Wut

[Ripheus23 Truthless]

Quote

yfriedd (paraphrased)

Given the Sibling, and the Death Rattle about how "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns", was there a third Shard on Roshar with Honor and Cultivation prior to Odium's arrival?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

RAFO.

Good question.

ICon 2019 (Oct. 16, 2019)

Didn't he tell us elsewhere that the only Shards were H&C???

[Karger Unmade]

4 minutes ago, Ripheus23 said:

Didn't he tell us elsewhere that the only Shards were H&C???

First off WoBs are not fully cannon they are just what Brandon thinks off the cuff when you ask him a question.  Secondly it can still be true.  For most of Roshar's history only Honor and Cultivation(remember Odium showed up fairly early).

[Elegy Stone Shaman]

Yeah, he has answered this before:

Quote

Questioner

The line about "three of sixteen [ruled] and now the Broken One reigns" - did Odium follow three other Shards to Roshar or is he the third Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

Footnote: The questioner is referring to the epigraph of Chapter 11 of The Way of Kings: "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns."
Words of Radiance Washington, DC signing (March 20, 2014)

He isn't a walking Arcanum, so he doesn't remember every question he's ever answered, understandably.

[Weltall Voidbringer]

There's also the fact that Brandon sometimes likes saying things like this just to keep us guessing. See 'the person who calls himself Taln' for what's probably the most infamous example. And sometimes he just gets tired and can't remember every single thing he's ever revealed to us, especially at signings that can go really late. We've got several other WoBs where he states clearly that Odium is the third Shard in that quote:

Quote

Questioner

The line about "three of sixteen [ruled] and now the Broken One reigns" - did Odium follow three other Shards to Roshar or is he the third Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

Footnote: The questioner is referring to the epigraph of Chapter 11 of The Way of Kings: "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns."
Words of Radiance Washington, DC signing (March 20, 2014)

Quote

Chaos (paraphrased)

How many Shards have existed on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Three.

Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010)

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ookla the Nameless

[Fractalfire Babsk]

Unfortunately, Brandon seems to have a habit of using exact words, so you have to look carefully at the wording to be sure he was saying what you think he was saying. If he can get out with a technicality, he absolutely will. 

So I disagree that he has (clearly) stated that Odium was the third shard in that deathrattle. All we know for certain (unless there are WOBs of which I am unaware) is that he is the third shard on Roshar, but unfortunately, this does not forbid a lot of other possibilities. 

This came up in another thread where KandraAllomancer speculated that Honor and Cultivation had a child (called Unity) who would be able to draw on the powers of both of its "parental shards" -- in which case, Brandon could absolutely choose not to call it a separate "shard," even if it existed on Roshar in the past and had the power of one (or two!) shards.

You'll notice he didn't say "Odium, Cultivation, and Honor were the three of sixteen," nor did he say "Odium is one of the three mentioned in the deathrattle", he said "Odium is the third shard ON ROSHAR." But what if another Shard was on Ashyn or Braize or if the third the deathrattle referred to wasn't technically another Shard (just like Patji is technically Autonomy or Harmony is technically two shards)?

 

Maybe this is just an aluminum-hat theory, but personally, I think he's hiding something about this deathrattle with his word choice.

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Fractalfire