Oathbringer

<Oathbringer>
by Michael Whelan
The Stormlight Archive Follows Words of Radiance Precedes Stormlight Archive 4
Setting	Roshar, Cosmere
Released	14 November 2017

This article deals with the third Stormlight Archive novel. For Dalinar Kholin's Shardblade, see Oathbringer (Shardblade).

This page or section contains details from the unpublished work Oathbringer!

This information has the potential to ruin plot elements of both published works and upcoming book releases for the reader. It should also be considered uncanonical and could completely change in the future.

Oathbringer is the third book in The Stormlight Archive. Peter Ahlstrom has stated that the most likely release date is November 2017.

Cover Synopsis

A new storm has come.

Ash and red lightning sweep the land, awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade--shadows of the Enemy's soul--stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be.

We may soon hold Surges again, for Radiance has returned to some, and shines toward others. The Captain, broken by loss, seeks reconciliation. The Spy, broken by cruelty, seeks completion. The Stonewalker, broken by oaths, seeks truth. The Traitor, broken by ambition, seeks freedom.

And finally the King. Broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he must not know.

For those secrets will crush him as they did the knights who came before.

Summary

For a chapter by chapter summary, see /Summary.

Development

Writing Process

Brandon wrote a few "exploratory scenes" for Stormlight 3 during the summer of 2014, however he didn't start in earnest on the book until June 2015.

The original outline called for the flashback sequence to focus on Szeth-son-son-Vallano, however Brandon later changed his mind. He planned on writing parts of the flashbacks for Szeth as well as Eshonai and Dalinar Kholin, to help him decide who can best get across the information he needs to.. After working on Dalinar's flashbacks however was pleased enough with how they were going that he decided not to go forward with the other two sequences.^{[citation needed]} In late September 2016 he indicated that he would be spending part of October writing Szeth's flashback sequence, in order to solidify certain backstory pieces relevant to other scenes he was writing, and that there was a real but unlikely chance that he would change the book back to focus on Szeth.^{[citation needed]}

On July 16, 2015 Brandon announced that he had finished Dalinar's flashback chapters. There are 15 in total, with a sum word count of around 55,000 words.. On July 22, 2016 Brandon announced that there would also be several flashback scenes from other characters, including 3 from Kaladin. On December 8, 2016 Brandon announced that he had finished his first draft, totaling 461,223 words. As of March 15, 2017 Brandon had completed the third of five planned drafts, which totaled 514,000 words. On June 15, 2017 Brandon announced the completion of his final draft, which he managed to cut to 450,000 words. The book contains 122 chapters, with 14 interludes, plus a prologue, epilogue, and ketek.

While working on the novel Brandon posted a series of updates in the Stormlight Archive subreddit:

• Update 1
• Update 2
• Update 3
• Update 4
• Update 5
• Update 6
• Update 7
• Update 8

Name Changes

The original tentative title, when Szeth was still the focus character, was "Stones Unhallowed". Like all planned titles for The Stormlight Archive this would have been the title of an in-world book, likely in dealing with Urithiru which Ali-daughter-Hasweth mentions was at times the Shin's only connection to the outside world due to its "stones unhallowed". "Skybreakers" was also mentioned by Brandon as a working title, as Brandon felt "Stones Unhallowed" would possibly be too similar to Patrick Rothfuss' "Doors of Stone" if they were released in close proximity.^{[citation needed]}

"The Highprince of War" was the working title for the fifth book in The Stormlight Archive, which is where Dalinar's flashbacks were originally scheduled to appear. In February 2013 though, Brandon said it was "almost certain" to change. During the process of writing Stormlight 3, especially after shifting the focus to Dalinar, Brandon began referring to it as "Oathbringer" which eventually became its official title.

Publication History

Pre-Release Material

• The first Kaladin chapter was Brandon's reading during the Summer 2014 UK tour.^{[citation needed]} It was later released on Tor.com on September 30, 2014.
• The first Dalinar flashback chapter was Brandon's reading during the Shadows of Self tour. It was later released on Tor.com on October 23, 2015.
• The first four Dalinar flashback chapters were released on December 6, 2016 in the Unfettered II anthology, edited by Shawn Speakman.
• The prologue was released on Tor.com on August 22, 2017. And 3 chapters will be released weekly until the release of the book.

Notes

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