Rhythm of War

Characters in Rhythm of War are often caught between multiple roles; finding the perfect place to belong is a motif that runs through the novel. Navani often feels torn by her duties as Queen Mother and her desire to be a scholar; she excels at statecraft, which she does not particularly enjoy, but her love of science makes her doubt her abilities in that sphere. Similarly, Adolin finds it hard to balance his role as heir to the Alethi crown, which calls for warrior instincts, and his interest in the arts and natural charming caddishness. He wants to be his own man but crumbles under the weight of his father’s expectations that he be the perfect man of honor. Kaladin also doesn’t know whether to continue trying to be the “Stormblessed” hero saving everyone or to return to doing surgery according to his father’s expectations—neither path of his own choice and both inducing guilt when he feels like a failure. Only when he chooses his own place to belong—in group therapy with others who share similar mental illness challenges—does he finds community.

Other characters must navigate cultural identities to find belonging. Formerly enslaved singers have assimilated into Alethi culture outwardly but have an instinctive awe of the connection the Fused have to singer past: “Their accents, their dress, their mannerisms—they were all distinctly Alethi. But they grew transfixed whenever the Fused spoke of their ancestors, and they sought ways to emulate those long-dead parshmen” (38). Venli knows that neither option will ensure singer belonging: Both Fused and humans “[seek] to take away the minds of common folk. Both [are] interested solely in the convenience of a useful body, without the accompanying ‘burden’ of a personality, desires, and dreams” (158). Instead, Venli aims to create a new society away from humans and Fused alike: “She needed to counteract the indoctrination of the Fused and help the singers cast off the traditions of those who had enslaved them” (157).