powerfulmoss

I think this is a very well constructed theory which fits in perfectly with Odium being Rayse's interpretation of the shard of passion. One thing I don't believe we know yet however is whether the original vessels knew which shards they were going to hold, or really anything about their ascensions at all. Rather than his interpretation of the shard's intent making it a monster, I would argue that Ruin started out with more of Ati's intent (creating Scadrial with Preservation) but over time, was overcome by the shardic intent of Ruin. We know a lot less of Rayse, but if he does indeed hold the shard of Passion, his original hatred could have been prevalent enough at the beginning of his time as a vessel to become known as Odium. He could even have named himself as such like Sazed named himself Harmony. Now, having been trapped for thousands of years, we could be seeing more of the Passion coming through as the shardic intent takes over.

Just in case anyone gets confused by the top post, attendees were emailed to say that the venue has been changed (due to popular demand) to: Boyd Orr Lecture Theatre 1, 175 University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8PW. I will be there and may try and record if I am early enough. @mnordgard I'm impressed that you're coming over from Norway for this! and (Oathbringer Spoilers) Feel free to come say hi - I am a small bald man with a beard.

I feel like at some point in the future, the method used to enslave the Parshmen will be rediscovered, and Kaladin will (due to his time with the parshmen) vehemently oppose using it again.

It was also noted that the rooms have slots in them, where the supposed "spren" snuck into to hide. I reckon that gemstones should go in these slots as they seem to in the slots in the lift to light up the rooms.

Perhaps it has something to do with the Rhythms?

Ah of course, maybe my thoughts at the time were that they were more prevalent now. I've not read the new chapters since the first reading but I remember thinking that Kaladin and Shallan were surprised that Gloomspren and Shamespren were noticed so regularly.

Small thought while reading this: We have seen a few new spren since the Everstorm, including Gloomspren, which could be partly of Odium. The Gloomspren at least must have been previously present in the CR however as Syl mentioned that she used to hunt them. Perhaps the everstorm somehow unlocked the spren of Odium from the CR as well as "healing" the parshman, or perhaps the two are connected.

Disclaimer! I'm not sure about the timings involved in the enslaving of the listeners, the Recreance and the death of Honour. One of the things I have been thinking about recently is if the enslavement of the listeners was a side effect for something else - the blocking of void spren from Roshar/stopping spren from bonding with anything sentient. This would explain why the Bondsmiths deliberated over it and why the rest of the KR disagreed. They didn't think the cost of the entire listener race was worth it and the Bondsmiths were the one order that was talked about that didn't participate in the Recreance. This is why there were no thunderclasts and other voidbringers (my headcanon has been for a while that it is not only listeners that will be transformed when bonded to voidspren, but other native roshar races: Axehounds, Greatshells, Whitespines etc.) This still doesn't explain why the Radiants began returning or voidspren appeared...

I actually think this theory is the best I've read so far but thinking about it from a Windrunner's perspective (and likely other orders), sacrificing your spren, reputation and power while endangering your life in order to save the population from a desolation is exactly what their oaths would want them to do. How then did they break the bond between themselves and the spren? How were the knights able to leave their shards on a field and break their oaths all at the same time. The only theory I can come up with is that they did not break their oaths. They somehow deliberately broke the bond to the spren, who were complicit in the event, to stop the desolations.