Carnie

Okay, before I pick up Words of Radiance, a question that's been bugging me ever since the first book: What is the siege on the Shattered Plains supposed to accomplish? There are really two things I don't understand. To sum up the first one, I'll quote Eric Idle: "There was an amusing quip from Von Rumsfeld on the radio this morning. 'We are going to out last them!' It probably sounds better in the original German. Of course you're not going to outlast them, they live there!" The Parshendi don't live on the Shattered Plains, but they live next to it, correct? The Parshendi live in some kind of forest, which has the Shattered Plains on one side, and something completely impassible in every other direction. Do I have that right? The Alethi are essentially guarding the only path out of the Parshendi's homeland. So, how long exactly do they expect it to take for the Parshendi to starve in their own home? Second, I don't understand the significance of the gemhearts. Sure, the Alethi can translate them into money, which means more resources for the siege; but it's presented as though there's some tactical merit to denying the gemhearts to the Parshedi. What would that be? The Parshendi can neither sell them nor eat them, so why would they care? How do the gemehearts affect the Parshendi's ability to withstand the siege? This confounded me all through the first book and it's been bugging me ever since. Can ya help a brother out? Thanks.

No, see, that's just it. That's what Ruin was doing when not at full power. If he had found the atium, he would have blown up the planet. Or something to that effect. Compared to that, your second paragraph is the better alternative. This was my whole point in the first place. Well again, the voice in Kaladin's dream also says it, who or whatever that was. So it's not just Hoid's opinion. These are both good points. Offhand, I don't buy that, for two reasons. First, sixteen is not divisible by three. Second, Sazed says in The Hero of Ages that Ruin and Preservation both had Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual components to them. That's not a perfect rebuttal, but it's my take offhand.

This is what I was referring to. (The Big Giant Head in Kaladin's dream also says it.) It's not just that Odium is dangerous because of who holds it, but the Shard itself is somehow the worst of the sixteen. What I was asking is, how can that be, given what we've seen of Ruin? It's all very well to say "hate is worse than destruction," or that it matters that Rayese is an cremhole while Ati used to be a nice guy; that's just theory. In practice, what could Odium actually do, in accordance with his Intent, that would be "worse" than what we know Ruin would have done? Perhaps "in the blink of an eye" is an exaggeration, but The Hero of Ages makes it clear that if Ruin had found the atium, he would have destroyed the planet "quickly." Bang, earth shattering kaboom, everybody dead. I'd rather be attacked by Voidbringers than have the world end all at once, I think. I admittedly wasn't thinking of that. So, if Odium "wants" to end Roshar like we saw in Daliner's vision, why doesn't he? Unlike Ruin he doesn't have another god stopping him, and he isn't missing part of his power. So what's he waiting for? Now I concede that Odium does indeed seem to have it in for the entire Cosmere; hence the theory about the Voidbringers becoming a space race that commits genocide on every planet they find. But, again, given what we saw in The Hero of Ages, Ruin could have wrecked up the Cosmere a lot more efficiently than that. Odium may be Crayak, but Ruin is Galactus. (Heh, I just realized that the Voidbringers even look kind of like Howlers. "Creatures of ash and flame" indeed. )

I really don't think that Sigzil being Hoid's "apprentice" means Hoid taught him or intends to teach him anything about worldhopping. Hoid adopts a bard-like profession on Roshar as his cover, and Sigzil is his apprentice in that capacity, simple as. How important he will become later on, to either Roshar or the Cosmere, is anybody's guess.

This is something that's been kinda bugging me for a while. Odium is supposed to be "the most terrible of all the Shards." But I can't help but wonder by what standard he is "worse" than Ruin. You don't need to explain to me what a powerful destructive force hatred is. Here's the thing though. Ruin, if he'd recovered the missing part of his power, would have been able to obliterate the planet in the blink of an eye. Whereas Odium's plan on Roshar seems to be to have everybody kill eachother in war. Relatively speaking, the former is worse. Granted, we actually know very little of Odium's plans, but I don't see what he could do that would make the stakes higher than the were in The Hero of Ages. Seeing as the overarching plot is supposed to come to a head in "Mistborn in Space," it occurs to me that the Voidbringers may be destined to evolve into something similar to the Howlers from Animorphs; a race that lands on a planet, kills everyone and everything, then goes and finds something else to kill. Still, that doesn't sound so bad when Ruin, seemingly, could have just Unicron'd his way through one planet after another. I'm sure there's something obvious I'm failing to consider here, but I don't know what it is. Thoughts?