Rhythm of War

In the present, Venli brings Rlain to the infirmary. Rlain reveals that he stole maps of Urithiru out of Navani’s vault. He hopes they might help Kaladin, but Venli realizes that they might also help her people sneak away. As news of Kaladin’s successful fights against the Fused spreads, other skirmishes break out between humans and singers. Resisters now paint glyphs on their heads in honor of Kaladin. Lirin disparages them, claiming they will cause more death, but Venli argues that the glyphs provide hope.

While Adolin is imprisoned in the spren city Lasting Integrity, Shallan tries to find Restares—the man she’s been commissioned to seek out by the Ghostbloods. Still upset over her spren Pattern’s betrayal, she forces her personas, Veil and Radiant, to take over. Pattern tries to confront Shallan, but she will not come out.

When Veil asks Pattern about the first time they met, Pattern’s answer is confusing: He says they met on a boat with Jasnah, rather than in Shallan’s childhood. Radiant then accuses Pattern of lying, and he apologizes. He then introduces someone he feels it is important that Shallan meet: a deadeye spren named Cryptic. At the sight of Cryptic, Shallan emerges and calls Pattern a traitor and a liar. Pattern sees a change in her that frightens him.

Despite Raboniel’s war fatigue, she rejects Navani’s suggestion that humans and listeners establish peace. Their Light experiments continue. When Navani discovers that Stormlight responds to sound, Raboniel responds by explaining the tone and rhythm she hears in Voidlight. At Navani’s request, Raboniel sings the tone of Voidlight while Navani sings that of Stormlight; the two Lights mix within a gemstone and achieve harmony. Raboniel, shocked, explains that the Light created through the mixture is the Rhythm of War (explaining the novel’s title), a discovery that may help them kill a god. Navani realizes that this is what Gavilar had been seeking.

The novel flashes back.

In the Alethi capital city, Venli and Ulim wander the palace before the feast celebrating a human and listener treaty. However, Ulim has ulterior motives that include dispatching a spy. When his agent is discovered, Ulim abandons Venli, who is found and questioned by human guards until the Herald Nale arrives and takes custody of her. Ulim then returns, and his presence convinces Nale that Gavilar’s plan to bring back the Knights Radiant might be working. Nale decides then that Gavilar and his people must be destroyed to prevent Radiant bonds. Nale claims that Gavilar will betray the listeners and suggests breaking the treaty.

In the present, Pattern admits that he used the communication device—but he was contacting Wit, not Mraize. Shallan is relieved that her spren friend is not a spy. She calls Mraize to report not finding Restares.

Adolin’s tutor, an inkspren (a logical and sapient type of spren) named Blended, helps him prepare for trial despite his belief that Adolin stands no chance of being acquitted. When the High Judge appears, Adolin is shocked to discover that he is human rather than spren. Shallan recognizes the High Judge as Kelek, one of the Heralds, and realizes that this is the “Restares” whom Mraize wants her to find and kill.

Kaladin’s mother, Hesina, helps Rlain look over the maps he found, hoping to help her son. She does not disparage Kaladin’s occupation as a soldier like his father does. A note on the map reads that a group of people has been found near the Shattered Plains. Dabbid interrupts them—he fears Kaladin is dying.

Kaladin is tormented by nightmares. However, in one of them, Wit appears and pulls Kaladin into a small circle of light. Wit explains that the nightmares are from Odium; he will use his short time in the nightmare to tell the following story.

A dog wants to become a dragon. In his efforts, he learns how to write and creates a harness and pulley to raise and lower himself to “fly.” When other dogs laugh, he realizes that he cannot become a dragon. Later, when a child falls into a well, the dog saves her by writing instructions on how to use his harness to lower him down the well. The dog earns a place by the family’s fire that night.

Wit’s point is that Kaladin is like the dog, assuming he is a failure just because he does not achieve his original goal. Wit reminds Kaladin that life will always have ups and downs—he needs to remember that the sunshine will always return. Kaladin returns to his nightmare with renewed hope.

The novel flashes back to the aftermath of the broken treaty.

The listeners who listened to Nale had Gavilar murdered. Now, they are trapped on the Shattered Plains. A group that includes Eshonai and Rlain spies on the Alethi warcamps and discusses strategy. Venli, meanwhile, convinces listeners to adopt more new forms through the voidspren she has contained in gemstones.

In the present, Radiant contacts Mraize and demands to know why he did not tell her Restares’s true identity. In turn, Mraize reveals the purpose of killing Kelek: He gives Shallan a knife with a gemstone to capture Kelek’s soul. This way, the Ghostbloods’ leader, Thaidakar, can learn about a condition that they both have. Mraize argues that Kelek is dangerous and points out that after killing him, Shallan could use her magic to impersonate Kelek and adjudicate the trial in Adolin’s favor.

Venli faces her guilt over the actions that killed her people as she practices her powers in Urithiru.

Rlain argues with Lirin about Kaladin; Lirin refuses to promise not to turn Kaladin over to the Fused, so Rlain refuses to take him to Kaladin for treatment. During the argument, Venli’s spren, Timbre, reminds Venli about the imprisoned girl Lift, who has healing magic and could heal Kaladin. In response, Venli uses her powers to manipulate the stone and open a hole in the Lift’s cell. Despite this action, Timbre again rejects Venli’s oaths and prevents her from accessing the next level of magical power.

Navani and Raboniel make more Warlight. At the same time, Navani researches for a way to rejoin split spren. To help, Raboniel offers Navani sand to measure Stormlight strength and blades made of raysium, a powerful and rare metal that comes from Odium. Raysium blades allow Fused to drain Radiants of Stormlight, the way Leshwi did to Sigzil during the rescue at Hearthstone.

Dabbid leads Rlain and Lift to Kaladin’s secret room, where Lift heals Kaladin and Teft.

Dabbid, who has an intellectual disability because of complications during his birth, has been seen as different his whole life, which is why he became selectively mute. Dabbid admits to Rlain that he did not speak to the other Bridge Four because he did not want them to know about his disability.

The novel flashes back.

Venli organizes other listeners into cutting gemstones, which she can use to secretly capture stormspren. She suggests to Eshonai that they bring back their gods—the Fused—but Eshonai shuts her down. As her sister falls asleep, Venli goes into the highstorm to hunt stormspren to imprison in the gemstones.

In the present, Adolin’s trial begins with honorspren witnesses testifying to humans’ untrustworthiness. Even the captain spren, Notum, testifies against Adolin, having been bribed with an end to his exile. However, he stops himself mid-testimony and, before guards can remove him, proclaims the ongoing existence of the Shard Honor: “Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men” (972). Some honorspren take up his cry, revealing divisions among the honorspren.

Shallan fakes an injury and uses Pattern to convince the honorspren that she needs Stormlight to heal. She then steals an infused sphere and replaces it with a dun one to make it look as if she had drained the sphere in curing herself.

The novel flashes back.

Venli and Eshonai discuss the ramifications of Venli’s captured stormspren. Crying out during one highstorm, Venli attracted a spren that followed her home.

In the present, the Sibling finally responds to Navani; it now sounds weaker than before, which means its corruption is almost complete.

Navani increases her skill in interpreting listener rhythms, allowing her to read Raboniel better and to determine that Raboniel has something else planned besides killing Odium. In one of her experiments, Navani notices patterns left by music in the sand, which means that Light magic is made up of sound and vibration as well as light and substance. She begins to search for opposing vibrations in her work combining different forms of Light.

On the second day of the trial, honorspren interrupt Adolin’s defense many times with accusations about humans killing spren. In response, Adolin exclaims that they never planned to give him an honorable trial, briefly cowing the audience. However, the mood turns angry again when the spren learn that one of the Cryptics—sapient spren who live primarily in Shadowmar—was turned into a deadeye recently. They are even more furious that Adolin knew about this, having met the spren in port.

Adolin rejects Shallan’s plan to break him out of prison as dishonorable. Adolin instead hopes that honorably accepting punishment might convince at least some honorspren to join the fight. Shallan considers Mraize’s suggestion to impersonate Kelek and save Adolin that way, but Veil votes with Radiant against the idea. However at this, Formless, a new persona that reflects Shallan’s fears, takes over, planning to kill Kelek.

Kaladin, Teft, Rlain, Dabbid, and Lift debrief and discuss how they can help the other Radiants. Kaladin considers giving in to the occupiers, but Teft encourages them to save the Radiants.

Venli admits her shame for causing her people’s downfall, but Raboniel praises Venli’s service, even though she suspects Venli has been Leshwi’s spy. Raboniel gifts Venli a writ of authority and a map and wishes her peace; Venli is free to leave with other listeners. On one of Raboniel’s other maps, Venli sees mention of listeners who fled the Everstorm and are now living on the Shattered Plains. She realizes that some of her people may have survived.

The persona Formless, still in control of Shallan, plans her assassination of Kelek; Veil and Pattern try to stop her, but she ignores them. Pattern follows Formless to Kelek’s home; Wit told him to trust and love Shallan through her problems, as Shallan deserves love. The other personas join in to help: Radiant admits that she is the one who killed Ialai, and Veil warns Shallan that Formless will become real if she kills Kelek and reminds Shallan that she is strong enough to be herself.

Veil returns her memories to Shallan, who now remembers bonding a spren named Testament before Pattern—a spren Shallan made a deadeye in her childhood grief and confusion at killing her parents. Veil fades away, incorporating herself back into Shallan now that she is no longer needed as protection.

Kelek enters the room. Shallan admits that she is there to assassinate him but instead asks him to reconsider his decision in Adolin’s trial. Just then, honorspren burst into the room with accusations of collusion, taking Kelek away and demoting him from High Judgeship.

Sekeir, an honorspren who now stands in for Kelek, calls the deadeye spren Maya as a final witness, assuming that she cannot speak for herself and declaring that he will speak for her. However, as Sekeir speaks, Maya becomes distressed, and Adolin pleads for them to release her. Unprecedentedly, Maya then speaks, explaining through Adolin that the ancient Knights Radiant did not betray their spren—the spren chose, alongside the Radiants, to break the bonds to save humanity. As the honorspren watch in shock, Maya cries out that they cannot take away the meaningful nature of her age-old sacrifice. At this, the spren disperse, leaving Adolin free.

The novel flashes back.

When Venli begins to see the danger of stormform, other listeners dismiss her concerns because their minds are already altered by this new form, which grants them super combat prowess and the power to manifest the Everstorm. Venli runs from them as they summon the storm; she sees her sister fall into the chasms during battle but turns away to save herself.

In the present, after telling Rlain about the surviving listeners, Venli admits to her role in the listeners’ deaths and the flight of those listeners who disagreed with her actions. She wants to use Raboniel’s writ to flee with her followers and find the Shattered Plains listeners. Rlain calls Venli a traitor and angrily insists that they first need to save the Radiants in the tower. Venli refuses; she plans to use Rlain’s distraction as a cover for her people’s escape.

Navani discovers how to create anti-Voidlight. She sets up Raboniel to mix it with Voidlight and cause the same explosion that killed Navani’s scholars, but Raboniel survives the blast. Unaware of Navani’s deliberate sabotage, Raboniel urges Navani to create another anti-Voidlight gemstone. Raboniel then uses that stone in a dagger and kills her daughter, freeing her from her insanity. Raboniel has never wanted to kill Odium; instead, she will use Navani’s discovery to kill spren, preventing their bonds with Radiants and thus winning the war for the Fused.

Kaladin’s mother, Hesina, argues with his father Lirin over his continued disapproval of Kaladin’s career—if anyone has to be a soldier, it should be their son, who has compassion. She points out the forehead glyphs the resistance is wearing in honor of Kaladin and suggests Lirin speak with the people who use them so he can understand them.

Adin, the son of a potter living in Urithiru, wants to be a Windrunner knight, so he asks to join his father in watching over the unconscious Radiants.

Taravangian continues to think about how he could use the sword Nightblood to kill Odium; he believes Odium is human enough to be tricked.

Sja-anat, one of the Unmade, pulls Taravangian into a vision, in which she reveals that she also wants Odium to fail and offers to help draw Odium to Taravangian’s trap.