Cultivation and Stability [discuss]

[Bigmikey357 he/him]

So. Becoming a Shard of Adonalasium obviously has many benefits.  Instant immortality, a rapidly expanding mind, an infinite well of power to draw on. And an automatic pass into the most exclusive club in the Cosmere. Yet for all its benefits,  becoming 1/16th of God carries with it significant drawbacks, as Sazed would point out. The main drawback is the power itself,  forever pushing you to act in ways that promote its agenda. To go against the power is to know pain,  something that should have been left behind upon ascension along with your physical body. And it's that aspect that makes a Vessel a Cognitive Shadow.  They are the greatest of them but face the same limitations as the Heralds,  Fused,  Kelsier,  Vasher,  whoever. 

Not only is being a Vessel not all it's cracked up to be, it's also a role that former mortals are particularly unsuited for. The problem is 2 fold. The first one is as stated above,  the power is always pushing,  always trying to shape its Vessel. The second however is unique to mortals and it is simple.  Mortals are just not built for immortality.  The mind breaks out of sheer inertia.  And though the power does help with the issue by expanding the mind of the Vessel,  that mind was still once a mortal one. The limits of mortality don't go away,  they're merely postponed. Ask the Fused how difficult just 7000 years is on a mortal mind. If you can find a sane one.

It thus occurred to me that the best candidate for a Vessel,  one who could deal with the endless tug of war between shard and vessel best would be someone who was naturally immortal at the time of ascension.  Their will would not die out of fatigue alone because they possess minds built for immortality.   And the only immortal race of beings that I know of at the time of the Shattering were Dragons. There have been 2 of those immortals confirmed in the Cosmere,  Frost and the current Vessel of Cultivation,  Kovari.

So why is this important? Because there's a new Odium in town, one that's crafty, extremely dangerous, and holding a power that even the other Shards are wary of. And new Vessels should have major advantages over original Vessels who have long ago succumbed to Shardic Intent in terms of freedom to act and of movement. Kovari seems to have made a major misstep in putting Taravangian in position to take up that particular Shard.  I admit I thought so too at first but now I'm not so sure.  She's a rather crafty lizard lady herself and probably won't have completely lost her will to Cultivation's Intent due to her previous immortality.  There will be some terrifying days ahead for Roshar but I have faith that Tod will not have things all his own way, that Kovari has contingencies,  and that everything will mostly work out in the end. What do you guys and gals think?