[OB] Odium and Emotion

[Frostlander]

Apologies for the vague title. I hope it's obvious enough for people who've read the book!

I wanted to start a thread to specifically talk about whether or not Odium is actually “Passion.” I think it deserves its own topic, but if it’s better folded into an existing topic, that’s fine, too.

I know there’s been some discussion about whether the emotions that Odium claimed qualify as negative or positive emotions, and I think there’s more to be said there. I also think that we need to consider whether “emotion incarnate” or “passion” even qualifies as a potential shard of Adonalsium. The reason I don’t buy Odium as a “Passion” shard is because passion is not really a godly characteristic in theology—and I don’t just mean Judeo-Christian religions. Why would there be a shard of Adonalsium dedicated to globally representing strong feelings such as lust, joy, hatred, anger, exultation, glory, hunger, longing, loss, etc.?

As best we know, the shards represent godlike actions or characteristics (Ruin and Cultivation or Autonomy and Devotion, for example). Passion, extreme or unrestrained emotion, is something of humans. Something like Odium, whether we want to think of it as hatred, wrath, fury, etc., might better be thought of as a godly response to badly behaving humans. The idea that there’s a single shard of Adonalsium that represents human emotion just doesn’t make sense. 

It seems like Vessels become less emotional (or passionate) as intent takes over. Stormfather even describes this as happening to Honor:

Quote

“Did he … care about what we felt?” Dalinar asked. “Honor, the Almighty? Did he truly care about men’s pain?”

He did. Then, I didn’t understand why, but now I do. Odium lies when he claims to have sole ownership of passion. The Stormfather paused. I remember … at the end … Honor was more obsessed with oaths. There were times when the oath itself was more important than the meaning behind it. But he was not a passionless monster. He loved humankind. He died defending you.

Sanderson, Brandon. Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive (p. 1039). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

I could see if Odium needs to exploit or harvest extreme human emotion for some other purpose. I wouldn’t be surprised if a combination of the Unmade (the Thrill etc.) and cultural elements, such as the Thaylen Passions, have been encouraging heightened human emotion for Odium’s benefit.

Do we have any other evidence that Odium is more accurately described as the shard of Passion? Something other than Odium’s word or Dalinar’s interpretation of an Odium-provided vision? Otherwise, it just seems like a con.

[RShara she/her]

I think this is discussed in this thread: 

 

[dvoraen]

I think it's a con, since you can have hatred suffuse a lot of things while trying to pass it off as something else.  Take jealousy and envy, for example: it's a form of hatred for what another has that one may not have (or have less of) but it can be warped in dozens of ways, subtle or not.  More to the point, emotions that stem from a form of hatred can lead to rather... passionate behavior.  If you've seen the movie Death Becomes Her, just look at Goldie Hawn's character in how she views that of Meryl Streep's character.  She does all sorts of things, but it all sources from hating Madeline Ashton for stealing Ernest.