Sprendiferous

The Champions have to be willing. It explicitly states a "Willing Champion" so I believe whoever it is would have to legitimately wish to participate.

I also have issues understanding why Odium is his own Shard. If he is truly the Shard of Passion, why is hatred the most prevalent (A commentary on the nature of Man?) It seems that the 16th Shard would need to be his opposite, Adoration or some such.

It also explains to me why Odium shows such fear and the whole "We killed you" bit. He was seeing a potential rebuilding of Adonalsium?

It is actually explicitly stated that it must be a "Willing Champion"

I was thinking on this as well. I've been nursing a theory that the 3 together could be Unity. A group bound by their oaths to each other, growing together, to defeat a common enemy (or achieve the goals of a Passion). I assumed this to be the case when Dalinar (a man invested by all 3 shards) says "I am Unity" (note the capital U). I'm sure there is something poking a hole in this but it's been my headcanon.

Brandon has said multiple times that Kell is not strictly a good person, and that in another story he could be the villain. I remember Kell as someone who ruthlessly pursued his goals, often being the anti-Radian (Destination over Journey). I don't know why Kell would pursue an "evil" goal, but I can absolutely see him pursuing any goal in absolutely ruthless ways.

I think that Cultivation attempted to do with Tarivangian what she did with Dalinar, but this time it isn't going quite as planned. I believe that she misjudged Tarivangian, yes he can control the power of Odium, but he is also not one to temper it. He will be more effective at carrying out the role of Odium and therefore be more dangerous.

Dominion is not the same as domination. Dominion is simply is simply rulership, or sovereignty over something. Not benign or malevolent.

This is what I came here to say. Not only did she take great care in the way in which she 'cultivated' Dalinar but I don't believe we've seen the full extent of what she intends for Taravangian.

1. Dalinar: He was the star of the show. I loved his story of pseudo-retroactive character development. I wasn't a huge fan of his before this but wow did OB change my mind. 2. Jasnah: I can't really say I really cared about Jasnah one way or the other before this book. She is terrifying. 3. Szeth: Szeth has been one of my favorites since WoK so no surprise here. He and Nightblood may be the most dangerous duo in the Cosmere. And a quick note about Venli. I don't care for her. I really don't see why she would have drawn a Radiant Spren and I really hope she does more in the future.

The part about sending Moash because he is 'disposable' doesn't really track here. He's presumably given a Dawnshard and has been carefully cultivated. There is no contention that they didn't kill in a normal way because it would be less than useless. The real questions now are what can they do with is investiture, and why did the oathpact demand that it be someone like Moash?

I don't think that Jasnah is completely without empathy or compassion, but that she struggles to express it and it is not always high on her list of priorities. I do very much think that the core tenets are bound to the KR's 'brokenness'. Jasnah does consider others, but generally as an afterthought to her initial statements/actions, she recognizes it as a weakness and works on it.

I believe we have a WoB confirming that Frost is not a shardholder. Questioner We know that Hoid is really old. Is there anyone else around that same age who is not a Shardholder? Brandon Sanderson Yes. He communicates with one of these people by a letter in one of them. Questioner *inaudible* Brandon Sanderson Not very many, let’s say that. Footnote: The person Brandon is referring to is the dragon Frost.

In the grand scheme of things, 1000 breaths is really not that much investiture. However Brandon has mentioned on several occasions that Nightblood is one of the most heavily invested beings in the cosmere. I would guess that he keeps the investiture that he consumes. Brandon has also said that Nightblood is slowly decreasing the total amount of investiture in the cosmere (very very slowly). This would seem to indicate that said investiture is not recoverable? Now that I say this could he be at all related to "the weapon"?

The most important words a man can say are, "I will do better." These are not the most important words any man can say. I am a man, and they are what I needed to say. The ancient code of the Knights Radiant says "journey before destination." Some may call it a simple platitude, but it is far more. A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. the trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we hurt those around us. But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one. I'm certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist. I needed to write it anyway.

I think "as far as she can" is not particularly far. And that's fine. Brandon has taken great care in crafting fantastically flawed characters for us. Remember that the nahel bond is filling the 'cracks' in a person't soul. Jasnah has the classic pain and isolation that only the truly brilliant can know. Her relationship with her parents was strained as she was such an abnormal and brilliant child. She has been shunned by the few people that would have welcomed her intelligence on account of her 'heresy'. Jasnah, for the most part, is ostracized from society due to both her incredible intelligence and her personal beliefs. I think it would be baffling if she could properly navigate a conversation without hurting someone's feelings. I think each major character cannot be properly viewed without understanding their flaws and loving them for having them.

Oh I totally agree that his Investiture, or possibly his soul, was important to the reason he was so bound. Just not because he was a potential champion or was some repository of lost knowledge. And wow, yeah, I'm really on board with your Dawnshard theory. Just have to do some thinking on what that means exactly.

After re-reading his attempt to say the Fourth Ideal I really believe that it has to do with either: 1. Accepting that he cannot save everyone. 2. Forgiving himself for those he cannot protect. In the end the biggest obstacle for him speaking the words was his thought of Tien. Tien is the embodiment of what Kaladin believes to be his fatal flaw: Not being able to save everyone. This has been Kaladin's foremost struggle, forgiving himself for his failures and as his ex said: Live for the Living.

I would more likely attribute this to Tension. Tension is the true and proper physicist's term for "tugging". If two people were connected by a spiritual 'string' then the force of tension would be the force working to bring them together, as in physical terms tension is a force working towards the other end of the 'string'.

I agree with you on certain points, namely the sapphire being relevant to Jezrian. However I disagree with the intent behind the imprisonment. 1. I think the fact that Moash, a human free from Odium's direct influence, was required to commit the murder is very significant. Great pains seem to have been taken to cultivate Moash to be favorable to their cause yet free from any compromising of free will. 2. I just can't see the Jezrian's death being simply the removal of a potential enemy or potential damning information. The King of the Heralds didn't seem to be much use or danger to anyone.

There really is a lot to like about Jasnah, she's brilliant, an obvious feminist figure, badass, eminently competent. However she really sucks at people. She's been misjudging people and treating them poorly since her first appearance. She's not cruel, or malicious; she's simply incredibly pragmatic and doesn't consider people's feelings (including her own) to be particularly important compared to what must be done. Herein lies the crux of Jasnah's character and what I believe to be the core tenet of the Elsecallers. An aspiration towards pure logic and pragmatism. Does this make her a little distasteful at times? Yes. Does is also make her the single most dangerous person on Roshar? Probably.

I may be wrong here but I seem to remember Szeth remarking that the Fused were much more skilled in the air than he was. Szeth is skilled with the basic lashing. The impression to me overall was that the Fused have used their abilities in countless fights over the millennia, but Voidbinding seems to be somewhat less dynamic than normal surgebinding. Didn't Kaladin notice in his fight with the fused in Shadesmar that they didn't seem to be able to fly with the same velocity that he could?

I can't speak to the metal or Godmetal used to in the blade, but I do believe that the sapphire is the most important element to the weapon. I believe it is mentioned somewhere that the Elsecallers were the keepers of the "perfect gems", this would suggest a significance to them outside of not leaking stormlight (in addition to Odium's insistence on capturing the perfect Ruby). There is obviously also a significance in the fact that the stone was a sapphire for Jezrien the Ars Arcanum states that the Sapphire is associated with Jes, the essence of Zephyr. Lastly Odium and the Fused seem to have made a very special effort not to coerce or influence Moash in any way. Possibly a stipulation of the oathpact? Possibly a way for Odium to free himself outside of the Champion route that Dalinar has offered?

I think that Dalinar's ultimate destiny in the Cosmere is to reunite the shards of Aldonalsium. I can't remember the exact WoB, but I remember seeing somewhere that Dalinar was one of the first cosmere characters that Brandon came up with. Makes a lot of sense for someone on that scale to be conceived early on.