3 of 16 Ruled... Possibly Solved

[bartbug]

Okay. This is borderline a joke, but it just fits.

 

This epigraph has always bothered me because it doesn't make sense with what we know. Three of sixteen ruled, but now the broken one reigns implies four entities of Shardic power, with Odium as one of the three.

 

I believe I might have solved it.

It all chalks down to basic human error. These death rattles are the ones recorded by Taravangian, so we have no way of actually knowing whether or not they had the right word. The one I have in mind is "reigns"...

 

What if, the dying person actually meant, "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the broken one rains?"

 

Dalinar describes the Stormfather as broken many times, and the spren just seems... off. Throughout many situations in both WoK and WoR, he does things that don't seem particularly smart or honorable. And the Stormfather is in charge of the highstorms.

 

So, whaddya all think? Silly coincidence, or possible theory?

 

(Also, if anyone has said this before, I'm sorry).

[Bramble Thorn]

It fits, but it is predicated on the translations of two words being homonyms if each other in two different languages. That is, the Athelki word for reign needs to a a homonyn for rain, as well as the English words.

 

Sill, it made me smile.

[Goncho]

Realized was ridiculous response. I am stick. Duh.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Goncho

[FirstSelector]

I am fairly sure this is the correct interpretation, even with the horrible pun.  The Stormfather all but rules Roshar, either directly (though the storms) or indirectly (by commanding the various spren).  The highstorms are pretty much the defining feature of the planet.

Edited March 28, 2014 by FirstSelector

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

I like this idea, but I doubt it will be the case since they are translations from Alethi (presumably) and I doubt they are homophones in Alethi. 

 

It does make a sort of sense though, so I hope that it is true!

[Ness]

3 upvotes!?

 

In Topic: Three Gods

 

18 March 2014 - 09:48 AM

 

 

“Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns.”

 

This is a death rattle correct? If so, then is it maybe transcribed incorrectly?  Perhaps what the dying man said was "the Broken One rains."  As in, little slivers of honor are inside the highstorms?

 

I'll just... I'll just go cry in my corner now

 

Seriously though, I agree. The language barrier does make it difficult, but it just works so well.

[Cromptj]

I thik that there is a quote from Brandon somewhere saying that Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

[Seloun]

It's pretty clear that Alethi is basically english, since otherwise virtually every bit of wordplay by Hoid, Shallan and Kaladin (especially chasm scene) fails to work barring a massive coincidence where the languages are effectively identical anyway. The glyphs also appear to translate directly into english lettering, and the secret epigraph code also requires the alphabet and spelling to be effectively identical.

[Wolven]

Interesting theory, but the way it's worded makes me fairly certain that reigns is the right word. 3 of 16 'ruled, but now the broken one 'reigns'. Ruled and reigns both words of similar meaning. As in it used to be someone else that ruled, but now it is the broken one.

My curiosity, is what 3 of sixteen means. There are sixteen shards, we know that. So is the meaning 3 out of 16, or is it the third one of the sixteen. The Stormfather has said before that Odium Reigns, that implies that he is the broken one. If that is true, then I wonder how it is that he was broken.

[HydrogenAlpha]

There are 16 Shards of Adonalsium and somehow 3 of them happened to end up in the Rosharian System ( we should ask for the name of the star, it's weird to refer to a system by it's planets name ).

I guess Tanavast choose Braize to play around with and Cultivation made some Parshendi on Roshar. Both ruled over their chosen planets and everything was fine until Odium, Shard of Hatred, came along and decided to do what he does the best - break stuff.

So he turned Braize into something so hellish that people call it Damnation now. Tanavast flees to Roshar and makes a deal with Cultivation, he can make some humans there, but he has to protect her from Odium - the Oathpact is born.

Rayse rules over Damnation, Honor and Cultivation rule over Roshar. 3 of 16 rule. Somehow the Oathpact gets broken and Honor splinters, Tanavast dies and Cultivation either flees with the tail between her legs or she makes a deal with Rayse ( Odium doesn't seem like someone who makes deals, but maybe his Shardholder has something going for Cultivation's Shardholder ).

In the end Odium is sovereign. The broken one rules. But Humans are still around, Roshar is still there .. maybe the Oathpact isnt as broken as it seems. Odium arms himself for a final battle.

But why is Odium called the broken one ? He splintered Honor, Dominion, Devotion and maybe more Shards. He seems to be good at breaking stuff and I think we have a WoB that he's a pretty hateful dude ( but I'm no sure, sorry ). Hoid's letter states that Rayse was never a chill dude and now with Odium as his shard he's extremly dangerous. What makes us think that he can control his feelings ? He could hate himself as much as the other Shardholders and could've somehow broken himself a tad.
The whole Odium as Shard of Hatred feels a little weird to me .. we have a Shard that hates and breaks, but no one that is pure Love, we have just aspects of such love like Devotion. I think there is much more behind the Shard Odium than we're able to grasp right now.
 

[Tempus]

Odium has been trapped somehow within the Greater Rosharan system - perhaps in the fight with Honor a chunk of him got torn off and sealed/hidden, making him too weak to leave or to go after other shards.