Welcome back to The Way of Kings reread on Tor.com. All of Roshar is Weeping this week, as we reach chapter 44. Due to the great length and significance of the next two chapters, I’m only going to cover one chapter this week, but I think you’ll find that even this shorter chapter has plenty to discuss.
Join me as I explore more of Kaladin’s past, going with him to a time of constant rain, hopeful opportunities, bitter disappointments, and terrible vengeance.
Chapter 44: The Weeping
Setting: Hearthstone, Five Years Ago
Point of View: Kaladin
What Happens: The Weeping, an annual, four-week-long period of constant rain, has come, and Kaladin is patching the roof of his family home. Unlike most people, who welcome the long reprieve from Highstorms, Kaladin hates the Weeping and the feeling of dreary weakness it brings him. Not only does he miss the sun and sky, he even misses the intensity of the Highstorms.
Having finished with his work, Kaladin stays on the roof, staring at the sky. Since the hunt, Roshone has been a shut-in. The people of Hearthstone are terrified that he will explode with rage, but like with a Highstorm, Kaladin would prefer that to a slow grinding suspense.
Tien finds Kaladin and joins him up on the roof. As usual, Tien knows how to bring his brother out of a funk, and this time he accomplishes that by staying with him in silence. Kaladin surfaces to ask if Tien actually likes the rain. “Yeah,” Tien replies, but it’s “hard to stare up at like this, though. I keep blinking.” Kaladin smiles, roused by his brother’s simple enthusiasm for just about everything.
Tien gives Kaladin something he made at the carpenter’s shop: a beautiful wooden carving of a horse, already sealed against the rain. Kaladin thinks it’s beautiful, even if Tien got in some trouble with his carpenter master for making decorative presents when he was supposed to be making a chair. Kaladin wonders how his little brother can remain cheerful while his family is being starved and his master treats him poorly. He tries to explain the desperation they’re facing, now that Lirin is being forced to slowly spend spheres, but Tien persists in being cheerful. He firmly believes that “things are never as bad as they seem.”
Despite himself, Kaladin feels his fears and cares lighten. The two boys are soon joined by their mother, who climbs up onto the roof and sits with them. Kaladin tries to convince her that the whole family should leave Hearthstone when he goes, since Roshone is strangling them, but Hesina explains that Lirin is intentionally spending spheres, to make it appear that they’re broken and prevent Roshone from seeking vengeance for the death of his son. Everything is going according to plan, and soon Kaladin will be able to disappear into his schooling, wealth safely in the holding of the ardents.
Hesina and Tien talk excitedly about all the things Kaladin will be able to learn, with his mother even saying that he can train to be something other than a surgeon if he wants. He could join the ardentia if he turned out to love scholarship, or become a stormwarden. Kaladin finds the idea of predicting the weather slightly horrifying, but strangely appealing. However, he maintains that he is training to be a surgeon.
At this point Lirin finds them, bemused at the fact that his entire family is sitting on the roof in the rain. He calls them down with the news that Roshone has called for a town meeting in the square, and they head off to attend. The whole town is gathered, gossiping. Kaladin sees some boys who he used to call friends, and is more acutely aware than ever that Hearthstone isn’t really his home anymore. Roshone’s carriage arrives, and he steps out, followed by an unknown lighteyes who Kaladin suspects is Highmarshal Amaram, and finally Laral, the woman Kaladin was once expected to marry. She has only grown more beautiful over the years, but there is one thing about her appearance that shocks Kaladin’s parents: she’s wearing a bride’s prayer. They consult, and speculate that Roshone must have decided to marry Laral himself, staking a claim to her dowry and connections now that he can no longer marry her to his son.
Roshone introduces Amaram, commander of the defense force protecting Sadeas’s borders in his absence. He addresses the town, heavily but perhaps unconsciously condescending to them, and tells them that he’s there to look for recruits. A few boys and men step forward, but not nearly as many as Amaram needs, so he calls for Roshone’s list. At Roshone’s urging, a scribe calls out five names. The last name she calls is “Tien, son of Lirin.”
Hesina cries out, and Lirin steps between Tien and the recruiters. Amaram, seeing that Roshone has used him for his “petty, small-town politics,” asks if there’s some other boy who will do. Roshone holds to his rights, vindictive in his victory. Amaram promises that he’ll use Tien as a runner for a couple of years, to keep him from the fighting. He prepares to leave with his recruits.
Kaladin steps forward, suddenly sure of what to do, and asks to take his brother’s place. Roshone vehemently refuses, as he’s made his choice by right, so Kaladin volunteers to go in addition to Tien.
His parents are dumbstruck and crying, although Tien is unbelievably grateful. Kaladin swears, “by the storms and the Almighty’s tenth name itself,” that he will bring his brother back once their four-year tour is over.
Quote of the Chapter:
Lirin stepped forward, eyes full of anger. Highmarshal Amaram caught him by the arm. “Do not do something you would regret, darkborn. Roshone has acted according to the law.”
“You hid behind the law, sneering at me, surgeon,” Roshone called to Lirin. “Well now it turns against you. Keep those spheres! The look on your face at this moment is worth the price of every one of them!”
First, I found it striking how incredibly condescending and gross all of Amaram’s forms of address for the darkeyes he interacts with are. “Darkborn” and “darkwoman” just sound… terrible. They’re proper terms of address, I would assume, for a man of his station to use in these circumstances. They might even denote some kind of vague respect in context. But to us outsiders they seem to drip with contempt. Next, this forced irony on Roshone’s part is severely unflattering. He’s vindictive, which is almost understandable, but the form his vengeance his taken is being framed in the pettiest possible display of power.
Commentary: Kaladin’s hatred of the Weepings spells out pretty firmly in my mind that he’s been unconsciously absorbing Stormlight from highstorms for years, although some people have disagreed with that theory of mine in my recent Stormlight Grimoire article. Either that, or he has the Rosharan version of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Or both. The Weeping is actually a very strange and interesting meteorological phenomenon. Rainy seasons exist on Earth as well, but my impression is that an annual four-week period of predictable and constant rain is somewhat less so. The Weeping is so regular, in fact, that it’s the event by which age is measured. Seasons are inconstant and of variable length, but the Weeping is always at the same time.
Tien is at the height of his adorability in this chapter, I think. We don’t get to know him very well, and only ever through the eyes of Kaladin, which is a biasing viewpoint. Kaladin loves his brother very much, but he also looks down on him somewhat. He buys into the common narrative that Tien is the stupid brother and Kaladin the smart brother. He’s smaller and less physically fit than Kaladin, and takes a less serious viewpoint towards the world. This chapter shows off his extremely meaningful talents, though. Tien could have been a capable woodworker and artist if he’d gotten the chance. He seems to have trouble applying himself, but he nevertheless crafted a wonderful horse for his brother. He’s an eternal optimist, unlike his brother and father, which is a form of emotional strength. He’s also masterful when it comes to understanding and supporting others. He knows how Kaladin works, and how to make him happy. Tien is also an expert rock-finder. That’s probably significant.
Lirin’s strategy still seems like he was making the right moves. He provoked Roshone more, perhaps, than was wise, but I still think he’s been manipulating his resources and Roshone’s expectations as well as anyone could. He still failed, however. Maybe he underestimated Roshone’s vindictiveness, but I think that the situation had gone beyond his ability to control; Roshone had all the power, so defeat was inevitable. I’m awaiting news about what happened to Lirin and Hesina after Kaladin and Tien left with a kind of horrified curiosity.
As for Hesina, let’s talk about her vision of the future. She’s clearly something of a freethinker, in a number of ways. She and Lirin have unorthodox religious views, Hesina went against her parents to marry Lirin, and in general she behaves differently from other women in her demographic. But the things she’s suggesting in this chapter are really rather revolutionary. She suggests to her son that he go into the most forward-thinking and cutting-edge profession available to a man and become a stormwarden. She sees the technology of Roshar progressing by leaps and bounds, and predicts that soon men will have to be taught how to read and write, to keep up with this pace. I think that’s just brilliant of her, although I think that the acceptance of male literacy will come via a different route. I bet that as women begin to accept martial roles due to the resurgence of the Knights Radiant, the strict divisions between the genders will become amorphous and obsolete, at a much faster rate than technological progress would bring. Still, it’s wonderful to see such an interesting and thoughtful anthropological prediction from Hesina.
Kaladin’s plan to protect Tien is pretty crazy, when you think about it. He’s underestimating the scope of war and overestimating his own ability to defend another in a battle. That being said, I don’t think it’s possible to really blame him for making such a strange choice. What he has done is collapse his parents’ strategy. A couple of weeks ago one of you commented that the strategy of putting an entire family’s resources behind the child most likely to be able to advance in society was a common and sensible practice for parents like Lirin and Hesina, and while no one could be expected to perform the cold emotional calculus needed to make a determination like this, throwing Kaladin’s life away for the slim chance of saving Tien’s is a losing proposition.
Well, we’ve seen just about all of Tien’s story except for how it ends. Check back next week as we explore a place that’s even stranger than the past: the Shadesmar.
Carl Engle-Laird is the editorial assistant and resident Stormlight correspondent for Tor.com. You can follow him on Twitter here.
I didn’t find Amaram condescending. I think that for a brightlord he was behaving in an expected and completely acceptable manner. He even comes across as fair-minded and insightful, with his anger at Roshone over his petty vindictiveness. He is limited in what he can do, and accedes to Roshone’s orders over his own administrative region, but he makes an effort to do the right thing. At this point, Kaladin still trusted and admired Amaram, and it’s important not to color our views of Amaram by how he acts later. Amaram is charismatic, clever (as his quick grasp of the situation between Lirin and Roshone demonstrates), and does try to do the right thing…until faced with the incomparable temptation of shards.
I agree that Kaladin’s childhood depression during the weepings is highly suggestive that he has been using stormlight for far longer than he realizes, and may partly explain what drew Syl to him (I don’t think she was drawn to him until he was in the army and demonstrated his honor).
Yes, if only the master carpenter had recognized and appreciated the beauty of Tien’s skill. But that would be a different story.
Are male darkeyes allowed to be “artist” like that? or just make the practical things, like chairs?
Thanks for pointing out Hesina’s uniqueness. It really did slip past me in the first reading. She’s just as much an outsider as Lirin is.
I’m hoping that they both left their backwards town after the “loss” of both their son’s. (Kaladin’s letter) But like you, I’m dreading how they will re-enter the story. Probably not for another book or two.
If “Darkwoman” is a term of proper address, shouldn’t it be capitalized? Like “Brightness?
The first time that I read this book I actually liked Amaram (until I got to the betrayal chapter). He came off as a reasonable brightlord to me. I cannot wait to see the relationship between Kaladin & Amaram in WoR (if there is one).
I agree with everything in your post, except that Tien is displayed as “the stupid brother.” He is weaker yes, unsuited for surgery, but I would have described him as frail and naive or naively optimistic rather than stupid.
The quote that really stood out to me in this chapter was Kaladin’s
As if the lack of storms left him without strength.
I don’t know if he absorbed the stormlight (as discussed in your Grimoire part 1) or if he fed of Tien’s stones but there obviously is a connection beyond what Syl provided.
Just a note: the weepings are 4 weeks long, constant rain, but there is one highstorm exactly in the middle of that time period. This is still long enough for everyone’s spheres to lose their light (both before and after the storm), but this does mean that the period without stormlight is shorter than most people assume.
[Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 615). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.]
This doesn’t negate any of the points about Kal’s potential use of stormlight and ensuing depression when there’s not any. However, it does add nuance. (I guess I’ve just seen too many discussions where this is not known)
But this does raise more interesting symbolic and cosmological questions about the Origin and the world at large. How is there a continent wide (if it does extend that far and is not just in the West) rainstorm for exactly 4 weeks? Why/how does the Origin stop sending highstorms for a period, at the same time of year, but then send one in the very middle of that period? It seems that this is set up so specifically because it will be important to something (IMO, it’s way too early to tell…my guess is that this will be one of Brandon’s long-game reveals, especially dealing with the question of what the Origin is within larger Cosmere ideas and Shards of Ado. issues). Or at the very least it will be fleshed out as a strong metaphor for something…
Aramark strikes me as the “casual racist” type. He is what he is because that is the culture, but he is not particularly malicious about it. He is probably not even aware of the effect of his words.
As for the KR making women in martial roles acceptable… Note that the current female KR candidates (Shallan, Jasnah) are in what appear to be fairly scholarly orders. Lift (from the Words of Radiance readings) is the only somewhat martial female KR.
@6
Damn you autocorrect. Aramam is not a food service company.
I feel bad for for Laral. She was to marry a Brightlord close to her on age. Instead, he died while hunting and now appears to have to marry his father. A man who is will probably resent her even more now that she has to share his bed. The marriage will further cause Roshone to hate the fact that he is Brightlord to what Roshone sees as a backward, middle of nowhere, flyspec of a location. Stormligth forbid Laral if she gives birth to a daughter or a sickly son.
Thanks for reading my musings,
AndrewB
(aka the musespren)
Roshone, forced to marry a younger women… I don’t see Roshone complaining about that part of it. It is Laral who is getting the short end of the stick, so to speak.
But Amaram is more complicated, and this isn’t going to go away. Small spoiler though I don’t have the exact quote on me at the moment
Amaram is on Dalinar’s side and will counsel him.
end spoiler
Another thing I wonder about – The high storms remind me of tides. Tides are created from the gravitational pull of the moon, and so we get tides on the side of the earth closest to the moon AND farthest from the moon. The bigger tide is the one closer to the moon.
Maybe I am completely barking up the wrong tree (would not be the first time) but could Roshar be in a binary planetary system, and you never see the other planet because of the storms? Could the other world be where Odium is?
@5 Alethkar is in the east, not the west
@9 response to spoiler
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interesting when one considers that Amaram is in Sadeas’s army
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Walker @@@@@7 – Well, you could go back and edit, but I rather like it this way. :)
@@@@@ several – On my first read through, I didn’t find Amaram terribly offensive at this point in the game; “casual snob” would fit. It’s irritating, but understandable given the society and his particular role in it. Knowing what I know now, my perspective on him changes. Dramatically.
In the last review it was mentioned that Kaladin could hold more stormlight than Szeth?I think that would make sense since Szeth grew up in a place with no Highstorms at all.I like Kaladin’s Mom and hope she and Lirin show up later.
My own feeling is, that if Kaladin holds more stormlight, and holds it for longer, than Szeth, that it has to do with how Kaladin is bonding with a spren, while Szeth seems to have learned to do it completely without a spren.
This seems analogous to how shardplate is only a dim ‘dead’ version of what it used to be, because people are not using it right.
@13 and 14. Could it be the Shardblade? After Kaladin’s first encounter with Adolyn, Syl talks about how much she hates the Shardblade. And when Kaladin kills the Shardbearer in a few chapters, when he reaches for the Shardblade he has the distinct feeling of how wrong it feels. I wonder if it could be like a dark side of the force thing…the Shardblade definately can make you powerful, but real mastery of the Stormlight is acheived without it? Just thinking out loud.
Do we actually know for sure that Kaladin can hold more stormlight than Szeth? I never got that impression while reading. I always saw it as him using small bursts for energy and directing arrows without knowing it. Then during the big battle to save Dalinar, he is constantly refreshing his stormlight reserves because of the gems that the Parshendi have in their hair.
@16
This is from Word of Brandon. A reader picked up clues in the text (Szeth leaks very quickly, while Kaladin can hold his breath) and asked Brandon about it at a signing. Brandon confirmed.
@17 Thanks for the clarification. I don’t remember hearing that tidbit.
@5, I think the highstorm in the middle of the Weeping points toward the palindromic nature of so much that goes on in this book. Perhaps that central highstorm is the pivot about which the rest of Roshar’s weather patterns are based, and the reason the stormwardens have figured out when highstorms are coming is that they understand this symmetry.
@14 – I think you’re right on target – even though they’re both using “the same skill set”, Kaladin is the one who actually has a spren bond, and it seems like that makes a huge difference.
@19 – A very interesting theory. But if the weather was palindromic, wouldn’t that mean the highstorms would switch direction? I guess they could be palindromic in frequency, but not direction. Hmm…
Pretty much everyone we’ve been led to actually care about in Hearthstone got screwed over in this chapter – Laral, Tien, Kaladin, his parents… You win this round, Roshone. But you’re still a pathetic, petty jerk, and you’re still stuck in the back end of nowhere.
I may be barking up the wrong tree, but I feel the Stormlight Archive will have at least one – if not several – Hrathen (Elantris) type character. Might Roshone be one.
I can at least hold onto the hope that men, who have something in common that is as monumental as losing a child, will one day find common ground and redemption in each other. But I do realize that, even in a fantasy world, life is not always so hopeful.
I just really wonder what happens when Kaladin next meets Roshone/Laral or meets Amaram.
How would that go?
@22 I am really looking forward to a Kaladin/Amaram meeting. Wonder how that’s going to go.
I think the hindsight evidence that Kaladin was somehow drawing strength from the Stormlight in highstorms, even as a kid, is very interesting. Then he obviously starts using Stormlight from the spheres without knowing it, and then purposely drawing the Stormlight out and experimenting with it, culminating with his defense of the bridge when they save Dalinar. He has super Stormlight power when he hits the ground after jumping from the bridge to the chasm as witnessed by his glowing and the ring of power that flows off when he lands – I think because his unselfish motivations were already adding to the effectiveness of the Stormlight alone-, and then gains further strength when he says the ideal of the Knights Radiant. He mentions how the Stormlight is staying in him longer and working even better than before.
So the Stormlight by itself can strengthen him, but partnered with the ideals/spren bond, the power becomes even greater.
I was rereading some Kaladin flashbacks, and found something that seems like living the ideals and partnering with Syl–albeit unknowingly–strengthen him independently as well, even without Stormlight. It’s pgs. 830-31 of the paperback, in the flashback where he kills the shardbearer and saves Amaram, but earlier than that point. He sees the little boy, Cenn, whom he mistakenly calls Tien, surrounded and about to be killed. He rushes out of the formation and kills the 6 attackers easily without being touched.
This sounds just like the description of when he is fighting the Parshendi at the bridgehead, and the subtle reference to Syl bringing wind to “envelop” him sounds a lot like how she flew around him, pulsing with the Stormlight in the Parshendi fight. Kaladin also goes on to mention how his battle senses are so acute at this moment, and he can take in the whole battle at a glance and assess the threats of near and distant enemy soldiers.
So he was able to draw power or at least mental balance from Stormlight as a kid without Syl; and later she was able to enhance his power appearingly without Stormlight when he was living the Knights Radiants’ ideals, fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Then he combines the two and becomes super fighter Knight Radiant guy.
Which leads to my question, if Kaladin wasn’t such a good person to attract Syl, or he had led a different life that didn’t lead him to protecting others near a wondering wind/honorspren, could he have developed powers like Szeth, using Stormlight with less effectiveness because it was somehow an inborn quality? And his men want to learn the same skills in their talk at the end at Dalinar’s camp. Could their dedication to each other and helping others now lead them to gain sprenbonds with enhanced strength and senses, but not the Stormlight healing and arrow-drawing powers?
My guess is, if Kaladin had not been so honorable, he would not have amounted to much. He would not have gained this same level of skill, or even the stormlight powers, without the spren bond.
But Szeth…. do we have some Shaolin Monks in Shinovar that have a secret order of martial artists who learn how to use stormlight (the way a martial artist can use ki) to fight, even if they don’t understand the spren bond? As far as we have seen, there are no spren in Shinovar.
@25 You probably read this, but there was some interesting conversation under the Chapter 23 and 24 post of the reread regarding the kick-butt awesomeness that we assume must exist among the Stone Shamans. I’ll see if this link will work:
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/07/the-way-of-kings-reread-chapter-23-and-24#363917
“Kaladin’s plan to protect Tien is pretty crazy, when you think about it. He’s underestimating the scope of war and overestimating his own ability to defend another in a battle.”
I think it’s pretty obvious here that Kaladin really, really wants to be a soldier and feels that way on a physical and emotional level – but having been discouraged from it by his parents and feeling that if he pursued that route he would be letting his whole family down – just stopping to think like a teenager, I would say that he grasped this as an opportunity to do what he really wanted to do, without thought for the the consequences of his actions, which I think it’s safe to say that all of us have, at one point or another during our teen years, acted the same way. I know I did!
Also, his sense of having to protect others that he considers weaker or disenfranchised is a huge character theme throughout the book. My feeling about the oath that he swore by: “by the storms and the Almighty’s tenth name itself,” was that it was such an incredibly strong oath that his failure to protect Tien was pretty much foretold at that point.
I’m feeling a little
lamebehind in my homework after finally getting around to reading the translation of the pages from Navani’s notebook on Coppermind. Doh! Should probably take the time to peruse that website in more depth.Ways @29 – Well, it’s not quite as bad a time-sink as tvtropes, but pretty close… Don’t dive in while you have other things you ought to be doing! :)
Seriously, there’s a lot of good stuff there. It’s a bit like the encyclopaedia-wot, though; most of it is correct, but there are occasionally assumptions which are presented as fact. I find that it’s a good idea, if I read something that’s new to me, to go check the source material. As far as I know, neither Brandon nor his assistants are fact-checking and approving the content. Still, it’s a wonderful collection of the facts and details, and it sure beats creating your own!
Thanks, Wet! “…and it sure beats creating your own!” Absolutely! Some people have too much time on their hands. And sometimes I’m very happy about that. I started my own Excel database for WoT characters way back when, before I discovered Encyclopaedia-WOT or maybe even before it existed. A labor of love to be sure, but I’m glad I did it and still refer to it occasionally since it’s easier to navigate than the website, if not nearly so comprehensive. BTW-Gary K. signed my copy of ToM on the dedication page at JordanCon (along with everyone else who was there + Wilson). Bob K. was only there in spirit (and once by phone). It was a real pleasure to have serious face time with one of the Encyclopaedia’s creators. Gary is a for sure good guy, and graciously drove MoM and yours truly back to the airport.
Anywho, I’ve drifted way off-topic, apologies to anyone who isn’t really interested.
Hi, I am a first time commenter so please be gentle if this has been discussed and discredited somewhere else. Could it be that the Weeping is related to the death of Honor? Perhaps an annual occurrence commemorating the death? The name itself suggests sadness. It occurs regularly. And perhaps the high storm in the middle is a reflection of Honor’s last ditch, all in fight against Odium.
Just a a thought I had while reading the review. I am really enjoying the re-read and comments.
Sleigh @32 – Welcome! No worries. :)
If it’s been discussed, or even suggested, I haven’t seen it. (This doesn’t prove much, except that it probably hasn’t been talked about on tordotcom.) It’s an interesting idea, and as valid as any other theory I’ve heard about the Weeping. Come to think of it, I haven’t actually heard many theories; we just don’t know enough.
FWIW, Brandon mentioned at his most recent signing here that when a Shard is Splintered, it’s not necessarily an instantaneous thing. The effects, the dissipation of its power, and what happens to/with the power, will be a more gradual process. At the same time, it seems probable that the death of the individual would be fairly sudden, and the Splintering itself could happen pretty quickly. Hmm. Yes, this is an interesting theory, worth thinking on. I wonder if Brandon has a specific explanation for the Weeping in his own mind, or if it’s just part of the way he designed the weather patterns.
i realize this isn’t about kaladin or this reading, and perhaps it is on this site somewhere, but i have a question about Seths oathstone. On page 451 of hard cover WoK , is what i would call the description of the object that Gavilar had given him to keep safe, being used as Seths oathstone. although other interludes speak of it being a useless stone as in the chapter with King Tarav. So is this just a error, or is there something going on here i haven’t got on too.
@34 is suppose to read ‘i realize this is not about Seth …….’
wind spren @34 – I’m not sure I’m making the same connections you are. On p. 451, the man speaking to Szeth holds in his hand two objects: an infused gemstone hanging from a chain, which is apparently glowing (and which turns out to be a soulcaster fabrial); and Szeth’s oathstone. Neither of them is, IMO, the black-glowing sphere Gavilar gave Szeth to keep safe. That is carefully hidden (per his thoughts in Interlude 3) somewhere in Jah Keved.
Does that help any?
@36 you are right …need to sharpen my reading skills and read all the words written.
I always wonder if there is more to Hesina than there seems – there is very little information about her family and she seems incredibly well read for a darkeyed woman… She also lists off a lot of the subjects a lighteyed woman would be expected to learn.