Odium’s Gift

[+Bliev]

In chapter 111, Moash temporarily gets his emotions back. 

Quote

He wasn’t supposed to have to feel anymore. That was what he’d been promised.

He then says, upon escape:

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Odium’s gift returned, and Moash breathed easier. Blissfully without his guilt.

I know there are other threads talking about Moash and his vision, etc., but I want to ask an Odium/Rayse question: if odium is the god of passion/hatred/emotion, why does Rayse keep trying to take emotions away? To numb? He does it with Moash and then tries to do it with Dalinar in OB and also potentially Kal. Isn’t that antithetical to the Intent of the shard? I’m just curious as to how numbing emotions fits with the Intent, and how Odium’s magic would have facilitated such.

I have also been wondering if it was this move with Moash that led to the power starting to break away from Rayse, since it would seem a parallelism to a god of Honor encouraging men to break their oaths, which seems...bad? 

[Frustration]

Odium is consuming his emotions, like a greedy man taking what he values most.

[Seloun]

Quote

“Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Dai-Gonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it!”

—Tanatesach 1173, 28 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed female street juggler. Note similarity to sample 1172-89.

Sanderson, Brandon. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) (p. 909). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

So it doesn't really seem like a new thing for Odium; one of his presumed Unmade seems to do the same thing. I'm not sure that it is exactly a 'numbing', but just removal (or transference) of specific emotions. Moash still seems motivated to e.g. kill Roshone on his own volition.

[Leuthie]

Odium takes away the emotions that might interfere with someone's hate. Vyre doesn't have to feel guilt, longing, fear, worry, or happiness. His directed hate has nothing to impede it.

That sound very much like Odium.

[Darth_Hel]

I'm not sure that Odium is taking Vyre's happiness, he might just not have any happiness naturally. The only time he seemed even somewhat happy was with Bridge 4, and even then he was consumed by vengeance.

[Golstar]

Odium's influence overwhelms and dominates at an emotional level. The hatred is fueled by passion and emotion - but eventually consumes this fuel. That's also how I reconcile Odium being connected with the concept of Void - which doesn't seem to resonate at all with overwhelming and burning hatred. Odium's investiture is a volatile and voracious power which co-opts emotion, guilt, pain, passion and even love. 

So I don't see it as greed in the sense of someone lusting for wealth or power - but more as the greed of a chemical reaction. Honor is cold fury and just retribution, Odium is hot rage and bitter vengeance. I think this also makes the storms an interesting "battleground" for the two Shardic intents. The Storm of Honor is majestic, relentless but also indiscriminate and uncompromising. The Storm of Odium is tyrannical, furious and destructive. There is a lot of overlap between the two Shards, which I think makes Odium uniquely poised to tempt the servants of Honor - and vice versa.

I think there is an interesting parallel between Moash and Kaladin. Honor helps Kaladin cope with his psychological anguish - not by taking away the pain, but through integrity, purpose and meaning. Odium relieves Moash of psychological pain by applying a nihilistic suppression of self, selectively applied to emotions that are painful. Interestingly, he is not left exclusively with Hatred (although it dominates) - MoashVyre feels respect, perhaps even twisted love, for Kaladin. I think that eventually Odium would feast on those as well, but it's not simple voiding of emotion. Just the ones that hurt. Which will eventually be all of them.

I would argue that Rayse fell prey to this himself - his pride and egotism eventually becoming shame in the face of defeat - and Odium the Shard does not tolerate self-directed negative emotion, and was thus rejecting Rayse.

[CogitoErgoArclo]

@Golstar

Really well said. 

I’ve always thought of Odium as a spiritual fire. The flame of Gods Passion(divine hatred) divorced from everything that gives it context, to paraphrase Frost I believe. 
And like a fire without any control, it consumes everything around it. Until it moves on, or dies from lack of fuel. 
I don’t think Ashyn and Braize were named by accident. They are the burnt and the burning. Ashyn is the end result of a planet that gives itself fully to Odium, it burned bright for a time, but now is a husk of ash. Braize is the result of a flame(Odium) constrained and controlled, and so burns it’s fuel slowly and sullenly, like a brazier of coals. 
And like a Flame; it creates a void or “negative pressure” for lack of a better term around the fuel that it is burning. 

I think what we’re seeing with Moash is just this. Moash is so Connected to Odium that he is used as a fuel source, but more so than most because he is actively and consciously channeling his emotions toward Odium. Moash’s intent and Odiums Intent are aligned. And the resonance between those Intents facilitates a greater consumption of emotion to fuel Odium, resulting in a more pronounced Void. 
 
I feel like this is connected to Moashs’ new name: Vyre. (Which obviously sounds like fire, in keeping with the theme) but translates as He Who Quiets. 
He quiets the Tones, Rhythms, and emotions of himself and others around him, acting as a channel to fuel Odiums flame.  
Seems to be some evidence of Titles having a particularly tangible effect on Roshar.

Combine Vyre with El. And you’d have something like Vyrel ( sounds a lot like viral), which if we look to Raboniel for naming conventions, may mean something like Lord of Quite/Silence. A weighty title for a people who hear Shards as Tones and Rhythms. 

 

Edit: this may also be a sly set up for Autonomy in the back five.  
i.e. Odium uses the passions of others to fuel himself/protect the vessel from being consumed by the shard. Autonomy may be doing something similar. Consuming the autonomy of “lesser beings” to fuel the shards intent. 
 

Edited December 5, 2020 by CogitoErgoArclo