Welcome back to our Wind and Truth read-along, Sanderfans and Cosmere Chickens! This week, we’re talking about chapters 1 and 2 of the book. As you may have noticed from our Prologue discussion, we’re approaching these discussions a bit differently than usual. Paige is summarizing the chapters and adding commentary, Lyndsey is talking about chapter headers and spotlighting individual characters, and Drew is focusing on larger Cosmere connections and magic systems. We also have a new section wherein we discuss reader comments and theories in the read-along article and/or on various social media platforms. So please join the discussion here or on your preferred platform, and maybe you’ll see yourself quoted in future articles!
As always, we have to include a warning that there will likely be full Cosmere spoilers here, especially given the way Rhythm of War discussed wider Cosmere goings on and, as we saw in the prologue last week, it looks like Wind and Truth will do the same. So if you’re not caught up on all Cosmere works to date, you may want to bookmark this for a later date… unless you don’t mind spoilers, in which case, have at it!
Paige’s Summary and Commentary
This week, we’re getting a sneak peek at chapters 1 and 2. As you likely noticed, chapter 1 is rather short and we see a smidge of both Kaladin and Shallan, while chapter 2 is solely a Kaladin point of view. I’m interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on these chapters, so let’s get to it and talk it through…
Chapter 1 is titled “Unfamiliar Ground” and it opens with an epigraph with a quote from page 1 of Knights of Wind and Truth, which we take to be an in-world volume, just like every other Stormlight Archive book title, and which I’m sure fans of the title ketek theory will love. It reads: “I should have known I was being watched. All my life, the signs were there.” This piques our interest and we have to wonder who wrote the book… Who do you think it might be, Sanderfans? Whatever the case, we look forward to more epigraphs, as we didn’t get to see those during the beta read!
We go on to find Kaladin feeling good. Like, really good. Weird, right? He’s aware that there will still be dark days but then he knows things can be good, even great, again. Suffering from bipolar depression myself and knowing how dark it can sometimes get, I relate strongly to Kaladin, so it’s really nice to see him feeling happy!
He does have a moment when Syl says she feels something odd on the wind and Kaladin feels the wind speaking to him: “A storm is coming, Kaladin, the wind whispered. The worst storm… I’m sorry…” He asks Syl if the wind is alive and she tells him that everything is alive.
Next we see Shallan at the top of Lasting Integrity with Pattern and Testament. She’s feeling bad over the whole broken bond thing and Pattern is his usual chipper self, comforting her with the fact that at least she didn’t kill him! I love Pattern’s enthusiasm about everything. Shallan wonders if she could rebond Testament and heal her, and Pattern responds that according to Kelek, she is likely still bonded to the deadeye. The scene ends with Shallan hugging Testament and promising that she’ll help her. It’s touching when Testament slowly hugs her back.
Chapter 2 is titled simply, “Family.” Its epigraph is from page 3 of Knights of Wind and Truth and reads: “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.” So, is the Wind (note the capital letter) the same voice that speaks to Kaladin in chapter 1 and tells him the worst storm is coming? Could the wind and the Wind be the same?
This chapter picks up with Kaladin again, getting suddenly spooked by the sound of Oroden clapping his hands. He thinks of how he overreacts to loud noises and, pardon my detour into a personal story here, but it relates… Kaladin being startled by noises makes me think of one of my cats, Weezy (who’s gone now, sadly). He liked to go outside at night and roam. Every morning, I’d get up and go to the door to find him waiting to come in and eat and nap. Occasionally, he wouldn’t be there but I’d clap and call his name and he’d come running. One night he went out and it started raining. It was the monsoon season and it rained for days. He never came home after that, and my daughter and I searched and searched, canvassing the neighborhood and putting up signs. Eight months later, my daughter was at the animal shelter and saw Weezy, terrified in his cage and nearly feral. We brought him home and isolated him from our other two cats so he could acclimate. I spent every evening after work with him, just sitting and letting him come to me if he wanted to be petted. Recuperation took a while, but even for years after, loud noises would freak him the crem out. Thunder, shaking a trash bag out, a knock on the door… poor guy was just traumatized.
Thank you for listening to my kitty story… back to chapter 2!
Kaladin thinks of the enormity of the impending contest of champions and begins to chastise himself for playing blocks with his brother. Then he hears a voice again, telling him to “hold to this,” but doesn’t attribute it to the wind, instead thinking that he had known Teft well enough that he could anticipate what Teft would say. Kaladin thinks of how he’s not Dalinar’s champion and no longer the leader of Bridge Four, and wonders who and what he is now. Again, he hears a voice: “You are… You are what I need…” He knows he didn’t imagine that and, because Syl didn’t hear it, Kaladin snaps to attention. Then Hesina enters and, as moms are wont to do, feeds him.
When Lirin arrives, he begins talking about the messiness of Dalinar’s medical corps layout. He says the whole system “needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.” Kaladin expects things to be quiet until the contest of champions but Lirin disabuses him of that notion, warning him that Dalinar expects heavy casualties before the deadline. Kaldin thinks about all of the senseless death that’s about to occur and quietly asks the voice if this is the storm. Syl looks at him oddly for talking to himself but the voice answers, “No… Worse…” Then the voice pleads for Kaladin’s help and he says that he doesn’t know what he has left to give. The voice continues, “If you can, come to me,” and Kaladin asks where. He’s told to listen to the Bondsmith.
Kaladin also has a short interaction with Syl prior to asking Lirin about the war. She’s full-sized and they talk about whether she prefers that or being small. It’s more work for her to be full-sized, of course, but she says she feels that she’s treated more like a person, like when she’s in Shadesmar. Then, after his exchange with the voice, Kaladin rises to go talk to Dalinar, mentioning that he’ll need to try to find Ishi. After Hesina gives him an odd look for talking about Heralds and their madness so casually, Lirin actually goes to Kaladin and hugs him. (It’s a nice moment, but I still give Lirin the side-eye whenever he’s around.)
Syl changes into a Bridge Four uniform with her hair in a ponytail, and Kaladin thinks of how it makes her look more mature in uniform, with a glove on her safehand. Even though she has sometimes seemed girlish, she was never a girl, so to speak. Not sure why Kaladin is thinking about how mature she is, but okay.
So, Sanderfans, let’s talk about some of the pressing questions we’re left with:
- Who might be writing these words in Knights of Wind and Truth? What is the Wind? And why is it speaking to Kaladin now? What do you think the Bondsmith (I’m assuming the Wind means Dalinar here and not Navani) will tell Kaladin, or ask of him? Is it what Dalinar mentioned before, asking Kaladin trying to help Ishar with his mental state?
- Is Dalinar right that there will likely be heavy casualties in the coming days? Will he be involved in any fighting alongside the Coalition armies? Or will he be busy preparing for the contest of champions?
- Is Shallan going to be able to bring Testament closer to speaking and talking about her experiences (as Mayalaran does)? I really hope so, because I’d like to know why she came to Shallan when Shallan was so very young for a spren bond. It would certainly be interesting to see.
Let us know what questions or theories you have!
Lyndsey’s Commentary: Characters and Relationships
There’s one thing I’d like to bring back from the old re-read format, and that’s a little discussion/analysis of the front matter: the chapter headings and quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The Heralds depicted on the chapter heading drawings often have some bearing on the chapter, and I’ve always found that to be an interesting (and subtle) touch throughout the books.
Kaladin and Shallan’s chapter is headed by Palah (Paliah), Herald of the Truthwatchers. Her aspects are “Learned/Giving” and her role is “Scholar.” Also of note is that she’s depicted in all four Herald spots, indicating a strong link between her and the characters/events. In this chapter we’re seeing Kaladin in a more relaxed state of mind. Perhaps this chapter header is meant to foreshadow something about his character arc for the rest of the book. He’s always been a leader, but without a squadron of people to lead, perhaps he’ll take on a more scholarly role. We’ve certainly seen him do that in the past when it comes to teaching his men the basics of healing, not to mention his spear training. As for Shallan’s part, she states that her goal is to help Testament no matter what. That certainly strikes me as “giving.”
Chapter two’s header features Vedeledev (Vedel), Herald of the Edgedancers in all four spots. Her aspects are “Loving/ Healing” and her role is “Healer.” This one seems pretty obvious. Kaladin’s entire chapter here has to do with healing himself, and with family love.
As for the quotes at the beginning of these chapters…
Sanderson likes to drop little quotes at the beginning of chapters in all his Stormlightbooks, using them to add a little more worldbuilding flavor in some cases. We can also glean some very enlightening hints as to broader Cosmere workings from them (as in Hoid’s letters in Rhythm of War), or they can be portents of the past/things to come (the death rattles in The Way of Kings).
I should have known I was being watched. All my life, the signs were there.
—From Knights of Wind and Truth, page 1
In this case, we seem to be getting excerpts from the in-world book sharing the name of the novel. As noted above, this has been a recurring theme in the Stormlight Archive; each novel has a corresponding in-world book with which it shares its title. It’s rare to have that revelation dropped on us so swiftly, but we do still have a lot of questions. Who’s the author? I’d assume a Knight Radiant, as we have proof of spren watching several Radiants from an early age with the intent to Bond them. Shallan is probably the best example, but there are others as well, so there’s precedent. Which Radiant in particular is penning this book? We’ll have to keep an eye on these to try to figure it out.
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
I think it would be a good bet that our mystery author is a Windrunner, given that they’re talking about knowing the Wind (capitalization is important!) as a child.
And with that out of the way, let’s move on to chatting about the characters and relationships!
Kaladin
Kaladin felt good.
Hoo boy. Those are some nice words to read, eh? We’ve been waiting so long for poor Kal to experience a reprieve from the darkness surrounding him. He suffers from depression, and his life has been so hard up until now. I know I’m not the only one who’s been rooting for him from the get-go, so seeing him finally in a better place is just so gratifying. However, the second chapter is here to remind us that, though Kal’s doing better, he’s still not “fixed.”
He had lately become more prone to overreact to loud noises—including ones that, upon reflection, were obviously nothing dangerous.
There’s some PTSD here, clearly. Understandable, considering all the terrible things he’s witnessed and had to do in battle. Kaladin still has some healing to do. It’s a bit of a comfort to know that Teft’s voice is still in his head, giving him a much-needed berating when necessary.
As for his character arc? A first chapter for a character usually gives us our starting point, from which our POV character begins to change and grow. It looks likely that the strange voice he’s hearing in his head will have something to do with the plot, but his inner character arc is likely going to center around these questions: “So who was he? What was he?”
Everything Kaladin thought he was has been stripped away; he’s left without an identity or purpose.
Syl
“Last time you made a tentacle come out of your forehead.”
“Highbrow comedy.”
“Then it slapped me.”
“Punch line. Obviously.”
It’s also nice to see that Syl is still… well, Syl. Interesting that she’s making herself appear larger now, though. To put herself on an equal footing with everyone around her, as she states in chapter two. She didn’t want to be “smaller” than everyone else anymore.
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.”
Well, that one’s sure to set all the Kal/Syl shippers foaming at the mouths. Syl wearing her hair like Lyn (one of Kaladin’s exes) and presenting herself as being more mature are a bit suspicious, too.
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.
Wow. That’s a nice surprise! It’s no secret from previous rereads that I’m not Lirin’s biggest fan. This display of affection is very out of the norm for him, and it’s incredibly nice to see him acting like a parent for a change rather than a judgmental d***head.
Shallan
Two spren.
She’d bonded two. One during her childhood. One as an adult. She’d hurt the first, and had suppressed the memory.
Speaking of healing from trauma… Shallan’s been through arguably even more than poor Kaladin. Not that suffering is a competition or anything, but this poor girl’s been through the wringer. The revelation at the end of book 4 that she’s had another (deadeye) spren this whole time was just as shocking to most of us as it was to her.
I’d argue that unintentionally hurting a friend leaves a deeper wound than many would expect, and Shallan’s used a multitude of questionably healthy tricks to cover that wound up. Now that it’s been revealed, what’s she going to do with it? It’s great to see her trying to figure out ways to help Testament rather than just shutting those memories away. It looks as though that might wind up being her major arc in this book, unless Sanderson throws us another curveball. He does like to do that…
Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts and Theories
After a whole cascade of craziness in the prologue of Wind and Truth, this week’s preview chapters take a breezy step back. We’re setting things up now, rather than concluding them… but that doesn’t mean nothing of note happens in these chapters, when it comes to magic and theorycrafting.
We spend a lot of time right off the jump focusing on spren and their bonds. Kaladin may be having a relaxing, “good” day, but Syl is right there alongside him. And she’s acting a little differently since the events of Rhythm of War.
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.
Syl made an effort in Rhythm of War to understand Kaladin better, to adapt herself to more human patterns of thought. She’s continuing that here, but in a more overtly mature way. Something as simple as the size she presents is a clear indicator, but she’s also styling herself after the women she sees around Kaladin.
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.
Another sign, toward the end of chapter 2, that Syl is working to be seen as something more serious than just a little magic girl. While she may go around talking about being a splinter of a god, it’s almost always tongue-in-cheek—but this is a new affectation, and notably one that Navani shares. Syl is growing just as Kaladin is, and each new Ideal he swears seems to be giving her more and more capacity.
And speaking of capacity, Syl is interacting with the Physical Realm more than ever. We’ve seen her ability to do so as far back as The Way of Kings, when she brings Kaladin the blackbane leaf, but she was stretched to her very limits when she did that. Now, she’s interacting with Kaladin in a very familiar way, poking him and teasing him.
Meanwhile, Shallan is having her own downtime in Shadesmar, reflecting on what occurred in Lasting Integrity during the climax of Rhythm of War. Her relationship with Testament (and with Pattern, for that matter) is very different from that of Kaladin and Syl, but it gives us a look at a different angle of the Nahel bond.
“Can I heal her?” Shallan asked. “Maybe if I… if I bond her again?”
Shallan has her guilt to work through, of course, but Pattern’s response is telling. He thinks Shallan is still bonded to Testament, despite making her a deadeye spren. This offers a whole bushel of complications to unpack, not least of which is the way Shallan has been using her Shardblade(s) throughout the books. When she killed Tyn in Words of Radiance? That was Testament. There’s some Connection still there, but the extent of it remains to be seen. Shallan has the opportunity to be a truly unique entity among the Knights Radiant, given her multiple bonds to the same kind of spren.
And that’s not all that we have to grapple with when it comes to deadeyes.
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.
We’re heading into true theory territory, now. The mystery of the Recreance, and why things happened the way they did, remains stark against the backdrop of the war against Odium. Ba-Ado-Mishram is potentially at the heart of all this, as she was the driving force behind the False Desolation. After she was bound by the Bondsmith Melishi and the Knights Radiant, there was a huge ripple effect across Roshar—the singers with whom she had Connected were reduced to the mindless slaveform, the Sibling in Urithiru felt the effects, and if a popular fan theory is correct, it also damaged the essential nature of bonds on Roshar.
Oh, and speaking of theories? Let’s talk about voices.
“A storm is coming, Kaladin, the wind whispered. The worst storm… I’m sorry…”
Kaladin gets a new, mystical entity to talk to! Well, maybe not talk to, but a new voice to hear. He feels that this is the wind itself, something separate from the windspren or the Stormfather or anything he’s encountered before.
And it’s both cryptic and foreboding. It makes for a solid counterpoint for the tension of the story, reminding us of the looming deadline and the contest of champions, despite Kaladin’s relatively relaxing time with his family. This voice could be, well, anything. Is it a fragment of Honor, like the Stormfather? Is it one of the Unmade, making a new play at one of the Radiants’ foremost members? Something else entirely? We’ll have to read and find out…
With the scaled-back tone of these chapters versus the constant revelations in the prologue, we don’t get much in the way of greater Cosmere connections or worldhoppers peeking out from behind the curtain. But this is The Stormlight Archive, and we can be sure there’s more where that’s concerned. In the meantime, I’ll have an updated look at all the worldhoppers we’ve seen on (and around) Roshar to share on Thursday!
Fan Theories
Lyn: Vocalnerd on the Reactor comments last week has an interesting theory:
possibly hot take—but I don’t really think that’s the Stormfather Gavilar is talking to…
An interesting theory that a lot of others are echoing, pretty much everywhere. Riftyn takes it one step further, putting into succinct words what a few people have theorized:
I’m thinking maybe dear ol’ Tanavast might not be as gone as Honor is. And the Stormfather might have inherited a bit more than just some power when Honor was splintered.
In a similar vein, Shannon (and quite a few folks over on Reddit) are using the moniker “Stormfaker,” which amused the heck out of me.
There are a lot of theories regarding the shift in font when the Stormfather is speaking, but this one by Hansolo312 on Reddit was particularly good:
The change between Italicized words and Bolded words when the “stormfather” is speaking indicates to me that the earlier theories were missing that key information. Ishar is the one speaking most of the time but the Stormfather really is present, Ishar is speaking through the Stormfather the way Dalinar speaks through him in RoW
Paige: In the Reactor discussion comments, we have the following theory in relation to the Stormfather possibly being someone else. Steve-son-son-Charles says:
If you go back and look at the actual text, you will see the Stormfather uses 2 different fonts. At first I thought this was a formatting issue, but then someone else pointed it out as well.
I wonder if we have both the Stormfather and the Fake!Stromfather communicating with Gavilar at the same time, but he is in such a manic state, he cannot tell/recognize the difference and thinks it is only 1 entity.
So I am slowly leaning more towards the Fake!Stormfather theory, but with a caveat!
And Floricienta has this to say about the theory:
I think It is indeed the Stormfather, we [see] later in the prologue [he] seemed concerned about the way that he approached Gavilar. My theory is that the Stormfather forced the bond between them like the spren can bond humans one way sided even before they swear the first ideal, like happened to Kaladin or Rlain. And like we see now with Dalinar, the bond made the Stormfather change and adopt Gavilar’s mannerisms and humanity, leading him to be able to tell a lie.
While I like what I came up with, I still can not explain how the Stormfather felt a Herald dying if it was actually him.
Drew: Over on Reddit, theories are flying fast. The “Stormfaker,” as many fans have taken to calling the entity in the prologue, has been theorized to be several different people. u/sistertotherain9 says on r/StormlightArchive that they think it’s Ishar, because he’s “shifty,” but also points out that Cultivation herself could be involved, thanks to Vasher’s work with Gavilar. There’s that Nightblood connection, after all…
Lyn: Ways points out that:
…Seons are apparently capable of FTL communication.
GREAT catch.
Over on Reddit, I particularly loved this comment by unknown817206:
If I take any one thing away from this chapter is that Gavilar is out of depth and doesn’t know anything about what he’s talking about
Thanks for the chuckle, I’m 100% with you.
Paige: And regarding the mention of Vasher in the Prologue, AndrewHB had this to say in the Reactor read-along:
Interesting that Gavilar knows Vasher/Zahel. At this time, he was using his Zahel identity. He would have already have trained Adolin. I am guessing that Gavilar somehow found out that Vasher was not from Roshar and he tired to blackmail Vasher into working for him. I have not read Warbreaker. But from what I have seen of Vasjer/Zahel in SA, Vasher does not seem to be the type to agree to be blackmailed. He would just move to somewhere else.
To which HA2 responded:
Theory: he was searching for a way to destroy Nightblood
What do you think, Sanderfans? Is that why Vasher agreed to research anti-Voidlight?
We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who choose to wait for the full release. See you next Monday with chapters 3 and 4!
Lyn: (Small side note: if any of you will be attending WorldCon in Scotland this weekend, please hunt me down and say hi! I’ll be posting what panels I’m on and what I’m wearing each day on my Facebook page, so give me a follow to better find me. I LOVE chatting Cosmere!)
Hi, I was wondering will the chapters be released here as well- ignore this nevermind
I would love to see Shallan and Testament get closer like Maya and Adolin have done!
I anticipate Testament will be revitalized toward the end to drop a truth bomb, like that Shallan’s mom was a herald.
I’m really nervous about Syl becoming more “mature” according to Kaladin. Shipping the two of them just seems wrong! But why else would Sanderson/Kaladin make sure we know that…
They don’t want us to think it’s weird!!!
I agree with you on this… I’ve never been a fan of this ship.
It’s at a point where it’s either her or no one; which would honestly be fine with me. Honestly, this would have been weird in book 1 and 2 but as of 3 and 4, Syl has become increasingly less childish. Pair this with Ishar trying to make spren manifest bodies in the physical realm, and it’s pretty clear Brandon at least wants us to think he’s going this direction with Sy and Kal, unless this is all set up for a swerve (which it probably is because wow is this obviously written specifically to assuage the people who think that Syl is a baby).
Kaladin hearing a new voice is pretty wild! So many things it could be.
Its possible that the “Listen to the Bondsmith…” Line could actually be a Red Herring and is actually referring to Ishar instead of Dalinar.
But most likely its probably just simply the voice telling Kal to go to Shinovar.
As for the Knights of Wind and Truth book.
I think we are supposed to think at this point that the book is written by Kaladin or Szeth, but in my opinion the language in the book doesnt really line up with how Kaladin or Szeth talk. We also know that at least Kaladin doesnt know how to write (though he could dictate to someone)
Right now my theory is that the book is actually an older text written by Jezrien or something like that.
The name Melishi seems a bit similar to Ishar. I wonder if the Wind is Bao-Ado-Mishram.
I think Nale is the author of these Words. Skybreaker so he knows the wind, Radiant, telling Kaladin to meet Ishar (they will meet him, get heavy beating and in the last moment Szeth swear 4th ideal). Who knows what 5th ideal radiant is capable of and yes this is probably part of the Cultivation plan, why she choosed Nale to wield Nightblood first
That’s a good point I never considered, I thought the red herring would be the voice referring to Navani, but Ishar is a big possibility!
I do think that Vasher was interested in Gavilar’s work because he’s interested in getting Stormlight off-world to feed his Divine Breath easily without staying on Roshar, what I don’t understand is why he shared such a massive superweapon with Gavilar, and why he’s not hiding his identity as worldhopping Vasher when he could just be the Ardent Zahel.
Not having Dalinar viewpoints for entire part 1 is a bummer, tho rhythm of war taught me not to expect anything from this character. No one dares ruin Kaladin and Shallan show.
>What do you think the Bondsmith (I’m assuming the Wind means Dalinar here and not Navani)
That’s Ishar
I’m genuinely curious… what makes you think there won’t be any Dalinar in the preview chapters?
The “Day 1” heading just lists Kaladin and Shallan as viewpoints. Typically in that position, all of the viewpoint characters for part 1 would be listed.
I don’t think it makes sense to only have two perspectives for all of part 1 of 5, though. And it doesn’t say “Part 1” in this book, it says “Day 1.” So I’m wondering if Brandon’s giving us a 10-part book in place of 5 this time, each one corresponding to a day. In particular it would be very odd if we have no Szeth flashbacks in all of Part 1, especially since Brandon read some of them already. Would he read those out and then save them all for later Parts?
I would guess that the Knights of Wind and Truth are Kaladin (Wind) and Shallan (Truth). So possibly the book is a collaboration between them. So any particular line could apply to either one.
I know I’m completely wrong for many reasons, but I’m going with Jezrien and Pailiah. Backstory notes or something.
I think Truth might be Szeth, since a major plot point of this book will be his flashbacks of becoming truthless, then his redemption arc of getting therapy from Kaladin. Although you’re right, four books of Shallan doing all things truth probably fits better.
I’m now imagining Kaladin, Szeth, Shallan, and the heralds all in group therapy together.
Truth could be Szeth. Afterall, he never really was Truthless.
This is a buddy cop / roadtrip adventure, at least for a large chunk of the first part.
But I suspect it will apply to many threads int he story.
For voice in the Wind, I’m guessing either Jezerezeh,, or Ba Ado Mishram.
“Kaladin felt good” Uh oh
This felt like it could be the last time Kaladin sees his parents.
Thinking more on my last point, perhaps Adolin dies while saving Maya, which would be on point for everything in their relationship.
And would be so sad. I could stomach a Dalinar death, but Adolin would be too much.
I LOVED seeing Kal enjoying his family, playing with Oroden, Lirin hugging him and saying he loved him. Seeing Kal happy is wonderful……..AND TERRIFYING. You know it won’t last! The “voice’s” warning is terrifying. Who is the voice? At first I thought it was the Sibling, but Kal would have recognized their voice. He thought at first it was Syl, so a feminine voice…BAM? Cultivation? Did Cultivation realize she messed up with Todium? And was it Cultivation being the Stormfake hunting a champion talking to Gavilar in the Prologue? Being a dragon, she can shape shift.
These chapters definitely have a lot of fodder for Syl/Kaladin shippers. I think there’s room for that, but I think I’d only like it if there’s some way for one of them to become the same (thing? species? kind of person?) as the other. E.g. if swearing the 5th ideal turns a windrunner into an honor spren (they “become honor”) then that could be fun. But I think that as much as I enjoy their relationship, I want both of them, especially Kaladin, to have other successful relationships. I’d like to see Kaladin end up happily back with a past love interest. Laryl seems cool, and she’s widowed now.
But shipping isn’t actually what interests me the most with the theories. I’m interested to see theories on who in-world wrote the epigraphs and why, what’s going on with Stormfaker, and overall plot predictions.
It’d be somewhat interesting to find that Szeth or Kaladin wrote the book, but it’d be very interesting to know why. My current best guess is that it’s Shallan or Shallan plus someone else, maybe Kaladin, a little like Rhythm of War had two authors. The Truth part could be about her ideals being truths. I’d also enjoy having it be Renarin, though.
I don’t feel like I’ve seen a theory that really resonates with me about the Stormfaker. We’re definitely supposed to be speculating about fakery there. When Stormfaker? tells Gavilar that he will do things differently next time, that could be an explanation of why this is the actual Stormfather and he no longer acts like he did with Gavilar. Maybe he’s doing better at seeming the way we all think of him from the other books. But it does seem a little odd that the portrayal is pretty consistent from every perspective but Gavilar’s. We see interactions with Dalinar, Kaladin, Syl, and Eshonai all behaving the way we expect. I do think it’d be very interesting and fun, though, if we find out in this book that Ishar was right in RoW – the Stormfather has been corrupted. Sja Anat enlightened him, and that’s part of why Dalinar’s bondsmithing is different. With Gavilar, maybe we saw his genuine, corrupted personality and after failing with Gavilar, he started trying to pretend to be more like he used to be.
My overall theory is that we’re supposed to be panicking for most of the book that Dalinar’s champion will lose, but in the end, Dalinar is at least OK. He doesn’t become fused and fight all over the place for Odium. That doesn’t strike me as fitting what we’ve seen from other cosmere books set later. Harmony sending Kandra to help with the bad situation on Roshar, for example, doesn’t seem like it’d be right if Odium is basically in military control of the world. I think either Dalinar’s champion wins, or another bondsmith somehow exchanges themself for Dalinar in the contract in time. But there’s legitimate reason building up to the contest to think that Odium is going to win it, because Taravangian thought of something devious. Then what goes wrong with Roshar is actually whatever Ishar is doing, in his madness. As for what Taravangian figured out as the loophole to win no matter what, I like the theory that he’s going to pick a champion for the purpose of making Dalinar want to back out. Something like making a hero fight one of the major little boys (Gavinor, Oroden). Maybe he bribes Gavinor to be his champion by offering to let him kill Moash to avenge his father. This idea works better if Kaladin is the champion, or Gavinor expects him to be, and Odium convinces Gavinor that Kaladin is partly responsible for Elokar’s death. Otherwise I don’t think Gavinor would agree to be the champion.
Another possibility for how Taravangian games the system is the clause about how the champions can’t be harmed by either side on their way to the contest, or the clause that the contest is “to the death.” Maybe there’s a clever interpretation of “to the death” that I’m not quite seeing, or a way to weasel out of letting someone be a champion because they’ve been harmed. It bugs me that the contract didn’t say anything about when and how either side would declare their champion.
While I am not a particular fan of the baby champion theory, I have though this through and how it could possibly occur, based on the following death rattle:.
Who the child might be? Perhaps – as you mention – Gavinor (probably too old) or Oroden (maybe young enough).
What if T-Odium somehow (via magic or trickery) managed to get Oroden to be his champion?
So you have a scenario where Dalinar is literally holding a knife at the throat of a child, with all the ghosts that haunt him from his past re-playing in his mind. Can Dalinar do it? Would he do it?
The flip side to this, of course, Kaladin feels like he has failed Tien. And despite the climax of Rhythm of War, some of those feelings will still linger when he discovers that T-Odium has Oroden. If you recall, back in Oathbringer, when Kaladin first met his new brother, he stated:
That is tantamount to an Oath, not just a love of family.
As a result, would Kaladin once again offers to take his brother’s place, but this time as T-Odium’s champion? And what if Kaladin then kills Dalinar, because if he does not win, T-Odium will kill his brother? In either case, Dalinar would likely refuse to kill Oroden or Kaladin, so he lets himself be killed instead.
And with the death of Dalinar, perhaps people lose hope. They would rather have seen Dalinar kill Oroden (or Kaladin never becoming his champion), allowing Dalinar to win the contest, resulting in the humans on Roshar (figuratively and literally) gaining further breath to draw.
While I think this is a stretch, T-Odium’s champion will not be a villain (ie: Moash) nor a Fused / Regal. His champion will be someone we know, like, and respect. Fundamentally, that gives the greatest impact to the climax of book 5 / first half. The battle has to be an encounter that changes not only Roshar, but the Cosmere itself.
Dalinar vs. Kaladin is one scenario to make all that happen.
And if this turns out to be the contestants in the battle of champions, then either Kaladin or Dalinar (or both!) may become T-Odium’s sword going forward.
Talk about a 10-year cliff-hanger!
The epigraphs – chapter 1 could be Shallan, Szeth or Kaladin. Chapter 2 is Kaladin, IMHO.
The voice on the winds talking to Kaladin is the same entity as the Stormfaker, right? They go from telling “You are not the one I need” to Gavilar to “You are what I need” to Kaladin. I am in the camp of this being Tanavast’s Cognitive Shadow. It is odd that the voice insinuates that it is in Shinovar, but maybe it just needs Kaladin to be there.
I have long thought that Kaladin will either Ascend or become a Bondsmith at the end of book 5 and the former seems ever more likely. Yes, his farewell to his family seems pretty final. I also don’t like the romancy vibes between him and Syl… but they also look a lot like death flags for her. She doesn’t have to die for him to do either of these things, but after these couple of chapters it feels likely to me that she will.
Something occured to me regarding Vasher – did Gavilar know that he is Zahel? Vasher can change his appearance completely, after all and could have kept his aliases separate.
I am going on a record here that I deeply dislike the Chana Davar theory, not the least because it would feel incredibly contrived if King Gavilar and Lady Davar had died on the same day and no family member ever commented on it. I mean, his death was a huge event of great importance to the Vorin part of Roshar and it would have been quite a coincidence. Besides, there is zero follow-up on “they mustn’t see, they mustn’t know”, as to our knowledge Chana didn’t do anything of note after the end of WoK and until now.
So, my theory is a bit out of the left field is – the Stormfather’s “no Herald has died and gone to Braize since” (paraphrasing) is true “from a certain point of view”. Due to how the Oathpact was changed so that Taln could maintain it alone and weakened for all the others, the Herald who died didn’t go all the way to Braize, but saw whatever shouldn’t be seen. And that Herald was Ishar, not Chana. And it resulted in him proclaiming himself a god-king, which, IIRC was a relatively recent development.
Finally, Shallan’s scene with Testament was touching, but I am a bit leery of “whatever it takes”.
My gut reaction is that this “Ishar as the Herald who died on the night of Gavilar’s death” theory is pretty attractive. And it would give a specific impetus for his transformation into the god-king, which is otherwise a bit random. The other now-mad Heralds have, as far as we know, kept a fairly low profile.
P.S. Something else occurred to me in support of the Heralds no longer going all the way to Braize when killed – Jezrien’s initially completely nonchalant reaction to being murdered by Moash.
Kaladin simply notices the changes in Syl that swearing the next Oath caused. Why should that have anything to do with romance? Being more in this world could make Syl more vulnerable to Ishar’s experiments on spren.
Why is there no way to sort the comments chronologically? In these long threads it’s impossible to find what is new.
For Paige, I am curious as to why you wrote that Chapter 2 is titled “Family” when on the link it is titled “Taking the Next Step”. Was the Beta version named Family and Sanderson changed it?
Yes, some chapters were changed after Reactor sent us the doc with all of the early release chapters. We only just got chapter header icons so that we can check those going forward.
To me at least, the lines from the Wind seem to match the way Gavilar was spoken to by the Stormfaker (I love that btw) in the prologue. Is it Ishar? Maybe? It doesn’t really make sense – but I do think it’s the same entity both times.
Some initial reactions, with more detailed theorizing to follow.
I agree with most that the chapter 2 epigraph fits well as Kaladin. I’m a little bit tempted to root for Renarin as chapter 1 — he would have been watched closely due to the seizures, after all. But thematically Szeth might also fit well, as noted above.
It was amusing to see Chapter 1 as “Unfamiliar Ground” and watch Kaladin sit hovering a couple inches off the ground, with the skies more familiar than even the stones of Urithiru that a Shin would be okay walking on.
From a magic-system perspective, it was weird to me that Kaladin had stuck a uniform to the wall to see how long it would stay but then in the very next chapter goes on to note that “light here was constantly replenished” and that “the entire city is… infused. Like a sphere”. This seems akin to how Shallan’s illusions will stick around indefinitely as long as there’s a source of stormlight, and with the tower itself providing the Investiture, the lashings should be effectively permanent.
I also think that there is something interesting hidden in “Pattern’s robe always felt hard, yet Testament’s bent like cloth”. Presumably the “hard” one is normal and so Testament’s robe being soft is a sign of being broken in some way, but I don’t have a great theory about what that represents…
Now some thoughts about the Wind. We know a few things: (1) it has asked something of Kaladin before (“so sorry… to ask more of you…”), (2) it seems to be able to respond to not just Kaladin’s words, but his thoughts. (Though we should be a little wary of assuming this, given our experiences with Dalinar’s visions.) If so, though, this would imply a very strong Connection, which severly limits the candidate pool, unless Ishar got involved. (3) It seems to speak as if from personal experience of not having anything left to give or having given up so much (“I don’t know what I have left to give”/”I understand, it replied”). (4) It may have some foresight into the future, to speak of this bad storm that is coming.
To me, the main candidates are Tanavast and the theorized “Spren of Roshar” that helped Venli with her Willshaping. Both are in a position to have shaped Kaladin’s journey or at least observed it, and have some goals/sentiments that align well with what Kaladin has been doing and would have formed a Connection along the way. I don’t think that Odium has the Connection, since we saw in RoW that he needed to leverage Moash’s Connection to Kaladin in order to drive the depressive vision. But that’s an interesting contrast to Mistborn era 1 where Leras was trying to drive events as the shape in the mists but Ruin was right there to corrupt his messages — if Tanavast’s shadow is still trying to do things, wouldn’t Odium be able to notice and respond? It’s not clear to me how the situation is different but here on Roshar we’ve seen Odium specifically say he needed a Connection he didn’t have.
And then there’s the part about Kal being expected to just know where to go to “come to me”, and the unidentified Bondsmith to listen to. I don’t see much in the text to help guide this one, but am inclined to suspect that the Bondsmith is not the obvious Dalinar and might even be Ishar (presumably, if we’re talking Tanavast or Spren of Roshar, in a moment of sanity rather than insanity).
Well, Ruin co-created Scadrial and everything on it. All people there were only a little less than half of him, so of course there was a strong Connection.
That’s not the case on Roshar with Odium and there are also Honor’s strictures further impeding him. So Connections have to be slowly grown through the Unmade influence or a person has to actively reach out to Odium (Taravangian).
Ah, right Ruin+Preservation created the whole shebang on Scadrial, I hadn’t accounted for that. Your explanation makes a lot of sense; thank you.
Oh, and I guess this is potentially related.
I feel like we’re supposed to expect that unexplained sudden changes in behavior are the result of a magical influence. Is Kal under some new influence, and is that going to be related to the Wind?
Just normal PTSD, IMHO.
stolen from Reddit: how are we not calling him the stormfauxther? im disappointed in us
The wind connection was right there at his intro in book one too – “he could see something surrounding the squad leader. A warping of the air like the wind itself became visible.”
While I am not on board this ship, I can’t help but think of Syl as pulling a Julia Roberts/Tinker Bell move a la Hook. :)
Perhaps she is the one who is becoming more interested in the human experience in general.