Interesting idea.

[Cerulean He/him]

So we know that a splinter of Honor could possibly combine with Odium to become a new shard with a slighty different intent, (or a significantly different intent). If Odium wasnt bound on Roshar, then he would have probably went to scadrial, seeing as there are two shards. Not sure if this is true, but from what i have seen, ruin and odium's intent are closer than most other shards, so would Odium have splintered ruin, and combined with ruin, to create a sort of rage intent? Honestly lucky odium got bound cause then harmony would not have merged probably and yeah..

[Treamayne]

18 minutes ago, Cerulean said:

So we know that a splinter of Honor could possibly combine with Odium to become a new shard with a slighty different intent, (or a significantly different intent). If Odium wasnt bound on Roshar, then he would have probably went to scadrial, seeing as there are two shards. Not sure if this is true, but from what i have seen, ruin and odium's intent are closer than most other shards, so would Odium have splintered ruin, and combined with ruin, to create a sort of rage intent? Honestly lucky odium got bound cause then harmony would not have merged probably and yeah..

Ruin is not closely aligned with Odium (and Odium does not want to combine with another shard at all). Ruin is closer in Intent to Cultivation. 

WoBs:

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Autarchk

If I can ask a question, I just read the Mistborn trilogy and, were Preservation and Ruin two different shards or a single one with their power split somehow? If they were two shards, does that mean a single person can hold more than one, since Harmony apparently holds both now?

Brandon Sanderson

They were two shards.

Yes, one entity can hold more than one. Remember that holding a shard changes you, over time. Rayse knows this, and prefers to leave behind destroyed rivals as opposed to taking their power and potentially being overwhelmed by it.

Nepene

I have a question, if you are willing. Would Ruin be more compatible with Rayse, would he pick up that shard had he visited Scadrial and shattered him? All the shards we have seen that he has shattered seem rather different in intent than him- Honor, Cultivation, Love, Dominion. But Ruin seems more in line with Odium. Rayse has ruined the days of quite a few people.

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, Ruin would be most compatible with Cultivation. Ruin's 'theme' so to speak is that all things must age and pass. An embodiment of entropy. That power, separated from the whole and being held by a person who did not have the willpower to resist its transformation of him, led to something very dangerous. But it was not evil. None of the sixteen technically are, though you may have read that Hoid has specific beef with Rayse. Whether you think of Odium as evil depends upon how much you agree with Hoid's particular view.

That said, Ruin would have been one of the 'safer' of the sixteen for Rayse to take, if he'd been about that. Odium is by its nature selfish, however, and the combination of it and Rayse makes for an entity that fears an additional power would destroy it and make it into something else.

General Reddit 2013 (March 14, 2013)

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Questioner

So Ruin and Preservation combine. When Odium slays the Shardbearers [Vessels], why doesn’t he absorb the enemy Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Because that would actually change the way he views the world. The Shard would actually start to influence him, and could actually ruin who he views himself as being. So instead of combining them all, his goal is to destroy them all and be the only one left at his power level.

Questioner

So by his nature, he can't combine?

Brandon Sanderson

I mean he could, but it would change his nature. So he won't.

West Jordan signing (Dec. 15, 2011)

 

Hope that helps

[Cerulean He/him]

sorry my bad, i didnt see this WoB, i just thought it would be an interesting idea. thanks for clarifying! 

[+Lewis Nethur He/Him]

Theoretically, if all of the unmade and Rayse's other creations were killed off and the planet Braize was depopulated of any remaining life and any Odium-Spren that have evolved naturally and feed on Odiuos Investiture, then whoever holds the Shard of Odium at the end of book 5 might legitimately be able to freely leave Roshar.

@Treamayne - recall, Rayse had inhibitions about combining with other shards (and had personally sworn not to during his ascension). New holders may or may not share such Rayse views. Imagine how an ultra liberal Odium would behave:

Is it not just as hateful and evil to try to combine with as many of the other shards as possible as it would be to try to splinter them if it means killing their operators one by one still? 

That said, if Odium eventually combines with Honor (and/or cultivation) as has been theorized, it might be truly impossible for him to ever leave Roshar to take his crusade back on the road (at least...without completely destroying the planet in the process).

Wishing and hoping here, but it would feel divinely poetic to me to see Szeth take Odium for himself, unmake the unmade, move back to Threnody, scoop up Ambition's corpse, and really REALLY earn his 4th ideal on a cosmic scale before, very literally, becoming the law of his own world. (You know...to either wage remote war in the space age or eat more shards). lol

[alder24]

On 8/14/2024 at 4:45 AM, Cerulean said:

If Odium wasnt bound on Roshar, then he would have probably went to scadrial, seeing as there are two shards.

That's a very big IF. Odium isn't bound to Roshar by his imprisonment, he's now bound to it with his very essence because he invested so much into this system. This means that even if Dalinar were to free him, Odium would have a very big problem with leaving Roshar - he can't just leave without Splintering a huge chunk of his power and leaving it behind (which would weaken him), or trying to rip it off the world, which would be very hard. 

Moreover Odium wouldn't target Scadrail - he expected Ruin to implode - he would go to kill Autonomy.

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Questioner

When one of the shards, like Odium, move from world to world in the cosmere, does their presence, like the metals they leave behind and their magic, leave with them?

Brandon Sanderson

Odium never really settled on a planet.  He is now settled on Roshar and his magic has permeated things.  Leaving would be very difficult for him. It would either involve leaving behind some of his power or ripping that out, which would be a difficult process.  So yes it is very tough to leave.

Phoenix Comicon 2013 (May 24, 2013)

 

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Double

Rayse (Odium) was very methodical with the order in which he went after other Shards. Hypothetically if he'd visited the Rosharan system all those years ago but managed to avoid being trapped and was able to continue his mission right away, which of the known Shards would've been next up on Rayse's hit list?

Brandon Sanderson

He expected Ruin to implode. So he might have gone for Autonomy, double crossing them.

Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021)

 

On 8/14/2024 at 4:45 AM, Cerulean said:

Not sure if this is true, but from what i have seen, ruin and odium's intent are closer than most other shards, so would Odium have splintered ruin, and combined with ruin, to create a sort of rage intent? Honestly lucky odium got bound cause then harmony would not have merged probably and yeah..

It was said before, but yes. Ruin and Odium fit each other quite well, or rather Ruin is a safe choice (WoB posted by Treamayne). However I wonder if Devotion wouldn't be a better pick for Rayse. At first it seems like Devotion would be Odium's opposite Shard and that's true. However, because Rayse claims he's Passion, not Odium, it seems to me that he might have a much easier time combining Odium with Devotion than Sazed combining Ruin with Preservation. Rayse claims he's all emotions, yet emotions like love or care seem to be missing (Vanli's words) - if he were to combine with Devotion, I believe he would finally become true Passion - and might even be better at it than Sazed.