Prediction: Kaladin, or perhaps the Heralds as a group, is going to administer therapy to the Power of Odium

[coolsnow7]

In case it’s not obvious, I agree with this spot-on thread about how cheesy, forced, and irritating Kaladin’s transformation into “therapist to the Heralds” was. Which made me think: how will we look back on this in future books? Brandon really seems committed to this angle and to have been committed to it since RoW; so perhaps he has more in mind for it than just being the theme of WaT.

We also see that:

1) the core problem of the Cosmere with respect to Odium is that the attribute of divine hatred lacks context, and that holders of the power are overwhelmed by the agony experienced by sentient life in the Cosmere. (Does this not sound like Ishar on steroids?)

2) the powers can develop some amount of self awareness - ie, they can learn and think. 
 

A solution to the core problem could be teaching the power of Odium how to contextualize the pain it feels and its (correct) hatred for the sources of that pain. And so Kaladin, after developing over a decade* as therapist to the Heralds, can grab ahold of a Dawnshard or something and endow the power of Odium with some context and tools for working through rage.

________

Do I think this is a great theory? Eh. Do I like it - ie would I enjoy it if this is the direction the books take? Hell no. But given that this plotline was so forced, at such great length, in a crucial book, I have to think that it plays some Cosmere-level role of significance down the line. And in case something like this actually happens, I want to register my take from now. 
 

* yes I know with the time dilation it likely won’t be a decade before the Heralds return. Whatever, so Kaladin will become a literal God-tier therapist in 7 months. 

Edited January 6, 2025 by coolsnow7

[VirtuousTraveller]

Even ruthless assassins (or divinely invested beings of near limitless power fueled by the big feelings of a dead god) need a hug.

[Ripheus23]

Bind him, break him, or... give him some stew

[Fractalfire]

And now, another episode of Bad Therapy, starring Therapydin, Herald of Therapy.

Therapydin: “Rule number one, Shard of Odium. You’re not a thing. You are a person. Ok, well, you sort of are a thing, but not just a thing.

Rule number two, you get to choose.

And there’s a third rule Shard of Odium. You deserve to be happy.”  

Odium: "Well, I do like spreading warfare and strife and despising people." *plunges all inhabitants of planet into eternal torment*

Therapydin: "Wait, no, not like that!" 

 

[Ripheus23]

On a serious (sort of) note, and considering Sanderson's genre-savviness:

Sanderson seems to get a lot of inspiration from the Thomas Covenant books. The opening scenario from Elantris screams, "I contracted leprosy and all I got was this lousy pariah status," the Ryshadium resonate with the Ranyhyn, etc.

So, Donaldson, the Covenant author, promised us a few things with the end to his 10-book meta-series: (A) he wouldn't mess up like King did with the end of The Dark Tower, and (B) he'd explore his evil god's personality on a deeper level.

Well, Donaldson failed to keep either promise, or he fulfilled them to a bare minimum rather I guess. Two-fourths of The Last Dark's last chapters were extremely good, but the actual last chapter, and the epilogue, seemed rushed, didn't answer questions that would've been appropriate to answer as of that moment in the story, etc. And if we strain our brains to Diagram-levels, we can maybe glean some deeper tidbits about how the evil god's mind worked, from the given material.

So anyway, Sanderson is carrying the burden of the Dark Tower let-down now, and on a level far beyond the level Donaldson took it to (which in a way was less than the level King was working on). Also, having Odium merge with Honor does slightly remind me of Covenant giving his magic super-weapon to the evil god in those stories, at the sort-of-midpoint of the meta-series.

Between all that and some WoBs about the topic, I get the impression that Sanderson will continue to develop his Big Bad's personality. He'll "make up" for Donaldson's deficits, so to speak, and instead of

Spoiler

Covenant hugging the Big Bad to help save the universe [which literally happened, btw]

... then Kaladin, if he's even involved with the final Kirk Summation in the Archive (I'm leaning heavily towards Jasnah filling this role, though), will do something moderately more involved and much more interesting.

But for a lot of reasons, like the logic of the magic systems and so on, I don't see Kaladin squaring off against Retribution. The other half of the midpoint-resolution scene in the Covenant meta-series was about healing the natural order of the world after it had been desecrated by the evil god, and Kaladin is a lot more like the character (Linden Avery) involved in that process, than he is like Covenant. So I expect Kaladin and Sylphrena to focus on bringing back the highstorm and other environmental-activist kind of maneuvers, while Dalinar's moral successor Jasnah is left to argue with Taravangian (in Spiritual Kharbranth).

[bmcclure7]

On 1/6/2025 at 8:37 AM, coolsnow7 said:

In case it’s not obvious, I agree with this spot-on thread about how cheesy, forced, and irritating Kaladin’s transformation into “therapist to the Heralds” was. Which made me think: how will we look back on this in future books? Brandon really seems committed to this angle and to have been committed to it since RoW; so perhaps he has more in mind for it than just being the theme of WaT.

We also see that:

1) the core problem of the Cosmere with respect to Odium is that the attribute of divine hatred lacks context, and that holders of the power are overwhelmed by the agony experienced by sentient life in the Cosmere. (Does this not sound like Ishar on steroids?)

2) the powers can develop some amount of self awareness - ie, they can learn and think. 
 

A solution to the core problem could be teaching the power of Odium how to contextualize the pain it feels and its (correct) hatred for the sources of that pain. And so Kaladin, after developing over a decade* as therapist to the Heralds, can grab ahold of a Dawnshard or something and endow the power of Odium with some context and tools for working through rage.

________

Do I think this is a great theory? Eh. Do I like it - ie would I enjoy it if this is the direction the books take? Hell no. But given that this plotline was so forced, at such great length, in a crucial book, I have to think that it plays some Cosmere-level role of significance down the line. And in case something like this actually happens, I want to register my take from now. 
 

* yes I know with the time dilation it likely won’t be a decade before the Heralds return. Whatever, so Kaladin will become a literal God-tier therapist in 7 months. 

I sure hope not I found a whole Kaladin therapist to be cringe. Admittedly, this is my personal feeling so feel free to disagree nonetheless, I sincerely hope that kaladin as therapist is something that’s not brought up ever again. It completely ruined that part of the books for me. 

[Fractalfire]

6 hours ago, bmcclure7 said:

I sure hope not I found a whole Kaladin therapist to be cringe. Admittedly, this is my personal feeling so feel free to disagree nonetheless, I sincerely hope that kaladin as therapist is something that’s not brought up ever again. It completely ruined that part of the books for me. 

Joking aside, I think it is surprisingly plausible. We were just shown that Honor (the Shard) is a "child" who can potentially change slightly. Maybe the shard of Odium is no different? I don't really see them reforming Adonalsium at the end of this series. Since Odium will drive any new vessel to do the same thing eventually, some other solution is necessary. In a book where mental health is increasingly becoming the central theme, it sounds completely plausible it will figure into the solution.

At any rate, I am fully convinced there will be long and detailed group therapy sessions with the Heralds and other main characters throughout books 6-10.

[bmcclure7]

4 hours ago, Fractalfire said:

Joking aside, I think it is surprisingly plausible. We were just shown that Honor (the Shard) is a "child" who can potentially change slightly. Maybe the shard of Odium is no different? I don't really see them reforming Adonalsium at the end of this series. Since Odium will drive any new vessel to do the same thing eventually, some other solution is necessary. In a book where mental health is increasingly becoming the central theme, it sounds completely plausible it will figure into the solution.

At any rate, I am fully convinced there will be long and detailed group therapy sessions with the Heralds and other main characters throughout books 6-10.

I not sure there is a difference between honor and odium any more but either way I do agree some like this will happen hopefully he we say cringe one liners about being a therapist