Master Silver

This might be dumb. But the phrase "we each send" is curious to me. What if Taravangian interprets that as sending the willing champion at that point in time, but he has them walk to Urithiru.... Like Nohadon (gotta love The Way of Kings). The contest can start till both sides get there. Sounds like a loophole to me. Journey before destination.

As far as Adolin being Odium's Champion, I don't see it. Only way it could occur is if Adolin becomes so embittered (maybe by failing in Azir) that he convinces himself that he deserves to die and the best way to sacrifice himself is by being the champion of Odium, ensuring a Radiant victory by not fighting. And he can also say you can kill me like you killed my mom. The other option going from a death rattle, would be Dalinar being able to save Adolin, abdicating the throne and leaving the contest to save his son. The choice of Honor is life. Then Kaladin must pick them up. The fallen title, the crown, the spear. I can also see poor Renarin trying to step in and getting killed. Dalinar ascends and resurrects him, but that is post Kaladin holding Renarin in his arms. Dalinar ascends and appoints Kaladin as Champion. It is possible that the Radiants win the contest but lose everything else, leading to the exile.

Now THAT would be unexpected..............Oooooooo can I change my vote??? The night will reign, because the chose of Honor is life. I think that death rattle shows that Dalinar takes the Shard up. Kaladin then becomes the god of those who don't go to war by taking the place of the Wind. Everyone ends up a good guy. Go team Roshar!!

It was mentioned earlier that that Odium is primarily, divine hatred, but I think divine wrath is a better description. Taravangian sees a starving child, and it stirs up his emotions, the strongest of which is fury, or divine wrath. Combining the Shard of Honor with Odium, should change the Shard from Divine Wrath to Divine Justice (hopefully tempered by mercy). What happened to Tanavast towards the end was that the Shard overcame him, and he cared more about the oath than why it was taken. He was a bit like Nale. But empathy should temper the Law. So really, although we may end up with a more violate Shard than Honor, it would be far more controlled than Odium. And if divine justice looks like visiting judgment on petty gods, then perhaps for a time the Shard does become War, but after the war is over it returns to the Shard of Justice.

Going along with this theory, which I think is excellent, what if these Dawn Cities and their spren were connected to particular Heralds. The heralds known for particular divine attributes had those manifested in certain spren. When the spren were unmade, it began to cause madness in the Heralds which Honor had to specifically counteract by directly connecting them to the spiritual realm. But Honor was unable to do this on Braize so as the madness got worse over the centuries the heralds broke earlier and earlier. Also, the perpetual breaking of the oath pact began to weaken Honor and then the Recreance left him mortally wounded. I think Honor united himself or his power to the hearts of men so that Odium could not possess them but this led to his death.

I can't say I have read ALL of the back and forth on Shallan. But I do think that she is 4th ideal with Pattern and starting to reform her bond with Testament. If we remember when Kaladin nearly killed Syl, it took him swearing a new ideal to fully heal the bond. Side note, those couple of chapters are likely my favorite of everything Brandon has written.

In terms of healing, it seems like Truth Watchers and Light Weavers are significantly better at healing than WIndrunners or Skybreakers. I am not sure where edge dancers fall. So the same ability may be easier or harder taking more or less light/energy/work depending on the person.

I have to agree, that at least two of these armies were already in motion before the agreement was made. The 1000 fused strike force being the exception. They do have a direct link to Odium and could be mobilized very quickly. This means that perhaps Odium was not expecting for the Radiants to be able to move their forces quickly. Taravangian may have improved upon Rayes plan by adding the third strike force because they lost Urithiru. In fact it is likely that Rayes probably thought the attack on Thaylin city would be defended with everything and then seizing Azir would be the prize. Mr. T. being a genius realizes he could still win everything.

lol nice. I dub thee the king's Wit

My understanding is that many Skybreakers are on the third ideal, and have decided to follow Nale. So, if Nale is healed he may turn on Odium, since his oath as a herald might compel him to. Also, his oath as a Skybreaker allows him some flexibility. Even if some Skybreakers of the fourth ideal don't which sides, this would give Thaylin city a fighting chance. I really like the idea of applying what was learned in RoW to the fight on the shattered plans. Navani's fabril technology helped in first battle of Narak. If she is able to expand the Siblings protection to Narak or the camps temporarily, she can put all the fused to sleep. Also, shard bows, with arrows filled with anti-voidlight might do the trick. Are shard blades made of the Honor god metal? If you can disrupt their powers you have a chance. There are less than 500 Radiants and Roughly 80 shard blades (not sure if that is counting plate). So Dalinar is out gunned in terms of investiture. Also, we don't know if Dalinar is including squires as Radiants, I'd say not just because there are so many Windrunner squires. Being the defender gives Dalinar an advantage, but holding for 5 plus days is a tall order. With Azimir the easiest thing to do is lock the oath gate. I know that works in the physical realm. Does it work in the Cognative realm too or is it up to the oath gate spren? Finally, I think this sort of assault sorta shows us what the last battle in the prelude to TWOKs looked like. You divide up the heralds and the various KRs and send Taln to the place you think you would lose. After those pitched battles, most of the Fused (who were the generals) have been placed back on Braize so the desolation ends.

So this is a positive spin on that. Dalinar ascends to Honor. Realizes that Odium is Tarivangian. The two of them talk. Dalinar looks into the Cosmere and says Mr. T is right. They then agree to a plan to save them all. Taravangian will be the god of War and Dalinar will be his Avatar. So Dalinar lays down the Shard of Honor which Taravangian picks up. And then he promptly kills Cultivation which destroys Roshar. Kaladin who has become the champion of the old gods of Roshar leads the broken ones to establish a kingdom at peace to prepare for the final war after Taravangian and Dalinar have done their work. In a sense the good guys win, but it is terrifying for everyone that is not team Roshar lol

One thing that I didn't realize is that perhaps Adolin allowing Maya to take what she needs from him has created a crack in his spirit web. I feel like he is not bouncing back as well as he used to. Or maybe we are just seeing inside his head more.

It could be Unity vs Harmony or it could be War vs Discord, or War vs Harmony.

I would rather Hoid die than Dalinar or Adolin.

Just a couple things on the chapters, I find the way the Stormfather is acting to be completely insane. He is like a 12 year old thinking he has all the answers and knows what is best. He has withheld vital information from his bonded Radiant. The Stormfather is not Honor. And the merger of Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow with him seems like perhaps there wasn't a lot of Tanavast left when it happened. In terms of all of these new people being introduced, I think that some will be Ghostblood plants, but others will be new Radiants that perhaps tip the scales in our hero's favor. I don't know that I trust the sole Dustbringer. It is possible that the Skybreakers flip back to the Radiants mid-battle if Kaladin can come through and restore the oath pact. Can a shard be splintered in two?

She could perhaps have taken up the power herself (would that be self-growth)?

It should be remembered that Hoid although he does care, is willing to literally let the world burn to keep Odium bound. Probably more so now, that the Shard holders is actually more capable and thus more dangerous.

Why not just have all monarchs change their seat of power to Urithiru?

I don't remember 100%, but the user of the Breath has to gift breath to others correct? So unless Hoid knows how to do something, like give a command that when Kaladin plays the tun of Roshar the breathes in the flute become his, I don't know how you would give Kaladin an extra boost. Without a ton of breaths to make things intuitive 10 or even 100 breaths doesn't change or expand someone's soul that much. I still think Breath+ Spren bond seems to be the most naturally suited two magic systems. Or at the very least I like the combination the best.

Yes, there could have been a council of 5th ideal Radiants. I imagine that at first the Almighty worked with the Kings, and Jezerin was in charge of the Heralds. As time went on the Heralds likely governed their Radiant orders, but as they became more effected by the torture, the most capable Radiants likely took their place. They would have needed successors in between desolations anyway.

So I think perhaps that was Rayse plan. Dalinar mentions that Odium likely waited too long, and that is why the power was tearing him apart. This is why he was forced to set terms even though it wasn't what he wanted. But of course he knew what he was planning, so perhaps the contest is a way to keep both bondsmiths off the field of battle.

Mraize... Mraize will die like any other hound that hunts a lioness. Also I think this Ghostblood lose end could be tied up very quickly and neatly. As long as Shallan confides in Navani, the Sibling will locate the Ghostbloods in a few minutes and in a couple of hours they will all be dead.

So there is a three pronged attack that is going to take place. The enemy (Odium) may have meant for these to be surprise attacks, but the cat is out of the bag. Especially, if the plan was to sack Azir first and then use the reinforcements to go to Thaylen city and the shattered plans to quickly overwhelm the defenders, this is no longer going to occur. The siege of Kholinar took time. The battle of Thaylen fields also took time (although less time). If we are on day 2 and Odium's forces are still moving. It will likely be at least another two days before they can begin their attack. After arriving they will have to array their forces set up camp, etc. So, they will have less than a week to take some of the largest cities in the world. And they are all fortress cities that will have Radiants. Sending Stonewards, Elsecallers, and Edgedancers to each location further fortifies the cities. Even if you can't win any of the battles, you just have to hold for 5 days. I am just thinking of how long the sieges in 15th and 16th centuries sometimes took. Finally, there are also two wild card armies. Ishar's and the Listeners who seem to have dozens of Chasimfiends. How would you all defend against these attacks?

Hoid has a way of hiding from Shards, but can he hide from Cultivation, especially in the tower? They both knew Rayse. If Cultivation is concerned, you would think she would want to collaborate with Hoid. I am still at a loss about how they are going about the contest and preparation. I will post that elsewhere.

Dalinar trusting Adolin would also show continued character growth. Dalinar is older than he was. Adolin is the better duelist. Not the better killer, but how will anyone die with unlimited stormlight or tower light or odium light?