Your personal Tumblr library awaits
Crazy post WaT theory: Dalinar’s cognitive shadow is still alive.
When Retribution tried to save and use him, what stopped him was that Dalinar was “claimed by another”. And that he slipped through his fingers. This suggests to me that while Dalinar was connected to both Honor and Odium, there was a third shard he was more connected to.
He previously rejected Odium for Honor in Oathbringer, and at the climax of this book, rejected Honor, favoring growth over adherence to the oaths.
He rejected Honor in favor of Cultivation, and she now has his cognitive shadow.