The Shard of Ingenuity, Fabrials and the Sibling

[Guest Parallax]

I. The Death Rattle

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

The Coppermind has the following explanation for this Death Rattle: "This rattle apparently refers to the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium, three of which (Honor, Cultivation, and Odium) are invested in Roshar." But that is obviously wrong, Odium has not invested in Roshar, he refuses to invest anywhere because that would prevent him from pursuing and killing other shards. At present he is confined to Braize because of his pact with Honor. 

A much better explanation of the Death Rattle is that initially Honor, Cultivation and a third shard were the ones who had invested in Roshar. 

II. A New Shard

Which shard could that be? A WoB from 2017:

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Q: If you were entrusted with a Shard of Adonalsium, which Shard?

Brandon: Ummm... Heh heh heh... maybe Ingenuity. 

Since the entire Rosharan system was created by Adonalsium, Ingenuity would be a good fit, it would be naturally interested in an ingenious creation of Adonalsium.

III. Fabrials

The magic associated with Ingenuity would be fabrials. Moreover the current fabrials are imitations of Ingenuity's true fabrials which won't require enslaving spren. Ingenuity's magic is the creation of preprogrammed machines that run on investiture without the someone actively channelling the investiture. Basically Ingenuity allows for Automated Magic Machines also knowns as "AMM Machines" :))

IV. The Sibling

The godspren of ingenuity is the Sibling (similar to Honor and Stormfather or Cultivation and Nightwatcher). The Knights Radiant have investiture from all three shards, Honor, Cultivation and Ingenuity. In particular if we set aside Bondsmiths the remaining nine orders are divided into three groups of three each dominated by one of the shards. In particular Willshapers and Dustbringers have more Ingenuity than Honor or Cultivation (and there is of course the idea that shardplates are themselves a type of fabrial). 

V. Leaving Roshar

When Odium killed Honor, Ingenuity (a) was scared; (b) felt responsible; (c) was responsible; or (d) a combination of all three. So Ingenuity left Roshar which resulted in the Sibling slumbering (or maybe he deliberately turned it off).

VI. Predictions

RoW focuses on Willshapers (an order close to Ingenuity) and Navani is trying to awaken the Sibling while advancing fabrial sciences. I think this book will have a lot of information about Ingenuity here are some other predictions:

1. Navani will awaken and bond with the Sibling making her the second Bondsmith. Remember the way to access a shard's invested art is related to their intent (for example you have to "ruin" something for hemalurgy). So you have to do something ingenious to get to ingenuity's magic and Navani with her ship is all set for that.
2. Mirroring Frost's reply to Hoid in WoR we will either see a letter from Hoid to Ingenuity or Ingenuity's reply to Hoid (there are two ways to mirror). 
3. The Dawnshards will be related to Ingeniuty. 

VII. Odds and Ends

I picked Willshapers and Dustbringers as close to Ingenuity because both orders are closely associated with engineering, logistics, building and infrastructure. I found it interesting that both the lightspren and the ashspren have the most negative view of the humans. This might be related to Ingenuity's role in Honor's fight with Odium. 

And here is my grouping of the Knights Radiant orders:

1. Honor: Skybreakers, Windrunners, Elsecallers.
2. Cultivation: Truthwatchers, Edgedancers, Lightweavers.
3. Ingenuity: Willshapers, Dustbringers, Stonwards.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Parallax

[Lightspine]

Seems possible, but a little out of left field. However, there's a few WoB's that you need to wrangle with:

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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)

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Chaos (paraphrased)

How many Shards have existed on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Three.

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

These two WoBs together seem to directly contradict your theory. There's a couple of other WoBs surrounding this subject that don't seem to point either way, however:

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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)

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Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There are two Shards on Roshar. Odium's presence is felt on Roshar, but he is on Braize, the third planet in the system.

theofficetroll (paraphrased)

Is that Shard on The Silence Divine?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Oh, you mean Ashyn. Ashyn is mostly barren with small fertile patches

There are two Shards on Roshar; however, Honor is dead.

SpoCon 2013 (July 10, 2013)

That last one is interesting because he's contradicting his statement that Odium is on Roshar. However, I think that in the 2014 WoB he really meant the Rosharan system.

If you really want to, I can see the argument that the 1st WoB is some sort of misdirection and Brandon is simply saying that Odium is the 3rd one at the present, not necessarily in the "3 of 16" from the past. If you then decide that his 2010 WoB refers to the planet Roshar and not the system then that opens the door to another shard.

However, I think Honor, Cultivation, and Odium being the Three is the most reasonable interpretation of this.

Edit:

Also, not to criticize, but I find your grouping of the orders rather curious. Why aren't Elsecallers grouped with Ingenuity? Are Stonewards there just because the Sibling is probably a stone/mountain god spren? If we sort by ideology, I would have chosen Elsecaller, Willshaper, and Lightweaver to be the 3 associated with Ingenuity.

Also, I think that the magic system of fabrials is something independent of the Shards. Spren seem to be the Focus for magic on Roshar, and we know that metals have their own spiritual properties cosmere-wide (WoB). Fabrials could be a natural consequence of these things colliding, which explains why they can be fueled by both stormlight and voidlight. If they were made by a Shard, I suspect they would require that Shard's investure to run.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Lightspine

[Innovation]

Ingenuity... no, no. How about Innovation? I wouldn’t mind being a Shard. 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Innovation

[Guest Parallax]

@Lightspine Thanks for rounding up all the WoBs on the subject but as you say the ambiguities around what timeframe is referred to or whether Roshar means the planet or the entire system opens them up to a myriad of interpretations. Then there is the fact that the majority of them are paraphrased which in this context matters a great deal. 

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However, I think Honor, Cultivation, and Odium being the Three is the most reasonable interpretation of this.

I think the way the Death Rattle is worded precludes Odium from being one of the "three". Here is the annotated Death Rattle:

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Three of sixteen ruled [X], but now the Broken One [of those three] reigns [in X].

I take the Broken One to be Honor which means X is the plant Roshar not the Rosharan system. The choice of "reigns" fits rather neatly: "to reign" can mean "to rule" but according to Merriam-Webster it can also mean: "to hold office as chief of state although possessing little governing power" which kind of describes the Stormfather, he is in charge but can be overpowered easily by Odium (or any other shards). 

If Honor, Cultivation and Odium are the three shards of the Death Rattle then they ruled Roshar together at one point in time. But that doesn't make sense, Odium has not invested anywhere definitely not in Roshar so in what sense would his rule be equal to that of Honor and Cultivation? And why would Honor and Cultivation rule with him after he had killed Devotion, Dominion and Ambition? 

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Also, not to criticize, but I find your grouping of the orders rather curious. Why aren't Elsecallers grouped with Ingenuity? Are Stonewards there just because the Sibling is probably a stone/mountain god spren? If we sort by ideology, I would have chosen Elsecaller, Willshaper, and Lightweaver to be the 3 associated with Ingenuity.

I don't envision Ingenuity as a theoretical physicist but more like a practical engineer. In other words Ingenuity does not imply being logic and detached but trying out various things and seeing what works. Also I made the grouping based on the description of the orders which was released by Brandon recently and there are two orders that are associated with engineering:

• The Willshapers have a reputation for attracting builders, craftspeople, and creators to the Radiants. [...] They are united through a love of building, but some consider the building of society to be more important than the building of structures. [...] Among the Radiants, they are generally focused on building, training, and making infrastructure. In war, they might be sent to a town to fortify it against an oncoming invasion. Before or in the wake of Desolations, they would teach the people things like sanitation, bronzeworking, or other essentials.
• [The Dustbringers] often attract tinkerers who like to dig down into the shape and soul of a thing, break it, and see what makes it work. [...] [T]hey were also often used as sappers, engineers, and strategists. They attract anyone who likes to take things apart, who likes to know how things work. 

But I am very unsure about Stonewards and Lightweavers, I think you could easily swap them. 

[Realmatic Shadow]

3 hours ago, Parallax said:

But I am very unsure about Stonewards and Lightweavers, I think you could easily swap them. 

I would very much associate Stonewards directly with Honor, with a key piece of their ideology seeming to be a 'noble sacrifice'. Lightweavers also very strongly resemble Cultivation, with a central piece of their 'oaths' being about personal growth and understanding.

On the overall theory, I quite like it, but I'm not convinced that Brando Sando would come out of nowhere like that with an entirely new Shard being involved on top of the three we know of right now. Though Hoid's Letters could be the hints for this we aren't seeing fully.

[LordTheodore]

17 hours ago, Parallax said:

If Honor, Cultivation and Odium are the three shards of the Death Rattle then they ruled Roshar together at one point in time. But that doesn't make sense, Odium has not invested anywhere definitely not in Roshar so in what sense would his rule be equal to that of Honor and Cultivation? And why would Honor and Cultivation rule with him after he had killed Devotion, Dominion and Ambition?

Just because three entities are ruling a place doesn't mean that they are ruling together. If you have two sides of a conflict in an area and one side is ruled by two distinct entities working together for whatever reason and the other side is ruled by a single entity would that not be a situation in which three are ruling.

Out of curiosity how many rulers do you think are ruling during a civil war?

Because I would say at least one for each side.

[Guest Parallax]

On 8/27/2020 at 8:40 AM, Innovation said:

Ingenuity... no, no. How about Innovation? I wouldn’t mind being a Shard. 

But you are a shard! It is just that Brandon calls you by a slightly different name.

23 hours ago, Realmatic Shadow said:

I would very much associate Stonewards directly with Honor, with a key piece of their ideology seeming to be a 'noble sacrifice'. Lightweavers also very strongly resemble Cultivation, with a central piece of their 'oaths' being about personal growth and understanding.

I chose Stonewards because of the following passage in their description:

• [Stonewards] tend to be known for their can-do attitudes and for taking on enormous projects (sometimes more than they can handle). [...] Another key attribute is their ability to take a difficult situation with few resources and make something better of it. Though not known as inventors or creators, they are good at improvising solutions to problems in the moment.

Also I am fairly convinced that Skybreakers, Windrunners and Elsecallers are the orders closest to Honor and if there is a mix of three investitures, you should get at most three orders per shard. Having said that I don't feel strongly about the precise nature of Ingenuity's involvement with the orders. What I propose above is based on the idea that the initial three shards were equals in their rule on Roshar so you should have a set up that is symmetric. Of course that assumption could be false maybe Ingenuity contributed a fixed and constant amount of investiture to each order and only Honor and Cultivation's shares varies. 

23 hours ago, Realmatic Shadow said:

On the overall theory, I quite like it, but I'm not convinced that Brando Sando would come out of nowhere like that with an entirely new Shard being involved on top of the three we know of right now. Though Hoid's Letters could be the hints for this we aren't seeing fully.

Let me turn this around: if Ingenuity doesn't appear in Stormlight Archive where would it appear? Remember it is Brandon's favorite shard, it is the one he would have taken up if he was given the choice.

I don't think Ingenuity will come out of nowhere, you have nearly 460,000 words to get there! There is Navani tinkering with Urithiru and the Sibling, Willshapers are the main order of the book, and I am assuming we will learn about shardplates which might be connected to fabrials and Ingenuity ...

9 hours ago, LordTheodore said:

Just because three entities are ruling a place doesn't mean that they are ruling together. If you have two sides of a conflict in an area and one side is ruled by two distinct entities working together for whatever reason and the other side is ruled by a single entity would that not be a situation in which three are ruling.

Out of curiosity how many rulers do you think are ruling during a civil war?

Because I would say at least one for each side.

Very interesting point. Suppose there is a civil war going on in Y, the king has died and there are two claimants to the throne: A who controls the eastern provinces and B who controls the western ones. Now if someone asks "Who rules Y?" I can imagine the following answers:

• A is the rightful ruler of Y, soon we will march west and put down B's rebellion!
• B is the rightful ruler of Y, soon we will march east and put down A's rebellion!
• A rules Eastern Y and B rules Western Y.
• No one.

I don't think many people will say "A & B rule Y." In other words if they are not ruling together they are not ruling the whole "place", they only rule part of it they control.

[Kingsdaughter613]

I’d suggest Inspiration instead, as that would include ingenuity, innovation, imagination and creativity.

[Guest Parallax]

On 9/14/2020 at 10:31 AM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

I’d suggest Inspiration instead, as that would include ingenuity, innovation, imagination and creativity.

Well Brandon picked Ingenuity in response to the question.

Also Inspiration is too general, by Ingenuity I mean something very specific: the genius of engineers, inventors, and generally people who make and work with machines. 

[Innovation]

On 9/14/2020 at 9:31 AM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

innovation

You called?

[Guest Parallax]

Listening to the latest "The Overlady Reads" episode and I realized that I had neglected a piece of evidence in favor of my theory that third shard on Roshar was the shard of Ingenuity. I am referring to Roshar's moons, from the Coppermind:

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The first and smallest moon is violet Salas. The middle moon is Nomon, which is a bright, pale blue. The final moon is Mishim, which is smaller than Nomon and green. The Shin refer to the moons as the Three Sisters, and call each moon by its order, with Salas being the First Sister, Nomon the Second Sister and Mishim the Third Sister, while in Natanatan, Nomon is considered to be male. All three moons rise and fall in the same order every night and have highly unstable orbits, suggesting they were placed artificially.

Now given that: 

1. the color of Honor's investiture is blue-white; 
2. the color of Cultivation's investiture is green; and 
3. the polestone of Willshapers (the order closest to Ingenuity) is amethyst, a "violet variety of quartz"

I speculate that three moons were placed by the three shards who first invested in Roshar after shattering: Honor (Nomon), Cultivation (Mishim) and Ingenuity (Salas) and that the vessel of Ingenuity was in fact quite young at the time of shattering.

[Lemiltock]

14 hours ago, Parallax said:

Listening to the latest "The Overlady Reads" episode and I realized that I had neglected a piece of evidence in favor of my theory that third shard on Roshar was the shard of Ingenuity. I am referring to Roshar's moons, from the Coppermind:

Now given that: 

1. the color of Honor's investiture is blue-white; 
2. the color of Cultivation's investiture is green; and 
3. the polestone of Willshapers (the order closest to Ingenuity) is amethyst, a "violet variety of quartz"

I speculate that three moons were placed by the three shards who first invested in Roshar after shattering: Honor (Nomon), Cultivation (Mishim) and Ingenuity (Salas) and that the vessel of Ingenuity was in fact quite young at the time of shattering.

Unfortunatley theres a WOB that the three shards are Honor, Cultivation and Honor.

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)

 

[Guest Parallax]

@Lemiltock I have already responded to that objection, see Lightspine's post and my subsequent response in this topic. 

[Lemiltock]

5 hours ago, Parallax said:

@Lemiltock I have already responded to that objection, see Lightspine's post and my subsequent response in this topic. 

I mean it litterally asks did he follow or was he the third shard. Which Brandon said hes the third shard, this indicates roshar (which is used to reference the system as much as the planet, ie odium is locked on braze but he is still on the planet roshar) has only had Honor Cultivation and Odium.

 

Heres some other wob

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Zas

So the number of Shards that have been on Roshar is three, correct?

Brandon Sanderson

Correct.

Zas

People have been thrown by you saying that Odium is not native to Roshar.

Brandon Sanderson

Odium is not native... see that's the thing. Are any of them native? So if you dig the deeper question, are any of them native, ehhh, none of them are native to the planets that you've seen so far. What I probably should've said to be more precise is that Honor and Cultivation were there long before Odium showed up.

Orem signing (Sept. 22, 2012)

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Hoidonalsium

What was the order of the Shards coming to Roshar and changing allegiances? Did humans come with Odium?

Brandon Sanderson

So... you're talking about on Roshar specifically? So, Odium had visited Roshar. The humans gave him more of an ear... The Dawnsingers would have considered him the god of the people who had come, but-- I mean, it wasn't like they necessarily brought him. He was capable of getting around before that. I mean, he did kinda come along with them, he was instrumental in what happened there.

Hoidonalsium

Okay, but he was separate, and after Honor and Cultivation had really settled there?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he was after Honor and Cultivation had settled.

Oathbringer Glasgow signing (Dec. 2, 2017)

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Lirins hand

On Roshar, do the humans predate the two Shards coming there, or did they come with the Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

The humans were...not created by Honor, Cultivation or Odium.

Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing (Dec. 1, 2016)

and one on the system (from a connection point of view) wob

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ZuperzubS

Hi Brandon, just to double check my understanding of things, Odium is still mostly bound on Braize right? Just that he can influence things on Roshar because of proximity?

Brandon Sanderson

I treat Braize, Ashyn, and Roshar as if they were almost one entity for a lot of Identity/Connection related issues. It's more than proximity, though proximity leads to it. We on Earth, I feel, would consider the moon and even Mars to be "ours" so to speak, part of our family of planets. Odium's binding, and that of the heralds/fused encompasses Roshar and Ashyn. There are some subtle distinctions, but for the most part, being bound on Braize is the same as being bound on Roshar.

mraize7

so shadesmar is only from Roshar or from the three planets??

Brandon Sanderson

You can reach all three through shadesmar, with a much shorter trip than to other systems. But the map we provide so far is only Roshar.

Phantine

Have you come up with a name for their star? It'd be easier to refer to all three by calling it the [???]ar/[sol]ar system instead of the Rosharan/[earth]an system like we do now.

Brandon Sanderson

By people in world, it's being referred to as the Rosharan system. This is kind of confusing to us, because we focus on the suns to orient what makes a system. But in the cosmere, they travel directly to planets, and so the biggest trading planet becomes the source of naming conventions in most places. I agree it's a little confusing for us, but I believe it's the way it would naturally arise for them.

Uth-gnar

On the topic of the rosharan solar system, do we get to learn about the significance of the 10 gas giants? We’re they there before the shards ever made their home there? Is that the ‘origin’ of the significance, in the context of the cosmeres natural laws?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, I'm afraid.

General Reddit 2020 (Oct. 7, 2020)

 

[Guest Parallax]

1 hour ago, Lemiltock said:

I mean it litterally asks did he follow or was he the third shard. Which Brandon said hes the third shard, this indicates roshar (which is used to reference the system as much as the planet, ie odium is locked on braze but he is still on the planet roshar) has only had Honor Cultivation and Odium.

The WoB in question is paraphrased, it is also contradicted by other WoBs.

I maybe wrong about Ingenuity but based on what we know we can definitely rule out Odium as the third shard. The death rattle says the three ruled together, Honor and Cultivation were on Roshar and Odium wasn't. If you take the system as a whole you still have other problems:

1. When did they rule together? 

2. Why would Honor and Cultivation agree to joint rule with Odium after he had splintered three other shards?

3. Odium has not invested anywhere (i.e., he does not have a perpendicularity) so even in the Rosharan system he is not in the same position as Honor and Cultivation.

4. The broken one refers to the splintered Honor and implies that the other two have withdrawn, that is true for Cultivation but not for Odium.

[Lemiltock]

17 minutes ago, Parallax said:

The WoB in question is paraphrased, it is also contradicted by other WoBs.

I maybe wrong about Ingenuity but based on what we know we can definitely rule out Odium as the third shard. The death rattle says the three ruled together, Honor and Cultivation were on Roshar and Odium wasn't. If you take the system as a whole you still have other problems:

1. When did they rule together? 

2. Why would Honor and Cultivation agree to joint rule with Odium after he had splintered three other shards?

3. Odium has not invested anywhere (i.e., he does not have a perpendicularity) so even in the Rosharan system he is not in the same position as Honor and Cultivation.

4. The broken one refers to the splintered Honor and implies that the other two have withdrawn, that is true for Cultivation but not for Odium.

1. Given they are all goods, ruled together does not necissarialy mean they ruled as one unit, wouldbyou not agree that the high princes ruled together even as they fought.

2. Same as point 1. Ruling together and ruling as one are different things entirley

3. Odium has invested, see the fused and odiuns spren. He invests less but its still investing

4. Does it, do we have proof of this. Broken is also an ambigious term that could mean anything.

 

To quote brandon again the third shard is Odium. Theres nothing ambigious about that it is word for word a quote.

[+Harrycrapper]

48 minutes ago, Parallax said:

I maybe wrong about Ingenuity but based on what we know we can definitely rule out Odium as the third shard. The death rattle says the three ruled together, Honor and Cultivation were on Roshar and Odium wasn't. If you take the system as a whole you still have other problems:

If you look at look at any WoB referencing "The Broken One" he usually RAFOs it or answers a different part of the question. Given that I don't think we can definitively rule anything out and pretty much everything he's said indicates that Roshar has only three shards that have been and are Invested in the system. Also, the moons were placed by Adonalsium, there was some sort of revelation that their orbits aren't stable though I can't remember what exactly is going to happen when they fall out of orbit. 

I'm also wondering where your fourth Shard is? If they Invested in Roshar, they can't leave(see: Ruin, Odium). If there were three Shards in alliance, I do not see Odium causing as much trouble as he has. There would also be several more magic systems that we've seen no evidence of. So, could all of the aforementioned stuff be hidden/offscreen and Brandon just springs it on us in the second arc? It's possible, but there isn't really anything beyond your arguments here indicating there's another Shard hiding in the background. Given that, I'm incline to go with Occams's Razor and say the simplest answer is likely the best. Three Shards ruled in the Rosharan system and the Broken one reigns. The Broken one could refer to Honor, Odium, or even The Stormfather and The three Shards are Honor, Odium, Cultivation. 

[Guest Parallax]

@Lemiltock I have already addressed (1) & (2) in my response to LordTheodore above. Regarding (3) Odium doesn't have a perpendicularity, he has not invested in any planet, doing so would make his ultimate task of splintering the other shards more difficult and it is different from creating the fused. As for (4) I am fairly certain that "Broken" can not mean "anything"!

On 10/13/2020 at 7:46 PM, Harrycrapper said:

Also, the moons were placed by Adonalsium, there was some sort of revelation that their orbits aren't stable though I can't remember what exactly is going to happen when they fall out of orbit. 

We are told that the moons were placed artificially but we are not told who placed them. 

On 10/13/2020 at 7:46 PM, Harrycrapper said:

I'm also wondering where your fourth Shard is? If they Invested in Roshar, they can't leave(see: Ruin, Odium). If there were three Shards in alliance, I do not see Odium causing as much trouble as he has. There would also be several more magic systems that we've seen no evidence of. So, could all of the aforementioned stuff be hidden/offscreen and Brandon just springs it on us in the second arc? It's possible, but there isn't really anything beyond your arguments here indicating there's another Shard hiding in the background. Given that, I'm incline to go with Occams's Razor and say the simplest answer is likely the best. Three Shards ruled in the Rosharan system and the Broken one reigns. The Broken one could refer to Honor, Odium, or even The Stormfather and The three Shards are Honor, Odium, Cultivation. 

Ingenuity could be anywhere in the cosmere, and its situation is not analogues to Ruin or Odium, in both cases the shards were/are bound in place by another shard. 

Odium used "we" when he spoke of killing Honor so there was another shard who helped him, it could be that Ingenuity helped Odium and since then is regretting that decision. 

The shard of ingenuity would be responsible for the fabrial magic system as indicated in the title of this topic. 

I don't think Brandon will spring it on anyone, there are about 450,000 words in book 4 alone to introduce the concept.

[Lemiltock]

25 minutes ago, Parallax said:

@Lemiltock I have already addressed (1) & (2) in my response to LordTheodore above. Regarding (3) Odium doesn't have a perpendicularity, he has not invested in any planet, doing so would make his ultimate task of splintering the other shards more difficult and it is different from creating the fused. As for (4) I am fairly certain that "Broken" can not mean "anything"!

For 1 & 2 I dont think that sufficiently covers it, the highprices were classed as rulling together until Gavilar united them. To a peasent it doesnt matter if they rule together as a single unit or they rule together as in they are the rulers. The use of together allows a level of ambiguity that you have not sufficently justified for your theory to hold.

 

3. how do we know that he doesnt have a perpendiculart on Braize? Also he has fused who can surgebind and odium spren bith of these are him investing.

 

4. Perhaps my hyperbole was too extreme. However the broken one could easily refer to Odium and Rhyse, after all Rhyse will has been broken and taken over by Odiums will. Its again an ambigious term, for your theory to hold it must refer to Honor and you havmt provided conclusive evidence of this. Or perhaps Cultivation is broken is broken in some way, Dalinar was the first human to see her in centures. Or it may have been refering Dalinar/Elohkar ruling they could both be considered broken. Yes Honor was shatered but broken can be a very ambigious term, especially when its used as a title.

 

As sherlock holmes would say "it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensivly one begins to twist fact to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts"

[Leuthie]

Unmade and Fused represent a pretty strong commitment of Investiture. Also, the longer a Shard spends in one place, the more their Investiture gets attuned to that place and the harder it is for them to leave. So Odium is over 4000 years too late to not be Invested in Roshar.

There will only be 3 Shards in the first 5 books of the Stormlight Archive. The second 5 might open the whole thing up a bit, who's to say. But there is no hidden 4th Shard in this story. There's no narrative room for one. After three books, there simply isn't enough support for adding a whole other GOD to the mix. Even if Rhythm of War spends the entire 450,000 words setting up the entrance of a new god, it won't be a good narrative move as we've seen very little of one of the 3 gods we KNOW exist(ed). There just isn't room for a 4th god here and no amount of twisting around WOB, Death Rattles and all caps statements made in the heat of battle by a Shard that has been referred as the "Broken One" and thinks he represents Passion when he's obviously just a hateful son of a slontze will make it so.