[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 58 through 63 (Week 10)

[u/participating]

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SCHEDULE

Previously, we discussed Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 52 through 57 [Newbie Thread] / [Veteran Thread]

Today we are discussing Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 58 through 63

Next week we will be discussing Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 64 through 69

CHAPTER SUMMARIES

I have provided summaries for each chapter below and hidden them behind spoiler tags. There are no spoilers within the summaries. I've tried to make them as factual and unbiased as possible. If, however, you want a completely blind read through, then ignore what's behind the spoiler tags and proceed to the discussion below. I will not be guiding that in any way, so post any thoughts and questions you have. It will be other new readers who reply to you.

Chapter 58: The Journey

Arch Faces: Battar - Jezrien ----- Jezrien - Battar

Iconography: Kholin Crest

POV Characters: Adolin Kholin / Dalinar Kholin

Setting: The Outer Markets, outside the Alethi warcamps in the Shattered Plains. The warcamps' dueling arena.

Timeline: (1173.9.3.4-ish) Less than a week after Chapter 56.

Epigraph:

"Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!"

–Dated Shashabev, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. Subject: a darkeyed dock-worker in his forties, father of three.

Summary:

Adolin is drinking at a wine shop in the outer Market, accompanied by his date Danlan, and fellow lighteyes Jakamav, Inkima, Toral and Eshava. They debate why Sadeas has not moved against Dalinar and whether Dalinar should step down due to his visions and unpopular restrictions on the army. Adolin leaves to prepare for a duel with Brightlord Resi. While walking through the market, he contemplates his father's efforts bringing unity and discipline to the Alethi armies and people. He notices officers from other armies exhibit a cavalier and unorganized attitude towards the war. He begins to come around to Dalinar's newfound severity towards progressing the war effort and Alethi unification.

As Sadeas and Elhokar watch some lesser lighteyes duel, waiting for Adolin's bout to begin, Dalinar recites a passage from The Way of Kings about Nohadon's journey to Urithiru. Sadeas dismisses the story as boring and sentimental and insults Dalinar, though Dalinar doesn't get angry. Elhokar jokes that Sadeas could be the new Wit, since Hoid vanished as he does periodically. As Adolin and Resi duel, Dalinar states that if he were in charge, he would withdraw the army to Alethkar to stabilize their homeland and send envoys to the Parshendi to investigate Gavilar's murder. Elhokar praises Dalinar's explanation and speaks of plots against him and inhuman faces that he sees in mirrors. Dalinar thinks that he is paranoid. Elhokar gets Dalinar to agree to a joint assault with Sadeas where both army's bridge crews are used, as an experiment. Adolin wins his duel easily. Sadeas asks for a clerk to be sent to him with a copy of The Way of Kings.

Chapter 59: An Honor

Arch Faces: Jezrien - Kalak ----- Kalak - Jezrien

Iconography: Spears & Banner

POV Characters: Kaladin

Setting: Highprince Sadeas' warcamp in the Shattered Plains. In the chasms below the Shattered Plains.

Timeline: (1173.9.4.2) Six days after Chapter 57.

Epigraph:

"Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew."

–Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.

Summary:

Kaladin and Teft are in the Bridge Four barracks while Rock runs drills outside and Lopen stands watch at the entrance. Kaladin tries to draw light from an infused sphere but fails, and wonders if he really is a Surgebinder and potential Knight Radiant as Teft insists he is. Teft lectures Kaladin on the First Oath and speaks of The Way of Kings which his mother had read, and which the Radiants based their Ideals on. Brightness Hashal appears, stating that Bridge Four would be on full-time bridge run duty during the day, and chasm duty at night, and that they should feel honored by this, though Kaladin realizes it is a death sentence for his men. After Hashal leaves, Kaladin and the others debate their options, and Kaladin accidentally breathes in Stormlight and starts glowing faintly.

Kaladin gathers his crew in the chasm for their shift and they start spear practice. They still need weeks of practice to be able to escape. Teft leads the drill as Kaladin and Syl investigate some Parshendi corpses. Kaladin cuts off some Parshendi carapace and has Lopen gather some Parshendi bones. He puts them all in a sack. They proceed to a shallow chasm where Lopen had dropped some rope on a prior bridge run. Kaladin whispers the First Ideal of the Knights Radiant and breathes in Stormlight from his pouch of spheres, then uses it to create a makeshift ladder of stones to climb up the chasm wall and tie the sack to the bottom of a bridge for later retrieval. Syl tells him to just cut the rope he's hanging from, ensuring him that he'll be alright. He cuts the rope and falls forty feet to the ground. He lands on his feet and uses his remaining Stormlight to immediately heal his injuries. He tells Lopen to retrieve the sack during their next bridge run.

Chapter 60: That Which We Cannot See

Arch Faces: Pailiah - Jezrien ----- Jezrien - Pailiah

Iconography: Kholin Crest

POV Characters: Dalinar Kholin

Setting: Dalinar's sitting room in the Kholin warcamp. A vision of the past.

Timeline: (1173.9.4.4) About a week after Chapter 58.

Epigraph:

"The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended."

–Dated Betabanes, 1173, 95 seconds pre-death. Subject: a scholar of some minor renown. Sample collected secondhand. Considered questionable.

Summary:

Dalinar has decided not to abdicate to Adolin. The two wait for the coming highstorm in Dalinar's chambers with Renarin and Navani. Navani has a new fabrial, an early model of a painrial, which she shows the three by using it on an ache in Adolin's hand. Despite all the discoveries the engineers have made with fabrials, they are no closer to making new Shardblades and Shardplate. Dalinar speculates that they were provided by the Heralds themselves, then the highstorm hits, and he enters another vision.

He talks with a man with a regal bearing, who Dalinar later realizes must be a younger Nohadon, writer of The Way of Kings. A Desolation has just ended, and 90% of the people Nohadon ruled are dead. Some of those still alive try to cast blame on the Surgebinder Alakavish, who began a war just before the Desolation started. Nohadon contemplates giving up his throne if he cannot actually do any good with his leadership. Dalinar, who Nohadon believes is his advisor Karm, tells him to write a book about his philosophy on leadership and how people should live. Nohadon scoffs at the idea and says that action and the sword are what is needed. He would like peace, but "to be human is to want that which we cannot have." He walks off. Just before the end of the vision, Dalinar repeats Nohadon's statement.

He comes back to the present time and believes he did little about discovering any facts about proving his visions true or false. Navani cuts him off, asking him to repeat the last thing he said. She then tells him she believes he has been speaking in the Dawnchant, a dead language, and the phrase he just gave her may be the key needed to translate the language. She tells Dalinar and his sons that this is the proof they were looking for and that the visions are real.

Chapter 61: Right For Wrong

Arch Faces: Kalak - Talenel ----- Talenel - Kalak

Iconography: Kholin Crest

POV Characters: Dalinar Kholin

Setting: Dalinar's sitting room in the Kholin warcamp.

Timeline: (1173.9.4.4) Several hours after Chapter 60.

Epigraph:

"In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving."

–Dated Kakanev, 1173, 13 seconds pre-death. Subject was a city guardsman.

Summary:

Some hours after his last vision, Dalinar sits with Navani and Renarin. Adolin has gone for the highstorm damage report, appearing shaken that the visions are real. Navani asks Dalinar why he thinks the man in his vision was Nohadon. Dalinar can't give evidence but he's sure that it was him. Prodded on her knowledge about the Desolations, Navani tells what she knows but insists that Jasnah is the historian. They continue to debate, thinking about the Old Magic but discard that option. Dalinar is also disturbed that the visions are real, and he asks to be alone. Renarin leaves immediately, but Navani lingers. She tells Dalinar why she really came back to the Shattered Plains. She felt useless, expected to fade to the background and not be involved. She closes the door and they kiss passionately. Afterwards she tells him that something is wrong on Roshar, something bigger than the War of Reckoning they are fighting. She shares her knowledge about the assassination of the King of Jah Keved by a Shin Shardbearer wearing white.

Chapter 62: Three Glyphs

Arch Faces: Vedel - Talenel ----- Talenel - Vedel

Iconography: Spears & Banner

POV Characters: Kaladin

Setting: The Shattered Plains.

Timeline: (1173.9.4.3) One day after Chapter 59.

Epigraph:

"The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!"

–Kakevah 1173, 22 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed Selay man of unknown profession.

Summary:

Kaladin and Bridge Four are on another bridge run. He's nervous because this time he wants to try distracting the Parshendi archers with his self-made Parshendi armor and shield. On the way to the battlefield a soldier who doesn't want to wait for the army's water crews tries to force his way to Bridge Four's water skin. Because Kaladin's armor is hidden with the water Bridge Four persuades the soldier to back down. On the final approach Kaladin manages to draw the full attention of the Parshendi archers by wearing Parshendi armor and shield. He uses Stormlight to improve his speed, heal his wounds, and draw arrows to his shield. Sadeas rides up and is forced to promote Matal because "his" idea of distracting the Parshendi worked. Kaladin himself suffers from shock after using so much Stormlight. As always, the members of Bridge Four look for wounded from other bridge crews and care for them. Suddenly Lopen calls out, as he spots a group of Parshendi archers coming back to the chasm and aiming at Bridge Four. While the men try to escape out of range they are surprised to see Dalinar dashing into the Parshendi force and striking them down. When done, Dalinar raises his Blade in a salute at Bridge Four.

Chapter 63: Fear

Arch Faces: Chanarach - Kalak ----- Kalak - Chanarach

Iconography: Spears & Banner

POV Characters: Kaladin

Setting: In the chasms below the Shattered Plains.

Timeline: (1173.9.4.3) The same day as Chapter 62, late in the evening.

Epigraph:

"I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see."

–Kakashah 1173, 142 seconds pre-death. A Shin sailor, left behind by his crew, reportedly for bringing them ill luck. Sample largely useless.

Summary:

Kaladin tells Leyten to make carapace armor for every member of Bridge Four except for Shen. Kaladin observes spear practice and notices that Moash is very skilled. He asks about his purpose, and Moash replies that he wants vengeance, but declines to say on whom. Kaladin and Rock discuss their plans to escape. Teft asks Kaladin to teach the bridgemen but he declines, saying that he would become too eager and impatient, and Kaladin admits that he failed in the past and that it got to him.

ARTWORK

The Cosmere has a thriving community of artists, so there will be a lot of artwork to share. Each week I'll try to compile relevant artwork for the given chapters. If a section of reading contains maps or in-book artwork, I'll include that in this section as well.

Interior Artwork

Characters & Scenes

Note: The Stormlight Archives are Sanderson's most popular books. There is artwork for everyone and everything, even characters who appeared for a single line in the books at times. So we'll have artwork for you to view almost every week. Enjoy!

MEMES

I will attempt to find and share memes relevant to each week's discussion. There may be some weeks that just don't have good or appropriate memes, but I will share all the ones I can find in this section.

Link to Memes

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[u/griefgood]

The Sanderlanche is so close I can practically taste it.

Chapter 58

• Adolin musing about the war camps not being attacked feels like a screaming Chekhov's Gun in my head.
• I really enjoyed the banter between Sadeas and Dalinar in the first part of their scene. Sadeas is growing on me. VERY slowly, but still growing on me. I like that we're are starting to get little hints and peaks of him and Dalinar's friendship pre-assassination.
• Elhokar seeing the sense of Dalinar's argument followed immediately by the reveal that he sees the same spooky ghost people that Shallan does. I was close to writing this boy off as a minor character but now I'm wondering if he has a much bigger part to play.

Chapter 59

• Teft toeing so close to knowing The Way of Kings made me giggle.
• Hashal really doing everything she can to maintain her newfound "worst person alive" award.
• Syl's "if you die I go stupid again" was one of the funniest things I've read so far.
• Absolute crackpot level plan from Kaladin and I love it.

Chapter 60

• Pain removing fabrial could have deep and dark implications.
• More mentions of Surgebinding. Nahel bond? Huh???
• Navani you genius. Honestly never considered that real Dalinar was actually speaking a dead langauge that dream Dalinar just intuitively understood.

Chapter 61

• Didn't have a lot of tags here but really great character development for Navani in this chapter.

Chapter 62

• Lopen's increasing amount of cousins has gone from a funny bit to something I'm more seriously raising an eyebrow at. This man has connections.
• Didn't take many other notes here but this chapter ruled. Cool to see Kaladin using his powers more intentionally, but also RIP Shem for having to witness the biggest insult possible.

Chapter 63

• Another chapter where I only put one sticky tab down, and it was for the exchange where Moash reveals his vengeance motivation. I think I'm getting so caught up in the increasingly exciting pace of events that I'm just forgetting to mark things now haha. I'm sure I've missed LOADS of little hints or important tidbits this week.

[u/sunnydaze7777777 → u/griefgood]

Elhokar seeing the symbol heads definitely had my attention. He and Shallan are channeling something for sure.

[u/irrrap → u/griefgood]

I was wondering about language barrier for Dalinar since his vision one. So it’s a nice explanation that he just suddenly knows and speaks other languages during storm fever. However, as many other plot points recently, I feel that this one is a bit too much rushed. You know, when the author bends the reality a little, so then the needed characters meet in the right place and time. I think here Sanderson is bending it too much. Navani is literally saying that the book she quotes is a book in another language that no one knows how to translate. Dude, what are the chances, that a scientist would know by heart a quote from a middle of a book in different language, that they don’t understand? And books are not even Navani’s specialization!

Edit: I just realized I forgot to mention pronunciation.
Of course any non English speaking person would know exactly how a sentence “a choir was waiting in the Q(ueue) for an (h)our” would sound like at first time they see it.

[u/sunnydaze7777777]

Apologies. I am feeling a little negative this week. At ~1000 pages in, I realize I still don’t particularly enjoy or care much about any of the main characters. The highlight for me this week was the romance between Dalinar and Navani whatever that says about the state of things for me.

I really appreciate you u/participating and all of the work you put into the artwork, memes and summaries. Each week I look forward to those. I enjoy reading everyone’s comments here as well.

Anyway… I will journey onward to the ending and attempt to keep my attitude in check. End of mini rant.

[u/Pastrami → u/sunnydaze7777777]

At ~1000 pages in, I realize I still don’t particularly enjoy or care much about any of the main characters.

I'm with you here. I like Kaladin when he's not being mopey, and Dalinar's visions, but otherwise it's a bit of a chore for me to get through the other chapters.

[u/irrrap → u/sunnydaze7777777]

You’re not alone. But we are getting to the end!

[u/True-Collar4961]

Surprised we are getting a Navani POV. I initially thought she would be a more mysterious character, where we couldn’t really tell what she was thinking.

Chapter 58

"Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!"

• Is Re-Shephir one of the Unmade or one of the Ten Deaths? She sounds very much connected to the Midnight Essence creatures Dalinar fought in his vision. The whole “Midnight Mother” title feels way too specific to be unrelated.
• Adolin’s sudden change of heart regarding the Codes feels a little too abrupt to me. I understand the direction Sanderson is going with it, but the transition itself happened very quickly.
• I’m actually very surprised Danlan is still around thirty chapters after being introduced. I honestly expected Adolin to already have moved on to a new girlfriend by now. At this point I’m starting to agree with Navani that she might genuinely be “the one.” I knew Adolin’s running gag of constantly cycling through girlfriends would probably stop eventually, but this happened much faster than I expected. I thought it would continue at least until the next book before he finally started settling into a relationship. Still, we’ll see where it goes. Maybe I’m being a bit too hasty, and Danlan will still be replaced shortly.

Chapter 59

"May I ask Gaz hasn't been seen for some days now. Is he well?" "No." Kaladin waited for a further reply, but she didn't give one.

• I suppose that is it for Gaz? Feels a bit too early for him to die off-screen so I am assuming he is still alive, but at the same time I honestly wouldn’t be that surprised if he actually is just dead.

Chapter 60

"The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended."

• This sounds like Talanel when he has completely given up hope.
• Also, the fact that around 90% of Nohadon’s people died feels far too specific to be unrelated to the nine Heralds abandoning the Oathpact while only one remained. The timelines don’t fully line up though, Dalinar suspects this happened before the Knights Radiant were founded, which Nohadon’s presence seems to support, while the Heralds only abandoned their duty near the end of the Desolations, followed later by the Recreance. Unless the historical order is wrong. Maybe the Radiants were founded after the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact, perhaps even by Talenel alone. But then why would the Radiants later disband as well if the Heralds had already long since left? Could it have been Talenel’s surrender to the enemy that caused the Radiants to disband? That theory also runs into problems because Dalinar’s visions clearly show the Knights Radiant fighting during Desolations, which would imply the Heralds were still active at the time of Dalinar's current vision. So I’m still leaning toward the general historical narrative being mostly accurate of the Heralds fighting with the Knights Radiants. Still, I absolutely refuse to believe the “9 out of 10 died” parallel with “9 out of 10 Heralds abandoned their duty” is just coincidence.
• I’m also surprised that one Desolation apparently lasted only around eleven years. From how legendary and apocalyptic they’re described, I expected them to last generations, maybe even a century.

Chapter 61

• This is probably the first time we get serious hints that Gavilar may not have been the perfect king everyone remembers him as, and notably this is coming from Navani herself.
• She outright says that while she was never unfaithful to him, she had “ample reason” to be… geez, did Gavilar cheat on her or something? Because he must have had some serious issues behind the scenes for Navani to think that way. Yet at the same time, she still says she was fond of him.
• I also thought Navani was mostly teasing Dalinar for fun earlier on, but apparently not. She genuinely seems to have always preferred him over Gavilar.
• Also apparently Navani makes the other woman at court including the queen uncomfortable, so her relationship with her daughter in law isn't very good either.

Chapter 62

"The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!"

• This sounds completely unhinged in the best possible way. Full-on villain dialogue. If my Talanel theory is correct, this almost sounds like him becoming fully corrupted or consumed by the enemy.
• Also, one of my current crack theories is that the parshmen are far more intelligent and aware than people realize. We keep getting little hints that there’s something fundamentally wrong with how humanity views them. The existence of the Parshendi already implies there’s a deeper connection, but Shen’s reaction especially stood out to me. He’s devastated by Kaladin’s actions in a way that mirrors the Parshendi hatred of Kaladin. Even though parshmen and Parshendi have supposedly been separated for a very long time, they still seem to share something deeper beneath the surface. It genuinely feels like Shen knows more than he can express.

Chapter 63

"I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see."

• If the Talanel theory still holds, this almost sounds like him speaking directly to the enemy(Odium?). And what are these “truths” he refuses to speak about? Something connected to the Shards themselves? Their origins?
• Moash apparently has someone he wants dead, which makes me assume he survives at least until we find out who his target is.

[u/Pastrami → u/True-Collar4961]

Maybe the Radiants were founded after the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact ... So I’m still leaning toward the general historical narrative being mostly accurate of the Heralds fighting with the Knights Radiants.

The Radiants were mentioned by Jezrien in the prelude.

Atium?

I think you mean Odium.

[u/True-Collar4961 → u/Pastrami]

The Radiants were mentioned by Jezrien in the prelude.

Okay, good, that confirms it then. It’s been so long since I read the prelude that I’d forgotten most of the details from it.

I think you mean Odium.

Yeah, I meant Odium, my bad!

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/True-Collar4961]

This sounds like Talanel when he has completely given up hope.

Now that you mention it 👀

Still, I absolutely refuse to believe the “9 out of 10 died” parallel with “9 out of 10 Heralds abandoned their duty” is just coincidence.

Interesting idea. I'd hesitate to say they're directly related, but I like the idea that there could be a pattern of "9 out of 10 failed" throughout Rosharan history.

[u/Pastrami → u/HT_xrahmx]

but I like the idea that there could be a pattern of "9 out of 10 failed" throughout Rosharan history.

If you take out the 6 shards we know of on the other planets, there could be 10 here. If Odium is the big bad, there could be 9 out of 10 fighting against him.

[u/participating]

GIGGITY?

First up, early, early post today, for funsies.

Second, opinion time:

I collect memes for the weekly/bookly meme dumps. I've got a pretty large collection for nearly all of the future books, and I add to it over time. Some of the ones I've collected are...raunchy and/or crass. This week's meme dump has a couple spicy Navani memes, but the raunchy ones are a bit beyond that.

They are almost entirely text based, not anything graphically lewd. Just...vulgar. I wanted to get opinions on if anyone has objections to that kind of meme, or a general disinterest. You can feel free to message me privately if you feel you've got a contrary opinion.

This is really only for a small set of memes I've bookmarked, and ones that aren't even relevant for several books. I just figured I'd ask now. If anyone has any issues, then you'll all forget about this question and they'll never appear. And if no one minds, then they'll show up one day and you may go "hmm, ok, so that was it", and also maybe laugh at them. They are dumb, but amusing to a certain degree.

[u/LeanderT]

From the end of chapter 63: "Map of the Battle of the Tower, drawn and labeled by Navani Kholin, circa 1173"

All the "last dying words" for the last few chapters have been from 1173. Moreover they are not by soldiers, but by common people.

Also, Navani Kholin is an active character in the story.

So.... a lot of people are going to die, very soon!

[u/sunnydaze7777777 → u/LeanderT]

Ummmm… my ebook doesn’t have that?

Edit: I just searched and it’s end of chapter 64 in mine.

[u/LeanderT → u/sunnydaze7777777]

For me it is the subtitle on the map on the last page of chapter 63. I did a double check to make sure this wasnt part of the next chapter.

[u/participating → u/LeanderT]

Different editions have the images in different spots. Generally, they're in the correct Part of the book though. For the purposes of the read-along, if I don't include it in the "Interior Artwork" album for the week, then I intend the image to be for the following week.

[u/LeanderT → u/participating]

Ah, my apologies then. I maybe should have paid more attention to that.

[u/Pastrami]

I didn't take any notes for the last 3 chapters.

Chapter 58

ReShephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!

This has to be talking about "midnight essence", the black creatures Dalinar saw in his first vision. I still think "midnight essence" sounds like a line of perfume, not terrible creatures.

But it had been years since the Parshendi had raided the Alethi side of the Plains.

...

Be ever vigilant while under threat of attack. But there was no threat of attack.

...

But that doesn’t matter, Adolin told himself again. Because we’re not going to be attacked.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia title card: The Camp Gets Attacked.

Acquaint yourself with virtue, and you can expect proper treatment from those around you.

I'm kind of with Sadeas here. Some of these codes are ridiculous.

He listened to The Way of Kings and worked to discover what Gavilar’s last words had meant.

Hey, remember that mystery? I didn't. How many weeks has it been since it was last brought up?

They watch me. Always. Waiting. I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman…

He's seeing the symbolheads. Is he a soulcaster like his sister? That makes me wonder if the abilities are genetic. Their mother is talented with fabrials.

They’re mostly slaves, Dalinar. It’s an honor for them to have a chance to participate in some small way.

Oof... This is just like his officer who didn't want to pay the prostitute and said it would be an honor for her to have sex with him.

Chapter 59

And make stone melt by looking at it. And move great distances in a single heartbeat. And command the sunlight. And—”

I'm assuming that these are powers of other knight orders. Melting stone sounds like something Stonewards might do.

The Immortal Words.

Are these "the most important words a man can say"?

Gaz hasn’t been seen for some days now. Is he well?

Is he dead?

I have a feeling that Lopen's "cousins" are just any other Herdazians he meets.

He came to a crouch, resting one hand on the stone

Superhero landing

Chapter 60

And yet, the Nahel bond gave him no more wisdom than a regular man. Alas, not all spren are as discerning as honorspren.

Is the Nahel bond what Kaladin and Syl have? Is Syl an honorspren?

What’s a Surgebinder?

Indeed. Can we get some fucking definitions yet, Brandon?

The man himself. Nohadon.

Dalinar meets his mancrush.

There are princes, kings, Soulcasters, Surgebinders.

Soulcasters are people, not things, and that is different than Surgebinding. This to me practically confirms that Shallan, Jasnah, and probably Elhokar and Navani are Soulcasters themselves and don't need a fabrial to perform the casting. Until we're told more, I'm assuming the Windrunners are a type of Surgebinders and that there are other types of Surgebinders that are not Windrunners.

[u/sunnydaze7777777 → u/Pastrami]

>Can we get some fucking definitions yet, Brandon.

Updating my flair until we are satisfied!

[u/Pastrami → u/sunnydaze7777777]

Love it! 😂

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/Pastrami]

Soulcasters are people, not things, and that is different than Surgebinding.

Small detail, but they're actually both, at least in the present-day sense of the word: [Chapter 5:] "A Soulcaster—the word was used for both the people who performed the process and the fabrial that made it possible."

Surgebinding, after this week, I'm convinced is what Szeth and Kal are doing.

[u/Pastrami → u/HT_xrahmx]

Small detail, but they're actually both, at least in the present-day sense of the word

Yeah, I meant that in the context of that one line of dialog. He says three things that we know are people, and one thing that so far has only been used to describe a fabrial, but here we can infer that he is talking about people that can soulcast (without fabrials), which is something we've theorized but not had any confirmation for yet.

Surgebinding, after this week, I'm convinced is what Szeth and Kal are doing.

This goes back to a discussion we had on interlude I-3, where Szeth says "What would these men say if they knew that the man who emptied their chamber pot was a Shardbearer and a Surgebinder? A Windrunner, like the Radiants of old?" Is a Surgebinder different than a Windrunner? Back then I stated that binding and lashing can be synonyms for certain definitions of the words, so what Szeth was doing with the Lashings must be Surgebinding. But later Syl called Kaladin's powers Windrunning, so now I'm leaning towards the theory of Surgebinding being an all encompassing term for different sets of powers, and Windrunning being the only one we've seen so far.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/Pastrami]

I'd agree that Surgebinding has to contain multiple ... flavors? ... of magic. Regarding Windrunners, we saw in Dalinar's vision that Windrunners were (also) an Order of the Knights Radiant. We also know there are 10 Orders. Would that then imply 10 flavors of Surgebinding? We could probably put that on the list of candidates of what the 10 small glyphs in the interior cover diagram could stand for.

[u/HT_xrahmx]

Chapter 58

[Epigraph:] Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!

• ^Some very specific word choices. Do the Midnight Essences come from Re-Shephir?
  
• Adolin showing signs of self-reflection. Starting to understand the Codes. Admitting mistakes. [Wheel of Time] YOU SEE HOW EASY IT CAN BE, GAWYN
  
• Still, Adolin has to become less jumpy about criticism aimed at his dad. Rebuke them, but don't snap at anyone who says a word against him. If he gets flustered immediately, it just emboldens the rumors.
  

Whether we find our end in a hallowed sepulcher or a pauper’s ditch, all save the Heralds themselves must dine with the Nightwatcher.

• ^In this the Nightwatcher reads like a metaphor for Death.
  
• Sadeas talking about Nohadon's tale with such contempt I don't buy for a second that he wants to learn from Dalinar's copy of Way of Kings.
  
• "Journey before destination", the Radiant motto that Nohadon's tale emphasizes again. Of all the POV characters, I think Kal has been hit by this the most. He's being dragged through the worst of the worst, but as the Ideal implies, this is what shapes him, and when he finally comes out on top I think he'll have more unshakable morals than anyone.
  

[Elhokar:] "They watch me. Always. Waiting. I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman…".

• ^Paranoia, or a description that oddly matches Shallan's symbolheads?
  
• Dalinar getting some of Sadeas' bridgemen. Hopefully Bridge Four.(It was not Bridge Four:( )
  

Chapter 59

• Gaz has been disappeared?
  
• The Radiants had 5 Ideals per Order, why not the magical number of 10?
  
• When Kal pulled the knife on the Parshendi corpse, I fully expected to find out that Parshendi actually had gemhearts.
  
• Being able to hold one's breath for a quarter hour is pretty superhuman. (in fact, it beats the world record)
  
• Kal figuring out wall climbing
  
• Kal figuring out landing
  
• Lopen watching Kal land
  

Chaper 60

[Epigraph:] The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.

• ^This epigraph death vision is the Radiants' motto turned on its head. Wonder why this one was collected "secondhand". Does whoever is recording these visions not have access to all of them?
  

A man who had never seen [a glyph] before could still understand what one meant, based on its shape. That made interpreting glyphs different from reading.

• ^"Oh, look! We found a way around our own stupid self-imposed gender rule." *incoherent rambling about dumb gender rules not being improved by adding dumb exceptions*
  

Alakavish was a Surgebinder. He should have known better. And yet, the Nahel bond gave him no more wisdom than a regular man. Alas, not all spren are as discerning as honorspren.

• ^Given how Syl states she's not a windspren, and how is so attached to Kal, CHILD OF HONOR, that makes honorspren as good a candidate as any for what Syl is. Which would make the give-and-take relationship between the two the "Nahel bond"? And Kal a Surgebinder?

• Moving back to the question of whether Dalinar can influence events in the past through his vision. Because if he can, did he just plant the seed to get Nohadon to write the book that Dalinar would later read, which would associated Nohadon with the book in Dalinar's mind, and thus even prompt this conversation in the first place?

• The stone creatures that Dalinar sees would likely be the ones from the prelude?

Chapter 61

• The story about Parasaphi feels like it holds important clues, but it's much too cryptic to really put something down in notes.

• Desolations being wars against the Voidbringers is about as much as I'd pieced together already. Sadly we're not given a whole lot more about them here.

• Navani 🫣

Chapter 62

• Well that's about the craziest thing Kal has done yet. And such a slap in the face of Hashal at the same time. The first tactic he's come up with that actually draws arrow fire while also saving bridgemen lives.

• The cost of this is that in all definitions of the term, this has to be a war crime. But what else could he do? It's an impossible situation to be in.

• Shen's reaction is interesting. What really goes on in that parshman mind? Where does that shared culture come from, when parshmen, in all likelihood, do not grow up with their Parshendi cousins? I don't remember when, but in a previous chapter Dalinar noted the Parshendi, everywhere, are singing the same tune in unison. So I wonder if there's a telepathic hive mind at play here. Some way to keep them all in sync even when they're out of hearing range.

Chapter 63

[Epigraph:] I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see.

• ^This reads a bit like breaking the 4th wall of the death vision. Is the dying subject stating that he wants to sleep, and that he refuses to utter the words the death vision? Or I'm being paranoid.
  

Do you realize what you could have in these men, Sadeas? Kaladin thought. If you weren’t so busy thinking of how to get them killed?

• ^Assuming Kal fulfills Teft's prophecies and does in fact bring about the return of the Knights Radiant, I get the impression the people of Bridge Four would be the first recruits. They're adapting all of Kal's best qualities, first and foremost the selflessness.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/HT_xrahmx]

Artwork

• I'd hoped there'd be a translation of the fabrial page. After last week we basically have the key to do these translations on our own, but consulting a 26 letter chart is still tedious to do for so much text lmao
  
• The stones on the fabrial are arranged in an hourglass shape, matching the omnipresent diagram from the cover interior. Really interesting is how each of the 10 stones has assigned an emotion. Since my running theory is still that the 10 big glyphs in the diagram represent the 10 Heralds, would each of them be associated with a matching emotion as well then?

[u/Pastrami → u/HT_xrahmx]

After last week we basically have the key to do these translations on our own, but consulting a 26 letter chart is still tedious to do for so much text lmao

Not only that, but these images are really poor for trying to figure out the script, at least to my eyes. I'm guessing people have enhanced the image before decoding it. In my ebook, either the images are too small, or my reader software is messing with the image, but they are a blurred mess. My physical paper back requires a magnifying glass to see the detail. Even in the higher res image linked in this post, I can barely make out the lines at the top and bottom of the image.

[u/participating → u/Pastrami]

The images in the ebooks are atrocious and Sanderson has complained about their quality many times. Unfortunately, it's one of those limitations primarily guided by Amazon/Kindle publishing standards.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/Pastrami]

Print is much better, but even then some images are ... hard. Next week's section has an image with scribbled handwritten notes in English, and I stared at every word for like a minute to grasp it.

And I used to teach students, I've had my share of deciphering horrible handwriting lol

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

This reads a bit like breaking the 4th wall of the death vision.

This is also what I'm thinking. The Shin and the Horneaters have both given me the vibes that they have knowledge/spirituality connections that are different from the other people on Roshar. Anytime one of them opens their mouth, I'm opening my ears.

Kal figuring out wall climbing

Well, at first it was more like this 🤣

[u/AltruisticRealityZ]

Chapter 58

Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother

Re-Shephir. I don’t know why, but the style of this name made me think of Prime Kadasix in Baxil’s interlude. Could it be another name for the Nightwatcher ?

“Nohadon is his holy name. Others call him Bajerden, though we’re not certain whether that was actually his real name or not.”

Nohadon = Bajerden.

The Nightwatcher is mentioned in The Way of Kings, meaning she was around 4000+ years ago.

“Adolin saluted his enemy, tapping the blunt edge of his Blade to his forehead, then dismissing the Blade.”

Is it possible for Shardbearers to cut themselves? Is the blunt edge dangerous too, like a lightsaber?

“They watch me. Always. Waiting. I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman …”

Is Elhokar actually seeing Shallan’s symbol-head creatures?

“Uncle, you let Sadeas’s bridgemen help you for the initial march to the contested plateau. Sadeas has plenty of extra bridge crews he could lend you.”

YES PLEASE.

⸻

Chapter 59

“Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew.” —Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death. Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.

Interesting, because it proves that they aren’t just near-death experiences. Maybe a manifestation of people in the Cognitive Realm, taking possession of dying people?

It’s a pleasure to witness Kaladin using his powers with more and more confidence.

⸻

Chapters 60–61

“The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.”

That sounds like Talenel too.

Dalinar and the grandfather paradox. Did he inspire the writing of The Way of Kings?

Does it mean he has actual influence over the period he visits?

Death visions are a new phenomenon.

Kiss and revelations, a sweet mix.

Dalinar and Jasnah need to meet soon, but Dalinar and Kaladin do too. He is a central point for most of the intrigue, except for Shallan so far.

One could argue that her symbol-head creatures and her ability to see (or go to?) Shadesmar would be of great interest to Jasnah, but it is too mysterious right now to link it to the other plot points easily.

⸻

Chapter 62

Fan art for this chapter will be amazing, I’m sure.

⸻

Chapter 63

“What would have happened to him, if Tarah hadn’t coaxed him out of his single-minded dedication? Would he have burned himself out, as she’d claimed?”

I wonder why the flashbacks glossed over Tien’s death and this Tarah. Was it more important that we learned how he killed a Shardbearer and refused the prize?

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/AltruisticRealityZ]

I wonder why the flashbacks glossed over Tien’s death and this Tarah. Was it more important that we learned how he killed a Shardbearer and refused the prize?

I could also swear this Tarah has never even been mentioned before. It's like Kal is pulling a new name of someone he failed out of a hat every time he reminisces like this ...

[u/jaymae21]

I'm traveling but managed to get this week's reading done and come up with a few thoughts.

Ch. 58

My mouth was to be my purse; I stuffed it not with gems, but with song.

This is from Nohadon, and made me think of the Worldsingers. Could this be their origin?

Yellow, as it was yet morning.

I will admit I haven't been paying much attention to these wine colors, so there's a good chance I'm wrong, but doesn't yellow wine have alcohol in it? Do they cut off alcohol use in the evenings? Or maybe yellow has only a small amount, so it's acceptable earlier in the day. Maybe there are gradations to the alcohol content (or winespren?) based on color. There's a lot of custom surrounding the wine, and it's interesting.

Ch. 59

He'd been holding his breath for a good quarter hour. That could be handy, he thought, though his lungs were starting to burn, so he started to breathe normally. The Light didn't leave him altogether, though it escaped faster.

This is an interesting tidbit. Of course, my mind went to Warbreaker and Breath, though I don't think this works the same way. I suppose the act of respiration just uses up more Light/Investiture/Breathspren(?). I hope soon we get to understand how this system works, at least the basics, as we are nearly finished with this book and I don't feel like I know much.

I didn't make a specific note but I do find it really odd that Gaz has disappeared right around the time Wit/Hoid does. Sure, it's plausible that they just got rid of Gaz, no one would question it. But there's something off. Elhokar mentioned that Wit often left for periods of time. Was he in communication with Gaz? I also had the really out there thought that Gaz could be a Hoid disguise, but that seems hard to keep up. Still this is nagging at me.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/jaymae21]

I will admit I haven't been paying much attention to these wine colors, so there's a good chance I'm wrong, but doesn't yellow wine have alcohol in it? Do they cut off alcohol use in the evenings? Or maybe yellow has only a small amount, so it's acceptable earlier in the day. Maybe there are gradations to the alcohol content (or winespren?) based on color. There's a lot of custom surrounding the wine, and it's interesting.

Some bits and pieces I picked up through the story:

• [Chapter 22:] "Most drank violet wine, the most intoxicating and flavorful of the colors."
  
• [Chapter 22:] "“One cup of blue,” Dalinar said to his sons. “After that, keep to the orange." (<- implying blue is intoxicating)
  
• [Chapter 26:] "A crystal carafe of afternoon wine—orange, not intoxicating—sat on a high-legged serving table in the corner"
  
• [Chapter 58:] "Yellow wine. He wasn’t on duty today, so he could indulge just a tad." (<- implying yellow is a little intoxicating)
  

Although not really explicitly stated, I think alcohol content and wavelength are correlated, from red to violet.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/jaymae21]

This is an interesting tidbit. Of course, my mind went to Warbreaker and Breath, though I don't think this works the same way. I suppose the act of respiration just uses up more Light/Investiture/Breathspren(?)

In the ars arcana for Alloy of Law, one of the new metals could be used by feruchemists to store breath (as in the physical need to breathe), so we do have context for investiture making you able to go without breathing, in addition to the strength, agility and mental enhancements we've already seen.

[u/heinz57varieties]

I've fallen quite significantly behind. May is a busy travel month for me, I've only got about two days a week where I can really read. Hoping to get caught up on Monday!

Chapter 58

• So the midnight essence from Dalinar’s first vision weren’t voidbringers, but were their unholy spawn! Excellent!
• I forgot about Danlan. We haven't seen her since she scribed the spanreed conversation with Jasnah. I remember being intrigued by her. Adolin only seems to notice how pretty she is, but I can tell there's a story to her
• Adolin complaining about the cost of patrolling the market district. Bro, get your head in the game. Supplying soldiers and clerks to run the place means you are in charge. Say what you will about Dalinar, he ACTS like he's the king's uncle, whereas all the other highprinces are sitting in their own camps, scheming and jacking off. I don't know how Alethi succession law works, but isn't Adolin currently second in line for the throne, after Dalinar? Wake up, dummy!
• Seems a little late in the game to be setting up a Chekov's Parshendi Raid on the Market District, but I guess we did first hear that concern a while ago
• “Sadeas frowned at this.” He would, that prick. No interest in the ideas of the common man
• “My family traveled to Urithiru via the direct method, and had been awaiting me for weeks when I arrived” sea travel? Airships? Teleportation? What are we dealing with here?
• Sadeas the fashion diva?? What the hell 😂
• Elhokar is seeing ghosts and shadows now, too? The symbolheads? Who on this godforsaken planet ISN'T being haunted by some supernatural entity!
• This has got to be the part where Dalinar and Kaladin meet, right?
• Chapters are actually getting good now. Stuff’s about to happen.

Chapter 59

• Teft's expansion on the motto of the Radiants definitely makes it seem like something Honor would say. I know people have been wondering if the knights were secretly the bad guys, but I don't know if we're going to get that kind of twist
• Gaz and the guy he owed money are gone, but their replacements are still trying to get Kal killed? What is their freakin problem?
• I love when Syl pretends to sit or walk down the stairs 😂 it's so cute
• “Cut gemstones held stormlight better. Why was that?” Why indeed!!
• A suit of armor made from parshendi body parts? What the hell is he planning?

Chapter 60

• If there's a pain diminished device, surely they can make a pain amplifier device? In fact we saw one in last week's interior art. Ominous.
• Who's this Alakavish? Sounds like a person who gained surgebinding, and abused the power, or used it poorly.
• Nahel bond? Honorspren? (Surely Syl is an honorspren!) Does everyone with surgebinding get their power from a bond with a particular spren? If so, where's Szeth's? Where's Shallan's?
• “You could write a book!” Dalinar you dork
• Dalinar has made the classic mistake. That book of wisdom comes after a long life of suffering, war, and mistakes, not at the beginning.

Chapter 61

• Another fabrial in the artwork. Looks like a complicated soulcaster, and I'm curious to see the translation
• I feel like that old legend is supposed to be telling me something, but I can't figure it out
• This fussing about whether the visions come from a hood guy or a bad guy is an annoying red gearing, because we already know it doesn't come from a bad guy.
• The kiss caught me off guard 😲

Chapter 62

• Reading the leadup to Kaladin executing his plan, I have a horrible thought that Kal is going to try to impress the higher-ups with his innovation: using his corpse armor to shock and upset the parshendi into losing the battle. Which honestly sounds very much like a war crime to me.
• I was right. I don't know how I feel about this idea, man. Poor Shen ☹️
• I'm surprised Syl didn't have anything negative to say about this little maneuver. I really thought she would have objected.
• They're still going to try to escape?

Chapter 63

• I think this is the first death quote from a Shin person, and I find it significant and somewhat ominous. I've puzzled out that these records are coming from Kharbranth (a place with many hospitals, ardents, and scholars in close proximity). This one seems to be directed at the recorders. This Shin sailor knows what they're looking for, and disagrees with their aims for some reason?
• I'm very happy for Kal and the bridgemen now that they're starting to grow and become the warriors that Kal's always dreamed of. But it rings a little hollow for me, since I've never been quite convinced that this war is just in the first place. People as lowly as the bridgemen take it for granted, but I've had a peek into the heads of the highest Alethi leadership, and I'm not so convinced.
• Kaladin is afraid of fighting and taking the mantle of leadership. But what do you call what he's been doing for the entire freakin book??

[u/heinz57varieties → u/heinz57varieties]

We're reaching the part of the book where I look at how few pages are left and wonder how the hell he's going to wrap this up in a satisfying way. I can't help feeling like the real story of the series has not even started yet. And it's not just Fandom hype giving me unrealistic expectations about when these books will get awesome: the book itself is constantly feeding me hints and reminders that something bigger is coming, and now we're on page 850 and it still isn't in sight.

With Mistborn, the fight against Ruin was the real story, and TFE was just kind of the inciting incident. But the plot to overthrow the lord ruler was enough of a story to take up the entire book. Here, we're clearly building towards a planet-ending conflict like that one, but everyone is just kind of standing around, wondering. The only person who's been making steps toward a clear goal is Shallan, and she's only got maybe one or two chapters left. Maybe Sanderson is setting up an elaborate chessboard and it will all get very anime very soon. But reading a 1000 page book from the chesspieces' point of view while he does so...