The three villain Fused mimic the Rosharon Shards

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

I was thinking about El and his interaction with the new Listener group, and how honorable his actions were. And then how he didn’t discriminate against humanity and would willingly lead a human legion.

Then I thought about it Lezian and Raboniel, and how they represent the other Shards. Lezian is Passionate to the point of foiling plans and ignoring orders for the sake of petty revenge.

Raboniel left the Nine because she thought it hampered her goals, made a plague to end the war, and encouraged Navani to create Anti-Light for the sake of ending the war. She was focused on development to the point that any sacrifice can be ignored.

Not anything groundbreaking, but it is super interesting how these characters mirror their Shards.

[earthexile]

El's "crime" against Odium was that he suggested an honorable, quite reasonable course of action. I think it's interesting that his proposal mirrored what Taravangian would wind up deciding to do, unite the world under one banner and march on the Cosmere as an unstoppable military and economic force. Rayse found this idea infuriating and worthy of punishment (though I suppose Odium would feel that way about most anything) even if it seems to make sense as far as accomplishing his goals, and stripped El of his Rhythms for bringing it up.

But he didn't kill him. Or withdraw his Fused status. Why not?

It occurs to me that in seeking the unity of the world, and looking past the skin of his enemies to perceive their worthiness and potential, El may have connected to Honor, the way we see Kaladin connect to the power of Odium when he's cutting loose against Lezian and partially separated from the other powers. And maybe that made him someone Odium wasn't allowed to fully smite.

[Frustration]

26 minutes ago, earthexile said:

El's "crime" against Odium was that he suggested an honorable, quite reasonable course of action. I think it's interesting that his proposal mirrored what Taravangian would wind up deciding to do, unite the world under one banner and march on the Cosmere as an unstoppable military and economic force. Rayse found this idea infuriating and worthy of punishment (though I suppose Odium would feel that way about most anything) even if it seems to make sense as far as accomplishing his goals, and stripped El of his Rhythms for bringing it up.

But he didn't kill him. Or withdraw his Fused status. Why not?

It occurs to me that in seeking the unity of the world, and looking past the skin of his enemies to perceive their worthiness and potential, El may have connected to Honor, the way we see Kaladin connect to the power of Odium when he's cutting loose against Lezian and partially separated from the other powers. And maybe that made him someone Odium wasn't allowed to fully smite.

Odium doesn't kill people who disagree with him, that's much more of an Honor thing

Spoiler

StrikerEZ

Why didn't Odium take the Investiture away from the Fused that rebelled against him at the end of Rhythm of War? At the end of Oathbringer, Odium tells one Fused that questioned him that he could take "that which gave [the Fused] life." So why didn't he do that to Leshwi and the others?

Brandon Sanderson

This is actually an excellent question. Odium, in his previous incarnation-- we'll see how he acts now-- part of the driving force of Odium is this kind of belief, mistaken or otherwise, that Odium represents all emotion, and strength of emotion, and basically the Passions in lore. Rebelling against him in the way that they did is actually in line with Odium's personal directives. The Vessel may not like it, in fact the power may not like it, but at the same time, there's a part of both of them that acknowledges, this is what they set in motion, and this is an appropriate use of the agency of the agents they chose. And so, unilaterally destroying those who turn against him is actually not an Odium thing. It's more an Honor thing than it would be an Odium thing. It's just not in line with how Odium acts or thinks, even though it's possible and there's threats and... That's not saying Odium wouldn't do it. But acting like Honor is not something Odium would necessarily want to do.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 4 (June 16, 2022)