Welcome, Sanderfans and Cosmere Chickens, to another Wind and Truth read-along discussion. Last week we analyzed the events of chapters 21 and 22, wherein the Stormfather gave Dalinar a piece of his mind. This week, we check out what’s going on in chapters 23 and 24, which include… you guessed it… a Szeth flashback! Check out the social media section at the end of the article to see if we spotlighted one of your comments!
Note that this post will possibly contain full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content. And please remember, when posting or commenting about these preview chapters on social media, to follow your platform’s spoiler rules. Your comments here, however, don’t need to be spoiler tagged, so feel free to comment as you will down below!
Paige’s Summary and Commentary
Chapter 23 is titled “Compromise” and we’re back with Shallan and her Lightweavers as they scope out the Ghostbloods’ hideout. Remember that they’re posing as crem scrapers, and once they feel enough time has passed, Shallan and Red move closer to the hideout and start setting up a pavilion. A Ghostblood guard approaches—but not the masked woman, as Shallan had hoped; he questions them, and they say they’ve been ordered to clear that intersection. The guard tells them to move so they start tearing down. Then Gaz arrives and pretends to be their supervisor and chews them out, so they set up the pavilion again. Shallan, sans Pattern and any Lightweaving, approaches the masked woman in front of the hideout. They tussle and Shallan tells her armor to form around the woman, thus immobilizing her.
They carry the masked woman back to the pavilion where Shallan takes her clothes and her mask before stationing herself in front of the hideout. Two Thaylen Ghostboods show up, the last to arrive, and Shallan slips into the hideout behind them.
With Shallan heading into enemy territory, we jump to Navani, waiting for Dalinar to finish chatting with the Stormfather. She puts on her queen hat… crown?… and meets with numerous people who have administrative issues for her to resolve. We get to see Sebarial again! Long time, buddy! He’s bummed out about not being able to skim more spheres from the crown. It’s good to see him and Palona.
Navani has a chat with the Sibling, asking for guidance about Dalinar’s thoughts of ascending to Honor. Amazingly, the Sibling says that someone needs to take up the power eventually. And now for the unsettling part:
The power can’t be left to its own devices. It will come awake.
Come awake? Like a spren? An (almost) all-seeing, (almost) all-knowing, powerful spren? Is that a cool idea or a terrifying one? I’m voting for terrifying. What about you, Sanderfans?
Navani then observes while Rushu demonstrates the works she’s been doing with flamespren. It’s actually quite an interesting scene and harkens back to that interlude in The Way of Kings where we saw a couple of scholars, Ashir and Geranid (Interlude 1-8, if you would like to go check it out!) studying flamespren. Well… Geranid was studying them, Ashir was cooking.
Rushu has been experimenting, finding ways of encouraging spren to help power fabrials instead of imprisoning them to do so—a compromise, if you will. The Sibling isn’t impressed at first, but then grudgingly admits that it’s better than imprisoning them.
As Navani leaves the meeting to go speak with Dalinar, the Sibling agrees to answer some questions from Rushu. And to Navani’s surprise, the first question is not about flamespren.
“Navani tells me,” Rushu said, “that you are neither male nor female.”
“It is true.”
“Could you tell me more about that?” Rushu asked.
“To a human, it must sound very strange.”
“Actually, it doesn’t,” Rushu said quietly. “Not in the slightest. But talk, please. I want to know how it feels to be you.”
This is very interesting, and now we look at Rushu, and her seeming disinterest in the attentions of the male ardents around her, in a slightly different light. Go, Brandon—it’s great to see this kind of inclusion!
Chapter 24 is titled “In the Dancing Ring” and is a Szeth flashback! Yay! Finally! As you recall, our last Szeth and Kaladin chapter ended with Szeth about to reflect on his childhood, twenty-six years ago. So it appears that his flashbacks will be stories that he’s telling Kaladin. Which is super-duper cool, Sanderfans. Let’s talk about it!
He is but eleven years old and is not yet Szeth-son-son-Vallano but Szeth-son-Neturo. And he likes to dance while his sister plays the flute. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the poetry of this scene.
The music was his dance partner, wind made animate through sound. The flute was the voice of air itself.
Time became thick when he danced. Molasses minutes and syrup seconds.
Brandon’s writing is generally quite captivating, but here, it is poetic.
It turns out that he’s dancing around a rock that protrudes from the earth. “The largest in the region.” He’s dancing for the rock and when his frenzied dance finishes, his sister, Elid-daughter-Zeenid, who is three years his elder, chastises him for never relaxing. Well, isn’t she a gem?
We also see a bit of culture in the bright color that Elid wears:
She wore orange as her splash: the vivid piece of colorful clothing that marked them as people who added. One article per person, of whatever color they desired.
So it appears as if they dress in plain colors and wear a “splash” of a bright color to show that they “add” rather than “subtract.” We also learn that Szeth, and his family, are shepherds and that Molli, an old, blind ewe, apparently likes to hang out with Szeth rather than with the herd.
This will be important later.
::foreshadowing::
We also learn that Szeth’s family’s homestead is close to the ocean near the monastery of the Stonewards. It seems that sometimes men on ships come and raid along the coast. That sounds terrifying, considering the Shin, or at least the shepherds, seem to be pacifists.
::more foreshadowing::
I know you just read the chapter, Sanderfans, and don’t need quotes of what you just read, but I need to highlight one more thing:
Their father said that they were blessed as people who could add beneath the Farmer’s eyes. The perfect station. Not required to toil in the field, not forced to kill and subtract—allowed to tend the sheep and develop their talents.
So raising sheep is adding and killing people is subtracting. Man, if young Szeth knew how much he’d be subtracting later in his life, he would be quite the unhappy child. ::sad face::
Seeing Szeth as a carefree child who hugs his blind old ewe (who apparently likes to lick the dirt) is touching, but bittersweet. What happens to this child who loves to dance to turn him into the Szeth we know? We’ll eventually find out, but for now, we’ll just enjoy who he was.
The Szeth sees what Molli the ewe is actually licking. It’s a rock. Small, only as wide as a hand, but it’s a rock. Szeth is shocked and afraid and even Elid, who seems unhappy with her quiet life, gasps upon seeing it. Szeth runs to get his father.
Lyndsey’s Commentary
Chapter 23 has two heralds in the arch: Palah (Paliah), patron of the Truthwatchers (attributes Learned/Giving and role of Scholar) and Shalash (Ash), Herald of Beauty, patron of the Lightweavers. Her attributes are Creative/Honest and her role is Artist. It seems to me that Palah is here for Navani and her ardents, in their attempts to work with fabrials and to get the situation in the Tower under control. Shalash could be here for Shallan and her efforts to infiltrate the Ghostbloods, especially since Shallan’s having to get quite creative to work around the security the Ghostbloods have in place.
Chapter 24, our first Szeth flashback chapter, has a very odd choice for its Herald in the chapter arch. All four spaces are occupied by Ishi (Ishar), Herald of Luck, patron of the Bondsmiths. His attributes are Pious/Guiding and his role is Priest. My best guess on this one is that he’s here because of his pious attribute, as we see both Szeth and his sister holding very true to their beliefs regarding the stone.
Would that men could always do the same—if I could enshrine one law in all further legal codes, it would be this. Let people leave if they wish.
—From The Way of Kings, fourth parable
A very wise philosophy. Sometimes it’s best to simply walk away from something, rather than continuing to put yourself through the pain it causes.
Shallan
Shallan needed Radiant again for a moment while watching the struggling woman be strangled, her eyes bulging, her skin going a deep red around the mask.
Poor Shallan still has a gentle heart, despite all that she’s seen and been through. She can’t stand to watch someone be hurt, even someone who’s an enemy. That says quite a lot about her character.
Navani
They could handle it without her, but they didn’t know it. And . . . perhaps she needed to banish such thoughts. She was important to the administration of this tower, this kingdom. Vital even.
This is a good reminder that Rome wasn’t built in a day… and neither shall Navani’s self-confidence. After a lifetime of being discounted and put down by her previous husband (among others), it’s going to take a lot of time for her to come to terms with the fact that she’s worthy of the praise and admiration that’s shown to her by her people.
She kept turning and finding lifespren swirling around her, or gloryspren skulking by the ceiling, or any number of them darting around. It was like she was some storming heroine from a story, the silly type where a young and innocent girl always had a thousand lifespren or whatever bobbing around her.
Navani doesn’t realize that she is a heroine. I think it’s hard to see and accept that in yourself, no matter who you are. The idea that you’re important to others aside from those who are closest to you (and sometimes even them) can be a hard pill to swallow, for some. Especially for those who have suffered the kind of degradation Navani has.
“Pardon, Brightness. It’s your idea. Your genius.”
Navani prepared another complaint, then… then discarded it. Storms, maybe she was growing.
I’m so proud of her. Not only for growing, but for recognizing that she’s growing.
Sebarial
“I still pay for my household staff, vacations, and massages out of public funds, I’ll have you know. It’s a huge scandal.”
“I’m sure Brightness Navani knows what a miscreant you are, gemheart,” Palona said, patting his arm.
I’ve always adored Sebarial and the relationship he has with his mistress. He’s very endearing, with his constant protestations that he’s a worse person than he really is.
Sibling
So far, the Sibling only worked with them because Navani had essentially bullied them back into a bond. The more friends, or at least acquaintances, that the Sibling had, the better.
It’s hard to imagine the loneliness the Sibling has endured since the Tower was abandoned. I think it’s sometimes hard to imagine the intelligent spren having relationships outside of their chosen Radiants, since we’re so accustomed to seeing them talking to only them. But we’ve seen time and again that once the spren form a strong Bond with their Radiant, they do begin to reach out and make themselves visible/heard by others. Having one friend is nice… but more is better, and the spren are very much “real people” with emotions and personalities similar to the humans.
Szeth
I don’t know about all of you, but I’m so excited to finally be digging into Szeth’s backstory! He’s been one of the most intriguing characters to me for a long time (I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a tortured antihero) so this first flashback chapter is heartily appreciated!
Szeth-son-Neturo found magic upon the wind, and so he danced with it.
Oh, my. I love that he liked to dance! This is a side of him I doubt any of us could have guessed. Dance is such a beautiful, calm and gentle thing… so very different from the dance of death he now engages in.
“Seriously, Szeth. Can’t you ever relax?”
Well, that at least sounds like the Szeth we know and love. Some aspects of personality never change, no matter what we go through.
He didn’t care about being the best. He only cared about doing it right. If he did it wrong, then he had to practice more.
So, a perfectionist, then. That does indeed sound as if it hasn’t changed much. He’s always been very rigid in his adherence to rules and strictures, and he got rather upset when Kaladin bested him in their ill-ending duel.
He bent down next to old Molli, scratching at her ears as she rubbed her head against him. She might lick rocks and eat dirt, but she was always good for a hug.
Oh jeez. This is too endearing. And therefore it immediately makes me terrified for poor Molli’s chances of making it out of these flashbacks alive. Maybe… maybe I’ll be wrong and she’ll be the Stormlight version of Bela from Wheel of Time…
Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories
There’s no doubt that Shallan’s chapters so far have been full of interesting and exciting lore discoveries and developments. We’re certainly gearing up for more of that as she maneuvers into place to infiltrate the Ghostbloods’ meeting… but I have to admit, Brandon is really stringing things along in these last few Shallan scenes. There isn’t a whole ton of magical excitement to be found reading about some roadwork in the rain.
At least Shallan has the mask on now, and the last members of the Ghostblood crew have arrived.
And speaking of masks, let’s talk about what they mean (on a couple different levels). I made mention last week that story crossovers are becoming more overt, more directly impactful, as we move into the post-The Lost Metal era of the Cosmere. This mask, stolen from a Ghostblood agent, is emblematic of that in a few ways.
Those who’ve read Mistborn Era 2 know what that mask is, and know about the Malwish culture it came from. Sure, we had Iyatil and her mask back in Words of Radiance, but that mask always stayed on—both physically and metaphorically. In fact, the biggest “unmasking” of Iyatil that has occurred so far didn’t even happen in a Stormlight Archive volume; for that, we have to look to the epilogue of The Lost Metal.
But Brandon is determined to keep pulling back the curtain, or steadily removing the mask, as it were. Now we have a more substantial Ghostblood contingent active on and across Roshar, including multiple Scadrian agents. The ties and conflicts between Roshar and Scadrial are growing, and it certainly seems to be pointing toward the possibility of a late-game Cosmere showdown between the two planets.
Where once these planets were operating in their own little echo chambers, with a select and secretive group of people aware of the greater context of the Cosmere, now the doors are getting blown off. It’s not just super-special people like the Heralds or Hoid, or secret agents like the Ghostbloods, who know about and are working to understand the greater handiwork of Adonalsium.
Shallan infiltrating this meeting has all the potential to be just the latest in a long line of revelations, and even as she plays a major role in The Stormlight Archive, she could easily be a pivotal player in setting up the conflicts to come over the next few decades of Cosmere novels.
It was too late now. She had walked confidently straight into the den. Now she either proved to be a predator herself, or she got eaten.
Whatever happens in the next chapter, we can be sure that there will be serious fallout to come down the road.
But if there’s one mask left, still fully hiding the face behind it, it is certainly Shinovar. We finally get the first of Szeth’s flashbacks, a whopping 24 chapters (not including interludes) into the story… and it’s full of implication, if not revelation.
Around and around, his dance worship for the rock at the center of the bare ground. Five feet across and three feet high—at least the part that emerged from the soil—it was the largest in the region.
Like the stone of Szeth’s homestead, peaking out from ground, we get the faintest taste of Shin culture, of Shin religion, of the secrets that lurk in Szeth’s past. There is so much more to come. What of the Unmade that plagues Shinovar, the dark presence that Szeth has been tasked with cleansing away? What of the Stone Shamans, and their use of the Honorblades? What of the stone itself? The Stone Itself?
We’re still only on Day Two, and all of Szeth’s past remains to be unmasked.
Fan Theories
AzraelAzari over on Reddit has a pretty interesting theory:
Am I the only one convinced Kaladin can’t be the one to take up Honor’s shard because he doesn’t have a relationship with Taravangian? I think it will either be Dalinar, where we will get a round two of their philosophical argument on the actions a King should take (but as gods) or it will be Szeth and it will play on the wording of the 5th ideal of the Skybreakers. Where you BECOME the law
Our weekly “Reddit comment that made Lyn laugh” award goes to EternityDisc with this gem:
Random observation but thank god Gavilar is dead because he would have hauled his ass to the Spiritual Realm so fast if he knew Honor’s shard was up for grabs
You’re not wrong, Eternity.
Daedrathell has a really fascinating theory that Nohadon and Tanavast switched places. It’s rather long, but you can read it in its entirety 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 choose to wait for the full release. See you next Monday with chapters 25 and 26!
