Last week’s chapter was a heart-breaker, so it’s nice to have this one as a little bit of a break from the angst. Lots of things are happening here, and bigger things are on the horizon, but emotionally this chapter is a welcome safe harbor nestled in amongst the crashing waves.
Reminder: We’ll be discussing spoilers for the entirety of the series up until now. If you haven’t read ALL of the published entries of The Stormlight Archive (this includes Edgedancer and Dawnshard as well as the entirety of Rhythm of War), best to wait to join us until you’re done.
No Cosmere spoilers to worry about in this chapter, Chickens.
Heralds:
- Ishi (Ishar), Herald of Luck. Bondsmiths (Tension, Adhesion). Pious/Guiding. Role: Priest.
- Kalak (Kelek). Willshapers (Transportation, Cohesion). Resolute/Builder. Role: Maker.
- Jezrien (Jezerezeh, Yaezir, Ahu), Herald of Kings. Windrunners (Adhesion, Gravitation). Protecting/Leading. Role: King.
- Palah (Pailiah, Paliah). Truthwatchers (Progression, Illumination). Learned/Giving. Role: Scholar.
Lyn: Another of the rare four-Herald chapters! Ishi’s likely here for Navani, who’s starting her discussion which results in a bond with the Sibling. Kalak may be here due to the fact that people are building connections amongst one another, as well as for Venli (a Willshaper). Jezrien’s presence is probably explained by Rlain and Leshwi protecting/leading others… and possibly because it looks as though Leshwi used to be a Windrunner herself. Palah’s almost certainly here for Rlain, our soon-to-be-resident-Truthwatcher.
Icon: Bridge Four
Epigraph:
For ones so tarnished, they are somehow bright.
—Musings of El, on the first of the Final Ten Days
P: I would do well to remember this. I’m tarnished but I’m somehow bright.
Chapter Recap
WHO: Venli, Navani, Rlain
WHEN: 1175.4.10.4
WHERE: Alethkar. Just kidding… we’re still in Urithiru.
(Note: For the “when” notations, we are using this wonderful timeline provided by the folks at The 17th Shard.)
RECAP: Venli confesses to Leshwi that she’s sworn the First Ideal, and to her surprise, Leshwi is excited by this. Leshwi immediately begins trying to stop the slaughter taking place. Navani, still bleeding out, offers to bond with the Sibling… but they refuse. Rlain and Dabbid arrive in the atrium at the tail end of the rebellion, and Rlain grabs hold of the reins of the situation before it can devolve back into bloodshed. He orders Leshwi and the others who rebelled to retreat with them to the Shattered Plains.
Chapter Chat—Emulsifier
Leshwi fell to her knees before Venli, not flying, not hovering. On her knees. Venli knelt as well, as Leshwi still held to her face—but the grip softened.
P: What a powerful visual this is. A Fused falling to their knees before an “inferior” person. It really drives it home how stunned Leswhi is over Venli’s reveal.
Buy the Book
The Lost Metal
“I don’t know what to do,” Venli whispered. “I keep wavering between two worlds. I’m too weak, mistress.”
Leshwi rose into the air, then ripped her side sword from its sheath. “It’s all right, Voice. I know the answer.”
She flew directly into the fight and began pulling away the soldiers, shouting for them to halt. When they didn’t, Leshwi started swinging. And in seconds her troops had joined her, as singer fought singer.
P: This is so incredible. How Venli becoming Radiant has encouraged Leshwi to join the battle on the side of the humans! And she didn’t even order her troops to join her. They just did, without question. Wow, wow, wow.
“Sibling,” Navani whispered, clinging to the pillar. “What is happening? Why do you make that rhythm?”
Navani? The voice that responded was soft as a baby’s breath on her skin. Almost imperceptible. I hear this rhythm. I hear it in the darkness. Why?
“Where is it coming from?”
There.
Navani was given an impression, a vision that overlaid her senses. A place in the tower … the atrium, dark from a storm blowing outside? Down here, deep within the basement, she hadn’t realized one was going on.
Fighting. People were fighting, struggling, dying.
P: Note that Navani is talking about the Rhythm of War here.
“Emulsifier,” Navani whispered.
What?
“A joined purpose. Humans and singers. Honor and Odium. They’re fighting to protect the helpless, Sibling.”
L: Fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves… that sounds familiar.
P: It’s almost as if they’re inspired by a certain Windrunner we all know and love.
L: In all seriousness, though, this is more than just the theme of the chapter… this is the theme of the book. The Rhythm of War… the combination of Voidlight and Stormlight, the coming together of people who are apparently completely different. Joining, rather than tearing asunder. Peace, rather than war. Connection.
“My spren though,” Venli said. “She… has friends, who are willing to maybe try again. With us.”
“My soul is too long owned by someone else for that,” Leshwi said.
L: Somehow I doubt that, and I hope that we get to see Leshwi proven wrong eventually.
P: As they say in the Wheel of Time, no one can walk so long in the darkness that they can’t return to the Light. I believe this about everyone but Moash.
The vision faded, but before it did, Navani spotted Rlain—the singer who worked with Bridge Four.
“He’s there,” Navani said, then found herself coughing. Each convulsion made the pain flare up again. “Sibling, he’s there!”
Too far, they whispered. Too late…
L: Man… what a fake-out this was, for me. I was really really looking forward to Rlain being the new Bondsmith, and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in the way things actually turned out. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Navani and I’m happy that she’s a Radiant. It just would have been so incredible for Rlain, the outsider, the most marginalized of any of the main characters, to wind up in a position of such unique power.
P: I was certain that Rlain would bond the Sibling. But I was also certain that Navani would bond them, just because of her fabrial knowledge.
“Take me,” Navani whispered to the Sibling. “Bond me.”
No, the Sibling said, voice faint.
“Why?”
You aren’t worthy, Navani.
L: Biggest of oofs. This must be such a blow to poor Navani, who’s always had these fears lurking in her heart.
P: Gavilar, is that you?
That noise had to be from Kaladin’s fight with the Pursuer.
Rlain was, therefore, utterly shocked when they walked into the atrium to find a full-on civil war. Singers fought against singers, and a group of humans stood side by side with one of the forces.
P: Yeah, I imagine it was quite a shocking scene, to see them fighting each other like this. And especially to see Fused and Regals defending the humans and Radiants.
“You need to submit,” Leshwi was saying, hovering above them in her imperious Fused way. “I will explain to Raboniel that the soldiers were uncontrolled and didn’t obey my orders.”
“And you think she’ll let us walk?” one of the human women shouted. “We need to get out of here right now.”
“If I let you go,” Leshwi said, “it will seem that I am in rebellion. We can contain this if you submit.”
“You’re not in rebellion?” one of the men demanded. “What was that then?”
“We ain’t obeying one of you again,” another bellowed. “Ever!”
P: Even though Leshwi defended the humans, she’s not inclined to actually release them. And how brave the humans who fought became. Defending the unconscious Radiants and then standing up to the Fused who had helped them! Incredible.
“Listen up!” he shouted to Confidence. “All of you!”
Remarkably, they fell silent. Rlain did his best Teft impersonation as he turned to the humans. “You all, you know me. I’m Bridge Four. I know you don’t like me, but are you willing to trust me?”
L: And here we see Rlain finally coming into his own. His character journey has been such an incredible one. I can’t wait for the series to be over so we can look back on it in its entirety and marvel over it, because I’m certain that it’s going to be a thing of beauty.
P: I loved this scene, where he just takes control and orders around humans and singers alike. And FUSED. Go, Rlain!
“Rlain,” Venli said to Awe. “You gave orders to a Fused.”
He shrugged. “It’s all about an air of authority.”
“It’s more than that,” she said. “How?”
“I had good teachers,” Rlain said.
P: Even though Venli had just revealed herself as a Radiant to Leshwi, she’s still amazed at Rlain.
Venli hummed to Anxiety. “I don’t have a Blade, Rlain.”
“But—”
“I was lying! I used my powers to get her out. Timbre says I’m a long way from earning my own Blade!”
Damnation. “We’ll figure something out,” he said. “Right now, we need to keep moving.”
P: I was surprised here that Rlain didn’t say something like, “Yeah, lying sounds like something you would do.”
Music, Mechanisms, and Manifestations of Light
A cool, beautiful light flooded in through the window behind. Like a frozen lightning bolt, brighter than any sphere. Bright as the sun.
P: Is this Kaladin attaining the Fourth Ideal?
Spren and Shadesmar
“Please,” Leshwi said to Longing, “ask your spren. Do they know of an honorspren named Riah? She was my friend once. Precious to me.”
L: Ooooh. My first thought upon reading this was, “I wonder if this is one of the scratched-out eye spren we saw in Shadesmar?”
P: That would have far predated the Recreance, I’m sure. If her spren had been a dead eye, she’d have had to abandon her oaths long ago.
“But she doesn’t know a lot of honorspren. She… doesn’t think any of the old ones survived the human betrayal.”
L: This line seems to put the lie to it, but… it’s still possible. If memory serves, during the trial in Shadesmar, the honorspren said something similar about the honorspren bearing the brunt of the humans’ betrayal. But… Syl survived. So maybe we’ll see Riah again. Who knows?
Bruised and Broken
They led him to a body placed reverently beside the wall, the eyes burned out. Teft.
Rlain fell to his knees as Dabbid joined him, letting out a quiet whimper, anguishspren surrounding them. They knelt together, heads bowed. Rlain sang the Song of the Fallen, a song for a dead hero.
L: Go on, Brandon, keep twisting that knife, we don’t mind…
P: Seriously. Seeing Bridge Four members mourning their sergeant is especially heartbreaking.
Oaths Spoken, Powers Awakened
“I… I swore the First Ideal of the Radiants,” Venli said. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry…” Leshwi said. A joyspren burst around her, beautiful, like a blue storm. “Sorry? Venli, they’ve come back to us! They’ve forgiven us.”
L: This is such a cool reveal, both for Venli and for us! I didn’t see this coming at all. We’ve spent so long thinking of them as the enemy, that it probably didn’t occur to a lot of us that they’d view the “good” powers as something to be celebrated and revered, rather than destroyed.
P: Well, to some of them. Raboniel definitely wants them destroyed. Though seeing a joyspren burst around her was cool!
“What are they doing?” Navani asked.
Fighting other singers. I think. It’s so dark. Why do they fight each other?
“What’s in that room they defend?” Navani whispered.
That is where they put the fallen Radiants.
“Emulsifier,” Navani whispered.
What?
“A joined purpose. Humans and singers. Honor and Odium. They’re fighting to protect the helpless, Sibling.”
P: A joined purpose. Something that would benefit both peoples in the long run. If only.
Singers/Fused
Leshwi had lived before the war, when men and singers had been allies. Honor had been the god of the Dawnsingers.
L: They’d been Windrunners, then. Hooboy, what a surprise… and yet not. If you remember from the Chapter Chat section, they were protecting those who could not protect themselves…
Even those they hated.
Guess those old ideals run deep.
Brilliant Buttresses
“A Radiant,” she said to Consolation. “Kind of. I can use Voidlight to power my abilities, so they work in the tower.”
“Figures,” Rlain grumbled. “Kelek’s breath… I wait years, then you of all people grab a spren first.”
L: I have to snicker at this, because honestly… yeah. Most of us have been cheering poor Rlain on for way longer than Venli, who just annoys a good portion of the fan-base.
P: Poor Rlain. I can’t imagine his frustration with this turn of events.
We’ll be leaving further speculation and discussion to you in the comments, and hope to join you there! Today’s discussion topic: Which did you want to become the Sibling’s Radiant; Navani, or Rlain?
Next week, we’ll be back with chapter 110, in which Navani finds common ground and Kaladin emerges from the darkness.
Paige resides in New Mexico, of course. She very much misses baseball and is SO EXCITED about Spring Training starting this week! Links to her other writing are available in her profile.
Lyndsey is currently traveling in Scotland, and will likely be posting the occasional photo on her Facebook page. If you enjoy queer protagonists, snarky humor, and don’t mind some salty language, check out book 1 of her fantasy series. Follow her on Facebook or TikTok!
Thank you, dear ladies, even though I am crying in my coffee AGAIN. I thought I was going to avoid that this morning, but no.
And I am sure that brilliant light is Kaladin saying his 4th.
Well, that is coming from the dreaded Children of the Light (usually right before they torture someone), so thats probably not a good example. But yeah, Moash…
I wanted Rlain to become a Radiant, but whether he became a Bondsmith or not wasn’t really important. I actually didn’t want Navani to bond at all, as her position as a researcher gave us some good outsider perspectives, but once she was wounded it was inevitable.
I had wanted Rlain to bond the Sibling and was expecting it; until it didn’t happen! He was unhappy about Venli being the first to bond (well, really it was supposed to be her sister) but he doesn’t let that become what drives him. I hope he turns out to have a larger presence in the coming books.
Hey, I ship him with Leshwi who should rebond with an honor spren and not be immortal any more.
Maybe any of the fused that “convert” will all be like Venli and can handle both types of light. Wonder how that will play with Todium.
I would bet quite a bit that Leshwi was not a Windrunner. In fact, I’m pretty sure that would be impossible, because the Knights Radiant weren’t founded until well after the beginning of the Desolations and the Oathpact, if I am remembering rightly. She might have had an Honorspren friend, even some kind of Nahel bond, but she would not have been a Radiant.
I will also bet actual money that this was a conscious decision by Brandon. I know a lot of writers, and that kind of pacing consideration is universal among the good ones. (I’d be amazed if novelist Lyn didn’t already know that, of course.)
Association with Honor does not automatically mean Radiance. Considering that the Spren only began bonding after witnessing the Honor Blades, and considering the deep resentment that many of the ex-Dawnsingers hold toward the Spren who “betrayed” them by bonding humans (and the envy over the nature of that bond), I take Leshwi at her word that Riah was a friend and not a bond-mate.
@2: The entire story of Ingtar hinges on that saying, which means it’s certainly not a Whitecloak saying, or if it is they haven’t monopolized it in any way.
I was fully expecting Rlain to bond with the Sibling, but I found it to be very believable how the in extremis situation pushed Navani into the role instead.
@5 – exactly, I do not think the Whitecloaks own that concept (and even if they did it would be one of the redeemable things about them….)
Count me in the number that found Navani bonding the Sibling a little unsatisfying!
I loved Leshwi’s scenes though!
My initial reaction when I read Chapter 109 for the first time was one of shock. I was floored that Leshwi had some interaction with an honorspren. That was something I did not see that coming. Is it possible that before Odium brought the humans to Roshar, the honorspren that Leshwi mentioned was in Leshwi’s gemheart?
I think the reason Leshwi’s troops joined the fight against the other Singers was not for their respect of humans; rather, I think it had to do mostly (75%) with their respect for Leshwi. They will follow Leshwi no matter what she does. They reason that if Leshwi does something, it must be the correct thing to do. In many ways, this is similar to the loyalty that Eshonai thought (when she was in Stormform) she would have earned from the soldiers in her unit (like Thune) and the loyalty that Venli had from her group of “scholars” who followed Venli down Venli’s almost extinction of the Listeners. I believe the other 25% was that Leshwi’s troops were one of the few Fused that still retained a level of hope that both sides could live in peace. Or perhaps, maybe a type of Cold War that most of the Third World experienced for the 4 decades or so after WWII (until the fall of the Soviet Union).
Lyndsey. I agree 100%. I was hoping right until the Sibling Accepted Navani’s Oaths and Rlain bonded with with Tumi that Rlain would bond with the Sibling and become a Bondsmith. Such a bond would have been the ultimate example of realizing the true enemy is not all the Singers or Listeners. Rather the enemy is Rayse/Odium, the Voidbringers and those Fused completely under his thumb. Navani becoming the Bondsmith does nothing to disperse the influence and power that the Kholin family maintains. Dalinar and Navani are now the only Bondsmiths, whose power are (in theory and if they both reach their full potential of their KR abilities) amongst the strongest of all KRs. Jasnah is the Queen of one of the most powerful nations (even if it is still occupied) and one of the few KRs to swear the 4th Ideal; Shallan is Dalinar’s daughter-in-law (she is one of the original KRs), Renarin is a KR. Only Adolin is not a KR (and Adolin has some connection with Maya). (OK. Gavionr is not a KR, but is is too young.) I understand that her fabrial knowledge makes an interesting basis for a Nahel bond with the Sibling. As we see, it helps her understand the Sibling in ways most, if not all, of the prior Bondsmiths the Sibling previously bonded could not. But I would have preferred that Navani not be a KR.
My wish scenario is that Leshwe finds out about Adolin helping Myalarin and goes to shadesmar, hoping that if Riah is among the deadeyes, she might be able to help her.
It would have been cool for Rain to become a Bondsmith for all the reasons @7 says, but Navani and The Sibling are so well suited, despite how The Sibling feels about her. I actually kind of fear that the corrupted/ enlightened spren bond might have some unforeseen adverse effects for Rain and Renarin. Hope I’m wrong. On the other hand, if the bond with Tumi doesn’t work out, The Nightwatcher remains unbound.
@2 Actually, seeing how the children think that once a dark friend always a dark friend, it’s more just of a saying in general. After all, the ones who say this quote the most are people who ARE darkfriends….and the ones who redeem themselves.
But this isn’t a wheel of time thread. While I get the understanding that people may be getting sick of the Kholin family having most of the power, I think that’s just a side effect that they are the main characters. Rlain does have a issue inside of him that he doesn’t like seeing himself as “the friendly neighborhood singer” he feels rather left out of everything. Being one of the three BIG Radiants would probably be worst for him, as he doesn’t see himself as a leader or anything special; he would rather just be a solider again, and no longer alone. HIm being a Bondsmith would make him rather lonely. I think him bonding with Tumi may not be important right now, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he becomes more important in the second half of the series.
@9, Actually in the ending of the book, Rlain is thinking of himself as a spy, who remains unremarkable for a living. His starting to show leadership is meant (I would bet) to be a character growth arc.