Sparrowhawk

I'm hoping that his main motivation really is doing good, and his lust for power is a flaw amplified by Odium, rather than his main motivation being power and him just hiding it behind utilitarianism. I think it's much more interesting if that's the case, because that kind of does give him a legitimate reason to want to be the sole power, if he really does believe he can make a nearly perfect world. If that's true, I'd hope he gives the Cosmere an example of that on Roshar ("this is what I'm trying to do, please do not resist"), but unfortunately it seems like he's not doing that (at least not yet). Basically, I really hope he doesn't just become a stereotypical unreasonable power-hungry villain (though he should definitely keep being a drama queen), even if he is the bad guy! I liked what he did by conquering most of Roshar via subterfuge and diplomacy (eg. Thaylenah), I want to see more of that! He may believe the ends ultimately justify the means, but I'd hope he'll still prefer siding with less destructive means when possible!

I've always liked Taravangian because he's an amazing utilitarian villain, and I've always kind of hoped he'd succeed in some way in making the world a better place, even if the narrative whoops his ass and forces some "journey before destination" nuance into his philosophy. When he became Odium at the end of RoW I was really hoping he'd basically just end the war or something (not that I expected him to). In WaT, I could buy that he was convinced he needed to get more power so he could be the uncontested, perfect ruler. But at the same time, he's not holding the shard of, like, benevolence, he's trying to control the infinite force of directionless divine wrath and emotion, and it's clearly warping him a little bit. I'll totally buy him getting kinda sidetracked by wanting to show-up Dalinar and Jasnah, but I'd be really disappointed if he kept getting more and more unreasonably tyrannical or aggressive. I'm sort of hoping the shard of Honor will help him keep to his utilitarian principles and resist the influence of Odium. This is why I was surprised when the new double-shard mix was called Retribution! That seems quite malevolent!! What do you guys think. Is Honor going to make Vargo more, well, honorable? Or just more inflexible?