I believe Kellhus planned to wage a war against the Outside because that is what he tells us. As long as there was an Outside he and everyone around him would never be masters of their own fate. They would never reach the Absolute, the ultimate goal of the Dunyadin, which was defined as having no "darkness that comes before". As long as there's a bunch of gods running around the humans are just playthings. Not only was the No-god a physical threat to his plan (it would conquer the world) but it was an abstract one as well since it planned to "shut the world" from the Outside. This directly contradicted Kellhus' plan of destroying the Outside.

Once the nuke had gone off and he began to speculate on whether the Mutilated existed, I believe he quickly reached a dead-end in his thousandfold thought. Planning against one or several Dunyadin was simply beyond him. He also admits to not knowing the Arc or the Tekne. That's why he asks a lot of questions from the Mutilated, to understand their goals and tools. So while the Mutilated are trying to recruit him, he's finding out their goals and they are incompatible with his own because they do not have any designs beyond the physical world. Kellhus through the Gnosis believes the Absolute lies in the Outside (the god in him later claims to be the Absolute, it is possible that the Absolute = godhood).

His plan going into Golgotterath never changed much, he brought every resource the half-world could bear to help him fight. His goal was to overcome any threat against his path to the Absolute. The fact that he learned more and more about those threats did not change his goal or much alter his plans to get there.

Ajokli was going to fight everything that Kellhus couldn't. Aurang, for example, is defeated by cheating the laws of physics. The one hundred skinspies with chorae are as nothing before Ajokli.

As for Kelmomas, I believe the simplest explanation is the most likely. Upon becoming possessed by Ajokli, Kellhus mostly lost the ability to perceive Kelmomas and calculate what part he would play. He failed to foresee Kelmomas as a threat against any god. Although Kellhus absolutely retains the ability to read Kelmomas' face as seen after Kel kills Serwal, Kellhus reading of Kel back in the palace is fairly haunting. Kellhus tells Esmenet that Kel is the most damaged out of all their children. This is effectively Ajokli speaking through Kellhus, I think. Kelmomas is just a huge itch that they can't quite figure out together because of Ajokli. Kellhus is literally incapable of making the decision to kill Kel (he rationalizes this to "because I love Esme", which he never ever fucking did), nor can he see that Kel is in any way significant even after Kel saved him from the White Luck Warrior and Serwal.

So to sum it up, Kellhus planned to overcome any threat in Golgotterath. Knowing his foe had many legendary monsters and several great unknowns he brought every force he could, including Ajokli. Ajokli was able to overcome any enemy except Kel. Ajokli and Kellhus got fucked up.

Someone does, I thought it was Achiaman. Also even though Mimara was sold to pimps at an early age and has some specific knowledge in certain areas, is it possible that she just got the time of impregnation wrong?

I loved the world-building and the individual journeys that everyone other-than-Kellhus were on, but at the same time it still annoys me that they were not important at all. The Prince of Nothing series at least had an incredible solution where all strands of story were collected and unified to form a truly awesome moment. As much as insignificant main characters can have their own pivotal moments I still expect them to matter to the larger story.

In a way I'm reminded of the movie "No country for old men" where the story arcs are purposefully disjointed at the end (the veteran cop never finds the bad guy). But there we have an almost fourth-wall-breaking moment where one character grudgingly admits to just being confused and feeling disconnected from the world at large. It becomes a commentary on how the world doesn't necessarily adapt to the evolution of the story. I didn't get that feeling here.

My current theory is that Outside Kellhus conditioned the ground to get mortal Kellhus salted to complete the paradox.  Kellhus is still seen speaking with a voice he doesnt know so that's at lease one agency unaccounted since he'd know Ajokli.  So Kellhus was tricked by his future self because he obviously would have no reason to believe a voice telling him to salt himself.  I just believe that if we assume Kellhus is a Ciphrang, which seems a safe bet, that it's axiomatic for him to start doing what he does in the Outside since... that's what he does and he can't *NOT* do it.  Now he can do it in a place where time doesn't exist and he'd actually be a Ciphrang or even God since the first page of the first book.

I'm loving this idea. At the end of TUC he says he is the Absolute. As far as I can tell, being the Absolute means you have no darkness that comes before to rule you. The only way that seems achievable is to be a god capable of acting throughout time. Kellhus wanted to attain the Absolute, and did so (in his mind), and that essentially means he became his own darkness that comes before. It's a pretty huge mindfuck to have Kellhus' "nemesis/benefactor" throughout the series be himself after he has reached the Absolute. I'm not sure what it means for the next series though, is Outside-Kellhus going to give a damn about the world being shut? Hasn't he already reached his final goal?

I don't think you have to be invisible to the Gods to activate the No-God.
The first time it happened because they put Nau-Cayuti in It (or so it seems) so maybe you just have to be very powerful or special (Nau-Cayuti infiltrated the Ark, killed a Dragon, he was a certified badass).

I think people are saying it's the other way around. He would eventually become the No-god and therefore through some kind of time paradox he was *always* invisible to the gods, backwards in time as well. Basically it was his destiny.

Achiaman does look upon Kellhus before the mirage disappears and he sees no mark at all. Before the Judging Eye sees the scarab-like sarcophagus. That would indicate that it was always the No-god and not some quantum state.

Or Kellhus was truly redeemed (in the alternative universe) for having destroyed the Consult - by power of the god that possessed him, perhaps a part of their deal. And then "collapsed" into the No-god because of the Judging Eye. But that seems increasingly far-fetched imho.

What it seems like is the No-god used the illusion to bring everyone closer before he killed them. Only moments later he shows tactical acumen when using the tears of god against the few remaining schoolmen. The only bad fit about this that I can think of is that Achiaman's and Mimara's journey literally meant nothing in the grander scheme of things.