True Desolation
| True Desolation | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1173-present |
| Participants | Humans, singers, spren, Odium |
| Effects | Ongoing |
| World | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
“I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm. ”
—Collected on Palaheses 1172, 15 seconds pre-death. Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin.[1]
The True Desolation follows the Era of Solitude on Roshar. Odium and his servants wage war against the rest of Roshar, hoping to eventually allow the Shard to break free of the ties bonding him to the Rosharan system. The term Night of Sorrows is often used as an apparent synonym for the True Desolation, although there may be some nuance between the two terms.[2]
Lead-up[edit]
After the Last Desolation, nine of the ten Heralds could no longer bear to return to Braize to be tortured by the Fused, and instead gave up the Oathpact. One Herald, Talenel, had been killed in the final battle and had automatically returned to Braize; with him there, the Oathpact remained intact and the Fused were sealed away. They also left behind the Knights Radiant to continue to protect the people of Roshar.[3]
Around the time of the False Desolation, the newest generation of Radiants learned that humans were not native to Roshar and had essentially been taking the singers' land for millennia. Around this time, something—possibly Melishi trapping the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram—caused the singers to be stripped of their Connection and Identity, leaving them mostly unable to act for themselves. Honor did not support the Radiants through these events, instead raving about how they would destroy Roshar. As a result, all of the Knights Radiant except the Order of Skybreakers broke their oaths, killing their spren in an event known as the Recreance. Some time after this, Odium finally Splintered Honor, though not before Honor was able to make some arrangements to guide the people of Roshar through the coming fight with Odium.[4]
“Unite them. The sun approaches the horizon. The Everstorm comes. The True Desolation. The Night of Sorrows.”
Sometime prior to the reunification of Alethkar, the Stormfather began sending the visions that Honor had recorded to potential Bondsmiths to warn them of Odium's coming, guide them to refound the Knights Radiant, and encourage them to unify Roshar against the threat of Odium and his armies. Gavilar Kholin received these visions prior to his death, and he got in contact with Thaidakar and Restares, somehow getting his hands upon Voidlight and Anti-Voidlight, and forming a plan to bring back the Fused.[6] Shortly after Gavilar’s death in Ishi 1167, Dalinar Kholin began to receive these visions as well.[7]
The spren were also aware of Odium's impending return as they saw the Everstorm beginning to take shape in Shadesmar as early as centuries before the start of the True Desolation.[8][9] Motivated by this, a few Radiant spren began to return to the Physical Realm to bond with potential Radiants as early as 1167. The earliest known examples being Ivory with Jasnah Kholin and Testament with Shallan Davar.[10][11][12][13]
The Diagram collected a Death Rattle that predicted the coming of the True Desolation.[1] When confronted about his knowledge, Taravangian told Dalinar that the information came from the Herald Battar.[14]
Beginning[edit]
“Who am I? I ... I am Talenel'Elin, Stonesinew, Herald of the Almighty. The Desolation has come. Oh, God ... it has come. And I have failed. ”
The True Desolation formally began due to unknown reasons, four and a half millennia after the Aharietiam, allowing the Fused to return to Roshar. The Herald Talenel then returned to Roshar to warn the people of their coming and prepare them to fight, arriving outside of Kholinar. Upon entering the city, he proclaims that the Desolation has come and that he has failed, before falling to the ground, unconscious.[15] Talenel is later brought to the Shattered Plains where he is widely viewed as a madman. He repeats the same mantra warning of the coming desolation.[16]
Meanwhile, some voidspren were laying the groundwork for the Fused to return. One, Ulim, successfully made contact with the singer Venli, who was researching new forms to help the listeners fight the War of Reckoning against the Alethi. With significant help from Ulim, Venli discovered stormform.[17][18] Though Eshonai worried about that stormform would open the listeners up to their gods, she volunteered to take the form as a test of its nature and abilities.[19] She is unable, however, to control the form and, with Venli's assistance, convinced most of the rest of their people to adopt it as well.[20]
The Battle of Narak[edit]
During the Battle of Narak, on Ishishach 1173, the stormform singers used its power to summon a new storm of Odium, known as the Everstorm. Much like the highstorm, it continually rounds the planet, though in the opposite direction.[21][expand]
The Everstorm restored Connection and Identity to the singers and allows the Fused to be reborn in the body of a singer as it passes over a region.[22][23]
Forging the Coalition[edit]
Following the Battle of Narak and the human occupation of Urithiru, some time in Jesnan 1174, Dalinar Kholin forged the Coalition of monarchs,[24] he began to contact monarchs from all across Roshar to try and get them to join the offensive against the Fused armies.[25] The primary focus was upon nations that contained Oathgates, due to their strategeic importance.[26] It was also around this point that the war between Emul and Tukar came to a halt as the new, greater threat diverted their focus and brought an end to their fighting.[27]
The first leader Dalinar and his scribes reached out to was Yanagawn of Azir, however, they rebuked his advances due to a distrust of him and Alethkar as a whole. They completely broke off communications after he became desperate and begun to speak to them more forcefully. This distrust was ultimately sourced in the genocide perpetrated against the Azish people by Sadees the Sunmaker, and by Dalinar's own history of brutality and conquest.
Following their failure to ally with the Makabaki, they reached out to Fen Rnamdi of Thaylenah. However, she too distrusted the Alethi, with her flatly refusing to meet with that at Urithiru, or allow them to send troops to Thaylen City to help repair it after the destruction wrought by the Everstorm.[28] He tried to convince her several times, but each time was met with rejection.[29]
They also contacted Yezier and Tashikk, but were rejected by them as well; however, Taravangian accepted his invitation and informed Dalinar that he would be arriving with one of his radiants via the Oathgate in Jah Keved.[28]
Trivia[edit]
In foreign translations, this is also known as:
- Auténtica Desolación (Spanish)
- Prawdziwe Spustoszenie (Polish)
- Истинско Опустошение (Bulgarian)
Notes[edit]
| History of Roshar | ||
|---|---|---|
| War of Reckoning | The True Desolation | Ongoing |
- ↑ a b The Way of Kings chapter 5 epigraph#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 52#
- ↑ Prelude to the Stormlight Archive#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 113#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 75#
- ↑ Oathbringer prologue#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 28#
- ↑ Rhythm of War chapter 73#
- ↑ Rhythm of War chapter 75#
- ↑ Words of Radiance prologue#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 10#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 83#
- ↑ Rhythm of War chapter 93#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 121#
- ↑ a b The Way of Kings epilogue#
- ↑ Words of Radiance interlude I-7#
- ↑ Oathbringer interlude I-6#
- ↑ Oathbringer interlude I-7#
- ↑ Words of Radiance interlude I-4#
- ↑ Words of Radiance interlude I-11#
- ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 87#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 17#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 38#
- ↑ Rhythm of War chapter 1 epigraph#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 1#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 8#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 96#
- ↑ a b Oathbringer chapter 12#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 24#