Thaumium

I think something along the lines of "I will sacrifice myself to save many" That would mean not many 5th ideal windrunners flying around though.

I might be wrong, but I have always intended and I would say it is heavily implied that what Odium represents is actually the entire spectrum of emotions. He should reward any passion, in theory whether they be (generally considered) good or bad ones. But i agree that as a matter of fact he usually ends up rewarding the bad ones, it is specified in the text a few times with things like "oh, empathy is a rarely rewarded passion, be careful with it" or some similar lines. (Sorry if I cannot quote the exact text, I red the books in the italian translation) I do not recollect this having ever been explained. What do you think might be the reason for it? Is it the Shard's Intent converging on evil emotions for narrative reasons or is there a deeper explanation? Wow. THIS gave me actual chills. Good point.

Oh you're right sorry. Damn you Italian keyboard auto-correct!

Venli. I mean, we might as well switch the focus on Timber, as she is the one who actually takes all the decisions. Venli appears to be there only to slow down Timber.

As much as I would like to believe that Hoid somehow planned this in advance, a part of me would be disappointed by that, as it seems obvious from the text that Hoid is expecting to be dealing with Rayse in that meeting and his false confidence is born from his deep knowledge of the character he is going to face. He would never expect Rayse to think of something smart as messing with his Breaths because, let's face the truth, Rayse was dumb and Hoid is well aware of that. At the end I think Brandon wants us to feel disturbed by what happens in the epilogue, and disturbed we feel. I wouldn't wish for anything better.

His was a glorious end. I loved the respect that Brandon paid to this charachter... Dying, knowing that he is loved, with no regrets whatsoever. I usually do not cry reading books, this time I just couldn't help myself. Goodbye sergeant and let me sai this (quoting another beautiful scene): Teft will not be dead, as long as he lives in the hearts of readers.

I agree with most of what you state (thank you for the WoB quote btw, very consistent). I kind of feel like the conclusion should be different, as from my point of view there will be much difference between T. and Rayse as Odium, the reason being his strong will not yet corrupted by the shard's power and, as Brandon stated, his fallibility as a "recent" mortal. If you think about it, we had T. as Odium for a few pages yet, and still he already managed in interfering with Hoid's plan (the depths of this disrupt is yet to be seen, but still an incredible feat), a thing Rayse could not do in thousands of years. Either way, I am so thrilled to uncover T.'s future plans. Him being not only a powerful god but also a man with a strong philosophy, the exact counterpart of Dalinar's, these are the things that makes a story interesting.

Taravangian Is a machiavellian charachter, meaning that for him the ends justify the means. I think you understood T's earlier motivation, but at that time he had the point of view of a mere human, who is not aware of the presence of many other planets with sentient beings on them. I can't dare to imagine what his goals can be now that he has the full cosmere consciousness, but I will go with a wild guess: "save them all" may refer to all the living beings in the cosmere. T. is willing to take upon himself the burden of tough and cruel choices, in order to create a peaceful cosmere. On this standpoint, it is easy to realize that the future of Roshar and its inhabitants becomes secondary if it can be twisted to obtain the greater good.

That would be Venli, seems like most of things kind of happen to her instead of her making them happen. Does it make sense? For now, at least. I will be happy to change my mind.

Tough choice really. Gun to my head, I think I would either go for Taravangian or Kelsier. I like the complicated guys. Honorable mention must go to Raoden, Sazed and Dalinar. These are my top 5 anyway.

Hi everyone! I'm just some regular guy from Florence and probably Italian's number one Sanderson's fan, well at least in the top 10, not a competition anyway been following you all for quite a bit now and I finally decided to create an account and partecipate in some crazy cosmere discussion! I've always been into High Fantasy reading and discovered Brandon's jobs 5 years ago, and I would confidently say I have red a good 70-80% of cosmere stuff up to now, willing to reach 100% before Stormlight book 5 is out. Nice to meet ya all!