My theory for the end of book 5 & 10

[Xerun]

So we know the following. Book 5 will be similar to The Final Empire and Books 6-10 will be on par with Well of Ascension & Hero of Ages in terms of story completion. We also know that Jasnah is intended for Book 10. 
 

so using this I just had a crazy thought that if we look at it that way, Odium is the Lord Ruler, so potentially destined to go down in book 5. And so my theory,

 

book 5 ends with Odium being destroyed and everything wraps up with the war with the Fused no longer being able to be resurrected. Then in the epilogue we witness Gavilar as a Cognitive Shadow reforming the Shard and ascending. 
 

then book 10, Jasnah’s book, shows the flashbacks of her and her father, with the climaxing being her having to destroy him in order to save the world. 

[IcaroRibeiro he/him]

Jasnah is a flashback character on book 10, but if she's alive and active is yet to be confirmed. Eshonai proved a character can be dead and still being a flashback character 

[Honorless he/him]

14 hours ago, Xerun said:

So we know the following. Book 5 will be similar to The Final Empire and Books 6-10 will be on par with Well of Ascension & Hero of Ages in terms of story completion. We also know that Jasnah is intended for Book 10. 

I haven't seen this particular comparison being made before today, where did this come from? 

[cappybaro]

i've always thought that the 5 will end up with the contest of champions that will give protagonists some time and in the 6 the odium will return. The 10 will end up with Odium's shattering or something like that.

 

also i think that by the end of the 5 either Seth or Dalinar will become a Honor vessel. The most likely from my point of view is Dalinar - vessel, Szeth his champion. 

Edited October 14, 2020 by cappybaro

[Wyndleblade she/her]

@cappybaro What do you mean by the conquest of champions?

I always thought it would be interesting if some of the Radients became Heralds and go to damnation. Book six would pick up ten to twenty years later when the first of the new "Heralds" brake. But I don't think that would be a satisfactory ending to book five.

[Xerun]

10 hours ago, Honorless said:

I haven't seen this particular comparison being made before today, where did this come from? 

I believe it was in one of his YouTube live streams

[cappybaro]

10 hours ago, Wyndleblade said:

@cappybaro What do you mean by the conquest of champions?

I always thought it would be interesting if some of the Radients became Heralds and go to damnation. Book six would pick up ten to twenty years later when the first of the new "Heralds" brake. But I don't think that would be a satisfactory ending to book five.

my bad, misspelled it:) 
sorry for bad language, english is not my native

I mean contest of champions. Odium talked about it in Dalinar's visions. It's also mentioned that this contest will delay odium for some time. So i believe it's our midfinale and the source of timeskip.

And i bet that Kal vs Moash will happen in RoW as the climax of Kal's development for this book. So any other candidate for Odium's champ. 

 

p.s. think that Odium's final defeat will be connected to his promise not to hurt anyone fron Taravingina's city

[slate]

From the preview chapters it's evident (for anyone who has read every book in the Cosmere) that Sanderson is bringing in the rest of the systems to this conflict. The use of Alomantic metals with fabrials, the revelations regarding the nature of Returned via Vashar/Zahel, 17th Shard and Ghost blood ties as well as Mraize likely being from Nalthis due to his Breath awareness of an observers presence, Gavilars prologue hinting at world hopping, etc. If I had to guess I'd say that Dalinar will ascend and take the shard of Honor, the nature and intention of Cultivation revealed, and Odium likely shattered. Hoid will obviously come to the forefront of the conflict for the first time during this arc. The fate of the protagonists will most likely be tragic, albeit with some form of redemption and silver lining, it is heavily hinted that humanity and the non fused singers will come to some form of tentative peace as well. Sanderson is a master at putting a puzzle together and reverse engineering it in his stories. Using logic you can piece together a good amount of this. Outliers that have no determined role as of yet; the nature of other world involvement, Shinovar, Iri, Aimia, New Natantan, Uvara Island, surviving humans on Ashyn, remaining Heralds, and all the other things Brandon has in his head that he has hinted at but that I haven't put together. If I had to guess books 6-10 will be on a much grander Cosmereological scale. He will likely have released a second Warbreaker, a follow-up to Elantris, and have started the third Mistborn series. One thing I'll bet on is that an advanced spacefaring Scadiral society makes contact with Roshar, and begins a conflict with Harmony and some element on Roshar. It's really hard to ponder that far ahead though.

[Lemiltock]

2 hours ago, slate said:

From the preview chapters it's evident (for anyone who has read every book in the Cosmere) that Sanderson is bringing in the rest of the systems to this conflict. The use of Alomantic metals with fabrials, the revelations regarding the nature of Returned via Vashar/Zahel, 17th Shard and Ghost blood ties as well as Mraize likely being from Nalthis due to his Breath awareness of an observers presence, Gavilars prologue hinting at world hopping, etc. If I had to guess I'd say that Dalinar will ascend and take the shard of Honor, the nature and intention of Cultivation revealed, and Odium likely shattered. Hoid will obviously come to the forefront of the conflict for the first time during this arc. The fate of the protagonists will most likely be tragic, albeit with some form of redemption and silver lining, it is heavily hinted that humanity and the non fused singers will come to some form of tentative peace as well. Sanderson is a master at putting a puzzle together and reverse engineering it in his stories. Using logic you can piece together a good amount of this. Outliers that have no determined role as of yet; the nature of other world involvement, Shinovar, Iri, Aimia, New Natantan, Uvara Island, surviving humans on Ashyn, remaining Heralds, and all the other things Brandon has in his head that he has hinted at but that I haven't put together. If I had to guess books 6-10 will be on a much grander Cosmereological scale. He will likely have released a second Warbreaker, a follow-up to Elantris, and have started the third Mistborn series. One thing I'll bet on is that an advanced spacefaring Scadiral society makes contact with Roshar, and begins a conflict with Harmony and some element on Roshar. It's really hard to ponder that far ahead though.

One minor thing, Mraize is from Roshar  thoygh he has been off world.

Quote

Khyrindor

So, I was hoping to get a confirmation on Mraize's age?

Brandon Sanderson

I'd probably-- Well, what did I say before?

Khyrindor

Not sure, I was just asking the question.

Brandon Sanderson

Okay good, I didn't think that I had confirmed this. I'm going to RAFO it.

Khyrindor

Like, is he older than a normal person?

Brandon Sanderson

I will RAFO it, yeah. Let's say though, that, though he has been off-world, he himself is a Rosharan.

Khyrindor

A Roshar native?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Skyward Seattle signing (Nov. 10, 2018)

I think he will certainly include cosmere wide law (IE its not alomancy thats mixing with the fabrials its that they both have underlying principles. Heres and older WOB on it I think Brandon has mentioned that stormlight being the biggest will have more crossover but i couldnt find the quote.

Quote

Questioner

You have two characters, Hoid and Vasher, who really stand out even if you don’t know anything about the cosmere. Are people who aren’t cosmere-aware going to be left wondering what the heck is up with them?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, probably. But it’s okay to have some mystery, I figure, as long as I don’t let the cosmere stories really distract. If there are occasionally things where you think, “That was weird, I don’t get that” or “That guy’s kind of different.” That’s fine. It’s when you start to feel like everyone else is laughing at a joke you don’t know, when you’re not part of something and you can’t understand the piece of fiction because of it, then we’re in trouble. Unless it’s a side story. Like Mistborn: Secret History, you’ve got to know the cosmere to get most of that, and that’s okay. But the main line books I will write in such a way that… So the Stormlight Archive is the story of Roshar. It’s not necessarily the story of all the different elements influencing Roshar. Maybe someday I’ll do one that has that, but I’ll be very up-front about it.

Boskone 54 (Feb. 19, 2017)

 

[Harbour he/him]

I doubt Odium will be defeated in Book 5. In RoW we see only the build up towards the big battles and to end it in Book 5 with total defeat of Fused and Odium seems kind of underwhelming to me.

My personal theory is that Gavilar will return in the end of RoW as a cliffhanger, turning out to be the Odium ally and big bad of front 5 books. He is the central figure of the prologues, i doubt Brandon chose him as this figure just to lead it into nothing mindblowing or twisting. 

Then we will see Book 5 Prologue where we will find out what exactly Gavilar planned to do before being "killed". Then he will be defeated in the end of Book 5, closing front 5 Books prologue chain.

Back 5 will have a new prologue chain, connecting to past of Heralds, and be more connected to the Odium. Odium would be big bad of back 5 books and be defeated by Jasnah, Taln and Co. Something like that.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Harbour

[Mage he/him]

I hope that no one ascends to Honor. I just feel like that is too much like mistborn. My theory is that front five is about the true desolation, and back five is actually defeating Odium. 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

On 10/13/2020 at 7:40 AM, Honorless said:

I haven't seen this particular comparison being made before today, where did this come from? 

From here:

Quote

David

How intertwined are the two halves of The Stormlight Archive? Will you need to read the first half to know what's happening in the second half? If you read the first half, will you need to read the second half to get that sense that the story has come to an end?

Brandon Sanderson

I've never done something like this before. They are less intertwined than, say, Mistborn Two and Three. But maybe equivalent intertwined to Mistborn, as Mistborn is intertwined to Mistborn Two and Three, if that makes sense. It depends. Maybe even a little less than that, actually.

I think that you are going to want to view them as one big series of ten books. And we are going to come to an ending, and there will be some very satisfying things about it. But it's definitely going to be a promise there is more to come. I've never done anything quite like this. Less final than Mistborn Three, certainly.

So, I don't know. I didn't think anyone would read the Wax and Wayne books without reading the first ones, but I get emails all the time from people who started with those because those are the ones that appealed to them. I think you could start with Book Six of The Stormlight Archive, and it wouldn't feel strange. I think it would be harder to stop with Book Five, if that makes sense. Of those two options. But it's all gonna depend on your personal preferences, and things like that.

It's an excellent question. Plus, I haven't written the fifth book yet, and that's gonna inform a lot. These things change and morph as I'm going; every one of them does. So, who knows. I can explain better after Book Five is done.

YouTube Livestream 10 (June 18, 2020)  

 

[Kuram]

There's no bigger bad than Odium on Roshar, so I don't really think he gets offed in book 5.  my 2cents...

[ftl]

1 hour ago, Kuram said:

There's no bigger bad than Odium on Roshar, so I don't really think he gets offed in book 5.  my 2cents...

Sanderson never keeps his big bads around for a long time, though! In Mistborn,

Spoiler

The Lord Ruler was the big bad of book 1, and he was beaten there. Book 2 was all about the fight against the other armies, which got beaten in book 2. Ruin was introduced at the very end of book 2 and concluded in book 3.

So I'm not expecting Odium - a Big Bad introduced in book 3 - to be the enemy all the way until book 10.

I think one way or another the "Odium" fight is going to be resolved in book 5. Maybe he's killed/splintered, maybe Rayse is killed and someone else Ascends, maybe he "wins" and escapes Roshar entirely (and the characters struggle is to save Roshar in the process). But I think the back 5 books are going to be a different conflict.

[Infinity Sliver]

For some reason, I feel like the way he is setting up Gavilar is to throw us off something. Like,each new book shows us something different about that party where he got killed but like,maybe we get to see someone else's viewpoint that completely changes him and that sets off an arc in say,book 6-10

[Harbour he/him]

Well, Book 5 prologue will be the Gavilar's PoV and i will eat my hat if it isnt something truly mindblowing.

Brandon built it up through all previous prologues.

It would be weird if after 4 prologues devoted to Gavilar's death there wont be something extremely important in his own PoV prologue.

[Kuram]

On 10/19/2020 at 1:30 AM, ftl said:

Sanderson never keeps his big bads around for a long time, though! In Mistborn

That's true, and I was thinking of Mistborn when I made my comment.  Basically, we know of nothing more powerful than a shard of adonalsium.