Hi all, love the forums and the discussion, want to start by thanking all the people who have made this a fun place to lurk.
I'm new to the whole greater cosmere aspect, so apologies if I get terms wrong, or if I'm rehashing something that has been done to death.
Firstly, is it ever explicitly stated that the voidbringers are supported by odium? I understand that voidbinding is the form of investiture associated with him, but are the creatures themselves?
I have been tossing around the idea that the oathpact was a pact between the three shards of Roshar, an agreement to put aside their differences in order to fight an external threat. The breaking of the oathpact by the heralds led to Odium, the shard dominated by lust to fight, the reason for war, as honor explains to Dalinar, destroying Honor. I'm not sure how well this all stands up, but it's a thought. Viewed this way, the constant war and struggle that Odium engenders on Roshar may be just what Vorinism claims, a way to be stronger. Perhaps odium isn't the shard trying to destroy mankind, but trying to ready them in the only way that a violence obsessed shard can, forcing them to fight in order to better their ability to fight.
I realize all this is a stretch, but I kind of like the idea that the three shards once worked together, just as Ruin and Preservation in Mistborn. Taking this line of thought further, it could be guessed that perhaps the major invested objects we have seen in Roshar were each invested by the action of different shards. Odium, the destructive force, creating the shardblades as tools of destruction; Cultivation, the life-giving force, creating the shardplate as tools to enhance and protect, and Honor forging the bonds between mankind and spren that grant the powers of investiture.
The shardplate and spren attachments are weaker, but I like the idea of odium being the force behind the shardblades. The lust for them is driving the wars that entangle Roshar, their destructive nature seems right up Odium's alley, and it might explain why Syl, an honorspren and presumably close to Honor, bound to Kaladin after he refused the blade. The blade is the tool of destruction, he chose the third path, to fight only in order to protect. that seems to me like the path of honor. Also, Syl comments that she prefers Dalinar after he gives up the blade.
Last quick thought. I may be reading to deeply, but it seems like Lirin's argument "there are those who heal, and those who kill", as well as Kaladin's belief that there are also those who kill to protect others, closely mirrors Cultivation, Odium, and Honor. Just a thought.
Thanks all for reading through this wordy first post, I look forward to hearing your thought, or any holes I've missed.
