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The Thrill


grinachu

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So I ran a brief search, but turned up nothing directly on point. My theory, of which I am pretty confident, is that the Thrill felt by Dalinar and others, including Sadeas and Elhokar is the power of Odium itself, which somehow physiologically has altered humans so that they rejoice in fighting and warfare. The evidence is to be found in Dalinar's vision in which he is encouraged to go to Urithuru because fighting even against the Ten Deaths will change him, and those moments when Dalinar suddenly feels revulsed by the slaughter and by the effects of the Thrill. It is somewhat like Ruin's power in Mistborn, whispering to Vin, making her doubt herself continuously. It's an unconscious power.

My second and third observations are that neither Kaladin nor Szeth feels the Thrill, which is quite interesting.

It makes some sense for Szeth because it seems he can't see spren for instance and so is different in other ways as well. However Kaladin's inability to feel the Thrill is a real mystery. Someone should ask Mr Sanderson about it.

My third observation is this chapter epigram- "I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw.”.

Rather like in Mistborn I believe the discord in Roshar actually draws away Odium's power, and so if Dalinar or anyone else unites Roshar, in a very important way Odium will only get stronger. That's why Dalinar's uniting Roshar might actually be hugely counterproductive.

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Rather like in Mistborn I believe the discord in Roshar actually draws away Odium's power, and so if Dalinar or anyone else unites Roshar, in a very important way Odium will only get stronger. That's why Dalinar's uniting Roshar might actually be hugely counterproductive.

That is a very nice/interesting idea, *cue angry theorisers-who-know-better* :D

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So I ran a brief search, but turned up nothing directly on point. My theory, of which I am pretty confident, is that the Thrill felt by Dalinar and others, including Sadeas and Elhokar is the power of Odium itself, which somehow physiologically has altered humans so that they rejoice in fighting and warfare. The evidence is to be found in Dalinar's vision in which he is encouraged to go to Urithuru because fighting even against the Ten Deaths will change him, and those moments when Dalinar suddenly feels revulsed by the slaughter and by the effects of the Thrill. It is somewhat like Ruin's power in Mistborn, whispering to Vin, making her doubt herself continuously. It's an unconscious power.

No, it'S been mentioned a couple of times, but maybe this time more will come of it.

My second and third observations are that neither Kaladin nor Szeth feels the Thrill, which is quite interesting.

I would be very, very cautious in claiming that Kaladin didn't, but in the case of Szeth it's certainly true.

It makes some sense for Szeth because it seems he can't see spren for instance and so is different in other ways as well.

What.

However Kaladin's inability to feel the Thrill is a real mystery. Someone should ask Mr Sanderson about it.

If that's true, than it probably has somethign to do with light eye colour and the shard artifacts that, at least according to one prominent rumour, make

lighteyes.

At this moment I'd like to takes the time to point out yet again that Syl hates shard artifacts... maybe it's because of that?

Maybe all shard weaoponry has been "taken over" by odium who sees the desolation cycle as a type of game to amuse himself with

Rather like in Mistborn I believe the discord in Roshar actually draws away Odium's power, and so if Dalinar or anyone else unites Roshar, in a very important way Odium will only get stronger. That's why Dalinar's uniting Roshar might actually be hugely counterproductive.

That certainly would be an interesting inversion of the old "fuelled by hatred" Trope...

Edited by Kykeon
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  • 2 weeks later...

I think Kaladin has felt the Thrill. When he fights that one dude with the quarterstaff it talks about a feeling/excitement that he felt. It was completely irrational and he lost the feeling quicky when he realized what he was doing, similar to how Dalinar does while fighting the Parshendi. Of course if is a lot less drastic then that but it still happens, he never refers to it as the thrill but he has never heard that term before either

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I certainly agree that the Thrill is caused by Odium-Rayse's influence on Roshar. It has been stated many times that he has realized that it is far more effective for him to incite humans to fight among themselves rather than directly assault them. This falls perfectly in line with the concept of the Thrill. In addition, two of the characters most attuned to Honor, Dalinar and Kaladin, are the only men to have shaken it off. Szeth, who is a full Radiant (sort of), never seems to feel it at all. This makes sense as, in Dalinar's vision, the Radiant seems to claim that she can teach him to resist the Thrill.

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Sounds like a viable theory to me. The Thrill is caused by Odium and is overcome by Honor's influence. I might espouse this one...

heh *just realized that 'to espouse' a theory is basically the linguistic equivalent of saying 'marrying' a theory* oh words, why are you so delicious?

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So Puck, does this mean that you just routinely go after all of Chaos's wives and marry them all after he does?

Let that be a warning to you all! Should you create a theory that I find plausible, you may find yourselves cuckolded!

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When he fights that one dude with the quarterstaff it talks about a feeling/excitement that he felt.

...I just remembered something; It's an old theory I never posted since it seemed too trivial/obvious.

That feeling might also have been a small dosage of stormlight he drew in from the crystal tien had given him a few minutes before that.

Refined crystal holds stormlight better, but it is explicitly stated that small amounts can be held by raw stones as well.

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...I just remembered something; It's an old theory I never posted since it seemed too trivial/obvious.

That feeling might also have been a small dosage of stormlight he drew in from the crystal tien had given him a few minutes before that.

Refined crystal holds stormlight better, but it is explicitly stated that small amounts can be held by raw stones as well.

Doesn't it explicitly state in the book that the Stormlight in the gem was gone after the fight was over?
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Refined crystal holds stormlight better, but it is explicitly stated that small amounts can be held by raw stones as well.

Oh! Do you remember where? Even generally? That would be a great quote to have in the Brandonothology.

It also makes me imagine the most awesome Szeth-Kaladin fight- In an exposed mine.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I mentioned this in the 'Passion as a shard' topic, but it seemed off topic, so I thought I'd continue the conversation here.

Basically, I see the Thrill as an intensified desire to kill, similar to blood lust. I don't know what the source of it is, but Odium does seem a likely candidate. However, what I was wondering is if there is a link between the Thrill and the words people speak as they die? Now, it was pointed out to me that people just started speaking when Gavilar investigated the Shattered plains for the first time. IS there any evidence of when the Thrill began? He also mentions that some people speak and others do not. I was wondering if someone had to be killed intentionally by another person in order to speak, and thus, those who die of their illnesses and not the blood being drawn would not speak. I still have to go through them all to check on this one, of course, and it could pretty easily be disproved. Does anyone remember seeing someone giving a death prophecy as they die without being killed?

So far, I have found one by one of "our own Ardents" likely meaning one of the Ardents working for Taravangian, and a boy with the wasting sickness(while this seems to go against my theory, it does not say he dies of it, so maybe it's still an option). While it is unlikely an Ardent was bled, maybe he was killed in some other way. Other than that, the only people who have a specified way in which they died are a soldier who died in battle, and a mother who died in childbirth (meaning the child technically killed her). Still reading for more though, let me know if you find any. I think it makes sense though that the way in which people die is important, like with the Returned.

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  • 1 month later...

As to when the Thrill started, I don't think it's conclusive, but it's worth noting that in Dalinar's vision of the far past, the female Radiant says: "Fighting, even this fighting against the Ten Deaths, changes a person. We can teach you so that it will not destroy you."

I think that's pretty strong evidence that the Thrill has been around for a long, LONG time.

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  • 1 month later...

Assuming for the moment that the Thrill is related to the power of Odium and has some sort of corrupting effect, I noticed something. When Kaladin fights the parshendi, Syl acts oddly. She is described as "entranced" I believe. (My Dad's reading the book now so I don't have it on hand). Kaladin never felt the Thrill. A connection?

Perhaps Syl felt the Thrill instead. Perhaps that's part of the purpose of the nahel bond, to provide some sort of buffer between the fighter and the power of Odium. The spren feels the Thrill but is able to avoid being corrupted by it for some reason (if my theory about honorspren having Splinter of Honor is correct, that could be why).

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