My crackpot theory on the end of the Stormlight Archives

[Harkain]

Hey all.

I recently started a reread of Stormlight Archive and decided I wanted to pay some more attention to the chapter headings this time. At the start of Chapter 3 "City of bells" there's the death rattle "A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears." and I had the thought that it would be a very Sanderson thing to do to have that city be Kharbranth given it's the chapter where it gets introduced.

So I started thinking about what sorts of cool scenes could involve "a man" watching their Kharbranth crumble into dust. 

Now we know there's a very important character who has a very strong emotional connection to Kharbranth who is currently the vessel of Odium. You guessed it, the burden obsessed, murderous and calculating Taravangian. 

Now, one of Taravangians' first thoughts upon ascending was how he could save everyone in the cosmere. But we as readers also know in the long run that's a lost cause and he will inevitably give into his shardic intent and want to start destroying things. So how could Taravangian save the cosmere from a unleashed Odium?

Well, he could trap himself on Roshar and do everything possible to throw away the key. Things like forcing the entire population to leave, destroying the landmasses, hurtling it into space, etc. Knowing Taravangian he would probably cry as he did that, but also knowing Taravangian he would also 100% do it if he thought it was the best path forward (which imo it very well might be). He very well might even start with Kharbranth. It's entirely possible that this outcome is exactly how Cultivation intended to deal with Odium and why she setup Taravangian to be the new vessel and trained him afterwards.

Imo, the idea of Roshar being locked off from the rest of the cosmere in the future makes a decent chunk of sense as well. It could explain why we don't see investiture from Roshar saturating everywhere in what glimpses of the cosmere's future we have. I've also got some other thoughts in spoiler below
Secret Project Spoilers

Spoiler

It could explain how both Hoid with design and Sigzil with Auxiliary managed to get off Roshar as presumably that whole process would involve Cultivation and Honour detaching themselves from the planet so they too are not trapped. 

Also, because I want to get it down before I forget. 
I have a sneaking suspicion we're gonna see some shuffling around as to who the antagonists are/the nature of the conflict for the back 5 will be. I could imagine trying to deal with a Taravangian losing the plot/convince them they're losing the plot and them going off into the cosmere to save everyone is a horrendous idea being a compelling plot (mixed in with other things of course). I could then imagine at least one other shard (either honour, Cultivation or both) not exactly being happy with the idea of sealing Odium on Roshar + throwing away the key and what that would entail. From there, protagonists could be working with an increasingly unreliable and destructive Todium who might even potentially flip back into antagonist mode at the end due to the shardic influence. 

I mean, how do you escalate from fighting one shard with the backing of another? Well you then fight 2 shards with the backing of another. How do you escalate from there? Well what if you made the one backing you incredibly unreliable and increasingly a detriment to your cause. How could you possibly escalate from that? Well you could just flat out fight 3 shards at once.

Well, there you go. I hope you all enjoy my midnight crackpot theories!

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Harkain
I do not know how prefixes work and lag cut off second part of post.

[ArchangelCaesar]

From what I know, it usually takes thousands of years for the Shadric intents to start eating away at the vessel. Like there's an influence, but not a heavy one. Even in the end, Rayse was still resisting the influence of Odium in subtle ways (like not taking criticism from the fused).

the other thing being: somehow Todium would have to break his pact with himself. As Taravangian ascended to Odium, he noted that he took on all the promises that Odium had made in the past. This means, of course, that the champion duel between Dalinar and Odium is still happening, but also that Odium's deal with Taravangian about protecting Kharbranth is still valid. 

I like your idea about shuffling of antagonists. I think we probably will see that as well, we just don't have an idea of what that is gonna be.

 

[Zapata]

57 minutes ago, ArchangelCaesar said:

the other thing being: somehow Todium would have to break his pact with himself. As Taravangian ascended to Odium, he noted that he took on all the promises that Odium had made in the past. This means, of course, that the champion duel between Dalinar and Odium is still happening, but also that Odium's deal with Taravangian about protecting Kharbranth is still valid. 

I feel that, from a meta perspective, Taravangian might end up acting against Odium's deal with him. That's such a large obstacle that it basically has to turn up, and there should be some level of payoff to it.

[ArchangelCaesar]

1 hour ago, Zapata said:

I feel that, from a meta perspective, Taravangian might end up acting against Odium's deal with him. That's such a large obstacle that it basically has to turn up, and there should be some level of payoff to it.

Possibly. I think the more likely issue that will arise is that Taravangian will be unable to act against Kharbranth. Or he could still remain unwilling to act against it. Point of weakness/place of sanctuary

[teknopathetic]

I have had similar thoughts as well. A main motif of Stormlight Achieve is refugee populations and the migrations of peoples over time (and the consequences of that to indigenous populations). We have the (a)Shin people, the Singers, The Iriali and there roaming, the Horneaters seeking refuge, the destruction of the Herdazians, the genocide of the Amians (maybe both kinds), the deadeyes, and then other weird populations like Thaylens as well. 

I think we are going to see Roshar-System peoples escape to another world. My guess - Nalthis, since we have been told those worlds are close together and already aligned in the current story. 

[Harkain]

On 14/04/2022 at 1:52 AM, ArchangelCaesar said:

From what I know, it usually takes thousands of years for the Shadric intents to start eating away at the vessel. Like there's an influence, but not a heavy one. Even in the end, Rayse was still resisting the influence of Odium in subtle ways (like not taking criticism from the fused).

the other thing being: somehow Todium would have to break his pact with himself. As Taravangian ascended to Odium, he noted that he took on all the promises that Odium had made in the past. This means, of course, that the champion duel between Dalinar and Odium is still happening, but also that Odium's deal with Taravangian about protecting Kharbranth is still valid. 

I like your idea about shuffling of antagonists. I think we probably will see that as well, we just don't have an idea of what that is gonna be.

 

Honestly, at the time of writing I was dead tired and had forgotten how quickly shardic intents eat away at their vessels.That being said I do think it could be enough to make a case for "if you go into the universe to save people you'll end up doing the opposite" that would be acceptable. (depends on how arrogant Taravangian is without the smart days and dumb days thing.)

• There is a little bit of potential foreshadowing during the Taravangian post ascension pov chapters near the end of POV. There was a line (I don't have books handy for a direct quote and it's not online from what I can tell) where he's first instinct is to go and destroy things but he then stops and corrects that. 
• With Harmony we know that shardic intent can make it difficult to do certain things, even relatively early into a shard life span. 
• I'm also not convinced how good of a match Taravangian actually is to Odium. Him having enough connection to the shard seemed pretty explicitly tied to Cultivations meddling so I'm not too sure. 

As with the Taravangian being bound by his agreement that's only really an issue while he's in active conflict with another significant party. To paraphrase a statement from Rodium breaking agreements leaves a hole in the vessels soul that leaves them open to attack. If there's no one to attack them (or you're deliberately trying to trap the shard and they're co-operating with that) then there's no harm in it. 

Tho yea, this does remain pretty firmly in the crackpot theory pile at this point. 

13 hours ago, teknopathetic said:

I have had similar thoughts as well. A main motif of Stormlight Achieve is refugee populations and the migrations of peoples over time (and the consequences of that to indigenous populations). We have the (a)Shin people, the Singers, The Iriali and there roaming, the Horneaters seeking refuge, the destruction of the Herdazians, the genocide of the Amians (maybe both kinds), the deadeyes, and then other weird populations like Thaylens as well. 

I think we are going to see Roshar-System peoples escape to another world. My guess - Nalthis, since we have been told those worlds are close together and already aligned in the current story. 

Honestly, I hadn't really thought of them going to a specific planet. That being said, Nalthis being the destination could also explain why there's so many people from that world as tertiary character's running around as well!