Shardcast: The Visit to the Valley

I think Cultivation's going to make a habit of messing with Odium's toys, so to speak.  She's already screwed with the "champion of Odium" idea, in such a fashion that Odium trying it a second time will leave himself vulnerable.  She's gotten a product of the Nightwatcher's into Odium's toolbox, one that he thinks is a valuable source of information but is definitely omitting some really important details (e.g. "the fortune teller you wanted dead isn't.").  Any time we think we see Odium getting ahead, I think taking a side glance at the victory and looking which relevant pies have Cultivation's fingers in them would serve us well.  

I interpreted Cultivation's words about wanting a piece of Dalinar to be more about Connection. We know that the more Connected a person is to a Shard, the easier it is for the Shard to influence them. It's also necessary for things like Ascension. It's clear Dalinar was already Connected to both Honor and Odium. In making the deal, Dalinar became Connected more strongly to Cultivation as well. 

Glys is a Truthwatcher spren that has been corrupted by by Sja Anat.

if she just hands him sacks of gold, she would be a major cause of inflation  lol

"Cat-ascender?" Is that the official pronunciation of Catacendre? 

And which cat is it that ascended?

5 hours ago, Julio said:

"Cat-ascender?" Is that the official pronunciation of Catacendre? 

And which cat is it that ascended?

No, that's how I've pronounced it, but I look in Arcanum and it seems to be that, but with a -dra sound at the end. Oops. 

I actually listened enough to hear the Nightblood talk. I'm heavily Invested in Nightblood, and I'd love to speculate on his chain of custody. There's not much we absolutely know, and what we do know we know from Nightblood itself, Vasher, and Vivenna. We know from Nightblood that Vivenna held it, but never drew it. That's the only new person we heard him mention as holding it. Given Cultivation's association with foresight, I imagined that the offer to bring Dalinar Nightblood would through be some sort of precognition. She could predict an outcome where Dalinar would seize Nightblood, and offered Dalinar that possible future.

I think Nale was holding Nightblood when Dalinar was visiting the Nightwatcher through nothing but supposition save it could make sense. In terms of Nightblood Chain of Custody, we've got Vasher/Vivenna/???/Nale/Szeth. I doubt Vivenna had Nightblood when the Nightwatcher offered it to Dalinar, so it's either the ??? or Nale.

Shout out to the Oxford comma.

I think you may have missed one important thing from the Nightwatcher's offers. Just because she gives examples of things Dalinor could ask for doesn't mean she has those things or that she would give them in any case. From the Way of Kings Interlude: "You ask a boon. She gives what she feels you deserve, then gives you a curse to go along with it." ... "A few got what they wanted."

I think the offers are a kind of test to determine the intent of the supplicant. Those who ask for selfless or benign items will probably get exactly what they wanted, but those who ask for things extreme like Shards or Power will instead get lesser boons. Dalinar broke things by asking for nothing at all.

The Nightblood discussion was interesting, particularly whether cultivation had ever possessed NB. I was trying to work out, if Vasher went to the nightwatcher, what would be the boon that he would be willing to give up NB for? I wonder if he bought the ability to live without weekly breath (since he hadn't been able to convert stormlight to breath and might run his supply down without it). If he knew he was going to die and couldn't return home to get more breath. I can imagine him being desperate enough to part with nightblood.

Then Cultivation eventually gives it to Nale, who gives it to Szeth.