Kaleid

I hope that this doesn't happen as I feel it will take too much away from the plot

Well then, maybe Shallan won't get hers until. She swears the fifth.

Nice. I like this especially much because "Vengeance" is not only fitting, it's a kickass name.

Is there anything inworld that suggests that all the radiant orders get their blades and plates at the same ideal?

If this happens, what is stopping someone from picking up both the Odium and the Honour shards. Hell, why stop at 2 - they could grab Cultivation aswell. Even Odium is scared of Harmony. What kind of beast would we be looking at if the right (wrong?) vessel ended up with three shards?

Oooooh, I like this. What if we take it a step further and say that it's cultivation's vessel who takes Odium.

I'm convinced that either the 4th or the 5th ideal is going to be about accepting protection from others. I'm currently leaning towards this being the 4th ideal due to the Windrunner gem in Urithuru bemoaning of the fourth ideal: "I thought I was meant to want to protect people" (ostensibly, as opposed to accepting protection).

What's scarier than a shard? Two shards? Is there something out there that even shards are scared of (other than Sazed)? Furthermore, if there are 10 books, and Odium is defeated in, say, the 7th (or even the 5th?) before it is revealed that there is a bigger, badder enemy to fight - I don't think that would be anticlimatic.

I wonder what spren he had been about to bond? Could it be the same spren he is now swearing his ideals to?

Speaking of Teft, the moment when be realises that the Bridge 4 uniform he sold is what helped the enemy infiltrate his group and kill some of his friends... That hit me like a punch to the gut. Poor guy.

Sure. But can't that same statement be taken to mean that Odium might not necessarily be the Big Bad by the end of the 10th book? Mistborn spoilers:

Fair point. However, in-world it makes sense with the knowledge the Stormfather has. He knows (or believes) -The Heralds are stuck in Damnantion until they give in to torture, at which point they are returned to Roshar -There is no other way to return to Roshar -Taln has returned to Roshar Therefore, it is reasonable for the Stormfather to assume Taln is back on Roshar because he gave in to torture. However, the second point has been proven to be incorrect by the Everstorm - a phenomenon which has never occurred before. Therefore the Stormfather's conclusions are drawn from faulty information. He could be wrong. After all, Taln was happy that Roshar got 4500 to prepare and develop for the next desolation. But doesn't the same work the other way? Odium and his forces have 4500 years to find ways around the Oathpact. These events SEEM coincidental - but what if they are the result of literally millennia of meticulous preparation?

I agree, that was a very touching moment, and a turning point for Renarin. Another moment that touched me was when shallan had just been stabbed and is cracking a joke whilst inside she's breaking. She just needs kal to crack a joke to make everything Alright Again. It helps that I really like puns.

If Odium couldn't even take Thaylenah, what hope does he have against something as well situated as Urithuru?

IMHO, her death is so tragic precisely because it was so underwhelming. She won't be remembered by history beyond a footnote to the greatness of her husband, brother in law and sons. Hell, Navani will likely be better remembered as Dalinar's wife than she will. However, she basically saved the world by giving the Blackthorn a conscience. Otherwise, Odium's champion WOULD have been Dalinar, and the world woulda been Preeeetty Screwed.

The Stormfather has proven to be nowhere near as omniscient as previously assumed. Maybe he assumes Taln broke because why else would Taln be here?

If we accept that: 1) Damnantion is on Braize (whether on the physical, cognitive or even spiritual realm) 2) Travel between realms is possible (which it has been shown to be) 3) Travel between worlds is possible (which it has been shown to be) Then it wouldn't actually be all that difficult for someone with the know how to move (or be moved?) from Damnantion to Roshar without breaking to torture. I propose that this is what Odium did. Which is why taln seems crazy - he's lost himself in his mantra as he believes he's still on Damnantion.

The desolation has come. The Everstorm is terrorising the lands and the Voidbringers have returned. But why does it all feel so... Underwhelming? Alethkar got conquered when most of the army was off on the shattered plains or in Urithuru by Alethi-like war-loving Parshmen. It was more a surprise attack than anything else and despite it feeling so hopeless, it wasn't as easy for the Parshmen as one would assume, and if the humans were anywhere near as prepared as they had been for Thaylenah, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as easy for them. Alethi-like Parshmen aside, the rest of these supposed Voidbringers don't seem to be all that bad at all. They'd rather not live in slavery, but just as much, they don't seem to want to be at war either. It seems that it would be very easy to strike an accord with these people if an attempt was made and the humans were trusting enough. There don't seem to be very many fused at all - at least not enough to call an army. And besides, they seem to have similar limitations to shardbearers in that they cannot Hold Ground. The Thrill has been captured, so Odium cannot even use the Thrill against the human armies. With the humans almost wholly united, and someone like Dalinar in charge, who has historically proven willing to deal with the Parsh - not to mention kal who will likely advise that peace is possible - it doesn't seem like Odium has much of an army left. Actually, he doesn't seem all that scary at all. Insane Heralds in charge of countries are scarier at the moment. Am I missing something? Odium seems a rather impotent god who has already lost. In another topic, it was asked why Taln arrived when he did. Now it seems like it may have been a rather desperate move by Odium.

I think it's this. If the Parshendi and the Alethi signed a treaty, the Parshendi would have no need for their forms of power; and Odium would not have an army.

Did Taln even break? It seems to me that his madness may have been his way of surviving his millennia of torture. Focus on his mantra to the exclusion of everything else. The coincidence is less that Taln arrived on the scene as the Parshendi were dying out - after all, that war started a few years prior, and even when they were killing Gavilar, the listeners were aware at least on some level that they were signing their own death warrant. The coincidence is that Taln arrived right as the parshendi were about to sign a peace treaty with the Alethi.

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Do we know why he was made truthless? I recall a quote from the books which goes something along the lines that he was made truthless because the voidbringers did not exist, but that his honour demanded that they did. I don't think it's to much of a stretch to assume that he was made truthless by trying to spread the word that the desolation was returning. Perhaps he even had some forewarning similar to Dalinar and Gavilar - which would made a lot of sense if he was in the ruling cast.

Congratulations, you now control the power of time. Unfortunately, your powers can't affect you directly, so you must continue to travel through time like you always have. (instead, you get to send other people gallivanting through time! Yippee!) I wish I could no longer fall sick or hungry

I quite liked his long winded insult at the start of the epilogue... Made poignant by the fact that no one understood it.

I sincerely hope Navani does not become a Radiant. Too many Kholins already, with Dalinar, Renarin, Jasnah, almost Elhokar and maybe Gavilar. It waters down the story. It's no longer about a group of people who strive and must find each other. Instead, it's about lucking out and finding the One Correct Family.