Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 144-146

Honor is gone; Retribution reigns… and a new, better Oathpact is forged.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on January 5, 2026

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Happy new year, dear Cosmere Chickens, and welcome to the penultimate article in the Wind and Truth reread! It’s been a wild ride, but we’re not quite done yet! Some major character and plot arcs are wrapping up while others are being unraveled or transformed, and the new world in which our characters find themselves as they continue onward is starting to look very, very different from the Roshar we’ve come to know and love. Dalinar is gone, and Shallan is lost. Kaladin ascends to become a Herald, Taravangian has taken up the Shards of both Odium and Honor and thereby gained the attention of all the other Shards in the Cosmere, and everyone else has had their lives irrevocably changed by the conclusion of the pact. Join us as we dig into all the details and share our theories about what it all means…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series is intended as a reread rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 144 is titled “The Tower, the Crown, and the Spear,” and we get a Nale POV! He feels good. Or at least better. Then he feels not so good, and Ishar tells him that the Stormfather has died. Ishar can see what’s happened with Dalinar and Honor, and he knows that Taravangian has taken up Honor and joined it with Odium to form Retribution.

All seems hopeless, yet the Wind tells them there may be a way to bind Retribution in some small way, with a circle of ten and new oaths. Nale tells Ishar he can’t go back to the way it was, the torture. The Wind tells Ishar that there is a way to isolate their minds so they feel no torture, so they know peace between Desolations.

Nale sets the swords, only nine of them, in a circle and they go to Szeth, whose arm is burned away to the shoulder. Nale has a fabrial for Regrowth but there is no Stormlight, and the Wind tells them that Szeth can’t speak the Words.

Then they see the sky growing dark… A storm is coming. Nale thought there would be no more storms but Ishar replies there are no more highstorms, that there is now only one storm:

Nale says there’s no sense in fighting, that the Stormfather is gone and Honor is dead.

SHIVERS! Did anyone else get shivers when Kaladin stepped up? Everyone should have gotten shivers! Kaladin is going to fulfill his true destiny and I am HERE for it!

POV Shift!

Kaladin goes to Syl and she tells him that her father is dead. She tells him she cannot protect the spren, that Odium holds Honor’s power and that they are a part of him… and he will unmake them. Kaladin replies that the Wind has a solution to this problem. Kaladin asks the Wind if an Oathpact can stop what will happen with Retribution in control. The Wind explains exactly what has happened, and what it means for Roshar. Kaladin asks what the Wind needs him to do, and Syl is crying real tears.

He knows that the people have nothing left, no storm, no god, no king… so he wants to give them some hope. Nale tells Kaladin that he doesn’t know what he’ll be getting himself into, that they may be going to torture for centuries. He insists it should be Szeth, with no more Connections. Kaladin responds that he can’t protect everyone, but that he can protect Szeth, who chose peace over war.

Ishar asks Kaladin if he thinks he can truly replace Jezrien—because Ishar really doesn’t think he can. Kaladin removes the cloak that Dalinar gave him from his pack and dons it.

Kaladin remembers all of the previous versions of himself that are still a part of him and then he speaks, saying simply that he accepts this journey. Syl’s voice accepts his Words. He approaches the ring of swords and both Kaladin and Syl thrust their hands forward and a spear of light forms. They ram it into the ground and when the light fades, a silvery spear is there, not made from Syl—like the Honorblades, it’s made from Honor.

The other Heralds appear and go to their swords. Kaladin knows he can help them and he feels a Connection inside of him. Gloryspren appear and windspren spin in a ring of light above him. Kaladin starts glowing and the Wind thanks him. Kaladin’s eyes revert to brown, because of course, they do!

A moment later all of the other Heralds have vanished, leaving Nale and Ishar with Kaladin. Nale says he can feel the Oathpact and Ishar welcomes Kaladin as a new Herald of kings and of the Wind.

Ishar says he must now make Kaladin immortal, and then they must leave Roshar.

Chapter 145 is titled “To Weep for the End of All Things,” and it begins with a Navani POV. She feels love… and then a farewell. The Sibling tells Navani that Dalinar is dead and Navani asks if he serves the enemy. The Sibling tells her that he shattered the contract and Honor. She says that it was a brilliant move, but adds that the enemy holds both Shards and is now Retribution, and that Cultivation has fled. The Sibling fears that they could be destroyed.

Navani resolves to grieve later and asks what to do. The Sibling tells her they must keep Retribution out of Urithiru, that he may destroy the spren but not them if they can create defenses. It will be Navani’s will, and the Sibling’s, against Retribution. And guess who’s on his way?

POV Shift!

Shallan is asking the Oathgate spren to transfer her but they say they can’t without Stormlight. They’re shrinking and they say the enemy has drawn all the Stormlight back to him. They say that there is no more Stormfather, no more Honor, no more Stormlight—that their era has ended. Shallan tries to wrap her mind around the absence of Stormlight and asks how long this will last; the spren tell her it’s gone forever.

POV Shift!

Retribution is loving life. He is so powerful, more powerful than anything. Only Harmony comes close and those powers are misaligned. But Honor and Odium want nearly the same things and they would work together. He senses that Rayse had killed other gods but never taken up their power. Taravangian thinks Rayse must have been a fool as he revels in all his newfound glory.

He prepares to deal with the spren, a remnant of Honor and a potential problem in the future. He tries to draw he spren to him… and nothing happens. His power tells him they are protected by and oath and a circle.

Taravangian then notices that the other Shards can see what he’s done and understands that the battle for the cosmere has begun, though he is not ready. He blames Dalinar for this and turns to confront him only to find him dead, his body sheltering an unconscious Gavinor.

Taravangian thinks of what is happening and what to do. He is so angry with Dalinar and realizes that part of him still exists, on the other side… Dalinar’s soul. He seizes it and it falls into his power as Dalinar is an oathbreaker. Yet Dalinar’s soul slips away from him and the powers tell him that Dalinar’s soul is claimed by another.

But Taravangian finds part of Dalinar in the Spiritual Realm, a part of him that is the Blackthorn.

And with his general secured, Taravangian begins to search for Wit.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is on his knees before Ishar, who touches him on the sides of his head. Something burns inside of Kaladin and he can suddenly feel the others, who are worried that they’re heading toward torture.

The Wind tells him that it’s working, that the Oathpact preserves the spren.

Ishar expresses his concern that he might lose himself again, that he is weak of mind. Kaladin promises to help. Nale evaporates and his sword disappears from the ring. Ishar explains that when they Return, they use bodies of power.

Kaladin’s soul vibrates and light surrounds him. He feels Syl grip his hand. Ishar tells him his soul will be pulled with the rest of the Heralds but his body will be left behind… and it might hurt. Fire rips through him and he feels his eyes burn away. Then…

Nothing.

Chapter 146 is called “Night of Sorrows.” Sigzil is with Lirin, who is examining him, though he knows there’s nothing a surgeon can do about a Radiant who has lost his spren.

Then the door slams open and Wit is there. He tells them Dalinar is dead, that the Sibling is going into a coma to protect themself, and the world is ending. Wit shoves Lirin out of the room and tells Sig that he really needs his help. He says that the power that Odium now holds will identify Wit as the only thing on the planet that can harm him. He tells Sig that he’s holding something dangerous, that Odium absolutely cannot get access to. Wit needs someone to take it until he can return, and he’s chosen Sig as he’s no longer a Radiant.

Sig agrees to take the Dawnshard, thinking it will make up for his failings—that he’ll redeem himself. Wit tells him to get off of Roshar as soon as he can and to keep the Dawnshard away from Odium at all costs. Wit promises that he’ll find Sig.

Sig feels a force overlap him, an ancient, wonderful, terrible power.

Then Retribution is there and it vaporizes Wit.

Sig falls into Shadesmar, surrounded by light and spren.

POV Shift!

Renarin is in Urithiru, watching Navani floating in the center of a crystal. She’s glowing, eyes closed, in the green-blue light. The tower continues to function as it had when it awakened, and Towerlight is available to Radiants, but they can’t communicate with Navani or the Sibling. Rlain and Jasnah are there, and Jasnah says she’s never seen anything like this but that her mother must survive as Jasnah needs her.

(Paige is totally not crying right now.)

An impassable dome of light surrounds the entire tower. The Oathgates are also inside the dome but, of course, they don’t work. Renarin and Rlain had transferred from Shadesmar at the last possible moment, leaving Shallan behind. Renarin had heard that Adolin was alive but with no more Stormlight or spanreeds, he isn’t sure of this.

They go to another room where Sebarial and Aladar are waiting, and they look to Renarin now, with Navani indisposed and Renarin’s father… well, you know.

He announces that he will not be their king, then Renarin tells Jasnah he wishes to adopt her system, a representative government. Jasnah says she will show him how. Renarin says they will have an elected senate and a Ministerial Exemplar. Renarin is surprised at his confidence. I’m super proud of the kiddo! The prince, the man that he’s become!

They all go to the roof where Gavinor, fully grown, sits with Oathbringer in his lap. Renarin kneels by his father’s corpse and hugs his father for the last time. He thanks Dalinar for being proud of him, for showing him the heights they’re able to reach.

Aladar states that Dalinar failed, that he lost the world. Renarin knows that Dalinar will be remembered as a hero who failed.

Renarin has asked Jasnah to Soulcast his father to stone so he can be set with the ancient kings of Urithiru. Rlain embraces him. Although he’s somewhat embarrassed at embracing in front of others, he knows they need to see that singer and human can truly work together.

POV Shift!

Szeth awakes to find the land covered in darkness, covered by the Everstorm. Szeth finds Kaladin’s corpse and thinks that Ishar killed him. He calls out to Sylphrena but she doesn’t answer. Nightblood does, however. Nightblood thinks it killed Kaladin but Szeth assures the sword that isn’t the case—at most, Kaladin lost a few fingers. Nightblood points out Szeth’s missing arm and he says it was a price he paid to save his family and that it was Nightblood who freed them.

The horses and wagon are gone and all that’s left is Kaladin’s pack. Szeth looks through it and finds a carved wooden horse along with the small woolen sheep his mother had made for him from Molli’s wool. And he weeps. Szeth asks about the Heralds and Nightblood says they were destroyed by something powerful, a new god in the sky.

Nightblood asks him what they are going to do and Szeth replies that he was told to live better and that he will. His people will need help, and there are still Skybreakers to be found.

POV Shift!

Jasnah walks through Urithiru feeling like she’d failed Dalinar, and herself, as well as failing to protect Thaylen City. She’d given up the Shattered Plains, though they still had the treaty… but without the Oathgates, she thinks that the treaty is inconsequential. She had hoped to rebuild Alethkar as a nation in the Unclaimed Hills but, without working Oathgates, they couldn’t travel there and Alethkar is truly lost.

She does have one touchstone that’s still stable: her opposition to the Vorin religion. But her whole moral philosophy is basically kaput.

She realizes that the whole philosophy of the greater good had never been the answer and that she’d dedicated her life to an ideal she didn’t believe. Exhausted, she lays down in bed and finds a note.

Jasnah laughs, though she wishes she had someone to hold in that moment. She feels more alone than she has since being locked away when she was a child and she sobs.

POV Shift!

Venli sits in Narak, looking toward a sunset blocked by black clouds and red lightning that stretches in all directions. It’s been a day since Odium Ascended to Retribution and he had spoken to them via messenger. He says he’ll be in touch but, for now, the listeners may use his Light to fuel their powers and to grow crops. She thinks of her sister and feels peace.

She hears Bila calling to her and they go to the pool, which had been empty, to find it refilling with a thick, black-blue liquid which pulses with a new rhythm: The Rhythm of War. Thude asks what it means and Venli replies that they have a powerful duty, that their land will be important to the coming world.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Kaladin

I find it difficult to put into words what emotions the ending of Kaladin’s journey brings up in me. He was always my favorite character, the one I related to the most, the one who I tried to be, the one who went through the same struggles I had. His struggle to figure out who he was, what he should be, how to balance his desire to help others with his own self-preservation, resounded within me in ways I didn’t know I needed.

As such, this ending is… bittersweet, but with more sweet than bitter. Kaladin has become the hero that we all knew he has been this whole time. He sacrifices himself to save others, giving up the potential of a human life in order to repay that debt to the spren, who had already given so much on humanity’s behalf. He sacrifices himself to save Szeth from having to endure that fate, to protect his friends and family, and ultimately to help the Heralds in their new life. From the very beginning, I wanted peace for him… but I also wanted him to remain the hero I knew he was, the hero that would stand up for the oppressed, the beaten, the broken. And he’s found both of those things, though not in the way he (or I) expected.

Dalinar

It’s fitting that Dalinar’s final act was one of love. He sacrificed himself to save the boy whom he had failed.

Kaladin and Dalinar: Thematic Bookends

In these chapters, we find two beautifully crafted, perfectly deployed bookends to the journeys of both these characters. First, Kaladin’s:

And then in the next chapter, Dalinar’s:

Kaladin first spoke these words right before the duel when he jumped in to save Adolin in Words of Radiance, and Dalinar originally voiced the same question when he traded his Shardblade for the lives of Bridge Four in The Way of Kings. In each case, Sanderson was laying the groundwork for the overall character arcs and major themes that would play out through these characters, and here he’s tied up those ends in neat little bows. Kaladin is doing what he can to protect others, Honor be damned. And Dalinar is accepting that human life is worth far more than anything else, and worth doing anything to protect. Both men are doing everything they can to preserve life.

The Blackthorn

Oof. The creation of this… this amalgamation of all the worst parts of Dalinar’s personality, being set loose to wage war on the Cosmere at whole, is a terrifying concept. It lacks everything that made Dalinar human—his ethics, his love, his fear. All that’s left is cold-blooded violence.

It’s like we’re in a video game and now we have to face the shadow-version of our favorite character.

Sigzil

It’s nice to see that Sigzil has grown enough that he can be this truthful and flippant to Wit, whom he’s always held in such reverent regard. Maybe it’s just his depression talking, but I like to think that he’s grown beyond his blind idolization of Hoid.

And off he goes, into the pages of The Sunlit Man.

Renarin

Renarin has grown, too. He’s faced monsters and ancient horrors, and—perhaps worst of all—the demons of his own past. He’s lost his father and mother, and found love in the most unlikely of places (unlikely in the sense of his own expectations, of course). This is an entirely different man from the shy, timid boy we met in The Way of Kings.

I love that this is the lesson he’s come away from this book with. It’s very… Bridge Four.

Neurodivergence recognizing neurodivergence. It’s very fitting that Renarin would understand and respect Jasnah’s dislike of casual physical contact.

Szeth

He’s not letting what he thinks is Kaladin’s sacrifice go to waste.

Jasnah

Two key quotes, here:

And a few moments later:

And so her character arc truly begins. Everything we’ve seen of Jasnah up until now was setting her up for this fall, laying the groundwork for her to find herself in the back five set of books. (Or so I assume, since it’s been said that she’s to be one of the main characters of the upcoming novels.) Will Jasnah become a hero? A villain? What path will she find that resonates within herself? What Words will she find? Only time will tell.

Venli

I’m not sure if Venli should get the “most improved” character award, but she’s definitely a contender.

Venli is still seeking to help her people, but now she’s doing so by being open and listening, and not by just doing what she thinks is right.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

In typically shifty Sanderson style, we get the obvious conclusion in the least obvious manner. For years, debate raged in the fandom about Kaladin or Dalinar or Shallan (or all the main characters) becoming the new wave of Heralds, and the Oathpact being reforged, and whether the Everstorm had made the Oathpact pointless.

It did make the Oathpact pointless, of course. It circumvented the Fused rebirth cycle on Braize, just like one side of the argument claimed. But now we have a new Oathpact and Kaladin steps up, just like the other side of the argument claimed.

There’s a lot of great imagery and symbolism in this chapter, too. Kaladin’s eyes go back to brown, signifying a return to a truer, more authentic state of being. He forms an Honorspear, rather than an Honorblade, signifying his uniqueness amongst the old Heralds. He dons the Kholin cloak, fulfilling the “Tower, Crown, and Spear” death rattle from allllll the way back in The Way of Kings. Syl forms the Honorspear with Kaladin, signifying a new equality between them.

Lots going on here.

This is heading into the realm of pure speculation, now that we’re in the final chapters of the book. The Cosmere stories we’ve gotten so far that take place after Wind and Truth have been very delicate in revealing any information about the status of Roshar, Retribution, and Cultivation—even Isles of the Emberdark, which came out only months ago. There’s nothing we know about new Unmade (perhaps this was prevented entirely by the new Oathpact, though I somehow doubt it). We have no clue where Cultivation went, or if/how the other Shards banded together against Retribution.

Sure, there’s a Cosmere-wide cold war happening between Roshar and Scadrial, but despite the many references to that, we have heard remarkably little about the two combination Shards central to those worlds post-Wind and Truth. Does Retribution still exist during Emberdark? Is Taravangian still behind the steering wheel? And what about Sazed, and Harmony/Discord? Presumably that’ll be the focus of Mistborn Era 3, if not Era 4, but we’ve gotten essentially zilch about his status in the various secret projects.

Some eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that, this whole time, I’ve never mentioned “Stormlight Book [#]” when referring to the back half of the series. Well, that’s because I’m 99% certain that, while Book Six may say “The Stormlight Archive” on the cover, it’s going to open with “Prelude to the Voidlight (or Warlight) Archive.”

There’s no more Stormlight. How can it be the Stormlight Archive without Stormlight?

An interesting wrinkle to this is a conversation I had with Brandon at Dragonsteel Nexus 2024. Sadly there’s no official audio recording/Arcanum entry for this, as it occurred at the pre-event dinner for the beta readers, but we talked about the endpages of The Way of Kings… and the Voidbinding chart. He mentioned that, when that book was in production (and during the time when he wasn’t the mega superstar bestseller he’s become, with all kinds of artistic control over the books), he was under the impression that the endpages would be the same for every one of the ten books. So he chose art that would fit for both the beginning and the end of the series.

Thus, the mysterious and confounding Voidbinding chart that had no impact whatsoever on the contents of The Way of Kings.

This made me perk up. Everything around the creation of the new Oathpact talks about Honor, but this line (and the surrounding sequence in general) indicates that even the Odium spren are protected. Ba-Ado-Mishram is hidden. “Nothing happened” when he pulled at them all.

Did Ishar’s Connection with Odium’s perpendicularity inadvertently include the Unmade and the voidspren?

And of course we have Dalinar, and the Blackthorn. I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of how this was handled here. It feels a little bit like having your cake and eating it too, that Retribution gets his supergeneral while Dalinar gets to slip off into peaceful oblivion/the afterlife/Beyond—but this line in particular is another possible hint toward Nohadon being much, much more than he seems.

Lots going on, once again, all of it in quick succession. Wit has to make one final gamble before Retribution gets his hands on him, and that means dumping the Dawnshard on Sigzil.

For those who read the Cosmere books in publishing order, we knew that Sigzil held a Dawnshard at some point between Rhythm of War and The Sunlit Man. I’m not sure how many people were expecting him to get it right here, but such is the way it goes. He gets a fun new toy (Note: Not actually very fun), and we get a second Dawnshard command to go with Rysn’s Change. And so begins a crazy sequence of events that’ll end with the Night Brigade showing up on Canticle many years later.

We’ve talked a bit throughout these readalong posts about the splinter factions of Skybreakers. I doubt, given what we know about the focus characters in the Voidlight Archive (natch), that we will get much of Szeth and Nightblood, Attorneys at Law, but I at least hope that they have some big moments. It’ll be frustrating if Nightblood once again shows up in someone else’s hands with no explanation, as happened with the journey from Vasher to the Nightwatcher to Nale.

As Venli rightly points out, it means the Listeners are super important now. They control the only perpendicularity on Roshar.

They also have a tremendous opportunity at hand, thanks to their treaty with Jasnah. While Navani is on ice, the Radiants have only one real access point to Investiture, and it’s the Listeners. (Lift notwithstanding, but we already knew she was gonna be EXTREMELY important in the Voidlight Archive.) Whether it’s the Listeners building up stores of Warlight to share with Urithiru or giving the Radiants direct access to the perpendicularity, they now have a stranglehold on the magical economy of Roshar.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our final reread discussion, covering chapter 147 along with the Epilogue and Postlude, and our wrap-up on the book in general![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 144-146 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 141-143

Nightblood evolves; Dalinar makes an unprecedented decision, and the Cosmere is forever changed.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on December 15, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans, and welcome to our final article of the year! So much is going on in this three-chapter section as the great Wind and Truth Sanderlanche reaches its climax: We’ve got Szeth kicking ass, Nightblood destroying evil, Dalinar ascending… and then descending almost immediately. So much happening in these three chapters, so let’s get to it!

Be sure to check out the social media section at the end of the article to see if we spotlighted one of your comments!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 141 is titled “That Which Was Lost.” We begin this chapter with Kaladin who, with Syl, is watching Szeth utterly DOMINATE all six Honorbearers. Kaladin thinks aloud that the Wind is helping Szeth, but then he hears a voice that says no, they fear Szeth.

Kaladin realizes that his armorspren is visible around him. In fact, there are many, many windspren. Too many for just his armor. He feels as if they’re all watching Szeth’s battle, that all the wind on Roshar is holding its breath. Then he feels a tremor from the east, and senses that something terrible is happening at Urithiru.

POV Shift!

Dalinar feels the moment in which Mishram is released from her prison, which sets right something that has been wrong for so long. He sees honor in what Renarin and Rlain did, in what people all over Roshar have done, Kaladin, Adolin, Jasnah, Shallan, Renarin, Rlain… He even sees honor in himself, for if he can be redeemed, can’t anyone?

Now, with Mishram released, the power of Honor suddenly desires a vessel… one who truly understands it.

POV Shift!

Szeth is dancing, wielding Nightblood and leaving chinks in Honorblades right and left. He gets down to the work of eliminating the human Fused created by Ishar. Pozen and Moss are the first two to go, and Szeth dispatches them with tears in his eyes.

POV Shift!

Rlain is cloaked in darkness with the release of Mishram. When the darkness settles, so to speak, she immediately focuses her ire on Renarin, but Rlain jumps to shield him and protect him. He argues with Mishram that some men are good, but that many have both good and evil within them, just as many singers have.

He attunes the rhythm of Love as he holds Renarin and Mishram screams. She kicks them all out of the Spiritual Realm into Shadesmar, and they find themselves on an Oathgate platform at Urithiru.

POV Shift!

Szeth dispatches the third Honorbearer and is left with just the Truthwatcher, his sister, and his father. The Truthwatcher sends shadows from his past to drive him mad, visions of people he’s killed, but he doesn’t succumb.

His sister tells him he deserves to die for what he did. He replies that he does, but that she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her. She’s no longer Elid, and he ends what Ishar has made her into. It causes him pain, but what was left of her is no longer suffering and I feel that in releasing her, Szeth will be able to find peace in the act eventually.

Chapter 142 is titled “A Man Stands On A Cliffside.” Dalinar ascends and realizes that there is a third option besides the two offered by Odium. He can destroy Odium, thus ending the contest and Odium’s hold on Roshar.

A small voice tries to call out to him but he ignores it again and again. Suddenly, he realizes that it’s the Stormfather trying to speak to him, and Dalinar suddenly understands that the clash of power between Honor and Odium will destroy everything. He backs off and is suddenly taken into a vision.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is trying to rouse Ishar so the Herald can open a perpendicularity to refresh their Stormlight; Nightblood is taking all he had gained from leveling up. Unfortunately, black veins are beginning to creep up Kaladin’s hand and Ishar has no surges, though Kaladin takes what Stormlight he had left.

The Wind warns him that something’s about to happen and asks if he’ll curse it if he continues to live… and if he’ll be there when the Wind needs him. So cryptic! (No, not that kind of Cryptic…)

Then Kaladin feels intense pain in his hand as the black veins begin to stretch up his forearm.

POV Shift!

Dalinar ends up in a vision with Nohadon, where they eat Shin bread and discuss how to defeat Odium. I won’t recount the whole conversation but basically what it boils down to is that Dalinar figures out that he can’t defeat Odium, but Kaladin and the others he mentioned, the next generation, can.

And he knows he must give Honor time to grow and change.

Dalinar knows there will be a cost, however, and he accepts this. And so he exits the vision and renounces his oaths.

Chapter 143 is titled “One Of Them Will Destroy Us,” opening with Szeth dispatching the Truthwatcher and cornering his father. Neturo tells him through gritted teeth that a year into Szeth’s training he knew of the new god, but that he followed Szeth because he thought his son would find the right answers; he weeps. Szeth rams Nightblood through his chest. His father thanks him for releasing him as he disappears.

As he tries to sheath his sword, he feels that Kaladin’s Stormlight has run out. Szeth feels Nightblood reaching for his soul, but decides not to let Nightblood kill him and pries his fingers from the sword. Finally free, he flings the weapon away, but it still stands upright, screaming to destroy evil.

POV Shift!

Kaladin, helpless, watches as Szeth begins to disintegrate. Nale asks Ishar to help but he’s unable to. Kaladin then hears a voice.

And here, Kaladin’s therapy with Szeth over the course of this quest saves them all as Nightblood, having absorbed those lessons, chooses not to kill his friends.

Kaladin is relieved—but then all the spren cry out, and the soul of the world tears apart.

POV Shift!

Shallan finds Sja’anat near the Oathgate and speaks with her for a moment, learning that the spren had been hoping all along that whoever freed Mishram, her sister might remember her role in it and be merciful in doling out retribution.

There’s a clash in the skies and Sja’anat tells Shallan she needs to get out of Shadesmar now. Shallan runs toward the Oathgate as one of the Oathgate spren screams. She’s too late—there’s a flash and Rlain and Renarin disappear just as the sky goes insane.

POV Shift!

Taravangian demands that Dalinar repeat himself so, again, Dalinar says he renounces his oaths. The power of Honor feels betrayed and eventually, with a little encouragement from Dalinar, it allows Taravangian to take it up. And in taking up the power of Honor, Taravangian proves that he’s just plain power hungry after all. And because he’s always been a big stupid jerk, he destroys the Stormfather right away.

And of course, Odium and Honor together create Retribution. At long last, the other shards in the cosmere wake up to the danger of a new enemy.

Dalinar is ready to die but then he hears Gavinor weeping and he rises to his feet, thrashed by the storm, to see what he can do.

As Dalinar’s arc nears its end, we can look back on his journey and see how remarkable it really was. He’s set down his burden, leaving it for the others to pick up the struggle, leaving it for them to fight against Retribution. He’s sent his love and pride and courage out to his family and friends, and now he goes to his last task.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

This isn’t strictly a character arc thing, but it doesn’t seem like it fits in either Paige or Drew’s sections either, so I’m going to address it here, before getting into the character breakdowns.

I find it interesting that Szeth is essentially a Mistborn, but with Stormlight powers. The Mistborn, if you need a reminder, could use all of the allomantic powers, not just one. Szeth, who has been trained with all of the Honorblades in turn, has the knowledge of how to utilize every single surge. He’s the… Stormborn. Okay. I’m manifesting that out into the fan circles. Szeth, the Stormborn. Let’s make it happen.

This reminds me a lot of a certain passage in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. (Wolves of the Calla Part 1, Chapter VII if you were also reminded and wanted to revisit that lovely rose in the vacant lot.)

Regarding Nohadon… every time he shows up, all I can see in my head is Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I keep expecting him to offer Dalinar tea rather than bread.

Dalinar

Dalinar certainly has come a long way… but I do wonder if everyone would say that he’s completely redeemed himself. It’s great that he’s forgiven himself… but has he sought forgiveness and atonement from all those he harmed?

In this moment, Dalinar ceases to see clearly. He’s allowing himself to fall victim to the allure of power, to become the very thing he’s fought for so long to overcome. He is letting his emotions overshadow his logic and clarity. Thankfully, he has the Stormfather here to pull him back from the brink.

Oof. Well, that sounds all too similar to what Taravangian’s been saying all this time, doesn’t it… But then he follows up later with this:

Lots of this going around in this book, isn’t there…

Aww. Father and son, agreeing on something at long last.

Well, I’m tearing up. Fitting farewells for them all.

He’s given up his pride, at long last.

Rlain/Renarin

I can’t get over how sweet this relationship is. The two of them are supporting and protecting one another in even this, the darkest and most dangerous of moments.

Szeth

I’m so glad that Szeth is getting this final closure. He gets to admit to his failures, to apologize to those he loved, and to bring them peace in the end.

Interesting, isn’t it, how one person can see something in us that we don’t see ourselves? Szeth always sought guidance, wanted to be told what to do… but his father saw in him the exact opposite.

Yet another character coming full circle on their growth.

Kaladin

Has there ever been a line that’s more quintessentially “Kaladin” than this?

Honor

In the Cosmere, the personification of power or ideals isn’t so strange, is it? And so here we are, discussing the very power of Honor as a character with its own goals and flaws.

This is utterly fascinating from a psychological perspective. The power is still learning to be… well… a person. With all the intricacies and nuances of a human’s mind. All it could understand before was its own power, so Dalinar trying to get it to experience empathy here is a huge step forward.

Nightblood

I’m sure that Drew’s going to dive into Nightblood in depth down below, but I just want to take a moment to note that even he is exhibiting some amazing character growth in this book. He’s always been sentient (or sapient, which is the term Sanderson prefers), but he lacked empathy and nuance. He’s learning to control himself, which is really saying something, considering what he is.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

All righty. So we get to probably the biggest WTF sequence in the book. Nohadon, the eternal question mark. What is this guy’s deal? Who is he really? What is he really?

It’s easy enough to take him at face value, from the visions in The Way of Kings up till now, that he’s just a neat dude who became king and came up with some good ideas to organize the Knights Radiant and make Surgebinding safer. But with some thought, it gets harder and harder to accept that.

People have been asking Brandon questions about Nohadon for over a decade, and he has been resolutely cagey with his answers—when he doesn’t outright say to “read and find out.” He won’t answer whether or not Nohadon was a Bondsmith. When people try to pin him down obliquely, he refuses to elaborate.

And when people ask straight out if Nohadon is in some way or part Adonalsium, he goes back to the tried-and-true RAFO.

One thing is clear: Nohadon is not a simple conundrum. By all evidence, the visions Dalinar has with Nohadon in both Oathbringer and here, in Wind and Truth, are not sent by the Stormfather like the visions with Nohadon in The Way of Kings. It’s possible the strange golden light vision at the end of Words of Radiance is connected to Nohadon as well—though I’ll get to that one in a bit.

One possible interpretation, and one Brandon himself offers in a recent Q&A, is that Nohadon is a construction of Dalinar’s Bondsmith powers, where he’s creating a sort of mirror for himself. That Dalinar is searching for answers, and without anyone to truly give him advice, he is subconsciously forming conversations with himself to explore his options. Thanks to his abilities with Connection and the Spiritual Realm, he can go “shazam!” and make Nohadon, based on his impression of the man through the Stormfather’s visions and the in-world Way of Kings, appear to serve as a sounding board.

This explanation feels a little hollow to me, though. For one thing, it doesn’t explain the golden light vision at the end of Words of Radiance; for another, Nohadon thinks in ways that are strongly antithetical to Dalinar’s mindset. He’s not really the kind of guy to think laterally, to stop and even subconsciously consider out-of-the-box options, even while he’s in the process of changing as a person. He basically decides he’s gonna change in a certain way, and grinds it out.

And then there’s the bread, an experience which Dalinar has plainly never had. How could he create the taste and sensation of something he’s never experienced?

On top of that, this final vision feels somehow more than such a straightforward explanation would allow. This is during a cataclysmic surge of Investiture, during the moment of Ascension and during a showdown between two Shards. There isn’t anything in the text to indicate that Dalinar is making this happen; on the contrary, he feels relief that it’s happening.

So what are the other options?

One, that I find myself coming back to again and again, is that he is a construction of the abandoned power of Honor, a sort of unconscious accident of the power being left alone for so long after Tanavast fell.

This feels right to me where the Words of Radiance vision is concerned: The Stormfather is not responsible for it, and indeed seems confused that Dalinar is experiencing it. Given Honor’s rejection of Tanavast, I could see it unconsciously repelling him even in the Stormfather form.

There’s also the familiarity that Nohadon has with the nascent awareness of Honor during this sequence at the end of Wind and Truth. He has an almost paternal attitude toward it; might that not make sense, for a consciousness that has watched this power slowly gain awareness and volition over the centuries?

Another is, of course, what Ángel Palomo asked about this past July (linked above): Nohadon is some fragment or shadow or reflection of Adonalsium itself.

This is a compelling possibility, and there is some circumstantial evidence to support it. Most directly, the fact that Odium did not notice Dalinar getting pulled into the vision. There’s also the fact that Nohadon speaks with such a fatherly attitude toward both Dalinar and the Shard of Honor itself, in its infancy as a self-aware entity:

There’s also a fair amount of speculation out there around the name Nohadon itself, in the Vorin almost-palindrome construction warping Nodadon—Adon, mirrored. It’s evocative, at the very least.

Perhaps my favorite Nohadon/Adonalsium theory is that he is not a Cognitive Shadow of Adonalsium, but rather a Spiritual Shadow, an imprint not of mind but power. It would make a certain amount of sense that the most powerfully Invested entity to ever exist—presumably—would leave an impression upon the Spiritual Realm in the same way that powerfully Invested people can leave impressions upon the Cognitive Realm.

What that actually means is, of course, still nebulous. Even after Wind and Truth, the Spiritual Realm is hard to pin down, and Spiritual aspects remain some of the least understood principles in the Cosmere and Realmatic Theory.

And after his encounter with Nohadon, he makes an unprecedented decision: relinquishing the Shard and offering it up to Taravangian.

I say “unprecedented” because we have no information about any other Vessels ever willingly letting go. Some have been splintered, some lost their minds, Tanavast was rejected—but the idea of giving up literal divine, cosmic power is just not something that fits the assumed personalities of the Sixteen. They Shattered Adonalsium and wanted the Shards, for various reasons.

But this occurrence makes me wonder about the future of the Cosmere. Sazed, as Harmony, is struggling to both reconcile and use his double Shard. Discord is on the horizon. Could he be on a similar path as Dalinar, heading toward a conclusion where he must step down and let the Shards split?

What about the other Shards? Many of the Vessels seem content to let Odium be someone else’s problem, but how many of them are brave enough to confront Retribution? There are already Shards out there, hiding. Would Euridrius think the logical solution to survival is abdicating the power of Reason?

But enough about this sequence; there are other Momentous Things that happen in this week’s reading.

Nightblood takes a huge step here. It’s a heartwarming moment, this utterly destructive weapon choosing to identify and protect its friends. But I think this is also reflective of Honor: Nightblood is an incredibly Invested object, with its own awareness and rudimentary intelligence. As Dalinar noted, they can all change and grow.

Nightblood didn’t just learn how to grant all ten Surges in this book. It didn’t just learn how to be friends with people. It learned how to act independently, right here. That has frankly terrifying implications.

We know that, later in the Cosmere, the Night Brigade is actively hunting for Dawnshards. Do they have tunnel vision, or would they also be interested in getting their mercenary hands on a Shardblade of such potency?

I can’t wait to see what happens with Nightblood in the future.

That said, I can’t wrap this thing up without at least a nod to the final event in these three chapters:

Hello, Retribution. Welcome to the next chapter of the Cosmere.

Fan theories via Social Media:

Drew dug up a fascinating theory by Any_Jacket_9361 over on the Cosmere subreddit.

They go on to list examples, and the theory is a great one and well worth a read! Check out the whole discussion here.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

That’s all for 2025—we’ll be taking a break for the holidays, and returning on January 5th to finish up the book with two final articles. Happy holidays, Cosmere Chickens! We hope that you get all the items on your Dragonsteel wish lists![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 141-143 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 137-140

Major character arcs are resolved and victories achieved, but the fate of the world remains in doubt.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on December 8, 2025

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Greetings and happy Monday, Cosmere Chickens! This week’s reread discussion is… a lot. We’re reaching the culmination of multiple character arcs, and plot arcs, and Cosmere connections. Mysteries are finally revealed, questions answered… It’s the Sanderlanche reaching its peak, so of course it’s a lot! Hold on to your storming seats, chickens!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 137 is titled “The Suckling Child” and, what have we here? A Mraize POV. I would normally be pretty meh about this, but considering how this POV ends… let’s dive in! Mraize faces off against Shallan, reasoning that since he can’t control her, he must kill her. He thinks she looks frightened, unsure. She seems hesitant, and then out of the blue, Pattern charges him. He easily deflects the spren who then rises up behind him. Realizing his mistake almost too late, he turns to find Shallan behind him. She’d been hidden beneath a Lightweaving of her spren.

She holds his glowing knife and somehow, he holds her empty one. He guesses that’s why she’d charged him—so she could swap knives. He drops his worthless knife and twists her wrist to force her drop his knife. When they both come up holding the knives again, he rams his blade into her chest while she stabs him in the gut… with the anti-Stormlight knife.

He doesn’t understand how she did it, but Shallan explains that she never swapped the knives—she just disguised them. When he’d dropped his knife to wrench what he thought was his knife from her, he’d essentially handed her the anti-Stormlight knife. In his fear, he draws in Stormlight to heal himself but it reacts with the anti-Stormlight and burns him up. Mraize is gone! Woohoo!

I found it interesting when Radiant kept asking if she should take over and Shallan refused. Shallan didn’t need someone to fight Mraize for her—she needed to face him herself so that she could trick him with her Lightweaving. She was fully capable of beating him all this time as the more experienced Lightweaver. Well done, Shallan. Very well done.

POV Shift!

Next, we see Venli on the Shattered Plains; El approaches, as the time for the contest has just passed. Leshwi is attuning joy. El comments on it before confirming that the contest has begun and he has secured the Shattered Plains as he was asked to do. Then Thude asks El to withdraw his forces until they can normalize diplomatic relations. And I am dying laughing!

Venli produces a treaty signed by Jasnah Kholin and El reads it quietly, asking how they managed to do it. An angry Fused states that they’ll just take the Plains from the listeners—and El outright kills him, with a storming Shardblade. As if that’s not surprising enough, he then calmly returns to the treaty and gives orders for his troops to retreat.

POV Shift!

We rejoin Dalinar at the top of Urithiru where Gavinor is still crying, frozen, his hands raised but no longer gripping Oathbringer as he’d been when he was preparing to strike down his grandfather. Dalinar is pondering his choices, and he does actually consider striking down Gavinor. But in doing so, he would become what Taravangian wants him to be. He sees that no matter what option he chooses, Taravangian wins. Dalinar even thinks that if he were to join Odium, maybe he could make all the cosmic war he’s going to wage less horrible. (Yeah, good luck with that…)

He asks the Stormfather for advice but alas, the spren has none. Dalinar can feel all the people in the tower, all of the people on Roshar… feel their wants and needs and loves and hopes and pain. And then, something wondrous happens.

Chapter 138 is titled “The Burdens of Nine” and we’re right back with Shallan in the moments immediately after she kills Mraize. Radiant acknowledges that Shallan doesn’t need her anymore and just like that, Radiant, like Veil before her, reaches out and becomes part of Shallan instead of something separate.

Mraize’s Cryptic emerges from his corpse. Its pattern is damaged and it’s missing an arm. It can speak, and it’s quite put out with Shallan, who turns to go back to the room with the gemstone thinking that Mishram might be able to help the Cryptic and Iyatil’s Inkspren. That’s when she sees Renarin and Rlain with the gemstone raised above their heads as they prepare to break it.

POV Shift!

Nale is feeling the full brunt of the horrible things he’s done, the murders he’s committed. He is overwhelmed and knows that he’ll never escape this darkness.

POV Shift!

Syl is lost in the darkness as well, and she tries to get to Kaladin but isn’t able to. She feels so worthless, as if she’s never done anything that mattered. She hears Ishar ordering them to feel, as he takes a moment to think. She gets to the point where she doesn’t want to be anymore, to exist anymore. She’s beyond feeling pain, just… nothing, and it terrifies her.

POV Shift!

Szeth knows that he’s a failure, and he’s exhausted and overwhelmed by the darkness. He just wishes to rest. Nightblood asks him what’s wrong but he ignores the sword, thinking that everything is wrong and always will be.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is also overwhelmed by the darkness. But he’s been there before, hasn’t he? There, alone in the dark, feeling the weight of all of his failures and all of his inadequacies. He’s no stranger to this. So he does what he knows to do and looks up.

There he sees all of the paladins that he’s been, from the young man who volunteered for the Army to help his brother to the Squadleader and the Bridgeman, the Captain and the Radiant. He feels the full pain of the Heralds and in the midst of that darkness, he takes a breath and stands up. More woohoos!

Chapter 139, “Words,” picks right back up with Kaladin, who stands up to protect Syl and Szeth and even Ishar. Because that’s the man he wants to be. Ishar is rightfully stunned, even checking the cord that Connects him to Kaladin to be sure it hasn’t been severed somehow. Kaladin places himself between Ishar and Szeth, and it seems to help Szeth somewhat.

Ishar asks who he is and Kaladin, the silly bridge boy, says he’s just an old spear that won’t break. (Yes, I’m grinning quite stupidly here.) Kaladin asks Ishar if this horrible darkness is how he feels all the time, and Ishar confirms it, and that it is indeed awful. And then Kaladin quotes Wit.

He goes on to say that he knows Ishar’s pain because he feels it too, and also that he knows that doesn’t lessen the other man’s pain. He thinks about how completely horrific this darkness is, worse than his worst days, and he realizes that he has to help the Heralds. Ishar threatens him but that don’t make no nevermind to Kaladin, who quietly speaks his Fifth Ideal, baby!

POV Shift!

The power of Honor surrounds Dalinar. He tries to make it see that he should be its vessel. It says that humans lie, and Dalinar tries to make it see that he will keep his oaths. Cultivation’s voice breaks in, telling him that it’s time, that he knows the words. Dalinar opens a perpendicularity and tells Honor:

Chapter 140 is titled “The Light We Kindle Ourselves.” We rejoin Kaladin to see the Wind accepting his words. Kaladin explodes with power, and… he’s still Connected to Ishar. The light from the Spiritual Realm surges down the Connection between Kaladin and Ishar and shoves Ishar back, expelling the darkness from him. At the same time, Kaladin senses the darkness being expelled from the other Heralds.

It wasn’t a symptom of their pain and suffering, but a remnant of Odium’s power that Ishar had taken up. Kaladin uses Nightblood to sever the Connections between Ishar and the others and as they rise, so do the Honorbearers. The Honorbearers who were made Fused by that darkness, and who still carry it. Or rather, who are still bound by it.

Kaladin notices a Connection between him and Nightblood. The sword fairly orders him to give it to Szeth. It says it will feed on Kaladin’s Stormlight rather than Szeth’s soul. So Kaladin tosses the sword over and Szeth takes it up.

Szeth realizes that Nightblood has learned the surges from the Honorblades and he asks if he can have his lashings back. Nightblood gives them to him happily… and they dance.

POV Shift!

Taravangian asks Dalinar what he’s doing, and Dalinar says he can’t defeat Odium as a man. Taravangian tells him that Honor won’t take him because he’s an oathbreaker. Honor hesitates, surrounding Dalinar but not entering him. Dalinar asks it what is wrong and it shows him a vision of Renarin and Rlain, and what they’re doing seems to make it reconsider.

POV Shift!

Renarin and Rlain are holding the gemstone high. Despite Shallan telling them to stop, they ask each other if they’re both sure, which they are. Together, they slam the stone down onto the ground and it shatters, releasing a dark storm.

Dun-dun-DUNNN!

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

I have a lot to discuss this week, as is fitting for the end of this massive five-book long series of character arcs. Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, Venli… all of our Big Five are getting their arcs tied up, and some other smaller characters are seeing resolution as well.

Mraize (Betd) / Shallan

Whoa. A Mraize POV? I didn’t see this one coming! This is a fascinating glimpse into Mraize’s mind, so let’s dive in, shall we?

Ah yes. The dichotomy of human emotion. Feeling multiple things at once! He does seem to be veering far more to the “happiness” side of the equation, though. Mraize’s ambition outpaces his grief, and he immediately begins planning his next steps. He’s in charge, now. Great! Except for one little problem… and that one little problem’s name, of course, is Shallan.

Nothing is going to get in the way of his ambition. Especially not some stripling of a girl who he’s been messing with for years. He ruthlessly analyzes her strategy and strikes out at what he knows is her weak point, emotionally:

But it’s not enough to faze her. Shallan has moved beyond such petty strikes; she’s healed, if not completely, then at least to the point where outside influences can’t possibly hurt her more than she’s already hurt herself.

As usual, Mraize (like everyone else) has underestimated her.

He thinks himself infallible. Of course he understands her completely—he’s so smart! Even though he’s just proven that he doesn’t understand Shallan, not truly. He’s spent so much time attempting to mold her, influence her, shape her to his own worldview—that of “only the strong shall survive.” He fully believes that the weak will be subsumed by the strong, and can’t conceive of the fact that she’s legitimately giving him a chance to survive.

He makes his choice. Rather than accepting her charity, he refuses to believe that someone can offer a hand to another. That someone could possibly forgive someone else for trying to kill them. And so, he seals his own fate. Shallan kills him, because he forces her to.

In this moment, Shallan breaks free of him. Not in the taking of his life, but in rejecting his worldview and offering him that chance to redeem himself, to make of himself something better; something good. And Mraize proves himself to be exactly what he’s always been. He refuses to grow, to change, to be better. And he pays the ultimate price.

Interestingly, we do get this final line from Shallan:

When Mraize proves that he’s unwilling to change, she makes this final choice. Sympathy and empathy can only go so far, if it comes at the price of your own peace and well-being.

And there it is. She’s right—killing in self-defense is entirely understandable, and acceptable in almost every system of law, religion, or philosophy.

Shallan

Oh, this is very interesting! Up until now, Radiant has been portrayed in a very positive light. She’s always been the swordswoman, the soldier, the steady and steadfast one who would do what the others could not. Dependable, loyal… a perfect soldier.

But now we’re seeing those same traits in a different light. She was the one that Shallan depended on for violence? Suddenly it puts her into a whole different context, doesn’t it? Yes… violence is sometimes necessary. But it’s rarely viewed as a positive thing.

Time for the once-per-article gif drop! You’ll have to excuse me for going a bit… old-school anime weeb on this one. It’s too fitting not to use.

Venli

An understandable fear, when the prospect of what she’s doing is so risky, and the consequences of her past actions were so dire. But this bet has paid off, in dividends. Her people’s land is hers once more, and she has atoned for her past sins. The dead stay dead, but she’s done what she could and made amends to her people. She’s righted her wrong, and given their lands back to them. Venli’s character arc, which began with that awful (but arguably well-intentioned) choice to sacrifice her people to the Fused and Odium, has been completed.

Dalinar

Interesting… I’m reading this as his choice to give up the Shardblade to save Bridge Four as his act of redemption, but the plural “attempts” makes me think he’s referring to everything else since. I suppose that makes sense, in a way, but it does feel a little odd that he’d conflate everything that he’s experienced in that time with the sword he gave up in Book 1.

An impossible decision forced upon a man just trying to do his best for the people under his care.

He makes a decent point. Working against the status quo from the inside is something we see in a lot of fiction… and, if I may speculate for a moment about the author and his intentions, something that Brandon himself is doing in regards to the LDS Church. (He has stated in the past that he’s attempting to make changes from the inside. You can read about this in his own words here.) It’s not uncommon to see shadows of the things that the author feels or struggles with cast upon their fiction; I’d go so far as to say that it’s a core tenet of the entire field of literary analysis (as well as viewing the text as a mirror of societal and historical biases and experiences in regards to symbolism, but I digress).

So to bring this back around… Dalinar, like Brandon, struggles here with the concept of supporting something (or someone) that is actively causing harm, with the justification that the harm will be done anyway, and only by working inside the harmful entity can that harm be mitigated. With all this in mind, it makes Dalinar’s final choice on this matter even more interesting:

I suppose the difference here is that Brandon still sees more good than harm in the institution of the LDS, whereas Odium’s quest is nothing but harm.

Anyway. Dalinar comes down to the crux of the matter in this line, and the response by Taravangian:

When this whole series is done, I think there are going to be some fascinating literary, philosophical, and societal analyses of Taravangian. As a villain, he’s utterly intriguing, because not only does he believe that he’s right… he makes the reader question it as well. I’d argue that only the very best villains can pull that off.

I’d just like to point this out, coming so close to what I just discussed at length above. Perhaps this is true; one person, working alone, is not enough to enact change on a wide scale. However, if Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin have taught us anything, it’s that one person can absolutely build a community around oneself. And that community can then, in turn, enact change.

Because Dalinar is a man of honor. It’s not enough for him to just hold to the letter of the law, so to speak. He needs to believe it wholeheartedly. He wants his oaths to be held to the best of his ability, genuinely.

Words that Gavilar never could have said, despite all his searching. Gavilar lacked the empathy necessary to fully understand Honor.

Nale

Sounds awful familiar, doesn’t it? Well, Nale, we’ve got good news for you! You’re traveling with the world’s leading authority in feeling overwhelmed by failure! And even better… he’s now a therapist! Speaking of…

Kaladin

I’m going to be honest… I have a hard time talking about Kaladin’s character arc and his struggles with depression, because it resonates so deeply with me. I’m afraid that I’ll bring too much of myself into the analysis, so I often back down on things I really want to say. This one time, I’ll expand.

I’ve been here. I’ve faced that chasm, the one that Kaladin stood over until Syl brought him a single leaf. And having stood there, I recognize all of these thoughts that rush through Kaladin’s brain. The self-doubt, and the thinking that you’re not enough (and never will be), and the fear that even if you try, you’re going to fail again and again and again, are as familiar to me now as my own name. It’s a constant battle, and sometimes you hear those echoes whispering in your mind even when you’re “better.” So to say that I relate to Kaladin on a deep, fundamental level is… putting it mildly.

A lot of my therapy has been focused around this very subject—find who you want to be, and put your effort into trying to manifest that, rather than dwelling on what you view as your failures. So I see Kaladin’s journey, and I applaud it, and I hope that someday I can definitively rediscover who I want to be, and stand for it with the pride and courage that Kaladin does here.

And I hope the same for any of you, dear readers, who are also on this same journey.

Please remember… we lift the bridge together, and you are not alone.

And if you don’t take my word for it… take Kal’s:

And there we have it. Kaladin’s final Oath. And the last step in his character arc (for this set of the series, at least). Whether or not he’ll continue to be a main character and have a fully fleshed-out arc of his own in the back five is still up for debate.

Ishar

Today on “cosmically bad mistakes,” Ishar takes the cake. He’s been spreading depression and insanity under the guise of charity all this time.

Nightblood

Yikes. For such a sweet and goofy character when sheathed, Nightblood becomes legitimately scary when unsheathed. It’s like his thirst for power completely overwhelms him. Drew’s going to go more into this below, so I’ll leave it to him.

Szeth

Szeth does indeed understand, all too well, the horror and pain of being forced to do terrible things. But he holds in his hands the power to stop that pain for his loved ones. And, for once, he has the choice to do it or not… and is willing to make it.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Lots of tricks in these chapters, as all the various contests come to a head and our characters try to find solutions against impossible odds. The Listeners win the Shattered Plains, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

El. Of course it’s El.

And the dude has a Shardblade—and not a deadeye Blade, restricted by a wait of ten heartbeats. He’s got it out and through the head of the Magnified One in the blink of an eye.

So. After 1250 pages of essentially no answers where El is concerned, Sanderson felt the need to drop another mystery on us. And this one is a real doozy, isn’t it? El holding a deadeye Blade wouldn’t have been too out of left field, in my opinion, but the way he summons this makes it clear that there’s something deeper going on. As I see it, we have four main options.

First: El is a Knight Radiant. He bonded a spren sometime between the end of Rhythm of War and this point in the story—likely an Enlightened spren, more inclined to work against the main group of the Knights Radiant. He advanced rapidly enough through his Ideals to achieve the Third (though likely not the Fourth, as I think he wouldn’t have been able to resist showing off some shiny armor). We’re given no indication of what Order he might be part of, but that’s a question for another day.

Second: El took Moash’s Honorblade away. Maybe he was upset with Moash’s failure to kill Sigzil. Maybe he was directed by Vargodium to reclaim the Blade once he locked in on Gavinor as the champion. Who knows, but that “long, thin” Honorblade is now in the hands of the most dangerous Fused possible, giving him unfettered Windrunning powers.

Third: El does have a deadeye Blade—but the deadeyes aren’t so dead anymore, are they? El is an Unoathed. He is the unorthodox one, after all, always willing to look at things from a different angle. He doesn’t like the stifling attitudes around oaths; instead, he thought along the same lines as Adolin and took advantage of the shifting metaphysical tectonics of Roshar to get a Shardblade that’ll work with him.

Fourth: El made something new. El made a voidspren Shardblade. Why not, coming from the most experimental of the Fused? The guy who is totally fascinated by humans, who sounds almost envious of them sometimes? Seems like just the kind of project El would be into, maybe along the same lines as whatever he’s doing with the metal carapace he’s obsessed with. If he can’t be a Knight Radiant or a Herald, he can have his own fun. After all, “it offers… different opportunities.”

And in other news of things we never got real answers about: Seriously, what’s the deal with the Unmade? It’s pretty clear at this point that Odium must have taken some major spren and warped them with his own Investiture to create the Unmade—Raboniel was going to engineer something similar with the Sibling—but which spren did he use? They’re clearly entities of a major order, if not on the level of the Stormfather and Nightwatcher and Sibling, then at least much more substantial than Radiant spren. But through five books (and hundreds of pages of Spiritual Realm/History of Roshar lessons), we haven’t heard a thing about any ancient spren who both fit the bill and come in large enough numbers to create the Unmade.

I briefly considered the Night, but even that doesn’t fit because Cultivation used it to create the Nightwatcher. The Wind was still around, just forgotten, and same with the Stone.

What about Cucicesh? Were there perhaps ten spren like it, once upon a time?

Okay, so yeah. Nightblood has a great character moment during this sequence, as odd as that might have sounded a decade ago… but as far as I’m concerned, this is the biggest deal in the chapter.

Nightblood was already one of the scariest things around, with its ability to drain Investiture at a lethal rate and even kill Vessels like Rayse. But now Nightblood is THE ultimate Shardblade. All ten Surges, at the fingertips of Nightblood’s bearer. As long as you’ve got the Investiture, you’re gonna be pretty much untouchable with our friendly neighborhood black Shardblade in your hands. And guess what? It just so happens to be in the hands of a guy who’s trained with all the Surges!

(For now.)

Notice that, once again, I barely mentioned anything from Dalinar’s scenes. Well, giddy up, cuz next week is Honor Ground Zero.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

We’ll see you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 141, 142, and 143! After that we’ll be taking a break for the holidays, and returning on January 5th to finish up the book with two final articles.[end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 137-140 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 133-136

Tables are turned, knives are out, Blades are reclaimed, and a throne is saved!

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on December 1, 2025

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Happy Monday, Sanderfans, and welcome back to our Wind and Truth Reread! Hoo-boy, do we have a doozy of a week. The Sanderlanche is fully Sanderlanching and we’re rapidly shuffling from POV to POV like a deck of cards. We see Adolin *cue angelic songs from the heavens* kicking some major ass, Maya returning with deadeyes in tow, Dalinar refusing to kill Gavinor, Shallan’s climactic encounter with Iyatil, Szeth leveling up and then… well, you know. Let’s get to it, shall we?

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 133, “Puppet,” opens with Adolin growing more and more exhausted as he tries to avoid getting Shardbladed to death by Abidi the Monarch. Adolin focuses his concentration and goes on the offense, managing to strike Abidi in the side, several times, shocking the Fused. As he fights, Adolin thinks of how he had promised to help Azir and questions why he had done so. His father trained him to be a weapon but his mother… his mother tried to make him into a weapon that had meaning. And Adolin begins to understand himself, letting go of his anger over Evi’s death. He knows that he can be the man she wanted him to be.

Abidi lunges for Adolin, who blocks the Blade with the candelabra and rams his sword straight through the Plate’s eye slit into Abidi’s eye. To no avail. Abidi is able to heal. Storming stupid Fused! Abidi lifts Adolin into the air and Adolin knows he’s about to die, realizing that he’ll never be enough, no matter how he tries. Abidi begins ranting, but his monologue is cut short when Adolin laughs as he realizes his purpose, as Maya told him he would. He says, “Yes, I’ll lead them.” Then he humbly asks for a little help. Abidi thinks he’s begging, but Adolin isn’t asking him for help.

When Abidi hurls Adolin across the room at a wall, his Plate, worn by Abidi, suddenly flies apart and surrounds Adolin just as he crashes into the stone surface. His Plate spren have apparently come to life and chosen him over Abidi, who is shocked. The Plate spren work to accommodate his missing leg, fortifying the Plate to give him a new leg and foot. Then… oh, storms, then an orange-red light starts to glow from the joints of the armor and from his helm. There are no symbols—he is not Radiant, after all—but his Plate is alive.

 As Adolin charges toward Abidi, the Fused feels fear for what may very well be the first time.

POV Shift!

Szeth is getting the tar beat out of him by his father and the other Honorbearers. But he realizes that they’re being used as puppets, unable to act of their own accord, being controlled by Ishar. His father asks for help even as he throws Szeth about and pummels him. Ishar yells at Szeth to just do what he says and Szeth thinks back to all the times he’d asked someone else about the right thing to do: his father, the Farmer, the captain of the guard. Finally, finally, he realizes that he will never again do as his masters require—and he skips right over the Fourth Ideal and swears the Fifth.

Chapter 134 is titled “The Third Way.” Shallan manages to plant her anti-Stormlight knife into Formless’ eye. Of course, it’s actually Iyatil using a Lightweaving. She tries to heal herself but, as mentioned, she has an anti-Stormlight knife in her eye, and Iyatil handily does away with herself as her Stormlight meets the anti-Stormlight. Mraize knocks Shallan to the side just a fraction too late and tries to help Iyatil before he sees that she’s dead. He whispers that he’s free, then immediately questions Shallan about how she knew it was Iyatil and how they knew about Formless.

Mraize closes Iyatil’s remaining eye and sneakily takes something from her belt. Shallan tries to convince him not to fight, creates a Lightweaving of him as he could be, traveling the cosmere to help people. He’s not swayed. He tells her he’ll take her directly to Thaidakar, who may forgive her if she joins them.

Radiant asks if she needs to take over but Shallan replies that she can handle it, with Pattern’s help.

POV Shift!

Yanagawn grips a sword and waits nervously outside the throne room with the remainder of their small crew while hundreds of singers and Regals lurk just down the corridor in both directions. He asks why they haven’t attacked and Colot says they’re waiting for something—he guesses that they’ve been ordered to wait. Kushkam agrees that they’re waiting and asks why, but Colot has no idea. Yanagawn thinks of the four ways to win and realizes that the only hope is a “random turning of the tides.”

At that moment, the doors of the throne room burst open and Abidi the Monarch flies out of the room and smashes into the wall on the far side of the corridor. Then Adolin walks out and crushes Abidi’s chest, destroying his gemheart.

Woot-woot! Adolin Kholin, I storming adore you!

POV Shift!

Szeth speaks the Fifth Ideal, light explodes around Szeth, and the Honorbearers all fall to the ground, shielding their eyes. Kaladin then approaches Ishar and says he needs to talk to him while he can see clearly. Alas, Ishar is not affected positively by the Oath being accepted. He begins railing about Dalinar, calling him an “imitation Bondsmith”:

Chapter 135 is titled “The Choice of Honor” and we’re back with Adolin! Yay! Maya speaks to him, says she thought he had died when he vanished. He explains her about the aluminum and assures her he handled it. Then he asks Noura about the deadline. They have ten minutes. They have to hold the throne room for ten long minutes. Notum tells him there are at least twelve Fused among the singer troops and that one is taking charge with Abidi dead. Adolin fears his friends will die immediately in an assault and that he’ll be dragged down and stabbed through the eyes.

Then the faceplate’s holes are filled and air flows through his armor. That’s handy now, isn’t it? But still, the enemy is about ready to attack and if they drag him down, they’ll still be able to shatter his plate and kill him. The singers start to chant and Maya reminds him that she’s there and her friends can help. Adolin says he doesn’t think a few more honorspren will be of help and there’s a little confusion over that. So she shows him where she is in Shadesmar, accompanied by dozens of deadeyes. Adolin realizes he’d made a mistake in sending her when they were thinking of different kinds of help.

Several of the deadeyes try to speak but cannot, though Adolin can sense their feelings.

Adolin doesn’t want to take advantage of them when they’ve already given so much but they recognize his injury—they, like he, have been wounded, and he realizes that sometimes you have to just keep going.

Oh, my feels! Adolin’s character arc over the course of the books, and especially since the Radiants returned, has been fraught with doubt and feelings of inadequacy. He’s grown so, so much, through his courtship with Shallan and his friendship with Kaladin. And to see him realizing the importance of promises and learning to accept himself as he is… oh, Sanderfans, it gives me such deep feels. (Although I didn’t cry this time.)

Then Adolin is back in the palace, mere seconds having passed, and he tells Maya he needs nine Blades and Plate. Then he shouts to the Unoathed to arm up. They don’t understand, of course, but then the Shardblades appear, each with a Plate helmet.

Chills down my spine!

POV Shift!

Renarin and Rlain are still discussing what to do with Mishram, and Rlain insists that they have to let her go. Renarin agrees, observing that they should be able to shatter the gem, considering that it’s already cracked. Rlain says they both need to free her so she can see human and singer working together. And so together, they pick up the gemstone.

POV Shift!

Szeth is restored by Stormlight and turns to his spren to thank it for trying to help him. Szeth says that all men should be the law, should follow the law. Then he announces that 12124 is the wrong spren for him and that if he’s to choose, he would choose another. He’ll seek out the dissenters and find another spren… then he releases his spren from its bond. It’s painful, but he knows it’s the right thing to do. Nale’s spren appears and chastises 12124 for giving Szeth too much power.

Man, highspren are such jerks. Except for Aux, of course.

The spren disappears into the Cognitive Realm and Szeth hopes it will be well. Then Ishar pretty much tells Szeth he’s an idiot. Szeth knows that the Honorbearers will soon return to Ishar’s control, so he fetches Nightblood. He asks if the sword destroys the souls of the people he eats forever. Nightblood says that he doesn’t, that they’re just changed. Szeth says he must destroy one last time but Ishar stops him, telling him the sword will consume him.

Ishar then Connects himself to Szeth and shows him the darkness that he holds at bay, the sorrow in the hearts of the Heralds. Szeth screams.

POV Shift!

Yanagawn grabs a helmet and dons it, and the rest of the Plate forms around him. He takes a Blade and turns to meet the singers who are charging toward them. The others suit up as Yanagawn did and Adolin gets the guard from the smuggler’s port, plus Noura and Rahel, telling the three of them that they must hold the room. He instructs Noura to sit on the throne and tells the others to make sure nobody sneaks in while the rest of them are busy fighting. Noura takes the Blade of Memories and they go to hold the throne. Adolin summons Maya, who is ready to kick some Fused ass. Damn, I love Maya.

POV Shift!

Kaladin tries to pull Ishar away from Szeth and he also becomes Connected to the Herald. He sees the darkness, too, and it smothers him, consumes him. Ishar commands Kaladin to feel it, telling him that this is what the Heralds would feel all the time if he didn’t hold it back. He touches Syl and she feels the darkness too, curling into a ball and weeping. Nale tries to stop Ishar and Ishar touches him, as well, telling him he must bear his own madness. Ishar then forces the Honorbearers to experience the darkness, as well.

Chapter 136 is titled “Ten People With Shardblades Alight.” We see Dalinar attacked by Gavinor as the hour of the contest arrives. Dalinar avoids the boy’s Blade as he lunges again and again. He has no weapon. The Stormfather says he thought Dalinar would know what to do and he says he’s still working on it. He tries talking to Gavinor, which does no good as Odium has shown Gav all of the bad things Dalinar had ever done—all of the bad, and none of the good.

Taravangian offers Dalinar a Shardblade, since he has no sword of his own, and Dalinar takes it reluctantly. He and Gav fight and Gav observes that he’s better than the versions of him he’s fought before when training in the Spiritual Realm. Then Dalinar throws the boy to the ground and Taravangian tells Gav not to let Dalinar trick him, and calls him “son.” This angers Dalinar, who tells Taravangian that he hates him.

Taravangian snaps his fingers and Gavinor freezes in place. He’s aware, but he can’t move. Taravangian is offering Dalinar the chance to kill Gav, and thereby win the contest and secure Alethkar.

POV Shift!

Adolin and the other Unoathed are holding the singers back. There are ten Shardbearers facing the enemy and they held. Fun tidbit: Notum has Plate and a Blade! And he saves Adolin from a Magnified One. Very cool—nice touch, Brandon!

As the singer ranks begin to break, a Fused with an Edgedancer’s abilities looks upward as if he is hearing something. Then he sighs and walks away. As do all of the others. Adolin is confused but then Noura runs from the throne room to tell them that the contest has begun. They have saved Azir!

POV Shift!

Dalinar circles Gavinor but, of course, doesn’t strike him down. He and Taravangian spar with words and Taravangian says he feels people all across Roshar, feels their pain and suffering. Feels it all across the cosmere, crying out for relief until someone brings them peace. Until he brings them peace.

Meanwhile, Gavinor is struggling against his bonds, tears running down his face. Dalinar tells Taravangian that the boy knows he’s been betrayed. All those years of training and Taravangian doesn’t even give Gav the chance to beat Dalinar. Taravangian tells Dalinar to choose to either kill Gavinor or lose the contest. Dalinar refuses.

Taravangian takes Oathbringer from Gav’s hands and drives it into the floor in front of Dalinar. He tells him he’ll be the Blackthorn again, head of Taravangian’s armies. He says it’s the greater evil but if that is Dalinar’s choice, he will accept it.

Then Taravangian says he and Odium will be one god for the whole cosmere, as it was thousands of years ago.

Of course, we know what will happen with Dalinar, and it’s heartbreaking. But we’ll get to that when the time comes.

…In the meantime, can we all just take a minute to celebrate Adolin and what an absolute badass he is?

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Adolin

What a freeing feeling, to finally be able to do what you were best at again!

Teaching him empathy and kindness. One could say that Dalinar had created the iron, but Evi’s love and teachings were the forge which strengthened that iron into a perfect blade. This is something that Dalinar never truly grasped, I don’t think. He cared for the people he led in a superficial, reserved way. Adolin (and Kaladin) got to know their followers in a deeper way. They actually formed friendships, and took the time to understand and truly care about the people around them.

Does this make Adolin and Kal better leaders? Perhaps not. Having those deep friendships means that it’s going to be harder to sacrifice those followers, should the need arise. A good leader has to be ready and willing to make the hard choice of sacrificing the few to save the many. Perhaps it’s a matter of scale. Once you reach a certain rank, and the number of people following you grows to be thousands rather than dozens… do you have to extend your worldview and view your followers as numbers instead of individuals? It’s an interesting question.

Playing with semantics he may be, but the meaning is clear and moving.

I appreciate that Adolin is able to self-analyze to this extent, and in such a charged and dangerous situation! And so we finally get closure for him on this part of his emotional character arc.

Szeth

And we all rise in a wave of tumultuous applause for our poor sad boy Szeth, taking control of his own life again and finally doing what he wants to do, rather than blindly taking orders.

Incredible. To have gone through all that work, and to just… walk away? What strength. No sunk cost fallacy for Szeth, that’s for sure.

Renarin

Ouch. How many battles in history and just… life in general could be described thusly? Peace was possible… but someone just wanted to be right. Reminds me of that old meme…

Kaladin

I don’t have a specific quote for this, as the entire section of chapter 135 is what I want to address. This manifestation of depression that’s forced upon Kaladin is nothing new to him… or to me. It’s portrayed so well, here. Anyone who has ever suffered from depression will recognize the reality of these thoughts, battering against Kaladin’s mind.

Dalinar

Oof. That one hits close to home. Dalinar does have a tendency totell others what to do, doesn’t he? He has respected when others have pushed back against his orders—Adolin and Kaladin rejecting the roles he chose for them, notably—so at least there’s that. But Dalinar still assumed that he knew best what was needed in the first place, didn’t he?

Yanagawn

He really has grown into a true leader, hasn’t he?

Taravangian

What do you think, readers? Is Dalinar right about this?

The idealist in me wants to agree with Dalinar, that there’s another way, that there always has to be another way. That sacrificing your ideals on the altar of peace isn’t the only way.

But the pessimist in me wonders if Taravangian might not be right.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Shallan’s final encounter with Mraize and Iyatil was a long time coming, in many ways, but it also gave Brandon another opportunity to drop some Cosmere teasers on us.

There are some clear differences between the Ghostbloods we see on Roshar and those we meet on Scadrial in The Lost Metal. Iyatil and Mraize seem much more inclined toward aggression and violence than the crew of Kaise and Shai and TwinSoul and the rest. But I wonder how much their organization and methods have departed, as well.

Mraize is native to Roshar, and he says here that he’s spent time in Shadesmar. But not being allowed to journey to other worlds is sticking in my craw. Kelsier obviously can’t travel beyond the Scadrian subastral (yet), and yet the Ghostbloods are a Cosmere-wide organization, with members from Roshar, Silverlight, Sel, and Dhatri in addition to Scadrial. Kaise, Dlavil, and TwinSoul have moved to Scadrial. That’s a lot of movement just among the few members we’ve met so far.

So why is Mraize stuck on Roshar? Is this just an Iyatil thing?

I have some gripes with this whole sequence, but in the context of this reread, it’s all about the lore for me. This is a MAJOR shift in how Invested Arts work on Roshar, and sets up some great possibilities for the back half of the series.

With the Knights Radiant crippled—no more Stormlight, no more Bondsmith access, dubious access to Warlight—it seems as though Sanderson is setting things up for a very new power landscape. The Listeners have access to Warlight through their prayers, but they’re more of a neutral party. Adolin’s Unoathed might very well be the core of the resistance against Retribution’s death grip on Roshar.

Speaking of new developments in how things work:

Szeth just straight-up skips the Fourth Ideal, which opens up a whole new can of worms. I feel like some Orders might be more flexible on this than others—Lightweavers, for instance, would probably be more locked into a standard progression; maybe if you speak a powerful enough truth you could jump straight to the Fifth Ideal, but that doesn’t sit right with me—and it makes sense for Skybreakers to be one of them. Not sure if that counts as irony. But we know at this point that there are different sets of oaths for Skybreakers, and the final Ideal for them is a pretty concrete goal. Hit that goal, as Szeth does here, and boom. Max level.

Much of the rest of this week’s selection is Dalinar and Taravangian facing off, but we’re not quite to the really juicy Investiture and theory stuff yet, instead mostly watching Dalinar reluctantly duel Gavinor before getting into an argument with Taravangian. We’ll have to wait just a little bit longer before we can start talking about the stuff of Shards and Ascending…and that most inexplicable of characters, Nohadon.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 137 through 140![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 133-136 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 130-132

Adolin battles for his life, while Dalinar and Szeth stand and will not fight…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on November 24, 2025

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Ahoy, Sanderfans, and welcome back to our Wind and Truth reread! We’re happy you’re here and we hope you’ve enjoyed these three chapters of rapid-fire POV shifts! We get to see Adolin facing off against Abidi, Dalinar being confronted by Gavinor, Shallan finally figuring out who Formless really is, Rlain and Renarin struggling to decide what to do about Mishram, and Szeth and Kaladin dealing with Ishar and his human Fused. SO MUCH IS HAPPENING! It is truly Sanderlanche time and we are HERE for it! Join us!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 130, “The Pleasure of Bleeding,” starts with a Szeth POV. When last we saw them, Szeth, Kaladin, and Syl were approaching Ishar, waiting to find out what test the Herald has in store for Szeth.

They confer with each other, wondering what will happen, and Kaladin reminds them that Nale said Ishar would test Szeth to teach him humility. (Yeah, like he hasn’t learned that yet. Okay, Ishy.) Szeth decides that he is done with killing “unless he was given a very good reason.” He will have to decide if the cost of fighting is worth it.

Szeth announces to Ishar that he has finished his pilgrimage and Ishar, being the cocky, self-important Herald that he is, allows Szeth to approach. Kaladin and Syl follow him as he steps closer, while Nale remains in the wagon for now. Szeth asks Ishar if he was truly the Voice in his mind and Ishar confirms it, speaking directly into Szeth’s mind. Then he says Szeth has returned to him:

He’s basically just used Szeth as if he was a plaything. This really pissed me off, the way Ishar is so arrogant and manipulative.

Syl asks him where the spren are. Ishar replies that they rejected him, so he rejected them. Szeth guesses that Ishar did that so that his people would continue to look for spren and worship them, so that when the Voice suddenly popped into their heads, they would happily follow its commands.

Ishar announces that it’s time for Szeth to become the first of the new Heralds, to train others to lead the human Fused and the spren armies. That’s not unsettling at all. At this point, Nale approaches, telling Ishar that he’s wrong, that none of them are able to see straight. Ishar is pretty rude to him, telling Nale that he’s weak and that he’ll be the next Herald to be replaced.

Ishar assures Szeth he’s nearly ready. Kaladin directs Szeth to look behind them, where people are approaching the wagon. There are six other Honorbearers—the ones turned into Fused by Ishar—who each take an Honorblade from the wagon. Then they come forward, passing Kaladin and Szeth.

Nale fetches the rest of the Honorblades, saying that something must be done. Then all of the Honorbearers put their Blades into the slots where they left them at Aharietiam; Nale talks of how there were nine before, except that they didn’t have Taln’s. Ishar says that they still have nine, as they’re missing the blade they sent with Szeth. Szeth replies that it was lost; Ishar assures him that a new one will form when he joins the Heralds.

Then Szeth notices that one of the Honorbearers is his father. Ishar addresses Szeth again, telling him that it’s good that he has returned to his God. Kaladin immediately informs Ishar that he is not a god, and that they’ve come to try to help him. Ishar is disdainful, stating that Dalinar’s contest is about to begin and that he’ll fail. Then he tells Szeth that he must be humbled and that the Honorbearers will defeat him together. He instructs Kaladin and Syl to stand beside him so they don’t interfere.

Szeth quietly tells Kaladin that he must talk with his father, and that while he fights, Kaladin must convince Ishar to release the Shin. Syl understands immediately: If Ishar agrees to this, then Szeth’s quest is fulfilled. Szeth will ascend to his next oath, which means that Ishar will be sane so Kaladin can speak with him. Kaladin doesn’t know how to convince Ishar to release Shinovar but Syl is sure they’ll think of something. Oh, my sweet summer child. *tsk*

Seth goes to face the Honorbearers, intent on losing the fight while Kaladin somehow talks Ishar into releasing the Shin.

POV Shift!

Dalinar reaches the top of Urithiru, armed only with a copy of The Way of Kings. He’s early, but Taravangian also pops up early. Then he introduces his champion. He opens a portal from the Spiritual Realm and out strides a man in a Kholin uniform, carrying Oathbringer: Elhokar.

POV Shift!

Back to Szeth, who promptly gets beat down by his own father and then systematically beaten and kicked by the other Honorbearers.

POV Shift!

Adolin! He’s dodging attacks by Abidi the Monarch as best as he can, but he’s barely able to stay ahead of the Fused. He tries again to summon Maya but, of course, cannot. He tries to reach the throne to trigger the unlocking mechanism but can’t find it. Despite Abidi being awkward in the Plate—Adolin’s own Plate—Adolin is barely staying ahead of him as his peg makes him unstable. He thinks for a moment that he’ll die there, but then rallies and decides that he has to find a way to stop Abidi.

He’s not doing so well, so he taunts Abidi, asking how he had survived Taln’s attack, and why he didn’t fight Taln if he’d wanted a challenge. Then he asks if Abidi ran away and the Fused kicks a table at him, clipping him on the shoulder. He decides to run and dodge, rather than taunt; then Abidi begins taunting him in turn, asking if he misses the power of the Plate, asking if he feels small. Adolin whispers that he has felt small for years.

Ugh, I hate how Adolin feels so unimportant and impotent because he’s not a Radiant. And yet, in this moment he finds a new perspective, and realizes that the darkeyes had always felt small in a world of Shardbearers. Then he thinks of how Kaladin had managed to kill a Shardbearer years ago, and he remembers his training with Zahel.

Adolin finds new strength and focus, remembering that training, and begins moving more confidently, accounting for the peg as he moves about. Abidi offers him a deal: If the emperor surrenders, he’ll let them both live. He wants Yanagawn to become his servant rather than remain the monarch of Azir in exile, where he could garner support. Abidi obviously hadn’t recognized Yanagawn without his accoutrements and Adolin pretends to consider the offer. As he does so, he looks to an overturned table that had been covered with finery.

He grabs something from the ground and turns to face a strike of the Blade from Abidi… stopping it cold with an aluminum candelabra.

Chapter 131 is titled “The Worth of a Life” and opens with Shallan facing Mraize. Radiant asks if Shallan wants her to handle this but she says she doesn’t need Radiant right now. She banters with Mraize a bit, as they’re wont to do, and Shallan thinks he’s too confident. She wonders what she’s missing. Then she thinks of Iyatil and asks where she is. Mraize says she’s watching Dalinar but Shallan, moving on instinct, suddenly turns to attack Formless, who is lurking to the side.

POV Shift!

Kaladin looks away from the very unfair fight unfolding around Szeth in order to focus on Ishar. Nothing he says fazes the man, who seems to know exactly what Kaladin is about to say and counters it. Kaladin starts to play the Syl-flute and Ishar shuts him down. He bluntly tells Kaladin to keep his rhymes and songs to himself:

POV Shift!

Renarin and Rlain inspect Melishi’s corpse. Mishram rants about how the world must be broken. They speak with Mishram a bit, knowing they need to do something quickly in case Shallan fails. Renarin asks if they should help her and Rlain said Shallan didn’t sound as if she wanted help. They focus on the gemstone and try to come to a decision.

POV Shift!

Dalinar is reeling over the Elhokar reveal… and then the man speaks and calls him Grandfather. It’s not Elhokar, it’s freaking Gavinor, aged twenty years in the Spiritual Realm in the space of an hour, since Navani had returned with a fake Gavinor.

Gavinor has been conditioned during those “twenty years” to loathe Dalinar. Dalinar is utterly disgusted and tells Taravangian he’s done something truly horrific. He says he won’t fight his grandson and demands that Taravangian choose someone else. Of course, Taravangian will do no such thing.

The Stormfather speaks in Dalinar’s mind, telling him it’s actually Gavinor. With this confirmation, Dalinar’s heart breaks. The contest hasn’t actually begun yet so he tries telling Gav that he’s been tricked and misled. Taravangian has prepared the boy, telling him that Dalinar would say this very thing. Gav says he was born to be a king and he will make the land his own. Taravangian has promised to give him Alethkar, and he vows that he will free their people.

Dalinar insists he won’t fight Gavinor, but Taravangian says Dalinar is going to kill the boy—that he will save Alethkar and protect the cosmere by murdering an innocent.

Chapter 132, “Fear What Is Coming,” opens with Adolin, who proceeds to attack Abidi with a plain sword and an aluminum candelabra. The Fused starts fighting in earnest and though he has the power of Plate, Adolin cares. He takes advantage of Abidi’s inexperience with the Plate and Abidi becomes frustrated and starts questioning his opponent. He asks why Adolin even bothers with this battle, as Azir isn’t his land. Adolin replies that the Fused made it everyone’s fight when they invaded. They brought him and so many others together, to stand against their common enemy.

In that moment, he realizes how different the two things are, in his mind, and the real importance of that distinction.

POV Shift!

Szeth’s spren is trying to help him, though it’s really not much help at all. He continues to get pummeled by the Fused Honorbearers and tries to yield. Ishar, however, won’t allow him to yield. He says it will be over when he says it’s over, when Szeth fights and loses.

Szeth realizes that there should be seven Honorbearers there, but that there are only six. Then he sees the solution: He’d killed the Edgedancer with Nightblood.

POV Shift!

Rlain and Renarin kneel by the gemstone and clasp hands. Renarin asks what they should do and they ponder different strategies. They talk about finding another hiding place in the Spiritual Realm, or in Urithiru. Rlain thinks that someone, somewhere, would want this prison because Odium fears Misham. He wonders if it would be a betrayal of his people to free her. Tumi warns him to be very careful.

Renarin asks Mishram why she led them to her; she continues to mutter about destroying them, though she grows quieter when Rlain says that she led them because she thought they might help her. After all her years of imprisonment, Rlain thinks that she still hopes for freedom.

POV Shift!

Ishar yells at Szeth to defend himself, and Kaladin notices that the Honorbearers get more aggressive when Ishar shouts. He tries to engage Ishar in conversation, as does Nale. Ishar is having none of it. He believes that he is the Almighty and can withstand the darkness that has stricken the other Heralds. Nale says the power of Odium has corrupted Ishar.

Kaladin tries to antagonize Ishar, telling him he’s a god but leaves his people without choices. He says nobody worships Ishar, but Ishar insists they pray to the Almighty. Kaladin says they think they’re praying to Tanavast. He argues that Ishar forces people to follow him, that Ishar is just a pretender, pointing out that if Ishar released them and they still worshiped him, that would be different.

Ishar sees the trick for what it is and asks Kaladin why he’s there. He says again that he didn’t foresee him coming. He chides Kaladin for being too broken to fight and unable to help with strategy, suggesting Dalinar sent him to Shinovar just to get him out of the way. Once, Kaladin would have been hurt by these words, but he’s grown, so he reminds himself that his worth doesn’t come from whether he helps, but whether he tries.

As Ishar walks toward the fighting, Kaladin tells him again that he’s not a god, only a man, and that he needs help. Then the Wind returns. Syl says the spren are afraid, that they know something difficult is coming. Ishar says creepily that he has plans for the spren and that their fear of him should be greater than of that which is coming.

Then he turns back to the ongoing brawl and yells at Szeth, telling him that he had not expected disobedience. Ishar furiously orders him to fight, and everyone’s attention turns back to Szeth and his failing Stormlight.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Szeth

I’m so proud of Szeth for standing up for himself again. He’s made his own choice, not stood aside and let someone else make it for him.

Dalinar

Recognizing that you have a problem is always the first step to any type of recovery. You can’t do anything about your flaws if you refuse to see them.

Adolin

Clever of Adolin, to use psychological tactics against his opponent: Get Abidi angry, not thinking about his attacks, and maybe he’ll stand a better chance. Anyone who’s ever used Vicious Mockery in D&D or a taunt in a fighting game knows that.

Adolin has recognized his privilege. It is a sad fact that often, it takes losing that privilege to really understand and respect it. I’d love to see him have a talk with Kaladin about this revelation. Kaladin’s railing against the lighteyes in earlier books was based heavily in the injustice of their treatment of the lower caste, so he’d understand this concept intimately.

If Watchmen and Code Geass taught me nothing else, it was this. In those stories, however, the villains had altruistic motivations. They killed people in an attempt to unite the rest. Abidi the Monarch and Taravangian do not have any such motives. They plan to rule this world, not sacrifice themselves to unite it.

Kaladin

Ouch. Well, Kaladin, copying Wit’s homework isn’t going to work for you on this one. You’re gonna have to do this one on your own.

It’s in the effort that the value lies, not the acceptance or success/failure of that effort.

Gavinor

Poor, poor Gavinor. Who can blame him for feeling the way he does? He’s spent twenty years being brainwashed by Taravangian.

Taravangian really did plan for everything. Of course, Dalinar would treat Gav this way; to Dalinar, his grandson still is a child. He hasn’t had time to mentally shift his perspective, to come to terms with the fact that this young man has decades of learned experience and is a man, not a child.

Dalinar

Here’s that pesky trolley problem again. An impossible choice; a terrible one.

Neturo

I cannot imagine how hard of a life this man has lived, always trying to protect his only son, then being forced to try to kill him.

Rlain

He’s spent his life having his romantic feelings denied and reviled by society, thinking that it was wrong, that love was something he’d never be able to have. How beautiful that he’s found such joy and acceptance with Renarin. And such a powerful parallel, in terms of positive representation, for so many LGBTQIA youths.

If anyone was going to empathize with a lonely, lost soul… it’s these two. Mishram chose well.

Ishar

Unlike Szeth, Ishar is unable to recognize his flaws.

Overall Thoughts:

This is something that I’ve been pondering a lot lately. Even while a nation is torn by war, or tyranny, or natural disaster, people still need to live. We have to go to work and earn a paycheck and do chores and shop for food, because life doesn’t stop just because the world is falling apart around us. Sometimes it can be hard to remember that, during times of great turmoil, the majority of the regular folks are still doing the same things they always do in order to get by.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

We’re well and truly into the climactic chapters of the book, now, with things moving fast and furiously. That said, one of the first bits that made me raise my eyebrows was from a quieter moment:

You might recall that I theorized earlier in the book about how Derethil’s story could indeed be true. The fact that Ishar looked for the islands and failed to find them only reinforces my belief. Ishar is locked onto Roshar at this point, incapable of leaving—of course he’d be unable to find where Derethil went.

One possible wrinkle in this is that, well… this IS Ishar. He’s the guy who engineered the exodus from Ashyn to Roshar, he’s the Bondsmith with knowledge of perpendicularities, etc. If any Herald would think of the possibility for inter-Cosmere travel, you’d think it’s him. But it’s also possible that he simply didn’t consider the possibility for such a lesser being as Derethil to have made it into Shadesmar.

Okay, so obviously this is Ishar being woefully wrong, but it raises a question. What would it take to corrupt the Investiture of Odium? Investiture corrupting other Investiture is a long-running theme in the Cosmere at this point, but it’s always portrayed as an evil thing, engineered by antagonistic Shards like Odium and Autonomy. The color red is the major signifier, and of course red has plenty of its own real-world connotations for us to grapple with.

But is it something inherent to so-called “evil” Shards like Odium and Autonomy that they can easily corrupt Investiture? Does it have to be a Shard? Ishar is incredibly Invested, after all, so why is it that he wasn’t able to truly co-opt Odium’s Investiture? It can’t be a matter of Intent—Ishar was very clear in his desire to create of himself a new god. Maybe it’s just because he’s dealing with Herald Insanity Syndrome.

I dunno. I hope that we see more instances of corrupted Investiture as we head into a new era of the Cosmere, and get a better understanding of how and why it works.

Not much more to say here, as these chapters were largely just action and a few plot progression beats—unless you all want me to get into the many, many problems I have with Adolin’s duel against Abidi. Maybe I’ll dig into that next week, when things come to a head in the Azish throne room…

Fan theories via Social Media:

Lyn: I recently came across an interesting Facebook post in the Stormlight Archive group, written by Jonathan Eccker. I found it to be an excellent analysis of both Szeth and Dalinar, making a case that Dalinar also exhibits neurodivergent characteristics.

Jonathan argues that Szeth’s neurodivergence has been pretty well documented and explored, but Dalinar’s potential for the same is not. I highly recommend giving the whole post a read if you’ve already joined the Stormlight Archive group, but if you’re not a member and/or don’t do Facebook, here’s an excerpt that I found particularly interesting:

I don’t quite agree with all of Jonathan’s points and hypotheses in the post, but this part is fascinating and not an angle I’ve seen discussed before. Thanks for your permission to include it, Jonathan!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 133 through 136![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 130-132 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 128 and 129

Reunions! Confrontations! And a sneaky secret mission to the throne room…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on November 17, 2025

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Greetings and salutations, Sanderfans, and welcome to another installment of your Wind and Truth reread! This week we spend some time with Szeth and Kaladin, who finally arrive at the monastery to find Ishar waiting. We witness Dalinar and Wit chatting before the contest, and Dalinar’s reunion with Navani. We peek into the Spiritual Realm where Shallan finds Renarin and Rlain again, and we follow Adolin and Yanagawn as they sneak into the palace to reach the throne room, hopefully undetected. (Only we know that’s not going to happen!) Let’s dive in!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 128, “The Price of Survival,” opens on a Szeth POV. It’s now early morning as he, Kaladin, Syl, and Nale continue on toward the Bondsmith monastery. Szeth tells Nale that it would help if he would tell them why Ishar came up with this plan and what he thought it might accomplish. Nale recollects that it started when Ishar told him he foresaw pain in the future. This was after Taln had already held for thousands of years. Several of the Heralds had grown weaker, and Ishar was afraid that one would die and be sent back to Braize.

Further, Ishar would visit the Spiritual Realm where he “foresaw future threats,” and said he needed time to prepare for them. That’s why he sent Nale to “stop the return” and kill anyone showing signs of bonding spren.

While he stalled the Return, Ishar looked for ways to bolster the Herald’s strength, eventually taking some of Odium’s power from the Well of Control. That’s when he started trying to make spren physical. Nale says that Ishar created something terrible.

Which is rather horrifying, in my opinion. Nale says they did it to each Honorbearer, save Sivi, who refused. Ishar had been planning to make an army of human Fused, but they needed a new body each time; they can’t manifest a body like a Herald can do. He said it takes a few days and is very painful. Kaladin says the cost is not worth paying and Szeth ponders that, saying it might protect them and give them warriors who can fight the Fused. Kaladin argues that they can already fight the Fused. Nale says this Return is worse because of the Everstorm, because the Fused can’t be locked away. They argue over the issue for a couple of pages and Szeth asked, what if they lose? And Kaladin replies that then they lose—and maybe even die—but they lose as themselves.

Nale mentions some Skybreaker dissenters and Szeth asks about them. Nale says that sometimes a group of them will refuse his leadership, and one claimed to have found old Skybreaker oaths. He doesn’t share any more info about this, but I can’t help but wonder where these rogue Skybreakers are? Have they just abandoned the fight altogether and gone off to do their own thing, as the listeners did?

POV Shift!

Wit and Dalinar are still headed to the lifts to ascend to the roof while Wit continues his story of Jerick, the nobleman’s son. He tells Dalinar the story, which I won’t repeat here, but the bottom line is that Jerick ran away to war rather than take the last test, which was to create poetry that Wit would judge (and Wit admits he would have passed Jerick no matter what he presented).

Dalinar reflects on how Tanavast ran instead of facing Odium because it would have destroyed the world if he hadn’t. Dalinar says he won’t run from the contest and, here, Wit utterly surprises me.

Oh, my feels. Especially knowing what happens in the contest. My feels hurt…

POV Shift!

Adolin’s stump needs healing before they head out to sneak into the palace. The doctor gives him a tincture of firemoss to help his pain and give him a little pep in his step, but warns that he’ll crash hard later. Adolin is fine with that as long as “later” is after the contest, which is approaching very quickly. Several teams head out, two to look for more human troops and Adolin’s group, who follow Yanagawn.

Adolin talks in his mind with Maya a bit, about Dalinar. He feels at peace and is no longer angry at his father; despite knowing that he may never be able to forgive Dalinar for what happened to Evi, he’s willing to love him anyway. Adolin has also let go of the idea that his father was perfect and, in doing so, realized that he doesn’t have to be perfect, either.

Maya says she’s close enough to be summoned, if he needs her, and they talk about how the spren she’s bringing probably won’t be able to help. Maya says she feels like a fool because she should have stayed to fight with him. Adolin reassures her that that would have just resulted in the enemy taking her Blade.

When they reach the wall around the palace complex, Adolin and the young girl Zabra are spotted by passing singers but they notice his peg and her young age and move on. *whew* So they make it to the rest of the group and Yanagawn looks for the “smuggler’s port,” a concept which offends Noura. It’s apparently manned by soldiers who let people bribe their way in “for small-scale crimes.”

Maya takes this opportunity to speak to Adolin some more, telling him he needs to stop trying to do everything by himself and assuring him again that he’s a good person. She brings up his treatment of Kaladin and Shallan as examples of Adolin doing good things and helping others, then asks him about what he needs.

Oh, my feels again!

So as Yanagawn is trying to open the door, it suddenly opens and a soldier lets them in. They convince him and another soldier that Yanagawn is the emperor and are shown the way to a tunnel that leads up to the main palace building. And they’re off, with less than an hour to go!

Chapter 129, “Oaths and Light,” opens with a Kaladin POV. Nale is saying that Ishar took the power from the well about three or four hundred years ago. But it was actually a thousand. Time gets wonky when you’re practically immortal, I guess! Ishar had Connected himself to the land, becoming the spren of Shinovar, and started seeing himself as the Almighty. That power, as we know, can definitely go to your head…

Szeth asks Nale if killing Ishar would end his touch on the land and free the Shin. Nale doesn’t know… but he thinks that Szeth must do more than defeat Ishar—that our heroes must do for Ishar what they did for Nale. Oh, sure, we can help him heal his mind, lickety-split, no problem!

Then Kaladin says that Dalinar told him a spoken oath might restore Ishar, at least briefly. So they discuss who might speak an oath; Kaladin admits he barely lets himself think about the Words because the last oath nearly broke him. Szeth says it will have to be him—he’ll have to speak the Fourth Ideal. But then Szeth realizes that there’s a flaw in that plan.

Kaladin wonders if he could talk to Ishar as he did to Szeth. Syl, silently, reminds him that he helped Nale and Kaladin counters by saying that the Wind helped him. She responds that it was Kaladin and the Wind together that helped him.

Out loud, Kaladin asks Syl what the Wind is and Syl said she’s part of something very ancient. That there was more before the three gods arrived.

Then the Wind itself speaks to him and says that the hour approaches when the spren may need a champion. Okay… what? Has the Wind mentioned a champion before? If so, I don’t recall that tidbit. Kaladin asks what will be required of him and the Wind answers, “Everything.” Everything as in, his very life?

Szeth says they’re close and Nale directs him toward a ridge where a mound marks what used to be a thunderclast corpse. He reveals that this is where Ahariethiam occurred. They reach the place where Ishar waits with an Honorblade; Szeth tells Nale and Nightblood to guard the Honorblades. Nightblood is bummed that Szeth isn’t going to use him to fight; Szeth assures Nightblood that he’s a great sword, but says that he doesn’t know if he’s going to fight.

Kaladin joins Szeth and they, in turn, are joined by Syl and 12124… then the Wind joins them and they begin walking toward Ishar.

Dun-dun-dunnn…

POV shift!

Adolin and company enter the grounds of the Bronze Palace and Yanagawn leads them to a door where Noura produces a key. Yanagawn is excited, feeling like he’s actually doing something for once, rather than staying out of the action. There’s just over half an hour left until the contest, so they start toward the throne room.

Adolin has a things-are-quiet-too-quiet moment and announces that he thinks it’s a trap. The throne room is just on the other side of the wall and Adolin considers using his Blade to cut an entrance, but Yanagawn reminds him that the entire room is lined in aluminum. A hidden door is jammed shut, so they have no choice but to advance. Notum scouts back where they came from and reports that there’s a force of fifty singers approaching. They continue to a T-shaped intersection; down each corridor to the right and left, forces of singers await. But they don’t advance.

Adolin walks to the throne room and opens the door. Inside, sitting on the storming throne, sits Abidi the Monarch, clad in Adolin’s own Plate with an Azish Blade. Adolin orders the group to wait in the corridor and to hold the room, no matter what happens. He enters the throne room and prepares to call Maya. Abidi pulls a lever and the door clicks closed, locks engaging. Adolin tries to summon Maya but Abidi gloats that the room is lined with aluminum, which means he can’t summon his Blade.

Abidi raises the stolen Azish Blade and gleefully announces that he stays sane by bathing in the blood of Radiants. (Sane. Sure, buddy. You’re totally sane.) Then he attacks.

POV Shift!

Shallan overcomes the temporary paralysis that the visions have instilled in her. After all, she knows she wouldn’t kill Wit, or Jasnah, or Navani. She’s accepted the truth, and the visions can no longer hurt her. The visions fade and she’s back in the usual Spiritual Realm again. She senses Pattern and then encounters a black expanse where she’s joined by Pattern and Testament, and they find Renarin and Rlain waiting.

Renarin says:

So they all start trying to find Mishram’s mindset, comparing their experiences with hers, as they’ve seen in the visions. As each of them speak, Shallan comes to the conclusion that Mishram feels that she deserves her suffering. Then she steps forward and a corridor appears before her, which opens into a small room with a glowing light.

They enter the stone room lit with torches and find a desiccated corpse in the corner. The corpse is Melishi, the ancient Bondsmith who had died there alone. There’s a yellow heliodor in the center of the room; it bears a crack and wisps of smoke are escaping it. Pattern tells her they’re not alone and she turns to see Mraize in the corridor. She leaves Mishram to the men and goes to deal with Mraize.

POV Shift!

Navani catches her breath as she sees Dalinar, neither the Bondsmith nor the Blackthorn, and he takes her into his arms to kiss her. They’re not alone; there are others in the room including guards and Sebarial and Palona (who are storming married! Woo-hoo!). Following their uncomfortable public display of affection, Dalinar and Navani talk for a bit. She’s sorry for leaving him but he says she cannot leave him. He asks after Gav and she says he’s safe.

He tells her of seeing Tanavast’s history, which both haunts and inspires him. We do see Jasnah among the observers; she’s kept to herself since her return, it seems. Poor Jasnah. Navani asks if his time in the Spiritual Realm was a waste and he says it wasn’t, that he’s more confident now.

Dalinar parts with Navani and thanks the observers for their strength, prayers, and trust. He speaks with Sebarial for a moment, then takes up a copy of The Way of Kings and heads up the stairs.

Aaaaand—that’s all for this week! *evil chuckle*

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Nale

I find it difficult to have sympathy for him. That poor cobbler from the interlude in Words of Radiance keeps coming back to me. Just a sweet old man, who did absolutely nothing wrong… his life snuffed out in violence.

Nale thought he was performing a necessary evil in order to stop many, many more deaths. I know this. But I still have trouble forgiving him.

Sivi

This tracks, for her. Sivi was always one of the most interesting of the Honorbearers to me. She was strong of will and went her own way.

Dalinar

This entire story that Wit tells is convoluted and difficult to decipher. It’s meaningless… but it’s not. The boy loses… but he wins. It’s difficult, and complicated, and convoluted, and that’s life, isn’t it? There are no easy answers. There’s no set “right” way to do things. Even ethics and morality are a morass of choice and consequence and uncertainty. Philosophers have tried for millennia to make sense of it all.

The best we can do, just as Dalinar gleans here, is to take the next step, and to try to make it the best step we can, and hope that it leads us in the right direction in the end. Navani puts it best:

Adolin

I have a bad feeling that the next time we see Adolin, he’ll be dealing with an addiction to this. I hope that I’m wrong.

As someone with a… similarly problematic relationship with my father (though thankfully not as extreme), I really respect Adolin for this. I’m not sure if I could find it within myself to forgive as he has here. I guess the difference is that Adolin’s father is actively trying to atone, to be better. I wish I could say the same about my own.

It’s not logical, but how often are our feelings logical? Adolin’s realization that his father isn’t perfect is such a beautiful late coming-of-age moment. I think we often fall into the trap of thinking of Adolin as an older adult, because he’s an accomplished soldier, and married, and a leader. But he was only about 24 (26 in Earth years) at the beginning of The Way of Kings. Not a child anymore, but clearly not fully mature in some ways as well. This realization, as I discussed last week, is one of the final steps that Adolin makes in his journey to true adulthood, in my opinion. His father is a peer now, and no longer a paragon to be worshipped.

There’s a saying I heard once that really seems to encapsulate this: “Stop lighting yourself on fire to keep others warm.” While it’s commendable to be always thinking of others, you won’t be able to help anyone else if you’ve completely spent all your energy on them. Just like when you’re on a plane, right—put on your own air mask before you try to help others.

Yanagawn

I love our little Aladdin-emperor. Who better to understand and sympathize with the governance of the lower class… than someone from the lower class?

Shallan

I love this. Classic Plot Turn Two, in story structure terms (or if you’re more partial to the monomyth, “the ultimate boon”). She’s using the lesson that she’s learned on this journey to defeat the final evil. This is the culmination of her character arc.

Overall Thoughts:

In story structure terms, I would consider this to be the primary theme of this book. This question comes up time after time after time. We as readers analyze it from several different perspectives; Kaladin’s, Taravangian’s, Jasnah’s, Dalinar’s. What price is one willing to pay for peace? How many lives are “acceptable” to be lost in the pursuit of that goal? It’s the trolley problem played out on a cosmic scale.

I feel like an idiot for not realizing earlier that the title of the book was specifically naming Kaladin (Wind) and Szeth (Truth). Szeth specifically. I think I had just sort of assumed that they were both knights of “wind and truth” combined, not that one was wind, and one truth. But it makes so much sense now, in retrospect.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I will always find it fascinating that Cognitive Shadows exist and function in so many different manners. The reproduction of physical bodies seems so easy in certain circumstances, and horribly challenging in others—just look at Kelsier. Situations like the shades on Threnody and the Returned on Nalthis add more into the mix. I’d guess that Returned work closer to the Heralds, with bodies fashioned directly from Endowment’s Investiture… but the shades are just a big mess.

What would happen if a Threnodite shade actually got a new body? It feels like the kind of thing that the Night Brigade would be interesting in experimenting with, to be honest. Imagine armies of corporeal Threnodite shades. Kill the body? Whoops, now you’ve still got the shade to deal with, and its eyes are definitely gonna be red at that point.

We’ve touched on the various groups of Skybreakers at a few points in this book, but this note is particularly important. The impression given up till Wind and Truth is that each of the Orders of Knights Radiant shares a First Ideal, and then they have their own sets of oaths from the Second to the Fifth Ideals (with only the Lightweavers as outliers, using personal truths instead of oaths after the First Ideal). Sure, each individual Radiant might have some slight deviations—Kaladin’s Third Ideal was “I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right,” while Teft’s was “I will protect those I hate. Even… even if the one I hate most is… myself.”

But at the core, those are the same oath. The idea Nale brings up here, that there are wholly different oaths for different groups of Skybreakers, seems pretty crazy to me. At what point do you just call yourself something different? Presumably Billid’s Skybreakers use the same Surges of Gravitation and Division as Nale’s, but in my mind the Surges are just decoration. The core of what it means to be a Radiant of one Order or another comes down to the Ideals. So if we have two (or maybe more?) sets of Skybreaker Ideals…

At this point, it’s pretty common knowledge that Dragonsteel Prime was the first appearance of the Shattered Plains and Bridge Four (and even some characters, like Rock and Gaz). Sanderson took them all out, made some tweaks for worldbuilding purposes—instead of Dragonsteel wells, they’re fighting over gemhearts—and rebuilt the whole thing with Kaladin at the heart of it, rather than Jerick.

But the fact that Hoid is still telling this story means that, to some extent, the events of Dragonsteel Prime are remaining canon. So I have to wonder, what war did Jerick go off to fight in? Is this going to be covered in the reimagined Dragonsteel trilogy, years and years from now? In the original plan, back when Sanderson wrote Prime, the series was going to be five books, with two Hoid-origin-story prequels (The Liar of Partinel and The Lightweaver of Rens). Most information now indicates that, with the Shattered Plains yoinked out for Roshar, the story is now mostly focusing on Hoid and the Shattering.

But I’m gonna be sitting here, wondering about Jerick, for a long time…

And speaking of obscure, unpublished Cosmere works:

I doubt we’ll ever see The Silence Divine at this point, but I do really hope we get some more info about Ashyn and the disease-based magic and the floating cities. He never finished a whole draft, but Brandon did read from the work-in-progress draft back during the Words of Radiance signing tour. From Q&As over the years, we know that the story was planned to be set somewhere around Book 8 on Roshar, so maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll show up as something tied to the Heralds or in an interlude or something.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 130 through 132![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 128 and 129 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 126 and 127

Dalinar returns! Adolin and Yanagawn hatch a wild plan! Welcome to Day Ten!

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on November 10, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans! And welcome to this week’s Wind and Truth reread article wherein we embark on Day 10! Dun-dun-DUNNN…

This week, Dalinar finally makes it back, just in time for the big contest of champions. We check in with Adolin and Yanagawn in the saferoom in Azimir, and at least one of us (Paige) had to break out the tissues during this emotional rollercoaster of a scene. Adolin really is the best boy, and Paige and Lyn are prepared to fight anybody who takes issue with that. Also, Kaladin and Szeth, with Nin/Nale in tow, are approaching the Bondsmith monastery where Szeth will finally confront Ishar. So join us as we discuss the start of the tenth and final day!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 126 is titled “That Which He Must Not Know.” It opens with Dalinar, coming out of his final Vision of Tanavast. The Stormfather is there, frail and weakened after telling Dalinar of the last 2,000 years since Tanavast was killed by Rayse. The Stormfather had spent so many years seeking someone who could be a champion against Odium; he would show visions to different candidates, only to discard potential vessels again and again when they proved themselves unworthy, and then Dalinar had to watch as the Stormfather remembered testing out Gavilar.

The Stormfather tells Dalinar that he cannot trust someone with a desire for power; he was looking for someone who had held power and had not become a tyrant. Really, what a daunting task—daunting, and nigh impossible, to find a person who would be able to take up the power of Honor and not become tyrannical and give into the desire to attack Odium, but instead to use that power to protect? Good luck.

The Stormfather says he had hoped to find a person to be the champion to defeat Odium, but even Dalinar says that he doesn’t think that’s possible, which is why he felt he needed Honor’s power to win the contest. But Dalinar didn’t understand Honor’s power, or the hatred between the two gods, until he was shown Tanavast’s history. But Dalinar does bring up the fact that Odium will still be locked down, tied to Roshar, so perhaps that counts as a win?

At the same time, Taravangian will still be preparing troops to invade the cosmere, so Roshar won’t be at peace… so maybe it’s not truly a victory. (Of course, we know what will happen and the repercussions that are sure to come to pass, but really, how was there going to be any winning with this contest?! Storm it, I just want Taravangian to lose so badly…)

As Dalinar and the Stormfather discuss what to do, Dalinar states that the only way to stop Odium is to destroy him. Of course, the Stormfather tells him this is not possible, and Dalinar’s forced to admit that he knows it’s not.

The Stormfather insists that the power of Honor will not allow Dalinar to defeat Odium and Dalinar lashes out, angry, calling the Stormfather a liar because the spren could have been guiding him all this time.

Nine days in the Spiritual Realm, desperately trying to access the power of Honor, trying to find a way to defeat Odium—all for naught.

Dalinar then informs the Stormfather that Odium is no longer held by Rayse, but Taravangian. To which the Stormfather replies that he’s less afraid of Taravangian than he is of Odium or Honor; he says that the Shards aren’t meant to be held alone, without the others. He also admits something rather touching: that he’s glad Dalinar is the one going to the contest because despite the wrongs he’s committed, Dalinar took the next step instead of hiding from his pain (like the Stormfather himself had done).

Dalinar thinks about Evi forgiving him and he, in turn, offers forgiveness to the Stormfather… which seems to mean a lot to the big guy.

Aww, feels! [Still not crying yet, though, keep going…]

Dalinar asks to leave the Spiritual Realm, but the Stormfather tells him that his son is there (he has to be told that it’s Renarin because Dalinar automatically thinks of Adolin, which saddens me a bit, admittedly), along with the Lightweaver and a singer. Dalinar decides to leave them there until after the contest… We’ll just pull them out later—yeah, that’ll work!

POV Shift!

In the saferoom in Azimir, Adolin and company receive word that the Shattered Plains have fallen, and that Thaylenah has gone over to Odium’s side. Two Windrunners and some squires are on their way to extract key survivors (including Adolin and Yanagawn) who would be executed if discovered by the singers.

Young Yanagawn speaks wisdom, talking about how Emul and Thaylenah made deals to protect their people, even if it meant bowing to a tyrant. He states that resistance didn’t help, and that his people are now to be dominated with no such protections in place.

Adolin feels so defeated, having watched the fall of yet another city he was supposed to protect. But then he clings to one thought, something he’d felt at the end of the battle, after the line broke:

Adolin wants to see his dad again.

[Nope. No crying yet!]

Yanagawn puts forth the idea of gathering what forces they can and continuing to fight. The only one he’ll really listen to is Adolin, so Adolin has to be the one to tell him there’s really nothing they can do. Instead, they take stock of their supplies and discuss who will be evacuated and who should try to flee the city.

Adolin knows what his father did with his second chance and wonders what he should do with his own.

POV Shift!

Szeth and Kaladin pick up a wagon and a couple of sad, old horses from a Shin couple in exchange for a couple of dun ruby broams, and they continue their overnight journey to the Bondsmith monastery. Nin/Nale rides in the back of the wagon with the Honorblades and Nightblood, who’s excited that they got him a chariot. (Nice to hear from him, even if it is only one comment.)

Szeth talks about how appropriate it is to finish their journey in an old wagon, considering the humble beginnings from which both he and Kaladin started out. Then Syl pipes up, noting that she was born in a throne room. Good old Syl, always there to lighten the mood. Speaking of that throne room, she mentions that it’s called the Godforge, and Drew talks about that in his section below, so be sure to check that out.

Szeth asks Nin/Nale what to expect at the monastery and is told that Ishar wants to humble him, that he’s expected to fail the contest. However, if he gains Ishar’s approval, then it will ensure that he’ll become a Herald.

Nin/Nale, sounding frail, talks about how he sees more clearly now and he thinks Ishar was wrong to partake of Odium’s power. Syl says there’s no need of Heralds anymore because the Fused can’t be locked on Braize, considering the Everstorm.

And on that solemn note, they continue following the trail of spren in the sky.

Chapter 127 is titled “Their Homes Become Our Dens.” We’re back in the saferoom with Adolin, who is trying and failing to sleep. He feels that he has no purpose and hasn’t had one since the Radiants returned. Then Maya speaks to him in his mind and they have a conversation about in which she assures him that he’s always had a purpose, and when he says he’s not enough, she says that’s good because then he would have no need of a sword at his side. [And no, this isn’t where I cried, but I came really close!]

Then Skar and Drehy show up with five squires and report on how bad it was at the Shattered Plains. They talk about how to evacuate, but our young Emperor isn’t done trying to save his country and his people. As they discuss leaving, Yanagawn stands up and says that he’s not going as long as there is hope. Noura asks what hope there is.

Noura says that it’s impossible to get into the palace because the singers will be swarming the place, looking for the throne room, searching for riches. And pardon me quoting so much from the chapter but I just can’t improve on the way Brandon wrote it:

So, new plan! Yanagawn will lead them and they will infiltrate the palace and capture the throne room. And here it is, people—I’m grabbing a tissue because Adolin’s making me cry again…

[Cue Paige sobbing.]

POV Shift!

Dalinar enters the Physical Realm to find Wit waiting for him in his rooms in Urithiru. Dalinar gets up close and personal, checking his eyes to be sure that it’s really Wit and, of course, our wonderful Wit has to be weird and mention that he’s been getting busy with Jasnah. Way to make it awkward, Wit!

Dalinar gives him a very abbreviated rundown of everything he’s learned and off they go to find Navani, with a mere two hours before the contest. (On the way, Wit tells Dalinar a smidgen of a story, which Drew also discusses in his section below, so definitely go check that out because I will say no more about it, here.)

And then a moment later:

So now, at the end, Dalinar feels a real connection with his people. This strikes me as sad. I feel that he should have experienced that sense of connection as soon as he bonded the Stormfather, but he had no guidelines, no guidebook, no teacher. It just makes me sad.

POV Shift!

Noura confronts Adolin, saying that she will not allow him to put the emperor in danger. Adolin tries to convince her, reassuring her that what they want to attempt is not a suicide mission, and that they can save Azir if they’re successful. Kushkam backs him up, noting that people are fleeing the city—it’s chaotic at the moment, so they have a good chance of succeeding. Colot concurs.

As Yanagawn states emphatically that he can get them in, Adolin feels the light within him spark into a flame and Maya speaks to him again, telling him that at some point he’ll realize why he’s really there.

[Hold please, while Paige grabs some more tissues.]

At this point Maya does mention that her plan for helping probably won’t do any good in light of the current situation. Oh, how wrong she is, and oh, how I can’t wait to get to that part so I can whoop and holler and… okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Calm, Paige, calm.

[Paige takes deep breaths. It’s just so exciting!]

Yanagawn continues sketching out the plan but Noura interrupts and tells him that the rest can go, but he needs to stay where he’s safe. Yanagawn gathers himself and says that he is Emperor and he will lead them. Oh my shivers!

When Noura starts to cry, Paige also starts to cry… I mean, Adolin suddenly sees that there’s more to Noura than he’d realized:

The Windrunners will distract the Heavenly Ones, and any other Fused that might be about, and Yanagawn ditches his emperor’s robes, announcing that his people don’t need an emperor, they need a thief. Honor love that boy!

[Paige blows her nose. Oh, sorry, TMI?]

I’m not sure if I love this part of the story so much because it’s what I remember most vividly from the beta read, but I really connected with this part of the book: Adolin feeling that he’s not enough because he’s not Radiant has hurt my heart for years. And knowing that he’s coming into his own, to become his own brand of hero, his own brand of leader, makes me so deliriously happy. As I told Lyn last night, this book and his character arc shot Adolin to the top of my favorite characters list, and I am not afraid to say how much I adore him.

So, the clock is ticking and things are winding down to the endgame—and an ending that didn’t play out the way many fans expected or hoped. We’ll talk about everything that will come to pass as it happens in the reread, and we look forward to seeing your thoughts.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Plot Arcs and Maps

I’d just like to start off my section by saying, oh… wow. That chapter arch has really seen better days, hasn’t it?

Dalinar

Maybe Honor should have gone after Adolin instead.

Interesting ethical dilemma here. Do you sacrifice the peace of a million people to save a billion? Is it right to do so without giving them any choice in the matter?

And Evi continues to be a positive influence on Dalinar, even after her death.

Tanavast/Stormfather

Okay there, Glinda.

In all seriousness, it’s interesting to see this change that Tanavast has undergone. In the beginning of book one and in book two, we see the Stormfather as this amorphous spren. But now we have this heightened understanding that he’s actually partially Tanavast, and knowing what we know of Tanavast’s backstory makes him such an interesting character.

And really, who can blame him for that? Haven’t we all, at one point or another, wished that we could just hide from our pain… or have those pains taken from us?

Yanagawn

I am continually impressed by his maturity. Whoever would have guessed that the child we met earlier in the series would become this wise individual full of empathy that we are seeing now? And in so little time?

I do find it interesting that Wit is telling Dalinar this story as we are seeing, concurrently, the truth of it played out in Azimir.

Maybe not the leader the people wanted, but the one they deserve.

Adolin

As in most stories, here we have our hero hitting the very bottom: Everything has been taken from him, and he needs to learn a lesson from his suffering in order to rise back up, stronger than before.

I wish that Adolin had Kaladin with him in this moment, so that Kaladin could return the favor in terms of the help that Adolin once gave him when he was really feeling down. But he at least does have Maya with him. She’s here to remind Adolin that even though he may feel like his life is worthless, he’s been helping others this whole time, and that truly does give his life meaning and value.

This is a profoundly human reaction, isn’t it? Many of us, when we fall, reach for family to pull us back up. Whether blood relatives or found family, it’s human connections that so often save us when we have little else to cling to. And Adolin’s acceptance here that his father isn’t infallible is another very human moment. We all, at one point or another, must grapple with the realization that our parents are just people like us, subject to the same mistakes and passions. People, and not gods. We spend so much of our childhoods looking up to them for guidance that it can be jarring to realize for the first time that they don’t have all the answers. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Adolin really is still quite young—in his mid-twenties, if memory serves. Moments like this serve as a reminder that he’s barely out of his teens, and still has a lot of growing to do.

Szeth/Kaladin

A nice lampshade here, to the bookending going on in this novel, and this point in the series.

Nale

Sadly, what-ifs will get him nowhere. Unless, of course, he uses this newfound perspective on history to make changes in his future behavior.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

This is the first time we have a reference to the Godforge, which seems to be the place that Honor (and maybe Cultivation as well, back when they worked together?) used to create spren and which served (as Syl says) as a kind of throne room.

I wonder about the location of this. To me, it makes sense that it would be in the Spiritual Realm: Honor largely resides there, just like most of the Shards; it’s the source of Investiture, of which spren are made; and we really haven’t seen Shards actively working in the Cognitive Realm thus far in the Cosmere. At the same time, of course, spren mostly reside in Shadesmar, so who knows.

Then there’s the question of whether or not this place still exists after the Stormfather got nuked by Taravangian. The Godforge clearly operates/operated beyond the simple reach of Honor, given that Tanavast continued to create spren as the Stormfather… but is this place still out there? Could Retribution use it in the future? I feel that the Godforge being introduced so late in the book—and so late in the game—is Brandon laying some light foreshadowing for some potential Retributionspren shenanigans in the back five.

I am of two minds regarding this whole deal.

On the one hand, sure, we have established mechanics about the Cognitive Realm and sapient thought affecting entities there. From the Dor and the growing awareness of entire landmasses on Sel to the very identities of spren types on Roshar, this is A Thing.

But what I don’t really get is how “the thoughts of an entire people” only now became relevant. Spren were present on Roshar for thousands of years, and Radiant spren aren’t exactly new. The Knights Radiant were far more widespread back before the Recreance. But somehow not enough people (or not a large enough percentage of people) were thinking about them?

This is another example of the wishy-washy lore that gets introduced in Wind and Truth and, in my opinion, does more to muddy the waters than anything. It’s frustrating, and it feels like the kind of thing that Sanderson needed to have happen now, so he whipped up a quick explanation that doesn’t really stand up to close scrutiny.

Well hello, Jerick!

For those who haven’t read it, this anecdote from Hoid is straight out of Dragonsteel Prime. The lumberman who gets used as a pawn in a bet between the king and the nobleman is a boy named Jerick, and his education and immersion in high society take up a major chunk of the book.

Not coincidentally, and the reason why that is a “Prime” non-canon book, the second half of it is essentially Kaladin’s plotline with Bridge Four on the Shattered Plains, but with Jerick in Kaladin’s place. (It worked way, way better in Stormlight.) I imagine Brandon must have been chuckling to himself at the appropriateness of bringing Jerick’s story back into canon in the same series that featured such a huge plot transplant from Dragonsteel.

It also seems appropriate to drop such a deep lore-laden treat into the story during this last deep breath before the final confrontations occur.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 128 and 129![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 126 and 127 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 124-125, Interludes 17 and 18

It’s the end of Day Nine, and dire events are unfolding…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on November 3, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans! Here we are at the end of day nine! We’re back with Tanavast, two thousand years in the past, where he done messed up by trapping Mishram! We also see Odium destroy him—though not completely, of course. We check in with Navani and Wit as they discuss their dire situation, awaiting the impending dawning of the tenth day and still no sign of Dalinar… or is that a good thing? And then we witness what appears to be the fall of Azimir as Adolin and company take refuge in the saferoom. All this and a couple of intriguing interludes before we head into the final section of the novel—let’s discuss!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 124, “Rejection,” is a Tanavast POV that takes place two thousand years ago. It opens with Tanavast talking about how he betrayed Mishram, and how Honor’s power rejected him for it. He didn’t realize how her capture and imprisonment would affect the singers, though he thinks he ought to have anticipated the devastation.

Without the power of Honor, the Radiants and Heralds had no check against their powers. Tanavast doesn’t know if Honor’s power leaving him had been part of Rayse’s plan all along, as he had seemed so genuinely afraid of Mishram usurping him. But I would guess that, yes, Rayse was fully aware of what would happen with Honor.

Tanavast reaches out to Kor but feels only revulsion and hate in return. All bonds that had been made in his name were corrupted.

As the power abandons him, Rayse appears and brags about having tricked him. Then Rayse comes to the realization that he still can’t leave Roshar, as the agreements still hold despite Honor leaving Tanavast. As Rayse is about to kill Tanavast, Honor offers to fight with Tanavast, but he knows that it would destroy Roshar. He does not take the power but instead asks for protection. The power of Honor took a portion of Tanavast’s soul, including his memories, and as Odium destroyed what was left of Tanavast, Honor gives the remnant it had taken to Tanavast’s avatar, the Stormfather.

But the power of Honor wanted a vessel and it planned with the Stormfather, bid the spren to find one who could hold it. One who was honorable and merciful, a warrior and a leader. But the caveat was that the individual had to prove themselves without knowing of the reward. So they agreed that the Stormfather would find a champion to defeat Rayse; if they saved Roshar, “HONOR WOULD INVEST THEM.”

Chapter 125, “One Man Against a Tide,” opens with Navani discussing the situation with Wit on the night before the final day. Wit reasons that with Odium interfering in the Spiritual Realm, if Dalinar doesn’t return in time for the contest, then Odium can be said to have been interfering with Dalinar making it to the contest, which would be an automatic win for them.

Navani thinks on Fen’s betrayal, as well as that of the Emuli and the others who had abandoned the Azish empire. She thinks of Adolin and Yanagawn fighting in a city on the verge of falling and Jasnah’s reticence to return to Urithiru after her defeat in Thaylen City.

Then Wit drops the Taravangian-is-now-Odium bomb and Navani’s world is rocked. Wit says he can’t “think of a better, or worse, vessel for Odium.” And Navani knows that this is the worst possible eventuality for the fight with Dalinar, as Taravangian will want to break his former “friend.”

Wit pretty much has the up and down of it. He knows that Taravangian knows how to best Dalinar due to their long acquaintance. And he doesn’t seem hopeful for anything but Dalinar not showing up in time.

POV Shift!

Adolin, our poor best boy Adolin, is numb but still fighting, going far beyond what could possibly be expected of him in his state. The waves of singers are endless and the defense begins to fail. Then the last remaining Shardbearer, wearing Adolin’s own Plate, falls and is taken by the singers. Adolin’s plate then makes a reappearance—worn by none other than Abidi the Monarch. Gross.

As the singers break through the meager remains of their defense, Adolin begins to fight with his longsword. He thinks that this is the night he’ll die and Maya reaches out to him, saying that there is no shame in loss and that she is coming. Adolin keeps fighting until he is felled, but then he’s rescued by a small group of defenders wielding bows and arrows. Colot and May are there and when Adolin says to leave him, Colot points out that Yanagawn himself is there to fetch him, and will not leave him behind.

They flee to the saferoom beneath the hospital where he is healed of the wounds he suffered while fighting. Kushkam is there with the emperor, May, Colot, some soldiers, and many of the wounded. They are safe for the moment; however, they know that the city has fallen, and with it, Azir.

Interlude 17 is a Dieno interlude. The Mink is on the chopping block. Literally. He’s about to be beheaded and he’s trying to get the Herdazian judiciary, who is working with the singers, to come up with a better way to kill him. He suggests that they tie him to a boulder and launch him into the ocean, or throw him from a tower and see how many archers can hit him before he lands; he even suggests that they use a sledgehammer and crush his head rather than removing it.

All the while, he’s trying to distract them so he can try to escape, and eventually, he succeeds. He slips his ropes and escapes beneath the platform. Exits are blocked so he heads up to the fort’s wall, hoping to “hop off it to safety.” No luck there. Just when it seems he’s done for, a thumping shakes the ground.

I feel that this is a very unsatisfying finale, though, because we don’t find out what happens!

Interlude 18 is titled “Conflux” and is, of course, an Odium interlude. He is considering whether he can destroy the power of Honor, which is protecting Dalinar. He knows that power cannot be destroyed completely, but also knows there are other possible options. Odium thinks that he can Splinter the power of Honor, spreading it out to prevent it from resisting him. However, this would violate his oath not to strike against Honor first, thus leaving him open to an attack by Cultivation.

Then Honor “spat” Dalinar out, right into the Physical Realm, and Odium is overwhelmingly relieved. Odium and Honor both, for the moment, are aligned in that they feel the people of Roshar deserve more. Odium finds himself caring for these people, the singers, so long abused. And he thinks of the many across the cosmere who are similarly abused.

And obviously, they all need one God, him, to unite them. Obviously.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

TANAVAST

Yet another instance of a character betraying someone “for the greater good” and it backfiring dramatically on them. And in a spectacular lapse of judgment, Tanner then goes on to mislead all the Radiants and cause them, en masse, to reject their oaths.

For the good of the world.

In the end, is Tanavast a hero, or a villain? He makes the right choice at the very end, but he is so flawed, made so many mistakes, that it’s hard to think of him as something so noble as a hero.

Shards

An interesting note here regarding emotions in general, of the bearers of Shards. We have seen that the original personality of the bearers are slowly, over the course of time, overwritten or corrupted until all that’s left is the power, tinged with shades of the original personality. This change takes thousands of years, but it always happens. In most cases, that power is some sort of emotion or intangible concept (honor, passion, etc). But the lack of balance that the other emotions/powers provide creates an imperfect situation. What is honor, without the tempering of compassion? What is passion, without love? These people who choose to bear a Shard are rendered incomplete.

Adolin

Watching Adolin lose this battle is hard to take. He’s already lost so much… and the final indignity is that he’s not even allowed to die as so many others around him already have. Even this, he fails at. But of course we know that it’s a damn good thing his life is saved at the eleventh hour.

His revelation about his father is even more painful:

A weighty question indeed. So much faith is placed on our parents as we grow; reverence, love, loyalty. To have that undermined so brutally is a hard blow.

The clarity that being faced with certain death will bring.

Dieno (The Mink)

Bless him. I hope he never changes. We don’t have much here in regards to his character arc as this is, if memory serves, the first time we’ve actually had a POV for him. So if anything, this is—for our purposes—the beginning of his arc. And what a beginning it is! Trapped, about to be executed, then a daring escape and a monster attack… a story befitting a warrior of the Mink’s stature, for sure.

Odium

I find this fascinating because for so long, we as readers were led to believe that the singers were the villains of the piece. The slow reveal of their mistreatment was a master stroke in trope reversal.

How many villains have had a motive of wanting to unite the world for the sake of peace? How many heroes?

It’s interesting that the defining difference between what makes one a hero or villain comes down to how they choose to lead, and if they allow their people, once conquered, freedom of choice. I, for one, do not for a moment believe that Odium will allow freedom. I think he’d be a despot and a tyrant, destroying anyone who might possibly voice dissent or disagreement.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Remember when Oathbringer came out, and it dropped the bombshell revelation that the humans were the Voidbringers, and the Recreance happened because the Radiants found out about that?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

I also remember going “nuh uh, not good enough” the moment I read that. I didn’t buy it for a second. I knew there was something different, something bigger, that must have led to the Recreance. And, well, here we are.

Good (bad) ol’ Tanavast just made his final mistake, and Honor dumps him like the two-week-old detritus from your center console when you finally stop at the gas station.

Well, mostly. We still get the Stormfather, of course: Tanavast’s Cognitive Shadow, tied to the immense power of the highstorm, to preserve his memories, on a quest to find a new champion to Ascend to Honor and fight against Odium the way the power wanted. The rest of Tanavast, his physical being, is destroyed by Odium.

But before Tanavast dips out here, he leaves us with another tidbit about the Shattering:

There’s definitely some wiggle room here, but I think this is largely indicative of the mindsets of the Sixteen. They knew going in that they would become gods in some capacity after they Shattered Adonalsium. Whatever their motivations for the actual Shattering, for removing the god they knew, they all wanted divinity in some manner for themselves.

And this, of course, raises some questions about Hoid and Frost, who were both at the Shattering but did not Ascend afterward. Hoid, at least, was offered a Shard and declined it; Frost remains a mystery, but I could see him being disinterested in becoming a Shard entirely, given his experience as a dragon god.

And speaking of Shards, we get some direct information from Taravangian on Rayse’s actions:

This isn’t new information, as such, since we already knew about the Dor/Devotion and Dominion, and Arcanum Unbounded provided some details on Odium’s clash with Ambition. But the wording here is interesting, nonetheless. Specifically regarding Sel.

The description of Odium stuffing the Dor into the Cognitive Realm as “cataclysmic” makes me raise an eyebrow. By all accounts, the subastral there is basically a plasma storm. Super dangerous, sure, but people have navigated it. Moreover, however, there’s really nothing in either Elantris or Khriss’ essay in Arcanum Unbounded that indicates any kind of major Physical Realm reaction to this. The rift that opened and caused the downfall of Elantris, for instance, happened a long time after Odium’s conflict with Devotion and Dominion; there’s no lore or mythology on Sel about a world-wracking cataclysm, at least as far as we know.

So why does Taravangian think about it this way? Was there a ripple effect, not in the Physical Realm but in the Spiritual Realm? The power of a Shard primarily resides there, after all. What happened when Odium tore Devotion and Dominion from the Spiritual Realm and dragged it into the Cognitive?

Anyway, while we don’t have a ton of other magic- or lore-related stuff in this week’s selection, there’s still Dieno, the notorious Mink, to check in on.

Ever since the Sheler interlude in Oathbringer, we’ve had at least some vague idea of a massive greatshell that lives along the coast of Herdaz. Like with the Mink, Sheler is all set to be executed… but he’s given a choice of methods: He can choose the sword, the hammer, or “the hog” as his vehicle of execution. He chooses the hog, thinking that it’ll be a fight against some kind of farm animal—but of course it’s not that. He’s covered in some oil and dangled over the edge of the very same cliff that Dieno is standing over here, whereupon a gigantic claw comes out of the ocean and snaps him up.

I do wonder about the hog. I don’t think it’s a chasmfiend (though there was a theory back in the day that chasmfiends would move into the sea after pupating on the Shattered Plains, and this was one of them), and it doesn’t seem to be quite like the island greatshells that Rysn saw in the Reshi Isles. The Santhid that Shallan dove to observe in Words of Radiance also doesn’t fit the bill.

How many kinds of greatshells are there on Roshar?

I believe I’m not alone in thinking that the hog was somehow there to help out Dieno, rather than kill him. But if so, how intelligent is this thing? Does it have some special Connection to the Herdazians? Sheler was not Herdazian, it must be noted.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 126 and 127. On to Day TEN![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 124-125, Interludes 17 and 18 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 121-123

Bad visions and messy gods abound (but glimmers of hope remain).

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on October 27, 2025

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Heya Sanderfans! Welcome to this week’s reread! Not gonna lie, folks… things are kind of dark in this week’s chapters. Lots of bad thoughts and bad vibes and bad mojo floating around. People caught in the Spiritual Realm being hammered by bad memories, Adolin fighting an unwinnable fight in Azir, Jasnah wallowing in her failure, and Tanavast coming to the realization that he’s not a very good god. Yes, it’s a dark week, but there are a few moments of brightness: Renarin feels it. Even Adolin does for a moment. And Paige cries about it. Let’s discuss!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 121, “Bridger of Minds,” opens with Adolin fighting in a pike block formation. And he feels humiliated—not because he’s part of the formation, but because he feels so incompetent. He’s awkward with a pike, never having trained with one, and he’s awkward on the peg that’s replaced his missing leg, especially on blood-soaked cobblestones. Azish soldiers and Alethi soldiers are fighting side by side in mixed ranks and he feels worthless even beside other untrained fighters.

An Azish officer offers him a reprieve because the next shift is with a sword and shield, but Adolin thinks he might actually be better at that, despite his wounded leg. So he goes back into the rotation to fight.

Adolin just plugs away and plugs away, despite his injury, despite not having Plate or a Blade, despite overwhelming odds. That’s our Alethi Highprince… he just does NOT give up, Honor love him. *sniffle*

POV Shift!

Shallan drifts in the chaos of the Spiritual Realm, reliving memory after memory of her killing people. She’s allowed Odium to find her and now he’s doing all he can to break her. Even with good recent memories, she has trouble dealing with the visions as they’re thrown at her again and again, and as they morph into images of her killing anyone and everyone close to her.

This chapter didn’t mention Shallan seeing herself killing Adolin in the visions, and my memory doesn’t serve me at all, so I don’t know if Odium will throw that horror at her in coming chapters, or not, but if he does, that’s going to make me cry, for sure!

POV Shift!

Rlain has a vision of the day the listeners left to strike out on their own. Mishram had appeared to them, and Renarin’s ancestor and others feared her newfound power and her apparent desire to be a deity. She asks him why he’s leaving and he tells her he’s done fighting, done with never-ending war.

At one point, Mishram seems to come to herself, her current self, and seems confused. She says this was the day she realized that she had to find another way. Rlain realizes that the listeners leaving caused her to decide to meet with the humans.

POV Shift!

Renarin sees a vision of when he first started seeing the future and tries to make sense of it by creating stained glass windows to contain it all. He searches for information about the present and new windows grow around him. He sees a dark landscape, people enslaved, his father’s funeral pyre. He knows that the windows are dominated by Odium and Glys says that it has to be that way because it is what he (Glys) is, of Odium.

Renarin rejects that and ventures into the dark of the Spiritual Realm, summoning Light to see if it will help him see better. A new set of windows grows and as his Light touches the windows, they change. Shadows flee and the darkness evaporates, leaving the truth. Many versions of Renarin are there, as an ardent, a Stormwarden, a general. He sees Rlain, then Rlain and himself, and he knows that they’ll never be accepted together by either side.

Glys asks him why he wants to be with Rlain. He replies that Rlain has tried to understand them, that he wants to understand everyone. Renarin says that Rlain understands him when nobody but those in his family ever wanted to. Glys says that path leads to both pain and joy and Renarin thinks it’s better to feel than to take a path to greyness and safe solitude. He says he wants a life where they try to blend their worlds… that they have to change hearts and not maps.

After he leaves the vision, Glys takes him to another where Rlain walks with hundreds of singers. Renarin kisses Rlain, difficult as it is with their differing heights, and knows that this is the future he wants. He just hopes that those he cares for will understand that it was his decision to make. Rlain says that the kiss was nice, but that the world won’t take kindly to them being together, that he doesn’t want Renarin to get hurt. Renarin asks if Rlain will be the one to hurt him.

Chapter 122, “Rival,” is an Honor POV from forty-five hundred years ago. He thinks he’s winning, though part of him asks how he could be happy with this devastation. There are more casualties on the other side, and humankind is sent back to the Stone Age each time but, it’s fine. This is all fine.

Despite his inner qualms about how horrible this all is, Honor goes to find his Heralds. He only felt Taln die this time, so he seeks out the other nine. As the inner thoughts keep gnawing at him, he realizes that it’s Tanavast speaking to him, arguing against Honor.

He finds Ishar, who is slumped and alone, asking to know what complete victory looks like. Because they defeat the enemy each time, driving them back to Braize, and then the Heralds follow. Honor gets distracted, thinking about how the power doesn’t like Kor, and about how long it’s been since he’s seen her.

Then Ishar informs him that the Heralds break, and that he doesn’t think they can go back this time. That he has an idea. He explains it to Honor, who sees many futures where the Heralds stop fighting. He realizes that they can’t hold so much of his power. He thinks that he needs to do more, improve the Heralds, be stronger. Then the others gather, and he sees and feels how much they’re hurting. Surprisingly, that hurts Honor.

Ishar asks if it’s a deific plan that Honor might create.

Honor says yes, but then the power takes stronger control. Honor suddenly hates Ishar, the others, for growing weak. Honor reviles the thought of them renouncing their oaths but lets them choose. He withdraws and becomes the storm to flee from their hurt. (That he created.)

He realizes that he’s losing himself and that he and the others had done something terrible on Yolen. He goes to Shinovar, where he hears whispers on the breeze. He thinks it’s Adolnalsium, but it’s only the Wind. He asks for help and is told no, so he asks what he needs to do. The Wind tells him to listen.

So he becomes one with the land and listens to the people. He’s with them as they recover from the war, as they live their lives. He stops trying to lead and just listens. And it starts to make sense. In time he comes to realize that they’re better off without him. The Wind corrects him and says that they’re better without what he has become… that it’s better to have no god than a heartless one.

Oof. That had to hurt Honor’s feelings, if he has any left at this point.

He remains that way for millennia. Eventually the clashes begin and he thinks that Taln has broken before realizing that no, Taln had not broken. He goes to Urithiru and seeks out Melishi to ask about the Desolation. Melishi explains it’s not a true Desolation, but that the squabbling Radiants could be united with another war. Honor tells him that war never unites and he leaves.

He avoids going to Kor and seeks out Rayse, who wants to fight. Tanavast feels a strong urge to fight and destroy Rayse, but remembers Ashyn and Natanatan with its shattered landscape. Rayse says he will force it. Tanavast says a clash would destroy them all but realizes that Rayse doesn’t care about that. Indeed, he doesn’t regret what he calls an “acceptable” cost.

Honor says they can choose champions to fight for them, to decide who rules Roshar. Rayse doesn’t agree and Honor knows that Odium will kill until there are no more people on Roshar. He begs Rayse as he doesn’t want them to die. Rayse again says he won’t choose a champion but as they’re locked in disagreement, Mishram finds Odium’s pool and partakes of it. Rayse is angry about this; when he’s offered a chance to be rid of her, he takes it. He agrees not to attack Honor but says that if Honor attacks, he will defend himself and will choose a champion.

He asks if there’s something that could be done about Mishram. Honor replies that Kor knows a way to capture and hold a powerful spren and that he will teach the power to his Bondsmith.

Dun-dun-DUNNNN.

Chapter 123 is titled “A Memento of Failure” and opens with Adolin rotating through the ranks. Shield and spear. Pike. Water. Rinse and repeat. They fought through the night to hold the line. During one short period of rest, he rages at his father, who in his writing had talked of finding solace in something better, higher:

Adolin is angry that Dalinar had butchered all his life and then was able to offer such an uplifting message. How dare he claim the high ground, or judge Adolin for killing Sadeas when he’d killed Adolin’s mother. He gets lost in his thoughts about how the world had gone insane and he’d been told he was spoiled, that he needed to forgive and not be the problem and strive to live up to his father’s example.

He then realized that he felt a desire to simply give up. Then the call comes to rotate back in and he’s handed a spear and shield. He wanted to just lie there but doing that would be failing Kholinar again. So he gets up and takes his spot, finding motivation in knowing that Kaladin had survived worse than this as a bridgeman.

This legit made me cry. He finds a moment of inspiration in what his friend had gone through—and then it’s back to Damnation for him.

Poor Adolin.

POV Shift!

Jasnah is alone in Taln’s temple after Fen and Odium had made their deal for Thaylenah to serve Odium regardless of the outcome of the contest of champions. Jasnah is revolted, even as she thinks that it might have been the right decision for Thaylenah. She thinks of how she’d gone about the whole argument with Taravangian wrong, and in doing so had proven his point to Fen.

Her philosophy had failed her. The histories failed her. Finally, she tries to cling to her own mind, thinking and reasoning, needing to trust her conclusions. But then she remembers a time her mind failed her and her family had locked her away—might they do so again?

She sits there crying until Taravangian appears again. He states that he is God; she denies that he is. She says there are gods, and that she accepts that he is one of those, and that it’s “no shame for me to be bested by one who has such capacity.” He asserts that they are the same and she said that he caught her in a lie so if they were the same, then he was a liar, too. He reveals that he did lie and summons Deepest Ones who were set to kill the members of the Thaylen City Council if Fen did not agree to join him.

Then he says that she has always served him and that he will need someone to rule the planet when his attention shifts to the cosmere. He tells her to come to him when she’s ready. She insists that he can’t leave because he’s locked on Roshar, but he talks of launching full armies in a few centuries, telling her to join him and that he will make her an immortal Fused. When Jasnah vows that she’ll never join him, he replies that she’s still lying because surely she can see the value of serving him. She finds herself unable to refute him.

After he leaves, she receives a copy of Fen’s contract with Odium “as a memento of her failure.”

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Adolin

Adolin has always been excellent at empathy, at understanding his enemies just as much as his allies. Unfortunately, that is not always a boon, as we see here. If forced to kill, it could be considered a blessing to be blind to the lives that you’re ending.

Adolin is accustomed not only to leadership, but to being highly skilled and equipped with weapons and armor which grant him a distinct advantage in the field. Having all of that stripped from him and being forced to fight not only as a “normal” soldier, but as a disabled one at severe disadvantage due to his injury, is a wakeup call. Not that Adolin has ever taken his less advantaged soldiers for granted, mind… but it’s one thing to know about such things, and something else entirely to experience them firsthand.

He is also dealing with the very real prospect of failure—again. He failed at Kholinar, and here he is again, overwhelmed by an enemy force and facing defeat. And this time, there’s no escape.

Yet more instances of the Alethi obsession with battle and honor. I think Adolin’s got the right of it here.

He’s still struggling with this, and rightfully so. I think that reaching a point where he can forgive his father will be a long time coming, if it comes at all. Respecting that others can change, can grow and become better people, is one thing… accepting all the deaths they caused along that part is another thing entirely.

Shallan

The cycle of abuse. We can only hope that Shallan has healed enough that she won’t perpetuate it with her own children.

Odium is taking her deepest fears and amplifying them to a terrifying extent. He is making a fatal error, however: He’s underestimating Shallan. She’s spent her whole life dealing with fear and horror. It has only ever served to strengthen her, in the long run. Forcing her to face her fears, as he is doing now, will take the red-hot metal of her determination and gradually temper it—eventually hardening into a blade of the strongest, unflawed steel.

Rlain

I cannot imagine how this must feel for poor Rlain. To have decades, nay, millennia of culture stripped from your people is a horror that few can truly comprehend. Seeing this potential manifest must be incredibly healing for him, but also frustrating. They could have had so much, if not for the meddling of outsiders.

I LOVE that Rlain appears to be the prophesied one who will bring balance to the force peace to humans and singers. More on this in the Renarin/Rlain relationship section below…

Wow. This is incredible, when you think about all that they’re sacrificing. But Rlain is right; they retain their freedom in the long run, and preserve what is left of their culture.

We see another parallel here to Kaladin and his struggles with Szeth and Nale… and I would say that Kaladin trained Rlain well in his time in Bridge Four, but that’s not entirely accurate, is it? Rlain has always been a good listener. Always on the outside, treated as an other, quiet and reserved. Listening, and learning, and living.

Renarin

“This was the future he wanted”

I honestly don’t know if this is just me or if this is just super relatable in general… but that feeling of “something is happening to me, and I don’t think it’s happening to anyone else, and am I broken” does seem to be something that a lot of people connect with Renarin over.

Yet more examples of the power of visualization. Kaladin with his “soldier thoughts,” and let’s not even get into Shallan with her personas…

I love this, and I love it for him that he finally realizes it. This is maturity, right here. And it’s a maturity that not everyone achieves.

And now I’m extra excited to see Renarin and Rlain’s progression in the back five. What a departure from the usual fantasy tropes! Finding peace through compassion and understanding, not by waging war against an ultimate evil. How refreshing.

Rlain/Renarin

Awww. The honeymoon phrase. It’s so sweet, watching two people fall in love!

Finally, Renarin has found his place. He’s found value in the opinions of others… which is what makes his decision to start a real relationship with Rlain extra brave. He knows that doing so will put him on the outside again… but he does it anyway.

To find your place, respect, and understanding after a lifetime of seeking it, and to then turn your back on all those things willingly to gain love is… wow. It’s incredibly romantic, and brave, and sweet.

I love that this is his reasoning. It’s not because Rlain is handsome, or talented, or any superficial reasons for attraction. It’s his compassion and empathy that Renarin loves, and that says a lot about him, doesn’t it?

A sentiment that any LGBTQIA couple can relate to.

MY HEART.

Ba-Ado-Mishram

I hate to say it, but she does appear to be right. The Rosharan humans love their battles, especially the Alethi.

For all her faults, she allowed them the freedom of choice; to join her, or to walk away.

TANAVAST

Interesting that he’s switched to referring to himself as Honor, and not God. I’d say that maybe this signals that he’s learned a bit of humility but uh… this is Tanavast we’re talking about here.

And I have to eat my own words after only, what? Three pages? Tanavast is discovering his flaws.

A common theme in this book. All of the characters are learning to listen… to wind, and to truth.

Took ya long enough, Tanner.

Jasnah

Seeing Jasnah of all people, who was always so confident and secure, be shaken this way is troubling. Even the wisest and most logical still have room to learn and grow, and we are seeing that clearly here. So far as I know, Jasnah is still set to be one of the main POV characters of the back five; so presumably we’ll be seeing her character arc begin in the aftermath of this setback.

We know that the Alethi method of dealing with mental ailments was locking people in the dark; we saw ardents doing it with soldiers before Kaladin freed them. What ailment—imagined or true—plagued Jasnah and subjected her to such treatment? We’ll find out in the back five, I suppose.

Illustration

If you’re looking for a translation of the Alethi script on the illustration at the end of chapter 122, terracubist over on the 17th Shard has you covered.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

This is one of those innocuous lines that I never really considered before this reread. If it is indeed not Ba-Ado-Mishram here, maybe it’s Honor? Nobody else immediately comes to mind as fitting both the Spiritual Realm deal and this sort of ethereal, needs-healing tone.

Nothing remarkable about this in a theory or magic sense—we’ve known for a long, long time that Ba-Ado-Mishram was giving the singers forms of power during the False Desolation—but this is just a really cool visual.

I’m pretty sure I’ve brought this up before, but my memory isn’t perfect. In case not: It has always baffled me that the Truthwatchers weren’t capable of the same (or at least similar) abilities as Renarin and the other Enlightened Truthwatchers.

There is an abiding belief in the Vorin world that seeing the future is of the Void, an evil thing. But we know that not everything Vorin is exactly to be held up as the pinnacle of truth—and in fact lots of Vorin beliefs fly directly against the reality of the Knights Radiant.

So for an Order of the Knights Radiant whose Surges are Illumination and Progression, wouldn’t it make sense that they can shine light forward, e.g. see the future? We’ve never really gotten answers about what the original Truthwatchers could do, since most of our modern Truthwatchers seem to be Enlightened, and all the true detail about the Order has come through the perspectives of Renarin and Rlain.

Sure, they have Progression and can heal, like Edgedancers…and maybe they can do some form of Lightweaving, but that can hardly be the limit of their powers. Each Order should have a unique resonance between their Surges. Even Renarin himself agrees:

I’d say that we’ll have to wait for Renarin’s book to get those answers, but that doesn’t even seem right, either. Renarin is an Enlightened Truthwatcher, after all, and we’ve already gotten a heaping serving of how his powers work. On top of that, I’ve already mentioned that we have no clue how everything is going to work after the Night of Sorrows, the reshaping of Roshar, and the loss of Stormlight.

I want answers, Brandon!

We’ll be talking more about Nohadon toward the end of the book, of course, but it really is worth pointing out that he’s gotta be the single most enigmatic figure in this series so far—moreso than El, and yes, even than Hoid (we actually know a fair amount about Hoid now, don’t we?). This one guy seems to have had such an incredible amount of influence on the world and the future, and has somehow hung around for so long while acting upon Dalinar from the other side of death (probably death, right?) through the visions. He seems more important than even the Heralds!

Honor—Tanavast, more properly—is really starting to unravel here. It’s quite something to see the perspective of a Vessel succumbing to the pressures of his Shard. It’s also yet another hint about the Shattering of Adonalsium, this regret over the “terrible” thing they’d done. But Tanavast finds an echo of Adonalsium in the Wind, which remains so confusing to me, given the Word of Brandon I mentioned previously about Investiture getting assigned to the Shards after the Shattering.

Is this a clue hidden in plain sight, so soon after his musings on the Shattering? Did they destroy Adonalsium because it was a “heartless god”?

There are other theories, of course: that Adonalsium had become corrupted, or twisted, or tainted by fainlife. That Adonalsium was going to turn on its own creation and destroy the Cosmere. But what if it was simply that the people of Yolen yearned for a more attentive god, and decided to make gods of themselves, thinking foolishly that their experiences as mortals would prepare them for godhood?

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 124 and 125 as well as Interludes 17 and 18![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 121-123 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 117-120

Moash attacks! Mraize manipulates! And truths are revealed about the Truthless.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on October 20, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans! We’ve got a lot to discuss this week, as always, starting with a Szeth flashback and Venli pretending to fight with chasmfiends, Shallan once again NOT fighting with Mraize, Sigzil facing Moash on the Shattered Plains (storm that man!), Kaladin making stew for a broken Nale, and Adolin playing towers with Yanagawn before things take a truly desperate turn and he’s called to fight. (I, for one, am dying to get to the bit where we find out the stratagem that Sig and Venli have cooked up, because I honestly don’t remember!) We’ll have to wait and see, so in the meantime, dive in and let’s discuss…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 117, “Truthless,” is a Szeth flashback chapter. As you can guess by the title, this is the chapter where he is named Truthless and exiled for attempting to raise an army against the other Honorbearers. Szeth has also discovered that his father, Neturo, holds the Bondsmith Honorblade. As he sits and waits for the others to decide his fate, he struggles to grasp that his father is now someone who subtracts. His thoughts reveal something interesting, here…

Of course, Ishar is the Bondsmith, and he did go a little wacky… so I suppose it’s possible that his Blade has killed tens of thousands.

But back to Szeth as he listens to the Honorbearers as they discuss what the Voice almost allowed to happen. Neturo says he doesn’t understand why they never let him talk to Szeth about these plans and that he’d need “a better reason than God gave last week.” (…God?? Say what?)

Then the Voice speaks to Szeth, who is angry, telling it to get out of his head. Apparently, the Voice thought Szeth would strike down his own father and start a revolution. Instead, he’ll have to see to it that Szeth is hardened and bids him farewell, saying he’ll see him in a decade. Then the Voice speaks to the Honorbearers, instructing them to name Szeth Truthless. Neturo tries to argue against such a harsh judgement but the others agree with the Voice and with Pozen. Then Sivi and Pozen work to convince Neturo, and Pozen says that there are no Voidbringers and no more surges, no Knights Radiant. That they must focus on war “with other worlds,” and Neturo falls in line.

Szeth accepts his fate and surrenders the Windrunner Blade. They bind him and Neturo bids them take it easy on his son. But Szeth says they are correct that he’s Truthless, or else he was correct and should kill them all, even Neturo. They explain the rules of the Oathstone and Szeth accepts and makes the Oathstone promise. However, the Voice intercedes before they can take his sword, ordering them all to leave the Windrunner Blade with Szeth.

And so they banish him. Neturo embraces his son, telling him he can’t go with him this time, and that he’s sorry he’s failed his little boy. Szeth replies that he lost his little boy years ago, on the night when Szeth first killed. He is torn away from Neturo and eventually sold to a stonewalker.

These flashbacks, along with Szeth’s whole journey since taking his oath to Dalinar, have dramatically changed the way I view Szeth. Instead of some heartless assassin, we’ve learned he was a sweet and loving boy who was forced to grow up too soon and to become something he never should have been. Or was it who he was destined to become? Either way, it’s been incredibly sad (and eye-opening) following along on his journey from innocent shepherd to Truthless.

Chapter 118 is titled “Prophecy.” It opens with Venli and the others, atop chasmfiends, charging the humans positioned on the Shattered Plains. Of course, she’d worked out a plan with Sigzil so the chasmfiends make a big ruckus and cause a lot of destruction, but don’t hurt actually anyone. As the humans retreat to the Oathgate, one drops a package for her, and the chasmfiends dine on a row of human dead, left there reluctantly by Sigzil to satiate the beasts.

POV Shift!

Shallan is fleeing from Odium’s attention in the Spiritual Realm. She sends Lightweavings of herself to distract the shadow hunting her and it seems to work. She ponders the fact that she’s the daughter of a Herald and wonders if that’s why she has a strange attachment to the Spiritual Realm.

Eventually, Odium’s shadow departs, and Shallan senses a feeling of annoyance as he leaves that brings her a certain amount of satisfaction. She doesn’t know how to find Renarin and Rlain and can’t enter a vision without their spren—but somehow, she unexpectedly finds herself emerging into a vision. She’s on a beach and sees a dead greatshell. As she approaches it, she sees Mraize sitting atop it.

POV Shift!

Sigzil plays his part in the retreat well, making it look like a rout. He tosses the pouch of papers toward Venli before arranging the retreat of the remaining soldiers and Radiants, and then the rearguard, which is made up of Windrunners. When Sig calls the final retreat, he bids his farewell to the Shattered Plains, turns toward the Oathgate—and promptly falls 30 feet to the plateau below, rendering his legs useless.

Moash touches down beside him, a fabrial in his hand. Sig tells Vienta to get away and she says she can’t leave him. Moash seems utterly unhinged, talking about how his new god lets him bathe in his pain and teaches him to love it. Sig instructs Vienta to get help and then Moash lashes himself upward and slashes with a knife, cutting through Vienta’s arm. She falls to the ground near Sig.

Moash readies himself to kill Vienta, saying that it will hurt him and that it’s the pain of building a new empire. Sigzil recalls Leyten’s death rattle, foretelling that Moash will kill Sigzil and Vienta but rather than let that happen, Sig shouts that he renounces his oaths. Vienta disappears and a Shardblade drops to the ground in her place. Sig grabs the Blade and barely misses Moash’s legs with a sweep of the sword. As Moash concentrates on Sigzil, Lopen hits him from behind and they both hit the ground. Lopen comes up with the fabrial and smashes it.

When the rest of Bridge Four show up, Moash retreats. Lopen picks up Sigzil and takes him through the Oathgate where he’s healed. Physically, anyway…

POV Shift!

Venli retrieves the package Sigzil had left for her and tucks it away “for tomorrow.” El arrives on the plateau and a Voidspren shows up to report to El that the last of them has left. El moves on, and Vyre locks down the Oathgate, though he seems worried that the humans might reverse it.

Venli and the others gather together, not daring to hum the rhythms they’re feeling. But Timbre does. She vibrates with “optimistic joy” and Venli wonders to herself: “Had it… actually worked?”

Chapter 119 is titled “Sunmaker’s Gambit” and as you might guess, it’s an Adolin chapter. He’s walking unaided but still slips despite the rubber on the end of his peg. Kushkam sends a runner, asking for advice, but Adolin has none to offer… All they can try to do is hold the line.

Then Adolin goes to play towers with Yanagawn since he can do nothing to help the troops defend the city. They play and Yanagawn wins, and Adolin realizes how lucky the Azish were to have this man as their leader. May joins them and plays, and despite Yanagawn being the superior force, he loses the three-way game. May and Adolin explain how they joined forces against the larger force.

May also tells Adolin that the Shattered Plains are lost. Yanagawn asks if reinforcements from that front can be sent to help defend Azimir; May replies that she’s asked the Windrunners to send who they can, but the low Stormlight is a problem.

Then the horns sound, calling anyone who was left to come join the fight, including the crippled, the elderly, and any women willing to defend the city. Adolin reaches out to Maya to see if he could use his Blade. She says she’s getting close, some hours away. He asks her if she can actually win the war with the spren she’s bringing and she says, “Maybe.”

Yanagawn insists that he himself should join the battle but Adolin discourages him.

Adolin commands Yanagawn’s guard of six to take Yanagawn to the saferoom and Adolin, with May’s support, heads out of the tent.

POV Shift!

Shallan uses a Lightweaving to disguise herself and sneaks up on Mraize. At the last minute, she reveals herself and they proceed to talk. Not to fight—simply to talk. Mraize mentions the many worlds out there, filled with wonders, and admits that Iyatil has never taken him with her—and now he’s been punished to stay on Roshar for ten more years. Shallan guesses that Mraize’s spren had invited her into the vision so that Mraize could distract her while Iyatil searched for Mishram’s prison. He tells her to be prepared to fight the next time they meet, and the vision is gone. Back in the chaos of the Spiritual Realm, Shallan decides to stop hiding and let Odium show her what he wishes to, in the hopes that she might find a clue to the location of the prison before Iyatil.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is making stew with Nale and Szeth nearby. Nale says he feels the man he used to be but that he is not him, he only remembers him… but that he wants to be that man again. Nale summons his Honorblade and bids Szeth to take it and hold it until Nale is sure he can carry it again.

Syl asks what’s next and Szeth says they must go to the last monastery to deal with the Unmade. Nale says there is no Unmade. Syl guesses that it’s Ishar, and she’s right. Nale tells them of the gods’ wells of power and Kaladin guesses that Ishar took up the power of Odium. Nale states that it was only a fraction of the power, but that it allowed Ishar to Connect to the land and become a god to the people in Shinovar, let him show them the future… wars, though not the Return.

Nale also tells Szeth that he is not Truthless. The Heralds denied the Return, let it happen, and at times, as Nale himself did, joined the enemy. He says they are Truthless. Ishar is Truthless. He confirms that Ishar is at the final monastery and they plan to retrieve a stash of Nale’s Stormlight and travel through the night.

Kaladin takes Nale a bowl of stew and hears notes echoing through the hills. Notes too skilled to have been played by him.

Oh, my feels! To see Kaladin feeling that he’s been “reforged” is so incredible for someone like me who relates so strongly to the earlier, damaged and hopeless man that he was. Thank you for this, Brandon. Thank you so much!

Chapter 120, “Sheltered From the Eyes of God,” is an Honor chapter which takes place four thousand five hundred fifty years ago. A bit of time has passed since Odium came to Roshar. Tanavast stands on a battlefield full of burning corpses but he does not weep. He reflects on Rayse’s Fused, and his own Heralds, Rayse’s Unmade, and his own Radiants. Rayse is trapped on Roshar, but if he were able to take control, he could send forces out into the cosmere. Either of them could.

But now they’re in a stalemate, with so many dead over the centuries. He knows that Rayse is growing in power, as are his Unmade—a creation Rayse had hidden from Tanavast. The Heralds are also growing in power, able to draw on the power of Roshar itself. Tanavast doesn’t know why or how, though he won’t admit it so as not to appear weak.

Rayse appears to Tanavast as he visits Natanatan, where the battle had been the most intense. He banters, but he’s clearly angry at being trapped. He baits Tanavast into attacking him and their powers meet. Anti-light is born and in the shock wave produced by their clash, Tanavast senses that beneath the city, there are pieces of something fallen.

Their clash vaporizes the capital city, killing tens of thousands instantly. As Rayse departs, a shadow is left in his wake. It approaches Tanavast and asks,

It is Ba-Ado-Mishram, asking if Tanavast would make peace if he could and if Rayse did not stop him. Tanavast said simply, “YES.” Mishram withdraws, but knowing he can not wait until she is ready, he decides to push the Heralds harder. He gives them more access to his power; as long as Tanavast is bound by oaths, they cannot destroy the land.

Good thing Tanavast wasn’t arrogant, huh? Oh, my Honor, but it’s frustrating to read his POVs. He’s so sure of his own invincibility. I’m just shaking my head at that man.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Szeth

This is a particularly hard hit for Szeth, because it’s his fault that his father headed down this path. (Or at least, Szeth himself thinks so.)

And so he becomes what he always wanted to be… a tool of others, told what to do at every step. All responsibility for his actions taken from him… Or so he believes, until he meets Kaladin and that lack of responsibility is questioned.

Now that we’ve seen how past!Szeth was exiled, let’s fast forward to present!Szeth…

On the surface, this must be quite a hard blow for him. The Voice wasn’t an evil Unmade, but one of his culture’s gods. But if you really think about it, how much does this change? Yes, it’s a Herald… but one who is insane, and actively using the powers of Odium for evil.

You can almost see the burst of light and hear the Hallelujah chorus surrounding Szeth for this. What an incredible validation for him. He was right all along. He may have gotten some the details wrong, but the Voice was an enemy.

Neturo

Boy oh boy. What an awful position for Neturo to be in. So far as he knows, his son has made a terrible, terrible mistake and gone against the will of God himself. And so he does all he can to save him, even now.

Moash

Oh yeah. That sounds real healthy. You just keep on being… well, you, Moash. Oh, also, f*** you.

Sigzil

I still find this hard to believe. I believe that he means to save Vienta, for sure. That he’s willing to sacrifice just about anything for her. But I don’t believe that Sigzil is fully renouncing what those oaths mean. I don’t believe that he wants to stop protecting those who cannot protect themselves, for instance. And yet… it’s enough.

Adolin

As chapter 119 starts, we find Adolin still acclimating himself to his new disability. He’s handling it quite well, all things considered—but that’s likely because he has so many other things to worry about. The defense of the dome is failing. His men are dying. And…

I’m not quite sure where he’s going with this one, but I’m glad to see that his character arc in reference to his father is still an active part of his story, still arc-ing along…

Adolin spends the majority of this chapter teaching Yanagawn one final lesson on tactics, and it very well may be the final lesson.

Shallan

Interesting. I can see some parallels here to victims (Shallan) sympathizing with their abusers (Mraize); but I also can’t deny that I wish that Shallan could find a better way than murder. She’s seeing the good in Mraize; she’s humanizing him, which can’t be a bad thing.

His manipulation of her has been so effective that even Shallan, so adept at reading others, just can’t figure him out.

I do suspect that a large part of that ability is a self-defensive mechanism, one that has also proven effective for Shallan in her efforts to mimic others. Often, those of us who have to deal with PTSD and other traumas learn to intensely observe and analyze others. We subconsciously watch the tiny shifts in body language; the adjustments to tone of voice; the specific words that are chosen… all in an effort to try to predict when those actions will turn harmful. So we can protect ourselves, should that turn manifest.

But in this case, Mraize has so carefully crafted his mask that despite all her efforts to see beyond it, Shallan has failed.

But she keeps trying to empathize. She’s doing what she does best; getting into another person’s head as best she can. As Ender Wiggin taught us, “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” We see this in this chapter so clearly.

Part of me wishes that I could shake Shallan and shout, “don’t be ashamed for not killing someone!” But another part knows that these are the lessons the hardest and most desperate moments of her life have taught her. She’s had to kill to protect herself.

Nale

Aww, Nale’s trying to switch from Lawful Good to Neutral Good! Good for him.

If you think about it, these people were viewed as gods or demigods to most of the people of Roshar. Of course they wouldn’t try to help them! What mortal would think so highly of themselves, to assume that they know better than a god?

I, TANAVAST, GOD

Forgive me for my affectation on the header here. I found it fitting.

Right. So Odium has completely and utterly lost touch with any semblance of humanity. And this, fittingly, is what causes Tanavast to lose it. I suppose that for an immortal being with the powers of a god, if you’re going to lose your cool, then it had better be something major that causes it. The wholesale slaughter of children is pretty major.

Jeez. Talk about complete evil.

Strategy

I’m not certain about the veracity of this one, because of one key aspect that Adolin and May seem to be forgetting; it’s also quite likely that one of the two weaker forces will ally with the strongest one, believing that they stand a best chance of winning by joining the winning side. A weaker force may hold back, waiting to see which of the other two looks like it’s going to win, before joining in the battle on the winning side. This is a gambit which has been played out in history time and again. (Most of my studies in history focus on Ireland and the UK thanks to my work at Renaissance faires, so I’m specifically thinking of the siege of Kinsale in 1601 when Grace O’Malley and her son Tibbot turned against the Irish, and the Battle of Bosworth Field when Henry Tudor won his crown.)

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

One of the things I’ve had to do while rereading for these articles is learn to at least stop and engage with every random thought and question that pops into my head. Most of them get turned over once or twice and then discarded, but occasionally something really latches on.

This is one such example.

I think it’s really easy to dismiss this statement as simple Ishar-ganda, manipulating the stone shamans to retain his grasp on everyone.

But after a bit of thought, I realized… why? What would Ishar gain from this? He knows that the Knights Radiant aren’t completely gone. He knows that the Voidbringers are real. He knows that the possibility exists that the Shardbearers will end up fighting them alongside the Radiants.

So, why say this? Why lay the groundwork for exactly what becomes his undoing? This is such a convoluted plan. But maybe we get a clue here:

How much did Ishar know about the Sons of Honor, and Kelek’s work to learn how to leave Roshar? Was Ishar really behind that as well, and in his megalomania he was trying to do the exact same thing as Odium?

We know at this point that there is conflict between Scadrial and Roshar in the late-game Cosmere, of course. But what if, like on Scadrial, there are different factions on Roshar as well? How much will Kaladin affect Ishar during their time in the mind-bubble-therapy-retreat? It could very well be that Ishar comes back with that idea still bouncing around in the back of his mind, and he goes all loose cannon.

That would be quite a scary thing, in fact: an unbound Bondsmith loose in the Cosmere, wreaking havoc and thinking he’s a god.

Three worlds here, at least two of which are as-yet-unknown to us. The kite world is actually something we’ve gotten a Word of Brandon about, and interestingly enough that story idea mentioned will almost certainly be about Sigzil (unless Brandon decides to start writing about another Hoid apprentice figuring out local magic systems, à la The Sunlit Man). And wouldn’t you know it, Sigzil ceases to be a Windrunner in this week’s selection of chapters!

The other unknown world is particularly fascinating, though. An ocean in the sky? How in the heck is that gonna work? (And I bet the Shadesmar subastral for that world is WILD.)

The third world mentioned here, however, is likely one we already know fairly well. The brief description tells me it’s Nalthis, where Awakening is a thing and the Returned are worshipped as gods. I bet Mraize would’ve simply loved to get his hands on an Awakened sword like Nightblood or Vivenna’s Blade.

Okay, so this is a strange statement. We know that Cultivation’s perpendicularity in the Horneater Peaks has been used regularly by worldhoppers, and that it’s the primary method of inter-Realm travel onto and off Roshar.

Is there some way that “Cultivation’s spren” (and what are those?) can prevent someone from utilizing the Investiture there, but simultaneously allow travel between the Physical and Cognitive Realms? Some kind of gatekeeping, like the Oathgate spren?

Shoutout to Billy Todd, one of our resident lawyer beta readers, and now canonically the leader of a group of Skybreakers who refused to follow Nale’s warped leadership.

How about that? Every time the Unmade get mentioned now, my annoyance grows in strength. I still can’t believe that we made it through the entire first five books and know almost nothing more about the Unmade than we did at the end of Oathbringer. Oh, Odium is giving them “extra strength”? Cool, cool cool cool. How? How did he make them in the first place? What was unmade?

For all that one of the main characters in this book had a plotline focused on Ba-Ado-Mishram, we received an absolute paucity of new information about them.

Chapter 120 teases us in more ways than that, though. On the one hand, we find out how the Shattered Plains were created. Odium taunted Honor, who lashed out in anger. They liquified the landscape and wrecked the city of Narak.

But there’s more in that scene, about the fourth moon and its essence, “something greater” than aluminum, hiding “watchers, hidden from [Honor].”

I feel like these watchers have to be the Sleepless. They have been hiding in the background the whole time, watching. And when Rysn encountered Hoid, the first thing her Sleepless handlers do is say they need to head to Odium’s perpendicularity, hidden under the Shattered Plains, and flee Roshar…

I’ll leave us with this, a fun teaser for those who wonder about Yolen and fainlife… and a nice nod for those who have read Dragonsteel Prime and know why this is such a solid simile.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 121, 122, and 123.[end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 117-120 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 113-116

The origins of the Oathpact, Jasnah’s downfall, and our favorite Navani impersonator.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on October 6, 2025

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Welcome, Sanderfans, to another installment of the Wind and Truth Reread! We’ve got some very tense debates this week between Taravangian and Jasnah, as well as LOTS of juicy new insights from Tanavast. We even get to see Navani’s reaction at discovering that Lift’s been masquerading as her all this time! So let’s get to it…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 113 is “Accommodation,” an Honor chapter, which takes place seven thousand fifty years ago. We see how Tanavast created the Stormfather, a spren which was like him if he was free to simply exist. Then Kor arrives back on Roshar and tells him how Rayse has killed not only Uli Da… he’d also killed two other Shardbearers: Aona, who held Devotion, and Skai, who held Dominion.

They decide to attack Rayse as he is weakened, but when they reach him, he warns them that Roshar will be destroyed if they fight him. They find him with the singers and Tanavast feels betrayed that they seem to like. Rayse and his talk of passion. They attack, but then they see glimpses of the future: Roshar, burned and full of broken bodies.

He brings up the destruction that occurred when he killed Ambition, and Tanavast considers the utter devastation that was wrought by the clash between Rayse and Ambition. Horrified, Tanavast and Kor realize they must refrain from attacking Rayse.

Rayse says that they must make an accommodation, a deal. Thinking of the proxy war they’d unleashed upon Ashyn, Tanavast immediately says that they must not make the same mistake again, giving humans so much power. Kor offers a way to limit and place conditions on the power they grant to humans—a system of equations, accounting for both greater and lesser powers. Rayse doesn’t want to be bound and thinks it might be better if he seeks a different world, but Tanavast does not want him wreaking havoc on defenseless victims, and insists that the three of them must stay and share the Rosharan system. Kor threatens Rayse into compliance by saying that if he doesn’t agree, she’ll gather the rest and they’ll deal with him as they dealt with Adonalsium. Rayse accepts the terms.

Honor binds the three of them, surprising Rayse. However, as Tanavast and Kor leave, they feel Roshar beginning to adopt Rayse, just as it had previously adopted the two of them.

Chapter 114 is titled “The Greatest Good.” Jasnah is incredulous at Taravangian’s claim that he’ll conquer Thaylen City. At first, Jasnah and Taravangian argue morals and philosophies. He promises Fen peace and prosperity. She leans toward the Coalition, as she’s loyal to it and to Dalinar. Jasnah argues that he won’t bring peace because he’s a murderer who just wants control.

Then Taravangian tells Fen of how Jasnah lured the thieves in Kharbranth into attacking her in order to destroy them and to teach Shallan a lesson. She falters a bit as she defends herself. Next, he produces a contract for Fen to read; the contract that Jasnah took out on Aesudan, in case she decided to assassinate her sister-in-law. She defends that, too, but Taravangian uses it as an example of the lengths Jasnah will go to protect her family and her people.

Jasnah realizes that Taravangian, unlike her, hadn’t come to argue competing philosophies, but to argue against her.

POV Change!

Navani is back in Urithiru in the Physical Realm. She’s bereft at leaving Dalinar behind in the Spiritual Realm. She thinks that if he doesn’t make it back, then she’ll take his place in the contest herself. She hands Gavinor off to a nursemaid with instructions to let him sleep on a couch in the next room so she can check on him. Then she enters the chamber where Lift is masquerading as her. In the midst of that weirdness, Wit arrives wearing Dalinar’s face, though the illusion quickly evaporates.

Navani tells Wit that she left Dalinar behind, and that Wit’s going to help her save him. He asks if Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain returned with her. She’s confused, saying she didn’t know they were in there. They go off to discuss what had gone wrong with their experiment seven days ago, and Wit assures her that he may be able to think of a way to help Dalinar.

Chapter 115 is another Honor chapter titled “Binding,” which takes place seven thousand years ago. Tanavast wants to confront Odium, as he fears that Rayse is moving to conquer the cosmere. Against Kor’s wishes, he reaches out to the other Shards to see if they’ll help. None will. So he goes to Ishar and other humans who’d had the power of Surgebinding on Ashyn, who still retained a seed of that power. He promises Surgebinding to Ishar and his allies if they will obey and accept Honor’s rules.

Of course, they agree, and thus the Oathpact is forged and the allies become Heralds.

Chapter 116 is titled “Two Women,” and here we see Jasnah’s downfall. She’s argued very well and nearly beat Taravangian. In the end, she’s done in by the undeniable fact that she would do anything to protect her family and Alethkar, no matter the cost. She states that she wouldn’t take the same deal from Odium to protect Alethkar, and Fen knows she’s lying.

Fen, despite her previous loyalty to the Coalition, agrees to join Odium. As they haggle about the future of Thaylenah, Jasnah sits, quietly stunned, and attempts to come to grips with her defeat.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Tanavast/Honor

We see how the power of the Shards slowly changes their bearers’ personalities time and time again in the cosmere—the most obvious case being Sazed, slowly becoming paralyzed by the warring dichotomy of the two Shards he holds. But it’s chilling to think about something changing the very essence of who you are, and doing it in such a slow, insidious manner that you barely realize what’s happening.

Taravangian/Odium

Ah yes… the old “only by uniting everyone under my rule can there be peace” chestnut. How many dictators in fiction have perpetuated this myth as justification for their power grabs?

This entire game of wits between the two of them has the feel of impending disaster—which is fitting, of course, as Jasnah does lose this battle. I find it terrifying how easily Taravangian turns Jasnah’s own actions and personality against her.

Jasnah

Interesting that Jasnah makes such an assumption about all leaders. She seems to assume that all leaders, once they reach a certain level of power, will act with clinical logic and reason, as she would. This oversight—ignoring the impact of emotions over reason—will, of course, contribute to her downfall in this matter.

Wanting the opportunity to match wits with an equal, if not a superior, intellect is understandable. If only Taravangian wasn’t such a… well, the things I want to call him wouldn’t really be suitable for polite company, so let’s just go with “jerk.” Perhaps, if Jasnah and Taravangian could have worked together for the greater good… but what is the greater good, in this instance? The good of the Alethi? The people of Roshar? All the people in the cosmere? The scale is so grand that it’s difficult to contemplate.

I would suggest that this aligns with the “monkeysphere” philosophical concept, or “Dunbar’s number,” which states that a person can only hold so many sociological connections (suggested to be around 150 stable relationships). Past that number, people don’t care so deeply. It’s harder to empathize with people outside of your direct experience; you just naturally care more for those you interact with more frequently. There’s also some aspects of the trolley problem at play here; who would you save? A family member for whom you care deeply, or ten innocent strangers?

These are the underlying philosophical concepts at play in Taravangian’s argument here. Jasnah clearly would choose to save her family over all the people of Thaylenah; to claim otherwise would be disingenuous.

Oof. That’s a hell of a thought, isn’t it? Which is better, a free people constantly at war and in danger of death? Or a people enslaved, but in peace? As an American, I’ve been conditioned my whole life to stand by freedom. But in this instance, I truly don’t know if freedom is worth the instability and destruction and death.

Taravangian has turned her love for her family into the ultimate weapon to defeat her.

And so we come to the ultimate question driving any analysis of ethics and morality: how to determine what is right. Interestingly we saw this same quandary in Kaladin’s section earlier in the book too, when he was debating the subject with Nale.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Well, chapter 113 opens immediately with some clarifying language:

The idea of avatars has been around in the Cosmere for the better part of a decade now, but I still see a lot of confusion around just what an avatar is. It seems Brandon has been seeing the same thing, because he comes right out with an explanation here. It’s useful, especially in the wake of Mistborn Era 2 and Isles of the Emberdark and all that stuff Autonomy is getting up to.

This chapter is just packed with Shardic lore. This particular moment isn’t new—it’s some nice dramatic irony, as we readers have known about Odium’s work with Aona and Skai since The Way of Kings—but it does set up some new context for the splintering of Devotion and Dominion. Odium somehow got them to turn on each other and weaken themselves before he stepped in with the killing blows and shoved all that Investiture into the Cognitive Realm at Sel.

Sel is actually a strange parallel to what’s going on with Roshar, too. We’ve been operating under the assumption that Sel was unique—and in some ways it is—with un-held (un-Vesseled?) Shards just floating around and gaining sentience. But Wind and Truth reveals that Honor was in a similar boat: not splintered, not sitting in the Cognitive Realm and impacting the geographic elements of the magic, but gaining intelligence nonetheless.

I have to wonder if Virtuosity is experiencing something similar, as well. As we head into the second half of the general Cosmere narrative, we’ve suddenly gotten information about a sizable number of Shards just… sitting there, in one form or another. This feels like really important information, and possibly even a potential point of conflict for the major powers in the late-stage Cosmere.

Speaking of late-stage Cosmere, it seems increasingly certain that Threnody is going to be important—and certainly the residents of Threnody will be, as the Night Brigade sweeps across the stars.

So we know that Odium began his conflict with Ambition in the Threnodite system, and she was gravely wounded there. But that’s not where Uli Da found her ultimate demise, nor where Ambition was fully splintered. So where was it?

There are a lot of different names for Taln’s Scar floating around the Cosmere. The Red Rip is another. Most people, if they give much thought to this particular stellar phenomenon, assume that this is related to the Shattering of Adonalsium, perhaps a signal that fainlife has been spreading from Yolen across the systems of the Cosmere. But what if this is, in fact, a relic of Odium’s struggle with Ambition, leaving a ravaged wake behind them? Threnody is one of the worlds where we’ve seen mythology spring up around it…

We’ve heard variations of this before, through Hoid and the conversations about the contract with Odium, but this feels extra important given the context of chapter 113. So much of this chapter is themed around the death of Vessels and the destruction of Shards—even a reference to the Shattering of Adonalsium—that I think we have to consider what happened with Devotion and Dominion.

Did Odium entice them into breaking some agreement they had with each other? Was the simple fact that they ignored the agreement about shacking up together enough for him to exploit?

And then there’s the enigmatic Word of Brandon about Autonomy’s help during Odium’s foray on Sel, and the long-running theory that Jaddeth is an avatar of Autonomy. How much of a mess are we looking at when there are four Shards all interacting with each other?

This is a reread, so we already know about this particular Shard and Vessel, but I have to call out once again how much fun that little spike of joy is, every time we got a new Shard named over the years. Incredibly, all sixteen original Shards have been named. I can’t say that we’ll never get another new Shard again—heck, we just got Retribution in this novel, and who knows how many other combination Shards will pop up over the rest of these books—but a small part of me will always look fondly back on the early days of theorizing Shards and trying to assign Shards into type quadrants and all of that.

The cosmere has changed a lot in the last 19 years.

Judging by the name, Chan Ko Sar is likely another Sho Del Vessel, like Uli Da. But this line resonates especially strongly after Isles of the Emberdark and all the lore about the Grand Apparatus. Some people seem to think that Adonalsium created the Grand Apparatus, but I suspect it was actually Invention’s doing—and Invention certainly has interest in it.

Now a world like Canticle? I think that has to be Adonalsium’s doing. But I feel like it’s a safe guarantee that we’re gonna see some crazy stuff Invented as we get into Mistborn Era 4, and maybe if (…when? Probably “when”) Sanderson drops more Secret Projects on us.

Cuz c’mon. Does anyone really think he’s done doing that? There’s always another secret.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

Please note that here won’t be a new reread article next week, but we’ll be back on Monday, October 20^th with our discussion of chapters 117 through 120![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 113-116 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 109-112

Kaladin battles a Herald, Szeth is betrayed, and Jasnah is in trouble…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on September 29, 2025

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Greetings, Cosmere Chickens. I hope you have a comfort drink or snack prepared for this week’s reread, as we’ll be delving into some very rough stuff. Kaladin and Nale battle with weapons both physical and emotional, young Szeth faces the ultimate betrayal in his flashback chapter, and Jasnah begins to see her plans crumple in her negotiations with Taravangian. Even Venli’s facing some setbacks with her army of faithful chasmfiends. Remember, the night is always darkest before the dawn, and hope is always just around the corner.

But not this week.

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

As we continue with Day Nine, we pick back up with Kaladin and Nale in Chapter 109, “Rationalization.” Their duel has commenced, but neither attacks yet. Kaladin is assessing their surroundings and Nale watches him. The Wind tells him that he’ll be needed tomorrow, the storm is tomorrow, so he must survive this battle with Nale.

As they engage, Kaladin deflects several attacks from Nale designed to feel Kaladin out, and then he lets Nale strike at him. His armor comes to his defense and forms around him. Kaladin doesn’t actually want to hurt Nale, but Nale has stated that the fight would be to the death. Nale keeps landing strikes on Kaladin and then notes that Kaladin did better without the Plate. When Nale’s Blade changes to a spear, he almost drives it right through Kaladin’s head, but Kaladin’s armor stops the spear. Barely.

They start talking and Kaladin tries to find a chink in Nale’s mental armor. They speak of Heleran, who was sent by Nale to kill Amaram when he should have targeted Kaladin. Also, it turns out that Ishar sent Nale after all of those budding Radiants. That’s interesting. Nale mentions Lift and says she’s the only one to have ever defeated him in single combat, though she used a “different weapon entirely.” Maybe Kaladin should offer Nale a hug.

Then Kaladin strikes, knowing he’ll land a hit but he misses as Nale blurs and dodges. Again and again, he misses. Kaladin is boggled because he knows those strikes should have fallen. Then Nale pushes Kaladin down and Kaladin begins freaking out that he’s getting beaten so thoroughly. As Nale approaches Kaladin, he admits that Kaladin’s skill has forced him to use the true skills of a Herald in the fight. He didn’t have Stormlight, but he has something equally capable of giving him the advantage over Kaladin.

Szeth steps between Nale and Kaladin and tries to stop the fight, saying he’ll obey, but Nale pushes him aside and says he must execute Kaladin to end his corrupting influence. He slams Kaladin into the wall and throws him down. As he approaches to land the killing blow, Syl forms in front of him, trying to deter him. As he steps through her, Szeth’s spren forms in front of him, too, and implores him to stop. Nale tells the spren it’s a disgrace and continues to approach Kaladin. As Kaladin attempts to stand, he hears the distant sound of a flute.

Chapter 110 is titled “Flute” and picks up just where the previous chapter ends. It’s the Wind, who had previously said she was too weak to help, is now trying to do just that.

Nale stops, noting the song, the rhythm. Kaladin thinks how he can’t win this battle with a spear but that the song had always moved something in him. He retrieves his flute and holds it before him as Nale raises his Blade. Kaladin starts to tell Nale that he needs to hear a story but Nale punches him, breaking bones. He drops his flute and Szeth catches him and tells him to take the Stormlight from his pouch of spheres. He does so but as he reaches for more, Nale reminds him that they agreed not to use Stormlight and he crushes Kaladin’s flute beneath his heel.

Tears in his eyes, Kaladin reaches for the flute and Syl says she doesn’t understand why it matters.

Then Syl forms as a flute and Kaladin stands as the Wind continues imitating the sounds of Kaladin’s flute. Nale recognizes it as the notes that led them to Roshar. Wind blows into the monastery and touches the Syl Flute, sounding a note and causing the flute to vibrate. Outside, the notes grow stronger and it sounds as if numerous flutes are playing.

Nale dismisses the noise as “offworlder magic” and raises his sword again. Kaladin plays a few notes and Nale stops again. Kaladin tells him that it’s the story of Derethil and the Wandersail. Kaladin eludes Nale and begins telling him the story. Nale growls at him but stops again as the sound of flutes outside increases.

Kaladin asks him why he became a Herald, if he can remember how he felt. Nale shouts that emotion can’t be trusted and Kaladin suggests that perhaps he can’t trust his mind. Nale said he used to see clearly but then his mind changed. Kaladin guesses that this is why Nale fell back on trusting only the law. He continues with the story of the Wandersail, and between that and the swelling sound of music that the Wind has returned to Kaladin from all of his practicing, Nale finally seems to break.

Szeth approaches and tells Nale that he and Kaladin can help.

Chapter 111 is titled “The Flag of Rebellion” and it’s a Szeth flashback chapter. At the end of the last flashback, he was heading to the Stoneward monastery to find a real army. Only General Lumo, one of the men that had been with Szeth on his raid of the intruder ships, doesn’t believe him and won’t commit troops to him.

Pozen has warned them of Szeth and his explanation that they all hear the voice of the Unmade doesn’t help his cause. Suddenly, an Elsecalled portal opens and an army many times the size of Szeth’s begins to emerge carrying banners of all of the other monasteries. Szeth proclaims it is time to fight but Lumo says he cannot join him.

As Szeth leads his army to fight the armies of the other Honorbearers, he doesn’t join in, just directs the battle. It’s a desperate fight as they are vastly outnumbered, but finally the army of the Stoneward monastery joins them.

Then Szeth goes to face the other Honorbearers, first Moss and then Sivi. Moss flees and Sivi, after insisting that it had not been an Unmade that Szeth had seen, reveals that he’s let himself get distracted by a duel. He turns to see the army from the Stoneward monastery turn against his troops, who are now trapped between the larger forces.

Szeth flies to them and lands between his forces and Lumo’s, and then Neturo steps out. He reveals that he carries the Bondsmith Honorblade and that he has met the Voice and it is not what Szeth thinks it is. He tells Szeth that he has answers and Szeth, feeling like a child again, begs his father to tell him what to do.

Chapter 112 is titled “The Song of Renunciation” and we rejoin Jasnah in Taln’s Temple. Taravangian has asserted that Jasnah will help persuade Fen to join Odium and Jasnah disagrees that she will do any such thing. Taravangian argues that he and Jasnah have the same philosophy, how they both want to do the most good possible for the most people, and how they both know that there will be greater peace with him ruling.

He refers to how he is immortal and can keep the peace long after they’re gone, but Jasnah successfully deflects this attempt to sway Fen.

POV Shift!

Venli is riding a chasmfiend, preparing to attack the humans. A femalen Husked One approaches and tells her that they and the chasmfiends will be the second assault. Venli is surprised, thinking that they would be attacking first—she thinks that this will require a change to the plan. But the Fused says that El wants to soften the humans by killing some spren first. How pleasant. And so Venli watches as Heavenly Ones streak towards the human defenses.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Nale/Kaladin

This entire scene is so, so powerful. I find it difficult to separate my notes on Kaladin’s character progression and that of Nale, because they’re so intrinsically linked, so I’m combining them and making notes on them both as the scene progresses.

Here we see Kaladin at his most powerful. When the spear fails him, he falls back on love, and empathy, and connection. And this proves to be the superior weapon. He forges a connection with Nale through music and memory, and reminds Nale why he became a Herald to begin with. Those memories, buried beneath millennia of trauma and attempts to find something new to cling to as his sanity faded, are what ultimately saves them both.

Nale’s empathy and humanity returning to him here is so painful. To look back on what you have become, with eyes open… I can’t imagine how hard this revelation must have been for him.

This part in particular is, I think, the culmination of five books’ worth of progress on Kaladin’s part. He begins as a simple soldier, doing as he’s told. He begins to question in his Bridge Crew, and to make decisions contrary to his superior officer’s demands. He forms connections with the enemy, and begins to realize that perhaps they aren’t the “enemy” after all. And finally, he recognizes that the responsibility for orders obeyed also lies with him, and that the lives he took were also his own responsibility.

It’s even worse, of course, for Nale, who had spent lifetimes allowing the law to be his guiding force. Responsibility taken from him, or so he thought, for the awful things he was “forced” to do. Exactly what Szeth wanted—the weight of the terrible things taken from their shoulders.

But that weight needed to be addressed, not pawned off on another. It was their own to bear, and Kaladin has opened their eyes to this. Only by facing their trauma and their guilt can they move past it; otherwise it would remain buried, poisoning the wells of their souls.

Past!Szeth

Ouch. The one person who always had Szeth’s back, who stalwartly protected him through thick and thin… I can think of no worse betrayal.

The worst part is… he’s right. Ishar isn’t a Voidbringer. But the desolation has begun and Ishar certainly is not a friend to the Shin.

And so we see the extent of the trauma that Kaladin has been fighting against this whole time. No wonder Szeth doesn’t want to make his own decisions!

Jasnah

Oh dear. And here we begin the awful spiral of logic that Taravangian uses to flush Jasnah down the proverbial toilet.

I did not predict that I’d come across a Second Amendment corollary in my medieval fantasy book, but here we are…

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

With the hints of Taln’s capabilities shown earlier—and maybe even more importantly Shalash’s—it was neatly foreshadowed that Nale would be untouchable to Kaladin. And in typical Sanderson fashion, he had Kaladin think over and over, leading up to this fight, about how Nale is just a man without Stormlight.

Because of course he isn’t. He’s not even a man at all, not anymore. He’s a Cognitive Shadow, and more than that, a Herald. The Honorblades are not the only things that make them special. They use the powers of Roshar itself to move with supernatural speed and strength.

But… how?

Like many things in Wind and Truth, this is one of those magical revelations that occurs, and we’re given a vague explanation for it, but there is no real mechanism shown for it. What are “the powers of Roshar” that they can tap into? Is it the Wind, Stone, and Night? That would be the logical assumption, that it’s some sort of Connection to the pre-Shattering entities and Investiture of Roshar (though that is another tangle of knots to unravel, given the Word of Brandon that all Investiture was assigned to a Shard at the moment of the Shattering…).

But if so, why does the Wind tell Kaladin in this very scene that it can’t help him? Kaladin has built a Connection with the Wind at this point, becoming its champion for the final days.

Perhaps this remains to be explained in more detail in the last five books, along with so many other aspects of the Heralds, but it does feel a bit underwhelming to have it handwaved in such a manner despite being an important aspect of such a major scene.

RIP to the Lord Ruler’s flute.

…What’s that? Oh yeah, so this flute was totally the Lord Ruler’s.

I mean, yeah, it’s not confirmed. It’s quite possible that this is a flute from Yolen, a special trailman’s flute that Hoid used thousands of years ago during his time as a simple jesk. But I know how Brandon Sanderson thinks, and that answer is way too simple.

It does seem like a bummer that it got destroyed here. Unless one of the things that makes this flute so special is that it can reform? And, perhaps, find its way back to its owner?

And so Kaladin uses the Wind and a Shardflute to tell the story of Derethil and the Wandersail.

So maybe it’s just the recency of Isles of the Emberdark lurking in the back of my mind, but I feel like I can’t be the only one who assumes that the Wandersail went through a perpendicularity, and Uvala is either in Shadesmar or on another world entirely. Anyone else? Bueller?

The detail of shells “unlike any […] on Roshar” is the sort of thing that initially feels like just some mythical flavor to a story, but in the Cosmere these stories are very often based in truth, and those details, once ignored, tend to be clues pointing to the truth at the heart of the story. And a whirlpool? Could that not be a Shardpool beneath the waves?

And then there’s the thematic resonance with Rysn, the Dawnshard, the Sleepless, and her new ship—coincidentally named the Wandersail—and her plan to flee Roshar. It lines up too neatly.

One last, teasing point in Chapter 112:

El led the final assault on Narak from the front lines. El, the Fused of indeterminate brand, who has a Shardblade and who implants metal to replace the carapace he tore out. What the heck is his deal? He almost seems like an anti-Taln, at this point, built up to the point of being mythically threatening without actually showing us readers what he’s capable of.

Getting answers about El might be the single thing I’m most looking forward to when Sanderson resumes this series.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 113 through 116![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 109-112 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 105-108

Odium messes with Navani and Jasnah, Nale picks a fight, and Ashyn falls.

By Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey, Paige Vest

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Published on September 22, 2025

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Happy Reread Monday, Cosmere Chickens! We’re really getting into the thick of it now, as we approach the home stretch: Szeth’s flashbacks are nearing their unfortunate conclusion, Navani finally manages to break free of the Spiritual Realm (but is forced to leave Dalinar behind), Kaladin prepares to cross blades with Nale, and… what’s this? Odium claims that Jasnah has been working for him all this time?! We’re in for a wild ride this week, so please join us as we dig into chapters 105 through 108!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Continuing with Day Nine, we start this week with chapter 105, titled “Points of Transition.” We join Navani in her vision at the palace in Kholinar on the day Elhokar died. She’s able to communicate with the Sibling for a moment and is told to find a “point of transition.”

When she sees Elhokar ascending the steps near Aesudan’s rooms, she gets emotional but makes a random excuse for being there and quickly encourages her son to continue. It’s not hard to convince him, as she’s good at manipulating the visions now.

She finds Gavinor, who realizes that it’s really her so he asks her why Grampa is terrible and why he hates everyone. Oh, Odium’s been working on him hard, hasn’t he?

Then Elhokar is there, but it’s not really him—it’s Odium wearing Elhokar’s face. Navani almost recognizes his voice and attempts to manipulate him into taking her to where Dalinar is, but he’s on to her now. So she flees with Gav to the Oathgate and convinces vision-Kaladin to initiate a transfer… It takes her and Gav to her rooms at Urithiru.

POV Shift!

Venli goes to visit Sigzil and he tells her his idea. She thinks that it won’t work… though she has an idea of how to make it work. She informs Sig—and adds that they need Jasnah.

Chapter 106, a Szeth flashback that takes place nine years ago, is titled “Cardinal Sin.” Szeth is involved in a battle. The first battle. They’ve won the day, but he had to do pretty much all the work himself; he tells the acolytes they need to do better and that they must now secure the town.

But the townsfolk don’t thank him for liberation. They obey, but they don’t believe that the Voidbringers have returned. He doesn’t know how to proceed and suddenly, the Voice pops into his head. It tells him that the Honorbearers are hiding from him and he realizes that he needs to draw them out. He orders his army, such as it is, to march toward the Stoneward monastery. He needs a real army, one that he knows the Honorbearers won’t ignore.

Chapter 107 is an Honor flashback titled “Voidbringer.” There has been war and the damage has been done to Alaswha, which is now known as Ashyn. Odium shows up and shows no remorse at the loss of life, though Tanavast does.

Tanavast sees Nale and his uncle, Makibak, when a king named Jezrien arrives and offers to make peace. He says Ishar is trying to find a way off this world and urges Makibak to gather his people and go with them.

Tanavast flees, weeping, to be with Kor and when the portal opens and the people arrive in Roshar… Rayse has come with them.

And so we get a glimpse into some of the history behind the destruction of the home the humans left behind. Even Odium admitted that it had gone too far, but the power of the Shard didn’t really care. It just desired more passion, always more passion.

Chapter 108 is titled “Service.” Szeth, with Kaladin in tow, is journeying toward the Skybreaker monastery. Ashamed, he tells Kaladin that he has decided that he must kill. Kaladin doesn’t argue, surprisingly enough. And then Kaladin asks how he can help.

After Kal goes on about how there are always more people to fight, Szeth asks him point-blank what he should do. He wants to know whether he should fight or refuse at the next monastery. Kaladin won’t weigh in, though Szeth reminds him that Dalinar commanded him to help Szeth.

Kaladin insists that he is trying to help and that he’ll support Szeth no matter what he decides to do, but that it has to be Szeth’s decision. Szeth realizes that Kaladin is being honest and that he truly seems to have healed and found peace, and his outlook shifts. Reframes.

Seems like that talk therapy is starting to work!

Then they approach the monastery and observe that it’s been attacked, though it has been some time since it happened. Still, they see some people and when they arrive, Nale is waiting there. Szeth asks if he will be required to fight the Herald; Nale tells him no, that he need only accept his fate.

Then he tells Szeth that he must obey unquestioningly at the next monastery, following Nale’s commands—but Szeth tells him no. He says he must first know the cost. Then he asks about the darkness, wanting to know what is going on and who the Unmade is. Nale refuses to tell him and again demands that Szeth swear an oath of blind obedience.

Szeth refuses a second time, insisting he has the right to choose. So Nale says that he now must fight. Szeth refuses to engage, and prepares to be struck down. Then a spear stops Nale’s Blade.

POV Shift!

Kaladin is quite annoyed with Nale, who tells him he can’t interfere. Ignoring this, Kaladin asks Szeth if he wants help and Szeth says that he does. He tells Nale that Kaladin is his champion.

Kaladin consults silently with Syl and even the Wind chimes in to caution Kaladin. He and Nale agree to use no Stormlight, and they proceed to fight.

POV Shift!

Jasnah’s point of view section begins with barely a reference to a matter of the Shattered Plains and then she meets with Queen Fen at Taln’s temple in Thaylen City. Fen is skeptical about whether it is really Taravangian who now holds the Shard of Odium. She wonders aloud why Jasnah has prepared so vigorously—studying all night and consulting with Wit via spanreed—when Thaylenah is obviously not going to join Odium. Heh.

Taravangian shows up, unassuming and friendly, and they commence their discussion. Fen straight out tells him that she won’t join with him, but he convinces her to hear him out. She realizes that it really, truly is Taravangian, and he invites them to sit.

Then Taravangian throws Jasnah off by saying that she will be the reason Fen decides to join him. We’ll get to witness that not-so-fun discussion in a future article.

Dun-dun-dunnnn…

Lyn’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Elhokar/Navani

How ironic, that what Odium intended to be the most hurtful of memories to show Navani turned out to be the one that was the most healing. Seeing her son like this, beginning his transition into Radiance and becoming a better man, helps to salve some of the guilt and pain that she’s been carrying with her. Once again, Odium’s surety that he is omniscient backfires. He may understand a lot about what drives people, but he doesn’t understand everything, and he never could. No one can understand everything about another person, not without living their life.

Gavinor

Unfortunately, Odium is rather effective at manipulating a child. Throughout the entirety of the book, he’s been whispering in poor Gav’s ear, gaining his trust as he masquerades as Elhokar. Gently nudging the boy from one life path onto one of his own choosing. I find this to be the most disturbing of the actions Odium takes—this corruption of an innocent child as a means towards his end. He subjects Gav to trauma and lies to him, turning him against those who love him most.

Navani

I’m so, so impressed with Navani. Her strength of character in these last few chapters is unmatched. She unflinchingly does what she must, manipulating Odium right back, and breaks free of a trap that has been cunningly created for her by a god. What an absolute legend.

Overall Character Note on the Radiants

This bodes ill for all the Radiants. We’ve seen what breaking the bond does to the spren—they become deadeyes, wandering the Cognitive Realm as mindless zombies. How much worse will it be for the humans subjected to the breaking of that bond on the other side? We see a hint of it in The Sunlit Man, but I suspect that Sigzil deals with it better than most of them will.

Szeth

I find it… ironic? Fitting? Horrible? That Szeth is mirroring his own beginning here at the “end” of his childhood arc. He began this path by killing with a stone, and he’s ending it by killing with stones.

OUCH. Damn… Szeth could definitely take some lessons in leadership from Kaladin or Adolin. He’s their polar opposite, leading by demeaning and exerting his superiority rather than by gaining trust and loyalty.

We see this time and again, not only in Roshar, but in the real world as well. Change is hard, and scary, and people as a general rule would rather continue on in an imperfect situation than face the harrowing reality that change for the better is possible.

Now… do I believe that Szeth would have changed things for the better? The Szeth that we see here in these flashbacks?

Sadly, no. He’s immature, and lacks the learned experience that he’d need to be a true leader. I find it fascinating that he’s about the same age here that Kaladin and Adolin are when they gain their first commands, yet their leadership styles are so vastly different. Szeth has been taught all the wrong lessons, and his empathy is lacking, if not entirely non-existent.

It’s awfully telling that Szeth doesn’t stop to consider, “Hey, how come the Unmade I’m building an army to eventually come and destroy is encouraging me to do just that? That seems kinda weird, doesn’t it?” He’s focusing on all the wrong things. He’s thinking of the strategy and not questioning the motives. Which tracks for Szeth, doesn’t it? He never wanted to question. He wanted to get his orders and follow them. And now that he’s in charge, giving the orders? He’s still not questioning.

Classic therapist. Szeth is still looking for people to take that responsibility of choice from him. If he takes the responsibility, then he’s accountable for all that follows. We’re seeing reflections of that in his flashbacks—when he did step up and begin leading, it went very poorly for him, and for those he led. It’s no wonder that he doesn’t trust himself.

I can only imagine that Kaladin is in the background, fist-pumping victoriously, while Syl flips Nale the bird.

And so we see the culmination of all of Kaladin’s hard work… and of Szeth’s self-questioning. He takes responsibility. He refuses to allow another to take that from him, and chooses it for himself.

I’m so proud of him.

Tanavast

Well… that’s one way to start a chapter, eh?

I’d just like to point out what a poignant turn of phrase this is.

Nale

The more I learn about Nale, the more curious I am to see his whole story. I wonder if we’ll see it someday.

Kaladin

I really love this gradual realization for Kaladin’s character. We’ve seen it growing for five books, as he engaged in battle after battle. It’s only here, in this book, that he’s finally allowed the peace to pause and reflect back on these things.

And even this wasn’t successful. Will he perhaps make this change with the Heralds, between books? Will his therapy help them to heal and shape them into a group of tacticians working towards nothing but peace? Only time will tell.

Jasnah

OH COME ON, really?!

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I’ve probably said this a half dozen times already over the course of this reread, but there’s still so much we don’t understand about the Spiritual Realm. The Sibling gives us a solid metaphor here, regarding the mechanics of making perpendicularities out of the Spiritual and back to the Physical:

That’s a pretty clear image. There’s a sort of “gravity” to the Realms, and the Spiritual Realm is at the bottom. You can’t just slip back up to the Physical, and instead have to use a gondola that’s already been set up to reach the peak. Those gondolas are perpendicularities.

The way I explain this to myself, at least with current knowledge, is that souls/Spirit Webs are made of Investiture and are attracted to the Investiture permeating the Spiritual Realm. That’s the “gravity” at work here, preventing the easy slip-n-slide of a Bondsmith perpendicularity. I’m sure we’ll learn much more in time—Isles of the Emberdark hints at all sorts of Spiritual things with dragons, so we might have to wait until Dragonsteel—but this is a good enough explanation for me right now. If you have a different headcanon around this phenomenon, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

Chapter 107 is titled “Voidbringer”, and certainly that title can apply to Odium. The chapter ends with Odium’s arrival on Roshar, after all. But we can make strong arguments that it applies to Honor, as well—he who granted Surges to those who resisted on Alaswha, and turned it into Ashyn as a result.

But this Zoral sticks out to me. We don’t really know anything about him, besides that he was the king of Odium’s forces on Alaswha. The title Voidbringer, given to a human during that struggle, is evocative. It makes me wonder just how he was using his Surges, and if he was in direct contact with Odium. Maybe Odium even joined him in some manner on the battlefields.

Because if pretty much everyone was using these unbound Surges in such a catastrophically destructive fashion, it’s strange that one in particular would be given such a title. Sure, he’s a king, but… I dunno. “Voidbringer” is such a fraught word in the context of this series, and especially in the context of these events.

Heck, maybe this Zoral wasn’t actually using the same Surges, and was in fact using Voidbinding—something that we still haven’t seen in any substantial manner or learned about at all. That Voidbinding chart is still sitting at the end of The Way of Kings, unexplained and teasing us with its point symmetry and warped perspectives of glyphs and shifted Surges aligning with seemingly nonsensical Void-Orders.

Is it some esoteric Invested Art that was used on Alaswha? Is this going to be something about the post-Retribution Knights Radiant and their Surges? Is the lack of Stormlight and the necessity of using Warlight going to fundamentally change how these Invested Arts operate?

While considering that and taking notes as I read this scene, it occurred to me just how much ground Sanderson still has left to cover in the last five books on Roshar. There are still a few Orders of Knights Radiant about which we know very little—Elsecallers, Stonewards, and Dustbringers chief among them—not to mention the added twist of Enlightened spren possibly warping things with the Orders we’re already quite familiar with.

What happens if an enlightened honorspren bonds someone? How different will that Windrunner look from Kaladin? We know that Renarin and Rlain have unusual powers as Enlightened Truthwatchers (though I will always insist that seeing the future seems like a natural resonance power for an Order that can use Illumination and Progression—shedding light forward, yeah?), and the implication is that anyone bonded to a spren touched by Sja-anat would be able to navigate the Spiritual Realm like them.

With all of that still on the horizon, we have the entirety of Voidbinding to uncover. And what of the Old Magic? Will we be seeing, well, any of that, now that Cultivation has fled Roshar? When I consider the pace at which Sanderson revealed elements of the world and magic through Wind and Truth, I’m left scratching my head and wondering just how packed the remaining books will be—and how much that is going to affect the actual storytelling pace.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 109 through 112![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 105-108 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 100-104

Listen up humans, a god is speaking. And making bad choices.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on September 15, 2025

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Hello, Sanderfans! Welcome back to our reread of Wind and Truth! This week we tackle a whole five chapters, though a couple are quite short. Get ready for some epic Tanavast flashbacks, beginning with his arrival on Roshar along with his bae, Cultivation; a Szeth flashback that takes place six weeks after he discovered the Unmade, as he is readying for war; Navani learning to manipulate and control the awful visions Odium is using to torment her; and Kaladin and Syl speaking with the Wind. It’s a busy week, so let’s get to it, shall we?

(I can’t believe I said “bae.”)

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Day 9 opens with Chapter 100, “God,” which takes place ten thousand years ago. It’s a soliloquy by Tanavast, the person holding the Shard of Honor. He talks of finding Roshar, a masterwork of Adolnasium, who he’d “slain for his own good.” Sure, pal… keep telling yourself that. Tanavast speaks of being drawn to two other worlds but says he chose to focus on Roshar and its songs. Until Cultivation, Koravellium Avast, arrived. She reminds him that they had planned to find an uninhabited place without people who are remnants of the being they “betrayed.” But they decide to stay on Roshar, where Tanavast will watch over the people, and where the Wind speaks to him and the Night sings to her. And it was good.

Chapter 101, “Steering a Chull,” starts with Venli repeating a mantra in her head.

She consults with the Five, who have not come to a decision about whether they’ll submit to Odium. One of them admits to being relieved but Thude, good old Thude, says that rejecting Odium is what defines the listeners. Another asked Leshwi what she hears and she replies that she hears sorrow and anger—Odium demands her return. She asks if Venli senses it and she does not, but she understands how Leshwi must feel, and attempts to comfort the Fused. They seem to have reached an impasse, not sure how to proceed.

Then Venli has an idea:

And she requests to speak to the Five.

POV Shift!

Navani is remembering a horrible time from her past, when she visited the city with her father, who was a rancher, to settle their accounts. She was only eleven and not as accomplished as she would eventually become, and struggles with writing a contract while women stand around her and laugh. They asked if her mother could write the contract and Navani tells them that she’d left and divorced them. The women began to insult her, calling her ignorant and incapable. As a young girl she’d fled, crushed—but now she knows all of that was lies and the vision dissolves.

She remembers other painful times in her life, sees other visions of when she was undermined or mocked. And she begins to think more clearly. She tries to find lines of Connection to Gavinor and Dalinar but sees none. Then she notices something different. A pattern. She realizes that the visions are being influenced or directed by something and as she does, she’s pulled into another scene from the past, finding herself in her study shortly after the discovery of the Parshendi.

She explores the books and keepsakes in the study until Gavilar bursts in, angry that she told Elhokar he shouldn’t marry Aesudan. She doesn’t respond to him, just talks about how she knew the vision would show this and then wonders if she was too hard on Elhokar’s soon-to-be wife. When she does address Gavilar, she’s much more confident and more sure of herself than she’d ever been during their marriage. Gavilar acts as though he’ll slap her and Navani states aloud that he never did hit her in reality, so doing so would dissolve the vision. He doesn’t hit her, which makes Navani feel that she’s managed to exert control over the vision.

She ignores Gavilar and, in an effort to find Gavinor, admits that what would really hurt her is seeing what happened to Elhokar at the end. And the vision shifts.

Chapter 102 is a Szeth flashback titled “A Blade in the Night” and it’s once again nine and a half years ago. Szeth arrives at the Elsecaller monastery, Pozen’s monastery, where he’d spent the most time. He’d spent the previous six weeks preparing his monastery for war, though he’d received no response to his letters to Sivi and Moss about joining him in his fight.

He remembers how he’d gone back to his father’s camp the day after discovering the Unmade only to find Neturo gone, possibly captured and held hostage. He enters the monastery through a hatch, planning to dispatch Pozen quickly and obtain his Honorblade, which would grant him Soulcasting. He thinks that with Pozen dead, the other Honorbearers might simply fold and he wouldn’t have to fight Sivi or Moss.

He slips into a meditation room, hoping that Pozen will visit in the night. Then he hears Sivi and Pozen talking outside the room. Pozen assures her that Szeth will come back, that it’s only been six weeks, and reminds her that she’d not spoken to him for three months after she herself was “elevated.” Pozen and Sivi argue for a moment, then he withdraws and she enters the meditation chamber beside the one where Szeth lurks. He thinks about killing Sivi first, then obtaining her Blade before killing Pozen.

Yet he hesitates, knowing his father had genuinely loved her and she’d always treated Szeth well. He reminds himself that she serves an Unmade and violates Truth. But he dismisses his Blade and goes to the meditation chamber she’d entered. Sivi is shocked, but greets him and tries to talk to him and he immediately asks how she could serve an Unmade.

It’s not an Unmade, then? I honestly don’t remember, so don’t flog me in the comments!

Then Pozen arrives and he chastises Szeth for pouting like a child and embarrassing him. They grapple, and rather than engage Pozen in battle, Szeth says he chooses Truth and retreats. He does not want to murder Pozen, but as he leaves, Szeth warns them that he’s raised the banner of Truth and will fight anyone who doesn’t join him. Even Sivi.

Chapter 103 is titled “Weathered.” We rejoin Kaladin in Shinovar. He makes breakfast for himself and Szeth and after eating, he plays the flute a bit. Syl is wary of Nale leaving early and calls him a creep. I’m inclined to agree with her. The Wind, however, asks them not to speak of him like that, insisting that Nale is just “weathered.” The Wind shows them a vision of the rock on which they sit, how it was once a majestic statue and then rain and wind weathered it and wore it down to just a lump of stone.

She compares Nale to the stone, and says that part of him remembers what he once was. The Wind implores Kaladin to make Nale remember, to help him. Kaladin says his hands are full with Szeth and that he doesn’t know if he has time for another patient. But the Wind pleads with him, insisting that’s why they brought Kaladin there—that the Heralds are a counter for the storm that is coming.

Szeth, done meditating, takes his breakfast on the go and they head toward the next monastery.

POV Shift!

We rejoin Sigzil in the middle of the pouring rain, locked in fierce battle on the Shattered Plains. They’re nearly out of Stormlight and once they’re out, they won’t be able to keep their fortifications from failing. In the meantime, the singers have unlimited Voidlight and Sig still hasn’t been able to think of a way to make his plan work. Then some nasty Fused arrive on top of the wall and Sig attacks, though his spear has no effect on a Magnified One. A Husked One grabs him and says it wants to fight Stormblessed; wondering if Kaladin will come if it kills Sig. Sigzil, of course, knows the name of his killer and tells the Fused that, kicking himself free.

Then Lopen shows up with reinforcements, freshly back from their trip to drop off the Mink in Herdaz. Sig leaves them to hold things together on the battlefront while he goes to consult with the generals. Vienta states that if they use any more Stormlight, they won’t be able to get their army through the Oathgate. Then he’s told that Venli has contacted them with an offer, and an idea clicks into place…

Chapter 104, “Enemy,” is another Tanavast chapter, taking place eight thousand years ago. Tanavast hated Rayse from the get-go, even when they were mortals. While they hadn’t gotten along before, now Rayse was also a god and Tanavast watched as Rayse chose a planet with humans and set himself up as their deity.

For a time, Tanavast and Kor tended happily to Roshar. But Tanavast can’t ignore Rayse, who was likely plotting. Against Kor’s wishes, he travels to Rayse’s planet, Alashwa, to find Rayse building an empire. His people were waging war, dominating and conquering other peoples of the planet. Then Rayse notices Tanavast’s presence and they form bodies and face one another. Rayse informs Tanavast that he eliminated Ambition; horrified and disgusted, Tanavast withdraws. Though he still watches, feeling compelled to know what Rayse is up to…

He sees some people leaving the city and listens as a young one speaks with his uncle. This child is Nale, and Tanavast is impressed with their defiance and pride. He appears to them and tells them he will give them the power to resist their common enemy. Shaking my head at you, Tanavast. You’re setting them up for annihilation. *sigh*

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

Tanavast

We’re getting some fascinating glimpses of Tanavast here; and of his love for Cultivation. Sadly, we know that this love is doomed.

And this is part of the reason why it’s doomed. Tanavast has allowed his power to overwhelm his humility. His hubris will lead to his downfall.

Venli

And so Venli’s character makes the choice to finalize her arc.

Navani

And now we begin to understand why Navani is so attuned (ha, get it?) to the common Alethi. She was the common Alethi, not too long ago.

And so she became a renowned scholar, never to be told that she was ignorant again.

This is incredible. Navani is one of the strongest women in the Stormlight Archive, and that’s really saying something, considering the company she’s in. She no longer allows anyone to belittle her; she knows her worth.

Gavilar

Ah yes. Page 1 in the good old narcissist playbook.

Szeth

Even now, after everything, Szeth refuses to kill. This is who he truly is; not the broken, bleeding thing we met at the beginning of The Way of Kings.

Kaladin

It feels strange to have little to say about a Kaladin section, but he’s just so… stable now. He’s still struggling with how to achieve his goal and how to accept Nale, but these struggles feel somehow smaller than those he’s endured up until now.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I have to imagine that uncounted numbers of Sanderson fans’ hearts did backflips when they read the words “TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO” at the start of Chapter 100.

Thus begins the first of the craziest flashback chapters Brandon has ever written, following Tanavast’s arrival and establishment in the Rosharan system, his dealings with Cultivation and Odium and the peoples of Roshar and Ashyn, and his struggle with the Shard of Honor.

And Brandon really doesn’t hold back, dropping this from the start. Yolen remains shrouded in mystery, as do the dragons (held in reserve until the penultimate Dragonsteel trilogy years from now), but this is evocative nonetheless… especially with the new information we’ve gotten from Isles of the Emberdark.

We know a bit now of dragon culture, and we know of Starling’s exile. “Dragon heretic” is a powerful statement here, and I can’t help but wonder what Koravellium Avast did to deserve the title. The implication here is that this was something from before the Shattering of Adonalsium, and given that Frost, Euridrius, and Medelantorius were also present at the Shattering, it’s not like the dragons were uniformly opposed to it or anything.

No, Koravellium Avast must have done something altogether different, which is fascinating given how apparently bashful she is as the Vessel of Cultivation, preferring to hide in the shadows and vales and work subtly to progress her plans. Even abandoning her place as a dragon god and refusing prayers seems too tame for that title.

Also from the start, we see that Tanavast did not have a perfect relationship with his Shard. This inside view gives a totally different perspective on the original Sixteen Vessels, and in fact recontextualizes what we have seen with Kelsier, Vin, and Sazed. Perhaps none of the Vessels were ideally suited to their Shards—not even Rayse—and that friction is what is eroding all of their minds over time.

Is it even possible to have a perfect Vessel for a Shard?

From the timeline given here, we know that this refers at least to the conflict involving Odium, Ambition, and Mercy, as well as Odium’s destruction of Devotion and Dominion. Whether or not he found any others of the Sixteen—maybe Virtuosity?—remains to be seen.

It makes sense that the Radiant spren were created deliberately by Honor and Cultivation, and that the more natural spren of Roshar were the lingering fragments of Adonalsium given new “flavor” after the Shattering. But the Bondsmith spren always struck me as strange outliers. Given this context, they make sense now.

Wind, Night, and Stone, given new shape but not entirely replaced. The Night is still a giant question mark, and maybe even more so now after Cultivation fled Roshar. What will become of the Nightwatcher?

I’m not sure I really like how on-the-nose the naming of the other planets in this system ended up being. Ashyn as a name, because it’s a planet of ash and fire? Too directly tied to English. Braize, because Rayse? Ehhhh. I do like Alaswha, though, as it carries the taste of something ancient and inscrutable.

So yeah, unfettered Surgebinding is definitely scary stuff. Microkinesis is almost certainly going to see a substantial “nerf” in the final, canonical accounting, but its capabilities as seen in Dragonsteel Prime are pretty crazy. Magical nukes, quite literally, are well within reason. I imagine the final version will look more like souped-up Dustbringing/Division—still pretty crazy, but not world-shatteringly powerful at the flick of a wrist.

But who knows? Maybe we’ll actually see some planets get nuked out of existence in the space age war between Scadrial and Roshar.

This has been mentioned twice now, and I itch to get answers. Was it something to do with Ambition as a Shard? Was it something specific to Uli Da, and her own personality? Maybe she was bullheaded or didn’t like the way they went about Shattering Adonalsium. Or maybe it’s because she was a Sho Del, a fain creature. Were they worried that she would spread fainlife throughout the Cosmere via her Shardic influence?

I can’t imagine any of those answers are coming anytime soon. Gotta be relevant to the Dragonsteel trilogy. But I sure wouldn’t complain about some details in, say, another letter to Hoid in book six…

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of Chapters 105 through 108![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 100-104 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapter 99, Interludes 15 and 16

Shallan confronts her mother, Dalinar meets with the Stormfather, and Dawnshards collide!

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on September 8, 2025

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Greetings Sanderfans! We’ve reached the end of Day Eight, can you believe it? We can’t believe it. This reread is just flying by, like Lift in a dream! This week we see Dalinar facing his painful past again as he prepares to meet Honor, while Shallan confronts her mother—her actual mother, not a memory. Then in the interludes, Rysn must go into hiding; Hoid is holding a WHAT?; and Odium is a vile, reprehensible creature… as we all know. Let’s dive in and let’s chat about all the things!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 99, the final chapter of Day Eight, is titled “Never Too Late.” We are still at Shallan’s wedding in the vision as she leaves Adolin to go after her mother, who flees when she realizes that Shallan is approaching her. Shallan catches up with her, though, and they talk. Shallan forgives Chana, though she thinks her mother may not be deserving of forgiveness. Still, Shallan offers it and when she does, it’s a truth that she speaks, not a lie. Painful, yes, but not a lie.

Chana tells Shallan how she broke and how the Desolation is her fault. Shallan disabuses her of this notion, but Chana says that she died again a few months ago but felt Shallan calling to her, pulling her mother to her. Then Shallan realizes this is really Chana—not her mother from the vision of her wedding, but actually her mother, there, as herself. Chana insists she must go and tells Shallan not to trust anyone but Taln. Then she’s gone, and a shadow falls across the room. Testament whispers that Odium is there and the vision breaks apart.

It’s also important to note that during this vision, as she prepares to confront Chana, Shallan tries to push the responsibility of facing her mother onto Radiant, who refuses. So Shallan shoulders the burden and takes the pain that comes along with this difficult encounter. I honestly don’t recall what, if anything, happens with Radiant in this book, so I’m going to speculate that Shallan is nearly ready to absorb her, too.

POV Shift!

Dalinar is still being shown the many horrible things that he’s done in the past. Then a vision coalesces and he finds himself in a room with several bunks. It’s the room in Rathalus where Evi died. A young boy speaks and Dalinar realizes that it’s Gavinor, though it doesn’t look like him. Dalinar tells him it’s Grampa and the boy cringes. Then Evi is there, having risen from one of the bunks. She assures another man that her husband will come.

Then they hear screaming. Dalinar leaves the room to intercept barrels of burning oil and then finds himself face to face with the Blackthorn. He wants to punch him but refrains. He sends Kadash to stop the killing and save as many civilians as he can. He sees Sadeas and doesn’t refrain from punching him.

Dalinar hears a voice speaking to him and comes to realize that it’s Nohadon. When that voice fades, Odium appears and speaks with Taravangian’s voice. Dalinar is terrified, as he knows that there is no one worse to hold the power of Odium. Taravangian tells him he must suffer and Dalinar looks down to see a glowing light forming on his chest. It’s Connecting him to something; when he touches it, he feels agony.

He takes hold of the light and begins to pull himself through the chaos. He stands and begins to walk, holding to the line of light, even though it’s agonizing. Odium offers to end his anguish; Dalinar ignores him, which seems to vex him.

Dalinar then steps into a vision… and finds a huddled old man weeping in the corner. It’s the Stormfather. Dalinar, immediately overcome by anger, calls him a liar—and then stops, thinks, and tries to choose a better path than anger and aggression. He touches the Stormfather’s shoulder and feels the same agony, realizing that’s what led him to this vision. He asks the Stormfather to show him what he remembers of Honor and the spren says that it hurts. He insists that Dalinar will hate him and Honor for what they did. Dalinar denies this.

And so the Stormfather touches Dalinar’s hand and takes him into a new vision with a god.

And so ends Day Eight, as Dalinar finally finds what he came to the Spiritual Realm to find: Honor. We’ll see how that goes for him in Day Nine!

Interlude 15 is a Rysn interlude! Our girl is at Urithiru for the signing of a treaty. It involves patents, of all things. Those silly Thaylens! But she does hold the patent on her chair and the fabrials that power it. And so the ardents agree to the treaty. Then Dalinar walks in, only Rysn can tell that it’s not actually Dalinar. She sees Hoid, and sees that he holds a Dawnshard.

Dun-dun-DUNNN!

Hoid/Dalinar orders everyone out and confronts Rysn, demanding to know who she is. She demands the same, in turn. Then a Sleepless shows up and the two Dawnshards begin to interact. Rysn finds herself pulled toward Hoid and knows that if they meet, she will be destroyed. Then Hoid says, simply, “NO” and Rysn is left lying on the floor. Hoid leaves, saying he’ll ensure that they won’t meet again.

The Sleepless, having been joined by another, discuss how Hoid had given up the Dawnshard previously, and that he was there when they were all used to kill a god. Rysn realizes that she must go into hiding lest Odium discover her, and she makes a plan…involving her ship.

Interlude 16 is an Odium interlude, of course, and is titled “Surprise.” The surprise in question is experienced by the power of the Shard when Dalinar, who had been a pawn to Odium, suddenly disappears from the Spiritual Realm. Odium realizes that only a Shard could hide Dalinar and that the power of Honor must be taking a hand in things. He feels that it’s becoming dangerous, having gone too long without a host, and contemplates destroying it.

And thus end the Interludes. As we go forward into Day Nine, Dalinar will be speaking with a god; Navani is… ???; Gavinor is at Odium’s disposal; Shallan has healed a smidge; Renarin and Rlain are… also ???; Adolin is doing his best to cope with his disability and the inevitable fall of Azir; Sigzil is facing annihilation on the Shattered Plains; Venli has been offered a deal by El; Szeth is preparing to finish his pilgrimage and become a Herald; and Kaladin, against the odds, is becoming quite the therapist… He has two clients now!

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs

A note here on the chapter arch Heralds… I looked ahead to the next “Day,” and this is the final day in which the Heralds are visible. After this point, all the figures are too worn away to be discernible, and are exactly the same for each chapter. So this will be the final Chapter Arch analysis section of this book, and I’m sad to see it go. Including the Heralds and how they relate to each chapter is one of the coolest of the subtle features Sanderson has worked into these books; but the deterioration of the arches also makes perfect sense. So, raise a glass with me to the Heralds, and the themes that they represented; from here on out, we’re on our own, Chickens!

Chapter 99’s Heralds are Shalash, Chana, Nalan (or maybe Vedel? I can’t be 100% sure) and Ishi. Shalash and Chana don’t need much explanation; Shalash is here for the Radiant of her order, Shallan. And Chana, of course, physically shows up in the chapter. Ishi also makes sense, as he’s the Herald of Bondsmiths, and Dalinar’s the other main POV character in this chapter. But Nalan (or Vedel)? I suppose Nalan could be the stand-in for Taravangian, who is acting as judge, jury, and executioner here. He’s also quite confident, which is another aspect of Nalan.

Rysn’s interlude features Kalak, Nalan, Palah, and the Joker/Wild Card. We’ll start with that last, as it’s the most obvious. That particular “Herald” icon is almost always indicative of Hoid, who appears in this chapter. Kalak, one of whose attributes is “builder,” makes sense as Rysn is an inventor and displaying that attribute of herself to full effect, here. Palah is likely here for the same reason, as her role is that of the scholar. Nalan, though… he’s a bit more of a mystery. Perhaps he’s here as Rysn is being particularly confident in her business dealings.

Odium’s brief little Interlude features Ishi in all four spaces. This makes sense, as it’s dealing with Dalinar, our resident Bondsmith.

Shallan

I love how, even at this moment, she still falters and almost falls. But Radiant and Veil are still here for her, pushing her forward into the light.

::confetti cannons::

And the big reveal! This was actually happening; it’s really Chana, and not just a vision of the past. I’m so glad for this, because otherwise Shallan may have felt that the conversation lacked true meaning or depth.

Dalinar

Oh, just wait, Dalinar.

Who wouldn’t want to relive the absolute worst day of their life? The day they literally murdered the one person who always believed the best of them?

This whole section is just chock-full of great motivational quotes.

Something that we all could be reminded of, from time to time, I think. Mistakes happen. We all flounder and fall. But we rise each time with the opportunity to be better people.

Oof. Even when he tried to do the right thing, it comes back to bite him.

Watching Dalinar’s growth from “guy who solves everything by punching it” to “wise counselor who spouts off deep thoughts about empathy and love” wasn’t on my bingo card when I started The Way of Kings, but boy, am I here for the ride.

Wow. That’s a hell of a statement, isn’t it? Reminds me a bit of good old Ender from Ender’s Game: “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.”

Rysn

Hooboy, if that doesn’t ring true… Your land might be at war, with soldiers fighting for their lives… but kids still need to be fed.

More’s the pity. Mobility devices should be on the top of the priority list. But we all know that some people would argue that without the military, people wouldn’t be alive to begin with to need those devices. (Despite the fact that war creates the need for so many more…)

After having come so far, to be forced to give it all away? How awful.

Five bucks says she’s heading off to worldhop. But hey… at least she had a choice in it. Not in the leaving…but in the journey, and the destination.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

This scene is one of my favorites in the entire book, for several reasons, but this one bit of dialogue is particularly fun from a theory perspective. How in the world was Chana able to be pulled into Shallan’s vision? The Oathpact works the way it does because Braize is a magnet, but somehow Shallan can simply call her mother’s Cognitive aspect into a Spiritual Realm vision, just like that?

And I’m sorry, but:

That is not a satisfying answer. There are an unfortunate amount of really crazy things that happen in Wind and Truth, things that open up all kinds of new avenues for Realmatic possibilities… and then are handwaved away with vague statements like this.

Oh, yeah, and… how did Chana die this time? Who killed her? Did she try to get back into the fight? Where did she show up, after breaking, and why wasn’t it with Taln outside of Kholinar?

Given what we know about Chana’s personality and role among the Heralds, I have to imagine she would’ve tried to find her way back into the struggle against Odium, regardless of whether or not she had her Honorblade. Taln and Shalash make it pretty darn clear that Heralds are walking killing machines with or without their Surges, especially when they have serious combat training. Taln’s obviously the most lethal, but Chana was the bodyguard—she certainly had a great deal of martial prowess.

Speaking of martial prowess, we have to at least touch on the Blackthorn here.

In retrospect, this appears to be the moment where the “Blackthorn spren,” as many have taken to calling it, that Retribution commandeers at the end of the book is manifested. The air warping, the unified moment, the translation of memories and emotions, all point toward a Connection-based action on Dalinar’s part. Good ol’ Bondsmith powers, at it again.

And then we get to the Stormfather, to Tanavast, to the Cognitive Shadow. We will be spending a great deal of time on the details of his memories in Day Nine, but this is still a big moment. There has always been a good amount of confusion around what, exactly, the Stormfather is. Through fairly early Words of Brandon, we “knew” that he was a Cognitive Shadow, that he was both sliver and splinter of Honor. But in execution, throughout especially Oathbringer, the Stormfather seemed too confused, too ignorant, for that to be the case.

Wind and Truth reveals the lie to it all. Tanavast was much more present than we imagined, and was obfuscating, hiding, and occasionally being outright false to Dalinar. But the time is nearly here for the truth to come out.

First, however, we have to check in with everyone’s favorite Thaylen merchant and hoverchair-using Dawnshard holder.

Rysn has always been a fun time for me, and becoming the holder of a Dawnshard only enhances that. This paragraph goes into more detail about the passive senses it grants her—life sense, perfect pitch, perfect color recognition—and it remains powerfully curious how much these directly align with the side effects of various Heightenings on Nalthis.

The easy explanation is that these are all simply side effects of being powerfully Invested, but we’ve seen many other highly Invested characters across many other books, and Sanderson never spends the same amount of time or exact wording drawing parallels between Breaths and Heightenings and any other Invested Arts.

Rysn’s Dawnshard appears to have the Intent of Change. There are certainly some mental gymnastics you can undertake to tie Endowment to Change, though other Shards (like Ruin and Cultivation, notably) would fit much more neatly. If so, why does Lift, for instance, not experience similar sense-enhancing effects when she’s full of Lifelight?

Of course there’s also the four-by-four theory of Dawnshards and Shards, thanks to the mural out in Aimia: that each of the four Dawnshards is tied to or responsible for the Intents of four Shards. If this is indeed the case, you have to imagine that the four Shards tied to Change are Cultivation, Ruin, Invention, and Endowment.

But that’s not all that’s interesting in this interlude. Oh no, no no no…

Hoid also has a Dawnshard! For so long, we operated under the same assumption as poor Nikli here, that Hoid once held it, but gave it up. The Sunlit Man reinforced that perception, though it also introduced complexities to things.

And now we know why. It really is clever, hiding the Dawnshard in plain sight, knowing that anyone aware of it and its history will discount Hoid because he used to hold Exist.

So this scene is pretty freaking harrowing. I have to think that, if they were to merge, the Dawnshards would generate at the very least an immediately destructive outpouring of energy. But was this merging what Shattered Adonalsium? We know the Dawnshards were involved, but not the actual mechanism. If the process actually involved merging all four of them and releasing a cataclysmic outburst of Investiture, I could see that being enough to cause the Shattering.

But either way, Rysn and her Sleepless buddies are going into hiding:

And I’m pretty sure this is the first step toward Shadesmar ships, culminating in the sort of stuff we just recently saw in Isles of the Emberdark, with the Dynamic.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday as we embark on Day Nine with our discussion of chapters 100 through 104![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapter 99, Interludes 15 and 16 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 95-98

Shallan revisits her wedding day, Adolin fumes, and Szeth tries to do right.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on August 25, 2025

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Happy Reread Monday, Cosmere Chickens! Who’s ready for a WEDDING?!

That’s right, at long last we get to see Shallan and Adolin’s wedding—and, more importantly, we get to see why that wedding was withheld from us the first time around. From unexpected guests to new and unexpected confidence and unexpected personal revelations, this week’s reread is full of surprises. Buff those formal shoes, dust off your fanciest Alethi party gowns and snazziest suits, and join us as we dance into the not-so-distant past…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

We open this week’s reread with chapter 95, titled “Because It Is Flawed.” We start with Adolin, trying to cope with the reality that half his leg is missing. He thinks about the soldiers who internalize their wounds, so that Regrowth won’t work for them, and wonders how to avoid that: Is it possible to not accept the injury, mentally speaking, in the hopes that he can receive Regrowth once everything is over? *sigh* Well, we know how that’s going to go, don’t we? He’s also told by the surgeon that soldiers with an injury such as his do not rejoin the ranks, as they would be a weak spot in the line.

To deal with this depressing thought, Adolin rejoins Yanagawn in his tent. The surgeon had interrupted a game of towers and once they resume, the young emperor makes a move that wins the game. He and Adolin talk of strategies and how much he’s learned… and then Adolin notices that Gezamal isn’t there. Yanagawn tells Adolin that the guard had been reassigned because he’d taken orders from Yanagawn and agreed to join him in leading the guards into battle. Adolin is rather disgusted with this, but Yanagawn tries explaining why it must be this way, according to Azish laws and beliefs.

Upon taking his leave, Adolin encounters Colot, who has found Gezamal and takes Adoliin to visit him.

POV Shift!

Szeth’s spren visits him, appearing in human form for the first time. Szeth is honored, but seems taken aback at the spren’s new, more uncertain demeanor. They speak of the Heralds and Szeth admits that he doesn’t really want to be a Herald. He grows anxious but is then soothed by the sound of Kaladin’s music from nearby. Finally, Szeth agrees to take on the responsibility of becoming a Herald. But he’s really not happy about it.

We know this isn’t his fate, but he accepts the burden despite his reticence. It would be a fitting end to his story arc, but alas, it isn’t meant to be. (I admit that I laughed at the description of the kind of person who would make a good Herald and the fact that Szeth didn’t immediately think of Kaladin.)

POV Shift!

Adolin and Colot find Gezamal cleaning latrines, which he must do in addition to his shifts fighting on the front lines. Adolin expresses his anger and frustration that he’s been demoted for reasons that Adolin sees as ridiculous, but Gezamal tries to explain that it’s right that he should have to deal with the consequences of his actions, as he knew that it would it cost when he’d made his choice in regards to Yanagawn joining the fray. He is at peace with his lot.

Adolin offers him a spot in his own guard, but Gezamal declines. Adolin leaves him to his duties, and he and Colot talk about Colot’s short stint as a Windrunner squire. He still feels badly that he was rejected by the spren, but he continues to do what needs to be done in spite of that hurt. Then he’s called away to oversee the fighting and Adolin is left alone. He knows they won’t last another day and a half.

Chapter 96 is a Szeth flashback titled “All They Had.” Szeth has just fled from the Voice after it finally revealed itself to him. He goes to his father, more than a little freaked out by what he’s seen. Neturo tries to calm him, asking Szeth what happened. Szeth doesn’t want to tell him and fears that he’s wrong. Neturo reassures his son, telling him that he trusts him, and Szeth asks how he can trust him when Szeth is so often wrong, and doesn’t know what to do.

But to Szeth, just wanting to do the right thing isn’t enough. He realizes that the answers to his questions might not even exist. Szeth decides that he has to do something about what he’s seen, and he tells Neturo to stay there and hide. Then he takes to the air.

Chapter 97 is titled “Characters From a Play.” We open on Shallan being overcome by a shadow that’s trying to take her to the moment she saw her mother again—at her wedding. She asserts her will and somehow manages to force the vision to begin a bit earlier than that, giving herself a bit more time to brace for that moment. She finds herself in her own body, being made up by Alethi makeup artists.

After opening gifts—and getting her pair of boots from Kaladin—she spends some time in solitude, where she’s supposed to meditate and pray. Instead, she talks to Pattern, who is there as present-day Pattern with present-day Testament. Testament tells Shallan to enjoy life; Shallan takes a moment to do so. She affirms that she deserves this and is determined to appreciate her chance to relive the wedding.

I won’t recount all the details, here, but I was very happy to read this section again and remember how lovely it was to finally get to see the wedding. That had been such a disappointment to me previously, that we hadn’t gotten to see the actual ceremony. But Brandon made it up to us! It was also nice that Testament got to see it, as she hadn’t attended when it actually happened. Shallan thought that some of the parts of her pattern straightened.

Then she saw her mother and acknowledged that after she had killed her… Chana, the Herald… She’d gone back to Braize and broken, starting the Return and the Desolation, and everything that came with it.

Chapter 98, “The Day of Truth,” is another Szeth flashback, picking up after he left his father, imploring Neturo to stay hidden. He lands at the Windrunner monastery the next morning and feels truly confident, like he’s the last hope of the Shin.

The ten shaman gather. They are defiant because Szeth killed Tuko and took his place, but he tells them of the Unmade. He tells them that the Voidbringers have returned and that the day of Truth is here. He bids them to gather people to fight, and they prepare to confront the other Honorbearers.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Chapter 95’s arch Heralds are Vedel, Taln, Nale, and Battah. Vedel and Taln are here for Adolin; the patron of the Edgedancers almost always corresponds to his chapters, and he is (as usual) the perfect soldier here, which accounts for Taln. Nale is discussed, as well as the bond between Skybreakers and their spren, and I think that Adolin is displaying Battah’s attribute of the wise counselor. (Either that, or Kushkam is.)

For such a short chapter, 96 sure does have a lot of Heralds in its arch! We’ve got Chana, Vedel, Taln, and Jezrien. My best guesses are that Chana’s here for her bravery (in relation to Szeth), Vedel for her attribute of “loving” (Neturo), Taln as the soldier (Szeth again) and Jezrien as the protector (Neturo). I like that they alternate in who they symbolize.

I find it incredibly odd that of the three Heralds in chapter 97’s arch (Ash, Jezrien, Vedel, and Ash again) none of them are Chana. For as big of an impact as her entrance has at the very end of the chapter, she does not appear in the arch. Ash is here twice, which makes sense as her Lightweaver is so prominent here. Jezrien is… more of a mystery. It’s possible that he’s here to stand in for Kaladin, who plays a bit of a part on the periphery. That would also make Vedel make sense, as she’d be representative of Adolin.

Chapter 98’s another short flashback chapter, but one with a lot of meaning behind it. Szeth finally discovers what he believes to be the truth, and the Heralds on the chapter arch reflect that. Jezrien, the leader. Battah, the counselor. Palah, the scholar. And Taln, the soldier. All of them represent aspects of Szeth as he takes this important but doomed step in a failed attempt to save his people.

Adolin

It does feel oddly like victim-blaming (of himself), doesn’t it? If he comes to terms with his loss, then the loss becomes permanent. Adding insult to literal injury. Although… perhaps “coming to terms with the loss” isn’t exactly right. Lopen certainly never let his disability get to him. He accepted the loss; but he also viewed himself as “whole” in whatever state he was, or wanted to be. Maybe trying to use Lopen as an example is a bad idea—he’s so unique in this regard!

I love this about Adolin, that his anger about losing his limb is focused almost entirely on the fact that he can’t help others because of it.

And of course Adolin doesn’t say anything about it. He wouldn’t want to insult Yanagawn, who has good intentions. The fact that he’s empathic enough to recognize and appreciate those good intentions despite how it makes him feel is another point in Adolin’s favor.

If only it were always so easy. Perhaps Adolin is thinking back to when he had to choose between the moral decision (killing Sadeas in cold blood) and the right one (going after him legally or in a duel instead) once. He lacked the power to make it the “right” decision at the time.

Interesting that he finds this contemptible. Adolin appears to believe that the world itself should reshape itself around what it is right; and in a way, he does manage to achieve that with the Unoathed.

Damn. That’s pretty deep. And it’s showing us that Adolin himself is also still flawed; even he can learn from other cultures and other perspectives, and from those who are older and wiser than he.

Kaladin

All the more touching that Kaladin eventually takes the place that Szeth should have had. It’s been so long since I read the end of this (in addition to the fact that the version I read is not this finalized version) that I don’t fully recall what Kaladin’s motives were, entirely, but at least part of the reason was sparing this poor traumatized man the pain of an immortal life. I’m sure that Kaladin has at least a cursory understanding of what immortality entails, especially given his recent discussions with Nale. So, to willingly accept that fate (even partially) on behalf of another is… well, a very Kaladin Stormblessed move, let’s be honest.

Interesting that the spren goes on to say that the perfect candidate follows orders unquestioningly. And this is why they never even considered Kaladin; their goal was to create a puppet-Herald, not a thinking person with an agenda of their own. Is this because Nale simply can’t trust anyone, after all these years of life?

Szeth

Sounds exactly like every panic attack I’ve ever had. Also, I feel compelled to link this.

I still maintain that Neturo is diametrically opposed to Lirin on the “toxic fatherhood” scale.

Szeth is the picture of confidence in this flashback chapter. It’s so interesting to see that this is how he could have been, if things had gone differently for him. He truly believes that what he’s doing is right, and who can blame him? The evidence appears, to all outward appearances, undeniable.

On to the Skybreaker monastery! And only one more remaining after that…

Shallan

What a powerful statement, and an important lesson to learn. We only have so many days in which to live; choosing to focus on the positive rather than the negative seems like it should be common sense, but in the moment it’s surprisingly difficult to put into action.

I’ve always said that Shallan and Kaladin never would have worked out. The two of them had too much baggage with the same luggage tags, if that makes sense.

If you weren’t lucky enough to make it to Dragonsteel Nexus last year (or even if you did and missed out on the ball, like me) you should check out this video that Darci Cole caught of Chana’s entrance to Shallan’s wedding. It’s incredible to realize that no one there (with the exception of staff and some beta readers) had any idea who Chana was or why she was there!

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Okay, so real talk.

This week is a placeholder, when it comes to my part of the discussion. It’s the preamble. It’s the lead-up.

I don’t have much to say of worth, here… but next time? Next time, oh buddy—we’re gonna get into it. Get ready for Chana. Get ready for Hoid. Get ready for Dawnshards, and future era Shadesmar, and Shardic theory, and this book setting the stage for potential endgame Cosmere madness.

It’s on its way, people. Come back in two weeks, and we’ll discuss!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections and posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

We’re off for Labor Day next week, so we’ll see you the following Monday (September 8^th) with our discussion of chapter 99—marking the end of Day Eight—and the next two interludes![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 95-98 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 91-94

In which harsh truths are faced, and past traumas revisited.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on August 18, 2025

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Happy reread Monday, Cosmere Chickens! Well… maybe “happy” isn’t quite the right word. We’re going to be diving into some very dark and potentially divisive topics this week, as we’re about to deal with some devastating revelations and moments of real trauma: Gavinor, being forced to watch as his beloved grandfather beats his father senseless. Dalinar, having to face the violent man he was—and in some ways, still is. Shallan, forcing herself to confront the truth which shattered her world as a child. And Szeth, who finally discovers the force which has been driving his entire life and finds that it is a monster. Though… as it turns out, he’s mistaken as to the exact kind of monster. Gather your strength of will and join us, hand in hand, as we venture into the darkness together.

Content Warning: Discussions of familial abuse and murder.

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 91 is titled “Recruiting” and opens with Dalinar landing in another vision. Only it’s different than any other vision he’s experienced: He’s in Elhokar’s body but he can’t see himself as he usually can. He only sees Elhokar… and he can sense his nephew’s feelings and thoughts. Then he sees the Cryptics from the corner of his eye and hears them speaking to Elhokar. Dalinar seems sad to fully understand that Elhokar was on a path to Radiance.

This scene is, of course, the one where Dalinar enters and beats Elhokar down, then tells him he’s courting Navani. We don’t see quite that far, but we see enough to know that Gavinor is in the body of a soldier and is watching as (younger) Dalinar defeats Elhokar/Dalinar. And Dalinar knows it’s Gav… and he understands that this vision is intentional, that Odium is manipulating the visions. And he wants Gavinor to witness Dalinar’s brutality toward his father. We know where this is going, but it’s still painful to watch it happening—and there’s nothing Dalinar can do to stop it.

POV Shift!

Jasnah is reeling at the revelation that Tarvangian is Odium’s new vessel. She thinks that perhaps Odium is deceiving her, so she looks for more information, asking how Taravangian came to possess the Shard. So he tells her. She’s still not entirely sure he’s actually Taravangian but figures that it doesn’t really matter… he isOdium. Taravangian tells her that he will be persuading Queen Fen to join with him and for Jasnah to prepare her arguments. They will be meeting in a day. And then he fades to mist.

Jasnah’s arguments will do no good, as we know, and she’ll be turned completely on her head during the doomed negotiations with Fen. This is probably one of the more disappointing plot arcs in this book; we expected so much more from Jasnah, but she is horribly outmatched by Odium that she doesn’t stand a chance.

POV Shift!

Venli is in the chamber with the pool that is Odium’s Perpendicularity, and a listener enters to say they’ve been discovered. She seals the room and exits the tunnel. Leshwi’s group had been discovered first and tried to distract their captors, but eventually the listeners are rounded up, as well. As Venli is a Regal, she’s taken up to the plateaus along with Leshwi and the other Heavenly Ones who had left Urithiru. They kneel before the Fused, seemingly terrified. Venli, however, is not afraid; she has faced Odium and though a Fused may kill her, she remains her own.

This Fused is El, as we discover when he speaks with no rhythm. He offers to make Venli a Fused and is interested in the fact that she and the others have chasmfiends who “follow” them. She demands time to consider and he allows this, though he tells her that he knows of the other listeners at the edge of the plateaus, stating this as a threat to Venli and the rest of the listeners. El departs and Leshwi, who has regained Gravitation, takes her back to the chasms. She tells Venli who El is and that he has no title. She mentions that he rarely lies, which in my opinion isn’t exactly reassuring. Still, Venli has to consider his offer in order to keep the rest of the listeners safe.

Chapter 92 is a very short Szeth flashback titled “Into the Blue” in which Szeth is flying. Or falling, rather. He wants to fall into the blue forever but eventually allows himself to land back upon the ground in a colorful city called Ayabiza, half a day’s walk from the Bondsmith monastery. He strolls through the town thinking of all of the changes in his life wrought by the Voice, and finally takes to the air again to go meet its source.

Chapter 93 is titled “White Carpet, Now Red” and we find Shallan amidst the tempest in the Spiritual Realm. She knows that it’s time to finally visit and accept the events of that day. And so she goes to that day, finds young Shallan in the garden with Testament, follows her to her mother’s chambers, and enters unceremoniously. There is a Skybreaker with her mother and he has a seon, which is formed into the shape of the head of Nale the Herald. He calls Shallan’s mother Chana and Shallan gets teary-eyed at the revelation that she must accept.

As she listens to their conversation, young Shallan still kneels outside the door as if the door were still closed (which it is, for her). Adult Shallan listens as Nale tells Chana that she must kill Shallan and that, if she doesn’t, the Skybreaker will. Young Shallan, warned by Testament, returns to her room and starts preparing to flee.

Adult Shallan stays to listen to the Skybreaker talk to her mother, the Herald Chana. Chana thinks that Shallan’s powers indicate that she’s replaced Chana as a Herald and that she, Chana, is now mortal. Chana seems to see adult Shallan and speaks directly to her, telling her that she’ll do a better job. Then Chana and the Skybreaker find young Shallan in her father’s chambers. While the Skybreaker subdues her father, her mother prepares to kill her, believing that she’ll come back as she’s now a Herald. But holding the knife, she hesitates—she does not strike, which gives young Shallan time to summon Testament as a Blade and kill Chana. Shallan then kills the Skybreaker.

Adult Shallan is nauseated, knowing that it’s her fault that the Fused had returned, because she sent Chana to Braize, and she broke, triggering a Desolation. Then she watches her father comfort young Shallan and knows that her mother is the one to blame for the whole situation. She kneels by her mother’s fallen form and Testament tells her that she doesn’t have to forgive her mother… adult Shallan agrees that she doesn’t have to, but that she wants to.

Then Pattern—Honor love him—says the following, adding levity to a tense situation:

He tells her that Chana must still be alive somewhere. Shallan knows, of course, and reveals that her mother was at her wedding.

Chapter 94 is yet another Szeth flashback, titled “Sacred Truth.” Szeth arrives at the Bondsmith monastery and reflects on one version of Taln’s sacrifice he’d been told, in which Taln volunteered to go back to Braize alone. These teachings had stated that the other Heralds had each demanded that he let them be the one to return, but that Taln had refused. The sheer arrogance of the Shin teaching this false history is infuriating. But… perhaps they were misled. They seem to be good at being misled.

Szeth speaks to the Voice, who directs him on where to go to meet it. As Szeth nears the place he’s being directed to go, he feels that something is very wrong. He tells the Voice that he senses something dark and the Voice basically pooh-poohs his concerns, telling him to ignore his instincts and keep going. Szeth continues and then the Voice asks if he’s ready to meet his God. Szeth steps into the tunnel and travels until he reaches a room… where spren are nailed to the walls.

The Voice tells him that the spren need to learn their true master, that the Voice can transform them into better versions of themselves. As the Voice grows nearer through a tunnel, Szeth realizes that it’s an Umade, one who could take spren and twist them to her own ends. He knows that he must make a decision, and that decision is to turn and flee.

And so Szeth seals his fate to become Truthless and be cast out of Shinovar. Poor Szeth… these flashbacks make me feel so very sorry for him.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Chapter 91’s chapter arch Heralds are Palah, Nale, Battah, and Kalak. Palah most likely stands in for Jasnah, the quintessential scholar. Nale is harder to place… none of the characters this week seem to align with his attributes of Just/Confident, nor do we see any Skybreakers. Maybe he’s standing in for El, who is certainly confident. I would also make a case that he’s symbolically linked with Dalinar, who spends most of this chapter judging himself (and finding his past self wanting). Battah is patron of the Elsecallers, so a Jasnah stand-in… but her attributes of Wise/Careful can also be seen in Venli’s interactions with El. Lastly, we see Kalak, which tracks for a chapter in which Venli shows up.

Chapter 92 features Jezrien, Kalak, Shalash, and Ishar—a lot of Heralds, for such a short chapter. I’d assume that Jezrien is here for the Wind. Kalak for the incredible city of Ayabiza; I wouldn’t be surprised if it was he who designed that fabled sewer system. Shalash, for the beauty both of nature (as Szeth hangs in the balance between heaven and earth) and for the man-made beauty of the city he finds himself in. And last, Ishar, whom Szeth is going to meet.

Chapter 93 has a full chapter arch as well, portraying Palah, Chana (naturally), either Vedel or Nale (I think it’s Nale, since he physically appears), and Shalash. Chana and Nale play pretty big roles here which explain their presence (provided it’s him on the arch), and Shalash and Palah often show up in Shallan chapters, since she’s an artist/Lightweaver and a scholar, respectively.

Chapter 94: Ishi (Ishar), Herald of Luck, is patron of the Bondsmiths. His attributes are Pious/Guiding and his role is Priest. Talenelat (Talenel, Taln), Herald of War, is the patron of the Stonewards. His attributes are Dependable/Resourceful and his role is Soldier. Palah (Paliah) is the patron of the Truthwatchers. Her attributes are Learned/Giving and her role is Scholar. Ishi (Ishar), Herald of Luck, is patron of the Bondsmiths. His attributes are Pious/Guiding and his role is Priest.

Elhokar

That’s a LOT of pressure. No wonder Elhokar felt as if he had to put up a strong front, especially given Alethi societal expectations. Kings were expected to be powerful warriors, like Dalinar was. Elhokar, given everything we saw of him before he died, was not. If he’d not been killed (at the hands of a worthless traitor), he could have turned out to be more of a negotiator; someone willing to meet his opponent halfway, or even give ground on an agreement if it was the right thing to do. Or, on the flip side of the coin… he could have turned into an easily-led puppet, following whatever a strong-willed advisor told him to do, in order to avoid conflict. We did see some hints of this in how he asked Kaladin for advice on leadership. What do you think, gentle Chickens? Which path would he have followed?

Dalinar

Realizing one’s base nature and overcoming it are two very, very different things. It’s a Herculean task to change one of the fundamental aspects of your own personality or moderate actions and behavior that you make on instinct, without thought.

I’ve refrained from making correlations to current world events and politics in the reread up until now, but this one just feels too relevant to pass by. If you’d rather not think about current politics (and trust me, I understand that sentiment) best to skip this and go down to the next quoted excerpt.

I’m going to start off by stating that my opinions are my own and I’m not saying that Sanderson made these parallels intentionally, nor do my opinions reflect those of Reactor, Macmillan, or my co-authors on this article. Now, with that out of the way…

Dalinar, much like Donald Trump is doing right now, took an existing system of government and dismantled it because he thought he knew better than those who came before. I can’t say that I believe that Trump’s motives are as altruistic as Dalinar’s; he may very well believe that his actions are for the greater good, but I personally believe that he’s simply in it for money and power, bent on consolidating greater power and wealth not only for himself but for his family and the fellow billionaires who support him. But both Dalinar and Trump, whatever the difference in their motivations, became dictators in the most literal sense of the word. As I am writing this article, the president is enforcing a military state in Washington, D.C., despite that the fact that there’s no evidence to warrant such an action. It is the latest in a long series of disturbing power grabs and erosions of our long-held rights. Many of us have been watching this systemic destruction of the pillars holding up our constitutional republic for the last six months with trepidation and mounting horror, and I can’t help but wonder if the common Alethi experienced similar thoughts and fears as Dalinar took power.

A few caveats concerning this comparison; Alethkar was a monarchy, and only established for one (and a half) generation(s) before Dalinar took power. Dalinar also did make an attempt to preserve the status quo by naming Jasnah as Queen of Alethkar, while he took control of Urithiru and the residents there. So it’s encouraging that he did recognize that he needed to relinquish power and step back. But that was only after Dalinar had already removed the highprinces that didn’t agree with him and rebuilt the government as he wished it to be. Jasnah is trying to remedy some of these things (and Dalinar isn’t stopping her, another point to his credit), but that doesn’t change the fact that Dalinar imposed his will upon the many, without taking into account their wishes as representatives of their princedoms.

Perhaps this is my BA in English Lit talking, but I fully believe that literature—including fantasy and science fiction—exists in part to shine a light on current and historical events and sociological matters. Art is not created in a vacuum, and is almost always influenced, whether intentionally or subconsciously, by the events happening around us. We’ve seen Sanderson touch on cultural and sociological issues so often in this series, from LGBTQIA+ rights to disability awareness and neurodivergent representation, that to refrain from commenting on this, intentional on his part or not, feels like a disservice to the work and to our analysis of it.

Gavinor

Really, Sanderson? HAS THIS CHILD NOT BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH? (Of course we know the answer to this, given the end of the book, but still. Jeez. Gav’s being put through the ringer and then some.)

El

El is a fantastic villain because he’s so terrifyingly efficient. He respects his enemies, and hence he doesn’t underestimate them.

Venli

This is particularly poignant. Venli knows the price of submission to Odium; she knows better than anyone. But the fact that she is willing to consider it in order to save her people, and—more importantly—willing to put that choice in their hands rather than unilaterally deciding for them, is yet more proof of the incredible amount of growth she’s undergone.

Szeth

DING DING DING! We have a title drop!

Aside from that (thank you, MST3K, for conditioning me to always have to call that out), we see poor Szeth contemplating yet another change in his life. Who could blame him for procrastinating in this moment? Every time his life has changed so far, it has been for the worse. But this time, he has the strength the make the hard choice… the right choice. And his life does change for the worse, but at least it was his choice and not forced upon him.

Shallan

Interesting that we’re seeing this coming so soon after Szeth voicing almost the exact same sentiment in the previous chapter (and Lift a few chapters previous). Is Sanderson trying to convey that all children fear change on a fundamental level? I think it’s fair to say that most do, and perhaps this is a through-line in his work in general. Once authors have put out a certain amount of work, I firmly believe that certain patterns in themes and characteristics begin to become more and more apparent. (Stephen King and his inclinations to use writers as main characters or to write stories in which a community of misfits come together, for instance.) A whole article could be written on various thematic patterns and characteristics within Sanderson’s work, but for now we’ll move on, because we have a lot of big revelations for poor Shallan this week.

At long last, we have the full truth about Shallan’s parentage, and it’s no wonder that she’s been trying to ignore this for her whole life. Not only is her mother a Herald, seen by most at that time as almost gods… but she tries to kill her own daughter. It’s no wonder that this event almost destroyed the poor child, and caused her to foreswear her oaths to Testament.

It’s not clear if those “predispositions” he references are towards Radiancy… or madness.

Maybe both.

Facing her past is causing it to lose its hold over her. Finally.

Talk about trauma. Not only did her mother almost kill her… but now Shallan has to deal with the horrific knowledge that Chana might not have gone through with it. She killed her own mother out of self-defense, yes, but the child didn’t realize that it might not have been needed. The adult Shallan, however, now sees what the child could not.

I cannot fathom the strength of this young woman. To have this additional guilt and burden placed upon her, and to have the strength to shoulder it along with everything else… what an absolute legend.

There’s really only one response to this.

As always, this artwork is fabulous and provides a wonderful visualization to go along with the text. The Husked Ones, as a reminder, are the type that Kaladin fought in Rhythm of War, who drop their “husks” and recreate their bodies at the destination point. They utilize the Surge of Transportation. The Devastating Ones utilize the Surge of Division, disintegrating anything they can touch.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

We have a pretty short selection this week, with four short chapters (and one of those barely even a full scene—if beautifully written). Things kick off with Dalinar and Jasnah experiencing intense realizations, but it’s Venli’s POV that gives us our first bit of theory fodder.

Boy, it’s frustrating that we went through all of Wind and Truth and still don’t know much about El. He’s this enigmatic, threatening figure with unusually lenient attitudes. In fact, in many ways, El reminds me of Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars Expanded Universe—his focus on studying the art of his enemies to understand them, his unknown status for the protagonists and almost mythical status among the antagonists, his leadership role for a resurgent enemy… a surprising amount of it is all there.

Hmmm. I wonder if he’ll get killed by one of Retribution’s servants, someone who holds a trusted position under him.

We also find ourselves getting confirmation of one of the most notorious theories to ever pop up in the Stormlight fandom, thanks to Shallan’s memories. But first:

It seems maybe silly, but there really must have been a great deal of intermixing among the various secret groups and societies working on Roshar. Seons must be rare resources, given how dangerous the Sel subastral is, thanks to the Dor. And yet the Skybreakers have one here! My first guess is that the Ghostbloods brought a store of them and traded them for valuable information or access to places across Roshar; making friends with a Herald like Nale would be pretty darn important, I imagine. But seons seem much too useful and restricted for something like that. Maybe I simply don’t have a good sense of scale when it comes to how common they are. Maybe there’s a thriving seon trade, despite all the functional barriers?

And, sure, the Sons of Honor were working on interplanetary/inter-Cosmere travel. But they were barely at the point of reaching Braize, not even close to crossing to other systems—much less navigating one of the most dangerous areas of Shadesmar and returning with Invested resources from a possibly hostile and certainly powerful foreign power like Elantris.

Nale is working with Kalak, so maybe the Sons of Honor traded their knowledge of Stormlight/other Lights to the Ghostbloods for a seon. That might be of enough value, given how interested Kelsier is in transporting Investiture away from Connected locations.

I wonder how much more we’ll find out about these organizations in the back half, given how drastically the geopolitical landscape of Roshar has changed. The Ghostbloods are probably in disarray following the deaths of their two highest-ranking members and one of their most able agents. The Skybreakers lost their leader to the new Oathpact. The Sons of Honor have been totally dismantled, thanks to Shallan. The Seventeenth Shard has fled the planet entirely—assuming Demoux, Baon, and Galladon are either representative of their actions or (more likely) were in fact the sum total of their presence on Roshar.

Not a lot of fertile ground left to explore, I think. Unlike the Heralds…

So yeah, Shallan’s mother is the Herald Chana. And she was not just trying to find an escape from her duties, like most of the other Heralds, but she was actively trying to shape Shallan to replace her as a Herald.

It’s almost funny, in an ironic way, that this confirmation of a major fan theory showed that Chana was trying to fulfill another common theory—namely, that Shallan (and others like Dalinar, Lift, Venli, Jasnah, etc.) would become a Herald alongside Kaladin. Of course that’s not the case, at this point in time at least, but the shape of the story heading into the back five books does make me think there are more varied fates in store for the other nine flashback characters.

This is another revelation that makes me chuckle, given how much fan uproar there was after Oathbringer and the lack of a real wedding scene. I wasn’t a beta reader at the time, but I remember some people even accusing the beta readers as being at fault and convincing Brandon to remove the wedding scene.

Lyn: I remember this, and I remember being rather offended by it, because trust me, we wanted to see that scene just as much as anyone else!

Drew: Little did anyone know—including the beta readers, because that scene didn’t exist back in 2016—just why Brandon chose to keep the wedding off-page in Book Three.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

And please note that as always, we ask that you keep the discussion civil; we welcome your opinions as long as they are expressed in a constructive and respectful manner, in keeping with Reactor’s moderation policy.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 95 through 98![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 91-94 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 88-90

Featuring Szeth’s unexpected reunion, Venli’s major discovery, and Dalinar’s torment.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on August 11, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans, and welcome back to our Wind and Truth reread! This week we cover chapters 88, 89, and 90, and wow, are they packed full of gasp-inducing moments! Sigzil and his forces are desperately low on Stormlight… but he might have an idea. Dalinar is having a storm of a time in the Spiritual Realm, tormented by awful visions. Jasnah is facing defeat at Odium’s hand. Szeth faces someone from his past. And Venli finds something that Odium wants to protect very, very badly. It’s an exciting week, so let’s jump right in…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 88 is titled “Cycle of War” and opens with Sigzil and company having just dispatched Yelig-nar. It had taken a concentrated effort. While the defenders were focused on bringing down the Unmade, Narak Three was lost. They retreat to Narak Prime and drop the bridge into the chasm. Sigzil stands on the battlements, observing the celebrating singers, then turns to his new Radiant reinforcements, sent by Jasnah. But he has no Stormlight for them and Vienta estimates that they’ll run out completely by the end of the day or early the next. As they sit now, they have to hold out for two more days—and at least some of that time will see them fighting with no Stormlight. Sig speaks with General Winn, who compliments Sigzil’s leadership in the face of losing another close ally to a traitor, and they discuss the need for a new plan, given their dire situation. Sigzil instructs the general to call a planning meeting.

POV Shift!

Dalinar is consumed by the chaos of the Spiritual Realm. He sees face after bloody face, each dying. Then he sees himself conquering an unfamiliar world as the Blackthorn. He finds himself being taken through a vision from his past: the night Gavilar died. Then little Gavinor finds Dalinar and they’re cast back into the chaos together. Dalinar asks the power of the Spiritual Realm what will happen if he wins the contest and makes peace. But the things he sees tell him that war will come again, time and time again, because Odium will prompt humans to break their word. Then he tells the power, Honor’s power, that he needs it in order to truly defeat Odium. At this point, Odium snatches Gav away and sends Dalinar reeling through vision after horrifying vision.

Chapter 89 is titled “Revelations” and opens with Kaladin and his party approaching the Dustbringer monastery. Kaladin wonders what will happen as he struggles to retain the peace he’d experienced the previous night. He and Nale engage in some verbal sparring, arguing about whether laws are right just because they’re old, arguing about whether elders are wise just because they’re old. Kaladin gets frustrated, as Kaladin is wont to do. But then he remembers how Adolin used to listen to him and how much it helped him, so he tries that approach with Nale.

Kaladin says that perhaps he hasn’t listened to Nale enough and asks him to talk of his early days as a Herald. Nale seems suspicious but also smug at winning the argument. So he talks, and Szeth watches intently as the Herald recalls his first rebirth and how Odium would execute singers who wouldn’t kill for him and how, over centuries, had built groups of them who were “trained only for death.” Then he talks of how he stopped them and Kaladin asks if he remembers how it felt. Nale begins thinking back, and mentions wanting to see Lift again—but when Kaladin encourages him, he shuts down the conversation.

Kaladin sees that he tried to spur on the conversation too soon instead of just letting Nale talk. Szeth tells him it doesn’t matter, that the past is dead and that there’s an Unmade in Shinovar and it must be dealt with. Then Nale calls Szeth “Truthed” and Szeth seems pretty wowed by the Herald’s words. They approach a small town with people hiding behind doorways and a feeling of darkness in the air. Kaladin fears he’s led Szeth wrong because this place has obviously been corrupted and is clearly in need of help—so why should he be encouraging Szeth to stop fighting? Then he reminds himself that Szeth wants to stop fighting—and that he should be able to choose for himself when he puts down his weapons.

POV Shift!

Venli and her group finally reach the central plateaus and see that signs of the battle above are more obvious. Shouting and screaming, figures leaping across the chasms, bodies floating in the rivers. The chasmfiends want to eat the dead, which kind of cracks me up, but Venli and the others ask them not to and so they don’t.

They confer about what to do next. Venli says she feels it just ahead. Thude observes that’s the heart of Narak and a new member of the Five says that it’s calling to them. Venli has a moment of uncertainty, wondering if Odium is leading them into a trap, but is reassured by another member of the Five. Still, they call for a vote of the Five. As they discuss the matter, one asks why they need the answers they might find inside Narak. Leshwi joins the discussion and insists that they’ll be destroyed without the answers. But then her eyes begin to glow red and she admits that she’s still unable to fully resist Odium’s power. She suggests she stay back while the others go on.

The Five vote unanimously to continue. Venli senses that the tone is ahead… but also down. They reach the central plateau and Venli peeks into Shadesmar to see if any Fused are around. She sees none, but the tone is coming from beneath the ground. She touches the wall and the stones tell her she is nearly there. She opens a hole in the wall which reveals a tunnel. Thude instructs the others to stay back and Venli and the Five head down into the tunnel.

It’s getting so exciting!

POV Shift!

Jasnah and Fen have reached a compromise: The Radiants went to the Shattered Plains, while the bulk of Jasnah’s conventional troops remain at Thaylen City. Jasnah wishes that she could have sent Radiants to Adolin, but they don’t control that Oathgate. She knows that Emul and Tashikk have betrayed them; Jasnah feels that she should have seen that coming.

As Fen goes to discuss matters with the Merchant Council, Jasnah returns to Taln’s temple to project what might happen at the Shattered Plains. She is visited by none other than Odium who appears to her as “a black mist with a strange golden light at the core, tinged red on the outsides.” It billows toward her and she produces fearspren. She tells Odium he cannot hurt her and he assures her that he’s there to compliment her. Then he reveals himself to be Taravangian and announces that Thaylen City will fall by the following evening. And we all know how he will cause the city to fall. The conniving snake.

Chapter 90 is titled “Candle Before the Storm” and is a Szeth POV as he returns to the Dustbringer monastery. Nightblood is speaking to him and reports that the swords say they’re almost home. Szeth doesn’t know what that means and hands off the Honorblades to Kaladin. He asks Nale if he needs to worry about two Honorbearers attacking him again. Nale says that his test is of a different sort and that he will only face one foe. Szeth tells Kaladin and Syl that he doesn’t want their help today. Kaladin objects, but Szeth reiterates his request as Nale nods in approval.

As Szeth summons his Shardblade, he speaks to his spren, who says it’s been thinking about what it means to swear oaths, and states that it needs more time to figure things out. Szeth is amazed by this but proceeds into the monastery.

He sees a lone figure inside, wrapped in cloth, covering even her head. He dismisses his Blade and tells the figure that he will not fight her. His spren appears and tells Szeth he needs to fight, but Szeth is pondering how what’s happened in Shinovar could ever have come to pass. How they’d all been taken in, how even his father was taken in. He says nobody will tell him the truth and he must try to find answers, as the Dustbringer approaches him, running. Szeth wonders why the Honorbearers vanish to smoke when he kills them. His spren is growing frantic, insisting that he fight off the attack; instead, he uses his surges to avoid the Dustbringer’s Blade.

He asks his opponent what this is all about, but she’s growing frustrated and demands that he fight her. And in that moment, Szeth recognizes her voice. He looks into her eyes and knows his sister.

The Honorbearer swings her sword toward him but stops. She swings again but stops again. Szeth asks if they all let him win, if the whole thing has been a sham. His spren tells him that they all are supposed to try to kill him and again, his sister goes on the offensive, stopping just shy of killing him. She pulls the cloth from her face, revealing herself, and insists that he fight her, but he refuses.

Elid tells him that their mother is dead, that she had to hold her hand as she died. She says that their father is dead, taken by the Voice, but she looks away as she says it. He approaches her, feeling calm, and as he nears her, she dismisses her Blade and he embraces her. She says she’s supposed to kill him to prove she wasn’t weak, that she wasn’t Truthless. Then she begins to fade to mist as she tells him that the Oathpact is broken and reveals that they need him to take Jezrien’s place.

Szeth confronts Nale about not telling him they wanted him to be a Herald. Nale apparently doesn’t know that Taln never broke, and I find this to be completely unfair and I’m offended on Taln’s behalf! Humph! But Nale says they need to try, even though the others tell him it may not even work to bind the Fused.

Syl is shocked that Nale wants the singers to fail because his Skybreakers are fighting alongside them and Kaladin tells her you can’t use logic to convince someone who’s delusional. Then Szeth asks Nale if he’s insane for wanting Szeth as a Herald. Nale simply answers that he’s been told that they are insane. Then he tells Szeth there are two more monasteries to visit, and that his father is at the last one. Szeth balks, saying Elid told him their father was dead. Nale’s answer is shocking:

Dun-dun-dunnn…

POV Shift!

Sigzil is in a meeting where they’re trying to decide what to do next, desperately looking for a way to last two more days with a dwindling supply of Stormlight and little chance of holding the Oathgate. There’s a lot of discouragement amongst the leadership on the Shattered Plains. They’re outnumbered, they’re almost out of Stormlight, they’ve lost sixty Radiants and squires. It’s looking pretty bad. They discuss arranging troops on Narak Prime and Narak Two, which is the Oathgate plateau.

After the meeting, Sigzil asks General Winn what their chances are of lasting two more days. The general says maybe ten percent—”[w]ith heavy casualties.” Sig says that he maybe has an idea but that he wanted to see if anyone else had come up with anything better. He hasn’t worked out all the details because it seems like it might be impossible. He and Vienta have been looking over the fine points of the agreement for the contest and thinks they may have something. He says he needs time and Winn says they’ll give it to him before leaving.

Vienta can’t see how it will work, how they could trick the Fused into following them off the plateau. But Sigzil still feels he’s onto something and that he could solve the problem. Vienta is still reeling from hearing Leyten’s spren Ethenia screaming. Spren aren’t supposed to be able to die… She’s having an existential crisis, and Sig has no answers for her.

POV Shift!

Venli and the Five reach the end of the tunnel and find a golden pool of light. Timbre tells Venli of Cultivation’s pool in the mountains and that Honor has a pool that moves around. So this is Odium’s pool, and Timbre thinks it’s been hidden until now when someone came along who was bonded both to a spren of Odium and a spren of Honor.

Then one of their guards arrives down the tunnel to tell them that their Heavenly Ones have been discovered… by singers and an “extremely dangerous-looking Fused.”

And of course, that’s where the chapter ends, leaving us in suspense until next week!

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Chapter 88’s arch Heralds are Taln, Jezrien, Vedel, and Ishar. It’s somewhat rare to have four different Heralds, so let’s dig into what the meanings behind their appearances could be. Taln is likely here for his attributes as the resourceful, dependable soldier. That’s Sigzil to a T in this chapter; he’s finally found his footing as a resourceful soldier and leader despite his grief (or perhaps in part because of it). Jezrien actually shows up in the chapter, in addition to his protecting/leadership attributes, which Sigzil is also displaying. Vedel is a bit more nebulous. She’s the patron of the Edgedancers, whom we don’t see in this chapter, nor do we see a lot of healing or loving going on. Hmm. Bit of a mystery. Ishar is more obvious: He’s the patron of the Bondsmiths (representing Dalinar).

Moving on to chapter 89! Here we have Nale (he was a bit hard to make out), Palah (thank goodness for that hair), Kalak (whom I only managed to identify thanks to that little forelock of hair he’s got going), and Battah. Nale plays a part in the Kaladin chapter, which explains his presence. Palah, whose attributes are Learned/Giving and whose role is Scholar, is clearly standing in for Jasnah… as is Battah, most likely, as she’s not only patron of Jasnah’s order but also has attributes of Wise/Careful and… counselor? So probably representative of Kaladin, too. Kalak is the patron of the Willshapers, Venli’s order.

Finally, we have chapter 90. This arch features Chana, Jezrien, Palah (90% sure on this one, very hard to make out) and Kalak. Chana’s probably here for the connection to the Dustbringers—Szeth is in their monastery, after all. The revelation that Szeth is to take Jezrien’s place explains his presence. Kalak’s the patron of the Willshapers, here for Venli. And Palah… I’d say she represents Sigzil, the scholar turned soldier.

I want to start off with this quote from the opening of Chapter 88:

Seriously? That’s IT? That’s all we get?! This feels like such a cheat, doing this off-screen this way. Ugh. Okay, now that I have that off my chest, let’s turn to character analysis…

Sigzil

Oh, Sigzil. Every reminder that he’s finally found his place is another twist of the knife for those of us who know his fate.

Dalinar

This is especially prescient, considering what we know of Dalinar’s future. He’s about to be faced with an awful decision, an impossible decision… and only by standing fast to who he is NOW, the man he has become through all these trials and tribulations, will he have the strength to recognize the third, invisible path.

I haven’t struggled with alcoholism myself, but I have dear friends who have, and this rings incredibly true to the experiences they’ve described to me.

The most important step a man can take… the next one. I find it interesting that in a way, it’s referencing—either intentionally on the part of the author, or unintentionally but still recognizably—the 12-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dalinar has realized that he has a problem. He has examined his past errors, and seems to be in the process of trying to make amends and atone for them. This step in particular he seems to be struggling with, considering his relationship with his son.

Gavinor

I feel as if I have a very interesting connection with this bit of Gavinor’s character right now, as my own son is beginning to grapple with the concept of death for the first time as well. (He’s a bit older than Gav, but he’s also experienced much safer life situations than poor Gavinor.)

The concept of death is a huge, scary thing for a child to consider, and I think that we as adults can forget just how jarring that realization can be. We take for granted the fact that, yes, all of us will die someday and for the most part we just try to shove that to the back of our minds. It’s something we have no control over, so we live each day and, for the most part, we don’t fear impending death around every corner. (Well. Some of us do that, thanks a lot anxiety, but it’s on a different level than that of a child who’s just learned about the concept.) My son has asked me several times over the last few weeks when I and his father will die; how many years do we have left? When will HE die? What happens after? What will happen to him should we die before him? And I’ve been left struggling to give him answers that won’t downplay mortality while at the same time not scaring him unnecessarily. It’s a hard line to walk; and an even harder one for Dalinar, as Gavinor has had to grapple with death on a very intimate level. When you see your father slain right in front of you, you have to grow up very quickly. Death becomes not a nebulous shadow half-glimpsed in the distance, but a cloaked man with a scythe standing right beside you, his bony hand on your shoulder.

And now Gavinor is also having to deal with the realization that his grandfather, whom he relies on, isn’t perfect. This is something Adolin, a full-grown man, has been struggling with, so to expect little Gavinor to come to grips with it is unrealistic. And, of course, Odium is behind it all, pulling the strings of this sweet, traumatized child’s life in order to turn him into a game piece that he can maneuver into checkmate position against Dalinar.

The Heralds

I’d read a whole book on Kaladin interviewing the Heralds in Braize after the events of Wind and Truth.

Yet another example of the madness of the Heralds; and unfortunately, Jezrien won’t live long enough to benefit from Kaladin’s therapy.

And speaking of our favorite former Bridgeboy…

Kaladin

I do find it interesting that Kaladin is drawing on his own personal experiences in order to attempt to build a method of therapy from the ground up. It makes me wonder how many of the progenitors of early therapy also suffered from the very things that they helped others to overcome. Part of me wants to say that it feels… unscientific, too biased perhaps, to attempt to construct a method based primarily on one’s own experiences and not from an outsider (and therefore more unbiased) perspective. But then again, who better to assess whether the methods are working than one who has experienced them directly? I wonder what Navani would say about all this…

Ah yes…. People like talking about themselves. Kaladin learning that most obvious of facts a bit late in life, it seems. Better late than never?

Because he wants to, Kaladin reaffirmed. And every soldier should have the option to put down their spear if they choose to and are willing to pay the cost.

Just as he himself put down the spear, when he was ready.

Venli

I’m glad to see her questioning her actions here. As usual in a Venli chapter, it shows immense growth.

Szeth

Speaking of growth… back in books 1 and 2 I never would have imagined that we’d ever see Szeth smile about something. He and Nightblood (and Lift, I suppose) have such fascinating friendships. They definitely rate high on the unexpected companions list.

So this whole time they’ve been molding him into the soulless killer they needed. No empathy, no family, no friends, no country to call his own… just empty talent. A sword, thrust into the ground to complete the circle and seal the Oathpact.

…Of course, the Heralds didn’t factor in a certain Bridgeboy’s influence.

Elid

Another girl who has been through too much. Dragged from home to home, never finding a place to put down roots and form a community to replace the family that she’d lost… It’s no wonder Elid feels so betrayed by her little brother.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Ahhh, another Blackthorn vision. So many options for this one—maybe Nalthis? Taldain? Perhaps even Scadrial, given how foreign their architecture is to Rosharans?

The crazy thing here is how prophetic these feel. Sure, Dalinar himself seems to have been preserved from the grasp of Retribution, but we’ve got that crazy Blackthorn spren deal instead. And for those who have read Isles of the Emberdark, it’s pretty darn clear that Roshar isn’t hesitating to send people out to the stars…

Okay, so this is a potential bombshell. Is this a Jezrien-specific phenomenon, or is it universal to Heralds? Because this sounds exactly like the use of Fortune that Hoid leverages to find his way into the middle of important events. If it’s the same, what is the mechanism? Is it simply strong Connection to a Shard? If so, with which Shard does Hoid find this power?

If not (and I suspect not), I wonder what element of the Herald Investiture quiver lets them tap into this. Maybe something as-yet-unexplained with the Night? There are certainly some very strange elements waiting to have light shed upon them when it comes to the Nightwatcher. Heck, just look at Lift and her unique abilities…

The Old Magic remains largely inscrutable even after five of these books.

I have to give a shoutout to Brandon here for playing with some nice subtext. Of course, light/dark and heat/cold are not in fact opposites, but rather one is the absence of another.

The language here is directly subversive. This epigraph leads by saying that Light and anti-Light aren’t opposites, then brings up examples from “actual physical science.” And Navani connects her examples back to anti-Light with the word “likewise” but we know that dark and light are not mutually destructive, the way she implies; nor are heat and cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat, and dark is simply the absence of light.

Is this an indication that anti-Light is simply an absence of Light? Or can we assume from the inaccurate analogy here that there is something more to it, and anti-Light and Light are truly mutually destructive forces?

I tend toward the latter.

I still have issues with this. Why would this be less valuable? In practice, here (and elsewhere in this book), Division comes across as flashy but limited in range and power. But statements like this make is sound like a Skybreaker or Dustbringer should be able to wreck huge areas.

In a one-on-one duel, that ability should be extremely useful. One person can only move so far, after all, and if you can essentially cast an area-of-effect fireball, it stands to reason that you can probably catch your opponent in that area.

This line is one that has me waffling, on the other hand. From one perspective, this is important—fandom theories have been going HARD on the topic of rebuilding the Oathpact for more or less this reason. The Everstorm makes the prison irrelevant, since the souls of the Fused don’t go back to Braize.

But it also feels very on-the-nose, from a narrative sense. There are many moments in this book where it feels like Brandon is speaking directly to the fandom at large, trying to go “don’t worry, I hear you,” and it often rubs me the wrong way. It’s not quite breaking the fourth wall in a traditional sense, but, from my perspective, it feels like an accidental version of that.

Okay, so sure, many of the “big reveals” in Wind and Truth were guessed (and widely circulated as theories) years before the book came out. But this one came out of left field. The vast majority of fans assumed that Odium’s perpendicularity was on Braize, if they thought about it at all.

But nope—it’s on Roshar. Well… it was. We’ll, uh, get into that more at the end of the book.

Nevertheless, this was an excellent revelation and explained why the Shattered Plains were such an important location for so long, despite being in the boonies and feeling disconnected from the rest of civilization.

Odium has his fingers on Braize, of course, but he Invested on Roshar. Crazy stuff.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday for our discussion of chapters 91 through 94![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 88-90 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 86 and 87, Interludes 13 and 14

It’s Melishi versus Mishram, and Lift saves a chicken!

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on August 4, 2025

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Greetings, Sanderfans! Happy Monday and welcome back to our Wind and Truth reread. As Day 7 nears its end, we pick up with Dalinar snogging a Regal, witness Melishi the Bondsmith’s capture of Mishram, glimpse a more confident Renarin, and celebrate Lift finally getting to be the hero! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cheer! Come join us as we discuss the last two chapters of Day 7 and its two interludes (one of which is incredibly awesome!).

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Chapter 86 is titled “River of Light” and as it opens, we rejoin Kaladin as he continues with his mission to help Szeth. He plays the flute, he makes stew for Szeth—who pointedly asked for it after Nale was praising ration bars—and he talks to the Wind.

We actually see something of a breakthrough with Szeth. He talks to Kaladin about the choice he must make in terms of continuing to kill people, and Kaladin just listens and nods. Then Szeth says that he would welcome Kaladin’s thoughts. Well, here’s a twist!—Szeth actually asking Kaladin for guidance!

Instead of offering advice, though, Kaladin tells Szeth the story of when he was a slave, and another slave by the name of Goshel asked him to teach the rest of them to fight so that they could escape. Kal could tell that the man had been a soldier, and it eventually came to light that Goshel had killed his commanding officer. Szeth is appalled by this, of course, until Kaladin informs him that Goshel’s commanding officer had ordered Goshel to burn a village.

Szeth realizes why Kaladin told the story, because Szeth himself is being ordered to do something that he really doesn’t want to do, and doesn’t feel is right. But he also feels as if he has no choice but to continue killing the shaman at each monastery.

Kaladin asks Szeth how following orders is working out, in terms of his thoughts and emotions, and Szeth admits it’s not going well. I don’t know, though… I mean, Szeth seems to have improved his mindset since setting off on this quest with Kaladin. Just days ago, he was unwilling to listen to Kaladin at all and now he comes to him for advice. He joins him for stew in the evenings, he listens to Kaladin.

I think that just having someone to listen to you is a huge help; it’s why therapy is such a great thing. You talk about your issues with the therapist, they listen, they give you tools to use, as Kal does here, and they remind you of those things when you forget. Then they applaud your progress when you tell them the next time that you remembered you had the tools and used them correctly.

So at this point in the story, not looking ahead just yet, but Kaladin is starting to see some success in his therapy with Szeth. And it’s really awesome to follow along with this arc! I kind of can’t wait to talk to my therapist in a couple of weeks to tell her about this chapter. Szeth helps himself to another bowl of stew and wanders off. Kaladin resists the urge to go after him because Szeth must make his own choices. Thinking it through, Kaladin reaffirms that he has to live for himself.

Syl senses something different in the bond at this point, and asks Kaladin if something just changed. Kaladin says he doesn’t feel any different and Syl says she feels warmth and peace. It’s rather a nice moment

Then Szeth’s highspren shows up, asking for therapy. It’s touching and comical at the same time, to meet this spren, 12124. Considering the fact that we know where he’ll end up going and who he’ll end up going there with, it’s super cool to see him now, as a spren bonded to a human for the first time. He’s uncertain about who to listen to and how to behave. Kaladin suggests that 12124 talk to Szeth, listen to his opinions, and find out what he wants—and also not to be too hard on himself. It’s very sweet, and the highspren says he feels better and then vanishes.

Kaladin decides to take some stew to Nale, who he finds floating fifty feet above the ground. The Wind shows up asking Kaladin to help Nale. (Like he doesn’t have enough on his to-do list?) But then she shows Kaladin memories of the Herald standing up for people, fighting for them, protecting them. She doesn’t want the Heralds to die as they are, broken and miserable, she wants them to find peace again.

So not only is Kaladin using therapy to help Szeth, but he’s providing his services to Szeth’s spren, who will soon be Aux. And he’s supposed to somehow help Ishar. And now the Wind wants him to save Nale and the other Heralds? Our boy has his work cut out for him for the next few days!

POV Shift!

Shallan speaks with Renarin about what exactly Mishram said to him during their encounter. Rlain thinks they need to find her prison if only to keep it from Mraize, and Shallan agrees. Renarin is hesitant, though. Glys says that Mishram’s been manipulating their visions and Shallan asks the others if they saw Mishram’s face or anything odd in their last visions. Then she confesses that she changed her vision from one where she killed her mother to another, happier time.

Then Glys interrupts to alert Renarin that Dalinar and Navani are currently in an important moment in time, when Mishram was originally captured—so off they go to join the vision.

Chapter 87 is titled “Love and Betrayal” and opens with Dalinar (as Garith) being kissed by the Regal. He doesn’t pull away, but also doesn’t respond very enthusiastically, and she asks him if he’s all right, pointing out that that he had wanted to show the others. So at Dalinar’s urging, she tells the other Windrunners of how she and Garith met. The Windrunners are shocked, insisting that the singers are their enemies, and Dalinar argues that they’re people, the same as them

Then Dalinar gets a feeling that this vision isn’t going to end well when the Regal tells him that “she” agreed to come, and that his allies need to know that the singers’ new god is different. As Mishram approaches, Dalinar sees the face of the present-day imprisoned Mishram in the face of the Mishram in the vision. It flickers back and forth, and then settles on then Mishram.

Mishram suddenly senses the presence of the others—Melishi begins creeping up behind her with a large gemstone. Garith’s lover, upon seeing the Bondsmith, gets very excited, thinking that now the others will listen to him and they can forge a peace. Dalinar wishes he could tell Mishram to run, knowing what will happen, but he can only watch as Honor’s voice gives the order and Melishi imprisons the spren. Dalinar feels as if something in the world rips apart and the rhythms and tones of Roshar stopped for a few seconds before coming back. Then the singers all scream and change to Dullform right there in front of everyone. It’s rather ghastly.

As Garith confronts Honor for breaking their oath, Honor shows him a vision of Garith himself leaving thousands dead. Honor says that the Radiants will end up destroying Roshar. And finally, Dalinar understands the Recreance. All of the visions he’s seen, all of the information he’s gathered over the last days in the Spiritual Realm, and he finally understands.

Honor looks at Dalinar and admits that he’s the Stormfather. He says he must stop hiding them from Odium, that Dalinar is Odium’s now. And Dalinar is thrust back into the Spiritual Realm with no Connection. And Odium is there.

So, pretend we don’t know what will happen next: Dalinar has learned just about all he can in the Spiritual Realm and the Stormfather freaking abandons him to Odium. He has no Connection to Navani and Gavinor, and he still needs to find Honor and do what he came to this storming place to do…but it’s looking pretty dire!

POV Shift!

Renarin kneels beside the fallen Regal who had kissed Garith. He tells Rlain that he doesn’t blame Mishram for hating them but Rlain says that Mishram is wrong. He says that singers can love but they associate powerful emotions with him (meaning Odium)…though it doesn’t stop them from hating. They see Dalinar talking to “Honor” and Melishi hiding behind the god. Before heading that way, Renarin tells Garith that he’ll find a way to make it right and it’s almost as if the Windrunner looks directly at him and nods, tears in his eyes.

The vision unravels but Renarin hears what the Stormfather tells Dalinar about belonging to Odium’s. Then he’s thrust out of the vision, losing track of everyone for a moment. When they’re all back together, Renarin comments that they need a Connection to find Mishram. However, as they attempt to Connect to her by feeling how she and the other Unmade must have felt in that moment of betrayal, a shadow falls over them and Odium thrusts them apart, separating them until he has time to deal with them.

Thus ends Day Seven.

Interlude 13 is a Lift interlude and WOW! is it… well, awesome. I won’t recount the play-by-play, but we get to see Lift not only rescue her red chicken, but Zahel, as well. And he’s so impressed by her talent that he offers to teach her. After feeling inadequate and guilty over Gavinor’s loss for so long, and incompetent whenever she needed to do something, she finally stands up and says “Not today!” and truly becomes awesome. She realizes that she can’t be ten anymore, that she needs to grow, to learn. It’s quite a moment for her and I was captivated while rereading this section. I’m keeping it brief, here, but needless to say I got rather emotional…

Interlude 14 is, of course, an Odium interlude and it is titled “The Correct Future” and it’s very short. He plans to deal with Sja-anat’s “rats” at a later time; for now, he focuses on Dalinar. He feels that he has to break him down so he can rebuild him. Well, that’s terrifying. Odium’s going to hurt Dalinar in order to win, and we all know how he’s going to do that, don’t we? *sigh*

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Hoid’s influence is strong in this chapter, both in the music that Kaladin plays and the way he tries to guide Szeth and 12124 with stories and questions. Nale is also obvious, as he appears personally in the chapter as well as representing Szeth (and 12124 as well) as Skybreakers. And finally we have Palah (though I’ll note that I really had to zoom in and squint to figure out it was her), who’s probably here to represent our resident two Truthwatchers in the last part of the chapter.

This chapter’s a doozy, isn’t it? Fitting that we have a wide range of Heralds to represent it. Palah and Shalash are likely here as symbols of their respective Radiants, while Jezrien is here for Garith and Nale… hmm. Why is Nale here? He wasn’t present in the scene, nor were any of his Skybreakers. My best guess is that he’s here since Melishi is acting like a judge? But that’s a stretch.

Vedel being represented twice tracks, since she’s the Herald of the Edgedancers. The Wild Card, as usual, is here to represent Hoid’s influence on the scene – he’s the one casting the illusion on Lift to look like Navani, after all. And Chana? I think she’s here because Lift is displaying her trait of Bravery.

Finally. we have Odium’s interlude, and this one features: Nale, Ishar x2, and Vedel. This is a lot of Heralds for so short a chapter. Ishar can be explained by Dalinar’s presence as a Bondsmith and because Odium feels that he’s being pious and guiding Dalinar to a better future. Vedel, probably due to her attribute of healing; Odium (horrifically) thinks he’s doing that, too. And Nale, for justice. As always, Taravangian is justifying his own horrible acts under the lens of gentle, loving, guiding, justice. (Ugh.)

Kaladin

This is some nice lampshading of the fact that a good portion of the fandom also thought/hoped this in the leadup to this book.

Aside from that, however, it’s a good indicator of how far Kaladin has come. He’s come to terms with the fact that he doesn’t need to be the hero and save everyone all the time. (And yet, he sort of does anyway, doesn’t he?)

This one hits hard, considering the fact that he’s right. Leyten’s just died at this point.

So much progress, in (relatively) so short a time.

This recognition of having to be aware of his instincts and when they might be antithetical to his desires is another big step for him.

Szeth

He feels that he needs to atone for his sins; for the murders he carried out on the orders of others. His self-flagellation is understandable, if not necessarily warranted.

12124

Who hasn’t been there, trapped between two choices which feel equally as bad? If he does as his fellow Highspren demand, he ruins Szeth’s life. If he helps Szeth, he disappoints his “family” and his own kind. Caught between a rock and a greatshell.

The Heralds

I quite liked this whole exchange with the Wind, showing Kaladin all the good things that Nale did back when he was sane. It’s easy to forget that these characters were heroes for millennia, since all we see is the mad side of them. But they deserve a chance to heal, just like anyone else.

Shallan

I can’t get over how much progress Shallan has made since the last book, too. She’s not sticking her head in the sand anymore; just calmly acknowledging the horrors of her past, and setting them aside until she has time and energy to deal with them.

This seems like a direct result of her remembering that night when she told stories to her brothers. These flashbacks are helping her, despite BAM’s best efforts to the contrary.

Dalinar/Navani

I mentioned this last week, but it sure is a good thing that Navani is as understanding and mature as she is!

Dalinar

Honestly I’m surprised to see this type of introspection so late in the game for Dalinar. I’d have thought that he’d have had this particular revelation already—after all, Kaladin did, and he’s not nearly so old and “wise” as we expect Dalinar to be.

Ba-Ado-Mishram

Rather than taking the power for her own selfish means, she’s doing so to try to make peace and save her people.

Garith/Shmone

I can’t even imagine the heartbreak this poor Windrunner endured in this moment and the ones to come. To watch as your lover’s mind and personality are wrenched from them, never to be the same? It’s like an immediate version of Alzheimer’s, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

This is utterly heartbreaking.

The Radiants of Old

Suddenly it all becomes clear. The only reason these people abandoned their spren, their friends and bosom companions… their oaths… their occupations… their entire lives. They did it to save the world… the very reason they took their oaths to begin with, so required them to abandon them.

Rlain

Rlain consistently impresses me in how wise, empathic, and understanding of others he is. He quietly assesses situations and people, thinking deeply on them before voicing his opinion – if he does at all.

Awwwww he’s protecting him! Not that Renarin needs protection anymore, as we’ve seen, but it’s a sweet instinct regardless.

Lift

I don’t know who these people are who they put in charge of Lift, but they clearly don’t know our girl very well. At least they gave her a bunch of exotic foods, that’s actually a pretty good idea that might keep her distracted.

For about five minutes, anyway.

Ah, like most children, she just wants to be involved. Unfortunately, Adults are the ones choosing her future, and Adults tend to underestimate her based on her age and a desire to keep her safe. How dare they?

Ahhh, and here we see Lift find her maturity. Kind of. She’s blaming herself and thinks that if she just stays out of the way, things will be better… when in reality, the things that went wrong did so for a lot of varied reasons, of which she was only one small part.

I’m very glad that Lift has such a stalwart and true friend. After all she’s been through, she deserves one.

Even if he is a Voidbringer.

One can hardly blame her for that. Who wouldn’t want to be a hero?

Poor kid. She’s not alone. She has Wyndle, if she’d only recognize it.

Even Lift is accepting her flaws and moving past them in this book.

Taravangian/Odium

Sanderson is doing a really great job of blurring the language just enough to make first-time readers believe it, while showing re-readers (like us, dear Chickens) what’s really going on. The entire “sacrifice” was nothing but a ploy to get Cultivation off his back.

Maps

Kaladin, Szeth, Nale, and their Spren are just outside of the Dustbringer monastery when they see the Great Spren Migration over their heads, heading north towards the last three monasteries.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

We’ve briefly touched on the other faction of the Skybreakers, much earlier in the Readalong/Reread, but this is another good reminder about them—and a reminder that they’re active right now. This offshoot faction really feels like a big ole question mark.

Where are they? What are they doing? Why didn’t they come forward to speak with Dalinar’s Radiants? Why aren’t they fighting in the Desolation—or, if they are, what hidden battlefront are they on? Could they be deep in enemy territory, perhaps in Iri or Rira? I can’t help but think about the clashes the coalition forces have had with the Skybreakers in Rhythm of War and now on the Shattered Plains, and how much help it would have been to have their own contingent.

This whole conversation between Kaladin and the Wind is tantalizing. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said that Wind and Truth revealed so many new elements of the magic and world of Roshar, but I’ll say it again. There is clearly more to learn still about the Wind, Stone, and Night—and the Heralds! I think it’s easy to feel like we have a great understanding of them after this book, between the histories we saw through Dalinar’s eyes and the new insight from Taln and Nale and Ishar… but we have to remember that the back five books are supposedly going to focus a lot more on the Heralds.

Sanderson doesn’t reveal his secrets ahead of time. We may have a solid understanding of the history of the Heralds after Wind and Truth, but these moments with the Wind are lampshading some serious new potential with the Heralds in the coming years. There’s this, for instance:

It feels a tad innocuous in the moment, but Retribution recontextualizes so much about this. Having a sort of reverse ability to act upon Retribution via Honor could be a serious game-changer. And then of course there’s the spren, which we already know are protected by the new Oathpact, and the potential of Honor splitting off from Retribution (maybe being bound away from Taravangian by the collective Heralds?) and being re-established as a discrete Shard.

Lots to think about, here.

And, at long last, we get the true events of the Recreance.

Sure, the idea of Surgebinding unfettered was part of it. The Radiants didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Ashyn on Roshar. But the core of it, the unvarnished essence, was that Honor himself encouraged an utter betrayal of oaths. And speaking of betrayals?

The Stormfather is much, much more than Dalinar suspected, much more than he ever revealed. We’re not quite to the answers for that just yet, but we see a totally new side of him here. This is so far beyond the Stormfather lying, way back in the prologue. This is world-altering stuff.

And so we come to the end of Day Seven… but not the end of this week’s commentary! We still have the post-Day interludes, and one of them is just chock full of Cosmere goodness:

Lift is really growing up now, and part of that maturity is apparently getting thrown into the deep end of interplanetary Cosmere politics. She goes looking for her Aviar and finds who else but Vasher, tortured and imprisoned by the Ghostbloods. And not just any Ghostbloods:

Axindweth, a full Feruchemist. At this stage of the Cosmere, vanishingly rare and terrifyingly powerful.

And Lift beats her, despite her enhanced speed. She does it in such an impressive manner that she even gets the full attention of Vasher, who makes her an offer.

Lift’s unique ability to metabolize Investiture, combined with Vasher’s centuries of knowledge and combat skills, promises some truly incredible stuff to come in book six—which, if you recall, is planned to be the Lift flashback book. We’ve got a treat waiting for us on the far side of the Roshar gap.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday as we reach the beginning of Day Eight—join us for our discussion of chapters 88, 89, and 90![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 86 and 87, Interludes 13 and 14 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 84 and 85

Let’s talk about the single greatest scene we don’t get to see in this book…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on July 28, 2025

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Happy Monday, Sanderfans! We’re back at it this week with chapters 84 and 85, and so many things are happening! We get to see Adolin battling a thunderclast, witness Abidi the Monarch attempting to commit a major human rights violation and finding out what happens when Heralds decide to take a stand, and cheer at the tentative beginning of a long-awaited relationship! So join us as we discuss, dissect, and debate this week’s highlights…

Note that the book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

We had some real excitement last week, huh? And of course, things are still hopping on Roshar. We begin with chapter 84, titled “For the Broken” where we pick up with Adolin. As you recall, his last section ended with a storming thunderclast flinging him aside and stomping away toward the dome. Adolin tries to get up and can’t. He thinks back to Thaylen City, when another thunderclast had attacked, and Renarin had convinced his brother to get to safety, to let him handle it. Adolin, who was always so used to being the best, now feels obsolete. He’s not Radiant, therefore he’s nothing. (Of course, we all know he’s the best boy, he just needs reminding.)

Hmask helps Adolin to his feet and he calls Gallant to him in order to get in front of the thunderclast. He has a plan, because of course, he does. He’s Adolin Storming Kholin!

POV Shift!

Now comes one of my favorite scenes in the book—yeah, you know what it is: Ash is with Taln in the makeshift hospital. She thinks of him as the sibling she never had and she’s so guilt-ridden at leaving him to carry the burden that had belonged to them all. Then the fighting outside grows quiet, and Fused enter the hospital. Ash recognizes Abidi the Monarch, who orders the killing of the wounded. Then she notices another silence. Taln is no longer whispering his mantra.

He stands, and Ash calls the Fused fools for coming for the broken. Abidi recognizes them and flees. Such a chicken (and not the cool kind). Then comes one of the best lines in the book:

I know Lyndsey also talks about this below but I had to mention it, too… I get shivers every time I read that line. Damn, Brandon’s good at this writing thing!

POV Shift!

Adolin sends Gallant to safety and then climbs a watchtower where he’d been earlier in the day. He has part of an aluminum chain and poor Neziham’s Blade. He leaps from the tower onto the thunderclast, hooking the chain to the stone spikes jutting from its back. He stabs once, but it’s not enough to kill the thing. The monstrous stone creature shakes him off, but the chain holds him. Then he hears a chorus of voices telling him to grab and he reaches out and grabs onto the thunderclast’s back again. He manages to get close enough to its neck to stab it in the right place. Adolin may think he’s obsolete, but he absolutely isn’t. He killed that storming thing! But then the thunderclast falls on him. That wasn’t part of the plan.

POV Shift!

Renarin is no longer frightened. He is Radiant and he has a path. He creates a group of windows in the chaos of the Spiritual Realm and sees the others in their own visions, like he’d been in his as a child being bullied. Then one of the windows changes and Renarin sees Mishram. She’s angry, per usual, so he walks to the window and talks to her. Glys, hiding inside of Renarin, tells him that Mishram was somehow responsible for his vision of Adolin saving him from the bullying. Renarin asks her why she showed him that vision, and what she’s showed the others and why. She just glares, and replies she’ll destroy them and that she wants them to find her so she can destroy them. She fades away.

Renarin thinks that their only real option might be finding her prison and then hiding it, leaving the Ghostbloods to flounder around in the Spiritual Realm looking for it. Glys tells him that he must Connect to Mishram to find her, to anchor soul to soul.

Then Renarin goes to the window showing Rlain, who is alone in a room. Renarin enters the vision and the scene that so many fans have waited for is here! They talk honestly about how they’ve both felt unwanted and they enjoy a moment of silence together. Then, riddled with anxiety, Renarin begins a conversation about relationships with Rlain. Asking if it would work between human and listener. Rlain explains his failure at mateform, when he pursued a male listener instead of a female. Rlain talks of “personality compatibility” and says it’s what he’s wanted and Renarin asks if it’s worth trying.

Then they hold hands and Shallan, who’s watching them through the window, gets quite excited! I love that she’s rooting for them and celebrating the way she is. The whole scene is really sweet.

Chapter 85 is titled “Parley” and opens with Adolin regaining consciousness. His right leg is gone below the knee, having been crushed by the thunderclast. The Truthwatcher, Rahel, has tried to heal him, but she can’t regrow limbs. May tells him that a more experienced Radiant can give him his leg back once they return to Urithiru. Well, we know how that’s going to go. Poor Adolin.

May gives him a rundown of what’s happening at the dome. Adolin says he needs to get there as the most experienced field commander, since Notum has said that he hasn’t seen Kushkam in a while. Hmask helps Adolin up, then he and another of Adolin’s guard support him as they make their way toward the dome.

They encounter Yanagawn, dressed for battle, with his honor guard, staring at a field of corpses. Hundreds of dead bodies lay before them, mostly singers, including dozens of Fused. Together, they begin to pick their way across the field of dead. Notum arrives and gives a brief report, then asks Adolin how he managed to kill this many Fused. Adolin sees a pile of bodies and crawls to the top to find Taln and Ash. Taln is dead, pierced by a dozen lances, the crushed skull of a dead Fused in his hand. Ash, wounded and bleeding, sits behind him, holding a sword.

I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Adolin is awed, as are we all whenever we read this scene. I, for one, was slightly grumpy that we didn’t get to see the scene play out but hope that we’ll see it one day, in Taln’s flashback book. Please, Brandon! Please oh please oh please!

POV Shift!

Dalinar and Navani find themselves at a parley between Radiants and Regals. The Regals want more land and the Radiants aren’t willing to give it. The Regals depart, talks paused for now. Then the Windrunner they had connected to, Garith, insists that the singers will agree. Dalinar watches him and feels that he is, indeed, hiding something. He wonders if Garith is meeting with an Unmade in secret, if he’s a traitor.

Garith asks for more time to make the treaty work and departs. The Wind tells Dalinar to follow, though he can’t follow a Windrunner into the sky. Then Melishi speaks to Dalinar and says that tonight is the night, that they know where Garith will be, and that Garith is a traitor. Dalinar takes them to the place where Garith is. Dalinar is able to relate to the man that he forms a connection, zapping himself into Garith’s place.

Someone asks if “Garith” is sure about this. A group of three singers approach. A direform femalen that had been at the meeting stalks up to him… and kisses him.

And that’s it, that’s the end of the chapter! You can, of course, continue reading, or you can wait for next week—I, for one, am going to keep reading. *wink*

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

These Herald icons are getting harder and harder to identify! I had to really stare in order to spot the differences between Vedel and Shalash. I suspect it won’t be long before this particular section ceases to exist. But for now… chapter 84 features our boy Taln twice, Vedel, and Shalash. Taln and Shalash actually show up in the chapter (hoo boy does Taln show up, in more ways than one), and as for Vedel… she usually indicates a chapter in which Adolin is prominent, which he certainly is here.

Chapter 85’s arch Heralds are Ishar x2, Taln again, and Shalash again. Shalash and Taln are still here to represent their in-world counterparts who fought and died between chapters. Ishar, however, is likely representative of Dalinar and his attempts to figure out the truth about the Recreance.

Adolin

Adolin has so much going on, emotionally, between his (entirely understandable) daddy issues and faltering sense of self-worth. Who would have thought that the arrogant playboy we met in Way of Kings would become one of the most intricate, multi-layered characters in the series?!

That sense of responsibility drives him onward, much in the same way it does Peter Parker. With great power (or access to Shardplate), comes great responsibility. Adolin has never shirked his duty, despite his misgivings about his own abilities.

And so begins the most unexpected arc of the book (for me, anyway). I never expected Adolin to be this badly injured. Killed, maybe. But permanently (probably) disabled, removing his main source of self-worth (his fighting ability)? Nope, didn’t see that coming. We’ll be delving more into his denial/acceptance of his new reality in future weeks, but for now he’s strictly in a state of denial.

Abidi

Yikes. Tell me you’re genuinely evil without telling me you’re genuinely evil…

Unfortunately, he’s also right. Strategically, there’s some overlap with the play Sigzil is trying to make over on Narak; only in Sig’s case, it’s all a ploy. He’s hoping that the Singers will try to take the illusory gems for the same reason that Abidi gives here—to break the morale of the defenders. However, in Azir the prisoners are very real, and Abidi has every intention of killing them. It’s a good thing that he chose this particular hospital, because…

Taln

I can’t wait to get more background information on Taln, because this scene was so incredibly badass that I needed more. We don’t get to see any of this fight; it all happens off the page, and somehow that makes it even cooler. We as readers are left to fill in the blanks, and our own imaginations are probably concocting an even more amazing battle than anything that could be written.

What an undeniable badass. It’s not surprising when you think about it; he’s had millennia to train, to hone his fighting skills and his body. Just imagine the training sessions he and Kal are going to have…

Renarin

Having a set goal in mind to focus on can help to alleviate a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

When death loses its hold over you, anything becomes possible.

I see a lot of his brother in this act. Renarin looks up to and emulates Adolin in a lot of ways… and in this particular moment, he’s also embodying his Bridge Four ideals. He may not be a Windrunner, but he’s still protecting those who cannot protect themselves.

Empathy is a strange thing, sometimes. Bo-Ado-Mishram is also an outsider, so it does track that Renarin would be able to more easily connect with her on an emotional level.

I’d just like to point out how far Renarin has come. This glib little reply never would have come out of the meek, unassuming boy we met in The Way of Kings. He no longer allows his fears and anxieties to control him.

And this is an important lesson for Renarin to learn as well. Empathy isn’t always accurate. We can try to empathize with others, to read their meaning in body language or tone of voice, but in the end all we’re doing is guessing. The only way to know for sure is to ask.

This is incredibly mature thinking for a young man. But then, Renarin’s always been wise beyond his years.

God forbid people should have to make accommodations for others, right? ::attunes the Rhythm of Sarcasm::

In all seriousness, we see this a lot in how those with differences or disabilities are treated. Things are getting better in our real world, but they still have a long way to go in Roshar, so Renarin’s reaction here is completely understandable.

Rlain/Renarin

I’m not gonna lie, this is my favorite pairing in this book. (Not that I had a lot to choose from this time around, but I digress.) The way that Renarin and Rlain see similarities in one other, the way they connect and empathize about shared fears and social anxieties, the way they complete and support one another… it’s so well done. I also love the tension between the two. Opening up is hard, especially so when you fear rejection and have dealt with it so often in your past, as they both have. So, to find stability and understanding in one another… ::chef’s kiss::

I’ve often criticized Brandon for not writing romantic chemistry well, but he nailed it here. (He’s gotten way better at it in the last five years or so, but this scene in particular stands out to me, along with almost the entirety of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.)

And I’m going to address the elephant in the room, here. Well done for portraying the beginning of a touching, realistic m/m gay relationship between, while not main characters exactly (though Renarin may be a main character in the back five), at least important secondary characters. Brandon does so with a grace and understanding that I find impressive.

It can be hard to “write the other,” as they call it in writing circles. Far easier to write what you know, the perspectives and experiences closest to your own; you don’t risk getting things wrong or retreading the same old tired stereotypes, which can often be harmful (“bury your gays,” I’m looking at you). This burgeoning relationship between Rlain and Renarin is important not only for the characters themselves, but for those readers who can now see aspects of themselves represented on the page and know that their emotions and existence are both acknowledged and respected.

Shallan

Shallan standing in for a good portion of the readership who’ve been rooting for this moment for years. (I, for one, will join her.)

Dalinar

Interesting wording here. This implies a lack of willingness to concede points, to insist that HIS way is right, without bothering to make concessions for the other side.

We’ll get more into this next week, but hoo boy is it a good thing that Navani’s an understanding woman!

Garith

I appreciate Garith, for attempting to negotiate a real, lasting peace. The fact that he’s doing so partially because he’s in love with “the enemy” only makes it more poignant: A Rosharan Romeo and Juliet, if you will.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I have lost track of how many conversations I’ve had over the years, speculating about the nature of Cognitive Shadows and the Heralds in particular, wondering how they got their physical bodies.

There’s a reasonable amount of evidence to point toward Kelsier’s use of Hemalurgy to staple his Cognitive Shadow into a new body, but Hemalurgy is a brand-spanking-new concept on Roshar and we see nothing like it on Nalthis, either, where the Returned are another flavor of Cognitive Shadow.

It feels appropriate that Brandon chose this moment to reveal the method for the Heralds, manifesting from pure Investiture into physical form. This has been such a hot topic of speculation for so long that it deserves to have its moment alongside:

What an unbelievably awesome moment, and one that gives us a huge narrative hint of what sort of powers the Heralds possess. Sure, we’ve seen Taln snag a poison dart out of the air, but that’s nothing compared to this explosion of movement.

The Heralds, as we know on reread, can harness more primal powers of Roshar, moving at superhuman speeds independent of Surges or their Honorblades. And Taln stands out even among the Heralds for his prowess.

What a moment.

I’ve said it elsewhere, but I love that we weren’t actually shown the fighting here. I think it’s a situation where the imagination is better than any execution could’ve been. Maybe we’ll get this sequence in one of Taln’s flashbacks in Book Nine, but as it stands this is just a phenomenal moment.

But it wouldn’t be a Sanderson book if we weren’t being taunted with unknown information alongside such a big revelation, of course.

So much of the Spiritual Realm—and really Spiritual anything in the Cosmere—remains a mystery, even on a reread of Wind and Truth. A lot of what happens in these segments is served up with a healthy “well, we don’t really know why but it works” from one character or another. The fact that Enlightened spren apparently grant greater control over the Spiritual Realm for their Radiants vs. standard spren is one of these situations.

This has me considering bonds. Now, I don’t think that Renarin and Rlain bonded Mishram in anything like the traditional sense we readers have in our minds—no Nahel bond, certainly—but we know that there are multiple types of bonds. In Tress of the Emerald Sea, we learned about Luhel bonds, which involve a person exchanging something physical (typically water) in exchange for power. Would it not stand to reason that there might be more bonds possible?

Maybe something that Connects a spren to a soul, but without the strength of a Nahel bond and the exchange that happens there? Think about the different types of molecular bonds, and the relative strengths of intramolecular bonds and intermolecular forces—and from there, the various kinds of intermolecular forces, like hydrogen bonds or Van der Waals forces.

This seems like exactly the kind of thing Sanderson would take inspiration from when building the fundamental rules of Investiture and the Cosmere.

If so, I suspect that Renarin forges some kind of new bond with Ba-Ado-Mishram during this book, even if it’s not explicitly stated.

The next chapter is all about setting up the true cause of the Recreance, but we’ll get to that next week!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion article on chapters 86 and 87 plus the two interludes between the end of Day Seven and the beginning of Day Eight…[end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 84 and 85 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 81-83

Moash, thunderclasts, death rattles… Things are getting a bit dire.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on July 21, 2025

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This week’s installment of the Wind and Truth reread isn’t for the faint of heart, Cosmere Chickens. Things are looking Very, Very Bad for our heroes on several fronts, and losses and deaths abound. Moash viciously brings down another founding member of Bridge Four, a Shardbearer falls, and the Azimir dome crumbles. We’ll discuss all this and more as we dive into chapters 81, 82, and 83. Get your beverage of choice ready for some heartfelt salutes to the fallen, and let’s begin…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

Day 7 continues with chapter 81, “The Scholar With a Spear.” Our Radiants and soldiers are still doggedly defending Narak Prime. The plan is to trick the enemy forces into focusing on Narack Three rather than Narak Prime. They’ve set up a decoy: a Lightweaving of a store of infused gemstones that they only wished they had. Things are getting hairy, and then, amazingly, the singers and Fused head to Narak Three.

Then Sigzil gets a message from Leyten that they’ve found him. They’ve found Moash.

POV switch!

Adolin reveals a massive aluminum chain that he plans to use to trip the approaching thunderclast. He has the wagon on which the chain sits hooked up to Gallant, who is none too happy about it. They head toward the thunderclast, hoping to head it off. Neziham, the Azish Shardbearer who isn’t long for this world, is with Adolin, sent by Kushkam. They hear horns indicating a massive attack inside the dome but Adolin convinces him to stay to fight the thunderclast, telling Neziham where to aim his Blade to incapacitate the beast if they’re able to bring it down. 

At one point, Adolin conveys to Maya that he might need her. She pleads with him to let her finish her mission, saying she’s almost there. 

POV switch!

We get a short POV from Commandant Kushkam, leading the charge against the Deepest Ones who have literally begun rising up from the stones of the plaza in front of the dome.

POV switch!

When Sigzil arrives where Leyten has indicated that Moash would be, Leyten and his squires are fighting with no Stormlight and no Surges. Moash has a fabrial that cuts them off and they’re fighting him in the conventional way. Only Moash has access to Surges, and he has an Honorblade. Sig calls for the retreat, telling the others to get out—but he realizes that Moash is using Lashings to keep Leyten and the others from leaving. Then Leyten signals for his two remaining squires—Moash already got one of them—to flee to the sides, and he moves in to distract Moash.

Leyten grapples with Moash and a moment later, Sigzil is there and rams his special knife into Moash’s back. Moash turns to look at him and then Sigzil sees his eyes: diamond glowing with Voidlight. *shudder* Sig tries to engage and get Moash talking, telling him that he doesn’t have to do this. Moash claims he’s been betrayed in favor of the lighteyes, and suddenly Vienta realizes that Moash can see her, though she’s hidden. Sig tells her to go but then Moash lashes himself upward and slashes with a knife that bends the light. 

It’s not Vienta that he kills, but Leyten’s spren. Then he attacks Leyten himself, stabbing him in the chest with the anti-Stormlight knife. Moash—being the coward that he is—then flees as more soldiers approach. Sig cradles Leyten, who gives a death rattle as he dies; Drew talks about it below. Leyten speaks as Sigzil and says that he’s the Scholar with a Spear and that he dies by the hands of a friend. It’s really quite bone-chilling. Though, of course, we know that Moash doesn’t kill Sigzil in this book.

Chapter 82, “The Primary Purpose of Science,” opens with Navani, still appearing as Melishi in the vision when the Windrunner stood against the Skybreakers. She’s able to converse with the Sibling in real time, as they share a small Connection with Navani “close” to the tower. The Sibling says that they cannot bring Navani, Dalinar, and Gavinor back to the Physical Realm. They suggest that perhaps one of their siblings might know how, but Navani tells them that the Stormfather refuses to help. 

They lose their connection. Navani and Dalinar talk about Connection and, in short, determine that they need to Connect to the future vision of the Recreance. Dalinar says that they can’t trust what the Stormfather has told them. Navani says that the Sibling told her to follow the Windrunner, Garith.

In the midst of this, little Gav, who had fallen asleep in Dalinar’s lap, wakes to say he heard his father again. Of course, we know it’s not his father, and I begin to feel so much anger at what Odium is doing to him.

Navani creates a Connection to the near future of the vision and they appear in another vision, with the Windrunner they’ve been seeking, looking about a decade older—the same age he did when Dalinar first saw him in a vision of the Recreance, which began at Feverstone Keep.

POV shift!

Adolin does his best to wrap that chain around the thunderclast’s feet, but he’s not going to be nearly as successful as Luke was against that AT-AT. (For anyone too young to know what I’m taling about, see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man toppling Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War, where he references my Star Wars reference.)

POV shift!

Kushkam is still outside the dome, dazed after being near the impact of a boulder that had been dropped by a Heavenly One. He suddenly feels a shock of coldness and his mind clears. The young Edgedancer has given him Healing and he orders someone to get her a helmet and to keep her alive before he grabs a pike and heads back into the fighting. Then a group of enormous Fused burst from the dome. Kushkam sends orders to drop the firebombs.

POV shift!

Adolin runs for the loose end of the chain, planning to hook it around the thunderclast’s other foot. To no avail. The thunderclast kicks and throws Adolin down the street, leaving Adolin lying on the ground, every piece of plate cracked and leaking Stormlight. Then, tragically, the thunderclast literally smashes Neziham to a bloody pulp, breaks the aluminum chain, and continues on its trek toward the dome.

Chapter 83, a Szeth flashback chapter titled “Hired Blade,” takes place nine and a half years before present day. Szeth has dealt the killing blow to the Windrunner Honorbearer, Tuko-son-Tuko, who has some interesting things to say before he dies—and I’m not just talking about the death rattle. He says that he knew Szeth would come for him the moment they sent him to train. He calls Szeth one of Pozen’s “glassy-eyed sheep” and predicts that Szeth will be thrown away, too. He urges Szeth to walk away, insisting “[y]ou don’t have to follow him.” And then the death rattle. (Again, see Drew’s section for more on the death rattles.)

So Szeth has won and is the Windrunner Honorbearer. He’s annoyed at the other Honorbearers as they seem more intent on congratulating themselves than congratulating him. Then he’s left with Sivi and tells her that they used him to kill Tuko. Sivi says he was sent by the spren; he counters by saying that he was sent by all of them. Sivi admits that Tuko was talking of rebellion, of civil war. Then Szeth says he wants to meet the Voice. She hedges, but then the Voice speaks to them both: 

Dun-dun-dunnn…

Of course, this is what causes Szeth himself to rebel and then be cast out… but we’re not quite there yet!

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs and Maps

Chapter 81’s arch Heralds are Nale x2 and Vedel x2. Double the hooded Herald, double the… fun? Nah. There’s nothing fun about this chapter. I’d assume that we’re seeing Nale since Sigzil is fighting the Skybreakers over on Narak Prime, and Vedel is standing in for Adolin, as she usually does. 

What a strange assortment of Heralds we have on chapter 82. Ishar at least makes sense, as we do see quite a lot of our resident Bondsmiths Navani and Dalinar, not to mention Melishi. Battah (Herald of the Elsecallers, attributes of Wise/Careful and role of Counselor) seems out of left field, though… as does the Wild Card, whom we usually see in connection to Hoid. He’s nowhere to be seen in this chapter, or anything connected to him… and while I suppose several of the characters could be seen as exemplifying the attributes of Careful/Wise, it seems like a bit of a reach.

Chapter 83 is a Szeth flashback chapter, so it tracks that Ishar shows up twice in the decaying arch. Jezrien’s presence can be explained by the fact that Szeth wins his Honorblade here, defeating the Windrunner in battle. And Battah of the Elsecallers, our final arch Herald…? Well, she’s not here for Sivi (Willshaper) or Moss (Lightweaver). Pozen, however, who is the guiding force behind a lot of this, does hold the Elsecaller Honorblade.

Sigzil

As I’ve stated before, we’re being given some very heavy-handed signals here (if you know what to look for) that Sigzil’s new-found confidence is about to be destroyed. While this chapter isn’t the death blow, it’s certainly a fatal wound, symbolically and literally.

This standoff has been a long time coming. The rest of Bridge Four has just as much of a bone to pick with Moash as Kaladin does, now that he’s killed Teft in cold blood.

Adolin

Adolin underestimating himself once again. He’s anything but a “common man,” but of course we’ll see this revelation come full circle by the end of the book with the Unoathed.

Dear sweet Adolin, not even questioning his connection to his “inanimate” Plate, just as he never did to his Blade. He just accepts it, much like how people will bond with pretty much anything if you put googly eyes on it. 

And so we lose another Shardbearer, and Adolin loses another battle (or so he thinks in this moment) against a Thunderclast.

Leyten

Leyten proving to be a hero to the very last. He stands his ground in order to allow his squires to reach safety…

…at the expense of his own life. And so another original member of Bridge Four falls. ::pours one out for Leyten and raises a middle finger in Moash’s direction::

Moash 

I’m going to take a step back from my own personal hatred of the character to attempt to provide a more unbiased view of this statement in particular. In a way, Moash is the dark version of Kaladin; a Kaladin who didn’t come to a grudging acceptance of the ruling elite—who turned instead to violent revolution.

I can understand his motivation a bit more than I did… oh, let’s say about six months ago, and leave it at that.

Moash suffered a great deal under the yoke of the lighteyes, and his actions reflect those experiences. He didn’t befriend them like Kaladin did, he never saw the other side, the humanity of the ruling class. He didn’t want to see. Will his “eyes” ever be opened to this? Will he find redemption?

Time will tell.

An interesting turn for his character. It’s just a shame that the emotions he’s welcoming are all negative ones.

Navani

I’m often struck by how mature Navani is, and how deep of a thinker she is. She takes nothing for granted, examining everything from every angle. A true scientist, through and through.

And not only does she take the time to examine everything, she communicates her issues calmly and clearly! If every character involved in a love affair in a book would do this, we’d have a lot less novels!

Her ability to empathize and form connections is another facet of her thoughtfulness.

Dalinar 

Dalinar truly has come a long way from the man he was before. His brute-force approach never would have been able to account for the intricacies of world politics on this scale.

Szeth

This made me chuckle. Only Szeth would react to someone spitting blood in his face with a “fair, I deserved that.”

What a twisted life this poor boy had led, that he welcomes the chance for bloody retribution to be doled out to him.

Ouch. I don’t know what hurts more; the fact that it’s been so long since he’s seen his sister, or that the pain from that has finally abated.

Strategy

On the Narak front, we’re seeing the Skybreakers along with the Fused forces attacking Narak Prime. However, they turn mid-chapter to the fake gem archive on Narak Three, just as Sigzil had hoped they would.

Meanwhile, over in Azimir, the thunderclast and the Fused have arrived. The thunderclast begins moving towards the dome (shaded in blue below), and Deepest Ones arise from the plaza surrounding the dome to begin their own assault (represented by red Xs on the map). Things aren’t looking good for Adolin and company… especially when the Thunderclast kills the other Shardbearer, and the Fused crack open the dome like an overcooked egg.

Bad news for Azimir all around.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Moelach’s presence on the Shattered Plains means we still get some new death rattles, and this one of course stands out. On a first read, this appears to be prophecy of Sigzil’s death later in the book… but on reread we know that he avoids it by breaking his bond with Vienta.

Now, this would hardly be the first time that future sight is shown to be mutable in The Stormlight Archive. Renarin is probably the most obvious example, when Jasnah elects not to kill him in Oathbringer, but we have other instances as well. This seems to be the latest.

But there’s still an awful lot of runway for Moash, clearly. Who knows what lies in store for him in the back five (and maybe after)? Sigzil is obviously still alive in the future of the Cosmere, as we know thanks to The Sunlit Man, but he does have at least one new spren bond in his future. 

And then again, there’s the name used: Vyre. “Vyre” is a title, and while Moash currently holds that title, who’s to say that we won’t see some narrative echoes in another friend assuming that title much later?

I think this death rattle still has a strong chance of being true prophecy.

I always get a nice spike of joy whenever I see Nazh’s handwriting on one of these in-world maps or sketches. 

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Nazh has been hanging around for a while now. He works with Khriss (the author of the Ars Arcanum at the end of every book), he’s from Threnody originally, and he’s a sort of Cosmere James Bond. He gets into and out of tight places. Frequently.

The idea that Nazh got caught stealing this map and just had to spend four hours filling out forms, rather than being thrown into prison or caught fighting for his life, gives me a good chuckle. There’s a lot more to come with Nazh in the future of the Cosmere—including in the brand-new Isles of the Emberdark, which was just published on July 10. He’s a fascinating character.

Such a small, throwaway line. But such an important one nonetheless.

There are a lot of capital letters in the Cosmere, especially when it comes to the Invested Arts. Thanks to the metals charts in Mistborn, we know of the Spiritual attributes: Identity, Fortune, Connection, and of course Investiture itself. But undergirding all of them is a unifying operative.

Intent.

The Shards have Intents, the Dawnshards have Intents (Commands), and the utilization of Investiture itself requires Intent. And as Navani so rightly points out, perception affects intent.

Someone like Hoid, or Khriss, or Vasher, someone who has dedicated long spans of time to investigating the nature of Invested Arts, is much more capable with those powers than even someone naturally powerful, like Vin or Elend. They know and understand the limitations of different Invested Arts, and have spent a long time figuring out how to exploit them.

That’s how you have Hoid storing memories in Breaths, preventing himself from being overwhelmed by the weight of all the years he’s lived, or Vasher fueling his Divine Breath and continued existence with Stormlight rather than with a Breath per week.

I strongly suspect that the coming conflicts in the Cosmere will be driven by the pursuit of deeper knowledge just as much as they will by access to natural resources like metals or raw Investiture.

This is a particularly dense death rattle, without an immediately intuitive meaning. That said, the fact that it’s happening at all is just as interesting to me. This means that there was an Unmade active in Shinovar a decade previously—perhaps just before Moelach was lured to Kharbranth for Taraganvian’s hospital experiments.

It goes to show how corrupted Ishar truly was, that he was so ingrained in Shinovar but didn’t take action against one of his enemy’s greatest lieutenants.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet. 

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 84 and 85![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 81-83 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 78-80

Day Seven begins with visions of the past and foreboding for the future.

By Lyndsey Luther, Paige Vest, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on July 14, 2025

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Welcome to Day Seven, Cosmere Chickens! Things are certainly heating up on a lot of fronts this week. The war on the Shattered Plains is growing more desperate, Azimir is in deep, deep trouble, and Queen Fen of Thaylenah and Jasnah face a difficult decision. Meanwhile, in the Spiritual Realm, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain are having to face some hard truths about their pasts. We have a lot to delve into this week (as always), so please join in for this week’s installment of the Wind and Truth Reread!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

It’s Day 7, and we’re drawing ever closer to the contest of champions! Let’s dive in with chapter 78, “A True Radiant,” which opens with Sigzil planning out the next phase of his defense. He doubts himself, as he always does, but he speaks up for what he believes they should do and the other generals listen to him. They’re trying to keep the singers and Fused away from Narak Prime and the Oathgate, so they concoct a plan to draw the enemy where they want them to go, in order to keep the focus off of the Oathgate. At least for the time being. But as Sigzil knows all too well, they’re dangerously low on Stormlight and doing all they can to conserve it. This plotline is full of desperation, as are most of them in this book, but somehow the circumstances surrounding Sigzil and his troops and the situation in Azimir feel the most precarious as things stand at the start of Day 7.

Sig heads out and speaks to a few soldiers, trying to bolster their confidence, and it feels remarkably like what Adolin often does in terms of remembering names and speaking to as many soldiers as he can. It’s quite heartwarming. As he seeks out Leyten, he asks Vienta about how long they might last with the Stormlight they have. Her answer is not encouraging: She doesn’t think it likely that they’ll last three more days. When he finds Leyten, his friend is in a reflective mood, asking Sigzil, “[D]o I belong here?” He’s doubting himself, and doesn’t feel like he’s a true Radiant, but Sig invokes Kaladin and since Leyten respects their former commander, he accepts that Kaladin trusted them to be in charge. As he encourages Leyten, Sigzil realizes that he’s found himself. It’s extremely satisfying to see him accept what he’s become and embrace the challenge of leading:

POV Shift!

Venli and her comrades are in the chasms with the chasmfiends, heading toward Narak. They encounter an obstruction and the chasmfiends just pick them all up and carry them over it. Those big guys are quite handy! Venli talks with Leshwi, who doesn’t think she can go on, feeling useless and purposeless. Venli assures her that she was strong enough to walk away from Odium—and that was the hard part—and tells her that if she stays with the listeners, Leshwi won’t be a god among them, but she will be free.

Then there’s a cool moment, when Venli feels Curiosity from the big daddy chasmfiend; Venli guesses that he wants to know the source of the song as much as the listeners do. The chasmfiend, Thundercloud, finds a bridge wedged in the chasm and lifts Venli up to look at it. Another cool bit is how she projects to Thundercloud what the bridge would have looked like when it was new. I love the way they can communicate in these ways!

POV Shift!

Jasnah and Fen receive a message from the Windrunners who went to scout out the singer fleet on its way to Thaylen City. They confirm that the ships are full of rocks and that it’s a fake force. Fen knows that Jasnah now wants to move Radiants to the Shattered Plains, but she’s worried about her city and the likelihood of her people being attacked without those forces to protect them. Jasnah says she has Dalinar’s authority to send the Radiants and Fen doesn’t like that answer. Jasnah, however, is determined to do the most good, and she feels certain that means assisting the forces at Narak.

Chapter 79 is titled “The Rhythm of Longing” and features POVs from Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain. They’re each in a vision, embodying a past version of themselves, watching scenes transpire from their youth or, as in Rlain’s case, their relatively recent past. It’s a pretty straightforward chapter, with events we’ve read about before: Shallan remembers telling stories to her frightened brothers as they’re all hiding during a fight between their parents; Renarin is remembering a time Adolin rescued him from bullies; and Rlain is remembering when he “volunteered” to take dullform and be a spy among the humans. They’re all sad memories, but these experiences got our Radiants to where they are now.

Chapter 80 is titled “Seeing the Future” and starts with Adolin learning how to use binoculars. He thinks they’re incredible and says he wants a hundred of them, but Colot breaks it to him that there’s only one pair, and that Adolin is holding them. Peering through the binoculars, they observe some Heavenly Ones in the distance, and Adolin gets the feeling that something is going to happen today.

POV Shift!

Navani is in the past at Urithiru and she and Dalinar see people leaving with all of their belongings. They find the Tower Bondsmith of that day trying to mediate a talk between a Windrunner and a group of a hundred Skybreakers. Navani names him Melishi and Dalinar tries to send her close to him using Connection, but instead she finds herself in Melishi’s body.

The Windrunner is telling one of the Skybreakers that they need to stay together but one Skybreaker speaks for the others and she says that “the fight” is not their fight. The Windrunner disagrees and both he and the Skybreaker spokeswoman look to Melishi—Navani—to mediate. She doesn’t know what to say so she asks to discuss it in a calmer setting, which sets off the Skybreaker. She accuses the Windrunner of deception and running cons, and demands to know what he’s hiding. She knows where they came from and how humankind destroyed their old world and complains that the Windrunner and Melishi refuse to let her tell everyone. Then she reveals that they’ve already told everyone else the truth before she abruptly departs.

The Windrunner speaks with Melishi/Navani and he tells her he’ll gather the Radiants but that a fight is coming. Before he goes, Navani tries to get more information and asks him about the accusations that he’s been lying, and what he’s been lying about, but the Windrunner remains cold and unyielding, leaving without explaining.

POV Shift!

Back to Adolin, where he consults with Kushkam and they try to make a plan out of a seemingly hopeless situation. They discuss plugging the tunnels into the dome over the Oathgate and Kushkam says he’ll work on it. Adolin hears Maya saying that help is coming and, of course, thinks she’s bringing Windrunner spren. Kushkam doesn’t know what good that will do them, and Adolin feels much the same way.

As Adolin goes to check on his Plate, he encounters the young girl who wanted to join the Alethi army. He had sent her to May to learn archery but, unfortunately, she’s not very good at it; she’s just too small to draw a bow. May sends her off and has a pointed word with Adolin about the necessity of getting enough sleep. She’s too funny; she says she’s his ex, so she’s the closest thing his wife has to an advocate. It made me like her a lot more when she said that!

Notum shows up and says that he can see glimpses into Shadesmar but suddenly sees something very unsettling: a thunderclast soul. Adolin immediately runs outside, shouting and calling for his armor. Then he sees the hulking form rising from the field: The thunderclast has arrived.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs & Maps

Chapter 78 has an interesting blend of Heralds portrayed on its deteriorating arch. Battah, patron of the Elsecallers and the Counselor, serves two purposes here: She’s symbolic of a chapter in which Jasnah appears, and her role is also emblematic of Sigzil, who is functioning as a strategic counselor. Sig (and Queen Fen) are also displaying attributes of leadership, which accounts for Jezrien’s inclusion. And Kalak is here for Venli’s POV, in his position as patron of the Willshapers.

Chapter 79’s arch Heralds are Shalash, Palah, and Jezrien. This is a VERY heavily character-driven chapter, with deep dives into Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain’s pasts and events which shaped them into the people they are today. As such, Shalash (patron of the Lightweavers) and Palah (patron of the Truthwatchers) make sense to be included here. But why Jezrien? As has happened often times over the last couple months, I’m mystified as to his inclusion. We see no leadership (except in Eshonai’s actions, but that would be a stretch) or Windrunners here.

Finally, we have Jezrien, Vedel, and Battah heading up chapter 80. Jezrien likely represents Adolin, who’s making some big leadership and strategy decisions over in Azimir, as well as the Windrunner we see in Navani’s vision over in the Spiritual Realm. Battah can also stand for Adolin, as he’s serving as a wise counselor, carefully going over the tactics and studying the battlefield in order to hold out as long as possible. Vedel often appears on Adolin chapters, as the order he’s most closely aligned with are the Edgedancers.

Leyten

We can hardly blame Leyten for a touch of schadenfreude here. When someone sends you off to literally die for an imaginary offense, only the very best of people wouldn’t feel a touch of justice in watching this fate unfold.

Ah, imposter syndrome. And maybe a touch of survivor’s guilt as well.

Nothing like a heartfelt discussion in which two characters really connect and share their deepest insecurities to signal that one of them’s about to die.

Sigzil

And, speaking of things that narratively foreshadow the reader to coming events… What’s this, Sigzil, believing in himself? Well, obviously he’s about to get knocked down a peg (or in this case, a whole ladder). Otherwise how will he climb back up?

On the one hand, I’m happy for him that he’s finally found acceptance of his place and his value. On the other, knowing full well what’s about to happen to him… this is utterly heartbreaking.

Venli

This whole sequence of observations from Venli is truly beautiful. She has grown enough that she’s not focused on herself, but rather on the beauty of the nature around her. Her journey from self-absorbed jerk only out for herself to a fully realized, empathic individual is quite a thing to witness.

Leshwi/Venli

It’s wild, knowing where Venli started her character journey, to see her displaying this level of empathy for another.

On Leshwi’s side, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to change yourself when you’ve spent literal millennia as one thing… then having that taken from you, and having to not only rebuild who you are, but to lose the things you loved most (namely, flight). Leshwi is learning to grapple with a disability; it’s the equivalent of someone losing the ability to walk.

Queen Fen

I’m glad that Jasnah doesn’t immediately discount this fear, because it is a valid one. Queen Fen has a lot at risk here, and a huge amount of responsibility as the leader and protector of her people.

Jasnah

Interesting, and perhaps we can see a parallel here to Hoid, and a glimpse into why they were initially drawn to one another. Hoid has said that he’d be willing to watch one world burn to save the Cosmere as a whole; the “lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few” concept.

Shallan

But a new piece of information for us. We knew that Shallan’s childhood wasn’t a happy one, of course, but this all-too-real experience of a child watching their parents’ love fall apart is a revelation—especially given what we now know about Shallan’s mother. It seems as though Chana was trying to force herself into a new mold, to recreate herself, and it… was not going well. Was this because of her growing mental instability, or just because she’d spent so much of her long, long, long life as a soldier that her attempt at constraining herself to the bounds of a housewife simply wasn’t sustainable?

As a child of a broken family, I understand this all too well. Some of us do have a tendency to try to look back with rose-tinted glasses; we don’t want to think ill of the people who raised us and loved us.

A beautiful memory, and a beautiful gift she gave to her brothers. A moment of peace in a tumultuous household, and a thing that many storytellers and entertainers can relate to. Sometimes, as with people like Robin Williams, those carrying the heaviest burdens can also bring to others the greatest joy.

In a way, this almost seems like a melding of blood family and found family. They’re related by blood, but still actively choosing one another. In my opinion, this is the strongest bond there can be; shared history, blood, and experience alongside an active effort and choice to continue nurturing the relationship and one another.

Renarin

How perceptive of him! I’m not surprised that he missed it when he was younger; he was so focused on his own fear that the fear and pain of others wouldn’t be as obvious.

These social anxieties are so real, and reveal a deeply kind and naive little boy. Betrayal often hits people like Renarin the hardest.

You know, Sanderson could have gone the route of Renarin resenting Adolin for saving him, but I’m glad he went with the less cliché one. It also makes Renarin a more kind and relatable character, I think, that he resents himself rather than the person coming to his aid.

Hoo boy. This is an anxiety I’m intimately familiar with. When someone you trust betrays you, it cuts deep and leaves a scar that never really heals.

Adolin

This is an interesting observation, and one that several characters voice. I think what it all comes down to is that pesky “I am what I see myself to be” aspect of the Radiant powers. Adolin doesn’t ever see himself as a Radiant; he doesn’t want to take the Oaths, to be beholden so tightly to his word. And so he becomes something else, still protecting those who cannot protect themselves, but in his own way.

Rlain

Poor, poor Rlain. It seems like he’s unwanted and stuck on the outside wherever he goes. With the singers… with Bridge Four… with the people in Urithiru…

I went to see Elio (the new Pixar film) with my son this week and I can see some parallels here between how Elio felt unwanted and wanted to escape to an alien world. (Side note, but if you’ve enjoyed Pixar films in the past or have small kids, definitely go check Elio out, it’s one of their stronger films and doesn’t seem to be getting much of a media push.) In the past, we’ve discussed in this reread how Rlain’s exclusion is often due to unconscious racism, especially within Bridge Four. And his exclusion from his own people also appears to be, at least partially, because of prejudice; this time for his sexuality. It’s stated that he’d had an unfortunate encounter with another malen while in mateform, and the other singers never treated him the same afterward. Rlain says that he thought they found it amusing, but they’re still treating him like an outsider. Different. Not willing to conform, and unwanted because of it.

Don’t misunderstand me; It isn’t all due to prejudice. Part of it does just seem to be Rlain’s personality. But I don’t think the mateform incident helped any. The only person who’s ever really, truly wanted him around…

…is Renarin. ::swoon::

Ouch.

Navani

This is an interesting take, and not one I’d expect of Navani, to be quite honest. She has never seemed the type to trivialize protecting the downtrodden.

Zabra

I appreciate her drive, and I understand her need to be useful, to prove herself worthy, to protect her people. I also appreciate how she does listen to Adolin. Once he gives her a logical reason for why she can’t do certain things, she accepts it. She obviously doesn’t like it, and immediately comes up with a new idea that needs to be shot down, but she does listen.

Strategy

In this chapter, we see Sigzil debating with the other generals on the Shattered Plains over what to do with Narak. It is vital that they retain control of Narak Prime, and they go back and forth a bit on whether to pull their troops to defend that plateau alone, or guard the Oathgate on Narak Two.

Eventually Sigzil convinces them that the best strategic plan is to fool the enemy into thinking that they have reserves of Stormlight on Narak Three, drawing them to attack it in an effort to demoralize the troops in the remaining three days. In reality, those Stormlight reserves are an illusion, leading the enemy to waste precious time attacking a plateau with no strategic value.

Azimir

In my little diagram here, I’m assuming those columns to be horizontal rather than vertical, based on the “star pattern” description. I’m also going to assume that the Azish still have a ring of defenders along the outer edge, to stop the singers from leaving the dome. I’ve also drawn a super basic idea of how the hallways likely function; a twisting, labyrinthine warren intended to slow the enemy and force them into close-quarters fighting should they manage to exit the inner dome.

Adolin knows the Fused are on the way, which is going to strain their already weak defenses to the breaking point. And, even worse…

Here comes the thunderclast.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I feel like I’m the one who should be saying this, because the epigraphs in this part of the book aren’t all that exciting. Once upon a time, I harbored a hope that this letter was from Hoid to Valor, laying the groundwork for an epic Shardic-scale tragedy and love story. But I very quickly had to admit that, no, this is Hoid’s reply to Jasnah’s breakup letter.

Alas.

This is extra disappointing because my section this week is going to be so thin. These three chapters are packed to the brim with character development, introspection, and growth…but they hardly touch on the magical elements of the story and world at all. After a beefy write-up last week, we’ve got slim pickings now.

But that doesn’t mean we’ve got nothing.

On reread, we understand that Odium’s perpendicularity, hidden below Narak, was the main cause of the more violent meeting of the storms, back in Words of Radiance. Presumably, the growing strength of Odium is also why the Everstorm just plain defeated the highstorm over Narak earlier in Wind and Truth.

This has my mind thinking about other potential interactions between Shards, and the importance of perpendicularities. If Sazed had been more capable of action during The Lost Metal, what would have happened in Bilming? Would he have set off some kind of reaction by trying to intervene directly over Autonomy’s shardpool? What about Odium on Sel, or, perhaps most intriguingly, on Threnody? According to Khriss, Threnody doesn’t have a regular shardpool, but rather intermittent and temporary perpendicularities that pop up when some “morbid” event happens (possibly the creation of Shades). If Odium—or Retribution, now—went back to Threnody, we could see some truly crazy stuff happening.

A minor tidbit here, but an interesting one: Nale took over the Skybreakers shortly before the Recreance. He spent quite a long time after Aharietiam doing who-knows-what, before returning to the fold in his own twisted way.

And it seems it was his testimony about Ashyn and the destruction there that put some of the first cracks in the Radiants’ resolve.

Unfortunately, that’s all I’ve got, as far as noteworthy lore and theories go. Lyn’s expansive character breakdowns are the real feature this week, but never you worry—there’s plenty more to come!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 81, 82, and 83![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 78-80 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapter 77, Interludes 11 and 12

Godlike entities can be real jerks sometimes.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on July 7, 2025

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Good morning (or afternoon, or evening, depending on when you’re tuning in), Cosmere Chickens! Welcome to the End of Day Six! ::dramatic and suspenseful music sting:: Today we’ll be joining Dalinar in the Spiritual Realm as he finally reaches the moment he’s been searching for. We’ll also be checking in on two interludes, focusing first on Dyel (who?) and then… ::even more dramatic music sting:: Odium.

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

And so we come to the last chapter in Day 6: chapter 77, titled “Aharietiam.” Dun-dun-dunnn… It’s getting real, Sanderfans! Dalinar is, of course, searching for the Shard of Honor, and to aid him in that quest, he’s jumping from Desolation to Desolation, looking for insights which might allow him to become a Vessel for Honor. He thinks that doing so will help him to defeat Odium and regain control of most of Roshar… which we know won’t happen, but it’s jolly good of him to try! But that’s where we are in this particular plot arc, and so let’s see what’s going on!

Dalinar, Navani, and Gavinor were in a vision of a Desolation when a shadow fell over the vision and they were all pulled out and thrust back into the chaos of the Spiritual Realm. This shadow was Odium, taking notice after Mishram, imprisoned though she still is, speaks directly to Shallan. As they’re tossed back into the Spiritual Realm, Dalinar loses touch with Navani and Gav and is assaulted by visions of thousands of versions of himself from his past. He’s so overwhelmed that he asks the Stormfather for help, and is told that he’ll receive help if he leaves the Spiritual Realm and never returns. The Stormfather insists he had a plan and Dalinar needs to trust him, though he won’t tell Dalinar the plan. The Stormfather had a plan? One would think it would be wise to inform his freaking Radiant, right? Sneaky Stormfather…

Dalinar begs the Honorblade to take him to his destination, much farther than he’s been, and he bursts into a vision, promptly losing the Blade. He realizes that he’s in the vision where he saw the Honorblades in a circle, nine of them—all but Taln’s. He appears in the form of Chana and induces Jezrien to explain exactly how the Heralds hold the Fused on Braize. They approach Ishar as he’s speaking to Honor, who tells them that one individual might hold the lock that is their Oath in place, though it would crack the Oathpact. Then Honor unceremoniously nopes out, telling them that he needs distance from them. Just poof, gone. Byyyyeee…

Dalinar speaks up, questioning the decision to leave Taln alone, though Jezrien says they can still support him from this world, though he wishes others could replace the Heralds. Ishar says he’ll find a way, but that it will take time. Jezrien sets the tone for leaving their Honorblades by saying he can no longer wield his in good conscience after abandoning his friend. Also that he can feel himself putting his burden upon Taln. Ugh… if they felt it when they laid their burdens upon him and… and did it anyway? I’m giving a lot of side eye to the Heralds here. Serious side eye. Ishar states that he’ll let them give him some of their pain, a phrase which makes me cringe, I don’t know about you, Sanderfans. He also says he’ll explore the possibility of stepping into Honor’s place. Hmmm… definitely don’t think Ishy is suited for that!

Dalinar is able to pull Navani and Gavinor into the vision, though they’re not masquerading as anyone. Navani can listen to the Heralds talking but can’t ask questions or interact. Gav shows some maturity for his age, talking of learning from the visions to become a king… and so he can kill those who killed his father. Which should be a glaring red flag for Dalinar. He asks the Stormfather to take Gav home, to which the Stormfather replies that Dalinar himself should bring the boy home. He also admits to having been there at Aharietiem because he had to witness the event, which doesn’t jibe with him previously telling Dalinar that he didn’t exist before Honor died. Dalinar then tries to use the Stormfather as an anchor to take him to Honor’s death, I believe, but the Stormfather gives him hell, asserting that he never should have chosen Dalinar. Then he says that Dalinar will die in this realm and poof, he’s gone, too. These godlike entities are just jerks, aren’t they? “I don’t care what happens to you mewling humans, peace out!”

The vision fades and Dalinar is cast back into the maelstrom of the Spiritual Realm. He grasps his Connection to the Stormfather with one hand, and his Connection to Navani with the other, and painstakingly brings them together like when he united the Realms at Thaylen City. They arrive in a vision, in Urithiru, with a Windrunner Dalinar recognizes as the first Radiant to give up his Blade and break his Oaths. They’ve lost a day, but they’re in a vision just days before Honor dies.

Interlude 11 follows Dyel, a young Iriali girl who encounters some unusual visitors. Not unusual like the Owners (which are the singers), but definitely odd. We learn that Dyel’s grandfather was Ym, the cobbler murdered by Nale as he was becoming acquainted with a spren. Her mother has set up business in Ym’s old shop, and the strangers are having tea. She cleans and casually listens to them talking with one another, and we can recognize them as some familiar Worldhoppers (see Lyndsey’s section for more on that).

The strangers ask if she’s seen a prism of light that can climb walls and Dyel freaks out. She thinks that Nale has returned to kill her mother, since she is now Radiant because of a Truthwatcher spren, Uma. As the men begin to approach, Dyel’s mother arrives and everyone calms down. Hoid has left a letter for them, which Dyel fetches. It apparently contains nothing but his signature, alongside a crudely-drawn image of male genitalia. Gotta love our Hoid, don’t we, Sanderfans?

The strangers take their leave and then people begin shouting—the spren that lives in the harbor, a massive thing called Cusicesh, rises and tells the Iriali that it will be their guide for the Fifth Journey. Dyel’s mom has her fetch the go-bags… because, yes, Iriali have go-bags. Because, why wouldn’t they? When you’ve gotta go, who has time to pack? And so they head into Shadesmar, along with any Iriali who happened to be in a major city, so long to all you country folk! Farewell, Roshar! Oh, and the three strangers go along for the ride, too!

Interlude 12 is an Odium interlude, of course, and is titled “What Must Be Done.” I’ve gotta tell you, Sanderfans, these interludes are painful when one hated/hates Taravangian. It’s almost as bad as if we got a Moash interlude at the end of every day. (Ugh, I just shuddered in revulsion.) But, onward!

This interlude begins with Odium messing with Dalinar, only to be distracted by Cultivation’s forces assaulting Kharbranth! She says she won’t hurt the city’s inhabitants if Odium backs down and hilariously, he calls her a monster. Odium calling Cultivation a monster… *gales of laughter*

Cultivation had plants in his palace staff; they imprison his daughter and grandchildren, and in short order, she holds a proverbial knife to Taravangian’s throat. She tells him to back down, to agree to an armistice. They go back and forth, analyzing one another… and then Cultivation realizes with horror that Taravangian is creating a great tidal wave, sending it directly toward Kharbranth: “A lesson.”

Cultivation breaks, promising she will back down. Begs him to stop. But he states that the lesson isn’t just for her but for anyone who thinks they can find a chink in his armor. And I feel that this shows how much better a Vessel Koravellium is than Taravangian. She cares about more than her own damn designs and emotions and power. In my humble opinion, of course.

And so Odium destroys Kharbranth.

(Ha! Just kidding! As we know, he just lets Cultivation think that he’s murdered the entire population of his beloved city. Who’s the monster again?)

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs & Maps

Chapter 77’s Herald arch has Vedeledev (Vedel) in all four spots. Honestly, I would have expected Battar to make an appearance here (since Gavinor mentions remembering her as “Aunt Dova,” or even Chana (whose body Dalinar is inhabiting), Jezrien, Ishar… so many Heralds make an appearance in his scene. But none of them are used.

Vedel takes up all four spaces, which seems… odd. Dalinar does seem to be displaying some of her attributes (Loving/Healing) in his attempt to shield Gavinor from more trauma, but the chapter is more about his struggle with his own personality traits, so the “Loving/Healing” connection seems like a bit of a stretch. I’m really starting to believe that the symbolism of the Heralds and how they connect with the events of the chapters is breaking down just as much as the arches themselves.

Dyel’s mother has a mistspren, which means that she’s a true, uncorrupted Truthwatcher. That accounts for Palah showing up twice, given that the Truthwatchers are her order. The wild cards can stand for both Hoid (who left a letter here for our Worldhoppers) and the Worldhoppers themselves.

The Heralds that adorn Odium’s interlude point to how Odium views himself. Ishar embodies piety, and Odium’s “sacrifice” that he makes here is, to him, pious and self-sacrificing. Palah’s attributes are Learned/giving, and Vedel’s are Loving/Healing; we often see these two Heralds appearing in opposition to one another in Odium/Taravangian’s chapter headings, symbolizing the duality of his logical/emotional nature. Vedel is actually shown twice, as Odium is leaning more towards his emotional side in his reaction to having to “kill” his beloved city.

Dalinar

It’s telling that there are no positive incarnations of himself. Is that due to Odium’s influence on the Spiritual Realm, or Dalinar’s own poor self-image? Probably a bit of both.

Says something about Dalinar’s past that he associates this with kingship specifically and not war, doesn’t it? His whole life has been one of kings leading men into battle. I don’t think Dalinar would understand peace if he saw it—especially given that the last time he experienced it he was so drunk all the time that he barely knew what was happening around him.

That hard-won peace gave Dalinar nothing but PTSD and a haze of alcoholism.

This is some heavy foreshadowing for later, when Dalinar is forced into just this decision.

…I’ll take “things that will come back to bite Dalinar square in the tight patootie” for 500, Alex.

Fascinating battle of the wills between the two here. Each thinks they know better than the other what the world needs, and neither is willing to acquiesce.

Dalinar admits the truth of this, which I suppose is growth, in a way, for him. Admitting your own faults is the first step towards learning how to overcome or work with them.

Taln

Taln is a certifiable badass and one of the MVPs of this book—which is incredible considering that all of his action (and his death) takes place off the page, and we still know next to nothing about his deeper backstory and motivations.

Jezrien

What an awful dilemma. Relegate yourself to literally thousands of years of torture, to protect others… this is a similar through-line to Kaladin’s character arc in this book and his search for the next ideal. As a reminder, the final ideal for the Windrunners (or at least, for Kaladin—we don’t know if they differ slightly as the third ideal did) is this:

Is the decision that the Heralds made here the right one? Are they perhaps justified in prioritizing their own well-being rather than continuing to make martyrs of themselves? However… this does gloss over the fact that they left Taln to suffer the torture alone.

Well, I give him this at least: Unlike some characters (cough Moash cough), Jezrien regrets his actions and feels remorse. He does… until Ishar steps in, saying, “I can bear some of your pain.” He looked to Dalinar. “I can bear part of it for each of you.”

Ishar taking some of that guilt and pain away allows the Heralds to remain sane for a while longer. But by the modern era, most have still degenerated into insanity, Ishar most of all.

Honor

Good lord. This man can be such a chullhead. (Which is a much nicer word than the one I wish I could use; a much shorter one, which also starts with a c.)

Gavinor

OOF. This one is physically painful, considering…

This poor, poor, child. I truly hope that he finds some healing in the back five. Paging Therapist Kaladin Stormblessed!

Dyel

I find it fascinating that that was all it took for me to realize who this was. We only got one single interlude about Ym the cobbler, but he was so sweet and his death at the hands of Nale SO TRAGIC that I’ve always remembered him.

The Iriali religion is really interesting. I love how they cherish experiences and feel that they all add to one great shared experience; it’s a unique concept.

So do all who see such times, Frodo… Sorry. I had to. I don’t know if we’ll ever see this character again; she does seem to be a bit of a throwaway one. But you never know; perhaps we’ll see Dyel in another series down the line, in this fabled “fifth land.”

Hoid

::facepalm:: Really, Hoid? Though I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised.

Odium

He’s still “human” enough to feel for his family and his homeland. Or… does he?

On first read, this is incredibly shocking to us. Everything that we’ve seen of Taravangian up until this point has led us to believe that everything he’s done, he’s done in order to protect his home and his family and people. To turn around and destroy them now seems like character assassination at its deepest level: Has he allowed the power to corrupt him so fully that he’s willing to turn his back on everything and everyone he loves?

A very hard lesson indeed. Cold, ruthless, heartless. To sacrifice your own children and grandchildren, all you ever loved, on the altar of progress. But… it’s all a ruse. The following quote is from the final chapter of this book, so if you’re reading along for the first time, best to skip this:

Even Odium couldn’t bear to part with his beloved family. Maybe… just maybe… there’s still something there worth saving.

Cultivation

This is brilliantly ruthless planning on Cultivation’s part. She set up the move three steps back… but unfortunately, Taravangian’s still ahead of her.

Yikes. This is such a cold-hearted—yet logical—view of things. Cultivation can’t fight the immense power that she holds any more than Odium himself can.

Worldhopper Identities

I won’t get too much into the Worldhoppers’ specific Cosmere connections (that’s Drew’s territory), but I will take a moment to identify each of them for those who might not have figured out who they are:

This is Baon, from White Sand.

This is Galladon, who you may remember as Raoden’s grouchy friend from Elantris.

This is Demoux, one of Kelsier’s original band of rebels from the first Mistborn trilogy.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

I’m basically just putting a pin in this, here. Recent Cosmere books have introduced the idea of whole planets having strange Investiture-related attributes, whether it’s Braize here, or the fourth moon that crashed into Roshar, or Canticle’s batterylike qualities in The Sunlit Man. It seems Sanderson is setting up some future mysteries to dig into, even as we are largely nailing down the mechanics of individual Invested Arts.

We know via Word of Brandon that Adonalsium specifically created the Rosharan system, and had some purpose in mind for it. The ten gas giants remain an unexplained teaser; the fourth moon and Braize are getting their hype now. Whether this will be explained in the back five books or if this will be reserved for the space-age Cosmere works in the final Mistborn trilogy is the big question.

Boy, is there a lot to dig into in just this one passage. Let’s start with the number five.

Honor says that it’s a weak number due to lack of symmetry—something that makes sense in the context of The Stormlight Archive and Rosharan sensibilities. But it’s impossible to not read Shardic politics into this.

Five is the number most commonly associated with Endowment and Nalthis. Five Scholars. Fifth Heightening for Returned. Five Visions. Five times five gods in the Hallandren Court of the Gods. Endowment’s letter to Hoid is told through the epigraphs in Day Five. There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence to point toward that connection.

And here we have Honor being openly dismissive of that number. In her letter to Hoid, Endowment makes it clear that she’s sticking to the promise of isolation—perhaps something that would have driven a rift between her and Honor, who had no problem shacking up with his lover soon after the Shattering.

Honor also muses about the possibility of using four as a number. Again, he cites symmetry and equates it to power, but he also says it’s “Adonalsium’s four aspects.” This is wildly fascinating to me. The implication, I think, is that this is referring to the Dawnshards and their four Commands… but I’m hesitant to take that at face value.

After all, the Dawnshards were used against Adonalsium and seemed to be separate from Adonalsium long before the Shattering. Additionally, the idea of Commands being “aspects” doesn’t sit totally right with me. Something about the connotations of those words doesn’t totally jibe.

Now, there’s still plenty of reason to just say “yeah, that’s obviously what he means, Drew.” In Dawnshard, Rysn sees a mural depicting a representation of Adonalsium, in which Adonalsium is separated into four pieces (representing the Dawnshards), and those four each separated into four (representing the Shards). I wouldn’t blame anyone who takes that as sufficient evidence.

But if it’s not sufficient evidence, if these “aspects of Adonalsium” are something different, then we have another entire can of worms to be opened as the Cosmere continues on. Lots of potential there.

It’s our friends from the Seventeenth Shard, finally showing up again! Let’s all say hi to Demoux, Baon, and Galladon. Lyn pointed out their origins earlier, but this interlude shows a little more about them than even White Sand, Mistborn, and Elantris.

So this is probably the most noteworthy instance, at least to me. We saw in The Lost Metal that purified Dor could be used to power Selish magics even on other worlds. This is A Thing, because of Sel’s unique situation after Odium’s antics there—magic is regionally locked and the land itself is gaining some level of awareness, thanks to Odium shoving the splintered remains of Devotion and Dominion into the Cognitive Realm there.

But Galladon, as an Elantrian, has no problem using Stormlight to power AonDor. Purified Dor may have been one thing, since a) it’s already Selish in origin and b) it’s been wiped of any characteristics that would have tied it to the location. But Stormlight is Stormlight—Rosharan flavored… and Galladon cracks a sphere and uses it, no problemo.

We can assume that the Aons he’s crafting here utilize Rosharan geography, rather than Selish (just as Shai used Scadrian geography for hers in The Lost Metal), but I’m still trying to wrap my head around what kind of of doohickery Galladon used to make Stormlight accessible.

This interlude is wonderful, and harkens back to the early days of The Stormlight Archive, when we had basically no clue what was going on with anything and the interludes felt like totally off-the-wall randomness.

Galladon has some kind of Invested device (call it a fabrial if you like) that told them when a perpendicularity was going to open.

It’s this kind of teaser, this glimpse at the technology of more advanced, more hidden parts of the Cosmere, that keeps me excited for the future. Taldain had gunpowder a thousand years before Scadrial—what is their tech like now? What’s going on in Silverlight, where the most renowned scholar in the Cosmere founded a university?

And so the Iriali continue their Long Trail, seeking a new Land and ultimately a reunification with the One.

But hey, what’s this about Honor’s gateway? And what in the world is the mechanism for so many perpendicularities opening? What a bomb to drop and then just not explain. Again, this is why I like this interlude so much, bringing me back to the sensation of youthful ignorance that I had reading The Way of Kings fifteen years ago.

It’s a good sign that Sanderson can still find moments to spark that excitement, even so many books deep into the Cosmere.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday as we kick off Day Seven with our discussion of chapters 78, 79, and 80![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapter 77, Interludes 11 and 12 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 74-76

A death rattle, a surprising encounter with Mishram, and bad news…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on June 30, 2025

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Welcome to yet another Stormlight Reread Monday, Cosmere Chickens! Paige, Drew, and I invite you to join us on another deep dive into the novel as we experience a crushing loss along with Sigzil, come face to face with an Unmade, take a look back in time to watch a young Szeth beginning his pilgrimage, and witness Adolin receiving some very bad news. Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes this week, and they’ll get darker still before the end, so let’s discuss…

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

We haven’t seen Sigzil in a while, and it’s hard to witness his anguish in the opening of chapter 74, titled “What He Made Of Us,” as he’s screaming over his dying squire, Deti, who utters a Death Rattle:

Ugh, poor squire, Deti. And poor Sig. Raging, he rips into some direform Regals who are surrounding some of his soldiers, wielding Vienta as a dagger and a Heavenly One’s spear, which had drained Deti’s Stormlight. Its sphere is cracked, so as he stabs Regals, their voidlight leaks away into the night. Vienta tries to talk sense into him. He’s the commander; he can’t afford to kill in a rage. He needs to retreat. But he continues to attack until his logical side takes over and finally he retreats, abandoning Narak Four.

This was his plan, but he wishes they’d lasted longer—and also that his forces had more Stormlight. It’s in short supply as Dalinar has yet to return, so they have to ration it and they’re getting pummeled by Odium’s forces. Now they have to plan how to get the enemy to focus on Narak Three, the other plateau they can afford to lose. But first Sig informs Leyten and Skar that Moelach is there, based on the fact that Deti spoke a Death Rattle. Leyten states that Moelach doesn’t take part in fighting but Sig warns that there might be another Unmade in the area, as well. And, as a matter of fact, he’s right. He’s seen it, after all, hasn’t he? Sig then asks if they’d seen Moash and Leyten offers the perfect reply:

There won’t be, unfortunately, but it’s nice to hear the guys talking about it. *sigh*

POV SHIFT!

Back to Shallan, who emerges from the chaos of the Spiritual Realm to the outside of a vision. It’s as if she’s looking through a cloudy glass wall which forms a pillar surrounded by wooden scaffolding. Her spren appear, and then Renarin, Rlain, and their spren appear on another level of the scaffolding. She finds a good spot to peek in and observes a battle taking place on the other side. Dalinar and Navani have been moving through Desolations and they used the pillar in order to watch, seeing the early Knights Radiant but skipping over the days of Nohadon and the founding of the Radiants.

There has been no sign of the Ghostbloods they’re hunting, but they continue to follow Dalinar as the Ghostbloods believe that his quest will also lead them to Mishram, so they must be following him somehow, as well. They observe that the weapons and the battle tactics are more modern but that this is still long in the past. Rlain notes that the battles are against his people.

He’s not wrong, all of the fighting began with the arrival of the humans. They just destroy everything! Stupid humans.

Shallan points out that the singers did serve Odium. Rlain states that was because the other gods refused to help them. He asks if the only acceptable answer is that one people or another must be subjugated, as happened to his people. It’s rather an uncomfortable discussion between human and listener, but it’s an important one, because if the Fused and Odium’s forces win, they will subjugate the humans. If, on the other hand, the humans were to win, they would also want to subjugate the singers. Renarin tells him that his father is trying to end the war with peace and that there have to be other answers. Rlain is skeptical that it can end with peace, and I don’t blame him one bit for it.

Shallan wants to move to the top of a hill but Renarin says he can’t just zoom them around like with one of her maps. This really cracks me up. I know a lot of people don’t like familiar real-world expressions like “zoom” appearing in these books. They say it pulls them out of the story. It never pulls me out—I personally find it amusing, and I enjoy the way Brandon uses words like “zoom” and “awesome” in the books. What say you, Sanderfans? What are your thoughts on this topic?

Shallan asks Renarin to try to move their location and after some discussion with Glys, he’s able to jump them to a different hilltop. She sees Dalinar and Navani and they remind her of Adolin, which makes her smile. Oh, my heart. *sad face* Then she spies a darkened area and Renarin announces that Glys says it’s an Unmade: specifically, Mishram. Not the NOW Mishram, but it’s her in the historical vision. Shallan takes a moment to be annoyed at the fact that while they’d seen Unmade in other battles, they hadn’t been shown their creation, which remained a mystery even to the spren.

Shallan wants to go inside and interact with Mishram; after arguing with Renarin about it, Rlain agrees with Shallan. Promising to signal if something goes wrong, she enters the vision…

Chapter 75—ahh, so much for seeing Shallan approach Mishram in the vision, right? Soon, Sanderfans… soon. But this chapter is a Szeth flashback titled “Family” and it takes place sixteen years ago, around the same time as his last vision. It’s the day he’s to leave on his pilgrimage to train with all of the Honorblades (barring Taln’s), and he’s in the monastery’s rock garden, praying to a stone there with a vein of crystal running through its center. He asks for wisdom and touches the stone. And oddly…

This stone, of course, was brought from Ashyn, and it’s interesting that Szeth can feel that memory from the stone. He speaks to it, asks if it’s the spren he follows. And then the Voice pops up again and tells him that it hasn’t been ignoring him and that they will meet once his pilgrimage is complete. It says that it has orchestrated everything that has happened to Szeth and that his meaning is part of its meaning. And Szeth really needed that reminder that his life was not an accident. Poor Szeth, always needing validation from others.

Then Elid appears, interrupting his meditation; she tells him that their father is planning to follow him. Szeth feels relief at this; he says he didn’t think that his father would come with him, though he’s not surprised. Elid says Szeth needs to tell Neturo to stay because he’s built something there—he’s the mayor. Szeth says their father will do what he likes, that maybe he has reasons to go to the Willshaper monastery. Elid is shocked that Szeth knows about Sivi and asks if he thinks what they’re doing is wrong. He replies that their mother left him; Elid says she might come back, though she then argues that their father following Szeth every few months would mean the end of him and Sivi. Wishy-washy, that one.

They briefly talk about missing their mother and then Elid declares she’s not going on the pilgrimage and again tells Szeth to talk their father out of going. She calls out that she hates him as he leaves. Poor Szeth. And really, poor Elid, too. Her life was dramatically altered because of what Szeth went through, too. Following him from place to place first with her parents, and now just her father. She has never really had her own place, but she’s made this city her home and won’t be following Szeth again.

He leaves the monastery with only the clothes on his back and his sword, and is soon joined by his father. He asks his father to stay behind. Neturo asks if Szeth wants that or if he thinks it’s what he should want. Szeth tells him he has a life there with his family and Neturo tells him that going with Szeth is the only way he knows how to help. Szeth thanks him, grateful that his father is going with him despite telling him to stay behind.

Chapter 76 is titled “Concessions” and despite sporting an Adolin chapter icon, the chapter opens with Shallan inside the vision, in a dying singer body. She can speak to Pattern in her mind now and asks him to have them pull her out and put her in a different body, but then she sees Mishram approaching.

That’s not creepy at all. But as the mass reaches another dying singer, the hands and arms disappear and the mass of smoke turns into a female singer with billowing robes and long black hair. She leans over the dying singer and speaks to her, forming extra arms to hold her. Shallan whimpers at the pain in her side and Mishram turns to her… which kind of freaks her out. Mishram leans toward her and whispers for her to live, to heal. Shallan asks why Mishram healed her and she responds that he “does not love us… [so] we must love ourselves.” Shallan follows Mishram to where she’s healing another singer and asks what her plots are. Mishram tells her to live, feel, be. Shallan follows Mishram and lets Radiant take control. The Unmade has found a human, and Radiant asks Mishram if she will heal him. She says she cannot and would not, though she sings to him to make his transition more peaceful.

This really challenges our sense of Mishram as some kind of psychotic Unmade. We’ll know why she changed, of course, but it’s so sad to see how compassionate she was before she was betrayed.

When Mishram—the present day Mishram—suddenly SEES Shallan, it’s pretty freaking scary, to be perfectly honest. I know that I got the creeps from it, in a major way. They pull Shallan out of the vision and she creates a Lightweaving of herself to remain inside. Mishram rants about all the pain she’ll cause and Shallan asks why Odium is afraid of her, about whether she could replace Odium. Mishram feels taken aback and then Shallan is back in the Spiritual Realm, surrounded by Mishram’s essence.

And here we see Shallan’s oft repeated fixation, her guilt and fear that she’s killed or hurt everyone who has helped her, which has made her hesitate to kill Mraize when she’s had the opportunity. Of course, she hasn’t killed all of her mentors and allies—Adolin, Dalinar, and Jasnah are still alive, among others. She really needs to start working through this particular belief and coming to grips with her guilt.

Mishram’s essence reaches for Shallan but Rlain steps in front of her. I really love this part: Rlain, tall, in warform but wearing an Alethi uniform, protects her. Then Renarin steps up beside Rlain… and takes the listener’s hand. Mishram pauses and they try to convince her to help them to find her, explaining that it would be far better than their enemies finding her. And of course Mishram vanishes, leaving them no information to help them on their (Shallan’s) quest to locate her prison.

Mraize appears in the vision with a dagger as if he’s going to attack Shallan’s Lightweaving and then the vision falls apart. Odium is now searching for them, alerted by the fact that Mishram was seeing and speaking with them. Tumi announces they need to hide and they all disappear, leaving Shallan alone.

POV SHIFT!

Adolin! Yay! He’s playing towers with Yanagawn after sparring. They discuss the tactics of the game as it stands and Yanagawn makes a game-winning move. Then they discuss their troops and how exhausted they are, but Adolin assures the young emperor that they can win. (He’s wrong, in the sense that they can win the battle against the singers and Fused, but we all know what happens and we’ll get there.) The point is that Adolin never seems to let go of his optimism. His outlook will change once he’s injured, but at this point in the book, he’s still confident that they can hold out against the enemy.

They talk of other things, such as war “out there” among other planets. Yanagawn reveals that there are legends about other worlds in their records. Which is surprising, but kind of makes sense, in a way. Of course the Azish would have knowledge of other worlds!

It will come up later so I’ll mention that they use aluminum flatware and have candelabras and such that are made of aluminum. Adolin remarks that they might be able to use the metal, so the emperor arranges for some to be taken to the armory. Adolin’s guard switches and none other than Hmask enters the tent. Turns out that Yanagawn can speak Thaylen and Adolin finally learns the reason for Hmask’s loyalty toward him: His son was the child that Adolin rescued during the battle in Thaylen City when the Thunderclast was attacking. I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Scribes relay information to Noura. Adolin guesses that the reinforcements aren’t going to make it to Azimir in time. Emul and Tashikk have taken up with Odium and attacked the reinforcements so the Azish and Alethi forces in the city have three and a half days to hold out, alone and exhausted, against the singers and Fused. We know how it will go, but the sad thing about this turn of events is how downtrodden Adolin feels. The betrayal and subsequent loss of hope is hard to take, even for our optimistic Highprince.

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs & Maps

Chapter 74 begins with another degraded chapter arch, featuring Chana (who actually makes an appearance in the chapter), Kalak (Herald of the Willshapers) and Palah (Herald of the Truthwatchers) in two positions. Palah’s likely here for Renarin and Rlain, but Kalak’s a bit more of a mystery. We do know that he’s the only Herald who seemed to have a relationship with Mishram, calling her by shortened name… but that’s a hell of a reach. Even his attributes of Resolute/Builder don’t seem to make much sense. I suppose it could be for Sigzil, who’s resolutely holding Narak against the enemy.

Chapter 75, a Szeth flashback chapter, features Vedel, Ishar x2, and Taln. Taln’s Blade is mentioned in this chapter, and Ishar often shows up in Szeth’s flashback arches since he’s the Voice guiding Szeth on his journey. But Vedel…? Patron of the Edgedancers? My theory is that she’s symbolic of Szeth’s father, who is (as always) nothing short of amazing. Neturo insists on staying with his son and keeping their little family together, which is in line with Vedel’s attributes of “Loving/Healing.”

Finally, we have chapter 76’s arch, which features Shalash (I think), Vedel, and the Wild Card. (These Heralds are getting harder and harder to make out!) Shalash is here for Shallan, clearly. I suspect that the Wild Card is due to Yanagawn and Adolin’s discussion about the broader Cosmere. And Vedel is often used for Adolin’s POV chapters, since he’s closely linked to the Edgedancers.

In this week’s chapter, we see Sigzil’s forces (in blue) on the Shattered Plains retreating, yielding Narak Four to the enemy (in red). They plan to attempt to lure the enemy towards Narak Three next (circled in yellow below).

Sigzil

Sigzil’s POV, which starts off chapter 74, centers around the loss of his squire and the guilt of command. He’s doing a great job, but he’s still losing people, and dealing with the emotional aftermath of those losses is no easy feat. Thankfully he’s got Skar and Leyten to help him out. All three of them are gaining a newfound understanding of what drove Kaladin to leave the army.

Shallan

Shallan’s clearly still struggling with her mother’s identity, though she’s at least willing to face it now, though she hasn’t had time to really process this reality. She’s got more pressing matters to deal with before she can begin to dig into those implications. That’s strikingly mature for her, showing just how far she’s come.

An interesting note here on the bond between Pattern and Shallan. She’s been admitting a lot of hard truths to herself, so it makes sense that their bond is growing stronger.

Szeth

We can’t blame Szeth for being relieved at this. It must be incredibly validating to be reassured that you’re on the right path, that your life is meaningful. And to hear this from what is basically a deity, to Szeth? A hundred times more validating!

Of course he does. Being sent off alone is a terrifying prospect. The only constant in his life so far has been his father.

Neturo once again angling for that “best dad” award… not like he’s got a ton of competition, though. Dalinar, Elhokar, Lirin… most of the Rosharan daddies have some work to do on their fathering skills.

Elid

Both of the siblings have had rough lives, and I definitely feel for Elid here too. Being dragged around after her brother, with no stable home environment, and then to lose her mother as well? It’s no wonder that she’s troubled and angry.

Ah, and mix in a little sibling rivalry and lack of self-confidence just for good measure.

Neturo

Neturo’s not perfect, of course. In his insistence that he must watch over and protect his son, he’s neglected his daughter, and she feels the loss of their relationship.

Mishram

Oh, fascinating. Mishram does at least have empathy for the enemy, even if she can’t (and won’t) heal them.

Adolin

A consistent through-line for Adolin’s character; his insistence on trying to break through his own ingrained prejudices and see other perspectives.

Adolin’s faith has certainly taken a major hit. I can’t entirely blame him for heading down Jasnah’s path, considering everything that’s happened.

While he may have failed on the grand scale, he still made all the difference in this one family’s life. That’s something that Adolin needed to be reminded of.

This betrayal cuts Adolin deep, all the more because he knows how many more of his own men he’ll lose because of it.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

Nope, that’s not an epigraph. Chapter 74 kicks off with a bang, dropping a portentous Death Rattle as Sigzil’s squire Deti falls in battle.

The Death Rattles have largely been sorted out, at this point, though there are still a few potentially outstanding examples. During a first read of Wind and Truth, this likely feels like one that we know about; so much in the earlier books seemed to equate what we knew as the Everstorm with the Night of Sorrows, so this could be written off as fairly humdrum.

But with hindsight, knowing what the real Everstorm is, what the True Desolation and Night of Sorrows actually entail, this is a flashing neon red sign.

And when I say that, I have to point out that we really haven’t seen what all those things will look like for Roshar in the long term. We know the landscape has changed, though not how; we’ll probably have to wait for book six to see what the map looks like. We also know that darkness covers all the land but Azimir and Urithiru.

But there’s so much more to worry about. Plant growth is a potential issue, of course, requiring the blessing of Retribution via midnight prayers to gain Warlight. The iron grip of Retribution has nearly all the world in hand. El seems primed to be the steward on Roshar while Retribution tries to figure out what the heck to do about all those other pesky Shards… and he’s a loose cannon if we’ve ever seen one.

And what of the Unmade? Ba-Ado-Mishram is free now, and doesn’t have any Shards to contend with. It’s very possible we get another version of the False Desolation in the future.

This chapter makes mention of Moelach, of course, given the presence of Death Rattles during the battle. But we are reminded of the potential other Unmade, though they don’t show up—and those are also worth keeping in mind for the back five books. What’s going on with Dai-Gonarthis and Ashertmarn? What about Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother? Shallan drove her off, back at the beginning on Oathbringer, but she was by no means neutralized or incapacitated. And her Midnight Essence could be a pure terror in the Night of Sorrows.

So Mishram is still a bit of an enigma, even after all the focus on her in this book. She was freed, but other than being one piece in the puzzle to allow Dalinar’s erstwhile Ascension, she really had very little impact on the plot of Wind and Truth. She was mostly a MacGuffin for Shallan to chase.

But one theme kept getting hammered on, over and over, throughout this novel: Odium is afraid of Ba-Ado-Mishram because she could potentially Ascend and replace the current Vessel.

But then nothing ever came of that. Dalinar Ascended to Honor, then Taravangian became Retribution, and Mishram just sort of faded into the background after Renarin and Rlain freed her.

I have to imagine that this is all part of a long game, and her potential is still to be explored. Maybe she does end up supplanting Taravangian, and becoming not Odium but Retribution—something that sure does seem to fit with what we see of Mishram’s actions in chapter 76 and what we hear of her across the history of the conflict on Roshar.

It’s not super satisfying to have essentially nothing happen with Ba-Ado-Mishram in Wind and Truth, but she has been spoken about in such a unique manner and generally built up too much to never get taken down from the proverbial mantel as the story continues.

Shallan keeps having these little moments of magical development. This isn’t as spectacular as her work with substantiation against Abidi back in Day One, but it’s yet another indicator of just how special Shallan’s double bond is. She keeps popping up with these weird or crazy applications of her Surges.

And we still have the whole Soulcasting thing yet to unravel with her. Who knows what bonkers things she’s gonna be doing in the last five books…

Fan theories via Social Media

Lyn: There’s a theory thread over on Reddit which is going a bit more in-depth on my “was the thing that destroyed Ashyn a nuclear explosion” theory from a while ago. Worth a look if you’re intrigued by that sort of thing!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapter 77 and the next two interludes (11 and 12) as we wrap up Day Six![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 74-76 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 72 and 73

Syl saves the day, Nale is wrong, Shallan and co. come up with a plan…

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on June 23, 2025

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Happy reread Monday, Cosmere chickens! This week we start off with a rare and exciting Syl POV section following Szeth winning the Lightweaver Honorblade, followed by Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain taking some time to strategize in the Spiritual Realm, and finally a very illuminating Szeth flashback. There’s Cosmere info, character progression, and plot movement galore, so let’s dive in!

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

We all love Syl POVs, yes? Well chapter 72 is titled “Statistically Dangerous” and it opens with a Syl POV! We’re still at the Lightweaver monastery and Syl—full-sized—stands beside Kaladin as she looks at the acolytes who had been “posing” as different Shalashes during the contest. Szeth could easily have killed an innocent acolyte while trying to locate the Honorbearer, which is a pretty awful thing for the Honorbearer to have allowed—setting the acolytes up for such a grim fate. So it’s good thing that Syl and Szeth realized the truth before he stuck his Blade through the eye of an innocent. Szeth doesn’t want to kill anymore, though he knows he needs to, so imagine what killing an innocent acolyte would have done to him. Moss was a jerk.

Back to our lovely Sylphrena, who leaves the monastery with Szeth and Kaladin. She smiles sweetly at Nale, who just looks back at her, though he does seem angry, she notes. Szeth places the Lightweaver Honorblade with the others and Nightblood quietly asks it to dull itself. It’s very cool that the Blade will dull itself at Nightblood’s request—that Nightblood is communicating with the Honorblades at all is a fascinating development. (I love what comes of this by the way…) BUT… SYL. Back to Syl. Geez, Paige. Focus!

Kaladin asks Szeth how he figured out the riddle and he says he had the blessings of the spren. Nale glares at Syl again and she perks up even more. She’s so petty and I am here for it. Yeah, I helped him, you grouchy jerk! That’s what I imagine her thinking, anyway. *high fives Syl* She keeps going back in her mind to the Honorbearer using the acolytes to hold the illusions, which was totally unnecessary. She feels that her brain is sometimes full of silly ideas, but… she recalls what Moss said to Szeth when he entered the monastery:

Syl realizes that it’s not over, they must escape! But who must they escape, since the acolytes are all coming out of a trance-like state and happy for it. Then she remembers more, forcing her brain to focus.

Syl grabs Kaladin, not “barely touches him,” but fully grabs him and tells him that one of the acolytes was going to try to kill Szeth. Kaladin, of course, believes her immediately and summons her as a spear—which is cool as hell because we get to see her POV as the Sylspear! She can see through Kal’s eyes, kind of. She is aware of things and it’s not his awareness. She can still see what’s going on, as a matronly woman summons a Blade to strike Szeth down from behind. Kaladin ends the assailant with the Sylspear and everyone scatters.

Nale, jerk that he is, insists that Kaladin helping is cheating. Szeth takes the woman’s Blade after she disappears and names it the Truthwatcher Honorblade. Szeth looks to Kaladin, who looks to Syl… who is a bit flaky, as Syl sometimes is, but eventually gets to the point and explains what she’d realized earlier. Kaladin turns on Nale, who knew all about it, obviously. Nale says that they need to know that Szeth is capable of the difficult challenge he’ll face after his pilgrimage. He also states that the rules have been violated by Szeth “receiving” Kaladin’s help with this latest challenge.

Szeth asks Nale what rules he’s talking about, and Nale claims that “the rules of pilgrimage” have been broken. But Pozen had specifically told Szeth in Shadesmar that there are no rules for this challenge because if there were, he couldn’t be attacked by two Honorbearers at a time, nor outside the boundaries of the monasteries. Both Shadesmar and the outside of the Lightweaver monastery were outside those stated boundaries. Szeth explains this, and respectfully tells Nale that there are no rules for this pilgrimage. After a moment, Nale ADMITS that he is wrong and that Szeth is right. Wowza, and wowza again.

Syl isn’t satisfied, however. She asks Nale if that’s it and when he asks her what more she wants, she starts toward him until Kaladin shakes his head at her. She doesn’t go after Nale but asks where the tenth Honorblade is, since they possess six and need to visit three more monasteries. Nale states that the Windrunner Honorblade has been corrupted by Odium and that “the traitor, Vyre” is now in possession of it. I find it odd that Nale calls Moash a traitor since he has allowed his Skybreakers to join Odium’s cause. So why is he there messing up Kaladin’s therapy if he’s supporting Odium? Jerk.

Szeth says that he appreciates both Kaladin’s and Syl’s help before catching up with Nale as they continue their journey. Kaladin is frustrated, but Syl is thinking about how she can feel her toes. Silly spren. *chuckle* But Kaladin has a point when he says that Nale claims to follow the law but changes his mind or just walks away when confronted with a logical inconsistency. Yeah, I know people like that. You point out that they’re wrong and they either come up with an excuse for it or just ignore you. Totes infuriating, Kaladin. Totes.

Syl tells Kaladin that she thinks Nale is as broken, maybe more so, as Taln or Ash. I think he’s just a jerk. Then Kaladin, talking of how much time is left before the contest, or how little, rather, realizes he’s not going to find Ishar in time for him to help Dalinar. Seriously, Kaladin… you actually thought that would work? Oh, my sweet summer child. That was never going to work. He realizes that Wit was right when he said Kaladin wouldn’t be back in time for the contest. Syl confirms that yes, Wit was right, but that there is a purpose for Kaladin here, and that Wit said that, too. She thinks that restoring Ishar might be his important task spoken of by the Wind, but Kaladin confesses that he’s been worrying more about Szeth.

Poor Kaladin, he doesn’t realize that he needs to protect, as Syl tells him, but not make it his whole persona. Just as she needs to live for herself and still help Kaladin (his words, not hers). Kaladin recognizes the need for balance, saying that he needs to find a way to help without becoming obsessed. Obsessed. I feel attacked. I need to have plants at the office but not be obsessed. Hmm… can’t help being obsessed, Kaladin, sorry not sorry. And then Kaladin tells Syl that she’s brilliant, incredible. She had been waiting for him to say that, though she reminds herself not to do it just for him but because it’s what she wants.

POV SHIFT!

Shallan—WHEE! SHALLAN! I’ve missed her, what can I say? Again, sorry not sorry: I love Shallan! And she’s currently in a recreation—an enclave, they’re calling it—of her rooms at the Sebarial warcamp at the Shattered Plains. The others are discussing what will happen when they leave the Spiritual Realm while Shallan is seething at not realizing that killing the Ghostbloods in the Spiritual Realm will be nearly impossible, even with anti-Light. Glys tells Renarin that the anti-Light might kill a Radiant’s spren, or seriously wound them, but that it won’t hurt the person like it would in the Physical Realm. They chat for a few minutes and Shallan gruffly reminds herself to not get distracted from saving the world by the boys’ flirting, which is so completely adorable, I can’t stand it. *squee*

She retreats to a doorway into another room and tells Pattern that those two “are way too distracted.” *snort* And I must quote Pattern here!

Again… so adorable! *heart eyes*

Then Shallan starts thinking about Adolin and asks Pattern if there’s any way to know if he’s safe. Pattern says he doesn’t know, and Shallan thinks it’s silly how she misses him because she’s probably only been in the Spiritual Realm about half a day or so. *lulz* Too bad she doesn’t have one of Navani’s time fabrials; she could use a watch right about now.

Then she gets back to business, concerned about Mraize taking Honor’s form. And she again wonders about Iyatil, and what she’s plotting. What she’s plotting? My dear, she’s just distracting you, trying to make you think that you’re fracturing, that Formless is really a thing again. Don’t let her freak you out! *ahem* I wasn’t shouting as I typed, I swear—Radiant’s honor. Also, Pattern makes a funny comment about graphs. Didja miss it? DIDJA?

Shallan considers the anti-Light knife and the possibility of killing spren with it. She asks the others if they’ve ever seen Mraize’s spren and Rlain says that Tumi has an impression of the spren watching from outside, but notes that in the Spiritual Realm it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t want to be found. “Particularly a spren.” So it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to just kill Mraize’s spren in order to attack him more effectively. Then she considers leaving his spren alone and just wounding him badly enough “that he can’t wait out the anti-Light evaporating from him” because, as Glys says, taking in Stormlight while one has anti-Light in them would be deadly. I wonder if Mraize would explode? What do you think, Sanderfans? If it happens and I just don’t remember, you can totally spoil it for me in the comments. I don’t mind. *wink*

Shallan wishes they could get the drop on Mraize and Rlain suggests sending an avatar into a vision and watching from the outside. Shallan agrees that this is a good plan as Lightweaving shouldn’t draw attention to the spren. It’s apparently “quiet.” While Renarin and Rlain consult with their respective Spren, Shallan goes back to the whole, “am I going to kill everyone I get close to?” train of thought, which, admittedly, gets a bit old, as much as I like Shallan. Pattern reassures her that she doesn’t kill everyone she gets close to and that she’s a sincere person, which is what attracted him in the first place.

He says that he and Testament trust her, that they love her, and damned if that doesn’t make me all emotional! Shallan asks how he got so good at talking to humans and he says that he listens to her… and does the opposite. *giggle*

Shallan returns to the others and they decide not to go into the next vision, instead sending in a Lightweaving. And they’ll watch. Whew… finally to the plan. Let’s get on with it! Later. First, though, we have another chapter to tackle…

Chapter 73 is a Szeth flashback taking place sixteen years ago. It’s titled “The Luxury of Simplicity” and starts with Szeth sparring. He wins the match (because of course he does). Only, he’s just won against the monastery swordmaster, who was favored to one day hold the Honorblade. Szeth had been there for two years at this point and over a year since he’d cried himself to sleep, missing his mother. Ouch, Brandon. Why must you stab our hearts with memories like this?

Pozen, the Honorbearer at the monastery, emerges and tells Szeth that he is now the swordmaster and that he is impressed with everything about Szeth, except for his troubling weakness with Elsecalling. Then he says he’s prepared a hunt for Szeth; the first clue will be atop the seventh spire.

Szeth finds nothing on the building where he looked for the first clue, the seventh building down from a tavern named The Spire. The man who owned the home he’d searched thinks he might mean the “Seven’s spire” so Szeth thinks it might be a spire on a street named the Seven. He goes to the street in question and heads toward the tallest building, which is a church. He finds a crystal patch of shingles atop the building with a slip of paper beneath it containing the next clue: The Eastern Wind.

Then he encounters Sivi, the Willshaper Honorbearer, who apparently visits the city often. Uh-huh… randy little Sivi. Szeth tells her he has been given an urgent task, but she already knows, producing all of the clues that had been left for Szeth. Szeth is unsettled, saying he must find his own way, though he eventually takes the papers. Sivi wants to chat about Szeth’s training, as she’s heard he made Swordmaster. And she speaks directly and openly, telling him:

And we all know how quick Szeth is to obey and how he rarely questions. But she shoehorns out of him the admission that Pozen is not the swordsman he used to be at nearly sixty. Sivi says that Pozen is wise and that experience is also valuable. Then she reveals that the Windrunner Honorbearer is a “problem” to Truth and for the defense of Shinovar. Dun-dun-dunnn…

Szeth states that he hasn’t heard the Voice in a while and Sivi says he’s been busy so Szeth asks if he’d get to know what the Voice is and what is going on if he were to become an Honorbearer. Sivi asks if he wants to know, so he ponders that question. Then she mentions that she talks with his father and Szeth understands. And is horrified. Poor Szeth, he’s just so… so pure.

So Sivi asks if he’ll go on a pilgrimage in order to challenge the Windrunner Honorbearer, which would mean visiting all of the monasteries and training in all the Surges before defeating the Windrunner in a duel without powers. This could theoretically take years, even a decade or longer. He decides to do it if she’ll take him in first and train him with her Blade. She accepts this, and tells him before she goes that Pozen is using him. He thinks she is, too, and says that he’s doing this for answers, to finally know what the Voice is.

He doesn’t really want to know, poor guy. *sigh*

Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs & Maps

It’s getting harder and harder to tell which Heralds are in the arches, thanks to the degradation as the chapters progress! I can still make them out though, and in chapter 72 we’ve got Jezrien, Battah (x2), and Palah, in that order. Jezrien’s almost certainly here for Syl and Kaladin, as their POV is prevalent in this chapter. Battah’s attributes are Wise/Careful and her role is Counsellor, and both Syl and Pattern are displaying these attributes in this chapter, guiding and counseling their respective Radiants. Palah, patron of the Truthwatchers, is likely here for Rlain and Renarin.

Chapter 73’s arch features Ishar, Kalak (x2), and Vedel. Ishar is most likely here since he’s the Voice, and hence influencing all of Szeth’s actions. Kalak and Vedel are a bit hazier on their symbolism… Kalak’s attributes are Resolute/Builder and his role is Maker. I don’t see much of this in this chapter, except for perhaps Szeth’s father. But Neturo doesn’t feature much in this chapter, so that connection is a bit of a reach. Vedel is even more nebulous; her attributes are Loving/ Healing and her role is Healer. I suppose an argument could be made for Sivi being in a loving role, as she’s being compassionate towards Szeth, but that’s even more of a reach…

Nightblood

Watching Nightblood slowly become more and more… well, human is a fascinating character arc that I absolutely didn’t expect to find in this book. While he may primarily be interacting with “inanimate” objects, he’s doing so with progressively more empathy and consideration as the book continues.

(You know, this brings up an interesting thought that I’m going to kick over to Drew: Are the Honorblades spren, like regular Shardblades are? We saw their creation in a previous chapter and didn’t have any indication that they were created from living spren, but they can communicate, so…)

Syl

Is Syl just flighty, or does she have a little bit of ADHD going, with a tendency to hyperfocus or dissociate?

Kaladin/Syl

This is particularly poignant and necessary to note considering Szeth’s “relationship” with his own spren (and I put relationship in quotes because let’s face it, what Szeth and his spren have is barely a relationship). Kaladin and Syl have come a long way, but they were never as cold and distant with one another as 12124 is. Now, one could make the argument that this is just how Highspren are, and that Honorspren (and the other varieties that form the other Nahel bonds) are fundamentally different. We certainly haven’t seen any Highspren acting differently… yet.

There’s that depression rearing its ugly head again. But with Syl’s help, Kal fights back against it. She’s his support against the darkness… and he’s HER reminder as well:

Nale

Interesting. Was Nale purposely trying to mislead Szeth? I find it difficult to believe that someone as old as he is would accidentally misconstrue this, so we must assume that it was on purpose. But why, then? Why would Nale betray his own insistence on rules/law in order to mislead Szeth? His end goal is important, yes, but it’s been established that Nale’s strict adherence to law goes deeper than just a belief. It’s religious. The man’s a zealot, “lawful neutral” to a T. Kaladin puts it well later:

Szeth

Wow. Szeth really is making progress, despite Nale’s presence. He never would have thanked someone for their help earlier in the series; he wouldn’t have thought himself worthy of it.

Renarin/Shallan

Interesting dichotomy between the two of them here. Shallan has reached a point where the idea of killing people is completely a non-issue. She’s blasé about it, mentioning it in an off-hand way, while Renarin is horrified at the prospect.

Well. Maybe not completely blasé, then.

This is a great point by Pattern, and I love how supportive he’s being in attempting to help Shallan.

Renarin

Renarin is constantly thinking, self-reflecting and trying to understand everything—including himself.

A fair point, and one that a lot of people on the “outside” could stand to hear and learn. It’s hard to accept the “normal” when the normal has spent so long pushing you out.

Szeth

There’s a LOT to go over in regards to Szeth in chapter 73!

He’s in a much more stable place now, since he no longer has to make decisions. Training is pleasant for him… but it’s looking like that stability isn’t going to last long. (Of course… because things can never go well for Szeth.)

Szeth’s still struggling with the transient nature of ethics and morality, and who can blame him? But Sivi opens his eyes to some truths. He’s been acting like a child with a very basic understanding of right and wrong, and he finally realizes this.

This is yet another great turning point for him, in a long line of turning points.

Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories

This is a sneaky little addition, here. Nothing we’ve seen previously has indicated that the Honorblade itself was any different, just that Moash was using it for nefarious purposes. I’m a little surprised that we haven’t had a scene of him summoning it from red mist or something, because Sanderson is usually pretty clear with the color red as a signifier of corrupted Investiture.

I also wonder what the utility of a corrupted Honorblade truly is. We get so little of Moash in this book, and very little from the POV of him actually using his Honorblade in Rhythm of War, that there just aren’t many clues to latch onto.

What’s the purpose of Odium corrupting it? Does Moash draw Investiture directly from Odium, now, providing himself with Heraldic powers? We don’t see him use the superspeed that Nale and Taln demonstrate, at least not in an obvious manner.

Moash remains a frustratingly open-ended conundrum.

This is the sort of question I used to ask Brandon when I saw him out on tour—in the yesteryear when he actually went on tour—so it made me laugh a bit when I read this. Of course, in typical Shallan fashion, she brushes right by it and we’re left without an answer.

That’s, oddly, frustratingly emblematic of these Spiritual Realm scenes. Even though they’re largely used as a vehicle for infodumping, a lot of the actual info being dumped feels strangely pedestrian to me. I want more of the craziness, more of the mechanics, more of the wonder.

(Why, yes, I did enjoy the hell out of the Navani/Raboniel chapters in Rhythm of War. Why do you ask?)

Anyway, this concept of potentially taking Spiritual items and manifesting them via Investiture in the Spiritual Realm brings me back to the problem of bodies for Cognitive Shadows. I’ve already touched on this a few times over the course of this reread, but we have yet to see the actual mechanism for it. It’s certain that it can work a few different ways—there’s a strong theory about how it could work on Scadrial, for instance, with Kelsier and the eye spike stapling his Cognitive Shadow to an existing body and his Identity shaping the body afterward—and in Wind and Truth we find out that Heralds have their bodies created from Investiture.

So, theoretically, I imagine Renarin’s idea here could work. It would probably take an awful lot of very dangerous study, trial, and error to wrangle such control over the Spiritual Realm, so anyone short of Shards will have their work cut out for them.

And finally, before I dip out for this week, I have to address my colleague’s comment above, re: spren and Honorblades.

It’s an interesting question, and I think the answer is one of degrees. If we take the definition of “spren” as Investiture that has gained self-awareness, then I think the answer must be yes and no. The Honorblades have some kind of awareness, but as far as we can tell, they don’t have the volition of all other types of spren.

However, given what we’re seeing with Nightblood, I have to wonder if the Honorblades aren’t becoming more aware over time. Were they capable of communicating (in whatever rudimentary form) four thousand years ago? I suspect not.

So there’s my pseudo non-answer. Might be a great question to slip into a future Q&A with Brandon, though!

We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.

See you next Monday with our discussion of chapters 74, 75, and 76![end-mark]

The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 72 and 73 appeared first on Reactor.

Books Wind and Truth Reread

Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 69-71

Logic puzzles, philosophical debates, and mural-stabbing.

By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey

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Published on June 16, 2025

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Greetings and salutations as always, Cosmere Chickens, and welcome to Day Six! We’ve got loads of lightweaving, leaps in logic, and, and… um… lamentations of… of…

Okay, the alliteration got away from me a bit. But this day is certainly starting off with a bang. From battles that aren’t really battles to philosophical debates on the intricacies of law and ethics, not to mention one really big revelation, we’ve got tons to dig into this week, so… won’t you join us?

The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).

Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs

It’s Day 6! And a lot is happening as we find our beloved (and not so beloved) characters halfway through the ten-day deadline for the contest of champions. We open with chapter 69, titled “Radical Philosophy,” and it’s a Kaladin POV. Szeth has become mostly non-responsive since Nale arrived; Kaladin can’t get him to engage in conversation. As he tries again to talk to Szeth, Nale interrupts and announces he’d like to hear about Kaladin’s radical philosophy and ideas. Kaladin is woefully inexperienced for carrying on a philosophical conversation with a freaking Herald. It goes about as well as you would expect, with Nale dominating the conversation.

This whole situation, with Nale joining them, has really thrown a fabrial into Kaladin’s attempts at therapy with Szeth, just as he was beginning to make progress. This is not only frustrating for Kaladin, but for us, as well. Now, I know I took part in the beta read, but I haven’t read the book since its release and some details are a little fuzzy, so bear with me if I misremember or don’t remember something at all. (And feel free to correct me or remind me in the comments if I get something wrong!) But I don’t recall how Kaladin gets past the mess with Nale arriving in order to help Szeth get to the place he’s at as the book comes to a close. Does Nale come around to Kaladin’s way of thinking? Does Szeth finally freaking stand up for himself? This is what I’m hoping… but please clarify my fuzzy memory for me, Sanderfans!

Kaladin and Nale argue for a time. Kaladin grows even more frustrated because Nale’s arguments have so many holes. Finally, Nale asks Kaladin who made the laws. When Kaladin doesn’t know, Nale explains that it was Jezrien, through God himself. Nale asks if Kaladin would destroy the laws of Shinovar—which, of course, he wouldn’t. And he tells Kaladin that he rescued Szeth when Kaladin left him to die in the storm. Kaladin protests, but Nale shuts him down. And then Szeth goes off to kill the Honorbearer at the Lightweaver monastery, despite having told Kaladin that he no longer wanted to kill. Poor Szeth. And poor Kaladin… Nale wiped the FLOOR with him.

POV SHIFT!

Jasnah is told by Ivory that their preparations and defenses are good as she leaves a strategy meeting. The city is essentially a fortress, which would be a nightmare for the singers to take.

Ah, but did they? We know better, folks. As does Jasnah—or at least, she knows they’re missing something, but doesn’t know what. Ivory suggests that they need a scholar instead of a general. Knows he’s right, she goes to find paper and a quiet place to think.

Chapter 70 is titled “Contest of Illusions.” Szeth is prepared to go kill another Honorbearer. He feels lonely—his spren won’t speak to him, Nightblood only chats with the Honorblades, and Kaladin and Nale keep arguing. He actually feels angry at the pair of them for pulling him in different directions.

Then Nightblood does speak to him, asking if Szeth is okay. Apparently Nightblood can feel Szeth and can tell that he’s in pain. Then he asks if Szeth is evil. Of course, I don’t think Szeth really knows. He knows that killing is evil but sometimes it’s right to do so. And Nightblood is (understandably) confused.

You would think so, wouldn’t you, sword that wants to destroy evil yet sucks the life force from people?

Szeth arrives at the monastery and Nale prevents Kaladin from following him in, telling him that he’s not allowed to help Szeth.

Of course, inside Szeth finds a crowd of Shalash lookalikes. The voice of the Honorbearer tells him he must find her amongst the crowd of illusions and strike her down—otherwise his pilgrimage is done and he will lose. Szeth dismisses his blade and prepares to search for the Honorbearer.

POV SHIFT!

Next, we have Venli in the chasms leading a crowd of listeners—including the Five—and Fused, plus several chasmfiends. She feels she can hear the tone that the chasmfiends hear, and they’re following it to Narak.

She speaks with Thude and apologizes for everything. He tells her to let it go, but she regrets how sad he’s become. She wants them to help the humans in the fight but he refuses and reminds her that she’s not their leader. They barely have a thousand adults; the chasmfiends only number about a hundred. They’re worried about the ability to breed new chasmfiends if they lose many more.

Thude is also worried about the fact that they’re heading directly toward the Everstorm, as well he should be. And Venli relays some new information that Timbre gives her about Eshonai—how she had rejected Odium and was herself at the end. This seems to reassure both of them. But it makes me sad.

On to chapter 71, titled “Assumptions.” We’re back with Szeth at the Lightweaver monastery as he’s trying to find the Honorbearer, Moss, amongst the crowd of Shalashes. Just when he’s decided to strike one down, he suddenly hears a voice in his ear. Syl has arrived, though she isn’t showing herself. She says that if his own spren won’t help, and Nale won’t help or allow Kaladin to help, then she’ll help. He accepts her offer of assistance, and they proceed to narrow down the choices until they think they’ve found the perfect Shalash.

But it still feels wrong to Szeth, and after a moment he and Syl fly up above the crowd and see the answer in a mural of Shalash on the stone floor below. Szeth lands quickly and thrusts his blade into one eye of the mural, thus killing Moss and retrieving the Lightweaver Honorblade. Syl, taken aback, tells him they should have talked it over first and that he had been brash to act so quickly. And Szeth says something rather profound to me: