Odium's Armies

[Trusk'our he/him]

One thing I've seen pop up a few times reading the SA now is that even if Odium were to be trapped in the Rosharan system he could still send his armies out abroad to the larger Cosmere. 

I'm confused as to how this would be effective, however. Rayse's goal was to become the sole god of the Cosmere, not just dominate worlds, if I remember correctly. 

It's possible Rayse could attempt to goad opposing Shards into coming to him by harassing their lands, but Shards unbound by agreements can simply smite whatever comes on their home turf- an army of Fused and Singers does little good against a planet-destroying wave of plasma tossed their general direction. 

Any thoughts behind Rayse's possible avenues for galactic supremacy?

Edited February 18, 2025 by Trusk'our

[ChickenBonanza]

I am uncertain on Rayse’s thoughts when agreeing to the Contest of Champions. Theoretically, he could lend more power to his servants and other proxies of himself? With a Dalinar oathbound to serve Rayse, he could reasonably lend more power to him and not worry about another Ba-Ado-Mishram. Avatar-level, maybe. Something worthy to face a Shard and cause enough collateral damage for that Shard to believe direct conflict to be not worth it. However, that is a method which he is quite adverse to, I believe.

Perhaps the initial agreement with Honor and Cultivation, the one in which Odium agreed to stay in the Rosharan system, becomes lessened with the death of Honor and potentially Cultivation, leaving him more free to wield influence beyond Roshar, but not leave or Uninvest from the planet/system. Though that is as likely as not, I think. Favoring not.

Assuming Autonomy was still Invested on a planet in The Lost Metal, a Shard still has quite a measure of ability to meddle with others, albeit Harmony is probably the easiest to ‘mess with.’

[BinarySecond]

It makes me wonder if there is some real element of the shards being more effective when they have an invested base with invested life present.

 

Otherwise it would ultimately be pointless to destroy all life on, for example, Scadrial. Autonomy wanted to take it over IIRC? Don't quite follow why it's all necessary yet.

[Ashbringer he/him]

Rayse is very good at provoking people. He nearly provoked Tanavast into destroying Roshar to get at him, and he managed to get Aona and Skai of all people to fight each other.

Perhaps someone like Endowment could simply wipe out an incoming army, but I also don’t think that’s an absolute inevitability - Endowment (or say, Harmony) may be limited by Intent rather than agreements, and there are ways to hide such an army or force from a Shard’s gaze.

Odium also doesn’t seem like the type to care if his forces get regularly annihilated, as he can always get more, while most Shards would probably not stand for constant enemy forces attacking them. Especially with the addition of anti-Lights and Nightblood (and perhaps the power of finding an enemy Shard’s perpendicularity, or the destruction of a people) that can actually threaten a Shard.

 

But one other thing we learned in Wind and Truth - Rayse was forced to agree to hold a Contest of Champions, once in the past by Tanavast and a second time in OB by Dalinar. Rayse wasn’t very happy with the agreement in RoW, I imagine, but he needed to make one to not break his word and give Cultivation another opening.

[Treamayne]

16 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

One thing I've seen pop up a few times reading the SA now is that even if Odium were to be trapped in the Rosharan system he could still send his armies out abroad to the larger Cosmere. 

I'm confused as to how this would be effective, however. Rayse's goal was to become the sole god of the Cosmere, not just dominate worlds, if I remember correctly. 

It's important to keep in mind that Rayse did not intend to Conquer the other Shards while still stuck in the Rosharan System - he intended to use the 1000yr delay to begin scouting and plan for what he woudl do once free of Roshar. RoW 112:

Spoiler

Dalinar said. “You will restore to me Herdaz and Alethkar. Keep whatever other lands you’ve taken; they mostly followed you freely anyway. I can accept this, so long as you are still trapped on Roshar, as Honor wished.”

“I will,” Odium said, “though I will be able to focus my attentions on sending agents to the rest of the cosmere, using what I’ve conquered here as enough for now. However, if I win the contest of champions, I keep everything I’ve conquered—Herdaz and Alethkar included. And I want one other small thing. I want you, Dalinar.”

“My life? Odium, I intend to be my own champion. I’ll have died if you win.”

“Yes,” Odium said, eyes shining golden. “You will have. And you will give your soul to me. You, Dalinar, will join the Fused. You will become immortal, and will personally serve me. Bound by your oaths. You will be the one I send to the stars to serve my interests in the cosmere.”

A cold shock ran through Dalinar.

From Rayse's point of view, once hostilities resumed (his specialty, vowing to not start a fight, then getting others to start the fight for him) or in another thousand years, he would have another chance to escape Roshar (perhaps sooner if Cultivation found a way to leave) - but, until then, he would start preparing the field (with Fused!Dalinar if he won).