[OB] Cosmere's biggest threat

[Fatikis]

3 minutes ago, Journey Before Pancakes said:

@Fatikis I think when considering Preservation's influence on Kelsier, you have you think about how he held the power in the first place.

He needed a bunch of extra Connection and didn't really have good control over the shard.  It's not clear that his use of the Connectionade orb would make the shard holding the same as someone who was naturally Connected; but it definitely implied that he would have needed to change a good amount from the shard he held.  Even with the ball of Connection he was barely able to take hold.

Holding the power still would have began changing his personality. The connection orb merely facilitated the initial connection. Adding extra connection shouldn't change the way that investiture works. The investiture of Preservation permeated his being. Without a physical body it is likely the affects would be even more dramatic. He didn't have a physical body to resist changes. He was investiture taking up more investiture. In my opinion this should mean the changes should have occurred even stronger and faster than with a standard vessel.

Also as Kelsier continued the power resisted him less. The power was not meant for him, but it is likely that given time Kelsier would have changed enough that the power would not resist him. Essentially the connection orb helped establish a connection which would then facilitate additional natural connections with the shard as held. The Ire would likely have run into the same issue as non Scadrians. They would have had to establish connection via the orb and hold onto the shard long enough for additional connection to establish.

[Fully_Invested]

I agree with what many have said that I don't see Odium as the long-term big-bad, like others, I'm not even convinced there is a big bad in the grand scheme.

One thing I recently noticed is that all of the protagonists seem to be on Hoid's side, whatever that means. Perhaps that's one side of the conflict, and the other are those who simply oppose his plan, whatever it is. In such a conflict, I don't think either side is necessarily good or evil.

[Scion of the Mists]

14 hours ago, Fully_Invested said:

One thing I recently noticed is that all of the protagonists seem to be on Hoid's side, whatever that means. Perhaps that's one side of the conflict, and the other are those who simply oppose his plan, whatever it is. In such a conflict, I don't think either side is necessarily good or evil.

I'm not sure that the protagonists are on Hoid's side as much as he seems to be on their side.  We're not even sure what his side is - what his grand plan is.  I think he just can't help helping sympathetic people (e.g. Kaladin, Shallan, Shai).  However, if one of the "good guys" were to get in the way of his plan, I have no doubt that he would put his end goal above them.  See how he screws over Shai re the Moon Scepter.  Sure, he felt bad about it afterward and set things up so she had a chance, but his goal was more important than she was.