Theory: Thrillspren [spoilers?]

[Glaring at the Survivor he/him]

It has been suggested somewhere that there may be two forms of the Thrill, one powered by Odium and one powered by Honor. I think that is true. Here's a little bit more:

Honor's Thrill: Thrill used for a good purpose - fighting to save others, etc. This would be the Thrill that Dalinar is fueled by when

Sadeas retreats and Dalinar's army are fighting to escape near the end of the book

Odium's Thrill: Thrill used for bad purposes - killing for killings sake, killing for more land, etc. This is the Thrill that sickens Dalinar.

Now, we don't really have any proof that such thing exists, but I think that the Thrill is powered by a type of spren. Thrillspren arent seen because they are perhaps inside of the person feeling the Thrill. Dalinar's body has started rejecting Odium's Thrillspren and they make him sick, but Honor's Thrillspren don't. They are (if they exist) attracted to battling for whichever purpose.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Stroniax

[hoser he/him]

This is a neat idea and may be fundamentally true, but I believe there is at least a semantic issue.  There is WoB that Kaladin is immune to the thrill.  It has been speculated that this is due to his relationship w/Syl.  I doubt that Kaladin would be immune to Honor's thrill, so your hypothetical "thrill" should probably have a different name to fit with canon terminology. 

 

The case for your theory would also be stronger if you could provide an instance of someone possibly under the influence of "Honor's Thrill" in your OP.

 

from the Spokane signing:

 

Q: In response to the RAFO I complained that I didn't even get to my third question which was does Kaladin feel the Thrill?

 

A:  He laughed and said, No he does not. Kaladin is "immune" to the Thrill.

Edited November 18, 2013 by hoser

[Shardlet he/him]

Yeah, as hoser pointed out, Kaladin is immune to the Thrill as generally described. At Seattle, Brandon indicated that in the Jost fight flashback that something was happeining to Kaladin, but that it was different than the Thrill.  Also, Brandon indicated that "the Thrill" that Dalinar describes at the Battle of the Tower is something different than his previously described Thrills. 

 

This is all background info though and does not necessarily refute your theory Stroniax.  I do think the evidence is a bit thin for a "theory", though.  Personally, it doesn't really resonate with me.  

Edited November 18, 2013 by Shardlet

[makromag he/him]

That quote is actually very enlightening. In the last chapter the Almighty said something akin to "He realized he doesn't have to fight you". Maybe Odium just set up this Thrill-thing so the Alethi would start wars all over the place and thus weaken humanity. Dalinar says that the Thrill drives the Alethi as a people. Now that Dalinar is starting to have a completely different view on life and the world he is starting to reject something he has been using for a very long time, causing his sickness.

Another quote pointing to that direction is, that Kaladin was taught to care very early in his military career, thus he never felt the Thrill, he rejected the whole concept from the start, because "He would hate what he would become". Dalinar on the other hand was admittedly a warlord and a tyrant that even contemplated killing his own brother.

[11thorderknight]

You know, it's very possible that the Thrill is a very primitive and/or vestigial form of surgebinding that people with unrealized surgebinder potential can experience. It might grant a tiny bit of the power of stormlight, enough for someone to feel, but not enough to seem supernatural to onlookers. Once enough people described the same sensation, it became a known "thing" and people kept on attributing that rush of a tiny bit of stormlight to it. 

 

Remember, we've had several instances across Brandon's books of characters making up these explanations for powers they didnt' understand, such as Vin's "Luck" and Lift's "Awesomeness".

[Shardlet he/him]

My only qualm with that is Dalinar's physical revulsion of the Thrill.  If it was simply a proto-surgebinder stormlight effect, it would be benign.  But, the emotions that it brings up (glory in destruction and slaughter especially) suggests to me that this comes from Odium.

[Scott]

My only qualm with that is Dalinar's physical revulsion of the Thrill.  If it was simply a proto-surgebinder stormlight effect, it would be benign.  But, the emotions that it brings up (glory in destruction and slaughter especially) suggests to me that this comes from Odium.

 

I agree with this.

 

I'm fairly confident that the Thrill is at least partly of Odium's influence.  Like Ruin's influence on the mists, the Thrill could have been a Shard-powered adrenalin rush for Honor's warriors.  Odium could have encouraged it to appear in more situations, and affect people more strongly, leading them to more conflict.  

 

I could also see it being a countermeasure that Odium intended to prevent people from showing traits and qualities that would attract Honorspren.  Violent bloodlust in battle wouldn't appeal to Syl in the slightest.

 

e/ spelling

Edited November 18, 2013 by Scott

[marianmi]

I think the Thrill is completely from Odium.

Dalinar in the latest battles, when not feeling the Thrill, fights with an awareness, a kind of "peace". The same for Kaladin.

These 2 are completely opposite: the Thrill allows you to be impetuous, take charge, get lost in power - ultimately lose control, and become a killing machine. The "awareness" allows you to be 100% in control, and provides you calm in the midst of battle.

[Scriptorian he/him]

I really like the idea of a "good" Thrill, this passage immediately came to mind when I read the OP:

 

He [Kaladin] could not be stopped, not when he felt like this. When he had the energy of defending the fallen, the power of standing to protect one of his men.

Also, for the sake of conversation, how about calling it "the Drive"?

[Swimmingly he/him]

I really like the idea of a "good" Thrill, this passage immediately came to mind when I read the OP:

Also, for the sake of conversation, how about calling it "the Drive"?

That's a good distinction - evokes all the right connotations

[marianmi]

I really like the idea of a "good" Thrill, this passage immediately came to mind when I read the OP:

Also, for the sake of conversation, how about calling it "the Drive"?

 

Thank god you did not propose to call it the "Awesomess"

[Arook he/him]

Thrill being of odium makes sense. we know that each magic system is accessed by the intent of the action. im not a 100% sure what odium's intent is so its possible the thrill is a form of power from odium to keep the alethi fighting.

[Shardlet he/him]

Careful with that assessment based upon a Shard's intent.  The mechanics of the power would be more expected to follow the intent rather than the effect.  Remember, people didn't do a whole lot of preserving with allomancy.

[Argent he/him]

Odium's intent is odium. Profound hatred.

[Arook he/him]

Careful with that assessment based upon a Shard's intent.  The mechanics of the power would be more expected to follow the intent rather than the effect.  Remember, people didn't do a whole lot of preserving with allomancy.

 

True

Odium's intent is odium. Profound hatred.

Sorry I had heard a couple of different explanations.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Arook

[Argent he/him]

It has to be hatred, it's what the word means. It could be specific though, I say nothing about that.

[Gloom he/him]

 

Some dictionaries list two meanings for the word "odium": the feeling of strong hatred, and that which provokes hatred from others. Do both of these apply to the Shard with that name?

Brandon: Yes

source

I should mention that this source was a pain to track down.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Gloom

[hoser he/him]

Upvote for your pain.  I sort of remembered that quote, but was too lazy to track it down. 

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I should mention that this source was a pain to track down.

 

Really?  It shouldn't have been since it is in the Forum Q&A thread and the Interview Database.  Where were you looking? (Just so I know for future reference, you found it but not through one of the usual ways it seems.  This way I can expand my quote-search-fu)

[Shardlet he/him]

If a project I am working on pans out, hopefully quote searching will be much simpler.

[cem he/him]

If a project I am working on pans out, hopefully quote searching will be much simpler.

Do tell. Are you talking about an interview DB? Theoryland isn't being updated with non-WoT Brandon interviews anymore so it'd be nice to have one for ourselves.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Do tell. Are you talking about an interview DB? Theoryland isn't being updated with non-WoT Brandon interviews anymore so it'd be nice to have one for ourselves.

 

It should be, or at least will be.  Windy is the one who has to do it and he's been pretty busy, if I remember correctly, but when he has time more interviews will be added.

[Shardlet he/him]

Keep an eye out for a thread about it.  I don't want to announce it here at the risk of hijacking the thread.  But know that I hope it will successfully be something that I really wish existed when I just got started here.  (I even posted a suggestion about it in the suggesions forum).

[Gloom he/him]

Really?  It shouldn't have been since it is in the Forum Q&A thread and the Interview Database.  Where were you looking? (Just so I know for future reference, you found it but not through one of the usual ways it seems.  This way I can expand my quote-search-fu)

 

I had a pretty good memory of what the quote actually said, so after some fumbling on Google, I remembered to use the words odium, dictionary and Brandon Sanderson together and found it through a straight up Google search. The fumbling was using defin instead of dictionary because I thought it was definition or define.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Gloom

[Haelbarde he/him]

A potentially interesting quote regarding the thrill is in one of Dalinar's visions:

The old Thrill, the sense of battle, consumed him. It did not enrage him, as it did some men, but everything seemed to become clearer, crisper. His muscles moved easily; he breathed more deeply. He came alive.

This was in his poker battle alongside the Radiants. Could this 'old' Thrill be taken to mean that he's experiened two different types of the 'Thrill'? I'm quite sure this quote is before he feels nauseated from the Thrill in the gemheart battle they do.

Could this 'old Thrill' be the Drive?

Also, it's worth noting that the 'Thrill' enrages. That to me hints at Odium influence. Rage is an attribute that Odium could use. To quote Yoda: 'Fear leads to Anger, Anger(Rage) leads to Hate(Odium), Hate, to the Darkside (Voidbringers).'

This is in contrast to Dalinar's heightened awareness, which allows him to think straight, and be conscious of what he is fighting for, and what he is doing.