Odium and The Diagram

[Bladex454]

Earlier today I was discussing Odium and his potential with future sight with some people and it led me down an interesting line of thought. We know Rayse is a schemer and he uses Moelach to collect Death Rattles in order to see the future, for whatever reason. It could be that he's capable of using them in order to gain access to Honor/Cultivation's abilities- humans on Roshar are of them after all- in order to more accurately pin down the future.

If this is true, it might mean that Odium is using Moelach to scan for specific bits of info he's not capable of finding out on his own. However, Odium is a schemer and the Death Rattles being collected are flawed. Anyone that is near can hear them, giving them some insight into the future and possibly Rayse's plans. For someone that is supposedly crafty and dangerous, this seems like a huge flaw in one of his lieutenants, especially one he might be reliant upon. 

Then it came to mind that he could be using Moelach for another purpose, to mislead King T into following his will without him realizing it. When on his supposedly most brilliant day, he brought up Moelach, though the manner in which he did so was a little suspicious. 

Quote

His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship. ”

—Diagram Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer: Paragraph 15

The way he phrases it almost makes it seem that he wishes for his future self to ignore Moelach and focus on more important tasks, like becoming a proper ruler for the world to follow behind. Thus leading to the chaos in Jah Keved.

Yet, why waste such a powerful resource? I believe King T. knew at the time of the Diagram's creation that it'd grow more and more inaccurate and the Death Rattles would possibly provide a way to alleviate that, however I also think he knew that if he did so then all of his actions would become suspect, possibly tainted by Odium's own influence. So he decided to steer his future self away from that simple fix and instead focus on rulership. 

As fate would have it however, the present King T. decided that the resource was too valuable to ignore and started to harvest it. Essentially allowing Moelach to control and direct King T's actions and thus polluting the Diagram. Moelach then decided to leave Kharbranth and focus on other tasks that were at hand, like the wars in Jah Keved.

Thoughts?

[Calderis he/him]

I agree with your interpretation of Day of Brilliance Taravangian seeing the death rattles themselves as a distraction, not just that line of thought on that particular day. 

I don't necessarily agree that Odium is tainting the death rattles though. My reasoning for that is that the death rattles, outside of Taravangian's harvesting, are largely ignored (somewhat intentionally as they make people uncomfortable) as "dying delirium." I don't think that the rattles are meant to mislead, because I think they're a side effect of something else. 

When Moelach seeps into a soul, it think he's taking information from that person's memory. Probably things that they aren't even aware that they know. But this is a two-way street, which allows the dying person a glimpse into the spiritual realm. 

So I'm in agreement that Taravangian is on a side path that is probably more harmful then the slight bits of information he gain are helpful, but I don't believe that the rattles are intentionally misleading (just so vague that they're easily misinterpreted), because this would require them to be the point of what Moelach does. I don't think that's the case.