Child of Hodor

Agreed, the Shards are all dangerous because they are so singularly focused on one aspect of a personality or part of life. Mercy-killing is a thing. Mercy's involvement in the Odium - Ambition fight could have been to help finish off the loser quickly to put them out of their misery. They might not have picked a side until they saw Odium was going to win.

Yeah, Odium as shown in SA has been about division and not adhesion. In fact his Fused cannot even use the Surge Adhesion for some reason and Odium tells them it is a false Surge (I imagine him saying this like he's calling it a fake friend ). I think something Honor & Cultivation did in binding him to Braize made Adhesion unusable by him, but that's a whole tangent. Either way Odium I agree that Odium primarily only inspires unity as a secondary reaction, it is not really the intent. The 4th Change Shard is tough. Only Endowment is directly the act of changing something like Cultivation it describes an act of change although a more indirect change. Ambition and Odium are emotional / cognitive motivations that can drive change, but aren't necessarily about change. I do like Ambition and Endowment together in the Create, Bestow category. These Shards are the personality traits of a creator god. One has to have a lot of Ambition to create all these solar systems and lifeforms and Endowment relating to the gift of life fits well.

He does have superhuman strength and can see spren like Syl even when they are not trying to appear to people. I think what's going on with Rock has to do with Horneaters being Human - Singer hybrids and some of them may have gemhearts in their bodies like Singers do. Rock may have a lil spren inside him that gives him these unique attributes. In Dawnshard we learn that Larkin can grow much larger with the help of a spren. Rock is really tall and broad even for a Human or Singer (depending on what spren they have at the moment) **** What other current / former Dawnshards are there? The original 16 Vessels killed Adonalsium using the Dawnshards so they had to have been a Dawnshard or at least 4 of them had to have. I don't know if just 4 used them (what were the other 12 doing?) Did multiple people use them at once or did they quickly pass them off to each other? Either way some of the original 16 Vessels have been on the page and at least some were a Dawnshard. Frost. (He's "onscreen" in The Traveler and we hear from him in WoR) Hoid mentions how Frost is now essentially immortal in the WoK letter to Frost. Brandon recently confirmed this immortality is due to something other than regular dragon stuff. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/498/#e15673 The Lopen

I love this! I made some tweaks

Wisdom or a synonym is what I'm going with. They thought hiding and surviving was the wisest course of action. Similar to what you said for Knowledge. Mercy and compassion are pretty close. Not exact, but I feel Mercy has it covered enough that Compassion isn't different enough.

Ruin & Mercy. Go around mercy killing things "Stubbed your toe? I'll put an end to your suffering!"

My crackpot theory is Dalinar uses Connection to make Taravangian his champion. Odium promised not to kill anyone born in Kharbranth and the Shard is still bound by that. Taravangian is in a catch 22 he can't kill his own Champion, whoever that is, the Shard can't kill Taravangian to win the contest. This creates a schism between the Vessel Taravangian and the Shard Odium. Odium breaks away from Taravangian (like it had been trying to break away from Rayse in RoW), but Dalinar "Unites Them". Them being Honor (reformed by Dalinar) and Odium. How does Dalinar use Connection to make Taravangian his champion? Ishar nearly took the Stormfather bond and Dalinar's status as Odium's opponent in the contest from Dalinar in RoW until Szeth and Nightblood stopped him. Dalinar will do what Ishar was trying to do except he'll take the status of champion from whoever he originally nominates and give it to Taravangian. Like I said, crackpot, but I think it's a satisfying way to pay off the "Spare Kharbranth" promise.

There is truth to the Vorin afterlife, but it seems more inline with Odium's plans for Roshar that he outlines in RoW Ch. 112 Later in the chapter he says if he wins the contest he'll make Dalinar a Fused who will lead Odium's forces to other worlds.

I think it is a hint at the Rayse the Vessel and Odium the Power not being on the same page. "No! No, we killed you, WE KILLED YOU" the all caps text is in the same style the Stormfather sometimes talks for whatever that's worth. I think both the Vessel and the Power are saying it independently. That's why it repeats. In RoW we see a light within Rayse trying to escape when he meets with Moash and Dalinar. In the epigraphs Harmony theorizes that the vessel is not controlling the power very well and the power has developed a mind of it's own (RoW epigraphs 39 & 40). When Taravangian ascends the Power "speaks" to him telling him he's perfect. The Power had developed a mind of it's own from not being controlled well by Rayse. I think they are talking about killing Taravangian/Honor. Dalinar says he's Unity and Ascends briefly to form a perpendicularity. Dalinar got the idea of Unity from someone saying "Unite Them" to him over and over again. Tanavast says Unite Them in every Vision. Odium has seen the Visions. When he breaks into the Nohadan Vision and destroys it he say "what were you seeing?" then reforms the Vision and says "Ah this one, again.". He was lurking in the Visions before he decided to pop up in the one where Dalinar and he talk for the first time OB ch. 56. All that's to say when Dalinar speaks of unity and forms a perpendicularity with Honor's power Rayse & Odium were both triggered, you might say. Reminded of the guy/Shard that trapped them. They just lost their best chance at freedom this created a bigger schism between the Power and the Vessel. It starts showing up in the way they talk and 1 year later we physically see it with the light.

I have some specific things I want to discuss that are bugging me about the Intent - Command definitions, but first a dumb joke! At the most basic level the Dawnshards were tools made by Adonlasium to help him get the most out of his power when it came to creating and shaping the Cosmere. They amplify his Intent(s). A visualization: That's how I choose to understand Dawnshards, they are amps for Investiture usage. Anything more detailed gets confusing. Intent vs Command (the will of a god) In Dawnshard ch. 19, Nikkli differentiates the Dawnshards from Intent by saying "The Dawnshards are Commands, Rysn. The will of a god. ... All their greatest applications require Intent and a Command." The words Intent and Command summon up a clear relationship to me. Intent is what I am thinking or wanting to happen, Command is what I say to make it happen. One is internal the other is external. However, the text really blurs this clear delineation by stating these Commands are the will of a god. Doing things willingly is synonymous with doing them intentionally. My Will is a document that lays out what I intend to have happen to my stuff when I die. How is this different from Intent? The text further muddies (to me) what Dawnshards are "To make such Commands, one must have the reasoning -- the breadth of understanding -- of a deity. And so, the Dawnshards. The four primal Commands that made all things." Adonalsium made tools to help him understand? It seems to me the Intents give greater understanding. I say that because whenever we get the POV of someone becoming a vessel for one of the 16 Shards the individual gains a much greater understanding of the Intent and it's many examples. Ruin is erosion, decay, entropy etc. Even when Dalinar glimpses Odium in the spiritual realm in OB Ch. 57 he gains a greater understanding of what Odium represents in the world. Scream of warriors, ecstacy, sorrow, joy, bliss, hatred. Adonalsium made tools out of himself to better understand himself? Nothing else existed in the Cosmere until he used the Dawnshards to "make all things" so he had to make them out of himself. Rysn doesn't seem to gain any greater understanding of anything when she becomes the Dawnshard. She doesn't have access to any invested arts means she can't use the Dawnshard, but if the Dawnshard is the understanding of a god it's not giving any to her. She gets an impression of what Adonalsium felt as he was dying including "Understanding" but she only gains the knowledge that an entity was resigned and understood something as he was being torn to pieces. Not a greater understanding in general. Right before she "becomes" the Dawnshard something is talking into her head mentioning the Guardian of Ancient Sins bringing her here. The Dawnshard may be intelligent and that intelligence has the understanding and will of a god which is why Rysn doesn't gain this great boost in her "Understanding Things" stat. The Undesrtanding is in her, but still separate in a way or only activates when invested arts are wielded. Long way of reiterating I don't get Dawnshards beyond that they amplify Investiture usage. See photo above.

I think the Barrier Storm was part of what keeps Odium in and Honor let the Heralds piggyback on it to trap the Fused. It was probably always called the Everstorm since it was meant to keep things in forEver. Tanavast knew it's name when he made the visions ~2,000 before present day and he's not very good at seeing the future. He knows it's name because he made it (he likes storms a lot). It's possible that the Everstorm was created to enforce the deal that keeps Odium bound. We know it's a deal between Shards because Dalinar has enough connection to Honor's remnants to let Odium out of it (OB Ch. 57 Passion). Odium doesn't show up and talk to people on Roshar until after the Everstorm is brought over and at first he can only talk to people when the Everstorm is near them. A year later he has more freedom via Connection. By moving a piece of the Storm to Roshar's physical realm it forms the "bridge" that the Diagram mentioned (WoR Epigraph Ch. 89). The Fused are still confined to where the Everstorm is, but now it is also in the Physical Realm on Roshar where they can bodysnatch Singers.

Early in Alloy of Law it was established that Wax's wife, uncle and sister were all dead. None of them were dead and all of them showed up as antagonist in one of the first three books. Gotta have one more to complete the Set Wax had parents (obviously) and a Grandmother, Vwafendal, who we met in BoM prologue. I'll go with Vwafendal because we met her and she lives in the Terris village that, much like the Set, has been obsessing over magical bloodlines in hopes of producing magic-users. The Village is focused on Feruchemists than the Set, but it's still an interesting parallel. Plus the Village has nothing but disdain for the outsiders in surrounding Luthadel. I could see someone like her working within the Set to take down Luthadel's government.

On the voice in Sazed's head telling him about the rings. Brandon said it was intended to be Kelsier, but later he realized the timeline doesn't work. Brandon Sanderson Yup, that's it. Moving the well, playing with where Kelsier was, and the physics of moving through perpendicularities between Realms all kind of combined to make what I had planned originally there not work. I tried fudging things so Kelsier could be there, and felt it was dishonest to the rules. So I didn't let him stray far enough from the Well to talk to Sazed there. Peter had thought for years that was Kelsier, I recall, and was sad we couldn't connect them. Herowannabe I don't suppose you'd be willing to share with us who the new, canonical voice in Sazed's head is? Brandon Sanderson I'm afraid I probably won't ever go into this. At some point, you risk twisting and turning too much. I have a canon answer in my head, but for readers, it will probably need to remain ambiguous--with "it was simply him coming up with it on his own" being a valid option. General Reddit 2016 (Aug. 22, 2016)

Radiant Spren = Elf on a Shelf. They are always keeping track of you and they can show up all over the place. Also they might give you magic. Roshar = What if like underwater was on the surface, maaan? Taln = Jesus with a gym membership and PTSD. Ghostbloods = East India Company meets Undercover Boss and Survivor. Dawnshards = Like the titular Mangler in Stephen King's The Mangler where an industrial laundry machine kills people who previously used it. Spiritual Realm =

There is a website that's become super popular this week. https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini. You type in words and the AI does it's best to generate art based on your suggestion. It is able to do a wide variety of art styles and is able to (I guess) google image search the people or characters you mention and identify them decently well. Say you type in Kaladin Stormblessed Muppet Perhaps you want to look at a courtroom sketch to confirm that Szeth Son Son Vallano wore white on the day he stood trial for (allegedly) killing a king. (hidden for size) Sometimes it's weirdly accurate and yet completely off at the same time. Like it started reading the coppermind article of who you mentioned but went down a wiki-hole and drew whatever if landed on instead. (MB & SA spoilers) It's terrible with characters who have no last name. If you include the book or series it will give you vibes. "Kelsier Mistborn Last Supper" (hidden for size)

For me, the saddest things to read are all the instances of Dalinar being mean to Evi in the flashbacks during OB. Even the first time through I knew she died relatively young and to see her sad really got to me. In particular when she shows up to the warcamp with the children he barely knows and he snaps "what are you doing here?" at her it's extremely sad.

I came here to say this. I think those bodies around where the fake bands were supposed to be were staged. I don't think anyone sat there and died of thirst or froze to death staring at the fake bands. Simplest explanation is the whole scene was staged including the bodies.

Ishar I don't know what he has in mind. To reset it without moving the storm back he'd have to key it to something other than the Everstorm. That seems like something they can't do without Honor. From RoW it sounded like Odium's agents, under Ulim's instruction, literally moved that piece of the Everstorm across the Cognitive Realm the hard way. They, like, walked it over and it took months. Maybe Daliinar can do a big clap opening a perpendicularity that sends the Everstorm back to the Cognitive on Roshar and then someone can walk it back to Braize like it's a dog. I don't think the Oathpact will go back to the way it was before. I think Dalinar becomes both Herald and Honor, so he's both parties of the Oathpact and he modifies it to trap Odium.As long as Dalinar stays on Braize Taravangian has to stay. So it's Dalinar and Taravangian stuck on Braize together indefinitely. It would be a nice call back to their last meeting in RoW where Dalinar was like "I hope we get to sit and chat again someday". I talk about it here: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/107059-discuss-the-stormlight-5-prologue-here/?do=findComment&comment=1335235 https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/107059-discuss-the-stormlight-5-prologue-here/?do=findComment&comment=1335378 Old Way The Oathpact doesn't necessarily prevent the Fused from getting new bodies it keeps them where the Everstorm is. It had only ever been on Braize and there are no suitable bodies for them to inhabit there. Odium could have modified some Fused to inhabit the stone surface of Braize (Thunderclasts) and they could run around on Braize, but that doesn't help them conquer Roshar except it allows them to capture and torture Heralds. Once the Heralds allowed them to leave they could get bodies on Roshar. Now that part of the Everstorm is in the physical realm of Roshar Odium can stuff a Fused in a body on Roshar if he wants even with no new broken Heralds.

I agree that Chana is Shallan's mom, but no Herald needs to have broken for the events of the novels to be happening. My interpretation is the Fused and Heralds (that are keeping to their Oath) are stuck to where the Barrier Storm is. We know from RoW that part of the storm had already been moved to Roshar cognitive realm before the end of tWoK. So Taln can show up in Roshar without breaking his Oath. Why didn't the Fused show up at that point? They don't have bodies, the Everstorm is in the Cognitive realm and they can't find any Listeners in the Cognitive Realm. The Heralds regrow their body automatically, they are never without one. Taln and Chana probably showed up in the Cognitive realm and Taln hopped over to the Physical through Honor's perpendicularity that moves. Chana is somewhere feeling bad about trying to kill her daughter and feeling embarrassed about losing in single-combat to a child. "He won't remain bound by this. The enemy. He'll find a way around it. You know he will." Kalak tWoK Prelude to the Stormlight Archive Right away the front 5 are set up as being about the enemy finding a way around something and our heroes having to deal with that loophole. Odium found the loophole by having the Listeners summon part of the Everstorm to physical realm Roshar. If a Herald had already broken, Odium could have reincarnated Fused to help the Listeners achieve this end. That he didn't means to me that he could not, the Listeners really could have used the help. The Listeners succeeded in bringing the storm, but barely. The people singing were being killed by Dalinar's troops when they got the job done. If the timing was off by a matter of minutes this 4,500 year plan is ruined by the people singing being killed before the summoning was completed. Oathpact Mechanism There is a Barrier Storm in the Cognitive Realm on Braize. It's probably always been named the Everstorm. In the Visions Honor refers to the Everstorm by name, he knows the name of storm that will be on Roshar thousands of year after his death because it already existed on Braize and he probably made it. He's big into storms in general. He creates a storm meant to seal things on Braize forEver. Anyways, this Everstorm enforces the Oathpact. It may also be what keeps Odium in and the Heralds & Honor created the Oathpact to piggyback on it. "As Odium is sealed by the powers of Honor and Cultivation your Heralds sealed the spren of the dead into the place you call damnation. The Heralds went to Honor and he gave them the right to this Oath." - Stormfather OB Ch. 38 We don't know for sure, but it's reasonable to assume that the Everstorm was created to enforce the deal that keeps Odium bound. We know it's a deal between Shards because Dalinar has enough connection to Honor's remnants to let Odium out of it (OB Ch. 57 Passion). Then Honor let the Heralds use it for a secondary purpose of sealing the Fused. Odium doesn't show up and talk to people on Roshar until after the Everstorm is brought over and at first he can only talk to people when the Everstorm is near them. A year later he has more freedom. By moving a piece of it to Roshar's physical realm it forms the bridge that the Diagram talked about. The Fused are still confined to where the Everstorm is, but now it is also in the Physical Realm on Roshar. The Fused are finally able to go to a place that has Singer bodies with gemhearts to inhabit.

Kelsier (he kind of held a Shard so he may not qualify.) Launched the plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler which succeeded. Picked up Preservation to prevent it from being splintered by Ruin. Saving a Shard is a pretty big deal. Saved the people of the Southern Hemisphere with the medallions. Created at least 2 religions (where he is worshiped as a god of course). Formed a worldhopping secret society in the Ghostbloods. Worked with Gavilar when he was trying to bring about a new Desolation. Khriss Depends how many people are reading her research. If it's like most academic publications it is only being read by other academics. She seems to act more as an observer than active participant in events when she is worldhopping. In MB:SH she and Nazh are like "Ruin's breaking loose, we're out of here!". Nightblood Achievement for most kills and most significant kills done by a non-Shard. Probably can't take the top spot because he needs others to wield him.

I do think Adonalsium was sentient Investiture. Investiture has 3 forms Solid, Liquid, Gas. Every example of solid investiture has been a metal so that's a way he manifested. The gas investiture we've seen has been things like breath, mist and stormlight. There are hints he appeared as light. The mural in Dawnshard that shows the Shattering depicts a a light being split in pieces. In Oathbringer Ch. 82, when Hoid tells his version of "The Girl Who Looked Up" the girl steals "god's light". In OB, Ch. 48 we learn Ado or "Adoda" means light and Adolin means born unto light.

That's a good catch! Vorinism seems heavily influenced by Odium. The whole "life on Roshar is training for the battle for the Tranquiline Halls (the Heavens)" lines up with Odium's plans for Roshar.

17th Shard agents when they catch up to Hoid on Roshar:

That's why I'm thinking Dalinar sends himself, as a vessel of a Shard, as the sacrifice to keep Odium in instead of the Fused. I think the Fused will be dealt with another way, anti-light, they switch sides like Leshwi or otherwise stop fighting and choose to pass Beyond. Just Dalinar and Taravangian hanging out on Braize endlessly debating with each other.

Yeah, it's a terrible idea if it's similar to how it currently works. I was thinking Dalinar might be able to improve it if he more permanently ascends to hold all of Honor and becomes a Herald. He as a Herald could make deal with Honor (Himself) to seal Odium on Braize. The Oathpact is between Honor and the Heralds, yet it seals the Fused who didn't agree to it. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/160/#e2898 So you can trap things against their will. My idea was with Honor (Dalinar) agreeing to stay on Braize it could upgrade the Oathpact to seal a fellow Shard vessel. Dalinar and Taravangian stuck on Braize together indefinitely would be a fitting end to the front 5 IMO.