Endowment's Plan for Odium

[Wandering Shade]

So, in Endowment's letter to Hoid in Oathbringer she mentions that "If Rayse becomes an issue he will be dealt with."
This implies she has something of a plan in case Odium comes to Nalthis to try and Splinter her, and I think I know what the plan is?

I think Endowment was going to wield Nightblood and use it to help her Splinter Odium or just kill Rayse.

We know from a wob that Endowment was "involved" in the creation of Nightblood somehow, which means that she saw something in what Vasher and Shashara were doing and helped them along.
We've seen that Odium was scared of Nightblood and for good reason, given how RoW ended.
Now, maybe a Shard can't wield Nightblood for complicated Realmatic reasons or something, but if that's the case then Endowment could've planned on having a champion use it.

Thoughts? Disagreements? I wanna hear everyone else's opinions on this because I don't have irl friends who I can talk to about this

[Frustration]

Endowment isn't overly intrested in anything outsie of Nalthis, nor does she have any big plans for the Cosmere, or anything else really, though it's a good theory.

Welcome to the shard.

[Wandering Shade]

Thanks, glad to be here. Seems like yall have great fun.

Yeah, I know that Endowment doesn't really care about what's going on outside of Nalthis, so it's entirely possible that her line to Hoid was a bluff, but I personally feel like she made a plan just in case. And that plan was Nightblood.

The fun thing about my theory is that if I'm right, then Endowment's plan has already worked, in a way. lol

There's not much to really disprove this theory, annoyingly. I'd like something that could actually disprove my theory, that would be fun.

[StanLemon]

I've always viewed Endowment's Letter as her just being haughty and arrogant. Her future sight hasn't looked all that impressive to me and more just a shotgun approach and hope for the best. Nothing compared to the meticulous planning we've seen from Cultivation and Preservation in comparison. The only proof anyone can even attempt to point to that she planned Odium's death is that Nightblood was on Roshar. Which is equally possible to be a coincidence that Cultivation took advantage of rather than some ingenious plan to kill Odium.

Endowment just doesn't strike me as a good planner. She makes tons of Returned that have no hope of ever fulfilling their reason for coming back, and with how things were only a hair's breadth from disaster in Warbreaker despite her not competing with another Shard. She's not incompetent as things did turn out for the better by the end of Warbreaker, such as Susebron's freedom, Siri and Vivenna becoming more true to themselves, and what will likely be reforms in how Hallandren governs all for example, but the things people latch onto that make so many think she is a genius with fantastic future sight is purely hypothetical based on association. I'll happily change my tune should we see a more concrete example of her planning (maybe if the Warbreaker sequel ever happens) but until that time I'm unimpressed, at least in comparison to the likes of what we know are top tier planners like Cultivation who still has one chekhov's gun that has yet to fire and Preservation who set things up so well that millennia after his "death" had everything going according to plan. 

[NameIess]

10 hours ago, StanLemon said:

Endowment just doesn't strike me as a good planner. She makes tons of Returned that have no hope of ever fulfilling their reason for coming back, and with how things were only a hair's breadth from disaster in Warbreaker despite her not competing with another Shard. She's not incompetent as things did turn out for the better by the end of Warbreaker, such as Susebron's freedom, Siri and Vivenna becoming more true to themselves, and what will likely be reforms in how Hallandren governs all for example, but the things people latch onto that make so many think she is a genius with fantastic future sight is purely hypothetical based on association. I'll happily change my tune should we see a more concrete example of her planning (maybe if the Warbreaker sequel ever happens) but until that time I'm unimpressed, at least in comparison to the likes of what we know are top tier planners like Cultivation who still has one chekhov's gun that has yet to fire and Preservation who set things up so well that millennia after his "death" had everything going according to plan. 

I mean, we don't know that Endowment even cares if there's another Manywar. Maybe she wants it to happen, so that Nalthis will heavily militarize. Maybe she manipulated the events of Warbreaker in order to get Kalad's phantoms would come back into the equation.

[Wandering Shade]

18 hours ago, StanLemon said:

I've always viewed Endowment's Letter as her just being haughty and arrogant. Her future sight hasn't looked all that impressive to me and more just a shotgun approach and hope for the best. Nothing compared to the meticulous planning we've seen from Cultivation and Preservation in comparison. The only proof anyone can even attempt to point to that she planned Odium's death is that Nightblood was on Roshar. Which is equally possible to be a coincidence that Cultivation took advantage of rather than some ingenious plan to kill Odium.

That's totally fair. I agree that I don't think Endowment's foresight is incredible. I think she uses it a lot though, such as each time she makes a Returned, but I agree that I don't think she planned Odium's death. I was more meaning that Nightblood was her ace-in-the-hole in case Odium, or another Shard, came to Splinter her. Yeah, her letter really is haughty and arrogant, which is why I considered that she might have been bluffing, but still. Thanks for your reply, I really liked the way you picked apart Endowment's foresight abilities. The shotgun approach.

[Benkinsky]

yeah, she could easily create the warriors she needs for whatever plans. I don't know how much control Edgli has about the Divine Breath, but if she, in her long lifespan, made a few returned with goals like "destroy another Vessel" or whatever, and helped in the creation of things like Nightblood, she has a good defense probably. We know the Cosmere has the rule of "live long enough and become very good at fighting", so a bunch of returned would be a powerful force against a Fused invasion or whatnot. We've heard what the five scholars can do, and there's five of them.

And she probably might even have a backup Vessel in case Edgli's personality interferes to much with what has to be done. We've seen Cultivation prepare Taravangian for ascension, to make him attuned. Many people assume she's doing the same with Honor.

If someone had been alive for centuries as a returned, traveling Nalthis or even the Cosmere, never dying of age because the goal of the Divine Breath is specifically "take up Endowment when it becomes necessary", they'd 100% be attuned to Endowment so much that they could easily take it up, and their travels probably taught them whatever lessons were necessary. Who knows, maybe that's what Vasher will be.

Maybe Endowment knows she'll see her death coming early enough, and she has both the tools to fight and her own replacement to do it.

[cometaryorbit]

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Endowment uses future sight pretty heavily, as the Returned are all future-sight-y (not just the purpose of their Return, but their ability to see prophetic things in art as well).

I agree a lot of the Returned seem to have no hope of accomplishing much (e.g. the Idrian ones), but we don't know what Endowment's actual goals are. I believe someone suggested that Endowment might Return basically random people because if she only Returned ones important to her plans, it might be easy to figure out what those plans are.

[Lukyjayz]

We are missing a lot of details until warbreaker sequel comes out, but there are hints of her plans. I believe that Vasher is her champion. He created nightblood, killed most of the other scholars (I personally assume he will finish the task in the sequel), then he moved to another world with the blade to keep himself alive easily and not affect endowments world anymore. 

 

What leads me to believe he is indeed endowments champion is he betrays Vivenna off screen, and it is why she hunts him and nightblood. An already immortal man could simply be her pawn to off Rayse, but I think how all the other scholars give endowments people tools to fight well above their weight class then the scholars all die is kind of telling. 

[Trusk'our]

On 12/28/2021 at 8:04 AM, Benkinsky said:

If someone had been alive for centuries as a returned, traveling Nalthis or even the Cosmere, never dying of age because the goal of the Divine Breath is specifically "take up Endowment when it becomes necessary", they'd 100% be attuned to Endowment so much that they could easily take it up, and their travels probably taught them whatever lessons were necessary. Who knows, maybe that's what Vasher will be.

I'd love to see Vasher as a Shard. That would be awesome  

[CryoZenith]

That is actually a really interesting idea, to be honest. Like, think of all the crazy impactful things Vasher accomplished in his long life. United kingdoms. Destroyed kingdoms. Started massive wars. Created long-term peace. Was one of the first to ever reach the tenth heightening. Redefined the way high-level awakening was used. Created one of the first sentient objects in the Cosmere. Contributed to the death of a god. Yet, despite all the things he did, and all the things he was powerful enough to have the *option* to do, we have this WoB:

Quote

Vetterlinj

Has Vasher accomplished what he Returned to do? If he has not, has he had the opportunity?

Brandon Sanderson

No, + not really.

RoW Release Party (Nov. 17, 2020)

So... how do you raise the bar above anything he has achieved/had the *ability* to achieve? Well, by having the Returned purpose of taking up a Shard of course :3.

[Benkinsky]

Exactly my thoughts! He's done so much already, and none of it was what he was returned to do for.

[CryoZenith]

Yup, and most importantly, it's not just that he hasn't done it, but also that he hasn't had the opportunity to do it. That's a pretty short list, all things considered.