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Pinnacle

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Pinnacle
The Pinnacle.jpg
by Isaac Stewart
Owner Elhokar Kholin
Usage Palace
City Alethi warcamps
Region The Shattered Plains
World Roshar
Universe Cosmere
This article is about the building. For the Ferring power, see Electrum#Feruchemical Use.

“The palace was both finer and more mundane than she might have expected. ”

The Pinnacle is King Elhokar Kholin's palace on the Shattered Plains.[2]

Layout[edit]

by Isaac Stewart
Top-down view of the palace complex

The Pinnacle stands on a hill above all the other warcamps, about an hour's march from the Kholin warcamp.[3][4] It is surrounded by a sheer drop of approximately a hundred feet.[5] One road leads to the main entrance, while a smaller side route goes down to the stables at the feet of the hill.[6] Likewise, the feasting basin sits beneath the palace, with a short climb between it and the Pinnacle gates.[7] The Outer Market is also located nearby.[8]

The palace is made of sculpted, Soulcast stone.[1] A broad gateway leads inside, though there is also a back entrance atop a flight of steps.[4][5] Within, the Pinnacle has several floors containing vast, cavernous halls, and numerous rooms serving a variety of purposes. A large part of it is dug straight into the hill, with windows cut out facing leeward.[9][4] There are shutters on the windows to keep them closed during bad weather, though they tend to rattle and leak.[6]

An artist’s impression of the warcamps. We view the warcamps from some imaginary viewpoint high up in the sky. Not quite a bird's eye view; but it's clear there is no actual spot the artist could have stood to draw this. The bottom left of the image is taken up by a rectangle containing the description. Going up and to the right, we have the Shattered Plains, looking like dried, cracked mud. Then we reach the warcamps, ten craters filled with tiny structures. Each has a larger building in the middle, likely the Highprince's quarters, a collection of small houses packed densely together to show where the soldiers live, and stylised tufts of wheat to show where fields are. In the top right, sitting on a ridge overlooking the 10 warcamps is a set of larger structures: the king's complex. I can't make out all of the buildings the description names. It lists them "top to bottom" but they're going left to right. The leftmost building is a big tower with two smaller houses at its base. Then there is a large structure that looks like a medieval castle, complete with a ringwall. Below that is a short, squat building that might be the duelling ring.
by Isaac Stewart
The Alethi warcamps, with the Pinnacle visible in the top right.

Notable rooms[edit]

The Gallery of Maps
The Gallery of Maps, as its name implies, houses numerous maps of both the world and the local area, as well as the list of highprinces and the number of gemhearts they have won. The long room is covered by a stretched dome, with large skylights which shine down upon formations of shalebark.[10][11]
The conference chamber
The king's conference chamber is located on one of the Pinnacle's topmost floors. The king and his family spend highstorms in there, while Dalinar is tied up for the duration of his visions.[9] During working hours, the strategy and politics meetings between the king and his highprinces take place within the room.[1]
The kitchens
The kitchens, where food is prepared, are located near the bottom of the palace, perhaps on the ground floor. The back entrance to the Pinnacle leads there.[9]
The king's quarters
The set of rooms where Elhokar lives. There is a small balcony there facing towards the Origin, allowing the king to observe the Shattered Plains. It is Elhokar's favorite location in the palace, a fact which is well-known.[12]

History[edit]

The palace was constructed by the royal Soulcasters during the War of Reckoning.[10] Elhokar eventually dubbed it the Pinnacle, and the name stuck.[4]

During its existence, the place served as Elhokar's home, as well as the place where strategy and planning meetings were conducted, making it effectively the centre of Alethi government.[13][1] In addition, the Pinnacle saw several failed attempts to assassinate the king - once by the Diagram, through a sliced railing in the royal quarters, once by the Assassin in White, and once directly by Moash and Graves.[12][9][14] Following that last attempt, Kaladin temporarily relocated Elhokar to Little Herdaz.[15]

After the Battle of Narak, most Alethi relocated to Urithiru. As with the other structures on the Shattered Plains, the Pinnacle was all but abandoned.[16]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ a b c d Words of Radiance chapter 36#
  2. ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 18#
  3. ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 22#
  4. ↑ a b c d Words of Radiance chapter 5#
  5. ↑ a b Words of Radiance chapter 33#
  6. ↑ a b Words of Radiance chapter 22#
  7. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 50#
  8. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 67#
  9. ↑ a b c d Words of Radiance chapter 32#
  10. ↑ a b The Way of Kings chapter 24#
  11. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 52#
  12. ↑ a b Words of Radiance chapter 23#
  13. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 24#
  14. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 84#
  15. ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 87#
  16. ↑ Oathbringer chapter 50#
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