Shaggai

The Mistborn series introduced the concept of Shards - entities of godlike power, responsible for the magic systems in the Cosmere. Each Shard has an Intent, such as Preservation, Dominion, or Honor. They have vast power, and influence every aspect of the societies on their Shardworlds. Religion, morality, culture, and various other things tend to reflect the Shards of the world. But Shardic influence goes even further, affecting individual people and their actions. Free will is subverted to the Intents of the Shards. I believe that the Stormlight Archive will explore these themes in greater detail, showing the tragedy of the humans caught in a struggle between such vast powers. So far, there have been several characters affected by the Intent of the Rosharan Shards. In each case, it has caused serious problems for the affected characters. The level of influence varies between Shards, but in all cases it has been tragic. Odium: Odium is the worst of the three. After taking stormform, Eshonai is changed from an honorable warrior, fighting to preserve her people, into an aggressive, arrogant servant of the Unmade and Odium. She has little autonomy left. She can make decisions, certainly, but she cannot choose what she wants to do. Her only choices are about how to bring about Odium's triumph. Other characters seem to have been influenced by Odium as well. Sadeas, Moash, Kaladin, Adolin, and more are hateful to a degree (and in numbers) greater than might be expected in the absence of Odium. Odium's touch can be harsh and obvious, or subtle and insidious. Honor: For Honor, the obvious and direct case is Kaladin. He is forced to adhere to the strict commandments of a flawed and incomplete moral code, on pain of Syl's death. For him, there is no escape - he cannot choose to reject the morality that Honor has set out for him, nor can he change the Order to which he belongs. To do so would require him to murder Syl. Another character who has been affected by Honor is Dalinar. Honor's influence on him has been more subtle, but has still been dangerous and restricting. Dalinar's honor meant that he refused to distrust Sadeas, despite Adolin's warnings. His trust in Sadeas led to the deaths of hundreds of his men. Cultivation: Cultivation's influence is more subtle and less harmful than the other two. Cultivation is more a way of doing things, rather than an emotion like Odium or a concept like Honor. Therefore, Cultivation's influence allows for more freedom. However, Cultivation is still somewhat problematic. The major example of Cultivation's Intent affecting people people is Taravangian. Gifted with his fluctuating intelligence by the Nightwatcher (who is connected to Cultivation), he is cultivating the Rosharan situation in order to shape it to the benefit of humanity. Taravangian is, in my opinion, probably the most tragic of the three. He is a compassionate man, who wishes only to do what is best for all. In order to ensure the survival of humanity, he is willing to kill thousands, no matter how much is torments him personally. However, his plan is flawed and, despite his beliefs, is not the best way to save humanity. He is doing everything he can for humanity, at great personal cost, but in the end he will inevitably fail. In conclusion, I expect that the Stormlight Archive will take a deeper look at the effects of Shards and their Intents on the lives of the ordinary humans who are unfortunate enough to get caught in their struggles. The subtle yet powerful influence of the Intents results in the suppression of free will, to the detriment of all involved. I suspect that Odium will win in book 5, probably because of something to do with Honor. "So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life..."

Lopen and Ishikk because they're cool, Alds and Milp because their names are just so ridiculous.

This has to come up in one of the books. Brandon absolutely must come up with a situation where this would be useful and then write it in. I don't care how contrived it is. I'm sure there's some sort of situation in which storing and/or tapping proprioception is useful.

The Lord Ruler? Swamp?

I doubt that the Everstorm is that different from normal highstorms. What I got from WoR was that the Everstorm was a highstorm that went the wrong way and had Voidlight instead of Stormlight. The Everstorm causes destruction because it's a giant highstorm going the wrong way. If it gains power as it goes across the continent and loses it over water, it would be weaker than a highstorm, which would be a bit of a cop-out. Also, it's implied that we're going to see Shinovar in the aftermath of the Everstorm. Shinovar is in no way going to be fine.

Death?

It would only happen once, because otherwise everyone would end up below average.

Exactly. Even psychohistory required the Second Foundation to keep it working. Unfortunately, Mr. T has no Second Foundation.

Why Cthulhu?

It's been said in this thread already, but it appears that the way his intelligence works is that it overwrites his specialized neural structures (including the empathy ones that help us predict the actions of people), giving him raw processing power in their place. At Diagram-level, he's reached the point where he can predict people by virtue of sheer computing power, whereas on a day where he's merely very smart he's lost most of his specialized people-prediction abilities.

The thing with the Radiant oaths is that they're individually imperfect, but when you have all of them together they form a powerful force for resisting Desolations. The Windrunners lead, and protect those under their care. They aren't supposed to kill for other reasons, because they exist so that the other warriors can continue to fight. The Bondsmiths bring everyone together so that they can work was one. The Dustbringers are probably the main soldiers. The Skybreakers keep order. The Lightweavers kept up morale. The Edgedancers (if I'm remembering correctly) cleaned up the little bits to prevent the whole thing from breaking down. And so on. Each one couldn't function on its own, but they can focus on their bit and trust that the others will do theirs. It keeps the world running under immense pressure. Of course, now that there are only a few Radiants... Well, let's just say that they may want their brown pants. The oaths require the presence of a significant number of Radiants of various Orders to work, and Roshar doesn't have that anymore. I wonder if that will be one of the themes of the series, that there is no perfect moral system. The Radiants' specialized moralities will hamper them, perhaps even dooming them, while Taravangian will end up realizing that the Diagram was not the best way to go about all of this.

Antiheroes, generally, are people who do bad things for a good reason. Rorschach from Watchmen, for example, is often viewed as an antihero. By that definition, Taravangian is an antihero, not a villain.

Discworld. All the Discworld. And Good Omens, which has the added benefit of being also by Neil Gaiman.

"Little specks of mica glittered at him." Mort, by Terry Pratchett.

I think it's more that, at such close quarters, it's pretty easy to knock someone's hand away so they can't summon their Blade. If they summon the Blade, sure, it's useful. But there's the ten-beat delay, and in that time you just have to disrupt their concentration or knock their hand far enough away.

No, they don't. When TenSoon imitated Kelsier in HoA, he had to be bald because he didn't have Kelsier's hair with him. Also, for the wolfhound, he needed the fur of the wolfhound.

The others that have a good chance to save humanity are Dalinar and the new Radiants. Not because they're in a particularly strong position right not, but because of specialized physics that come into play in the Cosmere. No, not Investiture. I'm talking about narrative physics. Narrative physics are very, very strong. And in the sort of situations such as the current one on Roshar, it forces reality into patterns. The few people with magical powers, against a vast horde of dangerous enemies under the control of a being of pure hatred? Of course they're going to win.

Perhaps the existence of all ten Heralds prevented the Everstorm? Or maybe it was the number of bonded spren. Hmmm... What if there's a war going on among the spren at the same time as the Desolation? During past Desolations, the Recreance hadn't happened, so there were plenty of bonded spren who were able to prevent large enough numbers of stormform from being created. Or perhaps there were enough Radiants to disrupt the ceremony and block the Everstorm each time it happened. If Adolin had been a Radiant, for example, especially if he had enough backup, he would have been able to block the ritual. The Heralds might also have told them how dangerous the completion of the Everstorm would be, in which case they would have gone straight for the singing Voidbringers and broken it up. Another possibility is that the Everstorm requires a vast amount of Investiture, so if Odium loses he'll fail permanently. An all-or-nothing measure, which he's kept in reserve until now. That would explain why it's linked with the Last Desolation, because if he uses it then by definition it is the Last Desolation. If he's chosen to unleash it now, it's because he's certain that he'll win. That's somewhat ominous.

That wasn't rational logic, it was failing to account for self-interest. Failing to account for self-interest is neither rational nor logical. The rest of your post is interesting, but I don't know enough to fully respond to it.

Stormform can shoot lightning. I think that justifies the continued use of it.

Lin Davar?

What "obvious, plain truths" are in direct conflict with rational logic?

Iadon.

The fact that he managed to predict, quite accurately, the events of Words of Radiance? I think that counts.

Remind me never to eat at your house. Especially if you happen to be Nyarlathotep at that point.