Brandon Sanderson’s epic Stormlight Archive fantasy series will continue with Wind and Truth, the concluding volume of the first major arc of this ten-book series. A defining pillar of Sanderson’s “Cosmere” fantasy book universe, this newest installment of The Stormlight Archive promises huge developments for the world of Roshar, the struggles of the Knights Radiant (and friends!), and for the Cosmere at large.
Reactor is serializing the new book from now until its release date on December 6, 2024. A new installment will go live every Monday at 11 AM ET, along with read-along commentary from Stormlight beta readers and Cosmere experts Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey, and Paige Vest. You can find every chapter and commentary post published so far in the Wind and Truth index.
We’re thrilled to also include chapters from the audiobook edition of Wind and Truth, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Click here to jump straight to the audio excerpt!
Note: Title art is not final and will be updated as soon as the final cover is revealed.
Day One
Kaladin — Shallan
Chapter 1: Unfamiliar Ground
I should have known I was being watched. All my life, the signs were there.
—From Knights of Wind and Truth, page 1
Kaladin felt good.
Not great. Not after spending weeks hiding in an occupied city. Not after driving himself to physical and emotional exhaustion. Not after what had happened to Teft.
He stood at his window on the first morning of the month. Sunlight streamed into the room around him, wind tickling his hair. He shouldn’t have felt good. Yes, he’d helped protect Urithiru—but that victory had come at an agonizing cost. Beyond that, Dalinar had made a deal with the enemy: in just ten days, the champion of Honor and the champion of Odium would decide the fate of all Roshar.
The scope of that was terrifying, yet Kaladin had stepped down as leader of the Windrunners. He’d said the proper Words, but had realized Words alone weren’t enough. While Stormlight healed his body instantly, his soul needed time. So, if battle came, his friends would fight without him. And when the champions met atop Urithiru in ten days—nine, since the first day was underway—Kaladin wouldn’t participate.
That should have made him an anxious, stewing pot of nerves. Instead he tipped his head back, sun warm on his skin, and acknowledged that while he didn’t feel great, someday he would feel great again.
For today, that was enough.
He turned and strode to his closet, where he picked through stacks of civilian clothing neatly laundered and delivered this morning. The city was a mere two days free from occupation and the fate of the world approached, but Urithiru’s washwomen soldiered on. None of the clothes appealed to him, and shortly he glanced at another option: a uniform sent by the quartermaster to replace the one Kaladin had ruined during the fighting. Leyten kept a rack of them in Kaladin’s size.
Kaladin had stuck the uniform to the wall with a Lashing last night, after Teft’s funeral, as a test. Urithiru was awake, with its own Bondsmith, making things… different. His Lashings normally lasted minutes at best—yet here this one was, ten hours later, still going strong.
Syl poked her head into his room—past the hanging cloth doorway—without any thought for privacy. Today she appeared at full human size and wore a havah rather than her usual girlish dress. She’d recently learned how to color her dress, in this case mostly darker shades of blue with some bright violet embroidery on her sleeves.
As Kaladin fastened the last buttons on the high collar of his uniform jacket, Syl bounced over to stand behind him. Then she floated a foot or so into the air to look over his shoulder and examine him in the mirror.
“Can’t you make yourself any size?” he asked, checking his jacket cuffs.
“Within reason.”
“Whose reason?”
“No idea,” she said. “Tried to get as big as a mountain once. It involved lots of grunting and thinking like rocks. Really big rocks. Biggest I could manage was a very small mountain—small enough to fit in this room, with the tip brushing the ceiling.”
“Then you could be tall enough to tower over me,” he said. “Why do you usually make yourself shorter?”
“It just feels right,” she said.
“That’s your explanation for basically everything.”
“Yup!” She poked him. He could barely feel it. Even at this size, she was insubstantial in the Physical Realm. “Uniform? I thought you weren’t going to wear one anymore.”
He hesitated, then pulled the jacket down at the bottom to smooth the wrinkles across the sides. “It just feels right,” he admitted, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
She grinned. And storm him, he couldn’t help grinning back.
“Someone is having a good day,” she said, poking him again.
“Bizarrely,” Kaladin said. “Considering.”
“At least the war is almost over,” she said. “One more contest. Nine days.”
True. If Dalinar won, Odium had agreed to withdraw from Alethkar and Herdaz—though he could keep other lands he controlled, like Iri and Jah Keved. If Odium won, they were forced to cede Alethkar to the enemy. Plus there was a greater cost. If Dalinar lost, he had to join Odium, become Fused, and help conquer the cosmere. Kaladin wanted to think that the Radiants wouldn’t follow as well, but he wasn’t certain. So many people thirsted for war, even without the influence of an Unmade. Storms, he’d felt it too.
“Syl,” he said, dropping his smile. “I’m sure more people are going to die. Perhaps people I care about, but I can’t be there to help them. Dalinar will have to choose someone else to be champion and—”
“Kaladin Stormblessed,” she said, rising higher into the air, arms folded. Though she wore a fashionable havah, she left her hair white-blue, flowing free, waving and shifting in the wind. The… nonexistent wind. “Don’t you dare talk yourself into being miserable.”
“Or what?”
“Or I,” she thundered, “shall make silly faces at you. As I alone can.”
“They aren’t silly,” he said, shivering.
“They’re hilarious.”
“Last time you made a tentacle come out of your forehead.”
“Highbrow comedy.”
“Then it slapped me.”
“Punch line. Obviously. All the humans in the world, and I picked the one without a taste for refined humor.”
He met her eyes, and her smile was still storming infectious.
“It does feel warm,” he said, “to have finally figured a few things out. To let go of the weight and step out from the shadow. I know darkness will return, but I think… I think I’ll be able to remember better than before.”
“Remember what?”
He Lashed himself upward, floating until he was eye level with her. “That days like this exist too.”
She nodded firmly.
“I wish I could show Teft,” Kaladin said. “I feel his loss like a hole in my own flesh, Syl.”
“I know,” she said softly.
If she’d been a human friend, she might have offered a hug. Syl didn’t seem to understand physicality like a human did, though where she’d been born—Shadesmar, the Cognitive Realm—she had a substantial body. He had the sense she hadn’t spent much time on that side. This realm suited her.
Dropping to the ground, Kaladin walked back to the window, wanting to feel the sunlight. Outside he saw the heights of the mountains, capped by snow. Wind blew across him, bringing with it fresh scents of clean, crisp air and a flock of windspren. Including those that made up his armor, who soared in around him. They stayed close, in case they were needed.
Storms, he’d been through so much so quickly. He felt echoes of an anger that had almost entirely consumed him at Teft’s death. Worse, the feeling of nothingness as he fell…
Dark days.
But days like this existed too.
And he would remember.
His armor spren laughed and danced out the window, but the wind lingered, playing with his hair. Then it calmed, still blowing across him, but no longer playful, more… contemplative. All through his life, the wind had been there. He knew it almost like he did his hometown or his family. Familiar…
Kaladin…
He jumped, then glanced at Syl, who was walking through the room in a half dance, half stride, her eyes closed—as if moving to an inaudible beat.
“Syl,” Kaladin said, “did you say my name?”
“Huh?” she said, opening her eyes.
Kaladin…
Storms. There it was again.
I need your help. I’m so sorry… to ask more of you…
“Tell me you hear that,” Kaladin said to Syl.
“I feel…” She cocked her head. “I feel something. On the wind.”
“It’s speaking to me,” he said, one hand to his head.
A storm is coming, Kaladin, the wind whispered. The worst storm… I’m sorry…
It was gone.
“What did you hear?” Syl asked.
“A warning,” he said, frowning. “Syl, is the wind… alive?”
“Everything is alive.”
He gazed outward, waiting for the voice to return. It didn’t. Just that crisp breeze—though now it didn’t seem calm.
Now it seemed to be waiting for something.
* * *
Shallan lingered atop Lasting Integrity, the great fortress of the honorspren, thinking about all the people she’d been. The way she changed, based on perspective.
Indeed, life was largely about perspective.
Like this strange structure: a hollow, rectangular block hundreds of feet tall, dominating Shadesmar’s landscape. People—spren—lived along the inside walls, walking up and down them, ignoring conventions of gravity. Looking down along one of the inside walls could be stomach-churning unless you changed your perspective. Unless you convinced yourself that walking up and down that wall was normal. Whether a person was strong or not wasn’t usually subject to debate, yet if gravity could be a matter of opinion…
She turned away from the heart of Lasting Integrity and walked along the very top of the wall. Looking outward to survey Shadesmar: rolling ocean of beads in one direction, jagged obsidian highlands—lined with crystalline trees—in the other. On the wall with her, an even more daunting sight: two spren with heads made of geometric lines, each wearing a robe of some too-stiff glossy black material.
Two spren.
She’d bonded two. One during her childhood. One as an adult. She’d hurt the first, and had suppressed the memory.
Shallan knelt before Testament, her original spren. The Cryptic sat with her back to the stone railing. The lines and pattern that made up her head were crooked, like broken twigs. In the center the lines were scratched and rough, as if someone had taken a knife to them. More telling, her pattern was almost frozen.
Nearby, Pattern’s head pulsed to a vibrant rhythm—always moving, always forming some new geometric display. Comparing the two broke Shallan’s heart. She had done this to Testament by rejecting the bond after using her Shardblade to kill her mother.
Testament reached out with a long-fingered hand, and Shallan—pained—took it. It gripped hers lightly, but Shallan had the sense that was all the strength Testament had. She responded to being a deadeye differently from Maya, who stood nearby with Adolin and Kelek. Maya had always seemed strong of body, in spite of being a deadeye. Spren broke in different ways, it appeared. Just like people.
Testament squeezed Shallan’s hand, bearing no expression but that torpid motion of lines.
“Why?” Shallan asked. “Why don’t you hate me?”
Pattern rested his hand on Shallan’s shoulder. “We both knew the danger, the sacrifice, in bonding to humans again.”
“I hurt her.”
“Yet here you are,” Pattern said. “Able to stand tall. Able to control the Surges. Able to protect this world.”
“She should hate me,” Shallan whispered. “But there is no vitriol in the way she holds my hand. No judgment in the way she remains with us.”
“Because the sacrifice was worth something, Shallan,” Pattern said, uncharacteristically reserved. “It worked. In the end you recovered, did better. I am still here. And remarkably, I am not even a little bit dead! I do not think you will kill me at all, Shallan! I am happy about that.”
“Can I heal her?” Shallan asked. “Maybe if I… if I bond her again?”
“I think, after talking to Kelek…” Pattern said. “I think you are still bonded to her.”
“But…” Shallan glanced over her shoulder at him. “I broke the bond. That did this.”
“Some breaks are messy,” Pattern said. “A slice with a sharpened knife is clean; a slice with a dull one is ragged. Your break, done by a child without full Intent, is ragged. In some ways that makes it worse, but it does mean that some Connection between you two persists.”
“So…”
“So no,” Pattern said. “I do not think that merely saying Words once more would heal her.” His head pattern spun a little more slowly, as if he were contemplating something profound. “These numbers are… perplexing, Shallan. Strangely irrational, in a sequence I do not understand. I mean… I mean that we are walking on unfamiliar ground. A better metaphor for you. Yes. Unfamiliar ground. In the deep past, deadeyes did not exist.”
It was what they’d learned, in part, from the honorspren and from Maya. The deadeyes—all of them except Testament—had been bonded to ancient Radiants before the Recreance. Together they’d rejected their oaths, humans and spren alike. They’d thought it would cause a painful, but survivable split. Instead, something had gone terribly wrong.
The result had been the deadeyes. The explanation might lie with Kelek, the very person Shallan had been sent to Lasting Integrity to kill. She squeezed Testament’s hand. “I’m going to help you,” Shallan whispered. “Whatever it takes.”
Testament didn’t respond, but Shallan leaned in, wrapping her arms around the Cryptic. Pattern’s robe always felt hard, yet Testament’s bent like cloth.
“Thank you,” Shallan said. “For coming to me when I was young. Thank you for protecting me. I still do not remember it all, but thank you.”
The Cryptic slowly, but deliberately, put her arms around Shallan and squeezed back.
“Rest now,” Shallan said, wiping her eyes and standing. “I’m going to figure this out.”
Chapter 2: Taking the Next Step
I first knew the Wind as a child, during days before I knew dreams. What need has a child of dreams or aspirations? They live, and love, the life that is.
—From Knights of Wind and Truth, page 3
Syl eventually trailed out of Kaladin’s room and into his family’s quarters. He lingered in the sunlight and wind, hovering, because why not? Light here was constantly replenished, and holding the tower’s new Light seemed not to push him to action the way Stormlight did. Instead, holding it was… calming.
Yet he jumped when a loud noise sounded from farther inside, a set of shockspren snapping into appearance around him, like breaking yellow triangles. When he reached the doorway, however, he found the noise was just his little brother, Oroden, clapping. Kaladin calmed his thundering heart. He had lately become more prone to overreact to loud noises—including ones that, upon reflection, were obviously nothing dangerous.
No further words came from the wind, so Kaladin hovered out into the main room, where Oroden was playing with his blocks. Syl had joined him. Though she could make herself invisible, she rarely chose to around his family. Indeed, last night they had discussed a new procedure: When she appeared with color on her clothing, like the violet on her sleeves, it meant she was visible to others. When she appeared as a uniform light blue, only he could see her.
“Gagadin!” the little boy said, pointing. “You need bocks!”
“You” in this case meant Oroden himself—who had noticed that everyone called him “you.” Kaladin smiled, and used his Light to make the blocks hover. Syl, shrinking down, hopped from block to block in the air as Oroden swatted them.
What am I doing? Kaladin thought. A contest for the fate of the world is approaching, my best friend is dead, and I’m playing blocks with my little brother?
Then in response, a familiar voice spoke from deep within him. Hold to this, Kal. Embrace it. I didn’t die so you could mope around like a wet Horneater with no razor. Unlike the wind, this didn’t seem anything mystical. Instead… well, Kaladin had known Teft long enough to anticipate what the man would have said. Even in death, a good sergeant knew his job: keep the officers pointed the right way.
“Fyl!” Oroden said, gesturing to Syl. “Fyl, come fin!” He started spinning in circles, and she joined in, twirling around him. Laughterspren, like silver minnows, appeared in the air. That was another difference in the tower lately—spren were everywhere, showing up far more frequently.
Kaladin sat on the floor amid hovering blocks, and was forced to think about his place. He wasn’t going to be Dalinar’s champion, and he wasn’t the leader of Bridge Four any longer. Sigzil went to important meetings in Kaladin’s place.
So who was he? What was he?
You are… the wind’s voice said softly. You are what I need…
He went alert. No, he was not imagining that.
His mother entered, wearing her hair tied with a kerchief, like she always had when working in Hearthstone. She settled down next to him, nudged him in the side, then handed him a bowl with some boiled lavis grain and spiced crab meat on top. Kaladin dutifully started eating. If there was a group more demanding than sergeants, it was mothers. When he’d been younger such attention had mortified him. After years without, he found he didn’t mind a little mothering.
“How are you?” Hesina asked.
“Good,” he said around a spoonful of lavis.
She studied him.
“Really,” he said. “Not great. Good. Worried about what’s coming.”
A block floated past, steaming with Towerlight. Hesina tapped it with a hesitant finger, sending it spinning through the room. “Shouldn’t those… fall?”
“Eventually, maybe?” He shrugged. “Navani has done something odd to the place. It’s warm now, the pressure equalized, and the entire city is… infused. Like a sphere.”
Water flowed on command from holes in the walls, and you could control its temperature with a gesture. Suddenly a lot of the strange basins and empty pools in the tower made sense; they had no controls, because you activated them by speaking or touching the stone.
Syl got Oroden twirling, then left him dizzy and with a few blocks as a distraction. She popped to human size again and flopped onto her back next to Kaladin and Hesina, her face coated in an approximation of sweat. He noticed a new detail: Syl’s havah was missing the long sleeve that would cover the safehand, and she wore a glove—or she’d colored her safehand white and given it a cloth texture. That wasn’t odd; Navani always wore a glove these days to leave both hands free. It surprised him that Syl was wearing one though. She’d never bothered before.
“How do small humans keep going?” Syl said. “Where does their energy come from?”
“One of the great mysteries of the cosmere,” Hesina said. “If you think this is bad, you should have seen Kal.”
“Oooooh,” Syl said, rolling over and looking to Hesina with wide eyes, her long blue-white hair tumbling around her face. No human woman would have acted in such a… casual way in a havah. The tight dresses, while not strictly formal, weren’t designed for rolling around on the ground barefoot. Syl, however, would Syl.
“Embarrassing childhood stories?” the spren said. “Go! Talk while his mouth is full of food and he can’t interrupt you!”
“He never stopped moving,” Hesina said, leaning forward. “Except when he finally collapsed at night to sleep, giving us brief hours of respite. Each night, I would have to sing his favorite song and Lirin would have to chase him—and he could tell if Lirin was giving a halfhearted chase, and would give him an earful. It was honestly the cutest thing to see Lirin being scolded by a three-year-old.”
“I could have guessed Kaladin would be tyrannical as a child,” Syl said.
“Children are often like that, Syl,” his mother said. “Accepting only one answer to any question, because nuance is difficult and confusing.”
“Yes,” Kaladin said, scraping the last of the lavis from his bowl, “children. That’s a worldview that, obviously, solely afflicts children—never the rest of us.”
His mother gave him a hug, one arm around his shoulders. The kind that seemed to grudgingly admit that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. “Do you sometimes wish the world were a simpler place?” Hesina asked him. “That the easy answers of childhood were, in truth, the actual answers?”
“Not anymore,” he said. “Because I think the easy answers would condemn me. Condemn everyone, in fact.”
That made his mother beam, even though it was an easy thing to say. Then Hesina’s eyes got a mischievous sparkle to them. Oh, storms. What was she going to say now?
“So, you have a spren friend,” she said. “Did you ever ask her that vital question you always asked when you were little?”
He sighed, bracing himself. “And which question would that be, Mother?”
“Dungspren,” she said, poking him. “You were always so fascinated by the idea.”
“That was Tien!” Kaladin said. “Not me.”
Hesina gave him a knowing stare. Mothers. They remembered too well. Shamespren popped into existance around him, like red and white petals. Only a few, but still.
“Fine,” he said. “Maybe I was… intrigued.” He glanced at Syl, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes. “Did you… ever know any?”
“Dungspren,” she said flatly. “You’re asking the sole living Daughter of Storms—basically a princess by human terminology—this question. How much poop do I know?”
“Please, can we move on?” Kaladin said.
Unfortunately, Oroden had been listening. He patted Kaladin on the knee. “It’s okay, Gagadin,” he said in a comforting voice. “Poop goes in potty. Get a treat!”
This sent Syl into a fit of uproarious laughter, flopping onto her back again. Kaladin gave Hesina his captain’s glare—the one that could make any soldier go white. Mothers, however, ignored the chain of command. So Kaladin was saved only when his father appeared in the doorway, a large stack of papers under his arm. Hesina walked over to help.
“Dalinar’s medical corps tent layouts and current operating procedures,” Lirin explained.
“‘Dalinar,’ eh?” she said. “A few meetings, and you’re on a first-name basis with the most powerful man in the world?”
“The boy’s attitude is contagious,” Lirin said.
“I’m sure it has nothing to do with his upbringing,” Hesina replied. “We’ll instead assume that four years in the military somehow conditioned him to be flippant around lighteyes.”
“Well, I mean…” Lirin and Hesina glanced at their son.
Kaladin’s eyes were a light blue these days, never fading back to their proper dark brown. It didn’t help that although he was sitting, he was hovering an inch off the ground. Air was more comfortable than stone.
The two of them spread the pages out on the counter at the side of the room. “It’s a mess,” Lirin said. “His entire medical system needs to be rebuilt from the ground up—with training in how to properly sanitize. Apparently many of his best field medics have fallen.”
“Many of his best in all regards have fallen,” Hesina said, scanning the pages.
You have no idea, Kaladin thought. He glanced at Syl, who had sidled over to sit closer to him, still human size. Oroden was chasing blocks again, and Kaladin…
Well, despite his tension, he let himself bask in it. Family. Peace. Syl. He’d been running from disaster to disaster for so long, he’d completely forgotten this joy. Even eating stew with Bridge Four—precious moments of respite—had felt like a gasp of air when drowning. Yet here he was. Retired. Watching his brother play, sitting next to Syl, listening to his parents chat. Storms, but it had been a wild ride. He’d managed to survive.
And it wasn’t his fault that he had.
Syl rested her head—insubstantial though it was—on his shoulder as she watched the floating blocks. It was odd behavior for her, but so was her being human size.
“Why the full size?” he asked her.
“When we were in Shadesmar,” she said, “everyone treated me differently. I felt… more like a person. Less like a force of nature. I’m finding I missed that.”
“Do I treat you differently when you’re small?”
“A little.”
“Do you want me to change?”
“I want things to change and be the same all at once.” She looked to him, and probably saw that he found that completely baffling. She grinned. “Suffice it to say that I want to make it harder for certain people to ignore me.”
“Is being this size more difficult for you?”
“Yup,” she said. “But I’ve decided I want to make that effort.” She shook her head, causing her hair to swirl around. “Do not question the will of the mighty spren princess, Kaladin Stormblessed. My whims are as inscrutable as they are magnanimous.”
“You were just saying you want to be treated like a person!” he said. “Not a force of nature.”
“No,” she said. “I want to decide when I’m treated like a person. That doesn’t preclude me also wanting to be properly worshipped.” She smiled deviously. “I’ve been thinking of all kinds of things to make Lunamor do. If we ever see him again.”
Kaladin wanted to offer her some consolation, but he honestly had no idea if they’d ever see Rock again. This was a different shade of pain, distinct from the loss of Teft, distinct from the loss of Moash—or the man they’d thought Moash had been.
That brought the reality of the situation back to him, along with the strange warnings the wind had whispered. He found himself speaking. “Father, what’s the battle look like currently? A ten-day deadline. Seems like everyone might simply rest and wait it out?”
“Not so, unfortunately,” Lirin said. “I’m warned to expect heavy casualties in the next few days, as Dalinar anticipates the fighting will last right up until the deadline—in fact, he fears the enemy might push harder to capture ground in the Unclaimed Hills and the Frostlands. Apparently, per the agreement, whatever each side holds when the deadline arrives… that’s what they get to keep.”
Storms. Kaladin imagined it: fierce battles over unimportant, uninhabited land—but which both sides wanted to hold nonetheless. His heart bled for the soldiers who would die in the nine days before it all would end.
“Is this the storm?” he whispered.
Syl glanced at him, frowning. But he wasn’t talking to her.
No… that voice replied. Worse…
Worse. He shivered.
Please… the wind said. Help…
“I don’t know if I can help,” Kaladin whispered, hanging his head. “I… don’t know what I have left to give.”
I understand, it replied. If you can, come to me.
“Where?”
Listen to the Bondsmith…
He frowned. The day before, Dalinar had mentioned having a duty for Kaladin in Shinovar, involving the Herald Ishi and some “odd company.” Kaladin had already resolved to go. So perhaps he could help.
Come to me, the wind repeated. Please…
There was a highstorm tonight, and Kaladin had thought to use it—and the Stormlight it offered—to get to Shinovar. However, Dalinar had promised him more details before he left. So, taking a deep breath, Kaladin stood and stretched.
It had been wonderful to spend time with his family. To remember that peace. But even as worn out as he was, there was work for him to do yet.
“I’m sorry,” he said to his parents. “I’ve got to go. Dalinar wants me to try to find Ishi, who has apparently gone mad. Not surprising, considering how Taln and Ash are faring.”
His mother gave him an odd look, and it took him a moment to realize it was because he was speaking so familiarly of Heralds—figures of lore and religious devotion the world over. He didn’t know any of them well, but it felt natural to use their names like that. He’d stopped revering people he didn’t know the day Amaram branded him.
God or king. If they wanted his respect, they could earn it.
“Son,” Lirin said, turning away from his many sheets of paper. From the way Lirin said the word, Kaladin braced himself for some kind of lecture.
He was unprepared for Lirin to walk over and embrace him. Awkwardly, as it wasn’t Lirin’s natural state to give this sort of affection. Yet the gesture conveyed emotions Lirin found difficult to say. That he’d been wrong. That perhaps Kaladin needed to find his own way.
So Kaladin embraced him too, and let the joyspren—like blue leaves—swirl up around them.
“I wish I had fatherly advice for you,” Lirin said, “but you’ve far outpaced my understanding of life. So I guess, go and be yourself. Protect. I… I love you.”
“Stay safe,” his mother said, giving him another side hug. “Come back to us.”
He gave her a nod, then glanced at Syl. She’d changed from a havah to a Bridge Four uniform, trimmed in white and dark blue, with her hair in a ponytail like Lyn usually wore. It was strange on Syl—made her look older. She’d never truly been childlike, despite her sometimes mischievous nature—and her chosen figure had always been that of a young, but adult, woman. Girlish at times, but never a girl. In uniform, with her hair up and wearing that glove on her safehand she seemed more mature.
It was time to go. With a final hug for his brother, Kaladin strode out to meet his destiny, feeling like he was in control for the first time in years. Deciding to take the next step, rather than being thrust into it by momentum or crisis.
And while he’d woken up feeling good, that knowledge—that sense of volition—felt great.
Excerpted from Wind and Truth, copyright © 2024 Dragonsteel Entertainment.
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Wind and Truth
I still can’t believe in the span of 3 books Kaladin and Szeth go from opposing and hating each other to going on a road trip together. Can’t wait for their scenes together. Another thing; the book notes the individual days? That’s so useful! The timeline for this book is very planned out, it seems.
I was hoping someone would touch on the fact that it starts with Day 1.
It’s such a smart countdown mechanic to keep the progress moving.
Rhythm of War was Kaladin doing a Die Hard, now Wind and Truth is Kaladin doing a National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Hopefully it’s not The Road instead…
“Kaladin felt good.”
We all know that is NOT lasting long
Hopefully we move on from Kaladin feelings. one more story of him struggling/moping/feeling boo hoo…
I do not think Kaladin even believes it will last long, either.
But he has (seemingly) found ways to cope with that.
Is Kal the author of the Epigraphs?!?!?!?!
I don’t think it is Hessina. In my opinion, I don’t think Brando Sando will have Kal die.
Sigzil would probably make the most sense too as hes the only one of the windrunners i see wanting to write a book
I hope its sigzil. I need to know why he broke the oaths
My brand new theory: It’s Hessina, and the knights of W and T are her elder sons, both deceased at the time of writing and being honored for their sacrifices. A windrunner and a lightweaver.
It might be any windrunner/skybreaker and Nale is the one in my opinion. He told Kal to find Ishar (its not Szeth hearing this because his spren told him what to do to earn Plate and he need to fix Shinovar (Ishar is Shin), anyway cant wait to see Division being used by Skybreaker in combat (vs Ishar) and we cant forget about El, still we have 2 or 3 unseen brands of the Fused so in my opinion its Nale using his 5th ideal power (he is unchained like Ishar plus millenia of experience) or El playing his games
I’m sure I’m wrong but I thought maybe Jezrien and Pailiah
As of this point, my guess is that either Kaladin or Szeth as the person who is speaking the word from Knights of Wind and Truth. My guess is it is Kaladin and it is a history of the current order of Windrunners and the members of the Order (not just about Kaladin; although the section we are reading form is about Kaladin). My wild, loony theory is Syl is the narrator of this section.
I think the voice Kaladin hears is Ba-Ado-Mishram. In RoW, we had hints that releasing Ba-Ado-Mishram may be a key development to revive the Deadeyes. Also, I think releasing Ba-Ado-Mishram will counter the effects of the Everstorm. I have no book proof to support my theory, just a hunch.
I think it’s a different unmade , one in Shinivar, perhaps the one who posed as the storm father?
I think that may be valid.
When did an Unmade pose as the Stormfather? I can’t find anything on the topic
It’s an unproven theory. The theory is that Gavilar was being influenced by an Unmade posing as the Stormfather.
i think that is the actual storm father because he shows him the visions
I want to think so!! I’m just curious who’s the Wind talking to him
So he’s now on a quest to find The Name in The Wind?
I thought that too! But he can’t read/ write? After thinking about it it might be Sigzil writing it? Since he can read and write.
From here on it will be spoiler alert.
I think it will also fit because in sunlit man sigzil/nomad has broke his bond as a windrunner. So I can imagine that the “truth” in wind and truth could relate to that? Also I think deadeyes will play a big role in this book. And I think that the truth could relate to deadeye-lore?
He could very likely learn in his later years.
whats interesting, also bouncing off what you said from Sunlit Man.
Sigzil had broken his bonds… but that wasn’t what killed Aux. BUT also was Aux his spren from being a Windrunner or Skybreaker?
Sigzil broke his bonds with his Windrunner spren, but not Aux. the Dawnshard is what killed Aux.
The Coppermind says Aux is a Highspren. When he burns away to give Sigzil radiant powers again, it’s a skybreaker emblem burned into the sky.
I feel like it might be Szeth because the second one sounds more like him “not knowing dreams” and stuff but it’s highly likely that it’s Kaladin
I think the first one is Szeth and the second one Kaladin, since I expect Knights of Wind and Truth is the book of their trip to Shinovar.
I agree. In book 2 Kaladin talks a lot about how he “claims the winds as his own” a lot. Also, Szeth was the supposed truthless of shinovar. So it would make sense.
Oh that explains the in universe title because knights, plural, they’re both affiliated with wind. Not to mention, two different people writing it would be a cool secret.
Kaladin’s growth, his ability to smile through the pain, is fantastic. It’s super weird but also makes me grin.
“Syl would Syl” is strange to read. I do hope this isn’t gearing towards a Kal/Syl romance because I would hate that so much.
I would not be very pleased if Syladin became a thing.
Well, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed then. Brando didn’t go out of his way to directly clarify that Kaladin always saw her as a young woman and not a girl so that they could be best buds.
i DO hope it’s going in that direction syladin ftw
Even if there is romance, I think Brandon will do it good. I feel a nice and sweet vibes between them, nothing weird or inappropriate lol
I think Kaladin use to smile through the pain. put on a face, and try to hide/shield others from it.
Now he accepts the pain, knowing there will be bad days, but also good days, ahead. And he has found some level of peace with that.
The exact opposite of Moash… yet, again.
This chapter is worrying me, if I didn’t know these characters and despise the idea of a romance between them, I’d definitely think they’d have a romance
I get zero romance vibes. More brother/sister than anything
I dont get a sibling vibe, but best friend, companion, teammate.
In the way a spouse should be, but that doesn’t mean there needs to be anything immoral.
I’m guessing Kaladin is writing the epigraphs, which gives me hope that he’ll survive this book, given its tight time frame
I think he’ll survive, too, and am willing to bet he’s going to speak the 5th ideal. Personal guess is it’s something along the lines of “I accept that I also deserve to be protected”
OK, now I’m stuck wondering who is whispering on the wind to Kaladin. I’m only coming up with a couple of possibilities right now, but they both feel pretty unlikely to me at the moment:
* Cultivation – “whispers” feels pretty on-brand for her when it comes to communicating with mortals, but it doesn’t feel quite right for her
* Ba-Ado Mishram – but Mishram has been trapped in a gemstone in an unknown location for millennia, so her ability to communicate at all seems highly suspect.
* One of the other heralds? Except the two most associated to the winds seem unlikely since Nale is siding with the Singers and Jezrien is dead.
Anyone else have any ideas who it could be?
It’s either the Spren of Roshar, like Naitso said, or it’s whatever Unmade that made its home in Shinovar
I thought it was the voice of the tower spren Navani bonded
I don’t think the Sibling would need to whisper on the wind – they’ve literally just talked to Kaladin normally before and could do it again
It could be the spren of Roshar.
What in Damnation is the Spren of Roshar?
Are you referring to the same spiritual force that spoke to Venli when she started testing her Radiant powers and unlocked the old Dawnsinger powers?
Everything has a Spren, and the power of the spren seems to be correlated to how important it is to the peoples of Roshar. Stands to reason that the planet would have a spren, which I presume must be a near demigod. This may or may not be the god of Stone that they worship in Shinovar.
The voice does feel feminine to me.
Cultivation, maybe priming kaladin as her next chess piece like she did with taravangian to beat out rayse. Also she did say something along the lines of “I’m sorry to ask for your help again” when and what was the first time? I’m really wondering if honor isn’t as splintered as we thing. We’ve seen in the cosmere splinters be strong enough to be almost shards them selves. It’s easy to flick a piece off and say “splintered” since there is no real gendered context to the voice other than reader assumptions at this point. Being of Honor and the wind, it very well could be good ole tanavast.(doubtful)
Remnants of Tanavast’s cognitive shadow seems the obvious choice to me, ala mistborn
I always assumed his cognitive shadow merged with the Stormfather.
Me too
I’m leaning towards Tanavast’s cognitive shadow too.
I’m guessing a herald in Shinovar that Kaladin is just interpreting to be wind given his relationship with it, we haven’t seen many female heralds, so I’m hoping we’re being introduced to a new one
Shallan’s mom. Boom, wide open.
Really enjoying these chapters. Thank you.
Not looking for typos, but sometimes there they are.
“The tight dresses, while not strictly formal, weren’t designed for rolling around on the ground barefoot. Syl, however, would Syl.”
Do you mean: “Syl, however, would be Syl.” ???
Like the others said, B$ is just verbing the noun. It’s making a shorthand of “Syl Will do what Syl does,” essentially halving the phrase while removing none of the meaning.
You can lunch, you can couch potato, and Syl can Syl.
It’s treating the second “Syl” as a verb, like how Google became a verb.
It’s correct.
Syl is both a Proper Noun and a verb. Not a typo, just a modern-ism.
I was wondering if it was being used as a verb. Just checking. Though I wouldn’t call it a modern-ism. It is simply creating a verb of behaviours.
The Wind talking to Kal has to be either Ishi or another Herald in Shinovar. It very clearly tells him to listen to the Bondsmith, so unless Navani gave him orders then it has to be talking about Dalinar.
Ishi is a Bondsmith as well.
I’m gonna make the prediction that it’s Ba-Ado-Mishram talking to him. She IS trying to escape her imprisonment and likely knows that the Radiants need to release her for their own ends, after all. I can’t think of a reason *against* it, other than Sanderson wanting to take the Buddy Cop Duo in a different direction in the plot.
Maybe Ishi’s Bondsmith surgebinding is the only currently-known method to get to the Spiritual Realm, and that’s where BAM is.
Or maybe she specifically needs a Windrunner (or just someone competent with the Adhesion surge — since it is the only surge that is explicitly described to come only from Honor — and Kaladin is the best fit) to release her from her imprisonment.
I the Wind telling him to “Listen to the Bondsmith” is definitely referring to Ishar and not Dalinar in this scene and my guess would be that its a little misdirection.
I’m not convinced that the Wind IS Ishar though.
The Wind seems to be sympathetic of Kaladin and what he has already gone through. I think two characters we know of who are sympathetic like that are Cultivation and surprisingly Hoid.
I wouldnt be surprised if it is Hoid talking to Kaladin using the Wind.
I think the real shocking answer though would be that its actually Tanavast and the twist is that he has been alive this whole time and in hiding.
I think it’s a misdirect and will either be Navani or the Nightwatcher bondsmith
But the nightwatcher isn’t anywhere near shinovar, cause I was thinking it too when they said “come see me” I don’t think the nightwatcher is up for roadtrips
Kaladin seems to be the obvious choice for the one writing the epigraphs, and imo the wind seems to be Tanavast’s cognitive shadow like in Mistborn, though I have no idea why it would be in Shinovar
While I do agree that Tanavast could very well be The Wind (and possibly could have been the Stormfather that we see in the prologue up to Gavilar’s assassination…?), it seems a bit too blatant for the writer of KoWaT to be Kal.
I’m thinking Tanavast As Stormfather was like how Leras was when he could form a semi-tangible body; but then separated and let Stormfather be his own independent spren while degrading to The Wind, like when Leras was nothing more than the mist itself as he was dying.
I could be wrong about how Leras degraded before he died, though, since it’s been three years since I’ve read MB era 1.
I agree about Tanavast, we can explain his ability to talk to Kaladin with the fact that Kaladin has reached the 4th ideal. Some person in epigraph is talking about the Wind and then right in the chapter we have wind talking to Kaladin. I don’t like how easy it is to make this connection, Mr. Sanderson can you avoid mysteries at least in the last book of the arc (please)?
OTOH, not everything has to be a surprise or subversion, surely. I am fairly certain that the voice Kaladin hears is the same entity as the Stormfaker. There is a nice reversal of
to Gavilar in the prologue to
to Kaladin here. I think that it is Tanavast’s Cognitive Shadow speaking… and that it also maskeraded as Nohadon in the second vision and sent Dalinar the visions/dreams that the Stormfather denies being accountable for. But it might be someone else, of course. But IMHO it is the same entity behind all these interventions.
There will be a lot of questions left after book 5 and beta readers complained about this to Sanderson: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/535/#e16589
I don’t think Odium is able to play mind games with Radiants, especially of the 4th ideal and definitely not when there is no Everstorm. We really need more information.
I expect there to be a lot more questions (that might be answered in other Cosmere books, eventually, before Book 6), but I am also wondering how many arcs and threads her will close up in book 5, that still exist.
Not sure who else is watching Kal, but I’m almost positive the sleepless are… Think back to all the ‘weird cremlings’ Kal has noticed throughout the story. This could be what the author is referring to in the first epigraph.
Also,
“I first knew the Wind as a child, during days before I knew dreams. What need has a child of dreams or aspirations? They live, and love, the life that is.”
Knowing the pure joy of having Granddaughters, this made me cry.
I think it is fairly safe to assume, based on Dawnshard, that the sleepless are watching everyone of importance. I wonder if they make more of an impact/presence known in book 5, or if they stay in the shadows to play a bigger role in the second arc.
Chapter 1
I like how the Sections are broken up into days. I wonder if Syl learning to color her dress is a function of Kaladin speaking the 4th Oath or if it is something she learned from watching Shallan Lightweave. I suspect the former.
A storm worse than the Everstorm. That sounds ominous. We will have to see if Kaladin hearing the warning is a seed planted for books 6-10 or for Kaladin’s arc in this book. As Kaladin will not be one of the major focus characters for books 6-10, I think it will be the latter.
Chapter 2
So far my guess is that either Kaladin or Szeth as the person who is speaking the word from Knights of Wind and Truth. My guess is it is Kaladin and it is a history of the current order of Windrunners and the members of the Order (not just about Kaladin; although the section we are reading form is about Kaladin). My wild, loony theory is Syl is the narrator of this section.
That is cool. Urithiru is set up for a type of Alexa. “Hey Sibling, make the water hotter.” Every boyfriend’s nightmare. The girlfriend who can convince the boyfriend’s mother to tell the girlfriend embarrassing stories about the boyfriend when the boyfriend was a young child; especially when the boyfriend is present and can hear his mother tell his girlfriend these stories. I hope that is not what Brandon’s sons have to look forward to if they bring their partner to meet Brandon and Emily.
I think the voice Kaladin hears is Ba-Ado-Mishram. In RoW, we had hints that releasing Ba-Ado-Mishram may be a key development to revive the Deadeyes. Also, I think releasing Ba-Ado-Mishram will counter the effects of the Everstorm. I have no book proof to support my theory, just a hunch.
Nice peace of writing by Brandon by ending Chapter 2 with Kaladin in his thoughts deciding to take the next step. Call back to Daliar’s epiphany in OathBringer.
I agree that releasing – and maybe reversing the Unmaking of? BAM will mitigate some huge disaster that will happen, but according to the official book summary, Shallan, Renarin and Rlain are working on tracking her, no? It wouldn’t feel right if Kaladin steals their thunder at the last moment.
P.S. It didn’t occur to me that Syl could be the narrator of the second epigraph, but it fits very well.
For the first one, I think that it could be Shallan, Szeth or Kaladin either one.
I find Kaladin having his Field of Dreams moment (if you build it, he will come) an interesting way to start book 5 – not with answers, but with a lot more questions. His “Son of Tanavast” arc seems to be picking up, but who really is whispering to him in the winds? Tanavast seems too obvious.
While we do get some answers to Kaladin’s headspace and family life, this feels like a bit of a closure on this part of the story (unless the crazy theories about Lirin prove to be true). Much like the closure on Bridge 4, or Sadeas/Iala etc., helping to push forward the overall narrative, not get lost in old arc points.
I do like that the book seems to be split into “Days”, gives a real sense of urgency, especially when we eventually get to day 8 or 9, where a lot of questions are still unanswered – the build-up will be insane!
While we do have a sense of where Kaladin’s story is going (or at least, starting), I have no clue where Shallan’s is going. I suspect it will continue to be Ghostblood focused. Will she travel the Cosmere / Shadesmar looking for clues and chasing the Ghostbloods, or will she return to Urithiru to take care of Mraize and Co. first?
I am of the belief she will eventually be a major Worldhopper character, but not before Adolin dies.
Shallan’s chapters are already out actually and there are answers to your questions about her: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/535-c2e2-2024/#e16576
What are the crazy theories about Lirin that you mentioned?
Not OP, but to explain the theories…
Kaladin is the “Son of Tanavast”
Lirin is honorable to a fault.
The theories relate to the potential for where that might lead to. I’ll just say that Lirin is fits Sanderson’s bill for a character to gain world breaking power.
Yes, this!
It is kind of way out there, but seems plausible (if unlikely).
I so desperately want to be wrong here, but I am getting Syladin vibes from these two chapters. All the changes Kal is noticing in her in appearances, the effort she is going to to not be ignored.
I really, really hope that it doesn’t happen
I sincerely doubt Brando went out of his way to confirm that Kaladin always saw Syl as a young woman and not a girl so that they could be best buds, he was really blatant about it.
“…while he didn’t feel great, someday he would feel great again.”
I like that Kal learned something from The Dog and The Dragon – “You will be warm again.”
tanavast talking to kaladin pershaps? Also this entire read was giving major sly romance vibes and idk how i feel about it.
What do people think about the voice being Roshar? Kalak says that imprisoning Ba Ado Mishram may have even affected the soul of Roshar, and everything has a spren. Similarly to how the Sibling talking to Navani was mysterious in RoW, though, I think it will be important and interesting to find out why this voice that can speak to Kaladin now did not or could not before. The sibling was pretending to be dead, but if Roshar knows Kal’s thoughts and can speak to him, why not use these things before? And why only with Kal? But I really like the idea that Roshar has some agency. I think it’s long-term plot relevant that Roshar seems to have been sort of a refuge for a variety of groups that had to get away from their home planet. I like thinking that the planet itself decided to change Shinovar, for example, to be a home for humanity.
Probably unrelated, one of the small things I hope gets an answer in this book: What is up with Ryshadium? I’m convinced their existence and their nature are very plot relevant. There are hints that they align with the rhythmic/musical nature of the planet and the magic. They deserve more attention. I do think it’s possible that they’re like plate and blades, where maybe a Radiant somehow creates one by swearing the 5th ideal. It would fit their rarity, with the 5th ideal being so difficult to reach, but imo they haven’t been described as powerful enough to be the next progression after plate.
I think this being a very powerful spren is the most likely theory, and Roshar is certainly (one of) the most powerful spren we’ve yet to meet. I’m assuming that Kaladin’s connection to the wind grows as he speaks oaths, but it’s also possible that the wind just hasn’t had a reason to talk to Kaladin yet.
It could be Cultivation speaking to Kaladin, but I’ll put my money on a Spren we haven’t yet heard about, possibly the spren of Roshar itself. The existence of the unmade implies that there could be equally powerful spren who chose not to be unmade by Odium.
Small point out: Did anyone else notice Brandon has brought up Hesina’s singing to Kal which is a nod to when he hears the queen singing a familiar song to her son in Othbringer? Hopefully we will get some more insight into what that all means.
I strongly suspect that Hesina and Aesudan were from the same city and possibly distantly related. Sanderson hinted in WoBs that Hesina had a light-eyed parent and after RoW mentioned that her father was a rich and privileged dark-eyes, it must have been her mother.
I am not sure that there is going to be space in WaT for him to canonize this, though.
Honestly, I expected Hesina’ s parents to arrive at Urithiru/ the camps as refugees in RoW. Of course, I thought that dealing with masses of refugees would be one of that book’s problems, as well as people going crazy because their relatives and families back in Alethkar were getting enslaved and possibly killed. But nothing like that happened and everyone was surprisingly cool with the fall of the their homeland… Shrug.
Kinda wondering if this voice Kaladin’s hearing is the voice Szeth mentioned he used to hear when he was young. I’ve always hoped that would be Szeth’s first spren, but potentially it’s the same entity as this.
After everything Kaladin has been through in the past 4 books, this little bit in these first 2 chapters has been really refreshing for me to read. It’s nice seeing Kaladin being able to just chill for a little bit with his family.
He’s for sure gonna come out of retirement and on his shardplate in combat
I hope I’m wrong, but I fear we just read Kaladin’s Happy Ending. My guess is that Kaladin ends this book with an epic sacrifice to save those he loves, and as he closes his eyes for the last time, he will feel warm, and he will feel great. I think Syl’s learning to deal with losing people close to her is not an accidental character arc, and she will have to lose the most special person to her.
I predict that Lirin is going to die in book 5. Kaladin will be faced with killing to protect Lirin, or accepting that Lirin is right about peace sometimes being the right path. It could break Kaladin, but I think that’s going to be the fifth ideal conflict.
just to add to the Voice on the Wind confusion…
waaaaaaay back in Book 1, Ch 21, when Dalinar loses his Thrill mojo mid-Battle, a voice like this one speaks to him…twice, actually giving him the first Ideal…
correction…ch 26
How do I speed up the audio?
Does anyone else think Kal will turn immortal in the end?
Anyone else shipping Syladin?
Add me to the list of people who does not want to see the Syl/Kaladin ship. It honestly feels a bit incestuous to me, maybe because in some ways I view the spren a little like something like daemons in His Dark Materials.
But also because I find Syl incredibly annoying and twee. I think I realized in this chapter why I don’t like her, and it’s because she (or maybe it’s Sanderson not sticking the landing) feels like she’s trying WAY too hard to nail the ‘look at me, I’m a quirky girl!’ vibe. I’ve found her voice annoying since day 1 and I’m not sure how much of that is just due to me not clicking with Sanderson’s voice here. It always feels like it’s trying way too hard.
Okay, that aside. I do truly love this moment for Kaladin. The intentional grounding, the mindfulness and the remembering, in some ways, what the point of all this is. Playing blocks with your little brother, letting your mom fuss over you, all of that.
Of course, this is probably all here to break our hearts even harder… ;)
No way people actually welcome any, even the most ridiculous ships, but not literally the most logical and understandable ship, with Kaladin and the woman he interacts with the most in all 4 books. That’s just ridiculous. There is no more logical pairing with Kaladin than Syladin. And yes, there were a lot of conversations between them that looked like flirting. Did you not notice it before? Just because Syl was in small format?