I am pretty firmly in the "you" camp on this.  You are the sum of all the external and internal influences over the course of your life.  If you see a clown and hightail the other way, it's because you are the person who watched "It" when they were five.
I guess it could be argued then that "It" or the person who let you watch it or Steven King is pulling your strings.  But you are also the person whose mind had a greater susceptibility to being scared by Tim Curry in a clown suit.  And you are the person who didn't confront, rationalize and overcome your fear.
Maybe you can't help it, that's just how your brain was wired through genetics, evolution, creation, whatever, but it is still "you" whether making a conscious choice or not.

I enjoyed Hobb.  I read the Farseer trilogy in the mid 90s.  In 2018, I decided I read too many male authors, so spent the dedicated the whole year to female authors.  A decent portion of the was Hobb's entire Realm of the Elderlings.  The way she ties together the disparate stories over decades of plot is impressive.

Poppy War is on my list, I think it's one I need to wait until the trilogy or whatever is closer to done.  Oh crap, just looked it up, and book three is due in May (according to Amazon)?  Guess I'll short-list it.

Just finished Blindsight.  It was pretty good, but seemed to be lacking something...  It was suitably creepy.  The vampire thing was a little jarring at first, but was well-done (including the video presentation).  I don't know if I just expected the blindsight condition to figure more in the story or what.  It was still enjoyable, and I'll pick up Echopraxia at some point.

Next up, I realized K. J. Parker snuck a couple novellas through my radar in the past few months.

Back to eucalyptus, I know it grows all over the place.  I mention its nativity to Australia and surrounding islands merely to point out why it stuck out to me in the first place.  Certainly, and likely, there is no significance.

Finished Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.  Enjoyable, certainly, but as I told my wife, I prefer my fantasy to be more grave.  It's a good change of pace, and I'll certainly read more.

I'll shoot for 30 books this year.  Some things I might get to:

The ninth Expanse book.  I don't like to start a series too long before it is finished.  I read these expecting it out late 2019, but I guess it will be this year some time.

Terry Pratchett, specifically the City Watch arc of Discworld.  I've never read him before.

Bradley P. Beaulieu's Song of the Shattered Sands.  I enjoyed his previous trilogy.  I'll probably start it later in the year, as the sixth and final book is a 2021 release.

Josiah Bancroft's Books of Babel likewise will be wrapping up in 2021, so I imagine I'll get a jump on it in anticipation.

Peter Watts's Blindsight and Echopraxia.

Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower.  The Ancillary books were good, Provenance less so.  We'll see how she does with fantasy.

I'm toying with trying out the graphic novel Saga by Brian K. Vaughan.  If it wasn't a comic book, I'd be more certain.

I expect some rereads of K. J. Parker, maybe dip into Gormenghast if the mood strikes.  And of course, I'll continue slow rereads of TSA in between all else.

January (3):
The Light of All that Falls by James Islington.  Pretty good debut trilogy.  Ended nicely wrapping things up.  I'll read the next thing he writes.
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.  I expected better, despite not liking her God's War books.  I read a couple chapters of the next in the trilogy, but decided there were better things to read like:
The Warrior Prophet.  Excellent of course.  Fun to reread since knowing what comes after.

February (3):
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Blindsight by Peter Watts
Prosper's Demon by K. J. Parker

March (3)
Echopraxia by Peter Watts
My Beautiful Life by K. J. Parker
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

April (3)
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

May (3)
The Masters by Ricardo Pinto
John Dies at the End by David Wong
The Thousandfold Thought by R. Scott Bakker

June (0) 

July (3)
The Illearth War by Stephen R. Donaldson
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

August (1)
City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams

September (3)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Light, Time, and Gravity by R. Scott Bakker
Disciple of the Dog by R. Scott Bakker

October (3)
Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang

November (3)
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Video Palace: In Search of the Eyeless Man by Various Authors
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K. J. Parker

December (2)
The Jackal of Nar by John Marco
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Personally, my hobby of choice is Magic: The Gathering, secondary is table-top wargaming.  Not that I have much time of either of those too.

I was into MTG long ago from around Third Edition/Fallen Empires until Alliance (?).  I like the idea of it still.  I guess it primed me for modern board/card games.  I have a friend who occasionally gets me to play a war game, but it has to be something well under 3 hours.

Wouldn't they have a general understanding of how the No-God awoke the first time around?  My understanding was they were placing souls in the sarcophagus and eventually one did something.  They might not have realized the key was Nau-Cayuti in particular, but I would assume if they wanted to initiate resumption, they would be constantly trying new souls hoping they'd get another to work.

Post Mengedda, it appears the Consult has just been playing a waiting game.  Maybe they had too many things going when the No-God arose the first time to recognize the cause?