Oathbringer

Dalinar notes obvious distrust from men like Queen Fen’s son and his fellow soldiers. Dalinar lightly pushes Fen’s son into calling for a duel so that Dalinar can use his Radiant powers of healing to make a point: if he wanted to conquer the Thaylens, he would not need to do so with lies and deceit. He regrets the action immediately, wishing he did not have to rely on his old tactics of war and brutality. He discovers he can use his powers as a Bondsmith Radiant to repair the broken temple and statues in Thaylenah. The realization reminds him of Renarin’s healing powers. He summons Renarin to the city so he can heal the many wounded. Dalinar’s actions convince Fen of his honesty, and she agrees to join a coalition of monarchs.

Kaladin transports Elhokar’s chosen companions over the highstorm toward Kholinar. The group includes Kaladin and two bridgemen, Adolin, Shallan, two of Shallan’s soldiers, and Ishnah, disguised as a handmaid for Shallan. They stop outside the city, noting a large dark cloud over the palace and Oathgate.

Shallan claims the dark cloud over the palace is due to the presence of an Unmade. They determine they should enter the city discreetly, so Shallan creates disguises. They are nearly excluded due to a daily refugee capacity, but they sneak in when the Fused arrive for a skirmish with the Wall Guard. They pass a parade of people dressed like spren on the streets and notice oddly-shaped spren: corrupted spren working for Odium. They arrive at Adolin’s tailor’s home, where he knows they can remain safe and hidden.

Adolin’s tailor, Yokska, tells the group all about the city’s events while Shallan tries frantically to recreate certain types of spren so she can draw the corrupted sprens’ distorted shapes for research.

Yokska explains that everything began with the Queen, Aesudan, ordering the execution of an ardent. The shadow over the palace, and the distorted spren, occurred after these events, during the Everstorm. Aesudan and her guards are locked into the palace now, and various highlords claim to rule certain parts of the city, believing Elhokar has abandoned the city. The Cult of Moments, however, is the true power in the city. They convince people that the odd spren are signs that a new spren-ruled world is coming. They cannot use Fabrials because they draw screaming yellow spren that attract Fused.

Elhokar and the others decide they need further information and create a plan for infiltrating various parts of the city for information. Shallan, in Veil’s clothes, leaves to explore the city before meeting Kaladin to inspect the palace.

Shallan and Kaladin meet by the palace, where Kaladin gives her a note from Elhokar which instructs her to present to the palace guard so she can get in to see the queen. Once the guards take her inside, they stab her through the chest and throw her in a room with other bodies; Shallan’s Stormlight saves her, and she escapes.

Dalinar retrieves the Honorblade of the Assassin in White from its hiding place and gives it to Bridge Four so they can use its powers to practice their Windrunner capabilities in Kaladin’s absence. He meets with Navani and Fen to retrieve their letters for Yanagawn and his advisors; the Azish finally agree to a meeting with Dalinar, who agrees to go alone through the Oathgates.

Dalinar is supposed to simply exchange greetings with the Azish viziers, or advisors to the emperor, but he hands them the letters from Fen, Navani, and Jasnah in turn, hoping it convinces them to allow him a longer audience. Each letter makes a skilled argument in an attempt to convince the Azish to join the coalition; the viziers ask Dalinar to wait while they discuss. While waiting, Dalinar meets Lift again. The head vizier, Noura, informs Dalinar that they will agree to visit Urithiru. He is overjoyed, but as he returns to Urithiru, Noura’s words trigger memories. He collapses on the platform as he remembers how his wife, Evi, died.

After Dalinar spends time with Adolin, Evi reads Gavilar’s latest letter, applauding Dalinar’s growing skills in warfare and asking him to quell the still-building rebellion in Rathelas (the Rift). Evi expresses despair over remaining at war and having to be around so much killing; they argue. Dalinar agrees to one year in Kholinar after he quells the Rathelas rebellion, but both spouses leave unhappy.

Elhokar shares his plans, sending Shallan to infiltrate the Cult of Moments and its revels on the Oathgate, Kaladin to learn more about the mysterious Highmarshal Azure and his food supply, and Adolin and himself to approach the city’s lighteyes to find potential allies.

Shallan/Veil explores the city and finds one lighteyed resident’s stock of grain, which is distributed to people by soldiers. Near the crowd, she recognizes the king’s Wit, called only Wit (but known in the Cosmere as Hoid), telling a story to a crowd. He uses illusions to tell the story, but Shallan does not recognize them as Stormlight-created. He tells the story of a queen and a moon who switch places and live one another’s lives. After the story, Wit invites Shallan to join him for a meal.

Wit takes Shallan to a local inn to eat; Shallan tries to discover why Wit is in the city, but he is as vague and flippant as in his previous appearances. They talk a bit about what, exactly, he is, although his answers are vague. He promises to help Shallan gain an advantage with the Cult of Moments, telling her she will need a lot of real (non-Soulcast) food to appeal to the Cult’s hedonistic lifestyle.

Shallan can use Stormlight to Lightweave, but they test Kaladin’s lashing abilities away from the safe house and discover that they draw the odd spren and Fused as fabrials do. All of the group except Shallan and her people attend a party where Adolin and Elhokar will contact potential lighteyed allies and Drehy and Skar, the bridgemen, will see what they can learn from the darkeyes. Kaladin avoids the tent for higher-ranked darkeyes and instead observes the city wall, where he is spotted by the Wall Guard and invited to enjoy a free meal, despite their assumption that he is a deserter.

Kaladin eats with the guards in the barracks and gives them a barebones version of the story of how he got the “dangerous” brand of an enslaved person. They speak glowingly of Highmarshal Azure; between their descriptions of Azure’s fighting and the odd sword at Azure’s side, Kaladin suspects she is a Radiant. When Azure arrives, Kaladin is shocked to note that the Highmarshal, referenced as a “he” by the guards, is a woman; the guards refuse to talk about it. She takes Kaladin to the top of the wall and asks him to join the Wall Guard. He returns to the party and decides he will join so he can infiltrate the guard and learn more about where they get their food supply.

On the march to the Rift, Dalinar’s heart slowly softens as he hears Evi crying in her carriage. She asks him to consider offering mercy to Brightlord Tanalan, son of the brightlord that Dalinar killed and the same boy he spared all those years ago. Wanting to be a better man, Dalinar offers Tanalan a single duel to decide the outcome of their conflict, but Tanalan refuses. When Tanalan seems inclined to consider accepting mercy in some form, Dalinar offers to claim Tanalan was working with them the whole time to discover Alethi traitors. Tanalan tells Dalinar where to find a group of Alethi who helped him—a group led by Sadeas, he claims. Dalinar goes after the caravan.

Shallan (as Veil), Ishnah, and Shallan’s soldiers (Vathah and Red) sneak into one of the lighteyes’ mansions in Kholinar to steal food. They are nearly caught as they escape, but Shallan uses a Lightweaving to make herself look like the mistress of the house to confuse the mistress and the guards. She finds a note from Wit saying she needs to get the Cult of Moments’s attention, so instead of keeping the stolen food to give to the Cult, she goes around in her bright white Veil outfit and gives away sacks of food to those in need.

Kaladin marches with his new troops, helping the Wall Guard transport food to one of the highlords for distribution in the city. After a scuffle with citizens and the hand-off, Kaladin broaches the topic of food again, asking how the Guard makes all the food. One of the men admits that Azure attacked one of the monasteries that had rioters—and the only one with a Soulcaster left. The soldier does not know how Azure might be using the Soulcaster without being caught by the odd Voidspren. There is an attack on the Wall, another skirmish.

Shallan, as Veil, gives out more food to beggars, expanding her growing reputation. A Cult of Moments parade passes, and Shallan feels herself slipping into the persona of a follower as they chant. She shakes herself out of it and finds the others staring at her because they saw her take on an illusion of one of them; they watch as her clothing still moves as if there is wind, and she calls out that they follow the wrong spren and should abandon the Cult. Many of them flee and pull off their costumes. Back at the hideout, Shallan finds a worn and anxious Elhokar; she draws him as she sees him, beaten down and yet regal, and the image helps him feel worthy.

Dalinar reaches the caravan and attacks with his men; he realizes it is a trap too late, as a landslide of rock falls on him and his men. His men die, but he survives because of his Shardplate. He waits for Tanalan’s men to seek his dead body and attacks. He loses himself to anger and the Thrill and only comes to after he kills every man. He treks back to camp, where they believe him dead, and he and a vindicated Sadeas agree that Tanalan must pay and be made an example of. Despite Evi’s pleas for him to reconsider, Dalinar, taken over by rage and a “red mist” (the Thrill), orders his Soulcaster to make as much grain and oil as she can. He promises to destroy the Rift so thoroughly that they will make a pyre of the city.

Dalinar and Sadeas begin the assault on the Rift at night, ordering oil thrown into the city and flaming arrows shot after the barrels. They also throw oil and fire into the caves where Tanalan and his father once hid. They believe Tanalan hides there again.

Dalinar has Tanalan pulled up from a burning palace, and Tanalan pleads for his family’s lives. Dalinar fights for some measure of humanity from within the Thrill and orders his men to allow citizens to flee through the other city entrance. Sadeas informs him they already set fire to both sides of the city, leaving every citizen trapped. When they mention the torched hideout of the highprince, Tanalan laughs and reveals that Evi went there to beg Tanalan to surrender. Dalinar’s men are too late to save her.

Dalinar kills Tanalan. Kadash, still a soldier at that time, vomits; this is the experience that leads him to abandon the army for the ardentia. Dalinar, sick with shame, orders his scribes to announce that Evi was killed by an assassin.

Kaladin, Adolin, and Shallan meet secretly at a stormshelter to update one another on their progress since Kaladin has to stay at the barracks to maintain his ruse. Shallan suggests there may be two Unmade in the city rather than one. She meets Vathah later that night so they can rob another house. They discover that Vathah is developing Lightweaving powers, which makes him one of Shallan’s squires.

Shallan infiltrates the Cult of Moments with more stolen food. When she slips away from her guide for the night, she struggles to withstand the influence of the Unmade that whispers for her to give in to the hedonism surrounding her. Shallan finds the Oathgate control room and a black mass surrounds it, like the Unmade she found in Urithiru. It whispers to her, but Shallan hears another voice, which claims not to be an enemy and warns of a trap. She hears the sounds of an attack on the wall and flees the Oathgate.

Meanwhile, Kaladin confronts Azure, who in turn demands to know if Kaladin chased her to Kholinar; the attack on the wall interrupts their discussion.

Kaladin and Azure put aside their questions for one another and run to help the soldiers on the wall. Kaladin fights one of the Fused. He uses the fight to learn about it, and “kills” it, although he knows that he did not truly kill it—it will come back in another body. Azure confronts him after the battle and he admits he is there on Elhokar’s orders to save Kholinar. He shows her and her men his Shardblade. Azure smiles and tells him to follow her.

Wandering the streets after the revel, Shallan sees one of the street youths to whom she often gave food. As she leaves him, a gang of men attack the boy. She goes back to him and as he dies, he tells Shallan that a street gang watches him and the others to whom she gave the food. The gang forces them to wait all day for Shallan and then give up the food. The boy and another woman, whom Shallan rushes to warn of danger, both express hatred of Shallan for putting them in that position. Alone, guilt at the consequences of her attempts to help others besets Shallan.

Kaladin explains who he is to Azure and a few of her men. He explains that he needs to know how she avoids detection when using Soulcaster. He wants to improve his understanding and hopes it will help him use his powers. She takes him through a secret passage where they meet a Soulcaster, Ithi, who works in a room lined with a thin, unfamiliar metal. Azure explains that a strange man, whom she had met before, gave her the metal and explained how to use it. Kaladin recognizes Wit by Azure’s description. The trick from Wit will not help Kaladin use his powers when he needs to, but he recruits Azure and the men to help gain access to the Oathgate.

Wit finds Shallan and reminds her of the story of the girl who climbed the wall, the one Shallan told to Pattern. Wit provides details Shallan did not know. He uses the story to remind Shallan that even with the pain she faces, she would not want to go back to ignorance of everything she knows now about the world. He assures her that she is not worthless, as she claims, and that she will one day know it for herself. Shallan returns to a worried Adolin at the safe house where shortly after her, Kaladin, Azure, and several hundred men from the Wall Guard arrive.

Elhokar gathers the soldiers of lighteyes whom he recruited in the city and the Wall Guard, and the leaders of each set of fighters review a plan to attack the Oathgate. As they prepare, the Fused and their parshmen army finally begin their attack.

The attack starts with the palace and moves toward the Oathgate. Inside the palace, Adolin finds a group of palace soldiers imprisoned for not following the queen’s increasingly erratic orders. Elhokar and Kaladin split from the group and search for Queen Aesudan and Elhokar’s son while Adolin and the others accompany Shallan to the Oathgate to try to open it. While fighting, the Unmade whispers to Adolin and others about passion. It tries to get into their minds as it tried to do with Shallan the night before, and the parshmen army fights its way into the city as some Fused attempt to stop Elhokar’s small force.

Elhokar and Kaladin find Queen Aesudan, who speaks and acts erratically. She claims she continued Gavilar’s work and found a way to bond spren. As she talks, Kaladin finds Elhokar’s toddler son, Gavinor, and with his shardblade, kills the Voidspren surrounding the boy. This rescues him from the emotional torments and prodding of Voidspren. Kaladin realizes that Aesudan bonded one of the corrupt Unmade that inhabits Kholinar. Kaladin convinces Elhokar to take Gavinor and run. He insists that Elhokar save the one that he can and not worry about anyone else.

Shallan touches the black mass of the Unmade as she did in Urithiru. The Unmade retreats, opening a way into the control room of the Oathgate. Inside, a mirror shows not Shallan’s reflection but the image of a woman called Sja-anat, whom the Unmade took. Sja-anat tells Shallan that she is not the enemy.

Kaladin, Elhokar, and their soldiers flee, but Aesudan’s soldiers, also influenced by the Unmade, trap them. Kaladin prepares to use his powers to kill the parshmen who surround them, but then he realizes that one of them is Sah, the parshman he helped when they fled the Alethi.

Sja-anat warns Shallan that the Oathgate is a trap; the Heart of the Revel, the Unmade that had surrounded the control room, fled on purpose. Odium forced Sja-anat to corrupt the Oathgate so it would malfunction.

Kaladin freezes, but the parshmen see him and flee This leaves an opening for him and his men. As they run to the Oathgate, Kaladin sees a confused melee; the Wall Guards and parshmen kill each other, including Sah and the others that Kaladin knew. He watches people die around him and turns to see Elhokar on his knees and starting to glow as he speaks the opening words of the first Ideal. Then Moash steps from the crowd and kills Elhokar in front of his son. He salutes Kaladin as a member of the Queen’s guard and grabs Gavinor. The queen arrives; black smoke surrounds her and gemstones pierce her flesh. Drehy and Skar drive back the Queen’s Guard as Adolin pulls Kaladin away.

Adolin carries Kaladin, frozen in shock, to the Oathgate platform and orders a retreat. He sends Skar and Drehy to the citizens who flee toward the Oathgate. He tells them to let the people know that they can join Adolin’s group and go to Urithiu. Adolin knows the city is lost. He saw the parshmen army and noted the progress they and the Fused made into Kholinar. Shallan warns him that Sja-anat claims this is all part of Odium’s trap, but Adolin tells her to work the Oathgate anyway. Sja-anat offers to try to spare them as Shallan pushes her Shardblade into the lock mechanism to activate the Oathgate.

Dalinar paces as they wait for more news of Kholinar. He received a message four hours ago that Elhokar’s forces planned to make for the Oathgate. Dalinar paces until the memories he has recovered of Evi’s death and his role in it torment him. He and Taravangian discuss the sacrifices men like them must make, taking on bloodshed and great responsibility so that others may live. The ardent who sent them the message from Kholinar sends a brief message before it is cut off: the Voidbringers have seized the palace. There is no word of Elhokar and the others, and the city has fallen.

The Oathgate carries away Shallan, Adolin, Kaladin, and Azure. Adolin falls into a sea of beads but Azure rescues him. He and his companions stand on a platform within the sea, where life-size spren, including Syl, Pattern, and one wearing ragged clothing and with scratched-out eyes, join them. The Oathgate takes only those inside the control building to some unfamiliar world. Azure, however, recognizes it.

Venli now wears the Regal form she took on in the storm, which gives her status above the parshmen and the ability to understand all languages. She acts as Odium’s mouthpiece now, moving from town to town where she tells parshmen her story and the story of her people. She uses it to convince them to fight and work the fields to support Odium’s cause. While alone, she allows the spren that followed her from the storm out of her bag of gemstones where it hides. It is an uncorrupted spren, like those that bond with humans, but despite Venli’s attempts to dismiss it, it hums to the singer’s rhythm of resolve and remains with her.

Mem the washerwoman works on getting stains out of Mraize’s pants. When she and her newest washgirl assistant, Pom, take Mraize’s clothing back to his rooms, she is shocked when Pom cuts through one of Mraize’s paintings with a knife. Guards and Mraize himself run into the room, but Mraize expresses pleasure at “finally” seeing Pom, whom he calls “Ancient One,” indicating that she is one of the Heralds. When she tries to leave, he convinces her to stay and speak with his enslaver, his babsk, by claiming to know where another Herald, Talenalat, is. Mraize dismisses Mem.

The Fused traveling with Venli carry her to Kholinar; she believes she might be finished with her work of recruiting parshmen/singers, but she realizes her true labor begins in Kholinar.

Sheler, a lighteyes related to the highprince of his lands, which run alongside Herdazian lands, is captured after being caught robbing and murdering civilians in Herdaz. He claims he was gathering resources to mount a resistance against the invasion of his lands. He demands the right of ransom as a lighteyes, but he is instead given three options, two of which involve different methods of execution. The third is to wrestle the “hog,” and if he lives, he is free to go. He chooses the third option, but once he is prepared and placed next to the ocean where the “hog” lives, he sees a massive claw come up from the ocean and realizes the “hog” is a nickname rather than the beast’s description.

Venli watches as the Everstorm approaches her cell on the outskirts of Kholinar, where the Fused lodge her and make her speak to multiple batches of singers every day. Her uncorrupted spren, which she named Timbre, communicates through rhythms and pleads with Venli to work with it and resist Odium. She tells the spren that it has the wrong sister, that Eshonai was the one who was able to do so. Venli is torn between worlds. She resents her treatment by the revived “gods,” or Fused, but still desires power. Odium carries her into a vision as the storm hits and warns her that she is too restless and that she does not tell her story well enough to the singers. He warns her to change this and threatens her with death.