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!)
