Could/Would Tezim (Crazy Ishar) actually win?

[+robardin]

So in Rhythm of War Ch. we finally see Tezim "on-screen", aka Crazy Ishar, and find that he's reclaimed the Bondsmith Honorblade.

And with thousands of years of experience with the Surges thereof and Honor not around to hold him back he can now do crazy things, some of which are suggested he'd never been allowed to do before:

• "Ground" Surgebinders to the earth, draining them of Stormlight
• Open a perpendicularity into Shadesmar without the SF feeling it
• Forcibly take Dalinar's spren bond to the Stormfather
• Forcibly take Dalinar's Connection to Odium "as the one who will fight against him" (!!)

Well, we think he can do the last one, because Tezim said he would, and he sure did or was doing the first two. He is insane, so who knows?

Good thing Szeth was around to interrupt his bond-stealing with Nightblood. Which Tezim did NOT expect (nor that NB could chip his Honorblade!).

So, if Tezim could "almost" do that but for Szeth's severing of the conduit with NB, doesn't that mean he COULD succeed at doing it another time, if Szeth were not there?

Maybe Tezim is crazy, but crazy like a fox! That was a line of patter to get Szeth away from Dalinar!

(And even if was Sane Ishar talking, can we actually believe his stated goal of resetting the Oathpact, when it was a most-recently-as-sane-as-you-can-restore-him-to Ishar who was a part of breaking that very Oathpact in the first place?)

But anyway, I meant to pose this as a thought experiment: what could/would happen if Tezim DOES steal those bonds from Dalinar in SA5?

With the bond to the SF reassigned to him, Tezim could have released or altered the terms of Odium's bondage to Roshar - but not any more, as the "contest of champions" thing has now been locked in. So at least we don't have to worry about Tezim just up and freeing Odium completely in order to challenge him to single combat or something.

But, let's say he is able to steal the designation of "who gets to be or to name the Champion for the contest against Odium". Would he not name himself? And would that be such a bad thing (for Team Dalinar)? I mean, Tezim is crazy, but he does still view himself as fighting against Odium - it's not like Taravodium will be able to name Tezim as his Champion.

Ironically, we might suspect Sane Ishar of being like Kalak and being desperate to escape Roshar and to give up being a Herald, which was kind of the cause of Aharietiam in the first place, but not Crazy Tezim who seeks to defeat the Champion of Odium!

Edited March 19, 2022 by robardin

[Kandrafish]

Huh, I really like this line of logic.

To answer the question posed:

I worry that Taravangian would be able to use Tezim's delusions against him and make him lose. It is, after all, not necessarily a physical battle.

Although, outsmarting aside, Tezim seems very, very capable in combat and very knowledgeable, while being a Bondsmith unchained. I think Tezim could win, if Taravangian doesn't convince him that the best way to win is by losing, or some other sort of nonsense...

[AerionBFII]

I think he is crazy and crazy scary.

I don't think he'd be a saviour but he'd be incredibly dangerous to the SA characters and Roshar. He is skilled, experienced but he's also insane. He's going to be a major hinderance or viable threat until he is healed. 

 

I am curious with Kaladin and Bridge four actively trying to combat mental illnesses in people what their attitude will be in trying to help Ishi recover from a magical disease. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by AerionBFII

[Kallor]

11 minutes ago, AerionBFII said:

I think he is crazy and crazy scary.

I don't think he'd be a saviour but he'd be incredibly dangerous to the SA characters and Roshar. He is skilled, experienced but he's also insane. He's going to be a major hinderance or viable threat until he is healed. 

 

I am curious with Kaladin and Bridge four actively trying to combat mental illnesses in people what their attitude will be in trying to help Ishi recover from a magical disease. 

Honestly Bondsmiths are terrifying. When they are left unchecked. 

[Returned]

It's an interesting idea I hadn't thought of before. He would be a formidable champion for sure and might be able to defeat Odium's choice, though obviously it would matter who Odium's choice of champion would be.

I think that his effort to do as you describe would make the situation on Roshar worse regardless of how the contest of champions might play out. Bonds, in the Knight Radiant sense, are consensual and cemented by the oaths the knight swears interacting with the nature of the spren they bond with. Stealing a bond from another and forcing yourself into it without oaths of any kind seems like the opposite, and we have a couple of examples of that which are clearly Odium-tinged:

1.  Re-Shephir tries to undo Shallan's bond with Pattern and insert herself in its place in Oathbringer
2.  Fused are created when an ancient Singer inhabits a living Listener and obliterates the latter. The Listener may or may not have to be open to it happening, but Venli tries to resist (if only at the last moment) but it doesn't seem like that was worth much to the outcome as the process only stopped with Odium's command.
3.  The Sadeas soldiers outside of Thaylen City were bonded with spren without the soldiers' permission, reportedly requiring only the right state of mind and situation.

So I think that stealing the bond to the Stormfather would inherently undermine the new Knights' position and would ultimately serve Odium more than anyone else, one way or another. Even if he successfully opposed Odium in a way that Dalinar and company might prefer I wouldn't assume that it will lead to an outcome they would like. Tezim + Stormfather - oaths - sanity seems to me like one of the worst things that could happen to Roshar.