Difference between revisions of "Summary:The Way of Kings"

{{anchor|Prelude}}

 

{{/icon|shield}}

 

{{anchor|Prologue}}

 

{{/icon|Szeth}}

{{epigraph|The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather...we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.}}

* [[Dalinar Kholin]]

* [[Elhokar Kholin]]

* [[Torol Sadeas]]

* [[Jasnah Kholin]] (mentioned only)

* [[Thaidakar]] (mentioned only)

* [[Restares]] (mentioned only)

* [[Cyn]]

* [[Korater]]

* [[Meridas Amaram]] (mentioned only)

* [[Gare]] (mentioned only)

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm.}}

 

{{columns|

{{epigraph|I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?}}

 

{{columns|

* [[Kaladin]] (point of view)

{{epigraph|Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.}}

 

;Plot summary

 

A few new arrivals are brought in, and Kaladin sees a young boy who reminds him of his younger brother [[Tien]]. In general, Kaladin is handling the transition to life as a bridge crew member poorly, snapping at Syl and becoming despondent. Syl leaves, unable to continue watching him in his current state.

 

 

*[[bws: annotation-the-way-of-kings-chapter-9/|Chapter 9 Annotation]]

* [[Renarin Kholin]]

* [[Gallant]]

* the [[Thrill]]

* [[Tarilar]]

* [[Sureblood]]

* [[Gallant]]

* [[Torol Sadeas]]

* [[Renarin Kholin]]

{{/icon|Kholin}}

{{Epigraph|Ati was once a kind and generous man, and you saw what became of him. Rayse, on the other hand, was among the most loathsome, crafty, and dangerous individuals I had ever met.}}

 

;Plot summary

{{/icon|Kholin}}

{{Epigraph|He holds the most frightening and terrible of all the Shards. Ponder on that for a time, you old reptile, and tell me if your insistence on nonintervention holds firm. Because I assure you, Rayse will not be similarly inhibited.}}

 

;Plot summary

{{/icon|Kholin}}

{{epigraph|In case you have turned a blind eye to that disaster, know that Aona and Skai are both dead, and that which they held has been Splintered. Presumably to prevent anyone from rising up to challenge Rayse.}}

 

;Plot summary

{{/icon|Kaladin}}

 

{{columns|

* [[Kaladin]] (point of view)

[[File:Shallan's Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph| They changed, even as we fought them. Like shadows they were, that can transform as the flame dances. Never underestimate them because of what you first see.}}

 

;Plot summary

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above.}}

 

;Plot summary

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|Within a heartbeat, Alezarv was there, crossing a distance that would have taken more than four months to travel by foot.}}

 

;Plot summary

;Plot Summary

 

 

Later that evening, Bridge Four gives Rock a razor as a gift for his making the stew every evening. With tears in his eyes, he runs into the barrack, leaving the others wondering if the gift was a good idea. Dunny starts to serve the stew to the others. Only [[Sigzil]] doesn't join in, so Kaladin seeks him out for a conversation. He tells Kaladin about [[Marabethia]] and their method of execution. Eventually Rock comes back, shaved, happy and grateful and tells Bridge Four that he will shave everybody who wants it. Kaladin despairs that the old wretch is coming back because he knows the bridgemen really have no chance to survive.

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.}}

 

;Plot Summary

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|Yelig-nar, called Blightwind, was one that could speak like a man, though often his voice was accompanied by the wails of those he consumed.}}

 

;Plot Summary

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|They take away the light, wherever they lurk. Skin that is burned.}}

 

;Plot Summary

{{/icon|Shallan}}

{{epigraph|Flame and char. Skin so terrible. Eyes like pits of blackness.}}

 

;Plot Summary

=== Interlude I-8: Geranid ===

[[File:Ten Spears.svg|165px|center]]

 

'''Geranid'''

=== Interlude I-9: Death Wears White ===

[[File:Szeth's Chapters.svg|125px|center]]

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|I'm standing over the body of a brother. I'm weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?}}

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me.}}

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.}}

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|Re-Sephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!}}

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.}}

 

;Plot Summary

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving.}}

 

;Plot Summary

'''Kaladin'''

 

 

'''Kaladin (flashback)'''

{{anchor|Chapter 70}}

 

[[File:Shallan's Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

 

Shallan lay in her hospital bed lamenting her actions and, to her surprise, Kabsal's death. But as she recalls the events leading up to her poisoning, things do not completely add up. She wonders why the antidote did not work for Kabsal and why Jasnah was not poisoned since she too had eaten the poisoned bread. She finds her sketchpad and draws an imperfect drawing of Jasnah examining the strawberry jam, remembering that she was not repulsed by the smell. Then she draws Jasnah eating the bread. In her drawing, it looks like it is melting. Realizing something, she leaves the hospital and walks in the darkness to the Conclave wearing only her hospital robe. She tells Jasnah that she knows that Jasnah uses a fake Soulcaster. Showing her the picture Shallan had drawn of Shadesmar to a shocked Jasnah, she concludes that Jasnah never had a working Soulcaster. Jasnah disregards Shallan's statements as fatigue induced delusions. To prove her statements Shallan attempts to return to Shadesmar. Holding her partially dun garnet sphere, she speaks with the twisted symbol-headed spren. They request a truth, preferably a secret truth, to form a bond. To form the bond, Shallan admits to killing her father. She falls into the sea of beads. She begins to drown but is rescued by Jasnah who reprimands her for going to Shadesmar with only a single dim sphere. Shallan asks to be part of Jasnah's work in truth and be trained in Soulcasting. At first Jasnah objects, but Shallan apologizes and explains that she could be someone that can share Jasnah's secrets. Jasnah relents and makes Shallan promise never to lie or steal again and gives Shallan her notes on the Voidbringers.

[[File:Szeth's Chapters.svg|125px|center]]

 

 

 

Szeth, working as a porter, walks the streets of Kharbranth towards the King's palace. Having assassinated the other names on the list given him by his unseen master, he is in Kharbranth to finish his work and kill King Taravangian. Using his Shardblade, he cuts a hole in the servants privy to access the king's portion of the palace. Szeth easily subdues Taravangian's guards and enters the king's study. Following his instructions, Szeth informs the king that he has killed the others and is there to finish the job. But the king reveals himself to be Szeth's unknown master. He put his name on the list to deflect suspicion should Szeth fail. The king claims the assassinations are necessary to build a stronger Roshar for the coming years. Szeth accuses the king of using him to do his dirty work and, as a response, the king takes him to his secret hospital. The hospital is filled with dying people who are having their blood slowly drained. Here the king shows Szeth that his hands are not clean, having drained the blood of many. He explains that the dying see something important as they die, and here they record their words. He believes their words may contain the key to everyone's salvation. He then adds a name to Szeth's list that he had hoped to avoid but recent events had made necessary: Dalinar Kholin.

[[File:Shallan's Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

 

Before reading Jasnah's notes on the Voidbringers, Shallan asks Jasnah how she soulcasted her blood multiple times if she was so unskilled in organic material. Jasnah replies that blood is one of the Essences and is therefore easy to soulcast, unlike the strawberry jam which she had never seen before. Shallan has a great many additional questions about soulcasting, but Jasnah returns the conversation back to the Voidbringers. Shallan asks how Jasnah could believe in these myths when so many trusted scholars considered the Voidbringers a fabrication. Jasnah replies that she in general seeks to find natural meanings to supernatural events. She believes that something real caused the legends of the Voidbringers. Reading from her notes, Jasnah helps Shallan see that the humans on Roshar did not destroy or banish the Voidbringers. They instead enslaved them as the Parshmen.

[[File:Shallan's Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

;Plot Summary

 

Shallan finishes reading Jasnah's notes concerning the Voidbringers and comes to the same conclusion as Jasnah, that the parshmen are the Voidbringers. They discuss the frightening ramifications of this conclusion, and they make plans to travel to the Shattered Plains to continue investigating King Gavilar's death and the Parshendi transformation into warriors. They also discuss the Ghostbloods, a secret organization seeking answers about the Voidbringers. Jasnah names Kabsal a member of the Ghostbloods and after seeing their secret symbol, Shallan realizes that her father was also likely a member.

[[File:Kholin Crest.svg|165px|center]]

 

 

 

During the next highstorm after Sadeas's betrayal, in one of Dalinar's visions, he finds himself in a white rocky landscape with smokey figures rising around him. The voice again tells Dalinar to "... unite them." Dalinar then demands to know why the voice lied to him with regards to trusting Sadeas. But instead of answering, the voice appears in human form and continues exhorting Dalinar to prepare for the [[Everstorm]], showing him a wall of darkness approaching a ruined Kholinar. Dalinar continues to ask questions and demand answers but soon realizes that the voice cannot hear him and never could. The voice continues telling Dalinar that this vision is a glimpse into the future born of his fears. Dalinar then sees that the wall of darkness is a wall of dust and as it passes by, the ground falls away leaving the land and where Kholinar was an empty void. Only the space where Dalinar stands remains. The voice tells Dalinar that someone must lead, unite and protect the people. He then commands Dalinar to rebuild the Knights Radiant, explaining that unity will be key in facing The True Desolation. The voice then ends by proclaiming that he was God (the Almighty) and that he is now dead after being killed by Odium.

[[File:Ten Spears.svg|165px|center]]

 

 

 

Wit has a conversation with some guardsmen in Kholinar. He asks them "What is the talent that men value most?" One of the guardsmen suggests art, to which Wit replies in the negative. At this point, [[Taln]] stumbles into the main courtyard, bearing a prophecy about the Everstorm, before collapsing on the ground, his Honorblade beside him. Hoid finishes by saying it is timeliness that men value most, and that Taln has arrived 'too late'.