Oathbringer

The Stormfather brings Queen Fen of Thaylenah into a vision at Dalinar’s request. As they both experience the vision, Fen claims she will not trust Dalinar but, after she sees the reality-based version of him, she agrees to consider his requests and offers.

Chapter 35 opens from the perspective of Sigzil, one of the members of what was once Bridge Four and the man who now acts as Kaladin’s clerk and a soldier in Dalinar’s army. He and Kaladin review logistical issues on Kaladin’s return and then retrieve large quantities of gemstones requisitioned for Kaladin’s Windrunner squires, or apprentices, to practice their powers.

Dalinar and a now-pregnant Evi spend time together in their rooms until Gavilar’s abrupt appearance. Gavilar learns that the son of the highprince of Rathelas is alive and leading a rebellion, rather than dead at Dalinar’s hand. Evi is pleased that Dalinar spared this rebel’s life instead of killing him as a child. Her pleasure at his mercy lightens his heart, despite the shame he feels over failing his brother.

Chapter 37 is told from the perspective of Rock, one of the original Bridge Four members. Rock watches his companions practice using Stormlight and fighting. He provides comfort and advice to several of the men and witnesses the healing of Hobber’s legs when he is finally able to take in Stormlight. Bridge Four, noting smoke on the horizon, finds a caravan attacked by Fused; Rock’s wife and children are among the survivors; they traveled from their homeland to join him.

Navani and Jasnah join one of Dalinar’s visions. The Stormfather explains the ancient war between Fused and human Radiants, including the increasing frequency of Desolations (the times when Fused escaped their prison and fought humans once more) and how fewer years between Desolations meant humans were unable to rebuild and re-develop technology in time for the next Desolation. The Heralds, the Stormfather explains, speculated that only one Herald was necessary to seal off the Voidbringers. They chose Talenalat to stay behind and bear the agonies of Damnation alone. Once the Voidbringers returned, however, when they finally died, they simply had their rebirth in the Everstorm rather than Damnation. The Stormfather withholds the secret of why the Radiants betrayed their oaths. He believes the new Radiants will do the same thing if they learn the whole truth.

The Kholin inner circle conducts a meeting to plan their response in the face of the Fused/parshmen army and Odium’s threat. Kaladin and Jasnah butt heads over morality while Shallan allows herself to become distracted. As soon as she can flee, she does so, finding a note from Mraize in which he praises her handling of the Midnight Mother and provides the promised information about her brother, Helaran.

Mraize’s letter reveals that Helaran was a member of the Skybreakers, an organization founded by one of the crazed Heralds, Nale. Nale and his associates either recruit those close to bonding a spren and turn them into Skybreakers or eliminate them. The letter also reveals how Helaran died.

Shallan flees her emotions once more, going to the barracks as Veil. She recognizes a washerwoman among them as Ishnah in disguise, the woman who recently approached her about the Ghostbloods. Hoping to learn about espionage, Veil allows Ishnah to join the team with the condition that Ishnah teaches Shallan’s soldiers spycraft.

Chapter 41 takes place from the perspective of Teft, another member of Bridge Four. Teft is addicted to the drug Firemoss. He awakens in an alley after a night of too much moss. He sold his military uniform to buy more. Kaladin and Rock find him in another Firemoss den and return him to the barracks, where he berates himself over the ordeal and avoids his spren and her talk of oaths.

The Stormfather brings Yanagawn into a vision. Yanagawn is the young, inexperienced Prime Aqasix (or emperor) of Azir, one of the nations Dalinar is trying to bring to an alliance. Yanagawn, like Fen, is suspicious of conquest. Another figure appears suddenly: a young girl named Lift, who is a Radiant created by Cultivation, one of the planet’s deity-like figures, rather than by Honor. Lift, who is Yanagawn’s friend, pulls him out of the vision.

Moash, a former member of Bridge Four narrates this chapter. Moash is out on the Shattered Plains with three other men, where they fled the Alethi armies after Moash betrayed Kaladin and broke his oath to protect the king: He attempted to kill Elhokar. When the Fused arrive, Moash is the only one of his men to survive, and he kills one of the Fused. The other Fused offer Moash a chance to live if he willingly enters into their custody. Moash gives up his Shardblade and allows them to carry him away.

Shallan as Veil joins Ishnah’s spy training along with three of her men in a tavern, Shallan is there to learn how to be a better spy herself but she also wishes to determine if Ishnah is an enemy plant. She rushes to another meeting, which is between Navani’s and Jasnah’s scholars. Here she struggles with the question of whether she still fits in as a scholar. Renarin’s appearance makes the others—and him—uncomfortable because he is neither a woman nor an ardent, which means their religion forbids him from reading or studying. Shallan defends Renarin when Janala, one of the brightladies who was at one time a favorite of Adolin’s, mocks him. Renarin is surprised he can see Pattern on Shallan’s skirt and Shallan tells him that Pattern is unable to turn invisible. They connect over a mutual understanding of the tower, which they both feel is one large fabrial instead of a collection of separate fabrials, as the rest of the scholars believe. A comment from Renarin gives Shallan the idea to escape Jasnah by joining the mission to Kholinar. Dalinar stuns the group of scholars when he joins the meeting. Shallan realizes that Dalinar has come to dispel any awkwardness for Renarin in the presence of all the women. “It can’t be improper or feminine for the prince to be here if the storming Blackthorn decides to attend” (458).

Moash is dropped at the edge of the city of Revelar by the Fused, where he is taken by the parshmen into enslavement. He despairs when he sees the same old signs of status and privilege among humans, even as they are all shoved into enslavement under parshmen. He realizes these parshmen are bigger and bolder than those he remembers from his days with the caravans. He also realizes the parshmen are preparing for war.

Chapter 46 is told from the perspective of Skar, another member of Bridge Four. He is one of the only members of the original Bridge Four team who has been unable to take in Stormlight, leaving him feeling unworthy. He helps a new member of Bridge Four, Lyn, learn how to take in Stormlight, allowing her to join the others. He does not notice—until Rock points it out—that he has started glowing with Stormlight, too.

Jasnah reviews her notes and research, realizing she is now behind in the world; she was once one of the only ones aware of the Voidbringers’ coming, but now she finds she needs to make up for the time lost during her disappearance. She worries over Shallan and debates telling others about something she has learned, but her spren, Ivory, instructs her not to do so.

Moash joins the crews pulling sleds of supplies for the parshmen. He admires their efficiency and observes that they treat the people they keep enslaved better than the humans do. The one exception is their treatment of a group of their own parshmen, who are beaten as they pull another sled.

He contemplates his life so far and the parshmen around him, and as his pessimism about humans grows, his admiration for parshmen also grows. They are efficient and seem to treat even their human enslaved people well, whereas Moash sees humans as corrupt and deserving of the return of the Voidbringers. He also realizes that they are headed to Kholinar, to attack the city. Moash learns that those parshmen brought a “false god,” or a Radiant, into their midst. When one of the parshmen collapses, Moash helps the man and takes over his spot pulling the sledge.

At a tavern with his men, Dalinar tries to join a fight but no one will fight him. He learns from his men that while drunk, he fought three men and permanently crippled them. This explains others’ reticence to fight Dalinar now.

Toh, his brother-in-law, brings news that Evi has given birth; after meeting his son, Dalinar speaks with Gavilar, whose diplomacy failed to quell the rebellion at the Rift. He sends Dalinar to fight border skirmishes to showcase their Alethi might before turning to the trouble at the Rift.

Kaladin transports Dalinar, Navani, and several ardents to the Shattered Plains with the assistance of his squires. While there, Dalinar seeks the monastery cell of a man they now believe was, a mad Herald. He hopes to find clues about the man but finds only a dart with a poisoned tip. A message arrives from Queen Fen in which she sends her acceptance of aid and an invitation for Dalinar to visit Thaylen City.

Moash and the parshmen/Fused army arrive at a suburb outside of Kholinar. He breaks into laughter at the irony of his escape from enslavement in a warcamp (the Shattered Plains) only to find himself back in warcamp enslavement for the Fused.

Shallan, meanwhile, convinces Elhokar to take her on the mission to Kholinar.

Four years after Gavilar sent him away, Dalinar thrives on the regular fighting he now engages in. Evi arrives, surprising him and claiming to want to fit in and be more of a traditional Alethi wife; their sons accompany her. Evi reveals her ignorance about war; this, combined with her butchering of the Alethi language in naming Renarin, grates on Dalinar.

Jasnah reaches out to old contacts to learn what they have discovered about the Heralds and Radiants in her absence. Amaram appears, trying to win Jasnah over as he did when they were younger and trying to use her to get to Dalinar. Jasnah brutally rejects him once more after he turns to anger and insults over her initial rejections. Meanwhile, Renarin and his spren meticulously observe the walls of the room, Suddenly, many drawers containing gemstones pop out from hidden openings. The gemstones contain messages inscribed in code by the ancient Radiants.

The parshmen around Moash complain about their treatment at the hands of their gods, questioning the Fused’s motivations. Moash asks to speak to someone in charge and is taken to Leshwi, one of the Fused. She offers him freedom and the chance to defend Kholinar, but he chooses to remain and teach the squad of defeated parshmen how to fight.

Chapter 55 is told from the perspective of Rlain, the parshendi/listener malen (listener for “male”) who distrusts the Fused. Bridge Four accepted Rlain during their time as enslaved people. As he watches the rest of Bridge Four train with Stormlight, Rlain struggles with feelings of isolation as a member of the race that humans consider their enemy. He watches as the men all bond over their shared outcast status. Rlain wonders if they realize how hard it is for him to exist with them as an outsider among outsiders. Kaladin, however, shows he cares by asking Rlain to share his experience.

Dalinar and the Stormfather take Navani, Jasnah, and Yanagawn into a vision. Dalinar approaches Yanagawn and tries to convince him to speak to his advisors on Dalinar’s behalf; as the vision ends and Yanagawn returns to his body, Odium pulls Dalinar into another vision. Odium is the deity-like being working to destroy Roshar.

Odium greets Dalinar like an old friend and tells Dalinar about himself, Honor, and Cultivation, the three gods of Roshar. He explains the differences in the three gods to Dalinar and insists that he, Odium, is not just hatred as people commonly believe. He says that he is the passion that makes men and a life without passion is not worth living. Dalinar demands a trial of champions, but Odium refuses. He reveals his true nature, which is powerful and terrifying. He claims he knows that Dalinar will release him from Roshar, after which Odium will kill Cultivation and rule the planet. After Odium leaves the vision, Dalinar finds Lift, the young Radiant that he saw in a previous vision, beside him. Seeing Odium convinces her that fighting Odium is more important than the Azir distrust of Dalinar, so she promises to speak with Yanagawn about visiting Urithiru.

Kaza is a Soulcaster, or a person who is tasked with using a particular fabrial, also called a Soulcaster, which allows the wielder to transform rock into food and other resources. Those who wield one many times, like Kaza, begin to disintegrate themselves. Their bodies fall apart as pieces become smoke and air. Kaza accompanies a group of sailors who seek a mythical island. They seek it for its rumored riches but Kaza seeks it for a rumored cure. When they approach the island, Kaza watches the men collapse and then finally collapses herself. They are all poisoned by the cook, who refuses to explain what secrets she protects on the island.

Taravangian has one of his intelligent days. His boon and curse from the Nightwatcher, an Unmade, when he asked for a way to save humans from Odium, was that he would have one glorious day of ultimate intelligence. During that one day, he created the Diagram (a plan to save the world that he and his companions must interpret later). He now spends the rest of his days alternating between lesser versions of intelligent days and incredibly “stupid” days. Today, he uses his intelligence to tackle their Dalinar problem; Dalinar was supposed to die when Taravangian sent the Assassin in White after him, but he survived. Taravangian decides to break and delegitimize Dalinar so Taravangian can take over control of the coalition Dalinar is building. He orders his Radiant to send her spren as a spy to discover Dalinar’s secrets. Taravangian believes his plan will put him in a position to negotiate with Odium.

Venli stands with eight other listeners, including her once-mate and friend, Demid. With Ulim’s guidance, they join the Everstorm to gain a new form of power, but instead, Venli finds that her friends’ bodies have been taken over to host the souls of the Fused, which listeners believe were their ancient gods. Venli does not know why she is spared, but the Fused decide it is Odium’s will and carry her with them toward Alethkar.