[OB] A theory on desolations.

[Daishi5]

I have an idea that one of the assumptions about desolations may be wrong.  I think the idea that a desolation is a fight of the "good guys" against the evil armies of Odium is wrong.

It is partially an outgrowth of various theories that humans are the evil ones on the planet.

My theory:  A desolation is more like a world war, with many different peoples all fighting each other, with the presence of Odium driving them to commit worse and worse crimes against each other.  Everyone has the ability to be a voidbringer, because voidbringers are not an evil "other" but men who give in to hate.

First, we have the Parshendi from WoK and the repeated mentions of how honorable they are (the voidbringers are somehow much more honorable than the race who can become the knights radiant just seems really weird).  When Dalinar fights them he notes they act with honor in combat, and they only bring two armies after the humans start bringing two armies.  The Parshendi could have been destroying human armies on those plateaus just by bringing more armies, but they never did.  We also have Kaladin noting the same things, the Parshendi fight with honor, avoiding attacking the wounded and focusing on the strongest fighters.  A special note, Kaladin protects the bridgemen by driving the Parshendi to be so angry at him (maybe even hate) that they stop firing on the bridgemen.  Once Kaladin speaks his second oath, he no longer feels he can participate in the Alethi war.

Second, we have the forms of power.  The Parshendi on the plains only change into stormform when driven by the need to survive when they are facing extinction.  So far we have not seen the forms of power among the parshmen who are changed by the everstorm.  Dalinar and Co are expecting voidbringers that destroy the people around them, but we don't have that we just have Parshmen escaping the bonds of slavery.  (I had a small theory in the reaction thread that they didn't change into the forms of power because they didn't have the spren available, so it's possible the parshmen will change into forms of power later and then become the giant army of evil thus ruining this theory.)

Third, we have the blackthorn.  Voidbringers are said to have red eyes.  Near the end of his fight when Dalinar has lost the use of his arms due to injuries and ruined plate, he sees red and kills several guards, and maybe even kills a small child trying futilely to defend his injured father.  Normally seeing red is just a term of art for being really angry, but in this case, I think it might be literal.  After the fight, Gavliar talks about how the killings have driven the people to resist them and will make them hard to control.  Even if his eyes were not actually red, the Thrill drives him to do things that make his enemies hate him.  Furthermore, we see multiple injuries to his arm that render them almost useless for fighting.  In Words of Radiance the surgeon notes that his shoulder is a mass of scars and shouldn't even be useable, Dalinar makes a comment about just keeping going and the surgeon says that is not how things work.  Some people thought that was a sign of Dalinar using stormlight to heal himself.  In this scene we see some of the injuries to his arm that will eventually give him that mass of scars.  After killing Tanalan and taking his shard, Dalinar is using his arms again.  He may have just gotten better from treatment of surgeons, but I think we may actually be seeing him healed because he is an agent of Odium.  

So, if I am right and a desolation is just a giant war of people vs people, that brings up the a couple of questions: how do the Heralds and the KR fit in, what are voidbringers and voidbinding, how do thunderclasts and things like the black essences fit in, and finally how would the giant epic battle we saw the end of in the WoK prologue fit in?

First voidbringers and voidbinding, one idea maybe that anyone could be voidbinders.  Parshendi by bonding with voidspren, and men by giving into the thrill to the point that they are agents of Odium and begin getting powers from it.  I believe the Blackthorn would have been a proto-voidbinder, he apparently was superhuman even for a man in shardplate, Adolin thinks he sees the Blackthorn of old when Dalinar fights to protect the king from the Chasmfiend and his armor glowed at that point stopping the claw.  And again, he feels alive when powered by the Thrill.

The Heralds would have lead people and tried to keep people from giving into the hate, and protected the people from those who had.  The KR would do the same, but it also means that people who stay true to the paths of honor would have access to power themselves to defend themselves against voidbinders.  In the WoK chapter Starfall, the KR who save Dalinar in the vision tell him to come to them because they can teach him how to fight and prevent it from destroying him.  "Fighting, even this fighting against the Ten Deaths, changes a person.  We can teach you so that it will not destroy you."

Thunderclasts and the smoke creatures.  Not sure, but they may be used to make people more desperate, attacking farms so people have to fight over food.

Finally, how does this fit in with Dalinars vision and call to "Unite them."  If Dalinar unites all the people, including Parshendi, they would have other methods of resolving their differences and it would make it harder for Odium to drive people apart to destroy each other.  

[Valhalla]

I definitely think that massive world wars and desolations are related, but I don't think they are the exact same. My very sketchy reasoning is that in Dalinar's vision when he meets Nohadon, Nohadon talks about what was apparently an extremely large scale war started by a surgebinder named Alakavish. He also say "and true, if he (Alakavish) hadn't brought us to war before the desolation, we might not have been broken this badly." (emphasis mine) That implies to me that a large world war is not in itself a desolation. I do think you are right that the conflict between kingdoms and maybe between humans and Parshendi are just a part of Odium's preparation for the coming desolation. It would make sense that Odium would try to divide people before he begins his destruction.