ByDanielD
It was a particularly tough wait for this week’s chapters, since chapter 26 ended with Shallan’s disguise failing in the Ghostblood hideout. Fortunately, we get the conclusion of that scene today, and Szeth’s flashback story also moves along nicely. Today’s chapters are shorter than the previous two (4,199 words in today’s chapters vs the 6,357 of last week’s), but there’s still a lot to take in.
To best enjoy this article, first read chapters 27 & 28 of Wind and Truth over at ReactorMag.com. This article contains major spoilers for all the previous Stormlight Archive books.
In Szeth’s flashback, his family decides what to do about the new stone Szeth found, and hear the horns that mean raiders are coming.
Messenger parrots! We should really rethink our reliance on smart phones — I’d much rather wait and have my message delivered by a tropical bird than have to spend hundreds of dollars on something that shatters if someone looks at it funny.
We got hints of this in his conversations with his sister, but Szeth demonstrates in this chapter how much he doesn’t like change or excitement — he’s disappointed he found the rock, as it might bring change to his home. This also tracks with how he behaves as an adult, preferring things to be simple, preferring to follow orders rather than make his own decisions. So naturally, he struggles when his father asks him to decide what to do with the stone.
“You found the rock,” Father said, glancing at Mother, who nodded in agreement. “So you can decide.”
“I choose whatever is right,” Szeth said immediately.
…
“Can’t you just… tell me what to do?” Szeth asked.
Given the second quote above, one wonders if Szeth doesn’t end up welcoming the Oathstone he eventually receives. Ultimately, he chooses what he knows everyone else wants, which is to move the stone. He doesn’t seem able to come to his own conclusion about what to do with the rock — which is understandable, as it’s not an easy call to make!
I really like how Szeth’s father frames their religious beliefs in this chapter, making the point that they don’t have to blindly follow the letter of spiritual law, but instead must choose the best way for them to show their reverence for stone:
Don’t get that look, Szeth. We show devotion because we choose to. And so, the kind of devotion we make is ours to decide.”
Of course, in this instance it’s a fairly self-serving kind of devotion, but who would want to lose their family’s home because some rocks might show up the next time it rains? Father continues to demonstrate wisdom when he explains that specific Stonewalkers are evil — but that it’s not the case that men are evil specifically because they happen to come from a different culture.
We learn a bit more about The Farmer in this chapter when Szeth’s father says that “The Farmer has troops in the region”. When I read Chapter 24 I speculated The Farmer might be some kind of deity, but now it seems like instead The Farmer is the leader of Shinovar, and might be a normal human being. Not that gods can’t have armies, but it does seem less likely.
It’s an unsatisfying conclusion to this chapter — we know it doesn’t end up with everything staying the same, but beyond that it’s hard to guess where Brandon takes Szeth next. At least when we get Kaladin’s perspective in the next chapter, he’s also annoyed at Szeth for stopping the story: Brandon clearly knew what he was doing with halting the story there.
Mraize and Iyatil escape before the Windrunners can grab them. Kaladin and Szeth camp for the night.
Testament shield! In retrospect this was an obvious outcome of Shallan having two spren, although I expected dual-wielded shard blades. But using one sword is hard enough, and while Radiant has been training with Adolin at least some, sword and shield is a much more straightforward — and safe — way for her to utilize having access to two shards.
Her internal dialogue (can’t be a monologue, since there are three of her) reveals more personal growth at the start of this scene, with Radiant reminding Shallan that her mission was generally successful, and that the Ghostbloods are “just people”. With how much we had to listen to Shallan’s self-flagellation in the last book, it’s very rewarding having her grow to recognize her own strengths.
Shallan’s dismissal of her spren to protect them from anti-Light is selfless and brave — but are we sure it’s necessary? We know spren can be killed when they aren’t manifested as a shard weapon (RIP Phendorana), but it’s yet to be determined what happens when anti-Light meets a spren in blade or shield form. It’s nice that Shallan acknowledges its unknown territory, and it speaks volumes to her growing confidence that she confronts Mraize without Pattern or Testament.
She does have her armor, and we learn in this chapter yet another thing living plate can do: make your voice louder. It seems likely that the Shardplate of different Radiant orders, being made up of different spren, will have a variety of powers that are unique to that order. Unfortunately, we don’t get to learn if Shardplate can deal with anti-Light, as she dismisses her armor right before the anti-Light bolt hits her. Interestingly, Shallan senses she could draw in anti-Light — what that might do to her is anyone’s guess, however.
This scene makes me feel a little bad for being so harsh on Stonewards in my ranking of the Radiant orders, as the way Erinor lets the Windrunners enter the Ghostblood hideout is very useful — it didn’t make me change my mind about the ranking, but still.
The way the remaining Ghostbloods vanish in “light tinged with black-violet” suggests that their escape might not be via the normal Elsecaller method of traveling to Shadesmar. It could be that Sja-anat’s spren cause the Voidlight tinge to the transportation, or they could be using some other method. If it was via the Surge of Transportation, Lieke is probably the Elsecaller, given how he stays behind with Mraize and Iyatil instead of fleeing with the rest of the Ghostbloods.
This is a bit of an interstitial chapter — although we learn a few more details about Shinovar, not much actually happens. Kaladin does have a kind of epiphany about the place, however, recognizing the inevitability of the flora in Shinovar:
“I see how your land survives. That grass… it doesn’t move, doesn’t react. Yet it feels as if it could swallow everything. Like it wants to consume me.”
“It will, once you die,” Szeth said softly. “It will take all of us. Undoubtedly later than we deserve.”
Great line there from Szeth. He actually asks Kaladin a question (if there were forests where Kaladin grew up), which is a good sign — Kaladin is managing to build a rapport with Szeth, which I honestly thought would take a lot longer.
Brandon is officially obsessed with war-metaphors — there are two in the Kaladin part of this chapter:
Here the grass grew like moss, achieving an aggressive density. As if the individual blades had formed mobs, armies, pike blocks.
…
Those buildings seemed so unprotected, practically shouting for the storms to take them. Though they were distant, he thought they were wooden, and appeared flimsy. With flat walls to the east, and windows on those sides as well. He knew people here didn’t have to fight the storms, but those homes unnerved him. Made him think the people must be weak, innocent, in need of protection. Like lost children wandering a battlefield.
Kaladin is a soldier, so him thinking that way makes perfect sense… but it still stands out to me. Like plant from Shinovar in a field of rockbuds when a Highstorm comes.
I previously expressed curiosity about exactly why there was a “Stoneward” monastery, but we now know it’s because each of the 10 monasteries in Shinovar is dedicated to one of the Heralds, and holds that Herald’s Honorblade — the monastery is therefore named for the Radiant order of that Herald. The area with the Stoneward monastary looks to have been influenced by the Unmade Szeth seeks, so we might get our first look at said Unmade, or at least learn more about it, fairly soon.
Kaladin insists on a cookfire when the pair camp for the night, as he plans on “try[ing] an old standby” to get Szeth to open up. That can only mean one thing: stew. Kaladin ain’t Rock, but hopefully he can still encourage Szeth to share more of his story — I want to know what happens with that stone!
No real guesses as to what comes next this time — I’m too busy just being excited about the next chapters. Let us know your predictions in the comments below!
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