Stormlight Archive - Basic Information & Book Summaries

The Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy series by author Brandon Sanderson. It is one of the core series in his Cosmere, an interconnected narrative universe in which the majority of his published works take place. In this article, we’ll give a relatively spoiler-free summary of what the series is about, offer some spoiler-y summaries for folks who want a refresher on books they already read, and cover all the basic need-to-know Stormlight Archive info.

This is a living document, and will be updated regularly as more Cosmere content is released. If you have any questions or suggestions, please drop us a line in the comments at the bottom of the page! If you’re looking for something specific, hit the Contents button to more easily navigate the article.

Summary – What is Stormlight Archive About?

Spoiler free — as much as a summary can be, anyway.

The Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy series set during a tumultuous time in the planet of Roshar’s history, as told from the perspective of multiple characters. A war of vengeance rages on the Shattered Plains, where Kaladin the slave’s caravan is currently headed. Already at the Plains is Dalinar Kholin, a highlord who made his name as a vicious general and warrior, but now questions the wisdom of a protracted conflict. Shallan is a young woman from a noble house, who seeks a wardship under the notorious heretic and scholar Jasnah Kholin, in the hope that it will save her family. The magic of the ancient Knights Radiant is a thing of the past, and besides, people denounce them for their betrayal of mankind. Yet there are rumors that the ancient Oaths may be spoken once again…

Books

There are a total of 10 planned books in the Stormlight Archive. Currently, 4 have been published, along with 2 novellas.

Published

[1] The Way of Kings
[2] Words of Radiance
[2.5] Edgedancer
[3] Oathbringer
[3.5] Dawnshard
[4] Rhythm of War

Book 5, Wind and Truth, is set to release December 6th, 2024. Brandon Sanderson has stated he will take a break from writing Stormlight books after Book 5, but that he will return to the series later to write the final 5 books.

Book Summaries

The following summaries contain major spoilers, and are meant as a refresher for people who have already read the books. They are as short as they can be while containing all of the most relevant plot points. Some subplots are left out, except where they directly affect the main narrative.

In the prologue, all the Heralds except Talenel abandon the Oathpact — they and the Radiants leave their Shardblades behind and walk away.

6 years before present day, the Assassin in White, Szeth, murders the Gavilar, king of Alethkar. He was sent by the Parshendi delegation who were going to sign a treaty with Alethkar that very night.

In the present day, Kaladin is a slave sent to the Shattered Plains, where he finds himself leading a bridge crew in Sadeas’ army. He survives a highstorm and many battles where he should have died, revealing that he has some of the powers of the ancient Knight Radiants, Surgebinding. He eventually realizes the Windspren that has been following him around and playing pranks is actually his Radiant spren, Sylphrena (Syl); she is the source of his powers.

In flashbacks, we learn that Kaladin had trained to be a surgeon, but went to war after his brother was conscripted. His brother dies in battle, Kaladin becomes a squad leader, and wins a Shardblade and Shardplate by killing a Shardbearer. However, he doesn’t want the Shards and tries to give them to the men in his squad — Brightlord Amaram kills all of Kaladin’s men in order to ensure no one knows he is stealing the Shards. Because Kaladin won the Shards, rather than kill him Amaram brands Kaladin and sells him into slavery.

After following the scholar Jasnah around and pestering her for days, Shallan becomes Jasnah Kholin’s ward — in order to steal her Soulcaster. She needs to replace the broken one her father borrowed from a dangerous group called the Ghostbloods. While communicating with the mystery voices (coming from the Cryptic spren that are following her around), she accidentally visits Shadesmar, discovering her own Surgebinding abilities. A failed assassination attempt on Jasnah leads to Jasnah revealing the Soulcaster is fake, and Jasnah is a Knight Radiant. Shallan confesses her plan, and Jasnah dismisses her as a ward. Soon after, Shallan discovers she can soulcast as well, and reveals her abilities to Jasnah, who agrees to keep her as a ward and train her as a Radiant. Additionally, Jasnah promises to try and secure an arranged marraige between Shallan and her cousin Adolin Kholin.

Dalinar Kholin is a general in the Alethi army on the Shattered Plains, who are fighting a non-committal war against the Parshendi that ordered the death of King Gavilar. A species of giant crustacean pupate on the plateaus of the plains, and their gemhearts are incredibly valuable — the Alethi and Parshendi now fight over the gemhearts, rather than seeking to actually win the war. Dalinar tries to unite the warring highprinces and make a decisive push against their foes, but the other princes think him mad. This is because Dalinar has visions every highstorm that cause him to cry out in strange languages and trash around, unaware of his surroundings. In these visions, he lives out scenes from the past, and is told by what he believes is the Almighty to “unite them” — Dalinar believes this refers to the other Alethi highprinces. He convinces his old friend turned political foe, highprince Sadeas, to assist him in luring the Parshendi into a full scale battle, but Sadeas betrays him and leaves Dalinar’s army to die. Kaladin’s bridge crew rescues Dalinar, and the general survives along with his son and remnants of his forces. Dalinar confronts Sadeas, and Dalinar trades his priceless Shardblade Oathbringer in exchange for all of Sadeas’ bridge crews.

In the Epilogue, Hoid witnesses the Herald Talenel — the one who was abandoned — arrive at Kholinar. Talenel says the Everstorm is coming before collapsing.

Kaladin becomes head of Dalinar’s guard, joined by many of his former bridgecrew. He saves Prince Adolin Kholin from certain death in a 4v1 duel, but ends up in prison when he accuses Amaram of stealing the Shards (that he did steal). Kaladin is eventually released, but soon after, a failed assassination attempt on Dalinar leads to Kaladin being injured.

Shallan and Jasnah are on their way to the Shattered Plains when more assassins show up and attack Jasnah, who is apparently killed. Shallan soulcasts the boat in order to escape, and washes ashore far from the Shattered Plains. She convinces a group of slavers to take her there, and along the way convinces deserters turned bandits to join them as guards. She reaches the Shattered Plains and continues Jasnah’s research into the Radiants and the Desolations; she also attempts to maintain the arranged marraige agreement Jasnah had set up between her and Adolin, but with Jasnah missing, Adolin’s mother Navani is distant.

Dalinar decides to refound the Knight’s Radiant based on what he has learned in his visions. Writing on the walls of his chambers appear after each Highstorm, seeming to be a countdown. He continues trying to unite the highprinces, and Sadeas continues to oppose him, but Dalinar plans to make a full-scale attack on the Parshendi before the countdown finishes.

Taravangian, king of the city of Karbranth, went to the Night Watcher (an ancient spren) and asked for the power to prevent what was coming — his research into people’s dying words had led him to believe something terrible was going to happen to the planet. Afterwards, he has varying intelligence each day — this allowed him to create the Diagram, a complex plan he created on a day of incredible genius. He has sent Szeth to assassinate powerful leaders across the continent, based on the Diagram. The destabilization and war this causes allows him to seize control of the nation of Jah Keved.

The Parshendi woman Venli and her sister Eshonai learn to transform their people into Stormform, which will let them summon the Everstorm. Some Parshendi do not want to participate in this plan, but Venli has them imprisoned.

Dalinar convinces the highprinces to launch a full scale attack the Parshendi. Back at the warcamps, an injured Kaladin foils a plot by his friend Moash and some co-conspirators to kill King Elhokar. In this fight, Kaladin swears the Third Ideal of the Knights Radiant, healing him and allowing him to fly to the army and save Dalinar from Szeth, who he kills in a fight above the highstorm.

During the final battle on the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi manage to summon the Everstorm. However, Shallan manages to discover the Oathgate and activate it, saving much of the Alehti army and transporting them to the ancient tower of Urithiru. At the tower, Dalinar bonds the Stormfather, becoming a Knight Radiant, and Shallan, Kaladin, and Renarin meet with Dalinar and reveal they are all Knights Radiant as well. Adolin Kholin murders Sadeas after Sadeas states he’ll continue his treachery.

In the epilogue, it is revealed that Jasnah survived the assassination attempt by transporting herself into Shadesmar, and that Szeth was revived by Nale, Herald and leader of the Skybreakers — an order of Knight Radiant that are currently unaligned.

In the prologue, Eshonai learns that King Gavilar plans to return the Parshendi’s gods, whom the Parshendi abandoned long ago. This is what causes the Parshendi to use their newly purchased slave, Szeth, to assassinate Gavilar.

In flashbacks, we learn Dalinar accidentally killed his wife, Evi, while attacking a city. He then sought the Nightwatcher and asked her to remove all memory of her, because of the pain his past actions were causing him. This is why he was not able to hear her name when people spoke it — but his bond with the Stormfather, or something else, is now reversing what the Nightwatcher did.

The Everstorm is wreaking destruction across Roshar, as it blows the opposite direction from highstorm — this means all of the cities built to survive highstorms are vulnerable. When the Everstorm passes, it makes the docile slave race of parshmen into regular Parshendi. It also turns some Parshendi into the Fused, Parshendi whose bodies have been inhabited (stolen, really) by ancient, powerful beings with powers similar to the Surgebinding of the Knights Radiant.

Dalinar continues to explore his powers as a Bondsmith, and works to unite the nations of Roshar against the forces of the god Odium, who grow with every passing of the Everstorm — this god has revealed itself as the true antagonist and the true power behind the Everstorm.

Shallan explores Urithiru — eventually discovering and chasing off an Unmade that was inhabiting the tower and mimicking murders. She is also learning more about the Ghostbloods. Shallan continues to split her personalities, sometimes being Veil the spy, and sometimes Radiant the warrior.

Kaladin returns home to Hearthstone, and scouts Alethkar to see what the Parshendi are doing — he ends up helping a group of newly awakened Parshendi survive in the wild, and discovers the Fused. Back in Urithiru, he trains his friends who have become Squires, burgeoning Knights Radiant with limited powers granted by their proximity to Kaladin.

Shallan, Kaladin, Elhokar, Adolin, and a small force go to Kholinar to open the Oathgate there, but discover its protected by an Unmade — another Unmade is in the palace, controlling the gaurds and the queen. Elhokar is killed by Moash, and the rest of the group escape the city through the Oathgate, ending up in Shadesmar; this is accomplished thanks to the Unmade protecting the Oathgate, Sja-anat, who may not actually be an ally of Odium.

Taravangian leaks three explosive pieces of information to the coalition leaders: that humans were the original Voidbringers and invaders of Roshar, that Elhokar swore fealty to Dalinar as Highking, and that Dalinar has been hiding some of the information gleaned from his visions. The coalition falls apart just as the enemy is preparing to attack Thaylen City.

There is a pivotal battle at Thaylen Field, where Dalinar swears another Bondsmith Oath, giving him the ability to open up a perpendicularity — this allows Kaladin, Shallan, and the rest of the team in Shadesmar to return to the Physical Realm. Amaram and his troops get controlled by Odium, and the city nearly falls. Ultimately though, Dalinar confronts the Thrill and seals it in a gemstone, and Odium’s forces are defeated.

The war between the Knights Radiants and Odium’s forces have continued for a year since the battle of Thaylen Field. Navani and her scholars have invented a flying transport, which they use to evacuate Kaladin’s hometown of Hearthstone, along with a Herdazian general named The Mink. Kaladin is relieved of duty due to PTSD — he has been freezing during battle.

The Mink recommends that the coalition focus their forces in Emul, in order to force the Singers (Parshendi) into the forces of a 3rd party, Ishar the Herald. Taravangians betrayal is finally revealed, and he is imprisoned. Shallan, Adolin, and a small group return to Shadesmar to ask the Honorspren for aid in the war.

The Singers sneak into Urithiru, and reverse the device that prevents the Fused from using their powers. This causes all of the Radiants in the tower to fall into a deep sleep from which they cannot wake — except for Kaladin, either because he has sworn the Third Ideal, or because he is close to the Fourth (or maybe because he’s just so dang tough). Rabonial forces Navani to work with her on research she claims will help end the war. They discover anti-light for both Voidlight and Stormlight, which can be used to make weapons that can kill Spren and Fused permanently. Kaladin does a Die Hard in the tower, sabotaging the Fused’s attempts to fully control the Sibling, spren of the tower.

In Shadesmar, Adolin submits to a trial for the crime the Radiants committed during the Recreance by breaking their oaths. His deadeye sword spren Maya speaks, saving Adolin from imprisonment and convincing many of the Honorspren that the Recreance was a mutual decision between spren and Radiants.

In Urithiru, Lift is able to use her healing powers to wake the Radiants, and she, Kaladin, Teft, and Navani fight to rescue the tower. Kaladin swears the Fourth Ideal, gaining his shardplate and then saving the tower. Navani bonds with the Sibling, reactivating the tower and making Navani a Bondsmith.

Dalinar and a handful of Radiants go to meet Ishar, in the hopes of learning more about Dalinar’s Bondsmith powers. Ishar is insane, and they fight, but when Navani bonds the Sibling, Ishar gains a moment of sanity. He invites Dalinar to come to Shinovar to help Ishar regain his sanity, after which Ishar will help Dalinar with his powers. Dalinar and co discover Ishar has somehow brought spren’s physical bodies into the cognitive realm, killing them in the process.

Dalinar and Odium agree to terms for a Contest of Champions, to be held in 10 days time, at the top of Urithiru. Both parties are to choose a champion — if Dalinar’s faction wins, Odium must return Herdaz and Alethkar; if Odium’s champion wins, Dalinar must join Odium as a Fused. Regardless of who wins, Odium will remain bound to the system, and both sides will otherwise retain control of the territory they have when the contest begins.

Szeth and Taravangian are pulled into a vision with Odium, and Szeth uses the Awakened shardblade Nightblood to kill Odium’s vessel Rayse. Taravangian takes up the shard of Odium.

Shallan and Adolin are still in Lasting Integrity at the start of the book — they learn what they can about Ba-Ado-Mishram from the Herald Kelek, in an attempt to figure out what the Ghostbloods are planning. Shallan and Adolin then depart with the small number of Honorspren who have agreed to join the war against Odium. They are attacked on their way back to the Oathgate, but Shallan is able to slay the leader of the group by manifesting Radiant as a physical being with a Shardblade.

Kaladin has been hearing the voice of the Wind, warning him of dangers to come, and telling Kaladin that “he is the one she needs”. Dalinar sends Kaladin with Szeth to Shinovar, tasking Kaladin with helping both Szeth and the Herald Ishar with their mental illnesses. Before Kaladin leaves, Wit teaches him how to play the flute.

Shallan’s and her Lightweavers conduct a raid on a Ghostblood hideout with support from other Radiants. She sneaks in ith a disguise, and learns that Mraize and Iyatil plan to follow Dalinar into the Spiritual Realm in order to find Ba-Ado-Mishram’s prison; she also learns that Sja-Anat is working with the Ghostbloods and providing them with her enlightened spren to bond. Shallan’s disguise eventually fails, and the other Radiants assault the hideout. They fail to capture Mraize and Iyatil, who escape through an Elsegate.

The Shard of Cultivation speaks to Dalinar in Urithiru, telling him that he must enter the Spiritual Realm and take up the Shard of Honor, which doesn’t have a Vessel. Dalinar heeds her advice, and with guidance from Wit, enters the Spiritual Realm with Navani via Honor’s Perpendicularity. Meanwhile, in Shadesmar, Shallan, Rlain, and Renarin are waiting for the Ghostbloods to appear — they discover the Ghostbloods posing as guards, and defeat them in a fight. However, Mraize throws an anti-Light knife at Dalinar’s perpendicularity, collapsing it and sucking everyone nearby into the Spiritual Realm.

The coalition discovers that Odium’s forces are moving to assault the three major capitals (excluding Urithiru) — it is discovered that due to the wording of Alethi law, if Odium is able to capture a capital, he would control the entire kingdom, and therefore be the new ruler of that kingdom when the date of the Contest of Champions arrives. Plans are made to defend Thaylen City, Narak, and Azimir.

Soon after reaching Shinovar, Kaladin and Szeth encounter Ishar, who agrees tos peak with Kaladin once Szeth completes his “pilgrimage”. This pilgrimage appears to require that Szeth remove the Unmade’s presence from the land — people are in thrall to some strange influence, only going out at night. The two men then make their way across Shinovar, with Szeth defeating the Honorbearer of each monestary — after each Honorbearer is killed, the people in the surrounding area return to normal.

Dalinar and Navani lose their tether to the Physical Realm, but forge on in the Spiritual Realm, looking for Honor’s Power and information about what occured in Roshar’s past that caused the Recreance and Honor’s death. Meanwhile, Shallan, Rlain, and Renarin hunt Mraize and Iyatil, who are in turn following Dalinar/Navani.

Adolin fights to defend the Azish Oathgate structure, attempting to contain the enemy. Fighting is fierce, but the coalition forces manage to hold for multiple days. Sigzil oversees the defense of Narak on the Shattered Plains, where the fighting is equally fierce, but again, coalition forces hold for multiple days. However, reinforcements headed to Azir are stopped by forces from Emul and Tashikk, who struck a deal with Odium and changed sides. Odium’s forces use an Elsegate created by the Unmade Dai-Gonarthis to bring unexpected reinforcements of their own to the Shattered Plains.

Both coalition defenses fail, but in each case, a clever ruse allows the defenders to technically control the capital when the countdown ends: in Azir, Adolin is able to control the Throne Room (notably with help from deadeyes who manifest as Shards for Unoathed humans), while in Narak, the free Singers pretend to be on Odium’s side, but secretly sign a treaty with the coalition and occupy the main plateau in Narak.

It is discovered that Odium’s fleet transporting troops to attack Thaylen City is a ruse, and there are no troops onboard the ships. Instead, Odium himself schedules a debate between himself and Jasnah over whether or not Queen Fen should side with Odium — he sucessfully convinces Fen to ally with him, by using Jasnah’s own actions and philosphies against her.

In Shinovar, Szeth and Kaladin reach the final monestary, and it is revealed that Ishar was the Voice that influenced and corrupted the Honorbearers and the people of Shinovar, doing so by borrowing power from Odium’s well. Both Kaladin and Szeth swear the Fifth Ideal, with Szeth immediately renouncing his Oaths afterwards. He defeats the corrupted Honorbearers, and Kaladin’s newfound power allows him to push back the darkness Ishar has Connected everyone to, and also allows Ishar to think clearly.

Rlain, Renarin, and Shallan find Ba-Ado-Mishram’s prison. While Shallan kills Mraize and Iyatil, Rlain and Renarin free Ba-Ado-Mishram. The Unmade send the three Radiants back to Shadesmar. The Stormfather brings Navani, Gavinor, and Dalinar out of the vision, after Dalinar sees what he needed to see.

The Contest of Champions begins, with Dalinar facing Odium’s champion — who turns out to be Gavinor, who was kept in the Spiritual Realm for 20 years and trained to fight Dalinar. Dalinar refuses to fight Gavinor, and Odium freezes Gavinor, allowing Dalinar to strike him down — Dalinar again refuses. He takes up Honor, but realizes fighting Odium would destroy the planet. Instead, he renounces all of his oaths, and gives up the power of Honor, tricking Taravangian into taking it up himself. The powers of Odium and Honor combine, becoming Retribution. What Dalinar does frees Retribution from the system of Roshar, but also makes him the most dangerous being in the Cosmere and forces every other Shard to finally take notice.

In response to what is happening with the Shards, Kaladin becomes a Herald, and the Oathpact is renewed. This protects the spren from Retribution, who is trying to reabsorb all of its Splinters of power. Ishar finds a way to hide the Heralds from Odium without having to go to Braize, somewhere pleasant with grass that doesn’t hide.

Characters

The Stormlight Archive is known for the strength of its characters. Notably, many characters exhibit symptoms of specific real life mental health issues or neurodivergences; Brandon Sanderson goes to great lengths to consult with people that have the condition(s) in question when writing these characters.

Main Characters

Each of the Stormlight Archive books focus on a single character — while these characters may not dominate the book’s page count, the “main” character is the one whose flashbacks we see. Brandon Sanderson has given a list for the main character of each published and planned book:

[1] The Way of Kings – Kalidan
[2] Words of Radiance – Shallan
[2.5] Edgedancer – Lift
[3] Oathbringer – Dalinar
[3.5] Dawnshard – Rysn
[4] Rhythm of War – Eshonai
[5] Wind and Truth – Szeth
[6] Untitled – Lift
[7] Untitled – Renarin
[8] Untitled – Shalash
[9] Untitled – Taln
[10] Untitled – Jasnah

The original planned focus characters for books 2 and 3 were Dalinar and Szeth, respectively, so the main characters of volumes 6-10 are not set it stone.

Other Characters

As an epic fantasy series, Stormlight Archive is chock full of characters. Excluding the main characters, every character with more than one chapter written from their point of view is listed below:

Adolin Kholin – 63 chapters
Navani Kholin – 49 chapters
Venli – 47 chapters
Lift – 25 chapters
Szeth – 21 chapters
Rysn Ftori – 20 chapters
Eshonai – 16 chapters
Teft -14 chapters
Lopen – 12 chapters
Moash – 12 chapters

Taravangian – 11 chapters
Renarin Kholin – 8 chapters
Rlain – 6 chapters
Torol Sadeas – 5 chapters
Wit – 4 chapters
Shalash – 4 chapters
Lirin – 2 chapters
Adin – 2 chapters
Gaz – 2 chapters

Minor Characters

The following characters have one chapter from their perspective. It is worth noting here that Rock and Sigzil are both important characters, with Rock set to get his own novella, and Sigzil having his own book in Sunlit Man.

Rock
Sigzil
Cenn
Skar
Kaza
Ym
Syl
Lhan
Dabbid
Axies the Collector

Hauka
Ishikk
Ellista
Hesina
Geranid
Sja-anat
Yalb
Balat Davar
Kalak
Baxil

Mem
Meridas Amaram
Chiri-Chiri
Talenel
Nikliasorm
Yanagawn
Sheler
Puuli
Lezian
Zahel
Palona

Setting

The Stormlight Archives takes place in the Roshar System, mainly on the planet of Roshar. Roshar is shaped by its frequent highstorms, which originate in the ocean to the east and sweep westward across the single continent, influencing both its ecology and culture. The eastern regions are harsh and barren, home to tough flora and fauna that seek shelter between rocks or in shells. By contrast, Shinovar in the far west is shielded by mountains and experiences milder storms, and so supports plant and animal life similar to Earth’s. Human settlements are designed to protect against the storms by reinforcing the eastern sides of structures.

Roshar is home to a diverse range of cultures, from the warlike Alethi in the east to the pacifist Shin in the west, with nations like Azir known for their complex bureaucracy and the Reshi isles for their laid-back lifestyle. Vorinism, a dominant religion in eastern Roshar, values light eye colors as a mark of status, dictates that women cover their left hands, and teaches that glory is given to the Almighty through pursuit of one’s Calling. The Heralds, ten servants of the Almighty, are revered across the planet.

Magic

In the interest of avoiding spoilers for the books — how the magic works on Roshar is revealed as part of the narrative — we’ll instead just list topics here. If you want to learn more about a specific aspect of the magic on Roshar, give a topic a click!