Greetings, Cosmere chickens, and welcome to this week’s installment of the Wind and Truth reread! We’re finishing up Day 5 and delving into not one but two interludes today, and hoo boy is this one a doozy… We’ve got battlefields and honorspren and flashbacks and Vasher chained to a ceiling and oh, don’t forget Taravangian being utterly TERRIFYING, so please join us as we leap in headfirst!
Wind and Truth has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).
Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs
We jump into today’s discussion of plot arcs with chapter 67, titled “Field Commission.” We begin with an Adolin POV (YAY!) in which he’s speaking with Captain Notum, who came to help the war effort, though he still refuses to take a Radiant bond. May, who is writing a missive to Urithiru, is a little annoyed that Notum won’t take a Radiant bond because they could use another Windrunner. However, Adolin isn’t about to force a bond on anyone and grants Notum a field commission as a captain in the Cobalt Guard, where he will head up the messenger team and help relay messages amongst the troops.
After Colot takes Notum out, May and Adolin have a brief discussion during which she says she’s glad they didn’t work out as a couple and notes that Shallan is good for him. He tells her she had no idea. Adolin’s thoughts drift to Shallan and he hopes she’s doing well, wondering when he’ll see her again. Major sad face right now!
POV SHIFT!
Sigzil and Leyten are in the chasms, heading toward something that Heavenly Ones are guarding and attempting to hide. What they discover is disheartening: a massive singer force. They can’t imagine how they could have arrived there and Vienta, Sig’s spren, puts forth the suggestion that they might be using an Elsecaller.
Knowing that they need to get a better picture of what the Heavenly Ones are guarding, Sig flies up high, near the Everstorm, which is concentrated in that area. He sees what Vienta guessed: an Elsegate through which the gathering army is entering onto the Shattered Plains. He uses a spyglass to see if he can see anybody using an Honorblade and spies a silvery figure kneeling by the Elsegate. He assumes correctly that it is Dai-Gonarthis, a very, very scary Unmade who “wishes to break and burn this world.” That’s not ominous at all.
Then a familiar figure jumps through the Elsegate. It is none other than Moash, Teft’s killer, the traitor, with glowing eyes. Grrr…
Chapter 68 is a Szeth flashback titled “Acolyte,” and takes place 18 years prior to the present. This flashback follows immediately after the last, in which Szeth burned the ships of the invaders and allowed one to escape as a warning against further invasions. He stands outside the General’s office where the General, the Honorbearers, his father, and the Farmer discuss his fate. He waits to see what his punishment will be.
On the outside, he remains calm and collected, but he is literally trembling on the inside, breathing slowly so that he doesn’t cry. Again, I feel so sad for this version of Szeth in his youth, before he became the Assassin in White. He’s still but a child, forced to be a killer, and my heart breaks for him.
As he stands there in misery, he thinks about how even the Voice has shunned him lately and he’s angry at the prospect of punishment when he was only taking the initiative and following orders. His sister Elid approaches, and comments on how he’s screwed up again. She asks if they will kick him out and he doesn’t think so, though he does worry…
“They can’t,” Szeth said softly. “I subtract. They can find something miserable for me to do, they can execute me, or…” Or worse. They wouldn’t make him Truthless, would they?
Sad to see that he worries about such a thing now because, of course, it does eventually happen. He defends his actions to his sister, who tells him that he wasn’t told to take initiative, but simply to watch for any invaders that struck inland. She says that the offerings are there for a reason, so the invaders take the goods and leave without causing destruction in their wake. However, Szeth thinks about how the Voice says something different: how the offerings would only make the invaders hunger for more, hence the need for the warnings sent back with the ship you allowed to escape.
He apologizes to his sister for ruining her life and she hugs him, telling him that it will be okay because everyone knows that his heart is good. Szeth himself is not sure of this, however. His sister backs away as the door opens and his father invites him inside where three Honorbearers, the head shaman of the monastery with no Blade, and the General wait for him. The General tells him that he should be sent to the mines. He agrees that if they felt he was insubordinate, that he should be decommissioned. The Farmer, on the other hand, says that his suggestion was to send Szeth to the high pass to watch for stonewalkers. He mentions that Szeth could herd sheep, though it was a lonely post. Szeth is amazed by the suggestion and longs for the opportunity.
Well, we all know that pipe dream of his won’t happen. We know where his story goes and what will eventually happen during these flashbacks. But the fact that he was so excited by the prospect of being sent to a lonely post in the mountains is, once again, utterly heartbreaking. Brandon really tugs at the heartstrings with Szeth’s backstory, doesn’t he?
Then, the cursed Voice is back.
Well, this won’t do, the Voice said in his head. Not after you finally started proving yourself. I’m sorry for getting distracted. I nearly missed this meeting, didn’t I?
Suddenly, all three Honorbearers stood up straighter and went alert, as if they’d been slapped. Then, as if one, they focused on Szeth.
“OUT,” Pozen said. “Everyone but Szeth.”
They ask him how long the Voice has been speaking to him and he admits that it began when he was a child, the day he killed the soldier with the stone. And they decide to make him… an acolyte. He is to be taken from the monastery that very day and commended for his bravery. Seth sees the possibility of a peaceful future slipping away from him. Brandon, why did you do this to this poor boy?
The Honorbearers announce the change in plans to the General, the Farmer, and Neturo, who says he’s going with Szeth. He’s told he can’t go, that Szeth must go alone. Neturo insists that his family must join him and it’s recommended that he take over administration of the city outside the monastery. As they prepare to leave, Szeth apologizes to his sister for the change in her life but Elid is actually excited. Then he realizes that Zeenid, his mother, isn’t going to join them.
Thus ends Day 5, with Szeth again brokenhearted, this time at the loss of his mother.
Interlude 9 is a Zahel POV. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen him! And it’s no wonder why; he thinks about how many times he’s been chained to the ceiling. Just, what…?
He hangs naked in a room lined in aluminum, with the bright red, very depressed Aviar trapped in a cage near him. Poor Lift would be so distraught knowing that the red chicken was trapped. The aluminum apparently keeps anyone from sensing him, even spren. He was taken the day of the invasion and think that it’s been weeks that he’s been held captive, though he’s unsure as he has to keep erasing his memory due to the torture they’re subjecting him to.
Axindweth enters with a green Aviar on her shoulder… and a painrial. She calls him Vasher, of course, and states that he can give her half his Breaths and she’ll let him go. Zahel knows that this is just a tactic, that if he gives up half his Breaths, she’ll just demand more. So he says nothing. As he starts to scream, he feels bad for the red Aviar for having to watch.
Interlude 10 is a Taravangian POV titled “The Moment of Decision.” He stands atop a mountain, his attention concentrated on Shinovar, thinking that if he can’t dominate this country, how can he dominate the entire cosmere?
Cultivation appears asking if he has tried as she asked and he states that both halves of him reject her assumptions. He thinks about how he respects Jasnah and Dalinar more than any other on the planet, which is frankly surprising to me, considering what happens with Jasnah later in Thaylen City.
That was when, for the first time, Taravangian legitimately wavered. This problem was not academic, and not one simply of passionate instinct. The question of opposing his friends cut to his very soul. For by its light, he saw that he had been lying, even to himself.
The cosmere must have one god, and if he didn’t become that one, someone else would, and he admits to himself that he wants it. (Greedy son of a cremling.)
He briefly considers what Dalinar might do and then finally decides to Dalinar is wrong and that it must be proved. And who’s going to prove it but Taravangian? Because he’s the most brilliant human on the planet, who now happens to be a god. Once again, this is the scariest shit ever.
He creates an avatar dressed in gold with shining eyes and Cultivation, realizing that he’s made his decision—and that it’s not good—departs
We are left with this thought:
Odium—fully aligned at last—began his work in earnest. For there were two people he respected who needed lessons to help them grow.
Dun-dun-dunnn…
Until next week, Sanderfans. What a distressing note to end this week on! But as we head into Day 6, we’re halfway to the deadline and things are getting interesting…
Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps
Chapter 67’s arch has two Heralds, Jezrien and Kalak. Jezrien is likely here for Adolin, who is—as usual—being the quintessential leader. Kalak is a little more subtle; I believe that he’s symbolic of Sigzil. Kalak’s attributes are “Resolute/Builder,” and Sigzil is certainly resolute in his defense of the Shattered Plains.
In chapter 68, Nale is here as usual for his role as a Skybreaker. Chana, on the other hand, has attributes that play well with Szeth’s nature; specifically, those of being obedient and a guard.
Zahel’s interlude has two Heralds as well; Vedel (Edgedancers, Loving/Healing) and Pralla (Truthwatchers, Learned/Giving). We don’t have a lot to go on here since this interlude is pretty short and brings more questions than it answers. It almost seems as if it’s working on the principles of opposites; rather than loving/healing for Vedel, we’re seeing torture. And Zahel/Vasher isn’t giving up any answers in response to the torture, so perhaps is embodying the opposite of Pralla’s Learned/Giving attribute?
Finally, we have our second interlude, which has another two Heralds: Ishar (Pious/Guiding) and Pralla (Learned/Giving) Taravangian certainly believes that he is pious and learned, and we can also surmise that these two Heralds are symbolic of the two parts of his divinity: the passionate side, and the logical one.
Notum
“I determined to come join the fight, though I’m not going to be a Radiant spren. I will not give any human that power over me.
I can’t really blame him for this. The last time the honorspren gave themselves fully to humanity, they were horribly betrayed. He’s protecting himself here, and that’s understandable.
Adolin
“Your spren?” Notum asked.
“She doesn’t belong to me,” Adolin said. “She’s my comrade in arms.
Reason #527 why I adore Adolin. He views his partnership with Maya as just that—a partnership. They are equals, and friends. She’s not his subordinate.
Now, to be fair, I don’t think most of the current batch of Radiants view their spren as subordinates (with the possible exception of the Skybreakers, but we have a pretty small sample size on this). The fact that Adolin feels the need to emphasize Maya’s individuality is worth noting, especially since he’s also so accepting of his wife’s autonomy. He worries about her, but doesn’t stop her from putting herself into harm’s way. He trusts Shallan to take care of herself. I don’t believe the same could be said of most of the men of Alethkar.
“I formally request a battlefield commission under your command, Adolin Kholin.
Adolin’s out here inspiring everyone to fight, even the spren. Incredible.
Plus, he’d had enough of being like his father. Echoes of that reverberated from earlier in the day—being the killer the situation required.
Not simply a killer, he thought, remembering his mother’s voice and face. I kill for a cause—something that matters.
I’d argue that current Dalinar follows the same creed. The Blackthorn, on the other hand, followed the Thrill a little too closely.
What if it was weeks until he saw [Shallan] again?
OOF. It’s gonna be a lot longer than that, Adolin my dear.
He couldn’t quash the fear that once again, he wouldn’t be enough.
I can relate with Adolin on this one. Imposter syndrome is bad enough when you don’t have a horrific defeat looming in your recent past.
Shallan/Adolin
“I’m glad you found someone better suited to you, though I thought you and Shallan a strange pairing until I realized something. You both share the same sense of whimsy.”
Whimsy, eh? I do have to wonder if that’s a direct call out to the Shard of the same name. It’s not capitalized, so it’s honestly a 50/50 shot as to whether Brandon’s being sneaky with this one or it’s just a coincidence. It does seem a little out of place to just mention it offhand using that specific word, to be honest. Neither Adolin nor Shallan seem particularly whimsical to me.
Vienta\Sigzil
“So many things to learn.” In a rare moment, her billowing cloth retracted around her face, and she smiled toward him.
I love these two and their shared love of research and science. Which is going to make her eventual destruction all the worse. Sig has finally found someone who gets him… only to have her ripped away in practically the most brutal way possible.
Szeth
He wished he could hear what they were saying. He could not, so he remained standing. Angry. Increasingly sick.
Who wouldn’t be terrified, when their life was being decided for them—AGAIN? Poor Szeth has had so little agency in his entire life to actually do what HE chooses. Perhaps that’s why he fears choice so much and wants to be told what to do; because he wasn’t raised with any ability to choose for himself.
Elid navigated rules and social expectations like a fish in water. Whereas Szeth did it like a sword through entrails.
I don’t have a specific character thing to talk about here, I just really wanted to point out how awesome this analogy is.
Szeth felt his freedom evaporating. Rainwater disappearing under the sun.
To be given a glimpse of everything he’s ever wanted, then to have the Voice rip it all away from him… his whole life is one cruelty after another.
“I’m not going, Neturo,” she said. “I’m not letting you do this to me again.” […] Mother spun and walked back toward camp. She didn’t say goodbye.
It occurs to me that Kaladin and Szeth are opposites in this; Kaladin had an unsupportive father and a loving mother, while Szeth’s father is the supportive one. However, they share the experience of having a parent who has turned their back on them. At least in Kaladin’s case, Lirin and he found a reconciliation. Szeth will never get that chance, as his mother dies of cancer.
Zahel
The timing wasn’t clear though, because he had to keep erasing his memories to help neutralize his captor’s torture.
This is certainly a handy trick to have in order to withstand torture. Zahel seems to be taking it all pretty calmly, so we can assume that he’s accustomed to pain.
Not for the first time, he wondered why he kept struggling. Centuries. Friends failed. Most recently a woman abandoned, when she’d so believed in him…
He had told himself he was retiring.
In truth, he’d simply run.
Talk about more questions being raised than answered! Vasher, what the heck have you been up to?! How and why did you wind up here on Roshar anyway? Is the woman you’re referring to Azure/Vivenna? Here’s hoping Drew digs into this a bit more, as I have no answers.
Taravangian
There were two on this planet who, even as a divinity, he respected almost as equals. Jasnah Kholin and Dalinar Kholin.
Interesting that Taravangian still sees these two as his equals. One would think that as a divine, omniscient being, he’d cease seeing any mortal as an equal. And yet…
I almost wonder if he sees them as equals to the two separate parts of himself. Dalinar is certainly a being of passion; in the past, he let his passions control him to his detriment. Now he chains them and uses them to drive him towards the betterment of the world. Jasnah, on the other hand, is cold, hard logic.
The question of opposing his friends cut to his very soul. For by its light, he saw that he had been lying, even to himself.
I find it fascinating that he manages to do one of the hardest things one can do, in terms of self-analysis, and still comes to the worst possible conclusion.
Why conquer?
Because someday, someone would do it.
And he wanted to be that one.
Taravangian is allowing his selfishness to drive him, and at long last he not only recognizes it, but embraces it. And then…
There, on that mountaintop, Taravangian—Odium—was truly born.
There’s a sentence that gives me the shivers. The only thing worse than an omnipotent villain is an omnipotent COMPETENT villain. He’s come to terms with his motivations and refuses to let himself question them any longer.
Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories
You feign altruism. But you have another motive, do you not? Well, you always have.
Sanderson leaves us on this teasing statement for the end of the day and the end of Endowment’s letter to Hoid, thanks to an epigraph-less Szeth flashback in chapter 68. I have to say, Endowment’s tone in these epigraphs is even more accusatory than it was in Oathbringer—maybe even what I’d call outright antagonistic. She obviously sees Odium as a problem, but she seems to view Hoid in a similar light.
The question is: Does Endowment dislike Hoid because he’s meddling in things and her promise to keep apart clashes with that, or does she dislike him because of his ulterior motive?
Or is it something else entirely, perhaps going back to before the Shattering?
This was a quiet feminine voice, calling me to arms.
Notum’s experience here is another nice mystery. The narrative wants readers to assume it was Maya, because the narrative wants us to think Maya is going to get honorspren. It’s a red herring, to throw readers off the scent of the deadeyes and the eventual Unoathed moment. But there are other options, even on a first reading. Was it Cultivation? Was it the Wind?
Because at the center of the gathering army was a hole in the ground—a wide ring of violet light, the inside falling away like a pit. Soldiers jumped up from within it, soaring out of the hole, being seized by companions and stabilized as they landed.
This scene is one of those moments in Sanderson’s books where I can very clearly visualize the events. It reminds me a bit of the vivid description of the stormforms at Narak back in Words of Radiance: the glowing red eyes in the darkness, the building storm. Here, it’s the Dai-Gonarthis Elsegate glowing with otherworldly light and singers falling the wrong way.
It’s a great moment, and one that brings us back to the El interlude. I wish we had gotten any answers at all about Dai-Gonarthis and the “price” necessary to secure an Elsegate through this Unmade. The easy answer is that she needs Investiture, but the way it’s spoken of in the interlude—and the overall sense of grim eeriness here—would make that feel pretty lame. The sense I have is that there’s some sort of eldritch ritual at hand.
She wishes to break and burn this world.
I mean, come on. You can’t just drop a line like this and then have the answer be “well, we had to empty our stores of Voidlight to get her going.”
I hope the back five books delve a lot more deeply into the Unmade, just as they’ve been promised to explore the Heralds. Dai-Gonarthis is near the top of my list of Mysteries to Illuminate after Wind and Truth (right under Chemoarish, who has gone totally unexplored so far in the series).
Then a figure jumped up out of the portal near the Fused. A human with brown hair flecked with black, in a black uniform, carrying a familiar Honorblade. As he looked up, Sigzil could swear that this man’s eyes glowed violet. As if… as if they were gemstones full of Voidlight.
Another excellent visual to close the chapter. We’ve already talked about Moash, so I don’t have much more to say here. But… yeah. Excellent, creepy vibes to leave on.
But though that’s the true end of Day Five, there’s still another chapter. Another flashback, to Szeth’s first real steps on the path to becoming an Honorbearer. And like the previous chapter, this one centers on another big red herring.
The Honorbearers served the Voice?
This is supposed to be a big WTF moment, thinking that the Honorbearers of Shinovar were serving an Unmade decades earlier. The impact is lessened quite a lot upon a reread, knowing that it’s Ishar speaking (even an insane Ishar).
But it’s a good reminder that Sanderson loves these red herrings. Going back to his earliest books, he has a long track record of using misdirection like this to hide real foreshadowing in plain sight.
Beside him, out of reach—if his hands had been free—a sad, sorry parrot hung in her cage. Bright crimson, with shades of cherry, and a maroon on the darker parts of her wings. Very striking.
And hello, Vasher! The mystery of what he was up to during Rhythm of War is solved here, and in just a few short pages we get a nice, heaping serving of Cosmere crossover content. It starts with the red Aviar—which we still don’t know anything about—and ends in the revelation that, though Vasher moved to Roshar because it was easier to get and use Stormlight as fuel for his lengthened life, he still has access to a huge reservoir of Breaths.
And Axindweth, the Feruchemist, is hellbent on getting her hands on that store of Investiture.
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 haven’t read the book yet.
See you next Monday with the start of Day 6 and our discussion of chapters 69, 70, and 71!
I think it is great that Notum ends up receiving the benefits of the bond with the “deadeyes” at the end of the book. I wonder if the Radiant spren who did not bond a human or singer will continue to evolve their agency in books 6-10.
I give May credit for knowing what she wants in life and having the self-awareness to know that while a marriage with Adolin might have benefitted her politically, it would not have been good on personal/emotional level. I think she will be a close, platonic friend to Adolin by the start of book 6.
What do people think of Zeenid here? To me she comes off very self centered, She appears vain with her splash and cares about her social status more than staying with her family. Now I come from a position of having four special needs kids, so just moving for one of your kids doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. I also am used to moving around, far more than someone from an agricultural society.
What does everyone else thing of her and her decisions?
I think she was smart to recognize being stuck in an untenable situation and being willing to do something about it. Her needs were not met by her husband, who placed more value on his son that either is daughter or wife. She was left out of or ignored in decisions that affected her and her family multiple times.
Ultimately, it was unhealthy for her to join the others when they moved, so she didn’t.
I definitely agree. Most people don’t seem to care much that she abandonded them because Szeth was an adult at that point. But he’s definitely not neurotypical, and pretty dependent on his parents (whether thats healthy or not). Either Neturo was much more attuned to Szeth’s needs than Zeenid, or she just didn’t care enough to out in that extra effort