Ok so this is my first time on this subreddit and it was either this theory or my casting choice for The Lopen. This felt like a better introduction I guess!

So we know that Ryse (Odium at the time) made an oath/deal with Dalinar regarding the war. That deal was between them as individuals. Soon after this deal was struck Odium visited our friend Tarvangain (I refuse to look up how his name is spelt) and Tar ended up killing Ryse the one who made the deal with Dalinar.

I think the biggest problem to come from this is that the deal/oath has now become null and void. The original agreement no long applies to Todium as he is not the man bound to the oath. Todium likely knows it's a fools choice to make any kind of deal with Dalinar since if the enemy wanted they could 100% beat Dalinar's armies and overtake everything.

Another, less devastating theory, is that Odium didn't think about the fact that he could capture a bunch of land before losing the challange thus leaving most of Roshar in his control save for Herdnez (again I don't wanna look up the spelling, many of the words in this book I pronouce wrong anyways) and Alethkar. So not a big win but better than nothing.

What're yall's thoughts? Maybe this is why Wit was so horrified when he learned Todium was in control? Because he would never logically agree to a duel of champions and that the current agreement didn't bind him as he wasn't the one who made the deal.