Taravangian's Hubris

[WasingtheWhy]

This is my first posting here, and I am currently going through a re-read of Stormlight Archive. I have a tendency to devour new books and I have to go back through them to catch all the little things I missed the first time around. I completely missed the subtle reveal of who Thaidakar really is, for example. Anyway, on to my theory.

Taravangian is quite possibly the most arrogant character in the entirety of the Cosmere works. (Hoid is right up there, of course.) But when he ascends to Odium's Shard, he thinks to himself about Cultivation "Oh you have no idea what you've done." Not a direct quote. 

That being said, throughout Stormlight, it is said that Cultivation sees the future better than any of the other Shards, and clearly she chose Taravangian for a reason. I guess my point I am trying to make is that Taravangian thinks he got the better of Cultivation and Hoid. My theory is that Cultivation will probably turn out to the the most important Shard as the series goes on. Taravangian is clearly more dangerous than Rayse was, and ultimately, I think that Cultivation was counting on Todium taking Hoid's memory breaths. I think that him gaining that knowledge is going to be his downfall.

[StanLemon]

Congrats on your first post  This is a good analysis of Mr T and I agree with you that he might very well be the most arrogant character in the Cosmere. He constantly thinks that he knows the right thing to do despite being proven wrong over and over again.

[+Harrycrapper]

There are a couple of things that make me certain Cultivation has a contingency plan. First, I believe Cultivation either was controlling or set up a specific pattern of Taravangian's boon/curse. It seemed too convenient that he was in the perfect state needed for him to take up the Shard of Odium, there is an intelligent design behind when he was smart and dumb. Second, I believe he still is subject to that boon/curse even as Odium. Some believe that it's just gone now, but if it was a part of his Spirit Web, it's likely still with him just like Sazed was still able to access his metalminds after Ascending because it was still a part of his Spirit Web. I'm not sure how Cultivation could use that, but based on the fact that Taravangian always commented that his intelligence and passion had an inverse relationship, it could prove to be very useful in dealing with him. It's possible if he tries to pull something she could make him completely passionless and it might be enough to separate him from the shard or weaken him substantially.  

[WasingtheWhy]

I was actually thinking as well that some part of the story might culminate in Dalinar piecing together enough of the Splinters of Honor to pull the Shard back together, and then he would ascend to oppose Odium. Like how Preservation was taken up to battle Ruin.