What will be the main conflict of the last Cosmere novel?

[Vin(Diesel)]

What do you think will be the main conflict of the final Cosmere novel.

Maybe it will be Harmony vs. War (with War being Honor+Odium like Harmony is Ruin+Preservation). 

Maybe it will be 8 shards vs the other 8 shards. 

Maybe it will be something else.

What do you think?

[Ixthos]

23 minutes ago, Vin(Diesel) said:

What do you think will be the main conflict of the final Cosmere novel.

Maybe it will be Harmony vs. War (with War being Honor+Odium like Harmony is Ruin+Preservation). 

Maybe it will be 8 shards vs the other 8 shards. 

Maybe it will be something else.

What do you think?

I'd prefer it if the conflict is that of several cultures in friction with one another, the mortals and Shards in conflict but not trying to conquer one another, or at least three sides evenly matched - I think the conflict won't be a large scale war, though there may be open conflicts between some worlds - but rather a conflict as a backdrop to some research mission to find out more about what happened at the Shattering or to reverse some problem that emerged from Shattering that is now a major issue, such as the Shard's instability due to their Intents. So multiple cultures that each sees itself as better or more noble than the others, but individuals from within those multiple cultures still trading or working as mercenaries for others, and among this a team of researchers from multiple worlds tries to find Yolen or investigates something dangerous that threatens all the worlds.

I think Autonomy may be an underdog in this situation, a Shard that other groups are ganging up on because of its past interference on their worlds, as First of the Sun is being subjugated and Taldain is supposed to be important in the last series - Scadrial, Roshar, Sel, and Taldain (and possibly Yolen) were the main focuses of Era 4 when Brandon outlined it.

[danex]

i dont think the last cosmere novel will also be the climax of the cosmere

i bet he'll do a massive crossover thing, and then just continue writing normal stories. i dont think he'll ever stop writing cosmere. even when the main story is done he'll keep doing short stories or novellas or backstories/prequels, stuff like that. 

[Quantus]

Discord becomes extremely antagonistic.  Odium actually does become the benevolent savior that he claims he will be, with his Fused Bondsmith Dalinar at the forefront.  Several Cross-Cultural factions will exist and take sides. Some factions have Shardic sponsorship, some do not.  Breaths will be farmed in morally questionable ways.  Scadrians will have spread outward in the physical, causing a sort of Land Rush in the Cognitive as new area's emerge and Spren and Shadows scramble for control of them.  Investiture Commerce will be extremely complex and the drive behind most small to mid scale war.  

[+Bzhydack]

1 hour ago, Quantus said:

Discord becomes extremely antagonistic.  Odium actually does become the benevolent savior that he claims he will be, with his Fused Bondsmith Dalinar at the forefront.  Several Cross-Cultural factions will exist and take sides. Some factions have Shardic sponsorship, some do not.  Breaths will be farmed in morally questionable ways.  Scadrians will have spread outward in the physical, causing a sort of Land Rush in the Cognitive as new area's emerge and Spren and Shadows scramble for control of them.  Investiture Commerce will be extremely complex and the drive behind most small to mid scale war.  

All of that, but without first and second sentence. I think Shards would be less physicaly involved in later stages of Cosmere, and this would leave just Imperium vs Imperium antagonisms, with wide Physical Realm Planetary Scadrian Empire with its colonies on planets and mining facilities on planetoids and asteroid belts, (I also think Nalthis will be allied with Scadrial) more mixed Cognitive-Physical Rosharan Empire, and Sel and Taldain as neutral powers.

[Quantus]

26 minutes ago, Bzhydack said:

All of that, but without first and second sentence. I think Shards would be less physicaly involved in later stages of Cosmere, and this would leave just Imperium vs Imperium antagonisms, with wide Physical Realm Planetary Scadrian Empire with its colonies on planets and mining facilities on planetoids and asteroid belts, (I also think Nalthis will be allied with Scadrial) more mixed Cognitive-Physical Rosharan Empire, and Sel and Taldain as neutral powers.

I disagree, I think the shards will be heavily involved.  But only because I think all this in the main sequence is going to be the backstory prequels to the main players of the final conflict, and so far they've provided two 2-3 Shards that were POV characters and a few Immortals that love to cameo.  Having the Roshar's Ascendant antagonist actually be helpful and the savior character of Scadrial turn Discord (which will be a huge twist for 90% of the audience) would be right in line with the sorts of expectation subversion Branderson is great at.

[Leuthie]

People and cultures will always be where the stories are. Shards will always be a background game that uses the Physical and Cognitive as game boards and people and cultures as game pieces. Shards will combine, but I don't think it will be 2 shard holders at the end. Probably 5 to 8. Odium will continue to be the primary antagonistic Shard, but all will be seen as antagonists by characters at the end.

The climax of Shardic conflict will be the Shattering in reverse as entities struggle to bring the Shards back together to correct the flawed nature of each Intent when separated from the others.

Hoid will obviously become the unwilling holder of the new Adonalsium and will treat his role as a guardian of the power, not as an active creator or maintainer.

[Thanatos]

Ryse as Odium didnt want to pick up another Shard and taint his intent.

Does Taravangian have the same stance? 

doubt it.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

Taravangian will ally with Autonomy and then there will be a huge war.

[Elegy]

An important thing to keep in mind is that The Stormlight Archive is going to be a 4 to 5 million word story. There's a definite possibility that it will surpass the Wheel of Time in length. I cannot imagine that it will end without its central conflict resolved. There is just no way that we'd deal with Taravangian as a vessel for 6 Stormlight books and then space age Cosmere. I personally even doubt he'll survive book 5. Also, theres still a bunch of Shards left to be antagonistic forces. I've always thought that it's enough for Odium to be Stormlight's main problem. After that, he's gotten enough attention and the focus can shift to antagonists that haven't already got ten books worth of exposure by then - like, presumably, Autonomy - who is being set up as a major player in the Cosmere already, and whose Intent and motivations haven't been as thoroughly explored as Odium's - also, her having a bunch of avatars makes her have even more potential as to how much of her the books can explore. Keeping it at Odium would be a waste. That said, there's even more Shards than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Odium is dealt with in Stormlight 10, then Autonomy in Mistborn Era 3, then there's new, maybe non-Shardic problems.

In the end, space age Cosmere has been described by Brandon as a clash of cultures first and foremost, moreso than a clash of godlike entities. Maybe being a Shard won't mean quite as much anymore in a galaxy with potentially several Surgebinding Dawnshards and whatever next the remaining Stormlight books might bring. Shards are bound by contracts, after all, so in a colonized Cosmere, which would be full of contracts between worlds and/or Shards, maybe all of them are massively confined by those.

What I'm mainly getting at is that space age Cosmere will probably be a conflict between worlds first and foremost. I doubt these problems could be solved by defeating one or another major antagonist. The Cosmere has always been about clashs of human interests and worldviews, and how to resolve them - just throwing Shards at each other like toy robots would be too cheap. There's a theme to all of this. Of course, there will be antagonistic characters in space age Cosmere, but it's far too early to say what they will be. I just doubt that there will be one Sauron or one Emperor to kill and then be done with all the problems.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Elegy

[KaladinWorldsinger]

5 hours ago, Elegy said:

There is just no way that we'd deal with Taravangian as a vessel for 6 Stormlight books and then space age Cosmere. I personally even doubt he'll survive book 5.

If that was true, then why in the world would Brandon show him outsmarting Hoid at the end of the book?? You only get to do that once and it indicates longevity. 

[Thanatos]

Whats Cultivation's plans for the new Odium? She picked him.

Was it just vengeance for Ryse? I think she has bigger plans which only she and her awesome future sight knows.

[#1 Taln Fan]

I personally thing it will be less of a big shard-shard conflict, though there might be some of that. 

Spoilers for Sixth of the Dusk 2 reading: 

Spoiler

Based off of the reading, I think that the space-age cosmere will include a lot of cold-war type stuff, with Scadrial and Roshar competing for smaller worlds and their assets. I think that if Odium ends up taking over and ruling Roshar, it could come to a Odium + Trell/Autonomy VS Harmony/some other shards/Hoid. I think that it’ll also be a lot of open warfare between organizations like the Ghostbloods and the Set.

 

[DiePie]

Since we're talking about the climax of the Cosmere (cough cough MB era 4 cough cough) and not what's most likely going to be the last story in the cosmere (my bet's on Elantris 3):

My personal theory is that, Harmony, and some odium/honor/cultivation combo, since both are tied to their respective planets because of how much they've Invested (and how ruin/preservation's Intents are opposed). And so Scadrial and Roshar are going to enter into a pseudo cold-war type thing, with both planets trying to take over the Cosmere. I also think that Roshar (with it's stronger state institutions etc.) is going to be somewhat of a stand-in for China, and Scadrial (at least in the hypercapitalist north) for America.

[Elegy]

13 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

If that was true, then why in the world would Brandon show him outsmarting Hoid at the end of the book?? You only get to do that once and it indicates longevity. 

That might or might not be true, but there's still just no way that one of the longest, most elaborate, most epic book series of all time would end on the note of "Well, we defeated Taravangian this time, but he'll be back in the last few books of another series". It would also undermine Stormlight's importance in the Cosmere completely.

(Regarding Taravangian tricking Hoid, you also have to consider that killing Rayse off like that was a very bold step and Brandon was hard pressed to sell Taravangian as the new villain. That was an effective way to do that. I think you're right to some degree, but i don't think it has to mean all that much in the end.)

Also, Brandon has killed off Rayse on the base of him having lost two times, and he felt there was no way he could be a threat a third time. Following that mindset, Taravangian would have to be defeated 2 times in the remaining 6 book to render him useless as an antagonist for space age Cosmere. It's hard to imagine that, considering the fast pace on which the story changes, on a book to book basis. Back before Oathbringer, everyone thought Rayse would be the back five antagonist. Then he already showed up in Oathbringer. Then people thought (me included, this time) he'd be the front five antagonist at the very least, instead he got killed off just the book after the one he first appeared in. People didn't ever think this would happen, since he had been set up as such a major, Shard-splintering threat, yet that didn't keep Brandon from finishing him off quickly. I don't think he'll drag Taravangian around for even the entirety of the back five, and just because he is shown as a threat, doesn't mean that Brandon will keep him around.