ByDanielD
Three chapters of Wind and Truth came out today, and like last week’s chapters, they reveal some very important plot points. No action yet, but lots of pieces on the board are moving. We also get some more insight into a number of secondary characters as well — Brandon Sanderson continues to do a great job making every character that gets page time feel like a real person.
This time, we’ve organized the chapters by character perspective — hopefully this makes it even easier to read, and/or to find what you are looking for. But enough preamble, let’s talk Stormlight!
To best enjoy this article, first read chapters 16, 17 and 18 of Wind and Truth over at ReactorMag.com. Naturally, this article has major spoilers for all the previous Stormlight Archive books.
Shallan enjoys the shower more and meets with members of the Unseen Court to discuss their plan to deal with the Ghostbloods. Dalinar speaks with Cultivation and learns he might be able to take up the Shard of Honor.
Did Brandon Sanderson just get a new shower or something? This is the second chapter that opens with a character seriously enjoying a shower — though to be fair, Shallan is mostly basking in the afterglow of realizing Adolin has accepted her as she is. Brandon has also given a lot of thought to the fact that Radiants will have spren spectators to their love-making, clearly — Shallan’s armor spren seem like they were literally cheering for her.
Shallan looks for Testament in this chapter, but there’s no sign of her other spren in the Physical Realm — yet. It’s an important Shallan plot thread to follow, as the Herald Kelek has warned that bonding multiple spren can be dangerous. Given what has happened with Maya (Adolin’s sword), we know it’s possible for a deadeyes to become more sentient — perhaps Testament can return completely to normal with time, or with the right Words.
Side note: Shallan thanking the tower is like what I do with automated systems. It never hurts to say thank you! In this case, the Sibling is a sentient being, so being polite is even more important — especially when you’re thanking the spren that keeps you safe and keeps your showers warm (and can see what you’re doing at all times).
It’s quite logical that morse code would eventually be developed with conjoined rubies, so seeing that appear in this chapter was certainly nice. Similarly, Lightweavers disguised as objects being used as guards and spies is a logical use of their powers — we saw Shallan do this in Words of Radiance, but we haven’t seen it much since.
Wit has hidden Shallan’s brothers — we mentioned in our discussion of the previous chapters that they’d be a target — so that mostly leaves Adolin. Notably, Wit has started playing a much more active role over the last few books; we still don’t know his goals, but he is clearly opposing to Odium, and now perhaps the Ghostbloods as well? He has shown up multiple times for both Shallan and Kaladin when they needed him, so this could just be that kind of thing as well.
Worldhopping continues, as word from Wit lets Shallan know the Ghostbloods have “dangerous” reinforcements from off-world. As Shallan ponders having to kill Mraize, she thinks of all the other mentors she has slain. As this happens, she lets Radiant take over — she’s still using Radiant as she used Veil, to hide from things she isn’t ready to deal with. We also learn that Veil is still around, as a voice in Shallan’s head that seems too independent to be anything less than a separate personality — integrated or not, Veil is still Veil.
The other Lightweavers also struggle with their own truths, as this funny quote from Gaz demonstrates:
“I was drunk,” Gaz said. “You can’t trust a man when he’s drunk. He’ll accidentally say things he ain’t ready to say yet.
Shallan lets her team know the goal is to figure out more of what the Ghostbloods are plotting — what their plans are, what they already know. A key step to this is finding one of their hideouts.
This chapter also has Shallan try to put her armor on someone else, the way Kaladin is able to do. But her armor can’t move when it’s on another person — whether this is a limitation of Lightweaver armor, or due to her armorspren needing more practice, isn’t clear yet, but as always it’s very fun seeing the attention to detail the magic system gets.
Dalinar’s conversation with Cultivation is arguably the most important part of the chapters revealed today. It’s funny how he begs her for actual answers, but she gives him a fair response:
“Haven’t you learned yet? You must find the answers yourself to respect their meaning.”
Cultivation
Despite saying this, she does end up giving Dalinar a fairly straight answer: Dalinar must take a dangerous journey, into the history of Roshar, within the Spiritual Realm. There, Honor’s power remains, and someone — Dalinar, it seems — may be able to take up the Shard. Interestingly, Cultivation says “None know what became of Honor’s power”, so it may not be as simple as stumbling onto the power in the Spiritual Realm.
Different Vessels are able to handle their Shards better than others, and Cultivation tapping her finger and gazing over the people of Urithiru demonstrates that she has maintained her humanity (or perhaps Dragonity, really). It also seems that some Shards are easier to handle than others — the desire to Cultivate is perhaps not quite as overwhelming as the desire to express feelings of pure hatred and passion.
Cultivation saying “I have my own battles” in response to Dalinar asking Cultivation to fight Odium is spicy — if she is not fighting Odium, what battle could she be referring to? There are plenty of other Shards out there, and we know Autonomy is aggressively expanding, but there doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to make even an educated guess at this point.
Dalinar continues to struggle with the weight of his responsibility — which is a good thing. A leader who doesn’t fear what their decisions may cause is a dangerous leader. The Stormfather agrees that being nervous is good, though because “Confidence in a mortal should only go so far,” which seems kind of prejudiced!
Adolin and Emperor Yanagawn speak of fear in a lift. Shallan and Gaz discuss the latter’s gambling problem.
Adolin is his usual kind, thoughtful self in this chapter, first in his interaction with Colot, and then even more so when speaking with Yanagawn. Seeing the Azish Emporer continue to mature and adapt to his role has been great, and his willingness to be vulnerable with Adolin demonstrates real emotional maturity. Similarly, Adolin admitting that he is terrified of failure is a brave thing to admit, especially on a crowded elevator. I’m very excited for yet another Stormlight friendship to form:
This fellow, Adolin thought, needs a good session training with the sword.
Shallan makes a terrible joke, maybe her worst one yet? It’s honestly impressive how good Brandon is at writing bad jokes for her. Conversely, Gaz’s joke about her jokes is pretty good.
We see disgustspren for the first time, appearing as orange corkscrews — one wonders how many more spren Brandon already has written down and ready to reveal, versus if he makes them up as he goes. Given how planned out the Cosmere generally is, my money’s on the former.
It’s a very cute moment when Gaz reveals Red and Stargyle went around threatening gambling dens to protect Gaz from his gambling addiction — showing him love in a way only dangerous men can show it.
Adolin attends the coalition meeting, where Wit reveals Todium’s plan is to capture the capitals, and by doing so capture the kingdoms. The Unseen Court finds both a Ghostblood, and a Ghostblood base.
Adolin doesnt greet Dalinar in this chapter, and it’s made clear they’re still not getting along. Adolin keeps having negative thoughts about his father throughout the meeting, and though he acknowledges he’s being unreasonable, he doesn’t seem able to help himself.
Fen is upset with Dalinar not freezing the borders in the contract with Odium, but surprisingly Yanagawn defends Dalinar, pointing out that contracts are tricky, and everyone calms down — Brandon Sanderson loves people being reasonable, and it’s very satisfying to read. Too often, books, TV shows, and movies will have people argue far beyond the point of reason, simply for drama’s sake.
Besides what Cultivation tells Dalinar, the revelation from Wit is the most important part of today’s chapters: The Alethi legal code states if you capture the “seat of power”, you capture the kingdom. So Odium could potentially conquer the rest of Roshar — or at least the largest and most important parts of it — if he successfully captures the Thaylen, Azish, and Alethi capitals. Folks who enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s battle scenes should be in for a treat, unless some clever moves from our heroes leads to less bloodshed somehow.
Wit also realizes its not Rayse, because of how Rayse would have honored the spirit of the contract — both because of his personality, and because “it’s something he promised he would not do”. (As we know, Shards who break their promises become vulnerable.) No one has figured out yet that it’s Taravangian who has taken up the Shard of Odium — once again, Szeth knows something super useful and he hasn’t said anything because no one has specifically asked him. Too bad he’s leaving for Shinovar!
In a minor moment, but one that could end up being important later, Navani sends all of the emotionspren out of the room with a wave of her hand. That’s a neat ability, and suggests the Sibling has powerful control over spren — or perhaps just influence? In any case, I predict we’ll see the opposite happen at some point, with Navani sending a ton of spren somewhere to distract or annoy someone.
Another Brandon Sanderson character, another respectfully portrayed and well-researched mental health condition. Shob seems to have Illness Anxiety Disorder, and it’s a wonderfully handled scene that reveals this: Shallan mentally dismisses Shob’s fears as him being dramatic, but then Shob admits he knows it’s in his head, and Shallan realizes his struggle is similar to her own — she then offers him help.
He cocked his head, illusion covering his face, but his eyes—his expressions—showed his true self. “Nobody’s ever asked me that. You know? In years, nobody’s asked me that? Yeah. Yeah, Oi think Oi could use some help.”
Shob
Yet again, the character who would be most useful here (Kaladin) is going to Shinovar, but just being able to admit you need help is a big step regardless.
Shallan’s complex feelings towards Mraize are further explored in this chapter, with her realizing she doesn’t hate him, and that she won’t enjoy killing him — but she will kill him. It almost seems like her next truth might be related to the people she has had to kill…
Shob reports that he spotted a Ghostblood spying on Dalinar, one that Wit has identified as a “former actor” and a recent recruit. My initial thought was that this might be a Kandra, but it seems like if Wit knew they were a shapeshifter, he would mention that very important fact.
We can be fairly confident in what will happen next with Shallan: Darcira uses the new spanreed code to inform Shallan that she’s discovered a Ghostblood hideout in Narak. Shallan agrees with Gaz that they’ll need a Windrunner strike team prepped, but says that they’ll need to sneak in first.
Oh, and Shallan blushed: take a shot!
Lot’s of exciting stuff in these chapters — it seems difficult to top, so perhaps we’ll get a more relaxed couple of chapters next week. That said, it feels like Book 5 is going to be mostly one big Sanderlanche, so who knows. Let us know what you thought of the chapters in the comments!
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