Kaleid

I put OB in the title because a specific scene in OB is what ticked off this post. The Shattering. This is the common name for when Adonalsium was shattered. All we really know about it is that there were a bunch of people who did it, they took the shards of Adonalsium for their own power, and Hoid was there. In Oathbringer, Odium was frightened when Dalinar combined the three realms. "We killed you!" This has been theorised to mean honour, but I don't think Odium would be as frightened as he seems in that scene if it was. It has also been theorised to be Adonalsium which also doesn't seem quite right. However, it occurs to me that a bondsmith combines things that were shattered, and remember being one. Perhaps the three realms were not three realms at all, but were part of the "Shattering" that split Adonalsium. Perhaps prior to this, there was only one realm?

Wow must've skipped over that the first time. Thanks buddy!

I am signed up. What now?

Why is Ialai not on there? I liked her less than Sadeas. That said, I'm selecting Sadeas. I liked him and his wife VERY little. Goddamn pair of traitors.

I might be misremembering but weren't the voices at one point telling him to kill and stuff?

Schizophrenia?

My question then is - what IS, as you put it, Odium's True Power?

I've seen this sentiment a few times - why do people think Moash is now Odium's champion? Doesn't Taravangian's final chapter pretty much explicitly state that that ship has sailed? Odium has already selected his champion, he cannot now unselect his champion because suddenly he believes he might have a better option.

I'm glad you brought this up, because that's exactly what I was thinking of. This "defence" of "I was only following orders" is known as a "Superior Orders Defense" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders In perhaps the most famous of this legal concept was in an international trial known as the nuremburg trials, in which this exact question was asked. Thankfully (and correctly, I'd say), it was found - like your comments suggest - that the nazis who carried out the Holocaust were found guilty despite "only following superior orders". However, the point I'm making is that this was deemed a question worth asking, and a trial worth carrying out. It was not assumed to be the case automatically. That is justice: the fact that an arbitrary judgement wasn't made, despite such a judgement being seemingly self evident on the face or it. And as the Skybreakers are all about justice, it's worth asking the question here, too. The nazis were undoubtedly the extreme in the case of "superior orders" not being a defense. But it is possible to see situations where "superior orders" COULD be seen as a defence. Disclaimer: I know I touch upon a topic that will likely be quite sensitive for some. I hope I didn't offend, as that was not, and is not my intention. - however, I am aware that sometimes one can be rather insensitive and cause offence when none is intended. Therefore, if I upset or offended anyone, please accept my apologies.

I find it curious that Nightblood ended up with the Nightwatcher (and was offered to Dalinar) before getting to Szeth.

No way! That's awesome.

Is it the fault of law enforcement is the law is lacking? Can a soldier be guilty of war crimes if he is just following orders?

I was using your head running analogy as an analogy. You can replace "rub head" with "give a bowl of hot soup" or "a roof to rest under" or even just "a kind word".

Unless there were already rumours that they bring bad luck. Which would cause people to treat them badly. Which would perpetuate the rumour. What you're doing is almost exactly how I see this going in-world. "But there's no evidence they give us good luck! Surely there'd be rumours about rubbing their heads or something for luck. Let's kick him out onto the street so we don't get unlucky!" I mean, it's not like the people of Roshar have a good track record here. See their treatment of Parshmen. They seem to consider Aimians to be sub-human.

I think it's pertinent because if, as you suspect, it's gemstones that are used, it's very telling that the blade Moash used had a gemstone which started glowing slightly after the stabbing.

Intriguing. But does this not imply that the concepts of hemalurgy will be different on different worlds? On Scadrial, younger stabbed by a piece of metal cos it's a magic system based on metal On Roshar... What, you get pierced by a piece of stormlight? A spren? A fabriel in the shape of a blade?

Isn't hemalurgy of ruin in the same way that allomancy is of preservation, and feruchemy is of them both?

Thus generating large amounts of hate from either side? Perhaps this is exactly what Odium wants. I'm curious what you mean about corrupted Urithuru. Same! I hope they shake Odium's influence and become key in fighting him (also, this would mean Nale et al would rejoin the forces of good, which could be a big enough deal to be the turning point of the war)

From those WoBs, it sounds to me that whilst intent is important, it is not necessarily the person holding the blade whose intent matters. If the spike is in the form of a knife, does that mean that hemalurgy won't work? No - the knife is just the weapon, or delivery system of the spike. If Odium sends someone to stab someone else with a blade, does that mean that hemalurgy won't work? No - the Moash is just the weapon, or delivery system of the spike. Perhaps in this instance it is the intent of Odium that matters, as he is the one using Moash as a tool.

The Everstorm already does this

You describe very well how Moash could be an anti-Kaladin... But an anti-everyone? He just lacks the emotional oomph to make it anything other than anticlimatic. Whilst it's reasonable to expect him to become Kal's nemesis, he's not invested* enough to become the enemy of... Well, everything. Not yet anyway. I'm starting to think that we're missing the forest for the trees. Odium can take a back seat for now, there are many antagonists for the Radiants to vanquish for now - from the whole western hemisphere, to a whole branch of Radiants including the herald, the fused, the parsh, the ghostbloods, mad heralds, the unmade, and even amongst themselves with Taravangian and even some Radiants/Spren with dubious alignments (voidspren on the good side? Ashspren working at cross-purposes?) and even potentially cultivation - not to mention whatever is going on in the cognitive and even spiritual realms. Odium almost takes an after thought to all that... Which is scary cos who knows what he'll be planning in the background whilst working to destabilise in the foreground. *geddit? Invested?... I'll show myself out

Unreliable narrator principles apply. We do not have the perspective of an omniscient narrator.

I think it's telling that most of the threats you mention don't actually seem to be directly under Odium's control at all. Even the Parshmen seem to rather want to coexist.

You know I struggled to come to terms with her death at first as she was one of my (maybe even the) favourite character from the first two books But now I'm starting to think that maybe the story is better with her dead. More conflict in Venli; more of a contrast between her representing how things are versus Eshonai representing how things were in her flashbacks - a fitting exploration of the very different dynamics between THEN and NOW. Perhaps Venli's personality is more fitting for the future plot.

I just realised what my hands down favourite part of oathbringer was. It was when I was about 300 or so pages in, and was subconsciously thinking "this is about when a normal book starts to come to an end", and then checking the page number and realising i still had three quarters to go. I swear I practically jumped for joy.