share His power with those who love Him completely. It's almost like Brandon asked the question, "What could happen if God wasn't perfectly true to his morals?"

Compare Ati/Ruin to Laras/Preservation. According to the Way of Kings, "Ati was once a kind and generous man, and look what became of him." Ati became so consumed with his power that all he cared about was Ruin: the destruction of everything.

Laras, or Preservation, chose to create humans with a little bit more of himself than of Ruin, meaning that Ruin, theoretically, would have more power in the end. Laras sacrificed some of his ability to Preserve, and he risked the ultimate victory of Ruin, by creating humankind, trapping Ruin, and letting his power go to the Well of Ascension. In other words, Laras rose above his power, choosing that something else was more important than simply Preserving things as they were.

Vin went even farther than Laras. At that point, her only reason for living was Elend, so when Ruin killed Elend, she went kamikaze. Ati was totally shocked, because her move "smacked too much of Ruin." She didn't care about the power; she wanted to be with Elend.

Sazed appears to have had a good start to staying uncorrupted: he could control two conflicting powers at once "because he was of one mind on how to use them." (I also speculate that this may play into the grander scheme of things in a really important way. Does any other Shard-god have two Shards? Sazed might be able to defeat any other single Shard-god, if necessary.)

Other Shard-gods that we know of are mostly speculative. The Honor-being in Way of Kings (the one in the Storm) might be a Shard-god who was so consumed by the Shard of Honor that he, himself, was shattered by the breaking of the Oathpact. Without people to trust and be trusted by, this being might have had nothing left.

The writer of the letters at the beginning of some chapters in the Way of Kings (who I think is Hoid) might also be a Shard-god, expressing to his opposite the need for both of them to look beyond their power to some greater goal. That could be why Hoid doesn't appear to give his disciples any magical powers--he could refrain from using his power to avoid temptation that is stronger than his own character. That might also explain why he goes about in human form--to remain himself.

What do you guys think? D'you think I'm reading to much into this, because of my background? Or do you think the personal beliefs and goals of the Shard-gods are as important as I'm guessing?

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