'three Of Sixteen Rules'

[Caladcholg he/him]

Im doing a re-read, and had a question that my ineptitude with the search function isnt helping with.

 

Chapter nine:  "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns."

 

Im assuming it refers to shards, the three shards on Roshar are Odium, Honor, and Cultivation.  So who is the Broken One?  

[kraefzke]

I suppose an argument could be made for any of the three.....but Odium seems the most likely choice.

 

I do seem to remember a WoB that there neither are nor were any other shards on Roshar.

Edited March 12, 2015 by kraefzke

[Patrick Star]

Honor, Cultivation, and Odium are the 3.

Honor is splintered. It is the broken ome.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Given that Roshar has been refered to as being of Adanolasium's design (or something like that) he might be the broken one.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Edgedancer

[laxrulz777 he/him]

This is one of the ones that bothers me because, right now, there are no real satisfactory answers

 

We do know that there have never been more than 3 shards on Roshar and that the three known (Honor/Cultivation/Odium) are those three (Obviously, there was a time when Odium wasn't there because he was busy killing Dominion/Devotion).

 

So "three rule" seems pretty clear. But there's no real good choice for "the broken one"

 

Honor is clearly broken (shattered) but how does that make him "rule" any more now than when all 3 of them ruled... the prophecy certainly implies a time order (three ruled then one)

 

Odium seems (of the three) to be much more "in charge" now but calling him the Broken One seems odd. It's possible that he's considered "emotionally broken" but that doesn't feel quite right to me (especially since we know his shardholder was a bad guy BEFORE the shard... it's not like this was Ghandi who picked up Odium and is now having his personality destroyed)...

 

Adonalsium certainly fits the title of "Broken One" but, here again, we come across a problem. How is Adonalsium any more "in charge" now than when the three ruled.

 

I almost wonder if it's something else entirely. Maybe there's another set of 16 on Roshar that we haven't seen for which we will see.

 

The other possibility is this

 

 

Q:  The ending of Mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings
A:  There is, but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the Stormlight Archive is somewhere in these two books.

 and that this represents the ending of the book. Honor (the previously Broken One) is reformed (perhaps after Cultivation and Odium annihilate each other and everyone is "Broken") and now a united / restored shard is ruling...

[Zea mays]

Words of Radiance, epigraph to chapter 34 Blossoms and Cake:

Our gods were born splinters of a soul,

Of one who seeks to take control,

Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite.

They are his spren, his gift, his price.

But the nightforms speak of future life,

A challenged champion. A strife even he must requite.

- From the Listener Song of Secrets, final stanza

There you have it. My interpretation: Odium is broken, his splinters, AKA the Unmade, are the Parshendi gods.

[hoser he/him]

All the above answers seem reasonable and I am not saying they are wrong, but I favor Odium.  Not only is there prevalent strife, but Honor is splintered and Cultivation is reported (by Wyndle) to have checked out somewhat.  That leaves only Odium.  There is also this from the Stormfather (while we don't know why Odium is called the "Broken One", we don't know very much about him, so it's hard to argue that it isn't him):

“I don’t understand!” Kaladin screamed into the tempest.   A face formed before him, the face he had seen before, the aged face as wide as the sky, its eyes full of stars. ODIUM COMES. MOST DANGEROUS OF ALL THE SIXTEEN. YOU WILL NOW GO. Something blew against him. “Wait!” Kaladin said. “Why is there so much war? Must we always fight?” He wasn’t sure why he asked. The questions simply came out.
The storm rumbled, like a thoughtful aged father. The face vanished, shattering into droplets of water. More softly, the voice answered, ODIUM REIGNS.

Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive) (p. 648). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

Edited March 12, 2015 by hoser

[Sasukerinnegan he/him]

I think this is a hint towards the ending of the 1st five books. Honor is dead, he is therefore unlikely to be the broken one. Both cultivation and Odium are still alive, neither seems likely to be the broken one. My suggestion is that it is the resurrection of an imperfect Adonalsium with only aspects of honor, cultivation and odium. Even the writer of the Letter admits that the intent of the Shards represent fragments of Adonalsium's character - he claims that Odium is God's hatred without the values that gave it context.

[Dellexe he/him]

Necro'ing an old thread, but I had a brief idea while reading Oathbringer, no spoilers for that book specifically here, though. 

In short, I think that this is an instance where Sanderson is working with wordplay and the idea of an unreliable narrator. I think that when big T's scribes wrote down this particular Death Rattle, they made a mistake. I suggest that instead of "the Broken One reigns," the original Death Rattle could be interpreted as "the Broken One rains."

The Stormfather, following Honor's Splintering, essentially took up or was forced to take the largest Splinters of Honor and had its nature changed to become more like the ghost/cognitive shadow/spiritual afterimage/whatever-the-hell-it-is we see on Roshar today in the events of the books. The Stormfather, being the largest conscious Splinter of Honor left, could be very easily considered to be "the Broken One." As for the second part, I trust it is exceedingly obvious how the Stormfather, or the Broken One, would be "rain"ing rather than "reign"ing.

Apologies if there's a more recent thread about this somewhere, I did a quick search and this is what came up with regards to the quote. 

[Beatsmorn]

Questioner

I wanted to ask, is the Shardbearer [Vessel] of Odium a human?

Brandon Sanderson

Not any longer.

Questioner

Ok, that's... I didn't expect that one.

Brandon Sanderson

 But what the answer to your question you really want to know is, was he originally human?

Questioner

Yeah.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. That's a good question! But I don't think he counts anymore.

 

 

I think that it's pretty safe to say that Odium can be referred to as 'Broken One' in this case. It's certainly not Honor, as Honor is dead, and Cultivation doesn't really fit. She's hiding. 

[Mondaysjelly]

The following WoB seems to indicate Odium.

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Is there any reason why Odium's known as the Broken One? Has he got some part of him ripped off? Has he had any Investiture ripped off of him?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes, asterisk.