Dawnshard

Dawnshard
by Connor Chamberlain
World of Origin	Yolen
Universe	Cosmere

This page or section contains spoilers for The Sunlit Man!

This information has the ability to potentially ruin elements of the plot for the reader. Proceed with caution if you have not read this book.

This page is about the magical items. For the Rysn novella, see Dawnshard (novella).

“ The Dawnshards are Commands, Rysn. The will of a god. ”

—Nikliasorm to Rysn

The Dawnshards are the four primal Commands that Adonalsium used to create all things. Each Dawnshard grants separate abilities, as well as powers accessible via any Dawnshard, and can supercharge Invested Arts, allowing for acts of magic that transcend what is normally possible. They are Commands of immense power, and at least one has been secreted away to prevent unknown groups from ending the lives of billions. The knowledge of Dawnshards is somewhat esoteric, most who know of them either seek them as weapons, or flee as far as they can from the Dawnshards.

They have been heavily involved in the history of Roshar, but the knowledge of the true nature of the Dawnshards is very esoteric, so they are considered to be unspecified mythological objects by most people by the time of Era of Solitude on Roshar.

Nature and Mechanics

“The most powerful forms of Surgebinding transcend traditional mortal understanding. All their greatest applications require Intent and a Command. Demands on a level no person could ever manage alone. To make such Commands, one must have the reasoning—the breadth of understanding—of a deity ”

—Nikliasorm

At their core, Dawnshards are nothing more than Commands of enormous power, but on their own they seem to be nearly useless. As all applications of Investiture require a Command and Intent, these Dawnshards cannot be used without a person that has access to Investiture trying to carry out some task. The mechanics here are unclear, but as Commands made by someone with the understanding of a deity, Dawnshards allow a person to make use of the most powerful forms of magic. It is unclear what, if any, influence the specific Command of each Dawnshard has on what could be accomplished using that Command. In a person with no access to Investiture or an inanimate object, the Dawnshard's most dangerous powers are rendered useless and they are unable to really present a threat to the lives of anyone.

That being said, Dawnshards do confer a certain amount of Investiture on the person that holds them. Each Dawnshard grants both distinct abilities and shared Heightening-like attributes, such as an increased depth in color and sound perception. These Heightening-like effects can be achieved using any Dawnshard and are granted because they are great concentrations of Investiture, and not from having any specific connection to Endowment. In the same way Savants are changed by power over time, the person that is a Dawnshard is also increasingly changed by its power, although it is not certain if these changes depend on which Dawnshard is possessed. This change is progressive (but starts quickly) and is sometimes compared to a canker or scar tissue, gradually coating a person's soul and changing, conferring abilities and restrictions, and potentially pushing the person to act in accordance with the Dawnshard's Intent. With the right knowledge and equipment, this process can be reversed and potentially the Connection might be severed altogether.

There is a Connection between the previous holders of a Dawnshard and the current holder. This Connection means that a person who previously held a Dawnshard can be killed, and a spike can be fashioned from their soul to find the person they gave the Dawnshard to, creating a chain of Connection to the Dawnshard's current bearer and allowing them to be tracked.

Dawnshards are able and willing to protect themselves and their users from certain dangers, such as Hemalurgy.

It is uncertain whether the specific Commands of Dawnshards have any bearing over the Intents of the Shards that they created, or how they may have been changed by the Shattering.

Surgebinders

When a Surgebinder is also a Dawnshard, potential risks emerge as the Dawnshard can use the spren's substance to fuel the Radiant's abilities. This can among other things cause the spren to lose their body in the Cognitive Realm, leaving them as a fragment of themselves. The Spren can also lose their mind.

Depending on how much the Dawnshard consumes the pair may lose many of their abilities, including Surgebinding and the Radiant being able to communicate with their mind. Even after the Radiant has given up the Dawnshard, they can still use the spren as fuel for their abilities. The Radiant can use their Shardblade to absorb Investiture, assuming the blade wasn’t consumed, fueling their Dawnshard abilities. The absorbed Investiture can also be used to increase the size and durability of their Shardblade. The spren also has some influences over the newly gained abilities, being able to activate some of the Dawnshard's abilities without the knowledge of their Radiant.

Mythology

“ Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above. ”

— From The Poem of Ista

During the Era of Solitude, no one seemed to know exactly what the Dawnshards were or what they looked like. They have their root in mythology where they are reputed to be valuable but extraordinarily dangerous. Talk about them was once common among those who recorded the early mythologies of Roshar, but they have since fallen out of common discussion. One of the only references to the Dawnshards was The Poem of Ista, which referenced a Dawnshard said to be able to bind both Voidish and mortal creatures, but what exactly that entails is unknown. Although the Dawnshards are not the same thing as Honorblades, they are often conflated in modern times by people unfamiliar with mythology.

History

Early Cosmere

“And so, the Dawnshards. The four primal Commands that created all things. And then eventually, they were used to undo Adonalsium itself. . . . ”

—Nikliasorm

The Dawnshards pre-dated the Shattering and were used as part of a weapon that split Adonalsium into the sixteen Shards. Following the Shattering something happened so as to make the Dawnshards lose their original form. Hoid himself was once a Dawnshard at some point in the distant past, holding the Dawnshard diametrically opposed to harm and violence. It is uncertain when he became a Dawnshard, but his time holding it changed his spiritweb in a similar manner to Savantism. These changes meant that long-term Hoid found himself unable to inflict harm on himself or any others, as well as unable to eat any sort of meat. His Dawnshard is in some way connected to the First Gem, his eponymous topaz.

Humans in the Rosharan system used the Dawnshards to destroy their former homeworld of Ashyn, before fleeing to Roshar for survival. It is uncertain how they managed to obtain the Dawnshards or who is responsible for this action, but they were utilized in conjunction with some type of Surgebinding to use powerful versions of the ordinary Surges. It is unknown which Dawnshards were present on Ashyn or what happened to them following the fall of the planet.

Roshar's Shadowdays

“I wish I could do more. You might be able to get him to choose a champion. He is bound by some rules. All of us are. A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain. And... without the Dawnshards... Well, I have done what I can. It is a terrible, terrible thing to leave you alone. ”

—Honor

At some unspecified point in the past, prior to the Recreance, the Dawnshard associated with the concept of Change was brought through Cultivation's Perpendicularity in the Horneater Peaks. Later, Honor raved to the Knights Radiant about the Dawnshards in the final days before his death. He claimed that they would one day destroy Roshar as their ancestors had destroyed Ashyn with the Dawnshards, a contributing factor to the Radiants and their spren abandoning their oaths in the Recreance. Honor also referred to them in the final vision he left for a future Bondsmith, worried how mankind would survive without Dawnshards, which suggested that he felt they were now inaccessible. Honor seemed to believe that the Dawnshards were potentially crucial in defeating Odium.

Aimia

“And so the Sleepless take up the task.”

—The Dawnshard

It is unknown what path the Change Dawnshard traveled from the Peaks, but it eventually came to be imbued within a mural depicting Adonalsium's Shattering located in an undersea cavern beneath Akinah. It wasn't seen as possible for this Dawnshard to leave the mural, for reasons unknown. The Dawnshard was protected by the ancient lanceryn, who were called Guardians of Ancient Sins. They helped to defend the Dawnshard from unspecified shadowy groups who pursued the Dawnshard wishing to use it as a weapon to destroy whole worlds. The lanceryn were able to successfully guard the Dawnshard until the scouring of Aimia rendered the species nearly extinct. Following the scouring, the Sleepless took up this task, although it is not clear how it became their responsibility. As the Silver Kingdom had totally collapsed, the Sleepless thought it best if Akinah was thoroughly protected and cut off from the world. They allowed the city and its Oathgate to be swallowed up by crem and constructed elaborate decoys in their place to hide the Oathgate. They may have also arranged for the Soulcasting of defensive spires all around the island, and it is possible that they had something to do with the storm that surrounded the island as well.

All these deceptive measures failed to extinguish the interest of humans and other treasure seekers. Eventually, during the True Desolation, the Wandersail came out on an expedition, led by Rysn along with her larkin Chiri-Chiri, descendent of the ancient lanceryn. During an attack from the Sleepless, Rysn and her companion Cord were led by mandras into the mouth of the cavern containing the Dawnshard. Rysn was drawn to the mural, entranced by the beauty and the heat she could feel from the mural, as well as odd thoughts that were not her own. After accepting it, the Dawnshard entered Rysn and she became the new Dawnshard, despite the Sleepless's wishes. Rysn negotiated with the Sleepless, who wished to preserve life and felt that Rysn had been led by Chiri-Chiri to the Dawnshard. Ultimately they allowed her to keep it, as it would be safe and inconspicuous inside the mind of a random mortal. Now, the Dawnshard Rysn is constantly watched and guarded by various Sleepless as well as Chiri-Chiri.

Sigzil

“The Dawnshard was a weapon too valuable to sell. If you knew about it, you either hunted it yourself—or you ran far, far away. ”

—Sigzil's thoughts on the Dawnshard

At some point, the Radiant Sigzil was asked to pick up a Dawnshard by Hoid. This Dawnshard was the one Hoid had once carried, which is diametrically opposed to the concept of harm. This Dawnshard had a similar effect to Sigzil as it had on Hoid, preventing him from aging and granting him the ability to Skip. It also gave him the restrictions he would come to call his Torment, a progressively more restrictive inability to intentionally cause injury to another. Sigzil only held it briefly, but sometime during this period, Sigzil was threatened, and the Dawnshard fed upon the Investiture that made up his spren Auxiliary, injuring the highspren and leaving only its personality behind.

After giving up the Dawnshard (potentially to Hoid once again) Sigzil believed he would be of no interest to those hunting the Dawnshard. When he was approached by the Night Brigade, he believed he would be let go if he explained the situation to them. They instead intended to kill him and use his soul to hunt the Dawnshard themselves. Sigzil instead chose to flee using his ability to Skip, keeping the Night Brigade off the trail of the Dawnshard for as long as he can stay ahead of them.

Known Dawnshards

Change

by Maria Lia Malandrino

Rysn becoming the "change" Dawnshard

“The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better. The power to change. ”

—Rysn's thoughts on her Dawnshard

As with all Dawnshards, the Dawnshard that became Rysn defies description with mortal words. The Command represents the will and knowledge of a deity demanding that something change, adapt, or become something new. This Dawnshard was long housed in a special mural of some sort, before moving to Rysn. It seems to not merely be change but some sort of positive change, and when it is absorbed by someone they are in some way Remade. It is unknown if this particular Dawnshard was involved in the destruction of Ashyn, but it seems highly plausible. It is uncertain who has borne this Dawnshard over the course of its history, but it is impotent while being carried by Rysn. At some point in the past, the Dawnshard was also guarded by someone making use of a specific suit of Shardplate. Cord has taken up these Shards, and may one day serve as another guardian for Rysn.

Hoid's Dawnshard

There is also a Dawnshard that was long in the possession of Hoid with an Intent that is diametrically opposed to violence and harm. One of the side effects of having held this Dawnshard is an ability to feed on Investiture to heal oneself. Holding this Dawnshard can also cause that person to stop aging, remaining the same age as the moment they first picked it up. Enough time holding this Dawnshard can make a person that possibly may never die or be killed, like Hoid. It also grants enhancements of durability and ability to go without breathing and survive in a vacuum unprotected, although this may be partially due to Sigzil's past as a Radiant.

Another side effect of this Dawnshard is what Sigzil terms the Torment, the inability to intentionally do harm or violence to another. This manifests in both Hoid and Sigzil to differing degrees. Sigzil for instance is able to do harm when it is in line with his oaths or when he has managed to lessen the Torment using his sunheart. Sigzil also experiences this as a freezing up in combat. Hoid is unable to cause harm, consider hurting anyone at all, or even consume meat without extreme incapacitating nausea. He is however capable of causing pain to a Cognitive Shadow, as he is not truly hurting them. He can also only harm himself if he believes it is helping him instead of hurting him.

This Dawnshard also Connects the person who has held it to the cosmere as a whole. This means that those that are changed by the Dawnshard are capable of Skipping, transporting themselves from one planet to another in the cosmere, using up great amounts of Investiture in the process. While this is something Sigzil can do, it is unclear if Hoid will ever learn to Skip, it has not been something he has generally been able to do. This ability started from a certain event.

Other Dawnshards

There are two other Dawnshards in existence that are essentially unknown, but at least one of the four Dawnshards is different from all of the rest. It is unclear what this difference is though, and whether it refers to one of the known or unknown Dawnshards.

Trivia

• In June 2022, Brandon said that at least one person, other than Rysn, who "is currently" a Dawnshard has appeared; it is unclear which Dawnshard this person has. Though this statement was made after the sample chapters for The Sunlit Man had been released, given the surprise nature of the secret projects, it likely does not refer to Sigzil.

Notes

This page is probably complete!

This page contains most of the knowledge we have on the subject at this time.
It has yet to be reviewed.