Difference between revisions of "Cognitive Shadow"

|books=[[Mistborn (series)|Mistborn]],{{msh ref|1|1}} [[Warbreaker]], [[The Stormlight Archive]], [[Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell]], [[Yumi and the Nightmare Painter]], [[The Sunlit Man]]

{{spoilerspoilers|yumitsm}}

'''Cognitive Shadow''', also known as a '''Type Two Invested entity''',{{book ref|sa4|15}} is a term used to refer to a spirit that has not yet moved into the afterlife.{{wob ref|8836}} While the manifestations of this kind of entity can vary depending on the [[Shardworld|world]] it occurs on, Cognitive Shadows can occur on any planet in the [[cosmere]]. [[Vasher]] refers to them as a Type Two Invested entity.{{book ref|sa4|15}}

Cognitive Shadows can be created by a variety of processes. Some of them are created when a person has sufficient attachment to something in the [[Physical Realm]]. When a [[Vessel]] that has held onto a [[Shard]] for a long time dies it becomes a Cognitive Shadow that can continue to act.{{wob ref|1391}} Depending on how they are made, Cognitive Shadows are sometimes bound to the planetary system they were made on, and are unable to leave it either through the Physical or Cognitive Realm.{{book ref|sa4|82}}{{wob ref|4843}}{{wob ref|16490}} It is possible to overcome this issue.{{wob ref|10799}}

It is theoretically possible for a Cognitive Shadow to form a [[Nahel bond]] with a human.{{wob ref|3239}} They are not able to burn [[God Metal]]s.{{book ref|mb7|epilogue|4}} They may be able to create objects from nothing, if they view it as an extension of themselves and are [[Connection|Connected]] to them.{{book ref|yumi|29}}{{wob ref|16341}}

Cognitive Shadows look different in the Cognitive Realm, where how they became a Cognitive Shadow will influence how they look.{{wob ref|14504}} Shards could create a physical body for Cognitive Shadows.{{wob ref|15841}}

A Cognitive Shadow can be permanently killed by the use of a [[raysium]] dagger touching a gem of anti-Light of the type of [[Investiture]] associated with the Cognitive Shadow.{{book ref|sa4|102}}{{book ref|sa4|97}} For instance, a [[raysium]] dagger with an [[anti-Voidlight]] gem can permanently kill a [[Fused]],{{book ref|sa4|97}}, and a Herald can presumably be similarly killed with Antianti-Stormlight. Cognitive Shadows will turn into [[sunheart]]s when exposed to the sun on [[Canticle]].{{book ref|tsm|13}}{{wob ref|16344}}

Additionally, Cognitive Shadows can be killed by negating their Connection to all three Realms, a process which destroys the anchor against the pull of the [[Beyond]].{{epigraph ref|sa4|92}} The experience is described as having your soul ripped apart.{{book ref|sa4|116}}

When the [[Singerssingers]] turned to [[Odium]] for help in fighting off the humans, he responded by infusing some of them with his power, which turned them into Cognitive Shadows.{{book ref|sa3|38}} They reside on [[Braize]], but return [[to [[Roshar]] during every [[Desolation]]. Since they lost their bodies long ago, they must possess the bodies of living [[singers]]; in doing so they destroy the mind of the possessed body.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}} This cycle of rebirth strains the minds of the Fused and, eventually, they go crazy.{{book ref|sa3|38}}Their status as Cognitive Shadows grants them access to the [[Surge]]s.{{wob ref|11156}} [[Odium]] could remove the [[Investiture]] that maintains a Fused, which would send that Fused to the [[Beyond]].{{book ref|sa3|118}}

Prior to Odium's splintering of [[Honor]], the Stormfather was just the [[spren]] of the [[highstorm]] and one of the three [[Bondsmith]] [[spren]]. After Honor's death, the Cognitive Shadow of its Vessel, [[Tanavast]], merged with the [[Stormfather]], though it does not appear that the Stormfather has Tanavast's memories.{{wob ref|4268}}

After his death, Kelsier found the [[Well of Ascension]] in the Cognitive Realm and, with [[Leras]]' help, merged with it. As a result, he became infused with [[Preservation]]'s power and became a [[Cognitive Shadow]], though, since the Well was created as a prison, he was unable to leave.{{msh ref|1|1}} After [[Vin]] released [[Ruin]] from the Well he was able to travel the Scadrian Cognitive Realm and influence the [[Physical Realm]], though he was unable to actually leave the Cognitve Realm because his "ties to the Physical Realm [had] been severed" by his death.{{msh ref|2|1}} With the help of a device made by the [[Ire]], he was able to hold the [[Shard]] of Preservation after [[Leras]] died, though, according to [[Ruin]], he made for a weaker [[Vessel]] than a normal person.{{msh ref|6|4}} Some time after the [[Catacendre]], [[Kelsier]] found a way to recreate his physical body using [[Hemalurgy]] and return to the Physical Realm.{{book ref|mb6|epilogue}} Upon death, he lost his ability to use [[Allomancy]] and has not recovered themit despite regaining a body.{{book ref|mb7|epilogue|4}}

When [[Endowment]] Returns someone after death, she uses a [[BioChromatic_Breath#Type_I|Divine Breath]] to "staple" the Cognitive Shadow of the deceased person back to that person's body.{{wob ref|4995}} This process results in the Returned losing any memories of their prior life. [[Returned]] must consume one Breath every eight days to fuel their Divine Breath.{{wob ref|6776}} [[Vasher]] states that he is a Type Two Invested Entity because he died while “drenched in power” and left behind a “fossil of a soul”.{{book ref|sa4|15}}

The YojiYoki-hijo reformed after being killed by the father machine due to how heavily Invested they were. The father machine subsequently trapped them in simulations of their former life, constantly erasing their memory, and having them repeat a simulation of the same day ad infinitum.{{book ref|yumi|38}}{{book ref|yumi|39}}

* The mist spirit that Vin sees during [[The Well of Ascension]] is not a Cognitive Shadow. Depending on the scene, it was an actual manifestation of [[Preservation]]{{wob ref|1671}} or [[Ruin's]] imitation of that manifestation.{{msh ref|2|2}}