Taravangian, desolations, and the cosmere: thoughts, speculation, and theories. *potentially spoilerish*

[Lamguin]

First, I'd like to apologize if this is posted in the wrong place, or if someone else already said the same things somewhere. Also, it might get a tad rambly. I just had some thoughts I wanted to get out and get feedback on.

Taravangian (henceforth shortened to Tara, because that's a girl's name, and it makes me giggle. Also because spelling that out sucks.)

1. The "idiot king" thing isn't an act.

To clarify, obviously, some part of the "kindly old man" thing is an act. He's all evil and murdery and stuff. I'm suggesting that, rather than being clever and witty, he's more of a slow, deliberate thinker. Think Perrin from the Wheel of Time.

2. He's not actually evil.

Points against: He has admitted to running and being personally involved in the cold-blooded, systematic murders of hundreds, thousands, perhaps more, people. He gave Szeth orders to butcher the crap out of a significant portion of the world's elite. He gave off a totally creepy vibe when he was talking to Szeth. I don't remember the scene too well, and I don't have my book on me to check, but I'm almost certain that he was stroking a white cat throughout that scene.

Points for: The whole "systematic murder" thing? So he could chronicle the mystical and potentially prophetic last words of the dying. These words largely deal with the upcoming desolation. He's gathering intel so he can try to save the human race. Same deal with the orders he gave to Szeth. Chaos isn't the goal here. Throwing the world into chaos so that he or someone else who is in on the whole thing can seize power is the goal. He's throwing the world into a panic now, while there's time left to recover under the guidance of someone who won't drop the ball. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure he thought he had more time than he actually does. The herald at the end suggests that he's out of time to get the world in position beforehand.

I thought I had more for him, but if I did, it's mostly gone now. Maybe he's a Ghostblood? I don't really have an argument for that.

Desolations

1. They last a really long time.

If the Voidbringers are actually Parshmen, a theory suggested in-universe by a very intelligent character who has been researching this very thing for quite some time, and whom we are given no real reason to doubt (so, given that Brandon Sanderson wrote this, the chances of her being tragically, hilariously, wrong are about 50/50), then, in order for the Desolations to have been so very devastating, they would have to last long enough for people to forget that the Parshmen were so docile beforehand. Just like the times in between need to last long enough for people to forget that the Parshmen go batcrap crazy and try to kill everyone.

2. The Ghostbloods were originally created during a desolation.

Rather, the secret society that eventually became the Ghostbloods. Someone must have tried to remember that the Parshmen have an on/off switch that runs homicidal rage/docile servant. Forming a secret society makes about as much sense on that score as everyone forgetting all about them. When the last desolation began to look like the Last Desolation, they likely realized that their original goal no longer mattered. Or it was a more natural shift. Maybe someone figured that the best way to guarantee that their group would be in a position to do something worthwhile for the next desolation would be to have certain members of their group gather political power. Enough time passes, and instead of power being a means to a worthwhile end, it becomes the end itself.

3. The Ghostbloods will form the framework to rebuild the Knights Radiant.

It's a secret society whose original purpose might have been the survival of mankind through the desolations. It might even have been created by some of the last batch of Knights Radiant who never completely gave up on their oaths. I feel like I'm really reaching here.

The Cosmere

1. The Stormlight Archive will not include Odium's shard being dealt with in any significant way.

Odium is stated in the letter as being the worst of the shards of Adonalsium. And Rayse is stated to have been a world class a-hole even before he took the shard. After seeing what holding Ruin did to Ati, a nice enough guy, again according to the letter, it really doesn't seem like much of a stretch for Odium to be the Big Bad of the cosmere. He can't be dealt with in SA because he's got bigger plots to be involved with.

2. Hoid.

I fully subscribe to the theory that he wrote the letter. Too much about it makes sense for it not to be the case, in my mind.

Which means he knows the people who currently hold the shards as people, rather than just as shardholders. Which means that he either knew them when Adonalsium was shattered (and may have been involved), or there's been a mass switching of shardholders. This second idea seems really unlikely to me.

Somehow, he is always around on a shard when significant events are happening. And he has a knack for giving just the nudge needed to just the right person at just the right time to allow things to work out for the best. Even when it seems to have no real significance to the greater cosmere (see Warbreaker). I'm guessing he has some way of seeing potential futures, and knowing exactly where to tip things to make a difference.

Is he immortal? In the sense of not dying from old age, I'd say yes. I'm betting he can be killed, though. Or maybe he ages like normal, and, in addition to traveling between shardworlds, he also travels only to significant times on those worlds. Holy crap, he's Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap!

3. The guys at Purelake are mentioned in the letter.

And one, possibly all, are from the Elantris shardworld. I'm certain I've read this exact theory before. I agree with it. Just wanted to mention it here. The reason I think one or more of them are from Elantris is because that's the only other system in the cosmere we've seen so far that provides some form of magical travel.

Thanks for slogging through this wall of text. If I've screwed up any facts from the books, I apologize. Feel free to offer correction. And commentary.

[dj26792 he/him]

In regards to the people at the purelake, we have cnofirmation from brandon that one of them is Galladon, from Elantris, and that others are both from other worlds, one of whom we dont know as that book hasnt been published yet, while the other we should be able to recognise from their description, there is a thread on it somewhere. I need time to think about the rest, so I'll get back to you on that

[Lamguin]

So he is. I just looked it up on the Coppermind, and I never connected the "Understand?" with "Kolo?", despite knowing quite well what "Kolo?" meant.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

Brandon has also hinted that Hoid does have some way of seeing the future somehow, and that he's got some way of skipping forward through time, so he hasn't lived all the years, but he's still older then a normal person could manage. Also, he told us that King T. at some point sought the old magic and now his IQ fluctuates randomly each day.

[fiveAM he/him]

Awesomely long OP =D

I agree with a lot of things you said but I've always imagined the Envisagers as the remnants of the Radiants and to become the framework for rebooting the Radiants. I don't know what that bridgeman (sry i forget his name..) did but I imagine the Envisagers were spread out across society and probably not completely wiped out. Also, the Ghostbloods have targeted Jasnah, who along with being Dalinar's favorite niece, they seem to share some secrets (possibly having to do with Jasnah's mission of researching the Voidbringers and the Ghostbloods' reason for targeting her. This means Jasnah, Dalinar, and by extension Kaladin and Shallan are enemies of the Ghostbloods, (oh and possibly Elhokar) which are all the people who have shown (potential) Surge abilities thus far (other than Szeth). So it seems a bit unlikely that the Ghostbloods will be the framework for the KR 2.0 when we have already probable future KR on the other side.

Also, I remember reading a thread a few weeks back discussing Tara (keke) and his possible connection with the Ghostbloods. If I recall, that wasn't the thread title but it sort of got to that point. But a lot of people seemed to think that Tara probably isn't in the Ghostbloods because he seems to have his own master plan, and there is someone already established as the Ghostbloods leader (sorry i'm blanking on the names- i believe it's one of the names said by Gavilar when he asks Szeth who sent him). Personally, if Tara IS in the Ghostbloods, I think he's just using/fooling them (with his fluctuating IQ) and he's hiding Szeth from them.

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Can anyone link me to the Q&A where Brandon tells us about Taravangian's fluctuating intelligence as a result of seeking the Nightwatcher? I've seen that mentioned here, but I don't remember ever reading it for myself. When you're talking to authors, it's always nice to know their precise wording. They're like Aes Sedai, they can't tell a direct lie about their work, but if they want to they can phrase it in a way to give you the wrong idea.

Not that I think that's the case on this occasion, I'm just curious about what else might be in this Q&A that I haven't considered.

Back to the OP. There's some good stuff in there, some incorrect assumptions that have already been pointed.

Taravangian: EVIL?

Almost all the major villains so far haven't been particularly evil, just following their own, very cruel, but still honorable paths. Taravangian wants to destabilize things first to create a more united whole from the pieces. Sadeas wants to carry on the current Alethi traditions of ruthlessness and individual strength, and looking out for yourself first and foremost, partially because he feels it is best for the nation. Amaram betrayed Kaladin mainly because he felt that if Kaladin wasn't going to take the Plate and Blade, the war effort would be best served if Amaram himself took them up. Szeth kills because he is bound by his oaths, although we aren't truly sure to what degree he's bound and to what degree he's simply avoiding making choices for himself.

Length of the Desolations

I don't see any real need for the Desolations themselves to be long, as long as the time between is long enough for people to forget the varied ways Parshmen behave. Also, it's possible that they remained cautious enough about Parshmen to keep them away from their own settlements even when Desolations weren't ongoing, before the Last Desolation. Their integration into society has only happened now that it has been 5000 years since the Last Desolation instead of a hundred or a few hundred. Also, after being told that it was the "Last Desolation" they probably were a lot less worried about the Parshmen becoming dangerous again.

Ghostbloods

I haven't put any thought into their origins myself, so I find the idea that they were founded as a beneficial secret society interesting. We really don't have enough to work with though.

Hoid

In the reddit interview, Brandon said that Hoid had already lived much longer than any normal human, but that he hadn't experienced firsthand all the years he's been around, and used time dilation techniques to skip the boring stuff. (paraphrased) CrazyRioter, where was Hoid's prophetic ability mentioned? There's another thing I'd like to read for myself.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

the thing about King T. was said recently at the Manchester signing, there's a report in the events forum, unfortunately I do not recall where the bit abut Hoid's ability to see the future,came from, but I believe it is fairly recent.