Death Rattles

[Drakon]

Is it possible that the Death Rattles are the words (or maybe thoughts) of the Herald Talenel as he is being tortured by the Voidbringers? 

They often talk of the Unmade as if they are there. 

The Death Rattles themselves come from one of the Unmade, which it makes it interesting that they are helping Taravangian accomplish his goals by revamping the Diagram, but the Thrill affects both humans and listeners so...

Anyway some Death Rattles that were especially interesting:

WoK Ch. 58 "Re-Shepir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!"

WoK Ch. 54 "The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me."

WoK Ch. 2 "Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?"

WoK Ch. 59 "Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew."

I suppose these could come from many sources, but they clearly come from people who are very well informed. They probably aren't leftover from Honor, as they Death Rattles come from one of the Unmade. Maybe they come from all the Heralds, or from the other Shards on Roshar, or from others like Hoid.

One of the more interesting Rattles: "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns." WoK Ch. 11 The Broken One sounds like Odium, which would mean the three of sixteen would be other Shards, but I thought that only Honor and Preservation were on Roshar, and at some point Odium, but if the Broken One is actually Odium then who would the third Shard be?

[Ashertliden]

1.) Nice theory! I agree that some of the death rattled may be from Talenel, such as 

Quote

"The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me."

But others such as:

Quote

I’m dying, aren't I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.

seem to be from the viewpoints of common folk  

 

2.) I personally believe the rattle indicating that three of the sixteen ruled is referring to Honor, Odium, and Cultivation, and since Honor is splintered yet still seems to have had the most impact on the world, (Odium was trapped in Braize and Cultivation has had minimal interaction with humans), Honor is the “broken one” who continues to reign. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Kal-Eldin

[Quantus]

32 minutes ago, Drakon said:

The Death Rattles themselves come from one of the Unmade, which it makes it interesting that they are helping Taravangian accomplish his goals by revamping the Diagram, but the Thrill affects both humans and listeners so

You say "Revamping the Diagram", but you could just as easily say "Corrupting the Diagram".  Mr T thinks its a good idea (most days) to use those predictions to alter the Diagram, but I tend to think that will prove a bad choice (maybe one his ascendant self would have known better).  Hoid just warn against trusting any precognition, it would be thematically fitting for him to go off the rails because he tried to improve the Diagram with the Rattles rather than trusting in his initial conclusions/plan.

32 minutes ago, Drakon said:

One of the more interesting Rattles: "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns." WoK Ch. 11 The Broken One sounds like Odium, which would mean the three of sixteen would be other Shards, but I thought that only Honor and Cultivation were on Roshar, and at some point Odium, but if the Broken One is actually Odium then who would the third Shard be?

Honor and Cultivation were on the Planet proper, but Odium was on a different planet in the system. 

Top possibilities I can think of are:

1) the Broken One = Odium, and it means that the three were equal before but now Odium has gained some advantage

2) The Broken One = Honor, and it is a prediction of some future development where Honor's Shard makes a comback (for better or worse...)

3) The Broken one is not one of the Three, and is another Shard entirely. Best guess of the known shards would be that "Broken One" is a reference to Autonomy's using avatars as being a fractured state.

[RShara]

Some of the Death Rattles definitely sound like they are from Taln. Others are from more mortal sources, like the two about Kaladin.

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Death_Rattle

The three Shards on Roshar are Honor, Cultivation, and Odium.

Quote

Questioner

The line about "three of sixteen [ruled] and now the Broken One reigns" - did Odium follow three other Shards to Roshar or is he the third Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

Footnote: The questioner is referring to the epigraph of Chapter 11 of The Way of Kings: "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns."
source

 

[+Child of Hodor]

On 9/18/2018 at 3:36 PM, Quantus said:

You say "Revamping the Diagram", but you could just as easily say "Corrupting the Diagram".  Mr T thinks its a good idea (most days) to use those predictions to alter the Diagram, but I tend to think that will prove a bad choice (maybe one his ascendant self would have known better).  Hoid just warn against trusting any precognition, it would be thematically fitting for him to go off the rails because he tried to improve the Diagram with the Rattles rather than trusting in his initial conclusions/plan.

Honor and Cultivation were on the Planet proper, but Odium was on a different planet in the system. 

Top possibilities I can think of are:

1) the Broken One = Odium, and it means that the three were equal before but now Odium has gained some advantage

2) The Broken One = Honor, and it is a prediction of some future development where Honor's Shard makes a comback (for better or worse...)

3) The Broken one is not one of the Three, and is another Shard entirely. Best guess of the known shards would be that "Broken One" is a reference to Autonomy's using avatars as being a fractured state.

Quote

2.(of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.

synonyms:

defeated, beaten, subdued; More

From https://www.google.com/search?q=Broken+definition&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS770US770&oq=Broken+definition&aqs=chrome..69i57j35i39l2j69i60l2j69i61.5623j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Broken One = Odium. Broken in the lesser used definition of broken. Despairing, hopeless, defeated. Odium is often associated with the void and an emptiness within. Moash feels  hopeless, empty and resigned the more he falls under Odium's influence. 

It could also be subdued / defeated. He did get himself trapped in the system and his forces lost every Desolation so far. He got a W when he killed Honor, but he's racked up a lot of Ls since he came to the Roshar system. 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Child of Hodor