Wind and Truth Interludes 3 & 4 – Discussion and Analysis

This is the last Monday preview we’re going to get, which would be sad except that it’s because Wind and Truth releases this Friday, December 6th. The ReactorMag chapters have made the wait a lot easier, and the amount of info contained in each set of chapters felt like just the right amount to keep the discussion going without giving too much of the book away.

While brief, these interludes are a spicy place to leave off, as they give us more insight on a mysterious character, and another peek at the main villain’s new state of mind after the events of Rhythm of War. They also reveal some of the possible paths the Stormlight Archive‘s narrative might take — yet like a Shard of Adonalsium, we can see the possibilities, but not which will come to pass.

To best enjoy this article, first read Interludes 3 & 4 of Wind and Truth over at ReactorMag.com. This article contains major spoilers for all the previous Stormlight Archive books.

Interlude 3

El grants an old friend mercy, then gets a surprise promotion.

While we see a lot of El in this interlude — who was previously known only from his musings in the Rhythm of War epigraphs and one brief scene in that book — we don’t actually learn a lot more about him. We already knew he wasn’t able to speak in rhythms, but we still don’t know exactly why that is. However, he does hint at it:

“My kind wear thin, like shoes walked upon for too many miles,” El said softly. “My honor was stripped in part because I warned of the signs. We cannot rule much longer.”

(This quote also features the classic Brandon Sanderson move of having a character use a simile in casual conversation.) It sounds like El spoke out, perhaps against Odium, perhaps against The Nine, and the rhythms (and any title he had) were taken as punishment. It shows the innate conflict within Odium and his forces: how passion and speaking your mind is encouraged, but can also be dangerous.

We also get a bit more insight into Roshar’s past when El kills Jezrian. El refers to the Herald as “old friend”, and when Todium mentions El having to kill more of his former friends, he replies:

“My friends had their chance. When left on this world, they enslaved my people. The Heralds deserve annihilation. It is… a mercy.”

Assuming things go even slightly as planned for Dalinar and Navani (which isn’t necessarily the case), we’ll probably learn more about what exactly caused the war between the humans and the singers, and why their gods swapped sides. This quote from El supports the current theory, which is that the humans were, for whatever reason, the aggressors in the war.

Maybe this is just me, but El comes across very likeable — or at least enjoyable to read, let’s say. He’s clever, gives credit where it’s due, and isn’t afraid to be insubordinate with a Shard. He also shows mercy to Jezrian with what he does. Yes, he’s a merciless killer and obviously not a “good person”, but I’m looking forward to El getting more screen time — I expect he’ll be an entertaining antagonist in the coming pages.

Also exciting is that El will travel to the Horneater Peaks; we haven’t gotten to actually visit Rock’s homeland — hey, maybe we’ll get to see him again! Too bad that it’ll be during an invasion. Speaking of traveling places, this chapter tells us more about one of the lesser-known Unmade, Dai-Gornathis, The Black Fisher. This Unmade can apparently transport people to and from Shadesmar, but interestingly, only in specific places.

“Most of the lands you’d want are still protected from her touch, but Natanatan… Perhaps. You would need a strong source of Investiture on either side.”

I wonder about the protection — could it be Honor and/or Cultivation’s protection preventing the Unmade from creating portals? Perhaps some kind of left-over protection from previous Desolations.

Interlude 4

Odium and Cultivation have a friendly chat about if Cosmere-wide conquest is a good idea or not.

It’s always interesting getting point-of-view chapters that feature a Shard. Brandon’s magic system is wonderfully detailed, and seeing how the various gods of the Cosmere interact with that magic and the planets they inhabit is always a good time. It’s interesting how Cultivation can show Odium the universe from her perspective — and how he doesn’t necessarily have to agree with her perspective, taking what she shows him and viewing it in his own way.

This interlude seems very important, as it hints that Todium may not necessarily follow through with the previous Vessel’s plan:

“Do not be so smug,” she replied. “A part of you knows this path
you’ve started on is a terrible one. Listen to that part of you. Give it
a chance.”

And…

Despite himself, he did feel it. It was the part of
Taravangian that loved his daughter and grandchildren. The part of him
that had grieved when forced to manipulate Dalinar while trying to break
up the coalition. It was the part of Taravangian that remembered being
young, uncertain, dull—yearning to do more to help his people…

…He was a god divided. What if he let each side rule in turn?

This could mean a lot of things in practice, but the concept seems simple enough: rather than trying to combine his Taravangian desires with the Intent of Odium, in some sort of compromise, Todium is going to let each side of him have a turn at getting things done. First Odium gets to be passionately hateful and destroy things, then Taravangian cleans up and protects people? Seems messy, but then, Odium seems like a messy Shard.

A commenter on ReactorMag had a great take I wanted to highlight: what if Cultivation is trying to set things up so that Todium takes up the Shard of Honor? It’s likely that, as with Harmony, holding two Shards with conflicting Intents would lead to that Vessel being unable to act — a great way to neutralize the terrible threat that is Odium in his current form. I really like this theory, and think it’s definitely a possibility.

Brandon teases us with the unknown 16th shard in this interlude — Todium “understood [the missing shard] with some effort”, though what he understood isn’t clear. It could be what the Shard is doing, or maybe why it was hiding. Valor being completely hidden is something else that seems important — there’s no way a Shard with valorous intent is just going to let Odium take over the Cosmere, so I’d guess Valor is going to swoop in at some point and participate in the fight.

Only a few days to go now! It was a lot of fun writing these articles — I hope they were fun to read. Let us know your thoughts on the final preview pages in the comments below, and enjoy Wind and Truth!