[OB] Front 5 Endgame

[+Child of Hodor]

For the first three Stormlight Archive books Dalinar has been told that their best hope against Odium is to force him to pick a champion. Dalinar tried it in Oathbringer and it was immediately screwed up by Odium choosing Dalinar as his Champion. Although Odium's plans were foiled by Dalinar due to Cultivation's preparations. 

During the conversation between Taravangion and Odium it seems that Dalinar has the power bind Odium to a contest of Champions now that Odium agreed to it. Taravangion indicates that Odium must now avoid contact with Dalinar in order to avoid this contest. Do we think this will be how the front 5 of SA will resolve? Dalinar finding a way to force Odium to make good on his agreement? 

The two major objectives that I think need to happen in the 10 SA books are: Kill Rayse and Reform Honor. I'm not sure what order they would happen in. With Dalinar reforming Honor's perpendicularity in OB it seems like we are on pace to reform Honor and repel Odium's current plan in the front 5. Back 5 will be about a more permanent solution. 

As an aside, I feel like ultimately Kaladin will end up the new holder of Odium (with or without combining other shards). Whenever Shallan thinks about him she remarks on how he's mastered his powerful anger and emotions. He's already practiced at restraining anger, hatred and other negative violent emotions. He'd be ideal especially if he brings a tiny piece of Honor with him in the form of Syl. 

[WhiteLeeopard she/her]

Its possible and it would be fun . But ultimately I suspect Odium needs to merge with other Shards to be stable. For the front 5 there is a high suspicion in the air that either Odium is freed, humans go to Braize for some reason, or someone goes to Braize to act as a Herald for a few years to gain time to prepare.

[+eagle he/him]

Or something crazy like Dalinar reforming Honor while Navani becomes the new holder of Cultivation and by the end of the series they manage to splinter Odium. Then they split the power between themselves to provide better balance of the intents. In the end 3 shards become 2.

[Midgardsormen he/him]

I suspect the first 5 books will end when they stop the Desolation (perhaps by killing a Herald that has become Odiums champion), and make a truce with the Listeners/Singers. 

A few decades later, the late Herald will break, and book 6 starts with a new Desolation. And this time mankind is prepared... 

[aemetha he/him]

Why do you think Honor needs to be reformed? Honor is a shard. Shards are, as a rule, not particularly good for lesser beings. Preservation dumped Scadrial into hundreds of years of stagnation. Ruin tried to blow it up. Harmony is increasingly completely incapable of action at all. Autonomy closed a whole planet. Honor by the admission of his Spren cared more about the letter of the oaths than the spirit. Cultivation intervened with Dalinar not out of compassion, but because she had to intervene, she had to make him grow, and so she found a way to do it that suited her own ends. Odium is, well, Odium (Passion who smoked too much crack).

Shards are not good guys. The best outcome for any shardworld is for the shards to be blown up completely, or reformed into a functional, multi-faceted, proper deity that isn't driven to the extremes of a single aspect. Any other outcome just inevitably ends in suffering for the people of the shardworlds when the shards lose themselves to their shardic intent.

[Rainier]

I think the first 5 books will end with a new Oathpact, with the 10 background characters as the 10 new heralds. The gaps between books 5 and 6 will be the time it takes for the Desolations to come back, where we pick up with our 10 characters (hello, Taln and Ash, welcome to the club) as Heralds.

This would require Ash, I think, to become a Radiant in a different order than her Honorblade powers, likely Dustbringer. I mean, it's right there in her name. Venli, not Eshonai, is the willshaper, Ash the Dustbringer, and all 10 on a trip to Damnation at the end of book 5.

[Steeldancer he/him]

I would argue that Harmony is a good shard. A good man holds them. We know that. Plus, Harmony. Yes, it's inactive. But he isn't stifling Scadrial at all. 

[aemetha he/him]

9 minutes ago, Steeldancer said:

I would argue that Harmony is a good shard. A good man holds them. We know that. Plus, Harmony. Yes, it's inactive. But he isn't stifling Scadrial at all. 

That's kind of my point. The longer a good man or woman holds a shard, the less of a man or woman they become. Instead they become an embodiment of an unchecked aspect of personality, which is always bad for the inhabitants. Harmony is actually two aspects in opposition, making him impotent, but I think it's a mistake to dismiss inaction as not harmful. On the contrary, Scadrial seems to be lined up by some malevolent force that Harmony should be acting to prevent, but can't. In all likelihood the malevolent force is there precisely because of the shards Harmony holds, and so the inhabitants are worse off than they would be had they no shards at all.

[yulerule]

Regarding whether the existence of Shards is a good thing or not - we don't know the endgame of the cosmere. Is it to reform Adonalsium, or was that worse than having a bunch of separate shards? And regarding Harmony - we don't know that he's truly inactive - He's chosen not to interefere in Scadrial's development so that they can learn for themselves - and it seems that he's busy protecting Scadrial from an encroaching other power. 

I just thought of something - if every couple hundred years the holder of a Shard was replaced, then the Intent will never overwrite/overpower the humanity of the holder. (Of course, that opens up a whole new problem - how to replace a holder)