Odium's Villian Status

[MistbornAlpaca]

Do we know if Odium is the villain for the entire, overarching Cosmere plot, or just Stormlight?

[Weltall]

Insofar as Odium was responsible for the deaths of Aona and Skai and the resulting situation on Sel, influencing Threnody as a result of his fight with Ambition and the likely but not certain possibility that he's involved in some way with what's going on in Mistborn Era 2 (and who knows what else he may have been responsible for) it's entirely safe to say that he's an antagonist for the Cosmere as a whole. Whether he's the antagonist is another question however. We have no idea what the plot structure of the stories that are meant to represent the Big Cosmere Finale (Mistborn Era 4) will be like so we have no idea what sort of conflict could be driving the plot. It's quite possible that SA sees Rayse killed but Odium taken up by someone else, or we could find out there's something even worse but more subtle out there and Odium was actually the lesser of two evils. For example, we know fainlife has been canonized thanks to its mention in Arcanum Unbounded and it could wind up playing a long-term role rather than just being confined to Yolen. Or for all we know, Hoid could be the true antagonist all along... About all we can say for sure is that we won't know for a long time but it will (probably) all make sense once we do find out and we'll be kicking ourselves for not being able to see it coming. xD

TLDR: No, we don't know one way or the other.

[Wreith]

Odium has shattered at least three shards besides Honor from Roshar.

Devotion and Dominion on Sel (confirmed in Roshar section of Arcanum Unbounded)

and then another Shard

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LEIFTINSPACE

Can you write in one of my books about something we don;t know about the Shards, or at least one of the Shards?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Odium has killed at least one more Shard than the ones we know about.

I think it's been confirmed that the other shard was Ambition maybe and that it didn't take place on a world.

 

So Odium is currently the biggest bad we know about.

 

There is another Shard causing trouble, mostly on Scadrial, who is currently going by "Trell"
This is largely theorized to be Autonomy.

 

I've chased a lot of WoB today, so I'm not gonna hunt more on this right now, sorry. Will try later if someone else doesn't beat me to it.

[Asrael]

I sure as heck can't wait to find out! If Odium is defeated in Stormlight that would feel just a little anticlimactic on the Cosmere scale, but mostly I'm excited for Dragonsteel and the revelation of Rayse's character and motivations.

[Head Crabs]

Is an earthquake evil? Or gravity? What about when a cougar attacks someone? 

 

Even brandon doesnt define odium as evil. It's a force. Instinct and power combined into one. 

 

Perhaps Rayse had some evil intentions when he took up the power, but i think we know that his personality has been overwritten by the intent of odium and is now just the force itself. 

 

To get back to the other bit though, i dont think that the big bad for the whole cosmere is going to be odium. I think that someone will need to take up and balance that shard with another (or 3) and use it's power to help defeat the big bad (presumably the same force that prompted the initial shattering of adonalsium) 

[Toaster Retribution]

On 2017-10-13 at 0:08 AM, Wreith said:

Odium has shattered at least three shards besides Honor from Roshar.

Probably more, since half-ish of the Shards are still alive. We need more than four dead, or the numbers don´t add up. Odium hitting one or two more is not out of the question.

[Yata]

8 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

Probably more, since half-ish of the Shards are still alive. We need more than four dead, or the numbers don´t add up. Odium hitting one or two more is not out of the question.

The WoB is about the wholeness of Shards and depending on how Brandon counts this, the answer could change.

A Shard Who left some piece of himself on another Planet and then left...It's not whole but It's still a living Shard.

We know for example there is a Shard's Perpendicularity in a Planet where the Shard isn't Invested into...that Shard isn't whole. Similary some Shards could craft Splinters of themself in a more deeply way rather than Honor did with Spren...severing completely from the whole. Those Shards will be counted as unwhole, Ruin himself was unwhole with part of his Power severed from him

[Weltall]

20 hours ago, Head Crabs said:

Perhaps Rayse had some evil intentions when he took up the power, but i think we know that his personality has been overwritten by the intent of odium and is now just the force itself.

We don't actually know this. Frost believes that Rayse is more a force than an individual now (twisted and evil from the Dark Side of the Force Investiture) but Hoid believes the opposite, that Rayse is still more or less in control with his personality intact. Brandon has mentioned that the Intent of a Shard will 'strongly influence' the Vessel but whether it completely overrides their personality will depend on the Vessel. A strong or well-matched personality can always resist being overridden but it gets harder over time, Rayse and Odium are noted to be an especially good match for one another, while by contrast Ati and Ruin were not.

[Calderis]

On 10/15/2017 at 1:21 PM, Head Crabs said:

Perhaps Rayse had some evil intentions when he took up the power, but i think we know that his personality has been overwritten by the intent of odium and is now just the force itself. 

In addition to what @Weltallsaid, I think it very likely that Rayse is still in control. First we have this.

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1729-a-late-breaking-report/

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Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Odium wants to be the only Shard. Odium could pick up other Shards if he wants to, but, he doesn't want to. His Shard is a good match for his personality and he doesn't want to be influenced by another Shard.

The Shard being a good match for his personality means that it shouldn't be warring with him and fighting for control as happened with Ati. 

http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1182#64

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Argent

Some of the few Shards Rayse Splintered included Ambtion, I believe, Dominion, and Devotion.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

And those were all way back, in the history. So, we know that the Shards' personalities overrides the Vessel's personality over time?

Brandon Sanderson

Strongly influence, and depending on the individual, override.

Argent

Okay. So did Rayse choose those Shards because--

Brandon Sanderson

He went after Ambition first, but didn't find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list.

Argent

Was it because of the Shard or because of the Vessel? Like did he hate the person?

Brandon Sanderson

In this case it was the Shard, primarily, that drove him--

Argent

Oh, he was maybe afraid the Shard would grow too powerful and take over--

Brandon Sanderson

He was afraid that this Shard that would rival him. And so he's like "This one is number one on the hit list. We're taking down Ambition." But then he got trapped in the Rosharan system.

In addition to the previous WoB, this one states that the overriding of a Vessels personality is dependent on the vessel. 

I strongly believe that Rayse is still controlling his Shard. 

[The One Who Connects]

On 10/17/2017 at 11:58 PM, Calderis said:

I strongly believe that Rayse is still controlling his Shard. 

I could provide the "no longer human" WoB, but that one isn't as definitive as we once thought.

On second thought, have it anyway, for completeness.

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13 mins

Q:I wanted to ask, is the shardbearer of Odium a human?

A: Not any longer.

Q:Ok, that's... I didn't expect that one

A: But what the answer to your question you really want to know is, was he originally human?

Q:yeah

A:Yes. That's a good question!