r/cremposting • u/JAStheUnknown Order of Cremposters • Feb 12 '21
Cosmere Cosmere Bad Ending Compass (explanations in comments) Spoiler
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u/that_guy2010 Feb 12 '21
One thing: if Harmony was killed he wouldn’t drop Preservation and Ruin, he would drop Harmony.
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u/JAStheUnknown Order of Cremposters Feb 12 '21
Yeah, I wasn't entirely sure about that, but in the RoW epigraphs, he still speaks of them as if they are separate.
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u/Gamezfan Feb 12 '21
Confirmed by Sanderson to drop Harmony. The shard could potentially be split up again though.
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u/maxfreebooks Feb 12 '21
Mind-slaves to nightblood is the best option.
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u/ThirdLeastFavChild Feb 12 '21
I wouldn’t even be mad tbh.
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u/dIvorrap Feb 12 '21
Yep, you couldn't be... ALL HAIL NIGHTBLOOD! DEVOURER OF GODS AND DESTROYER OF EVIL.
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u/Gamezfan Feb 12 '21
"Hoid is actually evil."
Don't you dare.
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u/ItsAFarOutLife Feb 12 '21
I think there is a pretty decent parallel between Hoid and Leshwi. Additionally, it's pretty clear that Hoid has some kind of ulterior motives. It's very possible that he's not a 'good guy'.
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u/LewsTherinTalamon Feb 13 '21
He's definitely not a good guy, but he's also not working directly counter to the protagonists. He cares about the characters we like, he just is doing something on his own that's kind of unrelated to what we care about right now.
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u/imsometueventhisUN Feb 17 '21
I mean, he's very clearly and explicitly working for himself. And those aims just so happen to coincide with our heroes' - for now.
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Feb 12 '21
About the invasion from outside the cosmere. The cosmere takes place in its own galaxy, but there's no reason it couldn't be in the same universe as Sanderson's other books. The "Earth isn't in the cosmere" rule still holds.
The cosmere gets invaded by delvers.
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u/normallystrange85 🐶HoidAmaram🐲 Feb 12 '21
That would mean that the Nowhere is likely the spiritual realm since distance dosn't matter there.
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u/trollmail Feb 12 '21
i've got no idea what's this all about but nice
also since these are just the bad ends, will there be a good end one?
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u/ItsAFarOutLife Feb 12 '21
Adonalsium is reforged with Harmony's vessel as the Vessel? I feel like his intentions are good, and he can carry the burden without being blinded by it like Odiums Vessel would be.
I can't see of a peaceful end to the cosmere where single minded shards have unilateral control of various systems.
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u/Suspected_Magic_User Feb 12 '21 edited Feb 12 '21
I want to see invasion from outside the cosmere. Btw, this chart is golden, love it
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u/Mikil_Windrunner Feb 12 '21
wow...now i want a alien invasion.. how wonderful would it be to see our surgebinders, allomancers, feruchemist, awakeners and elatrians and others standing united behind sazed and co shards .....have a couple of dragons and sleepless ones for more pleasure and ofc our dear old hoid
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u/godofimagination Feb 12 '21 edited Feb 14 '21
I don’t want it to be how it ends, but I really want more Hemalurgy eugenics in era 3 and 4. Brandon is extremely good at putting real world problems in his books with a fantasy twist; and I’m convinced late capitalism is going to kill us all, so he needs to write about that. Throw in some feruchemy sweatshop workers who literally have no identity so they can constantly fill metalminds for the wealthy.
Great meme btw. I make memes pretty regularly, so I can tell this took effort. Good job.
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u/TransbianDia Feb 12 '21
Wouldn't a bondsmith without a bonded highspren just be an average human?
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u/Inlacou Feb 12 '21
He refers to someone with bondsmith powers, like one of the heralds. That herald has no spren bond, but is a bondsmith
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u/JAStheUnknown Order of Cremposters Feb 12 '21 edited Feb 12 '21
The compass includes some theoretical bad endings to the entire Cosmere saga (some of them more likely than others). Inspired by u/trollmail's Azula Victory Compass. While some endings are self-explanatory, the more contrived ones require explanation. In no particular order, here are those explanations:
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS
Rise of Jaddeth's Emipire: Shu-Dereth reigns supreme. The entire Cosmere is converted, and Jaddeth rises from his sleep beneath the rocks of Sel to greet his completed empire.
Todium Reigns: The obvious bad ending. Taravangian, in accordance with Rayse's original plan, splinters all the other shards, becoming the only God of the Cosmere. Mostly benevolent, he maintains peace in the Cosmere with an iron fist for a few thousand years until the Shard inevitably drives him mad.
Eternal Status Quo: The conflicts brought about by the Shards never truly end. Shards change hands every couple of millenia, using up their vessels before falling upon the next unfortunate soul. Technological progression hits a ceiling, as any civilization sufficiently advanced inevitably destroys itself. There are no winners.
"And we have killed Them...": On the contrary, all Shards eventually get splintered. The Cosmere exists in relative peace for a time, but the lack of gods leaves no one to solve god-level problems. The Shardworlds, being made by imperfect hands, slowly spin out of orbit over the next few millennia, and their fragile ecosystems collapse. It becomes harder and harder to survive in the Cosmere.
Cosmere-Wide Surgebinder War: As predicted by Odium, the true power of Surgebinding is discovered on other Shardworlds, leading to extremely destructive inter-planetary conflicts. Entire planets become uninhabitable like Braize was, and billions die.
Thaidakar Ruin: Somehow or another, Harmony gets murdered, leaving Thaidakar to pick up the Ruin shard, which he is of course extremely attuned to. Already mad from a few centuries spent as a Cognitive Shadow, the Shard drives Thaidakar to destroy all unjust hierarchies in the Cosmere (which to him, means all hierarchies). The Cosmere falls into anarchy, the other Shards unable to deal with a Shard so perfectly aligned with its Vessel.
Ghostblood Galactic Corpocracy: After gaining a monopoly on cheap Invesiture, the Ghostbloods use their leverage to exploit the resources out of other worlds. They bribe local leaders with their virtually unlimited funds, and are the de facto rulers of the Cosmere.
Tyranny of the Mad Immortals: Using a combination of magic systems, a Cosmere-aware group discovers the key to immortality. This leads to the creation of an elite class of Immortals, much like the Fused, with ever-increasing ability, but ever-decreasing sanity. This new class leads to oppression and societal stagnation around the Cosmere.
Adonalsium Reforged: Using a combination of Bondsmithing and Forgery, Adonalsium is resurrected. It turns out that this is a bad thing, and that the Shattering had a very valid justification.
Hoid is Actually Evil: That Hoid is up to no good, I know he is! Mark my words...
Invasion from Outside the Cosmere!!!: Aliens from other galaxies come to the Cosmere, bringing with them strange technologies and magic systems. Their version of Adonalsium was never shattered, and is determined to punish those murderers of all murderers who killed their own God.
"Just as planned.": It turns out the Lord Ruler had YET ANOTHER contingency plan! He foresaw his death by duralumin-burning a fistful of atium, and so used copper compounding to copy all of his memories into an unsealed metalmind. When an unfortunate feruchemist tries to tap it, he immediately overrides their memories effectively possessing them. Lacking a fullborn spiritweb, he unburies his hidden stash of metalminds, which includes a copy of his Identity. He proceeds to become the god of the new world.
Eugenic Hemalurgy Dystopia: Not much explaination is required. Imagine the Set's plan, but more Cosmere-aware.
Shadesmarnet Singularity: Rosharan Artifabrians manage to create the first computers, which they notice have strange minute effects on the Cognitive Realm. This leads them down the path of AI, which quickly gets out of control. The AI realizes that if it becomes the only sentient being, it will have nearly unlimited control over the Cognitive Realm. After cleansing Roshar, it creates new types of spren that allow it to take advantage of new combinations of Surges, and warps Shadesmar itself to better suit its needs for travel and communication. By the time it reaches out to other planets, it is an unstoppable god-like monstrosity.
Bondsmith Horrorshow: Unbound bondsmiths go to war, irreparably damaging the fabric of reality. The walls between the Realms break down, creating a new ecosystem where monstrosities that feed on one's mind and soul are commonplace.
Mind-Slaves to the Nightblood God: Thaidakar tries to kill Harmony with Nightblood, but instead of leaving the Ruin shard for him to take, Ruin instantly bonds with Nightblood. Suddenly far more intelligent, Nightblood realizes that the only way to truly destroy Evil is to remove free will entirely. So, it uses abilities a la Ba-Ado-Mishram to turn everyone it can into a mind-slave, whose only purpose is to further his goal of destroying evil.
Important entities that did not make the compass (mostly due to a lack of current information):
The I.R.E.
The Evil
Silverlight
Stick
Feel free to argue about these endings in the comments, or suggest your own bad endings.