Ladoneye

I feel like a key point here is thinking about how the Blackthorn isn't just who Dalinar was, but is the world's perception who who is is/was. Every time we saw the rulers of the coalition hesitant to let him into their countries, every time someone remembered the brutality of his armies in wars decades before, they were building the think that would become what the Blackthorn is now, which is pretty damn scary in my opinion lol. This thing's motivations are simply the motivations other people have given it, and what little programming I imagine Odium was able to swirl in there as he brought it into existence. As far as the Blackthorn losing control on the battlefield... yeah that could definitely happen. But I mean, Odium's brand is passion and fervor, and so I wouldn't be surprised if over zealousness is something he can look past cause it falls in line with the way he already runs things kinda-sorta. So maybe the Blackthorn isn't strictly speaking the best possible general, he still has a ton of traits, both as a soldier/general, and as a figurehead capable of drawing legends and reputation to him, that put him at the top of the list for potential leaders for Taravangian's army. I still just wanna hear more El stuff, cause he's so cool and we know so little

Yeah you got right at the avenue that I was thinking down in putting Odium and Reason together, excellently put. I probably should also have been more clear originally in stating that I highly doubt that there will be actual "official" opposite Intents, but it's fun to theorize you know. So far I've seen a lot of people pitting Odium and Devotion against eachother, which I can understand cause it's tempting to look at one as "good emotion" and one as "bad emotion", but really Taravangian, as he's been built up to be, has really just been the expression of all emotion, all passion, and there have been times that he's expressed "good" emotions when in his more sympathetic times, like how he wants to see his family safe, or the love and respect he feels for Dalinar as a friend and a man of honor. I think that the shard itself was mostly born of that huge ability to process emotion, and then eventually gravitated toward Odium since hatred, animosity, these feelings are the easiest to spark and the easiest to let smolder in the form of grudges for generations, and as such makes for the best most powerful fuel for the Shard. I imagine Devotion less as simply Compassion, as I feel it would likely have been named something closer to that if it were, but more like a direction for emotion, as commitment, and solidarity, which you can definitely see in the way the Selish magic systems manifest from cultural identity. But yeah again I don't think there's a right or a wrong answer here, it's just been fun to theorize and this conversation has gone some really interesting places lol. Also this would be so interesting to see, and I could imagine some kind of net positive magic systems where you'd hold a power and the longer you held onto it and let it stew in your body or whatever the more potent and strange it would become. Somebody write to Dragonsteel and let me know we've cracked the Cheese Magic puzzle

With the reveal of the final Shard intent being Reason, race to make tables and groupings of Shards has already begun, but ever since I read Mistborn Era I I always theorized that different Shard Intents could have opposites, pushes and pulls, like Preservation and Ruin do, and I'm surprised just how little I've seen this idea on the forums. It could be that I'm just not paying enough attention lol, but regardless, here is my list and reasoning for each Shard pairing, and I'm interested in what you all think. Preservation - Ruin This one is pretty obvious, and is made clear during Era I, them being the embodiments of stasis and entropy, permanence and change. It's also displayed in Era II, in Harmony's inability to act because of the polarity of the Intents. I find it notable that Retribution has no such limitation, so it's not a side effect of being a double Shard. You could argue that Ruin and Preservation are a special case, but again, I feel that it's simpler than that. Endowment - Cultivation This one makes a lot of sense to me, because it's the relationship between having something be given to you, vs having it be built up, cultivated, over time. One has the sense of something more immediate, or involving an exchange, and the other is a slow build, involving care and toil. Not to say that Endowment doesn't care, and the magic systems and actual personalities of the Vessels aren't really as significant in this discussion as simply the Intents themselves, as we understand them. Honor - Mercy This one is interesting, and in my mind has only become strengthened by the new perspective on Honor offered to us by the events of Wind and Truth. That being the idea that Honor is not morality, and in some cases is even a lack of such, as it only really cares about keeping one's word, and holding to Oaths, even if there are terrible things being sworn. Mercy is the willingness to break oaths, forgive debts, and do what is right despite the fact that punishment might be "justified". Think of honor killings, or the old samurai tradition of seppuku, wherein they kill themselves to avoid shame falling upon their family or to atone for grievous crimes. Mercy can also be violent, and the term "mercy kill" is also one that exists, but it is quite often pitted against the idea of honor in history and pop culture. Autonomy - Dominion Now, we don't know much about Dominion from Elantris, other than the effects that her presence had on the landscape of Sel. However, looking simply at the word we've been given to describe the Shard's Intent, it makes the most sense to associate it with domination, control, and hierarchy. This doesn't necessarily mean subjugation or oppression, as we've seen pretty much every Shard has both a good and bad side/interpretation, but you could see how Autonomy would play against Dominion, being the soul of freedom and self-determination. Again, Bavadin herself is rather domineering, but I bring up again that the Vessel's personality isn't relevant. Invention - Virtuosity These two Shards stand out a little bit among the others, but when you get into it a little bit, it makes sense that they would be opposites, because they are essentially the difference between form and function. Invention --as it has been interpreted by the fandom thus far-- is often viewed as a creature of industry, mechanics, Grand Apparatuses, if you will (Apparati?). Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and thus Invention seeks to remedy problems. Hoid has, many times, asserted that art is pointless, and loses meaning when it is given a function. Whether or not you agree with this point of view, it displays a clear opposition between art (Virtuosity) and Invention. Devotion - Whimsy This is another pairing which could be relatively obvious. Devotion is commitment, consistency, and even divine love and compassion as we've been told in WaT. Whimsy is by definition flippant, capricious, and relatively uncaring, jumping from idea to idea, whim to whim, without consistency or commitment to anything. Odium - Reason This was a pairing that I was so satisfied to be able to make a connection on. For so long I had been waiting to find a good foil for Odium, and with the introduction of Reason, I believe it can be the only answer. We've gotten really up close and personal with Odium in the last two Stormlight books, and its Intent has been introduced as a thing which feeds on emotion, sacrificing logic for passion. We see this in Taravangian and his condition before he ascended, where his compassion and ability to feel emotions could not exist at the same time as his practicality and stark decision making. It's the head vs the heart. We know very little about Reason, but I think that the word that was eventually chosen is the perfect opposite to Odium. Valor - Ambition Now... this pairing is the only one I'm still working out, and I'm not sure I have a full explanation for how they could be opposites. We know so little about either of them, and they were sort of the leftovers when I was making a chart, but in talking with others we've theorized that it could potentially be something along the lines of Valor being self-sacrifice and bravery in defending others, and Ambition is looking out for one's own self or kin? It's difficult because these two words could in some cases be interpreted as synonyms, and have the same sort of zeal and innate sense of action in them, but I think there could be an argument made. So that's all that I have, and I'm interested to hear what you all think!

So Brandon answered a question during the Secret Project 1 reveal livestream regarding the name of Tress's planet, and said this: I was thinking about this the other day and I realized that this would have some weird implications when applied to the rules surrounding Connection and how a worldhopper can use it to translate languages on the planet they are currently on. Theoretically, because the word for planet (assuming they just use the word for planet as their home planet's name) would translate into the native language on the world they are on, doesn't that mean that it's possible that say someone from Scadrial visiting Roshar could refer to their home planet, but the Connection would pick it up as Roshar as that is the word which has the same meaning in their present location? I mean yeah it's super specific but I'm sure it would have happened at some point, so is there any WoB guidance that explains this? I know Hoid has mentioned 'coins' on Roshar, even though that word doesn't exist there, but that only didn't translate because there wasn't anything to translate to. Something like 'planet' or 'world' would have an equivalent. I've got nothing left you guys I need some help here