Moony009

I didn't think of this immediately, but after seeing peoples' thoughts here, I think Battar coming back makes sense in the lens of self-preservation. Tara/bution was seemingly going to call back all of the spren, including the pieces of Honor born by the Heralds, and unmake/remake them. She could be salvageable like some of the Heralds seem to be, but I think her continuing as an agent of Tara/bution in the back half could make sense still, even if she came back to reforge the Oathpact. Because even though that was an act against Tara/bution's best interest, it was arguably in Battar's best interest, as failing to reforge the Oathpact could have seemingly put her utterly in his power. Binding Tara/bution and protecting the spren would make sense in that scenario, because she could still find a way to work with him in a more mercenary fashion as she had been, without letting herself become a slave/servant.

I found it interesting that Sanderson seems to be impacting the Heralds more with the time dilation than the rest of Roshar. I believe the gap for the back five books is supposed to be 10 years, which might give Kaladin only months to help the Heralds, since Ishar apparently indicated to them that years on Roshar might only be months for the Heralds. I'm guessing that choice is to not give the Heralds enough time to go through substantial therapy before having to get back to Roshar, so they will still likely have serious issues upon coming back for the back five books I'm expecting that will be highly relevant for Taln and Ash, who are supposed to be flashback characters, but also Battar (Dova). Nothing is set in stone, but I feel Sanderson is not ditching the idea of Battar turning on the other Heralds, even with the help the Heralds already received in WaT, and even with whatever help Kaladin might give them between the two arcs. Tara/bution (Todium at the time) seemed intrigued by the idea of recruiting her, and by the idea of her returning to be among the Heralds again while being his servant. This, plus the curious way she helped reforge the Oathpact make me think she is not going to go the route of Nale.