Based off very little evidence, I believe it is inevitable that Adolin will become Odium's champion.

[Necromancer he/him]

Alright, like all my life choices, I haven't put much thought into this. My life is going poorly. Let's hope this pans out differently. 

First, why do I think Odium will have a champion? Answer: a single line spoken by the Stormfather, something about there being a chance of Odium picks a champion. I'm so unprepared that I don't even have the quote at hand (my Nook busted and I haven't bought a new one yet). 

Second, why will it be Adolin?  

Two reasons.

The first is that he's currently in a position to be extremely envious. His brother is a radiant, his father is a radiant, even the dark eyed bridgeman is a radiant. Also, he gave into hatred when he murdered Sadeas in cold blood (not saying it's wrong or right, but it happened). Plus Kaladin and Shallan had that intimate moment in the chasms which I've read too much into and I believe it may lead to her developing stronger feeling for Kal. 

The second is Chekhov's gun, or Chekhov's contract in this case. In book one, Dalinar drew up a contract stating Adolin could take and keep power of the Kholin army and whatnot should he simply claim his father is too insane. Brandon is a good writer, I doubt he put this in to add word count. 

There you have it. Please go easy when dismantling this theory. 

[Patrick Star]

It's the stick

[HonorIsDead he/him]

7 hours ago, Necromancer said:

may lead to her developing stronger feeling for Kal.

I highly doubt that, there sprens despise each other so I doubt they could get serious, but that's just what I fancy, they are after all, opposite orders, though I suppose it might lead somewhere and then kal would realise she's been lying to him

its a good theory, but I don't think adolin will do it, on the back of the WoK i'm pretty sure the description is something like: the radiants have returned, one will save them and one will destroy them, that makes it sound as though one of the radiants will be the champion for both sides, though my first guess would have been eshoni, who is after all being pretty much fully controlled by the everstorm/odium at this point

as for the contract, I don't know what to say, it would work almost perfectly as you say so I can't really argue against it

[Kered he/him]

11 minutes ago, HonorIsDead said:

I highly doubt that, there sprens despise each other so I doubt they could get serious, but that's just what I fancy, they are after all, opposite orders, though I suppose it might lead somewhere and then kal would realise she's been lying to him

I think that the complication of Kaladin and Shallan falling for each other would lead to better story then Shallan and Adolin. We have a lot of books left witch leaves a lot of time for the ups and downs that Kal and Shallan would experience, and this could lead Adolin down the Odium path. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by KereDerek

[Rasarr she/her]

I admit I disagree with the theory. For one, have we ever actually seen Adolin being envious of someone or something? Not really. At contrary, he's been shown as extremely devoted to his family (to the point of murdering Sadeas), and caring of Shallan. Granted, at the end of WoR he's still reeling from the revelation that his girlfriend is a Radiant, but note that he's not envious - he just feels this culture shock of sorts brought about by suddenly finding himself a few rungs lower on the social ladder. Given how much he cares for people close to him, I doubt he'd turn against them, at least not without his character doing a veritable 180 turn. 

With his turn to anger, we have to remember that not every flash of anger is a sign that you're beginning to fall to Odium. Kaladin spent a lot of WoK angry at lighteyes and managed to bond a honorspren; he also spent a large chunk of WoR angry at lighteyes, and while this almost dis-Radianted him, he wasn't exactly becoming Odium's champion. Think also about how Adolin is shaken by what he did to Sadeas - I don't think he's very likely to let anger take him over the same way again. The spectre of Sadeas, to put it poetically, will be hanging over him. 

And last but not least, I would say that him reviving his Shardblade is foreshadowed much more heavily than his fall to Odium is. You've got his Shardblade very explicitely confirmed as belonging to a specific order; his habit of talking to the Blade; him never naming the Blade because it has a name of its own; Adolin being suddenly de-Thrilled in the Narak battle. This might be just my preference, but I think that "Adolin becomes a Radiant with his Shardblade" plot is more likely than the "Adolin becomes Odium's champion" one.

[SpeakoftheDeval]

I kinda think its more likely that one of the radiants will go for odium. Renarin, perhaps?

He seems way too traumatized by Glys for me to think that Glys is a normal spren, he's been called powerful by numerous people (including vasher) and he can see the future, which has always been associated with voidbinding

[Necromancer he/him]

@HonorIsDead I actually forgot about Eshoni... I suppose she more or less is Odium's champion, but it's a bit complicated because she doesn't seem to have free will which. It's almost like Odium is using her as a tool. 

@KereDerek I agree completely. We haven't seen any of Kal's romantic past except the brief mention of a name. Tarah, I believe. She didn't even show up in his flashbacks. He certainly came to a complete flip of his opinion on Shallan in the chasms and she did admit he was handsome in his own way. 

@Rasarr True we haven't seen any jealously out of Adolin, but I think that's only because the book ended too soon after he finds out. With time, he may grow frustrated that he doesn't have their abilities. We seem to have different ideas on what the Sadeas moment means for his future. If he is found guilty, maybe Dalinar would cast him out and start the darker path? 

[Necromancer he/him]

1 hour ago, MadhavDeval said:

I kinda think its more likely that one of the radiants will go for odium. Renarin, perhaps?

He seems way too traumatized by Glys for me to think that Glys is a normal spren, he's been called powerful by numerous people (including vasher) and he can see the future, which has always been associated with voidbinding

Remind me who Glys is please, I don't recall the name. Have we actually seen Renarin's spren?

I think the future seeing being related to void bringers is just superstition, since the Truthseers are a verified order.

[Odin1981]

I agree with your opinion as well. Not much to support it so far. But I believe like you that he will start to move along towards that end leading into a "shocking reveal" somewhere around the end of book 4 or the start of book 5.

[Jondesu he/him]

I strongly disagree with this, due largely to reasons that others have already stated (Adolin cares deeply about his family, he isn't envious or jumping at power).  However, my main reason for posting is to summon @maxal, if he chooses to defend his favored character. 

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

I strongly disagree with this, due largely to reasons that others have already stated (Adolin cares deeply about his family, he isn't envious or jumping at power).  However, my main reason for posting is to summon @maxal, if he chooses to defend his favored character. 

Thanks for summoning me, but my heart is not in it anymore  Ever since the SA3 update #5, I have lost all hope when it comes to Adolin, as a worthy fully-fleshed out character in SA. Why even bother discussing Adolin now we know his future role will be extremely limited? Why waste more time crafting beautiful theories now it is known Adolin has no viewpoints until the very end of the book? 

Adolin's story arc will be so small, it won't even form a novella on its own. He is to shrink down to a mere side character, a side-kick who's story is told from other characters eyes. This is the worst of faith. This is beyond my worst expectations.

So why bother?

Ask me again another day friend, but today thinking of writing yet another lengthy post on Adolin seems pointless and rather foolish  Adolin just doesn't have a strong enough presence into those books to warrant half the attention I have been giving him. I have been deluded and misguided. My fault. I was a fool to write those posts to begin with.

I'll let others defend Adolin now, if they think he is still worth our time discussing all things now considered.

[Jondesu he/him]

1 minute ago, maxal said:

Thanks for summoning me, but my heart is not in it anymore  Ever since the SA3 update #5, I have lost all hope when it comes to Adolin, as a worthy fully-fleshed out character in SA. Why even bother discussing Adolin now we know his future role will be extremely limited? Why waste more time crafting beautiful theories now it is known Adolin has no viewpoints until the very end of the book? 

Sorry you feel that way (and I have seen you say that).  I just have to say, I think you're getting depressed about that too early; Adolin seems to be gaining momentum with Brandon and I think he will be more fleshed out and get more screen time as time goes along, but I definitely understand.  Good luck, my friend!

[geralt]

Considering Brandon's tendencies of throwing curve balls at us, the fact that so far Adolin has actually been foreshadowed more to be joining the ranks of Radiants than go rogue may actually be just a red herring, but at this point I think it could go either way. After the last update on Oathbringer, though, I'm starting to think that Adolin could actually just maintain his status quo with no shocking developments. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by geralt

[Guest]

Just now, Jondesu said:

Sorry you feel that way (and I have seen you say that).  I just have to say, I think you're getting depressed about that too early; Adolin seems to be gaining momentum with Brandon and I think he will be more fleshed out and get more screen time as time goes along, but I definitely understand.  Good luck, my friend!

Thanks  A handful of viewpoints clustered together in Part 4 together with 5 other viewpoint characters is just not enough: too little, too late into the book. I have read Brandon's comments about that, he seems to think it is enough, he seems to think Adolin has a strong enough presence, but I disagree. Third person's perspective is just not enough. Reading the entire "Adolin murdered Sadeas" solely from Dalinar's viewpoint is not enough. It is not the same. Adolin might not be Kaladin, but I have expected a steady presence.

Thanks again for your kind words. I'll go and process this disappointment and see where it takes me once the book is out, but for now, I feel as if I have wasted my time with Adolin 

[Blightsong he/him]

39 minutes ago, maxal said:

Thanks  A handful of viewpoints clustered together in Part 4 together with 5 other viewpoint characters is just not enough: too little, too late into the book. I have read Brandon's comments about that, he seems to think it is enough, he seems to think Adolin has a strong enough presence, but I disagree. Third person's perspective is just not enough. Reading the entire "Adolin murdered Sadeas" solely from Dalinar's viewpoint is not enough. It is not the same. Adolin might not be Kaladin, but I have expected a steady presence.

Thanks again for your kind words. I'll go and process this disappointment and see where it takes me once the book is out, but for now, I feel as if I have wasted my time with Adolin 

There can still be scenes that flesh out a side character very well without that character having a view point in every part of the book. I understand you are disheartened, I am too, but we really have no idea how how much Adolin will be paid attention to as the story goes on. I think you read the outline as Adolin getting no meaningful screen time, but is simply impossible to know that for certain. Like Brandon said on reddit, give the book a chance before being sad about Adolin's development.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

There can still be scenes that flesh out a side character very well without that character having a view point in every part of the book. I understand you are disheartened, I am too, but we really have no idea how how much Adolin will be paid attention to as the story goes on. I think you read the outline as Adolin getting no meaningful screen time, but is simply impossible to know that for certain. Like Brandon said on reddit, give the book a chance before being sad about Adolin's development.

And yet he remains a minor side character... I find it disheartening to know the one character I have the most interest into reading is getting so little page time. I did read what Brandon said on Reddit. He said he understood many readers are very interested in reading about Adolin, but things do not add up to me. If he understands, then why isn't he putting in more viewpoints for the character? Why has he wrote a book where Adolin has no viewpoints until the end? You can't just reduce a character many of your readers have come to seen as "major" to a mere nothing and expect they will be satisfied just because Shallan might say his name from times to times. 

Third person's perspective is not the same. It is a poor replacement for a real POV. Most readers would NEVER satisfy themselves with Kaladin having third person's perspective over a real POV, so why do I have to be content with so little for Adolin when WoR gave us hope for so much more?

As for his comment stating he is digging into things with Adolin: I cannot agree. 10K words into a 450K words book are not enough to truly dig into anything. Kaladin's prison scenes were probably longer than Adolin's entire story arc will be.... 

I know he said to give the book a chance, but I also think he seriously misunderstand how much a significant proportion of his readers have been wanting to read more about the character. Ever since he had this comment stating he felt Adolin didn't need page time as he found him less interesting than Renarin, I had a sinking feeling which was confirmed yesterday. Even if he does have interesting development planned for Adolin, 10-15K words in Part 4 is just never going to be enough. It might be if he had promised the character would get a bigger arc in future books, but has closed this door too.

So yeah, I do feel as if I have been wasting my time. The feeling of disappointment and of depression just doesn't want to leave me.

[Datan Nomlibash]

6 hours ago, HonorIsDead said:

its a good theory, but I don't think adolin will do it, on the back of the WoK i'm pretty sure the description is something like: the radiants have returned, one will save them and one will destroy them, that makes it sound as though one of the radiants will be the champion for both sides, though my first guess would have been eshoni, who is after all being pretty much fully controlled by the everstorm/odium.

Specifically it says that one of them MAY save them and the other WILL destroy them. It makes me wonder what the implications may be.

Also a Adolinisgoingbad and Shalladin theory in the same thread? Yeah, verily, there shalt be many more posts before the fortnight is out!

[SpeakoftheDeval]

6 hours ago, Necromancer said:

Remind me who Glys is please, I don't recall the name. Have we actually seen Renarin's spren?

I think the future seeing being related to void bringers is just superstition, since the Truthseers are a verified order.

Truthwatchers are a real order yes but the nightforms of the parshendi have foresight and so do the unmade. 

By the way, 'glys' is literally all we know about him, renarin mentioned his name but he hasnt made an appearance

[scifan he/him]

On the surface, Eshoni seems like a logical choice for Odium's champion... which is why it's probably not her...

I have wondered about Rlain as the champion... if he were to end up gaining "powers"...  Unsure about that one though...

[Blightsong he/him]

8 hours ago, maxal said:

And yet he remains a minor side character... I find it disheartening to know the one character I have the most interest into reading is getting so little page time. I did read what Brandon said on Reddit. He said he understood many readers are very interested in reading about Adolin, but things do not add up to me. If he understands, then why isn't he putting in more viewpoints for the character? Why has he wrote a book where Adolin has no viewpoints until the end? You can't just reduce a character many of your readers have come to seen as "major" to a mere nothing and expect they will be satisfied just because Shallan might say his name from times to times. 

Third person's perspective is not the same. It is a poor replacement for a real POV. Most readers would NEVER satisfy themselves with Kaladin having third person's perspective over a real POV, so why do I have to be content with so little for Adolin when WoR gave us hope for so much more?

As for his comment stating he is digging into things with Adolin: I cannot agree. 10K words into a 450K words book are not enough to truly dig into anything. Kaladin's prison scenes were probably longer than Adolin's entire story arc will be.... 

I know he said to give the book a chance, but I also think he seriously misunderstand how much a significant proportion of his readers have been wanting to read more about the character. Ever since he had this comment stating he felt Adolin didn't need page time as he found him less interesting than Renarin, I had a sinking feeling which was confirmed yesterday. Even if he does have interesting development planned for Adolin, 10-15K words in Part 4 is just never going to be enough. It might be if he had promised the character would get a bigger arc in future books, but has closed this door too.

So yeah, I do feel as if I have been wasting my time. The feeling of disappointment and of depression just doesn't want to leave me.

I understand you are upset but you are being unreasonable. You are basically saying "If the author really understood that people like this character than he would change the structure of the story he actually wants to tell to pander to us" and "I disagree with the only person who has actually read the book that Adolin has sufficient page time despite it not even being out yet". There is no way for you to know if you will like or dislike Adolin's arc. You may think you do based on the outline, but a hastily done, not even proportional assessment of the story's structure cant actually fully convey what the content of the book will be. Brandon said he thinks Adolin's fans will be happy with the book and has given the character screen time equivalent to that (so far) of character who will actually be main view points within the first five books. I don't know what more you could reasonably expect him to do for you.

[Rasarr she/her]

14 hours ago, scifan said:

On the surface, Eshoni seems like a logical choice for Odium's champion... which is why it's probably not her...

I have wondered about Rlain as the champion... if he were to end up gaining "powers"...  Unsure about that one though...

My personal bet is on Taravangian. Honor said to appoint a champion, but I don't think he's mentioned anything about the champions having to duke it out mano a mano. And even if so, I'm pretty sure Odium is in position to bond Mr T with some voidspren.

23 hours ago, Necromancer said:

@Rasarr True we haven't seen any jealously out of Adolin, but I think that's only because the book ended too soon after he finds out. With time, he may grow frustrated that he doesn't have their abilities. We seem to have different ideas on what the Sadeas moment means for his future. If he is found guilty, maybe Dalinar would cast him out and start the darker path?

I admit, I still don't believe this would be enough for Adolin to do a total shift from "I will do anything to protect my family, even though they seem pretty capable of protecting themselves" to "I hate my family and their stupid superpowers". And again, the fact that he already gave in to anger might curb his tendencies towards Odium somewhat.

[Dragon314 he/him]

Asher knows how dangerous night blood is. I can see him becoming Odium's champion simply because he is not powerful enough to stop Szeth. Random thought, I know.

[Stormfather-in-Law]

23 hours ago, maxal said:

Thanks for summoning me, but my heart is not in it anymore  Ever since the SA3 update #5,

Where can we read these updates? I checked the news front page and some of the general forums, and I usually check Sanderson.com every so often to see progress. But even after knowing this exists I still can't find it.

[Spoolofwhool]

3 minutes ago, Stormfather-in-Law said:

Where can we read these updates? I checked the news front page and some of the general forums, and I usually check Sanderson.com every so often to see progress. But even after knowing this exists I still can't find it.

 

[Pagerunner he/him]

1 minute ago, Stormfather-in-Law said:

Where can we read these updates? I checked the news front page and some of the general forums, and I usually check Sanderson.com every so often to see progress. But even after knowing this exists I still can't find it.

It's on Reddit. We have a topic here discussing it. Brandon will usually tweet pretty quickly when he posts an update, as well, much quicker than getting a blog post up about it.