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Odium's Strength


Turos

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I still think that the rules Tanavast talks about are more just the nature of their Shards. I doubt Honor can do much to empower slumlords, for example. Odium's true strength may be the flexibility of his Shard. You can use hatred to motivate a surprisingly large amount of actions.

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I don't think everyone would agree with me, but I think that once a Shard Invests themself in something, they no longer have control over it and it can be freely used against them.  It's not like Preservation could stop people from using Allomancy and Feruchemy if they were working at cross purposes to him.  I think this can be exploited under certain circumstances, the first thing that comes to mind is Nicrosil Investiture Compounding, but that's probably too inefficient to be used on the scale of directly affecting a Shard by leeching away at the amount of Investiture available to them at a given moment.  It might not even be a thing.  But I still think if there was a way to scale it up, it would involve using multiple types of Investiture from various Shards.  Which makes Hoid my favorite candidate, since he seems to be collecting stuff.

 

Since Odium doesn't like to Invest, it not only gives him more available Investiture, it also ensures that Invested Odium can't be used against him.

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I'd say pretty difficult. Let's break it down like this.

Szeth's Assets:

  • Shardblade
  • Skillful Windrunner

Dalinar's Assets:

  • Kaladin - Novice Windrunner, possibly more efficient with Stormlight due to Second Oath. Master spearman, has defeated a Shardbearer before
  • Shallan - Novice Soulcasting abilities and a Shardblade
  • Jasnah - Skillful Soulcaster, can be used from a distance
  • Renarin - Plate, novice fighter
  • Adolin - Full Shardbearer, master duelist
  • Elite squad of former bridgemen
  • Cobalt guard

I think Dalinar's got a fighting chance, espeicially considering that he's no slouch himself, and has a few battalions of extremely loyal soldiers, some of which are also defending their families. To be fair, these guys won't be expecting him, and Szeth's killed hundreds of soldiers before.

 

 

I hope I didn't miss this conclusion somewhere but while reading Dalinar's assets an idea popped up in my mind: 

 

Shallan ... "a Shardblade" ... --> Renarin "Plate" (but no Blade) -> May Renarin get Shallan's Blade? 

 

A side note: "Elite squad of former bridgemen (== Bridge Four)" == Cobalt Guard now (because Dalinar sent the rest of his remaining Cobalt Guard to expand the King's Guard. Or did you mean the King's Guard here (because for sure at least most of them are Dalinar's loyal followers?). 

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I hope I didn't miss this conclusion somewhere but while reading Dalinar's assets an idea popped up in my mind: 

 

Shallan ... "a Shardblade" ... --> Renarin "Plate" (but no Blade) -> May Renarin get Shallan's Blade? 

 

A side note: "Elite squad of former bridgemen (== Bridge Four)" == Cobalt Guard now (because Dalinar sent the rest of his remaining Cobalt Guard to expand the King's Guard. Or did you mean the King's Guard here (because for sure at least most of them are Dalinar's loyal followers?). 

 

Or Shallan could get Renarim's Plate. That would be interesting.

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I've got an interview where he explicitly confirms it to be posted shortly.

 

 

If she doesn't have a blade, then what she's counting heartbeats to summon is an even bigger mystery.

 

 

I'm curious about news (like this Windrunner heralds (^^)), but had took the earlier statement from BS that "this 10 heartbeats mean what we think they mean" (paraphrased) as "given proof" for Shallan possessing a Shardblade. 

 

But: The more the merrier, and if it's not a 'roundabout'-statement, I'd be happy (not to mention the fact that I hunger for new informations). 

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Maybe Odium can disrupt the balance between the two Shards, attack in a way that makes Sazed use Ruin exclusively to counter him, and not Preservation, or something like that. If Sazed used the power in a one-sided way, the whole thing might blow up on him.

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Brandon said something about Sazed not being able to truly use both Shards at full power at the same time, since they work against one another. 

 

So Sazed might fair better than any individual Shard against Odium, but it wouldn't be a sure victory by any means.

 

I can't remember where exactly it was, someone with a better feel for where the various interviews are catalogued can probably find the quote a lot faster than I could.

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So back on topic.  

I dont really understand how it would be possible for Harmony not to win vs Odium.  His two shards are possibly the best for attacking and defending.  

 

It's entirely possible that Harmony has no intention of battling Odium at all. We think of Harmony as being good because he is Sazed, but really he is balance. Like a true neutral character. Now if Odium gets out of control and seriously throws off the balance in the cosmere then yeah maybe...but until then I find it more likely that Harmony would actually just attempt to manipulate events to keep everything in line, rather than throwing down for a battle royal.

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Sazed is managing to remain mostly uneffected, if I recall correctly.

Personality wise definitely, but perhaps when it comes to the way he uses his power he has to be a little more discrete. We even saw it in AOL when he said he has to be careful about playing favorites.

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I dunno, it kinda seems to me that it's self balancing.

 

I mean, he uses some ruin, that weakens his ruinyness, so he's more likely to use more preservation next, bringing him back to balance.

 

I don't think he can do one without doing the other, or he'd upset his balance too much. Remember that Preservation and Ruin don't play well together. I think it's likely fueling Allomancy derived from Hemalurgy is Ruin-y enough to counteract some Preservation... and I doubt Wax is drinking pewter with his steel.

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