Gelatinous Hypercube

I don't know that we have enough of her actually acting on her own personal ideals as a Vessel to know one way or another. Sacrificing Roshar for the greater good of getting the Cosmere to stop ignoring that Odium is killing shards seems like the kind of possibly unethical plan that would lead to Taln trying to kill you. In the same vein as my previous response, wouldn't manufacturing a galaxy-wide war to take care of something that was only your personal system's problem previously be both a solution and part of the problem? I don't think she was able to handle Odium, in terms of "handle" as in conquer or resolve the underlying issue, but she could influence its Vessel towards a path. That total defeat or subjugation seems like something that would take the effort from everyone else, and this is the only real way we've seen to get other shards involved and caring about Odium (other than waiting until after Cultivation was possibly also destroyed and he controlled the entire system and got to do his training plans, make his army fully, etc.).

I have not seen widespread discussion of this and would love to see any information I may have missed that debunks or supports it. Since the release of Wind and Truth and her flight from the Rosharan system, I have seen a fair bit of Cultivation disregard and disrespect, which I feel is exactly the interpretation of her actions that she wanted outside observers to come away with. It looks like she lost, but I think that the situation we see at the end of Wind and Truth is the best possible outcome for Cultivation, and is also the result of a conspiracy between herself and Endowment that has stretched over much of the Cosmere's publication-focused timeline. This conspiracy is the driving force behind the creation of the entire Cosmere-wide war that we see in later books. Cultivation is now free of the Rosharan system, no longer tied to it but also leaving behind powerful actors and parts of herself that Retribution is ignorant of. She has been playing Taravangian since she first gave him his boon, and continued to use him for her own ends even after he took up Odium. The Tower is now active, and is the only Investiture alternative to Retribution on Roshar. In terms of how Cultivation's Investiture and influence are spread, she is in close to the same situation as at the start of Wind and Truth - the largest difference is that she is now free to travel elsewhere and everyone else now has to deal with Odium/Retribution instead of it being just her and the cognitive shadow of her partner. She finally gets to see him put to rest fully as well. The shard Honor itself is now growing and changing due to Dalinar's actions. The entirety of the Cosmere has been shaken from its static existence and is now forced to grow and respond to Retribution. Everyone else can no longer ignore Roshar and continue as they have been, and this eventually leads to the war between Roshar and Scadrial. If Odium had remained trapped on Roshar, the universe as a whole would not have changed. Cultivation's powers and actions We have seen that both Honor and Moelach were able to correctly predict the coming of the Night of Sorrows. We hear from a Tanavast POV chapter that Cultivation has better future sight than him, and that she likes to work from the shadows and cover her actions with misdirection, utilizing plans within plans. It is extremely reasonable to think that Cultivation also would have been able to see the coming of the Night of Sorrows we see at the end of Wind and Truth. Cultivation gave her boons to 3 individuals. Dalinar and Taravangian were necessary for Retribution to be created. Taravangian also used Cultivation's boon to bring Szeth into the picture, the man who killed Rayse. The third individual, Lift, is now the only Radiant in the system who is not aligned with Retribution and who has free access to Investiture. If Soulcast metal can be used to power Allomancy, it makes sense to me that food from anywhere would allow Lift to generate Lifelight. She is not tied to the Rosharan system. She is the only person we know of who is so heavily Invested by Cultivation. Brandon has stated that he is preparing her to be a major player in later Cosmere books. Endowment's powers and actions Endowment gives Divine Breath to Returned, influencing the course of actions on her planet hundreds of years ahead of time. She's also big on planning ahead and making convoluted moves through others who don't know what they are doing on her behalf. One of them is eventually sent back and named Warbreaker. We know from WoBs that his purpose is yet to be fulfilled. His name is Warbreaker. Retribution's light is Warlight. He still has a war to break. The largest war we've seen in the Cosmere is probably coming, and one side literally has the name War for their investiture. From a WoB, she was involved in the creation of Nightblood more than normal, but likely not directly. This is the sword that would go on to kill Rayse and be necessary for the ascension of Retribution. Endowment states to Hoid in a letter that she has plans to deal with Odium. Other parts of the conspiracy At least some of the Five Scholars visited Roshar at some time prior to Warbreaker. This trip is what inspired Nightblood, who eventually would contribute to the creation of Retribution. The easiest Perpendicularity to travel through would have been Cultivation's, and the Unkalaki have stories about travelers utilizing it. We also know that Azure traveled through it while chasing Zahel, and if he used it successfully once it makes sense that's the one he would travel through his second time. I am not completely sure on this part of the timeline, but if the Scholars visited after the Recreance then Odium's Perpendicularity would have been largely inaccessible and Honor's would have been constantly moving and hard to predict where you'd exit from or where to find it to return to Nalthis. So, All of the pieces that were necessary for Retribution to come about were created by Cultivation and Endowment, and there are indications that the people they have influence over have interacted in the past (and this was actually necessary for the creation of Retribution). How Cultivation manipulated Taravangian, even after he took up the shard She now likely has knowledge of a possible source of power over him or way to attack him: the fact that Kharbranth still exists. She WANTS him to be confident, she taught him that he should be confident in his planning and foresight when he is intelligent and touched by divinity. Taravangian recognizes her strategy and what she wants done to improve the Cosmere, but doesn't realize that the last sentence can also describe her actions towards him. This quote is her trying to trick him into combining the shards into Retribution, leading him to believe it was the conclusion he came to himself. It also indicates that he is unaware that Cultivation and Sja-Anat set him up to take the power of Odium, and indicates that even as a god he is still being moved by her. It reinforces his belief in his own powers, but he completely misses that the powers he used to destroy his predecessor were actually HER power. Taravangian thought that it was his usage of the tools present (Szeth and Nightblood) that led to Rayse's death and his taking up the shard, but he didn't realize they were all Cultivation's tools. The payoff Investiture is being used and combined in completely new and unique ways, and entire planets of people are now being connected to the wider Cosmere through the imperial policies of Roshar and Scadrial as they fight a cold (and possibly hot in places?) war across the universe. People and parts of Investiture itself are growing and changing in unexpected and fresh ways. Cultivation does not appear to be openly under attack or even understood as existing by most people involved in the war. Endowment's arguably most successful chosen Invested person is now teaching Cultivation's chosen Invested person and we know that she will be a large part of the story in the future, however neither they nor their influence have been openly present in any future Cosmere novels so far. This seems like a reveal that would come out in a later Era and so Brandon is not touching on any of the systems or players in his later Era novels at the moment.