In an update posted on April 16th in the Stormlight Archive subreddit, author Brandon Sanderson revealed a bit of how the next Stormlight Archive book, tentatively titled The Rhythm of War, is shaping up.
Amongst the updates regarding word counts and concurrent progress on Starsight (the sequel to Skyward), was an intriguing outline of what characters might be where after the events of Oathbringer.
Speculation ahead!
Sanderson’s explanation via the update:
Rhythm of War, however, is plotted more like The Way of Kings—meaning the separate books in it are divided by viewpoints.
In TwoK, Kaladin’s complete arc was “book one” of my outline. Dalinar’s was “book two” and Shallan’s was “book three” with all of them being interwoven into the final product, and with Part Five being a capstone epilogue to them all. This novel is similar, though with more viewpoints.
We have what I’m calling the Primary Arc, which focuses on four characters who are all together in one place, their plots interweaving. The Secondary Arc is three different characters, their arcs interweaving, but in a separate location from the primary arc. The Tertiary arc is the last two characters, in a third location.
Though we’re still a ways off from Stormlight Archive Book 4, there’s now some fun speculation we can dig into. Who do you think will appear in which arc? What locations could they take place in? In what other ways might The Rhythm of War be similar to The Way of Kings?
I see Kaladin, Shallan, Venli, and Rlain being the first arc in voidbringer controlled lands. Kaladin because of the excerpt posted earlier. Shallan to keep them hidden/disguised. Rlain to blend in and try to turn parshendi. Venli because by accident Rlain will be how they make contact with her and she joins team Kholin. Or Moash instead of Rlain to be a counter point to Kaladin and cause conflict. I see the secondary being Dalinar, Jasnah, and Adolin back at Urithiru. Dalinar needs to be in the tower to lead the radiants and possibly get the tower working with help from Navani to delve into the Sibling. Jasnah to rule as Queen of Alethkar and Adolin at her side to rule as Highprince of the Kholin princedom. The last I feel like it is going to be Shinovar with Szeth having gained approval from Dalinar to pursue the shamanate, but I cannot for the life of me figure out who would accompany him. Actually as I type this, Lift possibly?
So TLDR
First Arc: Kaladin, Shallan, Rlain, Venli or Kaladin, Shallan, Moash, Venli
Second Arc: Dalinar, Jasnah, Adolin
Third Arc: Szeth, Lift
OK so my thoughts, the location is in parenthesis:
1) (Urithiru/Shadesmar): Shallan, Adolin, Jasnah, Dalinar/Navani/Renarin
2) (Conquered Alethkar): Venli, Kaladin and potentially Moash or maybe Lirin or even Rlain.
3) (On a mission): Szeth and a companion. Maybe Lift.
This line-up is based on the following assumptions/knowledge:
– The first arc has four characters and there aren’t enough main characters evolving around Venli for her to be part of this one. IMHO, she fits better with the second arc, grouped with Kaladin who’s narrative arc has been leading towards more Parshendis involvement.
– The larger group of character remains in Urithiru.
– Brandon confirmed Dalinar had a small role in RoW.
Here is an alternative with Venli within the first arc:
1) Venli, Kaladin, Dalinar, Moash/Navani/Lirin (Dalinar/Navani go away for politic, but with Venli somehow)
2) Shallan, Adolin, Jasnah
3) Szeth and a companion.
I don’t like this one as much because I do not find it currently makes narrative sense for Dalinar to be involved so soon within Venli arc. Hence, I am leaning on my first line-up though Dalinar/Navani/Szeth could be swap from primary to tertiary and vice-versa.
Considering this is supposed to be Venli’s book (with Eshonai flashbacks), she would have to be one of the four involved in the A-plot, though she wouldn’t have to interact with the other three in order for it to all be the same “book”. Kaladin and Shallan will most likely be 2 of the others. Don’t know who the 4th would be. Would be interesting if it was indeed Rlain.
B-Plot is probably Dalinar, Adolin, Jasnah in Urithiru/Shadesmar
C-Plot would be Szeth and Lift, though I wouldn’t expect much progress, since Book 5 is Szeth’s book (Stones Unhallowed was the working title last I checked).
A) Dalinar, Jasnah, Adolin, Venli coordinating in Urithiru.
B) Kaladin, Szeth, Lift, scouting/investigating in Alethkar, Jah Keved and Kharbranth. And maybe Shinovar and other territories as well.
C) Shallan, Rysn investigating the Origin and Aimia on Rysn’s new vessel.
I would agree with most of what you’re saying but we are leaving out Renarin. After OB I feel he will get more stage time to set himself up for his own book on the back half of the series. If book 4 is Venli then I think the major contenders for Book 5 are either Yasnah and Szeth so they might have minimal background in this. Also one tin foil hat theory is Adolin being chosen as Odiums champion which may materialize by the end of book 4 so it might be good to include him as well. Either way I couldn’t be more excited for 2021 (?) release
Since this is the Singers’ book, POV characters would need to be Venli and Eshonai, and carrying over major POV arcs, also Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, Adolin, and Moash. That’s eight. Leaves one spot, unless I am forgetting someone. Rlain seems like a promising candidate (I hope) for spot nine, but Taravangian with his Daigram might be it.
@6: Eshonai is dead so while she’ll be within the flashback, she isn’t taking one of the 9 spots. I think Jasnah needs to be added within your group thus leaving two spots open. Since Navani has steadily been acquainted within the main viewpoint characters, I thought it was realistic for her to take up a spot, one of the shorter one or maybe she splits with Dalinar.
So one spots, maybe two depending if Brandon accounts for Navani or not. I agree Rlain is a good candidate. Other candidates would be Lift, Renarin and maybe Lirin.
I think Taln or Ash will be the interlude novella. Or maybe one of them is one of the 9. This could also happen. This could lead to the following line-up:
1) Shallan, Adolin, Jasnah, Dalinar/Navani/Renarin
2) Venli, Kaladin, Moash or Rlain
3) Szeth, Taln/Ash
Kaladin, Adolin, Shallan and Jasnah try to reconquer Alethkar.
Dalinar, Navani, and Renarin stay in Urithiru (that gives a chance for family reactions to Dalinar’s past).
Venli and Moash show the enemy perspective.
Certainly one parallel would be a climactic battle at the ‘Tower’. Reminds me of Odium’s question to Taravangian in OB.
I don’t for a skinny minute buy the idea that Szeth is heading for Shinovar as a significant arc in book 4; that’s not going to happen until book 5, IMO. For now, I see him staying with Dalinar, wherever he is.
Because of the structure we’ve seen so far, I think the “leaders” for the three arcs are most likely Kaladin, Shallan, and Venli. Since this is Eshonai’s flashback book with Venli as the real-time character, I think that has to be either the primary or secondary arc.
Tentative proposal:
Primary Arc: Urithiru-based – Shallan, Jasnah, Dalinar, Szeth (Adolin, Navani, Renarin, Teft, Lopen, Skar, Drehy, Dru, and many others would be around, but not primary POV characters)
Secondary Arc: Wherever-the-Fused-are-based – Venli, Rlain, Moash (Khen may be with them, and possibly Vai)
Tertiary Arc: Alethkar-based – Kaladin, Lift (possibly others from Bridge Four accompanying them, most likely Sigzil, Hobber, Leyten)
Interludes: Rysn, Taln, Taravangian, Shalash, Nale, maybe Ishar, and random new characters
I really like the idea of Ishar being an interlude character. He know of him for such a long time and even Dalinar et al. are very much aware of him. His story needs to move further soon. It could also be told with Nale as an interlude character.
A parsh-related group (including Vyre/Moash) as one arc also seems to be a good idea. I would love to again see the Listeners, who fled through the chasms. Rlain might be a good POV to do so.
@5 Mullins We do know that Book 5 is definitely Szeth’s. The further plan is not as fixed, but as of now 6 will be Lift, 7 Renarin, 8 Ash, 9 Taln and Jasnah will be book 10. I am not sure whether we will need a Renarin setup yet, but I will love to be in his head. Also, I share your excitement for the release :D
Do we know who the prologue character will be? I haven’t seen a WoB yet, but chances are high I missed it.
Intriguing, to say the least. 9 PoVs. Hail Odium?
My approach to who would be where is rooted in which issues I think should be tackled in Book 4, namely:
1. A plausible look at the challenges of being a nation in exile and one gripped in the throes of religious controversy and societal change to boot. Which is why I expect one of the locations to be Urithiru + Shattered Plains, rather than just the Tower itself, and the problems of feeding and sheltering a massive wave of refugees as well as defending against the Fused + parsh raids to be prominent. Oh, and a significant religious upheaval.
2. Establishing contact and eventual alliance with surviving Listeners, which should help with:
3. The revival of the Sibling and restoring the Tower to full function. I expect it to become the climax of Book 4. IMHO, the Listener oral histories contain essential clues about the nature of the Sibling and the reason for their hibernation. Explorations of the Cognitive realm around Urithiru would also be involved.
4. On the characterization level, IMHO Shallan finally accepting and incorporating her latest Truth depends on her interactions with her brothers and eventually coming clean with them. Whereas her involvement with the Ghostbloods and Sja-Anat could provide vital insights into the nature of the Unmade and possibly also the Sibling. There may be clues hidden in the ruined city as well.
5. The other important event I expect to happen is the expedition to the Horneater Peaks and battle against the Fused and voidspren there, both on the physical and the cognitive side.
I also very much expect that there are going to be significantly more Radiants around in book 4 than the big 10, so that if a certain surge is needed for a particular task that wouldn’t neccessarily require a main character to be involved.
Concerning the question of PoVs – as I assume that the 9 characters in question are all PoVs that have more than one chapter, I am not persuaded that Eshonai doesn’t count as a separate one, as most (all?) of her flashbacks would necessarily be located on the Shattered Plains, while Venli could be anywhere. Nor do I expect the previous major PoVs to lose their status.
So: Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, Szeth and Adolin would all be part of the 9. That leaves us with 4 up for grabs, with the combo of Venli/Eshonai taking either 1 or 2 spots and Vyre another one. So, 1 or 2 spots remain undetermined.
Venli’s location is very much up in the air – personally, I wouldn’t expect either her preaching of the true Listener history to the parsh or her hiding from Odium’s gaze to remain secret for long, but Sanderson has surprised me before. Luckily for her, she is a Willshaper and will be able to Transport away if she is discovered. So, she can become involved in any of the arcs, really.
Shallan is going to be in the first arc focused on the Shattered Plains/Urithiru. If Eshonai counts as a separate character, she’d be the second one there. I expect Dalinar to remain put and be the third. Adolin is the fourth. If Eshonai doesn’t count, then there are many possibilities for the 4th PoV, starting with Venli, but Navani, who was earlier considered by Sanderson as a flashback character for this book and Jasnah/Renarin are also possible. OTOH, the doings of other Kholins can be conveyed through the already included PoVs. If Venli remains elsewhere, then one of those PoVs is going to accompany Rlain on a diplomatic mission to the surviving Listeners. The arc will involve short excursions into the Cognitive and to the southern Alethkar and culminate in the Listener – Coalition alliance and restoration of the Sibling.
Kaladin is going to be involved in the expedition to the Horneater peaks – he is already geographically close, judging by the discarded first chapter, and his friend and squire Rock is going to be the center-piece of it. On the characterization level, his interactions with his family and experiences of the aftermath of the Fused/parsh conquest should help him to progress to the Fourth Oath. Vyre seems to be a likely PoV to be in there with him, as well as one more. The events in northern Alethkar/Herdaz, culminating in the showdown at the Horneater peaks are going to constitute the second arc.
Finally, the third arc… Hm… There are many possibilities.
For one, we need to eventually understand what’s going on with Iri and Rira. The Riran heritage of Dalinar’s sons could play into it and the fall of Herdaz to the Fused is likely to bring their uncle back into the narrative, with some input on what might ge going on. Adolin or Renarin could be involved, paired with Lift, who has local knowledge. Or Szeth who can fly his companions and speaks many languages.
Then, there is Ishar/Tezim who could screw with the Azish area of influence, though I expect him to become a major factor only in the book 5. And Azish themselves. Lift would be the natural one for something like that.
Then there are the Skybreakers and Nale. Difficult to say what’s going on there, though I would be disappointed if the Order didn’t split over their mad leader’s decisions. Some of them might even chose to release their spren, if they swore to follow Nale as their Third Oath. Szeth could be canvassing them, paired with… somebody, but Sanderson may be saving this for book 5, which is the Skybreaker book, after all. OTOH, it also would be odd if split didn’t already happen during the whole year between OB and book 4…
And, of course, Taravangian may get more limelight in Jah Kheved, maybe even getting upgraded to a full PoV character before his eventual death. Though I’d also expect him to kick it in book 5, rather than 4.
Nearly forgot about Aimia – I dunno, it seems like there is some big revelation waiting there, so I am not sure that this a book for it. But maybe.
Now that I think about it, Szeth seems to be a sho-in for the most scenarios that I can envision for the third arc.
@11: Brandon confirmed the prologue character was Navani. Now, thinking about it, it may be this will be her only viewpoint chapter.
@12: Brandon wouldn’t give us additional clues as to which character were included within the 9: he said he’d rather wait until the book is near completed as such information would be taken as unwanted spoiler by some readers.
This being said, I am convinced the regular cast of recurring viewpoint characters will indeed by among the 9 so that’s indeed: Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Adolin, Szeth and Venli. I would add Jasnah. I am unsure about Navani. Now realizing she is the prologue character, I am tempted to leave her out. I am pretty sure Eshonai doesn’t count.
I am thinking we are going to read more of Moash and perhaps Bridge 4, so I thought maybe Brandon will group those together as “one character” as per what he did in OB. It would make sense he’d continue writing individual bridgemen’s viewpoints without ever making any one of them a main character. I am unsure about Rlain becoming a major viewpoint character. I know a lot of readers are throwing his name in, but we already have many characters, I tend to think the 9 will be already established characters. One could be the exception though. Still, I am tempted to put Rlain with the Bridge 4 crew as arc 2 third character.
For the last, well, I am unsure. In my other posts, I mentioned sometimes Lift, other times Taln/Ash though I do think one of them might be the interlude novella.
I personally agree on one of the location being Urithiru and another being Horneater Peaks. I put in “conquered Alethkar”, but that group could very well be traveling just as I expect the Urithiru group to travel to Shadesmar at some point.
I don’t think Dalinar is a character of importance in RoW, so I would put Adolin above him this time around. Brandon has been adamant on Dalinar having a small role in this book, he has warned readers about this coming up (but he also confirmed a much bigger one for him within book 5) whereas, when it comes to Adolin, well, let’s say he hasn’t kill off, yet, the possibility of giving him more meat to chew on. And, IMHO, Adolin currently got more going on for him, in terms of narrative, then Dalinar. Dalinar is the supreme leader, the over-powered Bondsmith who’s dealt with his past and is now secure in his position: while more conflict will certainly arise, he remains one of the fully grown character who’s basically solved much of his inner riddle. So my thoughts for Dalinar are he’s either arc 1 fourth’s character or he is within the third arc.
I agree with you about what Shallan’s arc is likely to focus on: Ghostbloods, the Unmades, her family and also Adolin. Brandon did say he was *finally* going to write they shared arc from Adolin’s viewpoint, at least some of it. OK so maybe his words could be interpreted differently, but it did seem to imply it very strongly.
I don’t expect Renarin to be more than an occasional viewpoint character, so I don’t think he counts in the 9.
I love the idea of having a Riran arc, but I find it hard to picture how it may fit with the structure Brandon gave us. The boy’s uncle may come into play… I am pretty sure Adolin will be grouped with Shallan just as I am pretty sure Renarin is not one of the 9, so how would it work? I really like it, but I am unsure how to play it out. Why would Szeth go there?
Speaking of Szeth, I see the following for him: one where he teaches the Radiants the surges and then asks Dalinar to go on his mission to Shinovar. Since it is Herald oriented, I could see him being paired with Ash/Taln or Dalinar. Szeth and Dalinar could start the book in the same location as the Urithiru group only to separate themselves at some point. Brandon never said no group could be traveling nor did he say two groups couldn’t share a location for a short time. This is hard. On one side, I want Dalinar to be around to tell his sons the truth and on the other I do find Szeth being around interesting.
I have no idea how to include the Skybreakers in there. Maybe they fight them?
So my updated line-up would be the following:
1) (Urithiru/Shadesmar/Jah Keved (maybe)): Shallan, Adolin (we got the follow-up for Skar and Drehy in his viewpoints as they are his personal guards), Jasnah/Renarin, Dalinar
2) (Conquered Alethkar/Horneater Peaks): Venli, Kaladin, Bridge 4 (including Moash, Rlain and the others)
3) Szeth and someone…
OK, this isn’t great, so maybe Renarin counts within the 9 and we have this:
1) Shallan, Adolin (Skar, Drehy), Jasnah, Renarin
2) Venli, Kaladin, Bridge 4 (Moash, Rlain, Rock, Teft, Lopen)
3) Dalinar, Szeth
And the grand finale is at the Horneater peaks. Group 1 converge there through Shadesmar, group 2 through land. I dunno about group 3.
I just had a thought! Brandon has said there would be a new dustbringers in book 4! Perhaps one of the characters in one of the arcs will be one and come further in the forefront. Makes me wonder who the new dustbringers might be. Perhaps Rlain? Maybe Rock? Or Shalash? Just because a person is a squire to a radiant or is a herald does not mean they will automatically be a member of that order. I am still holding out hope for Navani. WoB about dustbringers below:
Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]
Any new Dustbringers in Stormlight Four?
Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]
Yes, there will be.
FWIW, my “top nine” POV characters would be
1-5, no argument allowed ;) – Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Venli, Szeth
These are the five characters around whom the first five books are built, with Venli substituting for Eshonai’s POV in the current timeline. It makes the most sense to me that these will be five of the nine.
6-9, negotiable – Jasnah, Lift, Moash, Rlain
My pool for this also included Adolin, Navani, Renarin, Teft, and Rock, who all have had one or more POVs before. I went with the four above because they fit the best with what I think the significant plot arcs are likely to be. The one that would be most interchangeable on personal merits would be Adolin & Lift; the one most likely to be interchangeable based on plot arcs would be Rock and Lift.
I don’t think Szeth will leave Dalinar at this point, I don’t think Adolin will be away from Shallan, and I don’t think Kaladin will be with Shallan & Adolin.
If he introduces a new POV character, I’d suggest one of Shallan’s brothers. How about Balat as a Dustbringer?
OK this is so fun! Did I say this was fun??? My top nine are:
1) – no discussion allowed, those are among the 9 for sure: Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Adolin, Szeth and Venli
2) – quite probably, I am almost sure, I would be surprised if not: Jasnah
3) – I am unsure, I think this character may skip a book or shrink down to occasional viewpoint: Navani
4) – ideas for the remaining spots: Bridge 4 as an ensemble cast (including Moash and Rlain), Renarin, Taln, Ash
5) – new viewpoint characters, maybe occasional, maybe not one of the 9, but shiny new! : Lirin, Wikim, Mraize, Ialai
@15 Wetlandernw
I saw someone theorize that the Herdazian General might end up the new Dustbringer. I hope this is true because this could be a great counter point to how Malata develops as a dustbringer.