Honor and Odium End of Book 5

[Stormrunner1730]

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but here's a theory:  At the end of Book 5, Odium will be free of Braize/whatever other prison he is currently in.  However, Honor will also be un-Splintered (there's a better word for this that I can't think of right now).  From a narrative perspective, this will give both the Radiants (and their allies) and Odium and his allies both a major victory and defeat at the end of the first five books.  It will also create a really great springboard into the next five books.  I'll add an asterisk of sorts to this.  It might not happen by the end of book 5, but I think both of those events will happen by the end of the series for sure.

[Toaster Retribution]

I think that this is certainly possible. We haven't seen a Shard being reforged yet, so it is plausible (I hope we don't get a merged Shard though). 

I can see the Sleepless prophecy (one will destroy, one will save) as related to this. The savior is the new Honor, and the destroyer releases Odium.

[Orlion Blight]

A lot depends on how integral Odium is to the Cosmere at large. If it turns out he is the Big Bad, I can see him escaping during the first 5 book arc. 

Another possibility is that it could turn out that the Big Bad comes along in the second 5 book arc. If this were to be the case, then we could have a defeated Odium at the end of book 5, since a better, stronger villain would be present for the later books. 

As far as reforming the Shard of Honor? I honestly can not say. I would like for that to occur after another greater threat is introduced. Right now, shattering Shards is the coolest thing a villain in the Cosmere can do. Being able to reverse that threatens to take away that wow factor.

[galendo]

From a narrative perspective, I don't think there's any real way to re-form Honor in the first five books, though it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see it happen by the end of the series. But there just hasn't been the foreshadowing or even the world-building necessary to pull that off in three more books.  Maybe I shouldn't be saying this with Oathbringer on the horizon, since if it goes significantly into Shard splintering and reforging then this could change, but so far in two books splintering hasn't even been mentioned and there's certainly no indication that the process can be reversed.

Plus, if you re-form Honor in the front five, what do you have to look forward to in the back five?  Putting back together a splintered Shard would be something of a game-changer.  More of a game-changer than the series -- either Stormlight or Cosmere, take your pick -- needs right now, to be honest.

Back five, though?  I can totally see it happening.  Actually, I'd probably be a bit disappointed if it didn't.

[Velvet Thunder]

Imagine if you can't reform the splintered shards, yet someone put all the remaining ones back together. What a fantastically flawed and interesting new Adonalsium that would be... acting in very specific and unforeseeable ways. 

[Stormrunner1730]

16 hours ago, galendo said:

From a narrative perspective, I don't think there's any real way to re-form Honor in the first five books, though it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see it happen by the end of the series. But there just hasn't been the foreshadowing or even the world-building necessary to pull that off in three more books.  Maybe I shouldn't be saying this with Oathbringer on the horizon, since if it goes significantly into Shard splintering and reforging then this could change, but so far in two books splintering hasn't even been mentioned and there's certainly no indication that the process can be reversed.

Plus, if you re-form Honor in the front five, what do you have to look forward to in the back five?  Putting back together a splintered Shard would be something of a game-changer.  More of a game-changer than the series -- either Stormlight or Cosmere, take your pick -- needs right now, to be honest.

Back five, though?  I can totally see it happening.  Actually, I'd probably be a bit disappointed if it didn't.

Yeah you're right in that there hasn't been enough world building so far to re-forge Honor by the end of the first 5.  But I'll be very curious to see how that shape sup in the back five.

 

18 hours ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

A lot depends on how integral Odium is to the Cosmere at large. If it turns out he is the Big Bad, I can see him escaping during the first 5 book arc. 

Another possibility is that it could turn out that the Big Bad comes along in the second 5 book arc. If this were to be the case, then we could have a defeated Odium at the end of book 5, since a better, stronger villain would be present for the later books. 

As far as reforming the Shard of Honor? I honestly can not say. I would like for that to occur after another greater threat is introduced. Right now, shattering Shards is the coolest thing a villain in the Cosmere can do. Being able to reverse that threatens to take away that wow factor.

That's a very good point about Shattering a Shard being the coolest thing a Cosmere villain can currently do.  I think Odium is the Big Bad for Stormlight as Sanderson wants the ten book cycle to be able to standalone (despite all of the ancillary connections to the Cosmere at large).  But I totally think that Odium could and probably will escape by the end of Book 5.

[Orlion Blight]

@Stormrunner1730 Odium does have to remain a credible threat. I think he does not want to leave until Cultivation is dead and shattered. 

Since the first cycle seems to be focused on the rebuilding of the Knights Radiant, I do not think we will get a Cultivation shattering or even a true Desolation until the second cycle. This will give our current protagonists time to thwart Odium slightly,  but only by postponing the final war for a couple of decades. 

[Worldhopper]

I think when it comes to the Shards and especially Odium and Honor, Hoid is definitely the wild-card to watch out for. He's already hinted as much to Dalinar.