Art by Ernanda Souza
Dawnshards helped create the Cosmere and were later used to Shatter its god. Here is what they are, how they work, and what we know about all four.
Dawnshards are among the most mysterious and powerful forces in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere. They are not ordinary magical objects, nor are they the same as the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium. Instead, they are four primal Commands that helped shape creation itself and were later used to kill the being who created the Cosmere.
The first half of this article is spoiler-free. It explains the basic Dawnshard lore without revealing major events from the books. A clear warning appears before the discussion moves into spoilers for Dawnshard, The Sunlit Man, Wind and Truth, and Isles of the Emberdark.
What Is a Dawnshard? [Video]
Subscribe to the Koloss Learns to Read YouTube Channel!
What Is the Cosmere?
The Cosmere is the shared universe that connects many of Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy series, including Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, Elantris, and Warbreaker. These stories take place on different planets, but they share an underlying system of magic and an expanding cosmic history.
At the center of that history is a being called Adonalsium, effectively the god of the Cosmere. This being possessed immense power, played a central role in the universe’s creation, and was the original source of the magical energy known as Investiture.
Roughly 10,000 years before the main events of the current Cosmere novels, a group of people conspired to kill Adonalsium. Their plan succeeded in an event called the Shattering, which divided Adonalsium’s power into sixteen pieces known as Shards.
Each Shard represented a different aspect of Adonalsium’s nature, including Honor, Odium, Cultivation, Ruin, and Preservation. Most of the conspirators took up one of these Shards and became its Vessel, gaining godlike power in the process.
Over time, the Intent of a Shard places increasing pressure on its Vessel. A person holding Ruin, for example, becomes more strongly driven by the need to destroy and break things down. This tension between divine power, human personality, and supernatural Intent shapes much of the Cosmere’s larger story.
What Exactly Is a Dawnshard?
Before Adonalsium was Shattered, it used four primal Commands to help create the Cosmere. These Commands are the Dawnshards.
The easiest way to understand them is to think of the Dawnshards as fundamental instructions written into reality. If Investiture is the energy behind Cosmere magic, a Dawnshard is a powerful Command that tells that energy what to do.
They were tools of creation, but they were eventually turned against their creator. The four Dawnshards played a role in the Shattering of Adonalsium, making them capable of affecting power on a scale far beyond any conventional Invested Art.
A Dawnshard can be stored in something like a mural, but it can also reside within a person. Once someone accepts one of these Commands, that person becomes the Dawnshard’s holder. In the language used within the books, the distinction can become even thinner: the holder may simply be described as the Dawnshard.
How Does a Dawnshard Work?
A Dawnshard does not automatically unleash its full power when someone finds it. To actively use one, the holder needs both access to Investiture and the Intent to direct it toward a purpose.
Without those pieces, its most dangerous potential remains locked away, so picking up a Dawnshard will not immediately level a city. Holding one is still far from safe.
Dawnshards can supercharge other forms of Cosmere magic. When paired with enough Investiture and a usable Invested Art, they can enable feats that would normally be impossible for a mortal. Their power is on a different scale from that of an ordinary Radiant, Mistborn, or Awakener.
This is why a Dawnshard holder who cannot directly use Investiture is much less dangerous than one who can. It is also why anyone guarding a Dawnshard has good reason to keep its holder separated from other forms of magic.
What Happens to a Dawnshard Holder?
Holding a Dawnshard changes a person because the Command gradually alters the holder’s Spiritweb, the spiritual structure that defines someone in Cosmere magic.
Those changes can become profound and may continue even after the Dawnshard is given up. A former holder can retain new abilities, severe restrictions, and an increasing tendency to act in accordance with the Command’s Intent.
Known holders have also displayed effects similar to the Heightenings in Warbreaker. Their senses become sharper, colors appear richer, and they can develop a form of awareness of nearby life. These passive changes reflect the enormous amount of Investiture associated with a Dawnshard.
The exact effects do not appear to be identical for every person. The identity of the Dawnshard, the length of time it is held, and the holder’s own nature may all influence the result.
What Is the Difference Between a Shard and a Dawnshard?
Despite their similar names, Shards and Dawnshards are not the same thing. A Shard is one-sixteenth of Adonalsium’s power, carries a particular Intent, and is normally controlled by a Vessel. Honor, Odium, Ruin, and Preservation are all Shards.
A Dawnshard is one of the four primal Commands used in creation. It can direct and dramatically amplify Investiture, but it is not a seventeenth piece of Adonalsium.
In simple terms, a Shard is an immense source of divine power. A Dawnshard is a Command capable of directing power toward an extraordinary purpose.
Major Cosmere Spoilers Begin Here
The rest of this article contains major spoilers for:
- Dawnshard
- The Sunlit Man
- Wind and Truth
- Isles of the Emberdark
If you only wanted the spoiler-free explanation, this is the place to stop.
The Dawnshard of Change
The first Dawnshard to receive significant attention in a published Cosmere story is the Dawnshard of Change.
For many years, it was concealed within a mural in Akinah, an ancient city on the island of Aimia. The mural depicts the Shattering of Adonalsium, with a central figure divided into pieces. The Command itself was hidden within that artwork.
The lanceryn originally guarded the Dawnshard. These enormous creatures were native to Aimia and closely connected to the smaller larkin seen elsewhere in The Stormlight Archive. After the lanceryn were nearly wiped out during the Scouring of Aimia, the Sleepless took over their duty.
The Sleepless are hive-mind beings whose bodies consist of thousands of small creatures called hordelings. To keep outsiders away from Akinah, they created false trails, concealed the true location of the Oathgate, and maintained several layers of deception around the ruined city.
In the novella Dawnshard, Rysn Ftori leads an expedition to Akinah aboard the Wandersail. She discovers the mural and accepts the Command hidden within it: Change.
Rysn becomes the Dawnshard.
The Sleepless allow her to leave, but only under strict conditions. Most importantly, she must never bond a spren and become a Knight Radiant. Rysn does not currently possess an Invested Art of her own, which limits her ability to use the Dawnshard as a weapon.
She remains under close observation by the Sleepless. She is also accompanied by Chiri-Chiri, a larkin with a connection to the ancient lanceryn that once guarded Aimia.
Hoid and the Dawnshard of Exist
The second named Dawnshard is Exist, and its history is closely tied to Hoid.
Hoid appears throughout the Cosmere under several names, including Wit in The Stormlight Archive. He was present at the Shattering of Adonalsium, although he declined to take one of the sixteen Shards. At some point in the distant past, he held the Dawnshard of Exist long enough for it to rewrite him in lasting ways.
The Dawnshard contributed to Hoid’s inability to age and his extraordinary capacity to survive and heal. It also left him unable to intentionally inflict physical harm.
Sigzil later calls this restriction the Torment. In Hoid’s case, it is so severe that even seriously considering violence can leave him overwhelmed by nausea. He also cannot eat meat because of the harm involved in producing it.
This limitation explains a great deal about Hoid’s behavior across the Cosmere. His reliance on stories, manipulation, misdirection, and carefully chosen loopholes is not simply an eccentric personal style. Direct physical violence is largely closed to him.
Before the events of Wind and Truth, Hoid secretly takes up the Dawnshard again after spending centuries without it. His possession of Exist remains hidden until his path brings him close to Rysn. The two Dawnshards react violently to one another, revealing that something far more dangerous is happening beneath the surface.
After Odium’s plans culminate in the formation of Retribution, Hoid passes Exist to his former apprentice, Sigzil.
Sigzil, the Torment, and the Ability to Skip
Sigzil is a former Windrunner who becomes a Dawnshard holder after Hoid. By the time he appears as Nomad in The Sunlit Man, however, he has already given the Dawnshard to someone else.
That point is important. Sigzil is no longer carrying Exist during the novel, but the Command has permanently altered his Spiritweb.
Like Hoid, Sigzil stops aging and develops a Torment that prevents him from intentionally harming others. He can absorb different forms of Investiture, although the Torment interferes with how he uses that power.
He also develops an ability that Hoid apparently never gained: Skipping.
Skipping allows Sigzil to teleport between planets. Each jump requires an enormous amount of Investiture, roughly equivalent to 20,000 Breaths in the measurement system he uses. He cannot freely choose an exact destination, although the process appears more likely to send him toward inhabited worlds with accessible sources of Investiture.
That ability explains how Nomad travels across the Cosmere before arriving on Canticle in The Sunlit Man.
It also does not free him from pursuit. The Night Brigade is hunting Sigzil because a former Dawnshard holder retains a spiritual Connection to the next person in the chain. By capturing him, they hope to trace the Dawnshard to its current location.
The Dawnshard Once Guarded by Dragons
One of the two remaining Dawnshards was once hidden in ancestral dragon caverns on Yolen, the original homeworld of Hoid and several other major Cosmere figures.
The Dawnshard was placed behind an Invested lock that only certain dragons could open, but the dragons eventually moved it because too many people had learned where it was kept.
In Isles of the Emberdark, a Malwish expedition reaches the cavern and uses a device called an Intensifier to break through the lock. They discover that the Dawnshard is already gone.
A Malwish military department then begins tracing the spiritual Connection left behind by the missing Dawnshard. That search could eventually lead them toward its new holder, adding another major faction to the hunt for these Commands.
We still do not know which Command the dragons guarded.
What Do We Know About the Fourth Dawnshard?
Very little.
Four Dawnshards exist, but only Change and Exist have been named. A third was protected by the dragons on Yolen, although its Command and present location remain unknown. The fourth is an almost complete mystery.
That leaves some of the largest questions in the Cosmere unanswered. Where are the two unnamed Dawnshards? Who currently holds them? What restrictions would their Commands impose? And what could happen if all four were brought together again?
The answers are likely to matter as the Cosmere moves closer to its endgame. The Dawnshards helped create the universe, then helped break its creator. Now several powerful groups understand enough about them to start looking.
For more Cosmere lore, theories, and beginner-friendly explainers, subscribe to Koloss Learns to Read on YouTube.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
